The Killer Turkey Affair

Jane has just beaten off an attack from the Great African Turkey who lives in our Kigali campground with his wife and 7 chicks.

Following our game viewing we were in Nairobi where the unexpected highlight was it's glorious National Museum. We were tipped off by a shop owner on Bishahara Street who gave the recent rebuilding rave reviews. It covers a lot of areas, natural history, Kenyan history, Kenyan modern artists, all beautifully done. Of special note is "Ahmed" the elephant with the perfect tusks who had personal body guards for the last two years of his life. The museum has his mounted skeleton and a beautiful fiber cast.  The exhibit that would rival any museum was the incredible collection of fossilized skulls of early man ranging back as far as 2.7 million years. With this was an outstanding presentation tracing  evolution , ending with a comparison of modern man and primates.

Leaving Nairobi a two day drive was  broken up by an overnight at a quirky campground that was very proud of having hosted Bill Gates. It was scattered down a steep hill with a long tunnel to a spacious bar lounge area. Our drive featured stunning views over the Rift Valley, with a backdrop of  imposing volcanoes just visible through the haze. The valley itself is lush and rolling , with terraced fields wrapped around the hills.

In Kampala we camped at the endearingly named Red Chili; and spent half a day with Hudsonite Katie Corker.who is presently working there with Action Against Hunger. We visited her house and offices followed by lunch at a super restaurant with stunning views over Lake Victoria.

Another two day drive followed ( the first 12 hour marathon starting at 6 am ) which took us over the Rwanda border. Again dramatic switch back roads and mountains, mountains everywhere.

This brings us to the gorilla trek; using permits that we had long before leaving Canada. Our starting point featured a group of local musicians who set the tone- thundering drums and wild dancing. Eight of us were assigned to Francois, a burly older guide who had been tracking gorillas for over 20 years. Each group is allowed to visit one gorilla family for one hour per day. We set off across a potato field and on into a thick sloped bamboo forest. Francois had already shown himself as character with animated growls and actions. He managed to tear strips of bark from a  eucalyptus tree so we could try the tasty fibers beneath.

Diane Fosse was given credit and he pointed out where her grave is. There are only 700 mountain gorillas left, all in this general area which is shared by Rwanda, Uganda and unfortunately the Congo. We were just a few kms from both borders. In less than an hours trek through the jungle we met 4 trackers who had been out early tracking our family. Gorillas build a new nest every night and can move up to 2 kms each day. We scrambled off the narrow track and 10 meters into the bush there they were. We crouched down to view five gorillas sprawled about in a small clearing.

 It soon became apparent there were more as two young tumbled out of the bush. They seemed oblivious to our presence as photo after photo was taken. When they started to amble into the bamboo thicket Francois encouraged us to follow. The young were playing above our heads, showering us at times with twigs and leaves. A brief confrontation between the two silverbacks was quickly settled as the larger , about 450 lbs, established dominance.

We have had such wonderful wildlife experiences, elephants and buffalo outside our tent, lions and their kill three feet away , but this takes us somewhere quite different. There is so much of us in them ...or perhaps it is the other way around.

Our drive to Kigali must be one of the world's great drives. Twisting mountain roads where we perched on the spine of ridge lines, looking down on carefully tended fields 800 meters below. The road is under construction and we often edged past heavy machinery, trusting in Rogan to judge the cms he had to work with.

Much Like Kampala  Kigali is a city of hills. There has been a lot of  recent modern construction. Our campground is run by a non-profit organization that provides prosthetics to genocide victims. The Genocide Centre is a thoughtfully designed building set in beautiful gardens terraced down a hillside. The centre traces the story from colonial times through the horrifying events of 1994 and on to today. Personal stories and artifacts create a deep and lasting impact. They chronicle other genocides of the 20th century, starting with Namibia, through the Armenians, the Holocaust, Cambodia, Bosnia and others. Romeo Daillaire is sympathetically presented, the UN's apology for its' lack of action is noted, and the French are held accountable for their supply of arms and misguided support.

A quiet day in Kigali....we soon start the long road north.

Jane and Mike

Pictures from Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater

On the drive in to the Serengeti ......

That's close enough!

Endless plains,endless life.

Looking down from the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater...we had a 5:30 a.m. start.

Sunset from our campground on the rim. Mike is in charge of sunsets, others by Jane. Later this same night a herd of buffalo grazed on the fresh grass around our tents. We could hear the grinding of teeth and more than one were beside and in front of our tent.

Classification: big bird

This baby was waiting and watching for an opportunity to grab a bone.

