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Safari

September 2024
A 15-day adventure by Linda & Jack Read more
  • 13footprints
  • 15days
  • 161photos
  • 27likes
  • United States
  • Kenya
  • Tanzania
  • Netherlands
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  • 20.2kmiles traveled
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  • 13footprints
  • 15days
  • 161photos
  • 27likes
  • 20.2kmiles
  • 19.7kmiles
  • 483miles
Date descending
  • Safari
    1
    Day 2

    ABQ - SLC - AMS

    September 15 in the Netherlands ⋅ ☀️ 57 °F

    The adventure begins! We had a short flight to SLC on Saturday afternoon, then a much longer one to Amsterdam (9+ hrs), landing around 9:30 am on Sunday. A Tesla taxi took us to our hotel, where they let us check in early. We dropped off our bags, found a coffee shop, then walked a few miles through the beautiful Vondelpark — with hundreds of bicyclists, runners, and other walkers all enjoying the sunny day. (And I took not one photo of them!) Our Delta-pilot nephew Douglas joined us for Jack’s birthday dinner at the hotel’s Italian restaurant. At 78 years old, Jack is still a happy globe trotter! ❤️Read more

  • Safari
    Day 3

    AMS - Tanzania

    September 16 in Tanzania ⋅ ☀️ 77 °F

    How lucky we were to have a sunny day in Amsterdam — we woke up this morning to dark clouds and rain. We caught a taxi to the airport, where it took a good 1.5 hours to get our bags and us checked in and through security — sooo many travelers! The flight to Kilimanjaro took almost 9 hours, but we only crossed into one other time zone (as opposed to 8 on Saturday/Sunday). We were surprised to receive VIP treatment when we arrived … whisked off to a VIP lounge, where our passports were stamped in a private office and snacks and beverages were supplied. Then our duffel bags were loaded into a waiting van, and the driver took us to our hotel in Arusha, an hour’s drive. A piece of birthday cake awaited Jack in our room! We’ll have to wait for morning light to see what the surroundings look like.Read more

  • Safari
    2
    Day 4

    Arusha

    September 17 in Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 79 °F

    A rest day to catch up on sleep and get acclimated. The hotel that was booked for us is definitely 5-star … and surrounded by its own coffee and tea plantations, vegetable gardens and greenhouses, chicken farm … and a good view of Mt Meru (when the clouds lift), the 2nd highest mountain in Tanzania. We took advantage of all the walking paths to explore the area — and were treated to a casual tour by several of the gardeners. Coffee beans go thru an amazing labor-intensive process before they ever get roasted. Jack enjoyed fancily-served drinks at both lunch and dinner: a Blue Hawaiian and a piña colada. Tomorrow the actual safari begins!Read more

  • Safari
    1
    Day 5

    Lake Manyara

    September 18 in Tanzania ⋅ ☀️ 79 °F

    Penuel met us after breakfast and checkout at the hotel. He’ll be our guide for 2 and a half days, luckily, because we really like him. We drove into the town of Arusha to get something at an electronics store and some local currency — Tanzanian shillings (10,000 bill = $3.67 US). Then we continued west for about 1.5 hours. Our last hotel was an oasis of green because of all the moisture coming from Mt Meru, but the land most of the rest of the way was brown — until we got to Lake Manyara National Park, which was surrounded by jungle. When they were close to the road, we saw elephants, lots of baboons, monkeys, crowned hornbills, black herons, impala, bushbucks, and a single giraffe — the only animal that seemed spooked by our vehicle and walked away from us. All the others totally ignored us, often walking right in front of or behind our Land Cruiser. Our lodge in Karatu is a bit more rustic, separate little buildings spread out among trees and a coffee plantation. At dinner on the patio, the staff surprised us with singing Happy Birthday to Jack and giving him a cake lit with sparklers!Read more

