Africa to Home!

Our Trip Home via Africa

Leaving:
Ian’s god-daughter bought our car off us and as she is working in Somerset it was too difficult to deliver it to her. The most suitable arrangement for both of us was to deliver it to her friend in Wimbledon the morning we were leaving. This meant leaving Gorleston at 2am to arrive in London by 6am and catch the tube out to Heathrow. This last drive into London took us over Tower Bridge so we thought that was a very appropriate farewell!! If we had been later this would have been impossible as it is within London’s congestion zone; a no go area from 7am to 6pm.
On our flight over to Nairobi, the person next to us was also booked on our Intrepid trip – what a coincidence. As her transfer to our hotel was included in her ticket, she kindly allowed us to hitch a ride with her.
While we were living in Gorleston, we became friends with a lovely couple from Nairobi so we were able to bring some presents over to deliver to Euki’s sister, Zarena. She came to our hotel with her husband Hussein and we enjoyed a meal together. Also there is nothing like using local knowledge, and we did just that to purchase our binoculars!! Hussein took us to the ‘honest’ dealer in town! Hopefully we will have time to catch up again when we return to Nairobi after the Kenyan part of our tour.

Kenya
Day 1: (still Friday)
A group meeting at 6pm to meet the other 10 people on our tour, fill out the various forms required and find out all the info needed. Most are Australians and we would be the oldest (surprise, surprise!!) and one other 50ish (I think) Columbian woman.
Day 2:
Left at 8am (2 buses, 6 in each) for a long days travel north to Samburu. After crossing the equator we passed Mt Kenya and then entered the Northern Frontier District. Up until this point the road was sealed but then – a potholed, ungraded track with protruding rough stones. Not a pleasant 40kms but our lodge in Samburu National Reserve was worth the journey – it was in a unique setting beside a crocodile infested river! Later that afternoon we were taken on our first game drive. Of course we all expected to see the big five+ on our first afternoon but instead saw a variety of antelope – onyx, impala and gazelle!
Day 3:
Morning game drive and our first sighting of an elephant was a dead one with vultures having a feast. Further on we were surrounded by herds of elephant, all slowly ambling down to the river to drink and bathe. Next we were in the midst of a group of giraffe feeding on the treetops – unreal! In another isolated part of the grassland there were buffalo sleeping and grazing. The open plains are dotted with acacia trees and many have weaver bird nests hanging from them. Apparently these birds build many nests but only use a few. The reason being that the snakes like to feast on their eggs so they build loads to confuse them! On our way back we were given the option of visiting a Samburu tribe to learn about their nomadic lifestyle. Only 5 of us did so- amazing really which does make me wonder why some people visit other countries!!



Samburu tribes people (Masai are very similar)
Facts:
• Pastoral nomads who have lived like this for centuries.
• Live in a compound for about 6 months – movement depends on availability of food for their cattle.
• Cattle are their treasured possessions.
• Build houses from acacia branches and cover with cow dung – 2 rooms with cow hide floor covering.
• Individual houses for each family – meals cooked on open fire inside their house.
• Also a house for the medical man and separate one for the chief.
• A committee area where all kinds of decisions are made by the men!!
• Women circumcised.
• Women marry from 16.
• Men are circumcised at 14.
• Men marry after 28- allowed more than one wife.
• Husband leaves his spear in the ground outside the house he is sleeping in for that night.
• Women must not show any sign of jealousy towards other wife.
• Young boys go away for a few years from age7 and become young warriors – they are then given a special club or spear.
• Young boys and warriors look after the cattle outside their compound as there are no fences anywhere and they have to make sure they do not wander too far or that any wild animals attack them.
• Cattle always brought inside the compound at night.
• Make fire with 2 wooden sticks – donkey dung is good for fuel.
• Women make jewellry from beads - (elaborate necklaces and bracelets), cook, collect the firewood and have no say in decisions except whether they will allow their children to attend the local school if there is one!
• All wear a traditional dress which is a bright coloured shawl and skirt and the women decorate it with ornate jewelry and lots of earrings hanging from a large hole in their ear.
• Diet consists of cow’s blood, milk and cattle or goat’s meat. Cornmeal is being introduced as a supplement. All considered, they look amazingly healthy!!
• Cattle provide hides and skins for clothing.

These people are an important part of Kenya and Tanzania, so it was really great to be able to visit them and learn more about their lifestyle.

