Part 1 –Arusha National Park and Arusha, Tanzania

 Part 1 –Arusha National Park and Arusha, Tanzania

Africa was termed “The Dark Continent” (most likely from US journalist and explorer Henry Stanley (“Dr. Livingstone I presume?)” in his book “Through the Dark Continent” due to the fact that it remained a mystery to Europeans for so long. While most of the world had been under European control for quite some time Africa held out until the final decades of the 19th century, when it was carved up and parceled out to the main European powers in the Berlin Conference.

Consider this! Africa is the world’s second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. It covers 6% of the Earth’s total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area.  With over a billion people, it accounts for about 14.72% of the world’s human population.  So how are we going to keep these people from starving when they see available food resources and land to cultivate? Hopefully education and the national parks systems will protect the animals that are left though census numbers dwindle with each survey.

The fact that Africa was last to be colonized also meant that it was the last to gain independence as European powers wanted to hang on to their African colonies long enough to get a return on the investments they had put into their various economic ventures. Most of the countries in Africa have undergone decolonization in the latter half of the 20th century. This clarifies in part why there are so many conflicts going on in Africa today.  Forget the universal struggle for oil and mineral wealth. Read more…

Part 2 Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania

 Part 2 Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania

  Day 4- Ngorongoro Crater- We are about 2 hours from the crater floor anticipating a bumpy ride ahead.  Elvis picks us up at 7:00 AM to maximize our time in the crater.  The Ngorongoro Crater is the largest intact volcanic caldera in the world, often called the eighth wonder of the world. It lies in a cluster of other volcanoes (sometimes seen rather ominously smoking) that border the Serengeti National Park to the north and west. The crater, which formed when a giant volcano exploded and collapsed on itself some two to three million years ago, is 2,000 ft. deep and its floor covers 100 square miles. The basin, measuring 11 miles in diameter, lies 1,640 feet below the rim which towers above it at about 7,217 feet above sea level.  It is estimated that the height of the original volcano ranged from fifteen to nineteen thousand feet high.  It is so vast that a 6-ton elephant appears no larger than an ant. Although it is “a natural enclosure” for a very wide variety of wildlife, up to 20% or more of the wildebeest and half the zebra populations vacate the Crater in the wet season. Read more…

Part 3, Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

Part 3, Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

Day 5- Today we drive back to Manyara airstrip heading to the northern part of Serengeti National Park at Lobo Airstrip. The Serengeti is an UNESCO World Heritage Site. Sadly we leave Elvis behind.  Elvis was assistant park warden for many years before joining the A & K team.  During his twenty years guiding for A & K, he has been the escort for Bill and Melinda Gates, Hillary Clinton, Prince Charles, Robert McNamara and many more.  We are certainly with the best guide!! Air Excel, again a Cessna Caravan Single prop, is prompt and takes off easily.

Alex from the Elewana Migration Camp meets us at the airstrip.  Flying in, we see the lovely Serengeti, softly green from recent rains, stretching out in all directions. We have a safari from the airstrip to camp. Our vehicle weaves its way through herds of zebra, wildebeest and numerous kinds of antelope.  Rocky outcrops called Kotpje and Umbrella Acacia break the horizon. The soft grassy green plains, great lawns, stretch endlessly everywhere with misty mountains faint in the distance.  Our first safari on the Serengeti is exhilarating.  We see herds of Burchell’s zebras and wildebeests along with various types of antelope. Alex is a great guide knowing his animals as we expect but also all the birds from the tiniest to the very large.  It is so special to have a private land cruiser that we don’t have to share.  Read more…

Part 4 – Samburu National Reserve, Kenya

Part 4 – Samburu National Reserve, Kenya

Day 8 –This morning, I photograph the local baboons outside our tent while Gordon packs. After a nice breakfast, we will leave the magical Serengeti to fly to Kenya to visit the famous Samburu National Reserve.  We have three short stops along the Serengeti on Air Excel before landing at Kilimanjaro Airport. The plane is now full though that is only12 people. A&K meet us with a box lunch that we eat at the airport while waiting our flight to Nairobi.  Air Kenya uses twin engine Otter de Havilland planes.   We are the only passengers today.  At Nairobi, Immigration for local flights is in a small building separate from the International terminal.  A&K meet us and whisk us through. We leave again in less than 15 minutes on a private charter Cessna 206H single prop that can seat 4 passengers.  Gordon and I have a challenge folding into the seats.

