Month: September 2022

We had an easy entry into Tanzania thanks to the help of our driver Mary. At the airstrip we met Hussein (Seni) and Felix, our guide and driver. We drove quite a distance to camp for lunch with sightings of Cheetahs, Water Buck, Secretary Bird, Long-crested Eagle, an Oribi, a small antelope, and a recently fallen Wildebeest with at least 20 Rupel and White-backed Vulteres and Malibu Storks cleaning up. Can’t see that stork delivering babies! We were greeted at the mobile camp by Lily, Leon, And 3 or 4 others. The camp has 2 sections and we are currently the only people in our section. Our tent is large with a king bed, a sink with a bucket of cold water, though they bring hot water in the am to wash. There is a regular toilet and a shower. The shower requires you to notify staff to warm up a bucket of water. They hang it up and you take quick intermittent flow showers. We had lunch with chocolate moose for dessert. I guess they have refrigeration here though everything is solar or battery run. After a bit of relaxation we went out for the evening drive. Again what is remarkable is the distance of the drives. The roads are somewhat better than Mara North so the speed is faster but the park is 10 times the size of Masai Mara and Mara North is a small conservancy outside of the park. We saw quite a variety of birds. There were some giraffes, elephants, zebras, and wart hogs. The finale were 3 female lions. Each coming together from a distance and greeting each other. Seni, our guide said there were young cubs to feed so he expected them to hunt overnight. We searched and found the mother and 2 five week old cubs that were curious and playful. One was a little too curious and got very close to the cruiser. She was staring at me like I did something evil, and Felix stalled the car trying to make a get-away. Yikes. Luckily we made our escape and mom picked up the wayward child in her mouth and carried it away. We had dinner with Lily, a 26 year old tourism graduate. Midway through donner some boys came in telling us Seni had something for us to see. Come Quick! Turns out he caught a 10-12 foot Python. He explained all about the snake and then had Katie hold it. katie’s main concern was that the snake was very heavy. from where I was standing some 10 feet away it looked big and heavy! We were up at 5:20 and on the road by 6 the next day. We headed out to see if the lions had made a kill. We found the dead Wildebeest, what was left of it anyway. Seni reenacted the crime from clues on the ground then we were off to the river. There are 10 crossing areas for the Wildebeest. Zebras, and Gazelles. We staked out one and watched thousands of primarily Wildebeest shuffle around near the crossings. Such a game of follow the leader. One goes one direction and many follow. Others go a different direction and many follow. We waited about 2 hours for the crossing to begin. We had breakfast in the shade waiting for word. You didn’t want to get too close to the herd and spook them. Other cars along both sides of the river were watching and would send out a signal the crossing began. The crossing finally began but it was at crossing one away from ours so we sped over to it. Thousands of primarily Wildebeests jumping in the water and bounding across. Some turn back. Some turn back after crossing. Some can’t get up the bank on the other side though there is a gradual slope close by. Not the brightest animals. One Wildebeest could not find a way up and started swimming back but was swept mostly downstream. It was pulled underwater once then for good the second time. Crocodile! We moved to a second crossing where again thousands of Wildebeests made a dash across the river with much chaos leading up to the jump in the river. This time we saw a Crocodile waiting a little downstream but he did not attack anyone we saw. Back to camp for lunch and a mighty rain. Thunder/Lightning and a good inch of rain. We are safe with a beer in the dining tent. The afternoon drive took us out to the Tanzania/Kenya border. Along the way we saw two lions hunting along a creek bed. One attempted to run down a Wildebeest but she was unsuccessful. We did catch the elusive Bat-ear foxes running up the slope. We saw the Great-crowned Crane which is the national bird of Uganda. Also, the Sacred Ibis which the Egyptians felt brought needed water. We saw many Banded Mongoose which take over portions of Termite mounds to live in. We caught sight of a Verreaux Owl in a tree near the road. Apparently the largest owl in Tanzania. Intermittent rain followed us home but remarkably the roads were not terrible, at least for a 4 wheel drive. On the way to happy hour when dark, our flashlights revealed many eyes about camp. We think they were Impalas. We met Allison and Pierre, new arrivals from Florida who were terrific. They shared their gorilla stories from there just finished trip to Rwanda.

