Sunday, July 19, 2009

UGANDA
























































UGANDA.
9th July, 2009
Happy birthday, Tom, thought lots about you, especially as we had seen the Gorillas yesterday. Would be really nice to share a bottle of wine and share our Gorilla experiences.
Left for Uganda today. Through the border at Cyanika. Quite relaxed border, except we had to wait for the computer, which was off line, to be able to pay for our toll road fees. We headed for the Mgahinga National Park which is at the base of the Ugandan side of the Virungu Mountains.
The Virungu Mountains are a chain of 8 freestanding volcanic cones strung long a fault line associated with the same geological process that formed the Rift Valley. They straddle the borders of Uganda, Rwanda and the DRC and are all more than 3000 mt in height..
The Three peaks on the Ugandan side are, 1. Muhovra 4127mt; 2.Gahinga 3474mts; and 3.Sabinyo 3634mts; the direct translations for these are, 1 “The Guide” Its perfect cone topped by a small crater lake that stilled glowed until the 19th century. 2.”A small pile of stones” – a name that becomes clear when you see local people still today gathering stones and putting them into heaps of rocks to tidy their fields. 3.”Old mans teeth,” which refers to the jagged rim of what is the most ancient of the 8 volcanoes in the Vicuña’s. The views are absolutely stunning dominated by the steep volcanic cones of the mountains.
It was so cold, that Wolf “ wheeled and dealed” with the owner and took a “banda” instead of camping. Quite Good Price, R120.00 per night. Obviously only a room with a “bathroom” at the back. But we did not have to share with anyone. Hot water supplied in the afternoon for your shower, and long drop toilets with a seat.
10th July.
Golden Monkey Tracking.
A golden monkey has a bright orange gold body and cheeks, with black limbs and tail. Years ago, they were common in both Rwanda and Uganda. After the genocide and the Gishwani Forest being chopped down the golden monkey was left with only a small population. Today between Uganda and Rwanda the population is estimated to be about 3000 to 4000. They are mainly found in the cane at the top of the forest. After a good 8 km, very disappointed, we had to give up. But one thing the wild is not, is a zoo and that’s why we are where we are today and being able to track them in the wild is how we want to see them. That’s nature and that’s where we want to be. However we had a super guide, Kenneth (could not forget his name) and while waiting at times for the trackers in front we did quite a bit of bird watching. The best for me was the Rwenzori Turaco. We saw 22 other species of which 5 were endemic to the region and 4 new to me.
On return to the campsite, we arranged a local rice and vegetable dinner in the “restaurant.” We had dinner with an German guy from Aachen who was doing Uganda and Rwanda on a bicycle. He had his bike flown out in a crate and arriving in Kampala headed out for the mountains, the chimps and the Gorilla’s in Rwanda.
We left the next day and travelled via Kisora and Kabale to Mbarara. Both Rwanda and Uganda are built on 1000 hills. This trip makes you realise just how hilly the countryside is. But with all these hills, virtually every steep slope is cultivated by the locals with tea, maize, potatoes, bananas, forestry and vegetables. The hills look like huge patch work quilts. Each crop in huge squares, so meticulously tidy. The tea plantations are magnificent.
Here we stayed at Fort Caleb Rest house, which was originally built for a family retreat for the daughter of the Prime Minister. (It had a real bath and hot water) I had a hot bath both evening and morning. A big smile for me.
The next day, Sunday, the 12th we left for Queen Elizabeth National Park. We chose to camp outside of the main camp area, overlooking the channel, which links Lake Edward and Lake George. From our campsite over the channel, we had beautiful views of dozens of Elephants ad hundreds of Buffalo, all bathing in the channel. The only disadvantage is there is no shower at the camp site, but that wasn’t a problem for me, Wolf heated the Solar Shower and I had a really warm shower. We had the site completely to ourselves and really enjoyed the silence.
On Monday morning, we left at 6am, as the entrance to the tracking of the chimps was about 52km at the other end of the park. We were treated to a lovely sight of 5 hyenas playing just next to the road. We never realised we would see so few hyenas in the wild, after having them at the bungalow for so many years, every night.
We started our track at 8am, all kitted out in long pants, socks pulled up over the pants, long sleeves, all to protect you from Mozzies, Safari Ants, etc.
Within 10 minutes of descending into the Kyambura Gorge, (the gorge is 16km long and about 100mts deep) we heard the chimps calling, unfortunately even moving quite quickly after our guide, by the time we got to where the sound had come from we seemed to have missed them. A further 9km later walking sometimes around in circles, we had to give up. Very disappointed with our second tracking. But again, it is in the wild and we weren’t about to give up.
