East Africa with W&L

East Africa with W&L November 2022

Friday Nov 4- Richmond to Dulles. KLM to Amsterdam. About 8 hours. Watched Friday Night Lights. I don’t think I ever really went to sleep.

Sat. Nov. 5- Landed Amsterdam early in the morning and watched the airport come to life. We had about a two hour layover. KLM to Arusha Tanzania, also about 8 hours. I watched Top Gun Maverick and Downton Abbey New Era. Again little if any sleep. Flying over the Sahara (it never ends) and the Nile.

In Arusha (elevation 4600 feet, 230 miles from the Equator), also known as Mt. Kilimanjaro (elevation 19340 feet!) airport, it was dark when we landed. Although I packed smartly I thought and had everything together and in the right order, I couldn’t find my Covid vaccine status card (in my wallet) and held things up a bit. That was line number one. Lines two, three, and four plus special people led to the same two immigration officials- one was very slow and one was very efficient. Which do you think we got?

After clearing and finding our bags we walked out and were met by a bewildering array of people with signs for different safaris. That one big KLM plane seems to have filled Tanzania up with travelers for the week. We found W&L but then had to wait for two stragglers. After gathering them up it took another 45 minutes to pack all the bags on top of the bus. Then it was about an hour or more ride to the Sheraton 4 Points. We got there about 11:50 and had to get up for an early ride to the next place- Ngorongoro Farm House (hereinafter referred to as NG2), a 600 acre working coffee farm.

This Sheraton is the successor to an earlier hotel which was located in Arusha exactly halfway between Capetown SA and Cairo.

Sunday, November 6- After breakfast at the hotel, we drove in Toyota Safari custom Land Cruisers through Arusha to the Tanzania Cultural Center, heaven to souvenir shoppers even before we have seen any of Africa. Beyond trinket souvenirs, there were huge masks from all over Africa, ebony and other sculptures, spices and coffees, and some welcoming musicians singing the soon to be repeated over and over Hakuna Matata song.

 

 

 

I added two new birds- Superb Starling (dazzling brilliant colors) (AKA African Bird of Paradise) and the red winged starling.

 

 

 

Next stop was a banana plantation for a picnic lunch followed by a walk around the plantation including the local art coop. Art similar to what was displayed was hanging outside pretty much any “Duka” or shop along the road all over the parts of the country we saw. This was also our introduction to local vendors of beads, necklaces, and small carved animals. The conversation went from "Hi Bill how do you like Tanzania?" to "5 for $10" to "Don't you want to support me?" pretty quickly.

I was really happy to check into our bungalow (Chata or Python) and get some sleep. The NG2 room was basic but clean and roomy. Our first experience with mosquito netting. Two nights.

 

 

Monday, November 7-NG2 crater game drive.

It was about at this time that I realized (should have known) that this trip will involve a whole, whole lot of driving over some very dicey and bumpy roads.

 

 

 

The NG2 Farm House had beautiful gardens with many many fast moving birds in the garden. I added a Speke’s weaver and a little bee eater to the list. I think we were at about 4700 feet at the farm house, we drove up to 7700 feet, and then we went down into the crater at 5800 feet.

 

 

 

 At a rest room stop going into NG2 we were told to keep the windows closed because the baboons on the side of the road will come into the car.

The NG2 crater is a volcanic caldera 2.5 mm years old, about 100 square miles. The park goes around a big lake. We drove around about 3/4 of it today. It is about 12 miles across.

Animals- Elephants in the highlands on the way in, Cape Buffalo, giraffe, lions at an old kill (2 young males), wildebeest, more elephant, zebra, Thomson gazelle, a serval cat along a water hole, hyena, warthogs, hippos, slender mongoose, banded mongoose, and waterbuck.

