A_and_J

Hi Kim and Jerry - Thanks so much for sharing your adventure with me through this forum. My son and I absolutely loved the posted pics. Am thinking of following similar route with my 10yo son next Spring. Any advice on traveling in March/April and if your places of venue are kid-friendly?

My son has traveled some pretty awesome educational places like Galapagos, remote villages outside of Quito, and Costa Rica, so adventure is okay with him. I just want to make sure that someone would deem it "safe" for kids.

Leely

Kim and Jerry, I love your photos: the lion cub with its tongue out, baby elephant watering with zebra reflection, the roller in flight, the guy on the bike at Matemwe and many others.

And keep up the wonderful report!

Kmania

Thanks, everyone. I'm having fun reliving the trip, although I need to look at more of the photos before I write. They're helping me to remember things that didn't make it into the journal because it was too bumpy to write at the time.

We saw a number of kids in other vehicles although I never saw any at the camps where we stayed. They usually looked like they were having a great time. We did meet a family with three kids at Matemwe. The daughter was maybe 7 or 8 years old and the boys were a little older, maybe 10 and 12. The dad said they loved the safari and they seemed to be entertaining themselves pretty well at Matemwe too.

I hope to at least get through the Serengeti this weekend.

Kmania

Serengeti

While Maningo took care of the paperwork, we went on the little nature walk at the visitor’s center. I love lizards and was excited to see several agama lizards sunning themselves on the rocks. I don’t think I ever imagined that I’d see lizards that were so colorful. We ate our boxed lunch from the Ngorongoro Serena. It had a really good ham and cheese sandwich, plus the more typical box lunch items: yogurt, juice box, cookies, etc. It was probably my favorite of all the box lunches.

As we were standing in the parking lot afterward, I saw a yellow truck with the words Serengeti Cheetah Project on it. I went over and asked for more information. They study cheetahs and wild dogs, and part of the project includes having tourists send photos of cheetahs that they see in the Serengeti, with information on when and where they were seen. Cheetahs have unique spotting patterns, so the photos and information help the researchers keep track of them. We were fortunate to see what was probably the same cheetah twice during our three days there, so we’ll be sending in our photos of him.

We spent the afternoon on a game drive and were rewarded with secretary birds, a lappet-faced vulture, a black-shouldered kite and a black-headed heron. This was the day we discovered that hippo pools smell like aquariums that have never been cleaned. The hippos carried little passengers: red-billed oxpeckers, which picked parasites off the hippos’ skin. In the same hippo pool lurked a Nile crocodile.

Sadly, the antelopes and gazelles pretty much all ran together in my head. I’m convinced they all have a wardrobe of different horns and markings that they change every day. Maningo threatened to start quizzing us on our wildlife ID skills today. Uh oh.

We arrived at Serengeti Tented Camp (also known as Ikoma) just after sunset. It was more rustic than Tarangire River Camp, but we didn’t think it had any serious flaws. I liked the bathroom, which looked as if it was made entirely of polished brown concrete. I’d seen quite a few criticisms of STC, so I was a little leery, so much so that a few weeks before the trip I upgraded us to two nights at Mbuzi Mawe. Our agent recommended that we go ahead and stay at least one night at STC because he knew I wanted to do a night game drive. Since STC isn’t in the Serengeti proper, night drives were available there.

I think I would have liked it better if we hadn’t gone on the night drive. Unfortunately, that negative experience colored our stay. First, the guide who was supposed to lead it tried to talk us into canceling it and going on a morning bush walk instead. When that wasn’t successful, he claimed that their vehicles were out of commission and suggested that we get our guide to let us use his vehicle. We told Maningo what was going on and he went to talk to the manager. Then the manager came out and said that of course we could go on the night drive; it would just take them about an hour to get the vehicle ready. I don’t think we left until after 9:30 p.m. and the whole thing was really amateurish.

The pluses: a spotted genet made a circuit through the dining room before dinner; we met a couple from Carlsbad or Oceanside, about 45 minutes from where we live; it was clean and comfortable, and I’d recommend it to anyone who’s on a budget. Just don’t go for the night drive.

We left early the next morning, for what was to be the day of the big-cat trifecta: multiple lions, two leopards and a cheetah. A sleeping lioness was undisturbed by all the vehicles surrounding her. She was so close that we could see pale spotting on her coat and peach-colored fuzz in her ears. We stayed long enough to see that in addition to the sleeping lioness, there was another lioness, plus two cubs. The cubs put on a show, playfighting with each other.

