T & K's Travels

We were picked up at the airport and driven to Ngurdoto lodge in Arusha for our first night, this was very comfortable with good hosts. The views from the lodge were fantastic, one side we could see Mt. Kilimanjaro and the other direction was Mt. Meru.

              The cottages at Ngurdoto Lodge with Mt Meru in the background.

                                    Kerry amongst the bourganvillias

We were taken to the African Environments base to collect our Land Rover the next morning. After a breifing on our planned route we set off to the grocery store to stock up on beer & snacks for the 2 week trip. Our first camp will be in the Tarangire National Park about 150km away on tarmac roads for the most part.

                        First stop, a visit to the grocery store

Our accommodation for the next 3 nights, set high on an escarpment, the view was out across the tops of the thorn and acacia trees to a lake in the distance. We found it very hard climbing the steps up to the house, as we are already at an altitude of around 5000ft. the house is in fact a tent under a thatched fly sheet, but very comfortable.

                         This is the dining area at Maweninga

The game viewing drives were excellent, and we saw  large herds of Elephant, as well as some very large Elephants.

     The largest herd we saw was of 25 including quite a few of this years juveniles

We are starting to experience a few more interesting roads now, but at least they are still roads!!!! thank goodness it was dry.

After 3 nights in Tarangire National Park we set off again for Ngorongo Crater Conservation Area, Here we stay in a very basic camp site called Landana. The area around the Crater is at around 9000ft so pretty difficult to do anything strenuous, (lucky we have a vehicle) The 2.5km. drive up the track to the camp ground was very wet, and mostly black mud, with some very boggy parts and a stream to drive through, pretty scarey stuff for our first off road experience. There are practically no road signs here when you get away from the towns, and even there not very many.

This is one of the hundreds of Maasai Bomas (villages) that are in and around the Ngorongoro area

We spotted this young warrior on his way back to his village carrying a spear in one hand and an umberella in the other, obviously a little concerned about the rain. as well as lion attacks,

THis the view from the crater Rim, The floor of the crater is absolutely teeming with animals, tomorrow we have to pick up a guide to escort us down there for the day.

   We are pretty sure that this was a herd of Wildebeest we could see from the crater rim

The drive down into the crater was quite demanding, down a very steep rocky track, with a very sheer drop off the side. But well worth the jangled nerves when we got to the bottom.We sat and watched this Cheetah for awhile, as we thought she was stalking, but it turned out she was just looking for a comfortable place to sleep. 

As it was around midday all the animals seemed to be taking their siestas, this Lion kindly raised his head for us to take the pictures.

  These Hyenas just have to be the ugliest, most unfriendly looking animals we found.

On the left is a Crowned Crane, we saw lots of these in the Crater. On the right, a couple of homosapiens, who are feeling rather proud and relieved at having driven into and out of the crater.

                                       A Lonesome Buffalo

The Zebra and Wildebeest are often found together in large herds,  and just a a side note the haziness in some of the pictures is being created by the ash from a volcano which is puffing out smoke and steam along with the ash about 40miles away, Mt. Lengai. We saw it as we flew in from Nairobi to Kilimanjaro.

 There were literally tens of thousands of Flamingo on the lake which we had not been able to see from the top of the crater. This shot was taken from some distance as the area closer to the lake was pretty boggy.

                                                The Kings of the beasts in relaxed mode

                                                    This one looks like the boss to me!

There were lots of these Kites around in the picnic area at the crater, & Kerry was telling me how she had read in a book that the Kites would dive bomb people with food, and steal it right out of their hands. Well I had only just given Kerry her packed lunch on a plate, and guess what happened.!!!

This rather elegalantly dressed lady, stopped us on the way into the camp to ask us for food or money, We gave her some biscuits. She lived in the Maasai village that we had to drive by on the way in and out of camp.

As we drove back up the track to the camp ground we found one of the guys from the camp site, Jeremiah, slid off the track and blocking the road, so we stopped and helped him to winch the truck out and back onto the track. I had been depending on his help if we had got stuck.

Now we drive North West into the Serengeti national Park. to our next tented camp site, close to Lake Ndutu. We find the area of the camp quite easily, but when we headed off the main track into the bush to find the camp, we quickly found ourselves, LOST! for an hour anyway. Then another truck came along and the driver led us out of the bush and down to the ranger station in Nduto. The guy in charge there sent a couple of  Rangers, armed with automatic rifles, to accompany us in the Land Rover to try and find the camp site. We soon realised these two had absolutely no idea how to read a map, and were actually searching the wrong side of the Lake. so we got back to the right area, then the Rangers started asking at the other camps we found until they found somebody who knew where it was. They then very kindly led us there. I dropped Kerry off there with the luggage and had to then drive the Rangers back the 10km. to their base. Fortunately one of the staff from the camp came with me to help me find the way back again.

                The Rangers looking rather bemused by the map

                                                               Asking for more directions

Our home for the next 2 nights, this is not luxury camping!!! Also the Land Rover hasnow got a little mud on the tryes.

