Day 16 Final Day in Tanzania

Today was a relaxing day at the AMEG Lodge. We had left our hard sided luggage here while we were on safari and had packed everything into duffle bags for easier packing in the back of the Land Cruisers.  Today we had time to repack everything into our hard sided luggage. 

We had heaps of fun having one final swim in the resort pool.

 

It felt like a day of rest - and it was because I got to finish reading one book and start another!  We ate our lunch poolside. 

Then, because we paid for an extra half day at the hotel we were able to really enjoy the day and relax. At 5 PM we loaded into the trucks for one last trip to the airport. 

The sights of Arusha as we were departing. 


Pictured above, Neil Zeller, of Neil Zee Adventures, and owner of Neil Zeller Photo tours (www.neilzellerphototours.com) and Chris Fisher, Wildlife Biologist, author of Birds of Alberta and speaker (www.chrisfisher.ca) - who we were privileged to have lead us on this trip!

Our drivers, Cornel and brother Thom packing our luggage when we have hard sided luggage to deal with!!

A front facing picture of Thom, Jeannette and Cornel!  Cornel Ninah is the owner of Wild Media Safaris.  www.wildmediasafaris.com

Cornel, Neil and Thom having fun till the last minute at the airport. 

And now our 26 hour flight home begins!  See you in the other side!!

Day 15 Transit to Moshi

Today we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at Ngorongoro Coffee Lodge as we didn’t have to depart until 10 AM. 

We found a cabbage tree emperor moth near reception. Neil placed a full sized banana next to it for scale!

And here is fabulous pool view!

We drove back to the AMEG Lodge in Moshi. We made three stops at different tourist places to buy souvenirs. 

Safariland was the first place we visited. It was a huge place with all kinds of rooms selling everything from T-shirts to tanzanite. I looked at some jewelry and found it very pricey. But they had a huge selection. 

Here is their instagram post they hope people will use to spread the word!

We stopped at another shop with lovely fabrics -and wood carvings. 

And then we stopped a “Cultural Heritage” which will soon have a Jane Goodall museum opening there. I thought this place had the nicest products with the best prices. 

We continued on the road to Moshi with lots of traffic. So many sights to see when in Arusha, a city of 2.4 million.

 
This fellow is the second person on the motorcycle!  Thankfully the cardboard is not in front of the driver!!

We checked into our hotel around 6 pm. We were happy to flake out on the beds and read for an hour before supper. 

Thom and his wife Lena and Cornel and his wife Jacquie joined us for our farewell supper. It was a lovely evening where people spoke about what they were grateful for on this trip. 

I was grateful Neil Zeller hosted an information night last February and I decided forty years of dreaming about an Arfrican Safari was long enough - it was time to take the plunge. And so I was grateful to Calgary guides Neil Zeller and Chris Fisher, but also our drivers Thom and Cornel. 

What I have failed to mention is the absolutely amazing camaraderie of the fellow eight passengers on the trip - the laughter on so many occasions and the group dynamics made this a trip that will be so difficult to ever repeat. This African Safari was a dream come true. And I have to say I am so grateful to my DH J who supported and encouraged me to take the trip - even though it wasn’t his dream trip!

One more night at the hotel and then a long travel day and a half to fly home!!  Dreams do come true!

One cute little photo taken by Neil Zeller from the other truck when we had playful lions to observe!!

Day 14 Ngorongoro Crater

Neil Zeller calls the trip to Ngorongoro Crater the Victory Lap. Whatever we haven’t seen for the past 11 days on safari, we hope to see in Ngorongoro Crater. And we had six hours to see all that we could. 

It was an early morning breakfast at 6 AM with a departure of about 6:45 AM. Nhikani Lake Ndutu Camp was amazing. We really were in the thick of the animals. Now that we have left I can report that there was a lion in our camp on night two that they scared away by shining a light in its face and a hippo on the path this morning. I equate it to camping in the Rocky Mountains in Canada knowing there is a possibility of seeing a bear. You might see one when camping, but likely not and you have to be aware and smart. 

