Trip Report: Tanzania, Kenya & Zanzibar with MICATO May /June 2006
Jun 26th, 2006, 09:34 PM
#41
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DAY 5 – THURSDAY, JUNE 1ST, SOPA LODGE, TARANGIRE NATIONAL PARK
Today was going to be a fairly involved traveling day. We left Amboseli at 7:15 with a small game drive as we drove to the park gate. We didn’t see many animals but we did see lots of ‘sellers’ at the gate. Maasai swords, masks, carved giraffes – the works! I didn’t buy anything, but it was great fun to watch two of our van mates, Audrey and Lucrece (the mother and daughter) bargain. And at $15.00 for the sword, we think Lucrece got a great deal! In case anyone is wondering why we had time to sit at the gate, Rule No. 1 of group travel had been broken – ‘never be the first to leave anything behind’. Chad, the single guy in the group, had left his jacket, with his passport in it, back at the lodge, and we were waiting for it to ‘catch up’ with us.
The vehicle, with Chad’s errant passport caught up to us, and we were on our way! We drove for about an hour on fairly decent roads – not much to see out here – before stopping at a ‘pit stop’ in Namanga. More goods to buy, but for some reason, I just couldn’t get into the swing of ‘buying’ on this trip. This is unusual for me, probably due to the weight restriction, as I always had that in mind. We arrived at the border at 10:00, went into Kenya immigration to give up the yellow exit cards, and watched Lucrece bargain for a box of carved animals for $6.00 with the street vendors. There was a yellow line painted in the middle of the road; no street vendor was allowed to step over it. It was comical to see all the vendors standing in a neat little row shouting out prices! Oh, and if anyone wants those wooden animal necklaces – here is the place – only a 1.00. Then through ‘no-man’s land’ over to Tanzania where we had to fill out blue cards and stand in a big line up to clear our entry. Nowhere here did I see where one could obtain a Tanzanian visa if one needed, so I could not take note of the ‘line-up’ time for that. Micato had asked us to obtain the TZ visas in advance. All cleared now, we said goodbye to our drivers, and got into a very comfortable Micato bus, all of us in the one bus. And off we went to Arusha! The roads were actually pretty good, it was a very comfortable ride, and I enjoyed looking out the window at the Maasai tending their goats and cows, the little villages we passed, and the daily activity of the people in Tanzania.
We arrived in Arusha at noon. It was a much bigger town than I imagined it to be after reading some of the reports from the board. For some reason I had pictured one dusty road filled with chickens, people and bikes, with a nice hotel at the end of it. Daniel pointed a few buildings out to us – the downtown section, and the courthouse where the genocide trials are being held. We ate lunch out on the patio overlooking the garden at the Arusha Hotel, a very classy and pretty hotel. The buffet lunch, all Indian food, was excellent – I could have stood by the fresh Naan bread all day and munched on it – it was wonderful!
But, we had a plane to catch at the regional airport at 2:00. Daniel gathered us all up at 1:30 – or so he thought. Once on the bus, hmmmm, seemed two were missing! Oh oh! – Rule No 2 in a group – never be the last on the bus! Daniel sent out one of the Micato ground staff, and when she didn’t come back, went and looked himself! But, meanwhile, they came back; they were just enjoying that lovely garden at the hotel.
Micato had chartered a flight through Regional Air – an 18 seat twin prop plane. (and Sandi, these bush pilots were really good looking!!) Daniel gave out what was to be the normal ‘goodie bag’ as the flight started out – 3 candies and a set of ear plugs! It made me chuckle every time we got those nice little bags with the neat little animals drawn on them, never did use the ear plugs though, and I have quite a collection now if anyone needs! (I ate the candies …) After a smooth 40-minute flight, we landed in the middle of nowhere on a small strip in Tarangire National Park.
Three Micato vans were waiting for us; these were the extended Land Cruisers with the pop tops that I spoke of in Imelda’s post, as 4 x4’s would be needed for the Ngorongoro portion of our trip. Somehow, Jim and I ended up in the van with Chad, just the three of us. Oh oh, I thought, alarm bells went off, - could be a problem coming here - but too late. I knew, from my emails to Fran that a family of three, a mom/dad/8 yr old boy was joining us for 5 days in Tanzania. If we were the van of three, that meant we had the 8 yr old as a van mate. Now, not that we dislike kids, but we just aren’t used to being around them anymore. We did our 10 years as Boy Scout leaders, but that was a long time ago, and I was worried about a post I had seen on the Fodors board a few years back from a woman who had a mom and two kids as van mates – and had a miserable time as they bickered, fought, whined and said they were bored. I was very apprehensive as we went on a game run while waiting for them to land.
Bernard, our driver was an incredible guide. He was very personable, and really knew his stuff; he has been with Micato for about 10 years. We saw lots of impala, Grants gazelle, and dik-diks while we waited. And, of course boabob trees – what a grand looking tree they are! They really do look as though they have been planted upside down. Soon we saw the plane flying overhead, and we drove back to pick up our new van mates. And, to make a long story short, I needn’t have worried a moment – Andrew, the 8 year old was an incredibly well-behaved young man. He was actually a pleasure to have in the van; he was a terrific spotter, very enthusiastic about seeing the animals, and in general, just a really nice kid! And, his mom and dad, Sylvia and Craig were really nice too!
