Our Next Travels Abroad ... It's A Long One

Next month, and half of the one after that, we will venture outside America for the first time since December 2019.  We will be hitting several things on our bucket list while visiting two continents.

Our travels will start in Israel, move on to Turkey and Egypt, before ending in Ethiopia.  This will be our longest trip - forty-five days - nearly two weeks longer than our previous record.  The travels begin with a fifteen hours worth of flights from Omaha to Tel Aviv, Israel via Chicago and Frankfurt.

• The first part of our travels will be seven days in Israel.  During our stay here we will be visiting: Tel Aviv, Sea of Galilee, Tiberias, Capernaum, the Golan Heights, the Jordan Valley, Jerusalem, Mount Zion, The Tower of David, Bethlehem, the Dead Sea (our second visit here - the last time from the Jordan side of the sea), and Masada.
• The second part of our travels will be thirteen days in Turkey.  Our first couple days here will be free for us as we get here a couple days before the start of our tour.  After the second day we will be visiting: Istanbul, Topkapi Palace, Cappadocia (including a hot air balloon ride), Izmir, Ephesus, Bodrum, and a ride on a gulet on the Aegean Sea.
• The third part of our travels takes us from the Asian continent to Africa starting with nine days in Egypt.  In Egypt we will visit: Cairo, the pyramids and the sphinx, the Egyptian Museum, a four day Nile cruise with stops at the Karnak Temple, the Valley of the Kings, the Aswan Dam, and Abu Simbel.
• The fourth and final part of our travels will be thirteen days in Ethiopia.  In Ethiopia we will visit:  Addis Ababa, Harar, Lalibela, Arba Minch, a boat safari, visits with the Konso, Karo, Hamer, and several other tribes.

This trip is a combination of four tours given by our favorite tour company, Anderson & Roberts.  We have done fifteen of their tours, nineteen with this next trip.  They hit all the best spots and the groups are always small (often less than eight people).  It's nice to just sit back and not have to worry about how to get there and where to stay but it can be expensive.  This will very likely be our last tour-centric trip.   After this one we will do more of the legwork and cut out the middleman to reduce costs.

African Adventure: Tanzania - Zanzibar

A dhow off the coast of Zanzibar.

I have a thing for exotic sounding places.  The first exotic sounding place I chose to visit was Kathmandu.  The Wife went along with my madness.  Kathmandu was ... disappointing.  When I suggested adding Zanzibar to the end of our vacation because it sounded so exotic and Freddy Mercury was born there I was a bit surprised that the Wife didn't try to talk me out of it.  I wouldn't have faulted her after the Kathmandu fiasco.  Fortunately for me, and my exotic sounding places thing, Zanzibar turned out to be a bit better than Kathmandu.

June 25^th

We left our camp in the Serengeti and headed for the nearest dirt strip airport,  We were a little worried about the weight of our bags.  We would be flying small bush planes form here to Zanzibar and the weight limit was lower than the large planes.  I tried to help by tossing almost all of my underwear and socks back at the Serengeti camp but I still felt our bags were too heavy.  Our driver/guide knew of our concerns and said we had little to worry about here.  Leaving Zanzibar would be a different story.

Our plane arrived and the pilot, the plane's entire crew, started loading the bags on the plane.  Our driver grabbed our bags and, being helpful to the pilot, loaded our bags on the plane himself.  The pilot never had a chance to feel just how heavy our bags were.  Our driver got an extra big tip.  Our plane made one stop in Arusha where we changed to another bush plane.  They didn't weight our bags there either so we were home free.

We were picked up at the airport by our driver who dropped us off at our hotel.  He said our guide would pick us up the next morning for our island tour.  This was a surprise to us as we were expecting a walking tour of the older part of the city known as Stone Town.  We would end up doing the walking tour the next day and, frankly, having the afternoon off gave us some time to decompress and relax from our Safari experience.

The view off our balcony at sunset.

After checking out our room we headed back down to ask about an ATM and a place to do some shopping.  At the front desk we ran into M_k and T_m who we'd met briefly in Arusha six days earlier.  We set up a dinner date for later that night.

A stop at the ATM and a few blocks and we found a street lined with all kinds of stores.  You could find everything you wanted from east Africa.  We bought some final gifts, a few more magnets, and few more things for ourselves.  I bought a tin toy safari jeep.

My toy safari jeep.

Zanzibar is very Muslim and it has a very exotic feel to it.  The Wife and I have become very fond of Muslim culture.  There were three or four mosques within a block of our hotel.  Not much farther away was a Catholic church and an Anglican cathedral.

That night there was a slight misunderstanding.  The Wife and I waited in the lobby for M_k and T_m.  They had waited for us in the bar.  We eventually met each other half way between the two places and ended up eating a very good dinner and enjoying nice conversation at the hotel restaurant with views of the Indian ocean.

The sun setting over the Indian Ocean.

Our hotel was very comfortable.  It was located in Stone Town and on the beach.  The hotel itself didn't have a beach ... well, there was one during low tide but at high tide the beach totally disappeared.  That was the only thing I missed.  If we had been in Zanzibar longer I would have taken the free hotel shuttle to their private beach up the coast from Stone Town.