Driving through the grasslands we saw a wildebeest calf that had been born one or two minutes before we arrived. The mother was nudging the little guy to get moving right away. Thom told us that many calves die young because they cannot keep up with the heard moving 50 km in the day, resting them going another 35 km. They most certainly lose track of their mothers and suffer from dehydration. It really is a marvel that the species is so prolific!

And today we drove through the conservation area, with a quick stop at to see the Hominid Skulls inside Olduvai Gorge. The entire gorge is 45 km long. The site we stopped at was called Ngorongoro Lengai UNESCO Global Geopark. Chris gave us a little history of the area and again I wish I could post videos within this blog. Sixty fossils of hominins can be traced back to Olduvai Gorge, providing the most continuous record of human evolution for the past 2 million years.  My oldest son (a geologist by training) would have revelled in the historical significance of the area. 

Then we journeyed on fairly rough roads (by North American highway standards) up to 2100 m elevation to enter Ngorongoro Crater. Wild Media Safaris had reserved entrance for our vehicles between 9 am and 3 pm. Vehicles allowed in the crater are allowed in for a six hour window but they would be scheduled to leave the crater no later than 6 pm. The idea is to minimize traffic for all the animals that reside in the crater. 

We immediately saw so many birds - Eurasian Bee-eater, Variable Sunbird, Auger Buzzard, Brown Crested Snake Eagle and more. When we descended to 610 metres to the bottom of the crater, we saw greater and lesser flamingoes, avocets and stilts. 

We saw many mammals (zebras, elephants, Cape buffalo) but no giraffes inside the crater. The Crater walls are too steep for giraffes to descend. And the missing element of the Big Five - we saw the Black Rhino. 

So that is the best I could do with a cell phone picture of a black rhino. It looked much bigger with binoculars!!  A male approached a female and they bumped noses in greeting. The female was probably not quite ready to breed and the male walked away. The gestational time for rhinos is 15 months. 

We had our picnic lunch by a small lake with a number of picnic tables. We felt safe from the hippos and the kites diving and trying to snatch food from our hands!

Group picture at our lunch stop. 

And then we made the slow ascent up and out of the crater. 

This is the stunning view looking down into Ngorongoro Crater - which is actually a caldera - a collapsed volcano. 

Neil Zeller in the foreground and the group along the rim of the crater. Our safari is now complete. So many blessings to have experienced Tanzania this way. 

We have a couple more days in Tanzania-but none viewing animals. 

We were so thrilled to check into our hotel for this evening Ngorongoro Coffee Lodge. 

The gardens, pool and room are absolutely stunning. It is the swankiest hotel I have ever stayed in!!

Our glamorous suite - with two queen size beds, indoor and outdoor showers and a slipper tub. Just amazing. 

We don’t have to depart until 10 AM tomorrow so it will be a glorious sleep in!!

Day 13 Ngorongoro Conservation Area

It rained hard in the night - so we woke up to humidity and muddy pathways. I totally appreciate that they have rubber boots in each tent to borrow. 

The rain in the night and the fact that we are at 1600 m elevation at Lake Ndutu meant we had a cool day as the sun didn’t shine!  I wore all the layers I brought - sleeveless top, long sleeve technical shirt, merino wool hoodie and my raincoat - along with a buff worn over my head and two hoods. With all the windows open and the breeze I generally was warm enough but by the end of the day I made a beeline to a fire for warmth. During the day when I sat down in the truck to get out of the wind I was comfortable enough, but a good portion of today was spent standing up with the roof elevated to view animals. 

So while cooler temperatures meant we had to dress warmer it meant the lions we watched this afternoon were more playful, interactive and they made an effort to hunt!

We had the good fortune to watch wildebeest try to cross Lake Ndutu. They started to walk across the- little babies included and once they got out deep they kind of panicked and started to jump on one another trying to get to higher ground, so they turned around and returned to our shore. 

The attempted wildebeest crossing. 

We also experienced first hand what happens when a truck gets stuck in the mud while on safari. All the other truck drivers rally around and offer support. We initially saw somebody walking alone along the muddy shores of Lake Ndutu - and we have never seen that before - we are in lion country so you stick to your vehicle. But this driver was stuck and came looking for assistance. 

