The Redhead family goes to Kenya and Tanzania
 

As always, thank you to everyone who helped put the trip together and offered advice and suggestions ahead of time. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask. :)


I started planning a trip to Kenya and Tanzania last winter and Sandi (yep, Sandi who posts on these forums) of Africa Serendipity helped me with the itinerary and she made the arrangements for me. I'd happily send anyone who wanted help putting an African trip together to her for help. I had so much fun planning the trip and telling my parents where I was going to go and the things I’d see, when I asked if they’d like to join me they said yes. The plan was for the three of us to leave home December 11 and return home December 27.

The general itinerary was:
Dec 12: Arrive in Arusha Tanzania, spend the night at the African Tulip.
Dec 13: Ngorongoro Crater. Night at Sopa Lodge.
Dec 14-17: Ndutu Area. Staying at Ndutu Safari Lodge.
Dec 18-20: Amboseli. Staying at the Serena Lodge.
Dec 21: Nairobi. Macushla House
Dec 22-24: Masai Mara. Staying at Kichwa Tembo.
Dec 25-26: Nairobi. Macushla House.

I put a lot of time in ahead of time reading trip reports, packing lists and suggestions. That helped immensely! Because our itinerary includes flying, we were limited to 15kg, or 33 pounds, total. Total means luggage, day-bag, cameras, etc. To be gone just over two weeks, that weight limit looked a bit daunting. In the end, we were all under the limit without feeling deprived.

<b><u>Packing List:</b></u>
4 T shirts, 1 tank top and light weight long sleeve shirt (think a fishing/camping shirt)
3 pairs of pants - all comfy drawstring hiking style pants from BackCountry.com
Bras, undies and socks
Sports bras
PJ’s
Swimsuit
Merrell sandals and low hiking shoes (think brown sneakers)
Bathroom stuff: shampoo, conditioner, body wash, toothbrush/paste, hairbrush/ties, Q-tips, bandaids, mini sewing kit, face wash cloths, eye drops for contacts, wet wipes, Kleenex, etc.
Meds: Malarone, Imodium, Rolaids, benadryl, cold/sinus meds, Dramamine, Advil, etc
Face moisturizer, lotion, sunblock, bug lotion.
Hat - it was called a fishing hat and has a nice wide brim and mesh around the crown for ventilation.
Messenger bag as a day bag
Fleece jacket
Sunglasses
Extra contacts, prescription glasses and contact solution just incase
Main camera, charger, extra batteries and SD cards.
Extra camera and charger (because if anyone can have a camera die in the middle of an amazing trip, it’s me)
Netbook and charger, and a tiny external hard drive (for backing up photos and emailing/calling home when internet was available)
Nook and charger
Ipod and connector cord to charge from the netbook
Tiny flash light
Alarm clock
Tiny bottle of laundry detergent, a line and suction cup hooks.
Granola bars, cereal bars, tiny tubs of peanut butter
Duct tape (a long length rewrapped onto a simply chunk of cardboard about the size of a credit card)
Notebook, pencil and pen
Fold up market bags (about the size of a walmart bag but folds up to keychain size and is useful for a million different things)
Ziplock bags - quart and gallon size


That list really looks like a lot, but it was well under 30 pounds and fit into my carryon size convertible backpack from eBags. Many people do take binoculars (my Dad did) but my camera could pull things in as well or better than many binoculars and I hate the dang things. Some people swear by them, some people swear at them. The only things I had to purchase was the pants (I only had jeans or black work slacks), one shirt, the hat, Malarone and the better camera. There’s a rumor that a generic version of Malarone will be available soon making it much cheaper, yay!


<b><u>The Camera:</b></u>
I purchased a Panasonic Lumix FZ-150 which has a 24X optical zoom and is crazy easy to use. My “old” camera is a Lumix 10X optical zoom which I still adore so I wanted to stay with a line I know and like. I tried a couple other cameras with even more zoom but they just didn’t fit my hands right. Burst mode at full quality is a wonderful thing and excellent for wildlife and/or while driving on crazy bumpy roads. More zoom would be nice at times, but generally isn’t necessary other than at Amboseli where you’re not allowed off the roads. The various guides thought it was both odd and funny that I would often stick the camera half out the window and take photos while we were bouncing along the roads.


<b><u>December 11/12</b></u>

Our flight itinerary was a bit annoying because we fly out of a tiny regional airport, but it generally works out easiest. We were to go from our regional airport to Detroit, to Amsterdam to Kilimanjaro. The trip started out with a headache because I was required to have the credit card that I used to purchase my ticket back in March, but that card was destroyed when the program was cancelled months ago. The ticket agent said that if I knew the last four digits of the purchasing card she knew a workaround in the system. Otherwise, I would have to purchase a new ticket and wait 7-10 business days for a refund (to a card that no longer exists so I’m not sure how that would work anyway). But they’d honor the price I paid. Oh for craps sake! I rattled off the four digits and she started working on the computer. I didn’t tell her that I only knew the number because the self check-in kiosk lists the four numbers when it asks for that card. There’s something about tying up a very large chunk of my available balance on my credit card while I’m out of the country that I was not happy about.

The flight was scheduled to depart just before 2pm and we knew we were in trouble when the passengers getting off the plane we were to get on practically fell to their knees kissing the terminal floor. That’s never good. The gate attendants had a little pow-wow and then announced that there was a mechanical problem and it would be at least 30 minutes before a mechanic even got to the airport. Our 90 minute layover in Detroit started looking shaky so we got into line to be rescheduled.