June 26^th

The path through the Jozani Forest.

Our guide and driver arrived and we headed out of Stone Town.  Our first stop would be the Jozani Forest Chwaka Bay National Park.  A guide from the park took us on a walking tour along jungle lined trails.  Our park guide identified all the plants we passed along with their uses and medicinal properties.  Every plant had at least one use.  Along the trail we saw lizards, tiny frogs, and millipedes.  Overhead monkeys jumped from tree to tree.  This was also where every exposed part of our skin was bitten by bugs.  The Wife got the worst of that.

The red colobus monkey.

The highlight of Jozani Forest are the Red Colobus Monkeys.  They are rare and they are known for not having thumbs.  They were very used to people and you could get up close to them including nursing mothers.

A mother and her offspring.

Half of the forest is a mangrove forest.  We walked along a boardwalk and looked at the cool trees and the small crabs crawling on the mud.  Our park guide talked about the importance of the mangroves and the attempts by the Zanzibar government to preserve the forests.

Our next stop of the day was a spice farm.  Zanzibar is one of several islands called the Spice Islands.  We toured the farm smelling and tasting different spices right of the plant/tree.  The variety was amazing.  As we toured our guide wove us hats, jewelry, and crowns from palm leaves.  Yes ... we got a wacky picture taken wearing all this stuff.  It will never see the light of day.  The tour ended with a palm tree climbing demonstration - see the awesome video here.

We had a few hours back at the hotel for lunch and a brief nap (i.e. watching the World Cup) before we headed out with our guide on a walking tour of Stone Town.  We passed by the home of Freddy Mercury ... or at least one of the houses that claims to be his childhood home.  We learned about the history of stone town and its connection with the Arab world.  We learned about the Arab slave trade.  We visited the Anglican cathedral that is built over the old slave market.  We learned about the architecture, the magnificent doors (the Wife wanted to bring one home), and visited the non-tourist market.

The memorial to the Arabian slave trade.

The sun was going down as we were returning to the hotel.  In a park along the ocean a crowd had gathered and were watching the horizon intently.  Someone pointed and a cheer went through the crowd.  They had seen the moon.  Ramadan would start the next day.

The crowd waiting for a glimpse of the moon and the start of Ramadan.

June 27^th

Our flight was at 6:00 PM.  We had to check out from our hotel at 10:00 AM.  We arranged to have our luggage stored at the hotel.  Talking with our guide the day before, we arranged to have a ride on a dhow out to Prison Island.

A dhow sailing the choppy water as seen from our dhow.

We walked with our guide to another hotel where we boarded our dhow.  The boat was run by two sailors.  It was made of rough hand-hewn wood and what looked like a hand sewn sail.  It was breezy and I was mildly concerned it would be a rough ride but once we got out on the water it wasn't bad at all.  The sun was out, the wind blew us to the island ... a perfect day for sailing.

We arrived at the island, once owned by an Omani, purchased by the government of Zanzibar to be made into a prison.  Once the prison was built, it was never used as a prison, it was used as a quarantine island instead.  Today there is a resort on the island that looks awesome.

The aldabra giant tortoise.

On the island we visited the last new animal of our Africa trip: the Aldabra Giant Tortoise.  We walked among the tortoises, originally a gift from the government of the Seychelles, and watched them move slowly around their home.  They were used to people and you could touch them.  They seemed to like having their shell rubbed or at least they were curious about what was touching them as they would stretch out their necks and lift their heads.  Some had their age painted on their shells.  The oldest was 155.

We visited the prison building that is now a restaurant and had a drink while we looked out over the Indian ocean.  Our superhero powers activated again when we met someone who graduated from high school in Omaha and had gone to Iowa State.  Again ... it's a small world.

A gorgeous view along the pier on Prison Island.

We got our feet wet getting back into our dhow - I have officially dipped my toes in the Indian Ocean - and returned to the main island.  We visited the French style catholic church before heading back to the hotel.

Back at the hotel we ate lunch.  I felt a little bad eating and drink when I knew the staff, including our awesome waitress Grace, were fasting for Ramadan.

After lunch the hotel was nice to us and allowed us to use the shower facilities in the spa so we would be fresh for our flight home.  The shower was one of those handle shower heads and the pressure was so strong I lost control of it several times and I think I ended up getting the entire room wet.   After I got out, dried off, and put on fresh clothes I proceeded to sweat through those clothes.  The Wife had the same experience except she was also visited by a little lizard.  Not sure those showers did anything really.

We then emptied out all the non-essential clothes from our bags and gave them to our guide and the hotel staff.  Our flight to the mainland was a small twelve seater again.

Our driver picked us up an hour or so later and took us to the airport where they weighed our bags.  We ended up 4.4 lbs (2 kg) over the limit which they didn't seem to mind.   Our flight to the mainland was only about twenty minutes.  We were pleasantly surprised when there was a driver waiting for us to drive us to the nearby international terminal.  We hadn't expected this and I thought we would be paying for a taxi.

The rest of our flights from Dar-Es-Salaam to Zurich to Newark to Omaha went without a hitch.  I spent most of my time watching movies.

