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4 go on Safari
  • NIci Bush
  • NIci Bush

4 go on Safari

A 14-day adventure by NIci Read more
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  • Trip start
    July 28, 2017
    NIci Bush4 go on SafariTraveler
    malaria tablets ready to go !

    Malaria tablets start

    July 28, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    D-1 and the anti malaria tablets start. Found out our baggage allowance is only 20kg each for both carry on and checked as we are going on a small plane from Tanzania to Zanzibar so judicious packing will be required. Bought safari hats, lots of sunscreen and bug spray - starting to feel very real.Read more

  • NIci Bush4 go on SafariTraveler
    will these keep them going ?
    thats it for 12 days and 5 stops

    On our way

    July 29, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Sitting in Dulles airport waiting to board flight to Zurich and then to Nairobi - feeding kids with pizza that will hopefully last them for the 18 hour journey. We had to be ruthless with the packing. Not much for two weeks - I hope we can do laundry somewhere.Read more

  • NIci Bush4 go on SafariTraveler
    jealous. benefits of being 5ft2'
    early morning in zurich with mountains in the background

    Made it to Nairobi

    July 30, 2017 in Kenya ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    All a bit worse for wear after 18 hours of travelling. Early morning in Zurich was nice - you could see the snow capped mountains. Emily fits very nicely in an economy seat - benefits of being 5ft 2". We had to hand over $50 each for our Kenyan tourist - we will do that again when we get to Tanzania. So far the highlight was seeing wild roaming zebras by the road just outside the airport like you might expect stray dogs in another country.
    Early night and then a pick up at 7am to start the safari!    Read more

  • NIci Bush4 go on SafariTraveler
    the tribe hotel looks lovely
    first dinner in africa. delicious1our home for the next few days

    Driving to Masai Mara

    July 31, 2017 in Kenya ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    The 630am wake up call was a bit rough however the Tribe hotel in Nairobi was a little bit of paradise last night after a long day. Lovely meal - Oliver had a lovely seafood stew and Emily got some great looking vegetarian sushi.
    We have Daniel as our guide and driver of our safari 4x4 complete with removable roof for looking at animals this afternoon. The kids are being troupers dealing with jet lag and lack of sleep. Our drive to Masai Mara is 6 hours and we have been told the last part of it is rough road. They call it an 'Africa massage'. So far along the side of the roads we have seen baboons, donkeys, and a lot of cows. I remember from school the Masai Mara tribe displays their wealth by the number of cows they have. Thanks Miss Brownhill.    Read more

  • NIci Bush4 go on SafariTraveler
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    First ever game drive last night

    July 31, 2017 in Kenya ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    So we have been thoroughly spoiled for any other safari experience. Our cabins /tents are like something from colonial era, the view over the safari park is breathtaking and we did a quick game drive in the evening with Daniel and promptly found ourselves in an episode of life on earth. We saw a lioness kill a wildebeest and had her and her cubs cross a few feet in front of us. We saw the rare black rhino, elephants galore and giraffes. We were all amazed at how they live so closely together in the wild.Read more

  • NIci Bush4 go on SafariTraveler
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    Early morning balloon flight

    August 1, 2017 in Kenya ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    It was worth getting up at 430 to see the sunrise in a balloon over the acres and acres and acres of beautiful savanna. Our balloon captain was originally from Alaska and had done over 6300 flights in his life. He had us get in when the basket was still on its side in an astronaut type position. We saw wildebeests and antelope from the air. Amazing.Read more

  • NIci Bush4 go on SafariTraveler
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    Bush breakfast in more ways than one

    August 1, 2017 in Kenya ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    After a successful balloon ride we were treated to what they call a bush breakfast in the safari park. Not sure how they ensure the lionesses I saw beautifully kill wildebeest last night kept away from us as we enjoyed pancakes, eggs and for the boys bacon and eggs. Luckily we were only attacked by flies - nothing bigger.Read more

  • NIci Bush4 go on SafariTraveler
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    Morning on the masa

    August 1, 2017 in Kenya ⋅ 🌙 18 °C

    After our 'bush' breakfast we joked with Daniel about what we would like to see today. We thought our list would be impossible after such an amazing afternoon yesterday. Oliver was keen to see a male lion, Emily and I wanted to see a hippopotamus and Toby was very keen to see the 'migration' - a sight of thousands of wildebeest crossing the river as they make their way from Serengeti to Masai Mara. Apparently around 1.3m wildebeest make the journey every year and many are killed by lions, crocodiles and hyenas. So we are very pleased and surprised to say we saw all our picks today.Read more

