| Welcome
to Digital Africa 2004 (or as they say in Swahili, "Karibu!")!
After a three-year hiatus, I re-introduced myself to international
travel in November 2004 with a 3-week vacation to Africa.
My iteniary included a safari in Kenya and Tanzania, followed
by brief visits to Cape Town (South Africa) and Victoria Falls.
In order to keep folks back home apprised of my status, I
maintained a daily journal while I was away, and uploaded
it to my web site on those rare occasions I found myself at
a lodge with internet access. Much like my 2003
Sedona journal the year before, the daily contributions
included a summary of the day's events, along with a sampling
of photos. Given the time constraints, I kept things pretty
simple, with plans to "pretty up" this page when
I got back home. Unfortunately, I have been slammed with work
and other obligations, and have not had time to do any real
work on my web site in quite some time. Thus, this page is
still very rough and temporary. Hopefully, I will get some
time soon to convert this page to a format similar to the
Sedona journal, and also add an official Africa section to
my Travel Gallery. In the meantime, enjoy the story! :)
Introduction
Safari Part 1 (Kenya)
Safari Part 2 (Tanzania)
Cape Town (South Africa)
Victoria Falls (Zambia and Zimbabwe)
Latest update
|
Photos Copyright © 2006 by Donna S. Duncan
|
Location: Flight 2192 en route to
London/Gatwick, connecting to Nairobi, Kenya
Well, after an unusually lengthy and difficult few weeks of
planning/preparation for this trip, I am finally on a plane
en route to Africa! I will first go to London Gatwick,
then take a bus over to the London Heathrow airport.
From there, I'll get on a plane that takes me the remainder of
the way to Kenya.
There's not much interesting to tell
about today (I'll spare everyone the lengthy story about the numerous
"glitches" that came up in the weeks leading up to my
departure). Instead, I will take a few minutes to write about
where I'll be going on my African vacation. I will be arriving in Nairobi, Kenya at about 9:00pm
tonight. I will be spending the night at the Safari Park
Hotel. Tomorrow morning, the safari portion of my
vacation will begin. The tour will start at the Masai Mara National Reserve. From there, the
group will visit the Great Rift Valley and onto the Amboseli
National Park. On November 29 through December 1, we
will be at the Serengeti National Park. The safari leg
of the tour ends at the Ngorongoro Crater on December 3.
On December 4, I will head to Cape Town for two days, then
Victoria Falls on December 7. I am currently scheduled
to return home on December 10. This isn't likely to
change at this point (the extension I was trying to add for
Sun City and Kruger Park didn't materialized).
I was told by the tour company that I should have
internet access while I'm there. However, I do not know
if it will be of sufficient quality to allow uploading images
or even log entries. To the extent I am able and have
time to do it, I will try to post
some pictures and commentary each day I am gone. So,
keep watching this space for updates.
Location: Flight 65 en route to Nairobi,
Kenya
In less than two hours, I should be stepping out on
my 5th continent (only two more to go!). The "glitches"
continue, however. Thanks to the traffic during the
Gatwick to Heathrow transfer, I barely made my connection.
(But I did meet a nice couple from Kenya on the bus who
taught me a few Swahili words and told me a little about
the country). Fortunately, another "glitch"
got me on the plane before it took off -- a passenger changed
their mind about flying and so the airline had to remove
their checked luggage. Then, the airline had to get
an engineer from the airport to correct a problem disconnecting
the gate from the aircraft. Then lastly, about four
hours into the flight, having finally succeeded in getting
some meaningful sleep, I went to clean my contact lenses
and the left one BROKE IN TWO!!! How weird is that??
I am lucky that I always carry a spare pair (and doubly
lucky that the one that broke was the left one -- that prescription
hasn't changed significantly in years, so my replacement
is nearly as good as the one that broke). Anyway,
this has been pretty typical of how the past two weeks have
gone, so I thought it was worth a second log entry, and
maybe a couple of laughs to those in my family and friends
who are privy to the whole story. The next entry should
come from Africa.
Location: Safari Park Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya
Well, it was a long and tiring journey, but I
finally made it! After the slightly-delayed flight, and
a long line to get my visa, I arrived at my hotel around
midnight. On my way here, the driver told me a bit about
what to expect. There will either been two or three game
drives on most days. The morning and afternoon drives
are the best for seeing the animals, because they hide from
the heat during the mid-day drive. The morning drive
starts at 6:00am and lasts about two hours. Afterwards,
they bring us back to the lodge for breakfast, and then we go
on the mid-day game drive. There is a two-hour rest and
relaxation period after that, then we take the afternoon
drive. I also found out some good news -- because I am
here at kind of an "off" time (which, by the way, he said this
is really the best time to be here, despite it being the
"short rain" season), I do not have to worry about weight
limits or the number of bags I have. There are only 5
people on the tour, so they said I will be able to take all
three of the bags I brought--no need to leave anything behind
with hotel security, or agonize over whether I'll want to wear
shorts or jeans, or whether I can take my camera's external
flash along in case I need it after all, etc. :)
The hotel I stayed in for my first night is awesome--way
nicer than I expected (and infinitely better than the
accommodations I had in Australia a few years ago). Something in the room made just
the right amount of "white noise" for my insomniac self to get
to sleep quickly once I finally got to bed. By 4:00am, I
was wide awake and utterly unable to get back to sleep.
I guess this is either due to jet lag (although it SHOULD have
been about bed-time back home??), or perhaps the sleep I got
on the plane yesterday was even more helpful than I thought.
In any event, although I really didn't need to be up until
6:00am today, I am not going to complain too much about my
early wakeup. It gave me time to write this entry, take
my time getting ready, and actually relax for the first time
in weeks. It also bodes well for the morning game drives
if I can be up and at 'em at 4:00am every morning. :)
Other than the fact I've sneezed about 200 times so far (due
to allergies or the slight cold I caught just before leaving),
it's been a pretty good morning.
I still don't know how much internet access I will have
while I am here. This morning will be a little test.
