TRIP REPORT - Kenya/Tanzania July 25-Aug 13, 2006 (Including travel through Heathrow with travel restrictions)
Aug 22nd, 2006, 10:59 AM
#61
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 4,222
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Thanks again, Amy. Keep it up. A great report!
Sorry to hear Kifaru has gotten <i>more</i> disorganized. The food was excellent when we were there 2+ years ago. Different management then and perhaps different owners.
Ah well.
Sorry to hear Kifaru has gotten <i>more</i> disorganized. The food was excellent when we were there 2+ years ago. Different management then and perhaps different owners.
Ah well.
Aug 22nd, 2006, 12:13 PM
#62
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 204
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
8/5 - NGORONGORO CRATER (CRATER LODGE)
After a very nice horseback ride with Johnny through the coffee plantation and the vegetable gardens and back, we finish packing and head out to the Crater conservation area at about 10:30. We arrive at the Crater Lodge at about 12:30 and have some tea and hot chocolate while we receive our orientation and wait for our rooms to be ready in the North Camp (?) (someone may want to correct me, our rooms, #6,7, and 8, overlooked Tree Camp and were across the lawn from the gift shop -- I am slightly confused as to whether this is the North or South Camp).
Here, you simply must fill in every superlative that you can think of to describe the elegance of the main lodge and the beauty and elegance of the individualized cottages that make up the Crater Lodge. If Sarara has the best pool I have ever been in, Crater Lodge is by far the most luxurious hotel "room" I have ever been in.Each cottage is very large, with a sitting area complete with roaring fireplace, sherry decanter and box of chocolates and other candies to be eaten while gazing at the fire or curled up with a book. The mahogany beds are enormous and fitted with luxury bedding, velvet throws, mounds of pillows, two seprate sets of wardrobe divide the bedroom from the bathroom area and the doors of the wardrobes can be opened to create privacy between these two area. There is a separate WC (with a door!) and then this immense bath area, complete with clawfoot victorian bathtub, open air tiled shower area and two separate his and hers sink areas, in addition to a dressing table and chair. Two chandeliers and plenty of other lighting as well as telephones to the main house and to the guest rooms. . Yes, the kids call us several times as they uncover more wonders of their room! On the lawn in front of the cottages are cape buffalo and zebra. We are given a stern warning that we are not to go anywhere unescorted after dark.
We are the only guests at lunch at 1:00pm as most other guests either pack a picnic or have a later lunch, but we want to have lunch and head down for an afternoon game drive. Lunch is soup followed by a groaning board of mixed salads and duck confit. We skip desert as we have lingered over lunch too long and it is almost 2:30.
We arrive on the crater floor after 3 and the timing is very nice as it is not very congested with cars at all. Joyful is very familiar with the Crater and he is a very skilled driver with great instincts and a very excellent knowledge of the flora of Tanzania. It is very, very dry and the lake is empty although from the downroad we can see that the Sopa side is much wetter and greener. We will head over there on tomorrow's morning game drive. Over the next 2 1/2 hours we see wildebeest, hyena, black backed jackal, male and female ostriches, hippos, warthogs, and hartebeest. From a pretty far distance, we see a rhino mom with its young and also a separate male rhino.
The only crowd of vehicles is around a pride of sleeping lions, there bellies absolutely full to busrting from last night's kill. They stretch and yawn and roll over, but no one in the group is going anywhere any time soon! We leave this scene and turn down another path heading toward the up road, when Joyful slows and stops the car -- he has spotted another group of 5-6 lions that are also sleeping off their feeding. The difference? We are alone with this group as all the other vehicles are "around the corner." This group is also a little more active, actually getting up to switch positions before they flop back down into the next food coma. We have this group to ourselves for a good 10 minutes before a few other cars come by. By this time, we are ready to relinquish are prime viewing spot and head up the road.
Upon our return, the fire is blazing and we order some tea. I draw a full, steaming bath and watch the ring doves and the zebra and the cape buffalo that are right out my window. We put on a Barber concerto using the ipod speakers and as I luxuriate, H enjoys a glass of sherry by the fire and reads. . have we been teleported back to a different era? It seems as if I am going to step out of the bath and have to lace up my corset and put on my petticoats before dressing for dinner.
I did not write down the details of dinner . .it was multi-coursed, delicious and the wine was flowing. Both children are reaching a state of exhaustion and we decide that tomorrow will be an adults only morning game drive.
After a very nice horseback ride with Johnny through the coffee plantation and the vegetable gardens and back, we finish packing and head out to the Crater conservation area at about 10:30. We arrive at the Crater Lodge at about 12:30 and have some tea and hot chocolate while we receive our orientation and wait for our rooms to be ready in the North Camp (?) (someone may want to correct me, our rooms, #6,7, and 8, overlooked Tree Camp and were across the lawn from the gift shop -- I am slightly confused as to whether this is the North or South Camp).
Here, you simply must fill in every superlative that you can think of to describe the elegance of the main lodge and the beauty and elegance of the individualized cottages that make up the Crater Lodge. If Sarara has the best pool I have ever been in, Crater Lodge is by far the most luxurious hotel "room" I have ever been in.Each cottage is very large, with a sitting area complete with roaring fireplace, sherry decanter and box of chocolates and other candies to be eaten while gazing at the fire or curled up with a book. The mahogany beds are enormous and fitted with luxury bedding, velvet throws, mounds of pillows, two seprate sets of wardrobe divide the bedroom from the bathroom area and the doors of the wardrobes can be opened to create privacy between these two area. There is a separate WC (with a door!) and then this immense bath area, complete with clawfoot victorian bathtub, open air tiled shower area and two separate his and hers sink areas, in addition to a dressing table and chair. Two chandeliers and plenty of other lighting as well as telephones to the main house and to the guest rooms. . Yes, the kids call us several times as they uncover more wonders of their room! On the lawn in front of the cottages are cape buffalo and zebra. We are given a stern warning that we are not to go anywhere unescorted after dark.
