Tanzania Safari report October 09/ wildebeest migration Mara River

I'm enjoying your trip report, Live42day! I appreciate the fact that you were able to bring gifts to the orphanage... wonderful! I'm looking forward to more of your report. I imagine you saw a lot of the Migration in the Serengeti, as they were pouring back across the border when we were there in September.

MORE SAFARI INFO>
Ngorongo as I say was amazing. We were now on day four of our safari and had seen pretty much every animal. I was wondering why I had booked a 10 day safari. What was I possibly going to see that we had not already experienced. But then I realized something. Because we had seen everything, there was no longer the urgency to see anything. We could just 'be' in Tanzania and experience the safari. What a gift that was. As an example, we were sitting at the side of the road and watching some female lions in the grass, around 10 -15 feet away. We watched them for quite some time and then realized that one of the moms had small cubs in the long grass. There were around five safari trucks all at the side of the road, chatting and waiting for the mom to come out with her cubs. Eventually all the cars left, and as soon as they did she looked around and walked out with her two very young cubs close behind. Patience was the gift that comes with a 10 day safari. From that point on we would just stand in the truck, look out the top and drink in Africa. Our driver would just wait for our cue to move on. He was happy with us not needing to see anything and just letting it happen.
We say goodbye to Samson and fly to Kogatende airstip, the northern most part of the Serengetti almost to the Kenya border. We are met by our new guide, George, and he takes us once again to the Lemala Luxury Camp. I cant tell you how much staying in the tents enhanced our safari. We really felt like we were with nature and not just in a five star luxury resort with other tourists. It is certainly luxury camping, but none the less, it is camping. We met up ironically with the same group that was in Ngorongoro and were happy to see them again. They had driven instead of flying and said it was the road from hell. Glad we flew. Roads in Tanzania are not great to begin with, but this one was apparantly especially bad!!
At night here we are guarded by a ranger with an AK47!!
we can hear hyenas just outside our tent at night, laughing at us, lions close by, zebra and impala bump into our tent at night. We are really in the wilds of Africa now! Again, only two other couples in the camp. There are only a couple of other camps in this part of the Serengetti, all mobile camps and only here for the migration. They will move in a week because we are here at the tail end of it. We are told that it might even be over, they may have already crossed. We will see what we shall see. After a wonderful breakfast George packs our picnic lunch into the truck and we are off for the day. Not too far from our camp are two cheetas under a tree.
We drive for quite a while, seeing of course many zebra, giraffe, and other animals along the way. We cross a river, the Landcruiser is like a tank and will go over and through anything! There are no real roads up here so we can go where ever we like, unlike the other parks where you must stick to the roads. We arrive at the Mara River and see thousands of wildebeest on the other side. Waiting. For what? Dont know, just waiting. We sit and wait too. and wait, and wait.
Thats okay though. Lots to look at. Hippos, many huge Nile crocodiles just waiting too....hmmmm.
Then after waiting for hours, one brave soul will venture into the fast moving river. The others follow, and soon hundreds, no thousands, are swimming across the Mara river to our side. The current is strong but they swim hard to reach the other side. The river is not that wide but they get swept downstream a bit so it is a longer crossing than normal. THey are exhausted when they get to our side. The sound is amazing. Thousands of wildebeest mooing. The sound and smell is like being in the midst of thousands of cows. Then for no apparent reason they stop. THe ones left on the other side all start running in the other direction. Where are they going? Some of the wildebeest on our side are looking over, probably at thier family who did not make it and are still on the other side. A few actually swim back over. We go up the hill and spread out a blanket and have our amazing picnic lunch overlooking the Mara River. All the while looking over our shoulders of course. Then we drive back down in a hurry because they have all just run back to this crossing again.
And then we wait. and wait. and wait.
And then once again a brave one will start and they all follow.Running down the banks to get to the river. The feeling you experience when you see this is unlike any thing I have ever experienced before. The crocodiles are now getting into the water. They are swimming towards the crossing wildebeest. I cant believe my own thoughts of wanting to see a croc take down a wildebeest. I am surprised by my blood thirsty thoughts. And me, a vegetaian! All for the good film I say.
We were fortunate (?) to see two crocodiles take down a wildebeest, drown her and then guide her downstream to where they could pull her up on the shore for the feast. These Crocodiles were huge!

Fantastic report and you had some amazing viewings. Look forward to the rest.

On our way back I ask George if we can see lions. We drive up to some pride rocks and as I said our landcruiser can go anywhere. We climb up and in between these large 8 -10 foot rocks that are on all sides of us. We are wedged in. I look up and there are lions on each rock surrounding us. Did I mention that the top of this truck just has a canvas roof? The only way out of here is to do alot of maneuvering. It is very exciting and these lions are only feet away from us, but too close for comfort for me! Okay George, I have my pictures now lets go. He laughs and says, it's okay, I think that they have just eaten. The lions are just looking at us, looking at them. Young ones as well as grown females. I am afraid that they can hear my heart beating out of my chest!! George took us back there three times over the next few days! Great pictures though.
The next day we spent watching the crossing as well, although there were not as many as the day before. We are truly blessed to have arrived at the very end of this part of the migration. We drive to the top of a hill and watch as millions of wildebeest are running from different crossings to meet here to travel south. It is amazing!! We see lots of zebra too, playing around and having lots of fun. This was the best part of our safari by far. Not only the crossing, but being up north where there were very few other people. We would see one car a day and that was all. We saw baby giraffe, hippos, baboons and pretty much every animal except baby cheeta and leopard. The other great thing about staying in the camps was that the drivers could sit and have dinner with us. In the hotels the staff and guests are usually segregated. We would have dinner with the manager of the camp as well and would have wonderful converstations and learned so much about Tanzania from them over a few glasses of wine after dinner. That was very special to us.
One tip regarding tips...take lots of cash. We brought $500 US one dollar bills with us for tips and were glad that we did. When you go to the insta bank you get large Tanzanian shillings and you arent going to get change from a tip. And once you are in the parks there is no where to get money. We ordered the cash from our bank a few weeks before we left as usually banks dont carry large amount of US one dollar bills (we are Canadian)
I would be happy to answer any questions that any one has. To date this was the most amazing trip we have been on and I highly recommend it!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/debbep/sets/72157608750561842/show/
here are some of my pictures if you would like to see them.

