K2inCanada's Blog

November 2, 2016

Day 9-12: The easiest and toughest hike – Ol Doinyo Lengai

Filed under: Africa, Animals, Hike, Travel — K2 in Canada @ 11:10 PM

Came across this National Geographic article this past weekend, and it reminded me that I never finished our Africa trip report. We never saw these “Ancient Human Foot Prints” mentioned in the article but we must have been close 🙂

This post takes you back to our Africa trip in 2014 for almost the last time. For previous post click here. We ended this great adventure with a donkey-guided 3 day hike and a night climb up an active volcano, Ol Doinyo Lengai, to see the sunrise. The Maasai call it the “Mountain of God” and it is part of the African Rift Valley near Lake Natron. It last erupted in 2013! “Whereas most lavas are rich in silicate minerals, the lava of Ol Doinyo Lengai is a carbonatite. Due to its unusual composition, the lava erupts at relatively low temperatures of approximately 510 °C (950 °F). This temperature is so low that the molten lava appears black in sunlight, rather than having the red glow common to most lavas. It is also much more fluid than silicate lavas, often less viscous than water. The sodium and potassium carbonate minerals of the lavas erupted at Ol Doinyo Lengai are unstable at the Earth’s surface and susceptible to rapid weathering, quickly turning from black to grey in colour. The resulting volcanic landscape is different from any other in the world” (Wikipedia).

Before we climbed the volcano though we hiked through parts of Nogorongoro Conservation Area and down into the rift valley – a spectacular trip. If you rather just look at pictures, lots of them, use this link.

HikeEarth (Medium) (2)

Day 9 (Sep 6, 2014): The day we started hiking. I didn’t really know what to expect from a donkey-guided hike. Didn’t really know where we would start from, only that we would end it with climbing an active volcano on the 3rd night. We were told to bring no more than 1 bag each for the donkeys plus a small day pack we would carry. And we managed to fit both of our stuff into one medium size dry bag. Pretty much just needed an extra coat for the evening and some spare shirts. But before we left civilization we had yet another huge breakfast of french toast, sausages, veggies, scrambled eggs, pancakes and water melon. And we almost ate it all :-). By 9AM we hit the road driving back up to the Ngorongoro Park Entrance Gate. Weather was sunny and reasonably warm, which was good as we had to wait for an hour + for Mike to get another park permit. We did not want to get it too early as we would be spending the first night in the park. That meant we had to be out again exactly 24hrs from when the permit was issued! We were entertained by a busload full of 18-21 year young African girls – trainees for the hotel industry. They were fascinated by Jeff’s beard and every one of them had to get her picture taken with him. It was pretty fun. I had some time to take pictures of flowers and birds. Finally we were ready to go again. We took a right turn after the gate driving through a high valley of open grassland. It was quite beautiful and so different from where we had been. We stopped near the Maasai village of Bulati along the way to pick up our guide – Makamero. He was an awesome guide, spoke perfect English and taught us a lot about modern Maasai. We drove on for a little bit then stopped in the middle of nowhere. We would meet Mike and the car again before the volcano climb while Hamisi would be coming with us onto the hike as our cook. But for now, Mike only dropped us and Makamero off to start the hike while Hamisi went ahead to set up the first camp. I had no idea where we were really but it felt great to finally be able to stretch our legs after 7 days of Safari where you are not allowed to leave the car EVER. We walked through long grass up a gentle slope following what looked like animal trails rather than hiking trails. Turned out that slope was part of the Empakai Crater rim. The views over the high valley were spectacular, a bit surreal, not like the Africa one knows from the nature shows. It was so quiet. Almost nothing moved except the grass in the wind. We were stared at by the odd donkey or goat or cow, who for sure thinking “what on earth are YOU doing on my turf”. As we reached the crater rim we hit a dirt road and the walking got even easier. Spectacular views of the crater down below and the first glimpse of our final destination – Ol Doinyo Lengai. It looked steep! Lots of flowery bushes along the way. Lots of colourful birds. Hyena tracks. We passed a couple of Maasai women and their donkeys bringing back long grass to fix the roof of their hut. Maasai have strict rules about who does what – the men tend to the animals while the women cook, fix the house, gather food, take care of the children etc. Didn’t quite sound like workload sharing really :-). But the young women we passed were in good spirit and joked with our guide. Even when they just talk their voices sound like they are singing. Such a melodious language, Maa, which I am sure is impossible to learn by Germans. Roughly 3.5hr after we left Mike and the car we got to our first camp right on the Empakai Crater rim. We weren’t the only ones camping on the rim. 10min or so before we reached our camp there was another one set up with another couple. I think they were speaking German :-). But the two camps were far enough apart that we did not see or hear them. Our camp was right opposite the trail down into Empakai Crater which offered fantastic views over the lake below. Another alkaline lake but apparently there also was a fresh water spring on the opposite site. We could hear monkeys in the wooded slopes but didn’t see any. Hamisi had tea and popcorn and cookies ready for us and the tent was already set up as always. Shortly after, our 3 donkeys and their handler, a really tall Maasai, Luca, arrived in camp. I recognized the group – we had passed them in the car on our way to the start of our hike. They had come a long ways. The animals, knowing the drill, started grazing right away completely ignoring me trying to pet them. These are not pets but work horses and the least valuable animal on the Maasai scale. I thought they are the cutest! Not being able to make friends with our donkeys, I took off for a bit to take pictures of the flowers and birds along the road. Those birds don’t sit still much either. When I got back Makamero was trying to get a fire started. The wood was pretty wet from rain the night before (lucky us) and it was more smoke than warmth. It actually got quite cold as the sun set. But as always, Hamisi had an awesome dinner ready for us. Potato soup followed by spaghetti with a veggie & beef stew and fries. MUCH more elaborate than our kayaking camping food. We hit the tents by 8:00-8:30PM, all of us but Luca. I am sure he slept outside by the fire. The donkeys were put into a thorny bush corral.

Day 10 (Sep 7, 2014): We got up before 6AM to see the sunrise. Unfortunately it was mostly hidden behind trees. But we did get our first and only glimpse of Mount Kilimanjaro that morning from the “washroom window”. The washroom was a cement slab in the bushes with a hole in the middle – worked :-). After breakfast we watched them load the donkeys. Poor creatures. I wish we would have brought our own light weight hiking tent and not these heavy duty canvas tents. They must weigh a ton. At least between Jeff and I we didn’t bring much and kept it light. Hamisi, Luca and the donkeys took off towards camp two while Makamero, Jeff and I hiked down the 300m into Empakai Crater. It was mostly overcast but the clouds were high in the sky so that we could see the whole crater. The way down was through semi tropical forest with some large strangler fig trees, hundreds of years old, along the trail. We didn’t get to see any of the Blue Monkeys or buffalo or leopards that apparently live in the crater. There were flamingos in the shallows near us, lesser and greater ones. Not too many but enough to chase them into flight upon Makamero’s urging. Pretty cool! Back up on the rim the clouds dropped down on us and views were few and far between. Not until we started to drop down off the rim towards the Maasai Village of Niobi. The clouds started breaking up and opened up the views into the high plain and Ol Doinyo Lengai. But first we had to make a stop in Niobi as we were leaving the park. Along the way we were joined by Freddie, a maybe 10-12 year old Maasai boy who was selling the typical Maasai handmade bead wristbands. And he finally beat us down to buy one from him for a fortune of $1 and a power bar. We actually asked Makamero’s permission first about giving Freddie a power bar. Maasai diets are VERY strict – consisting of raw meat, raw milk, and raw blood from cattle. But Makamero gave us the okay and Freddie was visibly happy. We thought he liked the power bar but in truth, the $1 we paid for the wristband was about 3-5 times as much as he would usually get for it. Oh well :-), he deserved it. Once in town Makamero had to deal with the paperwork. He offered us to wait inside or outside. We thought sitting outside, now that the sun was out, would be nicer. A HUGE mistake. As soon as we sat down on a rock a whole bunch of women surrounded us trying to sell more Maasai handmade jewelry.  I really don’t care for that type of stuff and we didn’t have any small change left – Freddie got the last of it. Those women were really persistent though. Started singing and got right into our faces. Not enjoyable at all. Okay, I get it, we are rich compared to them. But we also already had spent a huge amount of money on this trip. The fees for the National Parks are very high and some of that should get back to the people. We would pay our guides, Mike, Hamisi, Makamero and Luca handsomely since they made us feel so welcome in their country. These women made us feel like we should not be here. It was actually really horrible and I was so glad when Makamero finally came back out and rescued us. The beautiful landscape soon made me forget the incident. The views were really quite stunning. We walked by a few herds of cows – the Maasai money. It looked like this village was comparatively well off for a Maasai village. Families live together in fenced in Bomas. Maasai men can have several wives. Each wife has her own hut. Most Maasai still live traditional lives despite the government’s encouragement to abandon their traditional semi-nomadic lifestyle. Makamero was a very respected village elder. He had one wife and 4 children that all went to school, even the girls. A most progressive Maasai. We slowly dropped down into a high valley and the scenery changed quite a bit. The open grassland gave way to an Acacia forest.  Another hour of walking through the forest and we reached camp 2. Tents were nicely set up in the shade of the trees overlooking the surrounding hills. Such a lovely place to camp. Unfortunately a couple of the Niobi women and their jewelry had followed us to camp. They didn’t dare getting really close but they set up their stuff about 50m away from camp. It was only 2:30PM and after a bit of a rest in the tent, Jeff and I headed out on our own to explore the surrounding hills. As we followed the trail we saw smoke in the distance. The Maasai were burning off the dry grass along the slopes in anticipation of the wet season – ancient way of fertilizing the dirt. We stayed upwind of the burns and hiked up a little slope to get a nice view of Ol Doinyo Lengai now in full sunshine and Lake Natron in the distance. Breathtaking scenery. We saw the biggest grasshopper I have ever seen as well as a lizard on the way back – biggest animal yet on our hike and it wasn’t that big. We also ran into the two Maasai “arsonists”. They were very friendly, shook our hands and had their picture taken with Jeff. And all that WITHOUT asking for money once. The Maasai men are very proud people. It is women’s work to beg for money. Back in camp the jewelry girls were still there, plus a couple kids had joined. It was hard to ignore them. They even started chanting to get our attention. Eventually I went to Makamero and asked him if he could give them a couple dollars and sent them off. I really did not want to buy anything and I really wanted my peace and quiet back. And he did. Hard to say if he approved of it or not but he managed to have them go back to the village. Now that there was only our small group of Makamero, Hamisi, Luca, Jeff and I left I was happy again. Makamero took us for another walk up a different hill. It was late evening by now and the colours were even more amazing. He pointed out some serval cat, leopard and baboon tracks along the way. They are out here, even though we never saw any. When we got back to camp, Luca had the fire going, a real fire this time not just smoke, and Hamisi was busy getting dinner ready. Pasta with veggie stew and fruit for desert. After we were happily fed, that is Makamero, Jeff and I, were happily fed, we watched the sun set to the west and the full moon rise to the east. It wasn’t nearly as cold as on the crater rim the previous night. Luca was preparing his Ugali, the typical Maasai on the trail food, for his journey back tomorrow. It is some kind of corn flower but white in colour and not yellow, consistency of oatmeal. Luca and I chatted for a while when the others went to bed. His English wasn’t nearly as good a Makamero but it was definitely good enough for a conversation. He was fascinated by my blond hair :-).

