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You are here: Home / Archives for safari

Oh, I Just Can’t Wait To Be King

March 31, 2010 By Guest Blogger

When one thinks of Africa often the first thing that comes to mind is Disney Classic, The Lion King. So when Danny and Jill asked me what I wanted to do during my visit, without hesitation my response was, “See every animal from The Lion King!”

One two hour flight, one (EDITOR’S NOTE: Two for Danny, he came all the way to Kenya to pick me up) seven hour shuttle, and one hour long jam packed bus ride later I was in Moshi, Tanzania eagerly awaiting my safari for the next morning. I gladly woke everyone at the crack of dawn screaming “Safari Day!” Soon after we were off to our three day, open roofed land cruiser safari…

Singing songs (EDITOR’S NOTE: Yes, we actually did this) from the Lion King on the drive to our first park reminded me of the famous talk between Mufassa and Simba (Fun Fact: Simba means Lion in Swahili) about the circle of life. His version of the circle of life largely encompasses the relationship between the predator and the prey and how everything returns to the earth in one big circle. Almost immediately I discovered he forgot to mention one key detail: reproduction! It seems everywhere we went that is what we saw the trip soon came to be known as THE SEX SAFARI!

We saw this aspect of the circle of life occur in most animals from zebras to elephants (An elephant penis can weigh up to 25 KG wow!) to Baboons on more than once occasion. We gave our best efforts to capture these magical moments on film. Who doesn’t everyone need a picture of Zebra fornication in their living room?

The safari turned into a real life Lion King experience and so much more! Ngorogoro Crater was by far my favorite park, we saw what seemed like millions of animals just hanging out in this huge hole. We had lions come up and sit in the shade of our Land Cruiser, one crazy [French] woman started screaming (EDITOR’S NOTE: Actually screamed ooohhhh lala) because she thought we were going to run over the lion’s tail. When we first drove up to these lions Jill’s motherly instincts came out when she hurried me off the roof of the car where I was sitting and made me keep my arms in the vehicle. This would not be the last of Jill attempting to save my life. (EDITOR’S NOTE: Just wait until we get to Uganda.) A few times we became part of the elephant herd, where our car was literally in the middle of over fifty elephants. The elephant even mock charged us, clearly an experience one cannot live without.

I do believe my Lion King experience was a success, but I believe Danny and Jill felt my Africa experience would not be complete until an over-night 14 hour bus ride on an unpaved road could be checked off their mental list. To make it even better we had local music videos blaring through the speakers the whole time all the way from Tanzania to Uganda. We were even lucky enough to do it again for 30 hours from Uganda to Lamu (Island off coast of Kenya) but with Kenny Rogers and Nigerian soap operas. I don’t know how these guys do it!!!! Once was enough and twice was more than I could ever need in my life time, and they are ready to do it again. I truly felt like a backpacker when I got to step off my “luxury” bus ride to walk two miles in the scorching heat with a 40 pound pack on my back.

Many thanks to Nikki Biller, Danny’s cousin and author of this post, who joined us for a few weeks in East Africa.

Filed Under: Africa, Headline, Tanzania Tagged With: animals, safari, tours, travel

Whirlwind tour of Namibia

February 25, 2010 By Jillian

My boss used to say, it was real and it was good but it wasn’t real good.  That was Namibia. Namibia is a beautiful country, but it was difficult. Unable to get money out of several ATM’s, we had visions of wandering through the desert without cash or petrol.   Not exactly a “real good” start.

Namibia is a incredibly striking country, from the arid desert of the south to the lush forests in the north.  We only had a short amount of time in Namibia so we skipped things like sand boarding, which we had done in Peru and Nicaragua and instead spent our time, soaking in natural hot springs in the desert, climbing 100m high red sand dunes for sunrise, and night time game spotting.

At 65 degrees Celsius, the natural hot springs at Ai-Ais were to hot to even put a full foot in, so instead we opted for the indoor hot springs where the water is pumped into jacuzzi’s and slightly cooler. The national park accommodations were gorgeous and resembled a spa, but something about paying almost $40 a night to camp there put a bad taste in our mouth.

The scene repeated itself over and over again throughout Namibia, incredible natural beauty, incredible price tag.  See what  I mean, real and good, just not real good. By the time we reached Etosha National Park, a park we’d heard phenomenal things about since arriving on the continent, we were wondering if it was all worth it on a trip like ours.

We’ve seen a lot of game, but we went to Etosha having not seen any leopards nor cheetah.  Driving through the park we felt completely alone and went nearly two hours without seeing another car, or anything besides Zebra and Impala.  Just as we were about to turn around and head to camp we spotted a lion walking across the road 100 feet from the car.  Pulling slowly closer, we saw two juveniles sitting in the shade next to the road.  We watched the three of them from about 20 feet away, until the lions, who could care less about the approach of our vehicle, raised up slowly and walked to a nearby watering hole.  Excited at the proximity of our encounter we clamored on about how happy we were until we spotted a male…sitting at the edge of the road.  He sat no further from our car than two or three feet. When we zoom in on his picture, we can actually see the reflection of our car in the lions eye.  Talk about incredible.  In the end we saw six lions resting in the shade, but none ever as close at the male.

