OHMIGOSH! Wild Dogs, Angry Leopards, the Samburu and Big Five all in one!

Really looking forward to the report, given the title. Welcome back.

OHMIGOSH! You're back already??? Can't wait to hear more!
Wild dogs too?!!

P.S. I see gorillas in your future!

Oh this will be good!

Lucky you!
Looking forward to your report and Jamie's pictures

Lynda, yes, welcome back. And, anxiously awaiting report and pics. Dick

Welcome home, glad it was such a wonderful trip. Can't wait for the pictures and the full report.

Welcome home, Lynda. Glad you had a great trip. Wild dogs in Kenya?! A rare sighting for sure! Lucky you! Looking forward to reading all about it!

After that opening I'm really want to hear the rest! Good for you for branching out and doing a non-group safari. One question about that, do you think you saved some money by doing private? And what's your "new rule"? Are you limiting your computer time? (yes, that's a nosy question)

Cindy

Looking forward to your continuation.

Which is the tough one of the Samubur five (Grevy zebra, Gerenuk, Beisa Oryx, Reticulated giraffe and Somalia ostrich)? I saw all in one day, but the ostrich (for me) was the most difficult to find. But, I didn't realize that any one in particular was exceptionally difficult (like a black rhino in the Masai Mara/Serengeti, where there are very few).

Michael

Have you modified your packing list as well? Welcome back! I'm looking forward to reading about THE trip.

Thanks guys, I'm anxious to start!

Cyndy, the new rule in our household is that I MUST take all Sundays off, this vacation was my first non-working days since Christmas (we have our own business)and Jamie tells me this is not a good way to have a full & complete healthy life. So I will have all day on Sundays to upload pictures, write reports, read reports for the index, etc! I'm looking forward to it. Of course this can really only start after I catch up from my three weeks off...

Michael, the Somali ostrich was the elusive one in 2007. And, it almost eluded us this time too, but we found one on the last game drive in the park. The picture is blurry as it's so far away - but at least we saw it!

I'm jealous of every moment of your trip without even having read your report yet. Welcome back, Lynda!

Welcome back! Guess, anyone can learn new tricks!
Yup, private is the way to go.

Some costly props where you stayed, but for June in Kenya prices are good, while in Tanzania it's peak season... boo-hoo-hoo! Matemwe Retreat on ZNZ... you go girl! Live it up in this life!

Waiting on the rest when you take Sunday for yourself!

Divewop/Sandy -

Painted/Wild dogs have been sighted regularly in Samburu area these past few years. Not large packs as in Botswana, but... "they're back." There were some sightings in northern Mara a few years back and believe they've had pups. But these dogs have such a wide territory and cover much land, they can be anywhere. Oh, and some have been spotted in Southern Tanzania parks also.

Hey Lynda,
Glad you had a good time. Noticed that DK subcontracts to Warrior Trails, and I'm THISCLOSE to booking them -- what were they like?

Yay, Lynda! I'm so excited to read your report, and glad that you had an amazing family safari. (Trying not to be jealous of the wild dogs... ) Your son is lucky to have cool parents who want to go to Kenya. I've been trying to talk my parents and in-laws into visiting Africa, but no luck so far.

Lynda, Now I know why we didnt see any Leopards, they were obviously locked up until you arrived!
In future we'll follow you around.

So glad you're back and had a great trip!! Wild dogs too - how exciting. Can't wait to read more!

How wonderful, Lynda. I can't wait to read more and see some fab photos.

Omigosh! Welcome back, Lynda. This is a reason to visit Fodor’s. I saw dogs in Samburu in 2005, btw.


http://udadisi.blogspot.com/2009/05/in-praise-of-obnoxious-national.html

Welcome back from a fantastic family trip!

Welcome back Lynda! Hope to see your pictures if you are still planning at GTG in August.

Welcome back Lynda. Can't wait to read the report and see the pictures.

Julie

LyndaS my dear
happy to hear you've had such an experience
(but what about our nerves??
where have you seen The Dogs?
how many?
how close?
how did they behave in the presence of cars?
what have they been up to?

aby

Welcome back, Lynda! Can't wait to see and hear more!

Yes, Lynda what about OUR nerves.

You'll have some good advice for people wondering about group vs. private trips since you've done both and really enjoyed both.

Your excitement is gushing out of the computer~lol. You have me hooked already!

Welcome Back Lynda! Can't wait to read the report. Glad you all had a great time!

Oh my, I seem to – for the first time ever – be screwed up on my times here which I guess is called delayed jet lag. I fell asleep after dinner tonight so now I have to stay awake so I am sure to sleep until at least sun up tomorrow morning! Can’t think of anything better to do than to continue with my report!

The trip, as mentioned was incredible, I feel as though we did and saw everything that I could have hoped for, for Jamie as a first timer. Before I get into lodges, camps and day to day happenings & photos, here’s a little overview of our general safari complete with specific wildlife highlights.

DK Grand Safaris, the company that we booked with is new to the market, but what an incredible company it is to go with. Daniel Kikemu, the owner of this company was formerly a safari director with Micato, whom he very much enjoyed working for – to this day he has nothing but good things to say about Micato. In our working lives though, we all enjoy going to the next level in our profession and this is why Daniel decided, against all odds at this downturn in the economy, to go out on his own. After safari director, this was the obvious path.

DK Grand Safaris pledge is ‘Your dream – we make it come true’. And they do. Daniel will put together any safari you like, at any property you like, either a private safari, or a group safari, either escorted, or not. Luxury, budget, mainstream, camping, whatever – it’s your dream. He will give you suggestions on an itinerary if you need one, or he will book the itinerary that you suggest to him. Other than suggesting that your logistics may work better in a different order, he will not change your suggested itinerary, nor try to steer you to different lodgings than what you request. After all – it’s YOUR dream. His philosophy sounded good to me, and as he had been our safari director both years we went with Micato, I knew right away that he was the obvious choice to book our first foray into a private safari.

We chose to have Daniel quote on an escorted private safari (both in Kenya and Tanzania), part luxury, part mainstream, for the three of us. Economic Troubles & Taxes aside, I just couldn’t fathom a safari without our favorite safari director along – and the price to include him as an escort is not as bad as one would imagine! And, I hate to admit it, but Jim and I are pretty high maintenance sometimes when we travel, it never hurts to have someone along who knows the ropes & the ways of ‘TIA’. (This is Africa)

But enough on safari intro – lets get down to the nitty gritty of the wildlife/other highlights! Here’s a brief (hah – me brief? never!) overview of our highlights, with details on each to follow in the specific days ramblings:

· Meeting Kavey in London for probably the BEST Chinese food I have ever had (and remember where I live…) at Gerard’s Corner on the edge of Chinatown

· Flying Club World on BA in those sleeper seats – wow! It was almost worth the painful booking process I had to go through to upgrade with BA miles.

· The cheetah hug with Kennedy at KWS – Misty, Sharon & Teeva are so snuggly and they purr so loud!

· ‘Disappearing’ disappointment on getting to Langata Giraffe right after they closed, when we saw the giraffe at the fence down the road and we got to feed them for a few minutes just before the keepers let them out to cross the road to go their nighttime dwellings.

· Celebrating Jamie’s birthday with Kennedy and his family, and Daniel and his family, both at Kennedy’s house and the Carnivore Restaurant

· Giraffe drinking at Samburu – this was a first for Jim and I!

· A herd of about 50 Grevy’s zebra crossing the Ewaso Nyriro River, Daniel said this is very rare to see so many together

· Watching a young lion cub in Samburu practice his growl on us – it was so funny I really wanted to break out in the song “I Just Want To Be King” from the Lion King.

· Sighting wild hunting dogs as we were leaving Samburu – this was Daniel’s first too! There is a resident pack of 9 dogs, we saw at least three of them. There was one very good sighting of one standing on a rock, but he dashed off before we could get the cameras ready. We do have pictures of them in the bush, but not as clear as that guy standing on the rock would have been.

· Seeing Poco (chimpanzee) at Jane Goodall’s Sanctuary at Sweetwaters stand up. I’ve never seen a chimpanzee stand up before

· Sighting 7 – yes seven! – rhinos at Sweetwaters, 6 of them up close and personal – 3 black and 3 white. The 7th was far away so we couldn’t tell what he was, but he was in Morani’s enclosure. Possibly they are looking to replace Morani?

· Daniel asking us to please ‘get the picture’ of the two birds mating in front of the Land cruiser in the Mara when all of a sudden he says ‘no – wait – get the picture of the elephants mating off to the right!’ Too funny. Elephants take longer than lions I have discovered.

· Surprise bush dinner from Bateleur along the banks of the Mara River

· Trying to get me into the balloon, oh oh that was a ‘lowlite’ not a ‘highlite’. I needed at least three guys pushing and one pulling, how embarrassing!

· Sighting 2 black rhino from the balloon in the Mara

· Landing the balloon a hundred or so feet from two honeymooning lions in the Mara and having breakfast not too much further away from them (they had the trucks encircling the breakfast to keep us safe)

· A ‘Cheetah Kill with a Happy Ending’ (for the Thompson’s Gazelle that is) in the Mara. The cheetah sprang, the chase began and she/he brought the Tommie down. Baboons then started chasing the cheetah – who left the prey and ran off!

· Seeing Jamie in the co-pilot seat on our flight from Arusha to the Serengeti. I knew we would arrive for sure safe!

· Seeing tons of tree climbing lions in the Serengeti – we never saw one go up, but we saw a few go down

· Having a lioness carrying a very young sleeping cub in her mouth along the road, on my side of the truck within 2 feet of my window – so cool!

· Finding a leopard in the Serengeti in a tree with no foliage, makes for good viewing!

· The full migration crossing our path along the road from the Serena on our way out of the park, can’t think of a better reason to be delayed!

· Watching a mom Thompson’s Gazelle lick the blood off of her brand new baby – we would have missed the birth by about 15 min Daniel told us.

· Stopping suddenly on the crater rim road on our way to Lemala for a leopard in the road! A huge male leopard, who wasn’t impressed with us stopping – he went into the bushes, surfaced right beside my open window, growled and ‘lunged’ short at the van. My window has never seen such quick action before I am sure – I slammed it shut very quick and Daniel didn’t even have to ask me to do that. Full story later, but basically he didn’t ‘lunge’ very far, I think he was just trying to look tough, but I’ll never forget that growl!

· Bush dinner for just us on the escarpment at Lake Manyara followed by a night game drive where we saw owls, a hyena with a dead baboon in his mouth, bush babies, etc

· Relaxing at Matemwe Retreat which was INCREDIBLE

· Dinner at 236 Hurumzi (Emerson & Green) it was SO good and the experience was really enjoyable, thanks Sandi for writing about that on one of your reports which is why we decided to do it.

· Lunch at our guide’s house (Mussa) in Stonetown. We ate on the floor, that was so cool!


So, that’s pretty well the highlights, I might have missed a few, but will include them in the detailed trip report!

Wow ! absolutely amazing !
Some of those events you witnessed and experienced are truly rare and to have seen so many all in one trip is unbelieveable. Good for you. The 'Bwana Mkubwa' must surely have been looking down on you.

Well welcome back Lynda!! I am so happy that this trip exceeded all your expectatons. Your 'highlights' have me begging for more too. Looking forward to reading to all your installments )

It sounds like you had a wonderful trip, Lynda! I'm sure that seeing Kennedy again was a special treat... great guy!

Love your energy and can't wait to hear more of what sounds like an incredible trip!

Hi Lynda,

It sounds like another great trip! I can't wait to hear more. The balloon - so I guess they didn't load it laying on its side like they usually do? That was my worst fear in Tanzania last year, but I only had a problem getting out (thank goodness!).

By the way - I LOVE the photo of you and your husband with the kitties that you have on your profile page. Fabulous!

Carrie

Hi Lynda,

Can't say more than "Oh WOW!!!" Bring on the rest I say. So looking forwarding to reading it.