I had never seen a serval cat:

 

 

 

Birds- some I have seen before but mostly new= white browed robin chat, African mourning dove (morning song is “work harder”, afternoon song is “drink lager”), white back vulture, rufous naped  lark, gray crowned cranes, ostrich, black kite stealing picnic sandwiches at lunch, little bee eater, African cormorant, Maribou stork, Spitz’ weaver, rufous tailed weaver (looks like our sparrow), blacksmith lapwing, secretary bird (now called a walking eagle), African white pelican, black crake, yellow billed stork, night heron, sacred ibis, red knobbed coot, black ibis, helmeted guinea fowl, greater and lesser flamingo, ruff, African shoveller duck, Cape teal, little stint, juvenile green shank, common fiscal shrike, Kory bustard.

 

 

Tuesday, Nov. 8- A long day’s drive to Tarangire Park. To break up the trip we stopped at a school. The students learn English by rote repetition. After hearing the HM song and another one, we were allowed to mix with the kids. I held back but then got pulled into a corner with about 5 very energetic boys who were football fans and then wanted me to draw them an elephant and a lion. My elephant was terrible and I luckily didn’t get a chance to finish the lion. We went outside for some goosestepping drills, then met with the dean of teachers who told us about the school's performance with students and about their needs and gave out some books and things. The biggest hit with the kids was a soccer ball while the teachers loved getting a 6 inch cylinder of pencils left over from one of our group’s political campaigns. The school took up a collection to help them with other things- the printer was mid 90s size.

 

 

 

We drove further and then the next break was at the Tanzanite Experience. There was a short program on how rare this gem is, how it is mined, and how the gems are made. Then we walked through a replica tanzanite mine. T is made of various mixes of Vanadium, Chromium, and Titanium. This is the only place is the world where it is mined (at the foot of Mt Kilimanjaro). Connie bought a necklace that has a pale blue gem and some earrings of a more characteristic rich blue (kind of like her eyes) (Happy Birthday). 

The guide for our vehicle for Tanzania is Mohammed and he is a great spotter and a good photographer. We did a game drive through the park for the rest of the day and saw impala, Grant’s gazelle, a very hard to spot leopard at the foot of a tree behind a bush and termite mound, some rock hyrax near him, a python in the crook of a tree and then an animated (like meerkats) bunch of banded mongoose. We also found a few more lions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As for birds, there were- Van Der Decken’s hornbill, Hadada ibis, ruff (yellow legs) on the river bank, a hammerkop (hammer head) (makes the biggest bird nest ever), red necked spur fowl and yellow throated spur fowl, and a brown snake eagle.

We arrived at our lodging a bit late. This one is a tented camp with the lobby and dining room in the middle. Just past that was an open plain with wildebeest, zebras, impala, and warthogs running free. If you want to leave your room or go to your room before 6 am or after 7:30, you need to call for an armed escort. We had two nights here. Tarangire is the lowest point of this trip, at 3300 feet.

Our tent was called Chiriku which we were told means “love birds” but it really means “Canary” in Swahili. This was possibly the hottest place on the trip both during the day and especially at night. We had a rotating fan in our room but we were still HOT.

An older member of our group fell in her room while getting ready for a balloon ride at 3 am and had to be taken to town two hours away for some stitches. She cut her arm and got a severe black eye.

Wednesday, November 9- This day was split between a game drive and learning about the Tanzanian Maasai. Game- eland, and 11 lions under a tree among others. Mohammed has a recorder with lion and hyena sounds on it, and he used the male lion sound from the truck. Two males left the rest and walked out in search of the intruder. They walked right between the trucks and we all got great photos of lions up close. We saw a leopard up very close. Then we saw some hyenas that Mohammed also called to attention.

November 9 birds- lilac breasted roller, yellow collared love birds, magpie shrike AKA the butcher bird because it catches grasshoppers and then pins them to thorns on the Acacia trees to eat later, a gray headed kingfisher, ashy starling, Ruepell’s gryphon vulture, a gray backed shrike , and then Namaqua dove back at the lodge.

