Out of Africa - part one (Moja): Serengeti National Park
Our trip to Tanzania and Kenya was truly the trip of a lifetime. For all those who want to read about our adventures, I condensed almost 70 pages of my journal and over 3,000 pictures (thank goodness for digital!) into four blog entries. We have also posted pictures on Flickr (Tanzania & Kenya are in separate folders), which you can access with the link on the left. So, without further delay, happy reading!
Day 1 - The KLM flight from Amsterdam to Kilimanjaro Airport is about 9 hours and by the time we arrived it was already dark. A representative from our safari company, Africa Dream Safaris, met us in the terminal and helped us navigate the somewhat chaotic scene at this tiny airport. There was another group of 10 friends from Minnesota who were here on safari with the same company. We would end up seeing a lot of them over the first three days, before our itineraries split.
Soon, we were taken to the Arumeru River Lodge where we were to stay our first night. We were greeted with a warm “Jambo”, fresh passion fruit juice and a cool towel. Dinner was delicious and after a couple drinks at the bar we were off to bed. I could hardly believe we were finally in Africa! It had always been a dream of mine to go to Africa and I was eager to take in everything. Behind our lodge we could hear the sounds of all kinds of birds, frogs, and other nocturnal animals, including bush-babies (that are quite noisy!) I loved all the noises and didn't want to miss a note. But soon, under our mosquito net, I was fast asleep.
Day 2 - We flew from the Arusha Airport (which is about the same size as the Yolo County airport in Davis) to an airstrip in the Serengeti National Park. Our 12-seater plane made two stops on the way, both on dirt airstrips in the middle of nowhere. I'm not a nervous flier, but when I saw that the second airstrip ran off the end of a cliff, I tightened my seatbelt a little!
When we finally landed, our driver/guide, Maiko, met us with a big smile and hearty handshake. It was only the three of us in our open top Landover, which was actually very comfortable. Two other trucks were there for the party of 10. In no time we were off on our first game drive in the bush! We saw all kinds of wildlife, giraffe, zebra, elephants, baboons, buffalo, gazelles, wildebeest, warthogs, monkeys, jackals, more birds than I had ever seen. The highlight of the morning was stumbling across two mating lions! I felt a little strange snapping pictures, but it was quite a sight!
Maiko set up a table under an acacia tree in the middle of the brush for lunch. It was like a scene out of the movie "Out of Africa". We saw many more animals in the afternoon, but the highlight was spotting a leopard with a kill up a tree. We were really excited, since were told not to be too disappointed if we didn't see a leopard at all in our 10 days, as they are pretty rare. Now we were seeing one on our first day! We ended up seeing a total of 8 lions and the leopard that day. Not a bad start! But we took 350 pictures in one day... time to regulate!
That night we stayed at the Lobo Wildlife Lodge right in the park. My favorite part of the lodge is "sunset rock" with stunning views of the valley. We were the only ones up there the first night. Our only company was two mama baboons, each with a baby, sitting across the way watching the sunset too. After dinner the lodge put on a show with traditional dancing and music. We had to get bed somewhat early though, since all electricity (and hot water) at the lodge is shut off from 11:30pm to 5:30am! You are only provided a candle (no holder) to find your way to the bathroom at night.
Day 3 - Most days we started our game drives at 6am since it's the best time to see the animals. Today we were heading up to the Mara River at the very North of the Serengeti, near the Kenyan boarder. On the way we picked up a ranger (complete with rifle) to escort the three trucks. We found out later that the ranger was there more for protection from poachers that wildlife. We had a boxed breakfast off the road somewhere, again with stunning views! The rest of the morning we continued to see animals & birds of all kinds.
At lunch we were by the river watching about 100,000 wildebeest try to cross the river (yes, 100,000, which is actually an underestimate!) This was the tail end of the great wildebeest migration. While the migration is apparently much more stunning here earlier in the year, we were thrilled to see a glimpse of this wonder of nature. Today we saw many of the same animals, including more lions, but also crocodiles, hippos, ostrich and our first hyena. Today was day two of my Swahili lessons, and my first big test (memorize 10 animal names), which I passed with flying colors.
Back at the lodge, after another beautiful sunset, we joined the party of 10 for dinner and drinks. They are great people, but tomorrow we will part ways, as we will be heading to the central Serengeti. We were showered and in bed by the 11:30 power shut off time and fell asleep to the sounds of the bush and a gently falling rain.
Our first view of Africa, at the Arumeru River Lodge
Us with our guide & driver, Maiko
The tiny Arusha airport
The 12-seater plane taking off after dropping us off in the Serengeti National Park
Zebra
The first leopard we spotted
Elephants making their way to the waterhole
Lions in the throws of passion
Kongoni, or Coke's Hartebeest
Von der Decken's hornbill
African sunset, looking out over the Serengeti
A few of the 100,000 wildebeest we saw, taking up the rear of the great migration
In the safari truck
Elephants crossing the Mara River in the Northern Serengeti
Crocodiles at the Mara River waiting patiently for a meal
Giraffe
Tree
Waterbucks
View of the Serengeti from our room at the Lobo Wildlife Lodge
All the safari trucks parked at the lodge for the night.