The Delta gate agents did a fantastic job of rebooking passengers onto every available plane in the airport, even onto competitor airlines. They were pushing people out of the terminal just as fast as they could. When it was our turn and we said that we were trying to get to Tanzania, and oh yeah one of the biggest attractions was scheduled to start 12 hours after landing, they cringed in a big way. They called the help desk and continued to check every routing plan that they could come up with. Unfortunately, everything ended up working out so that we would arrive in one airport 1-2 hours after the plane we needed left. We were rebooked onto the next Delta flight leaving our regional airport at 6pm and for the flight out of Amsterdam a full day late as there’s only one flight to Kilimanjaro each day. I considered Nairobi, which would get us in 12 hours late instead of 24, but I didn’t know what the options were for getting from Nairobi to Arusha and didn’t think trying to figure it out when we got there would be the best option to only save 12 hours and possibly spend more time than that trying to get to Arusha. As an upside, the gate agents bumped us up to business class from economy plus for the flight from Detroit to Amsterdam. The gate agents worked for 2 hours trying to find a different route for us while we waited for the plane to be fixed or for the later flight, whichever was first.

As soon as I knew what our plan was I emailed Roy Safaris with an update and asked if it was possible if the day at the Crater could be moved back a day and lose a day at Ndutu instead of losing our day at the Crater.

Our plane was fixed and the flight that started with 50 people (of course it was the only full flight of the day) was down to only 10. We had a short time in Detroit and then hopped into our fancy seats and off to Amsterdam. Business class was definitely fun… every time I turned around someone was offering me a drink, a bite to eat, a warm towel, etc. I had lots of butt space and couldn’t even reach the seat in front of me if I stretched. The little comforter and full pillow were a really nice upgrade from the tiny, flat pillow and light blanket you get in economy. If I didn’t despise mustard so much I might have asked one of the flight attendants if there was any Grey Poupon.

Once we hit Amsterdam, there was no gate agent to ask so we wandered all over trying to get to the right desk to get our hotel vouchers from the airline for our unplanned night in Amsterdam. Everyone tried to help us, but generally just sent us to the wrong place. We eventually got to the desk who could set us up with hotel vouchers (next to baggage carousel 14 if I remember correctly). The vouchers were for Hotel Valk and there was an easy shuttle bus.

When we got to the hotel, I checked email and found an email from Roy Safaris. They were able to reschedule our time at the Crater so that we would lose a day at Ndutu and still get to see the Crater. Woohoo! I also looked online to find something to do in Amsterdam for the evening but unfortunately everything that looked like potential fun closed at 5pm and it was a 45+ minute ride from the hotel to the airport and then on to the city center. Add in the fact that we all only had clothes for the warm weather of Africa and nothing for the chill of Amsterdam in December and we chose to just relax in the hotel for the evening. The buffet dinner at the hotel was very nice.

<b><u>December 13:</b></u>
Back at the airport the next morning, we went through security at the gate and headed out for the right continent a day behind schedule. That night we arrived into Kilimanjaro airport and I was a bit amazed at the incredibly small size of this international airport. There were two agents at the desks to purchase a visa and it took around 45 minutes to process everyone who needed a visa. Jacob (pronounced Ya-cub) met us immediately after the baggage carousel and escorted us to the van. He said that there wasn’t an ATM at the airport and that we could hit one in town. I’ve never been to an international airport that didn’t have an ATM, but I certainly didn’t see one on the way out. We were greeted at the van with wet washcloths and bottles of water. A wet washcloth seems like a simple thing, but after a long flight and waiting in a line for that long with no air movement, it was truly wonderful.

We arrived at the African Tulip in Arusha after an hour drive and a stop to find out that the ATM a block from the hotel was closed for the night. My room had a king size bed, a large window seat and a small balcony. It was a wonderfully comfortable room and felt like luxury. Not quite as good a day as had been planned, but still a nice way to spend a birthday.

<b><u>December 14:</b></u>
We met with the staff at Roy Safari’s first thing in the morning and met our driver/guide for our time in Tanzania. He said that his name was too long and to just call him Eli (pronounced L-E). We watched in amazement at the sights of Arusha in the morning. There were goats and cattle on the road on a frequent basis, there were lots of men pushing and/or pulling heavy wooden carts, there were women in very bright dresses and outfits. All sorts of tiny shops lined the road with merchandise sitting on the dirt/mud between the shop and road. Some of the larger items were up on concrete blocks to keep them out of the mud. There were generally no sidewalks so people simply walk up the side of the main road. As we drove away from Arusha, we passed through many small villages that are set up around the main highway through the area. There would be a few small buildings gathered around the road, their corrugated metal sides painted with a variety of signs as if the metal had been salvaged from multiple buildings over time. In between villages, we passed a lot of people walking from one village to the next on the side of the road. Unfortunately, we also passed through many places that were working on repairs from a recent flash flood. The rains that the area so depends on have been unpredictable causing drought followed by flash floods. We could see the water marks a few feet up on many buildings, many parts of the road were being repaired after being washed away entirely and at bridges the water ran brown like rivers of caramel.

I had been warned about the road descending into the Crater so I knew the road in would be bumpy, rutted and a bit scary at times. Bumpy and rutted doesn’t even begin to describe the road. As we were coming into the crater at lunch time, Eli was trying to hurry a bit to give us as much time in the Crater as possible. The weather made the drive even more interesting as we were playing in and out of drizzle and rain. The four wheel drive LandCruiser was a wonderful vehicle for this sort of trek. In the Crater we saw a whole host of gorgeous (and not so gorgeous) animals. This was what we traveled around the world for!

There’s something about lions (truly all of the big cats, but especially lions) that makes them impressive even when they’re sleeping flopped out on their backs like overgrown house cats with no dignity. That first time to drive up and see a pride of lions sleeping off their meal from the night before is something that still makes me smile. You’re not in a zoo, there is no fence. That’s a very skilled predator less than 50 feet away and the large windows and pop top of the vehicle are open. It didn’t matter that the lions couldn’t have cared less about us, or that Eli could have easily had the car turned back on and moving and we could have closed the windows before even a lion could get to the vehicle. There’s something about having a predator like that just on the other side of an open window that is just amazing.