Day 4: Christmas Eve
Left Samburu to drive south into Aberdare National Park. On our way we passed the Samburu tribal people walking to the market with cattle, hens, goats and camels to sell. It was about 40kms to and fro on a stinking hot day! Our overnight stay was in a hotel on 12 mtr stilts, situated among the trees with many verandahs for superb viewing of the wildlife. Our lunch was at the Outreach Hotel and then we packed an overnight bag for our stay at Treetops. The rooms are like narrow ship cabins, hence the reason for just an overnight bag! We could use the many viewing points at the hotel to see the animals come down to the lake in the evening to bathe, drink and lick the salt. The best experience was from our bedroom window as we lay on the bed and gazed out at them just metres away. Firstly there were several herds of elephant, all wandering down at different times. It was just fascinating watching them interact with each other. The matriarch of the herd leads them down and back and decides on the route they will take. Buffalo and warthogs also came to join the party! We celebrated Christmas Eve with a very tasty meal, crackers and party hats included!

Day 5: Christmas Day
This day we headed west to Lake Nakuru in the heart of the Rift Valley. On our way we crossed over the equator and stopped to observe a gentleman giving a demonstration of the water turning different directions, depending on whether in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere. Lake Nakuru is well known for its flamingo, cormorants and pelicans. As we drove towards the water, we could see through the trees a line of pink and sure enough there were literally 100s of flamingos on the water’s edge. Our afternoon game drive took us through herds of zebra, Rothchild giraffe (difference is silvery/white on back of ears) and then the white rhino – a magnificent creature just meandering nearby and grazing on the tufts of grass. The difference between the white and black rhino, is the white one has a wide mouth and the black one has a triangular shaped mouth.

Day 6:
Leaving Lake Nakuru we travelled south, crossing the floor of the Rift Valley, traversing the escarpment before reaching the town of Narok, in the land of the Masai. We drove across the rolling plains and entered what is probably Kenya’s finest game reserve, the Masai Mara National Reserve. The Masai Mara is the northern extension of the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. As we came closer to this area we saw many colourfully dressed Masai tribespeople attending their herds of cattle. Our accommodation was a tented camp, but a very elaborate one! All our accommodation on this trip has been first class.
On our afternoon safari drive we saw our first lion. It was nestled beside some bushes and we drove so close I thought it would run away but it just wasn’t in the least bothered about us being there. When he wandered off, we hunted out his family which we knew would be in that vicinity. Sure enough, two mothers and their cubs were lazing in the long grass near by. Unfortunately the afternoon rain sent us home as the truck tracks soon became slippery, boggy and dangerous. The parks close between 6 – 6.30 and all safari drives must be out by then.

Day 7:
Our tour leader took us out on an all day safari trip through to Transmara County. The Masai Mara Game Reserve is 1800sq kms so a vast area to view game and one would wonder how any game can be sighted. Well this was just a fantastic day beginning with a mother lion and her cubs sleeping under some bushes, 2 baby cheetahs resting on a rocky mound, hippos and crocodiles in the Mara river and giraffe, elephant, zebra, buffalo, warthogs and wildebeest just became common sights! A new animal for us this day was a hyena, feasting on a carcass. Altogether we saw 22 lions, a vast array of buck – Thompson, kongoni, topi waterbuck and impala. Wow! A feast of wildlife.
As we crossed the Mara River we saw 100+ wildebeest carcasses rotting on the bank – consequence of drowning during the floods as they attempted to traverse the river.
These plains are just vast wide open spaces – no fences and the Masai cattle just supervised by their own people to ensure they do not wander too far and the wild animals don’t come to feed on them.

Day 8:
Returned to Nairobi and later in the afternoon we enjoyed a visit to the animal orphanage with Zarena and Hussien and then on to their home for a meal. How wonderful to be invited to a local home and enjoy ugali (maise & water), kachumbari (tomato & onion) which is traditional food for them. The National elections had been held on the 27th December and the counting was still being carried out. Zarena is an accountant for the President so she was very interested to know how the results were working out.

Tanzania
Day 1:
We caught a shuttle bus to the border, then on to Arusha. This part of the journey was fairly hair-raising as the young driver was determined to reach his destination as quickly as possible! The arrangements were that we were to link up with our tour guide in Arusha and then travel on to Lake Manyara. Well we waited and waited at the hotel and received very little communication from Classic Tours, our guides for Tanzania. Finally we left with a ‘stand in’ driver and vehicle and all this was going to be changed over at the Lake. They seemed so disorganized compared to our Kenyan tour. On the way our guide told us that Lake Manyara was known as the mosquito lake and he was not wrong!!

