From Arusha to Nairobi was an easy 5 hours on a coaster bus. Aside from the usual dusty detours the trip was uneventful. We were a little worried arriving in Nairobi as it has a pretty bad reputation, but were pleasantly surprised, once again proving that if you aim low you are unlikely to be disappointed! As usual we were adopted by a handful of safari touts immediately we set foot outside our hotel. They were a pretty helpful bunch though and are useful to help you find the various safari offices. Having visited a few, we booked 4 days in the Masai Mara and were off the next morning. Compared to Tanzania the safaris were much cheaper - $100/day with accommodation in a permanent tented camp including an ensuite.
The Masai Mara was amazing. There really is no other word for it. Amazing numbers of animals including vast herds of safari vans (8 seat vans with a pop-up roof). Our driver for the first two days wasn’t great, but we still managed to see a heap of lions, cheetah, rhino, elephant and all the usual antelope. For days 3 and 4 we switched drivers and the second fellow was a lot better. He was content to sit and let us watch the various animals for as long as we liked and we started the morning by spending a good half hour watching a trio of lions with a very freshly killed zebra. We were also lucky enough to see a serval in the afternoon and followed it for a while. We had lunch under a tree along the Mara river with a vast herd of wildebeest on the other side waiting to cross. Wildebeest may look stupid, but they have got the whole river crossing thing figured out – they wait for the zebra to go first and if they don’t get nailed by one of the dozen big crocs waiting for them, then they will have a go. Unfortunately we only got to see a couple of zebra crossing before the crocodile queue became a bit too obvious and the others decided to try and find another spot where there weren’t a heap of lizards smiling at them (my suggestion would be “not next to the dead hippo” as a starting point – but what do I know!?) So sadly for us, but happily for the zebra/wildebeest, we didn’t get to see any Discovery Channel style crocodile attacks although I certainly wouldn’t be recommending the river for a swim! With our new driver we also picked up a new set of punters, including a highly enthusiastic and excitable Indian guy and an older Israeli fellow. Having been animal watching for a while now it is easy to forget how cool it is, so it is good to have someone along on their first day or two to remind you.
I have long said that there is no such thing as stupid questions, just stupid people - and now this has proven to be true for Israelis as well. I am not sure which question was the most impressive, but I think it has to be “Is that a zebra?” as we were driving past a dead Masai cow (it was brown and complete with horns). I had to bite my tongue very hard not to answer that it was indeed a new sub-species of brown zebra which had sprouted horns – although tragically the only example now wasn’t looking very healthy. When it was pointed out that it was actually a cow – he asked how it got there, having just been taking pictures of Masai people pushing herds of several hundred cattle into the reserve as they have over-grazed their lands which are immediately adjacent. Perhaps he thought they were herds of horned zebra?
Anyway we are now in Mombasa, having decided to forgo our planned safari to Lake Turkana in northern Kenya due to the deteriorating security situation in the north resulting from an ongoing drought. Apparently the local pastoral people are shooting each other more than normal and seem happy to extend the welcome to anyone else who is misfortunate enough to wonder past. Our trip down to Mombasa was another memorable bus ride – the highlight being a dvd of a 2 hour Arabic opera sung by Saddam Hussein’s long lost twin brother (or Saddam himself if it was really his twin brother in that basement……). The ambiance was added to by an almost opaque orange tint on all the windows which meant that while you couldn’t see out to be terrified by how fast you were going, everything looked green when you got off until your traumatized eyes recovered. It was something like being trapped inside a rocket propelled orange whilst someone outside strangled one cat after another.
We are heading down the coast tomorrow to Diani Beach to do some over-priced diving – but apparently it is pretty nice and since we have opted out of a 10 day safari the budget has a bit of fat in it for a while. On the downside, someone has managed to steal Nicole’s email password and access her Paypal account and knocked off US$400. Should be able to get it back as it was unauthorized, but it is still a hassle. Gotta love dodgy internet cafes! The things we do to keep you lot up to date…..
Monday, September 28, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Serengeti Safari
Lion around in Ngorongoro CraterHaving successfully completed the ascent to the top floor of our hotel and drunk a beer (or two) whilst watching the sunset on Mt Kilimanjaro I now felt that I had conquered the mighty peak. Content with our achievement we spent the next day strolling around in the foothills visiting a nice waterfall and the local village where we had some very fresh coffee – roasted while we watched.