We saw elephants, wildebeest, zebra, rhinos, a cheetah, birds, lions, baboons, warthogs, ostriches, Thompsons gazelle, monkeys with robin’s egg blue balls, grey crowned cranes, and more. Everywhere we looked was something new and amazing. Lunch was a boxed lunch from the African Tulip with a cold chicken breast wrapped in foil. It wasn’t great, but there are certain limits on what you can do with a boxed lunch that is simply going to ride around in a LandCruiser in a cardboard box all day. It was food and that was good enough. On the way out we were a bit distracted by a pride of lions and had to hurry. Eli made fast progress up the side of the Crater as we had to be out by 6:00pm. We didn’t know it at the time, but if we had been late we would have had to call a gate keeper to come let us out and also pay a $100 fine. We cleared the gate at 5:56pm.

The Sopa Lodge was very nice and the food for dinner and breakfast was incredible. There was a menu with a couple options each for starter, salad, main and dessert. The main lodge looks out with an excellent view over the Crater and the individual rooms are very comfortable. The rooms are in small rounded buildings (think a modern and luxurious version of a Maasai boma hut, without the cow dung) with two upper and two lower rooms each. There was free wi-fi available in the main lodge, you simply had to request a username and password from the front desk.

After a wonderful first day and excellent dinner, I got ready for bed and caught myself just before shrieking like a 14 year old girl at a Justin Bieber concert. All the lights were off but when I flipped back my blankets and crawled into bed, I could see a dark shape against the bright white sheets. I noticed the dark shape right as I touched the slightly fuzzy, warm, soft object. It felt exactly like touching an animal! Right on the heels of the “OHMYGODTHERE’SSOMETHINGINMYBED!” thought came the much more rational and logical thought of “that must be a hot water bottle”. A flip of the light switch proved that yep, that was a hot water bottle wrapped in dark flannel. That was the first time I’ve ever seen a hot water bottle. I snickered and cuddled in with the dang thing.

<b><u>December 15:</b></u>
After breakfast we were entertained by the resident monkeys tearing around the pool area with large mushrooms that they were trying to devour as rapidly as possible. Once the mushrooms were gone, they got to work as the pool cleaning crew and proceeded to fish out and eat the dead flying termites that were floating on the pool surface. On the way to the lodge roof, one cheeky little guy stopped on the chairs outside the dining room to see if anyone having breakfast had anything good to offer him.

We headed from Ngorongoro Crater to the Oldupai Gorge. There were a few pictures from an area about 40 km away and a lecture about the history of the area. Unfortunately the lecture mainly focused on the fact that it is Oldupai Gorge and not Olduvai Gorge as the legal name was recorded. There is a path of footprints that shows the oldest evidence of when people started to walk upright at the site 40km away but there really wasn’t much at the museum site. I’m glad we stopped because I would have wondered if we had missed out otherwise, but it wasn’t a very interesting stop.

We ate our box lunches in a large open field with Thompsons’s gazelles looking on. It was nice to get out of the vehicle for a bit and be able to look out across such an open area. The Serengeti was in front of us while we were still in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. As we got closer to Ndutu, the number of wildebeest we saw started increasing dramatically. Hyena, wildebeest, zebra, flamingoes, secretary birds, vultures, marabou storks, bat eared foxes, Grant’s gazelle. Everywhere we looked there were more animals, many of which we had never even heard of let alone seen. The roads were sloppy in the Ndutu area and I was again thankful for the tall clearance of the LandCruiser. We got quite a surprise when we saw a pride of lions and Eli slipped, slid and skidded through a massive mud hole and then proceeded to slowly drive right up to the lions. We were less than 10 feet, and at times closer to 5 feet, away from lions. This goes back to that whole “there’s no fence or window between me and a lion”. This was magnified as the lion wasn’t 50 feet away, but 5 feet away. Other vehicles joined us eventually and when a new vehicle would pull up or would start their engine to move or leave, a lion would usually open their eyes for a glance but that was pretty much the extent of their reaction to us. They simply could not have cared less. It was warm, their bellies were full and they were going to sleep no matter who was silly enough to be awake to watch them sleep.

Ndutu Safari Lodge is made up of a main lodge area and a row of small cabins. As there is no fence, animals of all sorts come right up to the cabins throughout the day and night. A staff member is posted along the path and mimics a lighthouse, sweeping a light through the darkness throughout the night on watch for animals that might be dangerous.

One issue that I had with Ndutu was that there is a set menu and no options for meals (unless you’ve told them ahead of time that you’re vegetarian, need kosher meals, etc). When the food was something that I liked, it was fabulous. However, when it was something I disliked, it was a choice between eating something that I disliked or not eating. It helped that there was a starter, a soup, a main dish and a dessert for every lunch and dinner and at least one of those was usually good. Oh well, this is exactly why I packed granola bars and small tubs of peanut butter. I would very highly recommend the place and would quite happily return, but I would suggest that if you’re even a bit of a picky eater that you pack granola bars or similar.

The power was turned off throughout the day to save use of the generators and their fuel so it became a bit of a game to figure out how to arrange items on chargers at the proper times. There were lots of power strips available in the bar/restaurant and that power might have been on all the time and not just at designated times. It was a world of difference from the feeling of luxury of the Crater Sopa Lodge, but it was a lot of fun and I loved the variety. Ndutu definitely felt more like being in the “wild” than Sopa did! It was interesting that the windows don’t shut entirely. They’re simply glass slats that can be pushed up so that they’re mostly solid but the very top doesn’t have glass. This means that when the herd of wildebeest come through in the middle of the night, it sounds like a herd of wildebeest are right outside your room. If you’re a light sleeper, I’d suggest ear plugs and/or sleeping pills as the nights tended to be somewhat loud.