Tipped off by another traveler to say at Halali Camp  for its floodlight watering hole, we pulled into camp having spent the rest of the afternoon searching for another close encounter.  That night honey badgers came through the camp.  One of the most feared and aggressive animals in Africa, no animal messes with a honey badger.  Fortunately they moved on, and we walked out to the watering hole around 10pm.  Hearing rustling, we stepped into the viewing area and immediately spotted a rhinoceros in the light.  A few minutes later her calf appeared quickly followed by another rmother and calf.  As they stood drinking, playing and eating, a leopard (our first sighting, finally completing the big five!) approached through the trees.  Annoyed at the cats presence, the mothers stomped and false charged at the leopard. No sooner did the rhinoceroses defend their territory did we hear something approaching from the darkness.  Standing at attention, the leopard decided it was time to disappear into the darkness.

Like a King arriving at court, a male elephant crashed through the trees.  Unhappy to find someone else at his watering hole, he chased the rhinoceroses away before drinking, splashing and eating to his hearts content.  We’ve seen elephants chase buffalo, zebra and ostrich from a watering hole, but never rhinoceroses.  Although the elephant succeeded in scaring off the leopard, the rhinoceroses hung in the shadows, waiting for his highness to leave.  After having his fill, the elephant meandered away, or so we thought.  The rhinoceroses, emerging from the darkness, cautiously approached the watering hole only to have the elephant come at them from behind.  Running back into the bush the rhinoceroses waited until the elephant was completely gone, which took quite some time, before one mother and calf reappeared.  In the end it was an incredible moment, best summed up by the Italian guy on the bench near us.  “Wow.” Couldn’t have said it better myself. By the time we left Etosha our list of sightings sounded like a “12 nights of Christmas song”, which to our pleasure included two leopards!

Etosha was definitely the highlight of our time in Namibia, and the country is certainly beautiful and interesting, but we never felt comfortable in Namibia.  People were friendly, but not warm, polite but not welcoming.  Granted we only spent a little less than a week in the entire country, so its really not fair to pass judgment, but we never felt that we were able to see and experience “real” Namibia.

Filed Under: Africa, Headline, Namibia Tagged With: animals, camping, safari, travel

More Elephants…

February 8, 2010 By Jillian

We knew we’d spend a good portion of our time in South Africa game viewing at the national and provincial parks , after all it’s not exactly common to see a lion hunt in downtown D.C. (well depending on your profession maybe it is!). First through Kruger, than the parks in Swaziland, Huhuilwe-iMfolozi and finally we hit what many consider to be South Africa’s hidden gem- Addo Elephant Park.

Ever since the “elephant incident” at Kruger I’ve been dreading Addo Elephant Park. A park dedicated to elephant sent visions of being crushed by these gentle giants through my head, and well I was hoping that having two other people in the car might persuade my darling husband to re-evaluate the actual distance of 30 meters. That was until we sat near a waterhole, watching water buffalo, ostrich, zebra and finally two elephants come for a drink. Not only did the elephants approach the watering hole passing less than 10 meters from our car, but they as well as everyone else in the car seemed completely unfazed by our proximity…Except of course, me. “Now I see why you’re not allowed to drive in the game parks,” pipped up our friend in the back. “I’m calm,” I replied, willing myself to relax a little.

In the heat of summer most of the waterholes have gone dry so its easy to find the animals at Addo- just go to the water. Advised by other travelers to just go to a watering hole and let the animals come to us, we spent the morning watching small family groups of zebra, ostrich, jackal, buffalo, warthog and elephant come and go. Addo might be known for its huge elephant population, said to be the densest in Africa, but we spent the morning watching a menagerie of African animal parade before us, even spotting four lions lounging in the shade.

After a decade in Washington, D.C. there was one watering hole we had to go to, no matter what may or may not be there– Marion Baree water hole. I’m sure the watering hole is named for a very respectable, very worthy person, but the irony of the pronunciation- the same as the infamous Washington, D.C. Mayor was too much.

Almost everything hides in the heat of the African sun, but as we came around the corner to visit our beloved former mayor, my jaw dropped. A breeding herd of about thirty elephants including several very young calves crowded around the hole drinking, splashing and playing about in the water. Speechless the four of us stared out the window for what seemed like forever, watching the elephants trumpet and splash each other. We’ve had some pretty incredible wildlife experiences over the last six weeks, but this is a memory even I do not want to forget.

Addo Elephant Park is so named for the herd of over 450 elephant in the park, but most of the elephants were hanging out in the inaccessible portions of the park. Still, it was an incredible day, and as we sipped wine watching sundown over a watering hole filled with both lions and kudu, I finally began to calm down. Maybe next time I should just drink a glass before we meet the elephants?

Filed Under: Africa, Headline, South Africa Tagged With: animals, encounters, nationalparks, safari

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