Day 12 – Masai Mara, Day 2

This is our last blog of the trip since we’ll be making our way back to Nairobi and then home tomorrow.  We did two game drives today, one in the early morning and one in the late afternoon.  First thing in the morning, we came across vehicles that were stopped looking at something but we didn’t know what it was.  We took pictures of what they were looking at but when we zoomed in, they looked like rocks.  James told us the rocks were breathing so drove right up to the rocks who turned out to be two sleeping male lions.  It’s amazing how little the animals react to vehicles.  One raised his head up for a fraction of a second and then laid back down and went to sleep. 

Do these look like lions to you?

The other interesting thing we saw was a Cheetah and her cub.  Again, we couldn’t get real close, but as we left people illegally drove right up to it.  Damn!     We went back to the lodge and spent the middle part of the day on the verandah reading and watching the Hippos playing in the pond. 

The afternoon and final game drive was more exciting.  We stopped to photograph a group of Elephants, 5 adults and 3 babies, one less than 6 months old.  When they got done drinking, they started walking across the road between vehicles right behind ours.  I was photographing the big bull Elephant and I could tell he was getting irritated.  All of a sudden, he flared his ears, made an angry noise, and took a few steps toward the vehicle.  It scared the crap out of me!  The driver noticed what was going on and started the vehicle and moved forward a little.  He said that when an Elephant starts to charge, you need to move away to show that you respect him.  I respect him alright and you can’t make this stuff up! 

He tried to pick a fight with me but I showed him!

After that, someone radioed in that they found Rino’s.  There was a Mother, baby, and a male Rhinoceros.  Our guide said it was unusual to see them together as they are generally only together when the mother has her green light out (See day 1).  We got reasonably close by driving illegally where there wasn’t a road (along with just about everyone else).  Then the driver got nervous because he didn’t want to be caught off the road and get fined.  We came back at the end of the day and there was only one van besides ours and the park ranger was there.  The rangers actually herded the Rhino closer to us so we got some great photos of the mother and baby.  We got as close as we could get without the Rhino charging us, which they will do, particularly with a baby. 

And last but not least, the mother and baby Hippos put on a show for us swimming right below us during dinner.  What a great last day.  If it were not for missing our family, we could easily stay longer.  So in signing off, now that I’m fluent in Swahili, I want to say Jambo motumbo ide amin hotel rowanda mumbo jumbo which means this was a great trip!  You really can make this stuff up!  

The End

Day 11 – Masai Mara, Day 1

Traveling to Masai Mara from Nairobi, the first 3 hours of driving was actually on fairly good roads.  Suddenly the road turns to crap.  It’s paved, well kind of, full of pot holes and the driver spends half of the time driving with 2 wheels off the pavement on dirt on the side of the road.  After about 50 Km the road turns to a very bumpy dirt road.  When we finally arrived at the lodge, it was kind of like being done skiing when you take your ski boots off, such a relief.  Now we’re nursing our sore butts as we write this blog.

The dining area overlooks a river and there were 4 Hippos relaxing on the sand bar but the best part was a mother Hippo with a 3 day newborn right in front of the dining area.  They were fascinating to watch over lunch.  The baby would take a few wobbly steps and then lie down.  Then a few minutes later, she’d do it again, never standing for long.  In the evening the mother and baby were in the water and the baby Hippo was obviously more comfortable there.

We went on a late afternoon game drive and spent most of the time watching a pride of lionesses with their cubs.  They mostly laid around but finally one of the cubs got a little lively and started playing around with her mother and we got some great photos of it.  There was also a male lion that was farther away across the wash that another group was watching.  We drove down there and took some photos of him too. 

At dinner, we were entertained by some male Masai dancers and our waiter told me that the higher they can jump, the more wives they get to marry.  I’m not making this stuff up!  We couldn’t believe how high some of them could jump.  No wonder us white guys only have one wife.   Oh, Judy told me that she spotted a white monkey which turned out to be an albino baboon.

When we checked into the lodge we were surprised to see that our room was the Lucy and Desi room with 2 twin beds.  Judy wanted to sleep in mine but I kicked her out.      

