Sweetwaters

This is our last video post from Africa so for those of you reliving your trip from home, thanks for being there and making the tour everything it was. The DVDs will hopefully be done by early to mid September and mailed out shortly thereafter. If you have already sent me your address then kick back and relax, if you have not gotten around to sending me a mailing address, please do so in the next week or so.

Sweetwaters was the last stop in our tour for many of our group, so I figured it was a good choice to end our recapped journey with as well. It was a very nice mellow place where there were almost as many animals coming to the waterhole infront of our tents as there were to be seen on game drives.

Music: "Now We Are Free" by Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard

Speaking of tents, the picture below shows the safari version of 'roughing it' with Kathryn tucked infront of our tent. The waterhole is directly infront of our tent and was almost constantly packed with giraffes, waterhogs, impala and lots of storks and ibises as well as night visits from buffalo and rhinos.
This is the interior of our tent, complete with separate bathroom with toilet and shower to further illustrate that a 'tent' can mean very different things in different places. We slept very peacefully here except on a few points in one or two nights when the shrieks of tree hyraxes jolted us awake, they have a very weird call that we were totally unprepared for.

Lake Manyara

Note: I have a busy weekend coming up so I'm posting sooner than later as last time I was a few hours late I came under intense fire for being lazy ;)

Lake Manyara was a very peaceful place in general. Our lodge was at the top of a ridge overlooking the park and we could see the jungle and a nearby town from the pool. The park itself was a nice assortment of grazers and the absence of large predators made it all the more serene.

Music: "Under the Stars" by Hans Zimmer

Our lodge had a very pleasing design with the rooms being arranged in little clusters of double deckers with two sets of rooms on each floor. Like many of the lodges they used concrete in a very pleasing way to avoid many hard angles and kept everything very smooth and organic looking.
The pool was a delight and after a long drive in the hot sun we were always keen to have a flop by it and a swim. It was quite cold so while it was incredibly refreshing it was also tricky to stay in too long without going numb; such are the hardships of roughing it in Tanzania ;)

Ndutu

Ndutu was our first major stop on the trip and made a huge impression on Kathryn in particular. The wildebeest migration was in full swing and the first few babies were just starting to be born. Top that off with huge herds of zebras and gazelles with hyenas and lions chasing everything and you have a pretty potent situation. Music: "Death is the Road to Awe" by Clint Mansell

This is our little cabin at the lodge which was quite different from other lodges in that there was no perimeter fence or ditch or anything keeping other animals out. Earlier in the year this cabin and several others before it were out of use while a pride of lions took a fancy to using our porch for shade for several days. Our tour operator Bob said that he's seen elephants sticking their heads into the dining area and there were zebras, cape buffalo and giraffes wandering around nearby.
At the end of every day we'd relax by the fire, watch the passing animals and feed popcorn to fiscals and weavers. There are several slow-motion shots of this in the video above but I thought this picture also nicely captures the feeling of the campfire area and also shows the longer row of cabins in the background helping give a better idea how the whole spot fits together.

Samburu

Samburu was wonderfully unlike many of the other places we went as it was nearly all desert with a thin river running through in. There were a great deal of unique animals here such as painted dogs, beisa oryx, gerenuk, grevy's zebras and many more. We also had an unforgettable encounter with a family of elephants crossing the river; although there are crocodiles in the water, they have nothing to fear from them.

Music: "Discworld Theme" by Keith Hopwood & Phil Bush

The lodgings at Samburu were very nice little cabins. You can see me resting on the front porch of ours below and during the day young vervet monkeys would delight in climbing the spindly tree on the rigth and then either dropping down to the ground or running around on our roof.

This panorama (click it to enlarge) is the front view off of our patio. It both contrasts the dryness of the mountains beyond with the greenery flourishing along its banks. These picture should also help illustrate the incredible flooding that can happen in this area; a few weeks after we had left the river flooded so badly that people were having to take shelter on the roofs of the cabins to avoid the rising water and crocodiles. The lodge itself apparently sustained quite a bit of damage which is certainly a shame as it was a lovely place and everyone working there was so friendly.

Lakes Naivasha and Nakuru

We visited two lakes in Kenya in the space of a few days. We would have very much liked more time at both, but that was the case with everywhere we went. The highlights of Lake Naivasha was a boat ride where we could watch hippos swimming and see lots of birds. Lake Nakuru offered flamingos and white rhinos as well as our only striped hyena sighting.

Music: "Crossing the Bridge" by Jerry Goldsmith.

