Ghana Update #16 - Tanzania

april 3, 2016

hi there folks....finally getting some time to update my blog post to include the most recent trip to tanzania with my good friend wendy....she traveled all the way from the states for a one week vacation with me at one of our bucket list destinations.....now that is dedication.....the pictures below will speak for themselves and once again on safari, in the past three months, i have seen the big 5 and then some....i do have a ranking system now though....so the next safari i take will be compared with kenya and tanzania....which are both pretty amazing in their own right....

for lions & leopards i would choose the better views in tanzania...one of which i couldn't get on my camera, as it was too far away, and my camera is now officially dead....so everything was taken by phone this time around...but in the serengeti....yeah....that serengeti....the one from out of africa and the amazing imax film....we saw a leopard actually carry it's prey into a tree and leave it there for later....that was mind-blowing....we also saw in ngorogoro crater and lioness defend her zebra kill from 40+ hyenas....talk about scaredy cats....it was wild....

for rhinos and cheetahs, i would choose masaai mara....as you saw from my last update....simply incredible shots close up and personal for both.....the elephants, giraffe, zebras, thompson gazelles, hippos, birds, birds, birds, wildebeests, impala, cape buffalo, etc, were about equal in both parks, but really anything in either place is incredible...i mean....really....are you kidding me?????

after 4 days of safari we headed to zanzibar, an island off the coast of tanzania....which was lovely, but i have to say i was not super impressed with stone town....if i went back i would head for the beach and go snorkeling every day.....we did that our last morning, and it was amazing.....now....on with the shots....hope you enjoy them :)

after wendy flying two days to get to tanzania and me coming from ghana....which is longer than you think, because its like flying across the US....we finally made it to our first destination....lake mayanara....known for the tree climbing lions....of which we saw none....but we did stop and watch this family of elephants playing in the river for a good half an hour....they were having so much fun, and even though the light was not at its best...it was a signal that our trip was going to be all right.....we did have a problem with the tour company, and i have to say i would not recommend them, as we got charged more money than expected....so if you are planning a trip...my recommendation, do not use leopard tours....we also found out they are in a law suit with the tanzanian government for not paying back taxes or something like that....anyway...not a recommendation from me for this.....

we chose to do the camping aspect for this trip....and here is our home away from home....it was  a glam tent and we thought all was going to be smooth sailing after our first night in the front yard of a hotel...little did we know....but we had comfy cots and chairs to chill on the porch with and even got hot water in the basin to the right every morning to start our day....swanky.....no bathroom included and that was interesting for later....when we were not in the front yard of a hotel.....

from lake mayanara we needed to drive around ngorogoro crater to get to the serengeti....this place was simply amazingly HUGE and stunning....this crater was formed when a volcano blew....a long time ago (3 million years ago)....later in the week our last stop was the bottom of the crater....so much life in one place....one of the lakes here is freshwater, the other is salt and they are never completely dry, so the animals that are here, stay here....simply breathtaking....
 

and then we were in the serengeti....we needed to drive a bit to get to the public campground....but along the way we saw an amazing amount of lions napping in big rock formations keeping them out of the sun....we saw single males, males with females, and cubs, cubs, cubs....like this particular shot...i saw more lions on this day, then i did the whole time in masaai mara....but really, this shot....so cute!

these are stacked cape buffalo skulls in our public camp ground....in the background you see the mess hall - which has nothing - you bring it all...table, chairs, plates, etc....and to the right you see the kitchen...again, nothing here, you bring it all....stoves, water, food stuff for a few days....literally bring it all....we had an interesting run in with a male baboon in the mess building this particular morning....everyone else who had camped had left, except wendy and i....so we were finishing up, when in strolls a male baboon....and i mean literally, strolls....it was crazy....we both stood up, i saved my coffee, and he ran for the table....like a sneaky kid and started grabbing what he could from the table - toast, fruit, crepes - until i starting stomping my feet, yelling and waving my arms....it was intense....but funny as well....as we walked out with the remaining foodstuffs for the kitchen, we looked around and saw his entire family was enjoying our leftovers from breakfast....definitely not a hunting and gathering difficulty for the morning meal from what i could see.....from then on, we were wary of baboons and breakfast...

