going_2_africa

I'm feeling like this has taken forever to get even this out. Here is a link to the photos. The "favorites" folder has what I thought were the best of the photos. There is a lot, but gosh, it's hard to pick.

http://shane_m.winkflash.com/

I am nearly finished with the trip report, so will post that soon.

simbakubwa

Shane

what did you prefer between kenya and tanzania... if you could only visit one?

going_2_africa

I preferred Kenya. Absolutely loved both Samburu and the Maasai Mara. I personally didn't care for Ol Pajeta conservancy (where Sweetwaters Tented camp is) too much. It felt a little "zoo-ish", with the chimp sanctuary, the tame rhino, and the "hippo walk." Then at Sweetwaters, with the water hole right there, it just seemed a bit staged and not as wild as the other places. To contradict myself a bit though, we had some really cool giraffe sightings at the waterhole and the warthogs running around were a complete hoot to watch. It wasn't terrible, but I don't feel compelled to return as I would to go back to Samburu or the Mara.

going_2_africa

Hit post too fast. During my trip, the game in the Serengeti was notably scarce. Didn't see any cheetahs, and what was there was very dispersed. Although, in the Serengeti is where I saw the Leopard with 2 cubs in the tree. Cool? Yes, but still preferred the Mara - especially since you can drive off the roads in the Maasai Mara. That proved to be a huge "advantage." I'm sure there are times when the Serengeti is simply fantastic, but the Maasai Mara was much better during my trip.

Too many cars/people in Ngorongoro. Glad I went but, again, don't feel compelled to return.

atravelynn

Shane,

That's a great photo site and good idea to make a favorites photo along with the locations.

You had wonderful luck with the elephants. They did a lot of drinking and showering for you. That stretched out gerenuk really displayed its muscles. Drinking giraffe! What waterholes were they at? The flock of pelicans in the water were nicely grouped. That was a classic shot of the 2 rhinos with the flamingos in the background. You had a great trip by the looks of the photos.

Looking forward to your report.

Simbakubwa, I've noticed the consistency in your questions lately. Can you go any time of the year?

cary999

Looks like another problem with a "underline _" in the link name, shane_m. Got around it by copying the link name and pasting in new browser window url.

But yee gods a yellow green background in the photo window!!!! If you have choice suggest changing color to something neutral. That green blinds you from seeing the photos. But if you like it, then, never mind.

regards - tom

Denbasking

Shane:

Love the scroll feature in winkflash.

In your Kenya/Tanzania 2008 Favorites Album, I cannot believe <b>photo # 414</b>!

Incredible, do you have a story to go with that photo (forgive me if it is posted somewhere &amp; I have missed it)?!

Den

Leely

Thanks for posting these, Shane. I know it's a lot of work, but wonderful for the rest of us to see.

Kenya over Tanzania??? Hmm.

Leely

Meant also to say that your photos are terrific, especially hyena with hoof and, I think it's #280, the zebra in the foreground with 2 impalas (?) in the back--very artistic. And you got good bird shots, which I find absolutely impossible. Lions on kopjes--I am a sucker for those.

sallysaab

Shane looking forward to reading your trip report soon, it's a big job isnt it.
The elephants, the obvious were Lesanju and Dida, do you know who the others were?
And I'm assuming you were on a private visit, how long were you able to stay?

going_2_africa

Thanks for the nice comments.

Lynn - We had AWESOME luck with the elephants, which is right up my alley as I love, love, love the elees. The first several elephant pics were not even on a game drive, they were across the river from Larsen't camp while we were having lunch...before the first game drive of the trip. What a way to start. The drinking giraffes were at the waterhole at Sweetwaters. They came both days, but the one day, there were about 7 giraffes there - which elated my mom. Giraffes are to her what elees are to me, so she was loving it. I was so excited to get the gerenuk standing. We saw a few, but that was the only one I was able to get a picture of. Still in the process of getting the locations uploaded, but wanted to go ahead and post the faves. Also going to post them in folders according to animals. Then people can look at there favorite animals or location. Someday I might even get around to putting captions on them. Yes, it was a truly fantastic trip.

Tom - wasn't given a choice, that I saw for background color. Will check into that though. Thanks

Den - No story posted about that photo. Those genet cats &quot;live&quot; in the rafters/thatched roof of the dining area/bar at Ndutu lodge. They came out every night during dinner and sat up on those hanging beams. Apparently there are 4 adults and 3 or 4 babies. Didn't see the babies, unless they are not really baby anymore and perhaps a bit larger.

