trip report tanzania-kenya June 06
Jul 1st, 2006, 03:01 AM
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trip report tanzania-kenya June 06
hi everyone, just arrived this morning from our 20 day trip to East-Africa.. so while it's still lively in my memory, some peaks, some downs, some memories, some annoyances, some amazing moments, some smiles..
first, especially for the people still planning their trip, my experience of the lodges we went to (just keep in mind that the lodges/camps in Tanzania were chosen for their prime wildlife location, and those in Kenya were chosen for their last-days-of-luxury-and-just-enjoy-our-honeymoon atmosphere):
Tanzania: Karama Lodge (Arusha) left us a little bit with mixed feelings. The huts are in a lovely green setting on the slope of a hill, so it's somewhat more cooler than in arusha town. The huts look very good and are very clean, great to relax as a starting or ending point of your safari. However, some rooms have showers heated with boilers going on wood, and of the 4 nights we spent there (2 before, 2 after safari) one night was really bad, with smoke out of the 'chimney' of such a boiler blown straight in our room, making me go complain at 1.30 am to please put out that fire. Having grown up with a father who smokes seriously, i'm sure i was not making a fuss about nothing. The next morning i requested another hut, and the friendly girl at the reception immediately helped me. So summarizing, if you can avoid hut 21 and 11 (to a lesser extent), Karama still is a very nice place to hang around. Ngorongoro Sopa was great. Just gives you an extra edge as it's the only one on the Eastern side with another entrance, which means that if you leave early in the morning, you might have the Crater an hour 'to yourself' like we had). We expected it to be more 'basic' but actually we found the service, the rooms and the view rather good. Serengeti Sopa we found less interesting, but primarily because of the location at that time and we were rather bugged by many tse tse flies not that far from the lodge on arrival (in fact i had my first bite by a fly at the reception). However, the room we were given (right on the corner) had an amazing view. Serengeti Wildlife is prime prime prime location right smak in the Seronera. The pictures we had found on the net don't do it justice at all. In pictures i find it seems a bit fakey, but in real, it really is a lovely lodge. With all the striped mongooses and hyrax running around, and being woken up at 11 pm to go see a hippo that came grazing by
i really liked the architecture of this place, even if the rooms to some people's standards may seem a little bit basic. To us however, it was more that comfortabel... and very very clean (actually this was in most of the places) Next came Ikoma Bush Camp, which was the one single place we didn't like (see later). The room was okay, but the toilet just put us off, made of wood rotting... It made us feel so relieved to spend the next night in Lake Manyara hotel (part of the wildlife hotel chain), where we just awed at all we previously had found rather 'normal' standard This hotel by the way has a lovely swimming pool with view of lake manyara. The next night we spent at Kisima Ngeda (lake eyasi) which was soooooooo wonderfull!!!! We were so sorry to leave this place, really !! This is a small place with only 7 tents and with service non-comparable to other. When we arrived there the lodge owner passed by personally to welcome us. Followingly I asked if it was possible to make me a snack before dinner, and they made me the bacon sandwich i had been craving for... and when i asked them for the bill, they said it was complimentary (of course i did give them a good tip but it was just their overall kindness). And the tents.. they were just so nice, beautifully decorated. This lodge was slightly more expensive, but believe me, it's sooooo worth it... you'll leave a better person lastly in our Tanzania part, we stayed at Tarangire Safari Lodge. The tents are quite close to eachother, but it didn't bother me as sitting in front of my tent i had a straight vieuw over a river and a beautiful landscape. The bathroom by the way was tiled with warm water all day long. The sitting area is nice to sit down and play some chess
Kenya: The Stanley hotel (Nairobi) has a great breakfast buffet. People cutting the fruit freshly in front of you, fresh eggs being baked, ... I thought the rooms would be more worn out, but to my surprise i thought it really had a lot of charm and even a certain class.. i felt so colonial The Nairobi Serena then again is one step further up... just felt like pure luxury to us (with not only a swimming pool, a private mini parc in a parc, but also steam bath and sauna complimentary.. ) And then we spent 2 nights in our dream lodge.. Shompole.. i'm not even going to try desribing it, google it, look at the photo's and know it's even better in real life... the perfect combination of pure beauty (of architecture) with yet a very laid back atmosphere, with white cushions inviting you to just crawl up in the sitting area, or stretch out or whatever, and soak up the great views.. no formality, no musts, but on the contrary, the most unobtrusive, yet always-there-when-you-need-it service... Finally, Olonana Camp which is also a very beatiful camp where we had great views of a Cheetah and her cubs (later more), with very competent drivers, and beautiful tents, lying at a hippo river...