Day 11 (Sep 8, 2014): Up early, 5AM and on the trail by 7. We wanted to make use of the early hours as it was supposed to get really hot once we drop down into the rift valley. It was a sunny clear day and the views along the open ridge down into the rift and Lake Natron were stunning. Pictures just don’t do it justice. We left the trees behind right away. Ol Doinyo Lengai was towering to our right the whole time. 2000+m above the plain below. But we were not to climb it until midnight. Jeff stopped to look for leopards, I stopped lots to take pictures. Makamero seemed in a rush to get us down. Once we were off the ridge we walked along what looked like dry river beds. But they were white and any water we found was salty. The last big eruption of Ol Doinyo Lengai in 2007 destroyed a village on its lower flanks and covered the whole area up to Lake Natron in salty ash and poisoned the earth for miles. Most of the area has somewhat recovered but there are still big white scars in the earth in which we walked along. Saw quite of few lizards and iguanas in them. Mike and the car were waiting for us in this open plain at the end of a rough dirt road. I thought we should have rather walked it than drive it. But first we said thanks and good bye to Luca and the donkeys. They would be walking back up to Niobi the same day while we hopped into the truck and drove into the town of Lake Natron.

Our 3rd camp was right in town, an organized campsite with SHOWERS! It was hot and I was in desperate need of a shower. I think we were the only campers. The other occupants were a cow and goats and … velvet monkeys. Lots of them. We spent some time relaxing, trip logging, reading, watching monkeys, a king fisher. I walked into town with Hamisi to get some meat for dinner. There was not much choice. In a wooden shack they had half a goat displayed on a wooden table. Goat is an acquired taste but I was willing to try it. I am sure this was the most expensive piece of goat Hamisi ever bought, having one of the rich tourists with him :-).  Back in camp while watching more monkeys, I discovered that the tree tops were full of bats. Mostly fruit bats and some yellow bats. Very cool! And by taking pictures of bats up in the trees I killed the time till 3PM when Mike and Makamero took us to a real river, Saitoti River, carrying fresh water out of the hills. We scrambled along or through it for about 30-45min. Unusual heavy rains in the hills had caused the water level to rise and the regular trail was flooded. We made it to the main attraction of this river nonetheless. A cave with a waterfall one could walk through – pretty neat. A nice refreshing shower, 2nd time of the day. We were not the only people there. Actually it was busy!  We met an Australian woman from Brisbane at those falls that was also going to do the hike up the volcano the same night. Back at the truck we drove down to Natron Lake. Its water level was way low. As the name suggestion, it was another salt lake. So again flamingos were the main attraction. We also saw a large herd of giraffes walk out into the open and some zebras and wildebeest. The first big game since our safari even though this area isn’t an actual game park. Back in camp we had an early dinner and I confirmed that BBQ goat is not my most favourite dish. The spinach and pasta were tasty though. We were in bed at 7:30PM to catch a couple hours of sleep before the big climb that night which was supposed to start at midnight. I didn’t sleep much. My throat was getting sore and I was worried if I’ll be fit enough to climb almost 2000m in one night.

Day 12 (Sep 9, 2014): Alarm went of at 11PM. We packed all the warm clothes we had brought for the top – apparently it would be cold – a couple water bottles and cereal bars. It was still hot at Natron Lake even at that hour. Like the previous night, we had a full moon and no clouds – perfect conditions for a night hike. After a quick cup of tea and some cookies we were off. Took about 30min to drive to the start of the hike. Makamero, who got special permission from the elders in Lake Natron, would be our guide and he had organized a couple Maasai hiking sticks for us which really helped! Usually one has to be accompanied by a local guide. Like the Australian woman we had met early and again tonight where we got dropped off. Don’t remember her name unfortunately, only that she was wearing tights with a leopard pattern. It was quite windy which was nice at the lower elevations so we didn’t sweat much going up. We all took off together, Makamero, Jeff, I, Leopard woman, her guide and her driver. The initial part was easy walking and not much elevation but it did get steeper quickly and the ground was pretty slippery. We hardly needed our headlamps it was so bright. As the “trail” got steeper we passed leopard woman and her guides. After about an hour of climbing Makamero called a rest. Jeff and I don’t rest usually until we are at the top. It was also getting a bit cold sitting there in the wind. Leopard woman and her team caught up with us again and joined to rest as well. I didn’t want to sit down but she did – unfortunately the rock she sat on was previously a baboon toilet. Yuck.  Apparently we had covered half the distance by now but not nearly half the elevation. From here on it got really steep. We used our hands 90% of the time. The footing was treacherous and even the handholds more often than not crumbled away beneath our hands. Good thing it was dark and I could not see much more than the immediate trail in front of me and Makamero’s yellow coat. It went on and on. My legs were shaking from the effort but we did not stop for more than a minute if that. It was cold enough that I did not break a sweat despite working hard. Every time I thought we must be near the top, another slope appeared. But eventually we made it to the large long slope – 45degrees and gusty winds. I was on my hands and knees to get up it. 3hrs45 after we left the car we were on top. Makamero said this was the fastest time he has ever done the climb. We walked along the narrow rim of the crater. The wind seriously tried to push us into the black gaping hole about 100m down. No glow of any lava though was visible. Or maybe the moon was too bright. Now all we had to do was wait for sunrise. But since we had been pushing so hard to get up we still had 2.5hrs to go. And it was so stupid cold! Not sure why I was surprised being at an elevation of 2800m. There was no shelter from the wind anywhere and even though we put on all the clothes we brought we could not stop shivering. Makamero just curled up underneath his Maasai blanket and fell asleep in seconds. Lucky him. Jeff and I curled up together to share our body heat but it was of no use. After an hour of shivering Jeff had enough and wanted to get out of the wind. We moved a short way down the final to find some shelter from the wind. That definitely helped and the shivers stopped. It was still cold mind you. Shortly after we saw Leopard woman come by. She went up to the rim and came straight back down saying it was too cold. They hunkered down right below us for a little bit  But they did not last and headed back down. 45 more minutes to go. We can make it damn it! At 6:10AM we crawled back up onto the rim. It finally looked like the sky is getting brighter even though official sunrise was still 20min away. We saw the full moon still to the west and a glow to the east. We danced along the rim to stay warm. The wind was still relentless. Finally, 6:30AM, and the sun rose as a blood red orb to the east. Incredible view – unfortunately the pictures don’t show it. Since there were no clouds the sky just brightened slowly without any amazing colours. I could finally see down into the crater and we noticed the dark black vent that is still active. Steam was coming out of the crater. Amazing to stand on an active volcano. It would have been good to stay for a few more minutes but the guys wanted to get back down. It’s a long and difficult climb down and with the sun would come the heat. Well, heat did not come right away but looking down the steep slope ahead of us made me think how on earth are we going to get down. And it was hard to put it mildly.  Slip, slide, crash! The footing seemed to get worse the further down we went. I must have crashed a hundred times. Even Makamero lost his footing once or twice. More than once he suggested to rest for a bit when I slid by him in a dust of dirt but I just wanted to get off this mountain. Bruised bones and bruised ego for falling on my ass over and over and over again. So did Jeff by the way. We passed Leopard woman and her guide and driver. They also were falling all over the place. The driver used to be a porter on Mount Kilimanjaro and even he cursed this decent. Said this was ten times harder than all the climbs up and down Mount Kili he had done in his 2 years as a porter. That at least made me feel a little bit less stupid. When we started the decent we were in the shadow of the mountain but about half way down it turned sunny and yes it did get hot! By the way, the views on the way down were phenomenal, no question. We could see all the way to the Serengeti from up high. But I was most happy when I could see Mike and the truck in the distance. I gave him a big hug for being there and waiting for us. I was sore, tired and grumpy! It took about 3hrs to get down – 9:50AM. That was for sure the hardest day hike I have ever done. If you plan on doing it, get a helicopter to pick you up at the top :-).

We drove back to the campsite at Lake Natron for a quick shower and a huge brunch. Pancakes, toast, spaghetti, rice w BBQ goat…. all the leftovers from the trip. I wish I could have had a nap as well but it was time to pack everything up and start the long trek back all the way to Arusha to sleep one more night in a real bed. We followed the rift valley south on a bumpy track back to Mto wa Mbu where we would drop off Makamero to catch a bus back home to his village. Initially we had some nice views of the volcano but eventually it all turned to dry rocky dust. No water anywhere. Dust devils all over. Few skinny cows tended by Maasai. Not sure how people can make a living in this arid area. We passed through some village where we had to pay a road maintenance fee. I am sure that wasn’t an official fee, but a source of income for the villagers. That and we gave away some of our water bottles. Apparently in 2009 this area went through a particular bad drought and the people lost almost everything. It wasn’t a pretty sight that day but it must have been so much worse 5 years ago. In Mto wa Mbu we had to get a flat tire changed as well. We could have walked through town but I just wanted to close my eyes a bit and not face all those people trying to sell us something. We said our good byes to Makamero – who almost felt like a friend to us now. On we drove for hours with one more stop at a snake farm not far from Arusha. It was a nice little break after sitting in the truck for so long. Next we dropped off Hamisi at his village – the most amazing cook ever. Not sure how he made all those fantastic meals on a single propane burner. And finally around 6:30PM we were back at where we started, L’Oasis Lodge in Arusha. Hugs and tears as we said good bye to Mike, our so trusted guide for the last 12 days. He wasn’t a big talker but that is exactly how we like it. We gave him our binoculars which he had gotten so fond of during the trip. Achmed, the British owner of the company was waiting for us in the lounge for the trip wrap up over food and beers. Shared a lot of ours and his stories. He must have heard it all before. We also met another safari guest who just came back, Steffen from Seattle, and planned to see Arusha town with him tomorrow before out plane back home in the evening. We crawled into bed by 9:30-10PM. It had been a long day and I slept like the dead.