We did another game run on the way to the lodge. The grass, just as Eben and a few others on this board had told me to expect, was long and it was a little hard to spot the animals sometime. But they were there; we could see an ear here, a tail there. Our first sighting was a family of bat-eared foxes; they were on the air strip actually. A very rare find, Bernard told us! Our sightings on this run included go away birds, impala, elephants (now those you could see very clearly in the grass!), Maasai giraffe, dwarf mongoose, and waterbucks. The elephant sighting was incredible; they were right beside the road, very up close and personal.
We arrived at the Sopa Lodge around 6:00. I was immediately impressed, the reception area was very open, really roomy and bright and very nice to look at – lots of marble, and incredible carved doors. Certainly not ‘over-the-top’, but very impressive. Daniel retrieved our keys while we relaxed with our welcome fruit juice and hot towels in the lounge. The rooms (ours was Room # 42) were huge! Two double beds with a mossie net (needed…), two night stands, a writing desk, a sitting room with two comfy chairs and a table; all done up in a wonderful green African print décor. The bathroom was huge and very nice – it had a walk in shower, a hair dryer on the wall, and it was very bright. Amenities included insect repellent, sun lotion, shampoo and showercaps. The view from the balcony was nice, we could see the pool, and the park beyond the pool. The restaurant inside the lodge was very roomy, very open and very bright. The food was a buffet the night that we were there, but, I believe they alternated buffet with menu each night as the other Sopas did. The food was good; nice salads, a selection of African, Indian and ‘American’ style dishes – we had a choice between lamb or fish that night. The pool looked great, but I could never seem to find the time to go in any pool. Audrey and Lucrece did, they reported that it was refreshing, but really hard to swim in as it was in a circle around an ‘island’, which meant that there was a shallow part on one side that made it impossible to swim all the way around.
As you can probably guess, with just arriving at 6 pm, there was only time to shower, eat and do just a tiny bit of socializing in those comfy lounge couches after dinner before we fell asleep!
Today was going to be a fairly involved traveling day. We left Amboseli at 7:15 with a small game drive as we drove to the park gate. We didn’t see many animals but we did see lots of ‘sellers’ at the gate. Maasai swords, masks, carved giraffes – the works! I didn’t buy anything, but it was great fun to watch two of our van mates, Audrey and Lucrece (the mother and daughter) bargain. And at $15.00 for the sword, we think Lucrece got a great deal! In case anyone is wondering why we had time to sit at the gate, Rule No. 1 of group travel had been broken – ‘never be the first to leave anything behind’. Chad, the single guy in the group, had left his jacket, with his passport in it, back at the lodge, and we were waiting for it to ‘catch up’ with us.
The vehicle, with Chad’s errant passport caught up to us, and we were on our way! We drove for about an hour on fairly decent roads – not much to see out here – before stopping at a ‘pit stop’ in Namanga. More goods to buy, but for some reason, I just couldn’t get into the swing of ‘buying’ on this trip. This is unusual for me, probably due to the weight restriction, as I always had that in mind. We arrived at the border at 10:00, went into Kenya immigration to give up the yellow exit cards, and watched Lucrece bargain for a box of carved animals for $6.00 with the street vendors. There was a yellow line painted in the middle of the road; no street vendor was allowed to step over it. It was comical to see all the vendors standing in a neat little row shouting out prices! Oh, and if anyone wants those wooden animal necklaces – here is the place – only a 1.00. Then through ‘no-man’s land’ over to Tanzania where we had to fill out blue cards and stand in a big line up to clear our entry. Nowhere here did I see where one could obtain a Tanzanian visa if one needed, so I could not take note of the ‘line-up’ time for that. Micato had asked us to obtain the TZ visas in advance. All cleared now, we said goodbye to our drivers, and got into a very comfortable Micato bus, all of us in the one bus. And off we went to Arusha! The roads were actually pretty good, it was a very comfortable ride, and I enjoyed looking out the window at the Maasai tending their goats and cows, the little villages we passed, and the daily activity of the people in Tanzania.
We arrived in Arusha at noon. It was a much bigger town than I imagined it to be after reading some of the reports from the board. For some reason I had pictured one dusty road filled with chickens, people and bikes, with a nice hotel at the end of it. Daniel pointed a few buildings out to us – the downtown section, and the courthouse where the genocide trials are being held. We ate lunch out on the patio overlooking the garden at the Arusha Hotel, a very classy and pretty hotel. The buffet lunch, all Indian food, was excellent – I could have stood by the fresh Naan bread all day and munched on it – it was wonderful!
But, we had a plane to catch at the regional airport at 2:00. Daniel gathered us all up at 1:30 – or so he thought. Once on the bus, hmmmm, seemed two were missing! Oh oh! – Rule No 2 in a group – never be the last on the bus! Daniel sent out one of the Micato ground staff, and when she didn’t come back, went and looked himself! But, meanwhile, they came back; they were just enjoying that lovely garden at the hotel.
Micato had chartered a flight through Regional Air – an 18 seat twin prop plane. (and Sandi, these bush pilots were really good looking!!) Daniel gave out what was to be the normal ‘goodie bag’ as the flight started out – 3 candies and a set of ear plugs! It made me chuckle every time we got those nice little bags with the neat little animals drawn on them, never did use the ear plugs though, and I have quite a collection now if anyone needs! (I ate the candies …) After a smooth 40-minute flight, we landed in the middle of nowhere on a small strip in Tarangire National Park.