Zanzibar turned out to be an awesome end to our African adventure.

Pictures of Zanzibar can be found in my 2014-06 Zanzibar Google Photos album.

African Adventure: Tanzania - The Serengeti

June 24^th

Coming down from the Ngorongoro Caldera on the way to the Serengeti.

We left our camp on the rim of the Ngorongoro caldera and headed west.  As we descended you could see vast expanses of grassland ... dry grassland.


Our first stop of the day was at a Maasai village.  We passed several villages before we got to ours.  The others had two, three, or more jeeps parked outside the village walls.  We had ours to ourselves.  The village was roughly circular.  Livestock (goats in this village) were gathered in the center surrounded by a multiple rings of living huts.  The edge of the village was surrounded by a wall/fence made of thorny acacia branches.

The High Jumping Maasai Dance.

The Maasai came out of the village and greeted us with a dance.  We were escorted into the village where another jumping dance was performed.  I filmed and took pictures while the rest of our group participated (I do not dance).

After the dance our group was split into two groups of two and we went inside a hut where a Maasai explained their life and customs.  The hut was made of branches, grasses and animal dung.  The tiny room had two beds - one for adults and one for children.  There was a small fire in the center.

The educational part was followed by the shopping part.  Items made by the villagers were arrayed in a circle around the livestock pen.  We walked around and picked out some interesting items and gifts for the family.

After the market we visited the small school where the children demonstrated there recitation skills by saying the alphabet and their numbers.  We distributed some of the gifts that our travel mates (L_s and G_g) had shared with us and donated to the school fund.

This whole visit felt more like a dog and pony show for the tourists.  It was interesting but it felt very staged.  Frankly, I doubt it is easy to get an authentic experience nowadays.  I think the authentic experience that I'm thinking of is now a piece of history ... a piece of a bygone era when the world was a much larger place.

The road into the Serengeti from the top of the hill.

We said our goodbyes and continued on to the Serengeti.  We stopped at one of the entrances of Serengeti National Park.  As our driver was taking care of the formalities, I followed a short trail up a hill next to the entrance.  From the top you got a great view of the flat brown landscape.

The expanse of the Serengeti awaits.

The drive from the entrance to our camp was the first of our five safari drives in the Serengeti.  The landscape reminded me a lot of the Maasai Mara which made sense since the southern Maasai Mara butts up against the northern Serengeti - they are essentially two halves of one big area.  While the landscape was the same, the animals were different.  More accurately, the quantity of animals was different.

Zebra  and Wildebeest everywhere.

Two million wildebeest and over eight hundred thousand zebra migrate north to south and back following the rain.  This year the rain had been a bit strange.  The herds had been heading north toward the Maasai Mara but the rain had returned to the Serengeti and the herds had turned around and returned to the central Serengeti where we would be staying.  During our first safari drive we witnessed for the first time what a large number of animals there are in the Serengeti. The herds stretched out to the horizon as far as the eye could see.  It's kind of amazing that one zebra is interesting but thousands of them inspire awe.  It's one of those things that are hard to explain and the pictures don't quite do it justice ... you have to see it for yourself.

Zebra Butt.

Before heading for camp our driver/guide found us a leopard.  It was lounging up in a tree.  There was a thompson gazelle carcass hanging in the tree as well.  I wish we could have gotten closer but we could not go off road and leopards are pretty skittish anyway and would have probably run away.  We still got a good look at it.  It took us a while but we finally got good looks at all the big five.

A leopard in a tree on the right.  Its kill is on the left just below the leaf line.

We stopped at our camp.  It was set up similar to the Ngorongoro Caldera camp.  We had a late lunch and took a few hours off before heading back out for our second safari drive.  There was a reminder of my life back home on the table in the lounge area - I resisted the urge to play.

Zebra and wildebeest grazing as the sun goes down.

The second safari drive was like the first - animals everywhere.  You would think after being on safari for ... nine days that we would be tired of it all by now.  You couldn't be farther from the truth.  Every drive was accompanied by the anticipation of seeing something new and we saw something new almost every time we went out in the jeep.

Yawning lion.

We returned to our camp and headed for our tents to freshen up before dinner.  We walked by zebra grazing outside the tent.  That night we enjoyed some more bush TV along with a large family of fourteen (Grandparents all the way down to grand children) and a British mother-daughter couple.  The family was obviously wealthy and, while they were nice, they kept dropping names.  I lost interest in them when one of them mentioned golfing with the Dalai Lama.

A long exposure of the night sky and  tree lit by firelight.  Doesn't really do it any justice.

After dinner and admiring the incredible sky full of stars we went to bed in our tents.  In the middle of the night I woke up to the sound of hyenas yipping and lions growling and making other noises behind our tent.  This was followed by the sound of people running.  Took me a while to go back to sleep that night.

June 25^th

In the morning we talked to the staff of the camp.  They confirmed some lions went through the camp the night before ... probably looking for water they said.  When we asked what they did when lions came around they said they got in the jeeps.  Made me wonder ... they were in metal vehicles while we were in canvas tents.  That explains the waivers we signed when we checked in.