Day 2 - The journey begins - Hamisis, Jeff, I and Mike

Thanks to Mike (right) and Hamisi (left), our most wonderful guides!

 

February 21, 2016

Day 8: Ngorongoro Crater: In search of the rhino

Filed under: Africa, Animals, Travel — K2 in Canada @ 10:53 PM

Had a bit of time yesterday and realized that I never finished the Africa posts from 2014. The best is yet to come, well almost the best. But first we are going to spent a day in Ngorongoro Crater. The Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located 180 km (110 mi) west of Arusha in the Crater Highlands area of Tanzania. Ngorongoro Crater is the world’s largest inactive, intact, and unfilled volcanic caldera. The crater, which formed when a large volcano exploded and collapsed on itself two to three million years ago, is 610 meters (2,000 feet) deep and its floor covers 260 square kilometers (100 square miles). Estimates of the height of the original volcano range from 4,500 to 5,800 meters (14,800 to 19,000 feet) high. The elevation of the crater floor is 1,800 meters (5,900 feet) above sea level. The crater highlands on the side facing the easterly trade winds receives 800 to 1,200 millimeters (31 to 47 inches) of rain a year and are covered largely in montane forest. The less-steep west wall receives only 400 to 600 millimeters (16 to 24 inches) and is grassland and bushland. The crater floor is mostly open grassland with two small wooded areas and salt lakes.

NgorongoroMap2 (Medium)

So much for the facts – here comes our story of it or click here if you just want to see the pictures:

Day 8 (Sep 5, 2014): We were supposed to get up early. But apparently Matteo was supposed to get up even earlier. Someone rattled the tent looking for a Matteo well before we had to get up. Now that I was awake I really had to go to the washroom. It was still pitch dark when we got up. So much about the rule that you should not leave the tent in the dark – EVER. Apparently only applies unless the guides says otherwise. We had to get an early start since our national park time expired at 2:15PM and we wanted to maximize the time in the crater. Breakfast at 6AM. It was cold and damp. Hard to believe we were in Africa. Poor Mike had gotten Jeff’s cold and was sniffling quite badly.

We were on the road 20min later. It was very foggy. I am not sure how Mike could see the road. I saw nothing around us but grey as the daylight started to creep in. The fog stayed with us even as we started to drop down into the crater. I was extremely worried that the clouds would follow us all the way to the bottom but alas they didn’t. We finally dropped below the clouds and could see the crater floor stretched out below us. There was even some lighter spots in the distance. Sun maybe? We never got to see any all day. I had expected to see vast herds of grazers but the crater floor looked surprisingly empty – yellow grass and red dirt and grey clouds dominated the landscape – not many animals and not many tourist trucks either. Eventually we saw some Thompson Gazelles, Buffalo and Wildebeest as well as a Common Jackal hunting and a couple Spotted Hyenas. The light for taking pictures sucked mind you. And it was cold and windy. Near the salt lake there were cranes and flamingos. After about a 30min drive we saw a bunch of trucks parked along the road. Mike bee-lined for them. We saw a relatively big group of Zebras and Wildebeest in the distance but that didn’t seem worth stopping for. Mike didn’t say a word other than asked for the binoculars. So we were thinking there must be a Rhino … and we strained our eyes as much as we could and didn’t see nothing. Jeff wanted the binoculars back but Mike was determined to find whatever he was looking for first (well it is his job :-)). We must have sat there for at least 30min and saw nothing. I was ready to move one – screw the big 5! But then Mike saw it. Apparently it was lying down hidden in the long grass hiding from the wind. Took me another 5min even after Mike tried to point to it. But yes, there it was – a grey hump. I gave Jeff my camera with the zoom being of higher magnification than the binoculars and he saw it too. And then the damn thing stood up!!! Now it looked like a Rhino in its full glory. It was quite far away and the light was still bad so the pictures Jeff took are not that great. But we – aehm Mike – did it: The Big 5! The Rhino did not stand up for long. A minute or so and it sat down. Another minute or less and it lay down hiding in the grass. A grey hump only. Apparently they do not like the wind. Finally we could move on – it was worth seeing the Rhino, especially since I could see how proud Mike proud was that he gave us the big 5. From here on it was the usual fauna. We saw Lions popping their heads up watching Zebras walk by. We almost got stuck in another mud puddle crossing a small creek. We spent some time with the Hippos at the hippo pool. Another cluster of parked trucks gave away a Lion feeding on a kill from the previous night – the closest we ever came to see any kill. His two girls were watching from the sidelines. 3 Hyenas and a couple Jackals tried to steal some of the spoils. Interesting to watch but it was far far away even for my mega zoom. Next big attraction was a big old Elephant. Apparently Elephants are rare in Ngorongoro Crater since they don’t like walking up and down the steep crater walls. I know, you would think we had seen enough elephants by now, well Mike sure thought that, but the lonely Elephant on the wide open plain made for great pictures. Mike was just shaking his head. Next up a lioness with 2 cubs. More pelicans, cranes and flamingos as we got back to near the salt swamp before we headed into the only forested areas on the crater floor. Quite a change in scenery – here animals can hide again and are harder to spot. Nevertheless, we saw a bush buck, another elephant and a black kite before we started to head out of the crater on a steep road through some rain forest with great views over the crater floor until the fog swallowed us again near the crater rim.

We were back in camp by 12:30PM and packed up in less than 20min. Hamisi had already taken down the tents and we rushed back to the park gate. We made it in good time and did not have to pay an additional $100 per person for overstaying our welcome :-). From here the drive to Karatu wasn’t long and by 2:30PM we arrived at the campsite which was part of Kudu Lodge. Lunch box lunch – getting tired of cold chicken and boiled egg by now – and then finally a hot shower. First one in more than 3 days and it felt good! Finally some time to write into my log (or how else do you think I remembered all this after more than 1 year :-)). While Jeff had a nap, I went for a walk around the lodge grounds which were full of tropical plants with small bungalows sprinkled in between them. I actually got a tour from one of the lodge employees showing me their vegetable garden and the pool with the elephant showers. I felt guilty the whole time because I did not have any money for a tip on me. But the woman didn’t seem to mind, the opposite, she seemed quite proud of the place and to be able to show someone.

We checked with Hamisi to make sure it would be safe to walk into town. Mike had taken the truck to get something on the rear axle repaired. Town wasn’t very far and  we were pleasantly surprised the people seemed to behaved just normal around us even though we were the only white people we could see. No begging, no funny looks. Not until we turned around when two urchins locked on to us but they were polite and accepted our “No we don’t want to buy anything”. Nevertheless they walked with us for a bit and we did small talk. It’s amazing how good their English was.

The advantage of camping on the Lodge grounds, there was a bar! Sure, they served the most expensive beer of the whole trip but we also met a young couple from Ireland doing a similar trip than us but as a lodge safari. We shared our stories which was fun. Dinner – outdoor camping style of course – was at 7PM. Hamisi had made this wonderful beef stew with cooking bananas in it. Never had cooking bananas before. They don’t really taste like bananas and more or less have the texture of potatoes. I thought I would try that at home some day – that day is still to come. Mike, who usually eats dinner with us was still not back. I am sure he just curled up some place trying to get rid of that cold and was in no mood to do small talk. Totally can’t blame him. Hamisi never ate with us no matter how often we asked. Since we had been up early we crawled into the tent by 9PM. “Tomorrow” we will start our 3 day hike….

 

February 1, 2015

Day 5-7: Serengeti – African Massage, Plenty of Hunters and Monsoon

Filed under: Africa, Animals, Travel — K2 in Canada @ 10:48 PM

A cold and foggy day in Vancouver. I thought I mix it up a bit with some recollection of summer continuing on with the Tanzania trip report for a change. Be warned – it’s a long one!!! So if you rather just look at a thousand pictures than a thousand words click here 🙂

Day 5 (Sep 2, 2014): I got up early, 6:15AM, in the hope to finally get to see my perfect African sunrise. And I was not disappointed that morning at Ol Mesera. Following a little walkway to the Baobab trees I found a great spot to watch the sun rise in the east while behind me to the west the rift valley slowly lit up. Simply stunning!

We left that wonderful place and its wonderful people after the usual big breakfast of eggs, sausages, pancakes, toast and a variety of fruits (pineapple, papaya, oranges) to start the long drive to Serengeti National Park. After picking up Hamisi in Mto Wa Mbu we drove up the escarpment – which took forever as we got stuck behind a stinky old truck for most of the way. Not that our Toyota was much faster or less stinky. The top of the escarpment was in the clouds and much greener than down below. The red dirt reminded me of Australia. Eventually we made it to the entrance gate of the Ngorongoro Crater Conservatory Area which you cross through on the way to the Serengeti. That meant more waiting until the permits are issued. For the next hour or so we traveled along the crater rim. We stopped at one view-point but due to the overcast conditions the view wasn’t that great. One could see some herds of wildebeest below. The drive along the rim was very foggy – the forests up there looked almost mystical with long lichen hanging from the branches hidden in thick fog. Here and there we spotted some zebras in between Maasai cattle. The foggy conditions and rough road didn’t lend themselves to taking any pictures on the drive mind you – at least not until we left the rim and dropped down into a big valley. There we enjoyed some awesome views of the country side of rolling hills and open forest. We made the mistake of trying to take a picture of a camel along the road. Apparently that’s not allowed since they belong to the Maasai. I wish I had known – felt bad about it. There was not much wildlife to see on that stretch though – other than the odd Giraffe in the far distance.

