cooncat, as a copywriter, I know exactly how you feel. I'd rather draw this report. Or use smileys only.

cyn, I'm glad you're reading. I thought you might understand.

<b>Pit Stop at Olduvai </b>

Arrived at Olduvai around 4ish, I believe.

Well, of course there was no reason to stay at Olduvai this time of year other than ATR pushes it and I didn’t feel like hassling with them. Guess what? We ended up enjoying it. Strangely, while at Mawe Ninga and later at Ronjo we were 3 of only 7 guests, Olduvai was packed. 31 people. So ATR is fulfilling their promise to whomever (the devil?) to keep Olduvai fully booked.

Tents were comfortable. Genets, including the house fave, Genet Jackson, were in the dining room. We clicked with a few of the young Maasai guys who took us out on our sunset walk. I didn’t think that three bashful women like us would find anything to say to these Maasai, but my charm is international, nay, universal. I guess only two of us are bashful and one is reserved for the first 8 minutes you meet her. Guess who?

The walk was fun. It was a good feeling to trudge up that hill, through the golden grass, with Sanai leading us on, spear at the ready. A bunch of kids herding cattle came rushing up to Sanai to say hello to him. They all know him because their little village—27 people, two families; does that constitute a village?—is just around the kopje from Olduvai.

Kari and I enjoyed the scene, while The Mom, an unapologetic doting grandma, went basically nuts over the kids. Kari was mortified. As Judy’s not my mother, I just chuckled. Those kids were pretty darn cute, though.

Basically, we took the walk, showered, had dinner, went to bed, and left first thing in the morning. No problems. Oh, and the linens were all clean.

Food: yes, it was beef and potatoes again. With some other unremarkable stuff. I’m home a size smaller from this trip. I can’t believe people pay all that money to go to the Golden Door when you can just take a mid-range safari.

Leely,
I’m sorry there was sad news about your cook.

I think the lion thought “I like these tourists and I’ll mark them as part of my territory”.

The place where the girls from Leeds stayed must have been Everest Chinese Restaurant and Inn. It’s in the LP guide and their prices are s/d/tw/tr $25/40/40/55. It sounds nice and the rooms come with nets, bathroom and a good breakfast – your choice of Western or Chinese. Someone just has to explain the concept of a boxed lunch to them.

We all know scent marking is sign of affection. Obviously your charm translates across species

Patty, Nyamera,

You're both right, of course.

I was sad to read about the cook and only imagine how hard it was to see Adrian and hear from him directly. Assuming Lake Natron is a very pretty setting, there is one positive at least.

You fully delivered on your promise to share the guide &quot;nuggets&quot;, Leely. Very insightful. I'm excited to learn about our guide and meet. You've built good relationships. THANK YOU.

As to the spraying, could be a signal for you to return to Africa. Africa is leaving it mark on you.

'bout time for another installment, isn't it?

Yes, Patty. I was just thinking about that because of the poster who's contemplating staying at Ronjo. Got my print pics back from my old point and shoot. Argh, my flash wasn't working so my Ronjo tent shots didn't come out! I so wanted to have something to contribute to go-safari.com.

I'll get cracking.

Bummer

<b>Seronera </b>

Much as Tarangire is crazy with elephants, you can’t swing a cat without hitting a cat in the Seronera. That has been my experience—and my pleasure.

The road into the Serengeti has been described many times. It hasn’t changed. It’s bumpy. It’s dusty. I didn’t think the Crater descent and ascent roads were as bad as I’d remembered them, but this road was worse. Bring your eyedrops if you’re sensitive to dust.

We decided with Edward that this would be an all-day game drive, and that we wouldn’t go to Ronjo until the evening. Good idea.

Very soon we were running into lions. Mama with three cubs: two tumbled into the high grass before I even got my camera out. We watched this group for quite a while hoping the babies would make themselves more camera ready, but they only moved further into tall grass.

We came across a vehicle with a leopard under it. The English famil inside said they had been watching the leopard in the tree for about 15 minutes when it hopped down, ran over, and decided to lounge in the best shade around. I took their photo. I should email it to their safari company. This was MY only leopard of the trip and we didn’t stay long because shortly the area got fairly crowded with other vehicles (6? 8?), but I suppose I can’t complain because we were very, very close.