We are the only guests at lunch at 1:00pm as most other guests either pack a picnic or have a later lunch, but we want to have lunch and head down for an afternoon game drive. Lunch is soup followed by a groaning board of mixed salads and duck confit. We skip desert as we have lingered over lunch too long and it is almost 2:30.
We arrive on the crater floor after 3 and the timing is very nice as it is not very congested with cars at all. Joyful is very familiar with the Crater and he is a very skilled driver with great instincts and a very excellent knowledge of the flora of Tanzania. It is very, very dry and the lake is empty although from the downroad we can see that the Sopa side is much wetter and greener. We will head over there on tomorrow's morning game drive. Over the next 2 1/2 hours we see wildebeest, hyena, black backed jackal, male and female ostriches, hippos, warthogs, and hartebeest. From a pretty far distance, we see a rhino mom with its young and also a separate male rhino.
The only crowd of vehicles is around a pride of sleeping lions, there bellies absolutely full to busrting from last night's kill. They stretch and yawn and roll over, but no one in the group is going anywhere any time soon! We leave this scene and turn down another path heading toward the up road, when Joyful slows and stops the car -- he has spotted another group of 5-6 lions that are also sleeping off their feeding. The difference? We are alone with this group as all the other vehicles are "around the corner." This group is also a little more active, actually getting up to switch positions before they flop back down into the next food coma. We have this group to ourselves for a good 10 minutes before a few other cars come by. By this time, we are ready to relinquish are prime viewing spot and head up the road.
Upon our return, the fire is blazing and we order some tea. I draw a full, steaming bath and watch the ring doves and the zebra and the cape buffalo that are right out my window. We put on a Barber concerto using the ipod speakers and as I luxuriate, H enjoys a glass of sherry by the fire and reads. . have we been teleported back to a different era? It seems as if I am going to step out of the bath and have to lace up my corset and put on my petticoats before dressing for dinner.
I did not write down the details of dinner . .it was multi-coursed, delicious and the wine was flowing. Both children are reaching a state of exhaustion and we decide that tomorrow will be an adults only morning game drive.
Aug 22nd, 2006, 03:22 PM
#63
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 14,440
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Amy H,
A great, detailed report! Five leopards are fantastic, even if one was without a tail.
Almost as amazing as the leopards is the fact that your son and husband like Marmite.
Your account of Sarara was insightful and something new.
What a memorable family experience.
A great, detailed report! Five leopards are fantastic, even if one was without a tail.
Almost as amazing as the leopards is the fact that your son and husband like Marmite.
Your account of Sarara was insightful and something new.
What a memorable family experience.
Aug 22nd, 2006, 06:55 PM
#64
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 78
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Hi Amy. I have loved you trip reports. We are leaving for Tanzania and Kenya in 15 days. Not that I am counting. You mentioned that you bought Massai blankets and wood carvings. Do you know approximately where you bought them and if If can be so bold, how much you paid. We will be staying at Governors at the end of our trip. I see you also bought Tinga Tinga paintings. I also see you can buy them on line for about $60.00 where did you get yours? The ones on line look beautiful Thanks so much for all of your reports. I already can't sleep just thinking about our trip.
Aug 23rd, 2006, 07:02 AM
#65
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 204
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
purple-
The best prices I found for everything was at a tiny shop in the Arusha airport next to the cafe -- soapstone bowls for $3-4 and soapstone boxes for $5 and simple animal necklaces for $2 each (a single small wood carved elephant or zebra or rhino with a few beads on a leather string, I purchased 5 to give out as gifts to the neices and nephews).
At the roadside shops near Karatu, we paid $9 each for the masaii blankets but I was told by a couple that we met at Tarangire who live in Dar that they get them for $5 each -- the maasai blankets that are in these shops are machine manufactured, acrylic blankets -- very colorful and great for throws and tablecloths but you are not getting wool or cotton blankets.
The wood carved animals are of all shapes and sizes. I prefer the smallest size of the ebony figures and I would buy groups of 10 for $15 or $20.
We purchased the tinga tinga in Arusha at a tinga tinga shop and they had all shapes and sizes so it is hard to compare.
Hope that helps.
The best prices I found for everything was at a tiny shop in the Arusha airport next to the cafe -- soapstone bowls for $3-4 and soapstone boxes for $5 and simple animal necklaces for $2 each (a single small wood carved elephant or zebra or rhino with a few beads on a leather string, I purchased 5 to give out as gifts to the neices and nephews).
At the roadside shops near Karatu, we paid $9 each for the masaii blankets but I was told by a couple that we met at Tarangire who live in Dar that they get them for $5 each -- the maasai blankets that are in these shops are machine manufactured, acrylic blankets -- very colorful and great for throws and tablecloths but you are not getting wool or cotton blankets.
The wood carved animals are of all shapes and sizes. I prefer the smallest size of the ebony figures and I would buy groups of 10 for $15 or $20.
We purchased the tinga tinga in Arusha at a tinga tinga shop and they had all shapes and sizes so it is hard to compare.
Hope that helps.
Aug 23rd, 2006, 07:45 AM
#66
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 204
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
8/6 NGORONGORO CRATER (CRATER LODGE)
We left the Lodge at 6am and were the second car down on our side of the Crater. based on our observations yesterday, we immediately head over to the Sopa side of the crater where it is greener and wetter. We spent a long time watching a pack of hyenas gnawing on what is left of a zebra and a wildebeest with one hyena playing keep away with a zebra leg. The jackals are also lurking but they are keeping their distance. The hyenas eventually have to cross our path directly to go and get water. They displace a group of zebra at the watering hole and we watch amused as the hyena with the zebra leg tries to figure out how she is going to drink without having the zebra leg stolen away by the other hyena. She protects the leg, drinks quickly and back in her mouth it goes.