Marilyn

Wow Lynda, these are enough highlights to fill a life time! I am having major trip envy. Cannot wait to see your pictures. Hope you enjoyed the balloon ride - no one looks elegant getting in and out of those things

cheers. whiskey.

Wow, Lynda, this sounds like a summing up of a dozen safaris all together!! Thank you so much for sharing, seems you had an incredible experience....

May I ask you where you had this fabulous sighting of the wild dogs? We are leaving for Samburu in August and I am still longing for my first sight of wild dogs!!!

How did you like the Mountain logde on your way down to the Mara?

steff

Hi Lynda- I am very close to booking a five day adventure coming out of Dar up to Serengeti and the Crater. Did you consider or talk to anyone who had stayed at the Serengeti Under Canvas or the Nagorongoro Crater Lodge? I'd appreciate any feedback. Also...please post that "things to pack" list if you can. Your adventure sounded amazing! Nancy

Wonderful highlights and some humorous lowlights. The photo ops of mating had to be funny. Great luck with the cats! How nice you could share some firsts with Daniel. Thanks for sharing the excitement!

This is great. I can't wait for more details and pics too.

Thanks so much guys! I am working on my first set of pictures between the hrs of 2 & 3 in the morning so that I can start in on the trip report tomorrow. Of course my Sunday's off are not quite turning out as I am so far behind from being away for three weeks, but I am going to try to take a few hours at least to do the 'start' of the trip!

Steff, we were on our way out of the park to drive down to Isiolo, and it was pretty close to the gate. Looking at the maps I am going to guess that we had to exit at Archer's gate in order to pick up A2 to Isiolo, but really I am just guessing on this. To be sure, I will check with Daniel to see approx where we were. He was pretty excited, so I am going to bet he knows exactly where!

We didn't stay at the Mountain Lodge, we stayed at Mt Kenya Safari Club, which I loved. But hey, next time we may do that!

Goat, when we were at Bateleur in the Mara another couple that we were talking to were on their way from there to SUC and Crater Lodge. There are a few people with trip reports in the trip report index (Marija, MonicaH and California9 come to mind) for Tanzania Under Canvas (they changed the name to Serengeti Under Canvas later I believe) and Crater Lodge. There are lots of reports actually on the Crater Lodge. Here's the link to the index:
http://www.fodors.com/community/africa-the-middle-east/new-east-africa-trip-report-index.cfm

And, here's the 'things to pack' list, it's a long thread, but it's a good romp and at the end I have posted the 'final' list - which really does work.

http://www.fodors.com/community/africa-the-middle-east/very-comprehensive-packing-list---almost-ready-to-go.cfm

THE START OF THE TRIP, Tuesday May 19, 2009

Photos at : http://www.pbase.com/lyndas/enroute_may_19_20 (6 - just a few, not many)

It was a long day today, that’s for sure. It started when Remy work me up at 6 – what a nice cat. He wanted to eat and that was that. We spent the day trying to remain calm and get packed, but I was so excited – even on our third time going, that I was literally bouncing off the walls. Especially when I couldn’t fit all the gifts that I bought for everyone in 3 bags and had to go to a fourth – good job we were in business class and were allowed three bags each, because with the gifts, that is exactly what we had – 2 bags of gifts each, plus our personal duffle bag each!

Andrew came for us at the correct 5:30 PM this time, as opposed to the 5:30 AM he came for us last time by mistake! The airport seemed strangely deserted, I wondered at first if they had cancelled the flight or something, but the person at the fast bag drop said ‘no – it’s just a slow Tuesday’. OK, sounds good to me.

Our flight was very comfortable – but then how uncomfortable could 8 ½ hrs be in those lie flat seats? We both loved it, it was truly like having your own space, and now we are ruined for life. How will we ever go back to economy I wondered? The food was good, the service was excellent and the seat/bed was very comfortable and we both slept almost the whole way to London after the dinner. Breakfast needs work on BA though – a hot breakfast would be a nice way to wake up. But that’s my only complaint though, believe me!

We arrived in London right on time at 1:30 PM (whoever heard of being on time at Heathrow? Wow….) into T5. It’s a really nice terminal, and very logically laid out to get to where you need to be. And the best part was that there was no line up at passport control – 2 years ago we were in line for at least an hour. Exiting T5, we found that it was very easy to find the taxi and bus area, you walk out and you really can’t miss it. Much easier than the old T4. We caught a cab to our hotel, the Shepiston Inn that is close to the airport, about 15 min away by taxi. We had stayed there in 2006, it’s a nice little inn, great price, not big rooms, but comfy beds, and it’s clean.

The rest of the afternoon we relaxed, and then went for an early dinner (well, early for us) at the local pub down the road – the Great Western. Excellent food, if anyone is staying in the area, we would recommend it.

BEING A TOURIST IN LONDON TOWN WITH JAMIE, Thursday May 21, 2009

Photos at: http://www.pbase.com/lyndas/may_21_london (32 - just a sample!)

As I have mentioned before, sleep is highly over-rated when on vacation. We awoke very early (for me) at 6 AM, I was pretty excited about seeing our son, Jamie today. He lives in various places across the country at various times, as he is a pilot and must go where they send him. We hadn’t seen him since February, which was a long time for me, so I was pretty excited. And, I wanted to show him London; it was kind of a roots thing.

Jamie came in earlier than I had expected, while we were still having coffee in the breakfast room they have at the Shepiston. Or, maybe it wasn’t early at all, but we were just being slow at breakfast, that’s probably more like it! Even before saying hello, he looked at me and said ‘mom, you have ruined me for life with business class!’ Hee hee hee, I knew what he meant.

After letting Jamie settle in for a bit, have coffee and a shower, we walked to the local bus stop, took the U4 bus to Hayes & Harlington train station, the train to Paddington Station, and then the underground to Piccadilly Circus without missing a beat. I love London transit, it’s so easy! Mind you, I was a little confused as to which exit to go out to the street level, but we found where we needed to go in the end. Poor Jamie hadn’t slept for the last 48 hours due to just coming off a shift and having to pack up and move 2 provinces over the day before he left, so we thought the best thing would be to get lunch first.

We found the Blue Posts Pub on Rupert Court, which is famous for the fact that it stands on the site of a pick up point for sedan chairs in the 18th century. But, really & truly, I wouldn’t say it would be famous for it’s food, pretty mediocre actually. But it was food, nonetheless. That wasn’t what we were in London for!

We found Leicester Square, the pick-up point for the Original Tour Hop On Hop Off bus, which I had pre-bought tickets for. It was nice boarding the bus here, as it was the start of the route and you had your pick of seats. We of course sat up top, it was a great way to keep Jamie awake for the day! And so we set off to see the sights of London, it was a beautiful warm day with clear and bright blue skies – great for our pictures! We stayed on the bus, in those wonderful top deck seats for the entire circuit. We saw all of the incredible sights that London has to offer, and even though Jim and I have been to London a few times before, we never tire of seeing the sights. And this was Jamie’s first time in the city; he had been through London with us some years back on the way to Spain, but only in the airport. Tired or not, he really seemed to like it.

About a week or two before we left, Jamie called us & told us he had bought a Nikon D60 for this trip. And that turned out to be a very wise decision because he definitely has a good eye, and some great talent for shooting. My dad, who has long passed away, was a professional photographer (coincidentally in England), he would have been really proud of his grandson’s pictures!

After doing the full circuit, we hopped off & found a coffee shop for a quick coffee to prop Jamie awake. It was then time to meet Fodor’s very own most famous English participant, Kavey at the entrance to Chinatown. Jamie said he would fall asleep during dinner if he sat for too long, so he told us he would join us in an hour, he was going to walk around a bit first. His travels took him to Buckingham Palace, which he wanted to see on foot, while ours took us a block away to Gerard’s Corner, an excellent Chinese Restaurant that is one of Kavey’s favorites.

We were there for about 2 hours, the food and the company were just incredible!! Dish after dish came, I had no idea when we got there how hungry I was! Jamie joined us for the main course, I was glad that Kavey got to meet him. All too soon it was time to go though, as we had to get up reasonable early in the morning to start the African part of our adventure!

We did the underground, the train, the bus & the walk in reverse, and actually ended up right back at the inn with no muss, no fuss. Our transit ‘experts’ here sure could learn a thing or two from London.

Hey Lynda:

You never mentioned if it was less expensive to go group or private. I'm in the planning stage for an Oct/Nov trip to Tanzania and may also include Kenya. In these difficult economic times cost is important, but so is comfort.

Your trip sounds wonderful...so any inpur you can give would be much appreciated.

It's hard to judge, because each trip is a different that we went on, but I don't think there was much difference in cost. We asked for some more expensive accomodations this time, and we had to pay a single supplement for Jamie, but give me a day or two and I will try and come up with a calculation, maybe I can do this on a daily rate & see which was cheaper.

Back to you soon!

Great London photos. As usual your enthusiasm is contagious, Lynda. I can't wait to read/see more.

I expect a spreadsheet ready by tomorrow, Lynda!

Patty & thanks so much Leely I will write this weekend some more & edit the pictures from Nairobi.

Sandra - Of course wait for Lynda's reply.

Because there are different group tour operators, offering different routing, length of trip, countries visited and level of accommodations, it can often be difficult to compare apples-to-apples.

If I'm not overstepping, Lynda's first two safaris (find her Trip Reports in the Index) were with Micato who is way way more expensive than OAT. And, as Lynda already mentioned, on this visit she chose a number of more expensive accommodations. For this alone I'd expect her price, this time around, was comparable to the earlier trips.

LyndaS - waiting for more, even though I understand there are just so many hours even if you now have all of Sunday But then I shouldn't be saying much as I haven't even posted my report from 2008.

Lynda, can't wait for the next! I haven't been to London in many years (1995???) so it was fun to see your photos and relive my time there. It looks like it was a nice stop before your safari.

Sandra-

I'm sorry, I just realized from your other post that I never got back to you about private vs group - but Sandi is right - it's apples and oranges for me to try to come up with which was cheaper, as I did request some pretty high end places for our private safari with Daniel - and we also requested that he come with us for the entire safari as our own private guide. It actually isn't that much more expensive to do this, but it would have to add extra costs - at the very least for his airline tickets.

Overall though, this trip was more expensive than the one we took in either 2006 or 2007. But then again there was three of us this time and we paid for a single supplement for our son as we wanted to ensure that he had his own accommodation. His days of sharing with 'mom & dad' are well over

Now with all that being said - here's the spreadsheet I promised for Patty

NOTE: The per person per day costs come from the TOTAL cost of each trip - ie it includes external airfare, insurance, gifts, donations we brought, EVERYTHING. I have just taken the total amount of each trip and divided it by the number of days & then the number of people. The only things I don’t include in the cost of the trips is things I buy which can be used for any other trip (ie clothes, books, luggage, etc) I'm a bookkeeper what can I say....

2006 - group trip (18 people) $775.00 CDN per person per day. All mainstream accommodations.

2007 - group trip (6 people) $750.00 CDN per person per day . One luxury accommodation (Larsen’s)

2008 – private safari with drivers & a 24/7 guide - $1000.00 per person per day. Four high-end accommodations – Bateleur, Larsen’s, Matemwe and Lemala Camp and I REALLY went to town on the gifts we brought…

One other major difference on this trip was the insurance costs – I hit the milestone year of 55 so my insurance went up, and because Jamie (son) is a pilot & it’s very hard to keep jobs in that industry, I insured all of us for ANY REASON cancellation on this last trip – which I have never done before. The insurance itself cost a small fortune – we could have all gone on a week long cruise to Alaska for the cost of that insurance.

So, there is the synopsis for anyone to draw conclusions from. But, here’s mine – I’d pay the extra price for the trip that we had again. We really enjoyed the social aspect of the group trip, and the accommodations were all fine – but the private trip really does hold lots of different charms. The ability to choose the itinerary, the lodgings, and the space in the vans were all really worth it to us – a group trip obviously is not flexible at all.