  • Safari
    23
    Day 6

    Ngorongoro Crater

    September 19 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 73 °F

    Penuel picked us up at 5:30 for an all-day drive in the immense Crater. The dirt road up the crater wall is twisty and steep, and barely wide enough for passing the huge, slow delivery trucks headed for the Serengeti — but Penuel managed to do it many times! Then there was a long drive along the rim before descending into the crater itself. This is Maasai country, as was much of yesterday’s drive. They are herders of goats and cattle, and are the only people allowed to live here. This World Heritage Site must be the best place in the world to see so many animals so easily. If you could only go to one place in Africa with guaranteed animal viewing, this is it. My iPhone photos do not do it justice. A drone video would better capture the immensity of the herds, but thank goodness no one is doing that!

    The first exciting sight of the morning was a leopard in a tree, with his meal of a baby gazelle. Our guide was especially happy as he said it’s rare to be able to observe a leopard so close. We watched him tossing his head back and forth, and didn’t notice until he finally climbed down that bees were after him. Two hyenas were waiting on the ground for a handout, but he wasn’t sharing his meal.

    Penuel said he doesn’t do “ticking safaris” — find a lion, check it off, drive off to look for the next animal on your list. He likes to watch animal behavior, and we agreed. So when we found two male lions (probably brothers) near the road sleeping in the sun (on their backs, a leg or two up in the air) we decided it was a good place to eat breakfast — and we stayed for two hours! They did wake up and look around when they heard a paper-crinkling sound, but went back to seep when they saw it was no threat.

    The other animals we saw: huge numbers of wildebeest and zebras; elephants, Cape buffalo, gazelles (both Grant and Thompson), lesser and greater pink flamingos in the lake, hippos, herons, grey crowned cranes, yellow-billed storks, sacred ibis, kites, pelicans, guinea chickens, golden jackel, warthogs, baboons, ostriches (mating), a dark-maned male lion, and a small serval cat. The animal we just missed seeing was the black rhino. When we got to the spot where people had been seeing them, they were so far in the distance that even thru binoculars we could not tell they were rhinos.    Read more

  • Safari
    3
    Day 7

    Serengeti National Park

    September 20 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 81 °F

    Breakfast and checkout from the Acacia Farm Lodge (where they sang us a farewell song), then Penuel drove us to the Lake Manyara airport. Sure wish he was our guide for the rest of the trip! Our plane was a 38-passenger Dash 8, bigger than we had expected. It was a short hop over to the Serengeti, where we landed at Kogatengo airstrip (no building, everyone waits outside) in a light rain. Raja, our guide for the next three days, met us with his canvas-topped Land Cruiser. His first words of advice: “When you need to pee just say, Raja I need to check the tires.“ He took us on a game drive on the way to our next home, the Nimali Mara, a “luxury tented lodge” built into some immense boulders. We listened to an orientation and signed a waiver about all the dangers here — the lodge and its surroundings, the game drives and the vehicles! No walking outside in the dark by yourself, you must have a staff member with you for safety — which means going to breakfast and coming back after dinner. Our place is definitely “bush luxury” — the bathroom area has a double shower and beautiful copper bathtub (I think it’s the honeymoon suite)!

    Raja took us on a second game drive after a late (gourmet) lunch. We held on to our seats for dear life as he sped over the washboard roads and bumpy single tracks until animals came into view and he would stop. On today’s game drives: fields full of wildebeest and zebras; impala, topi (antelope), warthogs, giraffes, dik-dik, baboons, elephants, eland, both male and female lions, vultures, geese, ostrich, maribou storks, and other birds that we couldn’t identify. Oh, and huge crocodiles in the Mara River! We also passed by the partial remains of a wildebeest being finished off by the maribous and vultures, and a zebra that had been recently killed by a nearby lion.

