BILL AND JEANNE’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURES IN EAST AFRICA
KENYA AND TANZANIA
MAY 17-30, 2014
(please mouse click the thumbnails for larger photos)
SUNDAY MAY 18, 2014
MONDAY MAY 19, 2014
Today we headed off for the National Museum of Kenya to learn a little about the history of Kenya. Kenya became an independent country as recently as 1963 with first president, Jomo Kenyatta. Kenya was once British East Africa but the local people became unhappy with British Empire rule especially after many African men served in WWI and got a good look at the outside world.
The museum also has a reptile zoo with a lot of very poisonous creatures. Fortunately, we only encountered one green mamba in the wild and he was at a safe distance.
Nairobi with elevation of about 6000 feet was established as a capital city by the British around 1900 in order to escape the humidity and heat of Kenya's major coastal city of Mombasa.
After our return to the hotel I decided to take a walk "downtown" with the intention of visiting the gravesite of Jomo Kenyatta. Upon arriving at the grave I was informed by a friendly red uniformed guard that the grave is not open to visitors and no photos please. The guard did tell me he would be happy if I could help him attend a college in the USA. I was of no help. On my return walk I met Michael who was anxious to show me the way back to the hotel and offered a guided tour of the slum area, Kibera. I declined but did give him $5 for his effort. He said he really needed about $25 in order to buy a bag of rice to feed his 5 children.
During the evening the rest of our travel group of 16 arrived and we were ready for adventure.
TUESDAY MAY 20, 2014 LAKE NAIVASHA
In the morning we met our Kenyan drivers/guides Joshua, Julius and Sammy who work for African Route Safaris. At 0820 our luggage was loaded in the 3 vehicles and we were off for our first destination, Lake Naivasha. We headed west from Nairobi and began to appreciate the high population density with thousands of people walking along the roads to and from their apparently impoverished communities.
At 0930 we stopped for our first good views of the famed African Great Rift Valley. We later had a good lecture from our very own geologist, Dave, about the Rift Valley which stretches from the Dead Sea to the southern ends of the African continent. We would spend most of our trip within this valley with its many volcanic peaks, open plains, lakes and lots of high ridges to mark the landscape. We were only a few miles south of the Equator but weather was mild and temperatures very pleasant. We were pleased not to have much insect encounter on this trip.
About one hour later as we passed within sight of Mt. Longonot (a dormant volcano) we spotted our first zebras grazing beside the road. (By the end of the trip we were no longer excited to see wild zebras!)
At 1100 we had reached Lake Naivasha, were equipped with life vests and were ready for boat rides on this large fresh water lake. We soon spotted a lot of hippos, a king fisher bird eating a little fish, a fish eagle retrieving a fish thrown by our boat driver, some more zebras, wildebeasts and about a million cormorants (birds).
After the boat ride we checked into our Sawela Naivasha Lodge, had lunch and were off for our very first "game ride" in the Hells Gate National Park. We quickly learned the process of converting our vans into "game ride" vehicles by opening the top and lifting the roof so all could stand and take photos. We had a short hike in the Hells Gate Gorge and returned to the lodge after our first good viewings of giraffe, warthogs, common zebras, Thompson and Grants gazelles, impalas, African buffalos, baboons and guinea fowl. Jeanne fell in love with the cute and ugly warthogs. She wanted to take a baby warthog home but we decided it was not a good idea.
WEDNESDAY MAY 21, 2014 INTO THE MASAI MARA
We had an early departure from Naivasha and headed south west crossing some arid, open valley floor as we approached the Mara. Mara means "flat plains" in the Masai language and the Masai Mara and the Serengeti Plains are basically different names for the same endless stretches of open lands in western Kenya and Tanzania, respectively.
By about 0900 we had ascended into higher elevations with lots of crops and countless herds of cows and goats being herded by their Masai shepherds. We stopped at the town of Narok for our first opportunity to buy souvenir stuff and a chance for me to buy a cup of coffee and chat with the sales lady. She told me that most of the local people speak three languages-English, Swahili and Masai. English is the primary language in Kenya and Tanzania while Swahili is equally well known and used by the natives when they are not talking to tourists. There are many other tribal languages including the aforementioned Masai.