Three Micato vans were waiting for us; these were the extended Land Cruisers with the pop tops that I spoke of in Imelda’s post, as 4 x4’s would be needed for the Ngorongoro portion of our trip. Somehow, Jim and I ended up in the van with Chad, just the three of us. Oh oh, I thought, alarm bells went off, - could be a problem coming here - but too late. I knew, from my emails to Fran that a family of three, a mom/dad/8 yr old boy was joining us for 5 days in Tanzania. If we were the van of three, that meant we had the 8 yr old as a van mate. Now, not that we dislike kids, but we just aren’t used to being around them anymore. We did our 10 years as Boy Scout leaders, but that was a long time ago, and I was worried about a post I had seen on the Fodors board a few years back from a woman who had a mom and two kids as van mates – and had a miserable time as they bickered, fought, whined and said they were bored. I was very apprehensive as we went on a game run while waiting for them to land.
Bernard, our driver was an incredible guide. He was very personable, and really knew his stuff; he has been with Micato for about 10 years. We saw lots of impala, Grants gazelle, and dik-diks while we waited. And, of course boabob trees – what a grand looking tree they are! They really do look as though they have been planted upside down. Soon we saw the plane flying overhead, and we drove back to pick up our new van mates. And, to make a long story short, I needn’t have worried a moment – Andrew, the 8 year old was an incredibly well-behaved young man. He was actually a pleasure to have in the van; he was a terrific spotter, very enthusiastic about seeing the animals, and in general, just a really nice kid! And, his mom and dad, Sylvia and Craig were really nice too!
We did another game run on the way to the lodge. The grass, just as Eben and a few others on this board had told me to expect, was long and it was a little hard to spot the animals sometime. But they were there; we could see an ear here, a tail there. Our first sighting was a family of bat-eared foxes; they were on the air strip actually. A very rare find, Bernard told us! Our sightings on this run included go away birds, impala, elephants (now those you could see very clearly in the grass!), Maasai giraffe, dwarf mongoose, and waterbucks. The elephant sighting was incredible; they were right beside the road, very up close and personal.
We arrived at the Sopa Lodge around 6:00. I was immediately impressed, the reception area was very open, really roomy and bright and very nice to look at – lots of marble, and incredible carved doors. Certainly not ‘over-the-top’, but very impressive. Daniel retrieved our keys while we relaxed with our welcome fruit juice and hot towels in the lounge. The rooms (ours was Room # 42) were huge! Two double beds with a mossie net (needed…), two night stands, a writing desk, a sitting room with two comfy chairs and a table; all done up in a wonderful green African print décor. The bathroom was huge and very nice – it had a walk in shower, a hair dryer on the wall, and it was very bright. Amenities included insect repellent, sun lotion, shampoo and showercaps. The view from the balcony was nice, we could see the pool, and the park beyond the pool. The restaurant inside the lodge was very roomy, very open and very bright. The food was a buffet the night that we were there, but, I believe they alternated buffet with menu each night as the other Sopas did. The food was good; nice salads, a selection of African, Indian and ‘American’ style dishes – we had a choice between lamb or fish that night. The pool looked great, but I could never seem to find the time to go in any pool. Audrey and Lucrece did, they reported that it was refreshing, but really hard to swim in as it was in a circle around an ‘island’, which meant that there was a shallow part on one side that made it impossible to swim all the way around.
As you can probably guess, with just arriving at 6 pm, there was only time to shower, eat and do just a tiny bit of socializing in those comfy lounge couches after dinner before we fell asleep!
Jun 27th, 2006, 01:33 AM
#43
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Oh Lynda, You are making my wait to go on Safari unbearable - I can almost 'taste it' .... and bat eared foxes, they are sooo cute, I was just reading about them last night ( I got my new LP East Africa and Watching Wildlife East Africa throuogh the post yesterday!).
Can't wait for more!
Imelda
Can't wait for more!
Imelda
Jun 27th, 2006, 09:00 AM
#44
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Glad to hear things worked out OK with the family. I was beginning to fear the worst 
I was wondering if it's just one line for everyone at the Namanga border and they just sold visas to whoever needed them.
I was wondering if it's just one line for everyone at the Namanga border and they just sold visas to whoever needed them.
Jun 29th, 2006, 11:07 PM
#46
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¡¥AFTER ONLY A FEW DAYS IN THE BUSH YOUR ENTIRE SYSTEM BECOMES ONE IN HEARTBEAT WITH THE EARTH. YOU ARE IN TIME WITH THE RHYTHM OF LIFE BECAUSE YOU ARE IN AFRICA!¡¦
-Gary Clarke ¡§I¡¦d Rather Be On Safari¡¨
DAY 6 ¡V FRIDAY, JUNE 2ND, SOPA LODGE, NGORONGORO CRATER RIM, NCA
We were, truly, in the rhythm of life here in Africa now. No longer did Jim have to get me up in the early mornings by bringing coffee and gently coaxing me out of bed, since being in Africa I found that I was getting out of bed even before the alarm rang ¡V anxious to open my new ¡¥present¡¦ every day!
Our game run was called for 7:30 this morning. We saw lots of the same animals, but that was OK , we never tired of watching the graceful elephants, the cute and tiny little dik-diks, the regal Maasai giraffe, those herds of impalas, or pondering that age-old question while watching a herd of zebra. (Black with white stripes, or white with black stripes? Donkey or horse?) Interesting too about the zebra, Bernard showed us how they would stand in a clump of three, with their head resting a different way on each other¡¦s back ¡V scouting he said ¡V this way they had a complete 360 view. I found all of his facts about the animals just fascinating; it¡¦s amazing to me how all these animals know to do all these things by instinct.
