Great report Lynda and what a beginning to the "twice in a lifetime" trip! Looking forward to more.

I can't WAIT to hear more!
Fran is becoming my best friend too - and I don't leave until next January!! (Am already trying to work out the packing thing. I am not now nor have I ever been a backpacker, plus i am five feet tall and 112 pounds, traveling solo, so I can't share the schlepping!)It's kinda fun figuring it all out, though.
Jess

Am interested in what kind of notes you took -- a shorthand you transposed later? What size/kind of notebook? I used to write in a travel journal because it was a present from someone dear, but once I filled it, I started taking smaller, lighter-weight notebooks - they get pretty beat up though - even in European cities.....
Jess

Great start Lynda! Keep it coming!

Eagerly waiting more I leave in 6 days and I am constantly checking your packing list.

I'm engrossed Lynda, can't wait until part 2!!!!!!!!

Imelda

Looking forward to "Going to Africa Take 2."

Yay! Lynda's writing another trip report! (Now I really have no excuse about finishing mine!) Wow, I can't believe you had to go home from the airport and leave the next day. I would have been so stressed out by that wrench in the wheels. Thank goodness you had an extra day worked in there (but too bad you missed the London GTG).

Jess, to put in my 2 cents about notetaking - I brought a nice leatherbound journal (about 5 x 7 inches) that was my "official" journal, which I tried to write in every night (I kept up until about 2/3 of the way through our trip). I also brought a cheap spiral-bound notebook (about the same size) to take with me on our game drives. I used this for jotting quick notes and writing down bird names. It got pretty beat up and my writing on those terrible roads was nearly illegible, so I'm really glad I used the "two-journal system."

YAY, trip report! I wish I could flick though one of your incredible scrap-book journals in real life but I'll make do with this report instead!!!

Lynda, Love your reports! They are the best of all safari reports I have ever read because you provide plenty background making all of us experience your full life with you! I feel I KNOW Andrew!

Did they make you pay $450 CDN for a day room? BA should have chipped in I think.

Okay, I am hooked! By the way what do you do for a living? And which places haven't you been?!

Lynda, great start, more, more, more! So wish I could fly up to Vancouver for your GTG and look at photos in person but I have grounded myself until I become a better earner.

Thanks guys, for all for the wonderful words!

Julianwman- I am a bookkeeper, that's actually what I am supposed to be doing right now, but everyone needs a break for a few minutes right? In the end, I changed my mind (you will see why when you hear the complete 'BA' story) and I am claiming the whole 450.00 for the night not spent at the hotel, and letting them comp (which they did) the day room. I think it's only fair!
Samburu and Lake Manyara were the places that I hadn't been last year.

Jess - glad to hear that you are working with Fran - she is incredible! For the journal I actually have a very complex system - but it works fabulous! I'll describe it- (grab a coffee & a donut...)

I buy a Cambridge Ltd. spiral bound notebook that has a hard bumpy kind of cover - looks kinda like leather but isn't, it's hard enough to write on. It's 5" wide x 7.5' tall - big enough to write lots, and small enough to fit in a purse. It comes with 80 pages of ruled paper in it.

Before I go, I make a book from it - I have the itinerary written out at the front, the flights, addresses of travel agents & insurance companies & contact info, packing lists, and money notes. I actually use the stick on divider tags to separate out the different areas for easy reference. Oh - the important point is that I use a blue pen while I am setting this book up. I will paste whatever I think I need into it, say for instance the 'in case of emegency' card that comes with your insurance policy, or my TA's, or Fran's, business card.

Next I go place by place for where we are going to go - ie on this trip Nairobi would be the first section. I went on the internet and looked up where we would stay; and then took two pages to cut and paste pictures from the internet (ie the Norfolk) and info on what the facilities are there, along with the address etc. And then, knowing I was going to Langata Giraffe Center, Kianmbethu Tea Farms, etc., I researched them on the internet and jotted down some history, facilities, pictures, etc.

Then, I made a section for each National Park with a small basic map, a page of written info on the park and two pages for each camp or lodge (pictures, facility notes, etc) that we were staying at.

In each section I left about 5-6 pages for notes 'in the field' and this became my journal - I ditched the blue pen before leaving and took my black pen - this way I know right away what is written in the field. While out & about in the parks and on the roads I would use a small pad of paper that I carried in the book to jot down what we did and when, in rough point form - at night back at the lodge I would write my journal in good on those 5-6 pages in each section that I had left. This way the notes are accurate, but legible - you just can't write on the road - as Jessica mentioned too.

Oh, I forgot the most important part - in each 'park' section I had predone a checklist of what 'could' be seen in the parks (not always complete though I would find out) and then as we saw them, I wrote the number beside the animal or bird - ie first sighting of the day in Park A was a lion, I wrote '1' beside it, second sighting of the day was a secretary bird, I wrote '2' beside it. I did this last year, and it worked well, and again this year. If it wasn't on my list, I had room at the bottom to write it in. This of course had to be done while still stopped for viewing as the roads were pretty bumpy to write!

oh yes - In the back of the book I had an 'expense' ledger as I am a bookeeper by trade, and by nature. I can't help myself....

See Dennis, why I need the stapler and the white out ?

Lynda, we sure could use your organizational skills in our business! Let me know if you ever would like some work in the L.A. area!

Amazing organization skills! This is why your reports are so nice. I like the additional details of people around you. Makes your report come alive because you are actually enjoying it rather than checking off yet another trip on your belt!

Lynda, You could take several of these with you and sell them to your safari-mates, reducing the cost of your trip!

Do you mean selling Lynda's fans?! Are safari mates dark? Lynda: waiting for day two.

Welcome back! I'm looking forward to the rest of your report.

Welcome back Lynda, I'm eagerly awaiting more; how is Kennedy?

MONDAY MAY 14TH
THIS WAS A GOOD DAY TO GO TO AFRICA!

When we got up this morning, we had a sudden thought of Déjà vu. Hmmm, been here, done this before kind of feeling! Andrew came right on time for us, and dropped us, once again at the airport. Today WILL be a good day to go to Africa!

Everyone was ‘Fast Tracked’ for boarding at this point, as they had checked everyone in last night, which meant the line ups were long. But again, Jim’s social skills shone through and we talked the hour away with another couple that were standing in line in front of us. Finally, it was time to board only to sit on the runway for a bit. The flight was of the kind everyone likes – uneventful, and at least there was a good movie to watch (In Pursuit of Happiness). During the flight, our pilot explained what happened to our original flight, seems our pilot collapsed and was taken to Vancouver General when he arrived in Vancouver. Not having a back up, they had to scramble and fly another one in – but in the meantime, he (the replacement) had to have a mandatory rest which is why he couldn’t fly until the next morning. We arrived in London at 4:45 AM their time, and of course like everyone does at Heathrow, waited on the tarmac for a jetway for a ½ hour. I have to say that at this time of the morning, passport control was a breeze compared to last time! No one was in line, we breezed right through.

Following the BA’s representative in Vancouver’s advice, we walked down that L-O-N-G tunnel to the Heathrow Hilton and told them at the desk that we had a prepaid room, and that BA in Vancouver had changed it to a day room. The man looked at me with a blank look, and informed me that that could not be done – I would have to go back down that L-O-N-G hall back to the BA desk in Terminal 4 and get a voucher for the day room. At 6 in the morning, I was not impressed, but, leaving Jim there (he has a bad back and uses a cane, I wasn’t going to ask him to do that walk again!) I went down the L-O-N-G tunnel, and clear across to the FAR end of Terminal 4 to the BA Customer Service desk. I explained my story to the lady; she didn’t know a thing about the cancelled flight and said she would have to call her supervisor. She did, and believe it or not, the supervisor said he couldn’t do anything for me as he knew nothing about the flight either! He sent me back to the other end of the terminal – way back to where the Hilton tunnel is and said I would have to go to the BA ticket counter there. Who knew I needed a ticket and not customer service, right? I was totally unimpressed, but stayed my cool. Until I got to the ticket counter where I swear I had just couldn’t help but let a few tears fall (a few?) as I was SO tired and pretty unhappy with the way things were going. It wasn’t our fault the pilot got sick and the flight was cancelled! I explained the situation, I said we needed a voucher for a day room, and, oh, by the way, meals too, I said as I was pretty choked at the time – thought I would add that in. She smiled, handed me a voucher for a day room, 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches and two suppers! And then suggested that I claim the prepaid night room back from BA as the day room was going to go into effect right after we had breakfast, therefore our prepaid night room would not have been used at all. Now THAT was customer service – and at a ticket counter no less!

Our day in the Hilton Heathrow consisted of eating a great breakfast, showering, napping, eating a nice lunch, napping some more and eating a wonderful supper before going back down the hall that seemed to have become shorter during the day somehow! I have to mention though, that for all those people thinking of staying at the hotel either overnight, or on a dayroom basis, the meals – even though incredible – are VERY expensive! The meal tickets were good only at the buffet, which was great, but they had the prices posted and I almost died when I saw them. Breakfast was £ 20.50 each, lunch was
£ 26.50 each and supper was a walloping £ 32.50 each. For two that would be about 357.00 CDN in meals alone. Add that to the price of the room and you have half of someone’s flight to Nairobi for next year….

Once back in the terminal, all we had to do was passport control, as we were checked in already and the lady in Vancouver had assigned us seats for this leg as well. MANY people had two carry on bags by the way, most women had a purse and a backpack or a bag (we had one carry on each) and no one was challenged. And here I had it all planned as to how to carry two bags in one on the outbound flight from London as per their regulations! Oh well, at least this way we only had one carry on each, which was way easier to handle than two. We boarded our flight to Nairobi at 8 pm and sat in position on the tarmac until 9:30 – and away we went! Off to Nairobi we go!!!!!

Fun read Lynda (even if the trip thus far wasn't so much fun), please keep it coming.
I went through LHR twice in May (transit from airlines AA to BA or vice versa)and there was a special checkpoint to make sure everyone had only one bag. Lot of people scrambling to do that.
regards - tom

Hooray, a new trip report! A great way to start June!

Good for you to get the meal vouchers! Keep it coming.

Lynda, 'Fair play to you' (as they say here in Ireland!) - I'm glad you got the meal vouchers and day room from BA. I'm glad you found ONE BA rep who had a bit of sense and compassion. In my experience I'm afraid they are few and far between. After last years escapade and the previous two flights we took with BA - both through Heathrow, we have vowed to do our utmost to 1)Never fly through Heathrow & 2) NEVER fly BA again. I'm glad it all worked out for you in the end and I cannot wait until you get to Africa - trip report wise I mean.

Imelda

Enjoying every word! I am totally wishing we had added a "buffer" day - never thought of cancelled flights due to anything but weather!
I had heard that the UK was expensive, but WOW!
Looking forward to the next chapter.

Looking forward to more!

Not the best start but geting there I'm sure the fun will start soon. I am a Brit and I avoid Heathrow airport like I would a plague I am flying from a local airport via Amsterdam.
Anyway eagerly looking foreward to your next installment hoping to get it all before I go- ONLY 5 DAYS!!! Some piccy's would be good LyndaS as I am also using a panny zx50 for the first time. But anyway just keep on posting.

It is nice having a "buffer" day. Like starting your safari after spending the night at a hotel in Joburg. Or starting your trip with a few on-your-own days at Kruger. When we did a lot of cruising and had to leave from foreign ports (and sometimes USA ports) we always arrived a day or two early.
regards - tom

Lynda, you made it! Sometimes tears expedite the situation.

Julianewman,
I intended my comment to mean that Lynda sell her notebook with the itinerary and info to the others on her safari, who I called safarimates. As for dark safarimates, I don't know what they looked like, but maybe there will be a group photo and we can check. Is Lynda also making fans? Are they for sale? Or are we her fans? I think somehow we are not communicating. That's ok. Let's just look forward to the next installment.

atravelynn, all in fun!

Lynda,

I loved reading your first trip report, I am now loving this one. Keep up the good work. I liked your notebook idea. I may do something like that for our safari in Sept.

Julie

Lynda, just curious...what would you do if the black pen ran out of ink? Another great report!

Come on, Dennis, what kind of question is that!? Of course there's a secret compartment in the notebook that holds extra pens and staple refills.

Let's have some more installments Lynda. You can't blame tax time anymore!

Ever being the Boy Scout, Dennis, I had an extra black pen with me. They never seem to run out - but I have been known to lose them! The extra one was tucked away with the tiny tape!!! hee hee hee....

Lynn I love your idea on the journal, I just may do that next year - maybe I could earn the price of another safari if I had enough safarimates!

LyndaS,

I just started making a shopping list for my safari. I am using your comprehensive list that you sent me to recently. Can you tell me some of the things you crossed through and did not take on this trip. That might help me with my weight limitations when the time comes to actually pack it all.

I also enjoyed reading about your trip. Look forward to the rest to come.

Thanks.

ndonna-

I just posted the 'final - really all you need list' on the bottom of the "VERY Comprehensive" post - this was tested this year, and it really is all you need! But, unfortuantely, I was still overweight, but that was probably because my duffle itself started out as 8 lbs. Using a softsided no-wheeled duffle this list would probably be close to 33 lbs!

Hope this helps

Lynda

PS, the next day is half way through - I will probably be able to finish at lunch!!

Can't wait! I'll keep checking in.

Me too Lynda, I'm dieing to read the next instalment

Imelda

HUGGING THE CHEETAH GIRLS AND PLAYING WITH TALEK, A YOUNG LEOPARD

Nairobi!! As we were landing, I actually felt as though we were coming home. A thought flashed through my mind as we were landing – that for sure, one day we had to bring our son Jamie and his friend Andrew here to experience this, and meet our friends, as it has become a big part of lives.