  • NIci Bush4 go on SafariTraveler
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    The migration

    August 1, 2017 in Kenya ⋅ ☀️ 39 °C

    After a late box lunch fighting off the flies we headed back to the river for the 4 th time just to check whether the wildebeest had decided to move. I am not sure what is more crazy- the wildebeest or the many safari 4x4s waiting in hope and anticipation that the crazy beasts will cross the crocodile infested river. Well we rolled up and Daniel managed to read what was happening and took a prime spot by the river just as they started to cross. I have seen it on nature programs however it is so much better in person.Read more

  • NIci Bush4 go on SafariTraveler
    drinking after her kill
    1a bit close to the vehicle for my likingPumba and pumba's mateone of the unlucky ones

    Lions vs wildebeest. guess who won?

    August 2, 2017 in Kenya ⋅ 🌧 17 °C

    Actually it was not a close contest. I am starting to feel sorry for the poor wildebeest who the locals say are made from "spare parts" because they look so odd. We went out for a last safari at Masai Mara before we head over to Tanzania tomorrow. The lionesses were in full activity and we saw 3 kills and then some baby hyenas with their mum.Read more

  • NIci Bush4 go on SafariTraveler
    i love the shower
    1view from our room - breaktakinghot water boilergiraffe just outside the campthe lodge at mara west.

    Mara West lodging

    August 2, 2017 in Kenya ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Before we leave a comment on our nice "camp" - not really a camp but a nice set of cabins and tents with nice main area and restaurant. The food is basically 3 courses cooked by the chef Peter who had been great at catering for Emily and I as vegetarians. I have seen oliver eat everything put in front of him. The hot water is heated by one of the staff coming to light a wood fire under a boiler - so when you need a shower you need to give 30 mins warning which is kind of nice.Read more

  • NIci Bush4 go on SafariTraveler
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    pot anyone ?watermelon balancingbusy market day at the border townoliver playing solitaire on his new decksaying goodbye to daniellunch fighting off the monkeys in the serengeti

    Road to the Serengeti

    August 3, 2017 in Tanzania ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    A long day travelling - Kenyan roads are not for the faint of heart as shown in the video. The border crossing from Kenya to Tanzania was pretty smooth - we tried to enter Tanzania on our British passports as all other passport holders pay $50 per person vs US passport holders pay $100. However when the guy asked where the Kenyan stamp was we had to go back to US passports. Oh well. We tried.
    We said goodbye to Daniel our Kenyan guide and said hello to our Tanzanian guide, Mike. It was like going through checkpoint Charlie. Kids got to see a lot of people living pretty hard lives of walking 5 to 8 miles to get water along the dirt road, living in shacks or mud huts. Still better than Emily's recent trip to Haiti however just continues to remind me how fortunate we are.    Read more

  • NIci Bush4 go on SafariTraveler
    right outside our tent - von der decken's hornbill
    pull up your trousers !A pile of hipposwait mum - i am trying to climb up1wierd looking tree in the barren grassland1not sure how i feel about skulls showing me the way

    Western Serengeti, where are the animals

    August 4, 2017 in Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    We now realise just how lucky we were in Masai Mara. It was like the opening scene in the Lion King with all the animals out in the Savannah. It is much more barren here ( hence the migration of the wildebeest and zebra North). However we have enjoyed seeing many many hippos ( I don't know the collective name for them), baboons and lots of very pretty African birds.Too hot for the animals to be out between 1130am and 4pm so good time for a rest and catching up on the blog.
    P.S. Emily gets credit for 90% of the animal photos. She has this amazing technique where she focuses the binoculars on an animal and then takes a photo through the binoculars with my iPhone. Better quality than the fancy cameras and a lot lighter !    Read more

  • NIci Bush4 go on SafariTraveler
    four poster bed in my tent- becoming a habit
    marble countertops - exactly what i expect under canvasnot sure how i feel about this being the name of my tent1sunset from the camplovely to have a pool even though it is freezingit is a hard liferoom service ?1

