24 July - 9 August 2009
Jambo! Africa would have to be up there as one of our best trips. We had a fantastic time with Dave & Alice on an 11 day safari tour in Kenya & Tanzania, before going our separate ways on the last leg. It was on to Rwanda for a Gorilla Trek for Alex & I, whilst Dave & Alice continued their adventures in what sounded like an amazing place in South Africa before heading home to Sydney.
I know this will be a long entry already. So many highlights...at least one every day. Here is a snapshot of what made this trip special.
Day 1 - Nairobi, Kenya
- Chaos of downtown Nairobi
- Cute little elephants and baby rhino @ the Elephant orphanage
- Alex & Dave kissing the giraffes @ the Giraffe Sanctuary
Day 2 - Lake Nakuru, Kenya
- The millions of pink flamingos...my favourite!
- Mum & baby white rhino
Day 3 - Masai Mara, Kenya
- Very exciting to see elephants in the wild for the first time - a herd of 15 elephants
- First spotting of lions was very special - a father and son lazing under a tree
Day 4 - Masai Mara, Kenya
- Seeing the aftermath of a kill - male lion with a dead gazelle and injured female lion next to a bloody wildebeest carcass
- A cultural experience at a Masai village
- My second favourite elephant sighting was a of few elephants up close and then on the horizon - we were the only safari van in sight!
- Hotel staff at Mara Sopa Lodge singing "Jambo Bwana", the Kenyan song that has become our trip anthem
Day 5 - Masai Mara to Lake Navaisha, Kenya
- Our third lion spotting on the last morning @ Masai Mara - male lions and 2 cubs emerging from the bushes; who said it was rare to see lions??
- Seeing lots of colobus monkies during our walk around crater lake, and overnight camping at Lake Navaisha
Day 6 - Amboseli, Kenya
- Really cool to see thousands of animals by the swamp in Amboseli National Park - the highest concentration we've seen so far
- More elephants...this time a herd of 16 with some lazy wildebeests
- Overnight at Sentrim Luxury Tented Camp with Mt Kilimanjaro backdrop, one of my favourite accommodations...and also the night Alex popped the question to Dave about our wedding :P
Day 7 - Kenya to Tanzania, then on to Tarangire
- Speed safari with our new driver was a real experience...we knew we were in for an adventure in Tanzania
- Capturing a lonely giraffe by a tree in the sunset @ Tarangire National Park - we've been waiting a few days for this moment
- Tarangire Treetops Lodge - could well be the best place we've ever stayed; so remote and difficult to get to (especially when the jeep got stuck at sundown), but totally worth it...never been pampered so much before!
Day 8 - Serengeti, Tanzania
- Definitely a memorable day of our great safari adventure!
- My favourite elephant spotting - being amongst a herd of 70+ elephants was one of the best experiences!
- Getting right up close to 3 cheetahs lazing under a tree
- Spotting a leopard in a tree (albeit in the distance, but luckily you can just make out the spots thanks to the fab 18x zoom on my camera)...and completing our spotting of "the BIG 5"!!
Day 9 - Serengeti, Tanzania
- Today we actually saw what we came to Africa in hope of seeing. It was really exciting to catch the tail end of the migration @ Mara River, and so interesting to see the zebras & wildebeests being so orderly and moving in perfect single files
- More leopard spotting in trees, but yet again in the distance
Day 10 - Serengeti to Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania
- Seeing a bunch of hippos at the smelly hippo pool totally changed my perspective of these creatures from cute to total disgust...they were literally swimming in their own poop; we also saw some crocodiles by the hippo pool and a hippo on land which are supposedly quite rare
- Following a pride of 7 lions in Serengeti - still pretty cool to watch them even after seeing lions so many times
- A bit of a reality check and shaken to see a jeep that had totally flipped over. We picked up an injured passenger from the accident and watched ~15 men including Dave help flip the jeep back over!!
- Amazing views from our room @ Ngorongoro Wildlife Lodge overlooking the crater
Day 11 - Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania
- One of my favourite lion sightings was in the crater - we followed 6 lions on the prowl, moving towards a little warthog that got away
- Capturing some of my favourite images of flying famingos, warthog and wildebeests and then again with zebras all in one screen
- Being surrounded by wildebeests and buffalos...such high concentration I didn't know where to look!
Day 12 - Lake Manyara, Tanzania then back to Nairobi, Kenya
- Seeing lots of baboons and about 5 giraffes on the horizon @ Lake Manyara
- The long and bumpy ride on the bus back to Nairobi was rather unpleasant
- Saying our farewells to Dave & Alice as we go our separate ways in the morning...boohoo
Day 13 - Nairobi, Kenya to Kigali, Rwanda
- Feeling a little on guard in a new environment, especially with our tour operator insisting on cash payment
- Experiencing one of the biggest highlights of our trip - the gorillas! We were lucky enough to see the second largest family, Group 13, which had 26 gorillas. When they say you are trekking in the jungle, you really are; we found ourselves dodging blackberry thorns along a "path" made by the guide as he hacked through the jungle with a machetti. Thank goodness it was only a short trek. It was so worth it though. Seeing the gorillas really was something special.
- Meeting some local kids as we decided to go for a stroll to the local markets in Kinigi, and then finding ourselves being followed by a whole entourage of kids. A great cultural experience, but I must admit to feeling a little uneasy when there are little kids holding machettis around (perfectly innocent, I'm sure, as it is the norm for kids to be hacking grass on the fields...but you just never know, right?)
Day 15 - Kigali, Rwanda to Nairobi, Kenya
- We were the tourist attraction for the locals whilst a flat tyre on our car was being changed at a local market on the way back from Kinigi to Kigali - our trip didn't seem complete without having to experience another car problem! We didn't have to venture to the local markets on our own for a cultural experience after all!
- I was getting a bit obsessed with taking photos of locals carrying things on their heads - buckets, sugarcanes, logs, sticks, weeds, pots, matresses....but my favourite was wheelbarrows! How do they do it?? Alice would've had a field day with the camera too!
- Stopping by to check out "Hotel Rwanda" enroute to Kigali airport
- A little disappointed with dinner at the famous Carnivores restaurant in Nairobi, with ostrich meatballs the only wild meat being served
- Finally and most importantly, buying my drum at the local market!!! Yipppeee....
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