Lions, Leopards, Elephants, Giraffe and Rhinos and oh so many more...

White Rhino
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I flew in from Cairo arriving in Nairobi at 4 am only to find upon my arrival at the hotel that I had all of 2 hours sleep avaialbel to me as we were taking off at 8:30 a.m.!

I met up with my group - there were 7 of us joining 10 who had already been on a 2 week tour in Rawanda and Uganda.  We were joining them for the next two weeks in Kenya, Tanzania and Zanzibar.

Dolphin Whisperer

Our home for the next two weeks was a specially kitted truck that had soft windows and bench seating...a few long days and sore bums ahead of me I think.

An Acacia tree and the Masi Mara National Park
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Our first stop was Lake Narvasha which was the home of Joy Adamson the lady who was behind Elsa the Lion and the Born Free movie.  Not that I remember the movie much, but the place is right on the lake and quite beautiful.  She was a feisty lady and unfortunately met an untimely death at the hands of one of her servants who she had accused of stealing.

The Lake is in the Rift valley and was created by the Volcanic Eruption of Mount Longernaught.  Our first night of camping goes well with no rain and hot showers.  In the morning we head out onto the lake to go to an island for a walking safari, read:  a walk in the bush with non-carnivorous animals, i.e. Zebras, Wildebeast and Giraffes.  We also bait a few Fish Eagles into eating, their approach is scary until you realize they are actually going for the dish.  Beautiful and magestic brids.

Our home for the next 2 weeks
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We have a really nice camp and the gardens are filled with Gardenia trees.  The blossoms are beautiful and the fragrance intoxicating...Gardenias are now my most favorite flower, the peoney has been replaced!  There are 2 small boys who live at the camp and offer us a night tour of the bushes looking for cameleons.  They are very informative and entertaining and I am extremely disappointed that I do not have my camera with me as they are amazing little creatures.  My nose was within 2 inches of one and I still could not see it.  We have a dart tournament that night and who knew, I don't suck...I actually win both games for my team!  Guess all those practice sessions in the basement when I was little were not such a waste!

Elsamere...the home of Born Free, as free as the wind blows, as free as the grass blows....la la la la la la
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The next day we are up early to head of to Lake Nakuru (thinks world famous pictures of millions of flamingos).  We see many gazelles and baboons, but the leopards are playing shy.  Our lunch spot at Baboon Lookout has an awesome view of the lake.

We then spend the remainder of the day driving to our next camp in the Masi Mara National Park.  This is where the BBC shot the series The Cat Diaries and we were not disappointed.

We head out very early the next morning as the game are best seen when wide awake.  We are amazed at how humanized the animals are.  Although still very wild, they seem to be quite fine with vehicles crossing their paths.  Our first spot of the day is of 3 Hyenas playfully hunting a Thompson Gazelle...I say playfully as they usually eat at night and were probably just returning to their home...the Gazelle did not seem too concerned, but made a hasty getaway.  It was exhilerating to see a but of a hunt though and especially since the prey got away.  The next spot is a Cheetah....my pics suck, but I do hope to get one from one of the fellas in my group.  Our guides were excellent at knowing where to go and how to spot the animals.  This Cheetah was in the grass and with it's markings was extremely well concealed.  It did however move out and over to a pool of water to have a drink and we popped up over a ridge just in time to catch a shot of it taking a sip before it took off.  It is very hard not to take a million pictures, but you honestly want to just look at the animals with your eyes and enjoy the moment as opposed to seeing it through the circle of a lens.  We then see Lions, Elephants and Giraffes, Millions of Wildebeast and Zebras migrating to the Serengeti.  Wildebeast and Zebras seem to hang out together and we posed the question to our Guide, why do they not mate?  Do they ever get confused in the dark?  What do you get when you cross a Wildebeast with a Zebra?  It was one of the most incredible days of my life, 12 of the most ezquisite hours I would relive in a second!

Colubus Monkeys
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Another huge diriving day as we head off to Lake Victoria in Tanzania.  We need to cross the Boarder which does not appear to be too difficult, but you can instantly tell a cultural difference between Kenya and Tanzania.  Our camp is in Masoma and is right on the shores of Lake Victoria which you cannot swim in as it has crocodiles and this nasty parasite (same as the one in the Nile as this is the source of the Nile)...a real shame as it is a beautiful white sandy beach which may as well sit on a bowl of acid.

My first of many hippos...I thought they were rocks so we called them rockopotumuses
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From Lake Victoria we head inland to The Serengeti National Park.  We have a one day pass and although we again see Lions, Elephants (particularly the one descemating the Acacia Tree in my pictures) Giraffes, Wildebeast and Zebra, Water Buffalo, Rhinos, Ostrich, Reed Buck, Black Headed Heron, Hippos, Black Backed Jackels, Impalas, Elan nd millions of Gazelles we also see the elusive Leopard.  Again, I would have driven right by it as it was so well camoflaged in the Acacia Tree.  It had made a kill in the night and dragged it up into the tree to consume.  Even with my camera I could not get a decent picture, but with binoculars you could see it in the tree eating and sleeping.  Quite beautiful, but much smaller than I would have thought.  The Serengeti although magnificent and massive as compared to the Masi Mara in no way competed for the day I had in Masi Mara.

