Tag Archives: Safari

Adventures of a 'Gypsea', East African Adventure

Ngorongoro Crater: A World Of Its Own

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It was an early morning breaking camp, the sun rising over the plain and the dust creating a pink sheen engulfing the surrounding landscape. Having a nice breakfast with some Tanzanian coffee, I was reluctantly ready to depart our campsite.

Not yet ready to leave the magic of the Serengeti all together, we took a last game drive enroute to leaving, stopping to see the leopard once more, this time atop a rock, and a lion who contemplated climbing a tree. We were the only safari vehicles around, and she was definitely not shy.

It was a long and dusty road out of the Serengeti. Where we had been able to see horizon to horizon on our way in, we were now limited to about ~50 meters (~150 feet) because the dust had enveloped the dry plains. the Olduvai skull monument engulfed in a fog of wafting dust, giving it a mysterious sheen. The people stopped for the monument were holding their shirts over their mouth and nose. We had been lucky stopping on our way in and how clear it was, the winds now were not cooperating today. If traveling in the dry season, its important to remember that this is nature in its rawest form. There are no guarantees. No guarantee on the weather, no guarantee on the animals. I recommend bringing additional buffs that can double as camera covers and face covers. I also had a fishing sun shirt with built in buff and hood with SPF 50. HIGHLY recommend!

Once out of the plains, we traveled up the crater rim, which was as if going to a different world. The Lush green forest that disappeared into the mists of fog, vines draping out of the white haze, occasionally wiggling with the presence of the unknown creatures in the canopy above.

As we got over the crater rim we saw the expanse of the valley below. Ngorongoro Crater is the biggest caldera, about 260 sq.km (100 sq mi), that has unbroken walls and has not filled up with water. Ngorongoro has an abundance of wildlife at its floor, hosting many of Tanzania’s species, except for Giraffe. The craters walls are too steep for them, and they are all found on the outer slopes which are not as steep.

Of the 30,000 animals inside, only 30 of them are the black rhino, one of which we were able to see from afar. Because of the concentration of animals in such a small area, this is considered the most reliable area to see most of the big 5. (Not guaranteed however, because wild animals do like to move around.)

We drove through the herds of Wildebeests and Zebra. Wildebeests, looking rather strange, was explained to us by Valance (our driver) as being a mash up of several animals. The way we see a platypus as a mix of animals, the wildebeests are a mix of grasshopper (face), Heyena (body) Zebra (stripes) and cape buffalo (legs and horns).

In the centre of Ngorongoro there is a lake, with a small lunch/break stop on its bank. A coffee cart, along with a delicious seafood lunch kept us going for the rest of the day.

While admiring the water, no one would dare approach the edge. While there are no crocodile in the crater, there were a LOT of hippos. The craters self contained weather makes it cooler year round, and calving can be at various times. This lead me to one of my 2 favorite photos of Ngorongoro… A mum and baby napping in the light chopped water, the baby dozily looking at me with a small smile.

Our pop tops had separated, taking the maze of dirt roads in search of animals. We had gotten word about our companion vehicle and went to meet it. As we approached, another pop-top (not from our group) pulled away and we saw what was happening… A flat.

The vehicle pulling away was adhering to the curtsey of not leaving our group members stranded with a flat tire. Dealing with a flat among wild animals, the second vehicle keeps watch for anything approaching while the guides get the spare tire off the back of the vehicle. Once we had pulled up, our driver assumed that responsibility and that’s when the other vehicle left.

Within about a half hour we were all back on the road, having spent our waiting time looking at a heard of cape buffalo that were grazing with birds hitching a ride.

We started back up the crater rim toward our campsite, going back into the forested area. After just a few turns into the dense trees, we came upon 5 cubs playing among some trees and felled logs. This provided my another favorite photo of the trip.

Recently when talking to Valance, he updated me on our lion cub friends. Two of them were attacked by the Leopard while they were young. Now the other three are big enough that they should be able to continue on. A good reminder of the circle of life.

We watched them for a while before continuing down the road. Among the floor of the jungle there were families of Baboons grooming, gathered in circles around the babies, hopping and playing around the adults.

Once at our campground, the chill in the air was further support that the camping on the Ngorongoro Crater was much colder than that of in the Serengeti. I had brought a puffy jacket, hat, knit gloves and with my leggings under my pajama pants as well as my sun shirt under my 1 long sleeve, I was able to stay comfortable in a store brand cool weather sleeping bag. I had also brought some large sized body warmers, which when one was placed at the foot of my sleeping bag, and another in front of my core, it was actually quite toasty. We were also warned NOT to have food in our tent, that the lions or hyenas of the Serengeti were nothing, and the pigs would destroy our tents in search of it. I made an effort to talk to all our crew, gathering what granola bars and various snacks were stashed away and bringing the accumulated contraband to the cars for safe keeping. No tents were ravaged that night, so it must have worked.