As soon as I copy this over to my handy jump drive I brought
along, I will go down to eat breakfast, then head over to the
business center to try this out. I guess if you're
reading this, it meant I was able to upload it ok. :)
Location: Sara Sopa Lodge near Masai Mara,
Kenya
Well, so much for best laid plans. I was unable to
upload the journal this morning due to the business center
being closed, and now it sounds like there
probably will not be any internet access at all until after
the end of the safari part of the trip. I guess that
gives me plenty of time to get the pictures ready. I
will go ahead and maintain this log daily anyway, and will
post it all at once when I get back to the Safari Park Hotel
on December 4.
The Pollman representative met me at the hotel reception
desk as promised this morning, along with the guide/driver for
the trip. We then went to another hotel to retrieve the
other 5 people on this tour. There are two couples from
Belgium and another single traveler from Luxembourg in
addition to me. Our guide's name is Fadhil, but he says
to call him Baf, which is short for "baba Fadhil",
or "father of Fadhil" (he has a son named after him). This was to make it easy to remember
and pronounce, but I think so far we have "Buff", "Biff", "Baff",
and "Boff" -- everyone has their own way of pronouncing it.
("Buff" seems to be the closest approximation).
Most of today was spent traveling to Masai Mara from
Nairobi. A couple of hours after we arrived at Masai
Mara, we took our first game drive. It started raining
near the end, but not before we saw cranes, antelopes,
gazelles, lions, and the cutest baby elephant ever!
Jet lag (and motion sickness) finally set in with a vengeance on the way back
to the lodge. Therefore, I am going to keep today's
entry short and just include some pictures. If I get a
chance tomorrow, I will write some more about the trip from
Nairobi to Masai Mara, and my initial impressions of Kenya and
Africa. For now, enjoy the pictures!
Crowned Cranes
Antelope (trust me,
you don't want to know what he's doing!)
Mama and baby elephant
The cutest baby
elephant ever!
Elephant herd
Zebras
Lion (1)
Lion (2)
Lion (3)
Lion (4)
Gazelle
Location: Sara Sopa Lodge near Masai Mara,
Kenya
Today was an amazing all day game drive starting at
7:30am until about an hour ago. As I sit here watching
the 400+ pictures I took transfer off of the camera, I still
cannot believe how many different kinds of animals we saw.
There were elephants, giraffes, gazelles, zebras, antelope,
lions, a rhino, and a cheetah, among others. I was
especially impressed by the number of lions. According
to Baf (the guide), it is rare to see so many. We saw an
entire pack at one point. The cheetah was the highlight
of the day, however. Baf had been looking to spot
one all day. He heard about it over the CB radio, said
"excuse me" (instead of the usual "ok?") and started driving as
fast as the road would allow. We knew it was something
"big".
After the game drive, we visited a Masai village.
Here, I find I have a large amount of writer's block.
I'm not sure how I can describe the conditions where these
people live. They are very friendly, but they live in
a kind of poverty that is impossible to imagine without
actually seeing it. They requested $15 US
from each person to tour their village. They said they
use this for the school and the community. They started
by doing two ritual greetings--one for the men and one for the
women. The greeting for the men was the more memorable
of the two. The men sang and danced, then had a sort of
competition where they each jumped into the air 3-4 times.
The idea is to be the one who jumps the highest. The
women's greeted us with singing and a bit of dancing, but
nothing like the men's jumping contest. After the
greetings, they took us into the village to show us around and
answer our questions. We also went inside their
houses. If I understood correctly, the houses are made
of dried cow dung and sticks. They are designed to last
about 9 years, after which the entire village will move
elsewhere. There are flies everywhere, because
the Masai literally live with their livestock. Goats
roam freely throughout the village, and judging from the
abundance of cow dung, so do their cattle. (When I
stepped in a fresh pile, one of them told me that was "good
luck"). There was even a goat living in the house I
visited. The houses are pitch-black dark, and very
cramped. In the one I visited, they were cooking, so it
was also very hot (like sauna hot). After the tour, they
took us to their shop, where they were selling hand-made
crafts.
Yesterday, I said that I would write a little more about
the trip from Nairobi to Masai Mara and my initial impressions
of Kenya. The first thing I noticed in Nairobi was how
crowded it is. There seems to be a person in every
square foot of the city! The traffic was horrible--it
took forever to get from my hotel over to another hotel where
the rest of the people on this tour were staying. The
other thing I noticed was the poverty, both inside and outside
Nairobi. Lastly, the roads are abysmal by US standards.
If I ever come to Africa again, at the top of my list will be
Dramamine, or some other car-sickness drug. However, the
country is also very beautiful. It is currently the
"short rain" season, which means the occasional 15-minute
downpour causes us to scramble to put the vehicle's roof down.
It also means that when the sun is shining (and it
usually is except for those 15-minute outbursts), the sky is
filled with clouds that reflect the light in amazing ways.
I'm afraid my photos aren't doing it justice. And there
is certainly no shortage of animals to see, at least in Masai
Mara. Baf told us initially that it was rare to
see lions, and yet we saw so many today that it almost became
"oh yeah, another lion". We also saw a black
rhino, albeit from a distance, but seeing one at all is
apparently a rarity. So, we are very lucky.
Having only seen these animals in zoos, it was
interesting to see how in "real life", they all live together.
You don't see a herd of zebras here, a herd of antelope there,
etc. Instead, you see zebras, antelopes, gazelles, etc.
all in one herd. They look out for each other. For
example, the wildebeest herd had several zebras among them.
Baf said the zebras have good hearing and alert the
wildebeests of danger. The zebras, on the other hand,
benefit because the wildebeests know where there's plenty of
food. So it all kind of balances out.
Well, I could write more, but dinner is in about half an
hour, and I want to pick out some photos to complete this
entry. Until next time...
Masai Giraffe
Baby Masai ostriches running from the
camera
Grant Gazelles
Lion (1)
Lion (2)
Black-faced Monkey
Hippos
Common Zebra
Cheetah (1)
Cheetah (2)
Masai men greeting dance
Thierry (one of our tour group travelers)
participates in the jumping contest
One of our Masai hosts
Masai houses
A Masai child
Location: Lake Nakuru Lodge
Our good luck continues, both in regard to weather and
the number and types of animals we are seeing. Perhaps
all the glitches I had leading up to this trip were only to
balance things out? In any case, we continue to have
good photo opportunities everywhere, and so far, the rain
really hasn't spoiled anything significant.
