Mashatu Game Reserve & Walking Safari May 2013

PART 1: JOHANNESBURG

Intercontinental Hotel – Oliver R Tambo Airport
Once more and again, Kathy and I made sure that we had our passports, braced ourselves for the TSA ‘scare-port’ treatment and plunged into the maelstrom of ultra long-distance travel, which would take us from Houston to Johannesburg in just about 24 hours total.

Flying this far this fast plays havoc with almost everybody’s sense of time and place. Our human bodies were just not designed to be suddenly transported over multiple time zones at 500+ mph.

Somewhat bleary-eyed and jetlagged, but happy to be back on terra firma, we were met by a smiling representative of the Intercontinental ORTI. It was hardly necessary – the hotel is less than a 3 minute walk from the customs exit – but it was a nice touch anyway.

Soon enough we were up in 7th floor room with (good security, need room key to access any specific floor), where a welcome hot bath and a change of clothes revived us somewhat. A very late dinner (several vegan side dishes in addition to an array of more standard fare) and not too much later we were fast asleep, totally exhausted from the two long back to back flights.

The first leg from Houston to Amsterdam was rather uncomfortable in an ancient 747-combi with very little leg room and less than comfortable seats. The movie selection was ho-hum, the food totally unremarkable, but there were some good music choices so we strapped on our noise-cancelling headphones (standard equipment on all flights taken by Fish Eagle Safaris personnel), fired up the Kindles and got to grips with the latest Reacher novel. Well at least I did; I am sure Kathleen had something a bit more substantial going.

Just after landing in Amsterdam a strong horse-manure smell wafted through the rear section of the plane, emanating from an open door between the main cabin and the cargo section. It turned out that there had been 15 horses on the plane with us, all the way from Houston. As I said to Kathy, I bet those horses had more leg room and better food than us.

We whiled away a couple of hours at the giant Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam with some overpriced coffee and Dutch apple-pie (not bad!), checked some e-mail and had to submit to yet another frisking from some rather over-zealous Dutch cousins of the TSA.

Just after 9:00Pm the day after we had left Houston in the early afternoon, our feet touched African concrete. A longish walk to the immigration counter where formalities were dealt with quickly and efficient (no visa required, no silly forms to complete) and our luggage was on the carousel in a matter of minutes. All that was left was the brief walk over to the IC Hotel.

We slept solidly until after 7:00 on the morning of May 23, enjoyed a very tasty breakfast at the InterContinental’s exceptionally well-provisioned buffet breakfast. I took some exterior photographs of the hotel which is a little oasis of calm amidst the hustle and bustle of Africa’s largest airport.

We checked out a suite (impressive!), the spa, gym and pool area (nice!) as well as an executive room. Considering the high daily tariff for the room, the ‘standard’ deluxe rooms at the IC are on the small side. However what you are paying for here is mostly location and unquestionably it is #1 in Johannesburg in this respect. The hotel is almost ridiculously close to the international arrivals hall. Even so, the rooms are practically 100% soundproof and even during the very busy early morning take-off frenzy, we could not hear a single jet taking to the skies. Very impressive. The same can be said for the curtaining which turns the room into a pitch-black dark cavern any time of the day or night. Just what a jetlagged body needs. I quite liked the bath – just a good size – and there is a very amply proportioned shower as well, and a separate toilet with door. The room had a good quality TV, handy plug points, plenty of space for clothes & other stuff. Also the bed was super comfortable with some of the nicest, softest pillows we’ve ever come across. Kathy liked the espresso coffee maker and while we did not have much time to use it, the mini-bar was more than adequately stocked.

I have nothing negative to say about the IC; perhaps it would be a good idea to have a light switch for the bathroom inside the room, rather than on the bedroom side of the sliding door. At night it makes for a few awkward moments as the ‘awake’ person tries to sneak into the bathroom and has to switch on the bright bathroom light in view of the ‘asleep’ person.

The Intercontinental is of course also the safest option of any Johannesburg hotel. There is just about zero exposure to any kind of danger or potential danger. You walk (escorted at night) across an interior airport road, look up to your right and there it is, a few meters to the right.

Fairlawns Hotel Sandton
By 1300 a driver from Wilro Tours picked us up for the approximately 30 minute drive to Sandton. Wilro is the always-reliable company which we use through our destination management company Wilderness Safaris for all of our clients’ Johannesburg and Pretoria transfers and tours. As always they showed up in a spotlessly clean, seemingly new vehicle. Smoothly and efficiently we made our way back to Fairlawns Country Hotel in Sandton, on Alma Road just off Bolling Ave.

We had spent a night at this property before, in November 2012, but we arrived late and left fairly early the next morning. Not what you need to do at Fairlawns. Ideally this should be a 2-night stay. Take the time to enjoy this absolutely splendid jewel of a property, with an authentic country hotel feel, yet just a couple of miles from one of the busiest business centers in all of Africa – and the world.

This time around we were in Room # 15 – the Mandela suite – appropriately decorated with some African artifacts, and with walls reminiscent of a light ochre clay.

The room itself is absolutely massively proportioned in every way: huge entrance foyer with couch, a business nook with adaptors and a second phone, a divider, and then an huge middle area with a king size bed, facing a large HD television set.

The bath is equally large, with exceedingly hot water – don’t burn yourself! – and a jacuzzi function if you are so inclined. I soaked for quite a while trying to burn away the jetlag. It didn’t work.

That evening my brothers Francois and Nick joined us for dinner at the Terrace Restaurant and we had perfectly splendid time, reminiscing over times gone by and reflecting on the various scandals currently besetting both the US and the South African presidencies. It’s a small world.

May 24: Breakfast at Fairlawns
We enjoyed a very convivial breakfast with John and Anna Thacker, owners of the Fairlawns Hotel. What a gracious couple – and wonderful hosts. We shared a few comments about children and grand-children (theirs, not ours), agreed on the fact that Jo’burg has the world’s finest or possibly 2nd finest climate after Harare, and tucked into the superb cold buffet with perfectly ripe fruit, including gooseberries, even prickly pear and our favorite – papaya. There were also many cheeses, cold cuts, smoked salmon, an array of breads and much much more. In addition to that you’re free to order one of many hot breakfasts (eggs to order, bacon, sausage, Eggs Benedict, crumpets, oats, omelets and frittatas.

PART 2: MASHATU TENTED CAMP

We took a last look around Fairlawns- it was a perfectly gorgeous late fall morning in Johannesburg – collected our stuff and made out way back to ORTI with Thokozane, our Wilro driver. Very pleasant and efficient, he expertly got us back to the airport in good time. Unfortunately our SA Airlink flight to Pholokwane was running about 20 minutes late and that together with a short delay at the border crossing (by boat across the Limpopo) meant that we could not do an afternoon game drive.

It was no big deal – we needed a bit of time to get settled in, check out the camp, and catch up on a few things. Including this journal. En route to camp we did come across a nice journey of giraffes. Dinner this evening was excellent, with a special vegan dish (actually more than one) being offered in addition to some goat stew, breast of chicken, a nice cream of leek soup, plenty of fresh vegetables and a creamy ice-cream for the omnivores and a fruit filled pastry for yours truly. Tomorrow: our first game drive at Mashatu in several years!

May 25 2013: Game drive at Mashatu
It is quite amazing what a decent night’s sleep can do – feeling refreshed for the first time since we left the USA, I woke up 3 minutes before the scheduled wake-up call of 6:00A. It was quite cold – probably upper 40’s F – but with some good layering there was no need for a very heavy jacket. After a quick cup of coffee and a small bowl of porridge we were on our way with our guide Daniel and tracker Commando. The first hour was rather slow but then we started picking up quite a bit of action: first two female lions and then a group of 9 cubs – of several mothers – ranging up to 18 months old. They were a little wary of the vehicles put we good a few decent photographs before they linked up with the females and disappeared into the bush.

Not long afterwards we were practically surrounded by a large group of elephants moving from our right to our left, coming to within just a couple of meters of the vehicle. The elephants were very relaxed and one or two of them barely raised their ears at our presence, turning their heads towards us as if in greeting. It was a very impressive sightings, with nearly 50 elephants of all ages filing by us. At the same time another even larger herd was passing right by another vehicle, just 300 meters or so away from us. Elephants everywhere!

On the way back to camp we passed by more elephants, and saw a good mix of other game including lots of impala, some kudu, zebra, giraffe and several eland. As they tend to do, the eland kept their distance but we were able to get one or two decent captures.

By about 1000A we were back in camp and half an hour later it was time for brunch: quite a spread of salads, meats, cheese, egg dishes, bread, potato au gratin, a fruit tray, juices, toast with several jams and even a medley of black-eyed peas and white beans prepared specially for the vegan…

After a short siesta (a much-needed hour-long nap was most welcome!) we enjoyed yet another great spread for afternoon tea, and then set out with Dan and Commando to go and find some more wildlife.

Not too far out of camp we witnessed a single elephant giving himself a mud bath. Not just any old mud bath – a thorough dousing from head to toe. Repeatedly he would gather up a trunkful of muddy water and spray it all over himself until he was reduced to a shiny mud-covered spectacle. Eventually the elephant tired and appeared to take a little mini-nap, flat on his side in the mud pool. Then he got up, walked a little further and found a source of dust, which he proceeded to spray all over himself again. Many spas would have been envious of this multi-step treatment!

Shortly afterwards we enjoyed one of the best sightings of the trip so far – two elephant herds walking in near single-file, comings straight towards us in great afternoon light. They just veered off the road slightly, passing to our left, some of the young ones moving closer to their mothers and giving us a quizzical look. Of course there was the predictable young male flapping his ears at us while giving us ‘the look’…

Our next find was a pair of jackals which seemed quite relaxed, yet their ears were constantly tipping upwards to catch a stray sound which could result in food – or flight.

Our 2-night stay at Mashatu Tented Camp was an excellent re-introduction to the area and its wildlife. We still had a few things to do but for the next few days our focus would shift to some cultural endeavors as well as a walking safari.

Cultural Visit To Mothlabaneng Village
Early on the morning of May 27, we met our cultural guide Gaone (aka Booboo) for a half day trip to Mothlabaneng village, where we experienced a glimpse of life in a typical Botswana village. The village was quiet, peaceful and neatly laid out with simple but functional houses lining the streets. There was almost no traffic and the only sounds to be heard were children playing and adults exchanging greetings. We peeked into a trading store where I was not surprised to see many of the staples I had grown up with in South Africa (traditional mealie meal (maize flour) with which to make sadza, Huletts cane sugar, Marmite, Maltabella and several others. It was very basic, and the average American visitor would be astonished by the lack of brand choices.

From there we drove to the school (it was a Sunday so no one there) and then on to a small shop & tradecraft center where a few of the local women were busy weaving baskets. We observed the process for a while and checked out the wares for sale – a nice collection indeed. Kathleen picked up one or two things while I tried to get a photograph of a few children who were entertaining themselves swinging on a dilapidated fence. The kids were keen to speak English and were quick to respond to my questions about their grade level and who their teachers were. Soon enough, I was being quizzed about the weather in Houston, and I was almost stumped when asked if I had any special skills and abilities…

With lots of useful information and background information from Gaone, we inspected the local Kgotla (large circular open-air gathering place) where an important meeting was scheduled to take place the next day, to select a new chief for the village. A chief is ordinarily a hereditary position, passed on from father to son or daughter, but the villagers had collectively decided to democratically elect a new leader.

Our last stop was at a rather rudimentary palm wine production facility, but that would be a charitable description. In actuality it was just a local guy tapping sap from a few palm trees, in what appeared to be a singularly unhygienic manner. Once fermented this local brew is said to be quite potent not only because of its alcoholic properties, but also for its ‘cleansing’ effect. I am not surprised.

We enjoyed an al fresco lunch at a very secluded and sheltered rocky spot – where Gaone pointed out some fading yet still quite fascinating rock art examples – and were then transferred to the base camp of the Mashatu Walking Safari operation.

PART 3: MASHATU WALKING SAFARI

After introductions all round, we received a very thorough briefing from Stuart Quinn, whose enthusiasm and passion for the Tuli area and all of its beauty and wildlife became evident practically immediately. He was to lead our small group of travelers from Southern African and the USA on a walking safari which lasted only a couple of days, but which made a impression that would last indefinitely. Some of the ground rules were to walk in single file, taking turns to walk in front just behind Stuart, to keep the volume down and to follow his instructions at all times. Most importantly – in the event of something untoward happening – don’t run!

The overall objective was to experience nature in its totality. We would not be just driving through it in a loud, intrusive vehicle.

The walking safari would not be a dangerous or risky business – but we would stay well clear of elephants, particularly breeding herds. Compared with the usual walking trail in most other areas – which consists of a specific pre-determined route from which one cannot deviate – the Mashatu Wilderness Trail can take you anywhere, anytime. So Stuart may opt to deviate from a planned route depending on wildlife movements, the fitness level and enthusiasm of the group, or their specific interests.

Overnight At Trails Camp
Fairly late on the first afternoon, we set off from Serolo Camp at a fairly brisk pace, over mostly level to gently sloping terrain, passing through mopane forest & shrub, clearly well utilized by elephants. Our route winded down towards the Limpopo River floodplain where we crossed over just the corner of a large marshy wetland where we could see several ducks and other waterbirds in the distance. From there the terrain and vegetation changed quite rapidly into mixed woodland, where we started to see quite a few mammal species including zebra, impala and kudu.

It was almost dark when we reached the overnight trails camp, which consisted of several pre-erected ‘stand-up’ tents, in a heavily wooded area. Our tent had two small but comfortable cots side by side, with just enough space between them to move around, and a small area at the foot of the bed for one’s luggage.

There was no interior lighting at all, and just a few paraffin lamps elsewhere in the camp site. We immediately realized that we had way too much luggage for a walking safari (it was an ordeal trying to find something in amongst a large duffel bag in the dark) and that headlamps would have come in extremely handy.

We managed though and within 20 minutes or so (there was warm water available for a bucket shower if you were so inclined) we were seated comfortably around a camp-fire. It wasn’t very cold yet but temperatures drop rapidly after sunset in this semi-desert environment with a cloudless sky. Later in the winter months of June through August one would be well advised to take a well-insulated jacket and to plan on layering as it can get very chilly early in the morning, only to warm up again, as the sun rises.

We enjoyed some brilliant star-gazing with our fellow trailists Emil (a professional photographer) and Adelle (a photo-journalist by profession) and then sat down to a wonderful dinner prepared by Stuart’s wife Annelien and her kitchen crew. We were all rather tired so we went to bed early & fell asleep promptly. Out in the bush there is an almost total absence of ambient noise, just a beautiful natural sound-track consisting of calls and sounds made by elephants, hyenas, jackals and some restless birds. Someone even heard some lions in the distance. Not me.

The View From Eagle Rock
We were up early the next morning for a light breakfast and coffee or tea with rusks, again around the fireside. The morning walk would take us to Eagle Rock, an impressive promontory with a near 360 degree view over parts of the Limpopo Valley, with the Motloutse River in the foreground. As we approached the rocky area, we saw quite a bit of wildlife again, even some giraffe giving us their characteristic stare.

Along the way, Stuart pointed out various interesting geological features. Much of the rock was sandstone, with very visible ‘globules’ to be seen. These were round knobby protrusions or holes, depending upon whether the matter which caused their formation was softer or harder than the surrounding rock. If softer, the globule would wear away faster, causing a round hole; if harder, it would take much longer to erode, resulting in one of the knobby protrusions.

We clambered onto Eagle Rock where we promptly saw a Black Eagle take to the sky. Many of its favorite prey animals – dassies (also known as rock rabbits) were to be seen scampering away. From atop Eagle Rock, there were amazing views in every direction.

From there we made our way to the next overnight stop but not before a most interesting encounter with the rarely seen Brown Hyena. Stuart had mentioned the presence of the animals in a particular spot – a large overhanging rock which formed a wide shallow cave of sorts. We crept up to the area through a narrow rock canyon, hoping to surprise one or more of the brown hyenas near their den. As it turned out, we did not surprise them: they had heard our approach and were lurking on the ‘exit’ side of the canyon. Kathleen saw the brown hyena first as it bolted into its escape route, and Stuart and I also caught a glimpse of the dark shape as it slipped away.

As interesting as the sighting itself was the brown hyena clan’s boneyard. There were in excess of 40 to perhaps even 50 different bones – mostly skulls – lying around right in front of the shallow cave entrance. Most were impala horns with the top of the skull still attached, other were baboon skulls – even a much larger skull of a young elephant could be seen. The older ones were ivory white, while more recent scavenging finds such as a fairly fresh set of impala horns still had a pinkish tinge at its base, the animal having lost its life not very long ago at all.

Creeping Up On Elephants
At the enclosed but open-air Kgotla encampment, we dropped off our stuff, enjoyed a much needed and very welcome hot shower and took a bit of a siesta. Then we were off down to the Motloutse River where we saw about 30 to 40 elephants drinking and mud-bathing. Soon enough they were joined by first one, then another and yet another herd walking out of the bush on the other side of very wide expanse of sandy gravel, making up the river-bed. Crouched down so as not to break the sky-line too much and alert them to our presence, we crept closer for some great views of these imposing beasts. As always, it was endlessly entertaining to watch their interaction and particularly to observe their dominance displays.

By the time yet another herd approached the scene and started moving towards our right (the others were in front of us and to our left), Stuart wisely decided that it would be safer to move away from the river, just in case we got surrounded by elephants. Which would not nearly be as much fun as just observing them from a safe position.

We cut through a marshy (yet currently dry) area with lots of elephant foot holes, through a very thick patch of bush and then on to the Mmamagwa Ruins and Rhodes’ Baobab, which we reached just as the sun was setting. The views over the valley, with the sun setting right in front of us, were superb. A tiny rock elephant shrew entertained us scampering out from its rocky shelter right to our feet, quite unafraid of our presence. We had worked quite hard getting up the slopes and enjoyed a well-earned sundowner drink and some salty snacks there before we made our way back to camp, this time by vehicle.

We spent yet another enjoyable evening around the campfire, with good conversation, and a tasty, wholesome ‘home-cooked’ meal, with a couple of glasses of nice wine. By 10P we were snugly settled down in our individual cots, 6 of them spaced out in 4 clusters inside the open kgotla enclosure, right under a massive mashatu tree. It was quite an exhilarating experience to sleep in the open with nothing but sky and stars above. Kathleen and I both slept exceedingly well, she to such an extent that she did not even hear two lions who called very loudly around 0500A.

Trying To Walk Into Lions
After a light breakfast we set out with Stuart and Johannes to track and hopefully catch up with the lions. It was heavy going through thick sandy terrain, through and across the riverbed in a westerly direction. It was relatively easy to follow the tracks until they started to split up and re-converge in an almost circular fashion.

It turned out that two lions had met up there and the greeting ritual, with lots of moving about – had caused the disrupted tracks. Once the guys had figured it out, we were on our way again. Unfortunately time caught up with us as one of our party had to be at the Botswana/South Africa border by 1000A.

In the end the chase was almost just as good as the catch. In our mind’s eye we could see the lions bounding towards in slow motion just like in the National Geographic documentaries. Perhaps the imagined version of walking into lions – which is what we were trying to do – is better than the real McCoy. Maybe some other time!

PART 4: MASHATU MAIN CAMP

From the Kgotla, we were driven back to Mashatu Main Camp with a short trip inspection at Limpopo Horse Safaris en route. We did a quick walk-through of the stables (very impressive, lots of room), the tack room and the reception area, and afterwards we went to see the horses. Beautiful they were too! We tried to get a photograph with a very tall black horse with massive hooves, but he was not too friendly. An equally good-looking white horse turned out to be much more obliging.

Apparently the horses work for a week (going on safari with riders out in the bush), followed by a week of rest and then a week of training.

Over the next three days at Mashatu Main Camp, we experienced some of the best game-viewing ever, superb guiding, unrivaled hospitality and catering, retiring each night to a comfortable yet not overly luxurious or ostentatious room.

Mashatu offers in my opinion the ideal mix for several days on safari. The game-viewing is reliably good to excellent: if you don’t see leopard on a 3-night stay at Mashatu, you might consider yourself unlucky or jinxed. We enjoyed 3 different sightings of leopards while there: one at night on an impala kill, a young female at point blank range during the day, and yet another female walking briskly through the woodland, on our last morning.

Since my last visit to Mashatu the lion population has mushroomed: we saw several lions every day, including a couple of female with 9 cubs of varying ages between them, four other females and a mating ‘three-some’ of lions (2 males and a female), possibly one of the females mentioned previously.

On our last game drive one of the two males (a set of brothers), and his concubine put up quite a show for us, right in front of another Mashatu vehicle. I captured a few particularly good images – and so did Kathy.

Mashatu is more than predators though: we had some of our best views ever of eland, and spending a few hours in a hide with professional photographer Mike Dexter proved to be fun and educational. I captured a few good bird photographs and missed one potentially excellent one (a missing wing-tip) and I would recommend booking a few hours with Mike or one of his colleagues on any trip to Mashatu. Whether you are a rank beginner, have a new camera or just need to take your photography to a different level, there are few places better to do this than at Mashatu.

More Info

Email bert@fisheaglesafaris.com

Email jason@fisheaglesafaris.com

@fisheaglesafarishouston

#FishEagleSafaris

Katavi & Mahale Mts National Parks Nov 2013

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

Katavi. Katuma. Katsunga. Kapapa. There are several K-words to remember on a trip to Katavi National Park, one of Africa’s most remote wildlife sanctuaries, tucked into the southwestern part of Tanzania.

Not too many visitors actually make it to Katavi. It is remote, not very easy to get to (a long flight from either Arusha or Dar-Es-Salaam) and it does not have as many roads and amenities – or as big a selection of lodges – as many other East African parks. Once you do make it out there though, you’ll probably want to return again and again.

Why? Well – mostly for the same reasons as above: It is far from anywhere, rather tough to get to, there are few roads, very few other visitors and just a handful of camps. Katavi is the anti-Mara, the anti-dote to over-travelled African game parks where minibuses line up like gluttons at a buffet, for their passengers to gawk at overly habituated vehicle-climbing cheetahs to the sound-track of clattering shutters.

There’s none of that in Katavi. It is unvarnished Africa – raw and unltered and totally remarkable. Katavi is Tanzania’s third largest park and it is famous for its large buffalo herds which can reach more than 3,000 individuals at times. We did not see that many at any one time as the big herds disperse late in the dry season (October & early November). Even so, we experienced several other dramatic sightings including literally hundreds of hippo jammed together in small, rapidly drying pools, a very healthy lion population, leopard, good numbers of elephant and a wealth of general plains game such as giraffe, zebra, impala and Defassa waterbuck.
Katavi is Africa with a wild, harsh edge. It’s not that easy getting there, and it’s not a walk in the park being there. The late dry season months of October and November can be quite hot in the afternoons, and chances are that you will have a minor run-in with a few tsetse flies here and there, not to mention some African cousins of the June bug, during dinner.

Go all the way there and brush off these and a couple other minor inconveniences such as a lot of zipping and unzipping tent openings, and you will be amply rewarded. Having traveled to just about every ‘safari’ region in Southern and East Africa, Katavi struck me as one of the last few totally unspoiled game sanctuaries in Africa. There are few roads, not many other visitors and miles and miles of wilderness where Africa looks you straight in the eye.

This is not the Serengeti where the grass is ample and almost all the animals are in good condition, unless there is a drought. This is a place of feast and famine, where survival of the ttest really means something and where every organism is tested to the limit during the long dry season.
By late October the hippos are literally at the end of their rope with sometimes hundreds of them ‘trapped’ in shrinking, smelly pools of mud. They are very stressed and very close to the breaking point, losing as much as one third of their total weight in the process.

And it’s not just the hippos that have it tough. The large herds of buffalo have to disperse because no one area of the park can sustain so many of them in close proximity. Every animal other than the predators is reduced to just eking out an existence until the first rains come.

Heat & Hippos In The Wilderness
By the time we walked into our tent at Chada Katavi on Oct 28, it was hot, probably close to 90F.