As we drove on, Maningo spotted a Tommy carcass up in a tree. Sure enough, just down the road was a leopard in a tree, with a very full belly. Later, we saw another one, also in a tree.

I spotted my first lion on my own today. I could see vultures circling, so I was looking in that direction when I saw her running.

Near the Seronera airstrip, we saw a cheetah strolling through the grass, being tailed by a hyena.

We’ve seen so many giraffes that Jerry has started taking pictures of giraffe behavior and anatomy: chewing, the inside of the ear, the tail. It’s a good thing. We discovered after we returned home that our neighbor Cathy loves giraffes, so she greatly enjoyed all the photos of her favorite animal.

We feel like mongoose (mongeese?) standing up in the Land Cruiser, popping down every time another vehicle passes, then up again after the dust settles. I love feeling the wind as we drive along. It’s almost as good as sitting on the bow of a dive boat, except I’m getting dusty instead of wet.

Upon arrival at Mbuzi Mawe, we were assigned a tent and given an overview of the rules: don’t leave your tent without an escort after dark, arrange an escort at the main lodge before you go to your tent so you don’t get stuck there, blow the whistle in the room in case of an emergency. We got settled in, showered and returned to the lounge area for a drink on the veranda as the sun set. Little house geckos came out at each wall lamp and hunted insects. At dusk, three klipspringer (for which Mbuzi Mawe is named) appeared, one at a time. Dinner was cream of pumpkin soup, tandoori chicken, rice and vegetables. Tomorrow is our last full day of game driving; we leave for Zanzibar the day after.

QueenofDaNile

To participate in the Cheetah Watch program you can download a pamphlet from the Wildlife Conservation Society's "Saving Wildlife-Africa" page and take it with you. It is a project run by the Tanzania Carnivore Conservation Project, funded by the British Government through their Darwin initiative but also supported by WCS and the Zoological Society of London. Glad to hear you saw proof that it is going on.

While I printed out the Wild Dog pamphlet months ago it no longer appears on the WCS site.

Leely

Interesting to hear something recent and not too bad about STC. Glad you had lots of cat action. I'm like your neighbor--I never tire of the beautiful giraffes.

Kavey

Enjoying your report!

Kmania

The End of the Endless Plains

I think this was one of my favorite days. Maningo drove us out to the Masai kopje. No one else was around, so it was as if we had the whole Serengeti to ourselves. We never saw any hunts or kills during our trip, but we did see a pair of lions with a carcass up in the rocks. At a waterhole, we saw two more lions, seemingly relaxed. Then we noticed two topi off in the distance, heading toward the waterhole. Soon, they all become aware of each other. Standoff! We watched for a while to see if anything would happen. Then I spotted a jackal loping along. He seemed casual enough, as jackals do, but checked behind him once in a while to see what the lions were up to. They stared back. This was my best sighting of a wild dog, if not an African wild dog, so I said “Twende” and we followed the jackal. We were able to track him for quite a distance. He even crossed the road in front of us at one point, and Jerry got several good photos of him.

After we lost sight of the jackal, we happened upon a large herd of elephants at another waterhole. We parked and just watched as they bathed, ate, scratched, and jostled for position. We watched a baby nurse. I’m terrible at estimating distances, but they seemed quite close. I was looking at them through my binoculars so I could see details, and every once in a while had to remind myself to put them down and just watch. I think only one or two other vehicles joined us at this site, and it was lovely not to have the crowds that so often accompany a great sighting like this.

Jerry had observed the previous day that we were all like predators in search of the best sighting and, like hyenas, all converged on each other’s finds.

Lunch was the ubiquitous box lunch with fried chicken. The first time we got it, I wasn’t about to touch chicken that had been sitting in a box that long, cast-iron stomach or not. But when I saw that it didn’t kill Jerry, I was fine with the next two meals of it.

Throughout the day, we also saw a reedbuck, a purple grenadier at the visitor’s center during lunch, a von der Decken’s hornbill (one of our favorites for his comical appearance), two secretary birds, marabou cranes and what my notes say is a third leopard. I think it must be the third one we saw in the Serengeti. I think we saw four or five total, which is amazing.