Few destinations world over evoke such powerful and visceral images as Kenya. Indeed, the acacia-dotted savannahs of Kenya are inhabited by classic African animals, from huge elephants and graceful gazelles to prides of lions and stalking leopards.   Kenya is also host to the Great Migration in which over a million animals move as herds across the Mara River in search of fresh grass. Read more…

Part 5 Masai Mara Game Reserve, Kenya

Part 5 Masai Mara Game Reserve, Kenya

Page 6 – Today we travel to the Masai Mara Game Reserve, the Kenya portion of the great Serengeti ecosystem. But first there is time for one last search for the elusive Cheetah.  Gordon sleeps late as I depart at 6:30 for a last look at Samburu. We will be staying at Sanctuary Olonana just 10 minutes from the Oloololo Gate, (the best place to see the most animals) beneath the Siria Escarpment.   Olonana has its 14 massive tents ranged along the edge of the Mara River and we have Number 1, specially arranged by Cyndy Stanford of Sterling Brownell Travel. Named for an important Maasai spiritual leader, the camp occupies the site of a cultural center first established here by the famed South African explorer Kingsley Holgate.  It has since been transformed into a luxury establishment where guests are ensconced in vast, beautiful bedrooms with tented beds, fed contemporary cuisine and cared for in the best African fashion. Christine meets us as we arrive and briefs us on the camp and amenities. She arranges a custom game drive for tomorrow and our hot air balloon ride for the following morning. The lobby has traditional decorative elements painted on the ceiling with a large fireplace and a nice library of African books.  While the hippos play in the Mara River below our railing, the camp is perimeter is fenced off to protect the animals from us humans. Read more…

Part 6- Lake Nakuru National Park and Nairobi, Kenya

Part 6 –Lake Nakuru National Park and Nairobi, Kenya

We are met by Patricia from A&K who has been caring for our luggage while we have been on safari. Our lunch today at Carnivore Restaurant culminates our Safari with Abercrombie and Kent. This restaurant has become a standard stop on the safari trail.  Every type of meat imaginable including three types of wild game is roasted on traditional Maasai swords over a huge open charcoal fire that is centered at the entrance to the restaurant.  Waiters, dressed in colorful uniforms then carry these swords around carving the meats onto sizzling cast iron plates.  We taste ostrich, camel and crocodile. The crocodile was very fishy – yuk! Gordon eats bull testicles but I pass!

After lunch we head to Giraffe Manor. Giraffe Manor is an elegant, personally hosted, exclusive manor house, famous for its resident herd of giraffe. Built in 1932, it is the only place in the world where you can enjoy the breathtaking experience of feeding and photographing the giraffe over your breakfast table and at the front door.  It is surrounded by 140 acres of indigenous forest providing shelter to many species of birds, warthogs and the elusive Bush Buck.  A family of warthogs is grazing on the grass when we arrive at 2:00 PM.  Lynn is entertaining the guests stretching her neck inside the sun porch for pellets of food.  Evidently the mouth of a giraffe has some natural antiseptic qualities.  She takes a pellet from my lips and eats from our hands- but I do wash up afterwards! 

The house is so typically English with ficus covering most of the brick structure.  The vines have been nibbled by the giraffe as high and low as they can reach. A lovely garden with pond is outside the sunroom. The interior rooms are beautifully paneled with lovely hardwood floors.

