Cockscomb Basin

Established in 1986 and deriving its name from the nearby mountain ridge which (to some) resembles a roosters comb, Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary is 400 square kilometers of rainforest. One of its key reasons for creation was to preserve jaguar habitat, and it remains on of the premiere sites for these cats in the world.

With only a single morning of hiking near the entrance, it is unsurprising that this is as close to a jaguar as we got.

The park consists of two water basins (west and east) with access and trails getting more difficult the further west you venture. Wildlife highlights in our self-guided hike include coati, aracari, toucans and guans. There were also some tracks we believed to have been recently made by a tapir, but that was as close as we came to sighting one.

One guaranteed sighting in the park is this crashed plane, which occurred as a result of an attempted landing on an access road during a thunderstorm in the early 1980s. A researcher used this plane for tracking jaguars via radio collars to learn more about their behaviour before the park was formed, and it remained an artifact of his efforts when the park opened.

Fortunately, none of the pilot, photographer and researcher on board at the time were seriously injured in the crash.

The Most Remote Place We Have Ever Slept

 While we were in Ecuador we did go other places besides the Galapagos.  Besides Quito we flew across the Andes into Coca.  From the airport we took a bus to the dock where we boarded a highspeed outboard canoe.  We sped east down the Napo River into the Amazon jungle.  Right out of Coca it got extremely dense. It wasn't long before we were seeing egrets on the sand bars and parrots flying overhead.  Every so often we would see a Yasuni house or village or a family paddling along. Below is a typical view of the jungle shoreline while we were there.  The water was very low but only 3 weeks past the water was well over the banks.

 After 3 hours on the outboard we came to a dock.  From here we took the boardwalk you see below and hiked along it a little less then half an hour. From the boardwalk we could see all sorts of creepy crawlies and amazing jungle plants and life. 

 At the end of the boardwalk was a small dock with dugout canoes.  We took these canoes through a stream with mangroves dipping into the water. After about half an hour of paddling the stream eventually opened up into a lagoon.  At the far side of the Lagoon was La Selva Jungle Lodge.  Seen below is our first glimpse of it.  The dock is on the mid right and the lounge area are the 2 twin roofs (and floors and walls and stairs and bar)  made out of native materials in the Yasuni fashion.  We had arrived after a 35 minute flight from Quito to Coca, 3 hr canoe ride, half hour hike and half hour dugout canoe.

This is the most remote place that Geordie has ever been and possibly the most remote that I have ever been (except for maybe parts of the BC backcountry which is an entirely different class of far away from civilization).

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.

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.

Smaller Animals of the Ark

We spent a single night at The Ark in the Aberdare Forest but we had some pretty neat encounters there all the same, enough that this video is only part of what we saw there with the other half coming next week. This round focuses on the smaller animals such as bee-eaters, mongeese and suni which we saw and which often don't get the spotlight in these shorts as they can be very elusive and hard to get good footage of. Such was not a problem in the Aberdare.

Music: "Melee Map" by Michael Land.

There's pictures of the Ark in the post above and footage of it in the clip, so I won't bore you with information about the entrance. Below is a stock photo from the internet (and apparently the only one of its kind) which I am forced to use since the back is inaccessible as its typically full of elephants or cape buffalo. The areas marked in yellow are enclosed viewing decks, the areas in magenta are outdoor viewing decks, the cyan box is our approxiamate window position and the red outline is my personal favorite: the bunker which puts you at eye level with the animals and creates an experience I have yet to find anywhere else.

Our room was snug but functional. We had a pretty quiet time for larger animals while we were there and didn't get a terribly good nights sleep since there is a buzzer system in place to alert you if neat animals show up and we were both awake most of the night waiting for it to go off. We also aren't really used to twin beds which would likely account for some rough sleep as well.

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 ;)

The Maasai Mara

The final place we visited in our tour was the Maasai Mara which makes up the northern tip of the Serengeti in Kenya. Every stereotype about Africa that Disney brought to The Lion King and nearly every documentary about migration has its roots in this preserve. The word Mara in the language of the Maasai people means 'spotted' and the picture below illustrates how the savanna is speckled with vegetation as far as the eye can see.
The Maasai Mara is also the location of the Mara River which is the famous crossing made by the wildebeest migration every year as millions of the animals come north from the Serengeti to graze and mate. The waters were quite low when we were there, but the banks looked quite rocky and treacherous as it was and neither of us envied the wildebeest their crossing.
As there's so much to see and do there, we had 5 days there and in that time we had wonderful encounters with elephants, lions, cheetahs, topi, leopard, warthogs, jackals, hippos, cape buffalo, dwarf mongeese, and birds of all shapes and sizes.

Sweetwaters

At the base of Mount Kenya, Sweetwaters is a private nature preserve (rather than a park) which was enclosed by fences and had quite a varied range of terrains to explore. As a preserve it also had a few enclosures of animals which were protected but not indigenous such as a troop of chimpanzees which Jane Goodall had setup a refuge for.
Because it was fenced and fully enclosed, Sweetwaters also felt a little more restrained than many of the parks we had visited, particularly with regards to big cats. We did have a nice encounter with some cheetahs on one drive, but they were pretty scarce throughout. That didn't stop us from seeing some nice elephants, go-away birds, crowned cranes, black rhinos (one of which Kathryn got to feed), hippos, bush babies, and an assortment of gazelles.
Believe it or not, by this point in the trip we had nearly had megafauna overload and it was getting increasingly difficult to amaze us with new displays of animals, but luckily some of the best views were to be had at the waterhole right in front of our tents (shown below). From here we could watch giraffes, rhinos, impala, waterbuck, zebras and warthogs come in for a drink and a mudbath without having to do all that arduous driving and standing we were used to.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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).

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.