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Just returned from East Africa

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Old Sep 4th, 2007, 12:21 AM
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Just returned from East Africa

Just returned from a Trip to Mumbai/Kenya/Tanzania/Dubai and here is the beginning of a trip report
Travel for East Africa Africa Seredipiti (Sandi)through Chelli and Peacock ( Kenya) and Roy Safari Tanzania
Other arrangements put together by self.
Travellers included my husband and 22 year old daughter
Week one Mumbai - to see family
Flight from Mumbai to Kenya by Emirates via Dubai
Overnight Hilton - a little tired but perfectly fine for a one nighter. Having been fed well at the Emirates Biz class lounge and flight only ate breakfast there. Breakfast was standard.
August 20th 3 nights at Little Governors
August 23 night Serena Arusha
August 24 three nights Sayari Northern Serengeti
August 27 one night Serena Ngorogoro Crater
August 28th one night Intercontinental Nairobi
August 29 in flight
August 30th one night Burj al Arab
August 31 one night Jumeirah Emirates Towers ( free night from airline)
then back home to Toronto

Little Governors

Chelli picked us up from the hotel 15 minutes later than we expected so we had a couple of anxious minutes and a phone call to them but othewise all was well. The Air Kenya flight to the Musaira strip was a little tight space wise but uneventful - we were lucky to be the first stop so a short while later we reached Little Governors.

We were given two rooms immediately near the lounge ( Rm 7 and 8). Realized very soon that the noise of lunching and dining would continue and intrude so asked for a change for 7 which was closest and was given Rm 15 in exchange. 15 is further down the marsh with nicer beds. The next day we were given 16 so the two rooms were side by side. The rooms were perfectly adequate with hot and cold runnning water and an attentive staff. Laundry was returned washed and ironed.
On our first game drive we were given a mini van type of vehicle which was not at all acceptable to us so on discussion with the manager George Murray a compromise was reached and he sent us off on a game drive using one of the balloon safari vehicles for that night but from the next morning until the time we would leave we were to have an open safari landrover type vehicle for the three of us alone.
Our first game drive - shaken up on very bumpy roads and a lot more of bumps to come.... We saw all the usual suspects some beautiful masai giraffes plus a few sleepy lions that lifted their heads now and then. We were mostly in awe of the plains of the mara so different from our trip to Londolozi and Phinda last year. Vultures were eating off a zebra carcass - first time we had seen this.

Balloon Safari:
We began day two with a balloon ride, a first for us all. We had hoped to see thousands of wildebeests but it was not to be. The migration had not reached this part of the Mara. We nevertheless had an exhilirating experience and came down on the other side of the Mara with a bump or two and a gentle flip over on our backs. At a hearty breakfast we met a host of people and strangely enough the topic of conversation was Rudi Giulani.

Our very own landrover with driver/guide Robert was there to pick us up and we after a quick breakfast we left with him. Since we were already southwest we asked him to take us to the area where the wildebeests were. These had come down from the Loita plains = or so we were told - they dotted the landscape like so many ants as far as the eye could see - grazing, sitting and gnuing . It was our first sight of the 'migration' for which we had come to East Africa and we were happy to see this. I was particularly happy to see this sight as I had convinced my husband to make this trip solely for this and the hope of a river crossing.

We had a long game drive saw some lions snacking on a wildebeest - they were not really hungry had eaten already but munched lazily, a group of cheetahs surrounded by a host of mini vans and saw the various crossing points across the Mara in the Mara Serena area with no animals in sight.

That evening game drive we went to the crossing areas on the other side of the river and just 45 minutes from LG. There were a few animals there - Zebra and Wildebeests but no action. Saw some Lion cubs though - delightful.

The next morning with a boxed lunch we set out for the crossing points. Went first to see the ridge pride - 18 in number but we saw six. They had killed a wildebeest and the carcass was watched over by a young male. The others were not very active probably were well fed but every now and then would pose for us which was cute. We are definitely cat lovers so all three of us were delighted.

