November 1-25 2005, East Africa

October 31 2005, 1820 Toronto - London - Nairobi
Susan and I depart YYZ for LHO and NBO. Arrive November 1, at 2100. Long flight, very tiring. A few hours to recharge at Heathrow, then we board the 8 hour flight to Nairobi. A GPS, it turns out, is not so useful inside an airplane- lots of metal, small windows: excellent faraday cage. We check the 'net in LHO, there's no availability at the Comfort Inn, we opt to wing it, go to a cheap hotel for the first night.

November 2, 2005 - Nairobi
Our First Day in Kenya is hectic and stressful - consumed by finding a hotel and booking a safari.
Ate lunch at the Thorn Tree Cafe (Stanley Hotel), supposedly a favourite of Hemmingway's. A quick visit convinced us that the Stanley would be worth the extra cost, but we find that the local rate is 220$ - they offer us 200. We go to the 680 Hotel, for which we've seen ~80$ prices. The 680 offers us a room at 5600Ksh (~73$US).
Walking from the Stanley to the 680, we're accosted by Elly, a "tout", who takes us to a couple travel agencies to look at safari prices. Elly's spiel is good, but he helps us out a lot. Passed himself off as some kind of government employee, but the reality is nothing like that. He gets paid a commision by the agency. Still, his advice is good, and it costs us nothing. We book a 4 day safari in Kenya (Masai Mara and Lake Nakuru) to connect to a shuttle to Arusha on the 6th.
Dinner (arranged by Elly) is at the Carnivore. An interesting experience - all you can eat meat. We're driven by Elly's cousin, for slightly less than a taxi would cost. (1000Ksh) He waits for us in the bar. Ostrich turns out to be the hit- similar to a very light steak.

November 3, 2005 Nairobi - Masai Mara

We Depart for the Masai Mara, on safari, led by our driver Jimmy, with chef Alex. We're joining Scott and Sarah, and Marie and Fred. Scott and Sarah are and american couple on their honeymoon - they went out for dinner on their first night in Nairobi and their room was burgled. Camera and video camera stolen along with credit cards and cash. Need to remember to send my photos.

Fuel Station sign reads: Super: 80Ksh/l; Regular: 75Ksh/l; Diesel: 65Ksh/l; Kerosene 55Ksh/l
Kerosene? I hope that's for cooking.
The pollution emitted by the ubiquitous Toyota Hiace people movers really puts the lie to the theory/hope that 30,000$ Prius-type vehicles weill do anything to directly impact the world's pollution/CO₂ problems. People will survive by whatever means are necessary and available. An old van in terrible state of repair is worth a fortune here. Even when no amount of spar parts, bailing twine or voodoo can keep it runing, the parts are priceless, even down to bald tires, wheels and a rear axle as the base for a donkey-drawn cart.

First game sighting: Thompson's gazelle, eating from a dwarf accacia, followed by a large male Grant's gazelle and a Zebra.
Began our Safari with an evening drive in Masai Mara. Saw elephants, lions, kopi, many thompson's and some impalas.

November 4 Masai Mara

Wake at 0430, Balloon safari at 0630 (sunrise) with Scott and Sarah. The morning is beautiful, we watch sunrise while the crew lay out and inflate the balloon. Once the balloon is inflated, we all climb in, and the pilot gives it a couple more shots. A chunk of burning solid butane drops down, hits Scott's head and my shoulder before landing somewhere inside the basket. The basket quickly starts to smoke, and we all pile out. luckily, only the foam seat is damaged, and after an exciting interlude, we all board up again and we're aloft!
We see a few animals (Cheetah, wildebeast, elephants, jackals) from the balloon, but mostly we get a novel perspective on the serengeti plain. We gently land an hour later, and eat a wonderful champagne breakfast on the serengeti.
We join the rest of the group, and drive through the rest of the morning and into the evening. (Reedbuck, Masai Giraffe, Eland, Cheetah mother with 4 kittens, warthogs, marabou stork, egyptian vulture, african fish eagle, secretary bird, ruppel's griffon vulture, dik-dik, spotted hyena, ostrich.)
We end the day with a tour of a masai village. It's fascinating and disturbing all at the same time. Such a rich culture, but I can't help but be repulsed by some of the customs and habits. Male circumcisions are performed at a post in the center of the village, with the boy seated in the cow dung. Female circumcisions are still mandatory, and our guide was obviously feeling a little defensive about it. Everything is made of cow dung, it seems. Typical meal items are beef, milk, goat, and cow and goat blood. Cows are bled daily, which can't be good for the cow!