Stuck vehicle pictured above. So Cornel, who was driving our vehicle was the first on scene to offer help. We tied a toe road and tried to pull him out by backing up. Then we turned around and tried pulling forward and then a third vehicle approached the scene and chained to our front bumper and we both tried to pull out the stuck vehicle. All efforts failed - so after an hour or so trying to pull the vehicle out, we departed and a tractor was radioed and came to the rescue. 

After the rescue effort, we decided to head back to the camp (we hadn’t ventured as far as we expected) so we ate our bag lunches in the dining tent and were served hot chocolate as a treat. 

We took an extra hour to relax - I went to our tent and read, then had a 30 minute nap. At 2:30 PM we loaded back into the trucks and full display of activity from a lion pride. Three mature females and maybe five young ones. They were amazing to watch playing and interacting. 

One young cub stalked a herd of wildebeest for more than an hour trying to take down an animal. And he failed. 

Cornel told us that lions need to be within 10 metres to make a successful run and kill. This young lion would need to have targeted a young one but he wasn’t quite stealthy enough.  It was amazing to see him greeted back by his Mother and siblings with warmth and I would say consolation for his failed efforts. I have a video of the reunion that is pretty adorable. 

We followed the lion pride as the adult females in the group tried to follow the wildebeest herd - but ultimately we saw active lions and no significant wildebeest chases. 

Supper was very tasty. Staff have treated us royally. I must go to my room to pack everything up for a 6:30 am departure. Now where is that Maasai warrior to escort me back to the tent!!

Day 12 Ngorongoro Conservation Area

After 12 days on the road, Neil planned for us to have the morning off to enjoy the camp and take some time for ourselves. The birders went out birding with Chris this morning and Suzan, Jeannette, Neil and I happily spent time in the lounge after breakfast, silently working on our own devices. In my case, I am typing my blog on my phone. I really didn’t want to bring my computer on this trip because that to me feels like work. So I am less efficient typing this blog with my phone than in a keyboard but it is manageable. 

I want to tell you about our amazing camp Nyikani Migration Camp - Ndutu. This camp is situated at Ndutu Lake which is 1600 m elevation - 600 meters higher than home. We were told this camp is a migration camp that is picked up and moved to follow the animals. I thought that meant it would be simple canvas tents. Boy was I mistaken!!  We still have porches, hardwood floors, bathrooms with running water and electricity. 

The shower is a bucket shower which means you call to ask for the delivery of 20 litres of solar heated water to be put into your bucket suspended above your tent. 

The backside of our family tent shows the bucket suspended above the tent to use gravity to help with the warm shower. 

After breakfast the chef had asked us what we wanted to eat for lunch and nobody had a strong preference, so he said “pizza?”  I said perfect!!  So that was our delicious lunch!  Then we headed out in the trucks around 2 pm. 

The Maribou Stork displayed his wings wide and inflated the sack on his throat. 

I think I learned how to identify a Blacksmith Larkspur bird today!  Hooray. 

We saw a tawny eagle in the top of a tree. I have to post this picture for my Wingspan family!

We watched a leopard sleep in a tree. She clearly had killed a young wildebeest that she went through the effort of hauling up in the tree with her - to keep it safe from predators!

Can you spot the two legs dangling down?

We saw another pride of lions comfortable enough to sleep on the shores of Lake Ndutu. 

I like this little guy sleeping on his back!

We left this to spot a new animal - the cheetah. Not just one but three brothers!

What was really cool is that Cornel pointed out a hyena about 200 m beyond where the cheetahs were laying in the grass. I was able to capture that on video so that was sweet but I am not skilled enough to share video on this blog!

Cheetahs can top out at 120 km/hour. They can sustain a speed of 90 km/hour for 600 metres! They thrive living on the plains because they can run flat out without fear of injury. 

We captured some crown cranes in nice light at the end of the day. 

And then the rain came. It poured as we were heading back to camp. Cornel and Thom were kind enough to drive us right to the edge of the lounge tent so we didn’t get wet exiting the trucks. After about 20 minutes the rain died enough to walk back to our tents. 

I enjoyed a hot bucket shower with much better water pressure tonight. They did a little maintenance work on my shower to improve the water flow so it was a delightful hot shower!  I appreciated the rubber boots in my tent to walk to the dining tent for dinner. Suzan appreciated the big umbrella. 