We ended our day at the Retina hippo pool, which I’m pretty sure takes the prize for worst-smelling. On the other hand, we did see three or four crocs, plus a Nile monitor, which Jerry managed to photograph in the act of catching and eating something that appeared to be a mouse or similar creature. As we left, it gently started to rain.

Later, we sat out on the veranda at Mbuzi Mawe, drinks in hand. Suddenly we heard a whistle sounding, again and again. Was it a test of the emergency whistle system, or the real thing? A few minutes later, we asked the manager if there had been a problem. “Oh, some people don’t know what the whistle is for,” he replied.

The next day we loaded up our bags for the trip to the Serengeti airstrip. On the way, we saw what was probably the same cheetah we’d seen a couple of days earlier, in the same general area. We had plenty of time, so we were able to watch him for quite a while. He was strolling along, not really in a hurry, but not without purpose, either. By this time several vehicles had spotted him, and at one point, he stopped and just sat for a few minutes, as if posing for all the people watching him. Then he headed off toward a herd of antelope/gazelles (I don’t remember what they were and don’t have access to the photos).

This was it! We were going to get to see a hunt.

Or not.

They scattered frantically. He strolled nonchalantly. They regrouped. He just watched.

We had to go catch a plane.

Oh well. We got to see him close up.

Zanzibar

Although this trip was originally planned to include the Seychelles, I just couldn’t pass up the chance to go to Zanzibar. The name alone is alluringly exotic. As with so many things that sound romantic, the reality was less so, but we still had a good time and I’m glad I went.

We were met at the airport by Haule, a driver arranged for us by Zanzibar Unique. We loaded our bags into his minivan, and he drove us first to an ATM and then to Matemwe Beach Village, telling us about Zanzibar’s political and cultural history along the way.

Matemwe was rustic and relaxed. For some reason, we were assigned two different rooms while we were there, one the first night and another for the next three nights. I didn’t care much for the first room, but the second one was nicer. We never spent much time there anyway. The main drawback was that both rooms had two small beds instead of a queen or king. I asked if that could be changed, but no such luck. You’d think I would have learned my lesson about specifying bed size after similar incidents in Spain a couple of years ago, but apparently not.

Dinner the first evening was an outdoor buffet with live music. The musicians and the vocalist were excellent, and we enjoyed the evening. We were diving the next morning, so we went to bed early.

At the dive shop, we were persuaded to wear full wetsuits instead of the shorties we’d planned on. The water was probably in the mid-70s. We haven’t dived in full neoprene in years (we’re usually in Cayman in 82-degree water), so we had issues getting our weight right. I think we were both overweighted on both dives, despite adjustments, but it was manageable. I used up a lot more air than usual, though.

I like to learn how to do new things, and this dive was my opportunity to do that. I’m used to putting on my gear and just stepping off the stern into the water. But this was a dhow and wasn’t built for that, so I was forced to roll backward off the side of the boat, something I’ve avoided for years. On our two dives, we saw two turtles, a stonefish, a lionfish and several trumpetfish. Jerry and several other people saw an octopus. Between dives, the crew served watermelon slices, naan and samosas. Because of the tides, divers are landed at a different beach and jounced back to Matemwe in a dala-dala. It’s a really rough ride, rougher than any game trail we drove over.

When we returned, we discovered that the next day’s dives were being canceled because of weather. I enjoyed my dives, but I’ve never been so happy to have dives canceled. My knuckles and toes are still a little scarred and scabbed from the beating they took as I pulled on the wetsuit (I guess that makes me a tenderfoot). We were happy to do nothing but veg out for the next three days.

The next day it rained. We spent all that day and most of the next in the lounge listening to The Golden Compass, which I’d purchased as an audiobook. Lunch was delicious grilled dorado. I wish I’d had the option to eat it every day there; it was one of the best things we ate the whole trip. When the sun finally came out, we took a break from our book and went for a walk on the beach.

Kmania

Safari Photography Observations by Mr. Kmania

I won’t go into all the recommendations published everywhere else about bean bags, lenses, storage, etc. I will cover things I observed while shooting on safari.

When you drive up and stop to view most animals, if they don’t immediately move a distance away from you, they will often turn away from you so about the only shots you’ll get are “butt” shots. This is instinctive for most animals since it allows them to run away faster while they check out your threat level. The only cure for this is to sit and wait, but often they will just keep on moving away from you.