November 5, 2005 - Masai Mara
Morning game drive, we depart the mara at 1100, for Lake Nakuru. Saw the cheetah mother and kits again, lioness and cub (eyeing a thompson's gazelle with kid), then a solitary male cheetah. It's a long, dusty, bumpy ride to Nakuru. How do the vehicles survive? (Peter, the balloon pilot, ex of Virgin, said that the balloon company has a fleet of 14 Land Rovers and 4 full time mechanics to keep ~6 in working order.) Our vehicle (a Hiace) doesn't survive the Mara unscathed: yesterday we lose a rear suspension bolt, and Jimmy is forced to re-attach the arm with a seat bolt. Today, we rushed to the aid of a Hiace which had lost an alternator. Apparenly, the standard distress signal is a client (pronounced "clown"), standing on the roof, waving a red flag.
Susan, Mary and Fred leave us for Nairobi. Fred and Mary return to Ryahd (where they live) in two days, and susan has grown a little tired of the budget safari. Truth be told, so have I. The safari consists of long hours spent driving on highways that are more like 4x4 trails, followed by a couple hours of 4x4ing in a mini-van clearly not built for the task. Mind you, I love the game drives, and would be happy to spend my whole 3.5 weeks doing this.
Our tentative plan in tanzania is to take a luxury safar, at around twice the price. It'll be worth it if that only means a clean room with running water.
Sunrise is at 0630, sunset around 1830. I've been waking around 0500 here, 8 hours time difference means that my afternoon nap ends around early morning local time. Sunrise is the best time to see game, especially predators, moving on the serengeti. From 0900 onwards, things start to warm up quickly, and the only things moving are safari vans and land rovers.
We plan a game drive in lake Nakuru tomorrow, at 0630, then we'll have breakfast and I'll retrace my dusty trail back to Nairobi. Hopefully in time to catch the 1400 shuttle to Arusha. Susan's early return to Nairobi will mean that she can book a lodge for our stay.
Seen today: Mongoose, tiny vervet monkeys, being chased away from a nest by a small bird, savanna baboon, savanna hare, Masai Ostrich, guinea fowl.

November 6, 2005 Nakuru - Nairobi
Morning game drive in Nakuru, searching in vain for the elusive leopard. They rest in trees, with tails hanging down, often the only give-away, or so I'm told. We did see white rhinoceros, which have been re-introduced to Nakuru, and Rothschild giraffes and a long-crested eagle.
The small car to Nairobi is over an hour late. The driver makes good time on the harsh road, weaving through the maze of potholes on the highway and shoulder. Only bottomed the suspension twice! Made it back to Nairobi at 1330, only 2 hours. I wait until 1500 at the 680 hotel, only to discover that Susan has left 2 messages for me, to inform me that plans have changed - We're not going to Arusha today. Susan didn't expect me to arrive in time, so she checked into the 680 for 2500ksh (single). It was 5600ksh for a double 3 days ago - the lacke of defined pricing here amazes me.
Had dinner at a wonderful italian place called Trattoria. Susan has made a lot of friends in a day.

November 7, 2005 - Nairobi
Breakfast at Trattoria, we decide to stay in Nairobi until 0800 09/11/05. I spend the day wandering Nairobi, getting more familiar with the city. Book the kilimanjaro climb with zara travel for 15/11/05. I think I'll fly from Arusha to Zanzibar on the 21st. Lunched at the Nairobi Java House (.com).

November 8, 2005 - Nairobi
The David Sheldrick Trust is a foundation set up by the wife of a naturalist famous for his work at Tsavo and Nairobi National Parks. The trust cares for orphaned rhinos and elephants until they are old and healthy enough to be released.
They do really good work here - are careful not to allows any elephants to get too attached to any one handler, as the elephant would mbe very upset to be separated from someone considered family.
I spend the rest of the day in bed, as my stomach has been upset by somethign.. water?