We had slept a bit on the plane, which was good, as we felt that we had adjusted to the time zones and could go all day. Even here we spent some time on the tarmac waiting for a jetway, must be a shortage of these things in the world. Maybe if someone out there wants to make some money selling jetways? When we finally did get off, and walked into the disembarkation area of the airport, we were quite surprised to see Selma, Micato’s airport representative waiting for. Wow, the royal service – we didn’t see her last year until we were getting our luggage! She told us it was to help us through the visa line up – last year we had our visas, while this year we didn’t. A nice touch!

The ‘get a visa line up’ actually was a lot shorter than the ‘have a visa lineup’, there was only one or two people ahead of us and it went very quickly. Down the stairs and to the luggage carosol – we hoped and prayed to the safari gods that our luggage made it – no reason it shouldn’t have, BA had 13 hours at Heathrow after all to figure it all out, but you never know. We waited, and waited, and nothing. And then, just as Selma went to go and check to see if there was any more coming, we saw the two familiar green duffle bags, our bright purple ‘full of gifts’ bag and the America Shares bag for the orphanage. All was intact and all was still locked.

Selma led us through customs (no questions asked of us) and outside to Daniel – our safari director from last year, my internet buddy from the last year and our safari director again this year! I literally ran to him, I was so happy to see him! He was holding a sign that said ‘ ‘Welcome Back Jim and Lynda Swain’ !! You just have to love that!

Just outside of the airport, we saw our first wildlife – three or four giraffes were running alongside the road to the left – it was amazing! We drove to town, and checked into the Norfolk – I have read quite a few conflicting opinions on this hotel, but I have to say – I LOVED it! It just oozed ‘history’, and I found it to be a very clean, very attractive hotel. I loved the outdoor seating area out front, this is where Eileen, our Micato concierge had her desk, and this is where we would get together as a group, leaving the hotel or coming back from an outing. Such comfortable wicker chairs, I loved it! Before going to our rooms, Eileen gave us an incredible ‘Welcome Back’ gift from the pinto’s – a Maasai peace talking stick – beautifully beaded – and perfect for my Africa room!

Our room was not far from the main reception, it was on the ground floor opening up to the central courtyard/garden, what a great view. I believe it is one of the newly renovated rooms, as it certainly looked all new and sparkling, and it was huge. After showering & freshening up, I took all the gifts we had brought down to the outside lounge, as Daniel was there, along with Kennedy - our good friend from last year and our driver/guide for the day. Again, it was like greeting a long lost old friend – it was so good to see him after a year! They were both amazed at all the gifts for them and their families ( I kind of got carried away…)

We set out with Kennedy at 11:00 on our Nairobi adventure to Kenya Wildlife Services Animal Orphanage, with a short stop at a grocery store and an ATM to get Ksh and beans for Jim’s bean bag. At the orphanage, the cheetah girls, Misty, Sharon and Teeva were waiting for us in the same spot as last year. Wow had they grown! They are 3 ½ years now and I would think full grown. And – I know some of you think I’m crazy – but – they still gave me a great feeling that they were very happy! As soon as we went in to the compound, Jim’s camera bag slipped off of his shoulder and it scarred Sharon, but Misty and Teeva didn’t care – they both came over to us and were happy to be hugged and petted. Sharon went by the fence and laid down, but got up and moved everytime we came close to her. I guess the bag falling really scarred her! Misty and Teeva made up for it though, they really seemed genuinely happy to see us, lots of sandpaper kisses. After about 15 min, our guide Robert said that we had to go and see one of the newer residents of the zoo for a bit, and then we could come back, as a film crew was waiting to come in and shoot a commercial. We told the girls we would return and Robert led us to Talek – a 7 month old leopard that a Japanese tourist found by Talek Lodge (or Camp – can’t remember) abandoned. What a cutie he was!!! Robert said he was too young, too playful and too much ‘unretractable claws’ that could accidentally hurt, to go into the fenced area with him, but he let us in between the inner and outer fences so that we could pet him a bit though the fence. He was incredible! He really wanted to play, he kept rolling over for us, and jumping up to try an get a small silver shoulder bag that Jim carries. I think he liked the silver colour! At one point he grabbed my purse with his claws and hooked in through the fence, for a while there I thought I would have to bring him home with me – he was really attached!

It was getting on in time though, and we had another important date at 1:00, so we had to say goodbye to Talek, and then another quick cheetah hug with the three girls. This time Sharon seemed to have forgiven us, and came readily to us. A few hugs and sandpaper kisses, later - ‘See you next year’ I said!!

We drove back into Nairobi, picked up Kennedy’s wife Valentine at the Pan Afric Hotel, and drove out to Lavington – we were going to Kennedy’s older daughter’s (Sarah) high school. At the end of their school year last year, Kennedy emailed me and proudly told me that Sarah had obtained top honours in English in Nairobi and that she would have the choice of high schools to go to due to this. We were incredibly proud of her for this – and if I may digress a bit (I know I always do anyways, don’t I?) I’d like to tell you about an offer we have made to Sarah. She is an intensely serious, studious student, and does very well in school. Last year when we met her she told us she wanted to be a lawyer. In an email later during the year, Jim and I offered to have her come and stay with us when she is ready to go to university, as we have a good law school in the University of British Columbia. We told Kennedy that if she would like to, we would provide her with a place to stay and of course meals as well, for those four years. Sarah told her dad she would love to do that, and the plan will hopefully come true. So, I asked Kennedy if we could visit her at her school to see what high school in Kenya is like. I believe that high school is a choice there, not compulsory as it is here in Canada. This to me says that serious students take up the spaces.

But back to the story. Kenya High School is an incredible school! It is in the Lavington area, it reminded me of our university campus’ here – majestic old stone buildings laid out on beautiful lawns. We managed to find Sarah at her dorm and we visited outside for ½ hour and then, sadly had to let her get back to class – but first, we had to meet the matron and sign her back her in, this was to ensure she really did have special visitors in from Canada – as apparently it took a few strings to have us come and visit on a non-visitors day. (which is only once a month). She waved goodbye to ‘Grandpa Jim and Grandma Lynda’ and off she went to class, while we drove out to Kennedy’s for lunch. Or rather mid afternoon meal!

Lunch was terrific – salads, fried chicken, ugali, greens, beef with rice – lots! And it was so good to visit Val and Kennedy and Val’s sister, Lillian in their home again. We visited with them until 4:30, when we had to leave in order to make our next appointment at David Sheldrick’s Animal Orphanage to visit our newly adopted little guy – Shimba!

We arrived about 5:15, but no problem the guy at the gate with the gun said – lots of people were still there visiting their adoptees. We met Shimba (he doesn’t look as bratty as he sounds in his day-to-day diary!) and visited with him and his keeper for a bit, before wandering off to visit the other ‘kids’ in the nursery. They are all so cute! I had thought we might be able to go in to visit them and was surprised a bit when we saw we could just visit ‘over the gate’. But that was OK, I got some great pictures of Shimba and the others. We didn’t stay long as just about everyone else who was visiting was finishing up when we got there, and we didn’t want to disturb the keepers & their supper any longer than necessary.
Kennedy dropped us off at the Norfolk around 7:30 – we were two pretty tired people, and really all we felt like doing was laying around the room, and relaxing before our ‘big day’ of meeting the other four people on our safari (the rest of our ‘family’) came around tomorrow. About 10:00 we ordered room service pizza – we weren’t too hungry but that sure hit the spot – a perfect snack before going to bed. (it was thin crust pizza – mmmmm, good!)

It was lights out soon after that!

glad the cheetahs remembered you from last year. no problems getting in this time it seems. how nice of you to offer help to Kennedy's daughter. I hope she takes you up on it! Once again, great report and keep it coming!

What an amazing first day, Lynda! More, more ... soon!

Very nice of you to offer to help Sarah. This is why you are averaging more than ten fan posts a day!

More. Soon. Please.

Whoah, just reading about your first day has me exhausted. Lynda, you and Jim have outdone yourselves and we're just at the beginning of the trip.

I wish I could remember how Kennedy described you; I have it in an email saved somewhere. I want to say he said, "The lovely angel Lynda and her wonderful, humorous husband, Jim." Something like that. I too hope Sarah makes it to law school in Canada. This board needs more lawyers on it.

You had an action packed and memorable first day. You two are Energizer bunnies.

Enjoyed your report so much! We are so looking forward to our day with Kennedy in Sept.
We would appreciate your guidance in preparing a gift bag for him and his family.

Thanks for all the great responses guys, I appreciate it!

Leely, thanks for telling me what Kennedy said, that is so nice! And you are so right I think I should get Sarah to be a candlestick maker instead of a lawyer!

Cdnfolk, I'd love to help you - can you email me at lyndadswain at telus dot net?

Dennis, those cheetah girls are coming home with me next year, you wait & see....

you bring them home Lynda and I'll fly over for the next Canadian GTG!

Loving reading your trip report, Lynda.

Your detail makes the pictures come alive. Thanks for taking me (us) on your trip with you.

Excellent story telling

Shane

Lynda, you shame me so. I have yet to post my trip report. Will do so tonight. As usual thoroughly enjoying your report.

Juliet

Lynda,
Your jornal is a joy.
I'm interested in your description of your methods.
Where do you find the lists of animals & birds you expect to see in each location?
Thanks.
A

Hi Lynda!

Welcome home! Glad that you and Jim enjoyed another wonderful trip to Africa! I loved reading your trip report of last year and this one is also so much fun to read! Thanx so very much for sharing your experiences with all of us. You are an extraordinary storyteller! We are looking forward to the "rest of your trip"!

Carole

Hullo,

I really like the way you experience Africa, a culture that is obviously different from your own. Here is a John Steinbeck quote that I picked off of a book a close friend suggested I read. The quote is by John steinbeck:

A trip, a safari, an exploration, is an entity, different from all other journeys. It has personality, temperament, individuality, uniqueness. A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip, a trip takes us.

Describes your experiences pretty well, no?

Hoping to read your articles once in a while.

Comfy- Beautiful quote!

Lynda- Looking for my fix! Thanks.

Lynda, Clearly it is your heart and soul that makes reading about your journey so totally full of joy!! Can't wait to have morning coffee with your East Africa reports! Deb

Dennis, I'm holding you to that promise - the minute the girls get here next year, you are booking a flight to Vancouver!

samcat-
I got the list of the possible animal/birds that we may see in each park from a Lonely Planet book - can't recall the name of it at the moment and it's upstairs, but it was something like 'Watching Wildife in Kenya & Tanzania'. It's a great book - lovely pictures, descriptions of the animals & birds, the habitats, etc. It also has a write up on all of the parks and what you can expect to see. But I found it was not an accurate list - when I would ask Daniel about some of them on my list he would look at me strangely and say - 'not in this park, no'. The good thing is that in a few years I will have compiled an accurate list of my own given a few more safaris

That is a good quote comfyshoes - it is true too!

I'm writing up the next day on the journal as we speak by the way, hopefully ready tomorrow, but if not, should be by Friday!

Well, I'm not quite ready on the next day to post yet - but I DO have the pictures from our first day in a gallery!

If you'd like a few select pictures (there's 13 in the gallery) then please go to:

http://www.pbase.com/lyndas/nairobi_may_16_2007

This is just so much fun uploading pictures - wow!

Disclaimer - these are only my pictures so far - Jim's pictures (with the Nikon and the big bazooka lens ) are not in here yet. And, I have NO idea how to crop, retouch, edit or anything like that yet - they are only as shot with my brand new Panasonic FZ50. I promise I got a little better with it after a few days!

What great pictures Lynda! Now I know why you fell in love with "the girls" and what a nice picture of Grandpa Jim and Sarah!

Lynda-
Thank you so much for posting your pictures and even more for your wonderful trip journals, packing lists and enthusiasm. Your journals have inspired me and I have booked my first trip to Africa, going with Micato on the Heart of Kenya and Tanzania in October. I am traveling alone and looking forward to my Great Adventure (albeit in a bit of luxury).

I was wondering how you 'adopted' Shimba and how you came to know the cheetahs at the orphanage?

Thank you again and to all of the others on this board as I have been lurking for a bit and learning so much!

Beth

I'm enjoying your pictures Lynda, especially the ones of Kennedy, Sarah and Val.

Good to hear how all the animals at KWS orphanage are doing. Thanks for the update. I also had Robert escort me around back in January.

I'm so glad you got to see Talek. It's good to know he's doing well. He has grown since I saw him in January!

Back then he was still small enough for me to go in and spend time with him. He was biting my ankles and shoes and getting into all kinds of trouble. I can only imagine the mischief he's getting into now.

Thanks for sharing the pics. Fun report.

Oh Lynda - brilliant pictures!!! Sarah, Kennedy and Val look SO happy!
And little Talek - WOW, how did you stop yourself from going in there and cuddling him - he is just so adorable!

Imelda

Wonderful photos, Lynda. It did my heart good to see Kennedy again, even virtually, after all these years. I'm going to send the link to my friend Karen, who tossed quite a few beers back with him. Val and Sarah are beautiful!

Adorable babies in your pics.

Brilliant pictures!

Thanks for posting the pictures! It is good to put faces on names (Kennedy and family). We look forward to our time with him in Sept.
PS The cats are adorable!

Thanks for the pictures Lynda.

THURSDAY MAY 17, 2007
A FAMILY DAY WITH GIRAFFES, COLUBUS MONKEYS, KAREN & TEA

Today’s photos can be seen at:
http://www.pbase.com/lyndas/nairobi_may_17_2007

I literally sprung out of bed this morning, really very early (5 AM) as I was so excited to meet up with the other four people in our ‘family’ for the next two weeks. (and please, dear safari god, I prayed, no persnickety, finicky, perfect Aunt Birtha’s…. J )

We had breakfast, a buffet with an omelette station; all the standards – sausages, bacon, eggs, baked beans, fruits, cereals, etc., out on the terrace – mmmm good. It was so nice sitting on the terrace eating breakfast, it made me feel like we had gone back a few decades in time. The courtyard at the Norfolk is very scenic to look at, very relaxing.

