surrounded by elephants



Zebras



Vervet Monkey



Hippos (Mom's least favourite animal)



Olive Babboon

We are having the most amazing trip. Yesterday we were on a game drive in Lake Marynara conservation area and suddenly our vehicle was in the middle of a large herd of elephants. We had seen lots of them before but always at a respectful distance. This time they were all over the road and seemed to have no regard for us at all.



Group of Elephants



Right there in front of us!!



Elephants and a poop lesson. Mother Elephant pooped, baby stuck his trunk in it and then pooped too, then everyone pooped together (and of course, I took photos!)

It continues to surprise us that the animals in the parks seem oblivious to our intrusion. We got a ton of close-up photos and it will be hard to do any deleting later . They are all good! There is nothing we haven't seen of all the major animals here. The abundance of all kinds of game makes us believe that the anti-poaching programs are having an effect, at least in the parks.



Cheetah



Hyena (Mom's second least favourite animal)

Giraffe (We have so many pictures of giraffes, we never got tired of seeing them)

Joanne is still adding to her bird list but I will let her tell you about that.  The guides have magic eyes, they can spot any living thing no matter how well camouflaged they are. We really like Brian and Simon, they are such gentlemen and treat us very well. We are enjoying our tourmates as well, and will miss them when we part company in a few days. the Quebec boys are quite the party animals, and we are always stunned when they talk about their bar bills from the previous night. Good thing they are not depending on us to keep them company as J and I are usually the first to retire. The food has been good and there is always too much of it, but we are getting a little tired of buffet meals. At least now we do not think we have to try eveything on the groaning board. After this week we will be roughing it somewhat, living in tents and eating whatever they put in front of us. Should be interesting. Our accomodations have been quite posh, and we even had one with a decent shower. What a treat that was, as mostly the showers are less than wonderful. The bathrooms in the hotels are fine, but when we stop on the game drives the toilets are the hole in the ground style which is a little hard for us pampered princesses to get used to. We are getting more adept all the time though, and may be doing bathroom renovations when we get home.
We have now left the Serengetti and the Ngorongoro Crater behind us and are once again in Arusha where we started. Tonight we will be at Moshi. Yesterday we went on a cultural tour of a village and it was so fascinating. The high point was a visit to the kindergarden when about 50 little kids ran to hug us and just touch us. Most of them are orphans of Aids parents, and there wasn't one of us who didn't want to take them home. The astounding thing is that they are all so happy and smiling. they sang for us and loved looking at pictures of themselves on our cameras. I only wish we had some advance warning that we were going there so we could have taken some gifts for them.



Mom with the kids from the school during our tour.



Kids, kids everywhere

We had an African lunch there and it was very good. I stayed away from the fish when I saw the dirty river it came from, but every thing else was yummy. I hope Jo and I are not saying all the same things, there is so much to tell we could be keyboarding for hours. The weather has been perfect, it seems to only rain at night, and so far it has not been uncomfortably hot. Everything is perfect! That's it from me today, Love Muriel

my birthday with 80% of the big 5



Grey Backed Crane

hey. This is costing me an arm and a leg so read fast. I can't believe it has been a week since mom posted our last bit of news. We met our group that night. We have a lovely group of people who I will try to describe to the side. There are only 12 of us on the tour, plus Steve our Australian tour guide and our two guide drivers Brian and Simon.




Steve

Simon and Brian, our handsome African guides

I am dying to tell you about Ngorongoro crater but first some back ground. As you know the trip got changed around a bit what with Kenya and all. Well, has this ever turned out to be in our favour. First off, there are less of us. Plus, Steve is a total bonus, we were only supposed to have local guides but Steve is awesome. He was brought here from Morroco to deal with all of the changes. New hotels, new tour company and guides. From what he has let slip, we are in better hotels, our tour company is way way better than the original one that was for Kenya. Apparently, the tour is running at a loss because of all of the mess. Yay for us.

Ok, Ngorongoro crater (from now on NG). We left Arusha the morning of my birthday, Feb 11. We arrived at our lodge in the afternoon. It was quite nice although I have to say there are some drawbacks to bush living. The power is only on in the mornings and the evenings, the water is brown and only on for morn/eve and usually not hot. But no worries, the view of the crater made up for any potential hardships. Photos cannot do the vista any sort of justice.



The view from the balcony (one third of it, I couldn't get the whole thing in one shot.

We started right off in the afternoon by descending into the crater. OH My GOD!!! It was crazy. Birds everywhere. I couldn't keep up, mom had to act as my bird secretary. I can't update my list, I don't have time but I am well over a hundred as of today.