Judy's Turn to Blog

When I left home, the primary purpose of this trip was to view and photograph the animals.  That all changed with our drive to Tanzania.  Yes, it was long and uncomfortable but what I witnessed along the way left a huge impression on me.  Since then, my primary focus has become the culture and lifestyle of the African people, especially the children.  I’ve taken well over 200 photos from a moving car window.  They’re not all perfect but I think they will tell the story.  It’s the children that break my heart.  Here are some of my observations. 

I’ve seen boys, 4-6 years old herding cattle before they are of school age. 

We drove past an orphanage with 5 or 6 children standing across the road, all waving, hoping we would stop and visit. 

I’ve only seen children playing on a hand full of occasions, 2 times boys were running along rolling a bicycle tire with a stick and the other times were toddlers playing in the dirt.­­ 

The people here walk for miles and miles to fetch food and water.  The water is carried in jugs either on the top of their head or hanging on their backs, very heavy as you can imagine.  It depends on the tribe as to which way it’s carried. 

The women with infants all walk with the baby in a sling on their back with only the baby’s head showing.  It looks like they’re in a straight jacket but I’ve never seen one unhappy baby. 

I’ve seen women with cut up branches tied up and carried on their head.  They use the branches for fire wood to cook with. 

Those that can afford public transportation are piled into a normal sized van with are up to 14 people in each one.  Other than that, the most widely used mode of transportation for the people are their feet.  I see people walking in the middle of nowhere and can’t help but wonder what they are doing there and how many miles in one day they walk.  The ones that ride bicycles all haul necessities.  They have to walk the piled up bicycles up the hills and the looks on their faces is painful!

The second District hospital we visited had an Optometrist.  I asked him why I had never seen a Kenyan with eyeglasses.  His reply was that as long as they can count the number of cattle and tell them apart by color they’re happy with that because they don’t have the money for eyeglasses and never have to read small print.  I’ve never seen a Kenyan with sunglasses either because they don’t want to spend the money on them.

Children can walk as long as 5 miles to and from school all by themselves.  I saw that time and time again.  We’d drive for miles and see the children, all in the same uniforms, walking home.  I also see many children that are way to young to be walking alone along the highway.  I'm talking 3 and 4 years old!

We saw a large group of men with pick axes and shovels chipping away at the mountain to make gravel.  The dump truck backed up to the mountain and the men shoveled the gravel into the truck beds.  So basically, they were human tractors.

Here's a link to my Shutterfly site with photos of most of what I've described.  As much as Iit pains me to post photos that are not in clear focus, I think  you can still appreciate them.

http://bestofshow.shutterfly.com/

Day 10 – Back to the Stanley

We feel like The Stanley Hotel is our home base and it’s always good to be home, as long as we don’t venture out of the hotel that is.  We went out on our own in Nairobi for the first time today to the souvenir shop and made it back unscathed, whew!  This is a crazy busy city both with a constant stream of cars cutting each other off and wall to wall people running across the street weaving around the cars stopped in traffic.  Today while we were stopped, a naked man walked up to a policeman and hit him with his shirt and said to him, “you think you’re really a hot shot, don’t you” (James translated).  Because he was mentally ill, the policeman did nothing, just chuckled.  Our driver explained that the police here only harass people that look like they have money so that they can be bribed.  That’s a secure feeling.  Since we don’t have much to write, I’ll post a photo of Judy and James (our driver).  He’s a great guy and has made this trip very enjoyable. 

Day 9 – Serena Mountain Lodge

Today was a pretty low key day so not much to write about.  The Mountain Lodge has a big pond for the animals to drink from that we can overlook from our balcony.  We spent the better part of the afternoon out there watching animals come and go.  There were a lot of monkeys climbing all over the lodge from rooftops to balconies.  When Judy was taking pictures, a monkey jumped on to our balcony with her and scared the “you know what” out of her!  This evening, we heard the mating sounds of Homo sapiens on the floor above us.  They had quite some stamina, so much that the guy next door banged on the ceiling to make them stop.  You can’t make that stuff up! 

