Farewells.

I had said most of my goodbyes last night as everyone else was gifted a sleep in a part from those who were leaving the tour today. But it was still quite sad, taking everything off the truck, saying goodbye to Joe and Josh, our guide, and our driver, and boarding my shuttle. They were great and quite patient with what ended up being an impatient group. Regardless, I would miss the crew, the kiwis especially as we had all grown to be quite close after a month of traversing the challenges associated with managing a budget tour. Nonetheless, I had to move on, and I am glad to have met them all. What lie ahead was a long day of driving, though not as long as I had expected, and then a lot of waiting. I was very used to the big yellow truck that takes double the amount of time to get anywhere due to its size. When I expected to arrive at 5 pm at the airport, we actually arrived at 2 pm. As such, the option to sleep overnight at the airport diminished. In the end, they said I was too early to enter the airport, but they were very nice and were happy to try and organise accommodation. They tried to get me to go to the expensive ones right next to the airport, but I had already enquired at a much cheaper place at a reduced rate because my stay was quite short. They were still very helpful in organising me a taxi to the accommodation and one back to the airport at 1 am. Although Kenya is quite safe, the capital of Nairobi is not necessarily, and so I was nervous about having to organise a taxi at that time. But, this way, my safety was assured. In the end, it was a good idea. It was 100 aud total, but I got a stress free taxi ride, and actually a quite nice hotel that I could shower and rest at. I arrived at about 3 pm and decided I would drop my stuff off and go try some African KFC. It was quite good, but more than anything, the customer service was great, yes even at KFC. The people in Kenya are amazing and so helpful. I got chatting to one of the workers who had been to Sydney and Perth. We spoke for quite a while before eventually I made my order and sat down to eat. Before i left, I got some snacks for my time in Madagascar, as there doesn't appear to be many supermarkets in Nosy Be. After all this, I fell asleep at about 6 pm, I thought I would struggle, but clearly enough late nights assisted with going straight to sleep. In fact, I fell asleep almost instantly. This meant I woke up at midnight, having got 6 hours of sleep. Not too bad at all. Then the travel day begins.

I have compiled a summarised list of all the significant animals that were spotted during my month long tour of East Africa as well as the locations in which they were spotted. This may help with African travel planning.

They are categorised based on an East African Animal book, with some facts included where possible.

Big cats
- Leopard - Masai briefly & lake Nakuru up close
- Cheetah - Masai, fastest land animal - up to 112km but only for 300m
- Lion - Masai, lake nakuru, ngorongoro really closely - females catch the food and males fight among themselves

Small cats
- Wildcat - haven’t seen yet
- Serval - haven’t seen yet
- Caracal - haven’t seen yet

Ground primates
- Olive baboon - ngorogoro and other places - best defence is to run up trees and shower intruders with liquid excrement. Bad night vision.
- Chimpanzees - haven’t seen yet
- Vervet monkey - seen at hike in campsite before Serengeti
- Mountain gorilla - Bwindi

Arboreal primates (trees)
- Greater galago - haven’t seen yet
- Black and white colobus - haven’t seen yet
- Blue monkey - haven’t seen yet

Cud chewing mammals
- Wildebeest - everywhere
- Thomsons gazelle - everywhere
- American buffalo - everywhere, most aggressive animal
- Gerenuk - haven’t seen yet
- Uganda kob - haven’t seen yet

Hoofed mammals
- Giraffes - everywhere, both Rothschild and Masai
- African Elephant - everywhere, great night vision, can climb nearly vertical
- Plains Zebra - everywhere
- Black rhino & white rhino - At lake Naikuru. Black more aggressive. Ziwa just white rhinos. White with bump. Black feed in bushes and babies follow the mum whereas white feed in long grass and babies in front
- Rock hyrax - Hells gate and morning hike Serengeti
- Hippos - Seen at Masai (broken leg), lake Nakuru, lake Mboro, Serengeti, and ngorongoro. Kill the most people can’t swim, tread water and stay there to cool down & protect themselves from sunburn.
- Warthog - everywhere, bend on their legs when they eat because they can’t reach the grass

Carnivores
- banded mongoose - in Serengeti, popped heads up
- Hyena - everywhere. Female has a pseudo penis - anal, give birth & signal
- Black back Jackal - Masai, Serengeti
- Golden jackal - ngorogoro
- Hunting dog - haven't seen yet
- Honey badger - haven’t seen yet

Birds of prey
- White-backed vulture - seen Serengeti
- African fish eagle - lake mboro and ngorogoro
- Secretary bird - Serengeti and ngorogoro
- Bateleur - seen unsure
- Augur buzzard - ngorogoro

Other birds
- Lilac breasted roller - Kenya national bird, Masai
- Lesser flamingo and greater flamingo - Lake naikuru and ngorogoro
- Ostrich - Serengeti, Masai, Ngorongoro
- Shoebill - seen where?
- Grey-crowned crane - On the way to Uganda & in Kenya, national bird Uganda, ngorogoroRead more