Lake Manyara

Today, we took a tour of Lake Manyara park. As soon as we got into the park we were able to see tons of animals.  The drive started out in the lush forested area of the park with hundreds of baboons playing in the trees, a few hornbills jumping around, and some blue monkeys.

Later, we headed into a more open space where we saw a terrific view of the lake and the plains below. We saw our first wildebeest here and also got some amazing shots of elephants. One area had a stream bed with about 40 elephants trampling through.  There were even a few baby elephants that we caught playing in the mud.

Lake Manyara park was a great place to start our wildlife viewing in Tanzania.  The animals here seem a lot more accessible than in Kenya. They are right out in the open most of the time. The one bad thing is the parks are definitely more crowded and everyone has the same itinerary.

Elephant flash flood

Partyway through our afternoon by Lake Manyara, we came to a place where the road reached a dry river bed. The mud looked like it had recently washed down from higher ground as it flowed over the road and on to the lake. We paused to take in the view and caught a glimpse of an elephant walking down the rover bed toward us. Soon it became apparent that this wasn't a single elephant, but rather a whole family including babies to young to have cut their first tusks yet. Excited, we grabbed our cameras and started snapping photos. As this family passed, another group of pachyderms approached from a different angle. The flood of elephants just let coming. In total, five elephant families of about 10 elephants each passed us in that spot over the course of about 30 minutes. Take that bog five, we are barely halfway through our safari and we have seen you all.

Wild dogs

Over the last week in Kenya, we had some rare opportunities to see wild dogs, or African Hunting Dogs as I knew them from the zoo.  Apparently, not many people get to see them since they spend a lot of the time hiding and when they aren't hiding, they are on the move.

The first siting of them was pretty exciting.  We were sitting in the middle of a plain in the jeep with Patrick at Ol Pejeta and suddening off in the distance a bunch of zebras and gazelles started running away from a central location in all directions.  The cloud of dust that arose was the first signal.  Immediately,Patrick put the jeep in gear and started racing toward the commotion.  I thought it was a cheetah at first since I have been indoctrinated by nature shows that show cheetahs far more often then dogs.  We spotted 3 hunting dogs jogging along not really after the herd.  We followed them as they traversed the area only stopping to do some marking,and then moving on.  Luckily,they were mostly moving right down the road so we had a long chance to see them.

The next lucky siting happened when we climbing a small mountain during the walking safari.  From the top of the mountain, we viewed a whole family of wild dogs on a rocky area below.  There was even a mother who came out of her den to feed about 14 little puppies, all wagging their white tipped tails.

Safar-hairy

Shane,this post is for you.  I haven't shaved for about a week because we have been camping and there has been no running water.  I am going to attach a picture of the beardie for you when I get to an actual computer.

The 6 seater

We just got to Arusha in Tanzania and checked into oue lodge for the night where we have wifi access and can finally update the blog from our kindles.  Most of today was spent traveling and we took two short flights on really small planes.  The large flights here seem to be on planes that carry about 15 people but the flight from Nanyuki to Nairobi was on a plane that I could fly, or at least on the order of the size of planes that I was flying when I was trying to get my pilot's license.  It had room for 6 people.  Liz has only been up in 2 of these small planes (the other time was when I took her up myself).  Just for consistency' sake,Liz lost her breakfast in this plane too.  The pilot found out after the flight was over and said he was sorry but Liz just shrugged it off and said that it was 2 for 2.

And you thought playing chicken with a rhino was a thrill

Our guides are pretty much amazing. Durring a routine morning walk, they got suddely very excited and started running through the bush. Confused about what was going on we started after them. "Leopard," they hissed at us as we caught up to them. I hadn't seen a thing, let alone been able to identify it as a preditory cat. After covering a bit more distance we suddenly stopped. Our guides pointed to a shrub about 25 yards away. The leopard leaped out and ran across our field of view and into the bush on the other side.

