Day 323: It Is All About The Elephants

Tues. 2nd July 2013

Both pachyderms and the one we are not talking about, Mount Kilimanjaro which looms above us wherever we go. The climb is now getting real for Dave and in only a matter of days Steve will be with us. The view is clearer today with a good view of the snow at the peak. Trying not to think about it, we head off to search out the elephants that Amboseli Park is famous for. The landscape is quite barren with a few clumps of grass but apparently it used to be covered in trees until the elephants felled them all. This combined with climate change means that it looks to be heading to be a desert.

On the way to the swamp area we spot many birds. The most impressive was the crested crane and we also saw some secretary birds, which are the biggest birds that can fly. These latter are so named because their cry sounds like a typewriter in action. We even saw an eagle but I cannot remember what it was. Our cameras are just not man enough to do them justice but Dave’s SLR will be here soon so Chris can take pics in Serengeti.

There are certainly elephants here in greater numbers than the Mara and they seem to be many families of elephants. They enjoy wallowing in the muddy water drinking as well as splash it all over themselves. It was fun to see a young one trying to emulate his mum. More serious was two male elephants fighting each other, luckily not ferociously but the younger one just trying it on to see if the elder was weak enough to beat. The answer was no, so it then picked on a younger male before giving up and moving on. We also saw many little ones which are always cute and the youngest was only about two months old.

We did finally spot some hippos out of water and it is hard to believe that they can run pretty fast if the need arises – such as when chasing humans. From the plains rises a small hill known as Observation Hill, with a short footpath to the top but it is not much of a climb compared to the one we do not mention. The views over the lake are quite impressive and we can see in all directions despite it being quite an overcast day.

We return to the lodge for a three course lunch which reinforces my decision to leave dieting until I get home! The afternoon drive again started bird spotting and we see two types of vultures which were quite different, one brown and the other much darker with a pink head like you see in cartoons reminding me off the Jungle Book.

In the distance we saw some vehicles stopped so went to investigate and saw two very fat lions lying in the open, which were either recently fed or pregnant! We drove back the way we came and saw a hyena walking in the grass. When it sat down it was almost completely hidden and we could occasionally see an ear twitch. He would have been in the grass as we passed by first time without seeing him and we wonder how many more were hiding that we did not see?

In the swampy area we saw many elephants and hippos wallowing in the muddy water and reeds. Later we saw a whole family of hyenas, meaning we saw more today than the rest of the week put together. They were just on the prowl which reminds us that we have not yet seen a kill, maybe tomorrow.

We headed back to the lodge as the sun was going down but as it was still cloudy we were so glad we took sunset photos yesterday, as it was nowhere near as good tonight. We reflect on Amboseli, which was amazing but feel we would have enjoyed it more if we had been here before we were spoilt with the sightings in the Masai Mara. We also decided that Kibo camp (where we are currently staying), although bigger than J K Mara was more comfortable, but the downside was the buffet where the food was plentiful but still buffet standard.

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Day 322: Is This The Way To Amboseli?

Mon. 1st July 2013

I think I now know how Frodo felt as he approached Mordor. My date with my own Mount Doom (or Kilimanjaro as the rest of the world calls it) is getting steadily closer. Today we drove to Amboseli National Park and we are now in sight of Kili and it is starting to weigh heavily on me – it does look to be a big old mountain capped in snow. This is, however, jumping ahead to the end of the day…

It is a transfer day today and we have about 500km to cover back into Nairobi from the Masai Mara and then out again down (south and east) to Amboseli. As we leave, we have one final drive through the Mara – we would dearly love to see a leopard. There are plenty of the usual suspects – wildebeest, zebra, gazelle / antelopes of various flavours and I’m sure some giraffe and elephant – but we’re not interested. Whether it is a sign of leopard fixation or a desire to keep moving as we have a way to travel, I don’t know but there are no photos of that last drive through the park and the leopards remain in hiding.

