Serengeti

This may be the same info mom is writing since she is posting at the same time as me. So after we left NG crater we headed for the Serengeti. The two parks are actually attached but are quite different. The plains of NG park were just full of grazing animals, gazelles, herds of wildebeasts, more types of gazelles (there are alot of gazelle species). Once we passed into the Serengeti things slowed down considerably but it was still beautiful. The landscape is very different from the crater, even the NG plains which were much greener and lusher.



The Serengeti (an acacia tree from a moving car)

Actually, since we missed the migration of the wildebeasts (we saw the very tail end) the place was pretty empty. We did go to one area that seemed to be the nursery with baby wildebeasts, zebras and warthogs. Some of the wildebeast seemed to be only a few hours old but we didn't actually see a birth.



Baby wildebeasts

I got lots of birds though. I had hoped to have time to list them but I don't think today.



Maribo Storks waiting...



Lilac Breasted Roller



White Backed Vultures mating (on Valentine's Day!)

Serengeti was our big hope to see a leopard. There was one in the area, easy to find the right spot by the 25 vehicles jockeying for a good view. So we parked and scanned and moved and scanned. After about an hour of great discussion among the african guides it was found laying in the grass under a bush. Almost invisible. Even when we knew where it was, most of our group couldn't see it. I, on the other hand, have the most amazing binoculars and camera so was able to see it and sort of photograph it. You will laugh when you see the picture. It looks like grass with a dark spot near the centre.



My best photo of the elusive leopard. I still can't swear it is actually there

All of the safari cars jockeying to see the invisible leopard.

 After we end up in Dar es Salaam, most of our group is going to Zanzibar, only Mom, me and John are going on to the second half, the Gems of Africa part. I mention this now because Steve assures us the we three will have more opportunities to see leopards and even wild dogs once we head south.

We spent four days in the Serengeti. We have been staying in these crazy lodges owned by a chain called Wildlife Lodges. They were all built in the sixites and they have just been bought by some group or other. We have stayed in four of them, and they are all under reno. They are spectacular. They are built into 'kopjes' which are volcanic rock outcrops pluncked into the middle of the Serengeti. So the buildings use the natural rock formations and wood beams and all natural bits.



One of the Wildlife Lodges built right into a kopje



An example of a smaller kopje, they are like little self contained ecosystems

The lodges are gorgeous and every room has an amazing view. The plumbing hasn't been upgraded yet unfortunately so showers are an adventure travel in themselves. And the power usually goes off around midnight, makes charging my batteries difficult. Although the first night in NG, when the power went off I was still in the common area so we went outside to look at the African night sky. a bazillion stars.

Because of the changes to the tour, one of our nights in the Serengeti, we couldn't book into the Wilderness lodge so we had to stay at the Sopa Lodge. oh so swank. It was at least two stars up from our usual accomodations. We were like kids at the circus, we were all so excited to have power all night and the showers... I can't even discribe how wonderful it was to have water pressure and tempurature control. Major scrub down. it was only one night though and back to 'adventure travel' which is what our tour company call the middle budget tours.

Our group is excellent. Steve the leader has been in the business for ten years and he claims we are one of the best groups he has had. Nice mix of genders, ages, nationalities and married vs single. (I also think, sexualities but that is open for debate) . We all get along great and generally hang out in the bar quite a bit after dinner. the beer is pretty cheap. Paul, I have to let you know, Tusker is not the taste test winner, personally I like Serengeti. The dinners are not at all what we expected. A buffet every night, with dessert buffet to boot, often for lunch too. yikes. We are still in the same size pants but it could get worrisome. We are out of the Wildlife lodges now so I don't know what is next.

After the Serengeti (this is jumping around a bit, but no time to edit) we went to Lake Manyara. Mom tells me that she is writing about the elephants so I will skip the amazingness of having a herd of elephants surrounding our vehicle. I have pictures, of course.

On our second day in Lk Manyara we spent the day doing a cultural tour. it was interesting and probably described by mom but I have to mention the kids. We visited a kindergarten and the kids were so cute, I could only stuff one in my bag so Mel, you can't have one. When we left the school another class if slightly older kids was just getting out. They rushed at us like we were the Beatles in 1969. We were swarmed. They wanted to hold our hands and have us take their pictures then show them their pictures. They stayed with us for much of the tour. I have a million pictures of adorable little faces pressed up to my camera lens.



Joanne showing the kids their pictures



The kindergarten class singing us a song



"take my picutre, take my picture"



Lots and lots of kids



Joanne with still more kids

Then we had a traditional African lunch which was delicious, if not a bit scary. I'm sure they westernized it somewhat so we would actually eat.



"Mama" making us lunch

our traditional African lunch

After lunch half of the group (including me but not mom) opted to go for a hike from town, Mto Wa Mbo (mosquito river) to the lake edge. It was a good two hours to the lake. it was very hot but fortuanely, it was overcast and a bit breezy so we didn't die but I did burn the backs of my arms. Not too bad though. But the walk was through plains with zebras and wildebeests. we just walked along, they kept their distance, but it was pretty amazing to walk around with them as opposed to viewing from the jeep.



Joanne on the Lake Manyara hike, hanging with the zebras



Lake Manyara once we finally got there, lots of water birds, including flamingos

I am running out of time but I have to say it is not at all what I expected here. or actually, it is what I expected but wouldn't allow myself to believe. It is rural and beautiful. The towns are small and the people are beyond friendly. "Jambo" (hello) follows us everywhere. I feel a bit creepy, looking at people from my perch while they go about their lives. I feel like a total intruder but we keep getting assured that the people here are very welcoming and glad to have us. I want to take more pictures of people but I am not comfortable asking that often since it seems like a real intrusion just to ask, let alone take the picture.



Two women outside of their house (they said yes to photos)

Woman carrying bananas (you can tell by the back of the head angle that we didn't ask if we could take this one)

On our cultural tour, we wandered around a village that is supported by the community group that runs the program. They have demonstations of traditional carving and painting. No pressure to buy but you know I did. I bought a carved rosewood bowl and a cut knife painting (cause you know I need another painting in my house).



An African art gallery, outside and beautiful



A carving demonstration

I couldn't believe people didn't mind us popping up in their yards but they were so nice to us. Some of the group have asked to take pictures and it is about 50/50 for people who say yes. There is definitely no getting around that we are tourists. We stand out like a termite mound on the flat serengeti plains.

By the way, I forgot to mention that we went to the Olduvai Gorge. The Anth people will understand that this was too thrilling for words. The cradle of mankind!! Where the Leakeys worked!!! I wanted to go down into the gorge but I guess that is a no-no so instead I bought a T-shirt.



Entance to the 'Oldupai" museum. Apparently when the Germans first found out about this place they misunderstood and called it Olduvai and that has stuck in all of the Anthrolopogy references



See!! The Leakeys!! Mary and Louis Leakey!! Were right here, where I was!! (although, not at the same time)



Joanne at the rim of Olduvai Gorge

ok, my computer is flashing that time is almost up. Just to let you know, I had 30 emails so i couldn't read them all. I tried to read at least one from everyone but I couldn't respond. I am thinking of all of you. Are the cats still alive? Don't answer that unless it is yes.

We will be closer to the internet for the next bit so I will try to catch up with the correspondence soon. finally tanned, Joanne ps sorry it is so long.

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)