Zebras

Common in all the plains areas we visited and strikingly beautiful every time, zebras were an encounter we rarely tired of. Despite their stripes standing out so vividly against the many green and blue areas we visited, this pattern is clearly beneficial as there are great numbers of them everywhere. We saw two subspecies of zebras in our travels, the more widespread ones were Grant's Zebras as seen below.
Grevy's zebras were found only in Samburu and can be easily distinguished by their finer stripes and white bellies. They have carved out a niche for themselves by being able to survive better in the arid desert areas than the Grant's and are also slightly larger.
While Grant's zebras typically migrate alongside the wildebeest, their reproductive cycles are not in synch and as such there were many zebra foals to be spotted in our travels, all of which were charming and adorable. Their fuzzier coat never ceased to delight and they were always very curious and brave making them easy to photograph as well.

Samburu

Making about as radical a shift as possible from the Ark our next stop was Samburu, a lowland desert some 12000 feet lower in altitude than the previous night. In a single mornings drive we went from hoodies and long pants to t-shits and shorts.
Samburu has a very striking and unique landscape and is a haven to a number of animals we didn't see anywhere else. Such animals included the genernuk, beisa oryx, reticulated giraffe, grevy's zebra, and african wild dogs. The area was also home to elephants, dikdik, leopards, swarms of baboons, and a great variety of birds.
Stranger still to think of, especially when looking back at these pictures, the Samburu area experienced extreme flooding (as it is proned to do seasonally) on a few weeks after we left. During that flood the tourists and staff of the lodge that we stayed at (on the banks of the low river in the picture above) were forced to abandon many of their possessions and take to the roofs of their cabins to avoid the rising waters.

Vulture Culture

The sheer volume of life in the wild in Africa creates a staggering volume of carcasses, one that the resident vultures are only too happy to take care of. Hyenas and marabou storks do their part but the huge flocks of vultures that fill the landscape do a huge amount of cleanup, and any kill will be covered in a swarm like this one as soon as there's nothing bigger around to claim it.
Although the picture above would make them look like a single breed, we actually saw 7 distinct kinds of vultures in our trip, such as this Ruppell's griffon vulture in Ndutu, looking every bit like a Disney stereotype. But, ugly or not, they are performing a very important part in the cycle of life on the savanna.
And in the Maasai Mara we saw this Egyptian vulture with a very different look to it altogether. The more it ate and filled up, the more of its yellow crop protruded through the feathers on its chest. This was a very lucky and rare find and our tour guide had only seen them a few times in his 25+ years of touring east Africa.

The Ark

Changing the feel for our lodges entirely for just a single evening, we spent a night at the Ark, which is in the Aberdare moutains some 12000 feet up and accessible only by lodge-owned shuttle. We arrived in the early afternoon and wandered down a wooden catwalk to the building shown below.
Being tucked deep in the woods and accessible only at certain times, the Ark is a very mellow and quiet place to stay. I had been there in '96 with my dad and looked forward very much to showing Kathryn the area. While we were there we saw lots of cape buffalo (including an epic fight, sure to get its own post eventually), giant forest hogs, tiny gazelles called Suni, genets, and a wide variety of birds including swarms of speckled mousebirds at the nearby feeder.
The feature of the Ark which I enjoy most by far and wish other lodges went further to copy is the underground bunker where you can watch the local waterhole at the animals level and without too much of a feeling of anything between you (other than a reassuring 3ft of concrete when the animals get a bit too intense).

Hippos

We saw hippos throughout Tanzania and Kenya, but since they are nocturnal and aquatic they tend to spend most of their daylight hours sleeping fitfully and coming up only to breath, so typical photos of them are just eyes nostrils and ears like the picture below.
Sometimes we were able to get near their areas of activity while they were still active like in this photo from the Maasai Mara where the dining room of our lodge looked out over their resting waters. These two were tussling over god knows what, but they certainly helped remind us that the hippo kills more people in Africa every year than the lion does. Being short sighted, irritable and violent is a way of life for these guys.
Since they have such a large volume and a comparatively small surface area they rarely get out of the water for long as they overheat and sunburn very easily. However, this one was having a bathroom break by the shore of Lake Naivasha while we were having our boat tour and gave us some obliging pictures before charging into the water and driving us away.

Lake Nakuru

Lake Nakuru is an alkaline lake in the Rift valley created by large salt deposits in the soil being left behind after evaporation. While prolonged contact can irritate the skin in many animals, they are a haven for flamingos which feed on the resident shrimp and gain protection at the same time. We went down onto the mud flats at the lake edge and got a look at one of the flocks, though we were told there are typically millions more in the summer.
The area wasn't just a lake though, there were lots of hills in the area and some expansive forest/plains surrounding the area. Nakuru is a huge bird haven and we saw several species of flycatcher and starling here along with the flamingos and many other birds. Its also a great rhino sanctuary and the first place we saw white rhinos along with buffalo, baboons, leopards, impala, striped hyenas and the usual assortment of gazelles and zebras.
Like nearly everywhere else we went on this trip, we would have loved a little more time at Nakuru, as arriving in the mid-afternoon and leaving the following morning didn't give us as much time as we would have liked. But I can't think of anywhere else we would have liked to miss a day to make up another there, so we'll just have to try and spend more time there next time.