first, especially for the people still planning their trip, my experience of the lodges we went to (just keep in mind that the lodges/camps in Tanzania were chosen for their prime wildlife location, and those in Kenya were chosen for their last-days-of-luxury-and-just-enjoy-our-honeymoon atmosphere):
Tanzania: Karama Lodge (Arusha) left us a little bit with mixed feelings. The huts are in a lovely green setting on the slope of a hill, so it's somewhat more cooler than in arusha town. The huts look very good and are very clean, great to relax as a starting or ending point of your safari. However, some rooms have showers heated with boilers going on wood, and of the 4 nights we spent there (2 before, 2 after safari) one night was really bad, with smoke out of the 'chimney' of such a boiler blown straight in our room, making me go complain at 1.30 am to please put out that fire. Having grown up with a father who smokes seriously, i'm sure i was not making a fuss about nothing. The next morning i requested another hut, and the friendly girl at the reception immediately helped me. So summarizing, if you can avoid hut 21 and 11 (to a lesser extent), Karama still is a very nice place to hang around. Ngorongoro Sopa was great. Just gives you an extra edge as it's the only one on the Eastern side with another entrance, which means that if you leave early in the morning, you might have the Crater an hour 'to yourself' like we had). We expected it to be more 'basic' but actually we found the service, the rooms and the view rather good. Serengeti Sopa we found less interesting, but primarily because of the location at that time and we were rather bugged by many tse tse flies not that far from the lodge on arrival (in fact i had my first bite by a fly at the reception). However, the room we were given (right on the corner) had an amazing view. Serengeti Wildlife is prime prime prime location right smak in the Seronera. The pictures we had found on the net don't do it justice at all. In pictures i find it seems a bit fakey, but in real, it really is a lovely lodge. With all the striped mongooses and hyrax running around, and being woken up at 11 pm to go see a hippo that came grazing by
i really liked the architecture of this place, even if the rooms to some people's standards may seem a little bit basic. To us however, it was more that comfortabel... and very very clean (actually this was in most of the places) Next came Ikoma Bush Camp, which was the one single place we didn't like (see later). The room was okay, but the toilet just put us off, made of wood rotting... It made us feel so relieved to spend the next night in Lake Manyara hotel (part of the wildlife hotel chain), where we just awed at all we previously had found rather 'normal' standard This hotel by the way has a lovely swimming pool with view of lake manyara. The next night we spent at Kisima Ngeda (lake eyasi) which was soooooooo wonderfull!!!! We were so sorry to leave this place, really !! This is a small place with only 7 tents and with service non-comparable to other. When we arrived there the lodge owner passed by personally to welcome us. Followingly I asked if it was possible to make me a snack before dinner, and they made me the bacon sandwich i had been craving for... and when i asked them for the bill, they said it was complimentary (of course i did give them a good tip but it was just their overall kindness). And the tents.. they were just so nice, beautifully decorated. This lodge was slightly more expensive, but believe me, it's sooooo worth it... you'll leave a better person lastly in our Tanzania part, we stayed at Tarangire Safari Lodge. The tents are quite close to eachother, but it didn't bother me as sitting in front of my tent i had a straight vieuw over a river and a beautiful landscape. The bathroom by the way was tiled with warm water all day long. The sitting area is nice to sit down and play some chess Kenya: The Stanley hotel (Nairobi) has a great breakfast buffet. People cutting the fruit freshly in front of you, fresh eggs being baked, ... I thought the rooms would be more worn out, but to my surprise i thought it really had a lot of charm and even a certain class.. i felt so colonial
The Nairobi Serena then again is one step further up... just felt like pure luxury to us (with not only a swimming pool, a private mini parc in a parc, but also steam bath and sauna complimentary.. ) And then we spent 2 nights in our dream lodge.. Shompole.. i'm not even going to try desribing it, google it, look at the photo's and know it's even better in real life... the perfect combination of pure beauty (of architecture) with yet a very laid back atmosphere, with white cushions inviting you to just crawl up in the sitting area, or stretch out or whatever, and soak up the great views.. no formality, no musts, but on the contrary, the most unobtrusive, yet always-there-when-you-need-it service... Finally, Olonana Camp which is also a very beatiful camp where we had great views of a Cheetah and her cubs (later more), with very competent drivers, and beautiful tents, lying at a hippo river...