Andrew, right from getting in the van the day before, had been dying to see a lion. He had made a bet with his dad that he would see them first, and Andrew did see his lions this morning! They were a bit far off, but binoculars brought them in a little closer, we watched them down in the dry riverbed just lazing around. Full from a recent kill, Daniel told us. And that became evident when an impala came down to take a drink from the water across the way a bit ¡V the lions didn¡¦t even look. New on this morning¡¦s game drive were rock hyrax (they are so cute!), a marabou stork and black-faced monkeys.
We were back at the lodge by noon, where a wonderful buffet lunch had been set up outdoors by the pool. And then, off to Ngorongoro we went. We drove to the gate of the park (Tarangire), and then on a ¡¥not-so-bad¡¦ highway, followed by that wonderful new highway stretch that the Japanese built for Kenya! It was a nice afternoon drive up to the crater rim gate, with a few pit stops along the way; to fill up with gas and buy bananas from a street vendor in a small town just after Mosquito Creek, and a washroom & shopping break. And, speaking of shopping breaks ¡V little did I remember until right now that I actually DID buy something other than my ebony carved lion and the item that was all Patty¡¦s fault as mentioned before ƒº (you just have to wait Patty to see what it is I am talking about). At one pit stop, somewhere along the road to the gate, I bought 3 Maasai blankets, well, actually Bernard told me it was two Maasai blankets and one Mburu blanket. They were only 10.00 US each, and I thought ¡¥what a great quilt¡¦ these would make! Roberta and I drove the guy selling them crazy; we had him unfold many of them so that we could compare what would look nice together. And, I know, I really didn¡¦t need the extra 3 lbs in weight that it probably added ¡V but they will look nice when I¡¦m done!
We arrived at the gate at 4:00, got out, stretched, took lots of pictures of the baboons and wandered around the tiny ¡¥crater knowledge¡¦ display inside one of the buildings. After what seemed like an eternity, we came to the junction where there is a lovely viewing spot. From here, we headed east around the famous ¡¥rim¡¦ road. Now all of your reports had prepared me for a ¡¥bumpy, cliff-hanging¡¦ road, but I tell you, not in a thousand visions did I once imagine it this bad! The ruts were big enough to hide Volkswagens in them! It was, without a doubt, in my travels ALL over this world ¡V the worst road I had ever been on. It was pretty hairy in spots ¡V well, no, maybe not in spots, all over! After an hour of this I just wanted to see the lodge appear, but no, so far no lodge in sight¡K. ¡¥Just another few minutes¡¦ Bernard would say as he jogged over, around and under the ruts. And then, finally ¡V ¡¥look, you can see the lodge over there!¡¦ Yeah, like WAY over there! But it did eventually get closer, and just before we got to the turn off for the Sopa ¡V BONUS! There were two lions walking across the road! (not sure how they managed to walk on that road!) A not quite matured male lion, and a female lion. ¡¥Honeymooners¡¦ Bernard called them. What an incredible sight to see, they stopped, looked at us and then went behind a bush. We stopped the vehicle and waited only a few minutes before they both popped their heads out, and laid down in a very classic lion pose, with the lioness laying with her head on her paws, and the male¡¦s head towering over her ¡V both of them looking straight at us. Probably wondering how we made it on those roads this far¡K
We arrived at the lodge just before 7:00 (we watched the lions for quite a bit, plus stopped to take pictures of the sunset through the acacia trees over the crater). What a welcome sight! It is an incredibly beautiful lodge; again, like the Sopa at Tarangire, very open, very bright and very nicely decorated. Big glass windows overlooked the pool, which seemed to be on the very edge of the crater. The bar area was very inviting with its huge fireplace, armchairs and couches scattered around. The restaurant had a fireplace in the middle of it as well. It was a fairly large room, but there were too many tables, it made it hard to walk between the tables. The meal on the first night was from a menu; there was a soup, two appetizers, two mains, a traditional Swahili dish, a vegetarian dish, and two deserts from choose from. The meals were really good, the appys and the deserts were the best! The second night was a buffet. Breakfast was served buffet, all the usual suspects plus an omelet station. The service here though was not the best, the staff were friendly, but really slow in getting to you.
The room was awesome. Nicely decorated, it contained two queen size beds with mossie netting, a wardrobe, a dressing table, and a wonderful closed in sitting area with huge picture windows that looked down into the crater, with rocking chairs and a small table to enjoy that view. There was also a separate sitting room at the front door entrance, but there was only a bar fridge in it, nothing else. Probably ran out of ideas¡K The bathroom was huge also, but we were back to the type of bathtub that you needed a ladder to get into it. I did wonder why they make their bathtubs so tall in Kenya! One thing I should mention though ¡V this room must have been the reason why were given those Micato flashlights ¡V it truly had the poorest lighting of all the places we were in, including the tented camp. I tried to write in my journal at the desk, and could hardly see the journal. Roberta mentioned to me that she tried to use it as a make-up table, but for sure it didn¡¦t work for that!
So ends another day in paradise as we fall asleep with the blinds for the window wide open, hoping to wake up in the morning and catch the dawn over the crater!