The road also became more and more rough and we were shaken and stirred by the time we reach the outskirts of Serengeti National Park. They call this the “African Massage”. The landscape also had changed – it was now completely flat and not a tree in sight for the next hour, a seemingly endless dry steppe. Serengeti is derived from the Maasai language, Maa; specifically, “Serengit” meaning “Endless Plains”. Not much moved except the odd gazelle. Until all off a sudden a big rock outcropping – you may call it a hill, the Africans call it a kopje – showed up on the horizon. That’s where everyone has to stop yet again to get the permits. It was a busy place like all permit places although Hamisi and Mike ensured us this is not busy. We had our box lunch there and tried the red banana’s we bought for a “white face fortune” in Mto Wa Mbu along the road. That happens when you do not have any small change!! 200 shilling easily turn into 2000 shilling. Not that I felt it’s too much money but it just showed what we are – tourists like everyone else with a white face there to be taken advantage of, deservedly so. The red bananas taste okay but I liked the small yellow banana’s better. After lunch, we had some time to scramble up the rocks. Once on top you have a fantastic view over the flat Serengeti all around and we encountered some colourful lizards warming themselves on the rock as well. Watching these guys can keep me occupied for quite some time. We also used that rock to get some exercise going up and down a few times. Jeff also had to throw in some squats – show off :-). It did feel good to stretch the legs mind you after so much sitting in the truck. Mind you the standing up during the safaris is a pretty good core workout. You stand up for hours and we usually never sat down even if we were going faster. Lots of balancing work! It was past 2PM by the time we continued on – the scenery remained flat and empty for a while. We saw a couple of trucks stopped along the road and parked alongside them. I could see nothing but Mike had this big grin in his face and I knew there must be some exciting animal out there. And there it was – a Cheetah was lying on a small kopje in the distance, almost too far to see even for my big zoom. The most interesting part, there were actually 2 Cheetah on that rock but we never saw the second one until we got home and looked at the pictures. They sure blend into the landscape well.

And after that the show really started. Roof stayed up and for the next few hours we saw lots of animals – not the same density as Tarangire but just as amazing. Larger herds of zebras, some different type of gazelles/antelopes like Thompson Gazelle, Grant Gazelle, Topi and Hartebeest. Lots of lions, male and female with lots of cubs doing what lions do best – sleep, yawn, cuddle. While Mike was looking at the lions to our right I was looking at the hippos to the left :-). Lots of them out of the water. I don’t think Mike ever understood my fascination with hippos. Jeff fell in love with the Serval Cat – a night hunter and a lucky sighting right along the road during the day. The weirdest creature was the Secretary bird – man did he ever looked like the whole world had pissed him off. Not as many elephants or Giraffes as Tarangire but we did see some as well. Interestingly the grasslands were in some area green and short on one side of the road and long and yellow on the other. They do controlled burns out here in the Serengeti before the rainy season starts. Unusual early rains the previous two weeks had converted the burned area into a sea of fresh green grass already – good for eating while the long yellow grass was good for hiding. Sounded like a perfect world for the hunted and the hunter I guess. As we got closer to the Seronera River Valley the number of trees increased. Lots of pretty acacia trees and even palm trees along the river itself.

Eventually though we had to find a spot to camp. There are public campgrounds in Serengeti National Park. We passed quite a few until we turned into the one Mike picked for us. All the campsites were situated in a more forested area of acacia and low bush so you could not see any of the neighbouring sites even though they were close. The campsite consisted of a place to park, a large flat grassy area to set up tents, a kitchen building for the cooks, an open air “dining hall” for the tourists and washrooms. All clean and in good shape. Despite us camping in the middle of the Serengeti there were no fences around the compound. Impalas and Baboons were our neighbours – at least the ones we could see. We placed our tent the furthest away from the others – there were about 20 tents that all looked like ours 🙂 – so that we had an unobstructed view of the bush. I would have loved to go for a walk to explore but the area where we could walk to was pretty restricted. From the car to the shelters to the washrooms to the tent. Oh well, we sat and watched the dwarf mongoose play while waiting for dinner to be ready. Hamisi produced another wonderful meal of Ugali, spaghetti and meat sauce – again something native (which we had requested) and something for the typical white people taste. And as always too much food but we ate most of it! As mentioned, standing in the safari truck is hard work :-).  We managed to stay awake till about 9:30PM before hitting the tent. On the way Jeff was chasing spiders as their eyes reflected back his light – pretty cool but no big one was to be found. The one rule for the night – do not leave the tent till daybreak. If you got to pee, sweat it out… We could hear the lions roar in the far distance (although I didn’t know those sounds were lions until the next morning) and hyenas bark somewhat close. I still slept well – no primeval fear of predators. I guess camping in bear country for many years does harden you up a bit :-).

Day 6 (Sep 3, 2014): As soon as 6AM came along and with it the first sign of light I was out of the tent to go to the washroom – much better!! I had hoped for another nice sunrise but there were too many clouds that morning. After stuffing ourselves again with pancakes and eggs and toast and sausages and fruit, we were ready to hit the road again. Mike was a bit slow getting going that day – he had gotten Jeff’s cold from the sounds of it while Jeff was feeling well again. Poor Mike! But he kept driving and finding us lots of stuff to look at. We started out near the small river again. More lionesses with their 8-10 cubs. A couple of young male lion bachelors, probably brothers, walking along the road right beside our truck. Even my wide-angle lens was useless they were so close. WOW! And shortly after we saw a hippo walking along the road as well. We watched it walk all the way to the river which took some time as it did not seem to be in any hurry. Apparently it was a cool enough day and mostly overcast so the hippos can spend more time outside the water. I was in hippo heaven. After the hippo disappeared into the water we didn’t have to go far for the next attraction – given away by a number of trucks parked along the road. They were all staring at a tree in the distance. And YES, there he was. #4 of the Big Five – a leopard sitting in the tree. Mike was disappointed though saying this wasn’t a good leopard – too far away and quite hidden in the tree. He promised us he could do better :-). And next up – Elephants at the waterhole.

We went further and further and the tourist trucks got fewer and fewer while the numbers of gazelles, antelopes and zebras went up in the open grassland. Birds, more lions and even a couple hyenas. Then the scenery changed again and the grassland started to be sprinkled with Kopjes. Looked pretty cool with some big storm clouds in the background. Not too many animals around – or we didn’t see any because our speed had increased yet again. Mike must know something but he wouldn’t tell us. We were thinking maybe the better leopard? But there were no trees around so not quite the right environment for those animals. Then we saw the agglomerate of safari trucks in the distance near one of the kopjes. And we spotted her right away lying on the rock – another cheetah much closer this time. And a minute later her little cub, maybe 2-3wks old came up to nuzzle her. Oh so cute. We watched them for a bit until a couple of vultures and eagles showed up. Apparently those birds made the new mom pretty nervous. I guess her cub would just be the right size for a snack. So she walked off the rock with baby in tow – passing right through the line of safari trucks. The little one pretty soon disappeared blending into the high grass very well. There were some zebras that eyed mom conspicuously as she move closer and closer to them and away from us but obviously she was not in hunting mode so everyone relaxed. Except Jeff and I who were still very excited about what we saw.

We drove back to the campsite for lunch passing more zebras, antelopes, giraffes, buffalo, warthogs etc. The itinerary called it taking a break from the heat and sun like the animals. Let me tell you, it was not hot and the far away storm clouds had moved quite a bit closer now completely blocking the sun. I am sure sick Mike was happy to take a break though and Hamisi kept us entertained with a mountain of food again. Chicken curry, fries, PIZZA and salad. How on earth he can make a pizza on the single propane burner is still a mystery to me. How I didn’t gain 10kg eating all this food even more so :-).

At 3:30PM we left camp again – by now it was completely overcast. More of the same for close to an hour – a jackal, zebras, Hartebeest, funky birds, etc – until the rain started. We were just looking for the leopard that was spotted not too long ago by another guide but we never saw him. Trying to escape the rain we turned about back towards the river where we saw more lions and hippos out of the water since it was a cool day. But not long after the rain caught up with us again – not just rain, it was a real monsoon. The rainy season seemed to come early that year and it turned the roads into slick mud slides. And the animal watching isn’t as exciting in the rain either. Cats are hiding since they HATE getting wet feet. The grazers are still out and about but the windows of the truck started fogging up. And I wasn’t about to hold my new camera out into the rain either. I am not sure how people who come here in the rainy season to watch the big migration do it. We were hoping this may only be a quick downpour but after an hour it still was coming down hard. By now it was about time to get back to camp and Mike sped up along the muddy roads. And before we know it all sudden the truck spun 90 degrees and we ended up with our back tires against the bank. The rain was coming down in buckets and we were stuck. Mike tried going forward and backwards but was making very little ground. The tires we had on our truck were not made for this type of mud. Another truck came down the road and had to stop since we blocked most of the road. They watched for some time while Mike tried to get unstuck. Instead of helping us though they manoeuvred past us almost getting stuck themselves – IDIOTS! It was starting to get dark. Eventually Jeff got out – a big no-no under any other circumstances – and pushed while Mike tried to get out of the bank. Jeff almost landed on his butt as soon as he stepped out it was so slippery. But the pushing helped and it took only a few minutes before we were back on the road. Nevermind Jeff was soaked to the bone when he came back in. No lion tried to eat him though :-). I could tell that Mike was a bit embarrassed about the whole thing but for Jeff and I it was a cool addition to the adventure.

Back in camp, the thunder started… it rained all evening. It was also getting quite cold out as the sun set. Good thing we had our rain coats and sweaters back at the tent. While we had dinner – butternut squash soup, beef stew with rice, veggies and salad –  we could see heavy lightning to the east. Pretty cool. When we went to bed around 9:40PM it was still raining – heavy! There were rivers running through the campground and huge puddles in sections. Luckily our thick canvas tent stayed dry and we slept okay. The lions didn’t start roaring until about 3AM when the rain finally stopped.

Day 7 (Sep 4, 2014): The next day we all were up early 5:40AM for an early game drive – we only had half a day left in this awesome park and wanted to make the best of it. Breakfast only consisted of some tea and a cookie – my tummy was very disappointed, my brain was fine with it 🙂 – so we could hit the road by 6:15AM. The partly cloudy sky looked nice but no spectacular sunrise yet again. Near the river we saw hippos, even a baby hippo, crocodiles, giraffes and Egyptian geese. And then Mike spotted the leopard across the creek. We almost lost him shortly after but then Mike spotted a 2nd leopard which was even bigger and closer. Mama and her year old cub from last year. We followed along as they walked further up the creek until they found a suitable tree to take a rest in. Or at least mom wanted to take a rest while junior kept climbing around her. We had a great view of mom for some time, while junior explored the tree but then she moved onto a different branch and was hidden by the leaves. But we continued to be able to watch junior play. He picked up a dead branch in his jaw and shook it like a dog. Then he dropped the stick and it fell down all the way to the ground. Junior climbed off the tree to pick it up. As he climbed back up the stick seemed to be more of an annoyance than a good toy so he soon lost interested in it. Back on the tree he soon went to explore it again – climbing onto the thinnest branches high up. We saw him falling off one of those just hanging on with his front paws. So cool!! Except he almost knocked mom off as well. Eventually she had enough and left the tree. Junior stayed behind and settled down on a thick branch in plain sight. We must have watched him for another 10min before he also left the tree and soon after disappeared into the bush. So awesome!! That was a GOOD leopard. Mike was so happy that he found it for us and borrowed my camera to look at the pictures I took. Unfortunately the sun was coming up behind that tree and the pictures are all a bit washed out.

