raelond

Rocco, don't stop now, your report is great!

Roccco

Matt and Raelond,

Thanks for your kind comments.

Perhaps I will have to start planning to lead a Fodorite tour for 2007 to Zambia? At least they have good beer in Zambia!

Leely

Rocco,
Really enjoying this, of course. Although I have some friends in the Santa Monica area with whom I will NOT be sharing your opinions.

Will we ever get Alexsandra's version? Even as a kind of coda or addendum???

Leely

And Kili as Budweiser? Pshaw, it's more like Miller High Life, which is, as everyone knows, the champagne of beers.

Roccco

Leely,

Alexsandra, on her own accord, has said that she intends to write a trip report once I complete with my own. (I would never urge her to write...I am afraid of what she may write!)

Roccco

NGORONGORO CRATER LODGE

It was a beautiful drive from Lake Manyara to Ngorongoro Crater. As we exited the park, and were approaching a very scenic spot overlooking Lake Manyara, Alex asked if we minded pulling over so he could eat his box lunch. So we stopped and enjoyed the scenery while Alex ate his lunch and Alexsandra and I, not being big fans of boxed lunches, gave ours away to two teenage boys who were trying to sell souvenirs.

After that, we drove through areas that must rival Tuscany for its beauty. Everything was so lush and green and the Masaai and their animals who were fortunate enough to live in these parts did not seem to struggle one bit. I was amazed at how well the cattle and goats seemed to do around the traffic, never wandering into the highway, but instead always hugging the road.

As we stopped for fuel at a filling station, there were young boys standing just off the property trying to get our attention with a back and forth hand motion. Although I realized what they wanted, I was trying to ignore them, trying to protect the valuable assets that I knew they wanted. “What are they trying to say?”, Alexsandra asked me. “I have no idea”, I responded.

Once Alex was back in the vehicle, Alexsandra asked him the same question, and he told her that they were asking for pens. And with that, Alexsandra dug in and gave out our only two pens to them, only for Alex to then tell her they don’t really need pens, but they just try to get as many as they can, more a hobby than a dire need for them. Consequently, for the remainder of the trip, we scribbled anything we needed to write with a pink highlighter.

The closer we got to the Ngorongoro Crater, the more scenic it became. Alexsandra was freaking out that the elevation was going to be too much from her, after hearing horror stories from our Santa Monica friends back at Lake Manyara Tree Lodge. Apparently, anything more than sea level felt like being atop Kiliminjaro to them. I assured Alexsandra that if she could survive El Tatio Geysers above the Atacama Desert of Chile at nearly 14,000 feet above sea level, she was going to be able to survive a couple days at half the elevation while at the Crater Lodge. As it turned out, she had no problems with the elevation.

We finally arrived to Crater Lodge at about 5PM, and we were both very pleased with the lodge. Yes, it was very “over the top”, and one, if beamed into the lodge by some science fiction device, would have never guessed they were in Africa, but that did not bother us in the least.

It was very cold upon our arrival, and although there was already a fire in our chalet’s fireplace, the room was still pretty chilly. We were in Room #4, the closest chalet to the dining room, but with buffalo on the property, we did not mind being close. There were beautiful views of the Crater right from our room, but being literally a mile high, it is much the same view as from an airplane, nice to look at, but you are not really going to see anything.

For the first time, we made it a point to dress up for dinner, arriving early to enjoy drinks and socialize with the other guests. It was as if we were at a dinner party in some fancy Penthouse, given the views and atmosphere. We saw the group of six Americans who had been at Lake Manyara Tree Lodge and had a chance to talk to them for the first time. They were all from New Jersey and this was their first time to Africa, and they were celebrating a couple special occasions (a 35th anniversary for one couple and a 60th birthday for one of the women). The birthday girl kept going on and on about how happy she was with her tour operator, who happened to also be there doing an educational visit, repeatedly whispering to me in hushed tones, “She is a Safari Specialist!” Amused by this after she said it about three times, I could not resist pulling out my business card, with my name and the same qualification, “Safari Specialist.”