Maasai Life

It occurs to me that we've been constantly referring to the Maasai people or the Maasai language without properly touching on the people themselves. They are a very proud and independent tribal group across Eastern Africa which have retained their way of life despite the arrival of the 21th century right on their doorstep. They subsist almost entirely off of a diet of milk, meat and cow blood with many declining to eat even vegetables or chicken and seeing them as weak.
The Maasai have a largely nomadic lifestyle, erecting small settlements of cow dung, mud and branches as they move about every few months to reach new grounds for their cattle to graze. The rights of the Maasai are very well protected as well and they can cross the borders of the east African countries without passports or paperwork and graze their cattle wherever they please.
Its likely a combination of this good government treatment and their own fiery traditions that have helped the Maasai culture endure when so many other indigenous cultures have suffered or been sidelined by 'progress.' We heard several stories of people leaving the tribe to get university degrees and the like in Nairobi only to return to their tribe and take up their traditional roots. It was always interesting to see the contrast between their spears and cellphones.

Lake Naivasha

The great rift valley runs the length of eastern Africa and passes through Kenya. Within the valley itself are a great number of lakes, both freshwater and alkali. Lake Naivasha is a freshwater lake that we stopped at for a single evening and had a boat ride on the following day. The grounds for the lodge were very nice with herds of giraffe and waterbuck which were quite approachable if you were quiet.
The grounds were also host to some breath taking vegetation, such as the fevertrees shown above and the giant cactus trees below. It was also home to colobus and vervet monkeys and a large number of birds, particularly hoopoes.
The lake itself was populated with hippos and a great variety of birds including fish eagles, cormorants, grebes, storks, coots and several species of kingfisher. We had a boat ride for about 2 hours on the lake and had a great time except for an engine malfunction... luckily the boat didn't break down until after the irate hippo was coming towards us or it could have been really unfortunate.

Hornbills

Kenya and Tanzania are home to thousands of kinds of birds, most of which I've been side-lining lately in favor of mammals, so its time I showed a bit more diversity in our wildlife. Hornbills are a family of birds which fill the same general niche in Africa that toucans do in South America, but they come in a quite a variety of sizes. This red-billed hornbill from Samburu was the size of a crow and lived on the grounds of the lodge.
In comparison, these Silvery-cheeked hornbills were closer to the size of toucans and quite a bit more sociable than the one above. They were one of the first birds we saw in Tanzania and this particular group was near the entrance to Lake Manyara.
And finally, tipping the scales at closer to the size of a turkey, this Ground hornbill was part of a co-operative group that were picking from a nearby sausage tree (as shown below). We saw them both at Lake Manyara and in the Maasai Mara where they forage for insects, lizards and whatever else takes their fancy.

Amboseli

Amboseli was our first stop in Kenya after crossing over from Tanzania. The name means 'dust devil' in Maasai and the dry, dusty ground was a constant source of fleeting whirlwinds. The area is famous for its elephants and we saw them here in great numbers, along with a large pride of lions and several hyenas.
A very contrasted place within a small area, Amboseli transitioned from dust bowl to swamp very quickly. This geography was not only a haven for birds of all kinds, but created a very pleasing home for the elephants. They sleep in the foothills of the mountains but cross over to the marsh daily to feed and drink.
All this splendor was tucked under the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro, famed as the highest free-standing mountain in the world at 5,895m above sea level (click panorama below to enlarge).

Hyenas

Despite their dog-like appearance, hyenas are their own family in the carnivore order and of the four species in that family we saw two. The more common one was the spotted hyena which we found throughout Kenya and Tanzania. They live in social packs which diffuse over an area and then group up to hunt, so we would see them alone or in numbers up to the twenties.
Hyenas are also interesting in that they are a matriarchal animal where the female is in charge. And since they are in direct competition with lions for food and territory, the females are so full of testosterone that they were believed to be hermaphrodites by early Europeans.
We also saw striped hyenas on a single evening at Lake Nakuru and while they have a rougher and wilder appearance than the spotted hyenas I have always felt that as a species they were branded unfairly by 'The Lion King' and cast as villains and thugs when they are really just a natural part of the hunter/scavenger niche of the savanna.