Lake Naivasha had stunning grounds that we were able to explore during the day provided we were alert for any irate Cape Buffalo. After dinner we had a guard escort us all back to our rooms to be sure we weren't attacked by startled grazing hippos; this was our only time in life we have been able to say we tipped our hippo guard. We also had some lovely encounters with grazing giraffes and duelling waterbuck on the grounds.
Our room at Lake Nakuru was perched on a little hill wher we could overlook the area and wander around. There were several bird feeders on the grounds and one of the highlights was the nest of a paradise flycatcher we could see through the branches. There were displays of local dancing in the evening and we enjoyed the pool during the hottest parts of the day.

Ngorongoro Conservation Area

We've touched on the Ngorongoro Crater in the past and although we only had a few hours in it, there was a huge range of wildlife to see in there along with some unforgettable encounters that we've highlighted in particular.

Music: "Crossing the Bridge" by James Newton Howard

The lodge we stayed at Ngorongoro was very nice, but being nestled in the forest and on the edge of a gorge, it was impossible to get good exterior pictures, so you'll all have to make do with a few interiors. The bar area below was host to a group of acrobats and dancers that evening which were quite impressive and the view from the deck out over the crater was a joy.
The rooms were quite nice and cozy. I had my birthday at this particular lodge and it was also the birthday of our friend Roger, so there was a fun evening of drinks and merriment.

Amboseli Highlights

We spent several days at Amboseli in a forested lodge near the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro. The biggest draw of Amboseli is its resident elephant population which I think the video below showcases nicely. We were able to watch them cross the road infront of and behind us a few times on game drives and the experience is breathtaking. There were several prides of lions there as well and we could see them on the prowl from our lodge one night. Unfortunately the mothers and cubs never came close enough for closeups, but we still got some nice family shots.

Music: "Old Bagdad" by Jerry Goldsmith.

The lodge at Amboseli was very nicely concealed from view (as most of the lodges on our trip were) by being completely surrounded by lush jungle. This also helped keep the sun off during the day and kept the pool nicely shaded for easily-burned people like myself.
The decor at Amboseli was very nice as well as all the bedrooms and dining room had stylized paintings of animals and birds in them. We really lucked out there and wound up with a double suite and patio so what little time we did spend in the room was certainly spent in luxury. We didn't get much mileage out of the patio since although you could see elephants in the distance from it there were also baboons directly outside of it and we didn't feel like trying our luck with them.

Baby Things

Since the last post was a bit grim and red in tooth and claw, I thought I'd lighten the mood with some baby things...
AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!
This little white rhino was carefully following its mother in the forest not far from our lodge at Lake Nakuru.
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!
This lion cub was part of a pride of lions in Ndutu and was thoroughly charming. There were a pair playing together but this particular photo wins for cuteness due to his 'awe shucks' grin.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
We saw this tiny baby elephant (which Kathryn and I dubbed 'The Smallephant') in the Maasai Mara. Our guides told us it was likely only a few months old and is so cute it boggles the mind.

Clash of the Titans

One of the most amazing things I have seen in my life was this battle between two bull cape buffalo at the Ark. The stakes were the leadership of their herd of buffalo and neither male was at all interested in backing down. I do warn all viewers that there is violence throughout this but it was neither staged nor forced. Either animal could have ended the battle at any point if they were willing to back down, so I think it is spectacular and natural rather than being tragic or exploitive.

Music: "Elite Guard Attacks" by Basil Poledouris.

Those of you that recall my post on the structure of The Ark from last week will be able to see how Kathryn and I were able to position ourselves to get different angles and lots of coverage of this event. I switched between the bunker (in red) and the outdoor side deck (purple on the right) while Kathryn filmed the entire thing from the top outdoor deck (purple and higher). This resulted in us both having plenty of footage and coverage for each other when the animals were behind bush or too far for one of us to see.
The full battle itself was 15-20 minutes in length and totally draining just to watch. There were staff at The Ark who said they'd been there for years and never seen anything like it, so we were incredibly lucky to catch it in the 14 hours we were there. There was also divided consensus on which bull actually won the fight. Although the previously dominant male broke a horn and chased the other away, he then stayed away from the herd so there was varying opinion on who won. Several staff said the two had been looking at each other for awhile and that there could well be a follow up battle to decide a victor, but that didn't happen while we were there.

Driving Among Giants

Its not just lions which are generally unphased by passing vehicles. Elephants have very few things to fear in protected parks and generally seem to know that there is nothing to fear from us. The elephant below walked through our convoy in Ngorongoro Crater and didn't even bat at eye at us. We were quite pleased at this as it was the first time we were that close to an elephant and they make a real impression up close. Any moment you are close enough to hear an animal breathing is an incredible time.
This elephant in the Maasai Mara made sure that everyone could get photos of it with other vans in frame for comparison. The roads in the Mara are very simple dirt tracks for the most part but the elephants wander about as they please quite happily.
The "pygmy" elephants of Lake Manyara were equally unconcerned with this one wandering across the road for better foraging on the other side amid quite a pile of vehicles.