At noon we staked our position by the river along with a host of other vehicles of all types. We were provided an excellent boxed lunch - a piece of roast chicken, a ham and cheese sandwich, juice, cheese and crackers, apple pie, cherry cake, as orange and banana for each of us so were were able to snack at will. The long wait was punctuated by some interesting interactions between the zebra on either side of the river. They would communicate loudly to each other shaking their heads, come up to the river followed by the wildebeests and then turn tail. Finally after a three hour wait a few of them - about 50 crossed the river. It wasnt the crossing we had hoped for but the interaction among the zebra between the head zebra and his henchmen and those on the other side was extremely interesting .

That evening and the next morning we did a couple of game drives saw part of another pride and saw some of the wildebeest herds which had now reached closer to Little Governors.

The Little Governors location is delightful. Cool breezes blow across the marsh and it is well treed. The warthog families dart about, elephants frolic in the marsh on a regular basis. In fact one night we were wakened by the sound of elephants right outside our tent at 5 am.
The food was buffet style for breakfast and lunch with table service at dinner. Liquor was not included in the price but the prices were very reasonable. We were extremely happy with our choice but a little sad that we hadnt seen the type of crossing we had seen before on TV. Still our days at Sayari were yet to come.

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Old Sep 4th, 2007, 04:24 AM
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Welcome home. Looking forward to hearing about your sightings at Sayari -crossings, off-roading? Do tell.
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Old Sep 4th, 2007, 08:46 AM
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Since flights to Sayari were early in the AM we stayed overnight at the Serena in Arusha. We were first given a room with no lock from the inside!!! At our request this was changed and the new room was a standard hotel issue though conveniently located.
August 24th AM we flew to the Kogatende airstrip with regional air making sure we had only 10KG each. Regional air actually allows 15Kg so there was no need for us to carry all those heavy weight items in our pockets!

Arrived at Sayari and was picked up by Albert who was to be our guide for the next three nights. On our way to camp we were attached by Tsetses. A horde of them descended and bit us. We were told that green is a bad colour ( along with blue as it attracts them). That was a wardrobe problem as more than half our wardrobe was green.

Albert drove us to camp via the Mara - the river was so high that the bridge was unpassable as a couple of vehicles had gone under in the previous weeks. This meant no driving on the other side of the mara which I understood to have a host of resident game. Our main focus was to see a crossing and the migration and Albert said we had made his work easy.

The Sayari campsite has tents on either side of lounge and dining hall and at Julian Asher's suggestion we had requested a tent near the lounge. This was an excellent location. The amenities were not as luxe as Little Governors and there were bucket showers. However they had cosy comforters though I missed the Little Governors hot water bottles. The staff were very attentive and pleasant on the whole.

The wildebeests were everywhere and hordes of them were just outside our tents gnuing loudly all night. Lions roared and one night a leopard was calling as well.

We were told that the previous day there had been a crossing of 20,000 animals and the crocs were well fed. A huge hippo pool of maybe 20 or so hippos was also on view. Sayari has access to five crossing points . Apparently last year casualties were heavy at some points so the wildebeests avoided them and stuck to four and five which were fairly close to camp.

Early in the morning long lines of wildebeests head to the river from all directions where they gather and then begin a back and forth to and away from the water's edge. This was quite interesting to see. After much noise and stomping about at around 11 am about 5,000 animals crossed - we were first at the sight and Albert quickly called up the other Sayari vehicles. We were not as close as we wanted to be and were allowed to get out of the vehicle to a vantage point suggested by the guides. It was a wonderful experience and we returned to the camp for lunch happy that we had seen what we had come to Africa to see.

Next - 300,000 animals cross the river
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Old Sep 4th, 2007, 12:30 PM
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ooh - we leave on a somewhat similar trip tomorrow (more nights in the serengeti, skipping ngorogoro and going to selous, but also wrapping up in dubai.
Can't wait to read more !
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Old Sep 4th, 2007, 05:55 PM
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Thanks for your report on Sayari. Did you make your tent request prior to arrival? Other than being further away from the lounge, what would have been the disadvantage of a different tent? We will be travelling with another couple so just thinking about our options.