The drive to Nairobi is the exact reverse of the drive here three days ago – bumpy unmade road for an hour or so and then tarmac as we drive across the Great Rift Valley and then up the escarpment. At least when we stop at roadside stalls to use the toilet or grab a coffee and we get inundated with folk trying to sell us some of their trinkets, we are able to say that we bought some on the way down. What we try to focus on is the view from the escarpment which is just as stunning as we remember and more amenable to photos as it is less hazy than last time.

Fortunately, we don’t have to go all of the way in to Nairobi and the traffic is not quite as horrendous as before. Instead, we stop in the shopping centre where Peaks & Safaris (who put together this package for us) have their offices. We are treated to lunch in a cafe and Sara from P&S comes down to check that we have had a good time. A nice little piece of customer care. Then it is back into our Land Cruiser for the drive down to Amboseli.

Again, the roads are pretty decent and we are able to roll along, mostly with brain firmly in the off position. Amboseli may be closer to Nairobi than the Masai Mara, but it still takes us all afternoon to get there. As we get closer, we get our first views of Kilimanjaro and it is an impressive sight. It is now so much more real once you can see it and the penny drops that I start climbing in only a few days time. First though, we are going to have a couple of nights at Kibo Safari camp. As we turn off the main road and head down the track to the camp, the sun is starting to set behind a row of Acacia trees. This is an image that I will now always associate with Africa – and a great addition to our collection of sunset photos!

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Day 321: Up Up And Away…

Sun. 30th June 2013

In my beautiful balloon. At last, the day of our balloon safari has arrived with yet another pre-dawn start, but we don’t mind we’ve been wanting to do this for around 30 years. We head off in the dark to the balloon launch site and tuck into coffee whilst the balloon is being inflated. There are two balloons taking off and we are in the larger sixteen man one, but luckily there are only twelve of us as any more would have been a squeeze. The basket is divided into four equal compartments and we are shown into our home for the next hour or so.

This is Dave’s first balloon flight whereas I flew over Henley twenty odd years ago and the scenery there was not the same! The burners make quite a noise and the basket is held down by about half a dozen locals until the pilot is ready to take off. We head where the wind takes us and it is so peacefully quiet once the burners are switched off. The animals just carry on grazing taking no notice of us, but when the burners are used the zebra and antelopes all scamper off.

We see four hyenas just sauntering along and a Serval cat (looking like a small cheetah) which are new sightings for us here. The Serval was strutting through the long grass and is apparently quite a rare spot. We also saw three lions just lying low in the long grass as well as the usual suspects of giraffes, elephants, zebra, Thompson gazelles and wildebeest. The animals look quite different from this angle. Othmar, the pilot raises the balloon over the expanses of grass, but lets it descend low over the trees and rivers so we can look for more wildlife.

All too soon we are told to brace for landing by sitting on the seats provided and holding onto the rope handles in front of us. After a few bumps of hitting the ground we stopped and the basket tipped over leaving us all lying on our backs with our feet on the air. After yet more photos we were driven to our breakfast spot where there was a table set for us under an acacia tree. A beautiful setting which we admired whilst drinking the obligatory champagne. The whole experience was as good as the expectations. Even the toilet behind one of the vehicles amused is as we took pictures of the canvas enclosure with a portaloo, to add to our collection.

Paul, our driver, had followed the balloon and met us at the breakfast spot ready to take us to the Mara River for the morning. We were still buzzing clutching our certificates commemorating our flight as we set off in the truck. On the way we saw lions in the bushes and their kill. They had fed and were doing what they do best, for about twenty hours a day – sleeping.

We crossed the Mara River to what is called the Mara Triangle and walked with an armed park ranger to see hippos and saw a large croc too. We also saw the track into the river and out the other side where the wildebeests have begun their annual migration from Serengeti in Tanzania to Masai Mara in Kenya but there was a lull and none were crossing.

Back in the plains there must be tens or even hundreds of thousands of wildebeest here already and the numbers will swell to about 1.5 million. Every where we looked there were wildebeest. Dave started counting but soon got bored! It is difficult to imagine what the area will be like with that many animals. We pass by a smaller river, more of a stream really and watch as a line of wildebeest cross at a gallop one after another, the noise of their feet as they run is pretty loud. As we head north back to our camp we drive through empty areas of long grass ready for the full migration.