Today we embarked on a walking safari with Seni, Felix plus an added ranger from the National Park service. The ranger had an AK47 and Seni had an Elephant gun. Nothing to worry about. Right! We ended up walking over 3 miles along the Mara River and into the bush and grasslands. Huge Crocodiles in the river and many Hippos. Seni was awesome with detailed info on animal footprints, poop, and various ecosystems. If you saw a footprint he would talk about why it looked like it did, from paws and claws to gait. We did the same with poop. What the diet was, what the locals and the animals did with it. He is an amazing source of knowledge and clearly is in love with nature. Two doctors from southern California met him as a guide on Kilimanjaro years ago. They were impressed so much by him that they paid for his higher education at the university where he studied zoology and wildlife management. We would come upon a dead Wildebeast and he would explain about who probably killed it based on the animals position and what was eaten. Many skeletal remains were present along the river which led to discussions on kinesiology and morphology. Early on we were in the midst of a group of Hyenas, probably around 14 in total. Seni said we had nothing to fear but they followed us at a distance for quite awhile. Stumbled upon a Leopard Tortoise in the middle of the Serengeti, What! Apparently lives to 70 and not much can actually feed on it. Later we saw a Terapin in a small watering hole. They set up a breakfast table along the river where we had bacon, banana muffins, pineapple and granola. I am glad we walked the 31/2 miles. We drove out seeing Dwarf Mongoose, many banded Mongoose’s(Mongeese?) , a quick look at running Vervit Monkey’s, Grey-headed Kingfisher, Baboons, a Long Crested Eagle, and A Fish Eagle (looks like a bald eagle). Lunch now sipping beer in the shade on some lounge chairs.

Back in the lounge chairs today to add a little to the blog. I mention many animal names mainly so I can remember them. We drove out along a creek bed as many animals use the area for rest and protection. 2 large male lions were resting in the grass.  You can basically drive right up to them without disturbing them much. Many pregnant animals along the drive including Hyenas, Zebras, and Topi. Beautiful views of the Serengeti, Wildebeest, Zebras, and Gazelles coating the land. We stopped on the road at sunset to watch the sun go down. Spectacular! At dinner we met Alex Walker the British owner of both are current camp and the one we stayed at in Kenya. Very nice and engaging. Certainly made you feel welcome. It was just Katie and I are first night in camp. Now there 8 of us. Three couples are from California and one couple is from Tampa Bay. To bed early for a 5:30 wakeup. Our main guide Hussein apparently was sent to the airport to pick someone up, VIP I suppose. We added a Masai fellow who spoke little English but did point out a few animals along the way. Our goal was Leopards today as we had not been able to sight any in Tanzania so far. Early in our drive we found a lioness and 2 baby cubs probable a month or less old. We watched them for 15 min or so then off to the creek bed again. We spotted a den of Hyenas with 2 pups playing and 5 adults circling about. We drove along the creek bed for quite a distance but no male lions this time. We saw many different birds, including a variety of Eagles, Vultures, Bustards, Lapwings, Rollers, and Kingfishers. No luck with Leopards early on but once on the other side of the creek bed we spotted a female adult male up in a tree by the creek. Occasionally he would look about but mostly he had his head down asleep in the tree. After about 30 min we opted for an outdoor breakfast just down the road. We drove after breakfast and found a male adult Leopard up in a tree. He too was primarily relaxing with an occasional head lift. We found some Vervit Monkeys up in a tree near the Leopard. They were shouting warnings to each other about the Leopard. We slowly drove back to camp, winding our way through Wildebeest, Zebras, Water Buck, Gazelles and more. Now resting for our afternoon drive. Tomorrow we are off to Nairobi.

Late wakeup at 6:30! Breakfast at 7 and a sendoff by the staff. 2 hour drive to the airport slowing to look at a vaiety of animals along the way. piece de resistance are the 3 male lions lying in the grass close to the road. full plane to Kilamanjaro airport. we could not see the top of the mountain due to clouds. we found a lovely new lounge in the airport, seems we were some of their first guests since opening. a little salad, a little beef stew, some chips and white wine. we caught our flight to Nairobi without problem and we are the only 2 people on the plane! they can’t have made any money on that flight or at least I hope not as I paid for the trip 3 years ago.