Me and the first of many many giraffes
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Our next stop is the collapsed volcanic remains in the Ngorongoro Crater.  It is about 10 miles in Diameter and is home to thousands of animals who migrate to the soda lake in the basin.  We abandon our truck for the day for Land Rovers which can navigate much better in the crater.  Our driver is aiming to please and scurries us from location to location and as terrible as it is to say, although the scenery is still stunning and different, the wildlife is becoming passe...how sad is that!  Kind of like the churches in Europe and the Temples in Egypt!  However, we are treated to an amazing spectacle when we come upon 2 female lions sitting in the grass.  We are observing them from the roof of the land rover for a bit when all of a sudden 2 more pop up out of the grass, then 3 cubs and then from behind our vehicle a male reveals himself and walks right past our vehicle.  It was so scary, we could have driven over him had we gone on the grass at the side of the road.

A fish eagle doing it's thing...awesome!
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Leaving the plains of Africa behind we head to the coast passing Mt. Kilimanjaro on our way to Dar Es Salaam.  We pass Sisal Plantations (Sisal Rugs are made here) and brick making operations, a painfully slow one by one concrete process.  When we arrive at our camp in Dar we decide to upgrade to a real bed as opposed to setting up our tents...our main motivation, we have been driving all day, the place looks amazing, a hot shower, a bed and the fact that it is 7 pm and raining and we have to get up at 4:30 am....How much?  Priceless!!!

Our camp at Nakuru...loads and loads of my favorite flower...Gardenias...they smelled fantastic!
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Our ferry trip to Zanzibar takes about 2 1/2 hours, just long enough to nearly make me sea sick.  Thank God for Bonomine!  We arrive in Stone Town (the main port) and immediately go on a Spice Tour.  The island is home to many spice farms, all of which are mixed so that any one crop will never be wiped out.  SO there is Ginger, Pineapples, Coconuts, Curry, Lemongrass, Vanilla, etc.  We then head off to our home at the northern tip of the island a place called Nungwi.  It is heaven!  The ocean is turquoise and the beach is made of fine white sand.  We take the next day just to relax and get caught up on communication.  I was walking along the beach and watched 12 of the local women in the ocean up to their waists in their full clothing in the surf fishing with nets.  They would walk along parallel to the shore and then every once in a while sweep around to trap the fish in their net.  One of them carried the fish in a bucket and then they started the process all over again.  It was fantastic to see, but they did not want their pictures taken so you will have to believe me when I say I felt like I was transported back in time.

Flamingos on Lake Nakuru...typical African vista
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The next day we head out on a fishing/sail boat called the Whale Shark.  We are going snorkelling and then putting up on a beach for a BBQ Tuna lunch.  The crew anchor at this reef off a private island and we all jump in the water.  I had told our Guide that I had previously had an anaphalactic reaction to being stung by a jelly fish and that I was not sure how I would be should I be stung...do I have an Epi Pen?  No, ok then, wait until we get in and then you get in once the coast is clear.  Good plan!  So a bunch of girls jump in and all seems fine, so I get in, we all begin to head for the reef when I feel a sting and see a jelly, I tell them I have been stung, but I feel ok, but then they all begin to get stung and we are all racing for the boat ladder saying "ouch, ouch, ouch" and one of the guys on the boat says it looked like some kind of horror moving and the boat guys were mimicing our "ouch ouch ouch" us and laughing profusely.  I realized I would survive and as the rest evaluated their various stings, we proceeded to another spot which they thought would be jelly free!  On our way, we saw a few dolphins and I thought I would try the dolphin calling trick I learned from a guy on my tour in Malaysia.  You click/tap two shells or stones together and for whatever reason the dolphins should come.  Well I did it and holy smokes, it worked.  The dolphins were about 100 m away and headed back towards us and actually swam right under our boat.  Before I could see if they were coming up to me, people from my boat jumped in the water attempting to swim with them.  It was mayhem!  Needless to say, the Dolphins swam away, but I did kind of feel like the Dolphin Whisperer....We headed towards land and were treated to the most amazing tuna BBQ marinated in Lime Juice, Fresh Ginger and Lemongrass.  So fresh and delicious.

Lake Nakuru at it's deepest only 3 m
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The next day I got up at 4:30 am to catch the car to catch the ferry to catch the plane to catch another plane to catch a car to arrive in Cape Town South Africa around 10 pm.....Kenya, Tanzania and Zanzibar definately lived up to all the hopes I had for it.