Dinner was delicious!!  Neil was thrilled they offered cauliflower and cheese (among other things) as well as crème caramel for dessert. 

We have an early morning departure tomorrow at 7:30 am so must head to bed. 

Day 11 Serengeti National Park to Ngorongoro Conservation Area

What a day!!  I am posting this as a placeholder to keep the date correct for this amazing day of viewing the wildebeest and zebra migrations!!!!

The day had us journeying from central to south Serengeti hoping to encounter wildebeest (gnus) and zebra migrations. We said farewell to our beautiful Nyikani Serengeti Luxury Tented Camp with wonderful views and headed towards the Serona Airstrip by 10 AM. Serengeti Park passes are sold for 24 hour periods so we had to a park gate where we could buy another half day pass. 

We saw a black chested snake eagle atop a dead tree (that even I could capture with my camera!). That is the great thing about Africa - many of the birds are quite easily visible because they aren’t hidden behind lush vegetation!  We also saw a juvenile Martial Eagle (with substantial legs for picking up prey), Bishops in their glorious red and black colours, vultures and Maribou storks like we see on the lawn of our Moshi hotel. And then we see all three kinds of vultures - white-backed, Ruppell’s and Lappett-Faced. For those on safari who don’t stop for the Ndege (birds) - they are missing a plethora of wildlife!

After buying our half day Serengeti pass we stopped at a little commercial area where people could buy hot air balloon experiences. That adventure wasn’t for our group but we learned that privilege would cost about $695 US should you choose to do it. We had seen balloons floating in the sky, visible from our lodge earlier in the day. 

We then journeyed to a spot on the Serengeti that was special to Cec in our group. She and Stephen had been on a Neil Zee Adventure, a similar African safari, two years ago. It had been Stephen’s dream since he was 12 years old to travel to Africa. Stephen’s favourite photo was taken at this rock on the Serengeti. Stephen died unexpectedly this past year so we had a little ceremony to honour him. It was a touching moment for sure. 

The group atop the memorial rock!

We then travelled on our way and saw a hyena soaking in water. Cornel told us that hyenas roll in mud to deal with the insects, that the mud dries and then cracks their skin, so hyenas like to soak in water to help their tight dry skin expand. 

And then we came across a herd of about 10,000 zebras!  Zebras were on the left side and on the right side and crossing the road in front of the truck. 

A Neil Zeller photo capturing the zebra migration. 

Zebras eat the tough long grass. Wildebeest and gazelle eat the shorter grass so they can coexist comfortably. 

We had the thrill of seeing a number of lions, one in particular with a blonde mane. 

Most lions have some black in their manes, this one had a blonde mane. 

We reached Naabi Hill, the south edge of Serengeti Narional Park where we passed park rangers who officially were checking people in going the opposite direction. 

We crested Naabi Hill and witnessed the unbelievable site of about 750,000 wildebeest migrating. What an astonishing sight!  Words (and pictures) cannot grasp the magnitude of that view. We could see the animals were moving right to left in our field of vision, and there were wildebeest as far as the eye could see!

Suzan’s captured this photo showing the lead edge of the migration. 

Suzan’s picture demonstrating the scope and magnitude of the hundreds of thousands of wildebeest as far as we could see.  We know there to be 1.2 million wildebeest in the region at minimum. 

Neil Zeller photo of roaring running through migrating herd. 

Another Neil Zeller photo showing the vastness of it all!

I took a video of a bunch of wildebeest chasing a young one in a circle. Cornel said they are having fun, they are happy with lots of grass and water in their favourite environment. They are teaching the young one to develop their muscles because they travel up to 40 km during the day and 40 km at night for a total of 80 km, so they need to be strong. 

Chris explained we are able to see these great migrations for a number of reasons but partly because Lengai Volcano spewed volcanic ash millions of years ago and made the area unsuitable for deep rooted vegetation like trees, but perfect to grow shallow rooted grass. 

So we travelled further south and actually exited out of the Serengeti Park Gates and headed along the line just inside the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. No fence exists between the two areas - they want the animals to pass freely, but different rules apply. The conservation area allows trucks to travel off established roads to view the animals if desired. 