Leely - I would have to agree with you, the bird shots are VERY difficult. I take my hat off and bow down to those that get those great shots of birds in flight, etc. The only reason I got any is I was determined. But there were a lot of &quot;uglies&quot; in the process. lol Kenya over Tanzania - just my pref, on another trip, who knows...Tanzania might kick butt all over Kenya. Just the way it happened this time. Both were great. No regrets whatsoever about going to Tanzania and I would go back to most of the places or try different ones.

going_2_africa

Sally - they currently have 5 &quot;babies&quot; and then three a bit older that are getting ready to be released in Tsavo. Lesanju and Dida share there &quot;stall&quot; with Lempaute, who is quite the cheeky little character, and VERY friendly. Pic of me with the three babies, Dida is the smallest and Lesanju is the one that I have my right hand on. They are quite attached. Lesanju has taken Dida under her.....trunk (?). Lempaute is the in that photo. Sinya and Shimba are next door. I was on a private visit. There was one other gal there also and we were there for a little over an hour.

going_2_africa

Ok, so a good portion of my trip report disappeared into thin air. I will go ahead and post the part that remains, with the remainder to follow soon.

Planning:
This all started when a friend of mine and I started talking about taking a “really cool trip somewhere” as a graduation present to ourselves for finishing our MBAs. We were trying to figure out where to go, and then one day it just popped into my head to go to Africa. I had wanted to go on a safari since I was about 12, when a friend of my mom’s went. My friend was all for it…so now what. I knew nothing about planning an African safari. I called a couple local travel agents, which proved to be pretty useless. Then I came across Fodors.com. WOW…there was a TON of information. I started reading the threads here, and reading…and reading some more. Then I finally got brave and made my first post. Question after question popped into my head and several people spent a lot of time offering incredible amounts of information. A couple of weeks into the planning process, my friend and I had a big falling out, and were no longer going to be taking this trip together. “To hell with that,” I thought. There was no way I was giving up my trip now. So, I asked a few other people if they wanted to go. No was the answer all around – either because of lack of vacation time, money or interest. Ok fine, looks like I’m going to Africa by myself. A few days later my mom called me at work. “What if I went to Africa for part of the time?” was the first thing out of her mouth. Clearly this was my mother’s voice, but who had invaded her brain and caused her to say such a thing? “I don’t know…what if?”, I said. I did some checking, and there was no reason why this couldn’t be done. So it was set. Mom and I would fly over together, spend 2 weeks in Kenya, then she’d fly home and I would go to Tanzania for a week solo. Works for me. LET’S GO!!! And the 8 long months of waiting began.

Final Itinerary:
We left the U.S. on Jan 4th and arrived in Nairobi on the 7th. There was a day and a half in Paris, which I put in there just in case, since I live in Milwaukee, WI and our first connection was in Detroit. Didn’t want to chance weather delays, etc and if any time was missed anywhere, I preferred it be the time in Paris – NOT Africa. No travel issues, so we had our time in Paris and arrived in Nairobi on Jan 7th (which I’ll call day 1)
Day 1 – Arrive NBO (early a.m.), transfer to Wilson for flight to Samburu – o/n Larsen’s Tented Camp
Day 2 – Samburu – o/n Larsen’s
Day 3 – Samburu to Ol Pajeta Conservancy by road – o/n Sweetwaters Tented Camp
Day 4 – Ol Pajeta Conservancy – o/n Sweetwaters
Day 5 – Ol Pajeta to Lake Nakuru by road – o/n Sarova Lion Hill
Day 6 – Lake Nakuru to Nairobi Wilson by road, fly to Maasai Mara – o/n Mara Explorer
Day 7 – Maasai Mara – o/n Mara Explorer
Day 8 – Maasai Mara – o/n Mara Explorer
Day 9 – Maasai Mara to Nairobi Wilson by air, road transfer to Amboseli – o/n Ol Tukai Lodge
Day 10 – Amboseli – o/n Ol Tukai
Day 11 – Amboseli to Lake Manyara, TZ by road – o/n Migunga Forest Camp
Day 12 – Lake Manyara to Ngorongoro Crater by road – o/n Ngorongoro Sopa
Day 13 – Ngorongoro Crater to Serengeti by road – o/n EMC – Simuyu Mobile Camp in Seronera
Day 14 – Serengeti – o/n EMC – Simuyu
Day 15 – Serengeti – o/n EMC – Simuyu
Day 16 – Serengeti to Ndutu (NCA) by road – o/n Ndutu Lodge
Day 17 – Ndutu (NCA) – o/n Ndutu Lodge
Day 18 – Ndutu to Seronera by road, Seronera to NBO by air – Kazuri Bead Factory, Sheldrick Orphanage, Dinner at Carnivore, and transfer to airport for flight home.

