Serengeti Last Day

Today has been an incredible last day. Rhonda and I began our day with coffee at our tents while we watched the sun rise. I love it that in some places you can order coffee with your wake up call. Now I'm spoiled!  Sayari Camp has been a great place to spend our last 3 nights in Tanzania.

We decided to just do a morning game drive so that we can get our last glimpse of animals here before we have to say goodbye to Tanzania. We tried for a while to find lions but they just did not want to be seen. It's all about timing as we have discovered on this trip.  One moment you can be surprised by some animal coming out of the bush to driving around looking for animals. 

After not finding any lions we turned back to the Mara river. It was a good thing we did.  I think yesterday's evening rain cleared the sky and all the animals came out.  What a surprise when we found these hippos. Thèy looked like rocks from the distance but a closer looked found them laying in the sun. 

Next we found these giraffes wading in the river where they could get a drink. 

As I mentioned yesterday I only found 4 crocs.  Well today a lot more came out to lay in the sun. We think we saw at least 15 at different sections of the river. It was funny seeing them laying close to the hippos. I guess it's the whole concept of keeping your enemy close. 

And would you believe this?  We found elephants!  Just when I thought none would be seen when Justin yelled out "elephant across the river"!  There were two bulls eating grass along the river. Then we saw a family of at least 10 across the river. Finally the below family was near our camp.  So my record held. Elephants were seen every day but the first day on our trip. 

It's been an amazing journey.  I know it's 4th of July today but this has been a special place to celebrate it. They even made a star spangled banner cake for us today. But getting back to this journey, I couldn't have asked for a better person in Rhonda to share it with. We have been very privileged to experience Tanzania in a way that I have a hard time explaining. If this is Africa, I hope to see more of it one day. The people are friendly and live a more simpler life that we should embrace.  And this is nature that only God could have created for everything is in harmony here.  All to often we allow our lives to be complicated with goals and accomplishments and forget that we should be living in the moment. That to just be in the grace of a moment, we can connect with what is more important which is not the world that the media and tv says we should follow. So I hope I can continue to be inspired in this way to what is more important.  

Tanzania Trip Observations

I thought I would make some general comments about my trip. Here are just some topics I thought I would cover. 

Lodges

We have stayed at a diverse list of lodging. I have to say that they were all unique and interesting to stay at. Some were in permanent buildings and some were in tents. I have to say I like tents the best. You can really hear the animal sounds at night as well as the birds at 6am. All of these places had good beds to sleep in. I just wish all of them had nets. I really was bitten up really bad on this trip by mosquitoes. Thankfully I only was bit by one tsetse fly.  Also each room came with a shower, flush toilet and sinks.  Now I'll admit that the showers went from a western style shower to solar showers to a bucket shower.  For the bucket shower, our tent steward heated our water first and let us know when it was ready.   So all were good enough in my opinion. So your basic needs could be met. 

All of these lodges greet you with towels and a fruit drink.  So great hospitality by each place was welcoming. 

All of these places had common areas to relax and hang out after a long game drive. It was always nice to relax with my group while having a glass of wine to talk about all we saw that day.  Even a few places put on Masai shows before dinner. 

Wake up calls

I love wake up calls!   Where they were available, you can have French press coffee delivered to your room.  A great way to enjoy the sunrise. Plus the coffee is great here.  You don't have a bitter finish so the coffee which is grown here is smooth to drink. 

Food

I actually think the food was good. I had some Indian inspired dishes as well as dishes that would appeal to everyone.  Breakfasts were typical. Although the eggs are strange in that there is no yellow yoke.  So eggs are kind of white looking. Also when you ask for pancakes, what you get is crepes.  They are really good.  The only difficulty is in finding maple syrup. It's just not a concept that a lot of places think to provide. 

Most of our lunches were box lunches provided by our lodgings.  Usually you got a few proteins with fruit and a sweet. Whatever we didn't eat was usually collected. When we ate near some Masai herders, we donated our food to them. We only didn't give them apples or chocolate but everything else was eaten. 

Dinners were hit and miss. Some were good and some were just okay. It's hard to please everyone. But wine and other kinds of drinks were all available with dinner.  One drink we learned from Steve was the dresser.  It's a drink you have while getting ready for dinner.  We've had a few of those. 

Roads

The roads come in all qualities. An all-wheel drive vehicle is a necessity here.  Near Arusha and to Tarangire they have paved roads but everywhere else the roads are dirt and rocks. There are a lot of wash board roads here.  As we drove more north in the Serengeti, the roads seem to deteriorate.  A lot more bumps and ruts.  You can't really drive very fast. And you would not want to be here in the rainy season. 