At dinner, it was a very formal occasion, and there was beautiful music being played, primarily a CD by the Soweto String Quartet that I had bought on a prior visit. My head swelled when I both recognized the music and then surprised the waiter by correctly identifying the music.

An early morning wakeup call of 6AM was setup for the next morning in order to get into the Crater early. After an early breakfast, we left for the Crater at about 7:30AM, arriving at the entrance gate at 8AM. There were only two other vehicles in front of us, so it took us all of about two minutes to enter.

It was a bumpy ride down into the Crater and, surprisingly, somewhat of a slow start to the morning. There were not too many vehicles in the Crater, but I knew that the majority of the vehicles were yet to come. Expecting wildlife from wall to wall, I was surprised at the lack of wildlife. Yes, there were zebras and wildebeest, but where were the predators?

Finally, after about 90 minutes, we saw our first lion pride, about 10 lions, including cubs. Unfortunately, the lions were quite a distance from the road, so we moved on after a few minutes. The gameviewing quickly picked up after then. Those lions were just the first of at least five prides we would come across in the next few hours.

By about 11AM, there were many more vehicles, and Alex had said that traffic was still only about 50% of the busiest times of the year. Even so, at one lion pride sighting, there were 17 vehicles surrounding the pride, amused that the lions were sleeping under the vehicles.

It was a bit annoying watching one of the vehicles as the guests hung out from the vehicle and were doing whatever they could to get the lions to look at them in order to get a good photo. Once the lions tails started wagging, I was hoping to see a little demonstration by the lions that may make it onto a show called “Africa’s dumbest tourists”, but it was not to be.

At about 1:30PM, we went to the lake area to have our picnic lunch, joining about 50 other vehicles surrounding the lake. It was a great lunch provided by the Crater Lodge, with chicken, potato salad, stuffed bell peppers, and brownies for dessert. At one point, a huge bird, whose name escapes me, but definitely in the raptor family, came sweeping down, and seeing it only at the very last second, I had just enough room to stumble out of the way, as it was trying to steal the food right out of my hands. I was lucky to catch my balance, as I was sure I was going to fall on my face and make a fool of myself. These raptors were to the picnic area of the Crater what the baboons are to Cape Point…just waiting for the opportunity to steal food from any unsuspecting people.

Following lunch, we saw a bunch of vehicles pulled over to the side of the road. Everyone was looking in the same direction and it was then that we saw there was a black rhino in the distance. Although it was pretty far off in the distance, and nobody else was using a camera, only binoculars, I used the opportunity to slap on the 1.4x teleconvertor to my 80-400mm lens, getting me to an effective 896mm’s. I knew that most of the shots would be garbage, but if I took enough that there would be a couple photos that were acceptable.

There was a tremendous variety of wildlife in the Crater, but the tradeoff was all the other vehicles and the inability to drive offroad. Also, there were some guides who seemed less than professional, including one who we saw rolling a “joint” (marijuana cigarette) as he blasted reggae music from the vehicle with two young women. With so many vehicles and so many guides, there is just no way that the guiding in East Africa, as a whole, could measure up to their Southern Africa counterparts.

We left the Crater by about 3PM, although I would have liked to have waited a couple more hours to get better light for my photos, but understandably it was a very long day. It was nice to have the Crater Lodge right at the exit of the Crater. While Sopa Lodge may have the benefit of being right near the entrance, I much preferred to be right at the exit after such a long day. Upon returning to our room, Alexsandra was thrilled to find a hot bath had been drawn for her, with five dozen roses and rose petals all over the bathroom floor.

Dinner that night had a whole different atmosphere to it. Checking into the lodge that night was a group of six guests on a Micato safari, and they were seated at a big table next to us with their guide. As opposed to the previous night, with this group, the restaurant was very loud. Being a little later to dinner on this night, we did not have a chance to meet this group before dinner, but by the end of dinner, we were invited to join their table. Like the other group of six from the previous night, and still here for this night, there were mostly New Jersey residents at this table, with the exception of a 65 year old married couple from Tennessee. They had done some awkward sounding safari that had included Amboseli, the Masai Mara and was going to conclude with the Western Serengeti, far away from the Migration. While they were enjoying their safari, they had no idea that they were in all the wrong parks, and I saw no point in breaking it to them.