    Kirawira Serena Camp

    August 4, 2017 in Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Another "camp" experience better than most hotels. It is going to be a shock to the system when I finally do go camping again. This camp also has a beautiful view and is actually inside the safari park so we have impalas, monkeys and African birds all around us. The sunset and sunrise view is breathtaking over the Serengeti and the meals are much more upmarket than Mara West complete with linen tablecloths and silver cutlery.Read more

  • NIci Bush4 go on SafariTraveler
    1another beautiful shot by Emily
    1finally a cheetah !Cheetahcan i help you ?a beautiful one1lions have right of way. thought this was hilarious1a hyena. we have all the lion king animals present !2it is a hard lifeOn top of the world in the middle of nowheregrateful for two spare tyres

    Crossing the Serengeti

    August 5, 2017 in Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Blimey - a very long day in the truck. 10 hours in total and 9.5 of them on bumpy dusty roads. There was a roar of excitement when we hit tarmac around 5pm. We crossed from the Western side of the Serengeti to the Eastern side - detouring a couple of times as the lions were out in force and we saw our first cheetah!! We had lunch in a place where you could see for miles in all directions and I realised how happy I was our 4X4 has two spare tyres on the back.
    We left Serengeti park and into a dusty barren area where you would think that life could not be supported. Saw our first mirage of a lake in the distance and dust swirls. In amongst all this were many Masai tribes and their goats. Amazing they have enough to live on. I didn't photograph as they don't allow it. It is a particularly dry year and the dust was so bad.    Read more

  • NIci Bush4 go on SafariTraveler
    dusty and bumpy- a hard drive for Mike our guide
    such a good traveller1robbing a bank or keeping out dust - you choosefinally some green - ishthe Ngorongoro cratertarmac !!!!Acacia farm lodge. paradisejust beautiful

    Into the Ngorongoro Crater

    August 5, 2017 in Tanzania ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Just as we thought we couldn't stand the dust any more we started to climb some undulating hills and then up to a view over the Ngorongoro crater- Beautiful. Then the trees started to get greener and the foliage thicker and we moved into a completely different climate. We are staying at the Acacia Farm Lodge which has a working coffee plantation onsite just outside the small town of Karatu. Finally we are not under canvas and have a kettle in our room. Yippee !!Read more

  • NIci Bush4 go on SafariTraveler
    elephants. emily's favoritethe zebras are lovely. they help each other with fliesemily's happy face to see the elephants1a bloat of happy hippos ( now i know the word)on top of the caldera

    A beautiful morning in a "caldera"

    August 6, 2017 in Tanzania ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    Caldera was not a word I have used before now. I was reliably informed the Ngorongoro crater was not a crater but a caldera. So having looked that up it is like a sinkhole formed when a volcano collapses. The wildlife inside is isolated from the rest of the world and i can say this one was breathtaking. If I was ever picturing the garden of Eden this would be close. A salt lake with flamingos on it, wildebeest, hippos lounging in beautiful rivers, elephants, zebra, lions of course. Even saw ostriches mating and a very unusual cat called a serval - very much like the cats you see in Egyptian paintings with the big pointy ears.
    Unfortunately Emily couldn't do her trick with the binoculars as I left mine at the breakfast table at the last resort (duh) and Oliver left his in his room this morning. So I did my best with photos and videos although I don't think they capture the expanse of the caldera and the beauty in there.    Read more

  • NIci Bush4 go on SafariTraveler
    coffee trees - the latte was amazing this morning
    1the best wifi and viewing spotbeautiful fresh food herethey use tobacco plants as natural pesticides as they dont like the smell. clever ! i should try it2lovely looking pool. too cold to trya garden that would put an englishman to shameoutside dining at nightour two rooms form a lodge. as big as a house !reception area1a lovely looking avocado tree. i need to try grow one

    Acacia farm lodge

    August 6, 2017 in Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    I think this is my favourite place to stay so far. I love the lodges hidden within large expanses of greenery and I love the fact they have their own vegetable garden and small coffee plantation. All the vegetables for the restaurant come from the garden and they are delicious. We saw eggplants the size of a small melon, carrots, lettuce, cucumber. Zucchini, tomatoes, onions, spinach, melon, cabbage, potatoes. They now have a fruit garden too and in 3 years they will not have to buy any fruit either. Emily and I went on a tour of the farm and some surrounding forest and now know if we were stranded like a Masai we could at least recognise which tree is the "toilet paper tree" which is the "sandpaper tree" and which we need to cut the sap to wash our clothes. Will all come in very handy in northern Virginia I am sure.
    Tomorrow we leave after breakfast for a 3 hour ride to the airport and then onto Zanzibar which everyone tells me is beautiful.    Read more