-Gary Clarke ¡§I¡¦d Rather Be On Safari¡¨
DAY 6 ¡V FRIDAY, JUNE 2ND, SOPA LODGE, NGORONGORO CRATER RIM, NCA
We were, truly, in the rhythm of life here in Africa now. No longer did Jim have to get me up in the early mornings by bringing coffee and gently coaxing me out of bed, since being in Africa I found that I was getting out of bed even before the alarm rang ¡V anxious to open my new ¡¥present¡¦ every day!
Our game run was called for 7:30 this morning. We saw lots of the same animals, but that was OK , we never tired of watching the graceful elephants, the cute and tiny little dik-diks, the regal Maasai giraffe, those herds of impalas, or pondering that age-old question while watching a herd of zebra. (Black with white stripes, or white with black stripes? Donkey or horse?) Interesting too about the zebra, Bernard showed us how they would stand in a clump of three, with their head resting a different way on each other¡¦s back ¡V scouting he said ¡V this way they had a complete 360 view. I found all of his facts about the animals just fascinating; it¡¦s amazing to me how all these animals know to do all these things by instinct.
Andrew, right from getting in the van the day before, had been dying to see a lion. He had made a bet with his dad that he would see them first, and Andrew did see his lions this morning! They were a bit far off, but binoculars brought them in a little closer, we watched them down in the dry riverbed just lazing around. Full from a recent kill, Daniel told us. And that became evident when an impala came down to take a drink from the water across the way a bit ¡V the lions didn¡¦t even look. New on this morning¡¦s game drive were rock hyrax (they are so cute!), a marabou stork and black-faced monkeys.
We were back at the lodge by noon, where a wonderful buffet lunch had been set up outdoors by the pool. And then, off to Ngorongoro we went. We drove to the gate of the park (Tarangire), and then on a ¡¥not-so-bad¡¦ highway, followed by that wonderful new highway stretch that the Japanese built for Kenya! It was a nice afternoon drive up to the crater rim gate, with a few pit stops along the way; to fill up with gas and buy bananas from a street vendor in a small town just after Mosquito Creek, and a washroom & shopping break. And, speaking of shopping breaks ¡V little did I remember until right now that I actually DID buy something other than my ebony carved lion and the item that was all Patty¡¦s fault as mentioned before ƒº (you just have to wait Patty to see what it is I am talking about). At one pit stop, somewhere along the road to the gate, I bought 3 Maasai blankets, well, actually Bernard told me it was two Maasai blankets and one Mburu blanket. They were only 10.00 US each, and I thought ¡¥what a great quilt¡¦ these would make! Roberta and I drove the guy selling them crazy; we had him unfold many of them so that we could compare what would look nice together. And, I know, I really didn¡¦t need the extra 3 lbs in weight that it probably added ¡V but they will look nice when I¡¦m done!
We arrived at the gate at 4:00, got out, stretched, took lots of pictures of the baboons and wandered around the tiny ¡¥crater knowledge¡¦ display inside one of the buildings. After what seemed like an eternity, we came to the junction where there is a lovely viewing spot. From here, we headed east around the famous ¡¥rim¡¦ road. Now all of your reports had prepared me for a ¡¥bumpy, cliff-hanging¡¦ road, but I tell you, not in a thousand visions did I once imagine it this bad! The ruts were big enough to hide Volkswagens in them! It was, without a doubt, in my travels ALL over this world ¡V the worst road I had ever been on. It was pretty hairy in spots ¡V well, no, maybe not in spots, all over! After an hour of this I just wanted to see the lodge appear, but no, so far no lodge in sight¡K. ¡¥Just another few minutes¡¦ Bernard would say as he jogged over, around and under the ruts. And then, finally ¡V ¡¥look, you can see the lodge over there!¡¦ Yeah, like WAY over there! But it did eventually get closer, and just before we got to the turn off for the Sopa ¡V BONUS! There were two lions walking across the road! (not sure how they managed to walk on that road!) A not quite matured male lion, and a female lion. ¡¥Honeymooners¡¦ Bernard called them. What an incredible sight to see, they stopped, looked at us and then went behind a bush. We stopped the vehicle and waited only a few minutes before they both popped their heads out, and laid down in a very classic lion pose, with the lioness laying with her head on her paws, and the male¡¦s head towering over her ¡V both of them looking straight at us. Probably wondering how we made it on those roads this far¡K
We arrived at the lodge just before 7:00 (we watched the lions for quite a bit, plus stopped to take pictures of the sunset through the acacia trees over the crater). What a welcome sight! It is an incredibly beautiful lodge; again, like the Sopa at Tarangire, very open, very bright and very nicely decorated. Big glass windows overlooked the pool, which seemed to be on the very edge of the crater. The bar area was very inviting with its huge fireplace, armchairs and couches scattered around. The restaurant had a fireplace in the middle of it as well. It was a fairly large room, but there were too many tables, it made it hard to walk between the tables. The meal on the first night was from a menu; there was a soup, two appetizers, two mains, a traditional Swahili dish, a vegetarian dish, and two deserts from choose from. The meals were really good, the appys and the deserts were the best! The second night was a buffet. Breakfast was served buffet, all the usual suspects plus an omelet station. The service here though was not the best, the staff were friendly, but really slow in getting to you.
The room was awesome. Nicely decorated, it contained two queen size beds with mossie netting, a wardrobe, a dressing table, and a wonderful closed in sitting area with huge picture windows that looked down into the crater, with rocking chairs and a small table to enjoy that view. There was also a separate sitting room at the front door entrance, but there was only a bar fridge in it, nothing else. Probably ran out of ideas¡K The bathroom was huge also, but we were back to the type of bathtub that you needed a ladder to get into it. I did wonder why they make their bathtubs so tall in Kenya! One thing I should mention though ¡V this room must have been the reason why were given those Micato flashlights ¡V it truly had the poorest lighting of all the places we were in, including the tented camp. I tried to write in my journal at the desk, and could hardly see the journal. Roberta mentioned to me that she tried to use it as a make-up table, but for sure it didn¡¦t work for that!