In the afternoon we had a “boat game drive” on the channel. Again plenty of Elephant, Buffalo, Hippo, Crocodiles and Defassa Waterbuck (does not have the circle on the bum, just a rather large patch of white and has more loose hair on the face, also a lot darker than ours at home) Of coarse, as we motored along the shoreline we saw lots of birds. The last bit before we turned around back to camp, we were treated to a wonderful sight of dozens of both Pelican Species, and too many water birds to mention.
That night we went to bed, with the sounds of Lions, Elephants and hippos.
While enjoying a super braai, with an “Andreas & Wolfgang” Fire we even had banded Mongoose darting in and out.. Being so close to the Equator, the sun only goes down after 7pm, so fire and meal is started in the light. Unfortunately, the sun also comes up later in the morning, so getting up early not so wonderful.
Did a quiet but lovely game drive out of the park the next morning, seeing lots of Elephant and Uganda Cob.
Our trip up to Kibale Forest took us through Fort Portal; here we camped at Ambere Caves, which is in a lovely hilly area dotted with crater lakes. After pitching our tent in a lovely garden, green grass and trees, we went on a short hike, with Wilson the owner/manager of the camp. The full name of the caves is Amabere ga Nyinamwiru which means “Breasts of Nyinamwiru. This refers to the live stalactite formation supposedly shaped like a pair of breasts. One set are actually more reminiscent of deformed cow udders, especially that there are 8. The local guides story and the story in the guide book definitely is not the same. The main cave quite small is very pretty, supported by several pillars formed where stalactites and stalagmites have met in the middle. Local tradition says that anybody who touches these formations will get lost in the caves or be visited by misfortune. A lovely, quite powerful waterfall lies next to the main cave. One can stand on the moss covered rocks behind the water fall and see the ice cold water plunge down right in from of you. The forest around is home to mounds of birds and a few Black and White Colobus Monkeys.
The next morning, while we packed up, we had a super sighting of a Ross turaco.
Leaving on the 15th we left for Kimbali Forest to have another go at Chimp Tracking. Stopping at Kanyanchu, (where the tracking of the chimps are done from) we were told that there was only a space for the afternoon tracking and nothing else for another week. (It was like the repeat of the Gorilla’s) Well again, when you have to move you move, within an hour we had found a super, super camp, “Chimps Nest “ dropped off the trailer, changed into the “Chimp Tracking clothes,” again, and got back in time for our briefing.
This time, luck prevailed, we were no more than 1km into to the forest, when we saw one lone Chimp, quite high up in the trees. Spending about five minutes with him, our guide felt we should move on. Again after a 90min walk and no chimps, we were all feeling a little disappointed, but within moments, there our guide was rushing us through the forest and there we were, again awed by these creatures. (they say, Chimps, share more than 98% of their genes with humans) Unlike other primates they don’t live in troops, but in extended communities of up to 100. Most of male chimps spend most of their lives within the community that they were born into, where females are likely to migrate into neighbouring communities after reaching adolescence. A highly ranking male will attempt to monopolise a female in oestrus. A young female in oestrus will generally mate with any male that takes her fancy, while older females tend to form closer bonds with a few specific males but never pairing off exclusively in the long term.(And they say they 98% the same as humans!!!!!!) Men don’t you say anything.
Before 1960 it was always assumed that Chimps were vegetarians but after Jane Goodall witnessed them hunting down red colobus money, it has been discovered to be common behaviour particularly during the dry season where food sources are depleted. Apparently because we are taller than the chimps they perceive us as more powerful and that is why they do not challenge us, note that a big male can pick up 4 times his body weight. A male can weigh up to 55kilos.
This is also the reason why no children under 12 are allowed to track the chimps.
We first had only 4 males, but soon another 10, which included two babies, joined them. Mostly they spent their time quite high up in the trees, feeding off fig fruits, sometimes more fruit being thrown down, than what they ate. A few times you, not only had to dodge the fruits but also the “rain” while they decided to relieve themselves. We were allowed to spend 1 hour with them, watching them play and climb up and down. Chimps having no tails, (only a stump) can’t jump from trees, but they jump down from branch to branch, this makes photographs quite tricky, thank heaven for digital cameras, lots of deleting to follow. Andreas, in the old days, this would have been a very costly exercise for those clicking fingers. Again the hour went by so quickly and like the feeling of exhilaration of seeing the Gorillas, we felt so lucky and privileged to be able once again to be with Africa’s special primates. On our way out of the forest, we managed glimpses of the Black and White Colobus and the red tailed monkey.
