Picasa online photo album

https://picasaweb.google.com/115919527007729971880/AfricaOnline?authkey=Gv1sRgCOqqrJG05JfhmwE

Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania

We arrived here yesterday, by the time we had checked in and had lunch we had time for a quick 2 hour Game drive. The drive from our lodge down to the crater floor is about 40 minutes, you decend 6000 meters! Unlike most of our other stops the crater is just over run with vehicles. Any time some one spotted something interesting or there was some action...vehicles would congragate like flies. Game viewing here is poor compared to the other camps we were at...but the landscape is breathtaking. You look back up to the top of the crater and there are clouds cascading over the top of the crater rim. The accomadations here are great, opulent as ever. We leave tomorrow to come back home...African adventure complete ( almost ).

Sabora hot air balloon ride

We were up at 5am this morning for our hot air balloon ride over the Serengeti. It was just the 2 of us....very cool. We saw the migration trails of the wildebeest, they seemed to go on for ever. We also saw some herds of elephants, one had over 60 members in it. K is feeling the signs of something coming on...so I think she will probably just nap this afternoon and see if she's up for a game drive at 4pm. Tomorrow we are off to Ngorongoro Crater, in Tanzania for 2 nights...then it will be time to come home. This place has been absolutely amazing...head and shoulders above the rest. From quality of quide and vehicles to the extremely high level of pampering you get here. It will be hard to leave! Pics are on FB.

Sabora Tented Camp, Singita Grumeti Reserve, Tanzania

Well all I can say is our camps keep getting better and better! The best way I can describe this place...imagine a Four Seasons Hotel, in a tent in the middle of the Serengeti. We were woken up at 2am by a giraffe chomping on the top of a tree, 20 yards outside of our tent. On our first game drive we ran into a pride of 9 lions, a herd of breeding male elephants, with a huge dominant male, tons of zebras, wildebeest, antelope and some hyenas.

Sayari Mara part II

On Monday morning I woke up still under the weather with a head cold, so I was debating going out on a game drive. Boy am I glad I did! We waited for close to 3 hours watching a herd of about 3000 wildebeest running back and forth between 2 potential crossing points. They are very skiddish and the smallest thing throws them off...but they finally crossed WOW! That was our highlight for the day. The next day we were leaving for our next camp in Tanzania, Sabora Camp...but we still had time for a game drive in the morning. We decided to focus on the cats, more specifically leopards. 5 hours of hunting and no success, they are elusive! We had a 20 minute flight to our next camp Sabora Tanted Camp in the Singita Greumeti Reserve, in Tanzania. All I can say is OMG I'm glad K didn't see this place first it would have spoiled her trip to date...this is just decadent! We start our game drives here tomorrow. I'll post pics on FB asap.

Sayari Mara, Tanzania

Arrived at Sayari Mara in the Serengeti on Saturday, Aug 13. We had one connecting fight from Kigali to get to our camp and we were the only ones on board!...on both flights. Met Albert our guide at the airstrip and planned out our day. We decided to go directly to camp and do the meet and greet and unpack and have some lunch. Our hostess Tanya is a native South African, who was born in Ottawa!....so we hit it off. After lunch we went for our first Serengeti game drive, just me K and our guide Albert...there was going to be another couple joining us but they had not arrived yet. The Serengeti is huge, so we ran in to very few others out doing their thing. We saw a bazillion Gnus aka wildebeest, but none that were ready to take that famous crossing across the Mara river. We also saw lions, giraffe, crocs, hippos, gazelles, impalas, zebras, vultures, storks, elephants, hyena and a plethora of birds.
We were out from 4:30 until almost 7:00. Dinner was at 8:00 and it is served in the dining tent. It is a communal dinner at a 60 foot long table. We all introduced our selves swapped stories of the day's and past events. Since our tent is in the middle of the Serengeti and it was now night time we had to be escorted back to our tent for the evening. Were heard all kinds of animals all night...lions were calling, hippos were grunting, hyenas were yipping....and there were the grazers around our tent all night. 