Back out on the plains, we see a gathering of cars observing the lone rhino that we had watched yesterday. There are about 7-8 cars and the rhino is fairly far off in the distance. Joyful leaves this group and continues down and around the long side of this open plain area. He has concluded from observation that the rhino is likely to be headed for water and so wants to position us on the road that the rhino will likely cross. It is a brilliant maneuver. As soon as we arrive, the rhino begins a slow zig zag path in our general direction, getting slightly closer, but he is still at least 50 -75 yards away.
Within 15 minutes, we are surrounding by other vehicles, 2 vehicles deep on the road, everyone talking as loudly as if they were at a tailgate at a football game. The trail of cars winds down the road, and at one point we count over 35 vehicles watching this one rhino slowly making his way along . .it was quite a sight and J, our guide, took some pictures because he had never seen such crowds. Of course, the rhino was never going to cross and never even going to come close to this spectacle and after awhile, he just turned away.
More hartebeest, wildebeest that are either too young or too old to take part in the migration, ostrich, zebra, hyena and jackals. We go by the lake for another visit with the flamingoes and our other feathered friends and then the plan is to go through the forest to take a look at the group of bachelor tuskers that have taken up residence (and abstinence, apparently). On the way, another large group of cars that have come across a pride of lions feasting on a wildebeest. There is also a half eaten wildebesst on the road, but everyone just covers their noses because the sight of the feasting lions justifies parking almost literally ontop of the wildie in the road.
6-7 lions are taking part in the feast, while another 4-5, including one cub, are sunning themselves on the rocks above the kill site. It is amazing to watch and we spend a long time here. We do see the tuskers on our way to the up road.
When we return, a bubble bath filled with rose petals has been drawn in our room. I can't resist, of course and is quite a treat.
Joyful and J have arranged for us to go on a hike with a Maasai teacher and village leader, Daniel, this afternoon. Daniel will take us on a three hour hike past the primary school (500 students and approx 15 teachers) and the bomas of his village and up to a view point that overlooks Lake Eyasi and the great rift valley. It is beautiful afternoon for a hike, so Joyful joins us, providing a lecture on the flowers and treest in the area while Daniel discusses life in the village, at the school and the rituals of the Maasai, which are similar but distinct fom the ways of the Samburu that we had learned about with Mark at Sarara. For awhile, we are joined by a group of Daniel's students who are fascinated by H's tatoos. It is obvious, that they would like some money, candy or things to trade, but we were so rushed this morning that we have brought nothing with us! We feel terrible about that. Daniel invites us into his boma and to meet his children. Again, one is struck by the juxtaposition of the two worlds, the boma is very small and dark and the children are covered with flies. Daniel has a cell phone, a digital watch and a pair of New balance shoes. He charges the cell phone at the police station or at the hotels.
We return to find that some bold elephants have decided to visit the gift shop and grassy area near our cottage. We are patient and they move off. Another rest by the fire in our room, another fabulous meal and we are sad to have to say goodbye to this land of luxury but also looking forward to getting beck to our tented accomodations. Tomorrow will be a travel day to Tarangire and the far end of the park where Swala camp awaits.
We left the Lodge at 6am and were the second car down on our side of the Crater. based on our observations yesterday, we immediately head over to the Sopa side of the crater where it is greener and wetter. We spent a long time watching a pack of hyenas gnawing on what is left of a zebra and a wildebeest with one hyena playing keep away with a zebra leg. The jackals are also lurking but they are keeping their distance. The hyenas eventually have to cross our path directly to go and get water. They displace a group of zebra at the watering hole and we watch amused as the hyena with the zebra leg tries to figure out how she is going to drink without having the zebra leg stolen away by the other hyena. She protects the leg, drinks quickly and back in her mouth it goes.
Back out on the plains, we see a gathering of cars observing the lone rhino that we had watched yesterday. There are about 7-8 cars and the rhino is fairly far off in the distance. Joyful leaves this group and continues down and around the long side of this open plain area. He has concluded from observation that the rhino is likely to be headed for water and so wants to position us on the road that the rhino will likely cross. It is a brilliant maneuver. As soon as we arrive, the rhino begins a slow zig zag path in our general direction, getting slightly closer, but he is still at least 50 -75 yards away.
Within 15 minutes, we are surrounding by other vehicles, 2 vehicles deep on the road, everyone talking as loudly as if they were at a tailgate at a football game. The trail of cars winds down the road, and at one point we count over 35 vehicles watching this one rhino slowly making his way along . .it was quite a sight and J, our guide, took some pictures because he had never seen such crowds. Of course, the rhino was never going to cross and never even going to come close to this spectacle and after awhile, he just turned away.
More hartebeest, wildebeest that are either too young or too old to take part in the migration, ostrich, zebra, hyena and jackals. We go by the lake for another visit with the flamingoes and our other feathered friends and then the plan is to go through the forest to take a look at the group of bachelor tuskers that have taken up residence (and abstinence, apparently). On the way, another large group of cars that have come across a pride of lions feasting on a wildebeest. There is also a half eaten wildebesst on the road, but everyone just covers their noses because the sight of the feasting lions justifies parking almost literally ontop of the wildie in the road.
6-7 lions are taking part in the feast, while another 4-5, including one cub, are sunning themselves on the rocks above the kill site. It is amazing to watch and we spend a long time here. We do see the tuskers on our way to the up road.
When we return, a bubble bath filled with rose petals has been drawn in our room. I can't resist, of course and is quite a treat.
