Murray & Rhonda on the road

Leg3 of our South African Journey

murray_wilson — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 22:01:00 GMT

We left Stellenbosch as weather down south started to get worse. As we headed North West the sun came out, although the South Easterly wind was unrelenting. The vineyards area and Montagu had 3 days of terrible weather with massive floods resulting - we passed through not a day to soon.

The west coast was beautiful and very different from where we had been previously. Lots of empty white sand beaches stretching for mile upon mile and inland huge wheat fields for a hundred and fifty kilometers north of Cape Town. It was quiet - geared up for local tourists, not international visitors. Our first stop was Langabaan and the West Coast National Park, situated on a vast natural lagoon. The north of the lagoon has a steel works and deepwater port where they export iron ore and have a large fishing fleet and a naval base. The southern part of the lagoon is popular with sailors and wind surfers & kite borders and the very southern part is one to the beautiful National Park. We spent a whole day in the park: visiting bird hides for a bit of bird watching, having coffee and muffins at the lovely old cape dutch farm house that had been converted into a cafe, looking over the dunes down at the choppy Atlantic. Whilst at the Atlantic ocean view point I spotted a group of Southern Right Whales - cool! We carried on down to a spot where the beach turned into a rock headland intending to walk and have a picnic but right inshore, no more than 200 meteres offshore were another group of Southern rights, with another bunch of the whales a further 100 - 200m out. Brilliant! They breached, spy-hopped, tail crashed and put there flippers out of the water, top entertainment.

From Langbaan we spent 3 nights in Vilddriff, a small town at the mouth of the Berg river. There was some good birdwatching along the river and lakes north of the town. We had a pleasant day looking at the birds and picnicking at the lakes. Lovely and sunny, but still bloomin windy. From vildriff we also had a day trip up to ClanWilliam and the Cedarberg mountains. They are very steep and dramatic (as all south African mountains seem to be). The wild flowers were lovely and we were able to see some of the famed rock art left behind by the khoi-San, the original settlers of this area.

It was then down to Cape Town. We visited boulders beach near Simons Town so as to see the resident colony of Jackass penquins - cute. We continued onto The Cape of Good Hope. It was really busy, but worth going as the earlier rough weather made the sea swells large and added to teh drama of teh place. Cape point is a really interesting place - old old geology and really pretty scenery and bush. We have also visited Table Mountain via the cable car, Rhonda could not be persuaded to walk up! We have eaten very well, my belly is defintly expanding and I will need to start running when we get to Auckland. The town is actually very busy and we had difficulty getting a room at a backpackers. We ended up in a terrible place, they put us in an "Annex House" - actually a house that is rented out to long term residents that had a spare room and it was not exactly clean - like being in an all male student flat! And the windows did not shut properly, so it was noisy at it was on a main road. I was not happy, but we had to endure it for 2 nights until I got us in to a nice hotel right close to teh Victoria and Alfred Waterfront (it used to be a prison!). We really like Cape Town, it is pretty safe, nice architecture and great cafes, bars, music etc plus a location to die for.

So tomorrow is our last day in Africa! We head to Grafton, Australia to spend 2 weeks with Rhondas brother John and his family, so looking foward to that. Then back to Auckland on December the 10th and we will have to start the process of getting jobs, sorting the house out etc. Still we have really enjoyed our long holiday, but both of us will be happy to be in one place for a while.

I will keep you updated of how we get on in Auckland.

Gallery: Stellenbosh to Capetown

murray_wilson — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 21:43:00 GMT

Gallery: Storms River to Stellenbosh

murray_wilson — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 21:43:00 GMT

Storms River to Stellenbosch

murray_wilson — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:48:00 GMT

Hi there everybody, its been a little while since our last post, have either been to busy or when we have had time, no internet connection.

Well from Storms River we went to a spot called Plettenberg Bay - a beautiful spot on the South Coast. It was too windy and cool to sit on the beach so instead we hopped onto a boat and when in search of whales. It took a while but in the end we spotted a group of 3 humpbacks. They were great - but a bugger to take pictures of, they keep going under the water! The backpackers was really nice - decorated in African prints, we even had a small sitting room. We also had our first Braai or South African BBQ - a real tradition. They use wood to make the hot coals rather than charcoal - nice way to cook though, especially with a glass or two of local pinotage.