People

Most of all the people are very friendly. Our guide and driver are very accommodating. We walked through several markets and people are curious but they are all friendly. What was sad is how tourism is down here. I just hope it recovers soon. A lot of people depend on tourism and Tanzania has picked up from Kenya's losses but only our lodge in the crater and Sayari was filled with guests. 

Bush toilets

I had to comment on this since you learn to pee behind your vehicle. Once you do it once, it's not so difficult.  In some remote areas there just isn't a toilet available or it's not clean and so it's just better to go behind the vehicle. 

Laundry

Laundry is pretty much available in every place. In some cases it is included. However in a lot of places they won't wash underwear. Because of the availability of laundry services, you don't need to bring a lot of clothes. In my case I packed 3 pants, 1 long sleeve shirt and 4 t-shirts.  So believe it or not, you don't need to bring as many clothes as you think. So if you don't wash your clothes in the sink, you can get your pants or shirts washed for $1 which makes it easier to have someone do it. 

Bugs

Both Rhonda and I brought a lot of deet to help the fight against tsetse flies.  I wish I could say we were successful. We wore it in the beginning but we weren't bit as much. But as we went more north, I got more confident and didn't use it.   The Tsetse were probably the worse in the north part of the Serengeti for us. Even when we were using deet, it didn't help. Even Steve said this wouldn't work but we were hopeful. At least by Wednesday I hope many of the bites will start to fade. 

One interesting comment is that local people can't take malarone or some other malaria drug. Only the use of nets can prevent malaria from taking hold.  So they have to hope that they don't contract this here which is the biggest killer in Africa. 

Security 

You can't walk back to your tent or lodge on your own.  Almost every place we stayed at, we were escorted by either Masai or people from the camp. I think the Masai warriors were the coolest with their spears and colorful blankets. You never knew if a lion might approach the camp. 

Of course the most important observation I can make is to come with an open mind that allows you to experience everything that Tanzania can be.  It's all about having an adventure. 

Serengeti Day 6

Today is a recovery day. Both Rhonda and I needed to take a break from all the bouncing around in our vehicle on these bumpy roads. So Rhonda stayed behind to hang out and I went out on a game drive just in the morning in search of crocodiles. So Justin drove me down to the Mara River. 

Crocodiles are not as prevalent as I expected in the parts of the river that we toured.  The river is quite high for this time of year and the crocs are hard to find. We were only able to spot 4 in the river section near my camp. Below is one of them. 

Along the way, I saw a klipspringer. They are more common in the north section of the Serengeti. We have them in the Cleveland Zoo and they are excellent rock climbers. 

So today is another good day since I discovered elephants today. I found a family of 14 grazing in a field. So my record still holds. Unfortunately they ended up grazing in this area and never moved. I guess the food there was too good to leave. 

So I just hope tomorrow will bring at least one elephant for me to see. Seeing elephants every day has given me new hope that they are surviving and that they are still in the wild. I just hope that we can continue to find a way to insure that we still meet our needs and yet find a way for these gentle giants to exist freely in our world. 

Another animal that I am so happy to see is the giraffe. This animal is in such a critical state due to habitat loss and yet we have seen them every day in all the parks we visited.   Even yesterday we saw 22 together which is the largest group we have seen. They are such elegant and observant animals and I have hope that at least in the parks I've been to that they will multiply and live freely. 

Serengeti Day 5

Well we were glad finally say goodbye to Migration Camp. Unfortunately this place ended not as nice as some of the other camps we stayed at. The biggest problem I had is that the hyrax at the camp walked on our tent and kept slamming into the walls all night long.  It's hard to get any sleep with all the noise. I'm used to noise at camps but this was out of the ordinary. So goodbye Migration Camp. 

Would you believe the migration was right outside our camp when we left. It's amazing that last evening that there were no animals on the 18km road to our camp.  Then this morning all we saw was wildebeest and some zebras for the next 18 km.  just incredible!

The landscape changed again as we drove north. We mostly ran into more grasslands. The scenery was just incredible. What is even more amazing is that we saw most of the animals today that we saw over the last 12 days or so. 

Ok I'm happy to say that we are still seeing elephants.  We saw at least 3 families on the way today including this beautiful calf trying to imitate its mom drinking water. 

This is why it is so hard to get photos of some of these animals. Below was a leopard we found. It was really difficult even getting this picture. 

Even more incredible is a pair of lions we found. This was a beautiful male we found sleeping off a meal he just had. Just incredible. 