This morning, however, it appeared that for the first
time this trip, the "rainy season" was going to live up to its
name. It was pouring when I woke up, and continued
pouring the entire time I was getting ready (the longest
period of continuous rain I've seen since I got here).
During the drive from the Sara Sopa Lodge to Lake Nakuru
(several hours), it continued to rain and be dark and cloudy
all the way. But by the time we had finished eating a
late lunch at Lake Nakuru lodge, the sun came out just in time
for our game drive! One of the ladies on the tour said
she had prayed for good weather. I guess it must have
worked!
The main point to today's game drive was the enormous
flock of flamingos on Lake Nakuru. There are thousands
of them. From a distance, it appears the water is pink
around the edges. The flamingos cover the lake so
thickly that they appear as a pink blanket over it.
We also saw several Rothschilds giraffes--another animal
that is supposed to be a "rarity", but showed up in abundance
for us. We saw buffalo and baboons as well, along with
the usual assortment of zebras, gazelles, and antelope.
The only thing lacking was the leopard--Baf (our guide) heard about
one over the radio, but by the time we got there, it was
already gone. We did see lots of rhinos, though, up
close and personal, as well as the water buffalo. So we
have now seen four of the "big five" up close, and only the
leopard remains.
Olive Baboon (1)
Olive Baboon (2)
Yellow Billed Stork
Lake Nakuru Flamingos
(1)
Lake Nakuru Flamingos (2)
Lake Nakuru Flamingos
(3)
White Rhino (1)
White Rhino herd
Rothschilds Giraffe (1)
Rothschilds Giraffe (2)
White Rhino (2)
Lake Nakuru (1)
Lake Nakuru (2)
Dikdiks
Rothschilds Giraffe couple
Location: Amboseli Serena Lodge
Yesterday was mostly a driving day. We left Masai
Mara and headed toward Amboseli National Park, stopping in
Nairobi for lunch. I was able to check my e-mail and
clear out the "spam", but was not able to upload the web log
(no USB ports functioning on the computers). So, now it
appears I will probably not be able to upload this journal
until December 3 at the earliest, and most likely not until I
reach Cape Town on December 4 (and only then if I have time,
since I'm only there for two days).
The drive to Amboseli was uneventful. Not much to
tell, just miles and miles (or kilometers and kilometers in
this country) of Masai farms and small towns. I really
didn't shoot many photos along the way, except at a couple of
shops we stopped at. One had some artists working, and
they welcomed photography. The other had lots of pretty
flowering trees all around, so I went to each one and took a
photo. The only other picture I shot was a tree with the
sun behind it as we drove across the currently-dry Lake
Amboseli bed. It's about as close as I've come to a good
sunset shot so far (we aren't really having sunsets because of
the thick cloud cover near the horizon).
Today we had early morning and afternoon game drives. We left
at 6:30am for the first one, hence why I decided to forgo the web log update
last night (well, in conjunction with there just not being
much to say or show). For the most part, the animals
here are pretty similar to the ones we saw at Masai Mara.
The difference is terrain. Here, it is barren all across
the Amboseli lake bed except for a little marsh area where
water still stands. Elephants and other animals bathe in
the marsh. Zebras and gnus (wildebeests) are also very
common, and we have seen a number of ostriches as well.
We have not, however, seen any big cats other than a pair of
cheetahs that were so far away they were not really possible
to photograph.
View on the road to Amboseli
Some flowers in front of a shop
From the Amboseli lake bed (the closest thing to a sunset shot so far)
Elephants at Amboseli (1)
Elephants at Amboseli (2)
Elephants at Amboseli (3)
Amboseli with Mount Meru in the distance
Amboseli with Mount Kilimanjaro (Africa's highest mountain) in the distance
View at Amboseli (1)
View at Amboseli (2)
View at Amboseli (3)
View at Amboseli (4)
Wildebeest
Elephants cooling down at Amboseli
Elephants crossing in front of Mt. Kilimanjaro
Location: Lake Manyara Serena Lodge (Tanzania)
At the time I wrote yesterday's entry in the afternoon,
we had taken two game drives in Amboseli, plus the drive to
the lodge the evening before, without seeing a single lion.
Yesterday evening, however, we saw what may be the most
awesome thing we've seen so far -- a lioness with about a
dozen or so cubs eating a fresh kill. Not only that, but
they were probably less than a yard from the side of the road.
I guess the only thing that would have made it better would
have been if they had been on the other side where the
lighting would have been better for photos. But that's
being pretty picky. :)
Today we crossed over the Tanzania border where we said
goodbye to our Kenyan guide, Baf and one of the ladies on the
tour. I am now the lone single traveler with the two
Belgian couples being the other four in the group. Our Tanzanian
guide met us at the border. His name is Alphonce.
We have not yet done a game drive in Tanzania. We will
do one tomorrow morning at 8:00am en route to our lodge in the
Serengeti National Park.
We have the evening off, which is good because I was
falling behind on managing my photos. I got interrupted
yesterday before I finished adding the photos to the web
log, which is an important part of keeping straight which
photos went with which game drive/location. There aren't
many new photos today other than a couple of the
lioness-and-cubs shots (I have many more which I will do
lighting-repair on in Photoshop, and post to my web site at a
later date), a very blurry group photo, a funny sign, and a
nice view on the way to Manyara (but not as nice as the one we
passed before we found a place to pull over!).
The lodge we
are staying at for this one night has internet access, so I
will try once again to upload this log. In the event I
am successful, the next update probably WILL come from Cape
Town or when I get home (I get the impression that this is the
Tanzanian version of the Safari Park Hotel--i.e., the one with
all the "luxuries" to start off before we journey to slightly
more "rustic" accommodations).
