6/30 Serengeti Balloon ride and the afternoon of Simba

6/30 Serengeti Balloon ride and the afternoon of Simba

3:45am wakeup!!  We are picked up by a park driver and taken to the central plain, where we take a one hour balloon ride over the plains while the sun rises over Ngorongoro.  On or flight we see hundreds of Thomson Gazelles race across the plain and fly directly over three hippo pools- their stink finding its way all the way up to us- talk about nature’s port-o-poddy!! 

We land in a field and are treated to champagne in classic French ballooning style, after which we are taken in Land Rovers to a table set up in the middle of the Serengeti plain for an English-style breakfast.  Amazing!  The only living things that attacked us during breakfast were some harmless bees.  

Sampson, our driver, picked us up and we were off for what was an INSANELY awesome day!  Not two minutes passed before we saw a huge male lion with two females basking under a tree.  They soon rose and walked right past our truck!!  And we watched the big male leap across a creek with his powerful hind legs, which angered a nearby hippo.

Sampson then drove us to a section of the plains where a creek winds through, providing enough water for some tree-growth.  “Chui place”, he said, the perfect environment to find leopards.  As we scanned trees for sleeping cats, we noticed a group of trucks stopped 200 yards away.  When we arrived we began scanning a huge tree with our binoculars.  Ken saw a dead Tommie (Thomson Gazelle) laid in the crux of a large branch as it left the main trunk, ensuring that there must be a leopard in the vicinity that had made the kill and “treed” it for later.   As everyone else scanned the tree, I fixed my gaze on the shrubs surrounding the tree and saw it!  Of course, this bummed everyone out because I had promised a Safari Lager to the first person to spot a leopard.  Sorry gang.   

The highlight of the day came at the Simba Kopjes- the large rock formations that rise out of the plain.  We came upon the pride’s alpha female.  She sat and roared for about 20 minutes as she called her pride.  We kept waiting and waiting… finally, right down the center of the dirt road came her sister and CUB!  This cub was only a few months old, and was pretty cute.  He even got skiddish around the truck and took a circuitous route around us as he made for the alpha female.  All three disappeared into tall grass where we’re sure they ate a kill.  What a day!

6/29 To the Serengeti…

6/29 To the Serengeti…

In the morning we say goodbye to Gibbs Farm and embark on the long bumpy road into the Serengeti.  First we climb the southern flank of Ngorongoro, then head west around the crater rim.  At the “Windy Gap” we pause for our last amazing views of the crater floor, and then it’s off to Oldupai Gorge.

Oldupai Gorge is a lynchpin for the study of human evolution, as many hominids (pre-human) and early human fossils were buried in the gorge.  Most text books spell it “Olduvai”, which is the white man’s version, but the Massai named the place after the Oldupai plant that grows in the area.  The excavation was begun by Louis and Mary Leakey in 1931.  Ken shows us the “Castle”, a plateau-like rock rising out of the gorge, pictures of which are found in every geology book.  The Castle shows the sedimentary rocks layers going back several million years and are divided into 5 strata.  Digging continues in the gorge today. 

We load up and head to Naabi Hill, the gateway to the Serengeti in the southeast corner of the park.  Naabi Hill rises like a sentinel out of the grasslands that stretch beyond the horizon.   Very few animals are seen here during the summer, but when the November rains return, the plains will be transformed green, and over 1 million wildebeest will migrate south and undertake mass birth of their young. 

 

Now in the park we head north; with such a long drive we have very little time to view game, but we do come across about 7 young male lions sleeping the heat of the day away under some acacia.  It is extremely rare to see this many males together, and we hypothesize that they must make a formidable hunting team.  Ken thinks soon they’ll be a force to be reckoned with as they go for pride dominance. 

Finally we make it into Robanda Camp after almost 9 hours of driving, and we’re in for a treat.   Thomson has erected an amazing permanent main tent built on a massive stone tile base for eating and lounging.  Of course, for us that means sitting out with cold Safari lagers to watch the sun set over the Serengeti grasslands.  Dinner was highlighted by the camp crew rocking “Jambo”, the celebratory song in Tanzania, to honor Zac’s birthday.  Too bad the cake said “Barthday”!  You could do worse!

6/28- Nogorongoro Crater

6/28- Nogorongoro Crater

Sampson, our driver, wanted us to get in the car early and drove like a bat out of Hell this morning.  It was very foggy as we limbed the slopes of Ngorongoro so we didn’t have much view but the scene was surreal.  When we finally descended into the crater we dropped below cloud level, which acted like a lid on top of the bowl-like crater.  Down where we were was clear!

Very soon after we began descending down the crater wall, we realized why Sampson wanted us to get going early. About a mile away we could see about 10 trucks all gathered together, which means something big was happening.  As we got closer we saw brother lions leaving the scene, their faces and chests stained red…. a kill!  Having filled up their bellies on the good stuff, the lion lefts scraps of cape buffalo meat, entrails and skeleton for about 30 Hyenas, 6 Black-Backed Jackals, 2 Hooded Vultures, and 2 White-Headed Vultures.  The sounds were unbelievable- all kinds of “laughing” by the Hyenas as they were in a very excited state, and the crunching of bones.  Hyenas are one of the only animals in the world that can eat and digest bones, making their feces white.  What an incredible start to the day- five different species of carnivores all sharing the same space, feeding on a kill!

Then of course, as soon as we left one of the Hyenas literally walked right up to and around our truck.  If I had a meter stick I could have reached out and touched it. 