Day 2:
Early start into Lake Manyara National Park and immediately we were surrounded by trees and rich vegetation, such a contrast to the wide open plains of Kenya. The baboons and black faced monkeys were everywhere, performing for us all!! Elephant were in abundance as well as hippos in the lake, together with pelicans and flamingos. Unfortunately we didn’t spot any tree climbing lions. From here we drove to Serengeti National Park which was a long drive. However on the way we saw herds of wildebeest migrating with the zebra to the Masai Mara. They have to move with the zebra due to their poor sense of direction! The vast 14,763sq kms of Serengeti, which means endless plains, is just that. All you can see is wide open spaces dotted with acacia trees and families of giraffe scattered along the way. Our guide diverted down a side road to a large group of rocks. Often the lions use this type of place to bask in the sun so he took the chance that we may be fortunate enough to spot some. Lucky – that was exactly what we saw! Father was over the road keeping his cautionary eye on what was happening! Little did we know more was to come. Further on out in the plain there were two lions mating. A male lion makes love for 15 minutes first time round and then its regular action here on for another week! Once it is over she has to hunt for a beast and bring it back as her reward. A little way past this there were three lions feeding on a beast. What an amazing find, all in one day.

Day 3:
Two ladies in our group were shouted a balloon trip ride over the Serengeti – a 40th birthday present. They had a 5.30 start and weren’t due to return until 10am so we went out for a 2 hour game drive before returning to collect them. However we didn’t really see anything new.
Once everyone was on board again we drove through the park to reach the other end of the Serengeti for our night’s accommodation. On the way we saw a leopard in a tree but he took off soon after as a group of baboons approached him as leopards are terrified of baboons. We climbed down a bank and watched more than 150 hippos in a pool, bathing and interacting with each other. This was just an amazing sight as we were just so close. As we travelled over the plains we also passed more lions, giraffes, zebras and hyenas as well as Topi, Thompson and Impala antelope.

A diversion on the way was our visit to the Oldevai Gorge which is 50kms long – the continent’s best known archaeological site.
Layer times layer of volcanic deposit over a period of almost 2 million years. This provides documentation of our earliest ancestors. Most famous: 1.8 million year old ape like skull. Mary Leaky discovered it in 1959. Later in 1972 – 3.75 million year old hominid (human like) footprints discovered – caused heated debate about human evolution. Other lesser known but significant fossils found.

Day 4:
Ngorongoro Crater. This has unparalleled concentrations of wild life. It is 20kms wide – steep unbroken walls 600mtrs down and only 4 wheel drive vehicles are allowed to decend. Once we entered, it wasn’t difficult to realize why!!
We saw lion, elephant, buffalo, plains of wildebeest with zebra, Thompson gazelle, and 2 black rhino. This was the animal we were hoping to spot but they weren’t close enough for me to take a decent photo with my camera.
The crater is very rich and lush with food for the animals. As we drove through the crater we would have to encourage them to move off the road – they are just so accustomed to vehicles. Near our lunch spot there was a smaller lake where 2 hippos were rolling over and over in the water providing great entertainment for us all. We were also advised to eat our lunch in the van or else the brown eagles would swoop down and take the lot!
This was another amazing day and just so unique compared to anywhere in the world.

Day 5:
From here, it was back to Arusha and then on to Nairobi. During the last two weeks, elections had taken place in Kenya and the opposition was favoured to win. However Kabati, the president in power, stated the election procedures were corrupt and were to be annulled and he would remain in power. This caused major demonstrations and fatalities in Nairobi and it was doubtful as to whether we would be able to return to our hotel. When we arrived at Arusha we were told we would not be allowed to enter Nairobi city as it was just too dangerous and we would be dropped off at the airport and have to sleep there for the night. This was not too much of a problem except that we left a very big suitcase, laptop and money in safe deposit back at the hotel. However when we reached the airport the driver announced that he had word all was quiet in the city and that we would be able to sleep at the hotel. Lucky!
Early the next morning we left for the airport and traveled through a very quiet Nairobi city to begin the next stage of our journey in Zambia.

