Sunday 23 December 2012

Xmas Eve


Arrived in Zanzibar for Christmas yesterday, but have spent first 20+ hours in bed so have missed quite a lot!

Merry Xmas to everyone

Bryan

Friday 21 December 2012

Day 78. Mto Wa Mdo. 20/12/12


Up at 05.00 and yet another highlight as the jeep headlights picked out three hippos grazing by the roadside, and then crossing the road in front of us (in all other sightings they have been 99% submerged). Great news - balloon already half up when we arrived at the "launch site", and we were soon soaring up into the clear blue sky. Cannot even begin to describe the flight, so shall concentrate on the breakfast.

Champagne (well, actually cava) was served as soon as we landed (along with mango juice for those who wanted buck's fizz), and then we drove to our breakfast site, with the tables laid out immaculately in the shade of an acacia tree - tablecloths, Sheffield cutlery, china with matching dishes for a variety of marmalades, butter pots, proper coffee pots and teapots, ice buckets for more champagne etc etc. Immaculately dressed waiters in turbaned uniforms, pouring warm water (out of a huge copper ewer into a massive copper bowl) over our hands on arrival (individual towels, of course) with Cousins Imperial Leather soap. And of course a full English breakfast. All surrounded by the wonders of the Serengeti National Park. Yes, it may have cost $500 but they certainly did it in style.

Trying to get my mind on to more mundane matters, as we made our way out of the park, we suddenly found ourselves in the middle of yet another huge herd of wildebeest and zebra that seemed to go on for ever.

And then, almost as we were leaving the Park, the final act. And what an act - lion and lioness within a few feet of us "coupling", three times in less than one minute!!!!!!!!!! (As video recorded by Karina).

All in all not a bad day.

Day 77 Serengeti 19/12/12


None of us could recall waking up to pouring rain on this holiday, but today was the definite exception. Brilliant timing, as this was the day of our dawn balloon flight over the plains but by 07.00 it had been cancelled. Great disappointment all round, but we tried hard to overcome our feelings and went off for a game drive in our 4x4s, where the highlight was a leopard on a branch up a tree, having first stashed its kill even higher up. Added crested black eagle and Maasie giraffe to our list.

Our campsite is unfenced, so is open to all sorts of wildlife (take good ears and a torch if going to the loo during the night!). At mid afternoon, a family of elephants paid us a visit - so close we could easily hear them as they tore young branches off nearby trees. We all just stood there, almost motionless - except for clicking camera shutters.

Our evening game drive brought another highlight - not just a leopard up a tree, but right close by us. We watched, dumb struck, as he warily observed us, then got up, turned round and - defying the laws of gravity - slowly crawled down the trunk and disappeared into the grass. And a cheetah as well.

Another boring day - as we went to bed with fingers (and everything else) crossed hoping for good weather for tomorrow.

Day 76 - Serengeti 18/12/12


Yet another of our early starts, but with very good reason, as we had an important date with the Ngorongoro crater - a World Heritage Site conservation area based in the crater of an (almost) extinct volcano. (It was in the Olduvai Gorge at Ngorongoro that Mary Leakey found her famous footprints way back in 1976). Fantastic views from the rim, and then down to the floor where the wildlife was amazing, adding wildebeest, tawny eagle, hyenas and eland to our list.

Lunch by the lake with the eyes and ears of numerous hippos bobbing up and down, as black kites tried to snatch our food. The slashing rain had arrived by the time we reached the vivid pink flamingoes, but the best was yet to come. After the sun came out again, we saw a variety of lions in various shapes, sizes and positions - 25 in all in this one day, such as:

- two males, two females plus cub having just gorged themselves on a zebra carcass.
- two very obviously immediately after coitus. We were so close we could hear their panting, and see their muscles throbbing and the male's saliva drooling
- two young-ish lionesses trying to attack a buffalo - and being driven off by him and his mate
- single male gnawing at a buffalo carcass, with half dozen hyenas within a few hundred yards waiting for their turn

Then it was on to yet another highlight - Serengeti National Park, of course yet another WHS from UNESCO. (The Maasai are allowed to graze their cattle in the Ngorongoro, but not here). After climbing Naabi Hill just before sunset, we found the vast plains of the Serengeti stretching away below us into the infinite distance. A mind blowing sight in itself, but what made it a sight that will forever be in my memory was the multitudes of zillions of wildebeest and zebra making their annual migration. Impossible to describe. And we were so lucky - a few more days and they would have passed on.