We had been traveling for several hours, having made two long back to back fights on a Tanganyika Flying Company (TFC) Cessna Caravan from Kogatende to Tabora (for refuelling) and then to the Katavi airstrip just off the Katsunga floodplain.

The tented rooms at Chada Katavi are quite large with a separate but connected bathroom with bucket shower (hot water by arrangement, on request). A single small spigot supplied water for washing one’s hands. We were initially somewhat dubious about it, but the en-suite chemical toilet employs an efcient yet minimally water-intensive ushing mechanism. All the zipping and unzipping to get into the tent and out of it, as well as into and out of the bathroom enclosure, gets a bit tedious. The insect screening is quite good though so you just have to take it in stride.

Chada Katavi is a bush camp through and through. The tents are quite widely dispersed in a massive wooded forest with sandy paths connecting the various tents to the separate lounge/library and mess tent. Oddly enough the lounge tent was right out in the open and not shaded by one of the many trees in camp. It was not heavily frequented by anyone in camp while we were there. Just too hot.

After tea which was served at 4:00P, we set off with camp manager and guide Mohamed Kassim on a game drive which took us to the Katuma river where we were quite astounded at the sight of raft after raft of dozens of hippos packed into muddy pools: cheek to cheek, tail to tail with no space for any one of them to do a 360-degree move. In ones and twos they glared at us, rearing back a bit as we approached. But they soon relaxed and there was less in the way of warning displays such as big toothy yawns, than I had anticipated.

We also observed a few Yellow-billed Storks shing in the rapidly disappearing pond, plucking one after another small catsh out of the murky, smelly water. The stork would then throw the small fish around, seemingly catching and losing it several times, after which it would be swallowed whole.

Then we were off to another spot with even more hippo packed into a very small area. What a sight! Not long afterwards we came upon the Chada pride of lions, numbering around 16 or so. There were 3 young cubs not quite 3 months old. I made a few decent captures of the young lions, who were intermittently taking milk from their mother, half-heartedly playing with each other, trying their paws at tree-climbing or just sitting about and staring at the human intruders.

By around 6:30P or so it was time to head back to camp which we did; it is about a 20 to 25 minute drive to Chada from where we were, close to the Fox camp. After a welcome shower we enjoyed cocktails around the camp fire and then it was dinner time. Nothing too exciting this evening but tasty and well-prepared: beef or lentil stew with couscous, butternut squash, and fresh green beans. Then a cup of coffee and it was time for bed. Lala Salama!

At exactly 3:45A – I checked – I was awakened to the sight of a large grey ghost approaching our tent from the left (where the main entrance is). I woke up Kathy: ‘Look, an elephant!’ We both stared out of the pitch black tent trying to see the behemoth in the moonless night. By now he/she had moved really close to the tent and then something strange happened. The elephant leaned in and started scraping the tent with what seemed to be its hide, producing a rough scratching sound. In the dead of the night, it was extremely loud and most disturbing. What on earth was this elephant trying to do – flatten our tent?

I’ve never felt threatened inside a tent before but I must admit that this time, I started feeling around for a ashlight and mentally calculated how long it would take to unzip the door opening and make an escape. And then it dawned on me. The elephant was using its trunk to literally hoover the seeds of a massive tamarind tree from the verandah and roof of our tent. We were in no imminent danger of getting trampled; this particular elephant has been pulling this stunt for a long time! He knew exactly where to lean in under the verandah to get close to the source of the delicious, nutritious seeds. In doing so he got us really worried for a few seconds because he was pushing on the poles which keep the tent in place. I started giggling and thought about trying to get a photo but setting of ashlights right then might not have been a good idea. So we just relaxed, listened to a bit more scraping and scratching going on and then it was quiet. Our seed-eating pachyderm had moved on to scare someone else.

PART 2: CHADA KATAVI & FOOT SAFARI

Birds And Crocodiles At Chada Katavi
The next morning it was all about the birds and the crocodiles, and the hippo. We witnessed one of the most amazing sights we had seen in years when a giant of a crocodile started tossing around a large dead crocodile, shaking it in its massive jaw like a limp rag. Cannibalism is never a pretty sight, but this was fierce! There were hundreds of other birds around the pond, including yellow billed storks and pelicans. We were impressed by the high density of African Fish Eagles at the bridge with two waterholes on either side. This is the bridge with the sign which prohibits free game-viewing or photography. Sure.

It is a short drive from there to the camp headquarters where we witnessed a spectacle like no other. There were several hundred hippos packed in literally wall to wall in a morass of mud and thick sludge-like water. Hardly moving and seemingly resigned to their plight to waiting out the dry season, they were just enduring the stench and discomfort, waiting for better days. One could not help but feel sorry for the poor beasts.

We then drove to the main (Katsunga) pan, where we had another picnic breakfast at a lovely spot beneath some trees. The ‘vegan’ option was a cold toasted egg sandwich without bacon. Something got lost in the translation there, but not a big deal. I just don’t much care for picnic breakfasts, vegan or not. It would be different if there was a re or hot plate to grill something, but I think the point has been made. Over coffee we admired the pretty scenery and took some photographs of giraffes moving across the open plains, fringed with large stands of Borassus palms.

We drove past Katuma Bush Lodge and Fox Camp – both of which I think have a somewhat better location than Chada Katavi, being closer to the main river and oodplain. Earlier in the dry season the Nomad property – which is on the edge of Chada Pan – has a grandstand view of the huge buffalo herds for which the park is famous, so it all depends on conditions. However it felt like we drove quite a distance on most game drives, to and from the most productive game-viewing areas.

Just before we returned to camp for lunch and a siesta, we checked out another few individuals belonging to the Chada lion pride; this time a male (known for his grumpy behavior) and three female lions, one older female and two young ones.

That afternoon, it was back to the lions, observing a female with two young cubs around 3 months of age. The lions seemed to be hiding in the grass, possibly getting into position for a late afternoon hunt. We left them temporarily to have sundowners with a breeding herd of elephants as ‘entertainment’ in the background. The next activity was a night drive which produced a good crop of nocturnal animals including three genets, several lesser bush babies (one good clear sighting) and one of our best ever views of a Serval Cat.

A TWO GUN FOOT SAFARI

This morning (Oct 30) at 6:30A four of us plus our guide Mohamed and a TANAPA (Tanzania National Parks) ranger set out on a 2-gun foot safari. As it turned out that was two guns too many, the most dangerous game we encountered being warthogs. Of course it is well-advised to be protected at all times as one could come across elephant or buffalo unexpectedly – with unpredictable results.

Mohamed was exceptionally knowledgeable about various plants and trees, and we learnt some fascinating things about elephant dung (responsible for spreading Borassus palm seeds), a salty shrub (which the animals seek out for – duh – salt), acacia melliora (thorns low down but not high up), sausage trees (size matters – it’s a long story) buffalo thorn tree (natural viagra for the Hadzabe) and we watched the leaves of a ‘touch me not’ shrub close up at the lightest of touches. It was a pleasant outing and a nice change of pace from the vehicle.

A bit later that morning we saw two sleeping elephants next to Mohamed’s tent, right in camp. They were quite relaxed, just taking a nap.

ALL THE WAY TO PARADISE AND BACK

At around 10:00A we set off to Paradise to check it out briey and then to go on to Palahala Camp for a site inspection. Our friendly and competent Starlight driver-guide was Promise. It was a long 2-hr trip to Paradise but we did see quite a bit of game en route, including giraffe, impala, zebra, ground hornbills, a few buffalo and some hyena.

It’s true what your mother told you. Getting to Paradise is not easy. It was a good 40km from the bridge across the Katuma River and several stretches of the road to Paradise were infested with some pesky, persistent tsetse ies. By now I was well-prepared for them and really had very few issues. They tend to like some people more than others and unfortunately I am in the ‘favored’ category. So here’s what you do:

Bert’s Tsetse Fly Protection Plan

Over the years I have had a few run-ins with tsetse ies. Most memorably on a drive along a tsetse fly corridor to a camp in Zambia which I don’t think is even in business anymore. Here are my hints on how to avoid being bitten by these useless pests. Or at least to reduce the damage they can do.

i) Before you put on anything for the day’s outing, spray yourself all over with -preferably – Peaceful Sleep which is a very effective TF repellent. If you don’t have that on hand then use whatever DEET-containing spray or roll-on or cream you have on hand. Try to cover as much of your body as you can (even your back as they will probe and/or bite through clothing).

ii) Wear a neutral color long-sleeved shirt and long pants – shorts are just too much of an invitation. Tuck your long pants into your socks (the longer and thicker the better) and use some Peaceful Sleep or other spray or insect repellent liberally around the ankles. The TF like ankles A LOT! If you want some extra protection, wear gaiters around the ankles. The gaiters might even protect you from other biting flies.

iii) Put on a hat to cover your head. Next time I might even take some sturdy biking gloves for certain tricky spots or activities (a boating trip in Odzala-Kokoua, Republic of Congo come to mind). iv) Then spray yourself again – including on your clothing and socks, everywhere – with Peaceful Sleep. Repeat as often as necessary.

v) Take a small spray bottle with a Dettol anti-septic mix with you (2/3 water, 1/3 Dettol with some lotion to make it stick) and either spray it on every 20 to 30 minutes or so, or whenever you see TF activity increase around you. The TF don’t like the smell of Dettol. Yeah you will smell like an inrmary but trust me, TF bites itch like crazy.

vi) Take a cortisone cream or other anti-itch cream with you & apply it to a bite immediately. Take a couple of Benadryls if you get several bites. It happens. 

vii) When there are a few tsetse ies around, stay calm and don’t panic & ail away. It might be that movement attracts them, I don’t know. Still testing this theory – might have to book a trip to the Kafue region of Zambia to check it out. 

viii) If you do get bitten, don’t worry too much – it is not fatal and you won’t get sleeping sickness. I am told that the reaction to the TF bites reduces sharply after a week or so of getting bitten. If the choice is to get bitten by TF repeatedly for a week to build up resistance or do all the stuff above to avoid getting bitten, it should be an easy decision. Chances are you won’t need to take all of these measures but best to be prepared. Nobody likes to be bitten. The good news? There was not a mosquito to be seen anywhere in Northern or Western Tanzania. Too dry.

GOODBYE KATAVI

Our last game drive at Katava was relatively quiet. We saw some of the usual suspects (impala, giraffe, zebra, waterbuck and of course dozens of hippo) but no predators. A couple of good elephant sightings were most welcome, as we had not previously had any opportunities to photograph them in good light. I managed a couple of decent shots of a small herd moving from the Katsunga oodplain to the adjacent woodland. We also bumped into the only Roan antelope which we would see on the trip – a handsome yet shy individual who did not permit us to get any closer than about 500 meters.

Then it was back to camp to pack and enjoy breakfast (toast, baked beans, fruit and good Tanzania coffee). After making our contribution to the Tip Box we said our goodbyes & headed off on the 30-minute drive to the Katavi Airstrip. Soon enough a TFC Caravan appeared as if out of nowhere, ew over the runway to check for giraffe, banked again and came in for a landing. Within minutes the aircraft was airborne again, this time with us on board, and the pilot punched in the GPS coordinates for a small airstrip on the edge of Lake Tanganyika, just north of the border of the Mahale Mountains National Park. Next: chimps on the lake.

Once we got to Paradise, it was worth the trip. For one thing, the most amazing Borassus Palm forest dominates the landscape on either side of the river. It towers above the surrounding bush and thick riverine vegetation. We drove by several pools of clear water, at least compared with the dirty, muddy pools of the Katsuma River. We saw several bushbuck and a nice small group of Lichtenstein’s Hartebeest, a local specialty. The previous day some African wild dogs had been seen in the area, but we missed them as well as the roan antelope commonly seen here. Of course we were driving at the worst time of the day.

Palahala Camp – which is what we had come to see – consists of 8 rooms and it has a large mess tent and lounge area, conducive to spending some time reading and relaxing. The tents are large and somewhat elevated on a deck with a view of the Kapapa River. We did a back-of house inspection and I was impressed by how clean and well-organized everything was. By the time we got back to the lounge several elephants had wandered into the picture and over lunch we observed them drinking and feeding. We did pretty well ourselves with those two activities, tucking into some rice, a lovely coleslaw and a chicken curry dish, rounded off with a creme caramel. All in all a cozy, friendly camp with a good location. It is rather a long way from the camp to the Katsunga Pan area for game drives.

Back at Chada Katavi I spent an hour catching up on some e-mails, and shortly afterwards we departed for sundowners on the Chada Pan. As it happened, there was a really nice herd of about 300+ buffalo right in the open oodplain. Mohamed maneuvered the vehicle so that we had the sunset in the background. This is what you come to Africa for. Enjoying a gin & tonic while the sun sets over a gorgeous African scene, with a near 360-degree view of nothing but grass, a tree line on the horizon and a sky as big as Texas. And of course a few hundred buffalo.

Rather reluctantly we returned to camp by about 7:00P for a leisurely dinner – more like a feast really with a rice pilaf, roast pork, a traditional local bean dish, ugali, spinach and a mixed cabbage salad. Yum!

PART 3: MAHALE MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK

MAHALE MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK

It is barely over 40 minutes by air from Katavi National Park to the Mahale Mountains National Park but the two areas could not be more different. In fact they might just as well be 1,000 miles apart, they are so dissimilar.

Greystoke Mahale is tucked into a narrow sandy strip along the edge of Lake Tanganyika, below the densely forested Mahale Mountains with the mountains of the Democratic Republic of Congo visible about 30 miles across the lake. The mountain and the lake – most people would be hard pressed to pick a favorite or to guess which of the two is the most dominant feature. They are both equally impressive and both essential to the Greystoke experience.

Mahale is best known as a sanctuary and research area for a group of about 60 habituated chimpanzees, plus several hundred more wild ones which inhabit the national park. Having trekked for chimpanzees before in two different areas of Uganda I can say that the Mahale experience was by far the best I have experienced. The chimps are very well habituated and hence very tolerant of humans being close to them. The leafy ever-green forest habitat is superb and makes for a perfect backdrop. If you’ve never seen chimps before and want to do so, or if they are your favorite animals, a visit to the Mahale Mountains National Park should denitely be on your short list.

Even if there were no chimpanzees here it would be a more than worthwhile destination. Amazing views, the super deep-water swimming opportunities, shing, kayaking, birding, hiking – the area has it all and more. We spent quite a bit of time boating (on a motorized kayak) but it is also possible to just relax and take it easy. The beach at Greystoke rivals many a coastal resort area, with the prettiest lake imaginable spilling out onto a white sandy beach. 

On our first afternoon we spent 30 minutes or so suspended in what is estimated to be 17% of all of the fresh water in the entire world. Lake Tanganyika is one of the world’s cleanest lakes due to the absence of industry, and that is not likely to change soon. 

Over drinks that evening, we received a thorough and entertaining brieng from Robert about chimpanzee trekking, correcting some of the TANAPA brochure advice regarding tree-hugging (don’t do it) and making eye contact with the chimps (don’t worry, it is ok).

Soon after we retreated to our room, we knew that we would have no trouble falling asleep that night. Why? Because we were going to be lulled to sleep by the most hypnotic sound of all – waves gently crashing on the sand in seemingly endless procession. Just like being at the ocean. And so it was. Safely ensconced behind a large mosquito net (there were no mosquitoes), we drifted off to sleep happy in the knowledge that there would be no elephants scraping the seeds off our roof tonight.

The rooms are large A-frames – open to the front and very airy – with a connected bathroom/shower (hot water on request) and toilet. The room has an upper level lookout deck & relaxation area as well, but we only ventured up there once. The view from our room could at best be described as a ‘partial’ lake-view room. But it really didn’t matter – the rooms are great and perfect for the place and the environment.

Not The Best Of Days In Paradise

Sometimes even an idyllic place can turn out to be disappointing, just for a day. So it was at Mahale this day. It started with the chimps not putting in an appearance. Having been told that they had been right inside the camp the previous day, we were expecting this chimp trekking thing to be a total breeze. It didn’t quite pan out like that.

Breakfast was early (07:30A) with no word on the chimps’ whereabouts. So we had another cup of coffee. And waited. And waited some more. No messages from the scouts that the animals had been seen, no calls to be heard, nothing. About 2 hrs 30 minutes later I think the guides decided to send us out on a walk just to keep us occupied. And sane.

It was nearly 10:00A and already quite hot & very humid in the forest interior, by the time we set off. 2 hrs and 15 minutes later we traipsed back into camp after a tiring trek through the bush and gallery forest of the lower slopes of the Mahale Mountains. We had seen some up and down paths, some impressive trees, many shrubs and lots of rocks but – no chimps.

It was a somewhat dispirited group that sat down for lunch. Of course the unspoken thought was, what if the same thing happened again the next day, and the next? Would we be the rst group ever not to see the chimps at all? The Swahili-style lunch with ugali and beans, a great mixed green salad and vegan pizza improved the tenor of the day quite signicantly.

And just then we got word that one of the guests had spotted two chimps at bungalow #5. We looked at each other in astonishment. Excellent! Grabbed our face masks and scurried over the hot sand to bungalow #5. Where we didn’t see anything except other would-be chimp watchers looking around for chimps. Clearly, the chimpanzees had scampered back into the thick bush and were not seen again that day. Drat. Chimps 1, Tourists 0.

I took the afternoon off to nurse some tsetse fly bites from the previous day. Regrettably I had not followed my own tsetse y protection advice (link) while on the swimming outing and had received several nasty bites. It seems that my black lycra/polyester swimming trunks made a nice target. Bullseye. It was a bit of an unpleasant surprise to find out that the tsetses were active along the shoreline of Lake Tanganyika and even well into the lake itself. The little devils are seemingly quite keen to take a boat trip themselves. So by all means venture out into the lake for a swim and some shing – you don’t want to miss either of those activities – but go prepared. Cover up well until it is time to go into the water. And take your Peaceful Sleep spray as well as the Dettol mix, just in case. The TF are more active on bright sunny days than when it is cool or overcast. Also they are not found inside the forest canopy – so don’t worry that the TF will spoil your chimp trekking. It is not an issue in the forest itself.

I rejoined the group for sundowners at the bar built into a small rocky outcrop on the northern side of the property. Kathy and a few other guests had gone out swimming and shing and she caught several nice-sized Yellow-bellied cichlid, much prized locally for its culinary qualities. Dinner was couscous, green beans, broccoli and a very nice chickpea stew. The regular menu included a lamb tagine as the main course. And some fresh fish!

PART 4: CHIMPS AT MAHALE

Forecast For The Day: Warm With Chimps

We woke up to what promised to be another warm and rather muggy morning on the shore of Lake Tanganyika. And so it was, but with one signicant difference, compared with yesterday. At breakfast at 08:00A we were informed that the chimpanzees had been sighted and that they were about one hour’s ‘gentle walk’ away. So off we went single file into the forest up and down but mostly just up and often rather steeply so. We went through a couple of dry rocky streams with a little water here and there, sometimes scrambling up a slope, other times crouching beneath some low branches.

We stopped a couple of times for water (you carry your own water bottle & the guides provide re-fills) and to take a breath of air. Without exception, we were sweating heavily and feeling the strain of two days’ worth of solid exercise.

As we approached their position, we could hear the chimps long before we saw them. They were being very loud, making a range of sounds including some exuberant whoops and screams. And then, without much introduction, there they were. First one chimp high in a tree, then another one sliding down a tree stump and soon enough there were seven or eight of them visible in every direction.

Over the next hour or so we moved positions several times as the chimps either descended from or ascended into the trees. We observed quite a bit of interaction between individuals: young and old, they all apparently know their place and respect authority.

Photographic conditions were about as bad as they could be. Very poor light inside the forest gallery, and severe backlighting issues against the sky. Several of the younger chimps did their best to show off their acrobatic skills but in the poor light and with limited visibility (too many leaves and twigs!) it was just about impossible to capture the action.

I did manage a few decent portraits and some limited interaction, mostly feeding and grooming.

Every now and then we’d follow one or two of the chimps along one of the many footpaths in the forest. Our guide Robert knew all the chimps by name, sex, age and rank, and gave us ample warning when a ‘naughty’ individual was close by. We observed individuals of all ages ranging from about 6 months to well over 50 years. They were mostly quiet and not very demonstrative.

When our allotted 1-hour viewing time was over, we lowered the cameras, took a last look at the chimps who were moving into thicker bush and re-grouped a short distance away to have a drink of water. It was a happy group of campers who trudged back to the lodge. We were all very tired, perhaps even a bit dehydrated because of the heavy exertion in the hot humid conditions… Nobody cared – we saw the chimps!

By the time we got back to the lodge just over 3 hours had elapsed since we rst set out earlier that morning. It felt great to enjoy a cup of tea before we took the sandy path back to our respective rooms for a much-needed shower.

As usual, lunch was at 1:00P. It was usually lighter fare such as pizza, salads, fresh bread, pilaf, meatballs with tomato sauce & pasta salad served buffet tyles. Then it was time for a short siesta until 3:30P. After a cup of tea and coffee and a cookie, we set out for another dhow cruise, first checking out some hippo a couple of kilometers to the south. Followed by shing for Yellowbellied Cichlid. The shing is quite good but with only two persons being able to participate at the same time (with hand lines being trawled behind the boat) it is a bit limiting for a bigger group. The lodge needs some decent shing gear which could turn this activity into a very popular draw.

Our Second Chimp Trek At Mahale

This morning’s chimp trek was every bit as much fun and exciting as the previous day. Starting from the Japanese research station, the going was a bit easier than the previous day. Even so, by the time we got onto the chimps, a good 45 minutes had elapsed and it was deja vu all over again. We were hot and sweaty in the humid conditions. Being overcast, the temperature was several degrees lower than the previous day, which helped somewhat.

On this day, the chimps appeared to be mostly quite relaxed, sitting around in the open just resting or feeding, or busy with mutual grooming. Like the previous day there were individuals of all ranks and ages, including the alpha male Primus. We were amazed at some of the facts imparted by our guide Robert.

It turns out that despite their seemingly idyllic situation, the chimps were far from living in a cocoon of innocence. They are tangled up in political and sexual spats and ghts on a never-ending basis, and the maneuvering and plotting can be Machiavellian. Imagine pretending to be removing ectoparasites from a rival, but not doing so in fact. Thus setting up the unwitting beneciary/victim for a long-lasting negative outcome and potentially debilitating illness.

For a while there, we became very much part of the troop of chimps, sitting around not far from them, and feeling their glances on us as they casually ambled by. We took great care not to get in the way of some of the’ naughty boy’s such as Christmas, who is known to charge and scare an unsuspecting tourist every now and then.

An hour or so later we were all quite ready to take off our facemasks and to return to camp for some tea. Just like the previous day, the total duration of the excursion was just over 3 hours.

Here are a few things which might be useful for future Mahale chimp trekkers:

Bert’s Mahale Mountains Chimp Trekking Hints

* It is denitely a good thing to be fit and relatively agile as there is some scrambling (up and down) and rock-stepping to be done.

* In the warmer months dress appropriately (long trousers to protect legs and lightweight long or short-sleeved shirt with good ventilation/absorption). There were no tsetse ies or other biting flies present within the forest interior.

* Good boots with grippy soles are 100% necessary. You could be in for a tough time with the wrong shoes. No flip-flops!

* Light is an issue in the forest interior so to get decent pics of the chimps, bring a fast (f2.8) lens in the 70-200 mm range, and preferably a camera that can produce acceptable images at a high ISO setting. Long telephoto lenses are not essential – you will get closer to the chimps than you might anticipate.

* Drink plenty of water before the start of the trek and also during. Dehydration is a major concern during the warmer months and it can sneak up on you with very little warning.

* Denitely go on more than just one chimp trek as they are all quite different & the chimp behaviour and interaction vary greatly day to day. If you’ve seen one you certainly haven’t seen them all.

Our last afternoon outing at Mahale was yet another dhow cruise devoted to swimming in the lake and shing. We had our best shing outing to date, landing several good-sized yellow-bellies and quite a few smaller ones as well. All good: sashimi with cocktails and freshly sautéed sh for dinner. Less than one hour from the lake to the plate. Can’t beat that.