<b><u>December 16:</b></u>
We headed out to meet Eli for a morning drive and saw dik dik before even leaving the front porches of our cabins. On the way out the driveway, we saw impala, buffalo, gazelles and more dik dik. Eli headed out to where the pride of lions had been sleeping the afternoon before. When we got back to that area, we were greeted by the lions 100m over from their previous location and the sight of a LandCruiser well and truly stuck in the mud hole that was right next to where they were the day before. Before we headed in, Eli had warned the driver to be careful of that mud hole. It was pretty iffy and even a careful driver had a good chance of getting stuck there. Apparently the other driver wasn’t as careful as Eli was and they got stuck in the mud. Next to the lions. We had noticed the night before that the single passenger didn’t come into dinner until well after everyone else. That had to be an interesting vehicle change.

We watched the lions for a little while and watched as the Ndutu Lodge crew worked on freeing the stuck vehicle. They had a small truck that had no hope of pulling that LandCruiser free so we went over to lend our heavier and stronger vehicle if needed. We got there a few minutes before they drove the vehicle out using plastic tracks. Back to watching the lions as they decided to walk around a bit. A breakfast box watching a pride of lions is definitely an excellent way to start off the day!

From there we went to see the wildebeest herds. Everywhere we looked, in all directions, were wildebeest. Dad estimated that we could see 10 miles in every direction because the land was so flat in that area and everywhere you looked, were more wildebeest and zebra. You can read the statistics with the numbers of animals involved in the great migration but it doesn’t really sink in until you realize that you’ve been driving around all day, and all day you’ve passed different herds of wildebeest. Herd after herd, each one bigger than the last. One of the fun things about wildebeest is that they’re, well, rather stupid animals. If one runs, they all run. They don’t run like the gazelle do where if one gives an alarm they all run the same direction. No, wildebeest will run in a (mostly) single file line and will follow the one in front of them even if they take a bad route. I swear that the wildebeest tended to be better behaved than most airline passengers!

We also got to see a trio of cheetahs sleeping in the shade of a lonely tree. Their coats are absolutely gorgeous! Throughout the day I think we ended up seeing four different prides of lions of various sizes and ages. Add in some elephants, dung beetles (because what is a day without a dung beetle), jackals, yet more wildebeest and a couple rainbows and it was a great day.

<b><u>December 17:</b></u>
The next day we saw Ed the Hyena from the Lion King. For those of you less familiar with the Disney classic, Ed was the hyena who must have been stepped on by an elephant or something as a pup because he was simply beyond stupid.

We started driving and after just a few minutes spotted two hyenas trotting down the shores of the lake. One of us said “that hyena’s carrying a stick” and we all agreed that no, it had to be a lower leg bone or some such. We got a bit closer and hyena #2 was carrying a lower leg (hoof still attached) like a proper hyena. However as we look and look again, hyena #1 was proudly carrying a stick. Eli was shocked and amazed and said that he had never seen such a thing. Every once in awhile hyena #2 would look at his stick carrying brother like “dude, you don’t get it, you’re doing it wrong. Agh, why does Mom always make me be the one to take you out?”. Yep, definitely Ed.

It’s hard to compete with lions and hyenas carrying sticks, but a large group of giraffe certainly comes close. They had young giraffe and they’re just fun to watch. They’re the only animal (I’m pretty sure the only one) that walks with both legs on one side at a time instead of the front left-back right, front right-back left stride of other animals. Every time I saw giraffe I could only think that they belonged on Jurassic Park with their lumbering movements. We got to see two elephants play fighting. I never knew that elephants growl! Apparently they do that and more as they communicate with sounds that are usually too low for humans to hear and can be heard from amazing distances. There’s something quite impressive about seeing two behemoths going face to face and smacking tusks together. When the tusks clashed, it sounded like trees clashing.

One of the odd sights of the day was a marabou stork at rest. Apparently when they’re relaxing, they land on the ground and lay down flat, or kneel. Considering their knees go backwards, it looks very strange to see a large bird sitting close to the ground with its lower legs and feet sticking out in front of it. It would help if they weren’t such ugly birds to begin with. We also lucked into seeing a brand new baby Thompsons gazelle toddling around it’s mother.

After seeing the baby gazelle and a sad cheetah (he was calling for his brother but didn’t get an answer while we were there) we went back to where we had spotted a pride of lions with young cubs the day before. They were flopped out under a tree that looked like an umbrella with long fringe hanging all the way to the ground. It was amazing to sit in the vehicle 5 feet away from one of the lionesses and hear them panting. One of the cubs may still have a crick in his little neck as he kept putting his chin up on the tree trunk and cranking his neck way back. It was incredibly adorable, but I think everyone watching was thinking “oh that’s going to hurt tomorrow”. I would never have thought that nine lions could shelter under a tree and unless you were looking in one of the two small openings you could stand right on the other side of the hanging branches and not know they were there.



One more day in Tanzania, Kenya and photos to come...

Aside from the rocky start this trip sounds like a dream. I am jealous, please do not go on safari again without me. :-)

Oh IowaRedhead what an informative but also a very fun TR to read! I love your style of writing! Your descriptions especially of all the wildlife are fantastic. I can hardly wait for your next installment!

Dang what a crappy start however the next few days well made up for it.

So glad I wasn't drinking anything while reading the "OHMYGODTHERE'SSOMETHINGINMYBED" bit! :))

More please!

OMG, did I actually forget to tell you about the hot water bottle beforehand? My bad! Sorry for the surprise and almost scarying the bejesus out of you! :)

Love your style of writing... more, more, more!

I am really enjoying your report and am looking forward to reading more. You had me on the edge of my seat with the "something in my bed" paragraph!

I_R - Welcome home. It all sounds magical.

Great report. I cannot wait to read more, especially about Kichwa Tembo which I am considering for next June.