  • NIci Bush4 go on SafariTraveler
    for leila
    saying goodbye to mikeamusing themselves at the airport1arusha airportour "lounge"3our little plane to zanzibar

    On the way to Zanzibar

    August 7, 2017 in Tanzania ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Sitting at Arusha airport which makes a normal bus station look large. Looking at the size of the plane and the fact three men push it into place, I might need Ativan. We left acacia farm lodge this morning and the kids were ready before us.
    We stopped at a couple of shopping places where Tanzanite was the big feature and lots of carved african animals. I took a photo for Leila !
    We then said goodbye to Mike our driver in Tanzania at the very rural Arusha airport.    Read more

  • NIci Bush4 go on SafariTraveler
    daddy bear needed for the bumpy flight
    1right behind the pilotour route was via tanga and one other fieldneptune resortwho said africa was barren. this could be flying over the uk11our pilot

    And relax....

    August 8, 2017 in Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Yesterdays trip to Zanzibar was definitely an introduction to African travel. Our so called direct flight to Zanzibar with 12 passengers and one pilot stopped twice before we got to Zanzibar. First at tanga and then in a field to drop off some passengers who got in a 4x4. The final passenger had to sit up front next to the pilot and we were directly behind them. The pilots classic words of "don't touch anything" will remain with me for a while. Still it was interesting and when Oliver needed the washroom in tanga we exited through the door of the cockpit.
    When we got to Zanzibar it was much more populated than the rest of the places we have been. We were relieved to see the sign with our name on in the mass of humanity outside the airport and had an hour drive to our resort. The Neptune resort is all inclusive which makes things easy and appears to be full of Russians and germans. It is lovely to rest by the beach for a day without bouncing around in a truck.
    Zanzibar is famous for spices like cardamom and cloves so tomorrow we are doing a spice tour. However today is just ..... relax.    Read more

  • NIci Bush4 go on SafariTraveler
    turmeric root
    2nutmeg with mace around it. so beautiful from the treeginger bushesvanilla vines with some green unripelooking at cardamompineapplecardamomlipstick bush - the pods open to give red/orange color seedspepper vinecloves

    What i didn't know about spices

    August 9, 2017 in Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Apparently I didn't know very much about many common spices and really enjoyed the tour of the local spice farm this morning. I didn't know both vanilla and pepper plants are vines, that the mace around a nutmeg is a beautiful bright red colour, and that there are two types of cardamom- one that grows along the forest floor and one that grows upwards.
    Whilst we wandered around with our guide his apprentice made us beautiful weaved hats, necklaces and bracelets from coconut leaves.
    We were worried TSA would not be happy about us bringing back spices so we declined however we did buy a couple of bars of turmeric and vanilla soap.    Read more

  • NIci Bush4 go on SafariTraveler
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    More from the spice farm

    August 9, 2017 in Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    A few photos of our lovely coconut leaved hats etc and a video of one of the guides climbing a huge coconut tree. Very impressive !!
    We left the spice farm around 11am and then went onto a quick tour of stone town. The old part of Zanzibar town which was small streets and lovely old buildings with beautiful carved wooden doors. Decided if we ever came back we would love to stay there instead of our all inclusive resort which is nice but not really Zanzibar.Read more

  • NIci Bush4 go on SafariTraveler
    1
    dining room and bardaddy and oliver stretchingis the water too cold ?our two balconies we on the bottom floor left1emily with her first margaritabeautiful entry fountain1

    The pwani neptune hotel, zanzibar

    August 10, 2017 in Kenya ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Sitting in the lounge in Nairobi catching up on my last post from Zanzibar about the hotel. It was a different feel than the other places we stayed - all inclusive and much larger. It had a weird mix of German honeymooners and Eastern European and French families. Not many native English speakers. Felt like we were a bit too much in a bubble away from Africa and Zanzibar culture. However after a hectic safari it was very low key and a couple of days resting was lovely. However I think we are all ready to be sleeping in our own beds.Read more

    Trip end
    August 10, 2017
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