By 1PM we finally reached our lodge, Ol Moran Camp, following 3 hours of severely rough and dusty roads, very poor villages and countless cow and goat herds. At this camp we received the standard briefing from the lodge manager including the hours when we could expect electricity and hot water. Also, never leave your doors or patio windows open because the baboons and monkeys will get into your stuff. Most important, do not go outside at night because of danger from animals! Yikes!!
All of our lodges, including the "camps", were very nice with private baths. We did not have any problems with insects even though we did sleep with mosquito nets at some locations
After lunch we headed off for our game ride entering the Masai Mara Game Reserve at around 1600 via the Oloolaimutiek Gate. We saw lots of the animals easily recognized in these photos and learned that a traffic jam of safari vehicles means a pride of lions has been spotted. We got great views of a large male lion reclining by the road and Jeanne even captured a video with him roaring to his family. We soon learned that the lions are easily concealed in the high, dry grasses and they hang out near watering holes to ambush their prey who come for a drink.
THURSDAY MAY 22, 2014 INTO THE MARA AND GETTING TO KNOW THE MASAI
At 1100 we stopped for a toilet break (and shopping) at the Keekorok Airstrip. Some people prefer to fly into the game parks rather than enjoy the many hours of bouncing on dirt roads. This morning we also observed a very large herd of cape buffalo on their way across the dirt road and towards a watering hole. Apparently, Julius had parked our vehicle at the very spot the herd leader had decided he wanted to cross the road and he intended to make us get out of the way. We did!
At noon we had driven in the park to a border crossing (Sand River) into Tanzania (it is now closed to legal crossings). We had hoped to see some wildebeast (really named gnus) doing their migration to the north and into Kenya but there were none. We did see some prescribed grass burns and smoke on the Tanzania side. Our guides said those devious Tanzanian park rangers were setting fires to prevent the migrations so the animals would stay in their Serengeti Park. When we eventually were with our Tanzanian guides they told me in no uncertain terms that is a bunch of BS! "No one can stop the migrations and the controlled burns are attempts to eliminate a tick infection and to encourage growth of new grasses." I am inclined to believe the Tanzanian side of the story.
Finally, we returned to our camp for lunch and then by 1600 were ready for a visit to a nearby Masai village. By this time we had learned that the Masai men really do wear the colorful blankets (shuka) and carry a machete and club in their belts and a stick for cow herding. Each family has a distinct plaid pattern and many are red. The second chief in command , Peter, greeted us at the village. His father is the real chief but we did not meet him. The village population is about 200 with around 20 different families. They said they move the village about every 9 years since the huts start to fall down. Some of the men demonstrated to us how they really can make a fire with sticks, where they herd their cows and goats into the village at night for protection from predators and they did a dance with Masai jumping (accompanied by a few of our group-it is true that white men can not jump). They were very proud of their coming of age ceremonies at about age 15 when boys are circumcised and then sent off to live in the bush for 5 years to learn survival skills. We were all curious about female circumcision (age 12) which is now illegal in Kenya but Peter did not deny that they still do it.
Speaking of the women-the Masai are definitely a male society. The young men proudly told us they have only one wife but hope to get some more when they can afford it. A good woman only cost about 20 goats I was told and if you don't have 20 goats there is an option to trade your own sister for a friend's sister who then becomes your wife.
Daniel, a Masai warrior who works at the camp, explained to us that men with the big ear lobe loops have not been to school while the educated men have only small piercings in the upper ear. Check out the photo of JJ with Daniel and his friend. Daniel and the other Masai wanted us to learn some of their language. Hello is something like "soopa" and thank you is "aasha". My pronunciation was never correct. Anyway, Swahili and English always worked for us.
A highlight of the village tour was a short visit to an individual hut (Jeanne and I). It was so dark I could not see where to sit and had to be ushered by our host. We sat in the kitchen and he explained who slept where and how their diet is lots of cows milk, cow blood, some fruits, some meats and never rice or potatoes. We had hoped to meet the ladies of the house but they were all off building the new village (later they came to dance for us). After the home visit we all had a chance to spend lots of $ buying clubs, spears, trinkets, etc and both villagers and guests were well pleased with our visit. I also had a chance to give some pencils and notebooks to the young children of our host. They did not seem to be thrilled with these gifts. These Masai have chosen to maintain their traditional nomadic life style. Others have become more modern and live in the numerous towns scattered here and there.