Kori Bustard, the heaviest bird that can actually fly



Ostrich, the heaviest bird (who can't fly)

But the best part was the animals. I just don't have the language skills to describe seeing a bunch of elephants standing by a pool.

It was raining a bit so the guides were warning us that the animals don't like the rain but then we happened on a pride of 8 lions. Sleeping right beside the road!! Seriously, I could have reached out the window and touched the big male. It was insane.



The big male



See! She is sleeping right on the road!!

I took a million pictures. Then they all got up and yawned and shook and then just sauntered away. The whole day was like that. We saw Rhinos and buffalo and gazelles and more lions, zebras, wildebeast. The animals are so concentrated in there, you have no idea. If you ever go to Africa, this is definitely a must see.




Zebra



Rhino



Warthogs



Buffalo



This is how we spent most of the day!!

The next day we went back into the crater for the morning. It wasn't nearly as chock'o'block with animals this time. The guides kept telling us how lucky we were the day before. But it was still amazing to drive around with the zebras and buffalo and a million more birds. Lunch was interesting. We had boxed lunches which we ate at a picnic site. I had a piece of chicken leg which I was about to take a bite out of when a Black Kite (hawk) stole it right out of my hand. They don't fool around with Mcdonald's birds here. Guinea fowl and kites are begging here. That afternoon we went to the crater rim. Did I mention the view of the crater. Freakin' amazing (and we could see it from our room too which was on the rim). Anyway, the rim. Steve had set up a hike with a Masai guide.

Emmanuel, our Masai guide at the top of the mountain

We were right in Masai territory. They are allowed to graze in the crater but not live there so their villages surround the rim. They still live in traditional thatch round houses and tend their goats and cattle.



Masai village

The little kids are adorable. They get the goat herds to practise on, they stand by the road and wave to every car. I bought some jewellery from some of them so be nice to me when I get back if you want gifts. Anyway, the hike. We met up with a ranger because you aren't allowed to hike in the area without one, he had a rifle but I don't think he has had to use it, it was hard to get a straight answer out of him. Our Masai guide was Emmanuel. He is the animal doctor and he had his own herd. 27 years old, unmarried for those of you who voted that I would marry a Masai. You should have seen the lot of us trying to make it up this rocky mountain that Steve thought would be an easy hike. Steve who is whip thin, over 6 feet tall and never eats. Bahhh. The view was breathtaking though. Ok, I know that was not enough but I have to sign off, next time the Serengeti. We have been here 4 days now. jc

The great trek up (it doesn't look that hard in the picture)



We made it. Get used to pictures from tops of mountains, an accomplishment always worthy of photographic documentation (if only to remind myself)

Muriel speaks

I'm sort of the silent partner here, but only because Joanne is better than I am at this. Nevertheless, I have the floor today. We are still in Arusha and enjoying the amenities of the hotel. It is not quite the perfect hotel we thought at first, so far we have had to have someone come up twice to open our safe for us as it did not work, and housekeeping had to be called to bring some towels, but all in all we are relaxing and having a good time. The birding is interesting, because it involves carrying a 3 pound book, two sets of binoculars, cameras, pens and paper, and always big bottles of water. The looks we get as we stand on the roadside peering into the trees are somewhat bemused, or maybe amused, but we don't care. The people here are so friendly, we hear "Jamba" (hello) constantly and many people speak English and are quick to wish us a good morning. We love looking at the women in there beautiful dresses. The colours are spectacular and everyone seems to dress as if they were on their way to a party. Many of the women have large bundles on their heads. and even buckets are carried this way. We feel uncomfortable taking pictures of people , as they do not seem to like it, but this afternoon I will give some of the ladies some money and snap without guilt. The city is strangely devoid of dogs; most third world countries we are familiar with have feral dogs all over the place. Perhaps a good reason to avoid eating the street venders food offerings!
Tonight our tour officially begins and we will be departing for the Ngorangora crater tomorrow morning. All of the "big Five" live there and we are optimistic about seeing all of them, of course. The hotel is the start point for many tour outfits and is a busy place as different groups come and go. We all look like tourists with nice new safari wear and the ubiquitous tilly hats or tilly lookalikes. Its all very exciting just to be here in Africa, the air smells different, full of wonderful perfume and exotic scents. So far it has not been too hot, but the sun is harsh and we have to be careful not to burn. What a moment when we saw a red robed Masai walking down the street in town, complete with large walking stick instead of a spear. One of them was even talking on a cell phone. Wherever you go , old meets new. We will update when we can, please send us messages once in a while.
All for now, Muriel

Surprisingly, we were not shot in Nairobi



A woman doing her laundry in Arusha

When I last posted we had just arrived in the Nairobi Airport, which I must admit is chock'a'block full of shops and things to look at. Marylyn had made us promise to stay in the airport so, of course, we had to go outside. We already had our entrance visas bought and paid for, 8 hours to kill and an African bird book burning a hole in my bullet bag. So we went through the process of filling out their official government forms and immigration officers, passport stamping etc and went outside. I'm sure we were quite the oddity. We were offered about 50 cabs but we just wandered around the airport grounds (see Marylyn - we do listen a little bit). We saw many birds and IDed most of them. I didn't bring my list to the computer room but I will update that soon. After Paul reminded me that he is winning on the bird count I will have to work even harder!