A spotted hyena.  We all agreed they were ugly and a bit evil looking.

We went out for our third Serengeti safari drive.  We approached a group of four or five jeeps - a group of jeeps almost always guaranteed an animal was close by.  They apparently were waiting for some lions to get up out of the tall grass.  That's when our guide/driver worked his magic.  Our guide had a recording of different animal sounds ... including the sound of lions roaring.  As a matter of fact we thought the lions noises the night before might have been our driver playing a joke.  He put on the lion roars and cranked up the volume.  Two lion heads immediately popped up above the grass and looked around.  As soon as they appeared you could hear whirring of dozens of cameras going off.  This was followed by a cheer.  The other jeeps had been waiting for a while.  I think our guide should have gotten a tip from the other jeeps.  He repeated this trick several times during our stay in the Serengeti.

Two cheetah sitting on a termite mound.

The termite mounds were everywhere and a favorite perch for cheetah and other animals.

During our two safari drives we saw lions, leopard, elephant, giraffe, cute little dik-diks, and our first ... and only ... nile crocodile. We watched elephants drinking. We watched birds dive bombing a monitor lizard. We watched a hippopotamus try to eat palm fronds. We saw a lion hunting a wildebeest but she didn't make a kill. I was so excited when she started to sprint that I forgot to take the action shot (D'OH!). We saw two cheetahs stalking some thompson gazelle. Nearly a dozen jeeps also saw these cheetah (there can be over sixty jeeps in one place during high season). As the cheetah slowly approached the herd of gazelle, jeeps repositioned themselves between the cheetah and the gazelle. This ended up discouraging the cheetah who turned around and sauntered off. Another kill opportunity missed.

Elephants enjoying the shade of an acacia tree.

Every night when we returned to our camps we would talk to the other guests and compare notes on what we all saw.  The large rich family had the bad habit of always one upping us.  When we saw a lion, they saw a lion make a kill.  When we say a cheetah, they had a cheetah jump on the hood of their jeep ... on their son's birthday.  On this day we topped them all by seeing a unicorn ... well, it was an impala with a broken horn but they didn't need to know that.  When we said we saw a unicorn some of the young members of the family looked at us wide eyed and asked "really?"

A rare unicorn.

This night we only hear hyenas and, yes, they sound like they are laughing ... sort of maniacally actually.  Freaky sounding.

June 26^th

Peek-A-Boo I see you!

Our last day in the Serengeti consisted of one long safari drive with a picnic lunch.  This drive was mostly on the savannah.  The grassy expanse seemed endless at times which explains the name 'Serengeti' which means 'endless plains' in the local Maasai language.

Mother and baby elephant.  The baby was pestering the mother.

On this drive we ended up taking a few movies ... something we should have been doing all along.  We saw more lion (including one with a radio collar), mongoose, elephant, giraffe, and many others.  We ate our picnic lunch within sight of a lion.  We saw a confrontation between a lion and a ridgeback antelope but neither of them seemed interested in running.  The guide thought the lion was probably full and not interested in another kill.  We saw a leopard.  We saw a pair of cheetah who had just fed - they both had distended stomachs.  Here are the videos the Wife took that day (her favorite is the dung beetle):


The large family had moved on this morning so in the evening our group of four, the two British, and a newly arrived Swiss couple had the whole camp to ourselves.  We had a nice night of conversation and excellent food.  We asked to meet the chef here too and we discovered the kitchen was nearly identical to the Ngorongoro Caldera camp kitchen.  Amazing they could serve high quality food to twenty people all at once with such limited equipment.  Their food was so good that even I ate the soup ... and I'm not a fan of soup but it was good.

Loved these red and blue lizards.

Our safari was nearing its end.  Tomorrow out travel mates would be heading home and we would move on to Zanzibar.  It was an incredible experience that I will not soon forget.

A whole lot of pictures of the Serengeti and its wildlife can be found in my 2014-06 Tanzania Google Photos album.

African Adventure: Tanzania - Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area

June 22^nd

We left Lake Manyara and made our way to the Ngorongoro Crater or caldera. We were scheduled to visit a school this day but, since it was Sunday and it was winter vacation, the school was not open. Our guide suggested going to an orphanage. Our tour company, along with most others, always have some charitable visit scheduled. We discussed it amongst ourselves and decided not to visit an orphanage. There would be other opportunities to give back on this trip.

We stopped at the entrance to the Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area. We stopped and walked through the small museum and gift shop. "I ♥ Warthogs" stickers were bought.  There is a story behind those stickers.  Everyone in our party fell in love with the warthogs.  We loved how their tails stuck straight up when they ran.  Warthogs have terrible memories and, while being chased by a predator, will often forget what it was doing and stop to eat ... just to be eaten itself.  We started telling people "don't be a warthog" when they would forget things.

The Ngorongoro Caldera.

The Ngorongoro Crater is actually a caldera.  It was formed when a volcano collapsed in on itself forming a large caldera.  The caldera walls keep the animals inside relatively isolated with few coming in or out.  Our first stop was to a viewpoint where we could see the entirety of the caldera.  The clouds were low this day but we still had magnificent views.  In a way the hazy sunshine gave it an ethereal quality.