Finally, at dinner and cocktail hours geologist, Dave, gave us the aforementioned lecture on Africa's rift valley which in this area is about 150km wide with east boundary near Nairobi and west boundary beyond Lake Victoria.
FRIDAY MAY 23, 2014 CROSSING THE BORDER
This was a very long day with departure from Ol Moran Camp at 0700. I had learned that "ol moran" is the title of young Masai men who are in the process of completing their coming of age by living in the bush for 5 years. (At least, I think that is what it means). Although the Masai Mara Park and the Serengeti Park in Tanzania share a border there are no legal border crossings within the parks. Hence, we had to make a very long drive to the west before making our entry intoTanzania.
At around 0830 we spotted an eland and then some lions beside the road eating their morning's kill and then we had a pee break at a concrete marker designating the border between Kenya and Tanzania. This morning we traveled within the park along the southern border with Tanzania After spotting some giraffes and a herd of zebra migrating north from Tanzania we reached the Mara River bridge crossing. Here we were thrilled to see a large number of hippos "sleeping" in the river. Fortunately for us, there was an armed ranger at the river and he escorted us to the water's edge for a closer look. Hippos are notoriously dangerous and the ranger was adamant that we stay close to him! I was glad to do so.
We continued our westward drive finally departing the Masai Mara at 1015 via the Olololo Gate at the northwest corner of the park. Then we had a very long drive through heavily populated areas with lots of corn, children and churches in these western highlands of Kenya. Finally, at 1230 we reached the Isebania border crossing, bought our Tanzania visas, met our new guides/drivers, transferred luggage and said so long to our Kenyan guides.
After a picnic lunch (not our favorite food) at a border restaurant we continued our journey along dirt roads towards the Serengeti National Park. On the way we stopped to view a herd of migrating gnus in the Ikorongo Game Reserve. The herd was heading north hoping for more water and greener pastures. Our driver, Ben, told us that gnu calves are born in January after an 8 month pregnancy. The males have a busy time running about keeping their harems together and chasing away other males.
Finally, we entered the Serengeti National Park at the Ikomo Gate and at dark reached the spectacular Seronero Wildlife Lodge after pausing for more giraffes and a pride of lions stalking zebras in the dusk.
SATURDAY MAY 24, 2014 DRAMA ON THE SERENGETI PLAINS
At 0845 we were off for a morning's game ride with Ben. The other guides were Mark and Justin who owns the company Tembo Adventures and Safaris. Tembo means elephant in Swahili but in Zanzibar it means "fat lady" so the word should be used with caution.
We soon spotted more lions eating their kill and were reminded to keep our arms inside the vans even though the lions seemed to ignore us and just used the vans as sources of shade from the sun. Ben spotted a dead gazelle in an acacia tree and then also saw the leopard sleeping in the same tree. The leopards can carry their kills up into a tree so other predators will not bother them.
At noon we had a dramatic
"God's eye view" of a single gazelle who was heading towards a bunch of lions
waiting for him. Fortunately, for the gazelle
We stopped to visit with a band of velvet face monkeys and one of them decided to jump into our van for a more intimate visit. However, the girls starting shrieking and scared him away before we could get pictures.!
On the way back to the lodge we stopped to check out a pride of lions who were hanging out at a water spot. They were enjoying a bloody feast on a young zebra who had just been killed. We missed the kill.
SUNDAY MAY 25, 2014 DEPARTING SERENGETI AND BEING IN THE FOOD CHAIN
At 0730 we departed the Lodge after paying for our drink expenses. The currency in Tanzania is the Tanzanian shilling at a rate of about 1450 Tsh equals $1US. The Kenyan currency is also a shilling (85Ksh=$1) and it was a bit confusing for us. Fortunately, for us they always took $USD. We were impressed with this lodge which is artfully built around the natural granite boulders and has a family of hyrax rodents running around everywhere.
Heading east we were soon in a region of high brown grasses and our guides spotted a venomous green mamba snake in a bush. Shortly after some of us decided that we really needed to pee and the only option was to go outside the vans. Our drivers reminded us that this area is dangerous but....when ya gotta go... While standing outside taking care of business I realized that I was constantly looking around in all directions knowing by now that lions can easily hide in the tall grass. For the first time I really knew how it feels to be in the food chain.