Our next port of call was Wilderness National Park. It is a beautiful spot which encompasses bush, rivers, estuary lagoons and beach. We took a small, but well appointed forest hut rather than camping (it was quite windy - a weather theme that continues for 2 weeks!) We did a couple of walks and spent quite a lot of time bird watching (I seem to have become a birder!). Mind you one of the birds we did see was the Knysna Lourie - an outrageous green and red bird, so I was quietly chuffed about that. Good thing we like birds really as our forest hut had a resident pigeon with chicks just outside the front door!

The weather continues sunny as we turned north away from teh coast and crossed a low pass to enter the area known as the "Klein Karoo" and went to a town called Oudtshoorn, "The Ostrich Capital of South Africa".

It was a nice provincial town in a semi-desert landscape with a few attractions such as the Cango Caves (not that great actually), various ostrich farms, which we resisted, and Meerkats - which are completely unresistable. There is a chap (Mr Meerkat! aka Grant) who is a researcher on Meerkats and other burrow dwelling animals and who was the key reaearcher who enabled such series as Meerkat Magic with Nigel Marvin as well as films by Simon King and National Geographic. By getting teh meerkats used to his presence and using some special distraction techniques we were able to be within feet of WILD meerkats. We had to be there by 5.45 outside the burrow that they had gone into the previous night so that we were visible and ready to be inspected when the first Meerkat popped its head out of the burrow. They are brilliantly social animals - and it was interesting that because the meerkats accepted us, other wildlife such as some nearby Springbok did not regard us as a threat. After sunning themselves the group (15 in all as some were down in the burrow guarding babies) headed off, feeding as they went and we followed in fact they were at one time all around us. Very special. If you are interested type in Meerkat Magic to YouTube for grant's meerkat diary.

Oudtshoorn was strangely well endowed with fine restaurants - we had an excellent meal at one called Jamima's - some of the best lamb I have had, accompanied by another bottle of good pinotage of course!

We headed west along route 62, through the rugged, fynbos (fine bush) covered valleys. It is beautiful country - the mountains are so steep and craggy - they do not seem to go in for foot hills or anything, just vertigenous cliffs and long, long ridges. We stopped at a wee place called Calzidorp to do a port tasting, but actually did more wine tasting than port at the De Krans cellar. If you can get hold of a bottle or two of their merlot, or Turago Nacional then do so! We ended up in Montagu - a small service town with several vinyards and very pretty cape dutch architecture. The guest house we stayed in was forgettable, but we did a fine day walk in teh nearby hills and rewarded ourselvs with a nice meal and the inevitable bottle of wine - but chardonnay this time, not pinotage!

Continuing west on R62 we stopped one night in Worcester. It is not a real tourist destination but did have a very fine botanic garden and teh largest brandy distillery in teh world. Well we had to visit! KWV is a massive local producer of wine and brandy. Brandy is very widely drunk in SA and has a long tradition (like Gin in London). They drink 3 or 5 year old brandy with coke or lemonade or tonic, lets face it at that age it is so rough you have to mix it. But there 15 year old was pretty good - luckily Rhonda was driving.

Stellenbosh was destination I had wanted to visit as it is known for its excellent wine, good retaurants and old architecture. It was very windy and showery when we were there (a portent of teh heavy rain and floods that followed teh day we left!) but we really enjoyed it. We booked a wine tour so that we did not have to drive and so visited 4 vinyards, tasting 5 wines at each as well as doing a cheese tasting and having an excellent lunch. We were quite merry on our return - I think they make excellent reds but was not so convinced about teh whites. although they grow lots of Sauvignon Blanc I think it is too hot to produce a really excellent example. S.A is actually quite cheap to travel in as teh Rand is weak (about 15 to teh pound). On our final night in Stellenbosh we had a very posh 2 course dinner and it seemed like alot of money ZAR 525 - but that is actually only 35 pounds, so a bargain.