Connie’s birthday festivities- Our group had been passing Maasai all day, with children as young as 4 herding cattle and goats, using donkeys to retrieve water, men sitting around doing basically nothing, all wearing the very colorful wraps (red dominant, or red and black checks seeming to be the favorite). The group went to a Maasai village enclosed with an Acacia thorny fence to keep out the lions. The separate but similar enclosure for the animals is called a boma. Inside the village are the huts where they live- basically three rooms, one for gathering, one for sleeping and one for the calves and baby goats. Cooking is in a separate hut.

We came into the village and were greeted by the chief (of about 300 Maasai in several similar villages in the area). He was fully dressed in Maasai style with an ebony stick (lesser males all carry an Acacia stick), a spear, a machete like knife, the wrap, and a lot of necklaces. The women in our group all got dressed in Maasai style with wraps and necklaces and then joined Maasai women in grinding grain and then in hut repair with a mixture of cattle dung and dirt.

 

 

 

The young males did some very energetic dancing for us (in the photo note the Michelin tire brand sandals) and then we went into the chief’s hut for a discussion about Maasai life including marriage and child raising. The chief selected one of the young women in our group and asked if he could marry her.

This was all part of the show. Our chief has three wives but has been a leader in encouraging girls to stay in school and in promoting monogamy.

 She replied that he should be aware she does no manual labor. The chief pretended to back off very quickly.

After this there were group photos, some more singing, and then shopping time for bracelets, necklaces, and other trinkets.

I can’t fully describe Maasai life but it is a very strong culture that seems to be surviving even with the pressure to modernize. I think one can get a good sense of it from reading “The Worlds of a Maasai Warrior” which I intend to do when I get back.

That was the main celebration for Connie’s birthday but back at the lodge there was a birthday cake and singing by the cook staff.

Thursday, November 10- Leaving Chiriku and Tarangire, we had a long, hot day of driving, first back through Arusha, and then to Amboseli and the Serena Amboseli Lake Lodge (two nights). In Arusha, we went back to the Cultural Center, mostly as a break in the drive but also for another shopping opportunity. This time Connie and I went into the real art gallery. It is an amazing place for sculpture of the animals and the Maasai as well as for paintings of the same. We found an 8 x 6 painting of a cheetah family which we are thinking about buying for the basement at home (converting it back to an Africa theme).

 

 

 

Side note- There is so much beautiful art and also so many interesting books about life in East Africa that I could spend the rest of my life just appreciating both of these. Might have to get rid of all my old school Civil War battles and western art in favor of African animals and people.

 

For the next stops today, the next couple of days, and every entry or exit from one of the parks, there were very insistent and persistent Maasai women trying to sell us trinkets.

 

As we approached Amboseli  ( 3700 feet in elevation) the scrub got scrubbier and scrubbier. I saw two camels, which was pretty unexpected. Entering Amboseli we immediately saw the results of the severe drought. Amboseli is a flat, barren plain with the only green where there is a bit of water. In places where there is water, the ground is so dry and salty that the water doesn’t really help. Mohammed said some of the deaths are due to eating so much dirt with what vegetation there is that the animals digestion can’t handle it. There are carcasses of various species basically always in sight.

 

 

 

One positive part of Amboseli from the scenery point of view is that we are in sight of and at the foot of Kilimanjaro (19000 feet).

 

 

 

The only new mammal we saw today was the slender or long tailed mongoose. As we drove it seemed like in one area there would be zebras almost exclusively, then it would change to wildebeests, then maybe impalas. 

However, I added a lot of birds- tawny eagle, pink pelican, black stilt, pied avocet, both kinds of flamingoes, ruff, our first but not last African fish eagle, African spoonbills, marabou storks (flesh eating, the old professor), Goliath heron, a hoopoe, and the Kory bustard (the largest flying bird in Africa).

Room 74 at the Amboseli Lake Lodge (by Serena) was probably our best- good room, pretty good light, a small sitting area outside to watch the animals (I saw lots of vervet monkeys, a female agama lizard, and a very noisy grey kingfisher while seated). 