6:00 we are given our am coffee at our ‘tent’ and off on a game drive by 6:20. After about 5 or 10 minutes Katie and I look at each other. Both of us were thinking the same thing. We had already seen Hyena, Zebra, Elephant, and more and its only been 5 minutes. We searched briefly for leopards but moved on to a large female Cheetah and her 3 cubs. We followed them as they searched for food. The mom leads by 20-30 yards and the cubs play in the back. They very slowly stalked some Thompson Gazelle. ​As the female walked she would come to large termite hills. She would climb to the top and stare out. The cubs would often catch up and then all four were sitting on the hill. The first chase failed. The cheetah was very close to the gazelle but a Topi antelope was in the path and it confused the cheetah. The cheetah now had to rest for 30 min because of the run so we set off. After driving a short way we found the ‘off beat’ lion pride.While watching the alpha male chase around a female, a second male came close and a brief but intense encounter happened. Roaring, growling, right hooks. The alpha won, otherwise it would would have been beta. We watched the lions for a little while longer then drove away. We came upon a large female Topi with her tail straight out. Our guides notice everything. They pulled up and within minutes, the Topi went into labor. 40 minutes of labor and the baby was delivered. Insane was that the newborn was walking in less than 10 minutes, after some hilarious initial attempts. We went back to the cheetahs and spent a long time as they stalked. The 4 of them ended up just in front of another Landcruiser, the kids in the shade underneath. The mother made another failed attack. This time she was within feet of the gazelle and then she stopped. Very unclear why. We stopped for lunch in a meadow with awesome views of the African hills. We sat under the trees eating curried chicken, vegetables, beer, and white wine. We watched the cheetahs some more than off to look for leopards. We found the 11 month old napping in some bushes but he sat up and moved a bit after his mom made a call for him. We scrambled across a creek to catch the mother as she moved up into the hills and bushes. William our driver is simply fantastic. He smooths the ride and he always positions the car for the best vantage point whether for view and pictures or for anticipated movement of the animals. He dresses superbly with jewelry at his neck and waist and is so polite. Between the 2 of them we see ridiculous stuff. Both of them have eyes like eagles.The days complete. The rain came and we motored back to camp. 12 hours on the morning safari! Joe and Masugo greeted us as we crossed the swinging bridge to the lodge. Joe presented Katie and I with sacred gifts as he delivered us to our ‘tent’. A woven bracelet for me and earrings for Katie from the Masai. We showered, had some wine on the porch, listened to the thunder and the hippo bellowing from the river in front of us. After a delicious dinner and conversation, we were off to bed. Another fantastic day in Kenya!