Lioness and cubs eating (1)
Lioness and cubs eating (2)
Group photo (sorry about the quality; the guy who took it moved the camera--twice!)
A funny sign I spotted (see third line)
View near Lake Manyara
Location: Serengeti Sopa Lodge
Today started with a beautiful sunrise and ended with a
drive through the Serengeti en route to the Serengeti Sopa
Lodge, where we'll be staying for the next two days. We
visited the Lake Manyara National Park this morning.
There wasn't very much to see there, and after about an
hour of nice vegetation and not much else, we elected to leave
the park early so we could take somewhat of a game drive
through Serengeti instead. The main attraction at
Serengeti so far seems to be the thousands of wildebeests that
are migrating through at the moment.
Our lodge at Serengeti is very nice (aside from lack of
internet access and phone in the room, probably the nicest
we've stayed at so far). There are king-sized beds,
which is a welcome change from the itsy-bitsy "roll over and
fall into the floor" beds we've had the past few nights.
And there is even a refrigerator, which is something we
haven't had in any other lodge so far. I can have cold
bottled water in the morning. :) The only down
side is the bugs. There are various insects all over
(I'm brushing one aside even as I write this). Hopefully
the mosquito net will keep out most of them when I got to bed
here shortly.
Tomorrow we have an all-day game drive through Serengeti
starting at 8:00am. With any luck, we'll spot some more
cheetahs (at least that's what Alphonce tells us). So,
in the interest of being well-rested for what will probably be
a very long day, I am going to end this now and get some
sleep.
Sunrise (1)
Sunrise (2)
Sunrise (3)
Elephant around a rock (1)
Elephant around a rock (2)
Water Buffalo
Shrike
Monkey
Termite Mound
Masai Giraffe
Masai Giraffe closeup
Hartebeest
Wildebeests
Sunset (sorta!)
Location: Serengeti Sopa Lodge
It had all the makings of a good day when we started
out. We passed by the wildebeest migration numerous
times in the morning, then headed out to a spot that is known
to be a hanging out place for lions. There, we saw lots
of lions and cubs. The over-abundance of flies spoiled
most of the photos, but some of the cub photos turned out ok,
and those are the most important seeing as how I had many,
many lion shots already from our time at Masai Mara.
Later on, we even saw a lion in a tree, which is apparently a
rare thing, and it is considered very lucky to see one. Other than lions and thousands upon thousands of wildebeests
(and a large number of zebras that travel with them), about
the only other significant photos I took today were of the
various birds and rodents at the picnic area where we had
lunch, and some hippos we spotted during the cheetah search.
After the lion and wildebeest viewing, we started the
long look for a cheetah, again in a place where they are known
to hang out. We didn't see a single one despite hours of
searching. To make matters worse (for me, at
least), shortly after we had our picnic lunch I started
feeling even more queasy than usual. When the group
voted to end the game drive early for an evening of rest, I
didn't object. I barely made it to my room before, shall
we say, lunch paid a return visit. I decided to skip
dinner tonight and have it brought to my room. I laid
down for a nap, then when I got up to answer the door for the
guy bringing the food, I knew it was bad news. I was
cold for the first time since I got here (even had to close
the windows), and had to step into the restroom to purge the
rest of lunch before the guy was finished setting up the
plate. :( He was concerned, so he sent the lodge's
doctor to my room. The
doctor thinks that I may be having a reaction to the Malarone--something
I was starting to suspect anyway, so I wasn't too surprised
when he asked right away what I was taking for Malaria
prevention, and said the symptoms I am having are one of the
side-effects. It is either that or some kind of food
poisoning most likely. I borrowed a thermometer from one
of the guys on the tour and I do indeed have a fever.
So, I am going to end this now and follow the doctor's
orders--two Advil to relax the stomach muscles and early
bedtime.
Cubs (1)
Cubs (2)
Cub close-up (1)
Cub close-up (2)
Young Lion
Wildebeests
Lion in a tree (1)
Lion in a tree (2)
Lion in a tree (3)
Hippos (1)
Hippos (2)
Night Heron
Zebras and Wildebeests (1)
Zebras and Wildebeests (2)
Baby Zebra and Mom
Wildebeest close-up (aren't they ugly?)
Ground Hornbill
Unknown bird at the picnic area
Another unknown bird at the picnic area
Yet another unknown bird at the picnic area
Rock Haresk
Baby Hippo
Giraffe and Hippos (will brighten this image later)
Hyena
Guinneafowl
Lions asleep under a tree
Location:
Sopa Lodge
Today we left Serengeti for the final leg of the safari
part of the trip for me (the other four are headed to Mombasa,
and I am headed for South Africa's Cape Town after this). There
isn't much to tell today. I am still feeling very weak
and tired from yesterday's illness. I'm no longer 100%
sure it is just a reaction to Malarone. I'm starting to
think it may have been a stomach virus. Therefore, when
the group elected to visit another village this morning, I
declined to join them. First of all, it was a good
opportunity to take a much needed nap when the vehicle wasn't
moving, and second of all, if I DID have a virus, I didn't
want to spread it to the villagers. We still didn't see
a cheetah today, even though we took a route out of the park
where cheetahs are often found. But we did see a Serval
cat as we neared Ngorongoro, and to be honest--since we got
such a nice look at a cheetah at Masai Mara--I am happy that
we saw something different.
We had lunch at a picnic spot over Olduvai Gorge.
After we ate, there was a brief lecture about how the gorge
got its name (it was named by the Masai after the Oldupai(sp?)
plant that grows profusely in the Gorge, but the German
scientists who first explored the Gorge mispronounced it "Olduvai",
and the name stuck). I took a photo of a rock formation
I spotted in the Gorge on the way to the restrooms. I
was still feeling pretty bad, though, so I went back to the
vehicle for another short nap while the others visited the
museum (and anyone who knows me very well knows that if I am
able to even get to sleep in the time it would take someone to
explore a museum or visit a village--let along get any
meaningful rest--then there is definitely something wrong).