thank you ShayTay and Twaffle for your kind words. What time of year are your travelling Twaffle? We originally had planned to go to Kenya but with the problems they were having when we were making our plans we decided against it. I have to say that I am not sorry as I loved every minute of Tanzania and never felt unsafe (from people) at any time.
Our driver said that the Kenya side of the river is much more crowded. He may have been biased!.

Thanks for sharing the photos, Live42day! I especially like the shots of the Maasai and the intricate beading. It's great that you were able to see a crossing. Looking forward to hearing about Zanzibar!

I'm looking to do the migration on the Kenyan side but not for at least a year yet. Then I will do some Tanzanian parks, in the Southern area I think. Time and money are the limiting factors.
Loved the photos, thanks for sharing.

Wow....I loved your photos...you really did see everything didn't you!
And I love your Fodor's name too.

great report and pics! i always wince when i see those beautiful baby faces covered in flies... thanks for sharing,
anita

Live43day... Thanks for the post and pictures. Just the "
pick me up" I needed! Only 7 months and a few days to go til we return to Tanzania!

Thanks for sharing your safari zen!

"We were now on day four of our safari and had seen pretty much every animal. I was wondering why I had booked a 10 day safari. What was I possibly going to see that we had not already experienced. But then I realized something. Because we had seen everything, there was no longer the urgency to see anything."

You caught some the migration at some of its most exciting moments! Great variety of people and animals. Love the cheetah pair and your sunset finalé is beautiful.

Even a vegetarian can get swept up in the Darwinian excitement.

Your year's worth of planning was a success.

thank you all so much. Atravelynn you are one of the ones that I got some great info from so thanks very much.
rsnyder you will be there around the time that we were I think. Are you going to try to see the Mara crossing?

ZANZIBAR REPORT
After our 10 day safari we flew to the island of Zanzibar for the last 10 days. We arrived at the airport and were met by some men asking if we needed a cab, which we did. We negotiated a price and then were led by an older man to where his cab was.
Always ask to see the car first before committing to anything!! The car was not what I would consider street worthy. We really did not think we would make it into Stone town. But we did. Our cab driver stopped in what we thought was a back alley and took our bags from the trunk and motioned for us to follow him. I did not see our hotel name any where and was very nervous and unsure of where he was taking us. Did he not understand? Well around the corner down another alley was our hotel. Which later on we found out that pretty much everything in Stonetown is in an alley so parking in front is not usually an option. We had booked the Dhow Palace hotel which was fine. The location was good, it was clean enough and the roof top resteraunt was good.The price was around $100 USD per night. We went for a walk after checking and and I think we had a bit of culture shock or something because we really did not like Stonetown at all. After being up north in the quiet serene Serengetti with very few people around us to the hustle and bustle of the city noises, (and there were many of them), and people trying to sell you everything from a spice tour to cashews....it was over whelming.
I have travelled to many places like this before so it was not that I was unfamiliar, I think it was just such a stark contrast to the quiet life we had just left.
We hired a cab on the third day and headed for the East Coast to Jambiani a small little village on the beach where the people are so poor the average income is $100 per year. No that is not a typo it is $100 per year. Some friends of ours from Victoria Canada were on a round the world trip 11 years ago and stopped in Jambiani for a few weeks. He is a chiropractor and did some free adjustments to the locals and she is a teacher and taught one young man French every after noon. To make a long story short the locals convinced them to stay so they have built this amazing clinic and tourism school for the locals (all free) and we were lucky enough to stay with them for a week and witness the wonderful things that they are doing there.
The water in Jambiani, and I suspect all of Zanzibar, is like a bath. It is so warm and clear. From our balcony it looks like the screensaver on my laptop, turqouise blue water and white sand that feels like flour. The women of Jambiani go out into the ocean every morning at low tide to farm their seaweed beds. They grow seaweed and sell them commerically for very little money. The poplulation of Zanzibar is predominatly Muslim so the women are in the water fully clothed and sitting waist deep tending thier little plot. We found the people here, like in all of Tanzania, some of the friendliest I have ever met. They all want to come and practice thier English with you and just talk. We went on a snorkle day trip with Blue Safari which was great. The last four days were spent back near town at Mtoni Marine hotel which was very relaxing. We arranged a spice tour through the hotel and although it was great it was the only time that either of us got sick. Two days before we are to fly home and my husband is deathly ill. At the end of the spice tour there were samples of sauces to put over rice. They didnt get the memo that I was a vegetarian and I was glad because I took one look at the food and the serving dishes and knew we shouldnt touch it. There were some dishes with a local kingfish in them. My husband ate them and a few hours later regretted it. He took an antibiotic that we had brought with us and spent the next two days in bed. I went shopping in Stone town and found some great items to bring home for ourselves and Christmas gifts. ( Of course I was also taking care of my sick husband but no sense both of us being stuck in the lovely room for two days)
The day of departure he was thankfully well enough to travel and we started our long journey home. We absolutly loved Tanzania and would highly recommend it to anyone.