Dinner was under the stars on the beach, right in front of Greystoke Lodge. It was a perfect, cool night. I think we were all 10 a bit sad to see our Mahale experience come to an end.

Arusha And Nairobi Interlude

A visit to Mahale Mountains and to Greystoke ends just like it started, with a 90-minute boat trip along the Mountains, just off the shoreline of Lake Tanganyika. Just like on the day we got there, we marveled at the sight of the thick green forest clinging to the slopes like feathers on a bird.

From a distance it looks like a soft, inviting cushion of leaves. Having been inside of it, of course we knew that the forest was a lot more robust than that, with some giant (species?) trees making up the bulk of the vegetation.

Back where we started at the airstrip, we piled into two Caravans and powered into the air, turning back for a last, long look at beautiful Lake Tanganyika. From there the pilot headed back to Tabodra in a ENE direction. It took 90 minutes to reach Tabora, where we refueled and then a long 1 hr 55 minutes to Kilimanjaro Airport.

Then a final short hop to Arusha Airport from where we were driven to the Onsea House. Our room for the night was at the adjacent Macheo Wellness Center. It was one of the best rooms on the trip to date, complete with a big bathtub (what luxury!), and a TV (which didn’t work). Other nice features in the rooms were lots of storage space and hangers as well as a mini-bar. And free WIFI!

We enjoyed what turned out to be the best meal of the entire trip, in the excellent company of Lizzie who heads up Sales for Nomad Tanzania. It was a really nice evening but we were rather bushed after flying a few hours too many, that day.

A Birthday On The Move

Kathy’s birthday started 90 minutes earlier than planned when we were woken up at 5:30A instead of at 7:00A due to a mix-up of wake-up calls. Some decent coffee and a breakfast out on the patio got us going. Just after 9:00A we were picked up by Zubeda for a bit of a shopping tour of Arusha. We just shook our heads in amazement at Arusha’s traffic and the manner in which handcarts, goats, taxis, sedans, motor bikes and dozens of matatus (mini-bus taxis) run helter skelter all over the place in every direction. Somehow – miraculously – nobody seems to get hurt too often. It is a study in chaotic synergy.

Not too much later, we were in the rather dismal, dirty departures hall of JRO (Kilimanjaro) Airport, for the short flight to Nairobi. I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly we were able to obtain a transit visa (from a downright bubbly immigration official, go figure!), and collect our luggage. Much more efficient and faster than Johannesburg and miles better than Kilimanjaro and Houston’s George Bush Airport.

Our very friendly transfer driver Spencer dropped us off about 20 minutes later at the impressive Boma Hotel. We were on the 7th Floor in a spacious, well-lit room with everything you’d expect in a good 5-star hotel. It was quiet, comfortable and spotlessly clean.

The only down note: service at the Johari restaurant was glacially slow. It took more than an hour for our a la carte order (nothing out of the ordinary) to make it to our plates. Also the barman did not know how to mix a dry gin martini. Never a good sign. Otherwise no complaints.

Breakfast was good and available very early (at 05:30A) and checkout was speedy and painless. Getting out of JKIA was more of an effort than arriving. A chaotic security check right where you enter the building (no time at all to prepare) and then a lengthy wait in a dismal holding area.

Our Kenya Airways flight to Brazzaville took off 15 minutes early but otherwise it was uneventful. Congo here we come!

More Info

Email bert@fisheaglesafaris.com

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@fisheaglesafarishouston

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Kenya June 2013

PART 1: OVERVIEW & OL DONYO

June 9, 2013

My first ever flight on Kenya Airways did not start very well, with a ridiculously slow check-in process at Oliver R Tambo Airport. It took all of 90 minutes. The explanation’? ‘Too few people working’. That is the answer I got, seriously. To make matters worse, we were delayed for nearly 2 hours. In the end a ground supervisor promised me an upgrade to business class, but I had to take it up again with a flight attendant before I finally made it to the front of the plane. Once we were airborne I relaxed and picked up where I last left off with Jack Reacher on the Kindle. All good.

It was a breeze getting a visa at JKIA Airport on arrival, the immigration official was downright pleasant. What a shock. Just as shocking but not in a good way, was the condition of the airport. To describe it as a dump would be kind. It was great to see the effervescent Lydia from our Kenya destination management company Origins Safaris again. Always helpful, efficient and friendly!

Dinner At The Emakoko

Due to the lateness of the Kenya Airways flight, getting to my destination – The Emakoko Lodge – was a little bit involved as my Origins driver – the always smiling and capable Lazarus – could only take me to the gate of the Nairobi National Park, which closes at 1800. From there, an Emakoko driver took me the rest of the way. It was already dark so we did not see any wildlife; just some nightjars which I believe were Montane Nightjar.

I was quite famished by the time we got to the lodge; the vehicle has to negotiate a short but bumpy rocky stretch of downhill road (aka Emakoko Highway), parks on the edge of a stream and you then walk across a small bridge into camp. Over a very nice dinner with tomato soup, a lentil stew, basmati rice and a great fruit salad the co-owner and manager Anton (aka Anthony) filled me in on the lodge and its environment. Its best feature of course is its location right on the edge of Nairobi National Park and about 30 to 40 minutes from both JKIA and Wilson Airports, depending on traffic conditions.

There’s plenty of rhino, lions, giraffe, and all kinds of other game to be seen in Nairobi National Park during the day. And the park has a huge long bird-list as well. Another nice feature of The Emakoko is that all meals and drinks are included, unlike a regular hotel. I spent the night in a spacious room with a king size bed with mosquito netting. The lighting could be brighter, but it was adequate. Filtered water was supplied.

For visitors coming from N. America I would recommend two nights at the Emakoko on arrival. First night just to crash after the horribly long journey, with lots of stuff to do on the full day there. A game drive for some rhino which are scarce elsewhere in Kenya except for Lake Nakuru & Lewa, some general game and then some other Nairobi activities such as Giraffe Center, Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage and the Karen Blixen Museum. This could also be done with one night there at the start of the trip and one night at the end.

June 10

I was up at 0500 this morning for an early breakfast (toast, black coffee, and some porridge), and then took off on a drive of about 40 minutes to Wilson Airport. The Emakoko is about 20 minutes from the main or KWS Gate of Nairobi National Park and from there it is about 20 minutes to Wilson, sometimes a bit more if the traffic is really bad.

On the way to the gate we got lucky with a sighting of two lions right in the road. We had to slow down for them to find an escape route to the left. There were also lots of Spotted Thicknee and more (suspected) Montane Nightjars.

By 645A we were in the ‘departure hall’ at Wilson Airport where a rather perfunctory security screening was conducted before 9 of us boarded a SafariLink Cessna Caravan. We waited in line for 15 minutes or so for a take-off slot. Wilson is an extremely busy airport. A burst of power, a noisy rush down the runway – and then it was wheels up en route for Ol Donyo in the Chyulu Hills, about 40 minutes south-east of Nairobi.

Kenya Overview

I had a fantastic time in Kenya. Ol Donyo exceeded my expectations. It is a fabulous place which just has tons of ‘Africa appeal’ right from the moment you land in what appears to be just a grassy plain. There are the views (superb!), the people (managers Ray and Alyssa appear to be tailormade for this place), the rooms (stunning) and on top of that the various experiences including the game drives, birding, a bush breakfast and all the others which I didn’t have time to try. It is a true ‘dry oasis’ – paradoxical as a lot of water would likely ruin it. I really enjoyed taking a bath, knowing that the big elephants at the hide below the hill were keenly anticipating my modest contribution to their well-being. Water is trucked to the lodge each day and everything is recycled. It was encouraging to hear about the great conservation strides that have been made on the Mbirikani Group Ranch. I plan to read more about it – clearly did not have enough time to get detailed information about anything.

From there I took a sojourn with Edwin Selempo of Origins to Amboseli. Amazing elephants!! They are really chewing up the place though. And even more stunning views – I even had a fairly decent view of Kilimanjaro one afternoon. I also really enjoyed Tortilis Camp, had quite a pleasant night at the Serena (as always very well managed) and took a quick look at Ol Tukai, which seems to be a perfectly good option for slightly more budget-minded visitors.

Then it was on to Mara Toto in the Olare Orok Conservancy. From the word go I experienced unbelievable game-viewing there: on one afternoon game drive of barely 2 hours we saw 17 different mammal species with at least 8 of them within view at one stage. Not to mention great lions and a final morning with brilliant cheetah viewing. Just Edwin, me and the 2 cheetahs for more than an hour, no other vehicle close by!

How can anyone not like being in a camp with Lorna and Kim – and Richard. I did not see a photographer from Vogue around, they are missing out… The rooms are perfect for the setting; maybe a tad close to each other but as long as people know about that, it would be ok. We took a quick look at Mara Plains but it was difficult to get a real ‘feel’ for it without all the interior stuff in place. It doesn’t matter though, I know where it is, how close it is to the park, the quality game drives in the conservancy, and so on.

From there it was off to Lamu (fascinating area and lovely people at Manda Bay). I did not spend a lot of time in the town itself there but a short walk in search of Ali King’s confirmed what I had been told: Lamu is rather dirty and smelly. I prefer nearby Shella by wide margin – have to go back there some time when the Peponi Hotel is open.

I also spent a night each at two really interesting new properties in Nairobi, so different yet both appealing. Lions on the road on my way out of The Emakoko on Day 2, and the most advanced state of the art security barriers at Hemingways, very impressive. Massive hunks of meat being served for dinner there, all very manly as one would imagine. Fantastic room at Hemingways, complete with motion detected light in the walk-in closet. Wow. Plus a large-screen HD TV that appears out of a faux travel trunk. Really. As for the Emakoko it would be perfect for 2 nights, for people that can take an extra day at the start of a trip. Do a game drive, see some rhino, great birds, lions, who knows what. Get a bit of a taste of what a safari camp is going to be like – and then go on to where-ever.

I am also very happy to have finally done the ‘tourist’ circuit in the Karen area. Loved the baby elephants at Sheldrick’s and the giraffes at the Giraffe Center. The guide at the Karen Blixen Museum was very thorough. I know almost as much about Ms Blixen now as I know about my own mother.

Back To Ol Donyo

The scheduled flight from Nairobi arrives in Ol Donyo quite early, so my guide James Seki and I had quite a bit of time for a game drive en route to the camp. There was a lot of plains game around. In less than an hour we saw Fringed Oryx, Grant’s Gazelle, Thomson’s Gazelles (lots!), Zebra, Wildebeest (plentiful!) Giraffe, Warthog, and a good variety of birds including Coursers, Lapwings and lots of Superb Starlings.

On the drive into camp we had a really close encounter with a solitary elephant bull, who seemed to be screening new arrivals. I must have gotten the nod – and was checking into my room at Old Donyo Lodge shortly afterwards.

From the lodge patio, there is an amazing view over the plains and twin hills in the background. On a clear day Mt Kilimanjaro is the main attraction. I received a very friendly welcome by the young managing couple Ray and Alyssa, who are both US citizens. The cell phone coverage at Ol Donyo was spotty but ok, unfortunately the WIFI never worked.

Due to some lingering issues with a foot injury I did not get to try any of Ol Donyo’s many activities beyond game drives, which include mountain biking, horse-back riding, and foot safaris. For active visitors who want to get out of the vehicle and extend their experience beyond just game drives, Ol Donyo would be ideal. In the dry season – which is most of the year except for March and April and perhaps early May, there are several large elephant bulls to be seen from a well-constructed hide overlooking a few small waterholes right in front of camp.

During the time of my stay at Ol Donyo one of the other guests saw both lions and cheetah in the area, so it appears that many years of conservation in the Mbirikani Ranch Conservation area is paying off handsomely. I concentrated on some bird-watching and over the course of two full days in the area racked up more than 100 bird species, including several ‘life birds’ and many colorful and exceptionally interesting ones such as Gymnogene, Narina Trogon (in camp), African Hoopoe, Secretary bird, Pale Chanting Goshawk, Martial Eagle, Gabar Goshawk, and Hartlaub’s Bustard.

The area around Ol Donyo is dry with no ready access to water for man or beast. It is a curse and a blessing. Every day a tanker has totravel a long distance from Mbirikani all the way to the lodge, transporting a valuable load of water for the bathrooms with bath & shower, and even a pool. Would it be easier to drill a borehole closer to the camp? Probably yes and less expensive too, but that would inevitably lead to more people moving into the area, which would change it completely.

On the day I left Ol Donyo – by road to Amboseli – we stopped a ways out of camp and standing outside the vehicle, I realized that I could not see a building, a house, a car – not even another person – in any direction. Using binoculars. 360 degrees of nothing, except beautiful grassy plains, zebra and wildebeest in the foreground, a couple of giraffe in the background, slowly moving in front of and then past some hills. This is the Africa of old, of true undisturbed wilderness. There is not much of it left but you can still experience ‘old Africa’ at its best at Ol Donyo. Go there.

PART 2: AMBOSELI & MASAI MARA

Amboseli

With Edwin Selempo at the wheel, it was not too long a drive at all from Ol Donyo to Amboseli. For anyone spending 3 nights at Ol Donyo, I would certainly recommend doing a full day excursion to Amboseli National Park, unless the reserve is on your itinerary as well.

Within minutes of driving into the park, we were looking at upwards of 60 elephants happily feeding and cavorting in the massive Amboseli swamp, some of them practically totally submerged in the abundant water.

Any Kenya trip should include a stay in the Maasai Mara. Samburu is a close second and Lake Nakuru would be my choice for the third most productive area. If anyone had the time and budget to add a fourth Kenya destination, it would have to be Amboseli.

Elephants At Amboseli

The reserve might even be higher on the list for people who are fond of elephants. There are few – if any – places in Africa where elephants are as central to the experience as at Amboseli. They are almost everywhere to be seen, and seen as well as one could ever wish for. Sometimes semisubmerged in a swamp, they are beautifully offset by a flat, green expanse. In the late afternoon they may be captured in great light, making their way back to forested areas for feeding.

And everywhere they are as entertaining and engaging as always, almost human-like in their little spats and testing their strength, particularly the younger ones.

It was not all elephants all the time at Amboseli though – we saw a wide range of other plains animals including zebra, giraffe, wildebeest, some buffalo, Coke’s Hartebeest and also hyena, Bat-eared Fox, African wild cat as well as a beautiful serval cat. As at Ol Donyo, the birding at Amboseli was phenomenal. Here, some of the notable species included Collared Pratincole, Taveta Golden Weaver (very localized), Greycrowned Crane, Spurwinged Geese, Saddlebilled Stork, African Spoonbill, Goliath Heron and many other woodland species.

Tortilis Camp At Amboseli

My Amboseli accommodations were at Tortilis Camp and then Amboseli Serena. Tortilis would certainly be my first choice due to its much smaller size, its setting overlooking Mt Kilimanjaro (when visible) and its access to a private concession area for game drives, not open to the many other vehicles which sometimes turn Amboseli into a very busy, very dusty place. The tents at Tortilis are not fancy but very functional with a small bathroom and shower, and a really excellent dining room and lounge area, with a pretty garden and nice views over the valley, even when Kilimanjaro is shy to show itself.

Amboseli Serena

The Amboseli Serena was quite a pleasant place to stay as well, even though it is bigger than most properties we prefer. I have always found the Serena Lodges to be superbly managed, and this one was no exception. The friendly and efficient check-in set the tone. The room was compact but well-equipped with a king size bed, a bathroom with shower and a spacious corner desk/working area. More importantly the hotel had working WIFI – and relatively fast – in all the rooms.

Lunch at the Serena was fun with a huge variety of choices including several Indian-inspired dishes, rice, breads, sambals, salads and a dizzying variety of more conventional fare. Breakfast the next morning was even more impressive. Brioche, fruitcake, banana bread, Russian stolen, scones, farmer’s bread, muffins, croissants, several kinds of sliced bread for toast, 16 hot breakfast items, including 2 kinds of beans (baked and masala), plus of course bacon, sausage (pork and beef), cold meats, cheeses, 6 different fresh fruits, juices, cereals, yoghurt, and eggs or omelets every way you could possibly want them.

On the way back to the Amboseli airstrip for the flight to Wilson, I popped into Ol Tukai Lodge for a quick walk-about. It looked like a perfectly fine place and with a good location in Amboseli too. Definitely worth keeping in mind, if the price is right.

Last Words About Amboseli

Amboseli is a 2-night destination at best, in my opinion. You could fly in or even drive in early out of Nairobi, and then fly out to Samburu or connect to or from Tanzania with a road transfer to the Namanga Border Post.

Amboseli is very, very dusty so bring adequate protection gear for your camera equipment. There is no off-road driving allowed but that is not a big impediment as elephants and most other wildlife can easily be seen from the existing – very good – road network.

The park attracts a lot of visitors as there are many camps – some of which such as Serena (60 rooms) and Ol Tukai (80 rooms) are quite large. Many visitors also come from the nearby Kenya coastal resorts. So don’t expect to be on your own, particularly in the dry season from about May through September, and also February – warm but a very good month to be there.

The Maasai Mara

On June 14 at just after 10:00A I was on my way back to the Mara after a quick and efficient turnaround at Wilson Airport. Ol Kiombo Airport was at the same spot as the last time, not far from Mara Intrepids and just a few kilometers from the edge of the Masai Mara National Park. After a splendid lunch with Lorna and Kim – and Richard – we set out on a game drive in the Olare Orok Conservancy. In a matter of less than 2 hours, we notched up no less than 17 mammals species, including wildebeest, zebra, impala, buffalo, warthog, giraffe, eland, dikdik, topi, Thompson’s Gazelle, lions, scrub hare, Grant’s Gazelle, banded mongoose, hippo, waterbuck and elephant. The next day we added cheetah, baboon, hartebeest and a several more species.

Lions At Mara Toto

We watched the interaction between some lions (brothers and sisters, the latter now with pups and not at all impressed with the interest shown by their brothers). As the darkness descended, we hoped for the best for the many cubs of various ages and made our way back to camp.

The next morning we set off early for the spot where we had seen the lions the previous night, with packed breakfast and plenty of coffee. En route, we saw more buffalo, elephant, giraffe, topi and hyena. And then spent a couple of hours observing the lions (3 females and 9 cubs) eating, dozing, playing, hiding, rolling, drinking and jumping. Sometimes more than one of those at the same time. Very entertaining and very enjoyable. This is what safari is all about. No rush, no pressure – just you and nature and perhaps a camera. With enough time not be starting through thelens the entire time.

Cheetah In The Masai Mara National Park

That afternoon, James and I went out to find some cheetahs. Which we did – unfortunately not exactly where we wanted to see them. What drew our attention was a congregation of cars – this was inside the Maasai Mara National Park. As we approached, I noticed that there were two cheetahs on top of one of the vehicles. They were calmly surveying the surrounding plains. Not 3 meters from them was a guy in a hoodie, seemingly reading a book. He would occasionally look up the cheetahs to see if they were still there. Or something.

Eventually the cheetahs – first the one and then the other – jumped off the vehicle and walked fairly close to us, from our left to right. They were interested in some Tommies which we could see at the bottom of the hill.

The cheetah never got up to speed on this hunt due to the presence of some pesky Topi, known for their good eyesight. They are known to ruin things for a cheetah on the hunt because of their annoying habit of snorting which alerts everyone near and far to the presence of a predator.

In the end two vehicles from Mara Intrepids got in between the cheetahs and their intended prey and put paid to what slim chance they had of salvaging the hunt. It was not to be. We enjoyed a nice sundowner with two other guests – Mary Ann and Jo Ann – as well as with Lorna and Kim, and returned to camp in a happy mood.

Dinner was quite special with a delightful risotto as the main course. And then – surprise – authentic American S’mores complete with marshmallows, Hershey chocolate and Graham Crackers, toasted over the coals. Not 100% vegan but occassionally when in Rome, you’ve got to make like the Romans.

June 16 Cheetahs On Fathers Day

I started Father’s Day on a high note with the best game drive of the trip with just Edwin and me and the two cheetah females (mother and adult child), for well over an hour. Initially, under less than ideal light conditions, they both climbed atop an anthill to survey the scene. Shortly afterwards they engaged in an extended display of affection. Due to the poor light the photographs were good but not great.

The cheetahs then walked off, passing right in front of us and to the ridge of a nearby hill, well off the main track, close to the National Park boundary. In this spot there was little chance of any other driver finding the cheetahs – and all the more opportunity for us to enjoy their presence in solitude.

The cheetahs eventually sat up in good light, adopted a stalking posture and emerged from behind an anthill, even giving us a nice big fat yawn. Nothing much happened over the next few 20 minutes or so, so we decided to return to camp for breakfast and to finish up packing.

Before long, goodbyes were said and I was on my way with Safarilink to Nairobi, where I was treated to an excellent lunch with the always friendly and elegant Lydia at the restaurant at Wilson Airport.

Then it was off to Lamu in a Caravan with SafariLink – a solid 1 hr 45 minutes at around 165 miles per hour.

PART 3: LAMU

Manda Bay – Lamu

Lamu was a complete sea change from everything we had done on the trip to date. From the moment I arrived at Manda Bay it was clear that this was really a ‘do nothing’ or ‘do very little’ kind of place. Somewhere to enjoy the real luxury of an overly busy, overly structured life which is to gaze out over the ocean, read a book, relax, enjoy the water and just leave the schedule behind.

Manda Bay is an ideal two or three night break to relax, catch up on trip notes & photographs or perhaps to do a little fishing and explore the interesting towns of Lamu and nearby Shella. Of course if you’re the active outdoors type, there are many water sports available, ranging from snorkelling and paddle-boarding to kayakying, windsurfing, laser sailing boats, skiffs, kite-surfing, water skiing, deep sea fishing (best from October to the end of May) , and bay fishing. Some of these at additional cost.

Co-owner and manager Bimbi soon had me briefed on a few important issues at Manda Bay. Rule # 1 is that you can go barefoot. Some of the others: there are many good local cocktail options, cellphone reception is good, the shower water is salty but there’s plenty of it, and the main generator is switched off at 10:00P, so do any battery charging before then.

I promptly dropped my stuff, got out of the safari gear, and went for a 30-minute run along the beach in the direction of the ocean inlet. The tide was coming in, the sun was setting and my rather depleted travel batteries were well on their way to being recharged by the time I got to my turnaround point, all alone on a deserted beach. The sun was just the most gorgeous big red balloon slowly dropping to the horizon as I was making my way back. Realizing that I was not going to be back in time to capture it photographically did not even bother me. I had seen and experienced it.

Dinner at Manda Bay was a very convivial affair with guests, friends and family – some from Kilifi and others from as far away as London and several young people, all around a long table set outdoors. There was a gentle breeze and the animated chatter was muted by the soothing sound of lapping waves. Regrettably, my evening was marred when I bit into a massively fiery hot chili pepper which caused my diaphragm to go into a spasm. For a few minutes, as I struggled to control some violent hiccups, I thought I might just ‘lose my lunch’ right there and then. Fortunately that kind of catastrophe was avoided, but let’s just say that I did not care much for the food that evening.

Monday June 17

I took it easy at Manda Bay this day, where every day feels like a Saturday anyway. Here, you can just pretend – it doesn’t take much imagination – that you are part of an everlasting weekend, just Saturday and Sunday following each other in Groundhog Day fashion. I enjoyed a quiet cup of rooibos tea in front of my room, and then went in for breakfast. It ended up being baked beans and toast. I declined an offer of eggs, which was oddly interpreted as a yes for bacon. The coffee was good.

I spent the better part of the morning working on this trip report sitting at a great spot at the bar overlooking the bay. One could easily write a book sitting exactly there with dhows passing by, the high tide lapping up against the base of the building and sunlight bouncing off the water in thedistance. Did anybody say Hemingway?

For lunch, the main attraction was fresh crab with giant claws, much enjoyed by all. I was quite happy to be served some baked tofu – it was covered in a rather oddly spiced Nasi Goreng crumb crust. It was also a bit over-baked. Let’s just say that it was a good try but not successful. The accompanying tomato salad was not bad though.