But enough of relaxing (that was it for our 14.2 minutes per day of relax time…), it was time to meet the family! We reported for duty in one of the lounges where Eileen, the Micato concierge, was handing out the pre-addressed postcards, the wildlife spotting list, the Micato hat and the ‘Good Luck for the Big 5’ carved animal necklaces. After saying ‘hello – haven’t seen you for awhile’ to Rakita, who recognized us and seemed surprised, it was finally time to meet the others. Clint & Gloria, a younger couple (well, younger to us!) in I would guess the mid 30’s from California; and a couple that looked to be about our age from Ohio, Tom and Julie. Mom always said I had a gift of reading people without really knowing them, and my first thoughts were that these were going to be some wonderful people to spend two weeks with! And, I can tell you, I wasn’t wrong; all that time I spent praying to the safari gods paid off, we had the best four people with us that I could ever ask for!

Daniel ran us through the do’s and don’ts, and what we could expect on the safari, and from the safari. (yes, we paid attention even though we could have given the talk ourselves!) Rakita’s turn was next, to tell us about the Maasai and their way of life. Jane Pinto welcomed us next, and asked us a few things about ourselves. It was a great way to get to know everyone, and she remembered us from last year. What a nice feeling knowing that someone who meets so many people and is so busy would remember us after only meeting once, a year ago!

And then, off to a really important stop – the Collector’s Den. Last year Jim and I spend less than 5 minutes there as we had been to the orphanage and were late coming back. We ran in, told the clerk we would love one of the black carved lions that was sitting on their shelf, paid for it and ran out. I LOVE that lion, every day I look at it and think ‘ohmigosh, we were REALLY in Africa! So this was a treat for us this year, we could actually spend ½ hour looking around. Micato encourages you to look, but not to buy yet, as they were going to bring us back here on the last day in Nairobi at the end of the safari. Daniel told us to look, see what we want, take note of the prices, and then that way, we could compare the prices if we saw the article in other places along the way. Sounded like a good idea to me. Right away, Jim’s eye went to the shelf with the black carved animals and he spotted a cheetah that was done by the same artist as our lion, Nguma. Nguma signs the bottom of all his carvings, which is how we knew it was from the same artist. Myself, I spied a wonderful black cushion cover with a cheetah on it, and took note of the price. The manager (or owner possibly, I’m not sure) gave us a talk on ‘souvenir vs. art’ for carvings and jewellery, so that we would know which is which out there. This was interesting, and it came in handy later.

After leaving the store, Daniel gave us a city tour - the government buildings, some of the well known hotels such as the Hilton and the Stanley, Kenyatta’s Memorial (I didn’t recall seeing that last year!), the National Center and the Muslim mosque, and the matatu station, amongst others.

Langata Giraffe Center was our next stop. The ride there seemed to go so fast, as the six of us were getting to know one another, and as we all seemed to have so much to say, the time flew by. We had lots of fun feeding the giraffe and getting ‘giraffe kisses’, followed by one of the staff giving us a talk on the habits of the different species of giraffe found in Kenya. During all this, Jim decided he was going to sit this one out, so he had coffee with our driver, Joe.

It was off to Karen Blixen’s Museum next. Unfortunately, the roof was being renovated, so no one really took any pictures (but I have last years’!) and it was hard to hear the guide with all of the banging. But, despite that, I still learned much more than I did last year, I guess it was easier to concentrate on what the guide was saying with only 6 of us there, as compared to 15 last year.

Next we drove quite a distance to Kiambethu Tea Farm, a place which I had been very much looking forward to revisiting. This day was our identical first day last year, and although I must admit I could probably skip Karen Blixen’s next time, the Giraffe Center and Kiambethu are worth repeating for a third time! But, actually, even if I went on a Micato safari once a year, I would still go with the group on this day, as it is a pretty special ‘bonding day’ – the first day out with our safari mates. At any rate, Kiambethu makes it all worth repeating.

It was a wonderful day for a visit to the farm, it was cool, and bright outside. Fiona Vernon, the granddaughter of the original settlers/owners of the tea farm, greeted us, along with her husband Marcus. The ‘resident’ Colubus monkeys were on the rooftop, Marcus gave them a few bananas and they scampered right to the edge of the roof –which made for some great pictures! There were two babies at this time, Marcus told us, but we could only see one. He thought this was strange, as they were always together. Later, when we were in having dinner, Daniel was wandering around the grounds and he solved the mystery – unfortunately, one was laying dead on the ground, it must have fallen from the roof. The mother was keeping watch, from the roof, over the poor baby when Daniel found him/her. Fiona told us that it was going to be difficult to remove the baby from the ground later. Poor baby, he/she must have been so cute! We all felt really bad.

Marcus gave us a talk on the ‘hows’ and ‘whys’ of tea. I remembered some from last year, but again, it was much easier to hear and absorb with only 6 of us there. Then, it was time for lunch. Last year there was another big group there for lunch also, plus our group of 18, which meant that we ate out on the lawn on tables that had been set up. This year, with only the six of us, we ate inside at the big dining room table – it was so homey! Lunch was a delicious homemade creamed corn with cheddar, freshly made buns with home churned butter, salad, mashed potatoes, veal scallopini and home grown vegetables, followed by homemade ice cream and a fruit that grows on the hills there that tastes a little like mangoes. Fiona told us stories of when she was growing up, and when her children were growing up as well, giving us a glimpse into the way of life in Kenya. None of us wanted the time to end, but Jane had asked Daniel to please have us out at her place for supper early, so we had to skedaddle back to town.

We arrived back at the Norfolk, with ¾ hr to get ready to go to supper (didn’t we just eat?) at Felix and Jane Pinto’s lovely house. It was nice to get there early this year, as we were able to enjoy her beautiful garden from her balcony. As we were the only Micato group there, Jane invited 3 other guests for us to meet, as well as Duncan, Micato’s Operations and Logistics manager. Emma and Laura, who are Jane’s daughter’s friends were in Nairobi (from the States) to volunteer in one of the orphanages that Micato supports. Jenna, the other guest, was a long time customer of Micato’s – Jane even mentioned she had us beat! And by a mile, I might add, she has done 14 Micato trips. She was on her way through from South Africa, and was visiting Mokuru Slums, the same slums that we visited last year. She supports the orphanage there in a big way, and I was only sorry that I didn’t get to talk to her more, as I would love to have heard all about her experiences there. As a matter of fact, the evening went by WAY too quick, I would have liked to have talked to Jane some more, as well as found out from Emma and Laura where they had been on their travelling adventure. Dinner was wonderful, we had a delicious soup (why I wonder are ALL soups so good in Africa, but yet I never have soup at home?), followed by a delicious chicken curry, chicken tika marsela, wonderful steamed veggies and potatoes.

After dinner; while Duncan entertained us with eating some of the rainflies that got inside (eeeuuwwww!), which are really flying termites, the lights dimmed, and suddenly, we noticed we were all alone at the two tables – no Daniel, no staff, hmmmm… Could that be that wonderful melodious ‘Jambo Bwana’ we were hearing coming down the stairs? Why yes – it was birthday cake for Tom and Julie – Tom’s birthday was just as they were leaving to come here, and this safari was a surprise birthday present for Julie! Her birthday is in Dec., so that’s when she found out Tom had arranged this safari, one of her life long dreams!
A mentioned, time went by too quick though, and soon we were back at the hotel, repacking our duffels, lightening the load a bit by keeping some things at the hotel in storage. Tomorrow, we would be off on our safari adventure!

Lynda
This thread is getting rather long, so I won't keep repeating this w/each installment, but I am really enjoying your narrative and your photos.
Much appreciated,
Jess

Your photos and report are bringing back some great memories. Looking forward to the next installment.

Thanks guys! And, Patty, I just finished your report & pictures last night on the bus - you brought back wonderful memories for me too (especially George, the Colubus monkey at the Mt Kenya Animal Orphanage)! It was so much fun reading Joyce's report, then yours and now I'm starting in on Paul's! A great 'triple' report for sure!

i finally had time to start reading your post, love all your details. what a wonderful friend you have become to Kennedy and his family. love your pictures too.
i was so excited to read about the baby leopard at the orphange in Nairobi NP. My 12 year old nephew who lives in Nairobi has yet to see a leopard on any of his safaris but now i can tell him where he can at least visit a baby, i do not think they have been back to the orphange since our visit.

joyce

Lynda, Enjoying it. Please keep posting.

FRIDAY MAY 18, 2007 SAMBURU NATIONAL RESERVE – LARSEN’S CAMP
SIGHTING FOUR OF THE SAMBURU FIVE!

Today’s photos can be seen at:
http://www.pbase.com/lyndas/samburu_may_18_2007

It was an early rising morning again this morning at 4:30! Now, this, guys, is not like me at all. Usually on a work day it is all Jim can do to get me up by 7:00, but no problem on safari! So much to see, so much to do! And besides, Daniel told us last night that we had a very early flight, so we had to be waiting in the lobby at 6:45, ready to go. As breakfast isn’t ready as early as we needed it (5:30 AM), Daniel asked us to please order room service, that way we would all be sure to be ready to go. Well, he sure didn’t have to ask any of us twice! It was really nice eating at the little table in the room while looking out to the garden in the bright, sunny –oh oh! It wasn’t bright and sunny at all – it was raining! Oh well, we thought, we’d never seen rain in Nairobi, so we could handle it for a day….

We were at Wilson nice and early for our flight, and there was no problem at all with the bags at the weigh in – or at the hand luggage security check counter. I was a little worried as my back pack was a little heavy (I had all of the heavy stuff in there), but no problem, the lady checked through it, and my purse, and handed them back to me. I don’t usually use a back pack, but it sure worked out good on safari, I was able to just put it on and walk with ease rather than ‘lugging’ a heavy carry bag which is what I did last year. Jim’s camera bag though was a different subject – we are either going to have to get Naneu Pro to put wheels on their bags, or we will have to buy the backpack for Jim. It was heavy. As it would be with all of the camera gear that Jim had with him!

The flight was nice, we flew in an Air Kenya 18-seat plane, with one stop in Nanyuki to either let someone off, or pick up someone – can’t remember which! The view of Mt. Kenya was a bit hazy (see photograph, but Jim said he can fix that in Photoshop), but we could to see it clearly. I never tire of seeing the mountains in Kenya or Tanzania when we fly. Once past Mt Kenya, the scenery changed to semi-arid country. The airstrip in on the Buffalo Springs Reserve side of the Ewaso Nyiro River. A nice little airstrip where the animals are given the right of way and the duty free shop consists of the local Samburu fellows selling goods from a small table! I think they were quite disappointed in our group though as we would prove to be, time and again, a group of ‘non’ shoppers.

Nathan, our driver, was waiting for us with a spiffy new Micato Land Cruiser. Last year Daniel told us they were changing over to ‘yellow’ from the khaki, I just couldn’t picture that last year. Who would choose yellow I thought? But, seeing the colour, it wasn’t what I had imagined! It was a nice ‘creamy yellow’, and I must admit, looks better that the light khaki colour of last year! It was longer – it had plenty of knee room in all three rows and instead of a seat in the middle in the back row, there was now a small refrigerator! Now that was class! And, for those going with Roy’s in the near future, somewhere in Kenya (can’t remember where) I saw a vehicle from Roy’s that was identical to this one, with the fridge in the back. Having the cooler or fridge back there for water, etc. sure saves a lot of feet room in the van.

Anyways, back to the day! From the airport, we went on our first game drive, well – Tom and Julie’s, and Gloria & Clint’s first, and our first for this safari! Needless to say though, I was as excited as I was on our first game drive last year, and so looking forward to it! Many times over the last year I have told everyone who will listen “I was meant to go on game drives in search of animals….” Really though, over the last year, all I could think of was how relaxing it was to sit and watch a lion sleep with an occasional rolling over thrown in. That’s when most people would shake their heads, and some would mutter something about ‘paint peeling’ . But really, I know YOU guys understand!

Not far from the airstrip we saw our first game – and one of the Samburu Five – the gerenuk. I was really excited as I had hoped to see one, they looked so graceful in the books – and they really are. We watched for about 5 minutes as he/she browsed on leaves at the bottom, hoping to see him (we’ll call he/she a ‘him’ for expediency) go further up to browse. And, sure enough, he did! Moving down the road a bit (not far) Daniel spotted the second of the Samburu Five – a beisa oryx! We were really on a roll here! It is an unusual animal when you really come down to it – the black stripes on their face look like war paint, and when turned a certain way, it almost looks as though they have only one horn. Perhaps a relative of the unicorn?

We were batting a thousand, so Nathan took us down to a particular spot of the river where he said elephants can usually be seen. He spotted one, and we were all pretty excited, especially Julie – she just loves elephants and had dreamed of going on a safari to see them all her life. And now here she was seeing one – albeit from a bit of distance. ‘No problem’ said Nathan when we asked if we could go closer. Well, a few minutes later, we spotted lots more elephants going down to the river on the other side – seems the first elephant we had seen had a few friends! But Nathan wasn’t finished yet, a few more minutes and we were parked almost at the river! We had a great view of the elephants cross the river, and when they got to our side, a great view of them right beside us!