Our afternoon game drive focuses on leopard hunting but no joy. We do see a hyena close up for the first time here and also an Eland, Africa’s biggest antelope. As we head for home we swing past where the lions had been sleeping this morning and they have hardly moved. The only change is the number of safari vehicles waiting around in case they wake. We hear there is an old male lion close by and so we head off to see, as we have not yet seen a male lion with its impressive mane, only the females and cubs. At first all we see is a golden brown shape in the grass but as we join the row of stationery vehicles the male lion lifts his head and looks around. After a minute or two it is all too much effort and his head flops back to the ground to rest some more.

It is time for us to head back to camp for supper and an early night before we too get some sleep ready for our long drive to Amboseli tomorrow. Before we can go to our tent we are invited to sit around the fire and watch more traditional Maari dances, including their jumping one. Yet another great day to remember and also I managed to take more photos than Dave this morning, which is a first!

 

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Day320: I Taught I Taw A Puddy Tat

Sat. 29th June 2013

We only have two complete days in the Masai Mara. As we have our balloon flight booked for tomorrow, today is our only chance for an early morning game drive. Paul wants us to get off at 7am whilst it is still cool to give us the best chance of spotting some cats before they settle down to snooze through the day. Still, at least the cold water poured from a miniature milk churn into the small metal basin in our room helped to wake us up as we washed our faces.

The JK Mara camp where we are staying is a couple of steps down from the previous safari camps that we have stayed in. Before we arrived at the Moremi Crossing camp (in the Okavango), this is what I was expecting – a large tent with proper beds but otherwise pretty basic. After Moremi and then, particularly, Hwange (Zimbabwe) expectations are a lot higher – good rooms, albeit with canvas walls, stunning central lodge with views out over the wildlife. Hwange was more expensive than here, but it included game drives, all drinks and even laundry.

What we should bear in mind, though, is that it is a couple of steps more luxurious than our camping whilst on Sabie and that we have more fantastic game viewing on our doorstep. Paul certainly seems to know his way around the park as he dives off the main track onto a smaller one and then dives off again onto a track that is barely two sets of wheelprints in the grass. Our first sighting of the day is a trio of elephants eating and trampling their way through a row of bushes. Like so many of the animals here, it doesn’t matter how many photos of them we have, there is always room for a few more.

Then we see a row of other 4x4s with their passengers all peering and pointing cameras at the same spot – a clear sign that something feline has been spotted. We head over and jostle for position and it turns out to be lions who have ensconced themselves in a grassy hollow deep in the shade of a bush. They have settled down for a snooze and their low profile and long grass make taking photos and even counting them tricky. There definitely are some cubs, just lolling around looking very cute and cuddly. We need to keep in mind that mum would take a very dim view of us approaching too close to her cubs.

We’re now up to 3 of the Big Five game animals in Masai Mara (and 4 if you count the rhinos we saw in Etosha). That just leaves leopards and so Paul continues on the path less beaten looking for the shady spots where leopards might be resting up. We’re in a Toyota Land Cruiser, which are easily the most common vehicles here and have a good reputation of being able to go pretty much anywhere. Paul certainly gives both the suspension and traction a good work out until he bites off more than the Land Cruiser can handle and we get stuck in a patch of ground muddier than expected.

The back of the Land Cruiser is grounded and there is no way out even with 4WD and diff. locked. Even more embarrassing for him, the front winch isn’t working. Both passengers and the driver in the next Land Cruiser that came along a couple of minutes later were highly amused. After they’d finished laughing they got to work with the tow cable and hauled us out. I suspect that Paul is going to get a ribbing over this for some time to come. Even worse, it wasn’t helping our leopard spotting. The best we managed was a carcass wedged at the top of a tree where it had been dragged by a leopard unwilling to share dinner.