I will add Our west coast and cape town adventures when I can and hopefully some pictures too. Keep well,

Murray

South Africa - JoBerg to Storms River

murray_wilson — Sat, 1 Nov 2008 18:53:00 GMT

We stayed just one night in Joberg having flown in from Maun - the drop in temperature was remarkable, from 40 degrees to 22 - Joberg seemed quite cool. The next day we hopped onto a sleeper train that took us all the way to Port Elizabeth (PE) . We had our own 2 berth compartment and there was an attached dining car - not quite the Orient Express but funtional and very good value. As we rollled across the country we passed so much good farm land: lots of grain and maize or cattle farms. We rollled into PE at 9am and were picked up by the owne rof teh backpackers we had booked. The next 3 days were quiet - walks along the waterfront (PE has great beaches) or doing some shopping to get a guidebook or other stuff we needed for our time in S.A. The staff at Kings Beach Backpackers were great - relaxed, friendly and helpful. With there help we got a good deal on a hire car - so we now have our own wheels - it makes a real differemce to how you travel. One thing we did do to get into the local culture was go to a pub to watch the Curry Cup final (the domestic rugby competition). The game, as many finals are was a tight, defensive affair, but that was only 1/2 the entertainment as teh bar had a bbq going and supporters from the 2 teams yelled there teams on.

When we left PE we first went to Jeffrys Bay - home of the "Perfect surfing Wave". It had nice beches but was over developed. We motored on to Cape St Francis. Next morning we went for a walk along the Cape St Francis coastline - rugged with small sandy bays. The spring flowers were out and there were lots of birds to look at and identify. We stopped ofr an early lunch and whilst casually scanning teh sea with binoculars picked up a group of whales. Now we had been told that this was a good coast to see Southern Right Whales but were auprised to see something. They were wither Brides whales or Humpbacks - Rhonda and I cannot agree! Then we saw another group further out to sea and a seal surfing the waves right in front of us! Cool. So our short walk took most of the day.

We then drove to Storms River Mouth in the Tsitsikamma National Park. The campsite was right on the shoreline - very spectacular. We did a good walk through teh forst and along teh beach there and saw so much wildlife (I thought we had left Safaris behind!?). There were Dassies or Rock Hyrax, Duiker which are small antelope, another group of whales (humpbacks), dolphins and various birds including the beautiful Knysa Turaco (see picture - not taken in the forest I add but in a bird sanctuary we visited).

The weather here is good - cool but sunny mostly. We arrived in Pltenberg bay last night and head off this morning on a boat trip, maybe we will see some whales close up? Thanks for all the comments, and keep well.

Murray & Rhonda

Gallery: PE - Storms River

murray_wilson — Sat, 1 Nov 2008 18:41:00 GMT

Chobe and Kasane

murray_wilson — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 19:33:00 GMT

We travelled north from Maun to Kasane on the local buses. We got the first one ok at 6.30 am arriving at the one horse (but 3 fuel station) town of Nata by 9.30 am. However teh promised 1 bus an hour never materialised and after one minibus came through full we started to be concerened. We tried hitching - unsuccesfully, but eventually at 1.30 pm a bus arrived that we could get on. It was well over 40 degress in Nata - so it was long hot wait. The road north was as straight as a Roman would build and it was very flat terrain, mainly bush with one section of cultivation. We arrived at the lodge where we camped and had a very welcome shower, then dined at the lodge restaurant which overlooked teh Chobe river and was an oasis of calm and coolness after such a day.

Next morning we were picked up and started a 2 day safari in teh Chobe National park. We started with a 2 hour boat cruise up the river. It was fabulous, so many elephants (there are 60,000!!! in teh park) coming down to wallow in mud and swim. There was also lots of birdlife - african darters and cormorants, egrets and herons. Of course there was no shortage of hippos or crocs either. We then got dropped off and joined our vehicle on shore. As ever it was bumpy, hot and dusty bouncing around in the back of a Toyota Landcruiser. Still we saw plenty of game, highlights being:

Mongooses, Sable Antelope, A pair of mating lions (plus another male lion that hung around hoping he may get a turn!), a short glimpse of a lepoard darting through the bush, carmine bee eaters, lots of fish eagles and Puku antelope which are only now found in Chobe. We camped in teh bush for 2 nights and enjoyed teh company of our fellow travellers - being danish, dutch, belgian and israli. Sitting round a campfire, sipping red wine whilst watching the moon rise is one of those experiences I will take away from Africa and treasure.