We sat amongst the elephants a long while, some were so close at times that you could have reached out and touched them. Nathan and Daniel were keeping an eye on one young boy – probably a teenager they said – as if anyone was going to make trouble, they told us, it would be him. Seems that the young boys like to show off to mom that they can ‘protect’ her; and to demonstrate this, they have been known to charge at vehicles. Nothing happened though, which was good as it would have cut short out wonderful time of watching them go about their daily lives!. There was this huge sausage tree just in front of us, both Nathan and Daniel told us they would make their way there for their afternoon massage; the bumps on the tree trunk make for a good massage post for them! Sure enough, they all did, big ones, little ones, everyone! We have some wonderful pictures of them using the tree as a scratching post, I have posted one in the gallery from this day, see my link above.

It was getting near lunch, so we started to head over to the Samburu side. Just after crossing the river is the gate to Samburu, while waiting for Nathan to pay the park fees, Daniel told us the story of Valentine, a young oryx calf, and a lioness who adopted him, here in Samburu. It’s an amazing story, and one I had come across briefly last year in my research. The lioness, later named nicknamed Kamuniak by the rangers, was seen walking around Samburu with a baby oryx, and laying side by side with him. She lost the first one to a male lion, but, undaunted, went back to the herd and flushed out a second one (later named Valentine) and stood watch by over it day and night for several days. The rangers decided to interfere though after a few days, as the lioness was unable to hunt as she was so intent on watching over the calf; and the calf was unable to feed as it was completely separated from its mother. See http://www.magicalkenya.com/default.nsf/news1/87E78B22D11257FD43256B66002D784B
And
http://www.magicalkenya.com/default.nsf/news1/DD8415D16B5DE6F043256B79004B96B5
For the complete story – it really is amazing! Eventually, Valentine ended up in the Nairobi Animal Orphanage, but I am unsure whether he/she is still there, as I don’t recall seeing an oryx there.

After going through the gate, and driving a little ways, just as we were nearing Larsen’s Camp, Daniel and Nathan spotted another of the Samburu Five – a Grevy’s zebra. These zebra have finer stripes than the plains zebra, along with rounder ears, and even though they can be found together, never interbreed. One is closer to a horse, while the other is closer to a donkey, but I can’t remember which one was which! We watched them for a while (and of course took a hundred pictures between all of us!!), turned a corner, and there was the reticulated giraffe in front of us – the fourth of the Samburu Five. This is a very striking breed of giraffe; it almost looks like someone has drawn white lines on a brown giraffe. Now all that remained of the Samburu Five for us to find was a Somali ostrich. But, not this trip – we never did see one. Now there’s a good readson to go back I’d say!

We arrived at Larsen’s , and were greeted with those nice refreshing towels (just where does all this dirt come from we wondered?) and a glass of watermelon juice. Mmmm good. This was Micato’s first time at Larsen’s, we were to be the ‘pioneers’. We were assigned tents; we were in tent 15 on the right of the dining room, the Jacanas tent. (all of the tents are named after birds). It was a beautiful property, and a beautiful tent. The tent is large, luxurious and very comfortable. Lots of little things that I hadn’t seen elsewhere – slippers with Larsen’s on them, robes, hairdryer, a safe (even though it wasn’t attached to anything, it’s the thought that counts, right?) and a huge bathroom in a sectioned off area at the back of the tent. There were lots of amenities too, a vanity pack with Q-tips, nail file and cotton balls, insect repellent pkgs, shampoo, shower cap, body lotion, shower gel and nicely packaged soaps.

After freshening up, we met for lunch on the lawn, now this was REALLY what I was meant to do! But, it’s late, so I think I will post this and continue tomorrow…..

I'm so glad to read another part of your report Lynda, I have been keeping an eye out for it!
Samburu sounds amazing! It was on my 'list' last year but we just didn't have enough time to get there - it's still on my list for next time though!
I too LOVED those beautiful starlings - our guide thought I was nuts as they are so common but I just couldn't get enough of them. I see you saw a tortoise too!!!!! - lucky you.

The story your guide told you about Valentine the oryx is true, she is in Nairobi - we saw her there last year. Oryx (plural spelling??) really are beautiful animals.

Can't wait to read more.

Imelda

Lynda -

The Grevy is the one with the obvious donkey ears, and for that matter, even the face is different. The Grevy is more "ass" than horse, I'd say.

Nice photo of the gerenuk on its hind legs. There was so much vegetation when we were there that they didn't need to to do this, so we never got to see it. You'll definitely have to go back for the Somali ostrich. It's quite striking and we were lucky to see one performing a mating dance. I also got a kick out of the fact that those little safes at Larsens weren't bolted down to anything!

Nice, nice pictures, Lynda. I love the gerenuk and you got 2 gorgeous shots. I also enjoy your report. You're such a good writer and the suspense is thrilling.

What I'm anxious to hear about is if you made that tight connection in London on the way back! Remember all the worry about that?

Glad to finally have the time to read your contagious and marvelous report Lynda. You do have a wonderful way of transporting me back to Africa.

Sounds like you and Jim will not be forgotten and have left your mark in Africa. Anxious to here if kennedy's daughter will visit. What a treat for everyone - you're most generous.

Love the pictures - keep it coming.

Lynda, great installment on Samburu. To me, the Somali ostrich was the least interesting of the Samburu Big 5 (we saw several near Buffalo Springs). I think they should add the vulturine guinea fowl to the list and remove the ostrich -- that particular guinea fowl is striking and much bluer than the pale blue in the ostrich.

Michael

Very nice photos from Samburu. The palm tree, too, is special -- its the world's only branching palm tree.

Nice shot of the superb starling -- I always thought they got to choose first when selecting names.

Yay, Lynda, thanks for more trip report and pics. The group ellie scratch at the sausage tree was hilarious and the nursing baby ellie made me say "awwwwwwwwwww." Oh, those moments in Africa we enjoy! I agree, just what is is about those soups that are soo delicious in camp, but not so much at home?? Deb

Thanks everyone on the comments - I appreciate it!

Michael, I saw the guineafowl, they were indeed very pretty - and for some reason, I didn't take a picture! Loved your reasoning on the name for the superb starling!

Sandi - I see it now, yes, the ears are more donkey like on the Grevy's.

Sherry, Deb and bat, glad to see you guys posting again, I haven't seen any posts lately from you guys - maybe I have just been reading the wrong posts?

maisie8 - sorry I don't think I responded yet on how I adopted Shimba and found the girls at the orphanage. For the girls I booked Kennedy from Waymark Safaris for the day before the Micato safari started. We did the same this year as I just had to go back to pet the cheetah girls! It can be done on your own - others on the board have done it, but Kennedy will make all the arrangements for you, and then you have him for the whole day, including a parental visit at 5:00 to Sheldricks.

For Shimba, I went on line to Daphne Sheldrick's Elephant Orphanage sight, picked an elephant, and gave them my Mastercard. I liked Shimba because he sounded so full of spunk from his story - it made me cry, but darn it all - he survived! Here's the link:

http://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/asp/fostering.asp

I'm back to writing now, will be posting it soon....

Just testing posting on here, I am trying to copy & paste the rest of the day in Samburu and when I preview, it disappears!

Well, now that is strange, the above message previewed and posted okay, but I still can't do it from a copy & paste - last night when I tried it was doing all of the weird contractions (putting the wrong symbols in for thing like "-" and "don't") so I didn't want to post it when it was doing that!
Maybe I will try from work when I get there.

LyndaS, if you copy from MS Word to Notepad, and THEN to Fodors, you will get better results - when I've tried doing it directly from Word to Fodors, I've gotten all kinds of strange hieroglyphics. I'm really enjoying your report!

Cyn

Friday May 18th, 2007 Samburu (Larsen’sCamp) continued

Now, where was I in this day? Oh yes! I was just sitting down for an incredible lunch at Larsen’s Tented Camp on the lawn, with birds in the trees beside us, monkeys running and playing just down the path, and a Samburu warrior playing the flute (do they do that often, I wondered ?) just down by the river. It was heaven, and really and truly, we all could have sat there all afternoon, socializing, laughing and having a great time getting to know one another. I’d actually like to tell you a little about our little family, if you could just indulge me a bit.

Daniel – the head of our family – is one of the safari director’s from Micato. He is a wonderful, incredible, resourceful person who has the patience of a saint, and the knowledge of a ranger. And, a great sense of humour too! We got him by chance last year, and we got him by request this year. He can spot wildlife with the best of them, and knows SO much about the flora & fauna of East Africa, it is incredible. He lives in Nairobi, and sometimes his home village. When he is ‘on shift’ at Micato, even if they don’t have a group to take out, he tells us there is plenty of ‘office stuff’ to do in the down time, reports, logistics, meetings, knowledge sessions etc. But every chance he gets in their ‘down’ times, he takes his young family (two boys, aged 2 and 4 and his wife) back to their village, and they live there until it is time to come back to the city. I tell you, it broke my heart to leave him this year, as well as Kennedy – these two guys & their families have become a solid piece of our lives.

Tom and Julie, who have semi-retired to a small town in Ohio from Washington, DC & other assorted places in the US, are an incredible couple. We originally thought our age (mid 50’s) but since they just celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary, we think they keep their age well! Tom has semi-retired from his own publishing company, but as most entrepreneurs know, you can never fully retire! They have an assortment of grown children and grandchildren; one of their sons is Tom’s business partner. They are both wonderful, lovable, kind, gentle people with a great sense of humour, and you can tell, they love and enjoy life, they were always laughing and having fun

Clint and Gloria hail from Laguna Beach in California. Clint is a surfer, paramedic and fireman all rolled into one, and I tell you it makes for a great combination! He has an INCREDIBLE sense of humour, he kept all of laughing the entire time. If things were not going exactly as they were meant to be Clint would have us laughing in no flat. Gloria is a doctor who works in a large city hospital, and has the most wonderful smile that I have ever seen. She has one of those real ‘feel-good smiles’ that I just couldn’t get enough of seeing! Their stories were always wonderful, humorous and entertaining.

As for us, well I was the official photojournalist and family recorder, while Jim was the official camera techie and Inspector Gadget – so named by Clint for all of the neat gadgets he had in that camera bag of his. Both Tom and Clint had borrowed 35mm cameras from friends for the safari, and along with me never having actually taken any pictures on the FZ50 prior to safari – well, we were a pretty dependent threesome on Jim for camera savvy! Jim can take a camera, any camera, and pretty well tell you how to run it with just a little bit of experimenting – he sure came in handy! It only took Jim missing one game run (staying behind to relax in the tent…) for us to put our foot down and tell him he wasn’t allowed to miss any game runs again! (all three of us ran into camera problems without him!)

Anyhow, I digress – back to the lunch. What an incredible lunch it was – spicy avocado soup, a wonderful salad, turkey julienne with fresh veggies and apple crumble for desert. Larsen’s has a set menu for each meal, with an appetizer, soup, salad, a choice of three entrees (fish, vegetarian or meat dish) and a desert. The food here was incredible, I’d say the best of all the food that I had so far from this year and last.

After a quick 45-min power nap, most of us were off for the afternoon game drive at 4 pm. This was the one that Jim didn’t come on, he just wanted to relax in the tent for a bit and snooze some more. It was raining so we weren’t sure how much we would see, but I thought for sure if I didn’t go everyone would see a leopard! Getting there mind you, I slipped in the mud on the path and skinned my knee – it was so funny, Gloria said she was watching me come down the path, and then, all of a sudden there I was on the ground praying on my knees! She made me laugh (even though it hurt – a real true doctor!)…. Today I have purple skid marks on my knee, a fine souvenir from Larsen’s Camp I say!

So, the game run, yes, it was a good one, but no leopards. Nothing earth shattering, but we had fun, and the scenery was great. We stayed on the Samburu side this afternoon, mostly looking for leopard – in all the wrong places I guess! We did see a leopard tortoise though, does that count?

We arrived back at the camp at 6:30, freshened up and met for drinks in the lounge at 7:30, followed by supper, tonight it was steak, and it was very tasty. The desert was rhubarb pie, and for the rest of the trip, after each meal, Tom would ask ‘you don’t by any chance have any rhubarb pie do you?’ He loved that desert, and I will bet as we speak, Julie is making him a rhubarb pie for desert!

I tried to write in my journal after dinner, but fell asleep doing it ,wow those game runs sure tire you out!

Wildlife spotting list for today, Friday May 18th:
Olive baboon, Nile crocodile, dik dik, elephant, Grant's Gazelle, gerenuk, reticulated giraffe, impala, beisa oryx, warthog, Grevy's zebra, leopard tortoise
Birds spotted today:
helmeted guineafowl, vulturine guineafowl, red-billed hornbill, secretary bird, black Layards weaver, white headed buffalo weaver, yellow neck spurfowl, superb starling, bee eaters, white back vulture, great white egrit, African fish eagle, pale chanting goshawk, go away bird, Kori bustard, habdah ibis, spur wing plover, and a cuckoo!

There, I got it! I split it out, and that seemed to work - Cyn I will have to get Jim to show me where notepad is, I'm not familiar with it, but thanks for the hint!

Lynda, Keep it coming! Thanks.

Can anybody see the message on 7/05/07 in this thread? It was at the top today and it says last post was 7/05/07, but all I can see on the end is Julianewman's message from July 1???

Invisible writing I guess....

Sorry that I haven't posted anything this week - I have been getting ready for the GTG - spring cleaning! Busy, busy, busy! But I'll be back to this next week....

Lynda, I haven't been able to see it. It keeps faking me out, but the latest post I was seeing is the same, from 7/1.

That’s great you had only four others and they were pleasant and compatible. I was also cringing at yellow safari vehicles, envisioning a Micato school bus. A cream color would be respectable.

If your camera guru was not present, that was a good game drive to have no leopards or other big sightings pop up. Hope you no longer have your Larsen’s souvenir bruises. Thanks for informing me of the Samburu 5.