The floor of the Ngorongoro Caldera.

Our last stop of the day was our camp, located high on the caldera rim.  The camp consisted in ten canvas tents with one large eating/lounging tent.  These tents were not as nice as our Maasai Mara Lodge tents.  This camp was mobile.  The tents, while quite nice (definitely glamping) they did not have electric outlets or hot water on demand.  There were lights, a sink, and a toilet.  The toilet could only be flushed every fifteen minutes or so due to lack of water pressure.  There was no WIFI.  The comfortable king size bed made up for the mild inconveniences.

The acacia tree canopy over our camp.

We ate lunch upon our arrival and spent the rest of the day relaxing in camp.  The whole compound was set up under the canopies of tall acacia trees.  There were flowering plants along the trail between the tents.  When it got dark a fire was lit near the main eating tent.  We were warned of possible encounters with wildlife in the camp.  To insure our safety, a couple Maasai Warriors escorted us to and from our tent after dark.

The flat topped acacia forest where our camp was located.

After a magnificent dinner we all went to bed.  We all had been showering in the evening but we were all put off a bit about the showers in our tents.  We had to request that water be delivered and the hot water would be limited.  We all ended up not showering this night.  It turned out to be a silly thing really.

June 23^rd

We woke up the next day to the sound of water pitter patting on the outside of the tent.  It sounded like the rain was coming down pretty hard.  I looked at the Wife and groaned.  We'd been lucky with the weather up to this point.  It was obviously cold in our tent and it was pouring outside.  I was not looking forward to a cold rainy safari drive.

Our first mature male lion.

We got up and dressed and unzipped the tent.  Outside were a Maasai Warrior and an attendant with umbrellas.  As we walked to the main tent I realized that the ground really wasn't that wet.  I looked around as we walked along the trail and realized it really wasn't raining at all.  There was a low cloud/fog hanging over the caldera this morning.  Water was condensing on the acacia tree leaves above us and the water/dew was dripping on the tent.  After realizing this our moods lightened up.

Cape buffalo.

We had a great breakfast with the weird white eggs (the scrambled eggs looked like scrabbled egg whites but they were made with the whole egg) we got back into our jeep and drove down into the caldera.  We were still short a leopard sighting so we kept our eyes open.

A spooked zebra jumps.

All the guides/drivers had radios in their jeeps.  They were constantly sharing information about what they had seen and where different animals could be found.  We saw lions, cape buffalo, flamingos, secretary birds, zebra, and hippopotamus.  We saw a black rhinoceros but it was so far away ... my pictures could either be a rhinoceros or Sasquatch.  We also saw a leopard ... our first ... but it was in tall grass and the pictures I took really didn't show anything except the top of its back.  We spent all day in the caldera and ate a picnic lunch in the light drizzle next to a large pond with hippopotamus wallowing around.

A black rhinoceros ... or a Sasquatch ... not sure.

That night we enjoyed more bush TV (the fire pit) and had a delicious dinner.  We asked to meet the chef and we were taken back to the kitchen tent.  The entire dinner (there were about twelve staying at the camp) was cooked on a five burner stove and an oven.  All the food was fresh or frozen in one of two large freezer chests.  We were amazed that so many servings could be made and sent out together from such a limited kitchen.  We thanked the chef who seemed truly happy to see us - I don't think many people ask to see him or thank him.

Hippopotamus sticking their noses out

After dinner we all gave in and took a shower.  The shower, which we would come to call the "talking shower" went like this.  You made an appointment for a shower.  When you entered the bathroom area of the tent you would hear the talking shower ask "Are you ready for your shower?"  "Yes" we said, and he would respond "It will be ready in a minute."  You would hear the attendant lower the large canvas bag, empty the cold water and fill it with hot water, then raise the bag back up after which he would say "Your shower is ready."  The shower had a pull chain to turn the water on and off.  I was pleasantly surprised how long the shower lasted.  After the water ran out you would hear the talking shower ask "Are you ready for the next bucket?"  He would refill the bucket and the other would shower.  After the second shower was done the talking shower would ask if we were done and would wish us a good night.

Tomorrow we would visit a Maasai village and move on to the Serengeti.

Pictures of the Ngorongoro Caldera, the flowers and trees in our camp, and the wildlife encountered can be found in my 2014-06 Tanzania Google Photos album.

African Adventure: Tanzania: Arusha And Lake Manyara

June 21^st

Eye to eye.

We left Amboseli National Park and headed for the border town of Namanga.  We arrived mid morning and went into the immigration office to fill out forms and to have our passports stamped.  This would also be where our super powers would activate.

The Wife's super power is to meet either someone she knows while traveling or someone with some sort of connection with home.  This time the super power rubbed off on me as well.  We got in line at the immigration office.  The Wife was ahead of me.  The Tanzanian border agent looked at the Wife's passport and asked if Marshalltown, IA was anywhere near Ames, IA.  When she said yes he said that he had gone to school at Iowa State University ... my alma mater.  We had a laugh while talking about the weather in Iowa and he asked how the corn crop was this year.  Small world.  We had one of the smoothest border crossings ever.