We liked the boat cruise so much that we did another on our last day in Kasane, this time a late afternoon one. Several large herds of elphants came down to drink and we spent quite a lot of time looking at teh various birds (I have become a bit of a birder on this trip!). The highlight though was as we were speeding back to teh jetty a group of elephants started to cross the river - a beautiful sight with the sun setting behind.

Our journey back from Kasane to Maun was even more exciting (?!) than going there. We were told that there were 3 buses a day to Nata - where we could change for Maun. We chose the 8am one, knowing that it may be late as this is Africa but as we had seen it leave on Sunday we were confident it would go on a work day. Well, how wrong we were - only one bus had arrived teh day before, so there was only one that could leave - the 6am one an dwe missed it. After some consideration we got a cab to take us to a spot near the border with Zambia wich was meant to be a good hitching place. There were loads of locals, zambians and zimbabwians with the same idea however. When a vehicle stopped to pick someone up it was chaos as peopel competed for teh place. A minibus caused pandimonium and having full backpacks we were at a real disadvantage. However, we got lucky and a car stopped and we managed to get in the back along with a man and his one year old daughter and Rhondas pack balanced on our knees. It was a long, hot journey, with a 100km stretch of potholes and a bit of worry when teh car's engine died a couple of times - but we were delivered to Nata for teh same price as teh bus - a modest 60 pula or 5 pounds. It was interesting talking to teh 2 lads who picked us up - they were on holiday, one from the army the other a tour guide in Kasane. After 1/2 an hour in Nata where we drank several soft drinks to try and cool down we got on a bus and arrived safely in Maun about 5.30pm. We fly to Joberg tomorrow and then after one night get on an overnight train to Port Elizabeth - I love train journeys so am a teeny bit excited about this one. In Port Elizabeth (or P.E. as the locals call it) we plan to rest for a few days (we have been getting up early for safaris and travelling an dit is often too hot to get restful sleep) and hire a car so that we can drive down to cape town. Next post will probably be from P.E.

Murray & Rhonda

Gallery: Chobe & Kasane

murray_wilson — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 19:13:00 GMT

Photos from Chobe N.P. Botswana

Moremi Madness

murray_wilson — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:54:00 GMT

After our time in a Mokoro in the Okavango Delta we had 1 day off before heading there again, this time on a vehicle based 2 day, 1 night trip.

We were in a party of 7, good to chat with people as well as our guide Baker and Kasanga the cook (who ensured we were anything but hungry). It was really hot, we were drinking 3 litres of water a day plus tea and coffee. We camped at a really nice spot, overlooking a narrow stretch of water. In teh afternoon whilst we waited for it to cool down and go on our evening game drive we just watched the local stretch of water and it was amazing what we saw over that 3 hour stretch: baboons, mongooses, zebra, giraffe, waterbuck, african darter, hippos, storks, ibis .... The okavango is so full of life, it was amazing.

Camping under the stars was great - although the mun was so full that only the brightest stars were visable. The night was filled with the sounds of hippos, frogs and owls. We also heard hyena.

Our morning game drive on day 2 yielded lots more great birds and animals including 3 sets of lions - 10 in all (see Okavango picture set). Our drive home included a good portion of game drive and we were lucky enough to see another prode of lions with 3 females and 3 clubs and then to top it off a cheetah and cub - brilliant! Our vehicle, "Barry" was not so reliable - a flat battery meant that we had to push start it or keep the enging running - just as we left teh dusty dirt roads and hit tarmac it started misfiring - probably a blocked air filter, but no one could find how to access teh thing to clean it! We were caked in dust - so a shower and beer at teh campsite in Maun was very welcome. Next stop - Chobe national park and teh town of Kasane - more soon!