So if green is also a bad color for Tsetse what do the the guides suggest? Just tan/browns???
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Old Sep 4th, 2007, 06:23 PM
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Miriam,

On a side note ..... did you go on safari in India or just stay in Bombay?

Have Emirates already started their new direct Dubai-Toronto route?

Cheers,
Hari
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Old Sep 4th, 2007, 07:16 PM
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Your crossing came through for you!
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Old Sep 4th, 2007, 11:41 PM
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Queen of da Nile: Julian had suggested we ask for a tent near the lounge - and we really liked the convenient location. Some of the others were quite a walk away and one day when it poured monsoon like rains it was a great advantage. Also if we needed anything or wanted to relax in the lounge it was very convenient. The tent was not very well treed so maybe the ones away from the lounge were in a more treed area. It was quite hot in the afternoon.
With respect to colours the guides suggested khaki and beige - darker colours like brown also attracted them. This only proved a problem in Sayari and only during the heat of the day when the tsetses were out and about.

Hari, we didnt go on Safari in India. Hadnt been home for five years so just a quick visit to say hi to family. At one point I had considered a tiger safari but was told that august was not a good time - shall keep it for another visit.
Emirates has not started flying to Toronto yet. Our flights were rather convoluted. Had used points to go Air Canada to Delhi - then when Delhi was dropped by Air Canada was switched at no additional cost to Lufthanza. Was originally to go Kenya Airways direct to Nairobi but found a great Biz fare via emirates so decided to go via Dubai.

August 26th: After having seen a crossing we decided to take it easy and to change our morning safari to 8 am instead of 6.30. So after a nice sleep in and a good breakfast we set out . This morning the animals were amassing in huge numbers. The lines were coming in to a central gathering point from several directions. Albert was quite certain there would be a crossing as he said there was close to zero grazing. We made the usual trek from crossing four to five but found the huge numbers were closer to crossing four. As we turned to go back to four we noticed a cloud of dust at the rivers edge a clear sign of a crossing. We were once again the first on site and when we got to the edge there were already three or four lines of animals crossing the river. The number of lines increased to six or seven and animals crossed in a mad frenzy jumping five feet into the water and scrambling over each other to reach the the side. This crossing lasted about two hours and was a spectacular experience. When it began to slow my daughter was anxious to go to crossing 5 and see whether those animals had crossed as well. When we got there we found that they were crossing as well jumping into the water on both sides of a jeep who found themselves in the midst of the surge. In all we were told about 300,000 animals crossed that morning.
One mother wildebeest had broken a leg and kept falling back while its calf waited on top of the ridge urging it to come up. After several pitiful attempts and plunges onto the rocks it lay quiet and tired. Finally, another wildebeest urged the calf to join the herd and it finally did. We watched the mother for quite a while. When the surge quietened down and after it was rested it actually did climb to the top but limped off to join the herd and would have probably been fodder for lions. The crocs swam around but didnt bother to eat. Some of the animals were swept away by the river or had broken legs and clung to the river banks food for the hyenas who would later go onto the banks and drag them up.
We returned to camp exhilarated to be part of this natural phenomenon.
The next evening and morning passed in a blur .... all our minds eye could see were those animals hurtling themselves into the water and the sounds of the gnuing and hooves were in our ears as well.
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Old Sep 5th, 2007, 03:14 PM
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Just amazing!
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Old Sep 5th, 2007, 04:34 PM
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What a fantastic experience you had! Great report.
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Old Sep 5th, 2007, 05:59 PM
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I ended up wearing white a lot on our last safari because it seemed the only color the tsetses stayed away from. I feel for you.