    At dinner Jack got the royal birthday treatment again — all the staff marching around the tables while singing and clapping, until they stopped and presented him with a cake. It seems our safari trip planner must have told every lodge that he was celebrating his birthday!    Read more

  • Safari
    11
    Day 8

    Serengeti 2

    September 21 in Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 84 °F

    Serengeti wake-up call: at 5:30 am a staff member is at our door with coffee and hot milk. ❤️ Half an hour later he’s back to escort us to breakfast, and then we’re off with Raja on an all-day game drive. Our butts were so sore yesterday that I couldn’t imagine what today’s bouncing would do . But by 9 am we had arrived at the Mara River and stayed for several hours. On the long drive there we saw giraffes, elephants, wildebeests and zebras, gazelles, baboons — and five hot air balloons, another way to view the huge herds here.

    There are several migration crossing spots along the Mara, and the protocol is to sit and wait to see if the wildebeest are going to cross while you’re there. We watched as long lines of these creatures (1000s of them) paced along the riverbank’s edge. Sometimes walking, sometimes running. As they moved from one area to another, the safari trucks (many dozens of them) would often head there too, en masse at breakneck speed, to get the best viewing spot. They have to stay back a certain distance until the crossing has begun, then they’re allowed to drive right up to the edge to watch the procession. I can’t help but wonder, when I see so much dust thrown up and the sound of all these engines revving — we observers must be impacting them. A virtual stampede will be heading one direction, then suddenly reverse course. At one point where the river oxbows, the wildebeests were running madly in a circle — effectively blocking any of the trucks from getting through! Park rangers are always around, making sure everyone’s complying with the rules. But I’m not sure there are enough rules. ☹️

    We caught the beginning of one crossing, until a crocodile grabbed one of the wildebeests and the rest stopped, returning back up the riverbank. A bit later there was a successful crossing — all wildebeest, no zebras or gazelles in this group, although they also migrate up to Kenya with the wildebeests. This is almost the end of the northern migration season, as the first of two rainy seasons will begin soon, increasing the amount of green grasses for them to feed on here on the Serengeti. They’ll stay up on the Masai Mara reserve until November, then begin their southern migration. (This map helped us understand the pattern: https://www.expertafrica.com/tanzania/info/sere…) I didn’t get a video of the large group going across the river, but you can easily watch the impressive event online. And I could only post the first two minutes of them running right by our truck — it went on much longer!

    We got a taste of the rainy season. Around 1:00 we started hearing thunder, and by 2:00 a full deluge was upon us. We had seen enough, so began the long trek home. First Raja brought out the fleece-lined ponchos for us (very warm and cozy!) but when too much rain started blowing in we stopped and rolled down the canvas sides. So much rain fell that we encountered new creeks and many puddles on the route back. The area around our camp, however, was dry.    Read more

  • Safari
    1
    31
    Day 9

    Serengeti 3

    September 22 in Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 84 °F

    Raja said that today’s goal was to see cats — and we did. We watched a lioness stalking something, ever so slowly, one paw forward, then waiting … moving soooo slowly. Finally, we saw a warthog run out from behind a rock … and the lioness gave up. Warthogs can sprint short distances and lions don’t typically chase down their prey. Later we saw two lionesses sleeping under an acacia tree. And still later, three cheetahs — which Raja referred to as a “coalition of cheetahs,” a group of 2-3 males who hunt and defend their territory together.

    The best giraffe sighting was a big guy who walked right up to the truck and stared at us for a while. I think he won that contest! We encountered more babies today: an ostrich chick trying to keep up behind his dad … a group of warthogs with babies — who are so much cuter than the adults … and a small herd of topi antelope with several youngsters. We stopped next to a young leopard tortoise as he crawled off the track. They can grow to be 18” and he was only about 8”.

    With an early return to camp, Jack got an in-room massage and I tried out the cool-tub just outside our deck. Tonight being our last night here, the lodge staff treated us to their Sundown ceremony — on a huge nearby rock, they built a fire and set out drinks and snacks for us to enjoy with the sunset.