Masai friend

Masai village

And to end the day ......        

Hakuna Matata

Ruaha National Park was our next highlight stop.  The drive in was a rugged test for both our truck and its' occupants!  Breakfast was held in darkness, as our game drive was scheduled for 6:30.  Ruaha is Africa's second largest game park (Selus is first) and it is a jewel.  Mature baobabs are scattered everywhere (and they are very mature indeed - they can be as old as 2000 years - we were told the ones here are a spritely 1000 or younger).

  The hilly surface provided one breathtaking view after another.  22 years ago Jane had a guided walking tour which brought her up close to giraffes, and we were thrilled to see repeated groups as we travelled along.  Some were right by the road and one group had 2 very young calves. For such large animals they move with remarkable grace.

We did very well with lions as well.  First a pride of 6, lazing on an outcropping beside the road, and then a spectacular pride of 15, who were just polishing off the mornings' kill, a young elephant.  Pretty much just some skin and a couple of feet were all that was left.  This group featured 2 magnificent males, while the first had a rather scruffy-looking fellow that we thought was just getting established.  The driver for our group of 5 (and obviously feeling lucky) drove us within a meter of several, it was quite startling staring into a full grown lion's eyes from about 100cm away!

Elephants also featured prominently, occasionaly close enough that they flapped their ears in warning.  We saw group after group, some very close, some decoratively far away. There were lots of quite young so we guess so they seem to be thriving...another difference from our first trip. Mike says they won't miss the one the lions ate for breakfast.

As well kudu, eland, zebra, wildebeest, wild dogs (great ears!), monitor lizards, and a quick view of a family of banded mongoose.  They sit up and gaze at you with an uncomfortable intelligence.

And now?  We are in Zanzibar, that most exotic of islands.  There are some names that just do it all by themselves - Kathmandu, Istanbul, Bali, Marrakesh, and Luang Prabang to name a few. You may remember the tales of our very difficult trip across the Indian Ocean  22 years ago. This trip was entirely different beginning with an air con waiting room and it taking about a quarter of the time. The last trip we shared with perhaps 3 other travellers , where as this time 3/4 of the many passengers were tourists.

The winding, narrow streets of Stone Town, send you straight to med-evil times (but without the stuff thrown in the street). Our first visit we stayed at an old hotel which was very run down and almost deserted ( like much of the town). Jane was very interested in trying to find it again but neither of us could remember where it was , other than it had a view of the ocean. It is now known as Africa House and is a posh hotel where tourists meet for "sundowners". It was great fun to explore it again and easy for us to picture the girls having breakfast there.

 The street market in front of the old Portuguese fort is a serious trip, with the smells sublime. We actually ate there three times, enjoying the fish, the fresh fruit and a Zanzibar specialty a sort of pizza/omlette that is made while you watch.

  The last 2 days we were at Sunset Beach, which is on the north end of the island, and features probably the best coral sand beach and the most turquoise water we have ever seen.  We are back in Stone Town for one more night and tomorrow we begin our trek towards Arusha and the Serengeti.

Water

Our next destination was Chobe National Park, and the drive in featured a half dozen elephant sightings (some only a couple of meters off the road).We had an evening cruise on the Chobe River with lots of hippos and crocs on display. We finished up with the usual sunset...ho hum.

It was a short drive to cross into Zambia, but required a ferry crossing to do it. We passed a good two kms of trucks lined up on the way in; some having been there over a week. We id much better as our crew ,Rogan and Alison, had us on the ferry with minimal delay. This feat requires cutting into lines,dodging touts and pressing our case with every official- great and small. We eventually wound up in Livingston and Victoria Falls. It is a rather luxurious campground/lodge and we enjoyed the comforts. Best of all the mist of the falls is visible from the bar. That first day there were two torrential downpours and we were concerned about what the next days might bring, but the rest of our stay was gorgeous.

There is an endless variety of exciting activities offered in Livingston ranging from bungi jumping off the gorge bridge to horse back riding. A happy coincidence putMike into a kayak to paddle rapids 11 to 25 in the Zambezi Gorge, a class 3-4 run with very high levels. He was pretty chuffed if somewhat beat up. He met a British pro paddler/photographer who has spent much time at the Lachine Rapids.

The next day Jane did her adrenalin thing, with an early morning ultralight

flight over the falls and gorge. She actually held the controls as they passed through the circular rainbow in the mist of the falls. We should say something about Victoria Falls. It is not your usual waterfall arrangement .Think of a capital T with the top of the T being the falls and the tail being the gorge ( but zigzaged).The falls are two kms across and about a hundred meters deep. The gorge runs for almost 200 kms. Quite rightly it is a world heritage site.