It was so hot, I remembered to put on sunscreen after about a half hour but we both managed to burn our necks. After a while we had a sit down on a flag pole base to try to figure our one particular bird (Black Kite) when a cop wandered near us with the most over decorated military guy at his side. He had an abundance of gold braids and medals pinned to him. Anyway, either he told the cop to move us or the cop decided that he wasn't looking busy enough for the boss so we got roused. So that was the end of our Kenyan birding expedition. Still, I have Nairobi in my bird book and that is what really matters.

Our flight to Arusha was in an old prop plane that reminded me of those stories of tourists crashing & dying in some sort of local transport where people at home say "What on earth were they thinking, getting into that plane (or train, truck, boat)" It was a crazy bumpy ride (did not help with my stupid tourist fears). Unfortunately, it was so cloudy we didn't get the lovely view of Mt Kilimanjaro we had hoped for. Oh well, we made it without crashing so I won't complain. Readers of the Times Colonist can comment on some other dead tourists' transportation choices.

We were the first out the gate after picking up our luggage which was there(Mom must had recited some hail marys for that wish to come true). Our driver was there and he loaded us and our bags into a jeep and off we went. Within 2 minutes of leaving the airport grounds we saw actual, real live, honest to goodness Masai women in the field tending their cattle. Maybe only the anthropology majors will understand this but that made the three days of travelling all worth it. The drive was an adventure in itself. There were people everywhere, donkeys standing in the middle of the road, little brick houses. Awesome.

We got to the hotel and it is lovely, probably the nicest hotel I have ever stayed in. Although last night I didn't really care. Mom went to have a shower and I fell asleep in my clothes. I finally woke up at midnight and changed into my pjs. A glorious 12 hours of sleep in a bed!!



Our glorious beds after three days of sleeping in chairs

Next morning we ventured out. We hadn't made it 6 inches from the hotel gates before we were assaulted by every street salesman in Arusha. You could practically hear the "fresh meat/money" vibe to them. It was a short venture. We changed some money and high tailed it back to the hotel. It was like dipping our big toes into a cold lake. Baby steps. We ate breakfast in the hotel (egg yokes are white here) and then tried again on the outside. We did better this time. We wandered around and did a bit of shopping. I am so jaded when it comes to shopping but everything here is so different. All of my rules about waiting went out the window. Already I have a bulky object that will soon be causing me no end of packing trouble. Do I ever learn? No. No, I don't.

By the evening we were getting pretty good at dodging the vendors. We even managed to go out for dinner at a nice little restaurant called Pepe's (Italian/Indian formally Italian/Mexican cuisine) Very good pizza. We tried (we really did) to find an African restaurant but we couldn't find a single one. We tried our first Tusker beer, which was delicious and cold.



Pepe's outdoor dining room - My first Tusker!

We were constantly surrounded by a posse of men, offering us cabs, trickets, information, assistance. They would follow us for blocks. One guy I finally had to yell at. It makes Mexican vendors seem unmotivated. Stores started to close at 1 o'clock and it got so hot that we came back to the hotel for a rest. Plus, we didn't want to spend all of our money on Day 1.

Tomorrow the tour starts so we are at the mercy of the set schedule so I don't know when we will be able to post next.

Airport: A tale in three parts (so far)

I am posting from Nairobi so please be forgiving. Weird keys and expensive internet make for short, error filled, messages.

Part 1: Vancouver. So two days before we left, the Massey tunnel in Van was closed for hours due to an accident, then 1 day before we left the high winds cancelled the 11 & 1 o'clock ferries. We were starting to think that all of our worry about Kenya was unnecessary, we were never going to make it off the island. So we left early, caught the 9 and made good time to the airport. But that meant a full day almost hanging around the ol' YVR. So we did a bit of organizing (this will become a theme soon enough) and shopping and eating and checking in. Then, mercifuly, my friend Melissa met us at the airport and had a coffee with us before our departure. WEather held up, plane took off and leg 1 of our trip had begun.