Day 1 - The KLM flight from Amsterdam to Kilimanjaro Airport is about 9 hours and by the time we arrived it was already dark. A representative from our safari company, Africa Dream Safaris, met us in the terminal and helped us navigate the somewhat chaotic scene at this tiny airport. There was another group of 10 friends from Minnesota who were here on safari with the same company. We would end up seeing a lot of them over the first three days, before our itineraries split.
Soon, we were taken to the Arumeru River Lodge where we were to stay our first night. We were greeted with a warm “Jambo”, fresh passion fruit juice and a cool towel. Dinner was delicious and after a couple drinks at the bar we were off to bed. I could hardly believe we were finally in Africa! It had always been a dream of mine to go to Africa and I was eager to take in everything. Behind our lodge we could hear the sounds of all kinds of birds, frogs, and other nocturnal animals, including bush-babies (that are quite noisy!) I loved all the noises and didn't want to miss a note. But soon, under our mosquito net, I was fast asleep.
Day 2 - We flew from the Arusha Airport (which is about the same size as the Yolo County airport in Davis) to an airstrip in the Serengeti National Park. Our 12-seater plane made two stops on the way, both on dirt airstrips in the middle of nowhere. I'm not a nervous flier, but when I saw that the second airstrip ran off the end of a cliff, I tightened my seatbelt a little!
When we finally landed, our driver/guide, Maiko, met us with a big smile and hearty handshake. It was only the three of us in our open top Landover, which was actually very comfortable. Two other trucks were there for the party of 10. In no time we were off on our first game drive in the bush! We saw all kinds of wildlife, giraffe, zebra, elephants, baboons, buffalo, gazelles, wildebeest, warthogs, monkeys, jackals, more birds than I had ever seen. The highlight of the morning was stumbling across two mating lions! I felt a little strange snapping pictures, but it was quite a sight!
Maiko set up a table under an acacia tree in the middle of the brush for lunch. It was like a scene out of the movie "Out of Africa". We saw many more animals in the afternoon, but the highlight was spotting a leopard with a kill up a tree. We were really excited, since were told not to be too disappointed if we didn't see a leopard at all in our 10 days, as they are pretty rare. Now we were seeing one on our first day! We ended up seeing a total of 8 lions and the leopard that day. Not a bad start! But we took 350 pictures in one day... time to regulate!
That night we stayed at the Lobo Wildlife Lodge right in the park. My favorite part of the lodge is "sunset rock" with stunning views of the valley. We were the only ones up there the first night. Our only company was two mama baboons, each with a baby, sitting across the way watching the sunset too. After dinner the lodge put on a show with traditional dancing and music. We had to get bed somewhat early though, since all electricity (and hot water) at the lodge is shut off from 11:30pm to 5:30am! You are only provided a candle (no holder) to find your way to the bathroom at night.
Day 3 - Most days we started our game drives at 6am since it's the best time to see the animals. Today we were heading up to the Mara River at the very North of the Serengeti, near the Kenyan boarder. On the way we picked up a ranger (complete with rifle) to escort the three trucks. We found out later that the ranger was there more for protection from poachers that wildlife. We had a boxed breakfast off the road somewhere, again with stunning views! The rest of the morning we continued to see animals & birds of all kinds.
At lunch we were by the river watching about 100,000 wildebeest try to cross the river (yes, 100,000, which is actually an underestimate!) This was the tail end of the great wildebeest migration. While the migration is apparently much more stunning here earlier in the year, we were thrilled to see a glimpse of this wonder of nature. Today we saw many of the same animals, including more lions, but also crocodiles, hippos, ostrich and our first hyena. Today was day two of my Swahili lessons, and my first big test (memorize 10 animal names), which I passed with flying colors.
Back at the lodge, after another beautiful sunset, we joined the party of 10 for dinner and drinks. They are great people, but tomorrow we will part ways, as we will be heading to the central Serengeti. We were showered and in bed by the 11:30 power shut off time and fell asleep to the sounds of the bush and a gently falling rain.
Our first view of Africa, at the Arumeru River Lodge
Us with our guide & driver, Maiko
The tiny Arusha airport
The 12-seater plane taking off after dropping us off in the Serengeti National Park
Zebra
The first leopard we spotted
Elephants making their way to the waterhole
Lions in the throws of passion
Kongoni, or Coke's Hartebeest
Von der Decken's hornbill
African sunset, looking out over the Serengeti
A few of the 100,000 wildebeest we saw, taking up the rear of the great migration
In the safari truck
Elephants crossing the Mara River in the Northern Serengeti
Crocodiles at the Mara River waiting patiently for a meal
Giraffe
Tree
Waterbucks
View of the Serengeti from our room at the Lobo Wildlife Lodge
All the safari trucks parked at the lodge for the night.
posted by Swiss Miss | 12:50
4 Comments:
um...why didn't you slap the 300mm lense on to get a close up of the lepard. geez. Also no pics of the rampant genocide. very dissapointing. ;) just kidding.
just looked at all the pics on flkr...fantastic!!!!!!!
I'm glad you like the new Flickr addition... it took forever, but now The Drake will stop bugging us about it! ;)
that was the 300mm lens WITH a 2x teleconverter!!!
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