So ends another day in paradise as we fall asleep with the blinds for the window wide open, hoping to wake up in the morning and catch the dawn over the crater!
Jun 30th, 2006, 06:49 AM
#47
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Lynda,I am just back yesterday from my Micato safari, and am already having fun reading your trip report and reliving my experience as well. We had such a fabulous time; it was really remarkable. Thanks for all the time and effort.
Mary
Mary
Jun 30th, 2006, 07:15 AM
#48
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Hi Mary!
Welcome home!!!
I would love to read how you did on the packing, and all about the trip - are you going to do a report? (it doesn't have to be long like mine if you don't want!)
Did you do the America Shares program, ie did you visit Mukuru?
Can't wait to hear! There was one more person going with Micato that had posted on this board, I believe it was someone going in early July if I remember correctly - someone with two kids I think? My memory fails me.
Welcome home!!!
I would love to read how you did on the packing, and all about the trip - are you going to do a report? (it doesn't have to be long like mine if you don't want!)
Did you do the America Shares program, ie did you visit Mukuru?
Can't wait to hear! There was one more person going with Micato that had posted on this board, I believe it was someone going in early July if I remember correctly - someone with two kids I think? My memory fails me.
Jun 30th, 2006, 07:19 AM
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From Lynda:
"...followed by that wonderful new highway stretch that the Japanese built for Kenya! "
We sang songs about that wonderful 'Japanese Road' that led to the Crater area. We had had such an awful time with roads and vehicles breakdowns up until that point that when we reached 'the Japanese Road' we all wanted to started crying with happiness.
Another great memory.
"...followed by that wonderful new highway stretch that the Japanese built for Kenya! "
We sang songs about that wonderful 'Japanese Road' that led to the Crater area. We had had such an awful time with roads and vehicles breakdowns up until that point that when we reached 'the Japanese Road' we all wanted to started crying with happiness.
Another great memory.
Jun 30th, 2006, 03:58 PM
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Lynda,
Would love to discuss our trips. My email is [email protected], if you want to email me.
Mary
Would love to discuss our trips. My email is [email protected], if you want to email me.
Mary
Jul 3rd, 2006, 01:50 PM
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I'm writing, I'm writing Leely! (next part should be up late tonight/early tomorrow AM)
Yes, Kennedy was AMAZING!!! We came home with a whole new family for friends, he really is a keeper!
Yes, Kennedy was AMAZING!!! We came home with a whole new family for friends, he really is a keeper!
Jul 4th, 2006, 08:04 PM
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“OHMIGOSH – THIS IS LIKE OPENING A BOX OF POST RAISIN BRAN CEREAL AND GETTING ALL RAISINS AND NO CEREAL!”
-Lynda Swain (that’s me)
That really was my comment as we descended into the crater – I could not believe all the ‘pockets’ of animals! Ah, but I get a little ahead of myself here, first I have to tell everyone how I thanked the safari gods that we had pulled the ‘Sopa’ lodging, instead of the ‘Serena’ lodging.
After reading many reports on this board of what it was like to descend into the crater, I couldn’t believe it when we went down this small, gently sloping, very scenic road. Lovely acacia trees, with a huge herd of elephants wandering through them were to our right and left, which then gave away to tall grass, spotted with wildflowers, along both sides as we descended.
“Is this it?” I asked Bernard. “No potholes, no winding teeth-grating roads on the edge of some precipice or other?”
“Yes”, he assured me, this was it. “They are talking about the descent road over on the Serena side” said he. For months I had been dreading that descent – but hey, I could do this again I thought! And then, that’s when I looked around – WOW! All the animals just hanging about – a big patch of wildebeest here, a gigantic patch of zebra here, etc. And, just like everyone had said in their reports – it was really quiet early in the morning on this side – I don’t think we saw another vehicle (except the other two vans which were in our group) for the first few hours.
For the next few hours, as we drove from animal patch to animal patch (someone else on this board had said that very recently & I must say I couldn’t have described that better!) we saw zebra, a pride of lions, cape buffalo, wildebeest, more zebra, and a ton of different birds (can you tell I am not a birder at heart?).
Thinking it was time for a pit stop soon, Bernard headed to the picnic spot, and there we were driving along, when we could go no further. A road block of lions just lyin’ around on the road! Andrew (the young fellow in our van) and I were so excited that everyone locked the doors so we wouldn’t jump out…. This was truly the most amazing thing I had seen – there they were, 2 feet in front of us, not even seeming to care we were there. By this time our other two vans and one or two others had caught up to us. But that was OK – we had the best vantage point of them all! We watched them for about ½ hr, there were 5 of them, one of them was a teenage male, and his mane was just beginning to grow in. At first, they just laid there while we watched – they weren’t really sleeping as each one would roll over, which in turn would make the next one roll over too. But, probably thinking that it was time to perform for us, finally one decided to get up and wander down to our third van. Plop! That was enough energy for that one. The next one got up, and a little more ambitious, went over to the grass on the side of the road and struck up a classic lion-standing-looking-in- the grass pose for us. By this time the others had decided to get up too, they were, I believe trying hard to please us all as they all took up different positions in front of the 4 or 5 vans that were watching them. What a highlight this was for us!