There is still a general malaise hanging over me this
evening. While I don't feel nauseated and feverish the
way I did last night, I don't feel like doing the 2-hour
dinner thing either, especially since we have an early morning
game drive tomorrow. (And then there's that not wanting
to spread it to others thing, in case I have something
contagious--although the other four in the group are probably
doomed to get it anyway if that is the case since we've all
been in the same vehicle together). So I have once again
requested dinner be served in my room. I will eat and go
to bed early, and hopefully be able to resume enjoyment of my
vacation tomorrow.
Hyena
Lioness and cubs
Rock formation at Olduvai Gorge
Ngorongoro Crater (1)
Ngorongoro Crater (2)
Serval Cat
Ngorongoro Crater (3)
Location:
Sopa Lodge
Today was the last of the game drives, and it was a
doozy. We went in a 4X4 driven by a different guide,
Emmanuel (I think that's how he spelled it--pronounced the
same as the baby Jesus, anyway :) ). We saw the
familiar abundance of wildebeest/zebra herds, of course, but
we also saw lots of cheetahs (at least 5, and maybe more
depending on whether we saw the same mom-and-cubs twice or two
different mom-and-cubs). Unfortunately, none of the
cheetahs were close enough for a really good photo, but we got
to see a little of how they hunt. One of the cheetahs we
saw was tracking a gazelle. It didn't stand a chance of
catching it--the gazelle was aware of the cheetah's presence,
and kept a healthy distance away, but it gave a bit of insight
into the hunting process anyway. For starters, one would
think that at the first sign of a cheetah, the gazelle would
run away as fast as possible in the opposite direction.
Instead, the two played a sort of cat-and-mouse type game.
The gazelle approached the cheetah, but never close enough for
the cheetah to really attack. The cheetah never really
tried either. It snuck behind rocks and bushes, but
never got close enough to make the kill. We watched for
about 15 minutes before moving on.
We also saw jackals, hyenas, hippos, flamingos, eagles,
ostriches, lions, and some others. As for the mystery
illness that has been hanging over me for the past few days,
aside from still feeling way sleepier than I should given
the 10 or so hours of sleep last night, I think I'm pretty
much over it, assuming the resumption of Malarone doesn't make
it return. In fact, I will probably even join the group
for dinner tonight for the first time in three days.
Baby Chamelion
Fish Eagle (1)
Fish Eagle (2)
Baby Zebra (2-3 days old)
Hyena
Wildebeests and Zebras (1)
Wildebeests and Zebras (2)
Eland Antelope
Hyenas over a kill
Black-billed Bustard
Cheetah stretching by a pond
Crowned Plover
Velvet Monkey
Group photo at Ngorongoro
Black Rhino (yes, that's as close as we could get :( )
Cheetah looking to hunt (1)
Cheetah looking to hunt (2)
Cheetah hunting a gazelle
Warthog
Kori Bustard
Black-backed Jackal
Lions resting (1)
Lions resting (2)
Ominous clouds over a lake
Pregnant Lioness
Thompson Gazelles alert to the presence of a cheetah
Cheetah giving us the "how dare you interrupt my hunting" look
Cheetahs patiently awaiting the right moment
Flamingos (1)
Flamingos (2)
Hippo yawning
Baby Hippo and mom
Location: A safari van somewhere between
Arusha and the Tanzania/Kenya border
Since today marks the end of the safari part of my trip
to Africa, I wanted to share a few parting thoughts while they
are still fresh on my mind. These will be in no
particular order; I will just write them as I think of them.
I have also gone back through and corrected several
misspellings of people's names and a couple of the animal
names. I am hoping to post another update when I reach
Cape Town.
- I think I said once before that thanks to the bumpy
roads and my body's apparent severe dislike of Malarone,
that Dramamine or some other motion sickness drug would be
at the top of my list should I ever do this trip again.
I believe I would like to revise that statement. Next
time, at the VERY top of my list will be a large bag of
T-shirts, pens, paper, children's books, and anything else
the people here might find useful. I am disappointed
that I did not know ahead of time about the opportunities to
share something so simple as a pen--such a small thing that
we take for granted in the US, but can really make a
difference here.
- Along the same lines, one of the more eye-opening
moments on this journey came during a restroom/shopping stop
about midway through the Kenya part of the tour. Our
guide said his life's dream was to own about 100 acres of
land and build a house on it. When I asked him how
much such a thing costs in Kenya, I was expecting him to say
something like $50,000 US (e.g., much less than it would be
in most parts of the US, but still enough to be "out of
reach" for someone living near the US poverty line).
Instead, he said it would be somewhere around $5,000 US--in
other words, for about the same price that most of us paid
to go on this trip this guy could have had his dream home.
- There seems to be a difference in philosophy between
how the guides in Kenya operate and the ones in Tanzania.
In Kenya, the guides were always chattering over the CB
radio, letting the others know whenever they found something
that might be interesting to see. For example, we
found out about the really-up-close cheetah at Masai Mara
because the guide who originally spotted it announced it
over the radio. In Tanzania, our guide seemed to scoff
at that idea, and said it should be about the experience of
the guide, not on just following what someone else saw.
While I can certainly see the merits of both, as someone who
wanted to get really good photographs of as many animals as
possible, I believe I much prefer the Kenyan approach.
Personally, I don't care whether our guide found out about
that cheetah from another guide or whether he spotted it
himself. I'm just happy we got to see it.
- The accommodations in Tanzania were somewhat nicer
than the ones in Kenya, although both were eons above
anything I had in Australia's Northern Territory a few years
ago. I was actually a little surprised at this--I was
expecting it to be the other way around. In Tanzania
it seemed like the rooms got progressively nicer at each
lodge we stayed (internet access notwithstanding). By
the last night, we were staying at a lodge with suites the
size of a small one-bedroom apartment! The overall
standard of living seemed to be higher in Tanzania as well.
While I didn't visit the Masai village there myself, the
ones who did said it was much nicer than the one we visited in Kenya.
- Accommodations notwithstanding, I think the Kenya
part of the trip made the biggest overall impression on me.