Close Encounters of the Furred Kind

Near the end of our morning drive through Ngorongoro Crater the sun was starting to get very high in the sky and very hot. Most game drives were between 6am-11am and 3:30pm-6pm because the mid-day African sun is sweltering. From out in the distance a pair of lions with no available source of shade were wandering towards our line of vans along the roadside.
We felt very lucky and awed that they chose the shade of our particular van to lie down in, allowing for a wonderful photo opp. To be sure you can all tell how close they were, the rail from the side of our van is in the bottom of the shot, and the bump in the right of the shadow is the top of my hat.
We were sure to keep all the windows rolled up and not lean too far out of the van, but I'm sure they were too hot and tired to want to give anyone trouble. We enjoyed their company for quite awhile and then rudely took our shade with us in search of other adventure in the crater... we would have loved to stay longer but visits to the crater are very limited in time and we were almost out of ours.

Maasai Mara - Highlight Reel

We were in the Maasai Mara for about 6 days as an optional extension at the end of our safari. About half the group opted not to do it but we were certainly glad to. For anyone in our group that missed it, this can at least fill in some of the gaps for you, and for anyone considering an extension there, we heartily recommend it.

Music: "He Lives in You" by Lebo M.

The lodges in the Mara were often tricky to get nice pictures of as the building themselves are usually tucked well into the brush at the tops of hills and under dense foliage. This is done more to conceal the buildings and make the landscapes seem uninterrupted then to hide ugly architecture. The Mara Serena lodge (shown below) is particularly charming, situated at the top of a hill its buildings all seem to lack 90 degree angles thanks to smooth concrete and stucco.The view from the top was wonderful as well and the sunrise timelapse and one of the pans in the video above were both shot there.We stayed in two tented camps in the Maasai Mara as well, and just to show that a tent in a safari lodge is different from a tent when you go to the lake on the long weekend, here's a picture of one tents interior. Notice the twin beds and attached bathroom with lighting, just like your typical tent. Roughing it every step of the way ;)

Baraka, the Blind Rhino

One thing that set Sweetwaters apart from some of the other parks we visited was that they also had several areas in the park set aside for injured or displaced animals. One such resident was a black rhino named 'Baraka' (which is Swahili for blessing). Despite being very large and healthy he is completely blind, having lost one eye in a tussel with another rhino and the other eye to advanced cataracts.
Being blind is bad news for rhinos, even though their vision is quite poor to begin with, so he has become an ambassador for people, replacing another rhino in the park that had recently died of old age. This way he is cared for and can continue to live a healthy life while also helping educate people. His horn was originally over a meter in length and had to be cut off to fit him in the container to move him to the park. Since their horns are made of keratin, having it trimmed was no more painful for him than having your hair or fingernails cut and it is growing back slowly.
Kathryn was even lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time and get to feed him some sugarcane as part of his lunch. At the same time she was able to pat his nose and horn a little which made her day.

Kenya/Tanzania 2010 - Best Of

We shot a lot of great footage between the two of us, and trimming it down to something we felt we could make other people sit through was no small feat. The clip below includes many of the highlights from our trip.

Music: "Theme from Jurassic Park" by John Williams.

99% of the footage we shot was done handheld in a crowded little mini-bus with a pop-up roof. With 5-6 people moving around at all times trying to get the best shots and working around the metal posts that propped the roof up it was a bit of a challenge, but one that we thoroughly enjoyed.
With each new video upload I will also try and highlight the lodges we stayed in to help dispel any notions that they were tiny tents or Maasai huts. The lodge below was the first one we stayed in just outside of Arusha in Tanzania and while we were too jet-lagged and eager to get moving to fully enjoy it, it was very pleasant all the same

Big Five Pt 5: Elephant

No list of African megafauna would be remotely complete without the elephant. Ranging from the savanna to the mountains and weighing from 3 tons (for the smaller forest breeds) to 7 tons (for a savanna bull) they are truly an awesome sight. Even in the last few days of our tour when we'd seen hundreds of things and were getting harder and harder to impress they took our breath away every single time.
Not that it doesn't take some time to put on that 7 tons, they start out pretty little and are absolutely enchanting when they're young and carefree as well. Watching a large group of them care for and look after each other was heartwarming and seeing an injury in their group was tragic.
Being the largest land animal on Earth they tend to build up a lot of body heat which they are able to control and vent through their ears, but in the hottest parts of the day they can be pretty sedate. At one point in the Maasai Mara it was raining and these two young bulls were practicing having a scrap. They apparently quite like the rain as it takes off the heat of the day and gives them a good rinse.
Despite centuries of hunting and poaching for their ivory, I was very happy to see so many of these animals and to see such a variety in ages throughout the groups. Kenya in particular has stopped all hunting of game animals and I think the conservation efforts of both countries are making a huge opportunity for these beautiful creatures to survive for a long time to come.