Dinner that evening – which was again served at a communal table outside – was definitely the best yet at Manda Bay. An excellent starter (vegetable samoosa with a mildly spicy fresh tomato sauce) was followed by a really tasty main course of roasted chickpeas and vegetables and a perfect desert of mango with a Lyle’s Golden syrup sauce.

18 June 2013

I am clearly ready to wrap up my travels through Africa. My normal gregarious self-abandoned me this morning, and I chose to have breakfast solo, rather than with a seemingly nice couple from California. After nearly a month on the road I had exceeded my quota of social chit-chat, comparing notes about kids and dogs and so on. I was just not up to it today.

Bimbi had organized a boat ride for me to Lamu – essentially it was a shopping trip as I had a long list of kikois and kikoi pants to buy. My first attempt fizzled out in Lamu. I tracked down the store I had been told about earlier – Ali King’s – but they did not have a huge selection, did not seem to know their own prices and also did not want to accept US Dollars. So I had to make my way back to the main drag in Lamu, winding along a few rather dingy alleys, to a bank where I exchanged $100 for a fairly hefty wad of Kenyan shillings. Beware. Everybody in Lamu wants to be your agent. I had to wave away several unwanted applicants and one guy had the nerve to actually stick with me, ‘escorting’ me around to places and giving me unwanted and unheeded advice about the quality of merchandise, good places to shop and so on. I guess he did not mind having an imaginary client.

By then I had decided to take Bimbi’s advice and asked the boatman to take me to nearby Shella, a prettier, cleaner and less smelly – and quieter – version of Lamu. I did a walk-through of the Peponi Hotel premises (it was still closed until July 1) and then walked up the street to a very well stocked gift store to make my purchases. The prices were clearly displayed – no bargaining or haggling allowed – and they were good, almost 40% less than in Nairobi for merchandise of a similar standard.

Manda Bay is a good choice for family groups or other people who are keen on water sports such as paddle boarding, kayaking, windsurfing, laser sailing boats, kite sailing, and skiing (all levels). There are some skiffs for fishing and serious off-shore ffishing for marlin, sharks, sailfish, yellow fin tuna and dorado can also be done, the best time being from about October to the end of May.

A Few Words Of Advice About Manda Bay

Would-be visitors should know that Manda Bay is quite rustic: my room (#3) was very plain and rather tired-looking with a utilitarian bathroom. As I had been warned, the shower water was very salty and not always very hot. Some of the things that I did not care for included people smoking everywhere, including during meals at the table (outdoors and in covered patio areas) and also widespread use of cell phones in common areas. This is a real no-no at most safari camps and I think it is a practice that any resort should discourage. Nobody wants to listen to other people’s business negotiations, when you are on holiday.

Buzz and Bimbi and their staff could not have been nicer and more accommodating, and there is a lot to like about Manda Bay such as the great setting right along the bay with superb views to the east and west. It is possible to see a gorgeous sunset and sunrise from the same spot. Just don’t go there expecting a luxury resort. That it is not. There is no real beach in front of the property either – the entire shoreline is covered by water when the tide comes in. I hinted around a couple of times about wanting to do some fishing but nothing came of it. Also I was never sure exactly what was included in the price and what was not. For example one’s wine glass was readily re-filled during dinner. I had an uneasy feeling that it was costing me, but not how much. In the end my bill for optional drinks and other services such as the boat trip to Shella was not too high but for some people this may be an issue.

I am glad that I extended my stay in Kenya to include a couple of nights on the northern coast. The area had taken a shellacking due to some security issues a few years ago but it is good to see that the resorts are bouncing back. Places like Manda Bay merit inclusion on a Kenya trip for many reasons. Many people – and most kids and young people – can take only so much of day after day of bouncing around rough roads cooped into game drive vehicles. Spending a few days in a beach area in-between safaris is a great idea for family groups and for others who like to spread their wings a bit, and who want to diversify their Kenya experience. Of course nearby towns like Lamu and Shella offer a lot more in the way of cultural experiences, visual appeal, seafood and authentic local cuisine and some great shopping for easily transportable items such as kikois, kikoi pants, kangas and other fabrics. So add a couple of days to your trip at the end or break it up with a few days in-between two safari areas – you won’t regret it.

Hemingways Hotel Nairobi

By early evening I was back in Nairobi and fighting the traffic along Langata road. In the end Lazarus made a u-turn and took a detour ending up on Ngong Road, to get us to Karen and to the brand new Hemingway Hotel. The room reminded me a lot of the wonderful Saxon boutique hotel in Johannesburg, but Hemingways is just a lot bigger and more ‘grand’ in the old-fashioned sense of the word. It starts with a massive foyer with an oversized chandelier, twin staircases and a superb garden view from the balcony.

The standard suites are just as impressive – huge and well-equipped with a slide-away TV (built into a faux trunk), a desk and chair with fast, free WIFI, fully stocked minibar, tea and coffee making equipment and supplies, a huge walk-in closet with movement-activated light and a safe big enough for a 17-inch laptop. There’s even a plug for recharging one’s laptop inside the safe. What else? A shower with multiple showerheads, an oversized tub and marble everywhere. My only complaint? The light switches are totally confusing.

19 June – Nairobi

On this day I finally got around to doing some of the Nairobi-area activities which many of our clients have done in the past, and for which I have never time.

Our first stop this morning was a site inspection at Karen Blixen Cottages (hotel). I really liked the beautiful garden setting, the large attractive rooms and the cozy common areas. It felt like a very appropriate place for Nairobi: lush, colorful and on a manageable scale with only about 16 rooms total. For visitors who want to visit the Giraffe Center, the Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage and the Karen Blixen Museum, this would be an ideal spot to spend a night or even two.

Karen Blixen Museum

Our second stop was at Karen Blixen Museum. The original homestead is fascinating and walking through it with a local guide really takes one back to the turn of the century. It is not difficult to imagine Karen sitting in her office writing or entertaining guests in her dining room. I was surprised to learn how ‘primitive’ some aspects of life were, at the time. Kitchens and bathrooms like we know them just did not exist back in the day.

Giraffe Center

Next was Giraffe Manor hotel and a visit to the Giraffe Center. This atmospheric hotel which resembles a Scottish manor house is hugely popular and deservedly so: who doesn’t like a giraffe to pop in for breakfast, or to peek into your room on the 2nd floor? The rooms themselves were also superb, by the looks of it, and the entire place looked in absolutely tip-top condition. I might have to try this hotel on a future trip to Nairobi. Giraffes are such entertaining creatures and to be able to feed them and interact with them at such close quarters will add a lot of fun and excitement to what might otherwise be just a ho-hum overnight in the city.

We also took the opportunity to feed some giraffes at the Giraffe Center – an educational program which raises money for Rotshchild giraffe research and relocation as well as for general conservation education, particularly amongst the youth of Kenya. The feeding platform which is just a short walk away from the Giraffe Manor Hotel is open daily from 9:00A to 5:00 and visitors are given handfuls of dry pellets which the giraffes with their amazingly long tongues gobble up avidly. It was as much fun feeding a giraffe as it was watching a bunch of kids doing it – lots of girls squealing…

Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage

Finally, I spent about 45 minutes at the Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage, watching a succession of young orphaned elephants being fed by bottle. The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust is today the most successful orphan-elephant rescue and rehabilitation program in the world and one of the pioneering conservation organizations for wildlife and habitat protection in East Africa. This is a most worthwhile project and certainly worth an hour of anyone’s time. Unfortunately elephant poaching is on the increase all over Africa and the tragic side-effects include an ever-greater number of orphaned youngsters. I got some great photographs of the baby elephants and their handlers, and well as a big group of school children visiting that day. A few of the kids were initially quite apprehensive but it wasn’t long before they started to touch some of the baby elephants and being very up close and personal with them. I was thinking to myself that that is where and how the David Sheldricks and Richard Leakeys of the future are made: just one random wildlife encounter could be the spark that totally changes a young child’s life forever.

The rest of the day was given over to more food – a delightful lunch at a restaurant in Karen – and then a meeting with Origins Safaris’ Steve Turner at Hemingways. Always good to get the insider perspective and an update on what is happening in the wildlife tourism arena in East Africa.

Back To Houston
By early evening, we had to make our way (slowly – it is Nairobi, remember) to JKIA for my flight back to Amsterdam and from there all the way to Houston. The boarding process in Nairobi was laughably inept and chaotic with hundreds of passengers herded together for several hours in a small pre-boarding lounge where there was neither water nor toilet facilities. Confusion reigned as to the order of boarding, nobody could hear when their seat row # was being called. Just all round unacceptable. Things started to improve as we got airborne. This time around KLM had correct dietary information and the ‘vegetarian non-dairy’ meals which they served were quite palatable. It felt like forever to get back to Houston with a long (4 hr) lay-over in Amsterdam along the way. In future I think I will avoid taking KLM to JNB from Houston in favor of a direct flight on SAA or Delta. Just one too many frisking and security check!

More Info

Email bert@fisheaglesafaris.com

Email jason@fisheaglesafaris.com

@fisheaglesafarishouston

#FishEagleSafaris

Namibia February 2013

PART 1: SOSSUSVLEI LODGE, SOSSUSVLEI

After all the difficulties we had with Delta during our previous trip together, we had zero issues this time. We recommend some noise cancelling headphones for these long international flights. All Fish Eagle Safaris employees use Bose QC15 headsets which are just amazing. We did arrive in JNB early enough to enjoy our favorite restaurant, Ocean Basket, in the Emperor’s Palace complex. The Metcourt Suites were very nice as usual. Just a 5-10 minute shuttle away from the airport and free shuttles back to the airport at any time you need. Our flight in the morning departed very early, at 6:15 AM, but we were able to request a shuttle to arrive at 4:15 for our pickup.

Once we arrived in Windhoek, we were introduced to the rest of our group and our Safari Wise guide, Mark. Our group consisted of a couple of ladies from California, two from Poland and one that lives in JNB. We were given some nice arrival documents including our itineraries, brochures for multiple camps, and a road map which would help us later during our self-drive. We almost immediately set off for Windhoek where we had a quick tour of a few landmarks in town. It seemed like we had all day to get to Sossusvlei, but we would need the whole day as we found out later.

About two hours into our drive to Sossusvlei Lodge, we turned west toward a town called Aub and quickly experienced our first (but not our last) flat tire in Namibia! There wasn’t much drama though, Mark quickly changed the tire and we were on our way once more. After 4-5 hours of driving we arrived in Solitaire, a common stop between Windhoek and Sossusvlei. Solitaire is well known for apple crumble, which we would try later on during the trip.

We left Solitaire running quite late. The flat tire and some slow travel over gravel roads had us moving quite slowly. We had no way of knowing, but only 10 minutes from our destination we had our second flat tire! This one took a little longer to change, and by that time (roughly 4 PM) it was very hot. We finally arrived at Sossusvlei Lodge about 3 hours later than expected, but the lodge quickly took our mind off the long drive.

Sossusvlei Lodge has a large open outdoor eating area surrounding an open plain with a manmade water hole in the distance. There is a tall observation tower that helps you see for miles. The tower itself looms over a nice pool area and the bar. Speaking of the bar, Namibia has quite a lot of German influence in the country which has led to some very nice beers. If you enjoy beer, you can’t go wrong with the local brews in Namibia.

The rooms at Sossusvlei Lodge are quite big. Each room comes with an AC unit, which can help during the hot months. The lodge also had one of our favorite dinner buffets. Not only did they have the basic buffet selections including hot or cold appetizers and salads, but for your main course you can choose and of 9 local meats including oryx, springbok and ostrich. If exotic meats aren’t your thing you can always choose more common cuts including beef, chicken, fish and pork. Not only do you get to select your meat, but the chef cooks it for you on a very nice outdoor grill. All this talk about meat might have some vegetarians or vegans worried, but the buffet has a huge selection of vegetables and starches. You can even have another chef create a stir-fry with ingredients (including sauces and seasonings) that you select.

Activities were quite nice at Sossusvlei Lodge as well. Our choice was obviously to go into Sossusvlei / Dead Vlei and see the dunes. If you were to spend more time in the area the lodge offers many other activities including ATV rides, nature walks and even archery. We left quite early for our dune trip as you’re allowed in the park just at sunrise. Most tourists like to stop at Dune 45 to climb it, but we stopped just for a quick look. It’s a lovely area and an iconic spot to climb but if you aren’t there very early the crowds are immense. We drove on to Dead Vlei which was just stunning. The colors of the sand and the sky paired with the dead trees and salt pan were amazing. Jason tried to recreate a few iconic photographs of the pan and we think he did a decent job. After Dead Vlei we drove on to Sossusvlei for a lunch in the shade. Even in the shade it was quite hot, so once again get there early! You don’t want to be halfway up a dune when the temperatures get too high. Our final activity was a quick trip into Sesriem Canyon. The canyon has been carved out by water over millions of years. You can actually still see some spots where debris has been deposited during extremely high tide. It was very hot later in the day though, so we only stayed for a short time at the canyon.

PART 2: SWAKOPMUND, CRUISE AND DESERT TOURS

Our final morning in Sossusvlei was quick. We left early in the morning for Swakopmund. All in all it was a fairly scenic drive with multiple landscape changes as we drove. We went from the red dunes of Sossusvlei to huge open plains to mountainous ridges and canyons. Finally we ended in Swakopmund with its coastal dunes. Unlike the dunes of Sossusvlei which have turned red over millions of years of rust, the Swakopmund sand and dunes were very nearly white in color. Lucky for us we had no flat tires this leg and arrived in the nearby town of Walvis Bay in the late afternoon. After a short tour we drove another half hour north to Swakopmund.

We stayed at Atlantic Villa, a boutique guest house just on the outskirts of town. The rooms were unique but had plenty of space and amenities. Our room had two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a living area similar to an apartment home. Overall they were very nice accommodations. We also visited the Swakopmund Boutique Hotel, the Swakopmund Hotel and Hansa Hotel which we would later stay at. Each was a nice choice, but in Swakopmund it’s more about what you do than where you stay.

For dinner on the first night we walked just down the road to a restaurant called The Wreck. The outside was shaped like the hull of a boat, hence the name. If you stay at Atlantic Villa we would highly recommend it. It was affordable and each of the agents with us enjoyed their meals. The Amarula ice cream was especially good.

Living Desert Tour, Swakopmund
Without a doubt one of the highlights of my Namibia trip was the Living Desert Tour. Our guide, Chris, who is a native Namibian and about as full of energy as anyone I have ever met, came to pick us up at the hotel. It was evident from the start that he was going to be an entertaining and insightful host and I do believe he could captivate me while talking about some seriously mundane topics. Thankfully the tour itself was the farthest thing from it and when you combine those two factors it makes it a must see in my opinion.

It just so happened that out of our group everyone chose to partake in the Living Desert Tour except for Jason who instead went on the Dolphin Cruise. Because of this we only had to make one more stop to pick up a couple other clients before heading to the dunes to get started. Almost immediately upon entering the dunes we all step out of our large vehicles for the introduction/briefing. In all there are two guides, each with their own vehicle. Chris does most of the talking while the other guide scours the nearby dunes in search of life. So while he is off trying to find us a snake or gecko we are learning about the dunes. We learn about leeward and windward, how the quadbiking is ruinous to the desert animals and the landscape. We learn how the seedpods and grass that get blown in from as far as Botswana form the bottom of the food pyramid and we learn a few of the animals that make up that pyramid. All the while Chris is jumping between English for our group and German for the other group in the second vehicle. Instead of slowing us down he makes it fun and keeps it lighthearted with a lot of jokes and both our group and the Germans have a good sense of humor about it all.

After getting some of the basics we set out to find our first living creature. Chris spots a telltale sign of a dune gecko and begins to dig. The tunnel splits off in two directions and he follows the one path. It splits again and he is getting a look on his face that says he might be digging for a while. Luckily he has chosen the correct path and uncovers an absolutely beautiful gecko. Properly referred to as the palmetto gecko, this guy is so iconic that he is literally the face man for the company’s ads (Living Desert Adventures). After we all take turns getting close and photographing him we scamper off and find a small dancing white lady spider. These guys roam the dunes and when threatened can curl into a ball and quickly roll down the side of the dune to escape danger. Next we find some skink tracks and find a couple of the blind, legless snakelike creatures. They are smooth to the touch and Chris shows us how they practically swim through the sand.

Of course snakes are always a big draw but as the day goes on and it starts to heat up a little bit the guides are finding less and less snake tracks. Luckily they spot some very faint markings on the side of a dune and Chris manages to discover a tiny dwarf adder. 99% of the population of Swakopmund has never seen this guy, according to Chris, and it is easy to see why. This little guy buries his entire body in the sand and all you can are two black eyes. He pops up his tail and uses it as a lure to any geckos or lizards that come near. Eventually we were able to see him out in the open and he was kind enough to pose for us.

After this our next objective was to find a chameleon. Chris and his fellow guide got out of the vehicles and scoured a massive area while we waited patiently. Unfortunately they came back empty-handed and we were about to drive off when someone spotted a rather large chameleon right in front of our vehicle. He had been not 15 feet from us the whole time and blended in so well that it took us all that while to spot him. As Chris handled him he changed color which they apparently tend to do when they are feeling a little bit of stress. As a peace offering he was given a few grubs and to all of our delight he went after them with those famously long roll-up tongues. We observed him and photographed him for quite some time before moving on. We ended the tour with the landscape photography portion, a fantastic way to wrap up this fine trip.

The food on our second day in Swakopmund was quite good too. After our activities, most of the group decided to have a light lunch on the pier at a restaurant called The Jetty 1905. A bit of an odd recommendation, but be sure you check out the restrooms if you visit this restaurant. Each room is unique with pictures on the walls showing how the town was built. For dinner we went to Kucki’s Pub in the middle of town. Once again we had great food. Our dessert recommendation here is the crème brulee which was excellent.

PART 3: TALENI ETOSHA VILLAGE, ETOSHA NATIONAL
PARK

Today we departed for our first true game viewing opportunity in Namibia, Etosha National Park. The drive was about 5 hours again but felt much shorter as a large portion was finally on paved roads. We arrived at Taleni Etosha Village at about 4 PM and as a group decided that we would quickly unpack and head out for an evening visit to the park. Since this visit was not planned, we had to pay the park fees which were very inexpensive.

This first game drive was quite memorable. We had only just entered through the Anderson park gate and began heading toward Okaukuejo when suddenly (on a paved road mind you) our right rear tire had a blowout! This was easily the most jarring of the 3 flats that we had on this trip because we were going slightly faster on the paved road. Our guide Mark did a great job of keeping control of the vehicle even though he struggled to slow us down. The only problem with a flat in the park was that officially Mark could not leave the vehicle to repair it by himself! We had to request help from Okaukuejo. Luckily the rangers were quick to respond and had our spare tire on in a few minutes. Finally we could head out to do some actual game viewing.

Mark drove us through Okaukuejo toward a watering hole named Gemsbok Vlakte. It’s known for being a nice flat open area for lots of wildlife to congregate. We noticed a vehicle was stopped at the watering hole from a distance, which is usually a good sign. But while we scanned the horizon, something seemed to move a bit differently than the springbok and zebra in the area. It was our first lion sighting, but certainly not our last. Two lions, one male and one female, were on their way to the water hole for a drink. This brought our attention to the water hole itself, where it seemed a large dark skinned animal was already drinking. It was a black rhino!

We quickly drove to the parking area around the water hole and got directly between the lions and the water so they would walk as close to us as possible. This ended up being a great move and we were both able to get some great shots of the lions walking, the rhino backing up, the lions drinking with the rhino nearby. Unfortunately it was quite a quick evening due to the flat tire so we had to head back and be out of the park before sunset. As we left, we were lucky enough to see two more black rhino! A mother and calf that had been drinking slowly walked away from the water hold and gave us a quick glance.

Taleni Etosha Village itself is owned by the same company that owns and runs Sossusvlei Lodge so many of the same food choices can be had there. We had a similar buffet of game meats and a stir fry option with plenty of other buffet choices for dinner. Breakfasts have a huge selection as well with omelet/egg stations where the chefs will prepare eggs any way you like. The rooms were nice sized permanent tents with en suite facilities (even though they were technically outside the main living area of the tent).

Our second day in Etosha went quite well once again. We managed to come across half a dozen lion early in the morning, two of which put on a nice roaring show for us. It really is impressive to hear the vocal power of these lions! Another pair of lions just down the road posed for Valentine’s Day while holding hands. We even got to see two different lions mating. It seems like Etosha had Vday planned for us all along. The evening game drive unfortunately got rained out as a large thunderstorm was blown in. It was actually impressive to see how quickly the weather could change. The rain only lasted about 45 minutes but it was enough to get us out of the park and back for an early dinner.

PART 4: OKONJIMA, HOME OF AFRICAT

While we had wonderful luck with lions in Etosha, we didn’t see any leopard or cheetah. They really are much more secretive and difficult to see. Today we were on the way to Okonjima, the home of the AfriCat Foundation. AfriCat is well known around Namibia for teaching the local population about how to live with predators instead of trying to exterminate them as if they were pests. Many of the leopards and cheetah in the Okonjima reserve are previously rescued and re-released into the wild successfully. The drive was very short and all on paved roads. We arrived in time for a nice rest and a wonderful lunch salad before our afternoon activity: leopard tracking.

We left the camp at around 4 to try and find a leopard via tracking collar. This might sound easy, but the landscape at Okonjima is quite mountainous and full of areas a vehicle cannot traverse. We spent about an hour tracking a weak signal from a leopard and decided that a higher altitude would help out. Just as we made it to a nice cliff to track from, we noticed what looked like a leopard statue in the middle of a green grassy garden. Sure enough, we found our leopard! She rolled around in the grass for us then walked toward us, eventually heading off into the bush where she hid from everyone for hours. Our vehicle was the only one to get a glimpse of leopards that evening. While the viewing was very short, it was memorable.

Okonjima main camp itself was just outside the reserve which was a good thing. It was safe to walk between the lodge and tents without fear of wild animals interfering. There were still some antelope and warthogs around, which have a chance to come drink at the lovely water hole that the main eating/lounging area surrounds. The room we stayed in was a large round chalet with en suite facilities and about a third of the wall was a large open window with a view of the bush. For dinner there was a set menu, but the kitchen will listen to requests from guests. Breakfast had a somewhat small buffet but included an egg/omelet station which is always our first choice for breakfast.

Our morning activity was cheetah tracking. We thought it would be all in the vehicles but after getting close to the cheetah (also via tracking collars) we left the vehicle and went on foot! We were all a bit nervous but the guides assured us that the cheetahs we were tracking had previously been released successfully into the wild by AfriCat. While they were not tame by any means, they were habituated to humans over the years. We finally stumbled across two lovely cheetahs resting in the morning sun, their bellies obviously full. Never have we been so close to cheetah on foot. It was quite an experience that we will never forget!

After about an hour of viewing, we decided to leave the cheetah to have their rest. We were off to the main offices of AfriCat which was a very educational visit. They showed us how AfriCat works to educate the local farmers and their children about living with predators. While there, the “Adopt a Spot” program was brought to our attention. It helps visitors donate small amounts which add up to adopting an entire cheetah or leopard. Here’s a photo of Jason painting the spot that we adopted for Fish Eagle Safaris!

PART 5: SELF DRIVE, WINDHOEK AND SOSSUSVLEI

As we left Okonjima, we realized that this wasn’t the end of our trip. We had done nearly a full circuit in Namibia but had new places to see and new experiences to keep us busy for a couple more weeks. We can definitely say that the second circuit was worth it. Learning things we may have missed, or even hearing them a second time truly did help make this trip memorable.

Once we arrived at the Windhoek airport it was time for goodbyes to our group of agents. From now on it would be just the two of us driving all around Namibia with a map and a gps unit to keep us on track. The map would actually help more than the GPS unit, as a few of the roads we were planning to take were not listed on the GPS. Particularly the roads leading to camps in Sossusvlei and Damaraland were not available. If we were to travel mainly with the GPS unit we would have needed to direct us to a town near the camp and then hope for signs, which were few and far between. We did, however, request an extra spare tire as we had quite a few flats with the Safari Wise portion of our trip. Luckily the extra would not be needed, but at the time it was worth the cost. One other thing that we had to get used to was driving on the other side of the road! A few sketchy moments in and around town really teach you quickly where you can and cannot go. I also can’t tell you how many times we went to the wrong side of the car (driver to the passenger side, etc). It was quite an adventure.