Joyful and J have arranged for us to go on a hike with a Maasai teacher and village leader, Daniel, this afternoon. Daniel will take us on a three hour hike past the primary school (500 students and approx 15 teachers) and the bomas of his village and up to a view point that overlooks Lake Eyasi and the great rift valley. It is beautiful afternoon for a hike, so Joyful joins us, providing a lecture on the flowers and treest in the area while Daniel discusses life in the village, at the school and the rituals of the Maasai, which are similar but distinct fom the ways of the Samburu that we had learned about with Mark at Sarara. For awhile, we are joined by a group of Daniel's students who are fascinated by H's tatoos. It is obvious, that they would like some money, candy or things to trade, but we were so rushed this morning that we have brought nothing with us! We feel terrible about that. Daniel invites us into his boma and to meet his children. Again, one is struck by the juxtaposition of the two worlds, the boma is very small and dark and the children are covered with flies. Daniel has a cell phone, a digital watch and a pair of New balance shoes. He charges the cell phone at the police station or at the hotels.
We return to find that some bold elephants have decided to visit the gift shop and grassy area near our cottage. We are patient and they move off. Another rest by the fire in our room, another fabulous meal and we are sad to have to say goodbye to this land of luxury but also looking forward to getting beck to our tented accomodations. Tomorrow will be a travel day to Tarangire and the far end of the park where Swala camp awaits.
Aug 23rd, 2006, 01:00 PM
#67
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 204
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Oh, how I long for spell check so that I would not cringe every time I re-read my posts to figure out where I left off writing. I applaud all of you that diligently check and edit their entries, use colors and bold and all sorts of pictures. I should have apologized in advance for my laziness!
8/7 - TARANGIRE (SWALA CAMP)
We have two goals today -- a stop in Karatu to see if one of our ATM cards will work as we are very low on cash and to get to Swala camp for a late lunch -- success on both fronts with the addition of a stop for a few blankets and a flat tire change in Tarangire Park.
Of course, the park is known for its ellies and we see many families as we travel down to Swala Camp. Swala has just 9 tents and is completely secluded, excpet for the elephants, zebra, waterbuck and impala that share the camp. The main lodge and dining area has a large deck that overlooks a salt lick that is kept salted to attract the local residents. The tents are similar in size to the tents at Sarara but with in tent flush loo and separate shower area. The tents are more spread out than at Larsen's and it has a more rustic feel. There are many more animals in camp and roaming around, including sparring impala and, at night, a very close by lion. We have a late lunch and decide that since we will go out for a full day game drive tomorrow with a picnic lunch, we will relax in camp this afternoon and enjoy our tents and the local action at the salt lick. The elephants and zebra are not shy and come very close to the deck.
Before dinner, chairs are set up around the fire pit and we enjoy drinks and snacks with the Italian, French and Australian guests that make up the remainder of the guests. Alas, the choice of one particular snack is of great interest to the elephants . Maryiana has brought a tray of warm roasted nuts for us to snack on but it is the elephants that get excited and one decides to make begin a very concerted march toward the guests. Luckily, Steve, the other manager has discovered an effective method for discouraging the elephant from proceeding closer. He slaps two seat cushions together and the sound is very similar to a gun shot. because there are hunting camps nearby and these animals are used to being hunted, the sound has a strong deterrent effect and they back off without incident.
Dinner is a delicious lamb curry, plenty of food and wine for all. We linger over coffee and tea and after dinner drinks before retiring to our tents. We hear lions and leopard during the night but no signs of them in the morning.
8/7 - TARANGIRE (SWALA CAMP)
We have two goals today -- a stop in Karatu to see if one of our ATM cards will work as we are very low on cash and to get to Swala camp for a late lunch -- success on both fronts with the addition of a stop for a few blankets and a flat tire change in Tarangire Park.
Of course, the park is known for its ellies and we see many families as we travel down to Swala Camp. Swala has just 9 tents and is completely secluded, excpet for the elephants, zebra, waterbuck and impala that share the camp. The main lodge and dining area has a large deck that overlooks a salt lick that is kept salted to attract the local residents. The tents are similar in size to the tents at Sarara but with in tent flush loo and separate shower area. The tents are more spread out than at Larsen's and it has a more rustic feel. There are many more animals in camp and roaming around, including sparring impala and, at night, a very close by lion. We have a late lunch and decide that since we will go out for a full day game drive tomorrow with a picnic lunch, we will relax in camp this afternoon and enjoy our tents and the local action at the salt lick. The elephants and zebra are not shy and come very close to the deck.
Before dinner, chairs are set up around the fire pit and we enjoy drinks and snacks with the Italian, French and Australian guests that make up the remainder of the guests. Alas, the choice of one particular snack is of great interest to the elephants . Maryiana has brought a tray of warm roasted nuts for us to snack on but it is the elephants that get excited and one decides to make begin a very concerted march toward the guests. Luckily, Steve, the other manager has discovered an effective method for discouraging the elephant from proceeding closer. He slaps two seat cushions together and the sound is very similar to a gun shot. because there are hunting camps nearby and these animals are used to being hunted, the sound has a strong deterrent effect and they back off without incident.
Dinner is a delicious lamb curry, plenty of food and wine for all. We linger over coffee and tea and after dinner drinks before retiring to our tents. We hear lions and leopard during the night but no signs of them in the morning.
Aug 25th, 2006, 07:52 AM
#70
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 204
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
8/8 TARANGIRE (SWALA CAMP)
A full game drive today with a very nice picnic lunch provided by Swala. We wound up covering a lot of ground today as the big hers of ellies were in the Northern part of the park, near Sopa, but still, I would not have traded Swala camp for anything.
We have good viewing of both greater and lesser kudo and kingoni hartebeest and then we spot something more unusual, what appears to be a hunter's hartebeest or hirola. We clearly see the distinctive white chevron around the eyes and bridge of the nose and J is very excited -- there are only supposed to be 400 left of this species. It is too far off for a good picture, but 5 of us confirm the chevron and the more distinctive rack that make up this species. A very exciting find.