Getting to Arusha the next day was easy and cheap on a local bus, but we were sadly disappointed at the bus station on arrival as no one tried to sell us a safari at all. We has been warned that the touts in Arusha were really bad, but as with most things in Africa they are pretty laid back and if you look disinterested they seem to give up pretty fast. It think they should probably spend some time in Sth East Asia in “Tout Training” to perfect being really annoying.
We lined up a 5 day safari with Great Masai Adventure to visit Arusha and Tarangire National Parks, Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti where we also book an (exorbitantly priced) balloon flight. Things didn’t start well with the first day being a day trip to Arusha NP, and the vehicle broke down about 100m from our hotel and then continued to conk out about every 10 minutes for the next hour. Eventually we got it sorted (with a little help from me, such as convincing the driver that bypassing the fuel filter probably wasn’t going to be very good for the engine, and that diesels won’t go if you don’t prime the fuel lines first). In the end it was a great day including a 2 hour walking safari with an armed ranger as a guide. He carried an Ak-47 style rifle which while looking impressive is only really designed for killing people not large game animals. As people are actually pretty easy to kill, I doubt it would have done much except to further enrage a buffalo or elephant had it taken exception to our presence. As it turned out we had no need to kill anything (despite me asking nicely) and all the warthogs lived to oink another day.
After bit more bargaining with our safari organizer that night, the next day saw us setting off with a guide who new the difference between a monkey and an elephant and in a car which, while also decrepit, seemed to work. We then headed to Tarangire NP – a baob dotted landscape chock full of all sorts of animals including a heap of lions and elephants. That night we camped on the edge of the rift valley escarpment overlooking the flamingo covered Lake Manyara. Day 3 was the famous Serengeti, somewhere I have wanted to visit from many, many years. The Serengeti is my kind of place – a vast open plain dotted with a variety of animals (although most of the wilderbest and zebra are still north in the Masi Mara). We saw a heap of lions, a couple of leopards and took our balloon flight at dawn the next day. Floating across the plains in a hot air balloon was fantastic. We didn’t see all that many animals, but the expansive views were amazing. We also got a pretty good silver service champagne breakfast under the acacia thorn trees at when we landed. The balloon aside, a highlight of the Serengeti was the camping. The campsites are not fenced so after spending the day looking at lions, buffalo, leopards, elephants, hyena etc you then suddenly arrive at your camp site – which looks exactly like the rest of the scrub and is liberally scattered with the dung of all the critters that wander through as the feeling takes them. Apparently if you stay in your tent the lions leave you alone – tell that to the 140 railway workers eaten by lions in one year at Tsavo earlier last century! As it was we only had hyena for company and they were far to busy dragging off the rubbish bin to worry about us. As we were the only aviators in our camp ground we were first up and had to walk through a herd of buffalo in the dark to get to the toilet block – hoping that our safari guide was right that they only get cranky when they are on their own. By that afternoon we where back to bouncing down the road in our elderly landrover, inhaling dust and getting our spines regularly compressed and camped that night on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater at a chilly altitude of 2400m. The decent into the crater the next day was great – full of wilderbest, buffalo and zebra which supported a good population of lions, hyena and at least 1 cheetah. It must suck to be a herbivore in Africa – the lions just sit around watching the zebra walk past like a great mobile black and white buffet until they get the itch to grab one. Not surprisingly the lions all looked pretty fat and happy with life, while the herd animals tried to make sure they could all run faster than the creature next to them and jittered around like they had just drunk a dozen espresso shots.
Anyway, time is fleeting and I have to get off the web. We made it back to Arusha safely and are off to Nairobi (aka Nairobbery) tomorrow for a look at Kenya. Hope all is well with everyone out and will update again soon.
Getting to Arusha the next day was easy and cheap on a local bus, but we were sadly disappointed at the bus station on arrival as no one tried to sell us a safari at all. We has been warned that the touts in Arusha were really bad, but as with most things in Africa they are pretty laid back and if you look disinterested they seem to give up pretty fast. It think they should probably spend some time in Sth East Asia in “Tout Training” to perfect being really annoying.