Undeterred, we carry on and find a pod(?) of hippos wallowing in the Telek River but refusing to show more than ears, eyes and nose. Paul says that he is confident that we’ll see more of the hippos tomorrow when we go down to the Mara River. We’ve seen plenty of giraffes in our time in Africa but we’ve only seen them drinking from a distance, so we are very happy to see them up close. They are so ungainly as their legs are longer than their neck – they have to splay their front legs out before they can stretch down into the pool. This is when they are at their most vulnerable and the giraffe we are watching is clearly very nervous as he drinks.

In the afternoon, we are signed up to do a visit to a nearby Maasai village, it is perhaps a little gringo but we want to understand more about the way of life of the indigenous people – particularly as the camp is run in collaboration with the village. [Side note: we were confused as to the correct spelling, but Paul assures us that the people are Maasai and the place is the Masai Mara.] On arrival we are welcomed by traditional dances by the men and the women – participation mandatory! The men’s dance incorporated a jumping competition and the women’s extensive shaking of jewellery.

We were then given a demonstration of making fire by rubbing sticks together (hard work but possible – even I managed to make smoke) and then a tour inside one of their traditional huts. The Maasai are tall people and so it is a surprise to find that their huts are short as well as cramped and dark. With half the hut partitioned off for space to keep young livestock away from predators it is unsurprising that the rest was subdivided into a couple of tiny bedrooms and a kitchen area complete with open fire. This is even more basic than the people we visited in Lake Titicaca.

We do learn a little about their lives and traditions. They are livestock farmers and keep cattle, sheep and goats. Their costumes are modern versions of traditional animal skin clothing but red is a Maasai colour. Other Maasai characteristics include having large holes in their earlobes; their lower two front teeth removed; and burn scars on their arms. A hard life and more so when we learn that their diet consists of meat, milk and blood (and, sometimes, blood mixed with milk). No thanks.

Paul then meets us at the village and we head off to resume our cat spotting. The lions that we saw this morning are now rested up and are starting to get ready for the night’s hunt. We get to them just as they come out of the bushes and onto the grassy plain. Even more obligingly, they come out in ones and twos and right past our Land Cruiser. The total tally is 12 – 3 adult females and 9 cubs. There will be a male somewhere but apparently he leaves the hunting to the females and only turns up when it is time to eat. Janet tells me not to get any ideas!

Whilst not quite at the level of yesterday’s cheetah experience, it is still an astonishing spectacle. These beautiful, powerful creatures walking right past our jeep. The lionesses are all grace and power but the cubs are all innocence and mischief (do they go together?) Like our boys used to do, they just barge up to each other, have a bit of a bundle and then move on. Captivating and another unforgettable day.

 

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Day 319: A Very Close Encounter

Fri. 28th June 2013

As we left Nairobi at 7am we passed many locals walking from the outskirts into town for work. Those not walking were waiting to pile into the many minibuses or local buses of which there many weaving through the traffic and stopping anywhere and causing even more congestion. The road conditions were worse with more potholes and the housing changed from brick built to corrugated iron as we headed away from the town centre. Also the side of the road was covered in garbage as we headed through the poorer areas of town, reminiscent of many other built up areas we have seen in Africa.

Soon the houses gave way to large fields many of which were well cultivated with wheat and maize. The road climbed onto an escarpment overlooking the Great Rift Valley which runs about 900 km from Jordan to Mozambique (good we had researched Kenya so we knew to expect this –not!). We stopped at a viewpoint surrounded by souvenir stalls and were immediately pounced on to buy something for using their facilities. It was a pity it was so misty as could not see far, so we hope we can get some better photos on our return to Nairobi in a few days time.

The road then headed down into the valley and back up again to Narok where we turned off the main road towards Maasai Mari National Park. After another comfort break which included a coffee stop, which kept Dave happy, the tarmac ended and it was time for the African Massage to begin. The road was even more bumpy than we had experienced in Janis in Namibia, or maybe it was just that Paul drove faster in our 4×4 jeep. The Maasi objected to us taking photos of them working as we drove by, but were quick to thrust souvenirs in our face through the open vehicle windows whilst we stopped at the entrance of the Park for Paul to pay.

