Serengeti Sightings

We started the day with an early morning game drive then went back to our campsite for lunch and a few hours of rest in the shade before heading back into the park for another game drive later in the afternoon. The main difference that I noticed between the Serengeti and Masai Mara was that the Masai Mara had more herds of grazing animals (and therefore seemed really full) whereas the Serengeti seemed emptier, but we got to see lots of cats and elephants!

The highlight of the day was seeing a cheetah chase down and capture a gazelle! It was quite a ways away from our vehicle so I couldn't see all the gory details, only a cloud of dust as he made the kill, but it was amazing to see him sprint across the hill in front of us (they run at 120 km/hour). It's one thing to know they go fast and to see it on TV, but to see it in real life was awesome!

We saw some more lions along the side of the road (causing a massive traffic jam), a few leopards sleeping in trees, a serval (another type of cat), and lots of elephants, including a baby.

We had a fire that evening, and it was fun to sit around, telling riddles ... especially when someone tells the riddle and then can't remember the answer! Unfortunately, I didn't feel well that night (why here?), so had to wake up my tent-mate and collect our group leader to walk with us to the bathroom - it was only 25 m from the tents, but we were glad we took him with us. Between us and the bathrooms, we met a large hyena - the top of his head was probably the height of my chest and he was big! (I never realized how big and scary looking they are until then.) We shone our lights in his face and our group leader threw some stones at him, and off he ran.

Into the Serengeti

After packing up our tents (and showing all the newbies how to pack up theirs) we headed to the market in Musoma so that our cook could buy the food we needed for the next few days. Then it was off to the Serengeti!

We had lunch just outside the park gate, with a group of baboons watching our every move, waiting for us to leave (surprisingly ... we were expecting an attack) before coming to search for any scraps we may have left. We then headed into the park, game driving our way to our campsite IN the park! Of course, about 5 minutes down the road we got a flat tire. The guys quickly changed the tire while those of us in the truck kept a good lookout for lions or anything else that might want to make a snack of them. As for animals, we added to our list a leopard up in a tree (which made a mad dash for the bushes as we stopped beside it) and two male lions sleeping in the shade of another tree.

Our campsite was simple with flush-squat toilets and cold showers. There were no fences and no guards to protect us during the night, only a sign at the entrance saying "Do not leave the campsite, animals can attack." We ate supper in the dark - head lamps are awesome!

My tent-mate was always worried about being eaten at night, so when we saw a set of eyes behind our tent (obviously a small animal because the eyes were close together and low to the ground), she ran for our group leader to identify the animal. Turns out I was right and it was a jackal! He ended up walking along with us and our bus driver to the bathroom and half way there said "There's a leopard!" We assumed he was joking with us until he and the driver both shone their flashlights on the same area and we saw him making his way through the tall grass. Not something you want to see just before climbing into your tent!

That night I just HAD to pee (why does this always happen to me?) so had to wake up my tent mate so she could be on the lookout for animals while I marked my territory beside the tent. Later on that night, something walked between out tent and our neighbours' ... a hyena?

Country #20 - Tanzania!

Our first stop of the day was a a stone carving cooperative just outside Kisii - here we were shown how the soapstone was carved, polished, and painted before being shipped off to Ten Thousand Villages stores in North America. (I've been to the store, so it was neat to see the people who actually made the stuff!) I bought a stone elephant which they carefully wrapped up for me (and it actually made it all the way back to Canada in one piece!). The next stop was at the border with Tanzania. We left most of our stuff on the truck, and walked with our passports to the Kenyan customs office to exit the country. The officer I talked to only seemed interested in knowing if I (or anyone else in the group I was with) was from Nunavut! Then we walked across the border into Tanzania and went into the customs office there. I had bought my visa in Canada so didn't have to buy one there, but the few people in our group who needed a visa didn't have any hassles getting one. Then it was back on the truck and off to the shores of Lake Victoria where we spent the rest of the day. After lunch, some of the group did a bicycle trip through the neighbouring town, but I decided that I'd seen enough African markets, so didn't feel like paying someone to go see another one. Instead, I found a comfy spot to sit and relax while reading my book and listening to the waves lap against the beach. (There's nasty things in the water, so no swimming) The others got back form there bike ride at sunset, which also happened to be the same time a massive thunderstorm rolled in. We all made our way to the bar at the end of the beach, and sat around chatting in the dark (the power went out) for at least an hour. Then it was back to the cook shelter where we all squeezed in around the massive wood boiler for supper. We then had a hot shower and were in our tents by 9:30.

Kisii

Because we were so used to getting up early, even when we had the chance to sleep in, we were up early! After breakfast, we walked into town to the post office so we could mail our postcards, then we stopped by and internet cafe to send a few emails home. It was super cheap internet (lowest price I've ever seen!) - 1 shilling/minute ... or in Canadian dollars, 13 cents/10 minutes! Then it was back to the hotel, were we spent some time watching a confusing movie (we never figured out what was supposed to be going on) before meeting the rest of our group and heading west.

It was a beautiful drive - rolling hills with tea plantations, banana plantations, and maize fields ... and a lot of "Hotel and Butchery"s ... not sure I'd want to stay at one of those :S We had lunch at the side of the road where we got to teach the newbies how to wash their hands and dry dishes (all with a group of school kids looking on). We spent the night at a Catholic Mission Guest House - 2 people to a bedroom with the shared bathroom and shower stalls down the hall.