We watch lots of ellie groups, including some babies nursing, but there is one mother child interaction that is worth the tell. The mother and child were about 20 ft from the road and near to a larger group. The baby elephant (a few months old as it had no control over its trunk at all), got it in his head to test his little feet and starting to walk away from the rest of the group, toward the road. Mom came loping after, but as the Mom would get closer, the baby would giddily pick up speed and continue trotting away from the group and parallel with the road. This continued for a few minutes, baby testing both the boundaries and what appeared to be his new found full mobility. There was alos a very large grey boulder at the cross road and we wondered (major anthropomorphizing here) if the baby mistake the large grey boulder for another ellie. The baby finally stopped and Mom came around and gave him a good swat with her trunck and ushered him along in the opposite direction. Even J, our guide, said that he had not seen such wilful disobedience on the part of a baby ellie before. We spent a great deal of time, making up the imaginary conversation that would be taking place as the baby was escorted back to the rest of the aunties.
On our return to camp, we watched a pair of two female and two male greater kudo interact. The more dominant male (with a beautiful rack) decided that he was not going to share these lovely ladies and so chased the other male off.
At camp, there was a surprise waiting for us. The entire camp was going for a bush dinner in a clearing about 5 minutes away from the camp. We all washed up and returned to the lodge for drinks around the firepit (no warm nuts tonight so the ellies in camp behaved)and then we were loaded into camp vehicles and taken to the site of the bush dinner where tikki torches surrounded tables with white linen and full glassware and candlelight. Under this canopy of trees, we enjoyed a buffet dinner and our last night at Swala. Tomorrow, we would have a big travel day and end up at Il Moran in the Masaai Mara. We were nearing the end of our trip and had seen many wonderful things and met many wonderful people, but our best game viewing was yet to come. . .
NEXT, A missed kill, a wild mongoose chase, a wildie kill, cheetahs large and small and a river crossing in the Mara.
A full game drive today with a very nice picnic lunch provided by Swala. We wound up covering a lot of ground today as the big hers of ellies were in the Northern part of the park, near Sopa, but still, I would not have traded Swala camp for anything.
We have good viewing of both greater and lesser kudo and kingoni hartebeest and then we spot something more unusual, what appears to be a hunter's hartebeest or hirola. We clearly see the distinctive white chevron around the eyes and bridge of the nose and J is very excited -- there are only supposed to be 400 left of this species. It is too far off for a good picture, but 5 of us confirm the chevron and the more distinctive rack that make up this species. A very exciting find.
We watch lots of ellie groups, including some babies nursing, but there is one mother child interaction that is worth the tell. The mother and child were about 20 ft from the road and near to a larger group. The baby elephant (a few months old as it had no control over its trunk at all), got it in his head to test his little feet and starting to walk away from the rest of the group, toward the road. Mom came loping after, but as the Mom would get closer, the baby would giddily pick up speed and continue trotting away from the group and parallel with the road. This continued for a few minutes, baby testing both the boundaries and what appeared to be his new found full mobility. There was alos a very large grey boulder at the cross road and we wondered (major anthropomorphizing here) if the baby mistake the large grey boulder for another ellie. The baby finally stopped and Mom came around and gave him a good swat with her trunck and ushered him along in the opposite direction. Even J, our guide, said that he had not seen such wilful disobedience on the part of a baby ellie before. We spent a great deal of time, making up the imaginary conversation that would be taking place as the baby was escorted back to the rest of the aunties.
On our return to camp, we watched a pair of two female and two male greater kudo interact. The more dominant male (with a beautiful rack) decided that he was not going to share these lovely ladies and so chased the other male off.
At camp, there was a surprise waiting for us. The entire camp was going for a bush dinner in a clearing about 5 minutes away from the camp. We all washed up and returned to the lodge for drinks around the firepit (no warm nuts tonight so the ellies in camp behaved)and then we were loaded into camp vehicles and taken to the site of the bush dinner where tikki torches surrounded tables with white linen and full glassware and candlelight. Under this canopy of trees, we enjoyed a buffet dinner and our last night at Swala. Tomorrow, we would have a big travel day and end up at Il Moran in the Masaai Mara. We were nearing the end of our trip and had seen many wonderful things and met many wonderful people, but our best game viewing was yet to come. . .
NEXT, A missed kill, a wild mongoose chase, a wildie kill, cheetahs large and small and a river crossing in the Mara.
Aug 28th, 2006, 08:11 AM
#72
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 204
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
8/9 MARA (GOVERNORS - IL MORAN)
Another big travel day. We game view as we drive from Swala to the north entrance of Tarangire Park and back to Arusha. At the Arusha Airport, we say goodbye to our driver, Joyful, and have some time to check out the airport gift shops where we discover the best prices for jewelry and soapstone bowls and boxes of the entire trip. best of all, the proprietor accepts all currency, so we use up the last of our British pounds, some Tanzanian shilling and some US dollars to make our purchases.
A short hop to Kili, a longer hop to Wilson (hey, this looks familiar) and then a flight to Governors.
We arrive at Il Moran at about 4 and are asked if we are up for a short game drive. We arrange to go out from 5-6:30, but first, we all want to fully unpack as we will be here for a delightfully long 3 nights! We are shown to our tents (7,8, and 9) which are each the size of a small mess hall! These tents are huge. There is a king size olive wood bed, a large desk and chair, a sitting area with a comfortable table and chairs and two other large pices of furniture to hold out clothes. This does not include the tabe and four chairs that are on our porch along with two additional deck chairs or the claw foot bathtub, double sink and large shower in the bath area. Like Larsen's camp, the tents are spaced out along the river, with loads of ellies across the way, crocs in the water and,of course, plenty of baboon and vervet monkeys.