Our first stop was the Hotel Heinitzburg, which is one of only 3 actual castles in Windhoek and the only one that is accessible to the public. They’ve added rooms nearby that are structured similar to a castle wall so you can really get the feel of the place. The rooms were large and seemed very formal in their decoration. We had a dinner at the attached restaurant, Leo’s at the Castle, which had delicious food. The only snag was a local power outage for about fifteen minutes which was handled well by the staff.

The next day we stayed at the Olive Exclusive, the more luxurious brother to the Olive Grove Guesthouse. Our room was a junior suite which was just beautifully decorated as you can see in the photos. We would eventually stay for dinner, which was once again excellent. For lunch we went to the famous Joe’s Beerhouse for a rare Sunday buffet lunch. As with any buffet, we enjoyed being able to try a multitude of main courses, sides and desserts. The atmosphere was very social and we were seated with a group of total strangers but found the conversation quite interesting. We would have liked to visit Joe’s for a normal a la carte menu but just weren’t in town for long enough to do so.

In the morning we enjoyed a leisurely and tasty breakfast at the Olive before departing for Sossusvlei. We decided to take the same route that our Safari Wise guide had taken just because we were familiar with it, even though it did net us two flat tires the previous trip. Driving ourselves took much less time than driving in a full group. We were able to plan our breaks and driver changes, all in all the drives went very well throughout our self-drive experience. A stop at Solitaire on the way was a necessity. We tried some of the famous apple crumble, which was quite good but perhaps our batch wasn’t their best work as it did not live up to expectation. Roughly 5 hours after we left Windhoek we arrived at Little Kulala. The camp is set just beyond a dried up river bed with some large dead trees similar to those in Dead Vlei. The dried river bed actually still has subterranean water, which made it a prime choice for a camp. We did learn that the wind at Little Kulala can get quite harsh, so plan ahead with dust covers for your cameras!

As with all Wilderness Safaris camps, the staff was excellent. Our guide Felix was one of the best guides on our trip, pity we were there for just one night. The rooms had en-suite facilities and air conditioning with private plunge pools and a deck for relaxation. It was a bit too sandy and windy for relaxing on the deck at times but the plunge pool was a nice escape from the heat. Our real focus at Little Kulala was to climb one of the dunes. On our previous trip we had been to Dead Vlei and Sossusvlei but only managed to walk around the base of some of the larger dunes, finally we would have the opportunity to actually reach the peak of one. Felix gave us a wonderful idea to climb a dune that is rarely used. He called it the arm of ‘Big Daddy’, which looms over Dead Vlei and is very popular (albeit very difficult) to climb. The arm was not as tall but still managed to have all 3 of us, Felix included, out of breath every 20 or so steps. Once at the top we had an amazing view and were able to glide down to the salt pan that is Dead Vlei for some more photography. This entire area really is breathtaking and we highly recommend spending a morning in the area.

Our second camp in the Sossusvlei area was Sossusvlei Desert Lodge, owned by AndBeyond. The Desert Lodge was the most luxurious camp throughout our safari. Each room had amazing views of a large valley where zebra and springbok made their way to a man made water hole. Sossusvlei Desert Lodge has a variety of activities to keep you busy. Not only can you go to Dead Vlei and Sossusvlei if you leave early in the morning, but you can drive to the star dunes, petrified dunes, quad biking, game drives, sundowner drives and even star gazing at night. Our first activity was a drive up to the local petrified dunes. The drive itself was amazingly steep, quite exciting actually. The dunes themselves have been solidified into a near rock like consistency over millions (or billions) of years. They represent the final stage in the dunes’ life cycle, very interesting to see. Our second activity was so fun that it ended up being our third activity as well, quad biking! The Desert Lodge has a quad bike track in the dunes nearby where guests can ride at their own speed in and around the sand. Please note that these bikes are very powerful, so if you choose this activity and it’s your first time riding them you can take your time. The views alone are worth the time spent.

The final night in Sossusvlei would be at Wolwedans Dunes Lodge in the NamibRand Nature Reserve. The camp itself is quite far south and while they do offer hot air balloon rides, they do not offer trips to the dunes in Sossusvlei as it would simply be too far away. Once again we were surrounded by amazing landscapes and views. The Dunes Lodge is actually physically built on the top of some dunes, quite interesting. The rooms were nice enough but we were told that at night the wind can hit quite hard, which can cause portions of the tent to flap around noisily. We were given earplugs just in case, but luckily the wind stayed low during our stay. The highlights at Wolwedan’s were the beautiful sunset and our 5 course dinner with some of the best food we had eaten throughout our trip.

PART 6: SWAKOPMUND

We departed on a roughly 6 hour drive once again toward the town of Swakopmund. Our destination this time was the previously mentioned Hansa Hotel which was directly in the center of town. This was the best feature of the hotel, as we were able to walk to restaurants, shops and all around the main part of town and never be more than a 10 minute walk from our room. We took advantage of covered parking across the street and left our rental there for two nights for under $5 per night. Our only complaint about Hansa Hotel was the smoking policy. The hotel allowed smokers in the restaurant, the bar, the lobby and even in some of the rooms. It didn’t ruin our stay at all, but there were a few awkward moments while sitting in the lobby where someone would sit right next to us and begin smoking.

We had been staying in touch with our Safari Wise guide, Mark, who was trying to put together a shark fishing expedition out of Henties Bay for the following morning. Alas, when we arrived we learned that a fishing competition would have all of the charter boats out of commission for the same day that we would spend on the coast! Instead of fishing, he put together some more quad biking for us which we thought would be a bit boring as we had already done it twice at Sossusvlei Desert Lodge. The terrain that we biked on was very different than before. We were out in the open, able to go full speed at times without worrying about where the track went and if there was a sharp corner up ahead. Our guide led us up the sides of some nice large dunes allowing us toalmost fly downhill. This quad biking was an entirely different experience, and for us, a very exciting one.

While in Swakopmund the previous time we were able to dine at some very nice restaurants, but didn’t have enough meals to visit all of the town’s favorites. This time we did manage to eat at The Tug, a very well-known restaurant on the coast. Both of our lunches were spectacular and we were seated right at the window (the entire wall was one large panel of windows) for a wonderful view. We also ate at our favorite, Ocean Basket, one more time and had a good time watching and learning some Rugby.

On our way out of Swakopmund we were asked to visit a guest house called Ietsiemeer in Henties Bay. The location was fabulous; you could walk out of the doors of the main lounge and instantly be on the beach. They offered fishing from the shore, so it seems we should have stayed here in the first place after our problems with getting a fishing charter. If you’re looking for a small quiet guesthouse, Ietsiemeer really does seem like a fine option.

PART 7: DORO NAWAS AND DAMARALAND CAMP

We had a solid 5 hour drive to get to our first camp in Damaraland, Doro Nawas. Most of the drive was on gravel road and although it was smooth sailing for the most part you should always be on the lookout for sudden dips or bumps in the road because if you are traveling too fast it is a recipe for disaster. We arrived in camp and thought that we had dodged some bullets only to discover the following morning that we had a flat tire. Apparently a piece of wire had found its way into the tire and overnight it had gone almost completely flat. Luckily for us it happened in camp and there was no problem and only a small fee getting it fixed up.

Back to our arrival, the camp itself is set up on a nice rocky hill and we arrived right around the middle of the day during a bit of a heat wave so to say it was hot would be an understatement. Between 110-115 degree temperature, a scorching sun and rocks soaking all of that heat in it can be rather unpleasant even for someone growing up in Texas. Luckily the rooms provide shade and a fan not to mention the camp’s swimming pool which we frequented during our stay. It cooled down significantly in the evening and night but even then I would classify it as warm and because of this we declined the option of having our bed pulled out and sleeping under the stars instead opting for the steady breeze from the ceiling fan.

The terrain and geography is really stunning, reminiscent of the southwest United States. The area is arid and mountainous with igneous rocks all around. Desert adapted vegetation thrives such as the different types of Euphorbia and the national plant, the Welwitschia mirabilis. Oryx was the most commonly seen antelope in the area followed by springbok and the occasional Kudu.

For our first activity our guide, Reinhold, was keen on finding the desert adapted elephant herd that had been in the area the day before. We left camp at about 4 after some snacks at camp and set off on the trail of elephant. It was still blazing hot at that time so be sure to bring more water than you think is necessary because you should be taking in a lot of it. Our first stop on the elephant search was a local village that has a permanent source of water. The elephant are said to frequent the area and we see signs of their passing all around. Unfortunately we had missed them by a couple hours so we had to start tracking them from there. For the remainder of our afternoon drive it seemed like we were on their heels but in the end we found tracks that appeared to go up into the mountains to a point we could not follow. The next day in fact our guide talked to a fellow guide who said he had gone on foot from the point the tracks ended and he had seen the elephants moving down the far slope of the mountain. On occasion the elephants move out of the area for 4-5 days at time and it just so happened that they chose the days we were in Damaraland.

That evening we had a nice dinner at the camp and discussed our planned itinerary for the following day with our guide. The following morning we set off for Twyfelfontein, Namibia’s first World Heritage Site and the location of the largest collection of San rock art in Africa. The rock art consists of animals found in the area and also contains maps of waterholes. A few of them are different in that they depict combinations of animal and man, said to be witchdoctors transforming into said animals. There is quite a bit of walking involved in the tour and as mentioned earlier it is quite hot so come prepared with water and some nice sturdy shoes/boots.

After resting up a bit we took off to go take a look at a few of the interesting natural formations in the area including the “Burnt Mountain” and the “Organ Pipes.” The Burnt Mountain is actually somewhat of a literal term as basaltic rock magma rising from the depths did indeed scorch sections of organic sediment turning it a nice crisp black. The Organ Pipes, just a stones throw from the Burnt Mountain, can also trace their origins to rising magma. In their case they are the remains of molten rock pushing through the Earth’s surface.

Lastly, we took a visit to the “Living Museum,” which is a recreated traditional Damara village. Some of the highlights include getting a lesson on many useful and interesting herbal remedies, taking a look at the village blacksmith and his tools, seeing how leather, mostly goat, is tanned and used, the making of traditional jewelry, and of course some singing and dancing. Photographs are encouraged and the people are extremely friendly.

Our drive from Doro Nawas Camp to Damaraland Camp was nice and easy and took about 45 minutes to an hour. There is a parking spot for non 4×4 vehicles that we took advantage of and we waited about 20 minutes to be picked up by a couple guides. Damaraland Camp has a great location with a couple of fantastic walking trails and beautiful scenery all around. The activities are nearly identical to Doro Nawas as they are so close in proximity.

The highlight of our stay in the area had to be our rhino tracking activity. We had to get up quite early in the morning, get in a quick breakfast and then drive about an hour to get to a hotspot of sorts for rhino. We waited a little while in the vehicle while the rhino trackers (3 in all) went to a nearby hill to scout the area. After a short while they signaled for us to make our way towards them. It was a bit of a hike over some rocky terrain but it was well worth it because there were two nice black rhinos waiting for us in the distance. We managed to get some very nice photos and even got relatively close before they heard us and took off. Once they decided to go it was amazing watching them and listening to them. Where we had been creeping silently and struggling with the terrain they were loud and unbelievably fast. By the time we got back to the vehicle we had worked up an appetite and ate our picnic lunches, all the while feeling very pleased with the outcome of our rhino tracking.

PART 8: ONGAVA LODGE, ETOSHA NATIONAL PARK

It was another road trip to get from Damaraland back to Etosha for our 2nd visit. This leg of the trip wasn’t really bad at all seeing as the majority came on nice paved roads and by this time we are probably feeling just as comfortable driving on the left side of the road as the right. We had inspected Ongava Lodge earlier so we knew it was located just outside the gate to the park in an adjacent reserve (Ongava Game Reserve). The lodge itself is well located, elevated on a hill with a fantastic view of a watering hole and the surrounding area. Our room was a short walk from the main area and it as well did not disappoint. The room was rather sizeable, had a similar view although not elevated of the watering hole and came equipped with an air conditioning unit. This proved helpful but it was not nearly as hot as it had been in Damaraland so Ongava Tented Camp, the smaller and more intimate Wilderness camp located in the same reserve, isn’t lacking much.

Our evening game drive was inside the reserve, as is the usual custom at Ongava. There had been a lion sighting nearby but unfortunately by the time we arrived they had gone into the bush and were not visible. The Reserve has a nice population of antelope and they were on display from the outset but overall it was a rather quiet drive. Our guide discovered some promising lion prints and we tracked them for quite some time but they eluded us just as the earlier lions had. We had our sundowners a bit later than usual and headed back to camp for dinner.

Little did we know the best sighting of the day would come as we ate our dinner overlooking the watering hole at night. A group of 4 white rhinos came to join us and they stuck around until just before dinner ended. This was really a special experience because it is rare to be able to spend so much time just observing these animals. To be able to relax, enjoy some good food and watch the rhino interact with each other while having a drink was a real joy and made us completely forget the quiet game drive we had just returned from.

In the morning we headed into the park and almost immediately found some lions lounging around. It was still cool in the morning but these guys seemed content to lie around all day. There were a couple of interested glances from some of the young males who must have caught scent of some prey but I would venture a guess that this pride could have been found in that general vicinity for the next few hours at least. After spending some time admiring the lions we stopped at a nearby watering hole and must have seen a group of at least 14 giraffe, some heading towards the water some already bending over in their unique way and getting a sip of water.

We made our way back onto the main road and got to Okaukuejo to check out a very popular water hole. We were not disappointed as it was crowded with antelope and, more importantly, a couple of elephants. We must have spent a solid 45 minutes there just watching the animals come and go. One particular kudu had the most impressive set of horns I have ever seen and of course elephants are endlessly entertaining.

After a quick restroom break at Okaukuejo we went deeper into the park and came across a zebra kill surrounded by jackals. We had just missed a hyena that had been feeding there but we saw him scampering off in the distance. After scouring the area our guide found a large male lion in the distance who must have been responsible for the kill.

For the evening we took our final game drive in the Ongava Reserve and apparently we saved the best for last. After driving up one of the rocky hills for quite some time we came to a watering hole near the summit. It seemed quiet and we drove off for a couple of minutes but wound up returning. It was a good thing we did because as we rolled up in our vehicle we witnessed a large pride of lion make their way to the water. Once they all arrived we counted 18 lions in total, many of them young cubs. It was the most we had ever seen in one sighting and quite spectacular. They took turns drinking and would then go lie down only to have one of the young ones come over looking to play. After a while the sun started to set and some of them came to rest in the shade of our vehicle. We stayed with them for at least an hour and I wouldn’t have minded another one, just a great sighting and a fantastic way to end our time in Namibia.

More Info

Email bert@fisheaglesafaris.com

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South Africa & Zimbabwe October 2012

PART 1: SIMBAVATI CAMP, TIMBAVATI RESERVE

If a trip could start on an auspicious note, this one certainly did. Dulles Airport in Northern Virginia closes at 600P on Oct 30 due to expected high winds from Hurricane Sandy. Our SAA flight to Johannesburg via Dakar slips out just in time to dodge a possible 2-day delay, at 20 minutes to six.

The flight itself was unremarkable, just the way I like them. Not a great selection of movies on SAA, food ok, seat not too bad, legroom bearable, distance and duration pretty much unbearable. After an overnight stay at the Metcourt Suites at JNB Airport (clean, convenient, safe and with easy access to restaurants), it was just a short flight with SA Express (impressive in-flight service with light sandwich snack and drinks served in about an hour) to Hoedspruit and a road transfer of about 45 minutes or so at maximum speed of about 35 mph to Simbavati Camp in the Timbavati Reserve, adjacent to the central portion of Kruger Park.

Simbavati Camp, Timbavati Reserve – 30 & 31 Oct 2012
The very friendly reception which I received from Hayley at Simbavati River Lodge was the first of several positive impressions. There is no lack of space in the huge thatched lounge and dining room complex overlooking a river. At the time of my visit there was no water flowing, and only some of the rooms (the three chalets and first 2 tents) actually look out over water. The remaining tents have a partial view over the dry riverbed, or have a ‘bush view’.

Early in 2012 (January) this and many other lodges in the Timbavati and Sabi Sand areas of South Africa were severely damaged by floods, caused by the remnants of a tropical cyclone hitting the area. Simbavati did a great job repairing and rebuilding the camp in double quick time and it now looks almost new! Even so, I have for many years refrained from sending any clients to the Kruger Park area in Jan and Feb for this very reason.

The camp consists of 3 family chalets (brick and mortar), each with 2 rooms and a communal bathroom leading out of one of the bedrooms (so not suitable for 2 couples). The chalets have good verandahs with views over the rivers, as have the first few tents. The others are surrounded by bush.

Privacy is is not great: the rooms are quite close to each other; from my ‘Leopard’ tent I could see the guests on the verandah of Chalet #3. However I could not hear them. The tented and chalet rooms are effectively air-conditioned, and I like the design of the tents with separate en suite bathrooms, with a regular door between the sleeping area and bathroom. Bathrooms have ‘twin’ showers with 2 shower heads next to each other, and either indoor shower and outdoor bath or vice versa (indoor bath and outdoor shower).

After settling into my room, I enjoyed a light lunch (brown rice and butternut squash salad & some fresh fruit) before going out on an afternoon game drive at 4:00P. It was a fairly quiet game drive with not a whole lot of general game but we did have a really good elephant sighting with a small breeding herd practically surrounding the vehicle and feeding just about on top of us.

Dinner was quite enjoyable too with ‘pap’ (polenta) with a tomato and onion sauce, a mixed salad and traditional malva pudding for dessert.

I spent a fairly peaceful night but was woken up at around 2:00A by the sounds of hyena cackling close to the room. Unbeknownst to me, there was drama at the other end of the camp. A leopard had killed a waterbuck, then losing it to a pack of about 9 hyenas, only to get it back and drag it into a tree, where we saw it the next morning. The inhabitant of the tent where the waterbuck was taken (a lady from Japan) apparently did not get a wink of sleep as the events unfolded practically in her room; the waterbuck scuffled right up to her tent as it was attacked by the leopard and she had a bunch of loud hyenas excitedly calling right at her doorstop almost the entire night!

WILD DOGS AT SIMBAVATI – 31 Oct 2012
Up at 5:00A, I enjoyed a very light snack and departed on a game drive at 06:00. It was pretty quiet again until nearly 9:00A, with some general game including a good giraffe sighting. Right around 09:00A our guide started to follow some wild dogs track and about an hour later we were advised by radio that one of the other guides had located the dogs. What followed was an exceptionally good sighting of a very large pack of 26 wild dogs, which had just recently killed and devoured an impala. If you looked closely, you could still see some fresh blood on some of their muzzles. At the sight of the kill itself there were just a small pile of bones, with a bunch of vultures fighting over the scraps. Several of the dogs were youngsters and it was fascinating to watch them interact with each other, and running through the woodland.

Back in camp, breakfast consisted of maltabella porridge, fresh fruit and toast – and then it was time for a siesta to catch up on some much-needed sleep!

The afternoon game drive was in search of some lions which had been seen that morning – it was a bit of a drive but we located the three young lions and had some point blank views of them, one chewing on a carcass and the other two dozing. We spent quite a bit of time with the lions before driving back to camp, bumping into a couple of large white rhinos en route. They were impressive and I think I got quite a few decent photographs in the process. Other than that, we saw plenty of general game including zebra, giraffe, impala and wildebeest.

Any criticism of Simbavati would have to be confined to the number of persons on the vehicles. All three the vehicles were full with as many as 9 persons on just about every game drive. In my opinion that is 3 persons too many: nobody should be ‘forced’ to sit in a middle seat on a game drive, even in a totally open vehicle. I overheard one of the children (part of a very nice quiet English family) saying “…I just don’t want to be in the middle in the middle…” I agree with the boy: it is no fun being in the middle seat in the middle row of 3 seats. I was told that the camp strives to have a maximum of 7 persons per vehicle on a game drive. All I can say is that they need to do what is necessary to make this happen. Every time. Serious photographers visiting this camp will be well-advised to pay the extra $250 or so for a private vehicle and guide, or to sign up for one of their regular monthly specialized photography safaris.

Our Simbavati guide Diff was personable, knowledgeable and very good at dealing with sometimes divergent demands from the various guests. Two of the couples (one American and the other French) had not been on safari before and wanted to spend more time with some of the ‘common’ and sometimes almost overlooked animals. All safari camps will be well advised to keep this in mind: not all guests want to spend hours driving around in search of wild dogs or other high pro-file species. Of course they don’t mind seeing those special animals but not at the expensive of taking some time to look at giraffe, kudu, zebra, wildebeest etc. The Simbavati guides need to be reminded to give a proper safety briefing before each drive – some of the guests on our drives were not advised about not standing up in a vehicle, not making objectionable noises to attract the attention of the animals, and so on.

There were several nice touches at Simbavati:·

• Very high level of personal and friendly attention from the managers.
• I thought the tent worked really well with very little space wasted and good lighting
• (this is crucial, nobody likes to stumble around in semi-darkness!), coffee and tea supplies and water.
• Quiet yet effective air-conditioning
• A small box with all necessary adaptors is provided for each tent and there are
• ample plug points for recharging batteries.

On the last morning drive at Simbavati we had some really close-up views of elephants and of another pair of white rhinos. Even though the game-viewing was rather difficult due to the high grass (they had had early rain) it was definitely more than satisfying and I think it would pass muster with even seasoned safari-goers.

PART 2: RHINO POST CAMP

It took almost 4 hours to transfer by road from Simbavati to Rhino Post, which is located in the southern portion of Kruger Park, not very far from Skukuza Camp, and bordering on the MalaMala concession. En route to Kruger Park, I was surprised at the traffic congestion on the main road going through Acornhoek.

Having completed some entry formalities at the Paul Kruger gate of Kruger Park, we made a quick stop at the park shop for a newspaper and some candy, always a scarce commodity at a safari property. We arrived at Rhino Post Camp just in time for afternoon tea – and I was pleasantly surprised with a special separate vegan platter.

At just after 4:00PM, we were off on an afternoon game drive, 6 persons in a comfortable vehicle, with somewhat limited visibility due to a roof cover. The sides were completely open though. Rhino Post game drives cover terrain both inside and out of the concession, making use of the extensive Kruger Park network of roads.

We saw a fair number of general plains game and chanced upon a leopard but it was too far off the road for any useful photographs.

The evening meal was most enjoyable, with some convivial company, amongst others a family party from Colorado who more or less took me under their wing. I enjoyed a vegetable soup and a superb couscous-based main course as well as an exceptionally tasty dessert, consisting of a banana filling in pastry, with a fruity sauce.

The rooms at Rhino Post are terrific with views to the outside from everywhere including the huge indoor bath and outdoor shower. There is an inside shower as well. The bed was comfortable, there is plenty of space to hang clothes and to unpack, the lighting was fairly good and there are ample plug points for recharging. There was also a small mini-bar fridge with mostly soft drinks and a few beers.

I thought the main lounge was well-designed with a bar and lounge and large deck where tea is served, and a separate kitchen and dining room for breakfast and dinner. The choice of wine was above average for a game lodge.

Our Rhino Post guide James was extremely knowledgeable and very competent and treated us to some rally interesting facts and background information, a lot of which was new to me too. What impressed me most was James’ versatility: he was just as good with birds as he was with mammals and other life forms.

Come to think of it, all of the staff members whom I interacted with were exceptionally friendly and helpful. On my last morning there one of the members of the kitchen staff engaged me in a long conversation about my family, about living in the USA, and we touched on several other topics such as the various seasons in Kruger Park. Summer is hot, winter is cold and the best time to go is from May to October. I agree.