Tripods and bean bags will help sharpen your long distance photos, but only so much. The real issue is how much your Land Cruiser will move and rock while you’re taking your shots, since most parks don’t allow people to leave their vehicles for photography. No tripod in the world will hold your lens steady if there are other people in the vehicle jostling to see the animals, or the wind is gently rocking the vehicle (your Land Cruiser makes a pretty big target for even a small breeze). Remember, too, to always have your guide/driver turn off the engine.

Take as many shots of a particular scene as you can. One of them is bound to be much better than all the others, making for a “Wow!” moment. Most photographers will tell you that they get maybe one or two “Wow!” shots for every hundred they shoot.

If you're serious about shooting, don’t let your driver keep the pop-top on even if it’s open and you can stand up. Invariably you’ll want to take a photo of a bird in flight or something high up in a tree and if the top is on you’ll have to contort around to look up. Or, you’ll be following a moving animal and get a great shot only to discover that the support posts for the top are in your shot. Wear a hat, instead.

Use a blanket to keep your camera and lenses clean. It’s very dusty on the roads and trails and many other vehicles will kick up lots of dust while passing you. If you see another vehicle approaching, pull the blanket over your camera. You can do this without letting go of or setting down the camera. When the dust has settled, pull the blanket off and you’re ready to shot some more. A blanket can also double as a substitute bean bag.

Review your shots as quickly as possible to see what adjustments may need to be made, either with your camera settings or your shooting style. Safaris are expensive and rare events for most people and you don’t want to find out too late that your shots are ruined over something easily corrected between sightings.

Take a video camera, too. Some scenes are best preserved with video: elephant herds moving to and drinking at the water hole, giraffes chewing acacia leaves with that funny side to side chewing motion, etc.

Kmania

I've been very remiss in completing this report. I had quite a lot of work to catch up on, but I finally have a little free time.

We had a lovely stay at Matemwe Beach Village. It wasn't luxurious, but the open-air lounge on the beach was a wonderful place to veg out for a few days, and we enjoyed talking to the people we met there. And it was especially nice to get some lap time from the resident cats.

Our final evening was very special. We went to the dining room and chose a table overlooking the beach. A few minutes later, our waiter said that we weren't sitting in the right place; hadn't we arranged a beach dinner? We replied that he must have us mistaken with someone else, but he returned a few minutes later and said that we were indeed scheduled to be served on the beach. We followed him to a wonderful tent with carpets, a table and candlelight. We were presented with a bottle of wine and served a delicious meal as we listened to the waves lap on the shore and admired the stars twinkling above.

The experience was courtesy of Gail, the manager. I knew from e-mails before our trip that she had rescued several dogs and often had difficulty finding good veterinary care for them, so I had mailed her one dog health book and brought another on the trip. We didn't get to meet her as she wasn't on site, so I just wrote her a quick note and assumed that would be that. We were overwhelmed by her lovely "thank you."

The next day, Haole picked us up. We went on a spice tour and then he drove us to our hotel in Stonetown, the Dhow Palace. We really liked our room--except for the twin beds again. It overlooked the courtyard on one side and had a window overlooking the street on the other side. My favorite feature was the tiled sunken tub, which I immediately took advantage of.

We didn't do any tours in Stonetown. We like to just wander in places like that and see where we end up. It was during Ramadan, so we were careful not to eat or drink while in public. I did a lot of shopping but didn't find anything I couldn't live without. Mainly we purchased coffee and spices for gifts to friends and family. I did see several large old brass pieces that I loved in one shop, but I didn't love them enough to want to ship them back.

We went to the rooftop bar at Africa House to watch the sunset and had dinner at Forodhani Gardens. If you love cats (the domestic ones), they're all over the place in Stonetown, especially at Forodhani at night, where they help clean up any dropped food. Jerry is grateful that we don't live in Stonetown since I would probably become the local cat lady.

Our stay in Africa ended the next afternoon with a flight to Dar and then on to Amsterdam for a couple of days before returning to San Francisco, picking up our dogs and taking the scenic route home, down Pacific Coast Highway and Hwy. 101.

Our trip was arranged through Access2Tanzania. I worked with Brian, and he did a really great job of planning a trip that met our interests and budget. The Land Rover was in excellent condition and never had any mechanical issues, and our guide was interesting and knowledgeable.

And now to plan a trip to Botswana, in search of those elusive wild dogs...