Monkey hop scotch 

Monkey urologist giving an annual prostate exam.

Scott having a water buffalo appetizer

If you didn’t find the leopards in the previous photo, here’s where they are hiding.

Day 8 – Fairmont Mt. Kenya Safari Club

Today we traveled from Samburu to Mt. Kenya.  At the exit gate of the game preserve I decided for some unknown reason to buy some bracelets from one of the street peddlers.  They initially wanted me to spend $5 for 4 bracelets but I learned from our friend Michael in Vietnam how to bargain so I got 6 of them for $10 (really got 8 for the $10).  They’re probably just a piece of crap but I have a great marketing idea.  Because they are made of copper, I’m going to sell them on the Internet as the rare African arthritis curing bracelets and will be available for $100 each.  Get them while they’re hot, the price is negotiable.  I’m not making this up, well maybe just a little…. 

We had some of our 3” bananas left over from yesterday so we stopped along the road at a little village.  The children ran out to the car and Judy gave the bananas, one at a time, to the leader of the pack who was all of about 4 years old.  He then handed each one to his siblings.  It was so sweet to see him take care of them.  Here is a photo of the pack.

The Fairmont is a really beautiful place located on Mt. Kenya at 7,000 feet.  It was started by William Holden, the movie actor in 1959.  I heard from a good source that Holden, during his career, did his filming early in the morning because by noon he was too drunk to be of any further use.  They have a 9 hole golf course but I got a sore toe from pushing out the Brit’s van yesterday so I decided against it.  Since the resort is located right on the equator, I thought it would be cool to say I played golf on both the north and south hemispheres on the same day.  We’re now going down to the ZeBar, (get it?), for a drink before dinner.  

 Okay, we had our drink and guess what we had for bar snacks, dried anchovies.  See below, you can’t make this stuff up!

The evening got very cold (like an Arizona winter) and when we went to bed, we had a wonderful little surprise in it.  There were 2 big hot water bottles to warm up the bed and our frozen feet.   We'd never seen that before but but sure were glad they were there! 

Oh, we found out why the wildlife eat elephant dung.  It’s because elephants only digest 30% of what they eat and the nutrients.  The other 70% is available for an appetizer.

In case you didn’t notice, we updated the profile picture of me and Judy.  I’m trying to blend.  Kwa heri.

Day 7 - Samburu Game Reserve Safari & Samburu Village

We started out early today on a mission to see a Leopard, our final animal of the Big 5.  They are nocturnal and very difficult to see and don’t generally hang out near the roads.  Fortunately, our guide knew the area where they usually hang out and by the time we got there some other groups had already spotted one, mission accomplished.  It was a mother and cub, but not very close, so even with our longest 400mm lens, it was difficult to see.  We spent 2 hours waiting and hoping they would walk a little closer but no luck.  We still enjoyed watching them play around with each other and teasing us by moving from rock to rock.  We wished we would have had the HUGE lenses like the Japanese guys in the next truck, but then again, they would have been a huge hassle to transport and pay for.  See if you can spot the mother and cub leopards in the photo below.

After that we toured around trying to find the even more rare tour bus stuck in the sand.  As luck would have it, we found one owned by the same tour company that we are with.  I got to apply all my Minnesota stuck in the mud skills to free the stuck animal.  The van was carrying a bunch of Brits who were totally useless in helping out in this situation.  There they are standing in the shade off to the right.  That's me and our driver jacking  up the van. 

During our game drive today, the animals we saw for the first time were a Crocodile and a Greater Kudu.  After the game drive, we visited a Samburu village and gave the chief an offering of bananas, oranges, what was left of our box breakfasts, and $20 to take photos of the kids.  You can’t make this stuff up!  Here’s a photo of all the kids shaking Judy’s hand as we were about to leave. 

We returned to our lodge for a late lunch at the restaurant which overlooks the reserve.  As we ate, we saw elephants, monkeys and exotic birds.  Pretty entertaining lunch!  