The picnic spot was beautiful with the hippos in the pond beside the washrooms. Our 5 performers were back in the middle of the road as we drove back, by this time word had spread and there were 2 or 3 different vans watching them. We joined them for awhile again (can’t get enough of lions up close was our thoughts!), and then set off in search of flamingoes on Lake Magadi – which didn’t disappoint. There were just tons of flamingoes – greater and lesser, which made for wonderful colourful pictures, with the standard crater wall backdrop! There were a few other animals that had come down to the lake too, a few hyenas, and Grants gazelles. Then, off to the hippo pool, it was amazing to watch all of them rolling over, it seemed like they were playing when they did this.
As it was after noon by this time, Bernard headed back to the picnic site, on our way we saw some more of the amazing pockets of animals – zebra, wildebeest, gazelles, cape buffalo, and then stopped for a hyena that was sleeping by the side of the road. This was our first hyena up close, and I must say, these guys are definitely underloved and underrated. This guy was so cute with his fluffy little round ears and his spots! He woke up as we stopped the engine, looked at us and got up. He meandered over to the van, walked right past my window, stopped and looked at me. Then, went to the front of the van, off to my side a bit, dug a hole in the road, peed in it and then plopped down in it. He had all of us in the van in peels of laughter.
We drove back past the lions just lyin’ around on the road again on the way back to the picnic site. We couldn’t help but watch them some more. Upon arrival back at the picnic site, I could not believe that it was the same place as where we were in the morning. There were probably 50 vans, Land Rovers, Land Cruisers and other such vehicles there. I couldn’t believe it. Our three vans managed to find a spot by the hippo pond, at the far side. Off to the washroom we went, (that was quite the hike) to come back to a wonderful surprise! Daniel, and the three guides, had laid out a picnic spread that must have been the envy of all with those famous ‘box lunches’. They had a full table set up in between the vans, with salads, samosas, cold steak, chicken, buns, cookies, crackers & cheese, chocolate bars and a fruit salad – a huge spread. Real plates, glasses, real cutlery, and drinks of course, juice, water, beer, wine and spirits. I just couldn’t help but feel smug when I looked over to the couple eating the box lunch with the hard boiled eggs and the sandwich beside us. But, little did I know that karma would get me for that thought the next day as we too had to endure one of those boxed lunches!
Driving over to Lerai Forest after lunch, we found two more lions in the road – so close that Jim could have reached out and touched them. It was a young male, and a young female, both had fresh small wounds all over them which was attracting the flies. I felt sorry for them; they just couldn’t seem to keep the flies off, no matter what they did.
We didn’t go far into the forest; the blue-balled monkeys were near to the entrance by the washrooms. They really are bright blue! The rest of the afternoon was spent seeing ‘repeat’ animals – more lions, wildebeest, zebra, and gazelles. We started back up on that lovely smooth, ever-so-gently curved road; almost at the top we stopped to watch a herd (pack?) of elephants feeding on the acacia trees. One huge elephant didn’t like the looks of us; he walked right up to the side of the van and trumpeted, right beside me. I had a momentary scare out of that, for a few seconds there I really wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but he backed off and moved on.
We arrived back at the lodge right around 6:00, which gave Jim plenty of time to set his camera up to get a fabulous sunset shot over the crater. Spunky (my very small travelin’ bear who has gone all over the world with me, and yes, I know he weighs about a pound…) and I sat in the rocking chairs and watched the sunset go down from the wonderful picture windows in the room.
-Lynda Swain (that’s me)
That really was my comment as we descended into the crater – I could not believe all the ‘pockets’ of animals! Ah, but I get a little ahead of myself here, first I have to tell everyone how I thanked the safari gods that we had pulled the ‘Sopa’ lodging, instead of the ‘Serena’ lodging.
After reading many reports on this board of what it was like to descend into the crater, I couldn’t believe it when we went down this small, gently sloping, very scenic road. Lovely acacia trees, with a huge herd of elephants wandering through them were to our right and left, which then gave away to tall grass, spotted with wildflowers, along both sides as we descended.
“Is this it?” I asked Bernard. “No potholes, no winding teeth-grating roads on the edge of some precipice or other?”
“Yes”, he assured me, this was it. “They are talking about the descent road over on the Serena side” said he. For months I had been dreading that descent – but hey, I could do this again I thought! And then, that’s when I looked around – WOW! All the animals just hanging about – a big patch of wildebeest here, a gigantic patch of zebra here, etc. And, just like everyone had said in their reports – it was really quiet early in the morning on this side – I don’t think we saw another vehicle (except the other two vans which were in our group) for the first few hours.
For the next few hours, as we drove from animal patch to animal patch (someone else on this board had said that very recently & I must say I couldn’t have described that better!) we saw zebra, a pride of lions, cape buffalo, wildebeest, more zebra, and a ton of different birds (can you tell I am not a birder at heart?).