We meet up with our driver, Simon, and start our drive. It has been cloudy for a lot of our trip and it is nice to see the sun out with beautiful cloud formations and the tall grasses of the Mara. This is really just a spectucalr setting. We meet a new animal, the Topi, they are very elegant and graceful. There is a lot of radio chatter between the drivers at all of the Governor's properties and Simon gets a call that there are lions on a hunt. Although we are anxious to race right over, Simon has much more patience (and, of course, experience) so he deliberatley makes his way, but first stops to show us a magnificent male and his lady friend who are set apart from the hunting lionesses and other young males as they are in mating. We don't see any "action" but enjoy watching the male strike his classic pose. It turns out that he is on the outs, an older male that will soon be challenged by the three young males and probably exiled.
There are several cars watching the female lionesses and the younger males as they slowly move on a line of wildebeest. Everyone is very well spaced and very respectful of the hun that is in progress. The lions are spread out in the grass, tracking the wildies and it looks as if they have the coordinated attack plan in place, they will flank the wildies and pick off a stray in a break in the line.
The two young males at the back of the wildie line, can't wait, however, and they jump the gun and sprint toward the wildies at the back of the file. Incredibly, the wildies actually turn and chase the two lions off! The two young males are inexperienced and have been completely rebuffed. They make one more go at it, but the wildies again turn and chase them off.
It is a very interesting experience to see this botched attempt . .embarassing almost as the wildies are so plentiful, dumb and slow moving. How could they have missed, we woner. But the males are young and inexperienced and Mom was just letting them have a go.
The pride re-groups -- about 9-10 in all -- and most of the other vehicles move off as it is time to think about heading back. We stay, along with another vehicle to see what the lions will do. They are in a group, right by our car when the two or three young males start to chase something in the grass -- they are stalking a mongoose! Now this is truly hilarious, 4-5 lions all stomping around in the grass going after a mongoose. Mom is taking no part of this and has started to inch forward again as another file is far off but making its way within range. In the meantime, one of the males actually gets the mongoose in its mouth, but the mongoose twists and manages to get away. Now we have the 4-5 lions jumping around and the mongoose shrieking bloody murder around our car. It is all good entertainment until the mongoose decides to take refuge under our vehicle and we are surrounded by all of the lions, about 7-8 now. We immediatley quiet down and the kids slowly move down from the seats and more inside the vehicle. The other vehicle probably has great shots of this, but we couldn't photgraph ourselves! Simon slowly releases the clutch and backs the car up to show the lions that we have not taken their prey. Luckiliy for us, the mongoose darts of again and the lions move after it. Wow!
Our focus turns to the mother as she has advanced far up during all this drama and the other females have started to regroup. We may see a kill yet. Sure enough, the mother moves down into a gully and out of sight. All of a sudden Simon shouts, there she goes and we watch as she runs and picks off a lone wildie at the end of the file and wrestles it to the ground. The other car has not spotted the actual take down, so we are alone as we arrive on the scene to watch her panting, arms around the neck of the wildie and strangling it to death. The rest of the pride join and we watch them all take part in trying to open up the wildie. Unlike leopard or cheetah, Lions teeth are not that sharp and the wildie hide is, of course, ver tough, so this is a relatively bloodless action until they are able to actually make it through the skins. We watch for as long as we can, but daylight is fading and Simon tells us we must head back for camp.
We do have some very good footage and I hope to post it soon.
Hard to talk about dinner in the next sentence, but it is delicious -- minestrone soup, homemade pasta, nileperch and apple fritters for dessert. We also learn the standard Governor's plan for game viewing -- 6:30-9:00 followed by breakfast, out again before lunch at 1:30 and then a late afternoon drive. Sounds like a plan although we are already talking about trying to range farther by combining the two morning drives and foregoing breakfast. We decide to follow the plan tomorrow and then make adjustments for the day after.
TOMORROW - River Crossing.
Another big travel day. We game view as we drive from Swala to the north entrance of Tarangire Park and back to Arusha. At the Arusha Airport, we say goodbye to our driver, Joyful, and have some time to check out the airport gift shops where we discover the best prices for jewelry and soapstone bowls and boxes of the entire trip. best of all, the proprietor accepts all currency, so we use up the last of our British pounds, some Tanzanian shilling and some US dollars to make our purchases.
A short hop to Kili, a longer hop to Wilson (hey, this looks familiar) and then a flight to Governors.
We arrive at Il Moran at about 4 and are asked if we are up for a short game drive. We arrange to go out from 5-6:30, but first, we all want to fully unpack as we will be here for a delightfully long 3 nights! We are shown to our tents (7,8, and 9) which are each the size of a small mess hall! These tents are huge. There is a king size olive wood bed, a large desk and chair, a sitting area with a comfortable table and chairs and two other large pices of furniture to hold out clothes. This does not include the tabe and four chairs that are on our porch along with two additional deck chairs or the claw foot bathtub, double sink and large shower in the bath area. Like Larsen's camp, the tents are spaced out along the river, with loads of ellies across the way, crocs in the water and,of course, plenty of baboon and vervet monkeys.
We meet up with our driver, Simon, and start our drive. It has been cloudy for a lot of our trip and it is nice to see the sun out with beautiful cloud formations and the tall grasses of the Mara. This is really just a spectucalr setting. We meet a new animal, the Topi, they are very elegant and graceful. There is a lot of radio chatter between the drivers at all of the Governor's properties and Simon gets a call that there are lions on a hunt. Although we are anxious to race right over, Simon has much more patience (and, of course, experience) so he deliberatley makes his way, but first stops to show us a magnificent male and his lady friend who are set apart from the hunting lionesses and other young males as they are in mating. We don't see any "action" but enjoy watching the male strike his classic pose. It turns out that he is on the outs, an older male that will soon be challenged by the three young males and probably exiled.
There are several cars watching the female lionesses and the younger males as they slowly move on a line of wildebeest. Everyone is very well spaced and very respectful of the hun that is in progress. The lions are spread out in the grass, tracking the wildies and it looks as if they have the coordinated attack plan in place, they will flank the wildies and pick off a stray in a break in the line.