We really have taken 100’s (Judy’s will probably end up in the thousands) of photographs of the animals.  All we’ve been able to do is download them and delete the obvious bad ones, no editing.  It will be after the trip until we can post them.

Day 6 – Driving to Samburu & Afternoon Safari

The drive to Samburu was uneventful other than the street peddlers that ran to the car and bombarded us every time we stopped for any reason trying to sell us either fruit or bracelets. 

I didn’t know that we had so many other children because they called us Mama and Papa.  When one guy finally gave up trying to sell me bracelets in this small Islamic town, we started talking politics.  He knew about the Reverend in Florida who wanted to burn Koran’s.  I told him that the guy was an idiot, he obviously agreed.  Interesting that one stupid individual can make an impact across the world.  Judy bought a bunch of 3” long bananas for $3, what a deal.  After we checked into the Lodge, we went on a late afternoon game drive.  We saw many of the animals we have already seen and also an Eagle and Oryx.  We also saw our 3rd sub-species of a giraffe, a Reticulated Giraffe, and a Grevy’s Zebra.  Both had very different markings than what we’re used to seeing.  We didn’t realize there were sub-species of Giraffes and Zebras but you sure can tell the difference when you see them.  We also traveled from the southern hemisphere to the northern hemisphere today.  You can’t make this stuff up!

Day 5 – The Long & Winding (and Bumpy) Road Back to Nairobi

Today was the reverse of Day 2, heading back to Nairobi.  Still having jet lag, waking up at 2:00 a.m. and not going back to sleep, ugh!  After we crossed the border back into Kenya, we visited our 2^nd hospital, a District Hospital which is government run.  It had 100 beds with only 2 Doctors on staff.  They didn’t do any surgeries other than c-sections.  There were 3 or 4 mid-level practitioners (nurse practitioners) who saw the out-patients and the doctors took care of the in-patients.  Most of the in-patients had infectious diseases like malaria, pneumonias, HIV, gastroenteritis, and TB.  The TB patients were quarantined in a separate area of small buildings with 1 to each building.  They had an x-ray machine and basic lab services.  They also had an Amenity Ward where patients paid a little extra for a bed that looked like a hospital bed rather than a prison bed.  They do a good job with what they have.  They didn’t allow photography but I hear the last 2 hospitals do. 

On down the road, we saw a group of children walking home from school.  We stopped by the side of the road to give them each a stick of gum we brought along for that purpose.  You would have thought we gave them a gold bar for how excited they were.  There were no fewer than 10 arms in the van window at one time reaching for the gum.  The younger children couldn’t reach the car window and very were teary eyed.  We had to battle the other kids to get them their stick of gum.  We’re not sure we got everyone and I know some got two.  Because these children were educated, they all said thank you, some in English and some in Swahili, so nice to hear.  I can’t wait for the next group of kids we run into. 

Before heading to the hotel, we stopped to have dinner at a restaurant called Carnivalle, which was much like the Brazilian Steakhouse our kids took us to in the Bahamas only the meat they served included ostrich, camel, crocodile, and various other more common meats.  Judy actually tried the ostrich, camel, and crocodile and I’m not making that up! 

Day 4 – Lutheran Field Hospital & Lake Manyara National Park

We began the day by visiting a Lutheran Hospital.  The hospital has 6 doctors, all general practitioners, who like the old days in the USA, do everything, from internal medicine to delivering babies & pediatrics.  They also do surgeries such as gallbladders, appendectomies, prostatectomy’s, and the most common, the c-section.  Most of the babies are delivered at home, 80%, only high risk babies are delivered at the hospital.  They run some basic labs but also have a CD4 machine to monitor Aids patients, currently at 3% of the population, down from 7%, which they are quite proud of.  They have an old dilapidated X-Ray machine and an even more dilapidated Ultrasound.  The Ultrasound probes were all duct taped up.  Their funding comes from the government and the Lutheran church provides the brick and mortar.  By receiving these funds, it is mandated they treat for free, children under 5, people over 60, and anyone with a chronic health condition.  This means only about 30% of their patients pay for services.  There is a 35 year old woman who has been in their hospital for 4 years and refuses to go home for lack of a caregiver.  Like everyone else, they are hurting for money and cannot provide the meds for their patients.  This is quite a difference from our cushy hospitals in the US.  I'll try to post some photos of the hospital soon. 