There are probably several reasons for this. First, it
was all still "new" when we were in Kenya. By the time
we got to Serengeti, we had already seen pretty much all the
different animals there were to see, so in some ways it was
"more of the same". Second, I don't find wildebeests
to be particularly all that interesting--and that was the
most abundant species by far in Tanzania (and the main
attraction at Serengeti). Third, the driver we had in Kenya
seemed to have an interest in photography himself, and he
was very good at finding the "sweet spot" for taking the
best photo. Lastly, the "Malarone effect" (or whatever
it was) hit its hardest in the midst of the Serengeti
tour--so quite possibly, my whole opinion on the matter is
tainted by that. :)
- A couple of observations about the animals we saw.
First of all (as I mentioned before), when the only place
you've ever seen them before is a zoo, you don't realize how
in "real life" they are not separated from one another.
For example, zebras and wildebeests travel together because
the zebra's sharp eyes keep a keen lookout for predators,
and the wildebeests always know where the good food is.
I'm not sure I did as good a job as I should have of
capturing scenes where multiple species were together in the
same shot. Second, there are some things that still
photos cannot capture, such as the way the Thompson
gazelles' tails seem to be always in motion. Their
tails are so tiny, they appear of little use at brushing
away flies, although I presume that's what they are doing.
But generally, the entire herd is filled with flicking
tails. Third, of all the animals we saw, the one I may
have gained the greatest appreciation for is the zebra.
They are very common (second only to the wildebeests, as far
as how many we saw). But they seem to have some sort
of a family unity thing going that is difficult to explain.
You will often see a small group of them standing very near
to one another with each facing the opposite direction
(e.g., one faces right, the next left, then right, then
left). At first I thought this was a means of keeping
a lookout for predators, but Emmanuel (our guide from
yesterday) explained that these were zebra families, and
that they stand that way for purpose of smell (like dogs,
only much less obvious). Lastly, as I said yesterday,
I noticed that the gazelle tended to run toward the cheetah
instead of away as we were watching the hunt. We saw
the same thing with the wildebeests and the safari vehicles.
In fact, Alphonce kept us entertained for a good five
minutes moving the vehicle forward and back in the midst of
a herd of wildebeests. Without fail, they crossed in
front of the vehicle instead of just running away from it.
- A few Swahili words:
- Jambo (rhymes with "Mambo"): "Hi/Hello".
This is the most common way to greet someone. (Habari
also means "Hello", but is more formal, and I never heard
anyone actually use it). "Jambo" is the most important
word to know on safari--you'll hear it a lot.
- Asante (ah SAN tay): "Thank You".
Probably the second most important word to know--the locals
really appreciate it when you thank them in their own
language.
- Sana (pronounced like "sauna"): "Very".
This is used after the word you want to "very", e.g., "Asante
sana" means "Thank you very much".
- Mzuri (em ZOO ree): "Good/Fine" (as in,
"How are you?" / "Mzuri". Say "Mzuri sana" to mean
"very good").
- Karibu (care EE bu): "Welcome" (as in, "Thank
you" / "You're welcome" or "Welcome to Serengeti").
- Kwaheri (wah HERE ee): "Goodbye"
- In the week leading up to my departure for Africa, I
went on a shopping spree for the things I thought I might
want or need based on common sense and what I was reading on
the internet. I will rank some of them by usefulness.
Since this is a rather lengthy list, I put it in a separate
page. View it by clicking
here.
Location: The Portswood, Cape Town, South
Africa
I am going to write two entries, one for yesterday, and
one for today. Yesterday was an absolute mess.
Perhaps I needed a new round of glitches to kick off another
"lucky streak" here? Dunno...
My flight from Nairobi to Johannesburg went without a
hitch (other than the unexplained 15 minute wait after we
reached the gate before they let us off the plane). The flight
from Johannesburg to Cape Town also went fine. But
when I got to the airport, there was NO ONE THERE TO MEET
ME!!!!! According to my itinerary, I was supposed to be
met by someone from Wilderness Safaris. But no one
showed up. So finally, I went to the information desk at
the airport to see if they could call them. Luckily,
they happened to know who Wilderness Safaris is, and had the
number, because it was no where to be found on my itinerary.
They called them and were told that Wilderness Safaris had no
reservation and no record at all that they were supposed to
meet me at the airport. They suggested I take a cab to
the hotel and they would work out some kind of reimbursement
later, and would contact me when they figured out what was
going on. So I took the airport shuttle to my hotel, and
started trying to figure out how to plan the rest of my time
in Cape Town, because I had planned to talk to the driver en
route about booking tours of Table Mountain and a few other
things through them. About an hour later, I got a note
slipped under my door that "Janine from Journey Beyond" wanted
me to call her as soon as possible. I did and found out
that not only did my itinerary have the wrong tour company,
someone had given the CORRECT tour company (Journey Beyond)
the wrong flight number!!!! So, while I was getting
increasingly irritated at the wrong tour company for "losing"
my reservation, a driver from Journey Beyond was sitting at
the airport trying to find out why I wasn't on the flight! Grrr...... Trust me, it is
not fun to land
in another country--traveling alone--and find no one waiting
for you in the airport. I was worried that the Portswood
wouldn't have my reservation either (luckily they did).
I guess about the only thing that would have been worse is if
this had happened in Kenya where there was a packaged tour
involved.
Anyway... After sorting out this mess, I finally
was able to get my time here planned early enough to still
walk around the Waterfront some and eat dinner before crashing
in bed around midnight. Through a good friend from South
Africa, I was able to arrange a tour of the peninsula area,
which will be the subject of my next entry.
Location: The Portswood, Cape Town, South
Africa
One of my best friends in the Dallas area is from South
Africa. When I first started planning to visit Africa, I
started by asking her the places that would be good to visit.
She gave me a lot of information that I passed onto my travel
agent. What actually ended up getting booked was very
much different (and way shorter) than what I had initially
envisioned, but I am happy to say that now that I am in Cape
Town, having a contact from South Africa has really paid off.