November 9, 2005 Nairobi - Arusha
Depart 680 at 0730, arrive in Arusha at 1300. Long, bumpy, dusty, hot: the typical east african road trip.
Arusha is, as Harshi put it, a hole. There's a bit of a downtown, some roundabouts, but most roads are dirt, and "tout" is, I think, a swahili word for flea.
Visited a couple tour operators, settled on Bobby tours. We'll be joining a 4 day tour tomorrow with a swedish couple (Dag and Ida), and an american travelling the world alone (Jason). They'll be camping, we've sprung for the luxury lodges. (550USD) Ran into a lovely couple from Mississippi who had just returned from a 10 day trip: he's a biologist, they're birders. They saw 150 species of birds!

November 10, 2005 Arusha - Lake Manyara
We met our new travel-mates today: Jason's travelling 'round the world for a year, and wants to hit Antartica before heading back to the states, Dag and Ida just finished the Machame route with Zara Travel. They paid too much, but had good reports otherwise.
Our driver is Sultan, and he seems a bit miffed at having to drop Susan and I at lodges. We set off in a land Cruiser for lake Manyara NP. Tanzanian roads seem to be in much better shape than kenyan roads.
L. Manayara isn't much different from Lake Nakuru, in terms of fauna and flora. More vegetation, fewere animal sightings: Blue monkeys, banded mongoose, lots of elephants.
The Wildlife Lodge at Manyara is very nice, but they don't have our voucher. I have to leave a security deposit on my credit card so we can stay. We find out in the morning that Bobby's booked the room for the 11th, not the 10th.

November 11, 2005 Lake Manyara - Serengeti
Rose early and shot some photos of scenery and flowers in the light of sunrise. We set of at 1000hrs on a very long drive to the serengeti, around Ngorongoro Crater and through Olduvai Gorge. The crater is stunning, and Olduvai looks to be fascinating; too bad we don't even slow down.
The scenery here, leading into the serengeti (which I'm told is swahili for 'great plains'), is beautiful, varied, and makes the drive bearable. The road from Manyara to Ngorongoro is new, paved, and smooth. From the gates onward, the road gets bad. Very bad. Sultan is really pushing it at 50km/h in the Land Cruiser, for about 4 hours.
Other than ostrich, and the occaisional groups of thompson's gazelles, there isn't a lot to see for long stretches in the Serengeti.
The vegetation ranges from very low grasslands, flat as far as the horizon, but broken by the very occaisional hill or rocky outcrop, to almost tropical forests surrounding surrounding waterholes and the courses of wet-season waterways.
The game-viewing highlight comes in the afternoon, inside Serengeti NP, where we come upon a half dozen vehicles watching a solo cheetah stalking a small herd of thompson's. The cheetah is very patient, but the wind is blowing towards the herd, and the crowd of landcruisers might just have spooked them a bit.
Eventually, he creeps to within 60m and gives a half-hearted chase. The gazelles see him as soon as he takes a step, and he doesn't even try to run. He just lopes at them, scattering the herd.
Later, we come upon a group who think they're watching a leopard, but my photos show nothing. Game drivers in Tanzania are fined 100USD for leaving the trail, something that Jimmy, our kenyan driver did all the time. I'm preparing to be disappointed in our tanzanian safari.
Also, Sultan is just not a good guide. He's surly, unfriendly, taciturn... the only time I've seen him chatty was when he was telling the other drivers where he thought the leopard was. In Swahili. He didn't say a thing t ous until minutes later, when I asked him. Actually, I had to ask the cook.

November 12, 2005 Serengeti - Ngorongoro Crater
We didn't get our morning wake-up call at 0545 - slept 'till 0630, rushed to get out, and drove 50 minutes to the campsite, to pick up Dag, Ida and Jason.
Our morning game drive was much beter than the previous 2 days, there's so much more to see when it is still cool out. We found 4 lions early on, walking not far from the road. Also saw a pair of adult cheetahs on a kill from a distance, and a herd of over a dozen Masai Giraffes.
The drive culminated in an actual Leopard sighting. Perched in the fork of a tree, watching the road from about 150m was a beautiful adult leopard. Still very difficult to spot, but very satisfying.