Cheetahs. I was worried about these guys because Edward had said he hadn’t seen any cheetahs in the Serengeti in “a long time” and he was wondering if they’d gone up north and been hunted. I later realized that his idea of a long time and mine are worlds apart. We saw 8 different cheetahs in the Serengeti: two with Nomad and six with Edward. Three very close as they gnawed away at a Tommie carcass. All of the hunting cheetahs we saw this time missed and/or gave up. We did spend a long time watching them try halfheartedly.

All the cats we saw this trip looked fat and happy. Many/most had pink faces and paws, having recently feasted on something. Even the hyenas, vultures and jackals looked full and sassy. A good time to be a predator or a scavenger. On our last trip we saw a number of hungry-looking lions. The migration must have moved on fairly recently this June.

What else? Tommies, topis, kudu, bushbuck, hartebeest, zebras, giraffes, elephants, hippos, crocs, reedbuck. Warthogs, how could I forget you dear things? And on and on. Lots of everything.

Surprisingly, other than the leopard-under-the-car, we didn’t find it difficult to escape the crowds and still see all the big-ticket wildlife. On the whole, I think I saw fewer lions in the Serengeti. I hope it was just luck and there hasn’t been a decrease in the population.

As another aside, Edward is a leopard man. I suspected as much! He appreciates the way they hunt, finds them cunning. He told us the story of a leopard in the Crater who was in a tree above a lion and her cubs. When the lion would leave to hunt, the leopard would run down and kill one of her cubs. One cub a day until there were no more left. The lion couldn’t figure out what was going on. On the final day the lion looked up into the tree and saw the leopard. She then parked herself there, waiting for the leopard to some down. This went on for a few days, the leopard growing thin and hungry. Finally the leopard made a break for it. She leapt out of the tree and got away before the lion could catch up.

Truth or legend? I don’t know, but I enjoyed the story. I believed.

At Ronjo in the evening, we met up with a (hysterically funny, incredibly nice!) Italian couple who had been at Mawe Ninga. The husband is a photographer and desperately wanted to see leopards. They had looked all day and no leopard. The next morning they were flying off to Zanzibar. Edward said that’s always the way it is. The people who can’t take photos to save their lives see everything (um, that would be us). The artists miss everything. And then he laughed! I said maybe they hadn’t had enough time on safari. He sniffed and said, “No, you only need two nights to see leopard. Two nights, IF you have a serious driver.”

<b>In the evening we rolled into…Ronjo Camp </b>

The food was so-so, the service was almost poor (they were understaffed in my opinion), and I spent almost all night awake, terrified of lions. I loved this place!

The setting was gorgeous, on a low ridge in the Seronera valley. As far as the eye could see—the Serengeti. The tents were smaller and more basic than at Olduvai and Mawe Ninga, and the shower and toilet fully detached from the tent. This last detail did not escape my notice as it meant going outside, yep, out there where things are moving in the dark. I’m one of those people who, if worried about something like that, will inevitably need to get up and go at midnight and at 2am. And then again at 3:30. So this was of some concern to me, especially as my tent was the tent at the end of the camp. Far off by itself, or so it seemed to me.

The girls, of course, shared a tent, took their Tylenol PM, and slept like babies all night long.

David, the young guy running the camp, smiled and told me that lions don’t like fire, that’s why they place lanterns around the tents. Okay, fine. But are there lanterns in the back of the tents by the loo? None that I could see.

I kept hearing noises—lion noises—all night. Also hyena noises. I couldn’t determine whether they were near or far. They sounded near, but I convinced myself I must be imagining it. You know how sometimes lions don’t make a full roar, but rather just growl and it sounds surprisingly soft? That’s what I heard all night. At one point I thought, “Wow, I never thought this would be the way I go.” And then of course I started romanticizing my own demise and drifted off to sleep, wearing, in my fantasies, some kind of Dior safari suit.

In the morning, Edward greeted us with, “Well, I know none of you slept last night!” Three of the staff (only three?) had been up chasing lions away for most of the night. And a hyena broke into the storage tent and ate up a bunch of the food.