And the day was not yet over, as we were then treated to a truly magnificent sunset, with the western sky being a fantastic mix of gold, purple and red - and of course "a red sky at night ......"

Day 75 Mta Wa Mdo. 17/12/12

So, we have started another leg of our journey southwards, with our new complement including as usual a batch of Aussies (one with her Uruguayan father), two Dutch, one Czech, a different American and a different Swiss, and a Japanese (aged just 22). I may be the oldest, but am pleased to say the average age has moved a bit in my direction. Nairobi seems to have lost all (?) of its former colonial buildings etc and, although may be not be first world, is very definitely not third, with many modern high rise buildings and a seemingly good road system. There are obviously countless churches of all varieties in Kenya, in everything from a very meagre shack to rather impressive.

By 11.00, we were over the border and into Tanzania - quite painless, but more an African rather than a European way of doing things. Still had to have our fingerprints taken on entry. Good road almost all of the way to our camp site at Mto Wa Mdo.

Sunday 16 December 2012

Day 73 Lake Naivasha 15/12/12


Drove down to this, another of the lakes of the Great Rift Valley and the site of Hell's Gate National Park, where we camped by the river and then took a boat down past acres of water hyacinth and papyrus, with more hippos, and fish eagles swooping down to snatch the fish that our boatman had thrown into the lake for them - to say the least, most impressive. This area provides 3/4 of all Kenya's flower exports.

The object of our journey was "Elsamere", the former home of George and Joy Adamson, and of course of Elsa. We were shown a film about Joy's life, and of course of Elsa (I think even the youngsters who had not heard of her were impressed) and then given afternoon tea with scones, ginger cake and some half dozen other delicacies as we sat on the lawn where Joy and Elsa used to play. And excellent Kenyan tea. Yet another experience to be remembered.
I

Day 72 Nakuru 14/12/12


Yet another just fantastic day. Another predawn start so that we were in the Nakuru National Park by 07.00. This is where much of the film "Out of Africa" was shot, and is on the base of the Rift Valley, and we spent over eleven hours here in open roof 4x4s. Starting with the birds first, there are flocks of pink flamingoes and pelicans, and some 400 others of goodness knows what types. We saw crown cranes, cormorants, yellow billed storks, etc etc etc. I did have my first opportunity to actually see a kingfisher at close range, rather than just a flash of blue.

And then on to the animals. Zebra, buffalo, giraffe (Rothschild, rather than the 'reticulated' ones we had seen in Samburu), and both black and white rhinos (both in act different shades of grey) and different antelopes etc etc (all in addition of course to those we saw in Samburu). We were feeling rather chuffed that, out of the Big Five, we had therefore seen elephants on the previous two days, and now buffalo and rhino as well. And then, in the late afternoon, we saw a pair of leopards, so up to four out of five. And then, some eleven hours after our arrival, we saw two lionesses (and the rear of a third - lion or lioness). We were all cock a hoop - 5/5 in only two days.

We returned home to a beautiful meal provided by the campsite - dessert being the most delicious sticky toffee pudding any of us had ever tasted.

Just another brilliant day.

Day 71 Naro Moro 13/12/12


Thank goodness for a change of weather as it was dull and overcast yesterday but beautiful near clear blue skies for our walk in the foothills of Mount Kenya. Great walking, and superb view of the mountain itself (17000' and the second highest in Africa). No, we did not climb it! Baboons are frequent visitors to this campsite (Anki "lost" her shampoo and conditioner). One has had a large bell hung around its neck, but clutches it close to its chest, so that no one can hear it coming - clever!