The Manor has arranged a car for the afternoon so we can visit Karen Blizen’s home, now a museum.  The manor is in a very exclusive area of Nairobi called Karen filled with gorgeous estate homes. They are all heavily fenced and guarded with many different security company vehicles around. The Karen Blixen Museum is the main colonial farm house set in the coffee plantation where Karen Blixen, author of Out of Africa lived from 1914 to 1931.  The house remains but the coffee plantation is gone. Most of the original furniture is gone too but it is fun to see the house as the movie was filmed here. The movie vistas showed such a different picture. 

Just down the road is the Kazuri Craft Center. Kazuri is the Swahili word meaning “small and beautiful”.  The craft center employs about 350 women in this area of high unemployment (65% to 70%.)  These lucky women often feed an extended family of 20 from their salaries.  I enjoy a tour of the factory watching the women making all the beautiful pottery beads by hand. They have separated the stages of bead making into areas of forming, painting, and assembling. Gordon has a nice cool break sitting in the shaded patio while I shop.

We return to the Manor for a short nap changing after for dinner.  We are treated like family here with guests enjoying a drink in the living room followed by a lovely formal dinner in the dining room.  There are only 8 guest rooms so it is very intimate and special. Our room has a balcony overlooking the gardens.  We have a cup of giraffe food for visitors that visit during the day.  The hot water bottles in our beds have a nice cozy covering with a giraffe on them.

Nairobi or ‘Nairobbery” as it is fondly called has the reputation as the most dangerous city in Africa.  Carjacking, robbery and violence are daily occurrences and the social ills behind them are unlikely to disappear in the near future.  Gordon is taking a day of rest while I visit Lake Nakura National Reserve.  George Karuku from Steenbok Safari (steenboksafaris@gmail.com) has arranged my last safari with Albert today. Sadly, this is not a good safari experience.  Albert picks me up at 6:30 AM to drive out to the park.  It rains slightly putting a damper on my hopes for some nice pictures.  At this hour it should only take two hours but we have car problems and with a breakdown it takes four hours. Evidently this company or guide does not maintain their cars as this is a simple issue of dirty filters in the oil and diesel.  I watch as they work with bare hands pouring the oil and fuels on the dirt beside the gas station. Guess I should be happy that this only takes an hour!  Now he needs gas so we stop again for fuel before we are finally on the road able to drive at decent speeds instead of creeping. Albert is a very good driver though his English is limited. We are traversing a major two lane highway full of trucks which we have to pass.  I see a sign prohibiting the use of cell phones while driving but that does not seem to worry Albert who talks incessantly on the phone. He seems to have a knack for passing at 100 KM per hour judging his distances carefully.  We do have to break quickly when oncoming cars are not as careful.  We traverse a ridge over the Rift Valley with many view points to see the Longonot Volcano caldera. All along the road there is activity from farmers selling their wares and shops open for business.  School children are walking to school in their uniforms. We drive thru the bustle of Nakuru town on our way to the lake. Nakuru means “dust or dusty place” in the Maasai language, an appropriate name though not as dusty as Arusha.

Lake Nakuru National Reserve, established in 1961, is one of the Rift Valley soda lakes. The lake is world famous as the location of the greatest bird spectacle on earth – myriads of fuchsia pink flamingos whose numbers are legion, often more than a million.  They feed on the abundant algae, which thrives in the warm waters. Right now the lake is high and not quite so concentrated with flamingos but there could easily be near 300,000 to 500,000 here. Scientists reckon that the flamingo population at Nakuru consumes about 250,000 kilos of algae per hectare of surface area per year. I am told that there are between 300-400 other species of birds including white pelicans.   Albert does not point out any special birds so I just take photos with my telephoto lens to look up species later. There are two types of flamingo species: the Lesser Flamingo can be distinguished by its deep red carmine bill and pink plumage unlike the greater, which has a bill with a black tip. The Lesser flamingos are ones that are commonly pictured in documentaries mainly because they are so numerous. They are particularly beautiful when they fly as the black on their under wings contrasts with their pink bodies. The number of Flamingos has been decreasing recently, perhaps due to too much tourism, pollution resulting from industries waterworks nearby who dump waste into the waters or simply because of changes in water quality which makes the lake temporarily inhospitable. Usually, the lake recedes during the dry season and floods during the wet season. The lake’s level dropped dramatically in the early 1990s but has since largely recovered.