We lined up a 5 day safari with Great Masai Adventure to visit Arusha and Tarangire National Parks, Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti where we also book an (exorbitantly priced) balloon flight. Things didn’t start well with the first day being a day trip to Arusha NP, and the vehicle broke down about 100m from our hotel and then continued to conk out about every 10 minutes for the next hour. Eventually we got it sorted (with a little help from me, such as convincing the driver that bypassing the fuel filter probably wasn’t going to be very good for the engine, and that diesels won’t go if you don’t prime the fuel lines first). In the end it was a great day including a 2 hour walking safari with an armed ranger as a guide. He carried an Ak-47 style rifle which while looking impressive is only really designed for killing people not large game animals. As people are actually pretty easy to kill, I doubt it would have done much except to further enrage a buffalo or elephant had it taken exception to our presence. As it turned out we had no need to kill anything (despite me asking nicely) and all the warthogs lived to oink another day.
After bit more bargaining with our safari organizer that night, the next day saw us setting off with a guide who new the difference between a monkey and an elephant and in a car which, while also decrepit, seemed to work. We then headed to Tarangire NP – a baob dotted landscape chock full of all sorts of animals including a heap of lions and elephants. That night we camped on the edge of the rift valley escarpment overlooking the flamingo covered Lake Manyara. Day 3 was the famous Serengeti, somewhere I have wanted to visit from many, many years. The Serengeti is my kind of place – a vast open plain dotted with a variety of animals (although most of the wilderbest and zebra are still north in the Masi Mara). We saw a heap of lions, a couple of leopards and took our balloon flight at dawn the next day. Floating across the plains in a hot air balloon was fantastic. We didn’t see all that many animals, but the expansive views were amazing. We also got a pretty good silver service champagne breakfast under the acacia thorn trees at when we landed. The balloon aside, a highlight of the Serengeti was the camping. The campsites are not fenced so after spending the day looking at lions, buffalo, leopards, elephants, hyena etc you then suddenly arrive at your camp site – which looks exactly like the rest of the scrub and is liberally scattered with the dung of all the critters that wander through as the feeling takes them. Apparently if you stay in your tent the lions leave you alone – tell that to the 140 railway workers eaten by lions in one year at Tsavo earlier last century! As it was we only had hyena for company and they were far to busy dragging off the rubbish bin to worry about us. As we were the only aviators in our camp ground we were first up and had to walk through a herd of buffalo in the dark to get to the toilet block – hoping that our safari guide was right that they only get cranky when they are on their own. By that afternoon we where back to bouncing down the road in our elderly landrover, inhaling dust and getting our spines regularly compressed and camped that night on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater at a chilly altitude of 2400m. The decent into the crater the next day was great – full of wilderbest, buffalo and zebra which supported a good population of lions, hyena and at least 1 cheetah. It must suck to be a herbivore in Africa – the lions just sit around watching the zebra walk past like a great mobile black and white buffet until they get the itch to grab one. Not surprisingly the lions all looked pretty fat and happy with life, while the herd animals tried to make sure they could all run faster than the creature next to them and jittered around like they had just drunk a dozen espresso shots.
Anyway, time is fleeting and I have to get off the web. We made it back to Arusha safely and are off to Nairobi (aka Nairobbery) tomorrow for a look at Kenya. Hope all is well with everyone out and will update again soon.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
The dance of the Bondi Cigars
I have to admit that I wasn’t sad to leave Lusaka behind. As cities go there wasn’t much to commend it and our hostel was dodgy. For reasons unknown the rail line from Dar Es Salaam doesn’t quite reach Lusaka, stopping a couple of hundred km short at the even dodgier town of Kapri. We got ourselves up there easily enough and managed to upgrade our train seats to first class – although the cabins were single sex only unless your purchased all 4 seats. No amount of cajoling, offered bribery or sorrowful looks could convince the conductor to allow Nicole and I to share a cabin. As it turned out it wasn’t a big issue anyway as we spent most our time in the dining car or the “lounge” car and only really returned to the cabin to sleep. Fortunately it was all comfortable enough, as our 40 hour trip ended up taking 68 hours. We were already running several hours late when the train slowly ground to a halt around sunset in the middle of the Selous Game Reserve (one of the largest in Africa). Given it was a game reserve, and apparently one that supports a lion population according to the train staff, getting off to stretch the legs was discouraged. Fortunately, while the bar did run out of drinking water, they still had plenty of cheap beer.