Travel Agent/Tour Operator – IMPORTANT
I used Sardius Tours, based in Nairobi. Would I use them again? No, absolutely not. I will explain, but, before I go into this, let me say that this was an ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE trip. I had the time of my life…MOST of the time. The list of reasons that I would not use this tour operator again, may make it sound like I had a terrible time and was miserable. THAT IS NOT THE CASE. However, the things that were “wrong” were wrong enough that I would employ a different TA next time. Hope that makes sense. And here is the list of reasons I would do so.
- When I first contacted Sardius, the emails couldn’t get returned fast enough. Response time was almost immediate. Once the deposit was paid, response time significantly dropped off. I understand that a few months of that time was during Kenya’s peak season and all, but I also feel that waiting close to a week, or longer is unacceptable.
- When we were discussing the mobile camping in the Serengeti, they set it up at the Dik Dik campsite – a public campsite. I didn’t know that this was simply a campsite, and thought it was the name of a mobile camp. Once I was clear, I did not want to stay at a public campsite, and stated this to my TA. It took approximately 3 months for him to secure a different mobile camping arrangement. I emailed and emailed and emailed and continually got nothing but empty promises to “get right on it.” Of course, the whole purpose of mobile camping was to be amongst the migration. The first camp that was suggested was Mbalageti. “They have space”, I was told. Yeah, DUH, it’s in the Western Corridor area. Of course they have space. Then I was told Migration Camp…way up north. It was a very frustrating piece of putting things together, and took FAR, FAR too long to get straightened out.
- I requested several times that he send me the confirmation numbers or reservation details or whatever for each of the accommodations during the trip. Time and time again I was told he’d get them to me soon. He asked if I preferred to have them faxed or emailed. I said email was fine. About a week later, he informs me that he found scanning the documents onto the computer to be too tedious and he would give them to me when we arrived in Nairobi. Ok, first, there would have only been 9 documents to scan. How tedious and time consuming can that possibly be? Second, when I’ve paid you nearly $12,000, I don’t care if it takes all day, I would expect a simple request like that to be fulfilled.
- Upon arrival at NBO, we were looking and looking for a board with our name on it. Nothing. Nobody was there to meet us at the airport. The information desk called the TA and he was about 20 minutes or so away. He finally arrived over an hour after we had landed. During our pre departure briefing, I stepped away to the restroom and he told my mom that I had emailed the day before and told him our flight was arriving at 7:00, rather than 6:00. This was absolutely untrue and my mom knew it. We were in Paris the entire day before, and never got next to a computer. Didn’t appreciate the dishonesty, AT ALL.
- Caught in a lie…#2. During the pre-departure briefing, TA informed us that in the Maasai Mara, we would be doing game drives in the Mara Explorer vehicles. This, he said, was because they don’t allow the tour company vehicles to do the game drives. I was VERY skeptical about that reason, but couldn’t dispute…yet. Don’t think for a second that I didn’t intend to find out the real deal, though. Well, of course, when we arrived at the Mara Explorer, I casually brought it up in conversation, and was told, “Of course, the tour company’s drivers and vehicles are allowed.” Just as I suspected.
- In conjunction with the above point, we had paid for private vehicle use for the entire 11 days in Kenya. Now, all of a sudden, they are not driving us. To me, that equals, that they took money for services they are not providing. This was resolved by way of adding a flight. While in Lake Nakuru, we decided that we really didn’t want to drive to the Mara. Called TA and made arrangements to drive back to Nairobi, then fly to Maasai Mara. At first, he was talking about the additional charge to add the flight. I played my “we paid you for services you’re not providing” card and said we’d have to discuss when we met in person. When we did meet up in Nairobi on the last day, the additional charge for the added flight was never mentioned. Ok, problem resolved, but I still think he tried to swindle us a bit, and I knew enough to counter the “ambush.”
- In Tanzania, the ground operator was outsourced, and I’m sorry to say I can’t remember for the life of me what the name of the company was. I thought I wrote it down somewhere, but I can’t find it. Anyway, moving on…the first night in Tanzania, at Lake Manyara, my itinerary and reservation was for Kirurumu Tented Camp. Without any explanation at all, we just ended up at Migunga Forest Camp. Not until the next morning, when I asked, was there any explanation at all about why the change had been made. I was told that Kirurumu was full. Um…how did anyone know that? We never went there. I’ve had a reservation for months.
- When driving from Ngorongoro to Serengeti, the vehicle broke down. Fine, I completely understand that these things happen. What I don’t find ok was that we never had any radio contact with anyone during the 3+ hours that we sat there. The radio wasn’t even turned on. Maybe that’s normal, but I thought it very odd that with a broken down vehicle, there is no contact with anyone that might be able to assist. We had water and I had Power Bars, so were didn’t go hungry or die of thirst.
- After having broken down…btw, the problem with the vehicle was that 3 of the bolts on the wheel hub broke, so the tire was wobbly and about to fall off. I looked later and both of the front tires only had 3 of the 6 bolts/lugnuts in place. Ok, so, after having broken down, we went on no less than 2 game drives and a 3 hour transfer drive with no water whatsoever. Had we broken down again, we just might have died of thirst. Not ok in my book.
- The “outsourced” guide was not very good at all. He kept telling me we were going to go look for cheetah(s), but then we’d spend a good 80% of the drive in wooded areas. It was all I could do not to ask him if he was aware that cheetahs don’t live in trees, they are savannah cats.
- Along the same lines, game in the Serengeti was notably scarce. We took a box lunch one day so we could go farther out and go to some new areas, but we never did. We drove all around the same areas, and continued to drive around the same roads all day. It was very frustrating. Granted, that was the day we saw the leopard with 2 cubs in the tree, but there was no way to know we’d get that lucky after seeing nothing in that area for the previous 2 days. In spite of the great/lucky leopard sighting, I think the client’s request should be met when it’s not unreasonable. I wasn’t asking to go to the Kenya border from the Seronera, but just to a different area than we had been driving circles in. Nuff said.
- Neither our guide in Kenya nor my guide in Tanzania had binoculars. They either missed stuff, or asked me (several times) to use mine if they thought they saw something off in the distance. DUH!!!
Ok, so I’m done with my rant about the TA.