Back at our Campsite, one not in our Bradt Book or mentioned on tracks for Africa, we found to be one of the best. A super hot and clean shower owned and run by a Dutch couple whose motto is hygiene, silence, comfort and quality the most important. It is not fenced and on the border of the Forest. They have about 8 different species of monkeys, (none of which visit your campsite) forest elephants and quite a few night mammals like Potto, genet, and serval. While we were there we met Tarsi and Filistea, both South Africans. Tersia is a doctor who lives in Pretoria and practices in Midrand, and her sister who has recently relocated to Kampala with her husband. We soon found we had lots in common, had visited lots of the same places. Both of us had done all the same places in Namibia last year. We found that we had booked the same trip for the next morning to the Bigodi Swamp walk with numerous birds and monkeys. Both very adventurous had left Kampala by bus to Fort Portal, caught boda-bodas, (a motor cycle with seat on the back) and then a taxi to get to the main road of where we camped then a walk of about 2km to the resort. Filistea much younger than us and Tersia not so much, I must say that we were both in awe of what they accomplish together. I know neither Wolf nor I would like to do without each others strengths.

We did the Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary guided walk together, about a walk of about 6.5km for the full trip. It is a small sanctuary, which protects the Magombe Swamp. Our guide Alex did us proud, we saw at least 37 different species of birds, of which 13 were endemic or only from East Africa. I will list all birds of Uganda at the end of the trip. The monkeys we saw were the Western Red Colobus (different from the one we saw in Zanzibar), the Black and White Colobus, the Grey Cheeked Mangabey, and the Red Tailed Monkey. The best of the day was the Great Blue Turaco and both Male and Female Black and White Casqued Hornbill.
We were actually sorry to leave such a lovely campsite and beautiful area. But Kampala is calling, we need to get Ethiopian Visa’s, have the car serviced and check on our shipping arrangements for Djibouti. We also need to stay on track as we need to be in Kenya for the beginning of August, so as to plan Heather & Nicks visit. I can’t believe in a month, Heather and Nick you will be with us, we can’t wait.
Saturday, 18th July, We left Kibale Forest, via Fort Portal for Kampala, giving Tersia and Filistea a lift and having company with them who knew Kampala and could help direct us to a campsite.
There is no description of the “traffic” in Kampala, Wolf’s description is, this is not traffic it’s just “Chaos”. Everybody for his own, there is only one way here, you just go. We have been told that the American Embassy did a survey on the worst traffic in the world and Uganda has been rated 2nd worst.
KAMPALA- 18th July – 22nd July
We found a really busy but very good value and facilities at Red Chilli in Kampala. Pitched our tent, they have a very slow internet connection but its there and free of charge.
Just chilled with a beer and had a meal in their restaurant.
Sunday, we found a church, with 6 masses on Sunday, including 3 English ones. Dawn was really happy. Found Shoprite and Game in one centre and another shopping mall with good imported goods and even a “Butchers Grill”. Lots of imported meat, at more than imported prices. We had a drive around Kampala to see where the Ethiopian Consulate was so the next morning we would not get lost in the “chaos” Found an agent for Mitsubishi and Monday we were there at 7.30am when they opened, managed to get the car in for service and then a lift to the Ethiopian Embassy. Surprise and exaltations, arriving at 8.30 when they opened we were out at 10.00am with visa’s all sorted. We messed around the centre and organized with Tersia and Filistea to go to Jinja on Tuesday and White River Raft down the Nile.
Picked up our vehicle, of coarse got a shock at the cost, but all in all I suppose 14000 km from SA our well hard worked vehicle deserved a service. Got the website updated with our photos. I wish our friends at home could be with us to share the wonderful experiences we have had. No words and even photo’s can tell you how much fun and wonderful experiences we have had.
We were collected by “Adrift Adventures” for our trip to Jinja, about 90min drive in the horrific traffic.
Arriving they rush you through a quick briefing, kit you up quick, life-jackets and helmets.
It starts off at Bujagali Falls and finishes about 30km down the Nile. The rapids are graded in 1-6. On our trip we had a 2, a 3, four 4’s and four 5’s. Well the first they call “a face wash” and that it was, it wakes you up and you get ready for the rest. They give you instruction if the raft tips over, or you fall out. The safety kayaks are waiting to collect you if you come adrift. Those guys in the Kayaks are something else, they can come down a rapid, flip over and do a full circle under water coming up with no problem. They name the rapids, like, Big Brother, Overtime, Ribcage, Surf City, Silverback etc.
We were nine in our raft, Tersia, Filistea, Wolf, Dawn and a young couple from America, James and Electra, and a Dutch guy, Patrick. Well soon not knowing anyone, you become quick friends with lots of laughs. The first to fall out the raft was Tersia on a number 5. A few rapids later out went Patrick. Our raft never went over once, we did a total vertical number twice but the raft never flipped. (Probably all my prayers.) But this was the most exhilarating experience one could do. Half way down we stopped at a small island and given a super buffet style lunch, cold meat, salads, fruit, and drinks. The after lunch rapids are more spread out, so lots of paddling, swimming from time to time, laughs are the order of the afternoon. Not too say the last rapids are two 4’s and two 5’s. There was a second raft behind us, they flipped once and also came down the wrong rapid and went over a small waterfall. It was wonderful to watch
At one point we were out watching our safety guys in their “kayaks” going over a “6”. I think our entire group were ready to redo the trip again the next day.