Now, if I was by myself and didn’t have Jim, I would pick the group trip. Or if I was going for the first time to Africa – I think it’s a great way to go on a safari for the first time. We had almost no time to maintain any social contact with anyone in the camps – the closest we came was to a couple at Bateleur that also took the balloon ride. If I was by myself, not being much of a person to want to be by myself, I would choose a group trip for that reason alone. I did miss the social contact on this trip, but not as much as I thought. Then again I was thrilled to death to have Jamie’s undivided attention for 3 weeks straight. I actually finished a few conversations with him!

I’m working on the next set of pictures, so I should have the ‘Nairobi’ installment out soon over the next bit. I’m trying to have each day’s pictures loaded up on pbase before I do the trip report for that day.

Lynda, I've been eagerly waiting to hear how the trip went... I'm so THRILLED it went so well - it sounds like it exceeded even your highest expectations!
It was a pleasure to see you and Jim again and I'm so pleased I was able to meet Jamie.
I'm glad you liked Gerrard's Corner too, Jim definitely impressed me knowing all the Cantonese names for so many dim sum dishes!
Funnily enough, I do enjoy Gerrard's Corner, particularly for dim sum rather than the standard evening menu (dim sum is only available till about 5 pm) but true aficionados tell me there are a number of better options. Not so many in China Town but in other locations in London.
Me, I stick to one of two restaurants in China Town for my dim sum, one being GC and the other being Crispy Duck, just along the road.
But for those who want to know more about dim sum/ Chinese food in London and where to find the best, I can recommend the blog of an online friend of mine, World Foodie Guide. She not only reviews many restaurants she also provides some great information on etiquette and what to order (for those who aren't as familiar). One of my favourite bookmarked blogs!
Anyway, I cannot WAIT to hear more about your trip, and to see the photos.
Glad Daniel worked out so well and that you were able to spend time with Kennedy also. When is his daughter moving out to live with you in Canada? Is that soon now?
Anyway, got to get some work done, so talk later.
But welcome home and woo hoo!

Regarding the photos. I almost shed a tear for Andrew, who got no farther than the airport. I'll look for the fountains at Terminal #5.

What a lovely dinner you had with Kavey, who has now earned the title of Chinese Food Connection, in addition to World Traveler.

Ha! We did have a lovely meal, though of course it was the company (and talk of Africa) that had my focus, more than the food!

Just so Sandra doesn't faint from Lynda's numbers (and perhaps she won't bat an eyelash, I have no idea), my experience is now three years old, but in two private Tanzanian safaris I didn't come close to what Lynda and family spent.

Not that I didn't want to!!!

I'm leaning to private only in Tanzania...I am learning a lot from you all....and I see that my choice of camps makes a big difference in price...so I won't stay at the Crater Lodge or Treetops, but I may stay at Lake Burunge Tented Camp and
Kensinginton(?) near the crater.

Now, I'd like to know...is it a better choice to fly from the central Serengeti to the North rather than drive back by way of Karatu...it adds a bit to the cost...but it subtracts a bit from the hours spent on the road.

Choice breeds confusion...so thanks for your input

SandraJoy -

>>Lake Burunge Tented Camp>>
-- for visit to Tarangire? If so, know that the camp is at some distance from the park.

>>is it a better choice to fly from the central Serengeti to the North rather than drive back by way of Karatu>>
--- this doesn't make sense. Most people drive from Central to North, then fly south and west (Arusha). There is no airstrip at Karatu, nor at Ngorongoro... at least not a scheduled airstrip at Ngorongoro if this is where you're trying to go. Closest airstrip is at Lake Manyara before flying onto Arusha and/or JRO.

What are you trying to accomplish and when will you be visiting?

Hint: You really should keep all questions regarding your trip under one thread. Easier for you to locate, us to reply and follow your progress. A query in the middle of Lynda's Trip Report, will get lost.

thanks....I'll post on the camp vs lodge stream...I couldn't find it yesterday

IN TRANSIT LONDON – NAIROBI, Friday. May 22, 2009

Photos at: http://www.pbase.com/lyndas/may_22_09_transit (only 4 pictures…)

We were up pretty early today, as we take sooooo long to get anywhere when we travel. Not sure if it’s age, or what, but it seems to take longer and longer to get ready to ‘go’. Surprisingly, the cab was big enough for our – wait till you hear this – 7 bags between the three of us! (plus carry on…) I guess I went a little overboard on the gifts – we had 4 bags of ‘presents’ and we are not talking small gym bags either, we are talking duffle bags, large size! Then we each had a duffle, which Jamie somehow managed to pack only 29 lbs in his, while I knew we were overweight. In my defense, my clothes are heavier than most people as I am a plus size

Security at Heathrow was rather tight, they even had me take my glasses off & run them through the scanner. Wow. We had coffee and rolls in the Galleries Lounge, I could get used to this business class flying! Our flight left almost on time, just a bit late, but it was a comfortable & uneventful flight. I thought I would read & watch movies the whole time but those seats were just too comfortable & I ended up sleeping for a few hours.

Arriving into Nairobi was like arriving home, everything felt so familiar. The visa line up was longer this time though, not so much the length, but the time it took was REALLY slow. But, as promised, it was only $25.00 per person. The baggage was on the carosel by the time we finished, all seven bags made it just fine, we loaded up and met Daniel outside the terminal in the greeting area. SO WONDERFUL TO SEE HIM! It was truly like coming home.

We set off in his 6 passenger bus (really wondering if all our luggage would fit, but it did) with Daniel, his assistant Mercy, and his driver Ben. I was amazed at quickly we were at the Norfolk – the road is all new and there was no traffic, so we just whizzed into town.

I was a little worried about the renovations at the Norfolk, as I was hoping that they had not given up the ‘old colonialism’ atmosphere. I needn’t have worried, the renovations were very tastelfully done and the old world charm remains. We talked with Daniel for a bit, went to our rooms and then decided to meet in the bar for a ‘late night’ drink and pizza. I have to tell you guys, if anyone is staying there, do order up a pizza, they just make the best pizza I have tasted. The special this night was an ‘Indian pizza’ – it was chicken, curry, chili and onions - mmmmm, good!

It felt really good to lay my head on the pillow (note to self, buy new pillows when I get home, these were wonderful fluufy pillows!) and think:

“Nairobi – this is where we belong”.

7 for 7 very lucky

Tasteful renovations and best ever pizza--what a combo!

>> Nairobi - this is where we belong">>

Lynda "von Blixen" I pressume!

A BUSY DAY IN NAIROBI, SATURDAY MAY 23, 2009

Photos at: http://www.pbase.com/lyndas/23_may_09_nairobi (35 pictures, sorry, couldn’t choose…)

A busy, busy day today! After having breakfast on the ‘front porch’ of the Norfolk watching the world go by, Daniel came by, and introduced us to his wife Molly, the other half of his business partnership. They briefed us on the upcoming safari – not that Jim and I hadn’t heard it twice before, but Jamie hadn’t, and besides any talk of safari is good for me!

During the briefing, Kennedy showed up, oh how good it was to see him! We gave Daniel & Molly the duffle bag full of school supplies for the school that they are sponsoring in their village, as well as the bag for their personal gifts from us; and gave Kennedy his bag of gifts for his family. Since this time, Kennedy has written to me and asked me not to bring gifts for his family next time though, as he too would like to support his village back home instead. He has asked that if anyone would like to bring anything for the village – school supplies, kids clothes, etc. he would make sure that everything found it’s way to the village promptly. I think it’s a fine idea, and one I will support whole-heartedly!

Jamie, Jim, Kennedy and I set off for a day’s adventure, with the first stop being Sheldrick’s Animal Orphanage. In 2006 we went to the daily 11:00 showing of the elephants, while in 2007 we adopted Shimba, and went to see him in private viewing time at 5:00. I actually preferred the 11:00 viewing as we saw many more elephants, and they were much more photogenic while they played outside together. So that Jamie could see all of the elephants, we decided this year to go for the 11:00 viewing. It can be really crowded as there are always lots of school kids there, but generally we can see over their heads, and even if there are a ton of adults behind them, people do, as a rule, move aside while you take some pictures. Jamie saw his first wildlife here – impala and warthogs.

After the viewing was over, we raced off to Kiambethu Tea Farm. Jim and I had gone the two years prior, and it remains today to be one of my favorite things to do in Nairobi & the outskirts. It is quite a drive out to Limuru, but it’s worth it. Fiona and Marcus, along with their many dogs, welcome you to their ancestral home for a delicious homegrown lunch out in the garden, followed by a talk on tea – the planting, the production, etc. Following lunch you can opt to walk a bit in the forest – the dogs will go with you too if you like – to find the colubus monkeys in the trees and learn some more about the tea making process and the history of the farm. The gardens are beautiful, the host and hostess are gracious & friendly, and the food is scrumptious – homemade hand churned butter for the buns, farm-grown vegetables & salads, roast beef, and homemade ice cream for desert.

There is nothing quite like the feeling of some one in a different country half-way around the world coming up to greet you by name that you have only seen twice! I was amazed that Fiona and Marcus remembered us, and remembered our names, as thousands must visit per year. It was a good feeling! And, as usual, lunch was ‘par excellence’.

Time to race off again though, as we had a date with Sharon, Teeva and Misty at the KWS Orphanage. I told Kennedy that if we could not go in to hug them, I would be alright with that, as I know it wasn’t done much any more as the director of the KWS was trying to clamp down on this. But, I just wanted to say hi to them, and to Talek, the young leopard that we had seen there in 2007. And I wanted Jamie to meet them – after all, I said, he probably doesn’t know at this point how to tell the difference between a leopard and a cheetah! Educational, I thought.

Kennedy, bless his heart though, had it all arranged for us to go in and say hi to the girls for a few minutes – not long though he warned, as it had to be short. ‘Yes, yes, yes !!!!” I was thrilled to have just a few minutes with the girls, snuzzling and hugging and getting sandpaper kisses in return. I actually told Jamie that I did believe they remembered us. Maybe not, but I just felt that they did! Later on Jamie told me that he was very unsure of going into the enclosure, and his heart skipped a beat when I ran up to one of them and immediately dropped to my knees to pet one.

We visited Talek, wow had he grown! He is 2 years old now, and a very strong looking guy! Only the keepers can go in to see him though, but we knew that – same as last time. He still seemed to want to play though, and he seemed very happy to be where he was. (I’m not claiming to be a ‘cat whisperer’ or anything, but I can generally get a feeling from the animals whether they are happy or not – or at least so I think!) And, contrary to what I had read, Talek was not released and then taken back to KWS because he wouldn’t hunt. The keeper told us he has been there all along, and will be for his life, as he has never learned how to hunt and could not possibly be taught how to. He explained it is part instinct for a leopard, but it is also part ‘showing how’ that a mom leopard does for their young.

Once Kennedy managed to tear me away from the animals, we were back on the road, and racing off to Langata Giraffe Center, hoping to get there before it closed. But no such luck – they were just closing the gate. They were not able to let us in – but after Kennedy talked to them, they told him to go down the road a bit so that we could see them leaving the viewing area and crossing the road to their night time digs. It was wonderful – there was another family there at the fence too, and the keepers let us all give them treats – it was such fun! Once we had given them a few handfuls of treats and taken some pictures, we got back in the vehicle and watched as they led them across the road – cool! Sometimes being late pays we found out, it was a great experience!

Our last stop, even though we knew it would be closed, but since we were very near there, was to show Jamie Karen Blixen’s house, at least from the gate. Two years ago he watched the movie “Out of Africa” with me, and he was quite impressed. “Just like the house in the movie’ he said.
From here, Kennedy drove us back to the Norfolk where we had a wonderful seafood dinner on the terrace.

A perfect end to a perfect day.

A fine Day #1!

I've been reading your "thread" and all sounds very interesting.

I'm on the "edge" of booking a safari in Tanzania direct with Warrior Trails and I see you have traveled with them. Any comments pro or con would be appreciated.

Bookmarking so I can enjoy your report later.