What worked:
- Drink “packets” for the bottled water. I am not a water drinker, by any stretch of the imagination. I took several different types of the drink packets (such as Crystal Light To Go). It worked out great. They are not that heavy and so easy to deal with while on game drives. Even if you like water, they could add a little variety to your beverage selection.
- Wolverine for photo storage – I wasn’t going to invest in any such device, but at the last minute decided to go ahead and do it. I bought one of the Wolverine models. I can’t view the photos on it; it is just a storage device, but I’m so glad I got it. It has a great battery life – only had to recharge once in 18 days. YMMV depending on how much you’re downloading.
- Daily downloading of photos – regardless of how much space I had used on my SD cards, I downloaded the pictures to the Wolverine every evening. They get put on there in files numerically named. So, file SD001 was day 1, SD002 – day 2 and so on. This left no question, then, as to where we were when we saw what animals, etc.
- Buffs – You know, like they have on Survivor. A circular bandana/handkerchief sort of thing. I took 5. Probably could have gotten by with 3, but I used every one of them. They were great to cover your head from dust, or to cover up the morning bed head. Also worked well to cover the face from sun a few times or from dusty roads. Loved them.
- “Take and toss underwear” – One of the Fodorites posted a while back that they take old(er) underwear and just throw them away, rather than having to worry about washing a few pair. It worked great. Added benefit, for every day you’re there and throw away the skivvies, you make more room in your bag for souvenirs. Just sayin’
- In country flights – This is absolutely the way to go. We did both road transfers and flights, and I would never do road transfers again. In the grand scheme of things, the added cost for the flights really isn’t that much – at least to the areas that we went to. The roads in Tanzania are MUCH better than those in Kenya, so road transfers were tolerable. The absolute worst was the road from Namanga to Amboseli. It was absolutely dreadful – 50km of driving on a washboard. It took 2.5 hours…and that was just to the gate of Amboseli. Then we had to go another 25+km to get to our lodge. Samburu to Ol Pajeta was a pretty long drive. The road to Isiolo is terrible, but not quite as bad as Amboseli. From Isiolo on, it was paved road, so not bad.