Enjoying your report and can’t wait to read what’s next.

SATURDAY MAY 19, 2007 SAMBURU NATIONAL RESERVE – LARSEN’S CAMP
OF X-RATED LIONS AND LEOPARD EYES

Today’s photos can be seen at:
http://www.pbase.com/lyndas/samburu_may_19_2007

My natural alarm clock seems to be set very early these days as I jump out of bed at 5:15 – even before the wonderful coffee and cookies that were delivered at 5:30. This is unlike me at home where it takes Jim’s every effort & coffee bribes to coax me awake at 7, let alone 5 AM.

But, as today was going to be an early run at 6:30 am, this was a good thing anyways, as we were ready, set to go along with everyone else. We drove a short away from the camp, and there, right there, walking down the road was female lion!! This was Clint & Gloria’s, and Tom & Julie’s first lion sighting, and they were pretty excited – but I must say so was I ! There is just nothing like the sight of a lion first thing in the morning. We all quietly stood up though, and started taking multiple pictures of her strolling down the road. She walked by, glanced up at us, and then went into the grass right beside us and stood there. Daniel motioned for us to look behind – lo and behold there was what we thought was another female – but it was much stockier and heavier than the first. Daniel whispered it was a male, in Samburu they do not grow manes as it is much too hot! We watched him, and of course took tons of pictures too as he walked up beside our van. He looked at us, and then looked at the female on the other side. No contest, the female won. He wandered into the grass and stood beside her. Daniel again motioned for us to be very quiet; he said they would probably mate. We stood by holding our breath, and then heard the loudest ‘purrrr’ I have ever heard from any cat (and I’d like to remember who it was that told me that cheetahs are the only big cats that purr as that is obviously wrong!). At the same time she was purring, she rubbing back and forth on the male’s side – ah yes, I have actually seen my male cat do that to our male dog at home! (domestic animals, you know a little confused…) And sure enough she laid down, he mounted & grabbed her neck and, well, you know the rest….. A nooner, only sooner.

As others on the board who have seen this have reported, it was over in seconds. A few grunts later they both laid in the grass, looked around and at us us for a while, and then decided to snooze.

Well, trying to top that in the run was hard. We didn’t see any other cats, and the closest we came to that excitement was pulling a stuck ‘Town’ van out of the ruts he was stuck in. The sticker on the back clearly said ‘Town’ car, and that is probably where they should have been driving it! It was a very small mini van with two safari-goers in it who did not look impressed. Our other highlight was Daniel serving us coffee in the bush, that was wonderful. It seems that with the new Micato Land Cruisers came with a portable coffee container that holds lots of hot coffee, hot water, coffee mugs, cream and sugar. Cool!

Back at Larsen’s we had a great breakfast ( cold cereal & fruit is serve yourself, hot meals are order off a menu) and then showed last year’s DVD that Jim had made, to the group. (a ‘presentation’ that Jim did with ProShowGold – it turned out great! – thanks Tom for the recommend on Pro Show Gold) It looked as though everyone enjoyed it, especially Daniel who was so much a part of it!

After a short rest (well, OK, nap) it was time for lunch on the deck overlooking the river – that was SO cool! I really think I could stay there forever, it was so peaceful, and the lunch was incredible. Really good food at Larsen’s I must say! I had pork medallions with spaghetti, potatoes and vegetables.

The afternoon game drive (right after we finished lunch at 3:30) was very hot, and not many animals were out and about. A leopard had been reported nearby, and we searched and searched, but could not find. As the leopards themselves advertise – elusive. But the scenery was wonderful, and the sundowners in the van were great too. Daniel asked us to stay in the van for this as we were in leopard country, and he wanted to take no chances. We started heading back as the sun was starting to go down, when Nathan (our driver) got a report of a leopard sighting just a little ways off. Turning around we dashed off to the area, which wasn’t far from our camp and searched and searched. Slowly driving by the trees where he was reported, looking for a dangling tail. Dusk was settling in, and Daniel said we would have to go as we had to be back by dark. It was getting pretty close to dark, when I (yes, me!) spotted movement in a tree out my side – there he was!! A sleek silhouette coming down off the tree!!! Of course none of us had our camera’s ready, which was probably good as it would have flashed and scared him/her. We watched him/her jump ever so agile from the tree to the ground, and for a fleeting moment we saw him/her in the grass – looking at us. Gloria managed to get a picture from her point and shoot, a priceless picture of the leopard’s eyes in the grass! We just rolled with laughter that night at supper as viewed it, it was so funny, just the eyes showed!

Once we were back at the camp, we freshened up and met for cocktails, followed by a scrumptious dinner. Dinner tonight was steak, with a really good chocolate roll for dessert, An entry in my notebook says it all ‘What a fabulous group we are with!”.

Wildlife spotting list for today, Saturday May 19th:
mating lions, dik diks, olive baboon, impala, gerenuk, elephants, leopard silhouette & eyes
Birds spotted today:
Maribou stork, secretary bird, snake eagle

Lynda, I’m catching up with your report. I’ll never be popular in Kenya (my only goal in life) when there’re visitors like you! Very nice photos of Nairobi and Samburu.
BTW, I spotted a Micato bus on University Way.

Nyamera, I'm working on getting something for you, me and Jim to do in Kenya so we can move there. So far I have Jim going on safaris to show people how to use their brand new cameras they just bought for their safari, me staying back in Nairobi doing someone's books and you helping me, I promise I can teach you in no time flat.....

Hey Lynda, loving your report! I laughed when you wrote about the yellow Micato Land Crusiers. Aren't those rear coolers the best? So glad to hear you spotted a leopard. I am of course going to have to go back to Africa to see one...

I will be working on my report again very soon!

Lynda, great job on finding the leopard. It is always a magnificent feeling of accomplishment when you find one.

And hey don't blame those male lions for being ... efficient

Lynda, I too am really enjoying your narrative and your photos. Wayne: efficiency is overrated.

Lynda the Leopard spotter,

I didn't know that about the male lions in Samburu. I had only seen female ones there, or so I thought. Very interesting adaptation.

I also learned something about the sex life of your housepets. Equally interesting.

SUNDAY MAY 20, 2007 MAASAI MARA NATIONAL PARK (KICHWA TEMBO)
ON THE ROAD (WELL, THE AIR) AGAIN

Today's photos can be seen at:
http://www.pbase.com/lyndas/maasai_mara_may_20

Now here was a morning that I could have used a sleep-in. But, not today, as we had to be up'n'at'em , fed, checked out and ready to go by 8:00 AM. Breakfast was really nice, they served orange juice and champagne, which I thought was compliments of Micato until I read Joyce's trip report, who mentioned that Larsen's does this for everyone on the morning they are leaving! It was a nice touch, and breakfast was very tasty.

On route to the airpstrip, Nathan and Daniel desperately searched for the leopard that we saw last night, but to no avail. Just a few dik diks and some impala was all the morning had to offer - no cats at all. Well, another year we said, we'll come back! Now, here's a good story for anyone going to Samburu by air in the future - arriving at the airstrip, I started to get a few things ready to give to our driver, Nathan. This year, as well as last year, I had gone crazy buying up 'Canada' souvenirs - lots of key chains, pins, t-shirts, hats, playing cards, etc. I had selected for Nathan a white T-shirt with the Canadian flag on it. I had it in my hand ready to give to him, when suddenly all of the Samburu boys at the 'duty free' shop descended on me! I had all kinds of offers of spears, bracelets, all kinds of stuff that they said they would trade for that T-shirt! I would have loved to trade, but Nathan at this point would have known I brought it for him, so I couldn't very well do that! My bags had already been loaded onto the plane, so it was impossible to get more at that point in time. So, there's a good item to pack in you bags, guys - pack some T-shirts from your country if you are going to Samburu! I actually should have remembered Dennis' story about the Hawaiian t-shirts he brought to Zambia, then I would have been prepared!

Today's plane was a 12 passenger plane - read into that not much room in the aisles, and for some reason (weight issues I guess) they wanted me in the first class section : (the first row of seats). It was a little bit of a struggle to get up there, but I made it. Jim came and joined me too, which was good, because then we could take lots of pictures of Clint, who was sitting in the right seat of the cockpit, from both angles! Clint was going to make sure that our pilot, Rashad got us to the Mara OK. We flew 20 minutes to Nanyuki, stopped and picked up 4 other people. These 4 people, who were on Micato's Grand Safari, en route to Bateleur Camp, would cross our paths a few times; and we would come to know them by the end of our trip. There was a couple, on their honeymoon, as well as two single travellers, Jill, and Don (who did not know each other before the trip). Jill was a very nice person, she is in the travel industry, (didn't volunteer as what though) and told us she travels alone all the time, as she likes it that way. This was her second trip to Africa. But there seemed to be something haunting her, she seemed a little sad at times. Julie had I both felt it, perhaps she had lost a loved one recently, or someone special to her. Don is a travel writer, who has written for Lonely Planet, and who writes for Adventure Travel Collection. He was such a pleasure to talk to; it was exciting to talk to a travel writer as this is something I have always wanted to do myself.

BREAK FOR A COMMERCIAL HERE As a matter of a fact, I thought I would try my hand at it last year, and I wrote, and submitted an article to a small Canadian magazine called Travel Society. And - it was just published!!! All 7 pages of it, with pictures - one of Jim's pictures of a lion yawning in Ngorongoro Crater made the cover! I was (and still am, can you tell?) just THRILLED about it! Sent my mom, our son, everyone I knew copies of it! I wrote about our safari last year, but with a twist - not so much as what we did and saw, more of an 'informative - this is what you can do - and how to go about doing it, and what you can see' style. I even mentioned this board in it as a great information source! If anyone is interested in reading it, there is an electronic version of the magazine (the layout is better though in the magazine - but it's the same text) at
http://www.thetravelsociety.com/leadarticle.htm
There was whole section that I wrote in the third person (a 'typical' day on safari) and for some reason some (but not all) of it has been changed to the first person, but that is the only thing that was changed. I'm not sure why, but you know, I'm sure the editor had a good reason!

Anyhow, back to the story at hand! The 50 minute flight from Nanyuki to the Mara was a little bumpy (a little? Jill said as she reached for the black bag in the seat back…) but Clint and Rashad kept us up in the air! Rashad called back to us that we were going to fly in low, so that we could see the variety of animals in the grass, what a wonderful sight that was! I did try and take some pictures, but they aren't up on pbase as we seemed to be flying over only the blurry animals. Hmmm, must have been a blurry animal convention or something.

The landing was superb, and the reception was incredible. Lined up along the airstrip were the Kichwa Tembo vehicles, in front of them they had set up tables with hot chocolate, cokes, water, coffee and cookies for us! Not your regular airstrip cafeteria Styrofoam cups either - real mugs! And the vehicles were brand-spanking new, hot off the factory floor, just waiting for us. But, as mentioned in my pictures - I still couldn't climb up on the back seats, so, again, as last year, our driver, Daniel, asked if I would like to sit in the front with him. The view isn't as great from 'down there', but it sure was easier to get in and out of! Off we bumped to Kichwa Tembo (is this road bumpier than last year, Jim and I wondered?), over the washed out bridge going up the hill to the camp, past the Oloololo Gate, turn right, up a bumpier yet road and then turn right again, down a bumpy road - to that wonderful forested camp, Kichwa Tembo (and Bateleur beside it) .

We settled in to our tents - Daniel had even managed to get us the same tent as last year - H5. It had a good location and was very comfortable, we were happy! All of our meals were going to be at Bateleur Camp, as there was a cooking & serving training session going on at Kichwa Tembo. And, speaking of meals, it was lunchtime. We walked over to Bateleur (just a short walk through a forest) and found a lovely table set up for us on the grass overlooking the Mara. It was a wonderful meal, served family style. They brought us soup (delicious of course) and bread, and then brought a huge, very tall tray with salad, cheese, crackers and apple, and the main course of chicken curry done in a filo pastry along with cous cous. It was very pretty (see pictures on pbase), and very tasty!

It wasn't long after lunch when it was time for our 4 pm game drive, and first up was looking for leopards in hopefully all the right places. We drove slowly along the trees by the Mara River for about an hour, looking for dangling tails. No such luck. We drove slower yet, and veered off to the right of the trees and suddenly, Daniel (our Daniel) said to KT's Daniel (the driver) 'over there, look closely'. He was pointing to a big field of grass, and look as we might, we couldn't see a thing. But KT's Daniel, our driver did, and he ever so slowly inched the vehicle up - apparently there was a leopard in the tall grass W-A-Y over there! How our Daniel ever spotted him I don't know, as none of us could see him even as we drove close. KT's Daniel drove as close as he said we should go, so as not to disturb the leopard, who seemed to be stalking something (for the life of me, I can't recall what & I didn't write it down) over the other way. We stopped, and we took up the binoculars, and one by one we saw him. Well, I could barely make him out, but I did recognize the tail - but the others managed to get him in their sights. We waited quietly as both Daniel's were sure he was stalking the other animal. And, that's when it happened - four or five other vehicles drove up beside us. Which wasn't a problem in itself, until one with a family in it decided that they were not close enough for the kids to see, and their driver, much to our horror, started his engine and pulled up almost right on top of the poor leopard! Another of the vehicles pulled closer too, and started circling the cat. Nasty, nasty. The leopard of course was spooked, and all we saw was the tail heading off to the woods to the left. The second vehicle actually gave chase and followed the leopard! And that was that. No dinner for him tonight, because someone wanted to see better! Jim actually was very miffed, he spoke about putting in a complaint against the two drivers, but really & truly, they were probably only trying to please their passengers, so he didn't.