We drove along various tracks while we headed though the park and out a different gate to get to our camp. The track to the camp passed through a Maasai village and was waterlogged in places. Apparently it had rained hard yesterday and the track was impassable until 8pm, so I hope there is no rain today as it is still squidgy and four wheel drive essential. We have so far only seen rain once since we arrived in Africa two months ago, but as we keep being told it is winter here now so do not expect wall to wall sunshine.

The JK Mara Camp is an ecocamp and run jointly with the local Maasai who greeted us in their traditional red dress. We were shown to our tent which was canvas with a ground sheet and housed two single beds. At the rear are two areas curtained off one for the proper toilet and the second has a shower. It is not until you go around the back that you find the toilet flush is run from a 250 gallon plastic tank. The shower in on request and a local brings hot water in a tub in a wheelbarrow and fills a smaller tank behind the tent. The first night sufficient flow was gained by one of the staff holding the pipe high using a long handled mop, so we had to let him know when we had finished so he could let go! The sink is the height of sophistication with an urn of cold water and a bucket under the plughole.

We were excited to head off for our afternoon game drive to see what we could find. To my surprise we did not see any elephants but we did see the usual impala, zebras and giraffes. As we have already taken far too many game photos I try to restrict my photos to only unusual or special poses to avoid yet another zebra or giraffe photo but that is hard as it is all special. The scenery is spectacular and just as we imagined with the light corn coloured grass, small green bushes and a few acacia trees.

Word soon goes around the drivers in their safari vehicles that cheetahs have been spotted and we go and join a semicircle of 4x4s and minivans around a pair of cheetahs at a water hole. The number of vehicles increases massively as word gets around, and the cheetahs stretch and go for a stroll. They spot or scent a lone Thompson’s Gazelle 100m away across a stretch of grassy plain and begin to stalk it.

The drivers all reposition the cars jockeying to get the best view of what we hope will be a chase and a kill of the gazelle. The cheetahs approach very slowly keeping low and patiently slinking forward before splitting up and  circling around the gazelle. However the younger of the two gets impatient and runs onto the track which spooks the gazelle and it runs off. They will need to find another unsuspecting prey and start again as the younger cheetah’s stalking skills leave a bit to be desired. More practice required to avoid leaving two hungry cheetahs.

They then decide to find high ground to look for alternative prey and pick on the roof on one of the safari vehicles. After about ten minutes and hundreds of camera clicks (except for the Japanese in the vehicle who could not see what was going on) they get bored and stroll off a short distance. All the vehicles move to get better viewing positions, except ours which I am convinced lines itself up as a new viewing platform despite my plea to Paul. They are beautiful, beautiful animals but there is such a thing as too close.

Sure enough they jump on our vehicle next and lie on our roof. We do not have a sun roof but an open space making it all the more scary as we have a very close up view of the cheetahs as we look at them and they look in at us. One of them leaves a present on our roof (we nearly do similar inside!) and the fact that the cheetahs often clamber on vehicles does nothing to allay my nerves. It does beg the question over whether this is more like a zoo than the wild for the animals as being watched by over twenty vehicles is hardly natural.

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Day 318: Bonus Country

Thur. 27th June 2013

Kenya will be the 28th, and final, country that we visit on our trip. Though, when we left home, we hadn’t expected to be here at all. Instead, we get to visit it twice albeit that the second time will be just a brief stopover in Nairobi airport courtesy of British Airways ceasing their flights from Dar. Today, we’re heading there in order to spend a few days game spotting in the Masai Mara and Amboseli National Parks prior to meeting up with the boys in Arusha, back in Tanzania.

When booking a taxi to get us to the airport, we asked the hotel how long they thought it would take. After sucking on their teeth for a while and telling us how bad the traffic in Dar was, they all but suggested that we really ought to have started out yesterday. We settled on an hour and three quarters which just gave us time to get a bit of breakfast before heading to the airport. As it turned out, the traffic was all going the other way, into Dar, and we covered the 20km in just over half an hour.