On completion, they had a “braai” of sosatie sticks of meat or veg and a “roti” bread with beer or coldrinks, before taking us back to Kampala. A trip none of us will forget, hopefully Wolf will be able to capture some of the photos which were taken on the website.
Wednesday, we collected our videos, met Tersia and Filistea to exchange photos and the video and got ready for departure to Murchison Falls.
23rd to 26th July.
Flanking the Victoria Nile some 300km northwest of Kampala, Murchison Falls National Park is the largest protected area in Uganda. The waterfall is one of e most electrifying sights in East Africa.
We spent one night just outside the entrance to the park in a community camp run by the Bomu Women’s group. We stayed in a “banda” the thatch roof is so low that you have to duck to get through the door. But it was clean and different. The shower is an enclosed area and you get a drum of water, which you hitch up onto the “wall” and open the lid when you are ready to rinse. The toilet is a long drop, a bit different from any we have seen. There is two sections to it, one part is like the normal drop (poo) and in front there is a small “pee hole”. The sign on the wall, (hey guys this is genuine) “Don’t Shit in the Pee Hole Please”
On arrival at the falls, we set up camp at the sister camp of Red Chilly, (from Kampala) really quickly and organized out trip down the Nile to the base of the Falls.
The trip was about 3 and half hours. The surprise was a quick view of a leopard on its way for a drink at the river. We also saw the Jackson’s Hartebeest (supposed to be very “doff” his memory is so bad he forgets when the lion is chasing him) We also saw lots of Hippo, and quite a few birds, the unusual, being Red throated Bee Eater; Spur winged Lap Wing, and the Rock Pratnicole.
The Falls are 43mts high and the water is forced through a 7mt cleft in the rocks which makes the sheer power of the water an amazing sight.
We had a super potjie for supper and really enjoyed being in the quiet of a park again. Like our Hyenas in camp at Ingwelala, they have Warthogs, who even can smell food in your tent and have no problem to eat their way in.
The best game drive is in the Nile Delta. For this you need to go over the Nile River on a ferry, which leaves from 7am on the hour. It only takes 8 vehicles, so early in the queue is a definite and even that is not enough, you need to push and shove to get on. Wolf’s push and shove got us on the early ferry, we had a super game drive, lions (trying very hard to catch a buffalo) Bushbuck, lots of “Doff” Jackson’s Hartebeest, hundreds of Oribi, Uganda Kob, herds of Giraffe (Rothschild’s) sometimes 50 in one time, Defassa Waterbuck, Buffalo, a nice herd of Elephant with 3 babies, and some Patas Monkeys.
Birds we had not seen before were, Denham’s Bustard, Western Marsh Harrier, a Blue Headed Coucal, Northern Carmine Bee-eater, Vieillots Black Weaver, Northern Red Bishop and a pair of Abyssinian Ground Hornbill.
After our game drive we went back over the ferry, this takes a bit of time, we had to drive about 25km south of the camp and saw the top of the falls. Here only can you really appreciate the staggering power with which the Nile crashes through this narrow gap in the escarpment, not to mention the deafening roar and the voluminous spray.
The route out the next morning we had a quick glimpse of a bush pig and a couple of forest duikersand another pair of Abyssinian Hornbills. All in all about 40 species of birds.
Our trip back to Kampala went a lot quicker and we managed to get to Church (Sunday). Church for me in Africa, especially Uganda is just so intense and moving. Even Wolf who stood outside for some of the mass on Sunday evening remarked how much he enjoyed the singing. You can hear their voices for at least two blocks away. In Rwanda I went to a weekday mass (6.15am) and there were about 150 people in church.
One of Uganda’s staple food, is a Green Banana’s they are called Matoke, and when they are green they are cooked like a potato, any way you want, you can make chips, mash, boil, fried and we even made “potato pancakes” twice. They really taste just like potatoes. You have to buy them in ”BULK”, see the photo on the website. When they started to ripen, we had fried bananas and banana fritters.
We left very early for our trip out of Uganda, going through Jinja to the border at Mbale. I am getting too exited for Kenya, Heather and Nick arrive in 16days time and we have lots to organize. A very easy border to cross and soon we were in Kenya.
Some Stats just for the record, we have been on our trip for 102 days, done just over 16000km set up the tent 36 times, and slept in other accommodation 20times. We can put up camp now in about 15min and if we are organized can pack up in the morning, with the bathroom run and coffee in 40minutes. Rwanda and Uganda blew the budget a bit because we did so much tracking and the parks are expensive but all in all it was worth every penny. Personally I think Uganda was the best since leaving home and we certainly could have spent more time in the country. The Highlights have to have been the Gorillas and the water rafting down the Nile a close second. We actually did not have a lowlight to speak of but the road to and from the parks are really poor, so maybe this would be the worst of the trip.







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Thursday, July 9, 2009

RWANDA








RWANDA.