our first morning in the serengti we caught up with this lovely lioness who was out for a stroll....she turned around and just stared at us from her perch on this little rise, where she was watching a herd of zebra....after the stare down, she turned around and sauntered into the very high grass where we lost her...never did see her make a kill or even do a chase, as the grass was so high....we never caught a kill this time around, but we did see the aftermath....sometimes just moments after the kill had happened....you could tell by the smell.....

the serengeti had a ton of giraffe, everywhere we went....i love watching these animals walk along looking for food....they are just crazy looking....beautiful too, but how in the world did they evolve this way, just wild....these two giraffe hung out together for quite a while and the guide said they were in the process of getting ready to mate...didn't see that, but did like the crossing of the necks and such....

this is was i meant by showing up at the end of a kill...this male had a lion in his mouth...it had been dropped off to him by some females of his pride, who were headed back out to hunt when we first showed up....a few stuck around and tried to eat some of the zebra, but the male was just not having that and kept dragging the kill around....there were some cubs who also tried to have a taste, but the male was not having any of that either....such an interesting set up...one male, many females, many cubs...one zebra...male first, females and cubs second.....not my style, but interesting none-the-less :)
 

  
at the top of one of the rock formations, where sometimes lions gather, luckily no lions when we got to the top....we saw these cool white divots in the rocks.....our guide bill explained that if you pound on the rocks in those white divots it makes gong sound...hence why they are called gong rocks, and they are the way the masaai communicated between families and tribes....

so of course i needed to pound a gong rock...and really, they sound like a gong and i guess the sound would travel really far...here i am trying to communicate with the world via gong rock...at this point i also am trying to communicate with my luggage that still had not made it to me...that i was really tired of wearing the same two t-shirts and sweats...but in the end, the luggage, not the world heard me....it arrived on the seregenti airstrip near where we were camping....simply amazing how those gong rocks work ;)
 

above is the pop-top 4x4 we used to travel in tanzania and for the safari....very different from the one in kenya.....this was definitely not open sides, but i did like the open roof idea....made for a good breeze when you were standing on a seat....even though its hard to see, inside are wendy, bill the guide/driver and me....under a cool candelabra tree....they are cool cactus that grow in east africa.....
 

of course, one of the main things we wanted to see was the migration....so our second day was spent going across the serengeti, where we caught the wildebeests and zebras congregating to get ready to start moving.....there were so many of them.....and they make very different noises....the zebras actually bark and sound like dogs....wild....in the picture above, all the little dots you see to the horizon are either wildebeests or zebra.....soooooooooo many... with a controlled fire burning in the distance....
 

it is said the migration happens because of lack of grasses....but this year, they have been having tons of rain (attributed to el nino)....so guides were a bit nervous in both parks that the migration would not happen....in the previous picture if you look at the horizon, you might be able to see smoke, and that's because the park was doing controlled burning....it is helping the grass and making sure the migration actually starts.....so i guess humans are somewhat in control this year.....the shot above is where all of the wildebeests and zebra would come running into and then slow down....they depend on each other i guess....or the wildebeests depend on the zebra, as everyone was saying, because the wildebeests are not very smart....
 

elephants were everywhere in the seregenti....and many times up close to the 4x4....this was a family getting ready to cross the road behind us...tons, and tons of babies were everywhere....and not just of elephants....it must have been a good mating season is all i kept thinking, with all of the healthy babies running around.....
 

i love this picture and call it "hippo in thought"...it is just chillin' in the water and looking out towards the sunset....the hippos were huge, but this was the only one we ever really saw close up.....
 