Hi Sandra-

I really don't think you could go wrong with booking with Warrior Trails - we REALLY enjoyed going with them, and we felt they were a top notch company. From the moment we were picked up in the Serengeti, to the moment Jackson put us on the plane to Zanzibar at Lake Manyara, wae felt like we were treated as royalty.

Daniel subcontracted them for Tanzania, so I can't comment on the pre-workings of the itinerary - I worked with Daniel on that, and then he let Warrior Trails know where we wanted to go when. I do believe they handled all aspects of the TZ portion though, as Jackson gave us our tickets from Lake Manyara to Zbar, as opposed to Daniel. All arrangements went off as planned, without a bump or a hitch.

The van that we had was VERY comfortable, and it was set up to only take 4 (max) passengers in the back, which was super - the van was the same saize as the ones that carry max 6 passengers back there, so we had LOTS of room for the three of us. (Daniel always sat up front to help spot.) When we got in we found potato chips & cold bottled water, which was nice. The water was replenished daily, but again, I can't say for sure whether this was Daniel's request, or standard for the company.

Jackson (the driver) was AMAZING - he was friendly, very easy to understand (I have trouble with accents. Wasn't good with music either in grade school) and he a GREAT spotter!

I really couldn't come up with a 'con' on our experience with them!

Thanks Lynda and thanks Sandi, too. Just have to find the right insurance coverage before I commit to wire my $$$$ to
Warrior Trails.

Travel Guard and CMA have been suggested...any comments on either of them?

Lovely hummingbird picture taken at Kiambethu, Lynda. I was also interested in reading about your experience at the giraffe centre because the pictures didn't match my memory of what it looked like at all!

I believe CMA is CSA! Have used them for a few trips worldwide, also Access America. Recall a Travel Guard policy, but too many years ago.

Thankfully, have never had need to submit claim, for anything, so can't comment further..

Lynda - I just now realized you're the same Lynda. What a great report - I've been enjoying your report for the past month. Have to tell you - DH made me throw away the photo I took in Argentina of 2 penguins mating. Now I have someone else I can point to in self defense! Happy 55, BTW - am reaching that milestone soon myself.

Does Kennedy do short (half-day) tours? Claire

Claire - Kennedy does do short tours, email him at:
ispear4@hotmail.com
and let him know what you'd like to see! He would be happy to accomodate you I am sure!

Sandi, too cute on the Lynda von Blixen, you caught on, you are sharp indeed!

Calo, that was Jamie's pictures - he really has an eye!

Lynda very eagerly glued to reading your reports. Very exciting. Can't wait to read when you come to your Tanzanian report and your time with Warrior Trails. We are going with them on 15th August. Look forward to your report.

A FAMILY DAY, COMPLETE WITH A BIRTHDAY, IN NAIROBI SUNDAY MAY 24, 2009

Photos at: http://www.pbase.com/lyndas/may_24_09_nairobi (25 PHOTOS)

Today was Jamie’s 31st birthday! Now the first thing I thought of (besides breakfast, my favorite meal) was ‘How could I have a 31 yr old when I’m not even that old?’. Well, OK, I know, I really am older than that, but it doesn’t feel like it. Time, it gets away from you.

We met for a later breakfast at 9, what the heck a guy should be allowed to sleep in a bit on his birthday, right? Even with a tourist-gotta-do-everything-mom like Jamie has…. Kennedy arrived with wife Val, and daughter Nyiva at 10:30 and off we went to go and see their other daughter, Sarah at her school, Kenya High School.

I really enjoy visiting Sarah at school, it is a lovely setting and reminds me of North American old ivy-league college campuses. This year, Sarah had obtained special permission for us to meet at the matron’s quarters, that was so nice of her to allow us to do this, it was much more comfortable visiting in a living room rather than in the heat outside. We had a lovely 2 hours with Sarah, here she went through all of the clothes that we had bought for her – Nyiva had gone through hers the night before. I had a young girl help me pick out clothes for them here, but I have a feeling that I failed miserably to take in account the different cultures. Especially the short little yellow skirt, no no no, ‘beach wear only - on holidays’. But at least the jeans and the tops were nice, and they fit each of the girls. Oh well, next time I will know to use my own judgment, not that of a typical North American just out of her teens!

Jamie seemed to enjoy meeting the girls, and was duly impressed by the school. We still hope to be able to have Sarah come and live with us and attend university here, this is her last year here, but it may be that our foreign student tuition charges are a bit hefty in price. I am going to write letters and see if I can find a scholarship fund, as Sarah is a VERY smart girl, and would qualify, but I am not sure yet how all this work out. But I can still try as we really want to have her here!

After heading out from the school, we went back to Kennedy & Val’s for a wonderful birthday lunch for Jamie – it was delicious and had many traditional African dishes for us to try. We weren’t too hungry after such a late breakfast, but I do believe we did it justice! After lunch, Val’s niece’s, Betty and Emma, who helped prepare the lunch, brought out an incredible cake that one of their relatives made for Jamie – wow, it was so cool! (see pbase pictures, Jamie is a pilot although he does not fly for Kenya Airways, maybe someday he will!) Betty sang a song for Jamie, and luckily I remembered that my Panasonic recorded video just in time, we now have a wonderful keepsake. Val & Kennedy briefed us on the African tradition for birthday cakes – the birthday person cuts the cake along with his parents. He then takes the first two pieces, and feeds them to his parents, to honour them for bringing him into the world. He then passes cut pieces of cake around to all of the guests. You know, it’s things like this that I learn that keep me traveling, I love to learn the different customs of the world.

Time was getting on though, and we had to get Nyiva back to her boarding school, which is out past Athi River on the road to Mombasa. Well, it seems there is major construction on this highway, we could see at one point when the road curved that there was MASSIVE traffic jam ahead on the highway. We had to get Nyiva back though before sundown, which was approaching pretty fast so Kennedy decided to follow the matatus and trucks and take a detour. What we ended up in could only have been called a ‘gravel pit’; it was really bumpy and dusty! It was actually so bad that we had to laugh, it was comical! We made it there just as the sun was going down though, so it served its purpose!

Once back in Nairobi, we headed straight to the Carnivore as Daniel, his wife Molly and their two children Terrance and Ivan were joining us for supper. Unfortunately Val, who had just gone through a recent operation, could not join us as she was pretty exhausted, but Kennedy did a fine job of representing his family! It was a fun dinner – I really do love that restaurant, it’s always so much fun. There were a few highlights to mention – the best one being that Daniel had ordered up a cake (another one!) for Jamie and the whole staff came over to sing a very loud, boisterous rendition of Jambo Bwana – probably the best one I have heard yet! Even Jamie (who normally does not like to be the center of attention) seemed to really enjoy it! Unfortunately though, I got so into the singing that I did forget that I had the video and all I have is still pictures of this! Being inside at night though, it probably wouldn’t have come out as I don’t think you can do flash on the video with just the built in flash on the Panasonic FZ50. Anybody with one know if you can somehow?

Two of my other highlights here were from Daniels’ boys. We had brought, as a present, a toy computer for their age level for each of them. Vtech sells wonderful fun, learning educational computers for kids. The one for Ivan’s age group was called Cyber Spy Notebook, while the laptop for the little one was called Nitro Jr Notebook. The boys are just learning English and we thought this may help them along. (packing was another problem, but they made it….) Daniel and Molly had given the boys their gifts the day before, so they had had a few hours learning time on it already. So, anyhow, Ivan was sitting across from me, as he didn’t speak much English, and my Swahili is very rusty, conversation between us was limited. Halfway through the meal though I hear a very distinct “Lynda” from Ivan so I looked across and acknowledged him. With his face literally beaming, he said in very good English “I’m a Cyber Spy THANKYOU!!!” I tell you that was a highlight of my trip!

The other really cool highlite was a comment from Terrance. He had been spinning the ‘salad and salsa’ tray that was in front of him, and when they brought us plates, the first thing I did was put some salad on my plate. He turned to his mom (his mom translated this for me) and asked her why I was eating leaves, and did he have to too? Sooo cute…..

We returned, very full from food & memories, from our wonderful family day to the Norfolk around 10pm. It gave us time to regroup, and put everything that we had in London or obtained in Nairobi (lovely gifts we had been given!) that we didn’t need to take on safari with us, in my wheeled carryon and one of the empty bags that I had brought gifts in (the others folded up in the bottom of the gift bag). These bags would remain at the Norfolk until we came back from Zanzibar.

Love the birthday cake custom! Lynda, is Val doing okay after her surgery? Nothing too serious, I hope.

Lynda, it looks like this was a fabulous day. And the cake was incredible. It was very nice that you could learn the birthday custom - I may start that tradition with my family here!

I'm sure there are a lot of scholarships out there that Sarah could apply for. Good luck with that - I think it would be an excellent opportunity for her to go to UBC or SFU and they'd be lucky to have her.

Just found out Jackson is available to be our guide with Warrior Trails in October/Nov. So I, too, am looking forward to your Tanzania report.

Thanks for the info so far

Leely, Val is doing really well, she was very tired on that Sunday, but that was to be expected as we can make anyone tired! It was a wonderful visit though, she calls me mom, and I do feel as close to her as a mom! It was serious at the time, it was emergency surgery, but she is all better now - and thanks for asking and being concerned, that is so nice!

CarrieT, do you by any chance live in Vancouver, not too many people that don't know our universities! The birthday tradition is a really good one, I like that.

SandraJoy - so glad to ehar you booked with WarriorTrails & I promise I will try to get all this done before you go!

SAMBURU NATIONAL RESERVE, MONDAY MAY 25, 2009

Photos at: http://upload.pbase.com/edit_gallery/lyndas/may_25_09_samburu ( 34 photos)

It was an early morning this morning, but that was OK – we were on our way to Samburu – our first day on safari with Daniel! Daniel came to collect us at 7:30, but I was stuck behind someone in the check out line, and I hadn’t even been for breakfast yet when he came! Jim and Jamie were just finishing breakfast while I was in the line. “Pole, pole” Daniel said, “relax, eat breakfast”. Just one of those mornings I guess when everything seemed to take longer. Not wishing to be too late, once checked out I put some scrambled eggs and some sausage on a bun, wrapped it in a napkin and dashed outside with a big grin on my face – 7:45 – in plenty of time to get to Wilson to catch our 9:15 flight! Actually, we arrived really early at 8:30, which gave Jim plenty of time to sit and relax before our flight, Jamie some time to try and get his May time sheet emailed off to his brand new employer (there’s a story there), and for me to go with Daniel to hit up a bank machine for Kenya Shillings.

The Twin Otter 19 seat plane took off on time at 9:15. It was about ½ full with all of the other people on the flight going to Mt. Meru; which took about 50 minutes. After another 20 min or so, we arrived in Samburu.

Our driver, Tom, met us at the airport in a very nice vehicle, probably a land cruiser, but I didn’t particularly notice. Daniel leases the vehicle and the driver, and I must say, he chooses well. With 6 seats in the back, the three of us had plenty of choice as to where to sit. The two seats behind the driver had a really cool shelf going right the way across. That was neat, I could put my camera there, my binoculars, a field guide and my journal. Cool!

We did a long, slow game run en route from the air strip at Buffalo Springs over to Larsen’s Camp. Jamie had pretty well claimed the back of the vehicle, which worked out well for him, he had four seats to choose from, but as most of us on our first game run, he stood most of the way not wanting to miss a thing.

“Daniel! Look! My first wildlife sighting! What is it?”
“It’s a donkey, Jamie – probably from the Samburu Village….”

We saw plenty on this game run though, and I could see the light in Jamie’s eyes – he was enjoying it and that made me really happy! Jim and I really enjoy game runs, but I was a little nervous as to whether Jamie would or not. I had my answer though! We saw four of the Samburu Big Five – the gerenuk, the oryx, reticulated giraffe and Grecy’s zebra. Only the Somali ostrich to go now! Two of the highlights were watching a giraffe drink, and then seeing a herd of about 40 Grevy’s zebra crossing the Ewaso Nyiro River. Both Daniel and Tom had never seen a herd as big as that cross, and also said that the giraffe drinking was quite rare. We vouched for that, as we have never previously seen one drink.