Our guides told us that November through February is the best time to see lots of animals since that is rainy season and everything is green. However, they all said that climate changes are altering the rain patterns and animal migrations are changing accordingly.
We saw a dead elephant in the park and a pride of lions was feasting. Justin said he thought the elephant died naturally and not from poachers and the rangers had cut off the tusks to keep them out of the illegal ivory market. A little later we stopped for a herd of living elephants, a jackal and by 1130 were ready to exit the Serengeti Park at the Naabi Gate. At the border we also stopped and walked up a hill (called a "kopje") for awesome panoramic views of the vast Serengeti plains.
Today's destination was the Ngorongoro Crater but on the way we stopped at the famous Oldupai Gorge. This is the very spot that is believed to be the birthplace of all humanity! In this gorge the Leakey family of anthropologists found fossil remains of ancient hominids (family of man). A young lady gave us a well informed and excellent lecture and tour of fossil sites in the gorge. She first informed that the name of the place is, indeed, OLDUPAI, and not Olduvai as I had learned in all my readings.
At about 4:30pm we arrived at our Ngorongoro Wildlife Lodge perched on the top of the caldera's edge at an elevation of 7200 feet above sea level. This is one of the world's largest volcanic craters (about 12 miles across) and has an unbroken rim circling the crater floor 2000 feet below. The views from our rooms and lobby were truly spectacular.
In the evening after dinner a few of us ventured outside to look at the Southern Cross constellation (we saw it). The man at the hotel desk sort of freaked out because it is considered dangerous to go outside in the dark! We learned there are good trekking trails along the rim but hikers must be accompanied by armed guards!
MONDAY MAY 26, 2014 DEATH AND RESCUE IN THE CRATER
There was a heavy fog in the morning and quite cool. At 0730 we completed our standard buffet breakfast which includes choices of omelets, sausage, bacon, pancakes, breads, cereals, fried tomatoes, fruits, beans and coffee or tea. The buffet meals at all the lodges were pretty much the same.
Today JJ and I rode with Justin in one of the three Toyota Land Cruiser vans and by 0930 we were down on the floor of the crater. We had the usual game ride with stops for buffalo, plover birds, gnus, hippos, elephants, flamingos, ostriches and 3 rhinos in the distance. With the successful rhino photos we could now say we had seen all of the big animals in this part of the world.
At noon we witnessed a rare and thrilling drama on the crater floor. We were watching a pride of lions waiting for some zebras to come closer. However, the zebras detected the lions and quickly ran away. At the same time Justin noticed that a lone buffalo in the distance was obviously fighting off a lion attack. All the vans quickly made a mad scramble to gain the best viewing spots for their tourists and there was soon a traffic jam on the roads. For some reason the lone buffalo suddenly ran away from the lion attack and headed back towards a very large herd of nearby buffalo. Then we sadly realized that the lone buffalo had been defending her very young calf from the lions. Now the pathetic little calf was defenseless and was quickly killed by lions! However, soon the mother buffalo came charging back to drive away the lions but too late to save the calf. The mother buffalo now ran back to the herd. Two male lions, apparently annoyed at having their lunch of fresh veal interrupted, decided to be macho and they attacked the mother and brought her down! Just as we were thinking the mother would also be killed a large stampede of other buffalo from the herd came charging to the rescue! Now the lions were running for their lives as these buffalo were deadly serious and intended to kill them. Interestingly, the lions ran for shelter among the vans and the buffalo did not pursue them further. The mother buffalo did not appear to be seriously injured by the lion attack and, perhaps, will live to have another calf.
We had another picnic by a fresh water lake with a large population of hippos. However, these hippos are not dangerous (for some reason) and we sat by the lake in comfort (except for the birds who swooped down to steal sandwiches if you are careless.
TUESDAY MAY 27, 2014 LAKE MANYARA
We departed our lodge via some wet and muddy roads towards the nearby Lake Manyara National Park. We arrived at the attractive Lake Manyara Wildlife Lodge in time for lunch buffet after a very "pole pole" (polay polay-slowly) ride with shopping stops.
We observed during our afternoon game ride that the area around the lake is heavily forested and said to be the home of tree climbing lions but we did not see them. The rain forests area abruptly gives way to flat, vast, open and treeless plains around the lake. Lake Manyara is known for its flamingo population but we could not drive very close to the water so did not get a good look.