At the border we switched guides.  Our new guide/driver would be with us most of our time in Tanzania.  All our guides were knowledgeable and friendly.

An Impala.

We drove to the nearest large town, Arusha, where we stopped for lunch.  While we ate at the excellent buffet we chatted with a couple guys from the U.S. (M_k and T_m) who were on safari as well.  We compared notes about where we had been and where we were going.  Most of the safaris in Kenya and Tanzania follow the same basic route between the same parks.  We finished our lunch, said our goodbyes to M_k and T_m and headed to our next stop, Lake Manyara National Park.

Baboon Traffic Jam.

We would do only one safari drive in Lake Manyara national park.  The park felt smaller than Amboseli and the Maasai Mara but that might have been because of the jungle feel of the park.  The park definitely had a denser forest than what we had seen so far this trip.  I got pictures of more elephants, monkeys, and storks.

After a few hours driving around looking at wildlife we headed up to a ridge ... part of the Great Rift Valley ... where our lodge for the night was located.  As we pulled up they were lowering the Tanzanian flag for the night (the sun was setting).  Next to that flag was a red flag with stars ... the Chinese flag.

There are a lot of Chinese in Kenya and Tanzania.  Chinese companies are building roads, buildings, and other infrastructure.  I noticed that some buses on the city streets had Chinese writing on the side.  If you ask the locals you will most likely get a bad opinion of the Chinese.  Several guides noted the increases in poached elephant and rhinoceros after the arrival of the Chinese - a big market for ivory and rhinoceros horn.

We were shown to our rooms.  I noticed a tent with Tanzanian military troops nearby.  At dinner we saw Chinese military personnel at the buffet.  As we left I headed for the entrance.  A large man in military uniform ... with a riding crop ... coming in with what looked like two of his underlings in tow.  He reminded me of Idi Amin.  I stepped back to let him pass and nodded my head.  He did not acknowledge me at all ... I was one of the little people apparently.

June 22^nd

View from the lodge pool/bar area.

The next morning I got up and soaked in the views from the pool/bar area of the lodge.  You could see the lake and most of the park from here.  As we left the lodge for our next destination we noticed the Chinese flag was being flown upside down.  Knowing this might be an accident and that an upside down flag could be disrespectful, we pointed it out to our guide and suggested he should tell someone at the lodge.  He just smiled.  I think he knew and was amused.  He told us that the Vice-President of China was at the lodge.  That would explain all the security.

Next stop ... The Ngorongoro Caldera.

I took quite a few pictures here as I did most places but ... how many elephant pictures can you upload.  I picked a few pictures of the animals at Lake Manyara and our lodge and added them to my 2014-06 Tanzania Google Photos album.

African Adventure: Kenya - Nairobi And Amboseli National Park

June 19^th

After the short flight to Nairobi, we picked up our bags at the airport and stopped for lunch at Tamambo Karen Blixen.  For the fans of "Out of Africa", the name Karen Blixen should be very familiar.  The Wife is a big fan.  She owns the DVD and watches it twice a year.  The Wife had thought that the restaurant would be at Karen Blixen's house where the film was shot.  Unfortunately this was not the case.  The actual house was not far away, a half kilometer or so, but we were running short on time and would not be visiting the actual house.  This was a big disappointment (the only one on the whole trip I would say) for the Wife.  If we'd done our research, we had a whole extra day in Nairobi, we could have gone to the house and taken the tour.  We did get our driver/guide to take us by the house on the way out.  We were not allowed to take pictures without actually taking the tour though.

We left Nairobi and drove through the countryside, through towns and villages, before getting off the highway and, as they say, got an African massage on the rough dirt roads.  As we approached our destination for the day, Amboseli national park, we got a beautiful view of Kilimanjaro.  We could see the whole mountain with its shrinking snow cap.  The driver didn't stop for pictures - he said there would be better opportunities the next day.  He was wrong.  Clouds moved in over night and this would be the one and only time we would see Kilimanjaro.  (The driver claims he offered to stop for pictures but we all agreed he hadn't.)

We checked into the Ol Tukai lodge.  As we checked in they told us to keep our doors locked at all times since the monkeys and baboons knew how to push the doors open and would go inside looking for food.  We would see several monkeys and baboons on the way to our room.

This was the first night we had a clear sky at night (the clouds came in later).  The sky was full of stars.  I was going to try to take a picture but I decided to do it the next night ... and the clouds prevented it.  You should always take the shot when you see it because you may never see it again - how many times have I told myself that?

June 20^th

We would have the same routine here as we had in the Maasai Mara - Safari drive in the morning, lunch and rest at the lodge in the early afternoon, and a second safari drive in the late afternoon.

Four elephant lined up with their attending birds - they come in all sizes.

During our chilly morning drive we saw a lot of animals but the leopard still eluded us.  We did see a lot of elephant with white birds riding them and keeping them bug free.  In the national park we didn't get as close to the animals as we did in the Maasai Mara because the jeeps weren't allowed off road.  This felt like a bit of a let down - the Mara spoiled us a bit.

Taking a mud bath.