Friday Nov. 11- Amboseli 

 We did a morning game drive. There were lions lying down with no kill nearby and three cheetahs very far away. As for birds I added a crowned plover, a black headed heron, several Superb starlings, two tawny eagles which really are tawny, yellow necked spur fowl,and lots of vultures. We saw a sick baby elephant being coaxed toward water by his mom, yellow baboons, and vervet monkeys at a rest stop. We later saw the baby doing much better after reaching water.

 

 

 Add link to article about the drought in Amboseli and its effect on wildlife: In a Famed Game Park Near the Foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, the Animals Are Giving Up

Saturday Nov 12-  Amboseli to Elementaita (5800 feet) across the Kenyan border

An early morning departure for the long drive to the Kenyan border and customs. It was confusing even with Albert’s expert guidance. Someone did not get their passport stamped in TZ so she had to pay a little to make it right with the Kenyans border folks. Here we say goodbye to Mohammed who has been so good at spotting, calling, and photographing and our vehicle Duma. We meet Jackson who has big shoes to fill. Now we are in car number 1 but we never seem to be. Today we even got a double dose of Maasai- some on the TZ side and more on the Kenyan side. One even almost got her arm caught in the door as we pulled out.

The rest of this day was a further long drive to the Serena Lodge at Lake Elementaita (5800 feet). We stopped for a late lunch in a sprawling crossroads town where Albert lives called Narok. Stalls selling everything and motorcycle taxis and goats and cattle feeding and being herded along the road, lots of trucks and death defying passing of those trucks.

 

 

 

We got to Serena way after dark but the lodge team welcomed us with song, dance (somewhat like Big Freedia), and heavy snacks. Dinner followed at about 9 but we just enjoyed the snacks and went to our room, which was very roomy with a hot water bottle on each side of the bed and a place to sit outside. Three nights in one place means time to unpack and repack!

 

 

Sunday Nov. 13-  At 6 am we were awakened by the strangest but most beautiful sounding alarm signal (which I tried for three days to record but something always interfered) which turned out to be a tropical bou bou bird calling and another one responding. There is a fence around the hotel property to keep the big animals out but we could walk down close enough to the lake shore to see a huge but distant flock of flamingoes (not as big as the flock in Out of Africa but reminiscent).

 

 

 

After breakfast we went on a game drive around Lake Nakuru (about 6000 feet) which kind of connects to the hotel property, all of which was part of Lord Delamere’s 1000 square mile “congreve” or land in Out of Africa, now a conservation easement. The animals were pretty much more of same but we did see two lions, a Rothschild giraffe, and olive baboons. and a few white rhinos from a great distance. 

I added a few birds- white browed sparrow weaver (very noisy, building nests), drongo, augur buzzard, yellow bishop, martial eagle, red billed ox pecker, yellow billed stilt, spur winged goose, and a long crested eagle.

The best sighting of the day was a family of cheetahs on a termite hill. Here is the family and then the mom close up:

 

 

 

 

We have been looking to see the Big 5- lion, leopard, Cape Buffalo, elephant and rhino- and we have now seen them all but not on one day. Jackson told us about the Little 5 too- a Buffalo weaver bird, a rhino beetle (dung beetle), a flower called a lion tail (plentiful on the side of the trails, a leopard tortoise, and an elephant shrew.

Monday Nov 14- Today we went over to Lake Naivasha (5700 feet) and took a boat ride to Crescent Island, actually a peninsula which was populated with wildlife for Out of Africa and then kept that way, but without predators. The lake was chock full of water hyacinths- so much so that our boat driver Martin stalled out a couple of times getting to the landing. Martin took us along the shore to see hippos close up, African fish eagles diving for fish, native fishermen wading in the lake using hand lines to catch tilapia (Nile Perch on the menu). I saw a duck I haven’t identified yet (which I think is an African black duck) and a kind of coot called locally a dabchick.