They were a really fun group, especially the oldtimer from Tennessee. He was a great storyteller, didn’t mind telling a dirty joke in front of strangers at such a haughty lodge, and made the most priceless facial expressions. When I introduced myself as Rocco, he worried that there was an Italian at the next table and he didn’t want to get caught in the crossfire of a Mob shootout, but it was all in good fun.

At the other end of the spectrum, although a nice guy, there was a New Jersey physician in the same group, matched together by Micato, who cringed everytime his girlfriend, 15 years his junior, admired Alexsandra’s jewelery.

Just before dessert was to be brought out, the lights went out and we figured there was a blackout. Instead, in an incredible display, nearly the entire staff of North Camp, draped in Swahili cloths, came out singing in Swahili a beautiful Happy Birthday song. While it would have been easy to make it a short little exhibition, they circled the entire restaurant numerous times and sang for about 10 minutes and all of us were very entertained by the entire show. Then, birthday cake was passed around to each and every guest, rather than to just the table with the Birthday Girl celebrating her 60th birthday.

It was a great way to end our visit to Crater Lodge, but who needs Crater Lodge when we had Olduvai Camp to look forward to the next day…after all, my trustworthy tour operator rated it “supreme” and their “favourite camp in the Serengeti.”

http://www.africatravelresource.com/...TOLD/TOLDa.htm

Roccco

OLDUVAI CAMP

I woke up early the next morning to force in my second visit into the Crater. I really had my fill from the earlier day, but since I had paid for it, and I was there to take as many photos as possible, I was not going to sit this one out, although Alexsandra did just that and chose to hang around Crater Lodge.

There were a few good sightings, including hyenas on a wildebeest kill that included the dominant female putting on a nice display of her power over the other hyenas, allowing only her cubs to eat while chasing away all other hyenas. Also, there was another black rhino but, unfortunately, it was even further than the one from the previous day. Basically more of the same as the day before, but unfortunately, I found myself constantly looking at my watch, as we were supposed to check out of Crater Lodge by Noon, so I definitely wanted to be back to the lodge by no later than 1PM.

Conversation seemed a bit forced without Alexsandra in the vehicle, the first time that Alex and I did a drive by ourselves, and really only the second drive that we had done, other than those on transfers, on this our seventh morning together. I did find this on MKSC’s website and considered their statement about their vehicles to be farcical:

http://www.tanganyika.com/acccueil/s...anzania_en.php

To quote, “our comfortable vehicles modified for safari, driven by professional and friendly Driver-Guides, are all in excellent mechanical condition.”

I was fortunate enough to be in a position to use the vehicles from Elewana and CC Africa, and this was the saving grace of my time with MKSC.

Upon returning to the lodge from the Crater, I enjoyed a very nice lunch with Alexsandra. As we were eating lunch, Alexsandra was showing the manageress of Crater Lodge, Irene, a cookbook she had bought at Lake Manyara Tree Lodge. The cookbook featured recipes from the different CCAfrica camps and it was authored by CCAfrica’s head of hospitality, Yvonne Short. Coincidentally, as we learned from Irene, Yvonne Short just happened to be at Crater Lodge on a short break from putting the final touches on the Tanzania Under Canvas safaris that were just being launched.

After seeing how passionate Alexsandra was about the book, Irene put in a call on her two way radio, and a few minutes later, Alexsandra was meeting face to face with Yvonne Short and having her book autographed.

Alexsandra had already translated many of the recipes into Spanish for our housekeeper/dog nanny/chef, and Yvonne seemed to be very honored to have such a huge fan of her work.

It was sad to be leaving Crater Lodge, and after experiencing the very best, we expected the very worst at Olduvai Camp. I kicked myself for allowing ATR to convince me to book a night at Olduvai, as I was originally hesitant, and I had been warned by a couple other Tanzania experts on Fodors that I was making a mistake but did not listen.