Sunday we had a 5:50am wakeup call, wakeup calls out here consists of bringing you coffee, tea and cookies. Then it was off on our game drive at 6:30am. We spent most of the morning running back and forth from several possible crossing points where the wildebeest were congregating. We saw 2 crossings, but both were really small and they were from quite a distance away. The first was a handfull of zebras and the second was also just a handfull of wildebeests. Wildebeest are very finicky they will all gather at a crossing point and then change their mind and all turn about and head back out to the plains. It's a little bit like fishing trying catch them crossing at the right time. We got back from our morning game drive at 12:30, just in time for lunch. I was starting to come down with a head cold so we decided to just chill for the remainder of the day and stay in camp. Tomorrow brings more adventure!

Rwanda gorilla trek part deux

Today we were lucky enough to get to visit with the Sabyinyo family. This family has the largest silver back gorilla in the world, he is 41 yeas old and weighs in at around 250 kilos. We had a great viewing of the family and caught sight of the 2 month old baby. K seems to be a major attraction to the males in these families, as another silverback rushed by her by about 1.5 feet and we thought he was going to grab her leg but didn't. It was all bluster and with the vocalizations from our tracker the silverback continued along the path. We have now wrapped up our 2days of gorilla trekking and had a scenic drive back to Kigali. Off to see 'Africa' night performances in the hotel! Next stop the Serengeti in Tanzania.

Rwanda gorilla trekk

This is what he have been waiting for! We got up at 5:30am this morning and had breakfast at the lodge with a quick briefing about the days activities. We then drove to the park to get paired into our groups. They only let 10 groups per day in. Each group has 8 people in it. You are then assigned a guide and a family to track. Our family was the Agashya family, it is made up of 1 silverback and his females and some small children, for a total of 24in the family. We then hoped into our vehicles and drive to our starting points, as you start tracking from different points depending on the family you are assigned. At our starting point we met our trackers who have been out since first light tracking the gorillas from were they last say them from the night before. Our journey started with a hike for about 1km through farmland to reach the border of the park were the gorillas are located. Then we continued for another 1hr hike up the volcano to find our family. Once we found them we were allowed to spend only 1hour with them. It was the colest thing I have ever done! Karen had the silverbck pass about 2feet from her....I thought she was going to faint. He also made a few charges through the forest and tore down bamboo trees as he ran! We also witnessed mothers and babies interacting. What a day. I post pictures on FB as soon as I can. We have another outing tomorrow with a different family.

Stop #3 Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge, Rwanda

Update....we left Saruni Samburu, Kenya and flew back to Nairobi... decided to just chill for the remainder of the day at our hotel,in Nairobi. The next morning we had to head to the airport for an 8:30 flight to Kigali, Rwanda. Our flight was delayed by an hour...but we did finally get moving! There was one stop in Burundi and we arrived in Kigali at 11:30am. We had a driver waiting for us, his name is Innocent. He asked us if we wanted to drive around town or head straight up to the gorilla camp....since it is a 3 hour drive we opted for heading straight up. The drive didn't seem that long, the scenery is amazing, we were going up and down mountains ( they call them hills). We arrive at Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge and were totally in awe! Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge sits 7000 feet up and over looks 2 volcanos...of which one of them we will be hiking up tomorrow to find a family of gorillas. We are here for the next 2 nights, so we will have the opportunity to go gorilla trekking twice.
Pics on facebook.

Stop #2. Saruni Samburu, Kenya

Saruni Samburu...we were picked up at the airport by our Samburu guide, Sumaro and his tracker Joseph. We were 2 couples...we met a wonderful couple from Milan, Italy. The drive back to the lodge was our first game drive, it took about about 5 hours. The highlight of our drive was finding 2 female lionesses that were just waking up from their afternoon sleep to see a herd of gazelles nearby. Our guide suggested that we stick around as there might be some action! ...he was right. We got to see 2 lionesses try and execute a hunt but were unsuccessful. It was still pretty cool to watch. 
Unfortuantely Samburu National Park is in a severe drought, they have not seen significant rainfall in over 2 years. We drove across riverbeds that were bone dry. The main river that runs throught the park is down about 15 feet. Pretty hardtimes on both people and wildlife. 
On day 2 outing our highlight was finding the most elusive preditor in all of Africa....wild African dogs, the had just finished eating a gazelle.