A 6 am start set us off in search of leopards. We wound our way in and out of bush areas. We saw a baby elephant. We found the Marsh pride of lions, watching as the two young ones played in the grass and tormented their aunt.  We looked for the adult males but could not find them this day. We drove off along the river sighting a large troop of baboons who scattered from several trees as we approached. When quietly stopped, we were able to watch the young ones play on a tree, knocking each other off the tree. We did see 2 large ostrich eggs in a small ditch and the female nearby. The male Ostrich was not far away as well.  We had breakfast overlooking the Mara River, where we watched a herd of Hippos in the water some engaging in the slowest fight ever seen. We were transferring slowly to a new cabin for the night, a special treat Fatima had arranged for us. On the way, more Baboons, an Angama Lizard, Lappet-faced Vultures, Giraffes (standing together eating from a tree they are a tower, on the move they are a journey, and just all together they are a herd), Yellow-bill Stork, a Wart Hog with 3 tiny babies, a Grey Heron, and a Fork-tail Dragoon bird that kept following our cruiser almost landing on the guides hand. We arrived at Chim-Chim, greeted by Charles and Alfred. They showed us two cabins from which we were to choose to stay in. Both were stunning with 245 degree views of the Mara River and a Spring. We stayed in the two story cabin as it had great views both upstairs and down. Cocktails on the veranda before lunch of 3 different cheeses, fish cakes, red cabbage salad, and zucchini. We watched the river while sitting on the veranda drinking scotch and G&T’s. We watched Giraffes on either side of the river contemplate crossing, some going a little ways in then turning back. Eventually one crossed but later that evening he crossed back! Took hours thinking about it but she did have to zig zag through a group of hippos in the water. We had appetizers around a firepit and met Fatima’s 14 month old son. A small bandaid on our missing our grandkids. We talked to John about the Masai tribe. Very different culture! His father is 97 years old and he has 8 wives now as 2 had passed. John is 29 and he has 62 siblings. The youngest is 8 months! Again his dad is 97!! Having so many kids makes him ‘rich’. John has one wife and 3 kids and may be planning a total of 2 wives and 10 children, but he jokes a lot so it is hard to know. His father chose for John to go to school though he would possibly be lost to the family as it is not the typical Masai path. He succeeded in school and now in work and his family has accepted him back. All 3 of John’s children go to school but he sees them every one or two months as he lives at the safari lodge for work. Masai have a coming of age ritual. At 10 John burned marks on his legs to show he is brave. They used to go out and kill a lion. Now that is outlawed. Note, William fought a lion when he was younger. The lion was getting into his cattle pen so he attacked it with a knife. The lion scarred him up a bit but William won. Masai also have an unusual diet of primarily beef (they raise cattle) and milk, sometimes had with blood. We had dinner with John and Fatima on the veranda. Fatima had arranged a traditional Kenyan dinner with bbq marinated beef and a Boerwurst(?) sausage. We had a very heavy maize dish called Ugale which you used in small rolled balls to pick up other ingredients like the beef, spinach, and cabbage. After dinner we played cards with John, Fatima, Alfred, and Charles. A great time had. We ended up teaching John and Fatima signs for ‘loser’ and ‘whatever’ as they chirped at each other all night about cheating.

I awoke at 6am in time to catch an Elephant crossing the river in front of our house. Charles told us our flight had been moved earlier so we had a quick breakfast, said our sad goodbyes to Fatima and staff and were driven to the airport. Of course our trip was a cornucopia of animals, some we had never seenbefore. John joked that all the animals were coming to the road to say goodbye. Katie and I were getting a little nervous about missing our flight as they stopped often. They drove off the road along a creek to a flat open field. What do you know. Three cheetahs in the grass. We sat and watched them for a while. John told us not to worry as we were on the landing strip. He is a joker. We were not, but we could see our plane come for a landing. Several cars were waiting for the plane AT the terminal. We waited in the field watching Cheetahs. That is how our guides rolled. The best!

We agreed on a 6:20 morning game drive. Peter brought us coffee at 6 am as we got things together​. We were on the road at 6:20. Early on, we came upon a male Ostrich with a long red neck chasing a female who was apparently not interested. We drove along some bushes farther away and saw our pride of lions some jumping into the bushes chasing something. Again we got very close and often in their path. We followed them into a grove of trees where we found a tribe of Olive Baboons, vocalizing and moving up and down and across to different trees. They seemed to be teasing the lions getting right over there heads in the trees and vocalizing. Apparently they try to poop on them when they can. We moved along to find the 2 males of the lion pride lounging in the shade They do this some 20 hours a day according to our guide. They are there only to protect the cubs and keep the females within their pride. The females hunt for the food. A young Spotted Hyena was lounging near the road by a den. We stopped close by and soon the mother came from the distance to meet her young one at the den. She kept putting her head in a den hole and vocalizing. Eventually, 2 totally black babies emerged to nurse. Maybe 2-3 weeks old and very skittish. We stopped close to a Lilac-breasted Roller, the national bird of Kenya, beautiful lilac chest and fluorescent blue wings. In amongst the bushes we saw the Dik-dik, the smallest antelope in the Mara. There were also Cape Buffalo, more Zebras, and Elephants. One of the Elephants stayed within feet of our car eating the small clumps of grass. I thought for sure his trunk was coming into the car on several occasions. A ‘couple’ of Silverback Jackals strolled by. They are paired for life. We were told they eat young antelopes though they look like little foxes. We searched and found 2 cheetahs lying in the shade under a tree. They paid little attention to us though they checked their surroundings pretty frequently. They are fast but relatively weak in the cat family and they are attacked by lions sometimes. On the way back for lunch at the camp  we watched a Martial Eagle eat a newborn Thompson Gazelle as the gazelle’s mom fidgeted in the background. It’s a jungle out here! A male Topi who had a nearby young one, stood on top of a termite hill standing guard. Just before camp, there was a large herd, hundreds, of Cape Buffalo with Multiple Yellow-billed Ox Pickers on their backs, taking off any parasites. More Zebras, Elephants, and Giraffes then home for lunch. Beer, wine and 3 different kinds of pizza for 7 people! 