November 2: Elephant everywhere
The southern portion of Kruger Park had had unseasonably early – and heavy – rain so by early November the vegetation was thick which made game-viewing very challenging, to put it mildly. As a result the morning game drive started our rather slowly. An hour and a half or so into the game drive we saw a couple of elephants, semi-obscured in thick bush, quite far off the road. Fortunately we stopped for a better look as a couple more appeared, then three more, followed by another 20 and before we knew it, we were witnessing the slow progress of a huge breeding herd of 300+ individuals moving from our left to our right.

This is the kind of event that makes Rhino Post special. None of the private game reserves adjacent to Kruger Park have the size and scope of the Park itself. They offer fantastic game-viewing and you can go off-road to get photographs of the ecto-parasites on a buffalo’s hide, if you wished. Inside the Park there are restrictions on driving off-road (prohibited) and there are often several other vehicles around a sighting. Even so, it is only inside the Park itself that one can truly appreciate the simply amazing size and grandeur of the place, such as when you experience a massive herd of elephant moving through the woodland in a manner that truly speaks to them being one with their environment. Nothing contrived or artificial about it.

The elephants were totally relaxed and many of the youngsters were in a playful mood, scooting down a hill or engaging in playful jousting their siblings. It was truly an unforgettable experience.

Rhino Post may not be the best choice for very serious/professional photographers unless you can spend a minimum of 4 nights there to allow yourself enough time to get lucky with some of the more elusive cats such as leopard. I think in most instances you will. However being limited to the roads certainly does impact on one’s ability to get good close-up photographs of the subjects of your choice. Be sure to bring a long lens of 400mm+ or a good zoom.

For visitors who are interested in the full spectrum of a wilderness experience, Rhino Post will be very appealing. Certainly there are many opportunities for ‘Big Five’ game-viewing, but some of them will be on roads shared with any number of other vehicles from nearby Skukuza, the biggest camp in Kruger Park.

However, even after a short visit, I was again struck by the impact of visiting the magnificent sanctuary that is Kruger Park. Driving up from Rhino Post to the Orpen Dam area gives you a sense of the vastness of the reserve and the almost limitless potential for exciting sightings. As I noted earlier, our game-viewing was impacted by the thick bush conditions, but what we saw was of high quality. For example, on our afternoon game drive on November 2, we spent nearly half an hour observing 3 white rhinos, and I obtained several good photographs. During all this time, only one other vehicle showed up at the same sighting.

On the morning of November 3 I did not go out on a game drive as I had to transfer by road (about 2.5 hrs) to Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport , a pleasant enough small regional airport. From there I flew on SA Airlink to Jo’burg, to meet Kathleen off her flight from the USA. We picked up a car from Budget and headed to Pretoria for a few days with family. It was very enjoyable and great to see everyone again.

PART 3: TSWALU LODGE, NORTHERN CAPE KALAHARI

In the early afternoon on November 6 Kathleen and I boarded a twin KingAir at the Anglo American hangar on the eastern side of Oliver Tambo Airport, perspired a bit while waiting for our take off slot, and then started to relax as our FedAir pilots powered the aircraft up to its cruising altitude of about 20,000 feet above sea level. We helped ourselves to some cold water and chips, clamped the Bose QC15 noise-cancelling headphones over our ears and got back to where we had last switched off our Kindles. Let’s face it, gadgets have taken over the world and you may as well play the game. If there’s one gadget that you just ‘have’ to have though, it is the Bose QC-15. What a difference it makes; hugely beneficial on long transatlantic flights for watching movies or TV shows (no painful ears or excessive noise leakage) and even better on noisy small propeller-driven aircraft such as a Cessna 206.

A little more than 1 hr 30 minutes later, we descended into typical sparsely vegetated Kalahari scrubveld and duneland, at Tswalu. On arrival we were met by our guide Jolyon and his tracker for a drive of about 20 minutes from the airstrip the lodge. The Motse lodge is an impressive structure in terms of size and design, with striking brick red colors and lots of stone, together with a massive thatched roof combining for a very pleasant visual effect.

Our room was no less pleasing. For one thing it was huge, with a large foyer and lounge area leading to the bedroom and ‘study’, with a separate large bathroom (his and hers vanities with a nice-sized bath as well as inside and outside shower) plus an outdoor verandah area. It was hot – in the 90’s F – so the extremely effective air-conditioning was a much necessity. It never even hesitated once during our 3-night stay, and of all the African safari lodges I have visited in more than 20 years, this one definitely has the climate-control thing down to a fine art. The very lavishly stocked mini-bar and a selection of snack foods ranging from biltong (jerky) to dried fruit and nuts, all contributed to a very cozy and luxurious place to rest one’s weary head after a day on safari in the Kalahari. The bedding and pillows were first-class.

At 5:00P that afternoon we set off on our first game drive, and there was definitely plenty of general game about, notably gemsbok, kudu and springbok. However our mission was to find and see the Northern pride of lions and in that we were very successful. Soon enough we were parked and observing them feeding on a wildebeest kill. There were 3 cubs of about 8 weeks old, 1 subadult 1-year old female, 2 adult females (mother and sister) and 2 adult males about 4 years of age.

It was interesting to observe the feeding hierarchy and dynamics. The dominant female was aggressive towards her 1-year old daughter, favoring the interests of the 3 younger cubs. Much to the displeasure and consternation of the young female!

We sat and watched the lions until the sun had set.

Meals at Tswalu were all great, with a very wide range of choices from breakfast through to dinner. Amongst others I recall a very good vegetable stir-fry with pasta and a delicately flavored vegetable curry.

The breakfast selection was equally good with a fresh fruit platter, eggs to order, oats with soy milk, fresh English muffins and whole wheat toast, while lunch featured items such as a ‘club’ sandwich. Of course for omnivores there are multiple other meat, poultry and fish choices.

07 Nov 2012: Cheetah trumps horseback riding
On our morning game drive, the objective was to find some Black Rhino but we struck out. As on the previous afternoon, there was plenty of general game around though and we saw plenty of gemsbok, kudu, springbok, and some eland as well.

Kathy had intended to do some horse-back riding this afternoon, but a cheetah sighting got in the way. Just as we were on our way to the stables, word came that a coalition of two male cheetahs had been spotted. Having to indulge in some ‘vulturing’ as the guides call it (i.e. horning in on a high profile animal found by someone else) we had to take our turn. The rule at Tswalu is that the guide (and his guests), who had made the original sighting can stay with the animals indefinitely. The other cars can take turns of 20 to 30 minutes.

As it ‘turned out’ we got lucky with a great white rhino sighting while we were waiting for our turn with the cheetah brothers. We crept up on four of these pre-historic behemoths, all of them trying their best to make sense of our 21st century vehicle, with a brain that had not evolved much beyond the era of the dinosaurs, some 60 million years ago. Talk about a generation gap!

By then, the light was fading fast and we got to the two cheetahs just in time to get a half decent look – they were heavily obscured by grass – and to snatch a few quick photographs when one of them lifted its head to survey the terrain.

Right at sunset the most amazing orange-red glow filled the sky and lit up a nearby hilly range in perfect golden light. Soon after, we stopped in a clearing and our guide Jolyon and tracker set up an elaborate al fresco dinner in next to no time.

Under a sky full of stars, and an atmosphere devoid of almost any sound except a few birds settling down for the night, we enjoyed a most delightful meal. It was another good day on safari in Africa. Which also happened to be our 31st anniversary!

On the way back to camp Kathleen and I practically simultaneously spotted a dark form scurrying along in the grass, just about 10 meters off the dirt track, to the right.

Almost immediately we realized that we had spotted an aardvark, that near mythical beast which is almost exclusively nocturnal and hence rarely seen. At Tswalu the chances of seeing an Aardvark is in the 60 to 80 percentile range, for a stay of 3 or 4 nights – with a better chance in the winter months when they are often seen in daylight. So if this elusive animal is on your ‘must see’ list, Tswalu should be on your ‘must visit’ list!

The aardvark appeared to be on a mission to get back to its burrow and it barely paused on the way. I managed to snap off a couple of quick photographs, none of which turned out great but at least two of which were adequate to prove the point. We had seen an aardvark!!

The Aardvark is not just unusual because it is a weird-looking nocturnal mammal that is rarely seen. It is unique in many ways, making it the only species in its own exclusive order the Tubulidentata, typified by having peculiar tubular teeth. Aardvark feed mostly on ants and termites, catching and eating as many as 50,000 insects in a single night.

08 November: Another species of rhino
In summer, mornings at Tswalu come very early with a knock at the door at 0500A. 15 minutes later, we join up with some other guests for a very light breakfast (juice, muffins, rusks, coffee and tea) and then we were off, each party in their own private vehicle with a private guide.

This morning, we were trying again for Black Rhino. Jolyon drove to the southwestern part of the reserve where a specific black rhino female is known to hang out. Trying to find some fresh tracks, our guide and trackers stopped every now and then for a short walk in the bush, looking for the tell-tale footprints. All they found were white rhino tracks.

Fortunately for us another vehicle located the black rhino mother and calf – but it was a good distance away. Arriving on the scene about 20 minutes later, we were fortunate to be able to observe the rhinos from very close up for the next 30 minutes or so.

The young rhino was suckling intermittently, emitting the strangest ‘mewing’ sound when he was not. The sound was very cat-like and not at all in keeping with the burly, sturdy young rhino. We managed to capture a few decent photographs of these usually very nervous, even aggressive animals before making our way back to camp for breakfast.

After an excellent meal on the terrace over the pool, Kathy and I rested up a bit in the comfortable air-conditioned room at Tswalu.

Later that afternoon, we ventured out again, stopping at a watering hole where we observe mammals such as warthog coming to drink, and several small colorful birds as well.

By 6:00P we were well underway to the site of a ‘dune event’, Tswalu’s version of a bush dinner. Complete with tables and chairs set up outside, a large potable grill, and of course a bar, this was a nice change of pace and I think we all enjoyed the spectacular sunset over the Kalahari sunset while enjoying another superb meal. Note to self: always have a good standard lens in your day pack.

We did not see another Aardvark on the way back to camp, but we did have a very good sighting of an Aardwolf; in fact we ended up with two sightings of this rarely seen mammal while at Tswalu. It is much more hyena-like in appearance than an Aardvark, and is indeed part of the hyena family. However when it comes to diet, an Aardwolf is an extremely picky eater. In South Africa it feeds almost exclusively on two types of harvester termites.

09 November: The Meerkat family
Our last morning at Tswalu was one of our best yet! First it was off to the stables to check out the horses. We were surprised to have more than a dozen beautiful horses greeting us, ranging from a few small child-friendly animals to a couple of hulking Clydesdales. They were ready to be fed, clustering together right at the fence, just like guppies in a fish tank waiting for the flakes to fall. A couple of the horses were happy to be petted and we were happy to indulge them. I took a few photos, we checked out the very comfortable stables and then departed for the Meerkat colony.

Fifteen minutes or so later, we were being briefed by Johani and Leah, who gave us a brief overview of the two meerkat colonies at Tswalu. And laid down a few do’s and don’ts: Don’t touch them, don’t cast a shadow over them and don’t make any sudden movements. After a few more minutes, first one, then another and soon enough a whole bunch of meerkats emerged from their burrow to cautiously check out the surroundings. We were delighted to observe a whole bunch of baby meerkats just reaching the ‘cute’ stage where they start playing with each other, running around, clambering all over each other and the adults and just generally acting out. We snapped away merrily, hopefully capturing some nice ‘meerkat moments’. After about 20 to 30 minutes, the meerkats started to disperse into the woodland to forage for food, and we bade them and the two girls farewell.

By 2:00P we were on our way to Johannesburg, cruising well above the clouds at over 300 mph in Tswalu’s very comfortable Pilatus C-12, easily one of the nicest pressurized single turbo-prop aircraft around. We spent the night at Fairlawns Hotel, in Johannesburg’s northern suburbs. The transfers from and back to the hotel were very competently handled by Wilro Tours. We enjoyed an excellent dinner at the Fairlawns restaurant, and an equally good breakfast the next morning. The rooms are extra-large and each one is decorated in a complete different style and color scheme. The hotel would be a good choice for someone looking for a bit of local flavor and it is definitely in the ‘anti-corporate’ category. So if a cookie-cutter generic hotel room is not your style, by all means consider Fairlawns.

PART 4: VICTORIA FALLS

Nov 10 & 11: The Victoria Falls experienceOver the last few years, I have grown somewhat skeptical of the Vic Falls experience as the area has become more commercialized, and of course it went through several very lean years when Zimbabwe’s internal strife caused widespread poverty, food and fuel shortages and extremely bad press, resulting in a dearth of visitors.

The good news is that Victoria Falls has lately been improving for the better in several ways. The local economy seems to have stabilized now that Zimbabwe is on a US Dollar-based monetary system. Small change is made in South African currency though, which you will experience if you go to the very new and very well stocked grocery store just off the main road in Vic Falls town. Other signs of the area’s improving fortunes? Several new properties have opened lately including Elephant Camp, Victoria Falls River Camp and there is a new wing to the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge. It probably won’t be long before the Ilala adds some additional rooms – its location is just too good.

One aspect of Vic Falls that hasn’t improved is getting there by air on an international flight. We have flown into Victoria Falls on British Airways from Johannesburg in early November, two years running now. Any uncertainty we may have harbored about the visa process at the airport is now gone. It was slow in 2011 and it was even slower in 2012. We know for sure now that it is exceedingly slow so do whatever you can to get to the head of the line. Get a business class seat on the flight into Vic Falls (it is not hugely more expensive), ask for a seat in the front of the economy cabin (row 10 is a good bet), but above all don’t dawdle. It can be the difference between 10 minutes in the line to get your visa, or 1 hour+. If you haven’t completed your visa application en route, do it while you walk up to the counter.

It is really a disappointment that the Zimbabwe immigration authorities have not done anything to improve their process. There is no reason why two officials should jointly scrutinize the same passport, pass it back and forth, with much talking while this is going on. Surely all that is needed is a completed visa application form, a valid passport and US$30 in cash. The process should take 3 minutes tops.

Our amiable transfer driver Abiat soon had us at the Vic Falls Hotel, and in short order we were unpacking in one of the deluxe rooms, with a nice view over the garden and beyond, to the famous train bridge spanning the Zambezi River gorge.

The room itself was adequate if nothing else: a comfortable King Size bed, windows that could open and close, heavy drapes that kept out light, and a utilitarian bathroom.

The Victoria Falls Hotel is more than just a room though, it is an experience. Where else can you feel like a 1920’s movie star strolling through a living museum, marvelling at the amazing collection of old posters, stepping into a private room frozen in a turn-of-the century time warp, or sipping a dry gin martini or even a Pimm’s #1 Cup in the utmost of genteel surroundings.

The interior hallways with the superb ‘British Character’ cartoon collection from Punch magazine (take the time to read a few!) are like an illustrated version of Zimbabwe and South Africa’s history around the early 1900’s. Pause and peruse the priceless old BOAC and SAA posters, and take a trip down memory lane with the illustrated slogans and products from long gone British colonies and protectorates. The sun has set on the British Empire everywhere except at the Victoria Falls Hotel in Zimbabwe.

That afternoon we strolled around the grounds of this grand old lady of a hotel which is still in terrific shape at the ripe old age of 108 years. The grounds were in almost as good a shape as they were in November 2011; the only difference being that this year the early rains had not yet fallen, and Vic Falls town was bone dry. As a result some of the lawns and plants were a bit stressed.

As always, there was quite a lot wildlife around, notably baboons and vervet monkeys. We saw some monkeys checking the building systematically for open windows, so be sure not to leave yours open. There was also an entertaining family of warthog with youngsters, which attracted a lot of attention from amateur photographers.

High tea (served from 3:00P to 6:00) is not inexpensive at $30.00 for two persons (it is actually adequate

for 3 persons) but worth every penny. Dainty sandwiches, freshly baked scones and a variety of cakes and pastries vie for attention in a 3-tiered serving dish, and with that of course it is ‘derigueur’ to have a large pot of excellent local Zimbabwean tea, fresh from the eastern highlands.

All the other services and meals we tried at the Victoria Falls Hotel were perfectly fine. We enjoyed a light dinner on the terrace one evening, had a drink at the bar and even used the ‘internet room’ with computers to check on what was happening back in the USA. It was all good.

Late in the afternoon – it was a Saturday – we saw a small steam train from the Victoria Falls Steam Train Company depart from Victoria Falls Station on a sunset bridge run to the Victoria Falls Bridge. We will definitely try this activity on a future trip to the Vic Falls area. It is operated on most Saturdays, leaving the Vic Falls Station which is literally just opposite the hotel, at 5:00P.

After tea, we strolled over to the nearby Ilala Lodge, our #2 hotel recommendation in Victoria Falls. I took a few photographs in the garden and we tried one of the local cocktail specials, relaxing on the verandah overlooking the wooded area in front of the hotel. As always, we marveled at the beautiful trees and flowering shrubs and it was easy to fall into a pensive mood in the quiet, relaxing atmosphere.

As we did in November 2011, we enjoyed dinner at Mama Africa’s restaurant, a 10-minute walk from the Vic Falls Hotel. The restaurant has some rough edges and will likely not be to everyone’s taste. Surely no menu item on any restaurant anywhere in the world should be called an ‘Elephant Turd Steak’. I realize it has to do with the size of the piece of meat, but still… Service was also a bit cavalier – and slow – but unfortunately that is typical of almost all Southern African restaurants, even in the cities.

Our vegetable curry with sadza (polenta) was good and nicely perfumed, no real complaints there. I had been looking forward to hearing the African Jazz Band but I’m afraid the performance was very amateurish. Our enjoyment of the meal was also spoiled by an obnoxious European smoker, who lit up several times in a packed verandah, during the course of the meal. We were technically outdoors but it was very boorish and selfish of this person to smoke so close to many other diners.

November 11: Re-discovering Victoria Falls National Park
Early on this Sunday morning we had a superb breakfast at Jungle Junction Restaurant or JJ as everyone calls it. There was a huge selection of fresh fruit, cereals, eggs to order, various meats, sausages, bacon, beans, various types of toast, sweet pastries, rolls, cheeses, coffee, tea and juices to choose from. Plus a great view over a pond, fresh African sunshine and in the distance, a whisper of mist above the Victoria Falls themselves.

The Falls are at their lowest in the month of November so we were not expecting much on a guided Tour of the Falls with our very friendly and knowledgeable guide Abiat from Wilderness Safaris Zimbabwe. I was not impressed by the entrance of $30.00 per person. Hopefully the authorities will make the entrance ticket valid for several (3?) days so that visitors can check out the Falls at various time of the day and early morning or evening.

That being said I don’t think that our thirty bucks was a waste of money. Quite the contrary. I had not done this walk along the Falls in several years which is a mistake. Since my previous visit, the Falls authorities have revamped the entrance facilities and visitor center to something which any US National Park could be proud of. Good interpretive maps, a well-marked self-guided trail and a series of paved lookout points which span the Falls from left (Devils’s Cataract) to right (Livingstone Island on the Zambia side) make it a real pleasure to visit the Falls on foot. We stopped at many of the lookout points and took a bunch of photographs including some of the wildlife, which include baboons, monkeys and very tame bushbuck.

Unfortunately for visitors on the Zambia side of the Victoria Falls there is no water visible at this time of the year. All you can see are the ‘Victoria Walls’ and not the ‘Victoria Falls’.

Later in the day we checked out the new Elephant Camp near Victoria Falls, and we were certainly impressed with the elegant air-conditioned rooms and comfortable dining room and lounge. Two sight-seeing visits per day to Victoria Falls town are included in the full board tariff. If you prefer an upscale safari lodge atmosphere in a quiet, secluded area then this would be a good choice for a couple of days in Vic Falls. We also had a look at the rooms at the new Victoria Falls Safari Lodge Club, a recently opened addition to the VFSL. I liked the very modern rooms with regular ceiling and good insulation. Unlike the rooms in the original portion of the VFSL, the rooms in the new wing are very effectively air-conditioned. Not all visitors will be thrilled with the ‘open plan’ bathroom design, but it is a minor flaw.

We enjoyed a tasty lunch – vegetarian rollups – at the Vic Falls Safari Lodge restaurant. I was pleased to see several new vegetarian additions to the menu, compared with the situation one year previously. We watched from the upstairs deck as a horde of vultures and marabou storks descended onto the dusty terrain for what appears to be a daily ‘feeding’. Stupid idea.

On the way back to the hotel I briefly popped into a new supermarket just off the main road in Vic Falls village, and was impressed with the variety of goods available for sale. Vic Falls is back big time!

PART 5: RUCKOMECHI CAMP, MANA POOLS

Nov 12 & 13: Ruckomechi Camp, Mana Pools
Much too early this morning – at 06:30A – we had to leave the Vic Falls Hotel to catch a charter flight to Ruckomechi Camp in the Mana Pools area. Maybe there were legitimate flight safety issues which necessitated such an early departure but surely an extra 30 minutes for breakfast would not have been too much to ask? Nobody is very happy traveling on an empty stomach with no prospect of getting something to eat until midday.

We took off at 07:30 and about 1hr 45 minutes later we landed at a bone dry Mana West airstrip. The first rains were imminent (usually mid-November) but clearly had not fallen yet. The wooded areas surrounding the airstrip were totally bare of ground cover, with large patches of red sandy soil visible everywhere.

Mana Pools National Park is known for significant habitat diversity, and it was quite visible on our drive to camp and on later game drives. From mature woodland we drove through mopane scrub which gave way to riverine thickets and soon enough to a wide floodplain adjacent to the Zambezi River. In the dry season this area acts like a magnate for wildlife, and over the next couple of days we would often see 4 or 5 species of mammals congregated along the floodplain. These included large numbers of baboons, impala, kudu, zebra, waterbuck, eland, warthog and elephant, with hippo in the water.

One of the main features of Mana Pools is its view over the Zambia escarpment to the north. The hills loom into view from everywhere: the porch of your tent, while dining and of course most noticeably while enjoying water activities such as canoeing, on a boat cruise, or while having sundowners on a bluff overlooking the Zambezi.

On game drives, we had exceptionally good looks at a small pride of lions (2 females, 2 cubs) and eland, in addition to all the other more common species. Wild dog and leopard had also been seen a day or two prior to our arrival.

Our fishing expedition on our first afternoon at Ruckomechi was not successful but another guest – Al from Portland – caught four Tiger Fish on an afternoon outing. Hint: his guide’s name was Champion.

Kathy and I both enjoyed the boat cruise on the Zambezi very much. The vessel is a stable pontoon with comfortable seats, providing unobstructed views of hippo, elephant on the islands, carmine bee-eater colony (summer) and many others items and things of interest. And always the beautiful Zambia escarpment in the background.

The best feature of Ruckomechi Camp is the pool, at least in the hot summer months of October and November, when it offers a welcome relief from the extreme heat which often reaches 40C (100F) with relatively high humidity. On two occasions we tried to take a nap during the siesta period only to abandon it in favor of the pool where a dip in the cool water felt really good! This camp is probably not the best choice for October and November, unless you are impervious to heat and dead set on experiencing the amazing concentration of wildlife on the Zambezi River floodplain.

The tents at Ruckomechi are good, yet they have a couple of design issues. It would have been nice to have some sort of partition between the sleeping area and the toilet/bathroom. Also overhead fans are sorely needed – the portable one in our room was of very little use and it was exceedingly noisy.

The Ruckomechi staff were superb without exception – they could not have tried harder to meet our expectations and needs. Our vegan food preferences were handled very effectively with special meals and snacks ranging from lentils to veggie kebabs and sadza. Our guide Damesh was fantastic and really a most engaging and all-round interesting guide with a great ability to expand on a question and turn it into an appropriate and interesting ‘nature lesson’ without being pedantic or long-winded.

On our last afternoon at Ruckomechi we enjoyed an excellent sundowner on a high sandy point overlooking the Zambezi River and the escarpment in the background. Beautiful sunset!

PART 6: LITTLE MAKALOLO CAMP – HWANGE

Nov 14 & 15 – Little Makalolo Camp – Hwange Game Reserve
From Ruckomechi we flew cross-country – around 1 hr 30 minutes – initially right over the wall at Lake Kariba, then past the Chizarira area, eventually to Hwange National Park, where we would spend the next 2 nights at Little Makalolo Camp.