So we had an incredible drive up. We even saw a new animal, a black mambo. But that is where it started to not go so well.  At some point Rhonda realized we were going south and not north. Our driver was lost. He hadn't been this way in more then 2 years. We finally got him to ask for directions. My guess is we were driving around lost for more then two hours.  We were really spoiled with our first driver who seemed to know where he was going and was the owner of the vehicle. We were promised that Justin would know where we were going. It's just a shame that he didn't check on his directions before driving us.  One thing though I will say is there didn't seem to be signs so I know I had no clue where we needed to go.  So it just goes to show you that you really have to careful that your driver knows where he is going especially to such a remote location.  

But I will say that we made it to Sayari which is suppose to be one of the best camps in Tanzania. I already like what I see. So Rhonda and I should be able to rest here for a few days before we start our flights home. 

Serengeti Day 4

Well today was about catching the migration. We heard it moved north so our hope is to see the wildebeest migration now that we have already seen part of the zebra migration. Because of climate change the herds are not moving as one as they have done in the past. You used to predict where the herd would be but since wet grasslands are everywhere, the herds are splintered.  They are also no longer predictable. 

We set off at 8:30 to search for the herd.  I have to tell you that the roads are even more of a challenge in the north. You bounce all over your seat due to the poor roads. Most people don't come this far north so I don't think they attention to the roads up here. Plus the flies seem to be getting worse. I have a feeling it will get worse when we move north. 

The landscape of the Serengeti is forever changing. It was dry when we started and then eventually we saw a lot of grasslands with acacia trees. As soon as we went more north, there were more open spaces with short grass and small trees.  Then at times you drove through lots of forests. I'm guessing the elephants love those sections.  When we reached the area where Migration Camp is, we noticed more Kopjes.  It will be interesting to see how it changes as we go north. 

One great sight I saw along the way today was this elephant. I have seen one every day since I left Arusha. Today we saw 4 elephants while on our game drive.  It's always a good day when you see an elephant. 

Well it wasn't to hard to find the migration. They were just south of Migration Camp where we are staying. Below we saw long stretches of them. It's hard to tell where they are going since there is good grass everywhere. 

Another bonus for us was in discovering more lions. Unlike the center of the Serengeti where they are in trees, we are finding them on top of Kopjes. I know the below pictures don't show them off at their best but this shows you how hard it is to find them.  Below we found at least 10 lions including cubs. There might have been more but they only seemed interested in sleeping and barely lifted their heads.  We ended up having one of our best lunches watching them sleep. It was hard to believe that only one landcruiser stopped by. 

So tonight's our last night at Migration Camp. Rhonda and I can't wait to get to Sayari which is supposed to be our best camp. There we hope to finally see the great crocodiles in the Mara River. 

Serengeti Day 3

Well today was going to be our last day with our group. We took our group photo and drove out for a bit before they had to catch their plane. We ended up seeing something new as we seem to keep on doing.  A leopard mother took a gazelle kill and placed it in a tree where her offspring worked on eating it in a tree. Below is a silhouette of leopard. Notice how it is tugging the head off the gazelle. Kind of gruesome but that is what you see sometimes in the Serengeti. 

After saying goodbye to our great group it was time for Rhonda, Justin and I to be on our way. Once again it is incredible what you find along the way. We ran across another leopard as well as the beautiful lioness below who was in a tree. The picture doesn't show this but she was wearing a collar. She was the second one we saw wearing radio collars. The funny thing I find is that we saw no tree climbing lions in Lake Manyara where you should see them, but a lot of them in trees in the Serengeti. 

Once again I was happy to see more elephants further north in the Serengeti. The landscape has greatly changed as we moved north. We saw more areas of low grass, lots of trees and more open areas. There seemed to be less high grasslands then we saw in the center. 

And what a surprise this was. As we drove through an area with Kopjes we saw the animals below. High on these Kopjes we found 5 lions including this beautiful male.  He was the first male we found with a long mane. 

Well we are now in Migration Camp which is a nice camp. Rhonda loves that it has a pool. I'm just glad I could have a shower. Apparently there are hyrax everywhere and we can hear the hippos which are done by the river next to the camp. This should be a nice stay. 

Serengeti Day 2

Another amazing day in the Serengeti. We went out for an all day game drive today since this was the last day for our group. Now the first thing we didn't expect to see was a baboon eating a dik-dik. It's not the most appetizing thing to see first thing in the morning. 

Today was a day for lions. We couldn't imagine how many lions we saw in trees. Supposedly you only see tree climbing lions in Lake Manyara. But we saw 11 lions in trees. In fact we even saw 6 in the same tree. Of course we thought this was the best thing we saw. 