Back at the lodge we ate lunch and watched the elephants just outside the electric fence that surrounded the lodge grounds.  A couple of the elephants were wrestling/fighting/playing.  A baby ran around trumpeting.  Incredible experience.

A serval - a type of cat not often seen.

In the afternoon we did our second safari drive of the day.  We saw a rare Serval - a type of small cat.  We saw hippopotamus both in and out of water.  At one point a hippopotamus ran towards the jeep then turned and stood behind a small berm.  We couldn't see its head but the rest of its large body was clearly visible.  Since it couldn't see us it probably thought it had hidden itself from us.

Observation hill.

We drove to a place called observation hill.  We walked up a path up to the top of the hill where we were afforded a beautiful panoramic view of the park.  If the clouds hadn't been so thick we would have had a great view of Kilimanjaro.  Never the less the views of the shallow lakes and the flat savannah were awesome.

View from Observation Hill.

On the way back we saw a standoff between a herd of zebra and at least five cheetah.  Cheetah normally do not hunt zebra but the zebra were not going to let them out of their sights.

Can you see the five cheetah?

Another great evening meal and we went to bed.  Amboseli was buggier than the Mara and when we returned to our room the mosquito netting was wrapped around our bed.  It made it hard getting in and out of bed, and going to the bathroom in the dark is a chore with a net surrounding your bed, but it did result in a biteless night.

Tomorrow we would leave Kenya and move on to Tanzania.

A sampling of the pictures of Amboseli National Park can be found in my 2014-06 Kenya Google Photos album.

African Adventure: Kenya - Nairobi And The Maasai Mara

June 16^th

We must have been tired from our stay in Morocco as we ended up sleeping some thirteen hours.  The news in Kenya was all about the terrorist attacks in northeastern Kenya.  We had the day free and we decided to stay on the hotel compound.

The Wife is a big "Out of Africa" fan so she was stoked that we were in the Lord Delamere wing.

We ate lunch, swam in the pool, and the Wife got a facial (The person who gave the facial did not wear gloves and the Wife said it felt wonderful ... like unprotected sex).

The weather in Nairobi was near perfect - sunny in the 70s.  You wouldn't know it by how the Kenyans were dressed.  Most of them were in heavy coats, hats, and gloves.  We were in shorts and t-shirts.

That night something caught up with the Wife.  She became sick as a dog for most of the night.  Fortunately it didn't last long and she felt better in the morning.  I suspect the British Airways sandwich.

June 17^th

Today the tour/safari officially started.  We met the couple who we would be travelling with for the next ten days - a very nice couple from Pittsburgh (L_s and G_g).

We were picked up my our guide and driver and headed first to the Giraffe Center for our up close encounter with the endangered Rothschild Giraffe.  While these were technically wild giraffes, the fact that you could hand feed them took away from the wildness.

A baby elephant.

After the Giraffes we stopped at a center that raises orphaned elephants.  All baby animals are cute but elephants have that stumbly way of walking that is so endearing.  We watched as they were bottle fed by their minders who are with them twenty-four hours even sleeping in the same elephant stable.

After watching them feed the elephants it was time for us to feed ourselves.  We were taken to The Carnivore restaurant.  We were brought a diverse selection of sauces to dip the meat in and then came the flood of meat of all types.  The meats varied from the common (chicken, beef, pork) to the less common (ostrich, crocodile).  They kept dropping off small servings of each onto your plate from a long barbecue skewer. If you got overwhelmed you could tip over the small sign signifying you needed a break.  The only non-meat product served was soup and a baked potato.  We finished it off with a dish of non-meat ice cream.

From there we headed to the airport to catch our bush plane to the Maasai Mara.  Unfortunately the Wife and I hadn't been informed of the weight restrictions on the bush planes.  While we were below the 50 lb (23 kg) per bag limit of most flights, the bush plane limited us to 33 lb (15 kg) per bag.  Fortunately we always carry small duffels to carry extra souvenirs.  We packed a couple of days worth in the duffels and left our big bags locked up at the airport.

The 12 seater bush plane was fairly small but the flight was not long and we had a chance to see the Kenyan countryside before we landed on the dirt airstrip.  We stretched out legs and looked at the tiny shop while we waited for the next plane that was bringing two more people who would be riding with us to the lodge and would be with us on our Safari drives.  That was all there was at the airstrip - bathrooms and a shop.  The guys,O_l and G_t, arrived on the next flight and were awesome guys who made the next few days even better.

A yawning hippopotamus.

Once we were all together we got into the custom stretch Toyota Land Cruisers, the norm for the stylish safari drive, and we did a two to three hour safari drive on the way to the lodge.  It was amazing how many types of animals we saw on this first drive: hippopotamus, elephant, cheetah, ostrich, warthogs, jackal, and the ubiquitous herds of impala, thomson's gazelle, zebra, and wildebeest.  The one thing about the Maasai Mara reserve is that drivers are allowed to drive off road and you can get right up close to the animals.

To cheetah at the base of an acacia tree.