I have been sending clients to Little Makalolo for many years (my colleagues having visited the camp several years ago). Now I know why everybody comes back from this beauty of a small camp with such great reports. The rooms are really nice – although some of them are a bit close to each other – there is a pool, and the lounge and dining room is first class.

What really sets the place apart from a run of the mill camp is the large artificially maintained water hole right in front of camp, with its own log-pile hide.

Barely 20 minutes after arriving in camp, Kathy and I were driven to the hide by our guide Tendai who is also the General Manager of the two Wilderness Safaris concessions in the area. Tendai is what every young guide should aspire to be: professional, courteous, very knowledgeable with great ability to anticipate game behavior and movement and funny to boot!

We were soon ensconced in the steel frame partially buried in a massive log pile, and not long afterwards the first of several elephant herds walked out of the woodland to the waterhole, accelerating the closer they got.

Initially drinking in a tight group, they soon start to disperse, all the while continuing to slurp up multiple gallons of water every few seconds.

We were highly entertained by the antics of several very young baby elephants, some of whom had not quite mastered the myriad of muscles controlling trunk movement. This resulted in some strange – even hilarious – twisted trunk formations. One of the youngsters even gave up on the whole trunk thing, simply kneeling down and drinking by mouth, the way most of us do it.

Over the course of perhaps 90 minutes or so we saw three different herds come through, ranging from 5 to about 20+ elephants.

We returned to camp for a little unpacking, enjoyed afternoon tea (the food at Little Makalolo was

the best in Zimbabwe!) and then set out for an afternoon game drive. There was quite a bit of general game in the area, including giraffe, kudu, zebra, eland and lots of steenbok. The game was not as concentrated as at Ruckomechi, and sometimes 20 minutes or so would go by without anything of interest being seen especially when driving through the woodland.

The scenery at Little Makalolo is superb, with different types of woodland consisting of mopane, false mopane and very striking rosewood forests, amongst others. Birdlife was exceptional with lots of birds of prey, rollers, shrikes, bee-eaters and other woodland species to be seen.

For sundowners Tendai stopped the car about 15 meters or so from the edge of a large pan (pumped waterhole) where an elephant had very recently died. Tendai was careful to keep us upwind of the elephant which was being besieged by various species of vultures and Marabou Storks.

Soon a huge herd of elephant appeared out of the bush and started to drink on the opposite side of the waterhole. They were very thirsty and some of the younger elephants were almost running by the time they made it to the edge of the water. Between Kathy and I we made hundreds of impressions of elephants in all kinds of poses and stances.

Then things started to get really interesting. Initially one of the large herds of elephant started to move around the pan, circling back and passing right in front of us, walking from our right to left, almost all of them giving us a glance before moving on. It was something! I have neglected to mention that the three of us were sitting outside, next to the vehicle, facing the pan, with the vehicle right at our backs.

Just then, Tendai said that another herd had approached from behind and sure enough, by standing up we could their large ears and trunks across the top of the seats. They were staring at us too.

Cautiously at first and then more boldly, they came around on the left and right hand side of the vehicle, padding right by us on their way to the life-giving water. I realized that Kathy was starting to get a little stressed with the near proximity of so many elephants when her camera went quiet and she just sat there taking in the spectacle. Awesome! A gin and tonic never tasted so good.

Several lions had been seen in the Makalolo Camp area the previous day and we heard them calling

from time to time during the elephant episode. So on the way back to camp Tendai was on the lookout for the pride. It was almost completely dark when we finally saw them. Seven adults lions including several young males were walking right towards us, spaced about 20 meters apart. One by one they passed the vehicle on our right, so close that we could hear their large feet crunching the dry vegetation and lightly thudding on the soft sand.

Some of the more bold lions stayed quite close to the vehicle, never leaving the road. The more cautious ones took a bit more of a detour. All of them gave us a good look, one of the females stopping momentarily to try to get a fix on us, and one of the young males speeding up and accelerating as he went around, a bit more wary and skittish than the others. Another magic moment in Africa!

15 November: A new life bird for Bert’s Africa list
Our objective this day was to find a Rackettailed Roller, a bird which had eluded me for nearly 3 years – and to hopefully see some Sable Antelope as well. On the latter the results were somewhat disappointing: we saw two Sables that morning but neither of them was close enough for a usable photograph.

The search for the RTR turned out a lot better. It took a while to find the first one in a stand of false mopane and rosewood forest. The dipping flight initially gave it away and I could clearly see the spatulate tail feathers a bit later, nailing the identification. It was a case of ‘better view desired’ though. Fortunately I didn’t have to wait long: about half an hour later we enjoyed superb closeup views of the RTR with clear views of the pale blue breast (no lilac like the Lilacbreasted Roller) and of course the tell-tale tail.

At the very next waterhole we visited, there was a massive herd of 500+ buffalo and we spent probably 40 minutes or so just sitting there and watching them come, drink and go. Quite a spectacle. Not long afterwards, we enjoyed a delightful late morning brunch in the bush, courtesy of the Little Makalolo catering staff. They really do go to extraordinary lengths to keep the guests happy!

By early afternoon we were at nearby Davison’s Camp – a perfectly fine alternative option in the area if Little Makalolo is not available and great for travelers on a slightly smaller budget. At Davison’s we also observed Wilderness Safaris’ Children in the Wilderness program in action: this philanthropic effort takes groups of up to 24 disadvantaged children into the Wilderness for a nature, wildlife and educational experience. The 11 & 12 year old kids were just completing an early afternoon project, following on which they entertained the guests with some very lovely and moving ensemble singing.

From Davison’s Camp we drove to the eastern portion of the concession which ends at the railway track stretching from Victoria Falls to Bulawayo.

For a while, we watched an extended baboon family – especially the youngsters – get up to all kinds of antics. Then we were alerted to the presence of a different pride of lions, which we observed for a very brief time in good light. Unfortunately it had taken us too long to get there, so there were very limited opportunities for photographs. The drive back to camp was in the dark and mostly quiet but we did manage to see some springhares, a large-spotted genet and a civet, which livened things up a bit.

As before, the evening’s dinner was excellent with a wide variety of vegan options in addition to the more conventional chicken and beef main course options.

Early the next morning, we were out on our last game drive at Little Makalolo, spotting more elephant, some good sized wildebeest herds, kudu and enjoying some really nice views of eland, before we had to say our goodbyes and board a Caravan which would take us back towards the east, to Lake Kariba.

PART 7: BUMI HILLS HOTEL, LAKE KARIBA

Nov 16 & 17: Bumi Hills Hotel, Lake Kariba
The Bumi Hills Hotel is located on a perfect spot, high on a bluff overlooking Starvation Island and the Umi River area of Lake Kariba, the world’s largest man-made lake by volume, which filled up in 1963.

The hotel was once a thriving concern in the 1960’s and 1970’s but fell on hard times during Zimbabwe’s era of civil unrest and conflict in the 1990’s when farm confiscations, economic woes and food shortages reduced tourism numbers to a trickle.

The Bumi Hills Hotel has now been beautifully restored and it would be a great addition to any Zimbabwe itinerary, the lake and nearby Matusadona National Park offering a wide range of activities including game drives, walking, boating and fishing.

Our standard room (#1) was perfectly fine and quite comfortable. We did have a major issue with the air-conditioning though. It was switched on at night at about 9:00pm until about 5:30AM, the reason being cost-related (there is no mains electricity; all power is generator-driven). During summer on the shores of Lake Kariba it is really critical to have an air-conditioned room around the clock, so I would not recommend this hotel for travel from about October through March, unless this issue can be addressed.

The air-conditioning issue aside, the Bumi Hills Hotel has a lot going for it. The location is arguably one of the best in Southern Africa, with a simply stupendous view over Lake Kariba and the surrounding hills in Zimbabwe and beyond to Zambia.

The infinity pool is one of the prettiest and best-maintained I have seen anywhere and if you pull your lounger to the right hand side of the pool, close to the ledge, you may just nix the idea of any activities and spend a lazy late morning or afternoon right there.

There is an outdoor bar on the other side of the pool, a terrace as well as an indoor dining area, a TV room and full sized billiard table, so plenty to keep oneself occupied right around the lodge itself. If you do venture out into Lake Kariba – and of course you would – fishing can be very good for both bream and Tigerfish, the latter being most active in the hotter summer months from October through January.

One afternoon we took a boat cruise which doubled as a game drive due to the many mammals along the shoreline, as well as hippo in the water, crocodiles all over the place and many African Fish Eagles as well as other water-associated birds such as cormorants, gulls and terns. There were dozens of elephants, all looking very red due to the dusty red dirt residue on their hides, as well as buffalo, waterbuck, impala, warthog and baboons.

The food at Bumi Hills was very good, made even better by the table for two with a view, where we enjoyed all our meals. Truly, one could not ask for a more spectacular spot – we were never in a rush to finish up a meal! On the last night I was treated to a local sugar-bean stew served with sadza, and some greens on the side. They could have served that every night! Some really good local South African wines were included in the rate, definitely a good idea. The manager looked after us particularly well and was around constantly inquiring about our well-being. Very much appreciated. Even though there was a large party of 25 or so Zimbabweans at the hotel at the same time – celebrating someone’s 50th birthday – we never felt ‘left-out’.

On the second day, Kathy and I took an inspection outing to nearby Musango Lodge, which we have used a few times in recent years. We really liked what we saw at this lodge, which has an impressive main building/lounge; if you sit in the right spot you can watch the sun come up in the east, turn your chair around and watch it set again in the west. With unobstructed views in both directions. Just like Bumi Hills, Musango Lodge has a long list of activities even including, and the rooms looked very comfortable, consisting of tents inside a rock/brick shell. We were there in the middle of the day – it was hot – but the interior of the tents was quite comfortable. So for someone wanting to include Lake Kariba and who prefers a traditional safari camp, Musango would definitely be the right choice.

Early on November 18 we enjoyed a last breakfast at our special table over the lake, packed away the last few items in our hand luggage and started on the first leg of the long, long journey back to Texas.

More Info

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Uganda & Rwanda April May 2012

PART 1: UGANDA & RWANDA

The signature moment of my April-May 2012 educational trip to Uganda and Rwanda was an unexpected surprise which will be a good memory for years to come, even if I don’t return to this lovely part of Africa again soon.

It happened along a muddy mountain road barely one quarter mile or so from Nkuringo Lodge where our group of 10 had spent a night prior to what would be – for all of us – our first ever gorilla trek. Many of us had not slept too well that night. I know I was up at 0415 that morning, feeling rather apprehensive about the gorilla thing. What if they were not there on the day? What if I slipped and broke something before getting to the spot where we were going? What if it rained all morning? What if —

As we were walking along this isolated little road with barely a soul passing by, I shook off the fatigue for a moment and realized where I was. Africa! Time to look around and take in what there was to see. Turning my head to the left, my eyes fell upon a stupendous view which must surely rival the pyramids of Egypt. In the distance, three massive volcanoes jutted into the pale misty sky, a faint vapor trail above one of them signifying that it was all but dormant. The volcanoes, several other hills, the clouds, the mist and the vegetation merged into a scene that can’t be found anywhere else in the world. A couple of Grey Crowned Cranes flew by down in the valley from right to left, their telltale crowns and long legs rendering them unmistakable. I walked on, all the images swirling around in my sleep-deprived brain.

Lagging behind the other four persons who would be trekking the same gorilla group that morning, I was completely lost in my thoughts when three cold little hands suddenly gripped mine, two on the left and one on the right. Totally spontaneously three little Uganda boys – one set of twins and a slightly older friend – had decided that I needed some company and maybe a sympathetic face to look up at me. No question, I did. Their timing was perfect and although I couldn’t understand a word they were saying, their gentle touch and their sparkling eyes said it all: “Don’t worry mzungu, you’re going to be just fine. Relax, give that heavy bag to a porter and don’t worry so much about the photographs. Just enjoy the experience!”

Barely 30 minutes later, our small group were face to face with the most impressive big apes still to be found wandering this earth: the gentle giants who inhabit Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and a few other patches of similar habitat in neighboring Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Mountain Gorilla. There are less than 800 of these great apes left in the wild, so it is an awesome experience – in the old-fashioned sense of the word – to behold them right there in front of you, stuffing their faces with big handfuls of leaves, clearly relishing every ounce of the approximately 40 pounds pounds of food they consume every day.

In the space of less than an hour, we had experienced the very best of Uganda – and the same would be true of Rwanda which we visited later – namely supreme scenic beauty, beautiful real people, and the wild ‘people’ of the forest, in this instance gorillas, in other places chimpanzees and an amazing array of monkeys.

Our familiarization trip to Uganda and Rwanda with The Far Horizons was an unqualified success. I certainly learned a lot and I am very enthusiastic about both Uganda and lovely little Rwanda. As I said: friendly people, amazing wildlife, beautiful scenery and interesting places to spend a night or two or three.

Our trip started in Entebbe, Uganda, which was not too painful to get to from the USA on KLM via Amsterdam. Non-stop Houston-AMS , 3 hr lay-over and then direct to Entebbe with a 1-hr stop in Kigali en route. Very quick and friendly border formalities entering Uganda (US$50 for the visa paid on arrival, need proof of Yellow Fever) and that was that. I exchanged US$200 for a whole boatload of Uganda Shillings (current exchange rate US$1 = 2,500 Uganda Sh) , met up with David who was also booked for the pre-trip extension to Murchison Falls, and off we went to The Boma, our guest house for the night. It was barely 10 minutes or so down the road. Nothing fancy but with a great location, clean and comfortable – good food and a great garden which would really appeal to birders.

Ziwa Rhino Reserve And Murchison Falls Np
The pre-tour portion of the trip started with an overnight at Lodge in the Ziwa Rhino Reserve. The main activity here is finding and observing white rhino on foot. The rhino are under 24-hr observation for anti-poaching reasons, so it is not difficult to find them. We drove for perhaps 15 minutes or so from the Park Headquarters with our guide and armed ranger, got out of the vehicle and found the small group of rhino just minutes later. Initially they were quite cooperative and continued grazing while we snapped a few photographs. The guide could probably have imparted a bit more information than he did, but as soon as the rhino started moving, he had his hands full leading us in a brisk walk in the direction they were heading. As it turned out the rhinos started moving more and more rapidly and we did not see them again. Ordinarily white rhino are quite placid and behave a lot like cattle, just imperceptibly moving away in the presence of humans.

Amuka Lodge at Ziwa is fine for a quick stop-over en route to Murchison Falls National Park. It definitely needs some work: the rooms are quite large yet they have a Spartan feel to them which can easily be changed with a few furnishings, a wall-hanging or two and additional lighting. The bathroom is huge but can only be reached by leaving the room. The lodge’s best feature is definitely the communal lounge and bar area: aged mahogany timber is used in a creative and very memorable way with natural stone and canvas giving the lodge a very solid, authentic feel. The food and hospitality was great: owner Johan Genade and his sons are always around to keep an eye on things and to pitch in with a barbecue dinner. I was impressed with the variety of foods and did not lack for vegan options.

Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary has become increasingly popular with tourists visiting the Murchison’s Falls National Park as it is conveniently located just over 100 miles from Kampala, en route to the park. Ziwa is the only place where rhinos can be seen in the wild in Uganda.

From Ziwa we drove up to Murchison Falls National Park, spending the night at the very pleasant Paraa Lodge, on the northern bank of the Nile River. The area is spectacular in several ways: boat cruises on the Nile River are very productive with excellent bird and other wildlife sightings, with the Shoebill Stork being a highly prized find. We boarded an afternoon ‘sunset’ cruise on the Nile from Nile Safari Camp to Paraa Lodge – this turned out to be one of the most enjoyable outings of the entire trip. This massive river was teeming with birdlife as well as hippo and crocodile.

I would not hesitate to recommend including Murchison Falls National Park on any trip to Uganda. The landscape is somewhat reminiscent of the Maasai Mara, with lots of rolling hills and open plains, even prettier than the Mara. Plus there is the Nile River and Lake Albert as well. We were taken on a good game drive the next morning (lots of giraffe, buffalo, Jackson’s Hartebeest, Uganda Kob, some elephant, oribi, Patas monkeys and several other species, but no lions) which was followed by a second river cruise in the Nile Delta area. This is where I finally came face to face with a Shoebill, which obligingly took to the air right in front of us. These amazing birds, which are specially adapted to predate lungfish, have an almost cartoon-like massive bill which gives it an ungainly appearance, with the bill being almost as big as the entire head of the bird. We got some very good pics of African Skimmers, as well as various herons and other water birds. One of the best outings of the trip by a long margin!

Come to think of it, the birdlife in both Uganda and Rwanda was fantastic: even though I really had no time for any proper ‘birding’, I still ticked off a bunch of life birds including the Shoebill and several other endemic or highly localized specials. The boat trips on the Nile River at Murchison Falls provided ample opportunities for photographs of birds in flight. I had not seen an area this good since a visit several years ago to the Tana Delta of Kenya (Delta Dunes Camp).

Our second (upstream) launch trip on the Victoria Nile River took us to the base of the actual Murchison Falls. As we approached the Falls, the river starts to get more and more narrow and the two sides of the canyon move closer and closer. Not surprisingly the velocity of the water rushing downstream starts to increase. It got really interesting as our skipper – a very capable and knowledgeable guide – had to crank up the outboard motor to keep our skiff from being swept backwards. The Nile River was in near flood stage so the current was massively strong and there were some ominous-looking whirlpools and standing waves in a couple of places. While all this was going on, the Falls themselves were coming into better and better view as we approached, so I would look at the rapids for a second, then lift my head towards the Falls, snap off a pic only to turn back to the rushing water to see if we were still moving in the right direction. Steering to the left side of the river – which was slightly less turbulent than the other side – we eventually made it to a safe docking point, but not before seeing a crocodile gorging on a huge Nile perch. Looking around, we quickly realized that this area is simply infested with crocodiles; they hang around here to feed on fish killed by the violent whirlpool effect of the water going down the Falls.

At the base of the Falls we disembarked and hiked up to the top of the Falls. It was a pretty arduous walk, with a little bit of scrambling here and there and of course it was very hot and steamy. Don’t do this if you’re not at least reasonably fit – or at least take it very easy and tote some water. If you do make the walk, be prepared for one of the best experiences you might find in East Africa: being this close to the fury of the entire Nile River exploding through a narrow gap in the rocky gorge is just flat-out amazing! I marveled at the fantastic power of nature in this raw and 100% unspoiled display of force and violence. It gets better and better as you get closer to the top – observing mountains of water crashing downwards with a thunderous roar is mesmerizing. One viewpoint is better than the next; there are some overlook points with superb views over the adjacent Uhuru Falls as well. I really rate this experience to be every bit as impressive as Victoria Falls; very different as there is no huge curtain of water and the drop itself is not that high. However it is the proximity and the unbelievable force that practically shakes the rocks you are standing on, that does it for me. Emerging at the top, after a quick drenching from the spray, we were greeted by a few rangers. No curio sellers, no soft-drink dispensers, just the sound of the water behind you.

Paraa Lodge and its sister property Mweya Lodge were built in the 1950’s and although they are both great places to stay, they have retained somewhat of a ‘colonial’ flavor; also both of the lodges are quite big with as many as 50 rooms. On our short stay at each of the lodges, this never bothered me. The rooms at Paraa were perhaps a bit dull and not overly big but they have private balconies and pretty nice views over the pool or the river. There are several public areas so we never felt crowded, in fact I did not really see many other people except a handful at mealtimes. No complaints about the food at Paraa: extensive buffet choices and a comprehensive a la carte menu as well; several vegetarian/vegan options.

We also made an inspection visit to Nile Safari Camp which appeared to be a good choice for the Murchison Falls area as well. The common areas and most of the rooms have great views over the Nile itself and the lodge is quite small (a mix of 12 wooden chalets and tented rooms). A couple of the rooms appeared to be rather close to each other and the views from at least one of the verandahs were obscured by the overhang from the roof. A couple of the rooms we saw were very nice though.

Apes And Monkeys
Of course the primary reason for going to Uganda is the abundance of apes and monkeys: we had some superb chimp sightings in Budongo Forest Reserve, which made up for the subsequent Kibale Forest chimp trek which turned out to be rather unsatisfactory with the chimps mostly way up in the trees and moving around.

We were very lucky with the chimps at Budongo Forest Reserve where one individual posed quite happily for the cameras. I did not have the right lens otherwise I might have had some really good chimp pics! At one stage several of the chimps literally ‘fell’ from the trees, grasping one or two seemingly flimsy twigs as they came crashing down. You don’t see that kind of stuff in the movies, folks! Awesome!

Budongo Forest can be included on any Murchison Falls itinerary, probably best at the end of this segment, before returning to Entebbe/Kampala. The night prior to the chimp trek at Budongo we slept at Budongo Eco Lodge, a very pleasant ‘no frills’ lodge right on the edge of the forest. The big advantage of staying here is that you can walk literally right out of the lodge, to the start of the chimpanzee trek or birdwatching outing. No additional driving involved. This is an important consideration in a country such as Uganda where (at least for now) most transfers between areas are by road.

The gorilla trek in Uganda (southern sector of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest) was good if somewhat tricky: we had to walk down and along a very steep slope, not for everybody! We got very close to the gorillas but photography was difficult: they kept turning their backs on us or dodging behind the vegetation – inadvertently one assumes. I did not have the right photo equipment for a gorilla trek. My 200-400 zoom lens was too much glass and too heavy; I could barely pick it up towards the end. My other lens – a 28-70mm 2.8 zoom lens was just a little on the short side. The ideal lens would be a 70-200mm 2.8: will have to get one of those before the next trip! A good 100-400mm zoom lens would also work.

The gorilla trek on the Rwanda side (Volcanoes NP) was easier although not by much – it involved quite a long walk with some pretty rough spots towards the end, close to where the gorillas were. This time the gorilla family was in a wide open area and I would have gotten some great shots if the weather played along. All went well until about 10 minutes before we got to the gorilla group. About 1 hr walk, not too strenuous, nothing like the slopes of Bwindi. It started to pour just minutes before we got to the gorillas and never let up, in fact it got worse. I took a couple of quick shots and then packed my camera and lens away; I did not want to risk potential serious damage to the camera and/or lenses – just too much water around. Someone else in the group (a dentist from Sheffield England) had 2 cameras seize up on him. Even so it was a great experience. Even in the rain we marveled at the proximity to those magnificent animals. Back at the lodge the staff cleaned my muddy dirty boots in no time and they are now as good as new. So high marks to everyone at Sabinyo Silverback Lodge.

The service and food at Sabinyo Silverback lived up to expectations: it was impeccable in every way. On the afternoon that I got there after being driven from Kigali (2 hr 30 minutes), I requested some red wine and was pleasantly surprised when a bottle of Nederburg Pinotage showed up. Promptly enjoyed a glass of it while soaking in the best bath I had in the entire trip: the tubs at Sabinyo seem to have been form-fitted for someone of about 5′ 10″ (178 cm): in a pinch it will accommodate slightly taller or shorter persons too… The water was near boiling hot and there was lots of it! Nice robes too – not to mention those cute gorilla gift items for all guests, two hot water bottles in the bed and lots of space to unpack and hang stuff.

A few of us also did a Golden Monkey trek in Volcanoes National Park. I would not necessarily recommend this activity as a high priority on anyone’s list of things to do in the area but it was a worthwhile outing nonetheless. Our local guide was very entertaining and made abundantly sure that we got some good looks at these rather elusive little creatures. Initially they were in the open on the edge of a bamboo forest but the lighting was no good for photography, with the sky behind them getting blown out. We waited a while for them to hopefully come down to ground level, but that did not happen. Eventually we ventured into the dense bambook forest and for the next hour or so it was a case of hide and seek with the monkeys, grabbing photos where we could. Sometimes it turned into a bit of wild goose chase because we would be following a guide beckoning us along, only to find the monkey already gone when we got to the ‘right’ spot. So it goes. If you have an extra day in this area, by all means sign up for the Golden Monkey trek; it is also the perfect substitute for those younger members of a party (under 15) who do not qualify for a gorilla trek.