And, just when we were all so disappointed about the leopard disappearing in the tall grass & miffed that the other vehicle gave chase, there was Tom in the back seat saying "I got a picture of the tail, guys!" We roared with laughter at the thought that if we put Gloria's pictures of the leopard eyes from the night before, together with Tom's picture of the tail, we may actually see a whole leopard! :

We searched a bit more for leopard, but to no avail, and then headed off to the area by the airstrip to search for cheetah. No luck there either, but we did find out what happens when it rains on a game drive - it started raining when we were by the airstrip, Driver Daniel stopped the vehichle, lifted up a seat and came up with 8 nice brown ponchos. Now here was a picture worth a thousand words that none of managed to get! Eight identically ponchoed people looking for cheetah….

It was getting dark by now, we headed back to the camp to a wonderful dinner at Bateleur's of soup, salad, made to order stir fry beef and prawns & veggies - mmm good!



Wildlife spotting list for today, Sunday May 20th:
Samburu - dik diks, impala, more impala
The Mara - Sykes monkey, cape buffalo, elephant, Maasai giraffe, hartebeest, impala, black backed jackal, leopard (tail anyhow),

Birds spotted today:
hammerkop

Wow, Cyn, thanks for that tip on copying to Notepad by the way - it worked! Strange hieroglyphics again today, and although I couldn't find a program called 'notepad' I found 'Textpad', tried that & it worked great!

You're welcome!

And congratulations on getting published! I read the article and it's great - as is this report.

Leopard spotter AND TRAVEL WRITER Lynda,

That's great you were published. I liked your comment on the blurry animal convention. By the end of the trip, you will have pieced together a leopard puzzle.

Lynda, Congratulations!!

Lynda, congratulations on being published, but you really should be concentrating on finding me a way to be able to live in Kenya. If I’ll have to do books I’ll do that. BTW, I had a letter from the tax authorities waiting when I got home from Kenya. They weren’t impressed with how I’d declared my “business”.

Thanks guys for the congrats - I was pretty thrilled!

Nyamera - did you notice the comment on the picture of the topi?

And the tax dept just writes those letters because they are bored, your still hired to help me with the books....

Lynn, I'm piecing togethter the picture as we speak!

Your mini stapler was a topic in my trip report, "Phinda, where the h is silent..."
7-23-07 11:34 It's in bold near the end of that post.

Ohmigosh, Lynn, that is so priceless! The perfect use for my mini-stapler - saves time! I had made note of your report to start reading it at lunch, but I went out for lunch with Abbyo today, and didn't get a chance to start it yet!

But I had to skip ahead to see what you said - and of course look at your pictures, which are amazing!

That reminds me, you should pack one of those cute little mini staplers when you go to SA in August - I'm not sure if it's the same in Brazil, but when the geologists go to Chile and Peru, they bring me back receipts that are folded at an angle in one corner, and then torn a bit in such a way that the two receipts stay together (as in a hotel bill and a visa slip). I have always meant to ask the guys if there are no staplers in Peru or what - so, pack that mini stapler!

Lynda,
In Kenya most people use the word ”topi” even when speaking Swahili. Many don’t even know the word “nyamera”. Though guides should know it. In Maa it’s “olkondi” or “olkodi”. When I start a safari related business, I’ll change my name to Olkodi and I’ll only write intelligent posts.

BTW, in the Luo language nyamera means “tribal sister”. Last year I got an email from a Luo woman in Alabama who had seen me on a Spanish travel forum. She thought I was Kenyan and I thought it was because of the quality of my posts, but she didn’t speak a word of Spanish. It's a long time since I wrote to her. I must remember.

Aren’t paper clips better than staplers?

Do you call that method of joining papers "dog ear"?

This is all fascinating, but how do you say mini stapler in Swahili? If anyone would know, it would be you, Lynda.

MONDAY MAY 21, 2007 MAASAI MARA GAME RESERVE – KICHWA TEMBO TENTED CAMP
A CHEETAH MOM TAKES HER KIDS TO LUNCH

Today’s photos can be seen at:
http://www.pbase.com/lyndas/maasai_maramay_21_2007
AND
http://www.pbase.com/lyndas/cheetah_kill_may_21_2007

(there is a reason I split these pictures out, I’ll get to that….)

and sorry this took so long!

Well, I tell you, when I get to gates of heaven (yes, I intend to go there!) and St. Peter asks me what the highlight of my life was, I will have to tell him all about today. Wow, what an incredible day!

Daniel thought it would be a good idea to have breakfast first and then go out and about for the whole morning, as I had asked if we could go and try and find Honey’s 3 boys, who were way over by the Serena. This turned out to be a good decision.

We wandered around (well, not on foot – in the Land Cruiser) down by the river for a while, watching the hippos, and some baboons. Daniel (driver) spotted a lioness way off in the distance (how do these guys do this, I always wonder?) so we stopped to watch her. There was herd of topi in front of a bush, they apparently knew exactly where the lioness was. We stopped about half way between the topi and the lioness and waited. She just sauntered along, as though she was on a Sunday stroll, seemingly disinterested in any of the animals around her. ‘Just out for walk’ she seemed to say as she passed by us, giving us just a slight nod of her head. She walked straight towards the bush the topi were in front of, who by this time, had turned around to face the direction that she would be coming – it was incredible, they all seemed to turn on cue. They warily watched her; she sauntered past them though as if she hadn’t seen them at all. There were some impala on the other side as well, that we hadn’t noticed at first, but as the lioness came closer to them, they moved from their positions. But, no, she didn’t want those either – and I tell you she should have stopped for breakfast, because she was not much more than skin and bones. She just wandered right in the herd of topi and the herd of impala and went into the bush. She probably said ‘have a nice day’ on the way past.

The wonders of the wild, I guess! We moved on towards the Serena, and just as we were almost there, one of the Daniel’s noticed a ranger truck and two other safari vehicles that were stopped a short distance away. We drove over to where they were, and stopped the truck beside a cheetah mom and her three 8 ½ month old cubs. They were just strolling through the grass, right there beside the road, so close we could almost reach out to them! Driver Daniel told us that the cubs were two boys, but he wasn’t sure on the third one. The time was 10:15; we watched them for a few minutes until Director Daniel motioned for us to look across the road. We saw a small crossing of zebra, a male impala with a large harem, and one Thompson’s gazelle. He told us that the mom would tell the kids to take a nap behind a large grassy mound, and would wait until the zebra, and the impala cleared, leaving only the gazelle. He told us this could take hours, and asked us all if we wanted to keep going in search of Honey’s cubs, or stay and wait. It was unanimous – we all wanted to stay and watch the drama unfold.

We got comfortable in the Land Cruiser, parking in between the ranger truck and the other two vehicles. The mom and the kids were on our right hand side, and just as Daniel said, they all went behind a grassy knoll, and only the mom came out. She stalked through the grass, we had to use the binoculars to see her, she was carefully concealing herself. She laid down in the tall grass, and watched the players across the road. After about an hour, the zebra left, and the mom changed positions slightly, positioning herself to give chase. The impala were still happily grazing away. We patiently, along with mom, waited for the impala to leave, but alas, at 12:30 two topi wandered onto the scene. The ranger truck left at this time (probably because it was lunch time for them!), and we changed positions. Only one of the other two vans were still watching, one of the vans had children in it, I would imagine that they were hungry and had wanted to go back for lunch. Daniel offered us the chance to move positions and drive behind a bush for a ‘pee’ break, as he told us the cheetah wouldn’t do anything while the topi were there. We all took him up on the offer, but did so quickly as we didn’t want to miss anything. And, good job we did. Fairly soon after we took up pole position again, a young buck wandered into the herd. The male chased him off, probably saying ‘MY herd!”. But, he wasn’t alone – there were two more ‘boys’ that wandered into the herd. The male impala gave chase, one of them ran off in front of us, while the other one, pursued by the alpha male, ran into the bush. Daniel motioned for us to get the cameras and binoculars ready as one of the females had wandered onto the road, directly across from the cheetah. And sure enough, moments later, at 12:47, we saw mom racing across the road towards the herd. It all happened so fast that I didn’t really see which impala she took down, but I don’t think it was the one on the road. In the quiet of the afternoon, a din arose as the herd of impalas all joined in a chorus of cries – it was a very eerie sound. We were all so absorbed by the chase though, that until I looked at my pictures, I had no idea all the rest of the herd was standing around watching the mom take down one of their own.

After a few zigs and zags – too fast for me to catch on film, but Jim caught a few shots of the chase, mom latched her claws on the hindquarters and dug in with her teeth. Hanging on to the impala’s butt, she called out the kids at 12:48. All three came running out from across the road, one helped her grab hold of the hind quarters, while the other two clasped onto the impala’s neck. It was an incredible sight, even through the camera lens. One that we will not forget. I had worried for years on how I might feel watching a kill – could I watch it? Would I turn away? Surprisingly, no, it seemed very natural and not gory at all. After all, a mom and her kids have to eat. Daniel assured us that the impala, by this time, even though she was still standing, was dead from fear, and could not feel anything.

It seemed to take a long time for them to bring the impala down, but looking back at the timing on the pictures (who invented that, I wonder – what a fabulous invention!) only one minute had passed – it was 12:49. The kids started eating greedily, two up on the neck still, with mom and another on the hind quarters. We pulled up right beside them; none of them minded a bit, they never gave us a second look. The other van pulled up behind them as well. I was taking picture after picture, thanking my foresight for getting a digital camera, when one of the impala’s legs twitched – just a nerve reaction as she was plainly dead by this time – this startled the cubs and they jumped back all at once. It was priceless, we laughed.

Mom kept a vigilant watch for hyena, she hardly ate. We followed her gaze back across the road where she had hidden, and sure enough, there was a jackal, and a hyena, both just waiting in the wings. Daniel told us that a cheetah would give up the kill to a hyena, as they are no match for their powerful jaws. As we were so close though, the hyena did not attempt to come and steal the kill; he/she just waited their turn.

We watched the most incredible, well-tuned eco system at work here. God certainly has it all planned, down to the smallest detail. The kids ate, the mom watched, and every once in a while, the mom would eat too. The hyenas stood by waiting for the carcass, and the vultures started to line up for anything left over. As they started to circle, and then land, I noticed that even though they were landing one by one, and that they had formed a line, they were not lining up in ‘landing order’. I asked Daniel if there was rhyme or reason to this, he said yes – each species of vultures has a certain place in line, and they all know it and respect it. Amazing, and fascinating. There was no fighting, biting or scratching, they just landed in a certain spot and stayed there.

Reluctantly, we left at 13:46. Well, hey, they were making us hungry and it was well past lunch! We drove back to Kichwa Tembo, absolutely elated. This was an amazing experience.

Fortunately, the cook had no problems with extending the lunch hour for us, we had some mighty fine pork chops, couscous and salad, followed by the world-famous macadamia nut flan (requested by Daniel for us) out on the lawn at Bateleur Camp.

Jim and I stayed back at the tent after lunch, while Tom and Julie, and Clint and Gloria were ‘on the road’ again to the Maasai Village. I would have loved to have gone again, but we were pretty bagged, and we had visited there last year. It’s tiring watching kills you know! Daniel made us promise that we would go on a short game drive at 6 though, when he would come back and pick us up. Jim was really tired, but I went. It wasn’t really a game drive though – it was ‘sundowners’ on the banks of the Mara River! Nothing else but this could have ended our PERFECT day – wow!

We sat in front of a (carefully controlled – Clint’s a fireman after all) campfire, eating snacks and toasting the sun going down, right on the edge of the Mara River. Could life get any better than this we all thought?

We returned in time for supper, a nice ginger chicken, or tilapia, it was, mmmm good. Local Maasai also came by after supper to dance a warriors dance for us, it was great fun as they got most of us to participate as well.

And my permanent souvenir from the 4 hour drama unfolding that morning? I ended up with 2nd degree burns to my left arm. Some of you may remember that I had some sort of ‘rash’ last year – well, I found out what it was. Just silly me not putting the proper sun protection on my arm. Last year, in the Sopa lodges, most of them had ‘sunscreen’ as an amenity in neat little bottles. I threw them in my suitcase, and although my facial mositurizer that I use everyday has SP30 built into it, I thought these would be easy to carry and use this year for my arms. Well, I would bet those little bottles contained SPF 1, as even with that on my arm, I still burnt. You can bet I threw out the rest of the bottles!

Over the next few days, my whole arm was a mass of blisters, some pretty big, and some pretty ugly. They eventually popped (Gloria – a doctor, and Clint, a paramedic both made sure that I didn’t pop them!) and oozed and did all kinds of gory things. It was still pretty ugly even when we got home for a week or so, and now, three months later, I have wonderful purple blotches that remind me, everyday, of this incredible day!

Wildlife spotting list for today, Monday May 21st:
African hare, olive baboon, cheetah kill, Nile crocodile, elephant, Thompson’s gazelle, Maasai giraffe, hippo, spotted hyena, impala, black-backed jackal, lion, topi, Defassa waterbuck, plains zebra

Birds spotted today:
crowned crane, redneck spurfowl, marabou stork, vultures, hammerkop

I find topis very beautiful and quite interesting. I looked them up online and saw that the usual predators are their enemies.

But I have never heard of anyone seeing a topi getting caught by a predator, never seen that on any nature shows.

When I was on safari my guides told me that lions definitely prefer wildebeests and impalas over topis and hartebeast. I wonder if topis are just so much more cautious that they are harder to catch.

Has anyone out there heard of a topi getting caught by a lion, cheetah or other predator.

I've always thought that topis look like they were put together by a committee. and I think it's pretty safe to assume that something eats them... but I don't know what.

Momliz, that's a good observation, I can see where you are coming from on that!

When I read your post Wayne, I was trying to remember what Daniel said about the topi - all I can remember him saying is that there was no way the cheetah would attack when they were there, and they didn't.