Lake Manyara

Our last park in Tanzania was at Lake Manyara, a sizeable freshwater reserve some 330 sq km in size, 229 of which comprises the lake itself. The lodge we stayed in was on a ridge overlooking the park (shown below) and we had a few days of game drives through the park as well as a tour of the town Mto Wa Mbu (which will be a separate post all its own).
The area is home to a great diversity of birdlife including a variety of hornbills, wagtails, and swarms of flamingos. There were many mammals there as well although the dense forest made them trickier to spot, but there were stretches of savanna and between them we saw baboons, monkeys, hippos, giraffes, warthogs and 'pygmy' elephants that weigh a mere 4 tonnes.
Oddly enough for a park consumed almost entirely by lake there were very few roads to the water, so we spent the majority of our time elsewhere, but the panorama below (click to enlarge) gives you an idea of the scope of it. Everywhere we went we were told there were normally many more flamingos, but neither of us complained about seeing as many as we did.

Monkeying Around

We saw 3 types of monkeys on our trip, 1 type was common and 2 were uncommon (or at least not widely spread). Kathryn and I also see monkeys differently. She is an anthropologist and finds them gross because they're like little people while I am not an anthropologist and think they're awesome for exactly that reason. The first type shown below is a Colobus monkey which we saw only at Lake Naivasha in Kenya. They were quite shy and rather striking in their long skunk-like stripes.
We saw Sykes monkeys at Lake Manyara in Tanzania, again only briefly but well enough to get a few neat pictures. They were also apparently to be found near The Ark but we didn't see any when we were there.
The most widespread and sociable monkeys were Vervet monkeys which we found scattered throughout our trip and which are quite common. There were several lodges which employed Maasai with slingshots to keep the monkeys from stealing food from tables (and even under their watch they could be a real nuisance). They were quite active throughout the day and frequently seen wandering the grounds and in one case, playing on the roof of our room.

Ngorongoro Crater

Both Kenya and Tanzania are in highly volcanic areas which makes for incredibly fertile soil and fantastic landscapes. The Ngorongoro crater, so named after the sounds of the Maasai cowbells, is a breathtaking place to visit. Descending the steep 600+ meter escarpment takes you into the 260 sq km basin of the crater.
Because of its popularity and high demand, its only possible to get half day passes for the crater, so we could only get in at 7am and had to be out shortly after noon. Despite this frustrating time restriction we saw heaps of wildlife including hippos, hyenas, wildebeest, elephants, lions, rhinos, ostriches, flamingos and zebras. Many of these animals (like the wildebeest) are residents which are accustomed to life in the crater and never leave, while others (like the elephants) come and go as the please up the steep edges.
We passed by the lip of the crater (click panorama below to enlarge) on our way to Ndutu and then stayed there the night of my birthday on the way back and were thoroughly enchanted by it. I had the theme from Jurassic Park stuck in my head almost the entire time just being so overwhelmed by the abundance of animals and beauty of the countryside.

Crocodiles

Several of our lodges were along the banks of rivers in Kenya, particularly in the Maasai Mara. Rivers are a great place to spot all kinds of animals that are coming down for a drink or waiting to prey on the thirsty and careless. Nile crocodiles fit neatly into the second category and we'd often see them posing as innocuous logs.
Being cold blooded they have to spend a portion of their day basking in the sun (and besides eating they have a pretty open schedule) so we'd often see them on the banks of the river as well, but usually at a fair distance. If you only saw them in the distance it would be easy to forget how terrifying and primeval they are.
To cure anyone of that notion, the lodge in Samburu put out a crocodile bait most evenings made up of kitchen scraps which the resident crocs know about and show up for like clockwork. They move very slowly and take a half hour or more to go from the water to the bait, but once they get near and start eating its an easy reminder that they are not to be trifled with.

The Serengeti

Covering nearly 15000 square kilometers and meaning 'Endless Plains' in Maasai, the Serengeti is where the iconic images of waving grasses and termite mounds come from when we think of Africa. The primary focus of any documentary on Africa or migration in general, the Serengeti is a huge expanse of preserved land running from the border with Kenya well into the heart of northern Tanzania.
Scattered across the land in variable heaps left by retreating glaciers, the kopjes are excellent vantage points for people and predators.
We only spent a single day driving around the Serengeti since the majority of the wildebeest migration we'd come to see was closer to our headquarters in Ndutu, but it gave us some wonderful looks at leopards, elephants, baboons and a plethora of birds.

Getting around

Just so its completely clear that we weren't jammed in conventional tour buses like we would have been in North America, I thought I'd do a quick note on the different vehicles used. Since we had to cross a border and change drivers and companies at the border we had quite different vans in Tanzania and Kenya, but they were the same general shape. Below is our Tanzanian tour van with the roof up.
And this is our Kenyan van, also with the roof up. Each of these typically sat 5 people plus a driver and we typically traded seats as we pleased with room left over to store camera gear and the like. The roofs are retractable for dusty highway driving and pop up with between 30 seconds and 3 minutes work (the Kenyan ones were trickier) for a game drive.
We also had a morning boat tour on Lake Naivasha so I figured I'd include a picture of the sort of thing you take out on a hippo-infested body of water. They weren't bad so long as you're not trying to shoot forward when you're 3rd in line, and the engine only broke down AFTER the angry hippo came after us, so it all worked out reasonably well in the end.