It was all to fast to even think about grabbing a camera to snap a picture, but the image in my mind is unforgetable. We now have four of the big five (rhinos, cape buffalo, lions, leopards, and elephants) solidly under our belts. If only those pesky elephants weren't so hard to spot. Sure we have seen the odd pachyderm ear or backside, but we are still waiting anxiously for a full frontal view.

I'm on a mother f#$%ing camel

The second part of our stay in Kenya was a Samburu lead walking safari. On foot you get to take in more plants, landscapes, and scat than while driving, but it also means fewer close encounters with big game. That said, we had plenty of opportumities to get up close and personal with a whole bunch of camels.

On our morning hike from one camp to the other we actually had a camel to ride in case we got tired. While I quite enjoyed the exercize I couln't say no to the novelty of a camel ride. Erik also indulged. If only T-Pain were there to sing about the journey.

On one of our evening walks we came across a small group of nomadic dairy men with their herd of 80 camels (including 20 babies, one of which was five days old). We arrived just as the mothers were coming in to be milked. The camel herders showed us how they are milked and even offered fo us the try the milk. It took all the will of the smart traveler in me to resist (raw milk with flies landing in it from an uncleaned udder with no running water for kilometers just seems like a travelers recipe for disaster). I now have it in my head that I should try camel milk some time (or even better, camel milk cheese). Is anyone out there aware of a camel dairy in California?

Captain Erik is climbing a mountain, why is he climbing a mountain?

On our second full day of walking safari our guide informed us we would climb a mountain before descending down to the river where we would make camp for the night. Much to my surprise the mountain turned out to be little more than a large pile of boulders with some grasses and shrubs growing in the cracks. If I called it a hill I would be generous (we south bay natives call the road to Santa Cruz a hill after all). All the same, I love walking up so I kept my mouth shut and followed the guides as they scrambled up their mountain.

When we got to the top I realized why they call it a mountain. It is pretty much the highest peak around and the views were fantastic. Best of all, from the top we could see clearly on the next peak over, a family of wild dogs (a very rare sight and our second on this trip). The adults were just home from the morning hunt and were sharing their spoils with the pack. Two litters of puppies (14 total) came out to feed. I can't even begin to describe how cute it is when 14 puppies all try to nurse from one mom (the other was still out apparently) . One of the little puppies kept getting pushed out of the way and ended up rolling down the hill a little before catching his footing and going back for more.

Captain Erik is climbing a mountain to watch wild dogs have breakfast. Also, to pose with a spear like a samburu warrior.

Our friendly nighttime visitor

We spent 3 terrific nights at Ol Pejeta bush camp outside of Nanyuki. It was a wonderful experience of luxury camping imparted tents with a king sized bed and end suite restrooms tents which were partitioned from the main section of the tent. There was no running water though so it wasn't exactly hotel like.

During the nighttime, you get a great opportunity to hear the sounds of all the animals in the park. The owners of the camp surround it with an electrified fence but the clever buffalos manage to get through when the gate is open and stick around for their nighttime snacks. The bushes are much nicer to eat inside the camp because they actually have a chance to grow a little bit before being trampled by elephants.

During the first night of our stay, at about 2 on the morning, I heard a noise outside and could not figure out what it was. There was a knocking sound and the limbs of trees shaking like something huge was just outside the tent. After 30 of listening, I finally saw the huge buffalo move past. I was pretty petrified but did get back to sleep. Liz and I did lose some sleep over the ordeal.

The next night he visited again, this time at about 4 am. I was much more relaxed because I knew that the knocking sound was just him ripping grass out of the ground and that I knew he was not going to come into our tent.  Liz and I woke up, saw the huge thing outside the mesh screen about 6 feet away, and went back to sleep.

On the third night, our buddy came to visit us close to dawn and even was there after we got up.  Liz didn't even wake up for him and I barely looked outside.  The staff chased the buffalos away after breakfast.  They told us that you have to watch out for the buffalos during the day but that at nighttime they are completely friendly.