But the migration: how magnificent!
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Old Sep 6th, 2007, 01:44 AM
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Report continued.... Crater experience

August 27th we flew to Lake Manyara and on to the Oldupai Gorge. I was ready to be disappointed with the gorge and museum but nevertheless wanted to pay homage at the site. The ride to Oldupai was horrendous - roads were terrible.
Serena Crater - we were given Room 25 which gave us a great view of the crater and had a pleasant evening. Our Roy Safari guide explained that an early check in was essential in order to get the premier rooms.
Early morning we headed off for the crater. I had no expectations of seeing anything more than the geographical structure and perhaps a couple of sightings but was pleasantly surprized to see some wonderful sightings. Black rhino who was fairly close, a host of lions including one who posed for us on the road for at least 15 minutes, hyena, elephants and of course the crater itself with its varied habitats and its own charm.
A long drive later we were back at Arusha. Rested in the Kia Lodge before flying to Nairobi. Precision Air flight was very comfortable after Regional and Air Kenya.

Overnight Nairobi Intercontinental.
29th am Kennedy came and took us out for the day. The Safari walk was an absolute waste of time and would not suggest anyone go there. The Cheetah hug was cancelled and we were very disappointed. Enjoyed the baby ellies a lot. A one point the three ellies decided to charge a crowd of kids and everyone ran off helter skelter. They were adorable with their sparkling eyes and smiling faces. We did the giraffe feeding next - unusual and touristy but as Sandi told me .... I was a tourist.
Kennedy dropped us off at Utamaduni Restaurant and Craft Centre for lunch and we visited some friends in Karen after that. Dinner was at the Panari and on to Dubai.

The Burj.
As a special treat we decided to stay one night at the Burj in Dubai. The hotel itself other than the outside structure wasnt very impressive. The staff were extremely gracious and checked us in at 6.30 to a two bedroom suite a double upgrade from the basic room we had paid for. I would estimate the size to be about 3000 square feet or so so it was larger than our home and certainly more lavish and of course a little over the top. The stash of full sized Hermes toiletries adorned each bathroom and the gifts of dates sweets etc were ever present. Although I winced at the black and red couch in our bedroom and groaned at the huge mirror above the bed in the master bedroom, the rest of ths suite decorated in provencal yellow and blue was remarkably pleasing. Every seating area, and there were a few, was extremely comfortable and I think all three of us felt a sense of being cossetted which was a nice ending to our holiday.
The only meal we had at the Burj was breakfast which was a slightly expanded standard hotel buffet breakfast with all the usual foods. However, breakfast was enlivened by the visit of Jean Claude Van Damme. I didnt know who he was until I came home and looked him up on the internet, but he certainly cast a flurry of excitement among the hotel staff and a host of tweens and teens in the restaurant who were eager for his autograph.

Now the loads of laundry have been attended to and its back to our regular everyday lives. My daughter is loading up the pictures which I will post in a short while.

I want to thank all you Fodorites for the help and encouragement given, Hari, Julian, Lynn et al
Special thanks to Sandi who helped me plan on the board and provided impeccable arrangements. Both Roy Safaris and Chelli were excellent as well.

Report ended.

Miriam
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Old Sep 6th, 2007, 05:47 AM
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Hi Miriam,

Your trip sounds awesome! hope to make it back to East Africa in 2009.

Rgds,
Hari
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Old Sep 6th, 2007, 09:26 AM
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emdee, what's the "Safari walk" in Nairobi? I haven't heard of this or maybe I'm confused?

Thanks again for your report. I love reliving the migration.
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Old Sep 6th, 2007, 09:55 AM
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Leely, Kennedy called it safari walk its where he usually takes you for the Cheetah hug. Maybe its a Safari Park? A Zoo really. It was a really sad walk we actually almost jogged through but I guess its great for the kids who cannot go to Safari to see the animals. Saw Albino Zebra there though.
Leely, I am waiting for my pictures - my daughter showed me some brilliant ones yesterday.

Regards,

Miriam
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Old Sep 6th, 2007, 10:13 AM
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Ohhh; we didn't do that when we were there, nor the "cheetah hug," just the other usual touristy activities: Sheldrick, shopping, Giraffe Center, Blixen Museum, lunch. I'd probably skip it in the future.

I hope you're planning to share your photos!
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