But the lion I have shown you above jumped out of a tree and we decided to drive ahead to wait out this lion. When we parked we saw maybe 3 lions in the grass. When the lion above moved near us, all of a sudden about 20 or so lions appeared out of the grass. It was amazing how they popped up out of the grass when we didn't see any of them. That made our day. 

Our great lunch spot of the day was at a hippo pool. Probably not the best place to eat lunch while you are hearing disgusting sounds but it was a great place to see hippos. 

So today ends another beautiful day in the Serengeti. It's our last dinner with everyone. Tomorrow Rhonda and I leave with Justin for our drive north while everyone flies back to Arusha. Good night!

Lodging in Tanzania

There are so many options for sleeping and meals in Tanzania. For some people we have met they are truly roughing it by camping. There are campsites available in and near all the parks. You can also camp and use a company which would provide you with a cook as well. Of course there are also hotels and tented camps as Rhonda and I are doing. It's a little upscale but since I have never traveled this way, it is a nice treat. Every place we arrive at, they great us with towels and a fruit drink. Rhonda and I agree that the tented camps are the best. You really get to hear the sounds in your tent. All of our tented camps are very nice with a shower and flush toilet. So the accommodations are very nice. Always when we get back from a long drive we first get showers and have a drink by a fire pit before dinner. The camp we are in has bucket showers which are just as nice as a traditional shower. We just let our tent steward know we need a shower and he heats the water for us. So if you ever come here, there are plenty of really nice choices here. I will say though that Rhonda are having a real treat the next 6 days. Even at this place we have our own tent steward that takes care of us. I assume we will see the same the rest of the week. 

One thing I will say is that tourism is definitely down here. Ever since the recession and Ebola occurring in west Africa, not many are coming here. Steve says that he would often see 50 cars at an animal site but the most we saw was 12 vehicles. Even the place we are at tonight, no one is here but us.  I hope this changes soon because this is truly a very special place. 

Serengeti Day 1

Every day we keep thinking we have experienced the best possible day and then we have an incredible day. Well today we had a Safi Sana day. We started the day with an incredible sunrise with a cup a coffee. Talk about an incredible peaceful morning. 

After saying goodbye to Ndutu we went to find that cheetah. Luckily Tumainini got a call from another driver and we found the cheetah. I think we waited for probably an hour or so hoping we would witness the cheetah go after some nearby gazelles.  But this cheetah seemed to be only interested warming in the sun. 

So after seeing this cheetah we left for the entrance of the Serengeti.  There were many land cruisers at sign in.  So we expected to see a lot of vehicles but I'm not sure this is the case. So we were moving on to get to the Kopjes where the Masai used to makes calls to announce a meeting. But along our way, oh my God, we ran into part of the migration. I couldn't believe that I was seeing thousands of zebras. So instead of having lunch at the Kopjes, we had lunch watching the zebras. Amazing!

Some of the drivers are very good at sharing animal information.  There is some sort of honesty that exists between these drivers to share information. A driver from a Four Seasons sent us down a road where a leopard was. I didn't think we would see a leopard since they are very illusive.  Were we lucky. This leopard was lying at a top of a tree. So beautiful.  It's a shame he was only interested in sleeping. 

So we are now at a really cool camp.  We are back to sleeping in tents and we are at a camp where we are the only guests. It is so beautiful. Chuck, on of our safarist's, even had a giraffe waiting to greet him at his tent. We spent the evening watching bush tv in front of a fire. I can't imagine a better way to end the day. 

Serengeti Ndutu

I wish I could start every day with a cup of coffee while listening to song birds and watching the sun rise.  The birds start at 6 and go for an hour.  I'm going to try and do this on my remaining days I'm here. I want to treasure every moment I can here in case I never make it back again. 

So today we are in search of lions. We have been lucky every day due to Tumainini's eagle eyes.  He seems to see everything without needing binoculars. So as we are driving we see lots of giraffes, zebras, more elephants to everyone's dismay, different birds of prey, including a group of vultures. 

I think we circled so many sections that I wondered if we were lost or we just went over the same roads twice. I should not have doubted him. As we passed a swamp, he announced there are the lions. At first no one saw them until we saw their heads out of the swamp. Then one by one, the four females walked out of the swamp followed by two male lions. But that wasn't the last.  Rhonda said she saw cubs but none of us saw them. Next thing you know a female walks out and stays by our truck. We knew at that point she was protecting the cubs.  We didn't see any cubs but we plan to check back later to hopefully find them. 

Well in the late afternoon we went in search of lion cubs and cheetahs. The cubs are very illusion especially where we were looking. But I tell you it is all about timing. We just happen to find these 3 cubs which obviously we're obviously not obeying their mother. We were able to see them before some Masai cow bells scared them into the bush. You can't find them once they go there. 