My friend put me in touch with her cousin, and although he was
unable to play tour guide himself (having left Cape Town the
week before I got here), he was able to connect me with two
good friends of his (Miko and Deborah) who were happy to do
the deed. They made a lot of good suggestions about how
I could make the most of the two days I am here. There
were three things that I knew I wanted to see (other than the
Waterfront, which is right by my hotel): Table Mountain,
Boulders (penguins), and Robbin Island. With their
suggestions, I was able to turn what started out as a chaotic
mess into a nicely-planned two-day getaway assuming the
weather cooperates (unfortunately, the weather changes on a
whim in Cape Town, so hopefully the currently-predicted good
weather will hold). The plan was for Miko and Deborah to
take me on sort of a "do-it-yourself" peninsula tour today,
and I will visit Robbin Island and Table Mountain tomorrow.
I met Miko and Deborah in the hotel lobby at around
10:30 this morning. I had just finished making
arrangements for tomorrow's Robbin Island tour when they
arrived. We started by having breakfast at a coffee
shop. They have excellent muffins--maybe the best muffin
I've had. We then headed towards Simon's Town en route
to Boulders where the African penguins are. We saw the
penguins, then continued our drive around the peninsula.
We stopped for lunch at Olympia Cafe in Kalk Bay--absolutely
the best bread anywhere. Then, we drove around the Cape
Point area, and headed up Chapman's Peak road, stopping for
pictures and scenic views along the way. We finished up
with a couple of stops around Hout Bay, then they dropped me
off at the Portswood. It was around 5:45 when we
finished. They had previous plans at 6:00, so I
was unable to treat them to dinner as I had planned (I did
give them some money for gas, and treated them to breakfast
instead :)).
After the peninsula drive, I came back to my room for a
bit, then headed over to the Waterfront. I hunted down
the Clock Tower (where I have to go tomorrow for the Robbin
Island tour), and visited a couple of shops. I bought
some souvenirs, and ate a remarkably "boring" dinner
(spaghetti and meat sauce), which is exactly what my body
needed after nearly two weeks of "unfamiliar" food. A
couple of guys from England invited me to join their table,
which I gladly did for the company, and to avoid the chill
from the ice-cold breeze that was coming in off the ocean at
the table where I was initially seated.
Although my tour tomorrow isn't scheduled until noon, I
still want to get to bed soon so I don't sleep away the entire
morning. The photos below are a quick sampling of the
photos I took as we drove around the peninsula.
View at Simon's Town
View at Boulders (1)
Penguins at Boulders (1)
Penguins at Boulders (2)
Penguins at Boulders (3)
Penguins at Boulders (4)
Penguins at Boulders (5)
View at Boulders (2)
Penguins at Boulders (6)
Penguins at Boulders (7)
View near Cape Point
View near Hout Bay (1)
View at Hout Bay (1)
View at Hout Bay (2)
View at Hout Bay (3)
View at Hout Bay (4)
View at Hout Bay (5)
View near Hout Bay (2)
Location: The Portswood, Cape Town, South
Africa
So far, today hasn't gone quite as well as yesterday, both
in terms of the weather and in terms of the way things worked out.
I didn't make it to Robben Island today. When the
concierge overheard me mention something about Robben Island
at noon followed by Table Mountain, he told me that was
impossible--there's not enough time. Ok, sounds
reasonable. In fact, that's what I expected to
hear--yesterday when I was trying to book it. But
I specifically ASKED the other concierge who booked it for me
yesterday if she was positive that would allow enough
time, and she said she was "absolutely certain" (and stuck to
that story today after it was already too late to change
things back). I'm
starting to think utter chaos is a way of life here. :)
Anyway.....
Robben Island had always been an "if there's time" item
on my agenda, with Table Mountain and the penguins being first
and second respectively, and shopping for souvenirs planned for the
evenings. So, I cancelled the Robben Island tour to make
time for Table Mountain. I'll have to see the island
next time (and contrary to what I thought at the beginning of
this trip, there likely will be a "next time"
someday).
The view from the mountain did not disappoint, although
the view probably would have been better yesterday when there
were fewer clouds in the sky. The
cloud cover (which the locals call the "Tablecloth") was
really thick on one side of the mountain, so you had really no
visibility at all. But the other three directions were
at least intermittently clear enough to see through. On one
side, the clouds would alternatively complete cover
everything, and then be more-or-less clear, all in about a
5-minute time frame! And
I can honestly say now that I know what it is like to have
your head in the clouds--literally. You can actually see
the wisp of clouds blow by. It is also COLD up there.
I knew it would be, but had to wear shorts anyway since my
jeans are currently being held captive by the hotel's laundry
service. (I'm impatiently waiting for them to arrive while I'm
writing this--they were due in my room no later than half an
hour ago!). I stayed on the mountain for probably a couple of hours.
About as long as I could stand the cold. :) Below
are some of the pictures I took of the view and various
vegetation/wildlife on top.
View from Table Mountain (1)
View from Table Mountain (2)
View from Table Mountain (3)
View from Table Mountain (4)
View from Table Mountain (5)
Under the "Tablecloth"
Flowers on top of the mountain (1)
Flowers on top of the mountain (2)
Flowers on top of the mountain (3)
Flowers on top of the mountain (4)
Flowers on top of the mountain (5)
Rock Haresk
View from Table Mountain (6)
Location: The Portswood, Cape Town, South
Africa
Shortly after my laundry finally arrived at 6:45ish, I took
a walk around The Waterfront to snap a few quick photos and do
some last-minute shopping. Tomorrow morning at 7:30am, I leave Cape Town for
Victoria Falls, which is the final leg of my journey unless my
last-ditch effort to add the Johannesburg-area extension I
tried for before I left pans out (VERY unlikely, since it
appears my plane ticket is the sort that cannot be changed at
all, even though my travel agent had previously told me I'd be
able to change it for a $100-$200 fee). So that being
the case, this will
probably be my last update from Africa. I'm not
expecting to have internet access in Victoria Falls, and even
if I do, since I'm only there about a day and a half, I
probably will not have time to maintain the web log.
Unless the extension DOES work out after all, I will write up
the Victoria Falls part on my way home (I'll have plenty of
time--three flights in one 24-hour period, and an airport
transit bus. :( ), and post it when I get back.