We went to a different area this morning having to cross the creek a few times – except all the crossings were now almost raging rivers. Very different from the day before. We saw other vehicles stuck and Mike was the first out of the truck to help them!! The area we went to was a bit more hilly. I think we ended up at the Retima River which we were supposed to cross through but the water levels were way to high. On the other side a big water truck was stuck having to wait for the water levels to drop. Lucky for us there was another way across – a small wooden bridge. We stopped at another spot along the raging river and I was wondering why. Until all of a sudden we heard the blow – like a whale. But there are no whales in small African rivers no matter how fast they flow. Nope, it was a hippo. Quite a few actually. They all stayed mostly under water and just every so often came up with a huge blow. I never imagined hippos would stay in fast flowing water like this. You usually see them in calm almost lake like sections just sleeping. These guys must have had to work hard to not being swept down. Pretty amazing animals if you ask me. On the drive back we saw more of the usual suspects – vultures, giraffes, impalas, buffalo, elephants, monkeys, secretary bird and a turtle – but not many. Even saw a lioness chase some Thompson Gazelles around half-heartedly. During the day on her own she would not stand a chance at catching one and the gazelles knew it.

Back at the camp Hamisi had already packed up the tents and had prepared a huge brunch of Quiche, vegetable-filled pancakes, salad and fruit. As always we stuffed ourselves and then quickly loaded up the truck for the long drive back to Ngorongoro Crater. Our last day of safari was rapidly approaching. On the way out we saw big herds of Zebra again on the plains as well as gazelles.  More clouds had moved in again but even though it looked like rain we did not get rained on. Just not so good for picture-taking. Between Serengeti and Ngorongoro we stopped in at Oldupai Gorge – the Cradle of Mankind – one of the most important paleoanthropological sites in the world having been instrumental in furthering the understanding of early human evolution. We visited the small museum on the rim and were given a talk about the finds made in this area. I would have liked to explore the gorge on foot but there was not enough time. Although an interesting topic, my mind wasn’t really into it (still had leopards in front of me climbing trees 🙂 ). Back on the road  we eventually started climbing back up to the crater rim. Before we even were on the top the clouds swallowed us up completely. It was even more misty than last time we came through. We reached the ONLY public campsite on the rim just before it got dark. There were quite a few trucks here. The campsite was just a big open grassy area. We put up our tent along the edge of all the tents near the only tree It was misty, it was wet, it was cold – in short, it was close to miserable. We put on most of the clothes we brought, including toque and gloves. Most people were wrapped in blankets. The common area was crowded – much more crowded than all the other times. The kitchen was crowded as well but at least Hamisi had a lot of company. The washrooms were kinda clean. We were missing Mike today for dinner as he had to fix something on the car. Instead we had a good chat with our neighbours, two women from Northern Ireland, one of them is actually living in Tanzania, Dar es Saalam, for a year as an English teacher. Both of them are spending their life as teachers abroad – living in exotic countries for 2-3 years before moving on to the next. Sounded pretty cool but not always just fun. We, us and our two neighbours, were the only ones that did not run out to see the elephant come into camp to drink from the leaky water tank. Achmed had warned us about these two elephants that come every night to drink. They are old and cranky and he predicted they would be attacking someone soon. And lo and behold, we heard them trumpeting angrily and shrieking people came back running into the common area. Nobody got hurt that night.

We polished off the zucchini soup, spaghetti with meat sauce, fries and beans and went to bed by 9AM. It was just too wet and cold to sit around in the common area. I expected to hear some of the bush pigs Hamisi had warned us about to plunder some tents but it stayed quiet all night. Well it didn’t really did get quiet till 11PM or so since the cooks were having a party after all their charges went to bed :-).

November 30, 2014

Day 4: Lake Manyara – a slower day

Filed under: Africa, Animals, Travel — K2 in Canada @ 9:21 PM

Day 4 in Tanzania (Sep 1). I was up before the sun hoping for a nice sunrise which was rather disappointing. In truth I also had to use the washroom real bad – my first experience with #2 using these “hole in the floor” toilets. Needs practice – let’s keep it at that :-).

We took our time getting ready that morning – apparently Lake Manyara isn’t the most interesting place to visit at the end of the dry season when the lake is at its lowest. On the way we stopped in Mto Wa Mbu (Mosquito River) where Mike had to run some errands and to drop off Hamisi for the night. Hamisi never went with us when we stayed in lodges, only when we camped. If I had known that I might have done things differently. Tonight’s lodge stay was just because I wanted to stay in a secluded Tented Camp which Tarangire kinda was. So we could have skipped that night BUT … it ended up to be a very special place.

Jeff was not feeling well that day – cold like symptoms with sniffling and sore joints. He probably got it from the guy on the flight from Amsterdam to Tanzania. I am not even sure how much he remembers from this day – probably the part where a gecko was running across his chest at the place we had lunch :-). But I am jumping ahead again.

This park was very different from Tarangire. The lake is part of the East African Rift Valley and lies right below the escarpment. When you first enter the park it almost is jungle-like – the water running off the escarpments collects in an underground river and transforms an otherwise very arid region into a green lung. And like any good jungle there were lots of primates around – Baboons, Sykes and Vervet monkeys – as well as lots of Hornbills. A bit further into the park the bush became much drier again but still much denser than Tarangire. Not easy to spot animals and we didn’t see much until we hit the “lake” for the first time. Lake is a bit of an exaggeration. All we saw were empty flats for almost as far as we could see. In the far distance we could just spot some wildebeest and some warthogs. The sky was cloudy and it all looked quite gloomy. Is this going to be it? We continued on through the bush – few impala, some eagles, more monkeys – until we reached the next access point to the lake – at least there was water visible. Here we saw a lot of giraffes right in the open. Many of them actually sitting down resting. Giraffes don’t sit down often but in this open space they can spot predators from a long way off. And it is easier to eat the short grass in a seated position when you have such a long neck :-).  In the far distance we could just see this pink line when the sun tried to poke through the high clouds – flamingos! Lake Manyara is not a nice freshwater lake, it is salty. Most of the lakes here are salt lakes and the flamingos live off the shrimps that strive under these alkaline conditions! Hence in the wet season this park becomes alive with flamingos. It almost looked like it wanted to rain but at the end the sun won out again that day too.

We continued on through the bush with few glimpses of the lake here and there where we saw more wildebeest. Close up we noticed that these animals had a distinctive different colour here than the ones we saw in Tarangire – apparently their fur colour depends on their diet. We saw some elephants hiding in the bush. We saw very few other vehicles and every time Mike chatted with the driver. After one of those encounters he all of a sudden, without saying a word, started speeding along the narrow track. We barely managed to stay up and there was no chance of spotting anything. We emerged from the bush and all these fantastic views opened up around us. I consoled myself that I will always be able to take more pictures on the way back. We had learnt to trust Mike’s “silent missions” – speeding usually means something cool is somewhere down the road and he didn’t want to ruin the surprise by telling us.  So we flew by hundreds of flamingos close to shore onto a wide open plain. But all we encountered there were some water buffalo and more warthogs. Warthogs are the funniest animals. Okay, they look kinda mean with their tusks and mane but when they run on their short legs and with their tails straight up in the air they just look cute. I am big a fan of pigs! And I made Mike stop for both of those animals during our mad race. He may have blamed me for missing the lions that had been out there apparently. More likely he learnt the lesson that Jeff and I can get excited by any animal sighting out there – not only the big cats :-). We slowly worked our way back to where the flamingos were – enjoying the great views over the escarpment and the lake below it and taking pictures. The flamingos were hanging out near the hot springs where we stopped for lunch. This spring was actually fresh water but too hot to even stick your fingers into. Fresh water though meant lots of nice green grass in front. And past the grass the lake was full of pink flamingos. By now the sun was out fully and the colours were just amazing. We may not have seen the same amount of animals as we saw the first 3 days but the scenery being so different was just as stunning – dry season or not.

We saw more warthogs, giraffes and elephants on the way back and I thought the day was done as we entered the underground water forest again but then Mike turned off towards the lake one more time. Only that this time we ended up in a marshy area with a fresh water river meandering through it rather than at the salty lake. Here we saw a whole bunch of pelicans and storks, ibis and spoonbills, herons, cranes and Egyptian geese, a night heron and …. hippos!!! I love hippos even more than pigs. You had to get out of the truck on a little ramp to see them. They were quite far away and all in the water barely having their eyes and noses sticking out above water. No more than 10 animals.  Jeff and I spent 45min! with the hippos – if Mike hadn’t learnt the lesson earlier, now he did – just to see one yawn. Many other tourists came and went but none of them saw the yawn :-). Patience, people, patience! With the hippos being a real highlight Lake Manyara was definitely no disappointment.