Arriving in camp, we were surprised to ‘spot’ a young gerenuk in the garden just into the entrance! The young’uns name is Geti, his mom was caught (and eaten) by a lion just outside of the entrance to the camp. Scarred, Geti wandered into the camp, and as everyone knew he would be the next meal for the lions, the camp staff took him in. He’s a few months old I believe, you know I really have to write down more details when the story is told!

We had a wonderful lunch on the deck by the river, I do love this camp. All meals here are a la cart from a menu, the choices are not wide, but there is always something good on the menu. There is a soup or appetizer, a salad, a main entrée with a choice of meat, fish or vegetarian dishes, and desert. We spent at least two hours at lunch, it was so pleasant.

We all decided that as we were quite tired from our two days of go-go-go in Nairobi, that we would skip the afternoon game drive and just relax & enjoy the camp for the afternoon. I think we all napped – or at least I know I did!

Dinner was served on the river again, with the only downside of this was being rained on by the bats (yes, you got it – bat poop). Of course it hit me, which would have been funny except if you were me. Oh well, what else are showers for right? Thankfully that didn’t happen until desert, so I was able to excuse myself and hop into the shower!

We met the managers, Mike and Sue, a British couple. Or, well, at least they had a British accent, maybe they were ex-pats, or even Kenyans who had both attended English boarding schools. The camp was not full at all. The first night there was a party of 8, us and a party of two. The next night there was the same party of 8, while the party of 2 moved on and a party of 4 came. The party of 4 were on a Micato fam-trip, we had seen them at Kiambethu, and now here they were again!

The temperature at this time of the year in Samburu was hot, it was about 35 C, but that was OK with us, it wasn’t too hot or uncomfortable.

Wildlife seen during the morning game drive included:
Dik dik, gerenuk, reticulated giraffe, impala, dwarf mongoose, vervet monkey, beisa oryx, warthog, common waterbuck, Grevy’s zebra, guinea fowl, red billed hornbill

Lynda
LOVED reading about your marvellous day for Jamie's bday! What a lovely day! Now, you told me how heavy all the gifts were when we met, I'm starting to realise quite how many and how heavy they were!!!
What kind of traditional African dishes did you have at Val and Kennedy's place?

Lynda,

It must have been fun to see someone experience a game drive for the first time. I wish my parents were interested in Africa - I would love to have them go with me on one of my next trips. But when I asked my mother she just said she would be happy to see them in the zoo - so I think I'm out of luck Glad you son enjoyed it!

And I'm a southern neighbor - Bellingham. In fact, I work at Western Washington University in the budget office but I used to work processing admissions applications. I still have contacts in the admissions office there and I was thinking of asking what might be available as far as scholarships...of course, they would know better for the US schools, but I think there is some cross over. If I get a chance Monday, I'll pop them an e-mail and see if they might know anything.

Cheers and keep the posts coming!

Carrie

Carrie, I just realized that you are one and the same that is coming to the GTG in a few weeks! My memory, I think I left it somewhere in Africa.... Can't wait to meet you at the GTG!

That would be wonderful if you could ask about scholarships for me, I would really appreciate that! It might give me an idea where to start at least, any help would be welcomed.

Kavey, yes indeed I was to the max on our luggage! Some of the dishes that I remember were rice, ugali, greens, chicken,
a tomatoe salad (cooked spinach I beleive with raw tomatoes & avacodos), a cooked veggie dish of some kind, looked like a ratatouille kind of dish, and I beleive a curried dish that I think had potatoes in it. I tried a little of everything, but we had had a big breakfast that morning so we were all kind of full still from that. But I believe we did it justice!

Along with the cake they served popcorn and chips. The cake was delicious, it was more of a carrot-cake kind of cake than a 'cake' cake. It had a really nice spicing of some sort in it. You know, I really should find out from Val exactly what we did have! At this moment I could do it plenty of justice, mmm hungry just thinking about it!

Lynda, some advice required from you please. Did you eat salads there? I love salads and I could live on it, but being in Tanzania I am not sure. Should we stick to coooked food only and fruits if they are peeled by us? I am vegetarian so andvice would be greatly appreciated.

Only 5 days to go before we fly from Heathrow.

50, I don't mean to hijack your question to Lynda, but I can tell you that as a vegetarian I have never avoided the salads or fruits while in Tz. The produce (and juice, for that matter) is amazingly fresh and wonderfully tasty. I couldn't get enough of the mangos! All of the places I've stayed seemed to offer vegetarian dishes other than salads too.

I don't know whether or not you eat fish....I do, and the Tilapia in East Africa is awesome.

50, I agree with Calo - although I am not a vegetarian, I love salads & veggies (not big on fruit, but I do eat it while on vacation sometimes). Every year Daniel tells me to pace myself on the salads, start with small bits at the first few meals until I get used to it - BUT, I have to be honest, I have not remembered to do that at all! I just dig right in to the salad as usual, and I haven't had any problems. That being said though, actually I do remember the first year I was on safari, I was feeling a bit off the first day that we were on safari at Amboseli, but really that could be anything, it wasn't lasting & it wasn't serious. Nothing since then though.

Be sure to brush your teeth with the bottled water every camp/lodge will leave in the bathroom for you. That may have been what did that to me the first year come to think of it, I couldn't remember for the first few days to use the water for my teeth. The camps & lodges are easy to remember where you are (Africa - where you don't brush your teeth with the tap water), but the first day or two in a hotel in Nairobi you do tend to forget where you are as some hotels could be 'anywhere'.

I too have found that every place that we have been does offer vegetarian dishes, but be aware that some of them in the lodges may be a curried dish - either Indian (south Asian) or an African influenced dish. And, if you are going to a smaller tented camp - such as Lemala, make sure that Warrior Trails mentions you are a vegetarian before hand. We sat down to dinner and we were served tilapia (which I love in East Africa - Calo is 100% right when she says it's awesome there). No one really asked if we wanted anything different that night, so I would imagine that at smaller camps it would be best to tell them in advance. Tilapia is lake fish - in case you are not familiar with what it is, in East Africa it is from lake Victoria - the best in the world.

If all else fails ask for ugali & greens, everyone has it, or they can go to the staff cook & get him to make it up. Ugali is like a North American Indian bannock (bannick?) while the greens - which I love - is cooked spinach mixed with I am going to guess butter, but maybe not. It's mixed with something anyways that gives it a creamier consistency than just cooked spinach.

Thanks Calo and Lynda. I don't eat fish either so Tilapia is out for me but my family can try it. I was advised not to eat salads as they are not cooked, but as you have been fine, so we will have have go too! I too like mangoes and also papaya. Did you have coconut milk straight from it's shell? I think they call it "madafu". Ugali sounds good to me if little bit of spice (like spicy food). I will contact Clamian to make sure that vegetarian dishes are available for me with no fish.

Hey Lynda and 50...my husband and I will be "honeymooning" with Warrior Trails in late October after celebrating our 50th anniversary....so I eagerly await all your input on your recent and upcoming safari.

Sandra Joy and 50 - you guys won't go wrong with Warrior Trails, believe me! And, I promise I will try and get this report done before you go in Oct Sandra Joy & wish I could promise the same for you, 50 too! But 5 days would be a little soon for me, I know I couldn't possibly finish before then! But, I know that you will have a good trip, and that it won't be your last....

Hi SandraJoy. I am celebrating my 50th birthday!

Lynda,

We saw the Gerenuk when he/she was 2 days old! Her mother was killed by a lioness and they brought her to camp when they heard her bleating.

we also saw the lioness - she had 4 tiny cubs back then - we were stuck by the River just outside Larsens at about 7 in the evening when it was dark and we saw her walking by the river in the moonlight calling for her cubs. Next thing you know the cubs are running past the cars headlights and join her by the river - Amazing!

Did you see this particular lioness?

Dhah

Why yes, we did see a lioness with 4 young'uns! They looked to be about two months old, mind you I'm not an expert, so they may have been an entirely different age, but we saw them down by the river.

Check out the next entry and my pictures of them & see what you think???

SAMBURU NATIONAL RESERVE, TUESDAY MAY 26, 2009

Photos at: http://www.pbase.com/lyndas/may_26_2009_samburu (40 pictures)

This was ‘early game drive’ day, with toast and coffee to sustain us for a few hours, we set out in search of early morning leopards. Of course the best laid plans of mice & men never work. But – we did see a lioness with four cubs, which was a real highlite!! They were all in the clearing when we pulled up, the mom went behind a bush to lay down, but the cubs, as if they wanted to entertain us, stayed in the clearing. They were just so adorable! One of them seemed to be trying to practice his roar; Jamie and I looked at each other, grinned and nearly burst into song “I Just Want To Be King”. It was hilarious! These could very well have been the same cubs & lioness that ‘DShah’ was talking about in the post above this – quite possible the one and the same that made Geti an orphan, the cubs looked to be around 2 months old, which would fit on the time line. Well, I guess a mom’s gotta do what a mom’s gotta do, right?

Back at the camp after a wonderful breakfast, Daniel asked if we would like to join him on a research mission. Jim stayed behind, but Jamie and I went with him to check out Elephant Bedroom, he has some clients interested in it, and he wanted to check it out. And you know me – always game for checking out new camps! It was a nice game run too, seeing animals of course along the way, and seeing some elephants in the camp by the tents. No wonder they call it Elephant Bedroom! Nice tents, there was no one in camp when were there (I mean there was no one at all staying there – just the manager, and a few askaris). They gave us a really good thorough tour.

I really liked the camp, the tents were top-notch and very pleasing, the location was wonderful, the hammock by the river looked incredible, the whole atmosphere was really cool – I would recommend it to anyone. Can’t tell you what the food was like mind you, but I liked the dining areas – there is an outdoor area by the river, as well as the indoor area. The only thing that would put me off about the camp at all was the walkways – they were not natural, they were all covered in sand. I am a die-hard walking sandal wearer (ie hard to get on & hard to get off in a hurry) and I just can’t stand it when sand gets in my sandals. There is a time for that, yes, at a beach – but not walking to breakfast at a camp in Samburu. The other point that Jamie pointed out to us was that they didn’t have ceiling fans in the tents – our ceiling fan at Larsen’s was a life saver for us! But, other than that – I’d stay there.

After a delicious lunch at Larsen’s we were ready to go again on another game drive. We drove out to Archer’s Gate to the Samburu Village. It was very nicely done, the men greeted us at the entrance to the village, sang a song or two, jumped, and then the women came out singing, it was really nice, you could tell they had practiced. The tour was very interesting, as we walked through you could tell they really did live there, which was not a feeling I had at the Maasai Village in the Mara over by Kichwa Tembo – I felt that village there was for us to ‘tour’ only. But this village had a definite lived in feel to it.

One of the elders showed us, and explained the council circle to us, three of the youngers lit a fire for us, and the kids assembled in front of one of the huts for us. The school is not far away, it’s not in the village itself, but we could see it when they pointed it out. It was a very interesting tour all together, I enjoyed it. At the end there was of course the ‘shopping mall’ that all of the women set up for us, we felt so bad that we really didn’t need anything as we have a whole room of bracelets, carvings, bead work, etc from the other two years we went to East Africa. Not wishing to walk away empty handed though, we negotiated for three necklaces, one to keep, and one each for Andrew and his brother Steve; and I tell you, they drive a hard bargain!

On the way home we stopped at Samburu Lodge for the crocodile feeding at 7 pm – the croc was a little late tonight, but well, maybe they don’t have watches. (the crocs I mean…) I know our cats do as they appear at their dishes every day at 8 AM and 4 PM.

A very full – but really satisfying day!

Wildlife seen during the morning game drive included:
Red Olive baboon, cape buffalo, elephant, Grant’s gazelle, gerenuk, reticulated giraffe, hyrax, impala, lioness & 4 cubs, dwarf mongoose, beisa oryx, warthog, Grevy’s zebra, guineafowl, red-billed hornbill, Somali ostrich, yellow neck spurfowl, sun grouse, grey head heron

Enjoying your report and photos, Lynda!