The two young males at the back of the wildie line, can't wait, however, and they jump the gun and sprint toward the wildies at the back of the file. Incredibly, the wildies actually turn and chase the two lions off! The two young males are inexperienced and have been completely rebuffed. They make one more go at it, but the wildies again turn and chase them off.
It is a very interesting experience to see this botched attempt . .embarassing almost as the wildies are so plentiful, dumb and slow moving. How could they have missed, we woner. But the males are young and inexperienced and Mom was just letting them have a go.
The pride re-groups -- about 9-10 in all -- and most of the other vehicles move off as it is time to think about heading back. We stay, along with another vehicle to see what the lions will do. They are in a group, right by our car when the two or three young males start to chase something in the grass -- they are stalking a mongoose! Now this is truly hilarious, 4-5 lions all stomping around in the grass going after a mongoose. Mom is taking no part of this and has started to inch forward again as another file is far off but making its way within range. In the meantime, one of the males actually gets the mongoose in its mouth, but the mongoose twists and manages to get away. Now we have the 4-5 lions jumping around and the mongoose shrieking bloody murder around our car. It is all good entertainment until the mongoose decides to take refuge under our vehicle and we are surrounded by all of the lions, about 7-8 now. We immediatley quiet down and the kids slowly move down from the seats and more inside the vehicle. The other vehicle probably has great shots of this, but we couldn't photgraph ourselves! Simon slowly releases the clutch and backs the car up to show the lions that we have not taken their prey. Luckiliy for us, the mongoose darts of again and the lions move after it. Wow!
Our focus turns to the mother as she has advanced far up during all this drama and the other females have started to regroup. We may see a kill yet. Sure enough, the mother moves down into a gully and out of sight. All of a sudden Simon shouts, there she goes and we watch as she runs and picks off a lone wildie at the end of the file and wrestles it to the ground. The other car has not spotted the actual take down, so we are alone as we arrive on the scene to watch her panting, arms around the neck of the wildie and strangling it to death. The rest of the pride join and we watch them all take part in trying to open up the wildie. Unlike leopard or cheetah, Lions teeth are not that sharp and the wildie hide is, of course, ver tough, so this is a relatively bloodless action until they are able to actually make it through the skins. We watch for as long as we can, but daylight is fading and Simon tells us we must head back for camp.
We do have some very good footage and I hope to post it soon.
Hard to talk about dinner in the next sentence, but it is delicious -- minestrone soup, homemade pasta, nileperch and apple fritters for dessert. We also learn the standard Governor's plan for game viewing -- 6:30-9:00 followed by breakfast, out again before lunch at 1:30 and then a late afternoon drive. Sounds like a plan although we are already talking about trying to range farther by combining the two morning drives and foregoing breakfast. We decide to follow the plan tomorrow and then make adjustments for the day after.
TOMORROW - River Crossing.
Aug 28th, 2006, 12:10 PM
#74
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 1,448
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I love topis!
They can often be seen standing on termite mounds, keeping lookout
waynehazleDOTcom/eastafrica/serengeti/roll15/036_33.html
They have a great brown coloring and are lean and muscular.
waynehazleDOTcom/eastafrica/Masai_Mara/roll7/025_22.html
They can often be seen standing on termite mounds, keeping lookout
waynehazleDOTcom/eastafrica/serengeti/roll15/036_33.html
They have a great brown coloring and are lean and muscular.
waynehazleDOTcom/eastafrica/Masai_Mara/roll7/025_22.html
Aug 28th, 2006, 02:20 PM
#75
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 14,440
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
An excellent day with the lions. You were wise to linger a bit after the first botched attempts. Look at all the cool stuff you saw.
That must have been a little scary to have the lions surround your car in search of their prey. When the mongoose went under your vehicle you became more of a participant in events than merely a bystander.
That must have been a little scary to have the lions surround your car in search of their prey. When the mongoose went under your vehicle you became more of a participant in events than merely a bystander.
Aug 30th, 2006, 11:22 AM
#76
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 204
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
8/10 - MARA (IL MORAN)
We meet Simon at 6:30 am for a very eventful morning game drive. Not 15 minutes outside of camp, we see a lone female cheetah on a termite mound. She looks too full to be in hunting mode, but still, she is beautiful to behold and we spend a while just observing her natural beauty.
We wanted to go back to the lion kill fom the night before but Simon tells us that the guides have agreed to allow those that did not observe the kill time to watch the lions and that we would go later on in the afternoon. Although we were disappointed, I thought it was a nice bid at some organized attempt to avoid overcrowding around the animals.
Instead, the wildebeests are starting to mass close to the river and so we take a chance that we may possibly observe both a lion kill and a river crossing in a 24 hour span. Simon takes us to an overlook where we are treated to the site of several bloated wildies leftover from the last crossing as well as some completely stuffed crocs. The crocs are so absolutley full that all they can muster is to nudge the dead wildies but they have no interest in actually feeding on the carcasses. Even the vultures that are on the rocks and the embankment look to full to eat although they do take some nibbles.
As so many have reported, the wildies are the dumbest animals we have ever encoutered. They mass, they head toward the water, they get skittish, the move away. . Lather, rinse, repeat. This goes on for awhile, but what is perhaps even more amusing is that we in the vehicles are starting to follow this same pattern and turn into wildies ourselves . park, no move, they are going to cross here, no there . .everyone moving in great circles.
There are about 10 cars collected on one overlook, where the wildies have massed but Simon is not convinced this is where they will cross. He decides to head up river, convinced that either they will cross where we go or we will have a good view point of the down river crossing. We zoom around to this other overlook and we are the only car. Because Simon is very experienced, he backs our vehicle away from the embankment and towards the grass -- Simon does not want to give the wildies and excuse to be skittish or to turn away and he wants them to have full access to the river. This turns out to be a very smart move. From our vantage point, we can see them massing in great waves and then finally one wildie takes the lead and heads into the water . .Mayhem ensues. A few other vehicles (maybe 3-4) dangerously join the stampeding wildies to join us at the crossing and a few cars are across the river.