4thJuly to 9th July

We left Mvanza at 8am hoping to sleep just before the border to Rwanda, unfortunately we found no where, wait I lie, Wolf found a place and went in to see what it was like, came out reported to his wife, (Muslim toilet and a grin on his face) enough for me, “please lets go on”. Well we then had to go through the border. What a wonderful relaxed and welcome border. “How long do you want to stay” we welcome you for as long as you want. No visa fees for either of us, no toll fees. The only border we have ever crossed with no costs.
While at the border, on the Tanzania side (and we were lucky where we parked, Wolf was a bit worried about blocking a truck in, so he reversed as far back so as not to block a truck that might have had to leave before us). While we were in the immigration office we heard yelling and screaming and a truck crashing through the barrier, (Rwanda is built on one thousand hills, including the border post on the Tanzania side) a truck lost his breaks and careered down the slope and turned over before going onto bridge which would have been even worse. By the time we got through customs and left the border a petrol tanker was trying to pull the truck over to get the driver who was trapped out.’
You just ask yourself how lucky and blessed you are, five minutes either way, we could have been in the car, or worst, Wolf reversing the car.
Rwanda has no camping, so we ended up in a small village 90km before Kigale, and stayed at a guest house, Sunrise Guest House. Not too bad, as least it had a normal toilet and sort of hot water. Dinner was of coarse, very, very fresh chicken with very long wings and legs. Not sure if it was a runner or a flier!!!!!!!!!!
We left the next morning for Kigale, if you don’t have a map and then even if you do have one, this city is unbelievable to try and understand. Two hours after arriving in the city we had managed to find a book shop, buy a proper Bradt book with proper maps, find a place to stay. Had a Chinese Lunch and then went up to the Genocide Memorial/Museum. This tries to give you an insight on how in three months 1 million men, women and children were slaughtered. I say only an insight because no matter how one thinks, it is impossible to understand it fully. Actually both of us decided short of a short account of where we visited and what we saw, we would not be putting anything on the website. It is far too emotional and impossible to describe. We visited the memorial which is very well laid out, one section – he build up to and the actual account of the million people killed, the second where accounts from survivors are on tape, write ups and pictures of some of the children killed and also a section where genocides happened all over the world. Outside there are mass graves and a rose garden has been planted around. You come away emotionally drained and hope and pray that in our world today this will never happen again. We also visited the church in Kibuye where 4000 women and children were killed while trying to hide. The town of Kibuye is on Lake Kivu which runs for almost 100km along the Congo border. It has a surface area of 2200 square km. It is among the 20 deepest lakes in the world, with a maximum dept of 480m.
On route to the Volcanoes National Park, we took a road of about 94 km through the hills, (Rwanda the country of 1000 hills) winding up and down, altitudes changing from 1500 to 2200m. The road is really all volcanic rock, so for Wolf it was dreadful, for his wife, it was wonderful, no speed more than 20km. You had time to see the beautiful scenery and everywhere you looked into the hills, there were areas of crops, bananas and tea. The tea plantations are immaculately kept.
We had enquired in Kibal about seeing the Gorillas here and were told that it was fully booked for the following two weeks, we were very disappointed but decided to try anyway. Spent a night in Musanze (formerly Ruhengeri) at a catholic mission who allows campers. Went to early morning mass (6.15am) and then left to try and wait it out at the Volcanoes National Park where the tracking of Gorillas are. We arrived as all the vehicles for the day were leaving, they have 5 habituated troops and only allow 8 people in each group per day. Well all we were about to do is be close to their offices and ensure in the next few days, if there was a cancellation we would be there to take it up. What a surprise when one of the vehicles being held up because of three non arrivals, a quick do you have cash to pay, and can you leave immediately. You have never seen people change as quickly, within minutes we were on our way.
After a walk of 6km into the forest, (mainly uphill) the nettles (they sting like crazy) we reached them at an altitude of about 2800m. (must tell my gym friends, I really managed well, could not have done it a year ago) Just for encouragement you get a “porter”. For a small fee, the ex poachers are now employed as porters, they carry your photo equipment if you need a pull or a push they do that too. (a bit of cheating on the side) You do have to climb over trees, rocks etc. They have a soldier in front and one at the back. It is for protection from wild animals, (we never saw any) You also have a tracker, a guide and a guy who slashes the way through the nettles etc. Our guide was Oliver and tracker were really good.
Nothing can prepare you for the impact of encountering these beautiful creatures. Our group consisted of 2 silverbacks (between 200-220 kg) 1 black backed, 3 females, 2 juveniles and 2 babies, one which was only 3 months old. They were remarkably peaceable and tolerant of our presence. We felt privileged to spend an hour (that’s all you get watching them as they go about their daily routine, feeding, playing, and sleeping. This forest was where Dian Fossey lived for l8 years. The gorilla’s habitat in the mountainous north is the string of magnificent Virunga peaks that range from 2500 to 4500 mts. There are 6 volcanoes in the mountains.