Jul 1st, 2006, 03:12 AM
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again especially for the people that are still preparing some tips which i learnt there: maybe evident for people coming from countries where tipping is everyday story like the US, but not for people from other countries like Belgium where tipping is more infrequent: only tip people after they have brought the luggage to your room. in the beginning i'd tip as soon as they took the luggage out of the car and brought it to check-in and then again when they'd bring it to the room... also, don't forget to tip the people organising your trip during the afterbriefing, particulary for the local outfitters.. these people tend to be the most gratefull and they have put a lot of work in you...and for people on a tight budget, but wanting to photograph people, particulary children, you better exchange enough into small change so you can give the several kids separately... but be carefull if there are lots of huts in the neighbourhood, because children keep up popping out of nowhere.... i managed to get myself stuck that way when i wanted to give a few kids some sweets and suddenly i seemed surrounded by a whole bunch of children.. also, exchange rates in the sopa lodges may be much better than wildlife (1 USD 1000 TS in wildlife, 1USD 1200 TS in sopa at that time), so if you're doing both types of lodges you'll know where to exchange if necessary.
Jul 1st, 2006, 03:20 AM
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i can be quite short about my experience with my tour operators (mercy for tropical trails for tanzania, benjamin for southern cross safaris for kenya): they were fantastic !!! as i already said, ikoma bush camp was not really our cup of tea, and in addition, all the wildlife seemed to have vanished from that corner of the park at that time.. for this reason we wanted to replace our second night at ikoma by one night in lake manyara... calling mercy on a sunday she still managed to get everything organised for us.. and even more... at a very good hotelrate !! (we of course now had to pay for an extra night, but we found that money quite well spent). Benjamin was great as well, having atleast sent us like 6 to 7 suggestions of itinaries made to what we wanted exactly and trying to fit everything in our budget... and we felt sooooo good taken care of !!!
Jul 1st, 2006, 03:38 AM
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my packing list: i'm not going to be exhaustive about it but what we were really happy to have brought along: enough of that stuff to disenfect your hands without water, enough of deet, a hat that will stick to your head even when there is some wind (i brought one 'decorative' hat, and wearing it at the pool it flew right away typically me i guess , paper handkerchiefs, washing powder to do your undies and socks and very very important a pen to write and a spare one in case it gets lost... also, get enough of smaller change, we brought 200 notes of 1 USD and it was by far not enough.. (and mind you, we had also changed money in the mean time, and gotten change from larger coupon notes)
my camera equipment: a computrekker bag which my hubbie dragged along everywhere he went a sigma 50-500 (we so love this lens, it's really good, and while i always use a pillow as a beanbag for support, my hubbie manages to make almost equally clear shots even on 400 to 500 distance out of the free hand), a canon 10-22 (not very suited for wildlife, but beautiful for landscapes, but also for people... gives you a very special angle... also worked wonderfull for shots out of a moving car of people on the streets), a UV filter for the sigma (you really need a filter, it can really be soooo dusty there- and keep your blowbrush by the hand as well), a polaroizing filter for the wide angle, a canon 350d (for the 10-22), a canon 20d (for the sigma), 4 batteries, 3 cards of 1 G, 1 card of 256 Mb, a sort of x-drive for storing photo's on .. i must say to my very very big regret that all worked perfectly, except the memory storage device which i noticed today has corrupted heaps of my photo's !!! (i had to recover of that shock before even commencing this post i'm smiling now but believe me, i did not smile a few hours ago !!!) if you ask me my largest mistake, there it is.. many memory cards would have cleaned my wallet out, but also diversify the risk of loosing many of my photo's... or maybe i should have invested in a more expensive memory storage device (this one was 188 euro) or bought two for that matter, just in case...