What would I do different:
- Take more small denomination bills – I had mostly 20s, some 10s and a small handful of 5s. I really wished I had taken more of the smaller, especially 5s.
- For all those skeptics, LyndaS has something going with her stapler. I can’t even remember what for now, but there was definitely a few times when I had to chuckle to myself because I really wished I had a little stapler with me. You go, Lynda…defend that stapler with all you’ve got. ;-)
- Small envelopes and note cards – Everyone else does it, but noooooo, not Shane. lol I thought about it and thought about it, and ended up completely forgetting to pack the dang envelopes for tips. DRAT!!! For those other boneheads who forget the envelopes, such as myself, all of the camps had envelopes in the tents, so it all worked out. Take envelopes!!!
- Take even fewer clothes than I did – I am a notorious overpacker, and I thought I did a pretty good job of packing light. I was under my 33lbs. For 18 days, that’s good for me. But, I could have taken even a couple fewer short sleeved shirts. All of the camps, even the mobile camp had laundry services. I would have, however, taken 1 more long sleeved t-shirt. They were great for the morning game drives. I took 2, wish I’d have had a third.

Kenya Camps/Lodges:
Larsen’s Tented Camp (Samburu) – LOVED IT!!! This was our first accommodations and they truly set the bar high. I could gush and gush and go on forever, but let just say…It was fantastic!!! The tents were simply outstanding. They have 20 (I believe) tents, set up with 10 on either side of the dining area. It is a fenced camp, however there’s a long expanse along the river front that does not have a fence in place. Animals can still get in…and they did. The last morning we were there, there was very clear evidence (right behind our tent) that a buffalo had walked through the camp in the middle of the night. I’m just glad I was looking down at the path so I didn’t step in it. ;-) The food was excellent here and the service was just outstanding. Every member of the staff treated us as if we were old friends. The swimming pool was quite chilly, but the hot tub was just perfect. Directly adjacent to the pool area, there is an open sided “spa” area where you can get a massage. Of course, I had to get a massage in the open African night. During my massage, I heard lions roaring and a male elephant rumbling that high pitched, musth rumble. It was just awesome.
The first night, there was one family (parents and either 1 or 2 kids, I forget) and another couple that was a mother and daughter traveling together…and my mom and me. That was it.
The second night, my mom and I were the only people in the camp. We were sitting on our porch that last evening, watching the elephants graze, right across the river from our tent. It was time to go eat dinner and we were just about the get up to go to the dining area when we heard footsteps. We looked toward the path and two of the staff members were carrying a fully set table to our tent. We had dinner right on the porch of our tent…with the elees.
Sweetwaters Tented Camp (Ol Pajeta Conservancy) – A reasonably nice camp. The tents are appointed fairly simply, but still comfortable. It was pretty cold, especially at night here. While we were at dinner, when they came to turn down the beds, they put a hot water bottle in the bed to warm it up. A nice touch, although my mom likes cold sheets so she would throw her water bottle in my bed as soon as we got back to the tent.
We got back from a morning game drive after breakfast was over. They met us as we walked past and told us they were waiting for us. We apologized profusely for keeping them, but were very grateful for the generous bit of hospitality they extended. They were completely unphased (at least outwardly) and we had a very nice breakfast.

To be continued…

cary999

G2A - great report, keep it coming, thanks.

regards - tom

going_2_africa

Thanks Tom...and, btw, I emailed the folks at winkflash to find out if that background color can be changed. I hadn't even really paid attention to it until you mentioned it, but it is sort of disturbing. We'll see.

Shane

steffid

Exciting report, please don't let us wait too long ;-))

Very curious for Nakuru, Srova Lion Hill, and the Mara, especially the place of Mara Explorer Camp!!! Looking forward for more...

Patty

Thanks for starting your report! Am really enjoying it. I hope you have the part that disappeared saved elsewhere. I think there's a maximum post length and that might be what happened.

Sorry you had issues with your operator. It's fairly typical for a Kenyan operator to outsource to a Tanzanian one for the Tanzania portion (or vice versa) if doing a combined safari in both countries. However, that doesn't excuse the problems you had. Was the operator in TZ Roots of Africa Expeditions? That name has come up on the Tripadvisor forums as the TZ operator used by Sardius.

Glad you had a great time despite the problems. Looking forward to your next installment and off to view your photos!

MyDogKyle

I'm really enjoying your report and loved your photos! Thanks for posting so many! We fell in love with Samburu too -- it was one of our favorite places. It looks like you visited many of the same spots in Kenya that we did, so it's especially fun for me to read about your trip.

pattyroth

Thanks mucho for the report and photos. Excellent photos of elephants, giraffes, leopards, etc. Takes me right back there.

jmartmd

Your pictures and report were fantastic. Thanks for sharing.