Well we will be posting some pictures on the web to share with you, but no pictures can do justice to how we felt in the hour we spent up there.
The highlights and lowlights of Rwanda, easy to recognize, but both, Gorillas and the Genocide Memorials being very deep and emotional feelings.

The new government are determined that there are no more Hutus, Tutsis or Twa, just Rwandans and what we found in Rwanda is a very clean country with many people who just wanted to chat with us.For me, I will always remember Rwanda as one of the highlights of our trip

Friday, July 3, 2009

TANZANIA 2
















































TANZANIA 2
19th-23rd June.

After our trip to Zanzibar, we left and went up north about 70km to a Village called Bagamoya, again a village from around about the 1800’s. Being on the sea it was also related to the slave trade years. Very much a small place of old buildings like “Stone Town”. The now fish market was originally the slave market. There is a very impressive 2 storey building “German Boma” which is now being restored; an old fort built by an Arab trader in 1860 as a stone prison with a subterranean passage which leads to a landing point where the slaves were herded into dhows on the shore. Since then the Germans used it as a garrison and later it was used as a police post. Today it is the department of Antiquities. In the same grounds there is a plaque “Hanging Tree: it was here the Germans hung Africans who were considered insufficiently sympathetic to their rule, (nothing changed much!!!!!!!) About 5km out of town we visited the “Koole Ruins”. The main ruin is of a large Mosque, the stairs to the pray room still partly intact; 22 graves including four tall pillar tomb stones of about 7 m high. According to the guide, the higher the tomb stone the more important the person was. A well, which still holds fresh water, is next to a footbath. The mosque is said to be consistent from the 7th century.
We also visited the “Holy Ghost Mission” built in 1872. One of the oldest churches on the east African Mainland. A newer church was constructed before World War 1 and is really very simple but beautiful. I went to mass there on Sunday (in Swahili) before leaving for Arusha.
On our way up to Arusha, we stayed over at Moshi, the town at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro, hoping to get the at least a photo of a sunrise or sunset with the famous mountain, but we weren’t in luck. Neither afternoon nor morning gave us a clear view. Apparently at this time of the year it usually is clouded over. Reminds you a little of “Gods Window”
Spent one night (enough for anyone) in Arusha, filling up with the necessary stocks. Managed to get brandy KWV 3year old, (cheaper than Klippie-R120) for R85.00. Diesel is cheaper outside of the city but not too bad at an average of R8.40 per lt. If you are in a party of 6 then using a tour operator into the parks works out cheaper but us being only two this did not pan out and we decided to do the parks on our own.
24th -26th June.
Tarangire National Park.
We left early and managed to get into the park by 11.30. All park entrance fees are worked on a 24hour basis. If you get in by 11.30 then you must be out the next day at 11.30. Costs for this park were US$35 each, the car US$40 and camping in the public campsite, US$30 each. So each day cost us US$170. The private camp sites which have no facilities at all are US$50 each. We decided to save a bit and went to the public campsite; you do get cold water showers and clean toilets. Anyway, we made the most of our time there. Out on a drive until 6pm and getting up and out by 6.30am in the morning. (Robyn that’s when you asked me why we were up so early in your sms) At this rate you see as much as you can. We certainly did that, our first drive yielded thousands of Zebras, Wildebeest, hundreds of Elephants, lots of Giraffe (Massai- they are really dark), impala and lots of Thompson’s Gazelle’s The unusual was a Kirks Dik Dik. In smaller numbers, buffalo, Kongoni (type of Hartebeest, similar to the red but lighter in colour, warthog and Defassa Water buck. Birds of prey – unbelievable. The marabou storks almost in every tree in and around the water. The bird life was tremendous, birds seen here that were not familiar at home, were the Superb Starling; Ashey Starling; Yellow Necked Spurfouwl; Barefaced Go away Bird, the Tanzanian Red Billed Hornbill, Magpie Long Tailed Shrike, and a White faced buffalo weaver.

In general this park is more densely vegetated than Serengeti and a mix of acacia and mixed woodland. Baobab trees abundant throughout the park. They say that you can see 500 elephant in a day and honestly I think we did. Much to Dawn’s delight!!!! They have an unusual antelope, a Gerenuk but no matter how hard we tried we weren’t in any luck to get a glimpse of it.
Altogether a super park, I would not have missed it.

26th & 27th June.
On our way to the next park, we visited the Massinga Snake Park, where a couple who had left Durban (Pinetown) about 17 years ago and built up a camp site, restaurant and bar and the snake park. Lynn and Barry, were really super and helped us plan the next few days. When the arrived (20km outside of Arusha) there was actually nothing, just sand and sand. We left them and stayed outside of Lake Manyara Park at a small village called Mto wa Mbu.. Took a day drive into the park, arrived at the gate at 6.10am to be told unfortunately the office staff had not arrived. Had to wait until 6.45am for them to arrive. (So don’t think SA is so bad) They were not really perturbed it was a Saturday and that seems to mean the start of the weekend and they can be late. The shop at the gate did not even open, it should have been open from 8am until 5pm.