For now, enjoy some pictures from The Waterfront.
View from the bridge (1)
The Clock Tower
View from the bridge (2)
View across the water from near the Clock Tower
Seals
Painted cows (anybody know what these are about?)
View across the water
Table Mountain at sunset (1)
Table Mountain at sunset (2)
Location: The Zambezi Sun Hotel, Victoria
Falls, Zambia
After a delayed flight out of Johannesburg, I arrived at
Victoria Falls just in time to unpack a few things from my
backpack and catch a "sunset" cruise. There wasn't much
of a sunset (too many clouds), but we did get to see some
hippos and a couple of other things. There was a
professional photographer/journalist husband-and-wife team on
the cruise as well. You can find their web site at
www.adventure4ever.com. Hopefully, they got some
better shots than I did. :) I didn't take very
many--unlike the pros, I'm not as good with taking photos
under "unfriendly" lighting, plus I already have a lot of
hippo shots anyway from Kenya and Tanzania. But I did
snap one of a hippo partially out of the water, a small
crocodile entirely out of the water (we saw much larger ones
in Kenya, but they were at a distance), and a lucky shot of an
unknown heron-type bird (anyone know what it is?).
However, aside from a quick glimpse on the way to the hotel, I
have not yet seen the waterfall itself. I'm told that it
is not going to be all that spectacular, because the water is
low right now. I have a helicopter ride tomorrow morning
at 8:00am, and am hoping to do an elephant ride/safari in the
afternoon. That and taking some time to walk over and
simply view the falls is probably all I will have time for.
The driver will take me to see the falls from the Zimbabwe
side before my flight home on Thursday.
I have now given up for good on the notion of extending
this trip past the scheduled December 10 return date. I
half forgot--and wouldn't have had time anyway--to check one
last time with British Airways about changing my flight back
home to a later date. I don't think there
was ever really much of a chance anyway. British Airways
had already told me before I left--and told Journey Beyond
again in South Africa--that I have a ticket that absolutely
cannot be changed under any circumstance, so I doubt I would
have been able to talk them into it. So I will return on
the 10th as scheduled, and tomorrow will be my last full day
in Africa. As is usual when I go on trips like these, I
am definitely wishing I could stay longer. :)
Hippo (1)
Hippo (2)
Crocodile
Hippo partially out of the water
Some kind of heron?
Location: The Zambezi Sun Hotel, Victoria
Falls, Zambia
Today was an exercise in making the most of what you have.
It was pouring rain when I woke up this morning, and it rained
off and on pretty much throughout the day. So no
"rainbow" shots of the falls unless it just happens to be
sunny tomorrow morning when I go over to the Zimbabwe side.
The helicopter ride was cancelled. I was hopeful when
they picked us up this morning that we would still be able to
do it, but after about an hour of waiting for the rain to
stop, they decided to call it off and took us all back to our
hotels. I was able to schedule a spot on the afternoon
elephant safari, so while I was waiting for that, I walked
over to the falls a couple of times to shoot some photos, then
had lunch.
The elephant safari was truly remarkable. I don't
have much in the way of photos to show (believe me, it is NOT
easy to shoot a clear photo on the back of a moving
elephant!). And about the only animals we saw were a
giraffe and some impalas. But the ride itself was really
something "different", and did a nice job of salvaging what
was otherwise a pretty wet and miserable day. We did get
rained on a bit, but not enough to dampen (pun intended) the
fun.
Tomorrow afternoon, I will leave Africa and return home.
As has been the case for just about every international trip I
have taken, I am really not ready for it to be over.
My plan is to go to bed early tonight, and check the weather
around 6:00am. If it is at all sunny, I am hoping to
have time for a quick walk over to the falls one more time
tomorrow morning before my transport gets here. And
hopefully, I can get a couple of good shots (with or without
the rainbow) on the Zimbabwe side, and then my adventure will
be over.
Victoria Falls, Zambia side (1)
Victoria Falls, Zambia side (2)
Victoria Falls, Zambia side (3)
Victoria Falls, Zambia side (4)
Victoria Falls, Zambia side (5)
Victoria Falls, Zambia side (6)
Elephant Safari (1)
Masai Giraffe as seen from the back of an elephant (1)
Masai Giraffe as seen from the back of an elephant (2)
Elephant Safari (2)
Elephant Safari (3)
Elephants salute the guests after the safari
The herd's first baby elephant (about 1 month old)
Location: Home after a very long day in transit
My hopes for a last-minute break in the weather didn't pan
out, and so my trip to Africa came to a very rainy end at the
Zimbabwe side of Victoria Falls. I made sure I got a
shot of the main falls,, but there came a point where the risk
of ruining my fairly new Nikon D70 camera outweighed the
desire for a good photo at Victoria Falls. After about
an hour and 15 minutes, it started pouring down rain to the
point you really couldn't even see the falls very well for the
rain. At that point, I took myself and my
Ziploc Dry
Bag-encased camera (I knew those would come in handy :) ), and
headed for the exit. About 10 minutes later, the driver
picked me up and took me to the airport after a brief stop at
a shop to buy a Zimbabwe coffee mug.
The flight out of Victoria Falls was delayed at least an
hour while they waited on the rain to die down. I still
had plenty of time to make my connection in Johannesburg,
though, since that flight wasn't until 8:00pm. The
flight to London Heathrow went without a hitch, as did the
flight home. About midway through the final leg home, we
passed over the southern tip of Greenland. The view was
spectacular, so I took a couple of photos.
I am now at home, and am extremely jetlagged and sleepy.
After nearly 22 hours on three different planes and nearly 2
on a bus changing airports in London, my body feels
like it's still in motion. So, I will get a lot of sleep
tonight, and sometime in the next few weeks, I will put the
final touches onto this page and get it officially integrated
into my web site. Best wishes to all the people I met
during this journey and on the planes coming home today.
May your travels be safe, and as fulfilling has mine has been.
Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe side (Devil's Cataract view)
Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe side (Main falls view)
The southern tip of Greenland, as seen from the plane on the way home (1)
Another shot of Greenland from the plane
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