There wasn’t a huge amount to do in Dar airport – we couldn’t even get into the departures hall at first – and after we tried and failed to blag our way into the airport lounge courtesy of our BA silver card, we found a coffee shop (surprise!) and settled down for a wait. There was, however, good news when we got on the plane. We had been allocated seats in the emergency exit row above the wing and in the row in front, a seat had been removed to ease the access to the exit. This meant that, for once, I had a good amount of leg room in an economy seat. (Yes, we probably have been spoiled by all of these business class flights).

It is just a short hop up to Nairobi and even though there was a delay prior to taking off (Dar airport closed for reasons never explained) we arrived pretty much on time. Immigration was easy – although we still have one more border crossing to do – I have been pleasantly surprised that all of the horror stories that have been told about border crossings in African countries just haven’t applied to us.

We are so used to finding our own way into town on arriving in strange airports, that it was a very pleasant surprise to find a man with a board with our names on it once we had been reunited with our bags. Paul is going to be our driver for our time in Kenya (including the game drives) and so the drive from the airport to our hotel in Nairobi is a good place to start.

Paul immediately warned us that the traffic in Kenya is horrendous and that it might be next week before we get into town. We’ve heard this story told about so many cities (most recently, Dar) that we basically discounted it. He may have had a point though – it was incredibly slow going and we did seem to spend some long periods not moving at all. In the end, it took us longer to get to our hotel from the airport than we spent in the airplane – including the additional delay waiting for the airport to reopen.

We did, though, make a short stop en route at a mobile phone shop for me to get a Kenya SIM. Here, Kenya really showed other African countries how to do it – one form to fill in, no need to show passport and just 15 minutes from walking in the shop to walking out with a working SIM in my phone. Even better, the SIM and 200MB of data cost a total of KES350 (about £2.60) – I’d better get used to data not being that cheap when I get back to the UK. [As a side note, I’m starting to do research on phone, broadband and TV provision for when we get home and it all seems quite expensive – any suggestions or recommendations would be very welcome.]

Our hotel (the Heron Portico) is only 2km or 3km out of the city centre and the receptionist says that it is easily walkable (though we do forget to take into account that Kenyans routinely walk long distances). It is an easy walk along a mix of pavement and dirt track that runs parallel to the pavement but the track is sometimes in better condition. The streets are busy with pedestrians and cars and the brightly coloured miniature buses that are constantly touting for business.

The main Kenyatta Avenue runs between two parks and so we need to investigate. The smaller park contains the large, Nyayo Monument which is quite striking with friezes on all four faces under a hand holding a torch. It’s just a pity that we don’t know what it commemorates. The other park is dominated by a boating lake complete with (underutilised) pedallos. As with parks on sunny days everywhere, the grass is dotted with people sprawled out.

We then commence a square circular walk (if that makes sense) of the city centre and walk past the parliament buildings where we are forbidden from taking photos. So, we go round the block to the other side (the front?) and take a photo of the gates. Further along the road is the Kenyatta Mausoleum with the tomb of the first president of Kenya after independence, Jomo Kenyatta. The gates are shut and guarded but the guards are friendly and helpful and explain that the public is only allowed in once a year and that the 22 flags lining the path to the tomb signify the date of his death 22nd August 1978. They are happy for us to take photos – just not of them – and are almost apologetic in explaining that originally the coffin could be elevated for viewing but that this is no longer possible.

(As another side note, Kenyatta’s son, Uhuru, is now president after elections here earlier this year. Unlike the previous elections there was no violence when the results were announced but the locals that we have spoken to seem to be taking a very ‘wait and see’ attitude as to whether he will make a good president or not. They all know that he has been indicted by the International Criminal Court.)

Nairobi is the biggest city that we have spent any time in since Cape Town. The British influence is clear in the street names, building designs, power sockets, the boating lake in the park, etc and there are some modern features – including an IMAX cinema (though, sadly we have just missed the showings of the new Star Trek film). It does, however, have a very African feel to it including that run-down sense of its best days being behind it. What we have found though, like elsewhere in Africa, is that the people are so friendly and helpful (and unlike other places, not so pushy for us to give them money). We hope that better days are ahead for Nairobi and Kenya.

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