This national park is about 330 square kilometres but about two thirds of this is made up of water. The land is made up of a grassy floodplain, a belt of thick acacia woodland and a lush and extensive patch of groundwater forest. On entering, you go through the forest, where we saw, the blue monkey (which looks black with a very long tail and very shy) a Silvery-cheeked Hornbill, (check your books, very different to any of our hornbills) and the Olive Baboon. (A little different in face features.) In the rest of the forest we had lots and lots of butterflies and quite a few very shy bushbucks.
We then went onto see herds and herds of Wildebeest, Zebra and lots of elephants (very big tuskers). The unusual was the Kirk’s Dik Dik. Lake Manyara is famous for its tree climbing lions; unfortunately we did not see any. Our highlight was Flamingos. We travelled along side shoreline for 3km+ and we were treated to the most magnificent sight of Flamingo’s, meters deep, as far as the eye could see. At one waterhole, we had dozens of huge pelicans; at least 20 of the common water birds, Zebras, Wildebeest, Hippos. Birds of a difference in the park were again the Bare-faced Go-away birds, the Superb starling, the Ashey Starling. Altogether we identified about 30 different birds and equally as many as we could not identify.
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28th June to the 2nd July.
We left on Sunday after church and a leisurely breakfast for Ngorongora Conservation Area.
Here we killed some time stopping on route for lunch (very fresh chicken and chips, I am sure they just killed it when they saw us arrive!!!!!!) This way we could get into the N.C.A only by about 3pm as again here you are charged per 24hour period. We wanted to go into the crater the next morning early and we needed to be out of the NGA by 3pm the next day in order to get to camp in the Serengeti by 5pm. You really have to time yourself well.
Just a little bit of info on the area and Crater, if you are not interested just page down, but for those (like me) who do not know and would like to, I will add some info.
Over 500 million years ago, the rock that underlies the area was formed. Movements in the earth’s crust forced the rock up above sea level exposing it to weather. Rain, sun and wind broke and sculpted the rock for millions of years. The hardest of the ancient rocks have endured these unrelenting forces of erosion. They now jut from the plains as hills and inselbergs. You can see the hard, white or reddish quartzite capping the softer, grey or pink gneiss in the Gol Mountains and the Lemuta Hill. The kopjes on the Serengeti Plain are mostly gneiss and granite, the remnants of old hills that are still eroding away. 200 million years ago the super continent “Pangaea” started splitting apart. 20million years ago the earths crust weakened then split. The edges of this pulled apart and the land between sank. The sunken land melted underneath so even hotter lava could rise through fissures to build the volcanoes.
When rifting started in the Ngorongoro area, the cliff that was thrust up as the land sank to the east formed today’s Eyasi escarpment. This old rift wall run past Lake Eyasi as a spectacular granite cliff up to 1000metres high, then under the Ngorongoro highlands, and along the east side of the Gol Mountains. Most of this early rift is now obscured by the lava that began to well out of the fracture some 15 million years ago. The lava built up layer by layer. Eventually, fresh lava could only find a limited number of openings, and these built slowly into volcanoes. From the layering of distinctive basalt and ash from each volcano we can guess that among the oldest are Oldeani, Sadiman and Lemagrut. Sadiman’s eruption 3.6million years ago preserved the “fossil footprints” at Laetoli. Oldeani stopped growing when it exploded, creating a great cleft facing west. Ngorongoro was slowly accumulating bulk, and by 2.5 million years ago may have rivalled Kilimanjaro in size. But as its vents filled with solid rock, the molten material was forced elsewhere. As the lava subsided, the top Ngorongoro collapsed inward, forming the caldera.
By about two million years ago, the main features of this area had been formed and volcanic activity diminished. The new mountains caught the rain which began to carryout canyons. The water carried stone and mud downwards, cascading over escarpment and spreading out into lakes in the lowlands. The lakes that formed in the broad rift valley were then much larger that they are today. The minerals that were washed into the lakes built up, making the water alkaline and leaving deep soda pans when dried up. The shallow lake fluctuates and still varies in size from season to season year to year.
As you view the present landscape, you can appreciate the great age of the worn crystalline hills and kopjes and the richness of the plains. They say that a grander setting for the wildlife you could not see.
When you reach the crater rim there is the most super view. You are about 2200 metres above sea-level. There are both dry and wet sides to the Crater’s rim. To the east and south-east the rim is clothed in forest and very often blanketed in fog. The west and northeast are dry. From the rim you can look down some five hundred metres to the crater floor (only some of us with good eyes.) Open grassland, streams, swamps, lakes, forests, hills and steep slopes. All this allows so many animals to live together in a small area. There is plenty of water and this enables so many grazing animals and predators to live here.