After two long driving days ,which Mike has named “truck it “ days, we made our way down a challenging road to South Luangwa National Park where we camped on the river bank. All day long we could see hippos and crocodiles along the shore or lazing in the water. We were told to keep our eyes open if we left the tents at night as hippos may be grazing in the camp.

Christmas Eve saw us at concert featuring a choir made up of workers from the various camps. They were superb as was the setting-a large open potatoe field, which had both elephants and giraffes in the distance. Our group had a great Christmas dinner with Mike's cook team hosting; including an enormous trifle , mince tarts and a Christmas cake. We had a gift draw ; a nice bracelet for Jane and three tennis balls to juggle and a ...wait for it ...a slingshot for Mike. Our camp grounds sometimes feature aggressive monkeys and baboons and theslingshot has already been put to use.

That night was everybody's Christmas gift. We woke about 4:15 to the sound of pots crashing and assumed the garbage had been left out. Our first thought was baboons , until we heard a rumbling growl and the clattering of the truck which made it clear it was something bigger. We. were unable to see anything as our tent had it's back to the truck; we could see the night watchman creep forward using a flashlight and clapping his hands to no avail. After 10 minutes we could see out the side window of the tent a set of enormous legs, followed by a full grown elephant at our front door. Eventually 5 or more adults and two calves ended up outside the front of the tent eating the shrubs and grass in front of the tent. Amazing how big an elephant looks when you are lying on the ground.(Note to Kimberly-the noise had prompted Mike to pull out his leatherman , but seeing the elephants he quietly put it away. Now he says he needs a bigger one.) After the elephants departed we gathered at the truck to see that the elephants had torn a steel plate door off the truck, to devour a stash of mangoes and cornflakes.

A view of a locust cloud over Lake Malawi.

Two more travel days have brought us to Kande Beach on the shores of Lake Malawi , the second largest lake in Africa). Tonight is New Years and our roast pig is roasting as we prepare this. All our very best to you for 2012 – we hope it will provide.. some great surprises and good health.

Jane and Mike

OkaVango Delta Blues

1. While spending time in Zimbabwe, we have been following the path of our passports which were sent off to the Ethiopian Embassy in Toronto to obtain our visas. To get there they had to go through South Africa, Germany, Holland and Britain. They are a whole lot better travelled then we are!
   We finally got them back the other day along with a very large bill. This whole thing was caused because in Canada you cannot get a visa to Ethiopa more than three months before you enter the country. The passports have now returned, looking none the worse for wear.
   
   
   We had four nights at a lion rehab establishment called Antelope Park. It was quite a nice resort type place. A couple of our activities that stand out were a lion feeding which is designed to help determine the dominant males. So what happens is you stand behind a wire fence with some slabs of raw meat lying on just the other side of the fence. A hundred metres away a signal releases 7 male lions who set off in a dead sprint for the meat. We both had trouble keeping our cameras focused as 6 inches away they fought for the best piece of meat. 
   
   
   
   
   
   The other favourite was spending a little over two hours with a pride of lions stalking a herd of elands. It was fascinating to watch their strategies as they moved through the scrub grass. One even circled the elands to flush the herd toward the rest of the pride.
   It all ended up with lions going hungry and the elands going home ( this time). That would be Lions 0, Elands 1.
   
   
   In Matapos, our next stop, we were treated to great examples of Zimbabwe's balancing rocks. You see these all over the country. 
   
   
   
   
   
   We did a rhino walk in Matapos National Park, but it was a miserable rainy day and there are very few animals in this park as it has been ravaged by poachers.
   The camp ground was highlighted by enormous sculptured boulders and colourful lizards. They were able to incorporate the boulders into their buildings..which was pretty neat. We are at the beginning of the rainy season and we have had heavy short downpours and all night steady rainfalls mixed in with gorgeous sunny days and beautiful skies.
   
   
   From Matapos we picked up the wandering passports and crossed into Botswana, whch looks to be a happy country. No no visas!
   