Pharmacy

Lab Drawing Room

Lab

Radiology

Ultrasound Rooom

OR or "Theater" as they are called here

OB Ward

Pediatric Ward



After lunch, we proceeded to the Lake Manyara National Park where we viewed many of the same animals we did yesterday and several new ones.  The new ones included a Water Buck, Monitor Lizard, Impala’s (not the Chevy), and a Dik Dik, the world’s smallest deer, about 1 ½ foot high, named after the size of its….no, actually for the sound it makes.  And last but not least, we saw a sexually frustrated monkey with turquoise balls.  You can’t make this stuff up!

Here's Proof!



Day 3 - Ngorongoro Crater and the Maasai Village

We’re blogging in our bed with a mosquito net around it even though we haven’t seen a single mosquito.  Ngorongoro Crater was a major disappointment.  All we saw today were hundreds of Zebras and Wildebeests, Cape Buffalo, Lions, Elephants, Hyenas, Jackyls, Ostriches, Warthogs, Hippos, Black Rhinos,  several species of big ass birds, Gazelles, and a Cheetah.  We didn’t see one single White Rhino, oh I forgot, those are endangered and are not even down there.   It’s a very interesting environment because there are a bazillion vehicles driving around and the animals pretty much ignore them, even walking across the road in front of them, refusing to move away.  The Cheetah was a highlight because they are not normally around there, they just pass through.   The drivers all communicate with one another so when someone finds something interesting everyone descends upon the same spot.  We came upon one of the ugliest sites in the world, a Warthog feasting on a pile of fresh Elephant dung.  You can’t make this stuff up!   ­­­It's also interesting to see that people spend thousands of dollars on a trip like this and show up with a point and shoot camera, but not everyone owns 15 cameras like my wife.  What’s interesting is that you travel half way around the world and become blasé about the more common animals like Zebras, Wildebeests, and even Elephants.  After finally becoming tired of exotic animals (yea right) we decided to go visit exotic people.  Our driver took us to a Maasai village where they give tours and let you take as many photographs as you wish for a donation of only $50.  The people of the village first came out and gave us a traditional “let’s soak the American’s” welcome dance.  The chief something or other, then took us on a tour of his house which is made of twigs and mud mixed with cow dung.  Dung seems to be very big in Africa.  The house was round and approximately 10 feet in diameter.  There was a small fire, both for warmth and cooking, in the middle and a small hole in the ceiling to let light in and smoke out.  Other than that, there were 2 beds, both made of twigs with cowhide on top.  That was it.  He talked a little about their culture, soaked us for another $15 for 2 ugly necklaces and then turned us loose to take photos, all the while trying to get us to buy other goods from other members of the tribe.  He even wanted Judy to trade her watch for 2 ugly bracelets, but she put her foot down and refused.  All in all, it was very interesting and worth the $65.  Finally after driving around on dusty and bumpy roads all day long, we arrived at our hotel down another stretch of dusty, very bumpy road.   Sorry, haven't edited any animal photos yet but we'll work on it!

Nothing like a tasty appetizer of Elephant dung!