What a sight. Instead of going across to either of the easy paths up the other embankment, these wildies head straight across to an impenetrable rock cliff! The try and claw their way up, trampling each other in the process and slipping back down. We find ourseleves quietely yelling at the wildies "go the other way" "Watch out for the croc, oh, too late" and other words of encouragment. One young wildie is knocked senseless and is getting trampled by the other wildies. In our car and in the car next to us, we are all pleading for the young wildie to get up and get out the way. Finally, he manages to stand up and make his way up the embankment to join the others.
In the meantime, some wildies that were on the other side, decide to cross over to our side of the river, and there is, for a time, a double crossing going on, with some wildies clearly going back and forth several times! It is both a moving and hilarious sight.
We are quiet late in returning,but they held breakfast for us. We decide to wait and go on an afternoon game drive.
Our afternoon game drive started out with a bang and a whimper as our car stalled while we were among many vehicles observing a pride of sleeping lion. We are very impatient to leave and go and find what is left of the kill from last night but we are at the mercy of those in the other vehicles as we need a push start, but that can't happen until some of the vehicles clear out and we can maneuver around the sleeping lions.
We are finally freed and spend the afternoon among the hartebeest, topi, elephants, giraffe . .
TO BE CONTINUED
We meet Simon at 6:30 am for a very eventful morning game drive. Not 15 minutes outside of camp, we see a lone female cheetah on a termite mound. She looks too full to be in hunting mode, but still, she is beautiful to behold and we spend a while just observing her natural beauty.
We wanted to go back to the lion kill fom the night before but Simon tells us that the guides have agreed to allow those that did not observe the kill time to watch the lions and that we would go later on in the afternoon. Although we were disappointed, I thought it was a nice bid at some organized attempt to avoid overcrowding around the animals.
Instead, the wildebeests are starting to mass close to the river and so we take a chance that we may possibly observe both a lion kill and a river crossing in a 24 hour span. Simon takes us to an overlook where we are treated to the site of several bloated wildies leftover from the last crossing as well as some completely stuffed crocs. The crocs are so absolutley full that all they can muster is to nudge the dead wildies but they have no interest in actually feeding on the carcasses. Even the vultures that are on the rocks and the embankment look to full to eat although they do take some nibbles.
As so many have reported, the wildies are the dumbest animals we have ever encoutered. They mass, they head toward the water, they get skittish, the move away. . Lather, rinse, repeat. This goes on for awhile, but what is perhaps even more amusing is that we in the vehicles are starting to follow this same pattern and turn into wildies ourselves . park, no move, they are going to cross here, no there . .everyone moving in great circles.
There are about 10 cars collected on one overlook, where the wildies have massed but Simon is not convinced this is where they will cross. He decides to head up river, convinced that either they will cross where we go or we will have a good view point of the down river crossing. We zoom around to this other overlook and we are the only car. Because Simon is very experienced, he backs our vehicle away from the embankment and towards the grass -- Simon does not want to give the wildies and excuse to be skittish or to turn away and he wants them to have full access to the river. This turns out to be a very smart move. From our vantage point, we can see them massing in great waves and then finally one wildie takes the lead and heads into the water . .Mayhem ensues. A few other vehicles (maybe 3-4) dangerously join the stampeding wildies to join us at the crossing and a few cars are across the river.
What a sight. Instead of going across to either of the easy paths up the other embankment, these wildies head straight across to an impenetrable rock cliff! The try and claw their way up, trampling each other in the process and slipping back down. We find ourseleves quietely yelling at the wildies "go the other way" "Watch out for the croc, oh, too late" and other words of encouragment. One young wildie is knocked senseless and is getting trampled by the other wildies. In our car and in the car next to us, we are all pleading for the young wildie to get up and get out the way. Finally, he manages to stand up and make his way up the embankment to join the others.
In the meantime, some wildies that were on the other side, decide to cross over to our side of the river, and there is, for a time, a double crossing going on, with some wildies clearly going back and forth several times! It is both a moving and hilarious sight.
We are quiet late in returning,but they held breakfast for us. We decide to wait and go on an afternoon game drive.
Our afternoon game drive started out with a bang and a whimper as our car stalled while we were among many vehicles observing a pride of sleeping lion. We are very impatient to leave and go and find what is left of the kill from last night but we are at the mercy of those in the other vehicles as we need a push start, but that can't happen until some of the vehicles clear out and we can maneuver around the sleeping lions.
We are finally freed and spend the afternoon among the hartebeest, topi, elephants, giraffe . .
TO BE CONTINUED
Aug 30th, 2006, 12:42 PM
#77
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 1,448
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Yeah, those wildebeasts aren't rocket scientists of the animal world are they?
When I got to the Mara, the migration was gone, but there were still lots of wildees just standing around. At the time I thought, what a bunch of lazy unmotivated animals.
But now I realize they were the smart ones. Someone in the group said <font color="GREEN">"Hey guys let's forget this migrating crap and just stay right here."</font>
When I got to the Mara, the migration was gone, but there were still lots of wildees just standing around. At the time I thought, what a bunch of lazy unmotivated animals.
But now I realize they were the smart ones. Someone in the group said <font color="GREEN">"Hey guys let's forget this migrating crap and just stay right here."</font>
Thread
Original Poster
Forum
Replies
Last Post
PerpetualStudent
Africa & the Middle East
6
Aug 27th, 2009 05:17 PM
jenbertoni
Africa & the Middle East
5
Mar 10th, 2008 05:33 PM
vaclav
Africa & the Middle East
4
Jan 9th, 2008 11:42 PM
csuss
Africa & the Middle East
49
Aug 1st, 2006 11:39 AM