back at camp, before it was dark, wendy and i hung out and had a beer....this was before our guide and cook told us we were not allowed to go away from the tent in the night to go to the bathroom.....ummmmmmmm, what?!?!? there were no guards, no fences, no guns, no nothing....so if you went out to the bathroom, you could run into a baboon or a lion or a cape buffalo or what was around our tent continuously....hyenas.....and this was not a joke....so fair warning if you stay in a public camp ground in tanzania....bring a pee bottle....we had a few frights the first night because we were not prepared....cape buffalo next to the tent, hyenas calling to each other, baboons ransacking the garbage.....after someone tells you that you cannot pee, all you want to do is pee....let's just say not much sleeping was had the first night.....
 

but this was our sunrise.....so really, was it worth it....maybe :) as you can see, we had an amazing view....and of course were the furthest tent from the bathroom....of course.....second night we stayed, we knew better....but another group of folks that night did get surrounded by hyenas....luckily there were a lot of them and they started yelling and screaming and that ran them off....definitely an adventure.....

as we headed back to arusha, we had our afternoon in ngorogoro crater....and it was incredible....this elephant had literally propped its head up on the river bank next to the 4x4....perfect picture shot....there was a ton of grass to eat here and the elephants seemed quite happy......
 

while in the crater we also watched a lioness defend her kill of a zebra from 40+ hyena....this was one of the ones who did not stay, and we got a great shot as we left the area....but the lioness was amazing....she was literally surrounded, but the hyenas were about as organized as kindergartners....they would start to creep close on one side...she would stand up and look at them and they would scamper off....none of them would come from the other side, even though they were standing there.....then a few would go play in the river, chase the babies in the area or chase one of the hyenas they didn't like.....and then it would start again.....we arrived when there were only 5 or so hyenas....it grew to over 40...and everyone thought the lioness and her kill were toast....but we stayed 1.5 hours, and they never got the meal.....she even took a nap for a bit....again, horrible hunting techniques on the hyenas part.....in the end we heard she never gave the zebra up....simply incredible....40+ to 1!!!!!
 

this was our cook yusto....it was amazing what he could make with this set-up.....this last night we camped was insane....we stayed with about 150 other people.....with only 3 toilets for the women and a complete downpour for the night....talk about gross....but what impressed me was that all of the cooks were men....and the meals they were bringing out were incredible....we had samosas and empanadas, and spaghetti, and fruit tart, and crepes, and quiche, and the best macaroni salad, and....and...and....it was wild....yusto was our breath of fresh air and led to a full stomach for every meal :)
 

on our way back to arusha from the national parks, i decided to take some road shots....to show that tanzania is very similar to ghana....colorful containers along the road selling everything...only difference is that the highway to the parks is amazing!!!! and in the best condition....this is one other way that going to the serengeti was much better than going to masaai mara....the road was in incredible condition....good, i mean....also, just like in ghana, stores had funny names - there was even an obama bus....very cool.....
 

from safari we flew to the island of zanzibar....you even have to go through customs to get in....the republic of zanzibar, even though it is part of tanzania....what a beauty of an island....but really hot and sticky.....we stayed in stone town....which is a quaint, old city, with a ton of hawkers and people that have to make comments, especially men to women....which is really tiresome.....not a place i need to return to.....although i did love the doors....but i did not want to buy any cds or drugs or baskets or bags or anything.....bleh..... we did make it to the northwest beach you see above....which was very nice, but the water was super warm....like swimming in a bathtub....didn't really escape the heat that way.....but the landscape was stunning and there was no one else on the beach.....
 

here is one of those amazing doors from stone town....they must weigh a ton, as they are all carved wood, with very intricate designs and the knobs poking out are made of metal....the doors were orginally burma/mayanmar teak, but these days they are east african teak....the one above is an example of an indian or gujarati door, done in the old style, with no semi-circular area above the door itself...the carving around the door frame is amazing.....they also have arab doors, but i did not get a picture of one of those, as we never saw one....the doors were amazing....