Maasi Village Welcome Dance

Judy with the Chief

Around the Village



Judy showing the children the photo she took of them

Day 2 – Driving to Ngorongoro Lodge in Tanzania

Jambo, it was a long and winding (and bumpy) road with lots of construction detours, 10 hours worth.  Traffic in Nairobi is worse than almost anywhere but lucky for us we were heading in the right direction out of town.  Ngorongoro Crater, being in Tanzania, meant that we had to first exit Kenya at their border station and then enter Tanzania at their border station.  We also switched drivers at that point.  Our driver in Tanzania is Hassan, very nice and knowledgeable but somewhat quiet.  Once you get into the Tanzanian countryside, you begin to see the Masai people who seem to enjoy just standing by the side of the road, well some of them anyway.  The others were herding goats & cattle, usually in the middle of the road, or carrying baskets or grain bags on their heads.  How in the heck can they balance them?  They are very colorful and photogenic; however, they hate to be photographed, much to Judy’s chagrin.   She did sneak a few photos and got yelled at once by a young boy.  We also almost ran into a guy herding 2 camels across the road.  We had lunch in Arusha at the Arusha Hotel and once we hit the highway after that, the animal fun began.  We saw an Ostrich, Impalas, 3 Giraffe’s, and once we hit the rim of the crater, we saw 3 Cape buffalo, and then about 20-30 Baboons at the entrance to the preserve.  The Baboons were very entertaining, with some engaging in risqué behavior.  We stopped at the overlook at Ngorongoro to photograph the floor of the crater.  Hassan pointed out a memorial to a 24 year old conservationist who died in a small airplane crash by flying into a vulture.  You can’t make this stuff up!  We were just about to drive off when I, with my eagle eye, spotted 4 elephants across the road.  The grass was a little high to get good photographs but they were quite close.  And all of this is before we’ve even ventured out on our first safari to the crater floor.  We’re now at the lodge, which is nice, but without heat or TV, gasp!  We can overlook the entire crater floor from 2,000 feet above at the lodge and were able to pick out herds of Wildebeest and Elephants with binoculars.  Not a bad view!  Grandpa Mormino would have been saying, “Wheresa my gun?”  Okay, enough.  Kwa Heri (That means good-bye for those of you who aren’t fluent in Swahili like me.)

Boy yelling at Judy for taking his photo

Camels in the road!

Nasty Baboons!

Day 1 - Nairobi, Kenya

I've decided to start a blog because I have so many things to get off my chest.  let's start with politics..........  I forgot what I was going to say, a hazard of being 60.  Maybe I'd better talk about Africa instead.  We are sitting in the Exchange Bar at the Stanley Hotel, the oldest hotel in Kenya.  It has a very British flavor, in fact we're watching Cricket on TV.  I don't know what the hell is going on.  A guy bounces a ball at another guy who tries to hit it with a flat stick.  Then they seem to run around aimlessly.  I suppose that's pretty much what a Cricket player thinks when he watches American football. 

Our first day in Nairobi, we were picked up by our tour guide, Francis, and our driver, James.  They were speaking Swahili amongst themselves.  I was starting to pick it up and I feel I will be quite fluent by the end of the trip.  Jambo means hello.  I always thought it was a Louisiana dish.  Anyway, we drove over very bumpy pavement, past the famous Nairobi slum to the Karen Blixen Museum.  In case you didn't know who she is, she is the author of Out of Africa.  She also had syphillis and a boyfriend on the side (Robert Redford).  What a bad girl.  She only lived in Africa for 13 years but you'd think she changed the country.  Oh well, interesting anyway.  From there, we headed to the Giraffe Centre where they are trying to breed the endangered Rothschild Giraffe.  We got to feed the giraffe's, they have a very long tongue, Judy was really impressed!  I think they are endangered because they want to live in New York.....maybe that's a different Rothschild, damn 60's!  After that, we headed to a supermarket to buy 4 large bottles of water, quite an endeavor since everyone seems to pay cash.   It seems a credit card is a curiosity.  We had to go to a different counter to get it approved.  The rest of the afternoon was spent having lunch, sitting at the pool and at The Exchange Bar sipping Tusker, a local beer.  Tomorrow we're off to a long day of driving to Tanzania.  We heard from our driver that approximately 1/2 of the 10 hour drive is very bumpy.  Should be an adventure.  (Written by Scott, transcribed by Judy)  Below are a few photos of Day 1.

Guys always think theirs are bigger...

This is where Karen did her dirty deeds.  By the way, she had 2 lanterns, one red when she wasn't in the mood and one green when she was in the mood that she put outside her room at night.  You can't make this stuff up!

Sipping Tuskers at lunch near the pool.