    Check out my pedometer photo: three days of game drives with Raja = 315 staircases and 16.3 miles of bouncing up and down!    Read more

  • Safari
    123
    Day 10

    Crossing to Masai Mara, Kenya

    September 23 in Kenya ⋅ ☁️ 79 °F

    Some mornings at breakfast we see giraffes below our dining deck, this morning there were buffalo. Then Raja took us on the bone-jarring, tooth-rattling, tailbone-bruising 45-minute ride back to Kogatende airstrip (which does have an inside waiting room after all). Our plane was a Cessna Caravan, with only 3 other passengers until we stopped at Lemai airstrip and picked up 2 more. At Tarime airstrip 6 of us deplaned and hopped into a van to cross the border by land. Thank goodness the road here was paved!

    It was about a 20-minute drive to the border town, where the exit Tanzania/enter Kenya process was quick and efficient. 30 minutes later we arrived at the Migori airstrip (which is labeled on google maps as an “international” airport — maybe because it’s paved?!). Our next flight was also a Caravan, room for 12 passengers, with a center aisle barely 6” wide! We got off at the 2nd stop, our camp’s private airstrip, and were greeted with drinks and washcloths (the greeting at every lodge as well). Our camp, andBeyond Kichwa Tembo, was only a short drive away, in a beautiful wooded area at the base of the escarpment. We are now on the Masai Mara, where those wildebeests on the Serengeti were headed when they crossed the Mara River.

    After the orientation we were walked to our room, most of which is a canvas tent with screening for windows — but pretty comfortable inside! After a buffet lunch in the open dining area, we met our guide Charity — one of the very few female safari guides in Tanzania or Kenya. We shared the late-afternoon drive with a couple from Annapolis, Susannah and Chris. Right outside camp there were a *lot* of giraffes, but our favorite sight was the “necking” giraffes — young males trying out the dominance behavior that they’ll use as adults. Just before dusk, we went speeding over to the area where black rhinos had been spotted. There were five that we could easily see before they headed for the bushes, but it was too dark to take photos. Charity told us that with all the wildebeest that are here temporarily, the rhinos are a little more skittish than usual.    Read more

  • Safari
    22
    Day 11

    Masai Mara

    September 24 in Kenya ⋅ ☁️ 81 °F

    Did you notice the little thing that looks like a mailbox on the side of our lodge? It’s the door they deliver our wake-up coffee through! We met Charity, Susannah and Chris in the bar to plan what we wanted to see, and were served yet more coffee (always with hot milk). A hot air balloon floated low over the camp, 4 others were visible in the distance ($600 per person — for about an hour’s ride!). Shortly after leaving camp we drove past the hyena den, where the babies and adults were out and about. We spent some time down at the edge of the Mara River, as did several other vehicles, because the wildebeest were herding up and moving around restlessly nearby. A crossing looked imminent … but didn’t happen until later that afternoon, we heard. Among the rapids we spotted a couple of hippos and several wildebeest carcasses. I read that of the 1.5 million creatures that migrate, 250,000 wildebeest die each year — and the river crossing is the most dangerous place due to steep banks, strong currents, and hungry crocodiles.

    We came back for a late breakfast, then had our first real break. Time to shower, write, organize photos, rest, and have a leisurely lunch. The wildlife that lives within the camp’s fenced perimeter includes warthogs, mongoose (banded and dwarf), monkeys, and tree hyrax. We had seen rock hyrax at our Serengeti lodge — cute little critters resembling rabbits without the long ears. Here they live in tree hollows, are nocturnal, and make a shrieking noise that sounds like someone is being murdered! A mama and 2 babies were visible in the large tree by our lunch table, while the warthogs grazed on the lawn (kneeling because of short neck muscles) and a group of banded mongooses charged by.

    Off on an afternoon game drive at 4:00, and another sighting of the elusive black rhinos as three of them slipped into the bushes. We returned to camp in time for a Maasai performance around a fire near the bar — popcorn and drinks served all around as we waited for it to begin. At supper, we were shown to a special table all set up for — you guessed it — another birthday celebration!    Read more

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