Okavango time

murray_wilson — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 00:06:00 GMT

We have returned from a 3 day, 2 night trip to teh okavango delta. We travelled by mokoro, or dugout canoe, and camped using our own tent and cooking over an open fire - very romantic. There was just the 2 of us plus Edwin our guide / poler (they pole the makoro like a punt. Edwin knew his stuff when it came to birds, animals, tracks and piloting his craft but was not the best communicator. When we went for an evening walk I asked if we would be back before dark and he said yes - which was a relief as who wants to be roaming the bush when there are hippos an delephants and lions and hyenas about. Of course what Edwin actually meant was No! He had forgotton his tent, so we marched at double quick pace back to his village to pick it up an dback again - not arriving back until 45 minutes after dark! We had passed elephants on teh way, and he looked slightly nervous, but was even more so when as we crossed the river to our camp there came sounds of falling trees as elephants smashed there way around within 5 - 10 meters of our tents!

Still no harm done. The actual canoeing part of the trip was lovely, silently gliding along between the reeds and lillies, herons flying up as we came into view. Beautiful and for me a dream realised. One evening we went up to a deep and wide part of the river where a group of hippos lived - we had seen them the night before in the moonlight as they passed by the camp on the riverbank, grazing and snorting. On our last game walk, early in teh morning, we saw an injured hippo (not sure if by lion or other hippo), went to the remains of a lion kill - a zebra which must have been taken early that morning (I was not too sure it was such a good idea as lions are lazy and tend not to move toofar from teh kill!). Actually we saw teh tracks of 2 lions coming away from the kill and followed them all the way back past our camp (but on the other bank) - they musty have passed by whilst we were out walking. Then it was back in teh canoe for a relaxing if very hot trip back (it reaches over 40 degrees in teh afternoon). Well I say relaxing - we actually had another close encounter with 2 elephants, we were only 4m away, but I did not take a photo until we were well past!

We are off on a 2 day safari into teh Moremi game reserve tomorrow (also part of the Okavango delta) and then it is up to Kasane.

Cheers, Murray & Rhonda.

Gallery: Okavango

murray_wilson — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Mokoro Trip & Safari

Gallery: Tanzanian Game parks

murray_wilson — Thu, 9 Oct 2008 21:19:00 GMT

Ruaha and Selous Game Parks

Ruaha N.P. - Selous N.P.and Elsewhere in Tanzania

murray_wilson — Sat, 4 Oct 2008 18:31:00 GMT

We are back in Dar Es Salaam after a 2 week Safari run by Explore. The trip started in Dar and after a long drive on suprisingly decent roads we overnighted in the vibrant hill town of Iringa. Next day we headed to remote Mufindi an area of tea and coffee plantations. On the way we stopped at a gorge where 400,000 year old stone tools had been found - one of the earliest known places for tool finds for our ancesters homo-erectus. At Mufundi the accomodation was lovely - you could fish, ride, play tennis or croquet as well as go for walks and bird watch. As the owner Jeff Fox said - "its a small corner of the British Empire". Still Jeff was a hugely energetic 70 year old who ran a string of lodges and camps in Tanzania and did alot for the local community. He had founded a charity for local orphans. The project is in its early stages but being done in a very sustainable and co-operative way. The orphans are mainly the result of one or more parents dying from aids. Local women are being employed as 'house mothers' with about 10 kids per house. Currently they have 12 kids but will eventually have room for about 60. They will have seperate houses for teenagers and will build a clinic and meeting house - it will be more like a small village built in a fold in the valley rather than an orphanage in a compound. The clinic will also serve surrounding villages and they also provide support to the local school where the kids go. We visited the orphanage and school. The school is one of the better supported and funded in the area but had a shocking lack of desks and text books (they had just had enough money to buy 1 set of text books for the curriculum - so now each class has 1 text book among about 90 students!!!) 90 students to 1 classroom - about 700 pupils in all! Still they a good library. Hopefully with some of the donations they received they can affor da 2nd set of text books.

From Mufindi we travelled to Ruaha National Park - covered in low hills and scrub it was very dry. The rains will not come until November so everything was parched and the river was low. Our cottages fronted the river and although we did game drives we were able to watch elephant, hippo, water buck, impala, hyrax, giraffe, mongooses and lots of birds from our verandah! On the game drives we watched lots of elephants and giraffe, kudu, a pride of lions sort of hunting impala (they were too lazy to set up an ambush) as well as Roan antelope and lots of birds. In fact I think I am becoming a closet birder! We had 2 keen bird watchers on the trip so it was good to learn from them. We also saw another leopard sat up a tree - very lucky.