Next we needed to get to our Tented Camp. We drove through Mosquito River town again and turned off on a good gravel road. Shortly after we left all civilization behind and entered…nothingness. It was really dry – almost dessert like with few bushes. Cacti here and there and a couple baobabs on some small hills but that was it. Jeff asked where the hell we were going and honestly I had no idea. I found this camp because that’s where my colleague and his group stayed and it was the cheapest of all the places. Jeff wasn’t impressed by the barren landscape. Even Mike had never been here before. A half hour or so later we turned off from the road into the desert – I could barely make out the track we followed. And there nestled underneath a couple large Baobab was “Ol Mesera Tented Camp”. We later learnt that Ol Mesera means Baobab in Maasai. The owner Barbara and 3 Maasai men greeted us. We were the only guests. Right away I noticed the quiet. All I could hear were some birds and cow bells from down below in the valley where the Maasai were bringing in their cattle. Apparently their village was close. The Maasai showed us to our “tent”. It was situated on the edge of the hill overlooking the rift valley below and the escarpment across. WOW – if you know the movie “Out of Africa” – I felt like Karen sitting on her favourite hill overlooking the land below waiting for Denys (Jeff was having a shower). The inside of the tent was wonderfully done – again with a full size washroom in behind. You could not even see any of the other 2 or 3 tents – all were separated by dry bushes and cacti. Even Jeff, who had been sick and not really into it all day realized this is the place to be if you are sick and not really into it. Mind you, he started to feel better and when we went back to the open common area for dinner he started chatting with Barbara right away while we waited for dinner to be ready. In Tarangire, Mike had been put up in the drivers quarters, which were a bit crowded, and had dinner with the drivers. When we camp he usually ate with us. Here at Ol Mesera Mike got his own tent – like ours – and was dining with us. We invited Barbara, our host, to join us for dinner. She was reluctant at first but eventually gave in. I am glad we asked her, she had many tales to tell about this country. Unfortunately I only remember a few but we had a wonderful evening learning about life in Tanzania.

Barbara and her husband, a doctor although we never found out if he is still around, came to Tanzania in 1968. The year I was born! They were originally from Slovakia. She had worked with tribes in different areas of Tanzania before opening this Lodge a few years ago. She picked this place because she liked the Baobab trees. She herself oversaw the building of the place. The power is coming 100% from solar. Backup batteries provide the power at night. Even charged my camera batteries. She only employs people from the local Maasai village and that was not easy at the beginning. Originally she asked for young women to help her with the cleaning and cooking. But Maasai women are not allowed near male strangers until they are married and once they are married they only work for their husbands. Hence, the village elder did not allow any women to work for her. The men were eager to come work but all of them wanted to be guards. Maasai men do not cook or clean, that’s women’s work. But over the years her Maasai helpers did get used to cleaning and cooking and we left a good tip for them. Years ago she still had wild animals come through – giraffes, elephants, genets – but not for a few years. Too much competition for food with the cattle. Now she only has 2 or 3 wild cats hanging around her place – some are friendly, some are not so friendly. They do keep the snakes away though. All of these things – the surroundings and people – made “Ol Mesera” a very special place!!! Even Mike fell in love with it and the Maasai helpers really connected with him.

We slept very well that night :-).

If you want to see more of Lake Manyara National park click here.

November 11, 2014

Day 2-3: Tarangire – Land of Giants

Filed under: Africa, Animals, Travel — K2 in Canada @ 10:30 PM

Day 2 of our Africa trip (Aug 30). Woken up early again by the dogs and roosters. We got up with the sun and had an early breakfast again. Mike was picking us up at just after 8AM for the start of the road trip. With him was Hamisi our cook – yep we had our personal chef for all the nights we camped. That’s not really roughing it now is it? And Hamisi was a master chef – I was amazed by all the food he produced on this one propane tank. I ate way too much! The truck was full of gear – water, food, propane, tents, table, chairs … we just had the two seats in the back to sit on. Off we go – SAFARI! Below is the map of the trip (green is driving, orange is hiking).

It took some time getting out of town, exchanging some US$ into Tanzanian Shillings on Achmed’s suggestion. While Jeff headed into the bank the truck was instantly surrounded by people who wanted to sell stuff – T-shirts, book, pictures, necklaces…. a never ending stream of mostly men. I wasn’t going to buy anything on day 1 mind you. Finally we left town – the centre looked a bit more like a city and was BUSY with cars and people. As soon as we left Arusha the surroundings changed. It was much drier, open bush, few trees. Lots of Masai tending to their small herds along the road. Waterholes where animal and humans were getting their water. Maasai Bomas – the traditional Maasai huts – and small villages along the way. We stopped at one of those small villages – Mike and Hamisi didn’t have breakfast that morning getting ready for the trip. They left us behind to go inside to get some food while we thought we look around a bit. Lesson 1: You do not look around where there are people, you are being surrounded immediately by those wanting to sell you something. The guys with the T-shirt were targeting Jeff, the women with the wrist bands and necklaces were targeting me. We didn’t really want to buy anything but these people are very persistent. Uncomfortably so. Eventually I offered my “girls” some money to take their picture. Lesson 2: $2 each was way too much – in those little of the beaten path villages they do not understand the value of the US$. They wanted 500 Shillings which is less than $1. Eventually one of the male merchants explained it to them in Swahili – they didn’t speak any English – and all sudden I was their best friend and they were very happy to have their picture taken. We finally joined Mike and Hamisi in the open restaurant inside the fenced in area. Lesson 3: People who sell stuff are NOT allowed on private property – safe havens for us!!

Not long after we hit the road again we turned off the paved highway onto a rough gravel road. We dropped Hamisi off at a campground along the road – we would have camped here if not for wanting to do a night safari which only the lodges inside the park offer – and continued on to Tarangire National Park just another 15min down the road. So far we had only seen cows and goats on the drive and we were anxious to get into the park. But first Mike had to deal with getting the permit. Entry passes are sold in 24hr increments and they are very firm about those 24hrs – you get in at 11AM you must get out at 11AM the next day. Since we were here for 2 days Mike got 48hrs worth. The entry fees are NOT cheap – $50-100 per person per day!! It seemed to take forever….and the elephant skulls displayed at the gate could only entertain us for so long. Good thing there were one of the giants the park is known for right at the entrance. A Baobab tree (Affenbrotbaum) – these trees can be thousands of years old, grow to a heights of up to 30m, can have a diameter of up to 11m and are very unique. We did not see one that big but we did see many awesome Baobab tree specimens. Since it was the end of the dry season they weren’t carrying any leaves or fruit. There is one other tree that stands out in the park – the sausage tree – of which we saw many full of green leaves and with fruits and flowers. But I am jumping ahead.

Finally we had all the permits sorted out and were able to drive into the park. Up comes the roof and Jeff and I are standing for the next 7hrs watching animals. And it only took a minute before we spotted the first Wildebeest. OMG – the amount of animals we saw in this most beautiful landscape of Baobab, Acacia, Sausage trees, the Tarangire River, savanna grasslands was just mind boggling. Impala, Dik-dik, Zebra, Wildebeest, Giraffes, Ostrich, Buffalo, Warthog, Water Buck, Red Buck and not to forget hundreds of Elephants – #2 of the Big 5. Amazing. You get so close to the animals that you could almost touch them – which of course is not allowed! Colourful birds, eagles, storks, vultures. Mongoose and squirrels. Baboons blocking the road below sausage trees since baboons LOVE sausages. So do Impala, hence they follow the baboons as they can climb up into the trees and get the fruits. Baboons never eat them all and there are plenty of sausage left for the Impala. We stopped for lunch at the picnic area – a place you can actually get out – overlooking the Tarangire River with Wildebeest, Zebras and Elephants in it. Vervet Monkeys were running around us looking for scraps. The reason there are so many animals here is the Tarangire River which is one of the few rivers that always has water in it even in the driest of dry conditions. Tarangire has the highest concentration of Elephants of any park and at the time we were there I think they said the park housed 1500 animals. All ages too – we saw old elephants and baby elephants and everything in between. Elephants also like Baobab trees – especially the fresh bark. Apparently it is good for their tummies. So you see some big trees that are half eaten on the bottom – I don’t think it really gets windy here or else those trees would have fallen over. Only fallen trees you see were those toppled over by Elephants.

You probably noticed that I have not yet mentioned any carnivores. Achmed had warned us that they are not as common in Tarangire. We saw a Jackal just after lunch but it took all day to find a cat. Well, Mike found them. 3 lioness were sleeping in the high grass. Barely visible at all. But our first lions!!! #3 of the Big 5 – and this is only day 2. Lucky for us it was already late in the day and finally one of them decided to go for a walk. 5 safari trucks like ours were racing after her trying to get their clients into the best spot for viewing. I have not really mentioned it yet but there are a lot of safari trucks in the park – and this is the low season!! You may have an elephant to yourself but never ever any of the predators. Actually the easiest way to find the predators is by looking for agglomerates of trucks :-). But back to our lioness. I thought she just had about enough of us chasing her when she crossed the river – cats hate wet feet – and crawled up the bank to hide in a little hole. But I was wrong – she was not worried about us but her offspring. 3 or 4 tiny little cubs – I could just make them out with my 60x Zoom!!! It was awesome. Even Mike was impressed – more with the zoom on my camera than seeing lion cubs. He estimated them to be 2-3 weeks old. They were definitely the tiniest cubs we saw.

While everyone else stayed, straining their eyes to see the cubs, we went back to the other two lionesses. They were still lying in the grass but we managed to wake them up. So one after the other they started walking and we had them all to ourselves. One of them found a little mount to sit down on – posing really, just for us. And the second one joined a bit later. We saw them cuddle a little bit with each other. I got some reasonably nice shoots but the light was fading away quickly. So cool!!

Eventually we had to leave them since we needed to check into Tarangire Lodge and get our night safari organized. I wasn’t sure what to expect from Tarangire Lodge – never even checked the Lodge online before we went. All I wanted was the night safari. That place was HUGE. Situated above the river with an awesome view over the park below from the patio. There was a big restaurant, a big common area, a pool and a lot of tents and a few cabins. We stayed in a “tent” – talk about luxury tenting. Okay, the walls were made of canvas but we each had a full size bed and there was a full bathroom with shower in the back. And the view from each cabin was the same as from the main patio. You are actually not allowed to leave your tent after dark. But they do a have a guard with a gun to walk you back and forth since most people don’t go to sleep when it gets dark at 7PM. All I saw around the tents were dik-diks. We arrived at the lodge around 6 and had a bit over an hour to get ready for dinner at 7:30PM and the night safari at 8PM. Dinner was wonderful – buffet style offering a variety of curries. The waiter was very helpful in getting us fed in 30min.