After getting a very warm sendoff from the staff of Crater Lodge, we were off to Olduvai. The drive was fantastic and about halfway to our destination, we came upon this wonderful large plain, and there were about 15 giraffes in the distance, crossing the plain. I found this fascinating and asked if I could get down from the vehicle. Not asking and not caring what my guide had to say about it, I walked off on my own, never looking back, approaching the giraffes as close as possible. I had never seen so many giraffes all at once, and there were just more and more that continued to cross the plain. I am sure there were two dozen of them altogether.

As I was getting closer to the giraffes, they altered their path to avoid me, never allowing me to get within about 100 feet away from them. As this was happening, there were also zebras that happened upon the plain, racing by me within about 50 feet. Meanwhile, it started raining and it was the most perfect moment…walking out on this plain, a good 1,000 feet away from the vehicle, with giraffes and zebras scattered about, the rain coming down, and Masaai approaching in the distance with their cattle, singing their song as they approached.

Once the rain was getting too heavy and I feared for my camera, shielding it under my vest (not “the vest”, but rather another much smaller and stylish vest that I received for Christmas), I summoned the vehicle to come and get me from under the Acacia Tree where I sought shelter. This whole experience was about 20 minutes and it was one of the highlights of my safari.

From here, it was about another 45 minutes to Olduvai Camp. By the time we arrived, it was raining very hard, and we found ourselves trapped in the vehicle. Despite Alex radioing the camp while we were just minutes away, nobody came out to meet us on our arrival. After waiting in the vehicle for nearly 15 minutes, Alex finally got down to find help and look for umbrellas.

Olduvai Camp enjoyed the most enviable position possible, with views of the Serengeti on one side of the camp, and views of the NCA highlands on the other side. Given its positioning, I found it to be the biggest waste of potential of any camp I have ever visited. What an amazing camp could be built in this location, had anybody wanted to make the investment and commitment to running a top notch camp. Instead, however, I found Olduvai to be decrepit, and I was worried about sanitation issues at this camp, both with the food and with the actual rooms.

Now one of the charms of Olduvai was supposed to be that it was run by Masaai people. However, if you stop and think about it, Masaai live in huts made with cow dung and human dung, and their favorite form of nutrition is cow blood & milk!

The tents used at Olduvai were little different than the tents I had seen used at, for example, Kasaka River Lodge, a luxury tented camp in Lower Zambezi, Zambia. Perhaps the tents were more worn at Olduvai, but basically the same style. The difference, however, was in the cleanliness of the interior of the tent, the small wooden deck in front of the tent, the rug within the tent and especially the bathroom. Basically, I thought everything should be burned and replaced, and the chemical toilets were a real turn-off. At a minimum, everything needed a very good scrub down.

It seemed that the bedding was dirty and had not been changed since the last guests, or who knows, maybe from the last few guests! I was not expecting luxury, but at least I was expecting clean bedding. I complained to the assistant manager of the camp about the bedding and it was changed at my request. Even so, I did not trust to lie my head down on the pillows and instead draped my pillow, as Alexsandra did, as well, with clean clothes from our suitcase.

One of the attractions of Olduvai Camp, and the selling point most used by my ATR agent, was having the opportunity to do a sunset walk with a Masaai guide. However, when I enquired about the walk, I was told that there would not be a walk, as it may rain. The rain had subsided an hour earlier, and it did not appear as if it was going to rain. Even so, I had to insist on the walk, telling the assistant manager that I would have never even stayed at Olduvai if not for the walk, and it was only then that he agreed to provide me with a guide for a walk.

Although I shouldn’t have had to demand it, the walk was very nice. Alexsandra, Alex, the Masaai guide and I walked up to some kopjes that offered an amazing view of the Serengeti. It was not far, perhaps a 1 kilometer walk, but the landscapes were incredibly scenic, and having the Masaai youth leading their goats and/or cattle around, made it incredibly serene.

It was very interesting to learn from our Masaai guide that they have different songs that they sing, and they are singing to their livestock. Perhaps one song when they were taking them out in the morning, a different song when they were trying to get them back home, and various other songs for different occasions.