Another first for the day was the Hippo pool.  About 20 hippos basking in their muddy pool, continually pooping and turning their little tails into propellers as they “broadcast their feces” to establish territory.  Good thing humans don’t settle land disputes this way.  

 

We saw Wildebeests en mass for the first time, herds of 100-200 gangly, strange-looking creatures scattered all around the crater floor.  

 
Celebrated lunch in the Lenai Acacia forest on the south-west corner of the crater floor, and surprised Zac with a  cooler full of cold African beers for lunch.

 





The big event after lunch…. We watched a pride of about 7 lions, one alpha male, one very young male, and 4-5 females, sleep basking in the sun.  But a huge old male elephant with tusks almost to the ground slowly sauntered out the marsh behind the sleeping cats.  The elephant kept getting closer to the lions.  Finally at about twenty feet the lions awoke, starting the elephant, who turned, blared its trumpet, flashed his ears, and twisted up his trunk- the lions fell over each other as they scrambled away.  Samson proclaimed, “the Tembo (elephant) is the real king of the jungle”!

Another incredible day!  See you tomorrow when we visit Oldupai Gorge and then enter the Serengeti!

6/27- Tarangire Day 3 Baby Elephant

6/27- Tarangire Day 3

After our morning breakfast, we load up our truck, which sits under a beautiful baobob tree, and we say goodbye to our crew.  Hussein was so great to us and we exchanged emails to keep in touch.  We absolutely loved our Tarangire camp an crew! Oh, and Elizabeth adopted a Leopard tortoise right in camp!

On our way out of Tarangire, we were treated to something special.  On a bluff across the river, we watched and elephant accidentally scare two brother lions out of the brush.  The angry elephant proceeded to drive them down into the river basin, but the brothers split up and doubled back, completely befuddling the elephant, who gave up the search.  Amazing!

 

Later we watched a baby male elephant romping around and trying to learn (often unsuccessfully) how to use his trunk, and he seemed to love annoying his older sister by backing his rear end into her side over and over and over as she tried to eat.  Clearly it is natural for young males in all animals species to annoy their older sisters, not just in Elizabeth and my family.

We left Tarangire behind and climbed the escarpment that borders the Great Rift Valley.  Now we relaw at Gibbs Farm Coffee Plantation, which sits on the outer flanks of Ngorongoro Crater at about 5,000ft.  The place is an oasis!!!

At dinner tonight, I surprised Elizabeth and had champagne delivered to the table to celebrate our honeymoon, and everyone surprised us when the wait staff sang the African version of Hakuna Matata as they delivered a cake to us that said Happy Honeymoon. 

Tomorrow we descend into Ngorongoro crater for more wildlife! 

 

6/26- Tarangire Day 2 Lioness Hunt!

6/26- Tarangire Day 2  

Quite the morning!  After going about an hour without seeing anything, Sampson spotted the trip’s first Dik-dik, which earned him a 20oz safari lager tonight for winning the bet I laid down.

We watched a mother elephant and all five of her children move across the road, and her young son was in full adolescent male mode as he trumpeted and tried to intimidate his younger sister.

 

Saw a lone Orex, which Ken and Sampson haven’t seen in a decade.  Pretty lucky to see her beautiful coloration.

Definitely the morning’s highlight was an unsuccessful yet breathtaking lioness hunt.  We watched two sisters size up a herd of Zebra at 200 yards before engaging in a 30min stalk.  It was awesome! Happily for the zebra, one of them caught the scent and the herd moved off just in time. 

In our afternoon drive, we drove up Tarangire Hill and saw two Kilpspringers in their usual rocky terrain, several more Dik-dik, and we saw our first Cheetahs!  Kaka Dumas (brother cheetahs) sat on a termite mound and left to stalk prey, but descended down a hill and out of view.

The trip back to camp included some unwanted visitors- tetse flies! They engaged a full assault on our truck, but we were up to the challenge, smashing those little mutated horse flies fly-swatters, hands, maps, Elizabeth, etc. 

6/25- Tarangire Day 1

6/25-  Tarangire Day 1

Spotted and photographed two banana spiders- with legs splayed they were about 5 inches in diameter!

The winners of day one were the elephants.  We watched about eight descend from the hill down to the river to drink after the mother watched us for about three minutes to make sure it was safe. We also watched another group graze from close range- 20-30 feet. 

The birds were amazing, especially the Superb Starling who posed for me by puffing up his chest and strutting his plumage, as well as the Lilac-Breasted Roller who landed right next to our truck for some great photos.

Not to be outdone was a female samba (lion), who rested on a termite mound. 

Things you hear in Africa but not in the US… Cousin Zac told an attractive African woman that he’s here to find a girlfriend.  Her reply? “How many cows do you own?”

6/24 The flight/1st Night

6/24:

The flight/1^st night-

Top five things we learned while en route to Africa and on our first night.

1.     Human babies have the ability sound exactly like an ambulance siren… if there was an ambulance inside an airplane and it was blaring its siren at top volume level. 

2.     It’s a Starbucks world, as the coffee chain was by far the busiest place in Shipol Airport (Amsterdam)… and the Amsterdam Starbucks workers are much nicer than in the States.

3.     The Dutch prefer coffee over tea.  However, they begin their morning with tea, and switch to coffee at about 10am.

4.     In Africa, when someone wants to pass you on the road, YOU put your blinker on when it’s safe for them to pass.  Reminds me of Boston…. never.

5.     Female peacocks are “peahens”.  It’s the males that are called peacocks….

We’re headed to Tarangire today and will be out of radio contact until Thursday night, when we get to Gibbs Farm.  Kwaheri!