The night prior to the Golden Monkey trek we spent at Gorilla View Mountain Lodge. I can’t say that I was very impressed with this lodge, but most people would probably find it a perfectly fine place to stay for one or two nights, as a base for a gorilla trek. For one thing, it is very close to the park headquarters and for another it is not nearly as expensive as the only other close-by option. I was a bit put off by the initial appearance: the reception/lounge area is very dark and poorly lit – the generator is switched on and off at various times during the day. So on arrival one got the impression of being in a power cut situation. The rooms are large and they were rather cold and very, very damp. Probably something to do with the time of the year but really it felt like someone had sprayed my bed with a fine water mist, when I finally got into it that night. A huge bonfire in my fireplace did not really make much of a difference. Also the bathrooms are massive but poorly designed; there was nowhere to put anything or hang anything, and the water pressure was not great. The food was ok: very plain and not really exciting at all (a large buffet) but it was edible and there was a lot of variety, especially in the way of vegetables and starches. Vegetarians and vegans would be quite happy with the choices.

Coming soon in part 2: Kibale Forest, Queen Elizabeth National Park, Kigale and Nyungwe Forest. Also a bit more about our guides and hosts.

PART 2: UGANDA AND RWANDA

It is raining softly at Nyungwe Forest Lodge in far Southwestern Rwanda. Through the glass panels in front of the lodge’s spectacular dining room, my eyes are drawn to shifting patches of fog clinging to and sometimes obscuring the beautiful primary forest covering the hillsides beyond the camp.

I can practically feel the heavy cloud bank closing in, with giant 90-feet tall trees disappearing in the gloom. The hills turn into massive waves and a tsunami of fog advances in my direction. This is the theater of the wilderness, the living breathing manifestation of nature at its finest. It is moments like these that distinguish an Africa trip from just traveling somewhere. Those moments when you forget about the trappings of civilization and truly bond with the environment such as when you are gazing upon gorillas in a rain forest, following chimpanzees scattering through the trees or checking the slow wing-beat of a blackheaded Heron flying down the Nile River. A little mental flashback to eons ago when our forefathers roamed the African savannah. Welcome home.

A cup of Rwandan coffee later, my fleeting Africa moment was gone – and the forest was back. The fog had dispersed. I turned my attention to a beautiful little black-capped waxbill feeding low in the vegetation on the edge of the lodge. It was the last morning of my Uganda and Rwanda journey and I was mentally bracing myself for re-entry into the daily routine awaiting back in the USA.

We had seen and experienced some amazing places and things up to that point. Previously I had mentioned walking with rhinos, trekking chimpanzees and Golden Monkeys, coming eye to eye with the rare Shoebill Stork, experiencing the awesome power of the Nile River thundering down Murchison Falls and of course the highlight of all highlights: observing Mountain Gorillas in their rain forest habitat.

There were several other stops on our itinerary starting from Entebbe in Uganda where our party of 10 visitors had gathered in late April 2012. We started off in a westerly direction towards the country’s well-known game reserves.

Kibale Forest National Park
After a long drive (almost 7 hrs) from Entebbe via Kampala – with nearly 2 hours being spent just to get from Entebbe to Kampala and out of Kampala – we reached the striking Kyaninga Lodge, a massive log cabin construction perched on the edge of a crater lake. It was easily the most impressive lodge structure we saw on the trip. If you are ok with negotiating a lot of stairways and steps, you will love this place! Everything about it is interesting, warm and inviting, particularly the large fireplace, bar and dining room with a fantastic view over the crater lodge.

While some members of our party hiked around the crater lake, I ran – or rather jogged – the same route. It was not easy going as the often very narrow path was wet, steep in places and also quite rocky in parts. Probably best suited for hiking. Great views though and a bonus sighting of some vervet monkeys along the way. I added another few miles of running on the dirt road from the lodge to a nearby village. As was the case on all my little running jaunts while in Uganda and Rwanda, I attracted quite a bit of attention with everyone being very friendly: lots of smiles, ‘how are you’s’, and even a few inquiries about my well-being such as “… are you physically fit?”  I got the impression that some of the younger kids wanted to practice their English. Fine by me!

Later that evening we enjoyed drinks in front of the cozy fireplace, and then a superb dinner with a curried vegetable dish.

The following morning we trekked for chimps at Kibale Forest and as I had mentioned earlier, it turned out to be a frustrating and ultimately rather disappointing outing. There was a lot of hiking involved. Although the trails were initially quite good – much easier-going than Budongo Forest – it turned into a rather tedious and fruitless pursuit. We trudged around this admittedly beautiful forest for near on three hours without actually getting any really good looks at the chimps. There were a few of them scampering around the tree-tops but with no clear looks or any chance at photography, we all felt rather glum at the end of the proceedings. For a while towards the end there, we followed a small party of chimps along a pathway inside a cane sugar plantation. Unfortunately they headed into the thickets and by that time most of us had enough of the pursuit. It was hot and we were getting pretty hungry so by unanimous consent we called it a day.

On the way back to the lodge – in the vehicles – we spotted some chimps in the trees and actually got some decent looks at several of them descending to the forest floor. We tried to get some better looks by following them into the undergrowth but it was not to be: in fact the last 20 minutes or so of the chimp trek turned out to be more frustrating than any other part of it: very dense forest which made for exceptionally difficult walking. It was a relief when we realized we were back at Primate Lodge. Lunch at Primate Lodge was a bit of a grab-bag affair consisting of potato salad, vegetarian pizza, a pasta salad, fried fish fingers, and a couple of other items. It took a while to get ready but it didn’t matter: we were starving and would have enjoyed pretty much anything edible by that stage!

Ndali Lodge
Most of us – except a hardy few including Omar and Lut – opted out of yet another hike around the Bigodi Wetland Forest. Our thoughts had already turned towards the next destination which was Ndali Lodge, a stone and thatch construction stunningly located amidst the Bunyaruguru crater lakes region of Western Uganda. It was difficult to decide which view – from Ndali Lodge – was the best. The crater lake on one side or the spectacular Ruwenzoris (the Mountains of the Moon) on the other side. My room (#8) faced towards the mountain and in retrospect that was my preferred vantage point.

Dinner at Ndali Lodge that night was splendid, with genial host and co-owner Aubrey Price regaling us on stories of bygone years, and more specifically giving us the history of the family-owned farm and lodge. His late father Captain Mark Price reclaimed the property in the mid-90’s and built the lodge which opened in 1996. It is a lovely property and the experience of staying there is very much like being a guest at someone’s country home. It is very relaxed and casual, with homestyle food (roast chicken on the night we were there), and a great breakfast with the freshest eggs you can imagine. You simply have to have some of the ginger & lemongrass tea! My room was very comfortable and I thoroughly enjoyed the luxury of another hot bath, with plenty of piping hot water available. Ndali Lodge does look a little frayed at the edges: nothing major but I just got the impression that upkeep is not quite what it should be.

Reminder for Kibale Forest: It is essential to wear long pants and hiking boots with long socks to tuck pants into or alternatively (or even additionally) some gaiters. There are safari ants in the forest which can inflict a painful bite and there are lots of nettles and other plants with thorns so by all means protect your lower legs.

Mweya And The Kazinga Channel
Our next stop was Mweya Safari Lodge (same group as Paraa Safari Lodge) with a very similar feel. However at Mweya it was quite a hike to the room, which had a very nice view over the Kasinga Channel but with parking spaces (and tarmac roads) right in front of the entrances to the rooms. This does not make it feel like a very wild place but of course appearances can be deceiving. The next morning – walking to the dining room – I saw the telltale signs of several hippo having visited the road right in front of our rooms, the previous night.

Everything else at Mweya was perfectly fine: the large dining room & lounge with great views over the water, the food (good coffee!); the bar (I showed them how to mix a dry gin martini!) and the amazing birdlife around the lodge grounds. It is a pity that I did not have time to do some birding here, but it can clearly be very rewarding.

Our two activities at Mweya were a Banded Mongoose trek on the day of arrival and a cruise on the Kazinga Channel on the day of departure. The mongoose trek was a first for probably all of us. It was quite amazing to see a whole group of mongooses – there must have been 30 or so of them – come scampering out of the woodland to inspect the ‘bait bucket’ (they know there’s good stuff in there!) and see them clamber all over the scale without any coercion on the part of the research assistants. Banded Mongooses with their sharp little faces are definitely in the ‘cute’ category – but that is not why they are being studied. It has to do with their peculiar breeding hierarchy where all females are allowed to breed, in contrast with most cooperative species where only one female (the alpha) breeds and suppresses the others from doing so.

The cruise on the Kazinga Channel was definitely a highlight. Even if there were no wildlife or birds to be seen, this would be worthwhile excursion – a peaceful and relaxing cruise along a beautiful shoreline. Of course there were plenty of interesting things to be seen including many buffalo, a few elephants at a distance, plenty of crocodiles, hippo everywhere and a staggering variety of birds with literally dozens if not hundreds of pied kingfishers, a couple of other kingfisher species, herons, egrets, storks, and African Fish Eagles every few hundred meters. Some of them have clearly seen one too many cruises go by, because they just sat there and stared at us, not even bothering to take off. Eventually one pair did put on a bit of a show for us and I captured a couple of good images.

En route to Mweya we had made a slight detour and stopped over for lunch at the superb Volcanoes Kyambura Gorge Lodge. This superb lodge has great views over the gorge and the lush savannah of Queen Elizabeth National Park. The very eclectic main lodge building has been sensitively restored (it was originally a coffee store and processing plant) to create a stunning living space with several luxurious contemporary spaces for guests. The rooms are no less impressive either, each with its own color scheme and distinctive design elements.

Ishasha Wilderness Camp
From Mweya we headed towards Ishasha, a less-traveled part of Queen Elizabeth National Park. This time, it was not too long of a drive, just a couple of hours or so – with lunch enjoyed picnic-style en route.

As a group we all really liked this remote tented camp on the edge of the heavily flowing Ntungwe River. It is a low-impact camp with pretty basic but very spacious tented rooms and a very functional, yet quite attractive main area consisting of a lounge and dining room under canvas. Contrary to so many of the other properties we stayed at in Uganda and even later in Rwanda, this place really felt like it was way out there in the wilderness and it was! Camp manager Neil was very friendly and welcoming and had set up a riverside sundowner for our group, which was a great way to relax a bit, enjoy a gin and tonic and a nice spread of snacks as well as each other’s company outside of the vehicles. Dinner was quite good too: a vegetarian take on shepherd’s pie which most of us preferred over the meat choice.

That night it poured (we had rain several nights during the trip) and the river came up even higher. I was not the only person in the group to suffer from disturbed sleep – some water did in fact get into the bathroom portion of my tent. By early the next morning the river in front of camp was in fact noticeably higher but it was still well under its banks: the only casualties were a few low-hanging weaver nests.

We missed out on the tree-climbing lions at Ishasha but they are there; visitors should just spend a bit more time than we did! The Ishasha region of Queen Elizabeth National Park had plenty of other game though; we enjoyed some excellent views of buffalo, large herds of Uganda Kob, Topi and giraffe, amongst others. Ishasha is definitely a good place for a stop-over en route to Bwindi.

Buhoma & Bwindi Impenetrable Forest
Our long drive from Ishasha to Buhoma was made even longer due to a bridge being out: it was the rainy season and apparently bridges are fairly regularly being washed out at this time of the year. Driving in the wet season in Uganda is definitely an adventure: very narrow roads in places, muddy conditions and plenty of slopes, hills and ravines make for some nervous moments. Our driver-guides Male and his colleague Abdul handled it professionally and calmly and I felt extremely safe at all times.

Even so the twisty roads and poor conditions make for very slow progress. When there are detours involved such as on this day, it can seemingly take forever to get somewhere. Fortunately, the people of Uganda – and particularly the children of whom there are many everywhere – are very friendly and welcoming. If we got waved at once, we got waved at a thousand times, and each time more enthusiastically than the previous time. Little kids would literally drop whatever they were holding and come running towards the road helter skelter, just to gawk and wave at the collection of msungus passing by.

By lunchtime we reached the village of Buhoma right outside of the northern edge of the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. Our accommodation for the night was Mahogany Springs lodge, where we received an enthusiastic welcome and which certainly impressed me as being a good choice for a stay in this area. I shared a large cottage ‘suite’ with a huge common area and two big rooms, very comfortable bed and shower with plenty of hot water. Dinner was great too, as were the views of the impressive forest from the front of the lodge. What I did not have time for was to do some birding in the gardens: there were lots of interesting-looking species including sunbirds flitting about, but I was planning on some running.

Which brings me to a general observation about visiting Uganda and Rwanda: it is a perfect destination for active travelers who want to get out of the vehicle and enjoy some invigorating exercise by running, walking or hiking. Outdoor exercise opportunities are practically non-existent in most Africa destinations such as Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kruger Park in South Africa, Mashatu, Pafuri etc. and many East African areas such as the Maasai Mara and the Serengeti, Samburu and others. Very few camps have gyms or any kind of exercise equipment or facilities. So visitors end up gaining weight and getting ‘stir crazy’ through a lack of exercise. Not so in Uganda and Rwanda. Almost every day – with a few exceptions such as inside Queen Elizabeth National Park or parts of Murchison Falls National Park – I could take to the roads and run as far as I could go.

As it turned out my running outings were some of the most memorable events on the entire trip. Invariably, the scenery was spectacular and always, there were interested observers and often other participants. This was certainly the case at Buhoma where I ran along a narrow winding mountain road, first through the village itself – with all kinds of interesting shops lining the streets – and then further into the valley below. All along the way there were friendly villagers measuring my progress and checking out my bright orange running shoes. Several times a few kids would join in briefly, big smiles lighting up their faces as they outpaced me, their bare feet lightly skimming over the rocky surface. On the way back a young man – he turned out to be 21 and his name was Robert – accompanied me for quite a distance. Initially the long machete (panga) in his right hand was a bit disconcerting, but just for a moment as his big wide grin dispelled any apprehension I might have felt. Machetes are as common as cellphones in Uganda – especially in the rural areas. Soon enough Robert and I were chatting about family (him married one year, 1 child; me married 30 years, 2 children) and where we were from. Me from Texas, him from just across the road from our lodge in Buhoma Village. I had made a new friend.

The next morning our little group set out on a hike of about 4 hours through the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. With porters carrying our bags it was much easier than most of us had anticipated. Really more of a stroll through a beautiful forest than a serious hike. The environment was spectacular with giant trees pretty much shielding us from direct light, creating the typical interior forest gloom, a soft light with few shadows – great for photography if you have a fast lens. The best part of the hike was at the end where we enjoyed real cappuccino coffee or tea if you preferred. From there it was a bit of a slog as it started to rain quite heavily and we were all ‘trapped’ on a steep, muddy trail up to the spot where the vehicles were parked, about a half mile higher up. It was interesting, to say the least. I was drenched and was worried about my camera gear. Thanks goodness the Nikon brand is very rugged and a bit of water turned out to be no problem.

Our stop for the night was Nkuringo Lodge, which arguably has the best location of any of the Uganda lodges (and that says a lot considering we stayed at Kyaninga and Ndali) with stupendous views over the mountains and the volcanoes. On arrival we were all pre-occupied with getting dry and taking care of our soaked boots – a fireplace with coals came in very handy for that purpose. Dinner later that evening was quite enjoyable. By this stage I had started to ask for the local specialties so my bean dish with maize porridge (posho) was perfect. Nkuringo Lodge was one of the more basic camps on the trip with shared bathrooms & showers and dormitory-type rooms with inadequate lighting and really nowhere to unpack or hang anything. Even so the location makes up for the lack of facilities and for budget-minded travelers this would not be a bad choice. Shortly after arrival I strapped on my running shoes again and went on a 10-k run down towards the village at the base of the valley – the lodge is up against the crest of the hill. It was not one of the easiest runs I have done in my life but it was certainly the most spectacular – a rave run if ever there was one. Definitely in my personal ‘Hall of Fame’of running ranking right up there with outings at Grootbos in the Southern Cape (sun sinking into the ocean to my left), San Francisco with the Golden Gate bridge in the background, and the Maasai Mara where I did a ‘game run’ one day a few years ago. Saw more animals – including buffalo – in an hour of running than I have seen on many many game drives lasting several hours, elsewhere in Africa. The run at Nkuringo Lodge was sublime with constantly changing views of the mist over the mountain valleys and the far-off volcanoes.

The next day early we embarked upon our first gorilla trek which I dealt with in Part 1 of the trip report. It was a happy bunch of travelers who arrived at the deluxe Cloud’s Lodge the next afternoon. I think we all loved the beautiful setting – again with jaw-dropping views over the mountains and volcanoes – and the beautiful lounge area and dining room at Cloud’s. The rooms were pretty nice too: soft linens , lots of space, lots of privacy. One of our team members – Gabi – celebrated her birthday on this day so dinner was a festive affair complete with birthday cake and sparkling wine. We had a great time and the dinner itself was good too if somewhat unimaginative – a variation on the usual vegetarian stew.

The only disappointing aspect to the stay at Cloud’s was the picnic lunch which they packed for us for the next day’s trip into Rwanda. It looked like someone threw together a few sandwiches and that was it: they completely forgot to include a vegetarian option so I was not impressed. The day itself was pretty much a washout as we had to make a long detour due to a blocked road (large truck got sideways) and we did not make it to our destination – supposedly a Batwa village – until hours after the daily trek/outing was supposed to start. Some of the roads en route, especially the last couple of miles – were bone-jarringly bad. In the end we made the long journey out to Mgahinga National Park for absolutely nothing. We did not see any of the Batwa people. Or their village. A few of us hung around the vehicle while the real troopers took a short walk. We then ‘enjoyed’ the picnic lunch (sorry for the sarcastic note) and bumped our way back to the main road to drive out of Uganda and into Rwanda. The only redeeming feature of the day was some spectacular scenery over a lake which we were ‘forced’ to circumnavigate due to the detour. It was one of the prettiest scenes of the entire trip and as you can tell by now, I am running out of superlatives to describe the views. How many times can you say spectacular, gorgeous, stupendous or mind-blowing…

RWANDA
After a rather tedious yet uneventful border crossing from Uganda – nice not to have to pay for a visa! – we found ourselves in Rwanda, dodging the many pedestrians competing for road space with trucks, cars, motor bikes, bicycles and what not. Quite a scene and it was to be repeated pretty much throughout Rwanda. The roads are mostly paved so quite easily negotiated, they are just narrow with practically no thought for the well-being of the hundreds of pedestrians. There are no shoulders – mostly just deep ditches to get rid of the large amounts of rainwater which fall here in months including March, April and May. It was getting to be late afternoon by the time we made it to Gorilla Mt. View Lodge where we spent the night and where several of us did a Golden Monkey trek the following morning. This was also covered in Part 1 of the trip report, as was my subsequent gorilla trek in the same area, but based at the superb Sabinyo Silverback Lodge.

The following evening we were in Rwanda’s sparkling and attractive capital city – Kigali – at the Serena Hotel. My room was perfectly fine, with everything you could possibly want for a comfortable night’s sleep including a room that gets totally dark, soft pillows, and it was quiet. All the other amenities including a nice range of toiletries, a real bath (not a shower person…), in-room mini-bar and good lighting were bonuses. On my subsequent stay at the Serena things did not initially go well as I found myself in a room without hot water – for several hours – and it turned out to be very noisy with a loud band playing pool-side, right below my room. The Serena handled it well though, upgrading me very quickly to a Junior Suite.

On the last night of the main part of the trip, our group enjoyed dinner at Khana Khazana, a large and clearly quite popular Indian restaurant. It took a while to get our orders in but as it turned out the kitchen was fairly quick. The restaurant has a very extensive menu with a bewildering array of Indian specialties. Fortunately I spotted Chana Masala, a reliable chickpea stew. Just what the doctor ordered and it was pretty tasty! We thanked our hosts, said our farewells – some members of the group would be departing later that same evening – and went back to the hotel. As a group we had grown very close in the space of just 10 days or so, and there were several new friendships established. It was a particularly amiable yet very well-travelled and knowledgeable group of people. I hope that we will be able to meet up for a similar trip to Mozambique next year.

The following two days I spent at Nyungwe Forest (a 2-night minimum stay is recommended, 3 nights would be even better as it would enable guests to do a chimp trek as well as some walking and possibly a visit to the local tea estate). I would recommend the area for visitors to Rwanda who are keen on hiking/nature – there are some spectacular trails and an impressive Canopy Walk, as high as 90 meters in places, with amazing views over a beautiful primary forest. Nyungwe is also a chimpanzee trek destination so visitors can extend their stay in Rwanda by a couple of nights and do a chimp trek there. There are flights available in both directions from Kigali to Kamembe (about 1 hr drive from Nyungwe Forest) but I would recommend driving from Kigali to Nyungwe and stopping over in Mutare for a visit to the King’s Palaces (traditional and modern) as well as the superb Rwanda ethnographic museum. I found the visit to the two palaces to be particularly insightful and it really opened my eyes to the ancient history of Rwanda stretching back to the 11th Century. There is so much focus on the time period from colonial times until the Genocide and its aftermath, that the early history tends to be glossed over.

Nyungwe Forest Lodge was the best of any of the properties we stayed in during the trip – only Sabinyo Silverback and Clouds rivalled it but the rooms at Nyungwe Forest Lodge are really nice, tucked in on the edge of the forest. The food was very good too – the chef was happy to serve me the local fare consisting of posho (a variation on polenta) with beans and dodo (locally harvested wild spinach).

Our time spent at Nyungwe Forest was mostly contemplative and relaxing but we did undertake a stroll along the Ngishigishigi Trail, deep inside the forest itself. On the day it was quite foggy and the interplay of mist, color, light and shade made it a very special experience. All thoughts of time and place disappear as you become totally focused on the colorful flowers, massive trees and tree stumps, and swathes of bright green moss seemingly growing on just about every surface. Butterfkies, secretive birds and monkeys chattering in the distance add yet another layer to the experience. The canopy walk which took us some 90 meters (more than 270 feet) above the forest floor was well worth the effort. It is a very sturdy construction and all but the most height-phobic individuals should feel comfortable looking down upon the tree-tops, imaging what it would be like to lift off and land softly on a branch below.

Conclusion
It was too much of a whirlwind trip (one night stands galore!) to get a truly representative sampling of the wildlife but if one were to spend a few days each in the Murchison Falls NP and in Queen Elizabeth National Park (Mweya area with the Kazinga Channel and Ishasha), you should come away with some pretty decent game sightings in Uganda.

In addition to that, Kibale (for chimp trekking) and of course Bwindi for a gorilla trek should be on any Uganda itinerary. I would be inclined to add a second chimp trek at either Budongo Forest or at Nyungwe in Rwanda if that country is part of the itinerary.

In Rwanda the focus is very much on gorilla treks at Volcanoes National Park; time permitting (or for children under 15 years) a Golden Monkey trek – in the same general area – is also a fun outing. Nyungwe Forest is spectacular and a drive out there, with a stop at Mutare for the museum and the King’s palaces – are highly recommended also.

In summary I would say the best reasons to visit Uganda and Rwanda are the apes and monkeys with chimps and gorillas at the top of the list; scenic beauty; and then wildlife (mammals, reptiles, birds etc). Of course the people and cultural experiences rate very highly in my book – some of my most memorable moments were all about connecting with people while running or on activities.

For anyone with more than a passing interest in birds and birding, both Uganda and Rwanda are loaded with spectacular and in many cases endemic or near-endemic species.

Our hosts – The Far Horizons company – could not have been more helpful in the time-frame leading up to or during the trip itself. I received complete and very useful formation well in advance and was for once well-prepared right down to gaiters and a water bottle. Patrick Shah and his capable team in Uganda and Stella Wadulo and her support staff in Rwanda did a sterling job all-round and we all felt extremely well taken care of and safe. It was a great trip and I will certainly do what I can in future to encourage travel to this wonderful, lovely part of Africa.

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