Lynda, I hate your report!
All it does is make me want to jump on a plane and go back NOW!
Seriously though, it's great and loving the photos, especially the Ewaso Nyiro River with water in it.

Ohmigosh sallysaab, you had me going there for a moment! The river didn't have water in it when you were there? Where did all the crocs go then?

Thanks Patty! For some reason when I was at Elephant Bedroom, I kept thinking of you - did you stay there? Couldn't remember why I was thinking about you when there, maybe you only mentioned it or something?

The river was bone dry, but outside the Serena Lodge there was a resident croc, in some scrub on the "river". We didnt get to travel very far along the river in either direction, so there could have been water "around the corner".
Thanks for the photos of Larsen's and the Elephant Bedroom, it's makes choosing another property so much easier.
Do you happen to know how far Larsens is from Serena?

Lynda,
We stayed at Larsens. Elephant Bedroom wasn't open yet when we were there but it does seem like my kind of place. I probably did mention it at some point. MyDogKyle stayed there.

SAMBURU NATIONAL RESERVE, TUESDAY MAY 26, 2009

Photos at: http://www.pbase.com/lyndas/may_27_09_mt_kenya (23 pictures)

It was a very restless night last night! When I woke up to go to the loo, Jim was awake, he said that he had heard a very large animal splashing across the river; he thought perhaps it was a Cape buffalo. This made sense to me, as there had been a buffalo across the river when were at supper on the platform over the river that evening. He had also heard it sniffing around the tent. Good job he was awake, I thought, as I would have been terrified going to the loo alone –even though it is inside the tent - if I would have heard that! As were going back to sleep I heard the sniffing too, it was nice to think you were so close to wildlife, but scary too! Later on towards the morning there was something else crashing around outside – this sounded like it could have been a smaller animal, but who knows what!

We had breakfast early (well, early for me!), it was wonderful send off breakfast with champagne and orange juice & lots of good food. We left at 9:00, as we wanted to do a game run as we drove out of the park.

So, there we were bumping along the road, somewhere on the road out of the park – but still well inside the boundaries – when Daniel shouted –

“OH! LOOK! WILD DOGS!”

Wow, what a spotter he is! Incredible! I turned my head and there were at least three of them, all black & white & brown & mottled & very skittish. One was standing on a rock though and with my heart in my throat, and my eyes on the guy on the rock, we keeled to a stop, I put my camera up, focused – and he was gone! Real camera shy these guys.

“No, no pictures, please, I’m the wrong mottled color today…”

We spent the next ½ hr trying to follow them with our eyes, cameras, binoculars, whatever! Daniel could see where they went, and every once in a while you could just make one out with your bare eye as they came into view from the bushes. Jamie – aka Jonathon Scott – managed to get the only clear pictures of them – one as he was walking away from our initial encounter, and a few more as they came into view from behind a few bushes. They are not ‘incredible/wow’ pictures, but it’s close enough & sharp enough to see that it is a wild dog!

Daniel was very excited, as was Tom. This was Tom’s second sighting of the pack, but this Daniels’ first sighting whatsoever of wild dogs, and he has been at this spotting game for over 10 years!

But, alas, we had to get moving. The rest of the run paled by comparison of course, we left the park around 10:30. So, for anyone who wants to find the dogs, my pictures are stamped with a time of 9:39, and we found them about an hour before exiting the gate – which gate I’m not sure, but we were driving to Isiolo, so the nearest one to A2 I’d say!

It was an OK drive down A2 – they are in the midst of re-doing this road and it will be a nice highway when it is done. At the moment there are spots that are nice, and then some that are not so nice! We stopped briefly in Isiolo at an ATM, there was a guy selling live chickens there & me, being the sensitive person that I am, was almost in tears because he had one hanging by the feet around his neck. I think Tom and Daniel both thought I was a little nuts, but you know, even chickens have feelings! It really did sadden me. Jamie also made the mistake of rolling down his window here, he was swarmed by kids and he gave them the pen he was writing with & anything else he could find for them. I forgot to tell him to bring an extra pen, but that’s OK – as you all know I have my little office supply stash and I was able to give him a pen for the rest of the trip!

Just past Nanyuki we stopped in at the Mountain View Curio Shop as I wanted to pick up a few giraffe napkin holders, and a nice carving to add to our ever-growing Big 5 & Others carving collection. We found a really nice rhino, and of course later on I used my tiny tape to wrap some bubble wrap around it…. Hee hee hee.

Around lunchtime, we pulled into Mt Kenya Safari Club. Fairmont had recently renovated it, and I as I was encouraged by the nice job they did at the Norfolk, I was looking forward to what they had done here. Unfortuantely, they didn’t keep as much of the history as I would have hoped. No longer could I see the ladies all seated in the foyer in their finery being delicately served tea & finger sandwiches by white gloved servants, while the men-folk all sat around the bar talking about the hunt of the day. (not that I agree with hunting, but I am sure you will all agree it is a pretty picture at least!) But, what the heck, it was still nice, just not as imaginative as it was before – it just didn’t stir up images long gone by in my mind.

We had requested the Riverside Cottages, but as they were being renovated, they upgraded us to the William Holden Cottages – wow, what can I say, they were incredible! Newly renovated, even though they too do not stir up images of days gone by, they are very comfortable and very inviting! Each cottage has two bedrooms, split by a central sitting area which is cozy & comfortable, with a lovely patio that overlooks the central gardens. Many birds visited us as we were sitting and relaxing on the patio outside, the maribou storks came right up to us. What a cool looking bird, an obvious ‘elderly gent’ visited us and it was wonderful to see him so close. They have this long, long, pink throat-like thing that hangs from their beak – when they walk they tuck it in behind their wings, but when they are stationary, it just kind of hangs there, it’s pretty weird. Can you tell we had a really relaxing afternoon here? We were so relaxed out on the deck we didn’t even get in a nap, it was just so wonderful sitting there & looking at the scenery. (and of course checking email)

Supper was supurb, it is a la carte, you choose from four items from the menu, and it’s really good food.

We were in cottages 601/602, and occupancy was very low over the two days we were there – I’d guess that at the most there was 40 people at any given time. That’s not a lot of people considering MKSC capacity is about 180 people. We truly felt we had the place to ourselves, and although some say this is good, I don’t feel that way, it makes me sad that all these places are not full and bustling!

But, what can you do, right? Easy to get an omelette in the morning that’s for sure, no line up!

Wildlife spotted today – Samburu National Park – Grevy’s zebra, wild hunting dogs, impala, gerenuk, reticulated giraffe

How lucky to see so many Grevy Zebras crossing! How cute, "I'm a cyber spy. Thank you." How exciting, "Oh look, wild dogs."

Sniffing in the night? Maybe it was the dogs.

Sooo glad you saw the wild dogs. I know we were so lucky to see them during our Samburu visit last year and was keeping fingers crossed for you too!

SWEETWATERS GAME RESERVE & MT KENYA WILDLIFE CONSERVANCY, WEDNESDAY MAY 27, 2009

Photos at: http://upload.pbase.com/edit_gallery/lyndas/may_28_2009_sweetwaters ( pictures)

After a leisurely not-really-early breakfast, Jim retired to our cottage to have a whole day of ‘just doing nothing’, while Jamie and I decided to drag Daniel and Tom to Sweetwaters at Ol Pejata Ranch. I had told Jamie that even though the animals were pretty scarce over there, the chimpanzees were fun to watch at Jane Goodall’s Sanctuary.

I was dead-on about the chimpanzees, they were so much fun to watch and study that it was hard to tear ourselves away – but I was SO VERY WRONG about the scarcity of animals on the reserve. I can’t imagine where they were all hiding when we were there in 2006, as we hardly saw anything then. But today – WOW! We saw cocktails of animals, so many it was hard for me to write down what we saw in what order! I couldn’t keep up!

We saw a few animals on our way to the Sanctuary – some zebra, impala, waterbuck, buffalos, and baboon. Once at Jane Goodall’s Sanctuary, Daniel asked Steven to take us around. There weren’t any chimps hanging about the fence where we saw one or two last time, so Steven took us into the area between the two sections of the sanctuary where there was Mwanzo and her baby Ajabu. Ajabu is one of only two chimpanzees born into captivity. Steven said they didn’t mean for that happen, but, well, nature took it’s course I guess – the best laid plans of mice of men, you know. Ajabu was SO adorable and Jamie really captured him/her (?) extremely well on camera as you can tell in the pictures at the link attached. It was hard for me to only choose a few of the chimpanzee photos, as they were all so adorable!

We also met George, quite an acrobat, doing flips for us to say ‘hey look at me, I’m cute too!”; as well as Cheetah (not a cheetah, but a chimp named Cheetah) and finally, Poco – the world famous chimpanzee that was rescued from a tiny cage that he barely fit in. Where we were this year was way better for taking photographs, the surrounding was more conducive to their antics than up by the viewing fence at the front. All of them seemed happy, whereas they didn’t seem so happy when we saw them last time, must have just had a bad day or something!

Steven took us around to where the old boats are that they used to operate their river cruises from to see if we could see any from the ‘other side’ of the sanctuary, but no one was around. We did though get a great view of the inside of a termite mound that was just being built, Daniel explained the whole process to us, it was really interesting to learn.

Back in the van we started out on our game run, and I just could not believe how many animals we were seeing – there was tons of them – everywhere you looked there were animals! At one point during the game drive we stopped and just gawked at all of the animals all grazing together – Grant’s gazelles, warthogs, elands, buffalo, waterbuck, hartebeest, topi, Thompson’s gazelles, zebra – and as if that wasn’t exciting enough, there was 3 black rhino there also! Three rhino together yet! Daniel told us this was quite a rarity as black rhino are loners, they are not social.

Moving on further down the road, we were quite surprised to see three white rhino amongst the longhorn cattle! There were two adults & a baby – oh so cute! They went past us, looked at us, and continued on to the mud bath that was just a bit behind us. We sat and watched them wallow in the mud for a bit, it was wonderful!

Back at MKSC, Jim was having a great time relaxing, working on his pictures & doing not too much. We had a great lunch, and even though it looked like it may rain (it didn’t) Jamie & I went to explore Iris Hunt’s Mt Kenya Wildlife Conservancy (formerly called the Animal Orphanage) to go and see some of my old friends. It was a great visit, I think my highlight was the sokoke forest cats – they were all lined up at the fence and looked so darn cute – see the picture I posted and you will see what I mean! We have one cat that looks so much like them, I think I know where our Bailey comes from now! Jamie really enjoyed visiting with all the animals too, I even caught him talking to a few of them. (see, it runs in the family!)

The Conservancy was originally set up by Iris Hunt, the wife of Don Hunt, an actor from the States who was one of William Holden’s partners in the Mt. Kenya Safari Club. Iris wanted to help the animals, she originally started out housing the orphans in the chicken coops on their ranch, but shortly thereafter decided that she would try and save the almost extinct bongo, which is only found on the slopes of Mt Kenya. Today, they have many bongo and have come a long way toward her goal. Many of the animals on the property are to try and breed in captivity so that they do not become extinct – it’s working for some, but not others. As far as I know, Iris is still living; at least I know she was in 2005. I emailed the conservancy to find out if this was the one that you could get to from the MKSC grounds, and Iris answered me back. The email is now proudly in my scrapbook for that trip!

It was a wonderful day, and I know that MKSC isn’t for everyone – but I love it.