this was the beautiful shot of the waterfront of zanzibar as we were leaving on the double hulled catamaran back to dar es salaam.....there is a dhow boat in the harbor....which i loved watching - it is the one with the sail....simply lovely....and the colors for this shot turned out well.....it was a beautiful day :)
 

  
in dar we met up with my friends jeff and anita and had dinner with them along the beach at an outdoor place....they both seem quite happy to be working in dar and seem to have a great life, especially since they go sailing/snorkeling a lot and they can bike to work....seems like a good deal and that both of them are happy....it was terrific to catch up :)

i figured the last shot should be of wendy and i....traveling together once again....it is hard at times to find the right folks to travel with, and i think wendy and i are a great match....we will meet somewhere in the world again and do some crazy things and have some great adventures....it was a terrific trip, with all of those things this time around....and i am so grateful she was willing to meet me in africa to do this one.....

so there you have it....tanzania....wow....what an adventure....saw amazing animals - both on land and in the sea...incredible vistas - again, on land and the sea....met some cool folks along the way....and had a few scary moments - always important for an adventure....all-in-all...awesome!!!!

so i am now in my last two full months here in ghana...i did hit country number 76 - togo, over easter weekend....but i think that may be the last on this tour.....i am headed back to the states via paris in june....but who knows what will be next....my last update or updates from here will be a smidge of togo and some final things from ghana....hopefully you enjoyed this update....there were so many more pictures i could have put here...but i felt 27 was almost too much....next update in a month or so....and i hope everyone is having a good start to spring/fall, depending on which hemisphere you live in....til i write again.....thanks for reading.....and
have a fab day :)
   

Ghana Update #15 - Kenya

February 14, 2016

Happy Valentine's day to everyone reading this....or day after...or a few days after.....things here in ghana are going well....i am amazed at how fast time is flying....it's already been five weeks since coming back from holiday break.....and it has been fun around here....have made a bucket-list of must-dos before i leave at the end of the year and we have been crossing things off the list every weekend......but there is still a bunch to do both for fun and for school....but the light is definitely starting to show at the end of the tunnel.....

spring break is just around the corner....and i am headed to tanzania with my good friend wendy from antarctica....well, really from....ummmmm....many places...but at the moment utah.....so i decided i needed to get this update out from my winter break week in kenya....and wowowowowowow....what a trip it was....tanzania was also "crossed into", but i am not really counting it, as there is no stamp in my passport....this time next month the visit will be for real....my 75th country.....very exciting....i will probably hit one more in africa before the end of the school year....togo....our neighbor to the east.....anyway....on with the shots from kenya...hope you enjoy them as much as i enjoyed taking them....

i was only in nairobi for a day....but i loved these buses....the one i loved the most was called purple rain and it was blasting music from purple rain, it was completely purple and had prince from the 80s printed on both sides and was incredible....this one made me chuckle and fist pump as well.... interesting way to look at america.....

while in nairobi we also went to a place called ocean sole - a flip-flop recycling company that was set up to recycle flip-flops that wash up on the kenyan beaches....simply amazing....here's their link - http://www.ocean-sole.com/  even pope francis stopped in when he was in kenya....really, really cool things....in the picture above you can see some of the animals they have created....the giraffe are taller than me....loved this stuff.....you should check it out.....all made from recycled, washed up flip-flops....

then sandy, jeff and i were off to the maasai mara...one of the national parks of kenya and something that has been on my must-ssee list....this is the place where the maasai tribe calls home....although i do have to say that the maasai men seemed to be everywhere in kenya....they all wear the same traditional dress...and i learned that the cattle supplies are dwindling, and cattle is the basis of maasai life....so some men have gone in search of another way to keep families healthy and alive....the maasai women we saw were mostly in the mara region....on our drive to the mara we also saw herds of zebra.....just hanging out....by the side of the road....i was surprised to see them just wandering around in herds....outside of the park....