The Amsterdam-in-winter-vs.-E. Africa-temps is one of the reasons I've stuck to summer safaris. Glad it worked out okay for you even with the delay.

I've had the pleasure of dining with Sandi in NYC and Nairobi--she's wonderful!

Thank you all! :) It really was an amazing trip and I would go back in a heartbeat.

Sandi, no worries on the hot water bottle, it's entertained me since it happened! ;) I had read about those in trip reports, but I've simply never seen one and wasn't expecting it. Plus I was still totally distracted by the idea that someone comes in to turn down the covers for you (because that's oh so hard to do for yourself).


Leely, stop considering Kichwa Tembo and book it! :) The tents were great (though do beware, they did hot water bottles too), the food was fantastic, the staff was friendly, and the grounds crew of warthogs are hilarious and so ugly they're cute. I absolutely loved Kichwa Tembo. There's something fun about feeling like you're in a 5 star luxury hotel when you're sleeping in a tent. :)

Have not read your whole excellent report..too tired.. Now 6am, up since 4am on our way back from Nairobi...but you are right on about the Luminix 24zoom camera. My daughter got one right before trip. In fact it was delivered to her (by friend) in Kenya. I had total camera envy the whole trip. Thehotos were marvelous. So easy to use. I think it is a must unless you have super, long lense slr you are a very comfortable with but that is so very much heavier.
Planned to write about this camera on Fodors when I finally got home.
Out trip very much like yours and of course it was wonderful...the trip of a lifetime!

Awesome informative GREAT detail thanks for posting.

"we knew we were in trouble when the passengers getting off the plane we were to get on practically fell to their knees kissing the terminal floor. That’s never good"

SO true...

Great trip report! What a hoot! I really enjoy your "down to earth" Iowan writing! Its a wonder you didn't have to change the bed sheets at the Sopa! Thanks for making my morning!
Dick

Wow, what a fabulous TR - thx a mint for taking the time to share it!

Just watched DisneyNature's African Cats blu-ray yesterday, and DH turned to me and said, "if their tour group has a trip to Africa, you should go." I looked into it right away but your itin is much more of what I'd like to experience. Can't believe the timing of your post - thx to the mention in the Lounge. Being a Mouse fan, I thought your references were hilarious!

Bookmarking so I can go check out the details on the lodges :)

Enjoy-la!

You haven't lived until you snuggle with a Hot Water Bottle at Ngorongora Crater !!!!

Just before bedtime, our cabin fellow brought us two Hot Water Bottles each...one for each leg ( I guess)!!. :)

Loved the report.
Thanks for posting

Those hot water bottles have (sometimes) been my best sleeping partner :) At one camp, as the only guest... I had a bed full of them. Lucky me!

So you really were three red heads on safari? Not too many vehicles with that composition of guests.

Thanks for the heads up on Malarone. That will save some $$.

What a troubling start with the flight problems. Good quick thinking to trade a Ndutu day for a crater day so as not to miss that.

You certainly made use of your crater time with only 4 minutes to spare.

Sometimes you see dogs carrying around a stick like a prize. Maybe Ed the Hyena was doing the same thing.

Great report and observations!

"<i>Those hot water bottles have (sometimes) been my best sleeping partner At one camp, as the only guest... </i>

Glad to read the sometimes in there, <b>Sandi!</b>

Thanks everyone! :) I'll add more in the next few days, my home computer is a bit broken at the moment so it may take a bit of time.


atravelynn, I'm the only Redhead but I had to call our family something polite. ;)

Great trip report...glad to see that you made it to Africa! It's wonderful that you were able to share it with your family. I like your observation about binocs... swearing by them or swearing at them! I'm like you and would just as soon use my camera. Otherwise, I strangle myself with all those straps.

Feel the same about the nocs. Besides the fact my eyelashes get in the way, I find the camera's 20X zoom does quite well. Or, it's not really something I 'must' see.

"atravelynn, I'm the only Redhead but I had to call our family something polite."

I'm disappointed actually. But happy you could have a wonderful trip with your family.

Great report. It certainly takes me back

waynehazle -

Goodness, where have you been? Long time no hear!

nice start! looking forward to your photos.. :)

Nice to "see" you Waynehazle. It seems that title of the Redhead Family attracted more attention than my own.

I've read your trip reports before so was anxious to read this one. You show such joy in your travels, it makes it a true joy to read. What a great adventure for you and your parents. Thanks for sharing your trip with us.

Thanks for another great report Iowa_Redhead!

Hello Waynehazel :)

Lynn, I missed the part about the Malarone, and have scanned a few times and don't see it. What was the tip?

Thank you for all of the comments! :) I have so much fun on my trips and writing about them lets me relive them from home.

Femi, the bit about Malarone is that there is a generic coming out soon (possibly out already actually) and that may (hopefully will) lower the price.

<b><u>December 18:</u></b>
We all slept pretty well that night because it rained, making it cooler and keeping the animal traffic down a bit. The night before, a herd of wildebeest had come through right in front of our cabins (partially between the cabins and the path) and they sounded like a herd of wildebeest. As the windows don’t close at the top there little blocking the grunts, stomps and other noises that come from a herd going for a 3am stroll. I did have to laugh about the little critter that spent the night on my front porch again. I don’t know what kind of critter it was but apparently it found my snores interesting and for two nights sat on my porch bench pooping its little butt off.

This day started with a short game drive and then to the Ndutu airport for a flight to Arusha for the drive to the border and on to Amboseli. The first thing to greet us as we left the lodge was a wildebeest carcass. Lovely. I would say that our breakfast looked (and likely tasted) a lot better but the vultures having breakfast would likely disagree with me. To each their own?