We returned to the lodge and got ready for dinner. The one redeeming quality that the camp did have was that their bucket showers were wonderful. A huge bucket full of hot water, allowed me at least a 15 minute hot shower, even if I did have to dry off with a towel that smelled like insect repellent.

Although I did have grave concerns about the sanitation, I did find the food to be acceptable, although I certainly did not ask for seconds. Alexsandra, however, was not as brave as I, and hardly touched her food.

Joining us for dinner was Alex and in making a plan for the next day, we wanted to leave as early as possible, perhaps 8AM. Alex, however, always seemed to have a “suggestion”, whenever our plans seemed to differ with his own. He reasoned that, due to the rains, we may not be able to cross into the Serengeti until after 10AM. We compromised and agreed that we would leave at 9AM.

I was very excited to be so close to seeing the Great Migration, and equally excited that I was about to be handed over to a Nomad guide and vehicle. Although I had mostly positive feelings about Alex, despite the limited guiding he actually had to do for this safari, I couldn’t say I had many positive feelings about my experience with MKSC.

Matt_from_England

Well that's Olduvai camp crossed off my list for my next visit.

Matt

Nyamera

Rocco,
I understand why the short solo walk on your way to Oldupai was a highlight. I say, better alone with giraffes than wild dogs together with a group and guide.
I’m waiting for the Serengeti part. Thanks.

cybor

I'm enjoying your report Rocco - thanks for taking the time to post.
I'm always amazed at how each of us can go to roughly the same areas and have a completely different trip/sightings etc.

Ngoro:
It sounds like being in the crater 2-3 weeks prior to you (at the beg. of the tourist season) made a difference in that we didn't exp. nearly the amount od traffic that you saw.

Also, you may know this, but you can exit also out of the Sopa's entrance.

Sherry

schlegal1

Oh, how lovely to come in on Monday morning to so many great updates. I love how you describe the lodges as much as the game drives!

KIBOKO

Rocco,

I have really enjoyed your trip report to date. We were at the Crater and Serengeti a couple of weeks before you. The "raptor" at the Crater lake was a black kite. While standing next to the vehicle I was attacked, drawing blood with his talons. After that I lost interest in the box breakfast. We were told that a woman had lost an eye the week before when a kite attacked her trying to get food.
The kites have certainly learned how to get food the easy way.

Look forward to the next installment.

cj

waynehazle

Great report so far Rocco!

I spent some time editing video from my Africa trip this weekend.

I worked on the lion hunt I saw in the Crater. The lions failed & the buffalo won in my case.

By the way, when we got to the lake for lunch our guide told us to eat in the car because the birds were VERy aggressive.

napamatt

Seventeen vehicles with sleeping Lions and hostile black Kites - the crater just disappeared from my list.

Ten weeks to Mombo $-)

jeorgiagirl

Great report so far, Rocco. Your titles alone for each installment have been priceless. I can't believe how much you wrote about BEFORE even reaching Africa but it was highly entertaining.

Keep it up!

Leely

Dirty sheets!?! That really takes the cake.

napamatt, the Crater, the Serengeti, the Mara, Selous, Ruaha, Katavi, Mahale, Bwindi, Parc National des Volcans--all of East Africa will very try hard to survive without you.

But do enjoy your time at Mombo. I'd like to see a trip report from your valet when you return.

atravelynn

I'm glad you got your walk at Oldupai even if it took some insistence. It shows what you miss when you just settle for less. Awaiting Nomads and the Serengeti.

travelwmn

I need more! Don't leave me hanging!

Rocco, you never fail to entertain (and inform) with your normal posts, but your trip reports are amazing. Seriously, you are a gifted storyteller.

Thanks for taking the time to post these wonderfully crafted tales!

Roccco

Sorry for the delay...I hope to get my Serengeti report out within the next 4 - 6 hours. It WILL be worth the wait.

laartista

Having never been to Africa...yet, I am taking my virtual trip here. Thanks for the great report.