but what we were really happy to have brought along: enough of that stuff to disenfect your hands without water, enough of deet, a hat that will stick to your head even when there is some wind (i brought one 'decorative' hat, and wearing it at the pool it flew right away typically me i guess , paper handkerchiefs, washing powder to do your undies and socks and very very important a pen to write and a spare one in case it gets lost... also, get enough of smaller change, we brought 200 notes of 1 USD and it was by far not enough.. (and mind you, we had also changed money in the mean time, and gotten change from larger coupon notes)my camera equipment: a computrekker bag which my hubbie dragged along everywhere he went
a sigma 50-500 (we so love this lens, it's really good, and while i always use a pillow as a beanbag for support, my hubbie manages to make almost equally clear shots even on 400 to 500 distance out of the free hand), a canon 10-22 (not very suited for wildlife, but beautiful for landscapes, but also for people... gives you a very special angle... also worked wonderfull for shots out of a moving car of people on the streets), a UV filter for the sigma (you really need a filter, it can really be soooo dusty there- and keep your blowbrush by the hand as well), a polaroizing filter for the wide angle, a canon 350d (for the 10-22), a canon 20d (for the sigma), 4 batteries, 3 cards of 1 G, 1 card of 256 Mb, a sort of x-drive for storing photo's on .. i must say to my very very big regret that all worked perfectly, except the memory storage device which i noticed today has corrupted heaps of my photo's !!! (i had to recover of that shock before even commencing this post i'm smiling now but believe me, i did not smile a few hours ago !!!) if you ask me my largest mistake, there it is.. many memory cards would have cleaned my wallet out, but also diversify the risk of loosing many of my photo's... or maybe i should have invested in a more expensive memory storage device (this one was 188 euro) or bought two for that matter, just in case...
Jul 1st, 2006, 03:43 AM
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regarding the previous i just wrote down, i do console myself with the many photo's that did luckily somehow survive, which still should be about 5 Gigabyte... when i have time, i'll try posting them somewhere on the internet...
my total top of the whole trip: during the last days in kenya we found a cheetah with 5 cubs...i think we spent over 3 hours looking at them play and eat...and the max was when one of the small ones decided to climb up a tyre of one of the cars standing around watching.. it's looked sooo cute.... thank god that picture is one of the ones that not did corrupted !!!
my total top of the whole trip: during the last days in kenya we found a cheetah with 5 cubs...i think we spent over 3 hours looking at them play and eat...and the max was when one of the small ones decided to climb up a tyre of one of the cars standing around watching.. it's looked sooo cute.... thank god that picture is one of the ones that not did corrupted !!!
Jul 1st, 2006, 04:15 AM
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janischa28: the cheetah with 5 cubs--would that have been at the Mara? We were just there and watched her hunt 3 days in a row. I've got gobs of pictures of her and the cubs who were just so photogenic.