                              Kerry photographing Lions

             I think this was a Falcon sitting in the tree eating his lunch

Kerry took this photo from quite a distance, she did very well to get such a sharp shot.

This is Ali the camp cook, preparing breakfast. everything is cooked over the open fire, I just hope he lets it die down down a bit before he puts the toast on!

Another very long drive today as we head about 175km. North today, 175km may not sound far, but on rocky gravel heavily corrugated roads it feels like a 1075km. We set off early in the morning rather nervously, wondering what the Tanzanian roads would throw our way today. we didn't have to drive very far before we encountered our first major obstacle.

This is road construction Tanzania style, Here they are resurfacing, so the dump all the new material in the middle of the road, sometimes for a Km. or so, then at a later time somebody turns up with a grader to level it out. In the meantime all the traffic has to take to the bush or try and straddle with one wheel off road and one on. This was quite an easy one but some gave even the local drivers problems.

It was an interesting drive especially when I showed Kerry the wrong camp on the map, so we went about 35km. up the wrong road,  we had to retrace our route, adding about 2 hours to the drive today. We saw some large groups of Giraffe on the way though.

We decided to wait while this herd of elephants crossed the road in front of us, The one facing us in the middle of the road seemed to be the elephant equivalent of the school crossing lady, she stood watch on us until the rest had crossed over, then she followed on, keeping an eye on us as she went.

Now this is camping that I could easily get used to. It was a fantastic place to stay, and we are here for 3 nights. Everyone was very welcoming. and the facilities are wonderful.

            This chap was sitting on a rock just outside the front of the lodge.

And this was the view from our bed the next morning, we could just open the french doors (yes we are in a tent) and look down to the Grumeti River, where the hippo's were coming back having been out on the banks grazing overnight. We could hear them snorting and growling, and they sounded like they were just outside the tent.

We had a couple of game drives from here, but were quite happy to spend time around the camp soaking up the luxury, and superb hospitality.

We had only just left camp this morning to go on a game drive when Kerry suddenly spotted this snake hanging down from the roof of the truck & looking in the side window. It stayed on there for most of the morning. I had parked under a tree the night before, to get a little shade, I guess he must have climbed aboard then.

As we were driving this morning, we saw the plume of smoke, steam, & ash, going up from Mt. Lengai.

Back in camp tonight for sundowners on the deck. (I think "sundowners" is a good excuse for an early drink when on holiday)

Tomorrow morning is Kerry's birthday so as we are leaving here in the morning, the chef made Kerry a birthday cake, & all the kitchen staff & waiters sung happy birthday  Swaheli style, and it sounded just great.

Happy Birthday Kerry, 9th. March 2008

Kerry - opening her birthday cards, we had tea delivered to our room at 6.30am

Today we start the journey back to Arusha, although we have 2 more stops yet, the next one being at the Olduvai Gorge, back in the Ngorongoro region. So, quite a long drive today. We take a short detour to find this hippo pool which we had seen marked on the map. We could have found this place by smell, Pig farms don't have anything on a hippo pool!!!!

I think this has to be my favourite picture from this trip.

                                    Happiness is -----

Now this is a seriously big Crocodile.

Later in the day we found this pride of lions, resting of course, there were 4 lionesses & they had a cub with them.

The adult Lion here had a radio collar fitted,

Back at the Ranger Station at Naabi Hill where we have to sign out of the Serengeti and into the Ngorongoro area. there was some confusion here as they didn't seem to know the lodge we were staying at tonight, but we eventually got sorted out, and were on our way again

We arrived at the Olduvai camp late in the afternoon, and were very pleasantly surprised with the quality of the facilities. After a brief welcome meeting, we were taken off by a couple of local Maasai to watch the sunset from the nearby hilltop,

This chap had a good sense of humour and didn't seem to mind my joshing around, but I don't like the way he is brandishing that club. Note the shoes, everyone seems to be wearing Pirelli 650 x13 tryes on their feet, to which they have added a couple of straps.

We stayed for awhile to watch the sun go down, but it was too cloudy for a nice sunset. Our guide spoke quite good English, and in fact he and another chap came out with us in the landrover the next day to guide us about 30 km off road to find the migration herd of Zebra & Wildebeest.

The view was pretty special from up here, although we saw no animals, they are around, as we found the next day on our game drive. Only a km from the camp we spotted another Cheetah, but he disappeared into the bush before we could get pictures.

As we sat in the dining area eating supper, these two Genet came around presumably looking for food scraps. We both agreed that they were the most elegant looking animals we had seen, especially their long tails.

In the morning, hot water is delivered to the tent, so we could stand outside to wash and shave, whilst looking out across the plains.(No, Kerry isn't shaving) The shower unit is at the rear of the tent as is the loo, and hot water for the shower is also delivered when required.

We had our two Maasai guides in the back of the truck for our drive today, and we hadn't gone far before we picked up another, their friend was hiking back to his village some miles away, so we stopped and picked him up as well.

There were tens of thousands of animals on the hillsides all around us, It was an incredible experience to be there driving amongst them. one that I shall never forget!