Because of the rain the night before and all of the resulting mud we had to be very careful where we went. We ended up down by the stream/river watching hundreds (if not thousands) of wildebeest, zebra and giraffe. The zebra noises still make me laugh. They sound like some unholy combination of a donkey braying, a dog barking and a slipping belt in a car engine. I love it! As the different groups within the herds would come down over the ridge and onto the sides of the small river, zebras from the various groups would call to each other. We probably sat there just watching the herds move across for well over an hour and we all smiled the entire time, pointing out the many zebra babies and watching the antics of the wildebeest. There is something about young males in any species where if they’re not kept exactly on task, you turn around and they’re head butting. They’d spin with horns locked for a moment and then look around like “we’re not doing anything! Completely innocent! Wasn’t me!”

As time crept closer to our flight, we turned around and watched a large family of giraffe stroll down the side of the stream. There were at least eight of all different sizes and ages. There’s just something about those long legs, long necks and ambling walk that is fun to watch for long periods.

I loved seeing how the different animals interact with each other. The lions were so affectionate to each other, just like house cats. The wildebeest didn’t seem to interact much (other than to butt heads now and then). The zebra would call to each other and really reminded me of watching a herd of horses. They interact and some are more affectionate than others, but they’re not near like the lions. The elephants stayed in fairly close groups, were openly affectionate and would actively surround the littlest members at the slightest sign of anything potentially dangerous or even questionable. The giraffe seemed to fit into the middle of these widely varied groups. They were close, but not visibly affectionate. Protective of the young but not hyper-protective like the elephants.

On the way to the airstrip we passed back by the carcass from earlier. It had been quite picked over that morning, but there was visibly even less of it now. It’s amazing to think about how quickly the various animals had picked a large animal down to a few shreds of skin and bones. Those bleached white bones we saw everywhere could have been only a couple days old rather than weeks or even months old as I had originally thought. Eww.

The Ndutu airstrip is a small parking lot (with parking spots designated with cantaloupe sized stones) and a gravel runway with prints and poop all over it. Definitely a fun contrast to the gate security and multitudes of rules we’re becoming used to. By the time the plane arrived, 40 minutes early, a few more vehicles had arrived to drop off and pick up guests. It was a simple process of pulling a few bags out, tossing ours in and pointing people to the plane door. This is why they say to please bring bags that aren’t large roller bags and to keep your bags to a weight limit. Eli was going to drive to Arusha and said that it would take him the rest of that day and a good chunk of the next day to get there. We’d be there in an hour or so, including a stop at Lake Manyara. The pilot finished loading the bags, counted noses and off we went, waving goodbye to Eli.

Mom laughed when she saw both Dad and I taking pictures of the instrument panel from our seats. It’s a pilot thing, how could we resist? We flew over the Crater on the way and loved the opportunity to see it from the air. What a view! A quick stop at Lake Manyara to drop off a handful of passengers (there were 14 seats including the pilot and co-pilot) and we were at the tiny Arusha airport. Jacob was there to meet us, again with wet washcloths and a bottle of water. Off we went for Namanga border crossing and Kenya.

Jacob said that the highway has been redone in the last few years and I was actually surprised by the quality of the highway. It was paved! After a few days of some really rough roads in the park pavement was a fun thing. It was odd to see a big snake in the middle of the highway. Jacob said it was a cobra. Ewww! I didn’t feel bad when we ran over him (there was a car coming so swerving wasn’t an option if Jacob had been inclined). Twice on the long road we came to signs and painted concrete tubes pointing us to a detour on the old gravel/dirt road for a while. Driving the entire way on that road would definitely get old fast and definitely explains why it takes so much more time than you might expect given the distances.

At Namanga we met our new guide/driver, Allan from WildTrek safaris. Allan was poking around under the hood of his LandCruiser (NOT reassuring) so Jacob pointed us towards the offices we needed to visit. We filled out the forms and had our fingers scanned to leave Kenya. We exchanged our Tanzanian shillings for Kenyan shillings and headed for the LandCruiser (happily with the hood down now). We drove the short distance to the Kenyan side of the border crossing area. I found it very interesting that we weren’t exactly in any country for a few minutes as we our passports had been stamped as leaving Tanzania, but we hadn’t entered Kenya yet. At the Kenya desk, we filled out the entrance form and then another form to pay for our visas with cash. The man at the desk was very friendly and told us to have a seat and wait. After about 10 minutes of waiting, his coworker called us over and gave us our passports with the pretty Kenyan visa stickers inside. Mom was happy as now she has a sticker visa in her passport instead of just stamps.

We stopped at an ATM for more Kenyan shillings and while Dad, Allan and I were inside the little ATM area Mom waited in the LandCruiser. Bad idea. All of the Maasai women trying to sell things came to the window and were pleading with her to buy something or trade for something. Mom wasn’t interested in their wares and isn’t used to that sort of pushy so was very uncomfortable. I would highly suggest if you’re uncomfortable with that sort of thing to close the windows when stopped and/or to go inside.

We headed off for Amboseli and managed to see plenty of fun animals even on the “highway” (can a gravel/dirt road truly be called a highway). Dad spotted gerenuks on the side of the road and asked Allan to stop and go back. Yep, gerenuks. One obliged us by standing straight up for a quick snack. Very fun! They look so strange when they do that as their hips are just perfectly straight like a human, but I’ve never seen any other four legged animal able to do that really. Even dogs have a bit of bend forward if they stand up on their back legs. Cool, but a bit freaky. There were also the requisite herd of goats crossing the road, giraffe posing right on the side of the road and baboons.

Upon entering Amboseli (after the stop for paperwork and the attempted sales by the pushy Maasai) we got to see a new family of ostriches. A male, female and four little babies. Very cute! They were little fluffballs with legs but I had a sudden urge for KFC that was a bit awkward. Lots of small birds, antelopes (Thompsons and Grants gazelles, hartebeest, etc), buffalo, elephants and even a lizard greeted us on the way through the park.