Okay now that you have got a bit of “geography”/”history”. I will get down to what we saw and experienced. We camped on the rim, unfortunately it was quite overcast and we did not get a nice sunset. But the excitement was there, it is unbelievable what you feel. We were woken up in the night to a noise outside, Wolf got out, flashlight (thanks to the Maier’s) and right about 8 mts away were two huge elephants, one was a tusker of note. Gee what adrenaline. We were ready by 6am to go down. It was still fairly dark but by the time we started descending it was getting light, still a little overcast.
It passes around the lip of the crater for about 7km and then contours along the slopes of the depression and suddenly opens up to an eastern view of the crater floor. The road dives steeply down the inner wall of the crater. The side of the crater is still the main entrance and exit route for wild animals and livestock (who still are allowed in the crater.) You descend slowly because of the steep and windy rocky road and have really time to look at the vegetation and birds.
The area below is very difficult to describe, 260 square km. Forest almost all yellow fever trees; Swamp; open grasslands; and the lakes.
We were lucky to see lots of lions, herds of zebras, wildebeest, Thompson’s and Grants Gazelles; and buffalo. On the lesser side, side and black backed jackal, Hyena, Kongoni and Topi. Bird wise about 16 species we had not seen on our trip before, and lots of what we had seen. The lakes were really great and the forest areas really great. Unfortunately, we needed to be up and out of the crater by noon to be able to fetch our trailer and get through the NCA by 3pm. (A bit expensive for less than 6 hours in the crater itself, R3400, although this does include the whole24 hours) A once in a lifetime experience.
On a really corrugated road, taking about 2 and half hours, to do 85km. We reached Seronera, almost the centre of Serengeti where we had booked for three days. You can only book a public camp site if you have done it at Arusha and then if there is space, unfortunately we could not get one but this turned out quite well, we had a camp site bordering a plain, which when we arrived was full of zebras and wildebeest. On our way in, we saw lots of the normal but the unusual for us was a lion in a tree. We still have not got used to this yet. Set up camp and went for a quick drive. After a super night, with lions roaring from two different directions, hyenas and jackals calls, we got up early and went for a five hour drive. For me Serengeti was the ultimate, we were rewarded with thousands and thousands of Zebra and Wildebeest, Elephants, lions on rocks and in trees, Buffalo, Giraffe, Topi, Kongoni, Warthogs, Tree Hyrax, Hippos, Crocodile and even two Cheetah. All in one game drive. Birds again, lots and lots. The birds of prey, too many to count and some even impossible to identify. The unusual were, Chestnut Bellied Sandgrousse; Cinnamon Chested Bee- eater; Fishers Love Bird; a Shelly’s Starling; Greater Blue-eared Starling; a Darnaubs Barbet; Blue Headed Cougal.
Early next morning, we were treated to the most magnificent noise of three different prides of lions all calling from different directions, when the sound was really close, Wolf got out of the tent, with Maier Spotlight, there no more than 25mts were 3 lionesses and one male lion walking across the plain.
For me the Serengeti had been the highlight of my trip so far. Wolf was very awed by the Crater and Serengeti and the start of the migration.
Our trip out of the Serengeti was no less tremendous, at times we had Wildebeest and Zebra’s as far as the eye could see. The Wildebeest were running in front of us for minutes as a time and then across the plains and back again. Just hope Heather and Nick we will see the same. Once out of the park, we took a day to just cool off and make notes and acknowledge how lucky we were to be able to spend this time and able to still afford this wonderful experience.
2nd – 3rd July.
Spent two nights at Mwanza on Lake Victoria at the Mwanza Yacht club. Had a couple of meals out, including another “Fresh Chicken”, met some super SA men who were playing squash, and gave us a good supermarket to shop in, and a pizza place for a meal. Really good but really pricey. Wolf had broken his glasses and after a run around of directions, got a new frame for R120.00. Had my spare pair which I broke, at the hot springs, (had too much too drink and fell in the pool) fixed for nothing. Had a small repair to the car fixed at a Mitsubishi agent for a very reasonable price. (No invoice of course)
Left on the 4th July for Rwanda
Just a few additions.
In Tanzania, all speed bumps, and they have hundreds, especially through all the towns, some are one big, some are 5 small bumps, and some are just dreadful, they are called ‘SLEEPING POLICEMAN” and they work, they irritate the hell out of Wolfgang. The only good thing is they don’t give out fines. We did however manage to pick up one speeding fine, 45km in a 30km speed zone which “of coarse” Wolf did not see, so negotiated the fine with lots of s—t talking and laughing and the end result, Tanz. Shillings, 10,000 (R65.00)
Our highlights, all the parks,(even with the high costs) the lowlights lots of cold showers, some of the corrugated roads in the parks, and the campsite in Arusha was horrific.(Massai Campsite, not recommended)