Hmm, now I'm wondering too who eats them. Nyamera, any first-hander insight here?

Thanks for sharing your marvelous day with us before St. Peter. He'll have to wait. Interesting that your guide knew how it would all play out and was right.

So sorry about your sunburn. I bet you are right about the effectiveness of the complimentary lotion. You can add that to your packing tips. DON'T rely on the suntan lotion provided.

I think the topis are the fastest antelope so they are able to get away. Nyamera would know.

I am caught up with both your photos and your report. Waiting for more.

What footage of the hunt! Wow! I remember one of your first comments was the highlight of spending hours with a hunting cheetah. Here's the results.

I’d like to say that you recognize a topi predator by the horn holes on its carcass, but in books all the usual big predators - but I suppose hyenas and lions are the worst- are listed. I’ve never seen an eaten topi or heard about a kill, so I suppose most predators prefer less talented antelopes that aren't as fast and definitely not as aware about what’s happening around them. All I’ve seen was a second in an “ad” on Animal Planet where lions attacked a topi. I’ll not forget that.

The sunburn sounds really nasty. Are you sure it wasn’t just regular lotion in the bottles from Sopa? Thanks for the cheetah pictoral essay!

Hi Lynda, you really captured the excitement of watching a hunt in progress! We were fortunate to have watched a cheetah hunt in the Serengeti but fortunately for us (and so unfortunately for the cheetah) the little gazelle managed to escape. For me, I don't think I could have watched the "meal" as I would have suspected the guide was just trying to be kind, telling me the prey was feeling no pain!
Regarding topi and predators, there is an interesting article from the New Scientist where the kill of a topi calf is witnessed:


http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg12416943.700-high-noon-on-the-maasai-mara-contrary-to-received-wisdom-onthe-ways-of-predators-hyenas-often-attack-at-midday-why-have-their-victimsfailed-to-develop-a-strategy-to-defend-themselves-.html

Oh Lynda,

I've wasted away (if you're my boss that's what you'd think) an afternoon finally reading all of your trip report. As everyone esle has previously stated it was a wonderful read. You really are talented with your use of words. For our sake I hope you'll be back in Africa sooner rather than later.

Regards,
Juliet

TUESDAY MAY 22, 2007 IN TRANSIT – THE MARA TO THE SERNGETI – SERENGETI SERENA
FLYING FROM “A” TO “B” BY WAY OF “Z” – Up, zoom, down, up, zoom, down, up, zoom, down….

Pictures from today are at: http://www.pbase.com/lyndas/in_transit_may_22_07

The Serengeti, as most of my fellow Afreekah enthusiasts know, is just an extension of the same eco-system as the Maasai Mara, with only an imaginary line drawn between the two. The animals do a well-known trek there and back every year. So, why praytell, did it take us the whole day to get ‘here’ from ‘there’? The answer probably lies in government red tape somewhere I am sure.

To make matters worse, we even got up early to do this – 7 am was the call this morning with an 8 am breakfast. Well, OK, come to think of it I guess that’s not that early! We arrived at the Kichwa Tembo airstrip at 11:00, where they had coffee, cokes, water, hot chocolate and cookies set up for us, while we waited for our noon flight.

At noon, we boarded the 50 seat Dash 8 and made our way – all the way! – to the Mara Safari Club to pick up 2 guests, which took all of 5 minutes, (Hmmmp, we wondered, couldn’t they just drive over to KT and board from there?) and then continued on our way. Fourty minutes later we were sitting in Nairobi’s Wilson Airport, meeting up with Eileen from Micato who had scads of lunch boxes for us. Oh no ! Not the dreaded lunch boxes I thought! It turned out to be a not so bad lunch box though – cold chicken, couscous, yogurt, banana, chips and a chocolate bar.

It was here that we found out that Daniel would not be able to go to Tanzania with us. We would have to change safari directors, due to more government red tape no doubt. We had all been hoping for days that Micato would find a way to keep him with us, but regulations are regulations & they must be followed, I suppose. We all had misty eyes as we said goodbye to Daniel, but as Julie pointed out, at least we were not going to keep him from his family – and after 6 days with the six of us, heaven only knows the poor guy was probably looking forward to being with some sane people! 

After an hour or so of hanging around the airport and filling out the never-ending landing/departing cards, we boarded a really small 18-seat plane and set off to KIA (the international airport near Arusha). And, for the first time ever in planes, my ears wouldn’t pop. Gloria handed me stick after stick of gum, but to no avail, by the time we landed in KIA 30 minutes later, I couldn’t hear a thing. Actually my ears are ringing just writing about this now!

Upon arrival, we met our new safari director, Renny. Poor guy, he just didn’t know what he’d signed up for! He led us through all of the red tape over to another plane, another small 18 seater. We left at 3 pm, just as my ears were beginning to pop and just as I was starting to regain my hearing….

Fifty five minutes, and plugged ears again later, we were descending to Lake Manyara to pick up another person. But, I have to tell you, this landing was worth it, just for the ‘take-off’ alone! The runway runs out at the edge of a cliff overlooking the lake, it’s cool! My son (the pilot) would love that I am sure. After another 55 minutes of some pretty scenic flying past the Rift Valley, the Crater highlands, Ngorongoro Crater, and Oldupai Gorge; and through some smoke from controlled burning, we landed at Grumeti Camp to drop off the other people in the plane, the ones from Micato’s Grand Safari that we kept bumping into.

Funny, once we passed through the smoke, choking and coughing, Jim turns to me and says “now that we are through safely, I can tell you that it is pretty dangerous to be flying through smoke”.
‘Oh oh’ I said – what he didn’t know was that we had to fly back the way we came as the Seronera air strip was BACK THAT WAY! Ooops, he apologized, he didn’t mean to scare me! But, yeah, great, now I was worried as we were flying back through the smoke.

But, we made it off course, 20 minutes later, at 5:30 pm we were touching down on our final runway for the day, well, that is, once the pilot cleared the landing strip of the animals. That was 3 different planes over 6 hours; encompassing 6 ups, and of course 6 downs to match. All that to go a total of I would bet no more than 70 miles as the crow files.

Steven, our driver was waiting for us with one of Micato’s really new Land Cruisers. This one had a refrigerator in the back – instead of a bench seat across the back, there was a refrigerator in between the two back seats! No wonder Clint and Gloria wouldn’t give up those back seats!  And – cup holders for all 6 seats in the back – wow, now that was nice. No more spilled coffee on my pants!

We arrived at the Sereana at 6:30. Many years ago, when I would dream about going on a safari, I read about the Serena in one of the guidebooks, and saw pictures. For years I had dreamed of staying here, and now, here I was! And, I was pretty impressed – the room was large, well decorated, the bed was comfortable, the view from the balcony was wonderful, and the whole ‘feel’ of the place was exactly as I had imagined it. I loved it.

While Jim freshened up for dinner, I sat out on the balcony and watched the rest of the sunset. My goodness, it was incredible. There were Von der Decken’s hornbills on the railing, and dik diks in the grass below. For sure, I thought I had died and gone to heaven.

We met Renny for drinks on the outdoor deck at 7:30 pm, followed by a very delicious supper. There is a central area where they cook – not quite to order, but almost – the main entrée. Tonight it was steak, and it was good.

And that was our in-transit day!

Lynda, what a transit! Flying through smoke sounds “interesting”. It’s true your arm looks really gross. I once had that kind of burn on my face.

>>made our way – all the way! – to the Mara Safari Club to pick up 2 guests, which took all of 5 minutes, (Hmmmp, we wondered, couldn’t they just drive over to KT and board from there?)<<

... because it's at least a 2/hr drive!

"fifty-five minutes" from JRO/KIA to Manyara? Shouldn't be but 15-20/minutes! Pilot must have taken the scenic route.

A day of flying!

Ouch, Nyamera, that kind of burn on the face must have really hurt! To say nothing of the need for Cover Girl! My arm is still purple-blotchy, but that's Ok, because I think of the Mara everytime I look at it, or someone asks what happened!

Sandi - 2 hrs, wow, no wonder they didn't want to drive! I guess we lose all perspective of time when we are 'zooming' through the air!
My notes must have been wrong on the times, I know for sure I couldn't hear very well, it's possible I couldn't see the watch very well either! It was a pretty scenic route though!

Ouch, Lynda, that burn looks terrible! (But I'm thinking seeing the cheetah kill was worth the personal suffering!)

I would not have been happy with all those ups and downs either. The flying was the one part of our safari that I could have lived without (I would take a long drive any day).

The Serena lodge looks really wonderful!

WEDNESDAY MAY 23, 2007 THE SERNGETI - SERENGETI SERENA

A SCATTERED MIGRATION AND SEEING ELUSIVE CATS!

Pictures from today are at: http://www.pbase.com/lyndas/serengeti_may_23_07

We were up, fed and all ready this morning by 8:00 for a long morning game run, in search of hippos at Reima Pond, and the migration at Dutwa Plains. This year, I learned that the tse tse flies only lived in the wooded areas, I really don't know why I didn't know that from last year! They weren't too bad this year though, I only got one or two bites and the initial sting from when they take the chunk out of you was all I felt. Steven (our driver) caught one for us, showed us what it looked like, and then gave us the run down on the life and times of a tse tse fly. It was pretty interesting actually!

On the way to Dutwa Plains, we stopped at Retima Pool to see the hippos, well, not that it's really 'on the way' according to my map, but nonetheless, we stopped. By now we three females were getting pretty good at 'bush breaks', although I really must make a note to try the 'Freshette' system that Carolines used & recommended this past February. But, one thing of note to the females in the crowd here, throw a few ziplock sandwich bags in your pocket and 'pack' the toilet paper waste out. At Retima Pond, it seems there is a common bush the women use, and it broke my heart to see toilet paper waste hanging on the lower branches of the bush, or scattered on the ground. Yes, it does eventually break down I am sure, but probably not for a while. Off my soapbox and back to the hippos…..

The hippos are very plentiful here, and you stand a good chance of getting some pretty good hippo 'playing &/or fighting &/or kissing shots'. They were very interesting to observe and you can get quite close to them if you are brave enough to climb down a foot path - I wasn't but I have a good zoom :

We drove to Dutwa Plains next to see the migration. It was quite different than last year as they were very scattered this year, which didn't give the same effect as being in the middle and looking for miles and miles and seeing nothing but wildies and zebra. But, regardless, it was still nice to see, especially as none of the other 4 with us had seen it before, I was glad they had the chance.

Mid morning, Steven pulled over to the side of the road, where he said we could get out, check the tire pressure and stretch our legs. Meantime, together with Renny, he set up a nice coffee break for us, which was very welcomed! A coffee picnic on the plains, cool!

We drove back to the Serengeti in time for a late lunch, they were cooking stir fry chicken, mmmm mmm good. I like the way this Serena does their meals, with the central cook in the middle cooking some of the dishes as you wait - not long though, as they are constantly cooking the main dish. The rest of the meal is on a buffet around them, which works well as there is no right or wrong way to get food, which makes it easier and quicker than a 'line'. At lunch, Renny told us that a leopard had been sighted on the grounds during the night over by the reception area. I went pale, everyone turned to look at me. "Oh oh", I said "we are right beside the reception (room 18) and we had our balcony door open all night long!". You can bet I closed it the second night!

With only time to freshen up a bit after lunch, we went out on the 4:00 game run. Just as we turned off the Serena road onto the main road, Steven stopped suddenly. 'Dangling paw' he announced! Just like my cat at home, paw dangling over the edge of the tree - drying his/her nails I've always thought! I could hardly believe it, a leopard; close enough to the road for people to see him with their naked eye, and not one vehicle there! (well, until we stopped that is…) Maybe the same one that was in camp the night before? ? What an incredible find though; we sat there for probably an hour watching him, and I must say that any other vehicles that stopped were not noticeable although I know many stopped, they didn't bother us, or our viewing in the least. And, everyone was very quiet and silent - it brought a smile to me when all we could hear was a quiet round of 'oooh's' whenever the leopard moved a paw or his head! This was the first leopard that Jim and I had seen up close in the wild, last year the one in the tree by the Seronera River was SO far away I couldn't see it until Jim cropped the picture he took after we came back. I was fearful now that nothing could match this for the rest of the game drive.

But, the 'Serengeti Shall Not Disappoint' :. We saw many of its not-so-elusive inhabitants that afternoon, each one as exciting to see as the leopard. One of my highlights was to see a rock hyrax up close, I know doesn't take much to thrill me, does it? We had driven over by the Seronera for a pit stop at the Wildlife Center, and as most of you know the rock hyrax are pretty tame here. We didn't visit the Seronera last year due to time constraints, so this was a treat. Daniel promised that we could spend some time here tomorrow on our way out of the park. But, to cap the day off - as we were driving back, we saw a 'gathering' of vehicles all in a row - looking at another leopard! There was a baby wildebeest (not alive) on one of the branches as well, but at the moment the leopard wasn't interested in it, he/she was awake, but probably not hungry - or maybe waiting for his family to join him for supper? 'Look dear, look what I did today while you were out!' (I really do know that leopards are loners, just kidding…) It was starting to get dark though, hopefully Jim's pictures will have turned out better than mine, but I will post one of them anyways on the pbase sight!

We were back at the lodge by 7:00 - just in time to freshen up and report for drinks by the pool.. Renny had a lovely set up for us, cocktails and appetizers (well, OK, peanuts and bits & bites) by the campfire behind that incredible infinity pool that I was wishing we had more time to try out. So, there we were - the 7 of us enjoying a drink, talking about the stars above, when a cape buffalo decided to wander in and join us. Just walked right past us as if we weren't there and went and ordered up his own drink from the pool! And, as suddenly as he appeared, ten or so of the lodge's staff gathered around us to keep us 'safe' in a their circle while the buffalo went about his drinking. But, no one really needed to protect us, as he was not interested in hurting us, he just wanted to have a drink with us! We toasted him on his way out, telling him that we enjoyed that round of drinks with him. And this memory will be forever one of my favourite from the Serengeti!

