bradley57

Hope this works, I've been looking at the postings about how to share photos and I think this is how!http://www.kodakgallery.co.uk/Slides...localeid=en_GB

We travelled with Virgin Worldwide on a family safari, myself,my husband, our two teenage daughters and my mother. The safari itself was arranged by Virgin with Kudu Safaris, and we had a knowledgeable and helpful guide called Deo Gracias. Luckily for us no-one else had booked the trip so we had the Landcruiser all to ourselves.
We flew via Nairobi to Mount Kilimanjaro, and spent the first night at the Moivaru Coffe Lodge.

We then set off on the well-trodden Northern circuit staying first at the Lake Manyara Serena, then Sopa Lodges at Ngorongoro (2 nights), Serengeti (2 nights) and Tarangire, with a final lunch at the New Arusha Hotel.Our favourite hotel was Manyara because of the fabulous pool and good food served on the terrace. The worst experiences were driving around the Serengeti, with little wildlife besides buffalo and hot dry dusty roads (the endless plain.........)and the Olduvai Gorge long drop toilet!
Sorry the photos are a bit of a jumble as this is my first attempt with Photogallery and there were so many to sort, but I hope you will find them worth a look.
I know Fodorites have many more challenging and interesting trips to report on, but apart from a short holiday to The Gambia the previous February we had never travelled outside Europe before (my mother has been around the world but her ambition was to see Ngorongoro which prompted the trip)so this was quite an extraordinary experience for us.

My daughter has now started work as a travel agent which is proving very costly as we are easily persuaded to book with her as she regales us with tales of exotic places! Next week we're all off to Luxor, then France in October and Phuket next February. My mother, who will be 75 this year, is coming on all the trips too. I'd like to do another safari soon as we only got a few glimpses of leopard (after the impala bolting was one of them)and weren't lucky enought to see any rhino. We're thinking maybe South Africa...

Blue11

Thanks for posting the photos!

We are travelling to Tanzania in mid-October this year. You mentioned seeing very little wildlife in the Serengeti -- we you disappointed with the wildlife viewing in general?

The more research I do, the more I'm beginning to regret my decision to travel in the dry season. I'm worried we're not going to see much as if we were travelling in a better month, so would like to know your thoughts.

Also -- the seventh photo in -- is it my imagaination or is that lion wearing a collar??

atravelynn

The collared lion shows up again later. It would be interesting to know any story behind that. Ongoing research? I ran into a collared wild dog. As for stories, there were some shots of congregating vehicles. Was there a fender bender, a small convoy, a social?

The jackal family was a marvelous find! Nice ostrich, they're not easy closeup subjects. The lioness in the kopje was great. Nice that you saw at least one cheetah. Some lovely sunrise/set shots.

South Africa should provide a nice contrast to this trip. Get your daughter working on it.

kimburu

You should post about Gambia - that might be a first if you want to be interesting. I was going to go there once but got interested in Kenya and that was the end of that - and 1001 other holiday destinations. I like the first lion on Kopje picture too... and it's nice to have landscapes as well. Where was your mini-wildebeest migration? What is with those scraggy looking lionesses? They really don;t look in good shape - I guess October is a bad time to be a lion in the Serengeti.

bradley57

The buses etc were stopping to look at some lionesses in the grass, the same ones with collars who our guide said were usually in that area which was right on the edge of the main road (between Ngorongoro and Serengeti I think). It was a very flat dry area with little wildlife at all,just an odd zebra or antelope so no wonder the lionesess looked equally dry and dusty!

The wildebeest line was coming down from the edges of the crater at Ngorongoro into the central plains, as was the lion. We saw lots of wildlife everywhere we went except for Serengeti despite the lack of water.We had a long trip to get to Serengeti, then next day were out until the evening. It was a bit scary too as dusk settled and we were still nowhere near the lodge,and we had to pull another vehicle out of a rut which made us all feel just a little vulnerable..........
There were pockets of animals around the few pools and kopjes but it really did seem like we were just driving on and on.When we saw the cheetah under the bush we also saw tyre tracks right round it where other vehicles had circled it which I found a bit worrying - did it never get any peace because there wasn't anything else to see?
We went in October because of school holidays so hadn't chosen the time with regard to animal movements,and apart from Serengeti we actually had plenty to see. I was interested in smaller animals as well, like the gang of striped mongoose that ran across the road like a furry wave (too quick to take a photo) and the birds around the waterholes. The trouble with Serengeti was it was such a long drive out, round and back to the lodge, unlike the other places we stayed, and the children got very bored at yet another crowd of buffalos glowering at them and not a lot else!They loved everywhere else, we had a fantastic experience and I would rather go again in October than not go at all.

I will put a post on about The Gambia for anyone who's interested. We went to the Independence day celebrations at Banjul, where we stayed,when the presidents of every surrounding country (and their wives!)joined the ceremony. Western tourists were shown to a grandstand which was an honour, but it was unbearably hot and both my husband and daughter fainted.The next day all the country's schoolchildren re-enacted the ceremony, which went on for hours!
Fantastic birdlife there and such an interseting place, but it was almost impossible to take pictures in the town (the guide strongly advised us not to) and in the villages it felt too intrusive anyway. I would have loved to take one of the sign for the Banjul Musicians Union which proudly dsplayed their slogan "Better late than Never"!

atravelynn

That's good that the vehicles were just looking at animals.

The fact that you saw plenty in the Serengeti in Oct. should put Blue11's mind at ease.