The meal that night was half celebration, half farewell. It was our last night of camping. The journal which I had kept the whole trip was passed around, the group signing the last pages yearbook style. Getting everyones emails so that at the conclusion of the trip I could start an email chain and a cloud drive to share my photos of the trip. It was only fair, my wonderful car mates were really kind to let those of us who get carsick sit towards the front of the vehicle. If you’re reading this, I cannot thank you all enough. We dined, we laughed, and I even wone a game of ‘pass the ace’. This became a nightly card game, betting macaroni brought this whole voyage for this sole purpose.

Next time: Visiting the site of the Planeterra project, and a day trip to the Arusha markets and a waterfall.

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Where the Wild Things Roam: Lake Manyara

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The morning started with the sense of adventure. All my camping gear that had been in my check on was redistributed on, in and around my backpack, a blue rain cover providing a small amount of protection from the dust we were told we would be encountering on the way.

Checking out of the Outpost Lodge, our group convened in the small parking lot where two pop-top safari vehicles waited. Our drivers Valance and George greeted us and helped us load up. We split into two groups and made a quick supply run.

The local grocery had everything we could need for road-trip snacks and we loaded up with water. We were going to be camping and not able to access a lot of water for 5 days, and I figured that my own water amount was about 2 liters a day, and grabbed 3 – 2 liter jugs. My estimate was generous, and I didn’t get into the 3rd jug, but in 20/20 hindsight and a background in search and rescue, I appreciated having it to offer if anyone needed a water bottle refill towards the end of the trip.

Pro Tip: a week or so before traveling try to gauge how much water you drink normally, and then look at how much you drink the first couple days in East Africa. After being there a couple days you should get a good idea of how much water you will need to plan on.

Before setting off from the store, one of my travel companions tried the ATM to get some cash before leaving the city. The ATM ate her card. A few minutes of calling the 1-800 numbers in the states and the assistance of Hamdami in calling the bank of the ATM, and it was worked out that she would be able to pick up her card when we return to Arusha after the safari part of the trip.

In the village of Mto Wa Mbu we visited a local art co-op, filled with a few artistic styles, and a banana plantation. Here we were treated to a lovely local meal with a diverse spread of flavours and options.

The first day of the trip we went right to Lake Manyara National Park. The entrance way was mesmerising, instantly cueing the Jurrasic Park Theme to come to mind. A magnificent archway supporting two waterfalls.

Just outside Mto Wa Mbu is Lake Manyara. Home of tree climbing lions. Though we didn’t see lions on this portion of safari, we did get an amazing experience with some of the elephants, who walked right up to, and around, our Safari vehicles.

The myriad of wildlife of the park was a fantastic kickoff to inland Tanzania. The baboons, water buffalo, and a particularly angry Zebra who had it out for a specific group of impala, gave the area a vibrant personality that, when looking back, was so unique. Neither Serengeti nor Ngorongoro Crater, yet somehow still with a sense of familiarity between the two.

While we would be traveling through the park, our supply car would beat us to the campsite and begin setup and cooking. By the time we roll in, dusty and shaken by the bouncy dirt roads, we had a little down time to freshen up and meet at the mess area for dinner.

The Twiga Campsite is a lush, secure, campground within Mto Wa Mbu. Our tents, definitely larger than some of the other groups, were spacious and we could even stand up in them. Not quite ‘glamping’, but to my outdoor experience, not ‘roughing it’ either. I would say this was a very accommodating camping experience for anyone who hasn’t been camping before, or wants the camping trip style, but the tents already set up for them ‘vacation style’. A cold shower and frequent power outages that hit the small camps added to the sense of adventure.

The camp dinners were delicious 3 course meals. Shout out to Saranne, whose birthday it was and the camp crew came out singing a birthday song, equipped with cake, unphased by the power cutting part way through their melody. Power came back, celebrations continued, and it was a wonderful night at the campground.

Before bed I spent some time in the mess area charging my camera gear and batteries. My Nikon D7000 and D500 take the same kind of battery, so having just a couple extra made it easy to switch out. I highly recommend a multi port USB charger for the safari cars, and a usb charger for all electronics, including camera batteries.

The quiet of the camp in the evening and in the early morning was magical. Brushing my teeth I would stop, wide-eyed, realizing the far off sounds of lions roaring and hyenas chattering. This… the sounds, the feeling, of being surrounded by wild. This is what I came for.