Wildlife spotting list for today, Wednesday May 23rd:
Cape buffalo, crocodile, Grant's gazelle, hippo, rock hyrax (in a tree), black-back jackal, leopards (two!), banded mongoose, wildebeest, common zebra, the Great Migration
Birds spotted today:
long crested Eagles, Maribou stork, lapis faced vulture, white backed vulture, secretary bird, dark chanting goshawk, baby bateleur eagle

Hi Lynda!
May I be the first to say...so glad to see a new post! The leopards must have been amazing! But I love the Cape buffalo story the best. Do you mean he really drank from the pool? What a great story!

Regarding the dispersed wildebeest--weren't you there later on the first trip?

That's great the dangling paw led to a leopard sighting.

I am sure your toast to the buffalo is one of his favorite memories too. Did your toast include anything about the loan male buffalo being one of the more dangerous African animals?

thanks for still reading Jessica and Lynn, and any others who still are!

The buffalo really did take a drink from the pool!

I didn't realize Lynn that a lone male buffalo was the most dangerous, I guess that's why all of a sudden the six of us were surrounded by Serena staff, they didn't tell us to move or anything, but they certainly weren't letting us out of their circle. I tried to take pictures as I had my camera around my neck, but I just ahve the built in flash and it wouldn't reach as far as he was. When I crop real close in photoshop, I can see him, but just!

It is one of the most dangerous. Hippos kill the most people, especially if you get between them and the water. Honey badgers are probably the most vicious, but those lone male buffalos are very antagonistic without their herd.

But his drink and your toast probably mellowed out the old guy.

LyndaS,

After experiencing Kenya and Tanzania.... if you had to choose just one... which country would you choose?

I finally got caught up with your report and photos. Looking forward to more!

Now there's a tough question simbakubwa!

I loved both, and really couldn't choose one over the other for the first two trips, but for our third trip we are planning to do just Kenya - I'd like to explore it in way more detail than we did before and since I have only two weeks, it will probably be just Kenya. But, if my son can go with us in 2009 then as a first timer, we absolutely can't miss showing him Ngorongoro Crater and the infinity pool at Lake Manyara.

But, even if we do go in 2009 by ourselves and just go to Kenya, then we will have to go back to Tanzania the next time!

THURSDAY MAY 24, 2007 NGORONGORO CRATER – SERENA LODGE

MORE CATS, THE CRADLE OF MANKIND, AND OUR SON’S 29TH BIRTHDAY

Pictures can be seen at:
http://www.pbase.com/lyndas/ngorongoro_may_24_07

Now I realize you guys really didn’t need to know that last little bit, but it seems over the last few years that we have been AWOL on our son’s birthday, so I thought I should give him top billing here!

Renny told us today that we could sleep in a bit as we didn’t have to leave until 8 AM, which was much appreciated. This seemed to be a busier trip than last year, or, well, maybe we had just forgotten how busy it was last year! Good thing I had only brought one book to read this time, as I don’t think I had time to read it any other place than on the plane.

We had a delicious breakfast, piled into the van and set out. By this time we all had our ‘regulation’ seats, we kept asking each other if anyone wanted to change seats, but, no everyone was happy where they were – Gloria and Clint liked the fridge in the back, Jim and I liked the ‘easy-in/easy out’ seats at the front, and Tom and Julie liked to be the people in the middle! We were all perfectly in sync.

Just down the road a bit, Steven stopped in front of a tree – another leopard!!! And this one with a fresh kill that he/she was working on – what a thrill! The tree was fairly close to the road, we could actually see him with the naked eye, and the pictures turned out marvellous. We watched for about ¾ of an hour, when we reluctantly moved on, as we had a lot of ground to cover today. (literally)

As promised, we stopped at the Seronera Wildlife Center, had a coffee and went on the ‘migration walk’. It was pretty interesting; I especially enjoyed the display and the history on the Grzimeks. There was a quote on the wall (you guys know me and quotes) that I liked-
“But when, 50 years from now, a lion walks into the red dawn and roars resoundingly, it will mean something to people and quicken their hearts, whether they are African or European, or whether they speak English, German, Russian or Swahili. They will stand in quiet awe as, for the first time in their lives, they watch 20,000 zebra wander across the endless plains”
-Bernhard Grzimek

Continuing on, we stopped at a kopje around noon to watch a pride of lions – a couple of males and a few females, just ‘lion’ around. I swear there is nothing more relaxing in this world than watching a pride of lions, I could do it all day!. After we had been there for about ½ hour, the wind kicked up a bit. Gloria was standing up in the back, admiring the lions, when whoosh the wind blew her hat off! The good news is that it didn’t blow far, it got caught up in the ‘roo bumper’ (not sure what that is called in Africa  ). So, Steven looks at the lions 5 feet away, talks to a few of the other vehicles around us (all Rangers vehicles for some reason), and then very gently swings his nose facing away from the lions. From here all of the Rangers vehicles pull up around us, between us and the lions, while Steven reaches over for the hat without stepping out of the vehicle! Gloria’s hat is saved; Steven hasn’t broken any rules, and has become the hero of the day.

We reached the gate at 1:00, just in time to have the ubiquitous boxed lunches. Better than the Sopa’s last year, but, still not ‘excellent’. I think we should run a contest in East Africa to ‘discover a new lunch box’. The hot dog in a pastry, which looked weird, was not bad though. Renny took the more active crowd on a walk to see the viewpoint over the mighty Serengeti, Jim and I stayed behind to languish in the ‘moment’ of the picnic sight.

We made a quick stop at the Oldupai Gorge Museum, where we co-incidentally met up with the people on the Grand Safari that we kept running into. Next time, I really have to take a picture of that bathroom on the edge on the gorge, I don’t know about anybody else, but I have quite a problem ‘going’ thinking I may slide off the edge any moment. Mind you, the facilities do not lend itself to you wanting to spend any extra time in there – just go in, do your stuff and get out!

This year, I could hear the lecturer better, and I actually learned that Lucy was NOT unearthed here, although she was discovered by the Leakey’s, she was found in Ethiopia. Darn, that meant all my pictures from last year were labelled wrong.

After a not-too-bad drive around the Crater Rim road, we arrived at the Ngorongoro Serena at 5pm. What a substantial difference in temperature up here! The lodge is wonderful, I was really impressed with the rocks and the wooden poles, but our room was SO far away! To get back to the main area for dinner, I figured we’d have to start out about 15 minuets early, it was that far away. Before supper we called Jamie (our son) to wish him a happy birthday – and what was he doing when I called? He was outside making a snowman in Calgary! Now I have lived in Canada a long time, and I do not ever recall hearing about a snowstorm on May 24th, but, there it was. I of course had to tell him I was kind of cold up on the crater rim. He wasn’t amused.

A quick shower, drinks in the lounge and dinner was the agenda for the rest of the evening. Even though I liked the lodge, I have to say I liked the food at this lodge the least. It was a salad buffet or appetizer to start, followed by a fish or a meat entrée that was brought to you (nile perch or pork chops) and then a desert buffet. The selection was not the greatest, and the food had that ‘cafeteria’ flavour. But, it could have just been an off night, and how bad can ANY meal on the rim of the most incredible crater in the world be, really?

Wildlife spotting list for today, Thursday May 24th:
elephant, Maasai giraffe, rock hyrax ,hyena ,leopard with kill, lions (many), topi, wildebeest, zebra and olive baboons, agama lizzard
Birds spotted today:
lilac breasted roller

Did I read some plans for 2009??!!

That is a great quote and I was going to ask if it stated when it was written. But then that would defeat some its impact. Fifty years from NOW is always 50 years from now. Very optimistic.

That reminds of something I received in the mail from Mala Mala thanking me for my stay. Not as weighty as words etched on a wall, but the note mentioned something about when descendants of the animals I’ve seen still roam 500 years from now…

Great leopard shots. I like those hyraxes. I see you documented the hat recovery mission. Lions on kopjes are the postcard views.

I loved the salad buffet at the Ngorongoro Serena. In fact I loved that hotel in general.

But I will always envy you for those leopard photos!

Lynda,

I appreciate your trip reports a lot! I've got so much reading to do before our upcoming trip but your reports are a pleasure.

Thanks

Lynda, those lions on the kopje are priceless! I am so envious of all your leopard sightings...

Here is the picture of the bathroom that you keep not taking (I agree, the women's facilities leave something to be desired):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hausfrau/489863496/in/set-72157600191740694/

Oh yeah I remember those bathrooms. Some sort've lizards were running up and down those walls!

FRIDAY MAY 25, 2007 NGORONGORO CRATER / LAKE MANYARA – SERENA LODGE

NO CARMEL CORN HERE – ONLY PRIZES!!!

Pictures can be seen at:
http://www.pbase.com/lyndas/ngorongoro_may_25_07

As with most people that visit the crater, this was to be an early morning rise so that everyone could be ready to go into the crater early. Of course, as mentioned, everyone had the same idea, so breakfast was a little crowded! Breakfast was good though, the usual fare, I get on these trips and I seem to have an omelette every day, but please don’t tell my doctor.

Well, I’m happy to report the descent road wasn’t as bad as I thought. We stayed at the Sopa last year, which spoiled us as they have that nice gently sloping road, while the Serena uses the Seneto descent road, along with all other lodges. From what I had read, I was fearing the worst (not knowing it was to come later) and was pleasantly able to say at the bottom – ‘hey, that wasn’t so bad!’. Karma though, wait for it….

Clint really wanted to see a rhino, and even though they were known to be in a certain area, all morning we had no luck – looking in all the wrong places I guess! We saw lots of animals though, no shortage there, including an old elephant in a swamp. Usually found in and around the Lerai Forest area, Renny explained to us that he had come to the swamp area to spend his last days – the elephant graveyard so to speak.

I never tire of the crater; I find it an amazing place with all of the different animals that can be seen. There are lots of vehicles, but I take no notice of them, they don’t bother me and I don’t mind sharing the wealth of animals and the space with everyone!

We stopped for lunch at 1:00, and just like last year, Renny set up a table with the food, linen and cutlery – such a nice touch! In comparison though, the food was better from the Sopa last year, not that the Serena wasn’t good, it was just better ‘stuff’ last year!

And after lunch? Well, we looked for rhino in all the right places! We found one, right after we followed a cheetah that was walking in the grass right by the side of the road. I’m not sure where we were, but Steven spotted a lone rhino way off in the distance so off we went. And, where one vehicle finds something, many follow! We watched him (her?) for a long while; he was just lumbering along by a lake, or a river or something. Even from our great distance away, we could all see the ‘spray’ when he peed, too funny! After most of the vans left, Steven moved the Land Cruiser down the road a ways, hoping that the rhino would walk towards us. He said it was a chance that could pay off – and it did – sure enough, we stopped at one point, waited and the rhino walked right in front of us. Clint was happy – he saw the rhino in full view!

After a bathroom break in the Lerai Forest, along with oohing and ahhing at the blue-balled monkeys, we started our ascent – oh my, here was karma. It was EVERYTHING everyone said it would be – and scarier. I was not even tempted to take pictures, even though the view was spectacular, as I was worried I would tip the van over the edge if I moved! (not really, but I was on the edge of my seat….) It was a killer – one of those roads to be classified as a ‘don’t look now’ road.

But, of course we made it up safe and sound, and continued on our way on that wonderful road to Lake Manyara (bless those Japenese!). We got to the Serena around 6:00, just in time to have a power nap until it was time to meet everyone for pre-dinner drinks in the lounge. Dinner was good, we had a table on the open balcony and it was very pleasant. The lodge itself is everything that I imagined it would be. During our long-time years of dreaming to go to East Africa, this was one of the places I had dreamt of staying someday, and here at last, we were!

Wildlife spotting list for today, Friday May 25th:
Cape buffalo, cheetah, common eland, elephant, hippo, spotted hyena, golden jackal, lion, black rhino, wildebeest, plains zebra, Thompsons gazelle
Birds spotted today:
greater flamingo, lesser flamingo, Egyptian goose, sacred ibis, blacksmith plover, crowned plover, blackwing stilt, lapis faced vulture, rook, glossy winged ibis

I am sure Clint was pleased with his rhino sighting, spray and all!

LyndaS,
Wonderful, thorough trip report, I have enjoyed all of it, and the pictures. And am terribly envious.

This is a late response, and likely superfluous to Fodorites -- but re the timing of the Bernhard Grzimek quote alluded to in LyndaS's 10/20 post, the quote might be from his book, "The Serengeti Must Not Die," which was published in 1961. So, we could likely be nearing the 50-year date since he wrote it, or as atravelynn thought, it might mean 2057.

Thans Lynn and hguy47.

I never thought of that about the date on the quote, both 2011 and infinitely make sense!

Hguy47 I am in the midst of reading your report right now - almost done! It is FABULOUS and I have really enjoyed it - this morning I think the lady on the bus next to me started reading it over my shoulder as I was chuckling away & having such a good time reading it! You have also sold me on which beach resort to stay in Z'bar next time. Until I read your post on the final days this morning, I was thinking next time to Z'bar of just staying at the Serena and watching the ocean, but you have changed my mind!

I hope that you will be going back to Africa with DW and DF soon so that you can write another fabulous report for us!

Aaaaaah Lynda,

Looking at your pics brings me back. I love the misty fog around the Ngorongoro Serena

Loved the rooms at the Manyara Serena, but didn't like the lobby area / sitting area much.