Then on to Nakuru, somehow managing to cross the equator another four (or was it five?) times. Our campsite is considered to be one of the poshest in Africa, and we could see why. In the grounds of an old plantation "mansion" with beautiful grounds. Shower rooms are as big as my bathroom, and wc's are styled as if they are saunas.

Day 70 Naro Moro 12/12/12


Last night we had a visitor around the campfire - a cat like animal with a spotted body and long striped tail. It took us quite some time to work out it was a common genet.

Up while it was still pitch black to have our third drive around the reserve, as many animals are up early to avoid the heat of the day. Forgot to mention yesterday that there are so many birds here, and such colours. The two I thought best were the Superb Starling (iridescent top with bronze bottom with yellow stripe - unlike our starlings, there are so many in Africa that some compare them to the birds of paradise), and a "guinea fowl" that has a grey body and a very long,
pale blue neck with what look like long white frills.

Next stop was Nanyuki for shopping, where three of us grabbed the opportunity to have an all day breakfast - with BACON! Fantastic - we rather wolfed it down.

And then on to another highlight of the trip - crossing the Equator, where of course we all had to have our photograph taken. Far better to have one foot in each hemisphere than simply fly over it at 36000'.

Camped for the night at Mountain Lodge in the Mount Kenya National Park, another UNESCO world heritage site, with another superb home made meal.

Day 66 Samburu National Game Reserve



Woke to the sounds of the village coming to life - cattle, goats, chickens and of course humans. The villagers made breakfast for us, expert omelettes, scrambled eggs and pancakes and then it was in to the game reserve itself, where we are staying by the Lodge.

The highlight of the morning before our arrival there was my finding some Weetabix when shopping (and everyone knows that I have been - jokingly - desperate for some). Then, within some two minutes our arrival at the lodge, a baboon had got into the truck door and run off with two of our three packets! After the initial total astonishment all round, there was - of course - much laughter at my expense!

Went for two long drives (midday and evening) and saw giraffe, elephant (one large bull just ambled across the track in front of us, and also saw two bulls sparring), oryx, water buck, gazelle, antelope, impala, dikdik, ostrich, bustard and of course baboons, and perhaps others that I cannot remember. Roof seats really are a great invention. Also crocodiles, as we sat in the bar watching the sunset over the Ewaso Nyiro river - it's a hard life.

Just another fantastic day, with something of a Big Day coming up tomorrow.

Day 65 Archer's Post. 10/12/12



10/12/12 Archer's Post. Day 70

Yet another boneshaker until, at 16.35, we crossed the Merille (????) river on to a beautiful, beautiful, tarmac road - I suspect you could hear the cheering back in the UK. Not a pothole in sight for the next 150km - how different from home. Saw our first ostrich running alongside the road and then two elephants half into the bush.

We camped for the night in a tribal village at the entrance to the Samburu National Game Reserve, in amongst their huts and behind the acacia "blockade" to keep the cattle and goats safe from hyenas etc. The natives cooked dinner for us, as we sat around a blazing campfire, followed by some really good singing and dancing and then one of the tribe gave us a talk about their lifestyle and answered questions. A really great evening.

Day 64 Marsabit. 8/12/12


prison welfare canteen - a new experience for us all.

9/12/12. Marsabit. Day 69

Left before the sun was up (accompanied by a policeman in the co-driver's seat for the whole journey) on what has been by far the worst road we have experienced since the start of this holiday - some 250km of non stop, continuous, bone-shaker from start to finish lasting some eleven hours of driving. The bad news is that the shaking seems somehow to have broken the camera. Apart from the road, the countryside was - shall we say - not exactly interesting. High scrub becoming low scrub becoming desert covered in rocks strewn everywhere, with hardly any habitation to break the monotony. Not one of our better days!