Next time….

We journey deeper into the heart of Tanzania, passing through the Ngorongoro Crater conservation area and into Serengeti National Park.

If your interested in seeing some of the posts from one of my guides? Valence has an instagram! his adventures can be followed at @vah_ley_tz

The cool kids!
Adventures of a 'Gypsea', East African Adventure, Gap Year Ideas

Nairobi to Arusha: Border Crossing Adventure

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Our team had made it down to Arusha on a public bus, all of our gear strapped under tarps on the roof at the Heron Hotel in Nairobi, picking up a few people at the local stop before making our way out of Nairobi and to the Tanzanian border.

At the boarder we debussed and followed the assembly line, Departures from Kenya, Vaccinations, Arrivals, and Visa. The Covid vaccination requirement had just been lifted a month before my arrival, but I still carried my vaccination card with the rest of my vaccination information. The Yellow Fever vaccination was the biggest one they were looking for.

Before I had left home I had stopped by my county’s Public Health travel advisor; a Nurse who specializes in what vaccines and health advisories you want caught up in for each region of the world. I HIGHLY recommend this, as I was able to get caught up on a couple other vaccines that I may have let slide… but going to a third world country would definitely want. I also got my malaria tablets and found that there are multiple versions of such a beast. Some people on our trip had daily ones, where as mine was once a week and you take it a couple weeks before, during, and a couple weeks after your trip. I became the envy of the campground as others were constantly reminding each other “Did you take your malaria tablet today?”

Once through the vaccination line, the subsequent lines became longer and longer. If there were ever the description ‘organized chaos’, this would be it. Some people missed a line so had to go back, a local woman with a child skipped lines and just waited at the front until someone let her cut. The visa can be paid for at the boarder with a credit card, even though they will definitely tell you they prefer cash.

A story from one of my travel companions was that a member of their previous group was paying cash and told more than what the visa was supposed to be, the official pocketed the difference and issued the visa. Unfortunately this isn’t all that uncommon. Additionally as an American, the fee was already twice that of other nationals, so I made sure that I had that set aside with my passport for when it was time to go through it was already budgeted. You are also able to apply online and take care of every thing digitally before getting there, I would just make sure you keep good documentation of it.

The assembly line of customs took some time, and I was extremely grateful to my GAdventures guide who helped navigate the flow and help make the border crossing easy-peasy.

A note to the photograph savvy: it is highly illegal in both Kenya and Tanzania to take photos of government buildings, officials or signs. Thankfully I knew this before going, but you will be reminded. We drove through a military area and we’re warned not to take pictures until the guide said so.

Once back out at the bus with our luggage that was unloaded and brought in for collecting, we hoisted them back up to the roof attendant who strapped them back down under the tarps. Waiting for the last of our crew and bus driver to finish customs we were surrounded by Masai women selling trinkets, which were met with a solid ‘No thank you’, but they would still try their tenacious marketing methods.

We reloaded onto the bus and continued our journey south. Some lulled, myself included, others gazed out the window at the passing villages and cattle farmer that were making use of the vast landscape. The occasional Baoboa tree amongst the Umbrella trees that speckled the landscape. At one point during the drive I saw a camel running down the side of the road. I didn’t get a chance to get a picture, but looked around the bus in an incredulous “did anybody else see that!?” only to see that there were only a few people left awake. I had asked Hamdam, our guide about it later, and he said that some of the people who moved down from North Africa would bring their camels with them.

We eventually rolled into our gated hotel, the Outpost Lodge in Arusha and had a chance to settle in a little before our evening meeting.

The lovely lofted area that had a living-room feel is where we gathered for the run down of what the safari portion of the trip was going to look like. We met up with another group of 6, brining our total to 14. They had just finished climbing Kilimanjaro the day before, and slugged up the stairs to the loft. Coming from a mountain region where I am on search and rescue, they were the magnificent 6. I usually need motivation for a hike and do more hiking to lakes and landmarks, summiting isn’t something I’ve done in years… and here were 3 Aussies in their 20’s and 3 Canadian retired business guys who went to summit the tallest peak on Africa at 19,000 feet. All except one summited because of falling ill at basecamp. Every. Single. One. earned some serious respect from me.

Hamdam gave a similar spiel to the one he gave in Nairobi… Look for eyes before leaving the tent…

Yellow eyes are probably a herbivore, no worries. (My mind still narrated, ‘hah! large animals… I’m good with not trying my luck if I see eyes.’)

Red eyes, please, for the love of god, don’t leave your tent. Those are Lion.

Next time…

We load up the Pop-Top, meet our drivers for the next few days, and start in the village of Wto Wa Mbu.