Sharing the train was a middle aged English lady undertaking volunteer medical research. She introduced herself to the staff by berating them over not having any hot water so she could make a cup of tea, and declared loudly and repeated to anyone who was listening that she was going to “be writing about this train, and I’m not going to write good things”. She then complained that the shower had low water pressure (what third world train even has a shower?!) and cast longing looks in our direction for someone to complain to whilst we diligently stared out the window, at the table, at the roof and anywhere but at her. Fortunately for us some other tourists appeared and were promptly cornered and we were off the hook for the night. Our reprieve wasn’t to last however and the following day were finally out of places to hide and were trapped. As I understand it the English intend to introduce whinging as an Olympic sport in London 2012 and she was in training and stands a good chance at the prime position of team captain. Have tortured us all day she then proceeded to drink herself into a coma finally collapsing on a table in the dining car (wallet and phone on display) and was eventually helped to her cabin by the staff. Aside from that we actually had a pretty good time of it. I was throwing around the 20c tips like the Zimbabwean trillionair that I now am (having obtained a Zim $50 trillion note in Livingstone) and we were looked after like royalty.
A day later and we were in Zanzibar, and guess who was on the ferry – our English mate. A polite hello and we managed to leave her in customs complaining that someone tried to rob her yesterday and explaining why she was still in Tanzania on a transit visa.
We spent a night in Stone Town – the historic Zanzibar harbor area and then headed to Matemwe beach to do some diving. Nicole had a very badly timed cold and couldn’t dive unfortunately, but did manage to snorkel. The diving was ok and definitely worth getting wet, but I wouldn’t go to Zanzibar just to dive. In the end I did 4 dives, although they took me back to the same spots both days which was a bit disappointing. We had good accommodation right on the beach with a 20 minute walk each morning along the beach to the dive centre. This was made more interesting as the local villagers use the beach as a toilet each night so in the morning you have to make very sure of where you are putting your feet as you dance between the various bondi cigars lined up along the high tide line. Of an evening you can enjoy a pleasant walk along the fine white sand whilst chatting to the locals as they relieve themselves of the pressures of the day. Despite the water looking lovely, we opted not to go for a swim lest we become the next unsuspecting victims of a blind mullet attack. Before tourism really takes off in that part of the world, I think they may need to invest in some septic systems for the local village. Other than that it was an idyllic setting, sitting in the bar watching the outrigger canoes sail back in from fishing and the locals haggle over fish prices in the market next door.
We are now back in Dar Es Salaam again, heading north tomorrow to the town of Moshi at the foot of Mt Kilimanjaro where we will drink a beer and marvel at why anyone would think it was a good idea to climb up it. After all, that is why we invented helicopters.
Sharing the train was a middle aged English lady undertaking volunteer medical research. She introduced herself to the staff by berating them over not having any hot water so she could make a cup of tea, and declared loudly and repeated to anyone who was listening that she was going to “be writing about this train, and I’m not going to write good things”. She then complained that the shower had low water pressure (what third world train even has a shower?!) and cast longing looks in our direction for someone to complain to whilst we diligently stared out the window, at the table, at the roof and anywhere but at her. Fortunately for us some other tourists appeared and were promptly cornered and we were off the hook for the night. Our reprieve wasn’t to last however and the following day were finally out of places to hide and were trapped. As I understand it the English intend to introduce whinging as an Olympic sport in London 2012 and she was in training and stands a good chance at the prime position of team captain. Have tortured us all day she then proceeded to drink herself into a coma finally collapsing on a table in the dining car (wallet and phone on display) and was eventually helped to her cabin by the staff. Aside from that we actually had a pretty good time of it. I was throwing around the 20c tips like the Zimbabwean trillionair that I now am (having obtained a Zim $50 trillion note in Livingstone) and we were looked after like royalty.
A day later and we were in Zanzibar, and guess who was on the ferry – our English mate. A polite hello and we managed to leave her in customs complaining that someone tried to rob her yesterday and explaining why she was still in Tanzania on a transit visa.