Narok

Another early morning wake up time (out of the campsite by 7 am!) - most of the group was driving back to Nairobi, so they wanted an early start. After 3 hours driving we reached Narok, where I was left with a few other girls from the group to try to entertain ourselves until the next morning when a new group (but same cook and leader) would join us for the second half of the trip through Tanzania.

We had an "interesting" hotel - the shower wasn't working (it wouldn't heat the water), the sink drain pipe came off, and the sink came part way off the wall when an bit of force was put on it! We had lunch in the town, then did some souvenir and snack food shopping. Back at the hotel, I wrote a few postcards, watched a soccer match, then we had supper as a group in the hotel restaurant. It wasn't the most exciting town to be stuck in for a day!

Hot Air Balloon Ride over the Masai Mara

6 of us woke up at 4:30 am (before the electricity or water came on!) for a 5 am pick-up to go ballooning over the Masai Mara! We got to the launch site before sunrise and watched as the balloon slowly filled with air and and elephant followed by a herd of wildebeests marched by. We climbed in the basket while it was still on its side, scooched our butts right down to the seat, then hung on as the balloon lifted us upright so that the older French group could climb in ... they weren't quite as agile as us! We stayed seated for the lift off with our bags on our laps, but as soon as we were airborne, we were standing up leaning over the edge to check out the view. It was an overcast morning so we didn't get to watch the sunrise and it also meant that I didn't get many good pictures (my camera doesn't do well in low light conditions). But it was still amazing to see the expanse of savannah, the giant herds of wildebeests and zebras heading south, and the incredible amount of poop on the ground! Along with all the wildebeests and zebras, we also saw hyenas, warthogs, elephants, giraffes and lions. The first two lions we saw were sleeping and the another group of four lions (one female and three males) was wide awake and wandering around by the stream. One of the males looked right up at us as if to say "what are you doing up there?" We also got to observe two lions "copulating" ... it only took about 3 seconds! We had a soft landing and were able to climb up out of the basket while it was upright, then took a group picture with the basket before walking over to where breakfast was set up. There was champagne, orange juice, croissants, apple pastries, fruit, hard boiled eggs, sausages, quiche, yogurt, cereal, and tea and coffee. It tasted great! After we finished eating, our balloon pilot pointed out the lion on the hill behind us. We quickly used the "bathroom" (a jeep with a tarp strung up so no-one could see our bums when we squatted), then loaded into our open sided SUV for the ride to meet up with the rest of the group. We were expecting just a drive to the meeting spot - we ended up getting a hour and half game drive! Just after leaving the breakfast spot, two male lions walked right past us - it was a bit uncomfortable having a lion less than 8 metres away from me and walking towards me when there was NOTHING between us ... no car door, no window, no fence, etc.! We also saw a lot of cute little baby animals and some vultures tearing apart a wildebeest before meeting up with our group at a fancy lodge in the park. We continued the game drive with everyone else in the truck, stopping for lunch at the Mara River (the border between Kenya and Tanzania, and the Masai Mara and Serengeti parks). It's one of the spots where the wildebeests and zebras cross the river in their migration, so it smelt a bit like rotting, dead animals, and there was a large group of hippos on the opposite bank so we couldn't go near the water's edge. (There were probably crocodiles there too, but we didn't see any.) It was pretty hot, but we couldn't sit under the trees to eat, because that's where the lunch-stealing monkeys hung out! They managed to get one lady from our group's sandwich and from the shrieks some of the people in other groups were making, probably managed to grab a few more lunches! We drove a few more hours, bumping down the road (I managed to bash my head pretty hard on the ceiling after one bump!) and adding a mongoose sighting to my list of animals, we were back at camp for our final supper together. We had traditional Kenyan food again, then all had to stand up and make a speech about our experience on the trip. A group of Croatian guys was having a great time watching the spectacle - even turning their chairs to watch! They also asked if they could video us flapping our dishes (the method we used to dry them) ... of course, we were pretty entertaining since we had made up flapping songs to flap/dance to!

Masai Mara - Day 1

A lot of the group hardly slept at all, but I slept great! I decided to skip the shower (it was only cold water and the door didn't close properly), so just packed up the tent and had breakfast. After we finished cleaning up, we went back to the cow corral for the warrior dance - of course, since the cows had spent all night in there, there was plenty of fresh manure to step in!

It was really neat to see them dancing and jumping and to hear their singing. Apparently the guy who jumps the highest is the most attractive to the women of the village. They pulled our guys in for a jumping competition, the got the women to join in - we weren't allowed to jump, only dance.

We had time to take pictures with the warriors, then went to check out the stalls set up by the women of the village. (I bought a stripped blanket that I'll use in my guest bedroom - I decided to make it my "Africa room".)

Back in the truck, we drove a few hours to the Masai Mara. The "road" to our campground was pretty rough! After setting up and having lunch, we headed into the reserve for our first game drive. I added topi, wildebeasts (it was the end of the migration back to the Serengeti), lions (sleeping, of course) and a lepord (look closely to find it in the picture) to my list of animals.

After supper and a nice hot (wood fire heated) shower, it was off to sleep listening to the hyenas.