We were in tents 2 and 3. No one was in 4. David served drinks, dinner, hosted us, carried the food and dishes back and forth from the kitchen (not close), and so on. Dinner therefore was late and took a very long time. I gather when they have more guests they have more staff, but this seemed like an awful lot of work for one man. We also only had one Maasai guarding the camp at night. Though he was a capable guy (capable of at least laughing politely at my “jokes” about how he should guard very close to my tent), I would have preferred at least one more.

Still, the small staff is friendly, the camp is beautiful, simple, and sooo quiet all you’ll hear is your neighbors in the Serengeti, whatever they may be. I’d stay again.

&quot;The food was so-so, the service was almost poor (they were understaffed in my opinion), and I spent almost all night awake, terrified of lions. I loved this place!&quot;

As much as I wanted to hear lions and hyenas and elephants at night while we were camping, I slept so soundly that I didn't hear a thing! But that also meant I didn't have to get up and use the loo

Leely, what a fantastic report....please keep it coming!!!

&quot;David, the young guy running the camp, smiled and told me that lions don’t like fire, that’s why they place lanterns around the tents.&quot;

I stayed at Ronjo in Feb 2006 and David was a wonderful person but don't beleive the &quot;lions don't like fire&quot; story. It's something they tell all of their guests. During our last night at Ronjo, 5 lions came to visit patrolling the entrances of tents 4 to 7. After much quizzing our Maasai guards told me that when it rains at night in that area - there is a pride of lions who like to sleep by the entrance of tents 6 and 7 to get some shelter!!!! The record for most they have had outside a single tent (number 7) during a rainy night is 8 lions - and that night two ladies were sleeping in the tent and didn't hear a thing!!!

Leely -

I'm laughing so hard. Another who gets up in the middle of night, especially when there are predators out there. The lanterns work, as I requested last year at Starbeds because we were there alone, or I hoped they did then. But you asked the important question &quot;near my loo?&quot;

As to those soft growls... yup, lions.

More, more.........

Leely, your report starts out great and just keeps getting better!! Thanks!

Leely,
I’m so envious. I always fall asleep when I want to listen to lion and hyena noises. Ronjo sounds wonderful, but the detached bathroom would be a problem for me.

Sandi, yes, you need to start worrying about lanterns by the loo. It's important!

Africa, oh, I wish you hadn't told me that about lions and light/fire. Are those your photos on Eben's web site? I just referred my friends to them since my picks of Ronjo didn't come out.

Patty and Nyamera and the other sound sleepers: count your blessings.

nevermind, thank you. Tick tock for you, I think.

<b>The Wild West. Heat and dust. </b>

We got up very early the next morning so that we could game drive in the Seronera valley a bit before meeting our Nomad guides at 9am. Edward wanted us to see as much as possible in the cat-rich center area before heading off to wildebeest land. More lions, mostly just walking about, not really hunting anything as far as we could tell.

We were handed over to Nomad at the Visitor Center. While we were in Arusha, Petra from ATR had mentioned the name of our Nomad guide. Quite unfortunately, he had had a sudden health emergency, and we instead had a Nomad consultant who used to manage their Katavi camp, Squack. Squack was born and raised in Zimbawe, although his family is from Kenya. Because he’s fairly new to the Serengeti we also had a driver, Yahaya, who works mobiles for Nomad in the Serengeti. As it turns out, these were both wonderful, interesting guys, but it was definitely not what I was expecting. Of course, someone’s health problems are far more significant than my holiday, no question, but I was taken by surprise.

I also realized what a fool I’d been to skip the posts on Fodor’s about what to tip the guide and what to tip the driver! I never thought I’d be in that situation because I’ve always had a driver/guide. One guy, one tip, easy.

We spent a long, leisurely day driving to the Nomad camp in the western Serengeti. Watching two cheetahs hunt (again, unsuccessfully) was a highlight, as were all the elephants we encountered on our way out west.

Another highlight was the Nomad picnic lunch. It was a little weird for me to stand around and watch the guys set up the table, the chairs, the tablecloths, the whole bit. I’m just not accustomed to it. But the food more than made up for any momentary discomfort. This is where the diet part of the trip ended.