Once on the island George was our guide. (He had a AAA Alaska hat on.) We could get very close to impalas, Grant’s gazelle, but even closer to zebra and giraffes.

George also taught us about the Ugly 5- wildebeest, wart hog, vulture, hyena, and Maribou stork. He  explained how the wildebeest is a composite animal with the face of a grasshopper, sloped back of a hyena, goatee of a goat, stripes of a zebra, and tail of a horse.

The Maribou stork is said to resemble an old Oxford professor: 

The white pelicans seemed to like what Martin had available to eat:

Tuesday Nov 15- Elementaita to Serena Maasai Mara

We were again woken up by the tropical bou bou. The big surprise of the morning was that we had breakfast on the shores of the lake looking at the pink flamingoes. To get there we had an armed escort lead us outside of the fenced area. 

The road getting here was so bad that Albert rethought how to get to Mara and had us take a shortcut that eliminated about 100 km of passing trucks and speed bumps. It took us through an area where the people (generally Kikuyu now) corn, potatoes and other cereal crops as well as some pyrethrum (insect repellent), over the Rift escarpment (max elevation 9470 feet) and down to the Mara at about 6000 feet. To get to the lodge involved a game drive. Unique to the Mara we saw Topi, a big antelope which is said to look like it is wearing jeans. We also saw a couple of Coke’s Hartebeest which I guess are somewhat rare.

While we had a good look at a Lappet faced vulture, Jackson told us vultures only eat dead things while buzzard will hunt.

We also learned that the Mara in Kenya borders the Serengeti in Tanzania and the border between the countries is marked by concrete pillars about 4 feet high and about 1000 meters apart all along the border.

The best animal sighting of the day was a couple of cheetahs with a recent kill.

 

 

Wednesday, November 16- This was the big day for us- all Big 5 in one day. Serena Maasai Lodge has about the smallest room so far, but a great view of the Mara from the room and rock hyrax right outside the grass. The warning was do not leave the window even cracked or the baboons will come into the room.

 

 

 

Birds first- Marsh harrier, crown lapwing, spurring lapwing, pin tailed wydah (tail feathers blow like ribbon) rock martin, black headed heron, woolly necked stork, black crake, hooded vulture.

We saw a cheetah family , mom and 3 cubs, lying on a termite mound, a single lioness, then another lioness with a baby wildebeest kill by a creek and with the hooded vulture in a tree waiting. We found a leopard with a kill on another termite mound. On the way back for a break we spotted a nile monitor lizard. During the evening game drive we saw the rhino which made the Big 5 complete.

 

 

 

When we got back to the lodge we found out 2 of our party have Covid. Several others in eluding Jackson have some kind of cold and cough going on.

Thursday, November 17- Mara continued.

We did a short game drive early in the morning mostly along the river to see hippos and crocodiles but we also saw a black rhino (the others were white) as well as the leopard from yesterday. The leopard walked between the cars as if we weren’t even there. 

 

 

 

Then we had breakfast by the river with crocs and hippos and an armed guard.  Birds added were a black bellied bustard, a common bul bul at breakfast as well as Ruppell’s Starling. 

Next was a vist for those who wanted to to see a Kenyan Maasai village and another school. Then it was time to pack.

Friday, November 18- Long, long drive from the Mara to Nairobi, via Narok, up and over the Rift another way with lots of scary passes of trucks, cars throwing corn to baboons on the side of the road, and baboons running out into traffic to get the corn.

But the game drive out of the park was special- a family of giraffes and a Cape Buffalo seemed to be saying goodbye to us. We saw a single male lion and  a bunch of hyenas, and the wildebeest looked like they were lined up single file for miles getting ready to migrate.

We got to Nairobi for a late lunch at Hatton’s Lodge and then toured Karen Blixen’s house and a bead factory for women.

 

 

 

The Nairobi airport was complete bedlam but we made the 11:59 pm flight and the trip home was relatively easy.