Thinking it was time for a pit stop soon, Bernard headed to the picnic spot, and there we were driving along, when we could go no further. A road block of lions just lyin’ around on the road! Andrew (the young fellow in our van) and I were so excited that everyone locked the doors so we wouldn’t jump out…. This was truly the most amazing thing I had seen – there they were, 2 feet in front of us, not even seeming to care we were there. By this time our other two vans and one or two others had caught up to us. But that was OK – we had the best vantage point of them all! We watched them for about ½ hr, there were 5 of them, one of them was a teenage male, and his mane was just beginning to grow in. At first, they just laid there while we watched – they weren’t really sleeping as each one would roll over, which in turn would make the next one roll over too. But, probably thinking that it was time to perform for us, finally one decided to get up and wander down to our third van. Plop! That was enough energy for that one. The next one got up, and a little more ambitious, went over to the grass on the side of the road and struck up a classic lion-standing-looking-in- the grass pose for us. By this time the others had decided to get up too, they were, I believe trying hard to please us all as they all took up different positions in front of the 4 or 5 vans that were watching them. What a highlight this was for us!
The picnic spot was beautiful with the hippos in the pond beside the washrooms. Our 5 performers were back in the middle of the road as we drove back, by this time word had spread and there were 2 or 3 different vans watching them. We joined them for awhile again (can’t get enough of lions up close was our thoughts!), and then set off in search of flamingoes on Lake Magadi – which didn’t disappoint. There were just tons of flamingoes – greater and lesser, which made for wonderful colourful pictures, with the standard crater wall backdrop! There were a few other animals that had come down to the lake too, a few hyenas, and Grants gazelles. Then, off to the hippo pool, it was amazing to watch all of them rolling over, it seemed like they were playing when they did this.
As it was after noon by this time, Bernard headed back to the picnic site, on our way we saw some more of the amazing pockets of animals – zebra, wildebeest, gazelles, cape buffalo, and then stopped for a hyena that was sleeping by the side of the road. This was our first hyena up close, and I must say, these guys are definitely underloved and underrated. This guy was so cute with his fluffy little round ears and his spots! He woke up as we stopped the engine, looked at us and got up. He meandered over to the van, walked right past my window, stopped and looked at me. Then, went to the front of the van, off to my side a bit, dug a hole in the road, peed in it and then plopped down in it. He had all of us in the van in peels of laughter.
We drove back past the lions just lyin’ around on the road again on the way back to the picnic site. We couldn’t help but watch them some more. Upon arrival back at the picnic site, I could not believe that it was the same place as where we were in the morning. There were probably 50 vans, Land Rovers, Land Cruisers and other such vehicles there. I couldn’t believe it. Our three vans managed to find a spot by the hippo pond, at the far side. Off to the washroom we went, (that was quite the hike) to come back to a wonderful surprise! Daniel, and the three guides, had laid out a picnic spread that must have been the envy of all with those famous ‘box lunches’. They had a full table set up in between the vans, with salads, samosas, cold steak, chicken, buns, cookies, crackers & cheese, chocolate bars and a fruit salad – a huge spread. Real plates, glasses, real cutlery, and drinks of course, juice, water, beer, wine and spirits. I just couldn’t help but feel smug when I looked over to the couple eating the box lunch with the hard boiled eggs and the sandwich beside us. But, little did I know that karma would get me for that thought the next day as we too had to endure one of those boxed lunches!
Driving over to Lerai Forest after lunch, we found two more lions in the road – so close that Jim could have reached out and touched them. It was a young male, and a young female, both had fresh small wounds all over them which was attracting the flies. I felt sorry for them; they just couldn’t seem to keep the flies off, no matter what they did.
We didn’t go far into the forest; the blue-balled monkeys were near to the entrance by the washrooms. They really are bright blue! The rest of the afternoon was spent seeing ‘repeat’ animals – more lions, wildebeest, zebra, and gazelles. We started back up on that lovely smooth, ever-so-gently curved road; almost at the top we stopped to watch a herd (pack?) of elephants feeding on the acacia trees. One huge elephant didn’t like the looks of us; he walked right up to the side of the van and trumpeted, right beside me. I had a momentary scare out of that, for a few seconds there I really wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but he backed off and moved on.
We arrived back at the lodge right around 6:00, which gave Jim plenty of time to set his camera up to get a fabulous sunset shot over the crater. Spunky (my very small travelin’ bear who has gone all over the world with me, and yes, I know he weighs about a pound…) and I sat in the rocking chairs and watched the sunset go down from the wonderful picture windows in the room.
Jul 4th, 2006, 08:17 PM
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Just amazing Lynda! What a great visit to the Crater. Appreciated the info on the road conditions.
Sounds like you didn't have to leave the Crater and could stay out the full day. Anyone know if that's possible on a private safari with the changes to half-day tours?
Sounds like you didn't have to leave the Crater and could stay out the full day. Anyone know if that's possible on a private safari with the changes to half-day tours?
Jul 4th, 2006, 08:37 PM
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Lynda,
Your day in the Crater sounds even better than ours! And your lunch certainly does.
I know you have a new job, but I am hoping you find the time to scan at least a few of your photos. And then convert to jpegs. And then set up on kodakgallery or something. And so on.
Not too much to ask, is it?
Your day in the Crater sounds even better than ours! And your lunch certainly does.
I know you have a new job, but I am hoping you find the time to scan at least a few of your photos. And then convert to jpegs. And then set up on kodakgallery or something. And so on.
Not too much to ask, is it?
Jul 5th, 2006, 12:36 PM
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lynda - i returned from safari with micato june 24th and have been on a natural high ever since. have never dealt with a better group ever!! i am going right along with you and can't wait to get to serengeti and maasai mara. Kichwa Tembo was my favorite place! I hope you were able to try the macadamia nut flan on the buffet. the chef was kind enough to give me the recipe.