Our last attempt was to find a cheetah.  We were told where one was sighted but we drove around for at least an hour with no luck. We'll try tomorrow. 

Well the Ndutu Safari Lodge was a wonderful place to stay. We watched bush tv each night and enjoyed two great sunrises and sunsets. 

Serengeti Oldupai Gorge

It was time to say goodbye to the crater and make our way to the Serengeti.  Out of all the parks in the world this is the one that is most famous and I'm glad to say that Rhonda and I are going to really see it.  Most people only come for a few days and only in the center and we will be in it for more than a week and will be in the north, center and north. 

Our first way into the park was to aim for the Oldupai gorge which was created by an earthquake and volcano. What is interesting about the drive down is how the landscape changes into a dry desert like area. We stopped at a very interesting museum in the gorge.  A curator at this museum explain the history of how this site was found and how the Leakeys spent 30 to 40 years surveying and excavating this area. It was only after 30 years that Mary made the first major discovery which was of a skull that dates 1.75 million years old. Since then two other skulls and skeleton remain were found. This is where they profess that man originated from and at some point migrated to the rest of the world. 

After visiting the museum we moved on to the shifting sands. Their is a sand dune that moves 60 meters a year. We walked on it and found it moves in a crescent shape which is partly why it stays together. It also seems to contain magnetic qualities. Really cool. 

We had our first bush lunch. Tumainini parked near a tree where some Masai were hanging out with their cattle and we ate and just looked out at the view that seemed to go for miles. Amazing. 

Eventually we got to the north of the Serengeti in an area called Ndutu which is famous for its lion prides. My hope is we shall see some. 

Driving around would you believe we saw a lot of elephants.  At one point we stopped at a water hole where 24 elephants were. One bull that was there had to be as tall as Willy at the Cleveland Zoo. I was so touched to see them here too. Everyone is giving me a hard time about all the elephants we are seeing. I'm told I should start thinking of seeing leopards or cheetahs. 

But we did run across two beautiful lionesses. They were out in the open.   They looked very relaxed as they kept an eye on some nearby zebras. We think one of them had some nearby Cubs but we didn't see them. 

We are staying at an incredible camp the next two days.  They have stone cabins and wildlife regularly comes on the grounds. So far i have seen a giraffe, dik diks and genets. They also had a great fire pit that we sat around to watch the sunset. What a beautiful way to end the day. 

Ngorongoro Crater Day 2

Wow!  The second day started with a beautiful sunrise.  What a way to be greeted.  We can't get to the crater until 6am since that is the earliest the gate opens. So we opted for 7 or so to make our way down. The road down is a little steep so you don't want to look down. 

Our first sighting was of a couple of male lions which were laying in the grass and then we came upon a zebra kill that must have happened earlier in the night. Below is one of the lioness who was laying fat and sassy from her kill. Notice she is covered in flies because of the blood on her from eating the zebra. 

The crater was the only place we ran into a lot of land cruisers. I think at most we ran into 8 at different sights with everyone crowding in for a picture. 

There were also several hippo pools. Here is one of them. You have to admit they are kind of disgusting laying in that water all day. 

We ran into hyena packs several times.  Including one place where they were sleeping around a pool that was visited by a jackal and family of warthogs.  They must have been well fed since they didn't lift up their heads. 

The crater was amazing. You constantly saw sights where zebras were hanging out with Thomsom gazelles, wildebeest, buffalo and warthogs. I was also glad to see two famous animals.  We saw at least 6 rhinos which most people never see down here and 10 elephants.  Both animals came down in the 1980s to escape poachers. At some point these two animals will be gone if females don't mate with some of these males. 

What is also interesting about the crater is the topography.  There are soda pools for flamingos and ponds for hippos. There is a forest for animals to hide in.  Then there is a swamp and grasslands. Truly a diverse environment. 

One nice thing is we had a nice box lunch at a hippo pool. I couldn't imagine a better place to relax. There must have been 35 or more land cruisers at the parking lot. 

Most of our time was stopping for the big 5 as well as birds and smaller animals we hadn't seen yet. What is truly amazing is how multiple species coexist next to each other. As Steve says it is truly a very special place. 

I am praying this old tusker survives. We ran across him at the end of the day and he had the longest tusks we saw down in the crater. Notice that he lost part of his trunk since it is much shorter. But we saw him eat so we know it doesn't interfere with his eating.  But his back right leg had a gash and he was walking slowly and he tried to not put much weight on that foot. So I hope he can overcome this injury. 

So I feel very privileged to visit this very special place.  I hope the conservation can insure that it remains special and protected.