KLM had now fully confirmed how much I dislike Air Canada, with their awful food and service. KLM was nice and the food was good and there were movies to select from the back of the seat in front. The only problem was that the seats were particularly tiny. My knees were rammed up again the folded up tray. You know, if my legs are too long, that is a small seat. I barely slept, mostly because there were 4 movies I wanted to see and I have no self control with the TV. I only managed 2, which I can't even remember what they were. Lucky I stayed up for them....

Part 2: The next morning we landed in Amsterdam. WE had 8 hours to kill so we bought tickets for a city tour with boat ride. I'm glad we did. What a beautiful city (not news for most of the world, I know).

The terrible part is that in my packing that was still too much, one of the things that got cut from the necessary list was my Europe bird book. Well, of course, we saw birds and birds and I couldn't get a picture of any of them or ID them without my book. Bahhhh. At one point the guide sees a hawk and went on about how rare they are and he had never seen one. Weep. The boat ride was less impressive.

It was a recorded tape in multiple languages with a captain that didn't say one word, literally. But a different view of the city. After that we went back to the airport where I couldn't figure out how to sign onto the computers. I was so tired by that point, I had almost fallen asleep on the boat tour (maybe that was why I didn't enjoy it that much). The sign in for the computer was going to be my breaking point so I didn't bother. I wrote a couple of post cards and then we boarded our next flight.

Part 3: We flew with Air Kenya/KLM to Nairobi. It wasn't as snazzy, we couldnt start movies whenever we wanted although there was still a large selection in the back of the chair, the food wasn't as delicious. But since I fell asleep before we had even left the ground I did not care. In fact the only thing that mattered at that point was that there was considerable more seat space which was excellent. I have to give kudos to my friend Lea here. She bought me a neck pillow for Christmas. She actually researched the best one. And it is. It was so awesome, i bought one for Mom for Christmas so we both had nicely supported heads. Flight was uneventful and we landed at Nairobi this morning. Right now we are killing time by repacking our bags AGAIN. Evry time we do something I move some stuff from the smaller bag to the bigger carry on bag (not the checked bag, we haven't seen those yet).

Anyway. So far so good. We fly out of here for Killamanjero at 5:30. WE will actually have beds tonight. and a shower. and all of our stuff. Nothing like three days in airports to make you appreciate the small comforts.

One more sleep

Here we are on the eve of the big adventure. Its like Christmas times a thousand, especially if you compare doing the last minute packing to the last minute wrapping. I have reduced my seven bags to two, but Joanne is still having mini crises over her bag situation. She left her favourite carry-on bag (known as the bullet bag because it is really a hunting bag) at Quadra when she was there for Christmas. Bill had put it away, and we had to call him to courier it to Victoria. It is now 4:30 and so far no bag. Oh dear. We have also just heard that because of the high winds and generally hideous weather, ferries have been cancelled today. If they are not running tomorrow we will have to swim to Vancouver. It will be quite a relief to actually get on a plane, and even more of a relief to get off and finally be there.


Mom won't like this picture but it sums up the feeling of waiting to leave

Thanks to all for your good wishes and we will keep you up to date. If our letters start being written in Swahili, you will know we have gone native, and Joanne really has married a Masai warrior.
Naonoka sasa (Swahili for goodbye), Muriel

Pre-packing practice panic

2 Days to go!

Well, Mom finally arrived in Victoria for the first leg of her trip. Since she wouldn't have her stuff to select from, I think she brought everything she owns, including every bag that was in her house. And we still went out and bought another bag for her. It is pretty skookum (sp?) and holds all of the essentials but limits the unessentials. The 'Goldilocks Bag.' Juuuust right. My bag is bigger (the Papa Bear bag) so I am loading in the luxury items. Over the last two evenings I have entertained Mom with my zip-lock baggie obsession. I have baggies for electronic accessories, batteries, bandaids, cream and lotions, snacks, clothes, shoes, medicines. You name it, it is in a baggie. If anything explodes, it will be contained (famous last words - knock on wood).

We have taken turns practise packing. We are like a military drill team building and breaking down our rifles. Next we will practise carrying our bags over our heads through swampy, leach infested marshes and yelling 'Mayday, Medic" when one of us goes down (maybe I should cut down on the war movies).


My Bag ready to go!

Anyway. It has been helpful in that we have talked each other out of some stuff and talked each other into other stuff. Probably balances out in the end weight-wise but hopefully for the positive in functionality.

Once again, Africa is reminding us that this isn't a cushy prearranged tour. There were two earthquakes in neighbouring countries last night. Refugees flooding in, refugees flooding out. Hopefully a balance will be met, much like our luggage. (Yes, I did just compare bloodied and desperate refugees to baggies of electronics accessories & lotions. Really, I will come back from this trip a more compassionate and understanding person. I can only improve at this point. Stay tuned from my transformation. )