The Amboseli Serena lodge was absolutely gorgeous. The walkway to the rooms were lined with lush greenery and flowers, and the little monkeys running around everywhere were hilarious. The walls of the rooms were painted with fun scenes and the porches were very welcoming. Internet was available for a small charge so we signed up for a bit of time both before and again after dinner to check email and check in at home using Skype.

The buffet dinner was absolutely fantastic. Our waiter was Francis and he patiently explained that dinner was a mix of buffet and ordering. You order your soup (choice of two) and your entrée (choice of three to four options I think), then go to the buffet for your salad, sides, pasta station and dessert.

The food was delicious! It was a very nice change from the set menu at Ndutu. A set menu made sense at Ndutu as there were so few people, but there were enough people at Amboseli Serena to justify a buffet. The pasta bar was a lot of fun (yes, I’m easily amused). You pick what veggies you want added to your pasta and give the plate with those choices to the cook. They cook those in front of you and then add the pasta, a bit of red sauce and pour it back onto the plate. It was very simple and easy, but oh so good. If that wasn’t enough to stuff you, you still have an entrée to eat and you don’t want to miss a bite of that. The desserts were very pretty, but somewhat tasteless. That really didn’t matter though as I never had much room for dessert anyway as everything else was so good.

One thing I noticed in both Tanzania and Kenya was that the waiters were professionally trained. They served or picked up plates from your right, they paid attention and didn’t bring the next course until everyone was finished with the current one, would clear out any unused utensils with the proper course, etc. That’s something I only see at home at fancy restaurants. Mom said that that’s how the wait staff is on large cruise ships as well. Maybe that’s a common thing in some places but I found it fascinating as I’m completely not used to that.

Love your report! Almost like being there with you. Must comment about trained waiters...at one lodge, they must have had waiters still in training...when I lifted my coffee cup to drink, the waiter immediately removed my saucer. He must have been told to remove used dishes promptly.

For a gal into 'poop' did you ask Eli who/what was the critter at Ndutu Lodge. The guides are really good with 'poop.'

The critter might have been a hyrax, which seem to show up everywhere and that many confuse with a rat, but as it has NO tail, isn't. The hyrax is actually a cousin to the elephant... yup!

Elainee - too funny, saucer removed as cup raised :)
Me thinks that waiter needed more training!

From the Serena Lodge in Amboseli were you lucky enough to get a clear view of Mount Kilimanjaro?!

Oh yes I remember those Vervet Monkeys everywhere.

Did you have a back porch that backed onto the Water Hole..they lit it up at night , so you can watch the animals come to drink.

Nice Report I am enjoying following you around on your Safari.

Apt observation about "young males of all species"! I chuckled more than once while reading your report. Keep it coming!

Percy, we had very clear views of Kili. It was gorgeous! :) We were down the one side away from the water hole but still had a great view of monkeys everywhere.

Sandi, hyrax looks like a good possibility for my mystery pooper. I meant to ask Eli about it but forgot.

Nice spot of the gerenuk for your dad! I picked up on the same young males head butting ans ShayTay. How true.

Hi Iowa -

Thanks for sharing your trip with us.

My daughter and I have spend the last three summers in TZ. We weren't planning to go this year, but she just sent an email saying she is re-thinking that decision as she can't imagine not going. It really gets under your skin.

Our first year we did a few safaris including to the Crater. It sure is beautiful country.

We are not the biggest animal lovers so a 2-week safari would be a lot for us, but we enjoyed driving through all the villages and seeing the Masai families and learning about their lifestyle/culture.

Glad you had a good time and look forward to hearing the rest.

Asante sana!

Hey Iowa Red...we're all waiting to read the rest of your report.

KathBC, I'm trying, I'm sorry! :)

The last couple weeks have been a bit insane between work, family, friends and a massive house cleaning that got a wee bit out of hand.

As soon as I get the massive pile of clothes sorted off of my bed and can sleep in my bed again, I'll get back to writing. Thank you for your patience! :)

I decided to ignore the massive pile on my bed and just stay in the guest room again (which was probably going to happen anyway). :) I'll finish cleaning up my closet/drawers this week, remembering Africa is so much more fun!


<b><u>December 19:</b></u>
Today was spent at Amboseli, which means elephants. No matter how often I saw these giants I was still amazed at how large, yet how quiet they were. More than once they’d walk across the road 20 feet behind us and I couldn’t even hear their steps. Hmm, elephants walk quieter than half of my coworkers in heels. There’s something awkward about that!

We started off with watching a large family of elephants stroll along next to the road. It was a gorgeous clear morning so we had a great view of Kili standing watch over the area. We watched as they leisurely strolled through the grass on their way towards the swamps to spend the day. After watching the herd of elephants we drove a bit and returned to the lodge for a few hours over lunch time.

Allan had been surprised that we hadn’t already visited a Maasai village in Tanzania and talked us into visiting a village around lunch time. I was a bit uncomfortable with the idea simply because it felt too much like treating the Maasai like the animals. It’s one thing to watch and take photos of the animals and how they live; it doesn’t feel right to do that with people. Allan assured me that they actually really appreciated visitors. Allan stayed in the car when we were greeted by Daniel (we were told he was the chief’s son), Richard (the medicine guy) and another man. We ended up taking photos with the villagers while they did one of the dances. The woman standing to my right was NOT pleased to have us there at all. One of the women to my left was very friendly and introduced herself as Alice.