From there we travelled to Mikumi N.P. where apart from being bitten by tetse flies we saw some honey badgers, which was very exciting. No honestly it was! It was very hot in Mikumi, so Rhonda enjoyed the comforts of our "tented" camp which included a swimming pool. The accomodation on the whole trip was very plush - Botswana and South Afica will be a bit of a come down as we will use our 2 man tent and back-packer hostels mostly.

Our final N.P. of the trip was Selous - a massive park in southern Tanzania, of which we only explored a little. The camp was set on the Rufiji river and was beautiful. Watching the sunset with a cold beer in hand, the african skimmer birds slicing through the water and Rhonda next to me has to be one of the more magical and contented moments in my life.

In the Selous as well as doing 2 game drives in Jeeps we also did a morning boat safari and evening walk. The boat safari was a joy - one got so close to the hippos and the masses of colouful bee-eaters, king-fishers and weavers that thronged the bank. The walking safari bought us suprisingly close to elephants and giraffes as well as game we learnt about various plants and seeds. On our last game drive we were luck enough to come across a pride of lions with cubs. We got sooo close to them, and they were not bothered by us at all. The cubs were very cute, but I think it would have been unwise to get out and give them a cuddle! Then to top it off on the way back to the camp from seeing the lions we came across a lone female wild dog. Although Selous is the last stronghold of wild dogs they are very rare to see - so we feel very priveliged.

We are now in Dar for 2 more nights - doing jobs and catching up on e-mail, although we may go to the beach tomorrow. Monday we fly to Jo-berg for 2 nights before heading to Botswana for 2 weeks. We will be in the north of the country around the OOkavango Delta and Chobe N.P. (towns of Maun and Kasane).

Zanzibar

murray_wilson — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 01:13:00 GMT

First a big thankyou for all your comments - we are enjoying getting your feedback and news.

Currently we are in Zanzibar town (Stone Town) having just had 4 days on the beach on the east coast of the island. Rhonda really enjoyed it - just filling the day doing nothing: well short walks, drawing pictures in the sand, reading lots, swimming and having the odd beer as we watched the moon rise. Very Restful! Tomorrow and Saturday we will look around Stone town before heading back to Dar Es Salaam. On Monday we join up with a tour for 2 weeks exploring places such as the Ruaha and Selous national parks and staying on a tea plantation. Should be interesting.

Mt Meru

murray_wilson — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 23:15:00 GMT

We have just got back from a 3 day trek on Mt Meru which was a combination of a walking safari and hill walk. We organised the trek through a local company which supplied a guide, 3 porters and a cook - just for the 2 of us - felt like a colonial Shiab and Mem-Shaib ! Still it was not our guide who did most of the guiding, but a national park ranger, who carried a WW1 vintage mauser rifle just in case a buffalo got too frisky. The climb to the top hut (or village of huts to be accurate) took 2 days. We saw lots of interesting wildlife and birds including: hornbills, sun birds, blue monkeys, baboons and buffalo. The flora was initially very tropical, with wild bannanas, fig trees, maiden hair ferns but changed as we climbed and the temperature to have lots of ferns, lichen hanging from trees and was quite evocative of a tolkein story.

At the top hut - Saddle Hut - we did a climb up Little Meru 3800 m during the afternoon. We got some good views and R and I both felt good and well acclimatised. We were up at 4.30 the next morning to climb up to Rhino point to watch the sunrise - the rest of the people at the hut had got up between midnight and 2am to climb to the summit - not something either of us had a burning desire to do. As we climbed the star filled sky slowly lightened and coulered red in the east. We did get to see the top of kilimanjaro poking up out of the cloud before it dissapeard in more clouds. Meru summit was shrouded in cloud - so we were secretly pleased not to have bothered trying to get to teh top! The views from Rhino point were excellent, down into teh surrounding national park and teh ash cone of the meru volcano itself. There then followed a long 2300m descent back to the park gates - but on the way we saw warthogs, baboons and giraffes and really close too. I will post pictures when I can get a decent computer to use - this one is a bit slow and old! Tomorrow we get on the bus for a 9 hour trip to Dar es Salaam where we overnight before heading over to Zanzibar for 5 nights on teh beach for a little R&R!