Wildlife seen at Sweetwaters -
Impala, baboons, waterbuck, zebra, warthog, cape buffalo, elephants, warthog, reticulated giraffe, Grants gazelle, Thompson’s gazelle, hartebeest, eland, black rhino, white rhino, long horn cattle, duiker

Animals seen in the Mt Kenya Conservancy (orphanage) –
Caracal, bushbuck, bongo, llama, suni, crowned cranes, Egyptian geese, duiker, patas monkeys, leopard tortoise, sokoke forest cats, eland, hartebeest, ostrich, porcupine, cheetah, colubus monkey, zebroid, buffalo

Sorry guys, I posted the wrong link for Sweetwaters, it's
http://www.pbase.com/lyndas/may_28_2009_sweetwaters

Thanks for posting this in sections, Lynda. I enjoy everyone of them and I'm able to keep up.

asante sana

Sounds like a great trip report so far....but am hoping you'll get to the Tanzania part before mid October. My husband and I travel with Warrior Trails starting October 23 in Tarangire, Ngo.Crater, Gibbs, Central and Northern Serengetti...Getting excited! Have read your packing list..it's great, but I think I'll leave out the stapler.

Hint hint for you LyndaS from SandraJoy.

The baby chimp on mom's back is adorable. I hope the bongos continue to do well and that's good you saw one.

I'm really enjoying sharing all your wonderful sightings. Thanks.

Lucky you with the dog sighting! Glad Sweetwaters produced good sightings for you this trip.

Great report and photos. Thanks for the warthogs, I love them. I also loved MKSC. I actually had to tell my agent that I REALLY wanted to stay there (this was 2 years ago), but I loved it and picked up a very cute metal sculpture family of warthogs at the shop out front away from the main part of the hotel. I also loved those forest cats!! Thank you for bringing back good memories!!

Pat

MAASAI MARA, BATELEUR CAMP, FRIDAY MAY 29, 2009

PHOTOS AT : http://www.pbase.com/lyndas/may_29_09_mara

After a hearty breakfast at Mt Kenya, we packed out and drove to Nanyuki for our Twin Otter 18-seater Air Kenya flight to the Mara. We were the only people on the plane this morning, nothing like having your own private plane! I think Jamie was enjoying all of the small plane flights, he flies a 727 jet now, but he’s always loved the small planes. I know I felt better having him along as I am actually quite a nervous flyer (I do it though because I love to travel), and with him along I am sure I will always know when to panic & when not to. At the very least it’s comforting for me to think that!

Landing at precisely 11:00, we were greeted by the staff from Bateleur with champagne, orange juice & beer. A little early to partake even for the most ‘ambitious’ drinkers I would think though! But it was a nice thought! Our guide, Francis, gathered us in the van, as usual I sat up front as I find the Kichwa/Bateleur vehicles very hard to get into the back, it’s pretty high up! En route to the camp we did a small game run, it was great to be back in the Mara and see all the animals here.

We checked out our tent, Jim and I were in the new section, Tent 19, the first tent beside the dining room and I think Jamie may have been in the old section – but I’m not sure, he was tent 15 so maybe not. It seemed a long way to get to his tent though, and we even had to cross a little creek with a bridge. The new tents look much like the old tents, only they are green. It was a very comfortable tent indeed with a wonderful stonework bathroom and shower at the back of the tent. The bed was luxurious and very comfortable and the only thing we found odd was the bathrobe looked like it had been in a steamer trunk that might have been aboard the Titantic. It was thin, yellowing and nothing that I would have cared to put on. Jamie thought it might have been for ambience, not for use. However, they did provide wonderful little take-home shower shoes, flat thongs that packed up just perfect that we used for the rest of the trip for showering. Jamie was really enjoying the tented camps, they were much different from the tents we used to camp in at Boy Scout camps when he was younger!

Lunch of potato salad, veggies, and chicken was served family style – all on one platter. It was delicious & quite substantial for lunch. It was followed by a power nap until it was time for our afternoon game drive at 4 pm. Looking around at lunch there wasn’t very many people in camp, there was a family with 3 or 4 very young, very vivacious & lively kids, the parents & the grandparents, as well as two couples that were traveling alone (the couples weren’t together). The kids were in a tent somewhere between Jamie and us because we could both hear them. Or maybe not, maybe they were far away but we could both hear them!

The afternoon game run was incredible, lions, hippos, birds mating, and elephants mating. We looked high and low (literally) for the leopard that was supposed to be around the river, but to no avail – no leopard. That’s OK though as we knew Daniel would find one for us somewhere, sometime on this trip. It was starting to get dark, and we were somewhere down by Governors Camp, and we were still looking for the leopard when a call came over the radio. “Oh” says Daniel to Francis “head on over down by the river through that bush over there, someone may have seen a leopard there!” So off we go in the dark, scanning the trees with a spotlight searching and searching, and there we were in the midst of the bush when Daniel said to me ‘did you need to check the tire pressure?’ Uh, no, not me I said, I wasn’t getting out of the vehicle in the middle of the bush in the dark where someone had spotted a leopard. ‘Are you sure?’ he says ‘there is a covered loo right over there’. I looked and sure enough there was one of the portable tented loos sitting right there! I said OK then, got out and when I looked closer a little further away I saw MANY vehicles. This was not your average Husky Truck Stop pee break after all – it was a bush dinner that was magnificently set up for all of us in camp! Except the family mind you, I think the kids were probably too young to be running around down on the riverbank in the bush. There were 4 other people at the dinner that I didn’t see at lunch, but still, that’s far from a full camp.

Our next surprise was being ‘attacked’ by the Maasai, my goodness they sure made me jump when they came up to the camp fire and took us by surprise! And of course I got roped into the dance – why does that always happen to me I wonder? Jamie and Jim were laughing & snapping pictures like crazy as I was ‘dancing’ around the campfire.

The dinner was delicious – pork chops, beef or lamb with rice & veggies. The table setting was incredible – old fashion lanterns, rose petals, wine glasses and wonderful china. Fit for kings and queens! Bateleur did a nice job.

This was a perfect end to a perfect day!

Wildlife seen today –
Olive baboon, Common eland, elephant, hippo, spotted hyena, impala, lion, topi, warthog

Birds seen today-
Hammerkop, common ostrich, secretary bird, & others that I didn’t write down!

Wildlife seen at night –
Bushbuck, Grants gazelle, Thompson gazelle, Maasai giraffe, African hares, hippo, spotted hyena, impala, springhare, topi

Great report Lynda as usual; I enjoy your accounts of the day and your wonderful pictures.

Did I see lamps in the Bateleur Tents? Do they have elec. or is it power from another source.
I am talking to Daniel about a trip; after your excellent time with him, I decided to talk to him about something next year.
I'd love to know your thoughts on Bateleur as I hear so many different accounts. I am trying to decide how to divide my time in the Mara as we will be there during migration (hopefully) and I wanted to split between Serian and Rekero;
however one or two operators have recommended Bateleur. Would love your thoughts!
Such a great family trip!
FP

What a great day that ended with dancing around the campfire!

Very nice herd of topi shot. Even mating eles. The close up on the hippo makes it look like you were in the river. Your family and guide shot is lovely.

flowerpower - Many camps have "real" lamps which are powered by generators and/or solar panels. Other camps (the more "rustic" kind as Serian, Rekero and the likes) use lanterns or battery powered lighting.

Hi Sandi, thats what I thought (rustic!) but Bateleur's looked so real (maybe just from the photos) and I wondered how they managed that in the bush.
I spent a week in the Amazon last year with no elec and truly loved it.

Everything just glowed in the darkness - I imagine with that dark African sky, it is amazing by candlelight, lanterns, etc.

FlowerP

Thanks Lynn for your comments, and thanks Leely for the nice comments on the pictures!

Dana - SO GOOD to see you are back, thanks so much for your comments on my pictures, I have re-labelled the pictures, can't believe I got our own guide wrong! Ooops. I was thrilled to see you too were in tent 19 - comfy isn't it?

Sandi you are much more observant than me, I had to go into the picture to see what lamps were there - I couldn't remember how the tent was lit! As I recall everything was electric, including the two lamps over the sink that look like gas lamps. And I think I remember the electricity goes off each night at 11 as I remember putting my flashlight for pee breaks on the dresser above our head.

Flowerpower, Daniel emailed me a thankyou note the other day, THANKYOU so much for giving him a chance to look into your trip, I know you will love dealing with him, he is wonderful! He will make YOUR dream come true for sure, he knows how to please as it is so important to him that you are happy with your trip. He'll work with you on any properties you would like.

I loved it at Bateleur, it was extremely comfortable in all ways - the staff, the bed, the tent, the dining, the service, the people. Especially the people, we felt like we had known them for years & we were returning home, although we have never stayed there. The location was perfect, it is not too far from anything, so it was no problem roaming around to find animals. In the prior two years we stayed at AndBeyond's lower priced sister camp, Kichwa Tembo, right beside Bateleur, so we were familiar with the vehicles & the location. The meals were spectacular, all served family style which is nice. Their soups were like all other soups in East Africa - incredible! (Only place I eat soup is East Africa, not to be missed!) Drinks are included but that doesn't do much for me who doesn't drink, but nice for others though I am sure. The ambience & the setting were lovely.

Would I return? Absolutely. No contest! Would I pay the difference between Kichwa Tembo (the lower priced camp beside it) and Bateleur? Yes, absolutely - well, off season rates, I would. I don't know how much diffrence the high season rates are, but off season, yes.

Do I feel the need the need to explore others? Yes, eventually I would like to try lots of different camps, but for now, I'd like to return to Bateleur in that particular area. Eventually I would like to move on to other areas, but I am very much a creature of habit until one day I just say - OK, we know this camp thoroughly, time to move on.

I know you have your heart set on Serian though, in my opinion, you should do that as I have read in your post that that has been your dream. Based on reports on this board, it is definitely one of the camps I will try when I 'move on'. Follow your dream and you will not be disapointed as that is the very nature of a dream!

The African sky is indeed amazing and magical, actually the whole of Africa is. BTW, where did you go in the Amazon? We are looking into a trip at the moment from Cusco to the mouth of the Amazon, thinking seriously about it for a future year.

Great latest chapter, Lynda.

I went back and checked out your trip insurance info. I am just beginning to reacquaint myself with the ins and outs of all that and it's pretty confusing. What company did you purchase your policies from?

We bought from a company called Transat Travel Insurance, underwritten by Manulife Insurance. It was an extensive policy - we could have cancelled for ANY reason whatsoever up to 14 days before the trip - we would have received 75% of the sum insured, which had to be the cost of the trip. It stated our reason could be as simple as 'changed our mind' /'weather is too cold' or whatever.

We did this as Jamie's job was up in the air (haha literally!) at the time and we didn't know if his boss would say, 'no, no you can't go' three days before we would have left. As it turned out, his particular job was phased out about three weeks before we left as they sold the planes, but they also got him on with the company that bought the planes, and the new company was VERY kind and gave him the three weeks off. He worked two weeks & went on vacation!

Anyhow I digress - it was a very flexible policy, but be forwarned - it was very costly! It had all the bells and whistles - millions of dollars of coverage for air lifting, as well as drugs, flights homes or flights for family to come to us, as well as it insured all of us to come home on the first available plane should anything happen to immediate family back home. This also conributed to why I bought it - my step dad was diagnosed in Feb with terminal cancer (as it turned out the doctors were wrong, by May we knew it was curable). I needed a policy for all of us that would bring us back home in the middle of the trip if need be pronto zippo.

Sit down though, Leely before you read this part - we paid a walloping 5% of the cost of our trip for this, I wasn't kidding when I said we all could have cruised to Alaska and back in high season for the amount that I paid for insurance. I felt it was necessary this time, but I would REALLY think twice about that extensive of a policy next time.

Are you off to Africa soon? I hope you are, I know how much you want to go back & I hope you can someday!

Thank you, Lynda. I am looking into Rwanda and Kenya late May/early June, same time frame as your last trip. Not so worried about booking Kenya any time soon but of course need to lock in gorilla permits. Booking really early worries me--what if I lose my job between now and then, etc.

You got some great photos on May 29, love the baby ele and the lioness!