Daniel took us on a brief tour of the village, including inside one of the huts. Even I had to duck going inside (I’m 5’3” so ducking is a rare thing for me) and it was almost completely black inside. Once our eyes adjusted to the tiny amount of light from the coals and the two tiny openings we could see the woven branches supporting the roof through the smoke. Once we were back outside, Richard gave us a talk on some of the medicines he uses and how they can cure things like cancer that the hospitals can’t. A couple of the men demonstrated how they start fire with a stick and small flat board (that part was really neat). Daniel made a point of telling us how important it was to buy things from the villagers so that they could support themselves after the long drought killed off <i>hundreds</i> of their cattle. We were split up (should’ve said no to that idea) and taken past the blankets of bracelets, necklaces, little wooden animals and other items. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt whenever I reasonably can, but I did get quite tired of the constant “I made this” or “she made that” when we had seen the <u>exact</u> same items throughout the area and on various blankets. I wanted to know prices for each item, but was told that we needed to wait until the end and then we would negotiate for the entire lot. Something smelled quite fishy and it wasn’t the goats. I played along and picked out the pieces I liked.

Once I said “I’m done” and refused to let Daniel keep pushing me towards more villagers, we went to the end of the row and he counted the items he had stashed in his clothing in front of his torso (much like an apron pocket) and wrote a price on his arm with a piece of hay. I just about choked when I realized that that was about equivalent of $140 US. I’m all for supporting a local village but attempted highway robbery just pisses me off. I got out a pen and we negotiated on my arm (I’m not going to write on a strangers arm, it just seems rude). I ended up paying a fraction of that first price. It could definitely get intimidating as there were about 10 men circled around us and cutting off my view towards my parents or anyone else. I’m a little too stubborn (or stupid) to be intimidated but for most women, especially younger, that would probably be very intimidating. As soon as we finished our deal, the guys split up a bit and I could see my Mom finishing her shopping. Her ‘guide’ had just given her the price on his arm and she was realizing the price he was asking wasn’t Tanzanian shillings (about 1600 to 1) but Kenyan shillings (about 100 to 1). They started her out around the same price they tried with me. The guys had circled her a bit and she was definitely not okay with it. I went over and helped her negotiate. While we were doing that, Richard was asking Dad to sponsor his college for a year or two.

We ended up seeing the little school on the way out and the teacher gave us a spiel about how they needed money to build a new school and how many pupils they have coming from all over the area, etc. Dad has seen too many of the exact same scenarios in his Rotary travels and I’m fairly decent at spotting BS. It was completely setup for our benefit, including the two little boys sitting at the rough desks inside. We finally got out of there and headed back to the lodge with Allan.

The entire thing left a bad taste with all three of us. It was too much of a posed thing and didn’t seem natural at all. Everything felt posed for the silly tourists and seemed like someone playing the system. I fully understand that there is a level of poverty that I’m simply fortunate enough not to be familiar with, but it really came across as “if I’m poor, I get $5 but if I’m poor and have a limp, I get $10.” I know dang well that they made a fraction of the items they were selling as their own, if even any. I don’t like being lied to and it was very blatant. Daniel kept assuring us that the money from our visit and from our shopping would go to the village and would go to the school, etc but I wouldn’t be surprised if it mainly went to Daniel, Richard and the chief. I wanted to learn about a different culture but really was just treated like an open wallet, and a stupid one at that. I really hope that our experience was more the exception than the rule with visits like that.

After lunch and a break, we went back out and saw hippos and an enormous fish eagle. They look very similar to bald eagles and are quite impressive. Another wonderful dinner and off to bed.


<b><u>December 20:</b></u>
This morning we got to see a large herd of elephants stroll towards the road from quite a distance and in the second half of the herd was a tiny baby. Allan said that she was a brand new baby (as in less than 24 hours) because she still had cord hanging. Later we could see that Mama was still bloody from the birth. I loved watching elephants, but there’s something truly special about babies. Baby animals of every species are fun to watch because you never know what they’re going to do next.

The tiny baby stumbled about a bit now and then like she wasn’t quite steady on her pins. However just like all toddlers, she was too full of excitement to remember that little detail. I watched as she swung her trunk left and brought it back right. In a heartbeat it went from a fun toy on the front of her face to a wild creature that had gone crazy. That little trunk continued to sweep right and the toddlers legs went with it. Down she went in a surprised little heap. Within an instant, the adults had surrounded not only that baby but the other youngest in the group. Suddenly there were three clusters of enormous aunties on watch for anyone dumb enough to mess with the herds babies. Once they were assured that the only danger to the baby was the baby herself they resumed their stroll.

The herd crossed the road behind us with the mama and baby towards the back. The little one struggled over the low berm next to the road but she couldn’t make it up and over the edge and onto the road. Mama tried to help her by “holding” the baby between her trunk and foreleg and lifting the baby over. Good in theory, not so good in practice. Mama basically grabbed the baby under the bum, stood her up on her head and straight over onto her side. Whoops! While Mama was standing the little one up on her head, one of the aunties was dragging her foot through the side of the berm to tear it down to a level the baby could get past. Once the baby was back on her feet, with a (much smaller) boost from Mama, she was up and over the shorter berm.

They finished crossing the road without further mishap and headed for the swamp for the day. As they walked off, we sat and watched for a little while and laughed as the baby bounced around a bit and stumbled around a bit more. I never saw her go down again but it was pretty close a couple times.

I don’t know how anyone could ever see a little stinker like that and not absolutely fall in love with the entire species. No matter how often I saw them, I never got over how incredibly gentle and family oriented they seemed most of the time. However, once they thought they were threatened they would turn those tusks out, circle their young and gentle was one of the least apt descriptions.

After lunch, we went back out and headed up a long set of stairs for a lookout point. There wasn’t much to see right then, but it was good to get out and have a short walk. We ended up driving around for a little while and found an excellent spot to sit and both watch a large herd coming out of the swamps and take pictures of the gorgeous orange sunset. The elephants were in front of us and the sunset behind us. Once the sun was behind the clouds and the elephants were in the distance we headed back to the lodge for our last night at Amboseli.

Great elephant activity.

At Ndutu did you see any genets in the rafters or elsewhere? I've heard they live there.