Zambia:
We flew to Lusaka where we spent 5 hours before our flight down to Livingstone. Ian “stumbled” across a travel guy who told us to wait in his office in comfortable surroundings. How lucky was that! He even hooked us up to their internet for that short time so I could send out emails as well! From his office we had a great view of the runway and because it was a day of thunder and lightning, it made quite exciting viewing! We were also preparing ourselves for the extra cost we would be incurring with their luggage limit being 15kgs per person and we had 24kgs each!! However he said I will take you down to check it through and sure enough it passed without any extra cost. However we made sure he benefited as well as the check in lady!!
It was still raining when we arrived in Livingstone. In fact it rained practically the whole time which didn’t give us the memorable impression we would have liked.
We visited Victoria Falls the next day and saw it through mist and showery rain. It was still a very impressive sight with the immense power and roar of the Zambezi as it tumbled down. A “not to be missed” wonder of the world. In the afternoon we explored the markets and other shops in the town.

The next day we arranged for a taxi to take us to the Zambia border (70kms away) as the local bus service was unreliable and quite uncomfortable to travel on. To add to this, we also had our two big bags to try and manouvre amongst everyone! Once we arrived, we were surrounded by people everywhere looking to assist us and earn a few dollars. Everywhere there was mud and puddles and the border was very primitive looking. A local lad offered to keep an eye on our suitcases while we walked around the back to check out of Zambia. We chose to wheel them around with us – a shame one has to be so mistrusting. Anyway he turned out to be really great value as he helped us walk to the ferry that was going to take us to Botswana and made sure we were at the beginning of the queue ahead of the line of vehicles. He even asked a local guy with a truck if he was going in to Kasane (7 kms away) and could he give us a ride. This guy was most obliging. He worked for a mining company and was returning to his home town.

Botswana:
Kasane is a quiet town with quite modern shops. We hired a local taxi driver called Uncle George who delivered us to our accommodation. After a bit of a rest we called up Uncle George again to take us into the town so we could try to change some money into local currency and then we stopped off at the Chobe Safari Lodge ( a luxurious place to relax at) where we enjoyed a tasty meal before joining the Evening Cruise down the Zambezi. We spotted more crocodiles and hippos and saw some beautiful bird life.
The next day we spent all day at the Lodge – just such a delightful place, situated by the Zambezi and all the modern amenities. Ian booked us on a 5 setter Cesena to take us down to Maun the following day.
Once again it was another negotiating situation with our luggage – 10kgs was the limit this time! Fortunately he did have room for us and our luggage as there were only 3 passengers with an extra cost of another ½ fare to take everything!!!! If there had been a full plane we would have had to leave our luggage behind and hope it would be delivered the next day – not a situation we obviously wanted.
Once again we spent the next morning at the safari lodge, purchased some delightful gifts to take home before embarking on our Cesena to Maun later in the afternoon. A New Zealand guy was the pilot. Apparently quite a few young pilots use this country to clock up their flying hours before moving onto bigger planes.
Maun is another quiet resort town where people like us come to visit to experience the
Okavango Delta. The Okavango is a labyrinth of lagoons, lakes and hidden channels covering an area of over 17,000 square km and the largest inland delta in the world. It spreads through tiny, almost unnoticeable channels that creep away behind a wall of papyrus reed, into an ever expanding network of increasingly smaller passages. We hired a mokoro (dug out canoe) and guide for four hours to take us up the waterway and just saw some unbelievable bird and insect life. One bird I remember was the Jesus bird. I inquired about its name and was told it was named that as it can walk on water! After about an hours paddling we stopped and walked onto the land to find a picnic spot for our lunch and then enjoyed a walk over the open plain before heading back. There was no wildlife to be seen due to the migration and very dry weather. I must say I wasn’t too bothered as the last thing I fancied was coming face to face with a hippo or whatever!!! Our guide would have known what to do I was told but all the
same ………!!
This next day was always going to be a long haul as we had to catch the plane to Johannesburg, wait to 3 hours before our flight to Sydney. It all worked out to be quite a smooth transition and we eventually arrived in Sydney to be met by Tim. We spent the one night with Tim and Gill and then Judy Siebert the next night before our last flight home to Auckland.
Wow! We were met by a very excited family and it was great to hit Kiwi soil again after a magic year away.
What wonderful experiences we have had and heaps of memories to keep us going for a lifetime.