When we arrived in Tanzania we had heard that the wildebeest were scattered all over the Serengeti. Some were going north, some were going west, and some were heading back to the center again. Edward had told us the evening at Ronjo that he had spoken to people coming from the Western Corridor and they had said, good news, they’re all (or most) heading west west west.

This part of the holiday is a bit of a blur. The first night wildebeest were right in our camp, talking to each other all night. It is much easier for me to sleep with the chatter of wildebeest in the background than lions and hyenas. We really saw more wildebeest than anything else in this area (except for tsetse flies!). Crocs, hippos, elephants, colobus monkeys

I have never seen so many wildebeest in my life as we saw the next few days. It was nuts. At first they were scattered in smaller groups. By our last full day on safari they seemed to be congregating into great huge herds and heading off. It was amazing, but they do kick up a lot of dust, don’t they?

We didn’t see any cats while we were out west. I was somewhat disappointed, mainly because Kari and I both started to get really itchy from the tsetse bites and it was hot and dusty and smoky from the controlled burns they were doing in the area. Some adrenalin rushes were needed sometimes.

Well, we did see an African wild cat VERY briefly. A leopard made those strange leopard noises in our camp the last night we were there, but we didn’t see him. We saw some kind of bird species Squack had never seen before but was really excited about. (Can you tell I’m not a bird person?)

The pace was slower here—and I was just getting into it when we had to leave!

Sorry, I had done some editing and it didn't take, mainly to the list of animals: impalas, Tommies, topis, giraffes, zebras and some others were added to the list.

<b>Notes on Nomad </b>

Yes, it’s a excellent operation. There’s really not much to say: they do it all so well, right in the middle of nowhere.

Toad in my bathroom. HUGE spider in my tent, and this even with all my careful sock-stuffing where the zippers close, etc. I only wish I’d gotten a photo of that monster. The spider, not the toad. The toad was cute, especially how every time I thought he must have found his way out, he’d hop up at me from some hidden spot.

This may have to do with the group of guests, or with me, or I’m not sure what, but I found it a little more formal than the other camps we visited. I never knew who was on staff other than the main waiter/bartender, Sam, and we were here longer than at any other camp. They did everything so seamlessly that you hardly even knew they were there.

Squack ate dinner with us every night. I could never figure out whether this was because he’s former management or whether the guides take turns hosting the guests, as he was the only guide at dinner. What’s the deal here? Just wondering.

The other guests were great. Some self-described “drunken English people,” an Aussie couple with a lot of good stories. Very fun dinner companions, and you’ve already paid for your booze, and they’re all hammered anyway, so… (Just kidding, of course.)

In spite of the gin, the dinners at Nomad featured some of the most intelligent, nuanced conversations about “Africa” I’ve had outside of Fodor’s. Suffice it to say I felt like a real idiot.

Squack had quite a bit to do with the level of the dinner conversation. He’s a fascinating person and very intelligent. (Hey, we loved Yahaya too, but his English is pretty limited. It would be nice if he were able to take some sort of language course in Arusha, though, because he’s a great spotter and very patient…both with wildlife and with tourists. He would make an excellent, excellent guide.)

Next up, final thoughts. And of course I’ll be soliciting ideas for the next trip.

Hi Leely

Yes...I passed those Ronjo &quot;en-suite&quot; bathroom photos on to Eben. I organised that trip for a group of 10 - and not a single person used those open toilets during the night!!! I remember members of my group taking codeine and loperamide at night to intentionally constipate themselves

Regards

Gaurang

Guarang, are you kidding? I got up 3 times. Using both my torches, of course.

<b>Holy grail </b>

I forgot to mention in my report that Squack and Yahaya and I got into a conversation about the holy grails on safaris. Yahaya has seen 6 pangolins in 4 different parks in Tanzania! So if you want to see a pangolin, you might want to start hanging out with Yahaya.

They also said wild dogs have been seen south of Serengeti fairly recently. I can't remember if Squack's seen them, but Yahaya has.

We didn't see a Serval this time, but I wasn't too crushed as we saw one the last safari.

What a small world, Leely!

See if you recognize the person on the left in this picture. We called this the Wild Katavi Boardroom!

Yours truly is on the right!

http://www.go-safari.com/Katavi/Katavi1.jpg