Our afternoon tour began with a glass of wine and picture taking of a hippo right in front of the main lodge, eating in the river. We set off with an added guest, Mike, a professional photographer who was there to help us with our cameras.I am sure he was not impressed with our iPhones and my panasonic 30X zoom camera, but he gave us some good tips along the way. We hunted for leopards but never found them. We saw Ostriches, Giraffes, Wart Hogs and Elephants. Many baby elephants!. We ended up back with our cheetah brothers who were again lying in the grass some 100 yards away from where they were in the morning. They made all the classic moves of getting up but always ended up lying back down until… sunset. The two brothers got up and walked over to a nearby solitary tree where they marked it with pee and poop. We kept positioning our landcruiser to get some sunset shots and we got them. The cheetahs moved on to another tree some 200 yards away and we positioned our car so that they walked by us, within feet of the car. The sun was setting so we drove to camp in the dark. We showered, had cocktails, and then dinner made up of roasted chicken, vegetables, and potatoes. Great convesation with Fatima the manager, Dan and Jill a retired couple from Nashville. Now off to bed..

The day started like any other travel day. Katie and I were informed our 1st leg transferring to Kenya was moved early. We were up at 6 and left at 6:30 to catch the flight to Entebbe. Another interesting bumpy 1 1/2 hour ride to the airport. School kids all along the way waving to us as we passed. Some of them walk a mile on the road to get to school and little kids like 4 or 5 were walking on their own. We got into Entebbe early and our connection to Mara North in Kenya was delayed. We were soothed by the fact they had a lounge (yes we are getting so snobbish) After numerous security checks we boarded and then arrived at Mara North. Katie and I were the only people getting off the plane with 30 passengers. Two Masai men met us as we got off the plane dressed in robes and carrying long knives at their hips, John and William who will be our guide and driver throughout our stay. We hopped in an open top Landcruiser and headed for camp. We didn’t actually take any roads that were visible however. We bounced along as John pointed out things like Thompson Gazelles, Grand Gazelles, Topi’s, Impalas and Giraffe along the way. They stopped along the Mara river to set up a lunch table for Katie and I right at a Hippopotamus Family’s waterhole. There were probably 30 hippos just off the riverbank where we sat. We had wine and chicken wraps. After lunch John talked about the camp and possible activities. We showed as much enthusiasm as possible for all activities, early morning, late at night, we don’t care. We’ll do them all. We drove on, seeing giraffes, eagles, vultures and then a pride of lions. William would drive us right up close. Often he anticipated their moves and they would walk right by our car. There were two cubs, rolling around wresting each other and occasionally coming towards the car.after 30-45 min we drove on. Elephants appeared just off the road and again we pulled up and watched the herd including several very young ones eat and move along. We came to our camp. A walk across a swinging bridge and we were met by our fabulous host, Fatima the camp manager and Joe head service manager. There are others who help. Peter and Masugo who is deaf and always smiling. Our ‘tent’ is off by itself, very private. It has 2 queen beds, an outdoor bathroom and shower with hot and cold water, a regular flush toilet and a veranda with a wide view of the river which is 10 yards away. Stunning to say the least. We showered in our outdoor shower and the walked over to meet the 2 other couples in our camp at an outdoor fire pit with drinks provided by Joe. Dinner was at 8 with curried fish, squash, zuccini, carrots, brown rice and red wine. What an intro to Kenya. Fantastic day, fantastic camp, fantastic guides and fantastic staff

Today we decided to do a tour of the local community. Our guide, Winston, picked us up with 2 military escorts, Saturday and Stephen. Yes Saturday was born on a Saturday. They said they were there to protect some against animals but mostly to keep the drivers from getting too close as that is the norm in Uganda. The drivers don’t move over to give room, the walkers move off the road. Not so if you have a gun!