A long day but I was very excited about the night safari. We met Brandon and his native African helper Leonard. Brandon is the son of the white lodge owners and was actually born in Tanzania. He had spent his whole life at the lodge, I would have guessed him no more than 20 years old, and really seemed to love his job. The four of us  I had thought there would be more – jumped into yet another 8-seater jeep and took off into the pitch dark. Brandon was driving and holding a strong light that he swept back and forth to catch the glow of a pair of eyes. I am not sure how he did it but he always knew what type of animal these glowing eyes belong to. Zebras, Wildebeest, Eland, Dik-dik, gazelles…but those were not the creatures we were after at night. The first real night creature was a spring hare. But we only had a quick glance. Then a Genet – cutest creature, like a mini leopard. The 2nd one of those actually sat still for us in plain sight for a while. Too bad I could not take pictures at night. Then we saw a Whitetail Mongoose – sitting right along the road in plain view. Apparently they are usually much more shy. We saw a glimpse of Hyenas, a Bat Eared Fox and a Porcupine – which I really never saw. What was surprising was the amount of night active birds, other than owls. We were driving along at low speed looking left and right to see some animals when all sudden we hear a sound from Leonard in the back “Tembo”. Brandon swept the light straight ahead and hit the brakes at the same time. Right in front of us in the middle of the road were a couple of Elephants – we almost ran right into them if not for Leonard. And they weren’t going to move either. We had to drive off the road to get around them. The whole tour took maybe 90min but it was well worth it. Brandon is very knowledgeable and has many interesting stories to tell. We found out that he will also be our guide for the morning walking safari tomorrow at 6:40AM. We hung out in the common area a bit sharing a Safari beer to wind down from the adventure before hitting the sack by 11PM.

Genet - not my picture mind you but that's what it looked like

Genet – not my picture mind you but that’s what it looked like

Day 3 (Aug 31). This was our first night tenting in the “wild” but I slept really well. Only woke up once to some noises right next to the tent – probably dik-dik or mongoose. 6:00AM came pretty darn early. We only had a cereal bar for breakfast and got ready just in time to see the sunrise. We thought we had spotted a hyena down below while waiting for the bushwalk to start. Brandon and another native African ranger met us right at 6:40AM, both of them had guns. Again we were the only ones, cool! We walked past the tents – including ours – and Brandon pointed out the fresh Giraffe tracks from not too long ago. And we could spot a Giraffe down below in the valley. The landscape looked even more beautiful in the early light as we walked down to the river. Brandon showed us a lot of tracks and other traces of animals. We saw some dead water buffalo and warthog. We saw some very much alive Impala, Water Buck and Vervet Monkeys – the later not as bold as the picnic area relatives. We saw a variety of vultures in the trees as well as Marabou Stork in the river and an abundance of other colourful birds which names I already forgot. Only one I remember is the Love Bird from the parrot family. We apparently saw a really rare bird but again, the name went in one ear and out the other. Nothing too exciting – we walked slow and quietly – but it was just the greatest feeling to walk the same dirt as the Elephants did the night before. We learned about termites – the queen can live 60 years and produces thousands of eggs day in day out. The walk took about 90min – absolutely serene. Although Brandon told us the story of him and some clients walking right underneath a tree with a lion in it. Nobody got hurt.

Back at the lodge we had plenty of time for breakfast – again buffet style – before meeting Mike at 9AM for another day driving in Tarangire National Park. The weather was even better than the day before – endless blue sky. We saw a similar variety of animals as the day before plus a banded mongoose. We saw dwarf mongoose at the lodge already. We also got to see our first male lion who was making out with a girl for a bit. Mating for lions is quite a chore. It takes 7 days. They hunt together beforehand but then do not eat for the next 7 days – all they do it mate. First every minute, then every hour, then every few hours …etc. If the male makes it to day 7 he has proven to be strong enough to be the father of the next generation of lions. For lunch we actually left the park to set up our tent – like a tent tent – just outside the park and to meet up with Hamisi again. Mike had to get something fixed on the truck so we had a couple hours break which we spent chatting with some Tanzanian youth that were employed at the campsite. The population of Tanzania comes from 130 different tribes. The 4 guys we talked to were all from a different tribe. Maasai is one of the largest tribes but since they tend to live a traditional life they mostly stay by themselves. All the tribes intermingle though. Mike for example is half Masai. Every tribe seems to get along with each other – one reason why Tanzania is considered a very safe country to visit.

In the afternoon we went back into the park for more. Did I get bored of it? NEVER. Every Elephant does something slightly different – like the one who went on his hind quarters to get to the leave in the tree. Few Elephant facts I remember. they do eat everything – grass, leaves, twigs, trees … they eat up to 300kg per day. But only 40% of their food gets digested. They live together in family groups with a female matriarch. An Elephant pregnancy is 21-22 months long. We saw quite a few very young calves. They actually nurse at their mother’s breasts and not their bellies like most other herbivores. We saw an injured young Elephant that was left behind by the herd. It is possible that another female would pick him up – they do adopt lost calves that are not their own. If not, the chances he would survive many more nights was slim. That’s Africa for you.

We also saw our lion couple again. They were resting near the river. We spent quite some time with them – like about 10 other trucks. They actually both got up and walked around a bit, kinda cuddled a bit but not much action. This was hopefully day 7 or this male – he looked young – is not going to make it. And like any good couple that had been together for some time they snarled at each other and then she took off. He was just tired!! Some trucks followed her, others like us stayed with him. But then Mike got a tip from another driver and all sudden bolted off after the lioness. She had climbed up into a trees. Usually big cats like this do not climb tree. Here though they can get away from the flies by going up higher and sausage trees are fairly easy to climb.

The sun was almost setting when we left the lions – I was sad to leave this place. You have to be out of the park or at a Lodge by dark and we raced the setting sun – only stopped once for a quick sunset picture but Mike was in a hurry. Back at camp we finally got to sample Hamisi’s food for the first time. It was really good – Talapia, vegetable curry, roast potatoes and a fresh salad with huge chunks of avocado and apples. And always soup to start and tee and fruit for dessert. It was just awesome!!! Given that all this was prepared on a single propane burner in a tiny little kitchen area!! The campsite was very basic – more like what I expected. The toilets were not the comfy flush toilets though but just a whole in the ground. Definitely not bare feet washrooms. The water was coming from a small water tank and I never thought twice about if I could use it to brush my teeth. Just did. I am sure they did not want all their tourist to get sick. We weren’t the only ones camping here. And both of the other two groups were older than Jeff and I. One group of 3 from either Switzerland or France and another single guy from Germany. He was in his 70th and on his 3rd or 4th camping safari. We saw him again and again in other campsites we stayed at.

The night was a bit rough – not because of the nice comfy mattresses we were sleeping on but because of the donkeys from a neighboring village making a hell of a noise all night long. It sounded like someone was going to kill them…I take lions roaring near the tent over that raucous any time!

If you want to see much more of Tarangire National Park use the below link. But be warned – it over 200 pictures (and I may add some more): https://google.com/TarangireAug30312014. This park was definitely one of the highlights for me – if you could only visit one park in all of Tanzania, I would pick Tarangire.

November 3, 2014

Day 1: Arusha – a little gem not to be missed

Filed under: Africa, Animals, Travel — K2 in Canada @ 10:25 PM

Aug 29 – our first day in Africa and we were woken up by fighting dogs well before the sun was up. Not what I had hoped for as the first animal in Africa. But as the sunrise got closer the birds started up as well and that sure sounded more like Africa :-). We were up by 6:30AM with the sun, although it was a cloudy start to the day. We checked out the L’Oasis Lodge now that it was light – it was made up of many little huts, two like ours on stilts but most of them were round with thatched roofs. Very cute. The restaurant was an open area with only a roof. Breakfast was mostly North American with your eggs or omelette, pancakes – both freshly made by the cook – sausages, bacon and toast. Mind you the selection of fruits was tropical for sure – pineapple, papaya, mango. The pancakes were more like crepes and were delicious! I was amazed how hungry I was.

We had a good hour to kill before Mike was picking us up. So we went for a walk through the neighbourhood. First along banana gardens and some shabby looking huts. Very few people on the road until we hit a cross-road which was busier. The road was dirt and mud. Little shops along the side. Chicken and dogs and goat and cows in between the shops. We were the only white people but never felt like people were staring at us. Everyone was friendly, many said hello like home when you go for a Sunday afternoon stroll in a city park and greet people you don’t really know. The shops themselves were just small little stone huts with a door.

Mike was waiting for us when we got back by 8:30AM – he had the same big truck as last night. Off we went to Arusha National Park. It was much greener than I thought on the drive there. The parks biggest landmark is Mount Meru which is the 5th highest mountain in Africa at over 4500m. When we first arrived it was hidden in the clouds but later the sun came out for great views. The mountain is surrounded by forest and grassy plains – all looks green and beautiful. It took about 1min of driving into the park and we saw our first African animals – Zebras and Water Buffalo in an open grassy area. So cool! Water buffalo are part of the “Big 5” next to elephant, lion, leopard and rhino – one down. Not long after we ran into a whole bunch of Baboons with little babies blocking the road. I was in heaven! There were other monkeys in the trees but we were heading to the ranger hut at the foot of Mount Meru to start our walking safari.

Here we met our ranger guide, Shaban, while Mike waited at the truck for us to get back. Shaban was carrying a gun – mostly because of the water buffalo as there are not many predators in Arusha NP – too wet for cats. First off we walked into an open grassy area and voila there were the Water Buffalo up close and personal. Apparently they are not very smart animals and are easily angered which results in them charging. But today they were quite happy and enjoyed the sun just the same we did. Our guide said he was lucky and never had to shoot an animal in the park. Next we started to climb a bit and entered the forest. Here we got out first glimpse of the Black&While Colobus monkeys. They are as beautiful as they are difficult to take pictures of. Living high up in the fig trees they kept moving around all the time. We saw more later and I finally managed to get a good shot. While looking at the monkeys I wasn’t paying too much attention to the ground and got stung by the stinging nestle our ranger had warned us about. I have been stung by the German kind a million times and yeah it hurts a bit but not for long. This one was brutal! Instant hot pain which lasted for hours. This was the last time I was wearing shorts on safari! We didn’t see many animals on the walk but it was great to stretch our legs for sure and enjoy the flora in the park. Near the top we came across a horde of baboons who were eyeing us suspiciously. On the way back we walked underneath the Bridge Fig Tree. Here we saw our first antelope a Bush Buck, as well as the first Warthog. And more Colobus along the way as well as a couple Hornbill hidden in the leafy trees. The hike took a bit over three hours and was well worth it!! I started to regret that I decided against the Mount Meru hike (3-4d) but one can’t do everything in 13 days.