Cheers, Murray & Rhonda

Masai Mara

murray_wilson — Sat, 6 Sep 2008 19:34:00 GMT

After a long and very bumpy jouney we arrived in the Masai Mara. On our way to the Kicheche camp we encountered a Cheetah, just lazing under a tree. She let us get very close and was just stunning. After that the game watching was looking good. The Kicheche camp where we stayed was very upmarket camping with an ensuite, great food and even hotwater bottles in our bed at night. We did a series of game drives seeing - lions, wilderbeast, gazelles, impala, zebra, dikdik, hyena, topi, jackels, buffalo, Hippos, Elephants, mongoose, lots of birds. The highlight was seeing leopards - one day we saw a one year old on its own and then the next day we saw its mother up a tree with a Gazelle it had killed. She fed and then after her 2 one year old cubs wouldn't come up to feed she dropped the carcass down to them.

If you have seen the big cat diaries, this was what it was like. One day we even looked over to where the Marsh Lion Pride lives. The Pride we saw was the Kicheche Lion Pride. The Kicheche camp offen has visitors and we found evidence of elephants and hippos being within 5 meters of the tents. We had visits while we were there from mongooses and we heard elephants one night.

We visited a Maasai village one morning and watched them do traditional songs. The warriors had a competition to see who could jump the highest (see photo). Murray joined in and seemed to do ok but he was never going to win!

This afternoon we are off to see Kenya Harlequins play Impala in rugby. Tomorrow we are off to Arusha in Tanzania before heading up Mt Meru.

Gallery: Kenya

murray_wilson — Sat, 6 Sep 2008 19:07:00 GMT

Pics from Kenya

Lake Elmenteita / Nakuru National Park

murray_wilson — Sat, 6 Sep 2008 18:43:00 GMT

We are writing this in Nairobi having finished our first week of travels. That week was an Exodus trip to Nakuru and the Maasai Mara national parks, I will deal with the first of these in this post.

After meeting up with the rest of our tour group we headed north west along a suprisingly new and good road to Lake Elmenteitawhere we stayed in a lodge that had once been the home to Lord Cole, a colonial farmer. That afternoon we went for a walk down to the lake with a local Maasai guide, looking at the beautiful birds such as Splendid starlings, tawny eagle and flamingos to name a few. The weather was lovely but in teh heat storm clouds grew and eventually broke and we received a very heavy tropical downpour - getting thoughly soaked - not what we had expected, it had been wet enough in the UK! The lodge was a delight with beautiful grounds and friendly service.

Next day we went off to Nakuru and the small but beautiful national park. This park is made up of a large lake with low hills on one side and craggy, cliffy hills on teh other. And what an introduction to Kenyan wildlife! There were about 40000 flamingos on the lake, yet in full season there are 300,000! Amazing. Groups of pelicans, geese and maribou stalks wandered the shoreline whilst a few grumpy looking bull buffalo sat around as Zebras walked past. There was so much to take in. Troops of baboons, gazelles and giraffes, verdant monkeys were enthralling but teh stars of teh show were the white rhino. Nakuru is home to a large population and we must have seen a dozen and been able to get amazingly close in our open topped mini vans. Rhonda and I both liked the giraffes - so graceful yet unlikely creatures.

Our group consisted of 10 and 2 guides (who were really nice and brilliant at spotting game), we seemed to get on pretty well. Next post will be about our adentures in the Maasai Mara.

We have arrived in Nairobi

murray_wilson — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 21:27:00 GMT

Just a quick note to say we arrived safe and well and are ensconced in the Holiday Inn. We have had our first few Tusker beers and have been listening to the frogs churuping away. We meet up with the rest of the Exodus group that we will spend the next week with tomorrow morning - then it is off to the Nakuru National Park.

We have left the building! On our way in Dubai.

murray_wilson — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 15:32:00 GMT