Day 63 Moyale 7/12/12


Typing this as we wait at the border to cross into Ethiopia. Just a minor problem - There is no power so they cannot scan our passports. With what we have experienced over the past few days, no electricity is almost usual here (along with no hot water, or even no water at all) - all part of the travelling experience. Even in last night's upmarket hotel with individual lodges we had neither water nor power for most of our stay. Fortunately, we had brought candles from the previous hotel, so did have some illumination - but water supply decided limited.

The past few days have been spent travelling around the Lower Omo Valley - Lonely Planet says "the images will stay with you for ever". In many ways, spot on although not always for the right reasons. I have often felt sorry for the Queen sitting through endless African dances on her state visits - now I know just how she feels (but at least I did not have to keep a smile on my face all the time). However, parts were really great such as the bull jumping, and the Mursi tribe - better known as the "lip plate people". The scenery and animal life was good too, such as pairs of dikdiks and lots of beautiful guinea fowl with pale blue heads, as well as many other colourful birds that fly past us on frequent occasions. sure quite how I should write this. We started off in a couple of boats from Paradise Lodge (in fact, a very small tin shack the size of a garden shed), as we set out on to Lake Chamo through channels in the tall papyrus (remember "The African Queen"?) escorted by a whole variety of large dragon files, and on past "the Bridge of God" to where the crocodiles reside. Then, we just floated through many more such channels, where a whole variety of crocs of assorted sizes were snoozing quietly (thank goodness!) on the banks. We were so close we could almost literally touch them - although no one took the risk! Great experience. Then it was on to the hippos, who seemed to time their appearances above the waterline to last just fractionally less than the time it took me to take a shot. Fortunately, our boatman today did not harass them in any way. Then it was back across the lake - and, just as we were coming back to shore, a large flock (several hundred?) of flamingoes flew past.

We finished with a delicious fish meal, overlooking both of the two lakes, as storks and raptors circled above and below us.

All on all, just another boring day.
ns. We started to see the occasional termite mound - chimneys up to 10-12' or more - then more and more until they were really commonplace, dozens at a time.

Earlier today, we visited Salt Lake at the bottom of a large crater - difficult to walk down, far more difficult to walk back up! We were all slightly puzzled, but it seemed that the locals obtain three different types of salt from this - black, crystal and white.


We finally received our exit stamps just as the Ethiopian side of the border was closing for the night, but fortunately they let us through to Kenya where we are now back to driving on the left hand side of the road. Camped in the grounds of the border police station, and dined in the prison welfare canteen - a new experience for us all.

Day 60 Arba Minch 30/11/12

Not sure quite how I should write this. We started off in a couple of boats from Paradise Lodge (in fact, a very small tin shack the size of a garden shed), as we set out on to Lake Chamo through channels in the tall papyrus (remember "The African Queen"?) escorted by a whole variety of large dragon files, and on past "the Bridge of God" to where the crocodiles reside. Then, we just floated through many more such channels, where a whole variety of crocs of assorted sizes were snoozing quietly (thank goodness!) on the banks. We were so close we could almost literally touch them - although no one took the risk! Great experience. Then it was on to the hippos, who seemed to time their appearances above the waterline to last just fractionally less than the time it took me to take a shot. Fortunately, our boatman today did not harass them in any way. Then it was back across the lake - and, just as we were coming back to shore, a large flock (several hundred?) of flamingoes flew past.

We finished with a delicious fish meal, overlooking both of the two lakes, as storks and raptors circled above and below us.

All on all, just another boring day.

Day 59 Arba Minch 29/11/12

Then it was on to Arba Minch, through rolling countryside that disappeared into the far mountains, before it reverted to near scrub with cattle and goats, and then to extensive lush fields of cotton and bananas. Again, it is difficult to understand how this country could ever have had a famine. For much of the time, Lake Abaya came and went alongside us - its reddish colour caused by the ferrous oxide in the water.