Back at the ranger station we had our box lunch. Box lunches almost ALWAYS consist of baked piece of chicken, cheese sandwich, an egg, a juice container, mini muffin or cookie, chips or nuts, fruit and some candy – sometimes there is some baked sweet potato in it as well. We had quite a few of those during the 13 day trip – one does get tired of them eventually but I was always hungry and always ate most of it. After lunch we continued on with our game drive – the roof of the vehicle pops up and you are standing while driving to look around the whole time. Very cool!!! We complained to Mike that we had not yet seen a Giraffe and he grinned at us and pointed to the left saying “Like that Giraffe?”. Three of them – quite far away but for the first giraffes this was awesome. We saw many more on the drive through the open grasslands towards Momella Lakes. At the lake we saw two Crowned Cranes and our first Flamingos. There were hundreds of them but apparently that classified as only a few. During the wet season, the lakes are visited by thousands. We thought this already looked pretty awesome. These are lesser flamingos which are smaller but also more pink in colour than the greater flamingos. Along the lake we also saw a beautiful African Fish Eagle sitting in a tree right along the road – similar to our Bald Eagle but the white goes down the chest quite a bit further. Near the end we drove up to Ngurdoto Crater – beautiful scenery but no animals that day. It was late afternoon by then and I started to feel tired. As soon as we left the park 15min later we both fell asleep on the drive home.

Back at the lodge we actually had a nap before dinner – just for an hour but it worked wonders. We were just about ready to get up when someone knocked at the door to let us know that Achmed, the owner of Basecamp and Mike’s boss, wanted to meet us. He gave us the rundown of the do’s and don’ts for the trip. Originally from Britain, he still has their sense of humor and over a couple of beer – Achmed was buying – we talked for at least 2-3 hours. The lodge owner Anders, an ex-Swede, also joined us and between the two of them they had a lot of stories to tell. I tried a traditional dish for dinner that night – beef with cooking bananas and it was awesome.

For a full account of all the things we saw check out this link: https://google.com/ArushaAug292014

November 1, 2014

Day 0: It took a long time…

Filed under: Africa, Travel — K2 in Canada @ 3:33 PM

It took a long time for us (that’s more me) to decide on a trip to Africa. I had started playing with the thought after we came back from Australia in 2009. But I could never decide where to go – so many places I would like to see. I was looking at organized tours that take you through several countries. But then I know how much I would hate to sit in a tour bus and not being able to stop where I want. I briefly looked into self-drive tours but that’s not as easy as driving and sight-seeing in Australia. On top of that, all that would take considerably more time than the 3 weeks of vacation I have per year. I almost resigned into waiting for the next time I get laid-off. And then, last year September a colleague of mine showed his pictures of a trip to Tanzania – a hike and safari. 13 day personalized trip. I was hooked, Tanzania it is. And two weeks looked doable. Why wait until I am too old to do the things I love. I spent a bit more time looking into what else we could squeeze in – but it would have been just that, a squeeze. Not going to work. At the end I emailed the same company my colleague went with and customized one of their standard camping trips. Achmed, the owner of Basecamp Tanzania, was really patient with me and responded to all inquiries immediately. Originally Jeff’s buddy Jeremy wanted to come with us but . That brought the cost up even more now that it was only the 2 of us – but to hell with that, what else do I work for but to pay for the fun stuff :-). I booked everything in February – 13 days including a safari and a hike up an active volcano. YEAH! The only addition was a 3-day layover in Germany to see my family. Can’t really go all this way and not stop in.

But the trip was not till the end of August. So many months of waiting and thinking “Did  I really do the right thing? Spending several months of salary on a 2.5 week trip!” On top of that we had one of the best summers I remember in a long time. It started early, very little rain, warm without being too hot. Perfect for doing stuff in our own province like extended fishing or kayaking trips. But no more vacation left for that. Well we made the best out of the nice weekends. Lots of great hiking (see previous posts under hiking) this year to train for the climb up the volcano in Tanzania. The write-up for the climb said it is steep and one has to be reasonably fit. Then there was the Ebola outbreak in West Africa which had us a bit worried for a while. More money had to be spent on getting all the shots and malaria pills – even though we kept it to the bare minimum.

Finally it was the evening of Aug 26 and we were packing up the backpacks. We had piled stuff on the living room floor for a couple of days beforehand but didn’t start packing till last-minute as usual. We did miss the last TNR though….

Day Zero: Aug 27 – 4:30AM. That’s when we got up to take a cab to the airport to catch a plane to Portland Oregon at 7AM. Why Portland you may wonder? Just to save almost a thousand bucks on the flight adding another 7hrs to our trip. Obviously it does not take 7hrs to fly to Portland but we had a 5.5hr layover in PDX to wait for our connection flight to Amsterdam. To kill the time we took the “Maxlight” train into the city – it was a gorgeous day. Takes about 45min and is cheap. Jeff had found this breakfast place, “Zell’s” on the internet the day before, somewhere near the downtown area. It was a good 30min or so away from the train station – much further than we had thought along some busy not very scenic street for most of it – but we eventually got there. The place is somewhat hidden in a quiet residential area but the food was awesome! I had a “German” style pancake and even though it was not like the kind my mom makes it was delicious – a deep dish apple pancake to die for!  And a side of fried red potatoes. Honestly, I did not need all that food but it was too good to not finish. The waitress was impressed or more like stunned when she saw the empty plates :-). On the way back to the train station we took a route along the Willamette River – a bit more scenic and all we really saw of Portland, other than a lot of homeless people everywhere. Seemed worse than downtown Vancouver. We had to wait for the train a bit longer than expected but at the end we got back to the airport and through security in time for the flight. Only to find out that our flight was delayed by 45min. In theory that is not a big delay but our layover in Amsterdam was only 90min – pretty darn close since Schipol airport is HUGE. Once in the air we got to enjoy the same beautiful scenery as we enjoyed on the first flight down with awesome views over the ring of fire volcanoes such as Mount Hood, Mount St. Helen, Mount Rainier and Mount Baker, and we got to wave at Vancouver below us an hour into the flight. So FINALLY we were on our way towards Africa :-).

I hadn’t flown with Delta Airlines in a LONG time – we are talking decades. The leg room was ok, service quick and friendly, food surprisingly good (I know I should not have been hungry again after that breakfast earlier) and a huge selection of movies such as Life of Pi, Noah, Jack Reacher, etc. I didn’t even get to watch all the ones I wanted to during the 10hr flight. Not because I was sleeping lots, the opposite I was awake most of the time. The plan had been to get a good nap to be rested when arriving in Amsterdam. Well, that did not happen. Due to favourable winds we actually touched down in Schipol almost right on time. But then we were taxiing around for another 30min – so our 90min layover had now shrunken to 60min. Naturally the next gate was at the furthest away end from where we landed and we had to really hoof it to make it in time – only to be standing in line to board the next plane. Schipol/KLM has this weird system that security is done right at the gate which delays boarding endlessly. Never mind, we made the flight – I was still worried if the luggage did too though.  Nothing to be done about it now – off we went back into the air for the third time.

It was now just after 10AM local time which made it 1AM Vancouver time and we had another almost 9hr flight ahead of us. Service was again very good and I kept eating all they put in front of me – Jeff was smarter and hardly ate. He had this guy sitting behind him who was coughing and sneezing as soon as the plane took off – he was African. The stewardess eventually brought a doctor along who happened to be on board to check if this guy could have Ebola. Turned out he did not – so the doctor said. And we continued to enjoy the flight and the start of our vacation. No worries, right!? I had never flown south from Amsterdam – other than going to Frankfurt – so once past FRA I spent most of the time looking out of the window. Flying over the Alps, Greece , the Mediterranean into Africa. Not a cloud in the sky the whole way – almost. The views of the Sahara from up high were stunning – I wanted to stop and check it out. The light was too bright to take pictures – I had to wear my sun glasses inside the plane. The first clouds we saw probably when we crossed over Ethiopia into Kenya. We saw this huge storm to the west with lots of lightning – pretty cool to watch.  By the time we landed at Kilimanjaro Airport it was pitch dark, 7:45PM local time or 9:45AM Vancouver time Aug 28th.

Our plane made the little shack of an airport look even tinier – but somehow all the passengers fit into it. Now began another wait in line for the Visa. They recommend to get the visa at the airport  rather than applying beforehand and shipping your passport across the country but you have to expect to wait. Otherwise, it’s really painless. At the end of the first line up you give the guy behind the counter $50 each and get a piece of paper to stand in the next line. There they check your fingerprints and passport again and you get the stamp to enter the country. No word needs to be spoken :-). Took over 45min though and somehow we ended up being almost the last people out of the terminal. Quite surprised to see our luggage already waiting for us – yeah!! Achmed had promised that our guide would there to pick us up. But there was no-one in the area behind immigration. Maybe we took too long in immigration and he left? As we slowly walked outside, there were two guys chatting and one of them was Mike our guide. NOW the trip really started. Mike is just one of those people you have to fall in love with right from the start. He was a big fellow and always had a warm smile on his face (although over the next 13 days I am sure he must have cursed us stupid tourist a few times but it never showed :-)). His English was excellent. He loaded us and our two backpacks into this huge safari truck – a Toyota Land Cruiser 9-seater. I was sure this is just the vehicle they pick people up in from the airport. The drive to Arusha – our final destination for the day – took a good 60min. Traffic was surprisingly busy with few opportunities to pass and we weren’t going fast. But most Tanzanian drivers did not have Mike’s patience – they passed you never mind that there was no opening in the oncoming traffic. Someone will move out-of-the-way, right!?. Bit nerve wracking on day 1 in the dark after being awake for 30+hrs already. We finally made it into town and turned off onto this narrow lane, a really rough track and I was wondering where it would spit us out. We stopped in front of a big iron gate and voila it opened up into the L’Oasis Lodge – well named. We had our own little hut, porters carried our backpacks to it, flower petals on the bed, real bathroom. Quite nice! And of course there was a bar and we had our first Safari beer. Jeff finally was ready to eat again. Remember he hadn’t eaten since the flight to Amsterdam while I had stuffed myself on every opportunity I got. Even though it was already almost 10PM they still served a full meal. I stuck to just a light soup but Jeff’s chicken masala was awesome! And Safari Beer does taste good when on safari. Not long after though we crawled underneath the mosquito net – not that we had seen any mosquitoes yet – and fell asleep. We are in AFRICA – wow! It only took a car  followed by a plane, followed by a train (could have skipped that) followed by a plane and yet another plane back into a car again to get there: 31.5hrs of non-stop travel.

We really made it - Africa

We really made it – Africa

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