Dear Kaye,

Did you see three black rhinos at the same time? That would be really amazing in as far as the number at Ngorongoro is something like 11 or 12 all together at the moment (AFAIK).

The lioness at Tarangire originally walked in the direction of the civet and gave the impression that she wants to chase the other cat away. After a short while though she seemed to have lost interest and simply started to ignore the civet which remained undisturbed in some distance. At the end the civet did not pay attention to the lioness any more and continued its usual business of hunting small animals (mice?) in the high grass. Unfortunately the whole sequence was a bit too far to take pictures.

Marcus


BTW, pictures of our recent trip can be found at http://bf.attacksyour.net/tanzania

Terrifoc photos; thanks for sharing.

Marcus - BEAUTIFUL photos. What kind of camera/lenses did you use? Thanks for sharing!

Stunning photos and it's so nice to have someone focus on the fauna.

Thanks for sharing.

Marcus, I am so impressed. What fabulous photos. The ones of Ol Doinyo Lenggai are particularly beautiful.

Thanks for sharing.

Marcus, fabulous photo taking is right! Thanks for making my short afternoon break a pleasant one.
Dick

Absolutely fantastic photos, Marcus! :)

oops, just realised i said Fauna when I meant flora ........... doh!#-o

Dear Marcus,

Yes, it was 3 black rhino at the same time. They were standing in a very open area with water in the background, so a very clear photo of them as reasonably close considering their nature. I knew we were lucky to see them, I just didn't realise how lucky we were. Just thinking back on that area, I also recall coming across a buffalo, sitting down but looking at us with 3 hyena eating it at the rear end. The driver said we could get a lot closer - no I said, I would much prefer to come back when the buffalo was dead! I do not mind seeing them eaten, but not alive! We did come back later and the buffalo was no longer suffering.

The lioness/civet drama would have been good to witness, although I do like it on film as well. I would suppose that the lioness decided that it wasn't worth the effort to chase/kill the civet as no real competition and I would imagine that a mature lioness would see that as a huge drain of her energy!

Kaye

Dear Marcus,

Just had a quick look at your wonderful photos. I found it quite difficult to show the huge volume of flamingoes, while still seeing that they were flamingoes, not a pink blur! Absolutely loved the bookend 2 sub-adult lions at the base of the tree - couldn't have arranged it better if you had placed them there yourself! Also really loved the agamma watching your every move.

The flowers were spectacular. I have been a regular to MalaMala in Sth Africa, and their bouganvillea is always worthy of a few photos.

Thank you for being able to see pictures of things that I will probably never do in my gameviewing trips!

Kaye

Dear all,

Thanks a lot for your nice comments!

@cooncat: Being just an amateur and also a traditionalist I do not use anything fancy. It’s just a NIKON F 80 + TAMRON 28-300, usually on FUJI 800 films which give me, although a bit expensive, some 10-15 minutes extra at morning and evening time. Additionally I am used to carrying my SIGMA 135 Macro lens for close-ups, even when climbing a mountain like Kilimanjaro…

MarcusW -

Outstanding photos - absolutely loved the flora! And those sunsets! Well, it's Afree-kah! Thanks!

Marcus,
A couple more questions about the camping. I think you mentioned that for 2 people, you only needed a driver/guide and cook. And I assume that all of your supplies and equipment were carried in the same vehicle that you traveled in. How well did you feel this worked? My guess is you would arrive at the campsite location, off load your supplies and equipment, and then your driver/guide and cook set up the camp? What are you doing during this time? Or does one person set up camp and you go out on a game drive? Just trying to get a feel for the logistics.

Also if you don't mind me asking, approximately how much does Roys charge per person per night for this type of camping (if you know the cost breakdown)? I've received quotes from two other Arusha operators ranging between $280-$320pppn for a private semi-luxury camping safari for two people and was wondering where Roys falls. Thanks so much!

Dear Patty,

Sorry for my late response, but I was away last week.

@logistics:
In our case part of the supply and the equipment was carried in a separate trailer so that we had plenty of space in the vehicle, but were a bit slow on uphill parts of the road OTOH.
As a rule it is the driver/guide together with the cook who set up and tear down the camp, but you can always arrange it differently, if you do not want to “waste” any time waiting. We asked for a game drive in some cases and just enjoyed the environment in others. But you are absolutely right, this particular issue needs consideration and possibly detailed discussion in advance.

@costs:
It may sound funny but I really do not know the daily rate which was applied to the safari in our case. We booked a complete package with Roy’s which included the Kilimanjaro climb and Zanzibar and all I was interested in was the total amount. In fact it is my habit in such cases not to discuss the details of any calculation but to consider and compare the total amount for a complete trip schedule only.
I am sure you can get an average estimate directly from Roy’s at any time, but I’d rather compare costs for a specified itinerary instead of just the average pppn.

BTW, our over-all average for 23 days (10 days semi-luxury safari, 9 days Kilimanjaro, 4 days Zanzibar in the Matemwe Asali Suite) was almost exactly USD 220 pppn.


Have fun,
Marcus

Thanks again, Marcus! Very helpful details.

Patty,
I think a less-expensive option offered by Roy is EMC (http://www.emcmobilesafaris.com/). But this is semi-permanent rather than totally private, totally mobile. Still, it seems pretty cool to me.

And Marcus's price is great.