Marty
Marty
Jul 1st, 2006, 04:17 AM
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janischa28--forgot to give you a reference to some pics of mine showing that particular cheetah.
http://web.mac.com/mstickle/iWeb/Mar...te/Photos.html
http://web.mac.com/mstickle/iWeb/Mar...te/Photos.html
Jul 1st, 2006, 05:38 AM
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hi marty,
yes, indeed, it was near the mara, actually just outside the parc, not very very far from kichwa tembo airstrip. i love your pictures, particulary the one of the lion on the rock watching out like that... i'm still looking where to put my photo's on the net now.. i so much want to show my photo
yes, indeed, it was near the mara, actually just outside the parc, not very very far from kichwa tembo airstrip. i love your pictures, particulary the one of the lion on the rock watching out like that... i'm still looking where to put my photo's on the net now.. i so much want to show my photo
but looking forward to seeing the ones that survived 
Jul 1st, 2006, 01:40 PM
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Welcome back.Glad you had a great time.My only problem with Karama was all the stairs after climbing Kili! Agree with you about Mercy,she was fantastic and tropical Trails was great throughout.Who was your driver?
Jul 1st, 2006, 09:01 PM
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Janischa... Thanks for the report and all the info and opinions. What is this "sort of x-box" you used for storage and was the transfer consistently bad or just very occasionally? And was it whole abtches or just odd photos? I use a portable hard drive to store my photos and so (because I cannot view them after downloading) what happened to you is my worst nightmare! I lost nearly all my lion cub photos because the transfer didn't happen and I didn't copy them twice (which I normally do, but I was in a hurry). Also did you download while the storage device was plugged into a socket or running on batteries?
I never delete what I think are the best photos from the memory card - so I have three copies (see how scared I am!).
Anyway, shame, shame for that but you'll get over it thanks to having all the others to enjoy. My view is that I just have to go back again and get the ones I lost! ;-)
I never delete what I think are the best photos from the memory card - so I have three copies (see how scared I am!).
Anyway, shame, shame for that but you'll get over it thanks to having all the others to enjoy. My view is that I just have to go back again and get the ones I lost! ;-)
Jul 2nd, 2006, 12:52 AM
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just experimenting if this would be a good way to get my pictures on the internet
http://www.flickr.com/photos/5269623...n/photostream/
i pasted three of my favo pictures I made this holiday there.. anybody problems accessing this ? so, your opinion guys
Kimburu, well actually (and i am embarrassed to admit this) i only transferred each cf card only once into my memory storage device (calles fotomax by the way, comes from a large shop called mediamarket here in belgium). so i really hope the problem is with the computer and not with the fotomax (some pictures can be seen in eosd preview reader and not in photoshop and others vice versa... in addition all the corrupted photo's are quite random, so not linked with a cf card either)... my largest fear at this moment are by the way some pictures i made of a lion's cub must be a photographic curse on them
http://www.flickr.com/photos/5269623...n/photostream/
i pasted three of my favo pictures I made this holiday there.. anybody problems accessing this ? so, your opinion guys
Kimburu, well actually (and i am embarrassed to admit this) i only transferred each cf card only once into my memory storage device (calles fotomax by the way, comes from a large shop called mediamarket here in belgium). so i really hope the problem is with the computer and not with the fotomax (some pictures can be seen in eosd preview reader and not in photoshop and others vice versa... in addition all the corrupted photo's are quite random, so not linked with a cf card either)... my largest fear at this moment are by the way some pictures i made of a lion's cub
must be a photographic curse on them
Jul 2nd, 2006, 01:06 AM
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Sounds like you might be able to get those photos back with a little expert help. If you can see them and they're not corrupted in the previews that's good news.
Your link works fine and if it's good for you go with it. Kodak is a little esier for the user I think but no big deal. I will not comment on the photos but just say you are trying VERY hard to make us envious aren't you?
Your link works fine and if it's good for you go with it. Kodak is a little esier for the user I think but no big deal. I will not comment on the photos but just say you are trying VERY hard to make us envious aren't you?
Jul 2nd, 2006, 02:13 AM
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thanks kimburu, atleast i hope that was a compliment i posted some next pictures i selected of the ones i made and will keep posting over the next days... and yip, i'm going to go run around to ask for help, because though i'm lucky for the photo's that did not get corrupted, some really good ones are anyway..
i posted some next pictures i selected of the ones i made and will keep posting over the next days... and yip, i'm going to go run around to ask for help, because though i'm lucky for the photo's that did not get corrupted, some really good ones are anyway..