From the entrance gate we drive through lovely forests of yellow fever acacia trees.  The sun has burned through the clouds and they are spectacular with the sun light softly defining their branches. After driving down to the lake, we proceed up to a view point over the valley and lake.  I have to ask Albert to put away his phone so that we can see the rest of the park before returning to Nairobi.  Traffic returning will probably increase our drive time by one hour so I don’t have extra time to wait for him.  I am hoping to see the Rothschild Giraffe here in its wild setting instead of at the manor or giraffe center and I do.

The park was declared a rhino sanctuary in 1983.  Black and white rhinos have been introduced from South Africa.  Albert finds out from some passing park rangers that the rhinos are grazing at the far end of the lake.  We drive there and find a small gathering of white rhinos with one black rhino grazing and butting heads.  They are quite near the road luckily. Sadly, it is time to leave! Albert is an excellent driver with good reflexes- necessary in this country- making it back to Nairobi in record time though I am frustrated at his cell phone usage while driving, illegal in Nairobi. It is a tough two lane road requiring lots of passing of trucks.  Holding cell phones and talking is dangerous here.

Today, A&K has planned a long day for us before we depart at 11:15 PM for Amman, Jordan. We start out at 10:00 AM heading to downtown Nairobi to see the government buildings in city center.  Traffic seems to snarl constantly but we make it to a very nice African shop and then DHL shippers across the street.  That takes all morning! 

Next we head to the Karen Blixen Gardens for lunch at the Mambo restaurant.  The gardens are lovely with tables on the terrace and sprinkled on the grass.  Anderson joins us for lunch before afternoon plans.  We have a 3:00 PM appointment at the David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage for a private viewing of the babies.  They have to eat every three hours. David Sheldrick, an antipoaching warden, pioneered techniques to save orphaned zebras, black rhinos and elephants.  They are reared here on site next to the Nairobi National Park. This national park was founded in 1946 sitting incongruously in a suburban location with abundant wildlife set against looming skyscrapers and jets flying into the nearby international airport. The little critters, as red as the surrounding dirt, come scampering down the hill for their next meal.  Large bottles fitted with nipples filled with special vegetable formula of milk await them.  They are so cute and gulp greedily.  Gordon is the photographer while I feed them with their handlers.  Next we see their bedrooms where they are kept safe at night and feed again every three hours.  The rhinos are out grazing in the park but one blind one is on site that we visit as well.

We drop Gordon at the Utamaduni Crafts Center that is nearby.  There are about 18 local craft shops inside offering a wealth of Kenyan Culture handmade by local artists so he is delighted while I go to the Giraffe Center. Run by the African Fund for Endangered Wildlife, the Giraffe Center breeds and raises Rothschild giraffes reintroducing them into the Kenyan national parks. The center is next door to our accommodations at Giraffe Manor so the giraffe roam between their two homes.  Anderson takes some photos of me feeding the stately beasts.

Gordon has a new batch of goodies to add to his collection when we return to pick him up and I buy a new cane for the rest of our trip.  The traffic snarls again so Anderson takes a short cut.  Short cut means driving a back unpaved dirt road that is truly not fit for driving. Deep ruts and huge mounds challenge us even in our land rover. We pass thru some of the vast slums of Nairobi where more than one million people live.  We freshen up at the lovely offices of A&K (near the airport), eat dinner at a new local hotel then head to the airport.

OMG!  What a horrible airport! We are finger printed on electronic machines and photographed as we leave!  There are no normal waiting areas for planes and all airlines share a tiny business/first class lounge.  The first lounge that we manage to find is full and hot so we head to the other one that is only hot but not full yet to await our flight.  This time we watch the clock and leave ourselves in plenty of time for boarding our Air Emirates flight to Dubai which will take 4 ½ hours. Though the front desk assures us that they will announce the flight, we have heard nothing.  But we are prepared!