we stayed in a luxury tent in a camp that was overlooking the mara....this was our tent....only running water was for the toilet....everything else was in a bottle or brought to us for use...like a shower....from a bag that hung above the tent....really cool...power was generated from solar cells....waaaaaaaaaaay cool for this science girl :)

this was also in our camp....a splash pool built for 3-4 people overlooking the mara.....we should have gone in at that moment, as that was the last chance we had before it got chilly for the rest of the time we were there....or we were out on a game drive....it had an amazing view and i wish we had used it....i guess i will just have to go back :)

after arriving at the camp we had a few hours of chillin' from our off road experience before heading into the mara on safari....our first evening drive we saw four of the big five in 3 hours - cape buffalo...like this one...wallowing in mud....we learned it was how they killed lice that had gotten into their coats...it also kept them cooler...even though it was way cooler than ghana....BUT the flies....oh my goodness...they were crazy..... the mud did not seem to keep those numbers down....we also saw lions...but not close enough to snap a shot, elephants...again, not close enough to capture....but the one animal of the big five we saw that was mind blowing was.....

RHINOS!!!!!  can you see them...hanging with the topi (bigger version of antelope/gazelle animals)....just going for an early evening stroll.....CRAZY!!!!  i have never see rhinos in the wild....and there were three of them.....so this was a big deal....and there they are.....just chillin'....these were not the only ones we saw either....amazing.....

the next morning though was the start to an amazing animal day....it started off with two lionesses in trees relaxing and getting ready to hunt.....this one, who is looking right at me....was incredible....she was just hangin in the tree....would look up and survey the area every now and again for what she could hunt and then go back to sleep....wild....they have had a lot of rain in the mara and the grass is super high....because of this, lions are hunting from trees.....

we actually watched this lioness climb the tree....i wish i had gotten my camera out sooner....just to shoot the muscles rippling down her back as she climbed....just incredible....this lioness was literally just next to the truck....we were told we are not seen as food by the lions....as we are in these trucks....so they are not afraid of us...but they also do not rely on us for anything....we are just things that are around them some times....this is why on safari you do not need to deal with windows and such....the lions are not interested in you!!!! 

my hope for this day was that a giraffe would be literally next to the truck so we could hang out....i got my wish.....this animal was so close we could have reached out and given it a pet....no...i did not do that....even though i really wanted to.....

this is me with the entrance sign for the park....for the side we were on...which is known as the triangle....we were told by the guides and other folks that this was the BEST place in the park to see all of the big five....and on this incredible day we saw all of them...we started the day off with lions....then saw elephants, cape buffalo and rhinos again and ended the day with a leopard....yes...a leopard....

oh yeah....the leopard was in a tree....no joke....this was taken with my phone, as my camera was having issues.....so this animal is literally hangin' out next to the jeep...but i didn't even have a chance to zoom....as we had to take the shot and fly out of the park as fast as possible....this leopard was literally our last picture of the day....but man, what a day it was....all of the big five, and then some....it was outstanding!!!!!

the next day we did an all day game drive....for all of the safari this was the jeep we used...and this was our guide...leshou...he is maasai and has been working for the company for 10 years.....he knew exactly where to go...it was incredible...and he knew all of the other guides and the park rangers...so really, he knew his stuff...and yes....i am in a long sleeved shirt....so i was lovin the weather, let me tell you...

 

so leshou asked us what we wanted to see....and of course we said cheetah....he said it was a goal to see one, but he was not sure if we would...and off we went.....well, as you can see from the shot above, he found a cheetah....and it was crazy...we were driving along and he just stops the truck....waits for a few seconds and then the next minute we are flying towards a tree...i had no idea what he saw....but when we got there...here he was....just chillin and watching the topi....we were the ONLY jeep hanging with this cheetah for about 15 minutes....we got him relaxin' and sitting up surveying the area for hunting and it was incredible....about 15 minutes after we first spotted him another jeep joined us and then we were flooded with people....once there were three jeeps...up he got and moseyed into the grass...not to be seen by everyone....sooooooooo lucky....

another animal we saw two versions of was the hyena...this was a lone hyena just relaxing in the grass....we didn't see more than one here...but there could have been more...it would lay down and then pop up and look around...and then lay down again...and pop up again....love the ears....