Big Five Pt 4: Lion

The King of the Jungle (despite the fact that the ones we saw were on the savanna) the lion is a truly amazing and fearsome creature to behold. The one below was one of a group of very hot lions we saw in Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania. Although there were several efforts to hunt that day it was too hot and the prey were too careful for anything more than some intense staring matches to occur.
We saw them throughout our trip but the most magestic and numerous ones were in the Maasai Mara in Kenya. This lioness was one of a family that had wandered from the shade of a tree down to a waterhole. Our van was probably only 30 feet away or so and we were able to get some wonderful pictures of individuals as well as the whole family resting and grooming.
And when it came to up-close photo opportunities, the males didn't disappoint either. Since they spend 20+ hours a day resting they can be quite easy to get close to when they're sleepy. Below is one of a group of 3 males we were within 15 feet of, having himself a yawn after a long day of being photographed.Savage, beautiful and lazy all in one, they are truly an incredible sight.

Big Five Pt 3: Rhinoceros

Rhinos were one of the more elusive mammals on our tour (at least as elusive as a 2 ton primeval titan can be), due in no small part I am sure to years of poaching for their horns. Being nearsighted and aggressive probably hasn't helped their popularity in the long run, but from a distance they are enchanting creatures. The photo below was taken at Sweetwaters tented camp at the watering hole. The pair were perhaps 40 feet from us and really only separated from us by a small ditch.
We saw two kinds of rhinos on our tour, the White Rhino (shown below) and the Black Rhino (shown above and even more below). It may appear that they are not remarkably different in colour and this is a direct result of poor name translations. Apparently the white rhino has a wider mouth and was originally referred to as the wide rhino, but the difference was lost to time and translation.
There are several other differences between the two in so far as their range and grazing habits, with the black rhino being a savanna grazer and the white rhino sticking closer to the forests and lakes. Another interesting difference between the two that I would never have guessed without being told is that baby black rhinos follow behind their mother while white rhino babies are in the lead.
The rhino above is named 'Max' and was being gradually reintroduced to the wild and the other rhinos. To protect him from poachers he had a guard that follows him 24-7 as he learns to be a little more careful of people and become a wilder animal.

Big Five Pt 2: Leopard

The leopard is a solitary nocturnal cat, no part of which makes it easy to spot or locate. The easiest way to find a leopard seems to be to look for the biggest circle of tourist vans gathered around a lone and otherwise unremarkable tree. While there is one in the tree below, the types of trees they favor are also prone to leopard shaped growths.
The bonus of them being nocturnal is that once somebody finds one they are typically quite content to lounge around and have their pictures taken all day, allowing you to get reasonably close. The downside being that most of the time their heads are down or obscured by branches and the only motion you see is when one of their legs droops off a branch.Every now and then though you'll find one that's getting geared up to hunt and if you can navigate the labyrinth of safari vans in the area and your auto-focus doesn't snap to some foreground grasses, you can get a few nice pictures of one of these beautiful creatures on the go.To avoid having their kills stolen by more aggressive predators, leopards will often bring their meals into the trees with them or even leave them up there to ripen in the sun while they are away. So finding them in a tree is certainly the easiest and most frequent means of seeing them.

Big Five Pt 1: Cape Buffalo

There was so much more than the Big Five to see in Africa, but that seems like as good a point as any to start sharing animal photos. Of the five, I think the ones that get the least recognition over here are Cape Buffalo so I figured I'd start with them to try and spread awareness.
Not to be confused with water buffalo, the cape buffalo is an ornery and terrifying ton of angry beef rather than a docile work animal. They are in fact some of the most dangerous animals in the area and are still responsible for many deaths every year. The grass in many areas of Kenya/Tanzania is so long that they can be sitting down and disappear into its cover and people walking around will be unaware of them until they are almost on top of them.
Scarier still, if injured they will be aware that they are leaving a blood trail that people will follow, and are known for going far ahead and then looping around to wait in the grass by the side of their own trail to gore and trample whoever happens to be following them.We saw them throughout our trip in groups of anywhere between 3 to 400 and ranging from the savanna to mountain forests and they always blew us away with their size and power.