The lodge was beautiful.  The rooms were permanent tents i.e. canvas walls on a permanent floor.  They had electricity, hot water, and bathrooms better than most hotels.  I wouldn't even call this glamping (Glamour Camping) - too nice and not mobile.  The main lodge had a huge fireplace, a large screen TV to watch the world cup on, and a very nice restaurant.  There was also a pool that we did not use.  The whole thing was built along the Mara river where we could hear hippos grunting (The Wife accused me of snoring loudly until she realized it was hippos making the noise).

I loved the acacia trees.  They are so cool looking.

June 18^th

Inflating our hot air balloon.

Today was an early start ... really early.  We got up at 3:15 AM to catch our ride to the launching point of our hot air balloon ride.  The drive was about two hours and totally in the dark.  We were amazed that our driver could navigate the dirt paths where there was absolutely no signs pointing the way.

Sunrise from the hot air balloon.

We arrived, met our balloon pilot, and watched as the hot air balloons were inflated.  There were two balloons with large baskets that would easily hold twelve people plus the pilot.  Once the balloon was filled we climbed into the basket and away we went.  The sun was rising and it was near perfect weather.

Hippopotamus wallowing in the Mara river.

Our shadow.

An excited exclamation point which mirrors how I felt.

The balloon safari was different from what I'd expected.  The burner was not run as often as I thought they would be.  When the burner wasn't lit it was quiet and peaceful.  We also flew lower than I thought possible.  Over the savanna we flew some ten to twenty feet over the grass giving us an up close and personal view of the zebra and wildebeest.  We say hyena, hippopotamus, and gazelle.  We skimmed the tops of the trees and saw monkey, giraffe, and elephant among the trees.  It was amazing.

When it was time to land the pilot looked for a dry spot.  It had rained the night before and the land was swampy with almost an inch of standing water.  The balloon slowly descended.  We assumed landing positions (sitting on the benches in the basket holding onto straps) and prepared for the bumpy landing.  The landing was just like our pilot had described it before we launched.  The basket bounced and hopped a few times until we stopped.  We were going to congratulate the pilot for an awesome landing until the basket slowly ... very slowly ... tipped over onto its side.  The roll over was so gentle we didn't even splash in the watery mud - I was expecting a mud shampoo.  We all laughed a bit before we carefully climbed out of the basket.

Jeeps picked us up and took us to a long table set up along the Mara river. The table was dolled up with fancy linen and silverware and we all enjoyed a champagne breakfast.

A cape buffalo with riders.

After breakfast we got back in the jeeps and had a nice three hour safari drive back to our lodge.  On the way we saw a huge herd of elephants with babies, giraffes, and baboons.

Elephants as far as the eye could see.  The green mound is a termite mound - they were everywhere.

At the lodge we ate lunch and had a nap before going out for our late afternoon safari drive.  That would be the pattern at all the places we went - a morning safari drive, a break over lunch, and an afternoon safari drive before dinner.  We rejoined O_l and G_t, who we'd met the day before (and were not on the balloon safari with us), and went out on out afternoon drive.  O_l and G_t had seen two leopards mating on their morning safari drive.  Our driver tried to find more so that we could see them but had no luck.  We did see other animals, of course.

A large elephant.

We saw a couple of white rhinoceros.  The rhinoceros horns are often poached and these two rhinoceros were followed by three armed guards who stayed with them all day.  They were herded into a pen at night for their protection.  (The white rhinoceros are fairly non-aggressive but the black are very aggressive and cannot be herded/guarded like the white rhinoceros.)  Sad that the guards are need.

A white rhinoceros who was accompanied by three armed guards for its protection.

Late on that day we found a pride of lions.  We stopped and watched them with a few other jeeps.  The animals were so used to the jeeps that they walked among the jeeps and really didn't care we were there.  I got an awesome picture of two cubs nursing less than twenty feet from out jeep.  We also witnessed a lion greeting.  A lone lion come over a hill.  The pride perked up and watched the stranger approach.  When she got close enough the pride recognized her as one of their own and they all went over to greet her and welcome her back.  It was a wonderful thing to see.  The pride was mostly female with one juvenile male with just the start of a mane.

Cubs nursing so very close to out jeep.

There were four jeeps there and we all got a great view of the lions ... except for one teenage girl.  She must have been fighting with her parents since, while everyone was standing up and looking at the lions through the open tops of the jeeps, she was sitting down, ear buds in her ears, with her back to the lions.  Someday she may realize just what she missed.

Loved the giraffes.

That night we had dinner (we being the Wife and I and our tour mates from Pittsburgh) with O_l and G_t.  They were great guys.  They made our experience in the Maasai Mara a better one with their conversation and humor.   Too bad we would be saying good bye to them the next day.

June 19^th

Impala.

We checked out of the lodge early in the morning and had one more safari drive on the way to the airport.  We still didn't see any leopards but we did see African Wild Dogs which are rare for this area of Kenya.  While O_l and G_t managed to see the big five in twenty-four hours, we only managed to see four.  The big five are the five animals most sought after by hunters: lions, leopards, elephants, rhinoceros, and cape buffalo.

African Wild Dog.

At the airport we headed to the next chapter of our safari.

A sampling of the pictures of Nairobi and the Maasai Mara can be found in my 2014-06 Kenya Google Photos album.