Elsa's Kopje, Kenya...1st stop

We arrive at our first safari camp on Thursday Aug. 04, Elsa's Kopje, Kenya. This is where George Adamson lived and the movie "Born Free" was filmed. We were there for 2 nights and did 5 safari drives...so before we get into our safari drives, I have to say that our hosts, Charlie and Philip were absolutely incredible....there not a request or detail that was overlooked. If you asked for it just happened! Some 4 and 5 star hotels could take some pointers from these two!.

Safari time...the park that Elsa' s Kopje (kopje is a rocky outcrop) is in is Meru National Park. The park is 870 square kms and Elsa's Kopje is the only safari accomadation in the park....talk about having the place to yourself! We had a phenom of a guide, John. The safari vehicle was Land Rover and ii only had 2couples in it, so lots of room. We saw 4 of the big 5 in our first 2 days....lion, elephant, rhino, buffalo. The elusive leopard was nope spotted but heard at night. We had "sun downers" on both of our afernoon drives. For those of you not familiar with the term "sundowner", it is a safari tradition, that were every you are at sun down, you have a drink in your hand! So we would be just driving around and John our guide on the first nights says" hey look there are people setup over there to camp, they are not permitted to do that!...lets go check it out. As we pull up and he stops there is a table setup on a rocky knoll with a spectacular view of the sunset...it was for us. Then there was breakfasts, you set out on safari at 6:30am, at 9:00am, there was a crew that had gone ahead and setup a full kitchen for breakfast at  incredible sites along rivers..bacon, eggs, quiche, the whole fixings. I think I have already put on 10lbs on this trip.
As usual I'llpost pics on Facebook.
Our next stop is Saruni Samburu, Kenya for a 3 night stay.

Arrive in Nairobi

We finnaly arrive in Nairobi at 6AM! We decide to push through and not go to sleep...so after a little breakfast we hit the sites of Nairobi. First stop the "elephant orphanage", this was a must see for K. The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust was established to rescue orphaned elephants and rhinos....usually from poachers. It was recommended that we go for the morning feeding, so we show up and head down to an area that is setup with 8 baby bottles that look like they hold around 5 gallons each. After a couple of minutes a procession of 8 babiee, ranging from about 1 year to 3 years, come stampeding into the ring. We stood around and watched as they feed these amazingly cute babies and told use all of their tear jerking stories....needless to say we were convinced to support their case. Next on the list was the giraffe sanctuary, where we learned all about giraffes and had the opportunity to feed these gentle giants. Time for a late lunch at the #1 restaurant in Nairobi...The Carnivore. We thought this was going to also fall into the catagory of "#1 tourist trap"...much to both our amazment it was very good! This restaurant was initial setup to feature African bush meat, but since the Kenyan govt. past a law, which made it illegal to serve bush meat...they focus on serving a feast of different types of meats ( pork,beef,chicken,alligator,ostrich,lamb and an an asortment of other meats) that are all cooked on an open fire grill. Here's how it works, they put a little stand on your table with a flag on it, they have waiters walking around with swords as skewers with a huge chunk of meat on it. As they come by they explain what they have and unless you say no you get a sample....when you have had enough you take your flag out and lay it down to "surrender" indicating you have had enough. Food was amazing and the decor was very impressive. Ok full belly and no sleep in over 24hrs was a receipe for passing out...so we decided to call it a day as we have an early morning flight to our first camp tomorrow.
Pictures on facebook.

Cairo

Landed in Cairo at 9pm on Monday August 01. We were a little shnockered from 2 flights to get here. So we checked into the Fairmont Cairo and called it a night. The next morning we had an Egyptologist lined up to take us on an 8hr tour. We started off by going to the Giza Plateau to visit the the most famous pyramids in Egypt....it was pretty cool having your own personal tour guide. After the pyramids we went to visit the Sphinx...it is so much more impressive in person! Our next stop was about a 40 minute drive out of Cairo, Memphis, which was the first capital of Egypt. There we saw a 60 ton statue of the Pharaoh Ramses! Our final stop was at Saqqara, which is the site of the oldest pyramid in Egypt. By now it is about 38 degress outside (2pm) so we decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel and pack for our last leg of our trip to Kenya. All in all it was a very condensed tour of of some of the must see sites in Cairo with an incredible guide who has a degree in Egptology...flight out to Nairobi, Kenya at 10 PM tonight.

There seems to be some technical issues posting pictures through this blog and an iPad...so I have loaded the pictures on my FaceBook page.