   
   We are now in the Okavango Delta and are told the Okavango River rises in Angola and flows south and east into the desert. There it creates a vast delta and turns the desert into grasslands, reed filled swamps and forests.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Our group travelled by mokoros ( dug out canoe) for a night and day exploring the delta. It is a paradise for animals and on our return we heard. the sound of hippos in the high reeds near our boats. Coming onto an open area we found 5 large ones snorting and breaking the surface. They were very aware of us and the guides were on high alert. As two came closer to our boats we hastily carried on our way. The Okavango has given us our very best sunsets so far. These are also the hottest temperatures...our guides showed us a swimming hole that was guaranteed to not have crocodiles It was delightful to just loll about.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   We expect to be on the move from now until Christmas, our next stop being Chobe National Park.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Zim Zim Zimbabwe

On the morning of the 30^th we crossed into Zimbabwe, and, following a very lengthy delay at the border (copies in triplicate using mimeograph paper), drove into the Buvumba Mountains (meaning “Mountains of the Mist”). We camped at a crumbling colonial home run by a crumbling white family who had had a coffee farm before the land reforms. Watching this third generation family offered another view of the cost of colonialism.

We were both wondering if there would be apparent changes from our first trip to Harare 21 years ago. We knew about the repression and severe shortages, but the city and shops seem to be re-establishing. Zimbabwe now uses the American dollar as currency and they are tired looking bills to say the least. Theft is a problem and our truck was broken into with 5 of our group losing computers,cameras and money. We saw few travellers; two girls from our campground had one of their backpacks stolen while picking up a pizza.

Jane's bus story: Our favorite Harare adventure was catching the local minibus from the crowded city centre back to our campground. Our fresh faced driver ( at most early 20's) gave us the front seats, where we sat for 20 minutes as the bus filled . We thought the bus was full but it became clear they thought the bus had plenty more room. Finally we pulled out into the traffic ( after knocking one pedestrian three feet back).The driver turned to me and said “sorry mom” as he made a double u turn returning to our original spot to look for more passengers As we finally set off I was startled to see the driver take a drink from a small bottle stashed in the driver's door. The second time he did this he smiled again and said” you saw that” and explained ( in case I didn't know) “it's whisky”

We had two nights in an Outward Bound Camp ,close to Chimanimani. It is a spectacular setting with two natural swimming holes, a dramatic waterfall and towering mountain cliffs off set somewhat by rainy overcast weather. A highlight for Mike was a zipline starting 45 feet up a eucalyptus tree.

Following this we had two nights camped by Great Zimbabwe, which is a remarkable stone ruin. It is a world heritage site and as a dry stone structure is a rival to Machu Pichu. Not the same masonry skill, but the Inca would appreciate the scale and the graceful curves.

Last comment from Mike: Left Side Tourism: There are lots of places that I would love to return to. Jane, quite rightly, points out there are an awful lot of places we have never been ...so get over it. I think I have come up with a solution to this irreconcilable situation always look left. You see plenty but if you return there is still an entire side to occupy, and indeed to thrill you. 

Good bye Mozambique

We left you in Tofo on the beach, where we had some great walks, both during the day and in the evening. We found a favorite restaurant for crayfish and prawns and on our walks home were treated to clear skies and the cloud of the Milky Way. One afternoon both Mike and I spent a lot of time in the ocean on a rented boogie board. The waves were a little small for a surf board but brought us right up to the sandy shore.  A group of 15 went snorkling in hopes of swimming with whale sharks. First hour and a half brought no joy, but when ordered to jump in the water Mike went over immediately and was stunned to face a whale shark headed straight for him. The shark glided past within arms reach , the tail being about the same height as Mike. As the tail went by he was swamped by a flurry of arms and flipper clad feet as the rest of the boat chased after the shark. Very cool...very few had as good a view.

The countryside in Mozambique is poor, with the people mostly in grass houses, but the settlements are neat and tidy and the people we met very friendly.

In Vilcanculos the highlight was a Dhow trip to an island offshore...very Robinson Crusoe. We both snorkled the coral reef. That night we were sent into the village to get another passport photo. It was in a little shop hidden down an alleyway ( our driver found it) . The photographer was able to produce a picture so dreadful that you will never ever see it . That effort was a special night price of 4 times the usual amount.

Last words from Mike:  You will be interested to hear that all our tents are named after fancy hotels. Our tent however is the Faulty Towers. Speaking of tents we have found out a worthwhile lesson regarding camping and weaver birds. Weaver bird colonies are pretty neat and one campground had a colony (always suspended in a tree) right in the middle of it. Dave and Graham  set up under the tree and within 30 minutes one side of the tent was covered with birdshit. Sort of like stucco.

This computer is not reading our camera so there will be no pictures for now. This blog is catching you up with Mozambique, we are posting it from Zimbabwe and hope to get up to date tomorrow.    

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