the other hyenas we saw were a bit more crazy....we actually crossed the border into tanzania....actually into the sergenti....but there was not border guard, so this was an easy thing to do....and as we were standing outside of the jeep looking around with herds of zebra a wildebeest around, leshou was scouting for other animals to see....because really, topi, zebra, impala, gazelle, wildebeest are really, really common....the next thing i know we are jumping in the jeep and flying across the serengeti....to who knows what....and then we came upon this scene...i hope you can see it better by enlarging the picture....but four hyenas had just taken down a topi....and this is RARE....hyenas usually get leftovers from lions or cheetah or leopard...they usually do not kill something on their own....but obviously the topi was all theirs....i could deal with them eating the topi...but the noise of them ripping it apart was gross....sorry, because you can probably now hear it as well....but it was incredible....the entire animal...hooves, horns, bones, meat, everything, was gone in ten minutes....and the birds of prey who showed up were crazy.....buzzards, eagles, hawks...simply amazing....i am headed back to tanzania at the beginning of march and i hope we get to see something like this.... 

this is the border between tanzania and kenya....and tanzania is my 75th country to visit....but i am not really counting it until i get the stamp in my passport...i know, picky, picky...but really...one must have rules for this trip of seeing the world.....one more continent to live on....many more countries to visit...but i will be in tanzania in less than a month....woot!!!!

once we got back into kenya we saw a bunch more beautiful birds...a pair of male lions...and this old elephant bull missing one tusk...man, did he stink...leshou told us he was looking for a mate and had sprayed himself to be "appealing"....not so appealing to the humans in the jeep...let me tell you....

as our final safari finished we headed back up to the camp and had sundowners looking over this view....simply stunning....this safari was not my first, but it has been my best thus far....we saw all of the big five - elephants, rhinos, cape buffalo, leopards and lions + giraffe, hippos, crocodiles, cheetah, hyena, cranes, egrets, herrons, zebra, wildebeest, topi, thompson gazelle, impala, mongoose (ricki-tiki-tavi) and a ton more birds i can't remember....it was incredible...and every animal i wanted to see we saw....what an experience....

i decided i needed to try on a maasai necklace....i liked it, but knew i would never wear it...they were beautiful, but a bit impractical...so i settled for a necklace....we did not go visit a maasai village...something to me just seems a bit forced and i am not really into that....i asked leshou a lot of questions and pretty much found out all of the information i needed....i also made a donation to a local maasai school...so it was an amazing trip....but of course one more thing had to happen.....

Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba  [Here comes a lion, Father]
Sithi uhm ingonyama           [Oh yes, it's a lion]


Ingonyama
Nants ingonyama bagithi baba
Sithi uhhmm ingonyama


Ingonyama nengw' enamabala    [A lion and a leopard come to this open place]
Siyo Nqoba                    [We're going to conquer]

Ingonyama



Opening lyrics to the Circle of Life from the Lion King at sunrise over the mara...oh.yes.i.did!!!!!  it was amazing to just sit back and watch.....and sing!!!!!

on our way back to nairobi we needed to stop and deal with a tire issue...and while that was being fixed, sandy and i wandered a bit to find a bathroom....all of the businesses and many of the houses looked like this....why the wild, wild west theme???? we have no idea....but the buildings certainly were cool....

and of course i had to take one last shot of a topi with an acacia tree.....the iconic safari park shot....and they really were everywhere.....the topi and the trees.....simply awesome!!!!

the last shot is one of a very happy person having her sundowner, looking over the maasai mara from the camp....in long sleeves and jeans and having seen all of the animals mentioned above...this really was a trip of a lifetime and i am sooooooooo glad it happened....what an experience....and i hope to have an incredible experience in tanzania at the serengeti and ngorongoro crater and zanzibar....keep those fingers crossed....big thanks to my friends sandy and jeff for organizing and letting me crash their two-some....what a trip.....

until the next update...i hope everyone is having a great winter/summer season and enjoying the time with friends and family.....i have four months left in ghana and plan on enjoying all of them here and wherever else i head on trips....more soon....thanks for reading!!!!