Justin spotted a rare Klipspringer antelope standing on a rock but my photos below are not very good.
WEDNESDAY MAY 28, 2014 BACK TO SCHOOL, RESCUED BY A MASAI WARRIOR , RETURN TO KENYA
At 0800 we departed the Lake Manyara Lodge and headed east towards the large city of Arusha. We stopped at the community of Mto wa Mbu for a visit at an orphanage (Children Concern Foundation) and had a chance to talk to some young kids and see their classrooms and dormitory rooms for boys and for girls. One little boy, Kenny, seemed to adopt our group and stayed with us for the whole time. Kenny is obviously a bright little fellow because he actually understood my Swahili (unaitwa nani?)-what is your name. We also delivered the last of our pencils, crayons, notebooks, etc to the school and made small donations to the cause. The foundation is supported totally by private donations.
As we approached Arusha we observed lots of corn, sunflower and coffee plantations and got our first peeks at cloud covered Mount Kilimanjaro.
Finally, at about 2pm we crossed the border back into Kenya at the Namanga crossing, said farewell to our Tanzanian guides and hello again to our Kenyan friends. We were then into a very long drive towards today's destination, Amboseli National Park.
We crossed into the park at 4:45pm via the Meshanani Gate with the usual gangs of Masai men and women selling stuff. Of course, someone in our group would always buy something so the sales people were successful. During our stop at the gate I mistakenly walked into the wrong room thinking it was the men's bathroom. It was not and the door locked behind me! Yikes. Just as I was about to panic the door opened for me and there stood a majestic Masai warrior decked out in his blue robe, bracelets, clubs, knives etc. He said, "the men's room is behind the building and you can buy all my souvenirs for only $20." Ungrateful me. I thanked him but did not buy anything.
Our vans traversed the complete park from northwest corner (Meshanani Gate) and finally exited at the southeastern corner's Kimana Gate. Our lodge, Kibo Camp, was just outside the gate. In our drive across the park we noticed that the area has large, dry plains punctuated by green, forested areas near the streams and water holes. The Kibo Camp has very nice canvas walled cabanas with baths and lots of room for two people. Our "tent" had a panoramic view of Mt Kilimanjaro but the mountain was under cloud cover most of the time. The camp is also surrounded by an electric fence to keep out the elephants but we were reminded to not leave our tents after the electric generators turned off because the fences did not work.
During our traverse of the park we had some great wildlife viewing opportunities
THURSDAY MAY 29, 2014 AMBOSELI PARK
At 0600 we headed out for our last game ride. We all agreed that it would be nice to have a free afternoon to enjoy the Kibo Lodge. Soon we spotted hyenas, secretary birds and a family of 5 cheetahs. Amboseli is best known for its large elephant population and we were not disappointed. At noon we walked up an observation hill with good views of the park and to the south of cloud covered Mt Kilamanjaro. Mt K. which is in Tanzania is the highest peak in all of Africa (19.3kft) and for about one million years has been a source of water for the surrounding plains.
Finally at 1330 our games rides concluded as we headed back to camp. We also got some looks at the top of snow covered Mt K as the clouds parted a bit.
FRIDAY MAY 30, 2014 A LONG DAY'S JOURNEY AHEAD!
Jeanne and I had the earliest departures from Nairobi today with a 1600 departure on Emirates Air back to Washington, DC area. Ed and Judy decided to join us and guide,Justin, for the 5 hour drive back to Nairobi.To our delight the clouds had departed an we finally got some good views and photos of Mt. K.
Most of the trip was on a good, paved, two lane highway that connects Kenya's port city of Mombasa with Nairobi and other points to the west. There was an endless stream of truck traffic on this road! We saw one overturned truck that had spilled its load of bags of something-maybe soda ash. Obviously, there is a lot of commerce in this part of east Africa and I think we were seeing evidence of the economic boom.
We arrived at Jomo Kenyatta Airport at noon and started our long journey back to good old USA. Thirty two hours after departing Kibo Camp we arrived at our hotel in northern Virginia to start a 3 night visit with friends and to do some sightseeing and revisit familiar spots in the DC area prior to our return to San Diego on June 3.
This most excellent adventure was over!!
THE END