Day 58 Shashamene 29/11/12

A four hour walk to start the day, with two impressive waterfalls at the end. Ian is getting very proficient with the bins, and saw twelve different birds in only the first ten minutes. In fact, the birds were so colourful and interesting that even I was becoming quite passionate about them. Walking through endless green vegetation and tall trees of many different types, even sometimes through mini forests of false banana.

In the afternoon, we visited the Awassi orphanage for children, which actually was very interesting. Maybe 70-80? having a great time with such things as a good old tug of war contest, and the Ethiopian version of the egg and spoon race. All of this with thunder threatening all around and then, of course, yet another deluge. Staff did manage to give as a guided tour - they do a lot of vocational training in metal and woodwork, plus computers (40 provided by the German embassy) - Windows, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher - reminded me of U3A with Dave and Maggie!


Then on to Shashemene, where we booked into a rather impressive (at least for Ethiopia) hotel. Surely this couldn't be true? It wasn't - no water. Promised for later that evening, but nothing materialised. In compensation, had beautiful five favoured fruit juice (so thick the straw stood upright), followed by lamb - so tender it did quite literally almost fall off the bone. I cannot remember when I last had meat of any kind that tasted so good. Water back on in time for well needed shower.

NB.
Shashemene is the unofficial capital of Rastafarianism. (Heile Selassie's name before his coronation was Ras Tafari - geddit???)

Day 57 Wendo Genet 28/11/12


Nine warthogs this morning, unbelievably close. The contents of our vegetable box seemed particularly interesting. Then a leisurely drive to Wendo Genet, where we camped under jacaranda trees in a rather exotic garden with colobus monkeys clearly in residence. Hot springs fed the two swimming pools. Evening meal in a rather futuristic restaurant - veal was so good that I had second helpings.

NB. Regular readers (ha ha) will no doubt remember that I broke my watch (the glass had fallen out) about a month ago in Gonder, and asked the ever helpful, and technical maestro, Ross if he could fix it. Off and on, he has been trying to put it back together but no success. Until today, when I was presented with my watch back in full working condition - the problem having been solved by his using a spare O ring from his toolkit. As usual, Ross had come up trumps and I am the proud possessor of a new, and very eye catching, watch.

Day 55 BNP 26/11/12

An eight hour walk around just a small part of the Bale National Park - another of Ethiopia's world heritage sites. A variety of nyala, baboons, warthogs and antelope, together with a walk up to just over 10,000ft, which I just about managed - almost literally a scramble on my hands and knees, but made it in the end.

Day 56 BNP 27/12/12



This morning, we were greeted by a group of four warthogs around our breakfast table, before another downpour in this the dry season. Then it was off (in, thank goodness, the truck) to the top of the Sanetti plateau - over 14,000ft. On the way up, it seemed almost as if we were going through the Lake District (with exception of course of non British trees) - I almost expected to see a group of St Albans Ramblers marching along the road in their anoraks! Then we seemed to be more in "Yorkshire Moors" territory, before finally arriving at the top with, to say the least, a rather barren landscape sweeping into the far distance. The vegetation seemed almost totally a greyish white version of our heather. The highlight of the day was some six different sightings of the rare Simien red fox, followed by spaghetti bolognese cooked by ourselves in yet more pouring rain (yes, as I said, the dry season).

Day 54 Bale National Park 26/12/12

Walk along the shore of Lake Awassi (the second of the great lakes of the Rift Valley) and found a hotel with wifi! Delicious (eat with a spoon) fruit juice - papaya, grave, avocado. Forced myself to have three.

Upon our arrival at the Donsho Lodge in the Bale National Park, we were decidedly miffed to find that a crowd of screaming, yelling, shouting 14 year olds from the Addis Diplomatic School had somehow managed to take our reserved accommodation. We were not happy! We ended up on a variety of bunks, with the unlucky "volunteers" on the floor - for three nights.