We spent a night in Stone Town – the historic Zanzibar harbor area and then headed to Matemwe beach to do some diving. Nicole had a very badly timed cold and couldn’t dive unfortunately, but did manage to snorkel. The diving was ok and definitely worth getting wet, but I wouldn’t go to Zanzibar just to dive. In the end I did 4 dives, although they took me back to the same spots both days which was a bit disappointing. We had good accommodation right on the beach with a 20 minute walk each morning along the beach to the dive centre. This was made more interesting as the local villagers use the beach as a toilet each night so in the morning you have to make very sure of where you are putting your feet as you dance between the various bondi cigars lined up along the high tide line. Of an evening you can enjoy a pleasant walk along the fine white sand whilst chatting to the locals as they relieve themselves of the pressures of the day. Despite the water looking lovely, we opted not to go for a swim lest we become the next unsuspecting victims of a blind mullet attack. Before tourism really takes off in that part of the world, I think they may need to invest in some septic systems for the local village. Other than that it was an idyllic setting, sitting in the bar watching the outrigger canoes sail back in from fishing and the locals haggle over fish prices in the market next door.
We are now back in Dar Es Salaam again, heading north tomorrow to the town of Moshi at the foot of Mt Kilimanjaro where we will drink a beer and marvel at why anyone would think it was a good idea to climb up it. After all, that is why we invented helicopters.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Zambezi Tigers
There have been a few miles under the bridge since our last post and we are currently in Lusaka, Zambia waiting to catch a train tomorrow afternoon to Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania.
The bus ride from Windhoek to Livingstone was unremarkable, which is probably remarkable in itself. We didn’t break down, the driver didn’t try and kill us, the bus was comfortable and we were only a few hours late arriving.
We spent the following day poking around Victoria Falls, which make our Kakadu waterfalls look pretty shabby! It really is a pretty amazing spectacle – and would be unbelievable in the wet season. I also did the bungee jump off the bridge, 111m high apparently. Was good fun but (probably unsurprisingly) gave me a headache! Luckily the helpful staff give you a bit of a push to get you over the edge or I’d probably still be standing there.
We then headed up to Jungle Junction, an island lodge on the Zambezi River. That is my kind of place – a thatched bar with sand for a floor looking over the river and you can get paddled around in a dug out canoe chasing tiger fish all day. Interestingly I had the same canoe driver as Brian a few years ago and he remembered him by name when I said I was from Darwin in Australia – apparently we had the same floppy hat and rubber lures. In any case I didn’t have much luck, only one little tiger. Judging by the number of nets and fish traps scattered around the place I think they get a bit of a hard time close to the village. Anyway, a good excuse to go back when I have a bit more time and try and score a decent size fish a bit further down the river.
I have also commenced my African fried chicken diet, which is pretty much the only thing you can get in the bus stops while you are travelling. I think that eating 500g of the stuff is enough to gain 1kg in weight. I am sure I’ll have to opportunity to investigate this further over the next few weeks.
The bus ride from Windhoek to Livingstone was unremarkable, which is probably remarkable in itself. We didn’t break down, the driver didn’t try and kill us, the bus was comfortable and we were only a few hours late arriving.
We spent the following day poking around Victoria Falls, which make our Kakadu waterfalls look pretty shabby! It really is a pretty amazing spectacle – and would be unbelievable in the wet season. I also did the bungee jump off the bridge, 111m high apparently. Was good fun but (probably unsurprisingly) gave me a headache! Luckily the helpful staff give you a bit of a push to get you over the edge or I’d probably still be standing there.
We then headed up to Jungle Junction, an island lodge on the Zambezi River. That is my kind of place – a thatched bar with sand for a floor looking over the river and you can get paddled around in a dug out canoe chasing tiger fish all day. Interestingly I had the same canoe driver as Brian a few years ago and he remembered him by name when I said I was from Darwin in Australia – apparently we had the same floppy hat and rubber lures. In any case I didn’t have much luck, only one little tiger. Judging by the number of nets and fish traps scattered around the place I think they get a bit of a hard time close to the village. Anyway, a good excuse to go back when I have a bit more time and try and score a decent size fish a bit further down the river.
I have also commenced my African fried chicken diet, which is pretty much the only thing you can get in the bus stops while you are travelling. I think that eating 500g of the stuff is enough to gain 1kg in weight. I am sure I’ll have to opportunity to investigate this further over the next few weeks.
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