Playing chicken with a charging rhino

On our last morning drive at Ol Pejeta we found ourselves heading back to camp with some urgency. We needed time to finish packing and have breakfast before meeting our guide for our next adventure. Inconviently, a black rhino happened to be standing in the road between us and camp. Our driver slowed down to give the beast a chance to move, but he just stood there staring at us, as if to say "wanna do something about it?" Our driver took on the challenege, revving the engine and throwing the land cruiser into gear. At the same time the rhino snorted and barreled right at us. I felt momentary terror as I assessed that we were going to collide head on with a multi-ton mammel. Then as if it were as lithe and agile as a bird in flight, the rhino changed course and high tailed it away from the road. We had a lovely breakfast and made it to our meeting on time.

Out and about with the lions

Tonight, we went for a game drive where we saw the same bunch of lions from earlier in the day who had caught buffalo for breakfast.  At night, they were so much more active than during the day.  They were roaming around the kill and our spotter had the spot light on them the whole time.

All of the sudden, the group of young lions and their moms grouped together and booked it out of the area.  We heard a loud grunt off in the distance and our driver Patrick told us that the male lion was coming to feed and that the lioness was driving her cubs away to protect them from the male, who would kill them.  the other lionesses were out trying to prevent the male from coming over.  So we headed over to that action.

We found the male and drove out to see him with our spotlight on full beam.  Patrick shut off the car to observe the active in quiet.  It was terrific, and i tried to get some pictures.  the spotlight died suddenly though.  When Patrick tried to start the car again, we quickly realized that the battery was dead.  There we were, stuck in an open air jeep, surrounded by lions, not able to move, and without any light but our headlamps that we could shine into the grass only to see many eyes reflecting back at us.

After a while of fussing around, it became apparent that we would need to get out of the jeep and push it so that Patrick could kick start it.  It was definitely an apprehensive moment but all turned out well.  The lions kept about 30 feet away and we all quickly jumped back in the jeep never to turn off the engine again.

Pop goes the warthog

Warthogs are officially the cutest animal you will see on safari (even if Erik tries to tell you camels are cuter). The best thing about them is the way they lay low in the grass or wallow in a mud hole where they can't be seen from the road, only to pop up all of a sudden (or because they are freaked out by the approaching land cruiser) and run across the savannah. If you can't see their legs it seems like their bodies are gliding on wheels or by hovercraft across the grass.

1, 2, 3, 4, I declare a neck war

On our first afternoon out on safari at Ol Pejeta nature conservancy in Kenya, we got to view two giraffes locked in an intense battle for dominance. If you ever have the opportumity to whitness such a duel, I hightly recomend it. These lumbering creatures fight so slowly it is more like watching a choreographed waltz than an epic struggle. They fight by twisting their necks around each other, which frankly looks like the giraffe version of a thumb war.

Made it to London

We made it to London and are hanging out in the BA lounge sipping white wine and munching on kettle chips.  It's 9 am in the morning here, but my body feels like I should be going to bed right about now so I am really tired.  I got through 3 movies on the airplane though:  Burlesque, Waiting for Superman, and the Chronicles of Narnia 3. 

Up up and away

We have successfully made it through the first half of our journey to Kenya. My clever hubby managed to get us platinum status on the airline, so I write this from the computing station in the fancy lounge at Heathrow, while sipping the complimentary wine. Amusingly, one of the wines they feature is a Ravenswood Zin from Lodi California. :)

The other amusing moment of our travels thus far was when we decided that the international terminal in Dallas was the last place to get a good burrito for 3 weeks. We were so excited about it, and then the burritos ended up being pretty awful (rice in a burrito should not be al dente). I guess the international terminal of any airport is going to have watered down cuisine failures for inflated prices (at least inflated prices in Texas are about normal for California).

Taking off

I am late to start this blog bit I might as well start while waiting for our flight to take off.  We are really excited about going on the honeymoon, relaxing a bit, and having a lot of adventures. 

The wedding was terrific. For all of you followers who came, thanks for helping to make the day so great. We had a lot of fun and hope you did too.