Lynda- Because of your fantastic thoughts on Daniel, I did contact him and I am looking forward to talking with him further.
I asked about Bateleur because one of the KATO operators gave me such a fabulous deal - in addition to staying at Serian. I love to jump around; I know others do not; but if I could be a "Sandi" and look at every single lodge,tent, loo, - I'd be right there beside her. I love checking out lodges. We are definitely doing Serian,but I am adding a 2nd. The only thing that bothers me is the number of tents; I am a small lodge/camp gal. So it is between LUXURY (Bateleur) and LOCATION (Rekero) and since it is migration.....well, Rekero seems to be the one...well, who knows just yet.

BUT...to your question about Peru- We loved it..worried that after a S.Africa trip we may be a bit let down but the scenery, the ruins, the people - fantastic. We used INKATERRA - go to their website; they are like the ..andbeyond of Peru. I actually met the owner who was visiting their Amazon lodge (they have lodges everywhere and very very nice - luxury actually) and he called the other lodges of Inkaterra and told them to "personally" take care of us..and boy they did. But the best part was I got the trip on Luxury link dot com at about a third the price by bidding on it (we were the ONLY bidders!) The lodges do not know how you obtain your room; Inkaterra still books it all - you call them and give them your winning receipt no. It was awesome.I highly recommend it. PM me and I will give you many details and pics!
I always love your reports, you ORGANIZATIONAL skills (whew, how do you do all that) and now, giving me DK safaris name.

Well, I love everyone's pics and reports. When I tell people about the forums they think I am crazy. BUT look what we find! People like you --and all the others (you guys know who they are; the constant, truthful,helpful fordorites who even have jobs in the industry and still share what they know)
So many contribute so much to make a person's dreams come true!

Thanks, and dont forget to contact me about Peru.

FP

Why do I have a vision of FlowerPower and Sandi, side by side, peering into the loo?

Ha Ha Lynn, if only I'd be so lucky to follow Sandi around East Africa- loo or not.

I guess I am a voyeur hoping to be a voyager!

FP

Lynn -
Loo peering! Not unless I was preggy which is unlikely nowadays.

Leely -
Trip Insurance (Cancel/Interrupt), averages about 6% of the cost (land and air) of ones trip, but premiums vary by age of travelers. From younger/older (i.e., 40s vs those 60s+). As usual, you've got to read thru all the drop menus for inclusions/exclusions; some have "cancel for any reason" at a small supplement. But do call and speak to a human if you have any specific concerns. There are many providers from which to choose.

At Bateleur the one thing that concerns me (not enough to not stay, but to be aware if one likes to bend elbows) those sharp edges of the "square" bed posts... an accident waiting to happen! Might be a good idea to wrap pillows around the edges! As Lynn, my mind is always working!

I didn't realize that 5% was standard in the insurance - wow, I don't feel so bad now! I guess gone are the days when insurance for a trip was $69.99 as well gone are the days when I could say 'no pre-existing conditions'.

Sandi, I didn't even notice the square posts, I'll have to take a look - I'm surprised my elbows didn't find out the hard way, they usually do!

FP - ahh, yes, a second one, Bateleur would would be a wonderful 2nd one to add! I wouldn't have someone send a driver all the way out there though, the &B drivers really know their stuff there, and it's not so bad sharing a vehicle with someone. This year, everybody at the camp while we were there seemed to be in a vehicle on their own - for sure I noticed that they didn't combine the two couples that were there separately, so maybe during low season they make an effort to give you your own driver. We had our own this year, but in prior years when we were at Kichwa Tembo with a group, it wasn't so bad sharing a vehicle. I thinky you should add Bateleur - it's a great location & to me it was worth the cost. But I can see the decision you have if the migration is closer to Rekero at the time! Daniel will have some good pros/cons for this dilema I am sure! (I'm bad with decisions, I'd want to do all 3 properties!)

Ys, yes, yes, I'd love to email you about Peru! We went last year to Lima and MP and we are itching to go back to Lima again, as well as Cusco. On of my clients took a trip from Cusco to Manu with Inka Natura, and I really want to do something similar. I beleive our guide in Cusco was with Inkaterra though as I remember that name from somewhere! My only problem is finding a year to fit this in, but I really want to do something like this to see the wildlife at the basin of the Amazon. I'll look into your profile to see if I can find your email address, but if not, can you email me at
lynda d swain at telus dot net? (no spaces)

Thanks!

I will definitely email you Lynda; the next few days are full of dental work (ouch) accidental but of course so neccesary!
I have a phone converation planned with Daniel on Tues. so I am anxious to hear what he has to say.

NOW..for me at least, we were very disappointed with the
Amazon where we were located -Puerto Maldonada- but I do think I read a trip report here from a Fodors African Nut that went through the Brazilian Amazon and loved it. Knowing your skills, you will find it!
After Africa, seeing a fish, bird, and a croc did not do a whole lot for us..so if you are keen on seeing exceptional species I would go to another area. There is so much mining going on that the wildlife has scattered. Nevertheless, we loved the Inkaterra Experience throughout Peru,but if you have already been to MP, why bother. Go to another country with a different slant on the Amazon. I will email you later this week with our pics etc of Amazon.

Meanwhile,
HOW you do it all amazes me; the East Africa index to begin with..I am afraid Daniel will be disappointed in my total lack of energy compared to you!
But.. I do have my staple ready for the trip,along with tape, small baggies, etc. Your list cracked me up; but hey, it works doesnt it?

FP

MAASAI MARA, BATELEUR CAMP, SATURDAY MAY 30, 2009

PHOTOS AT : http://www.pbase.com/lyndas/may_30_09_mara

I’ve often said that there was only one reason to get up early in the morning – to catch a flight to go on vacation. But, there is a second reason – to take a balloon ride. We got up at 4:30 in order to get ready to go, which has to be a record for me! We were a bit late getting to Governors, as it was very wet, it took us a bit longer to get there. No one was toe-tapping for us though, so it was OK. We signed in, got sized up by our pilot, David, offered coffee, given our instructions, and then set about to watch them inflate the balloon. I was a little nervous as getting into the balloon two years ago was a challenge for me – even with two guys helping. I explained this to David, who said no problem, he would get me in somehow or other! Four guys came over to help, and by golly, they did it – but not without a terrible cramp shooting through the back of my leg! (a Charlie horse – owwww!)

But I was in & that was important! I was in the section behind Jim and Jamie, and a lovely girl who was on her own. My compartment mates were from Zimbabwe and South Africa, they had just been married the day before at Governors. And – Lynn – WAIT FOR THIS – they lived in Burundi! The lady was a runner, so she helped me sooth out the cramp, which actually didn’t stop hurting until after breakfast.

The ride was fabulous – every much as enthralling and exhilarating as the one we took two years ago. As Jamie had never flown in one, we thought he should have the experience – and besides it was a good excuse for us to go again. And truthfully, I’d go a third time! I really enjoy the feeling of the floating, and even as a sometimes white-knuckle flyer, I never worried. We saw lots of animals, way more than we did two years ago, but this year all of us had a definite problem focusing our cameras up there. I didn’t remember having that problem before. We even saw two black rhino, David, our pilot was quite excited to see them, he said it was a very rare sighting.

This year I was on the right side of the balloon to see the place we were going to land, I was able to get a few good shots which was great. The landing was smooth as ice, the basket landed right way up which was good, as that grass was pretty wet, and I am sure we would have been pretty muddy had we landed on our side. But, that also meant I had to have help getting back out….

Breakfast, was as usual, the best on the trip. There really is something about an outdoor breakfast – especially one that is about 100 feet from two lions…. When we first landed, David pointed out a pair of honeymooning lions that were not very far from us. He said we would be OK though as they did not seem to be concerned at all about us, and had moved farther away as all got out of the balloon. Made me think though when I went to use the loo! Which, by the way was enclosed this year – gotta love that! They had a small little sheltered port-a-potty set up beside one of the trucks, which was really a welcome sight.

Daniel and Francis (our driver from Bateleur) were waiting as scheduled for us for a game run – and what a great run it was! We went first to visit the lions that had moved a bit (but not far, I was surprised how close they stayed), and then set off for game unknown. We found some jackals that were not shy at all, this was great as we had not seen any this close before. We have seen them over the last two years – but, wow, these guys were right beside us & had no intention of running away. They really are a good looking animal, I could take one home & give one lots of loving!

Our highlight of the game drive though was something that we have never witnessed, and probably never will again. After we sat and watched the jackals for a while, we drove along until Daniel said ‘ Cheetah’. ‘Watch him, he’s looking for prey, he’s scanning’
Barely had we turned our heads towards where he was when Daniel asked Jamie to point his camera at a Thompson’s gazelle that was innocently laying down a little bit away from the cheetah. Jamie pointed his camera, and sure enough, the cheetah sprang into action – and went after the very Tommy that Daniel pointed out! The Tommy caught on very quickly, got up and started running. I tried to follow for two or three frames, but soon realized I wasn’t even in the running, it was too fast for my Panny FZ50 camera (that I didn’t know at the time could burst shoot), I put it down and followed the action with my eyes, leaving the camera shots to Jim and Jamie.

Wow – what a performance we got. Tommy zigged, Cheetah zigged.
“Run, Tommy, Run! You are after all the second fastest animal in the Mara!”
Tommy zagged. Cheetah zagged. Cheetah sprang and….
Oops. Contact. “Too bad you were being chased by the fastest animal in the Mara”.
Tommy was down; all the topi and the rest of the herd of gazelles were running away thinking ‘glad it wasn’t me’.

“But wait!” Daniel tells us “ look – there – the baboon is chasing the cheetah away!”

Sure enough, we looked and there was baboon screeching towards the cheetah (oh I wish I had video here, or at least had the sense to remember I did indeed have it on the Panny FZ50). The cheetah quickly let go of Tommy – my goodness – and ran off with the baboon in hot pursuit! We couldn’t believe what we had just seen; it was an incredible twist of nature.

And Jamie captured all of this on camera – in some incredibly clear shots. Off to National Geographic he goes! (see pbase address above)

It really was incredibly exciting, and I was happy for Tommy, but I also felt sorry for cheetah. He was just trying to eat! We asked Daniel why the baboon chased the cheetah away; the answer was just because they are mortal enemies, the baboon was not trying to save Tommy.

We headed back to Bateleur for lunch, still not believing what we had seen. Lunch was delicious as usual, and our nap after was very welcome after such an early morning. The nap was so nice that we didn’t get up in time to make the game run, it was raining, and since it was late, we decided to skip the afternoon run and opted instead for R & R sitting on our deck looking out over the Mara – which was most welcome!

Dinner was choice between beef and prawns - ummmm, good. There was a bit of evening entertainment, some of the Samburu sang for us, followed by a wonderful rendition of Jambo Bwana for Jamie – and another cake! We had originally planned to be here in the Mara on Jamie’s birthday, but then changed the dates so we could be in Nairobi for his actual birthday. Daniel said he thought he would keep the original birthday plans anyways that Bateleur was working on. Who can complain about celebrating something twice, right?

Wildlife seen today from the balloon-
Elephant, topi, waterbuck, vulture, impala, black rhino, jackal, crowned cranes

Wildlife seen today on game run-
Lion, topi, black backed jackal, Thompsons gazelle, cheetah, Nile crocodile, elephant, Maasai giraffe, hippo

Birds seen today-
Crowned crane, ostrich, secretary birds, baglafecht weavers

The Cheetah & The Tommy - Must be a cover shot! Amazing shots!! I loved looking at it over and over!

Thanks Lynda for making my morning special,
FP

What an exciting day! I love the cute little jackals too.

Burundi may just end up being where we all have a GTG! Then the Burundians would have the last laugh.

2 black rhinos from the balloon is impressive.

Tremendous cheetah, gazelle,and baboon action!

You set the bar very high Lynda. Will I ever be able to write a trip report after reading your fabulous adventure?

Right now, my excuse is "I just got back" but soon it will be intimidation and writer's block.

Anyway, keep your news coming, I enjoy your photos, your prose, and your tales of adventure.

A Burundi GTG - yes, I like that idea!!

SandraJoy,

So as not to be in similar competition, you could do photos and a haiku.

Burundi GTG--we can dream.