We visited a local primary school where the principal showed us around the school and took us on a tour of the classrooms. The kids loved to say hello and give high fives. All smiles. All in uniform. Apparently the school was started by an orphan that was raised by the community and he now wanted to give back. Around 400 students enrolled from 8-5 each day and most are orphans themselves. Some of the parental deaths are or were Covid related but primarily it is HIV infections. The number one boys name now is Jordan and the number one girl’s is Judith.

Our next stop was a coffee roaster and distillery. Coffee is the number one export of Uganda. Most locals have coffee trees on their land and use that as a cash crop. We watched the process of separating the husk from the bean, roasting the beans and grinding the roast. All very manual labor intensive. Hank, the roaster, also was the local distiller. He makes tequila from bananas. Along the way he also makes banana beer which the younger adults like best. They had never heard of Agave but the tequila was actually not bad.

Next was a village of Pygmy or Batwa people. They sang some songs while dancing and Winston showed us around the village. The experience was a little awkward but we did buy some things from them which I believe helps support them.

Next were the University/Nursing School and the Hospital. The director spoke to us about the current state of nursing. How they are trying to recruit more women to the school. The problem stems from the families being so poor they can only afford to send one child to the University and they almost always pick a son. The hospital was actually pretty big and had a separate HIV clinic to try to provide some privacy as there is still quite a stigma with the diagnosis. We toured the Operating Theatre where I got to speak with the nurse anesthetist there and Katie toured the ICU. They asked us if we wanted to volunteer! I had told Winston we were retired he translated that to we were ’dead’! Ah, a good laugh had by all. Tomorrow we are out early for a plane to Kenya. I hear the internet is very poor in our next two camps so you won’t hear from us for a little while. Cali, Cali (Bye)

We arrived in Entebbe from Istanbul at 3:30 in the am. Customs was a breeze and our driver from the hotel was waiting for us. There is a large military presence which our driver felt was due to some diplomatic VIP in town. Entebbe has the only international airport in Uganda, but it is not the capital. We were stopped at the gate to our hotel and a military person examined the car and underneath the car. There was a metal detector at the door to the hotel. We slept until 7 when a driver rode us through the dirt streets on Entebbe to a ferry where we crossed a portion of Lake Victoria. We continued driving dirt roads for a total time of 2 hours. We arrived at Mabamba marsh where we jumped into a large canoe with our guide and driver who took us through the small waterways pointing out various birds along the way. We reached a distant finger in the marsh where we came upon the ’elusive’ Shoebill bird. Stands 4 feet tall and has a head from prehistoric times. We saw 4 of these amazing birds before returning to our hotel for a nap.

We flew to Kihihi about 2 hours away. We drove an hour to our lodge Mahogany Springs which is just outside the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest where the Mountain Gorillas live. Apparently the gorillas were on our lodge’s property just a week before our arrival. Beautiful lodge with large and comfortable rooms and a gorgeous panoramic deck off the main lodge where Katie and I tried the local beer and a Hendricks G&T. This is the rainy season and they say it rains almost every afternoon. Sure enough by 1pm there was unending thunder and pouring rain. Sitting on the covered deck looking out over the jungle with the thunder and rain was/is spectacular. We were up early for breakfast then off to the forest. Our group consisted of a guide, Felix, 3 trackers that went up the mountain at 6:30 that am, 2 men with rifles to guard our front and back, and several porters (Katie and I each hired one as we were told they all are local people who earn some money being a porter). It was nice to have them as they helped push and pull you up the slippery slopes. It was a slow walk up the mountain but after 2 hours we came to where the gorilla family were eating. There was the Silverback male (200kg), 4 wives, and 4 children. We stayed with them for an hour getting as close as a foot from some of them. They posed for pictures, put up with our slipping about the hill, and eventually stopped to take naps after a morning of eating for them. Fantastic guide and help from all. We have now assumed our positons on the panoramic deck, the thunder and rain has begun, and we’ve had our first beer while contemplating the wonderful setting and culture of this area.