I need to mention we found straw tailed whydahs and indigo birds. Even our driver Cornel said those birds are tough to find sometimes!

We had some more great close views of giraffes and lions as we approached our camp. 

We arrived at our home for the next three nights called Nyikani Migration Camp - Ndutu. As with all camps we enter, we were greeted by staff who help us out of the vehicles, carry our duffel bags, hand us cold rolled up wet washcloths to clean the dust off our faces and offer us a cold drink. In this instance we had champagne or a selection of cold beer. 

The manager of the camp Damas (who happens to be a brother to our two drivers, Cornel and Thom) welcomed us and told us the camp rules including meal hours etc. The most important rule is to always call for a guide to walk us to our tent after 7 PM and before 6 AM. 

A campfire and buffet dinner capped off the amazing day. By 9 PM we were all tuckered out and headed for bed. I was too tired to blog to share the unbelievable experiences of the day. What a dream trip!!

Day 11 Serengeti National Park to Ngorongoro Conservation Area

What a day!!  I am posting this as a placeholder to keep the date correct for this amazing day of viewing the wildebeest and zebra migrations!!!!

More to come!!

Day 10 Serengeti National Park

Today we got up and were collected for breakfast at 6 AM. Because we are in a wonderful camp in the middle of the Serengeti (where wild animals could roam) - like all camps, we must wait for a guard to escort us to and from our tent, so that is why I use the word ‘collected’. I also use the word ‘tent’ rather loosely as the structure has hardwood floors, a full bathroom housed within 3 rooms and a covered porch in addition to the main room. It is very much a permanent structure!  Perhaps cabin would be a more appropriate description. 

The purpose of the early morning breakfast was so we could have a stellar morning of viewing. And our first view was this sunrise. 

This is my photo on an iPhone 15 Pro. 

This is Neil Zeller’s photo shot with his 200-800 long lens - and he IS a professional photographer!

After this amazing photo opportunity - the site of which Neil had scouted in advance for us - we drove onward and saw our first hippos up close. We saw them at an area with a sign that read “Hippo Viewing Loop”. 

Our drivers are so experienced at anticipating where animals will move, Thom was backing up and getting us in position for the path the hippos would take two minutes before they emerged from the brush!  Once the hippos moved back into the bush we moved along and found a few lions!

Female lion sitting in the grass. 

Male lion above. We then headed to the hippo pool area and saw some amazing sites!!

I was so focused on the hippo standing at the far side of the water that I didn’t even notice the 60 or so hippos in the water in the foreground for the first two minutes I was viewing!

Neil Zeller’s closeup of the hippos!

In addition to the hippos there were baboons, impalas and a crocodile in the same concentrated area. Just fabulous!!  The area was equipped with flush toilets and a little snack bar too (and we weren’t the snack for the hippos!)

We saw a number of birds that I could not adequately capture on my phone.  We saw barbets (thank you Chris - I am one away from filling one bingo card now!), Pygmy Falcons, Lappet Vultures, White Headed Buffalo Weavers and Silver Birds and many more I didn’t capture in my notes. 

And I got an adequate photo of a warthog. As Neil always says - they are everybody’s prey, so they don’t stick around for pictures much. 

We then headed back to the Lodge where we had lunch and some free time. The free time got extended as a thunder storm moved in and soaked the Serengeti. We waited an extra hour or so to let the storm pass, then loaded into our trucks for late afternoon viewing. 

We saw a nice view of some giraffes fairly close up!

Then we found a couple of lions in a tree and that was amazing!! Our driver Cornel said the female was pregnant and close to her delivery date so she was trying to find a safe space away from the lion in the area. The whole experience was amazing to witness and I am sure others captured better photos than I, but I will share a couple of them. 

First tree the female lion was perched in. 

Second tree the female moved to along with another female, to be safe from the male lion stalking them. 

Neil Zeller’s closeup of the pregnant female in the tree with sunset lighting!

We raced to get back to the lodge by 7 pm as Rangers will pull you over after that time - looking for poachers. But if our drivers got pulled over after hours they would be let off with a warning and the next time they would lose their guiding license for 3 months (thereby not allowing them to make a living.)

What a fabulous day. Just idyllic. Tomorrow we have another adventure!