Jul 2nd, 2006, 02:28 AM
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Janischa,
Karibu nyumbani. Thanks for posting your report so soon after your return. I hope you’ll manage to get your lion cub photos back. Digital photography sounds really scary. I had no problem seeing the 21 photos you’ve put on “Flickr” – all were very interesting and varied. The cheetah cubs look so lovely and feathery and it was nice to see some rain. I’m quite interested in Ikoma. A toilet of wood that’s not in perfect condition doesn’t sound too worrying; vanished animals do, but that was hopefully just bad luck. Was there anything else you didn’t like about Ikoma?
Karibu nyumbani. Thanks for posting your report so soon after your return. I hope you’ll manage to get your lion cub photos back. Digital photography sounds really scary. I had no problem seeing the 21 photos you’ve put on “Flickr” – all were very interesting and varied. The cheetah cubs look so lovely and feathery and it was nice to see some rain. I’m quite interested in Ikoma. A toilet of wood that’s not in perfect condition doesn’t sound too worrying; vanished animals do, but that was hopefully just bad luck. Was there anything else you didn’t like about Ikoma?
Jul 2nd, 2006, 03:06 AM
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nope, not really, i guess for most fodorites it should be okay... we didn't see much animals driving there from Seronera, nor coming back again, but very very early morning we did hear a lion mating according to my driver, this year the animals have not been really following the usual pattern it seems, with the animals being quite confused because of the rains (don't ask me exactly because somehow i never managed to figure it out exactly) we saw some migration in seronera around 18th june i think and apparently not much migration to see that moment at west neither direction north ? but about a week later i heard reportings of people seeing migration in the mara... i guess the animals are quite dispersed at this time of the year.. tarangire was very very dissapointing in wildlife by the way...
according to my driver, this year the animals have not been really following the usual pattern it seems, with the animals being quite confused because of the rains (don't ask me exactly because somehow i never managed to figure it out exactly) we saw some migration in seronera around 18th june i think and apparently not much migration to see that moment at west neither direction north ? but about a week later i heard reportings of people seeing migration in the mara... i guess the animals are quite dispersed at this time of the year.. tarangire was very very dissapointing in wildlife by the way...
Jul 2nd, 2006, 10:49 AM
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Since I am lurking here today I will jump in about Tarangire! These are just my opinions based on many trips there - don't mistake me for a safari guide!
April, May, June and even early July is not best for Tarangire. The grass is still high from the rains and there are water everywhere so the animals don't have to visit Tarangire River for a drink! Many animals leave the park and some move as far away as West Kilimanjaro!
November, January, February, March - as soon as it rains a bit many animals move further away from the river becuae they can get water from the leaves, grass, etc. While most animals are still in the park they are beginning to disperse - and better guides will have better luck!
Actually, never underestimate the services of a good guide! In Tarangire the better guides will find more wildlife than in Ngorongoro and Seronera where even bad guides look good as they can simply look for other cars!
Even during the dry season, Tarangire requires a bit of patience. Knowledge of the various animal movement patterns can make the difference between a good safari and an amazing one. Most guides know only the area between the Sopa and Tarangire River Lodge - which is a shame.
April, May, June and even early July is not best for Tarangire. The grass is still high from the rains and there are water everywhere so the animals don't have to visit Tarangire River for a drink! Many animals leave the park and some move as far away as West Kilimanjaro!
November, January, February, March - as soon as it rains a bit many animals move further away from the river becuae they can get water from the leaves, grass, etc. While most animals are still in the park they are beginning to disperse - and better guides will have better luck!
Actually, never underestimate the services of a good guide! In Tarangire the better guides will find more wildlife than in Ngorongoro and Seronera where even bad guides look good as they can simply look for other cars!
Even during the dry season, Tarangire requires a bit of patience. Knowledge of the various animal movement patterns can make the difference between a good safari and an amazing one. Most guides know only the area between the Sopa and Tarangire River Lodge - which is a shame.
