18 January 2006: The Long Journey Home

**warning*** Some of you may find this post incredibly boring, especially since we didn't take photos after leaving Zanzibar, but it's my blog and I can do what I want!!!!

Left the wonderful Zanzibar Serena hotel around 10.30am, after a quick good bye to Mum (better that way...less tears!). The courtesy bus took us to the airport, which was PACKED with Italian tourists...and this was just outside the terminal- the check-in counters are actually outside on the footpath. Seems like there is a giant Italian airplane arriving soon to take them all home. So, keep in mind it is about 34 degrees, very muggy, and there is plenty of chaos and loud people all over the place. We manage to check in, and enter the airport (note: no air conditioning). Then we have to pick a booth to line up in front of, to pay our departure tax of $25USD each. The booths are unmarked, in English at least, so we decided to pick the left hand one. The wrong one, as it turns out. We have to then line up for the other one, and end up paying only $5USD each. Who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth??
We finally get through security into the main airport. The seats are all full. There are a million more Italians in here. The women are dressed very 'designer' with lots of gold jewellery, big hair, and amazing makeup. The men are dressed pretty well too! I feel somewhat daggy in my safari clothes and no makeup or jewellery (but I get over it pretty quick as I am roasting like a pig). Luckily Shane has a big sleeve on his shirt that I use often to mop my face! (thanks baby!)
We are totally grossed out by a giant obese Italian man who has chosen to walk around sans shirt. So there is basically a giant belly prancing around, covered in sweat. Wish I hadn't eaten breakfast....
We find a doorway, open to the outside, where it is somewhat cooler. We meet the security guard, a young woman in a head scarf, we have a chat with her, her English is as good as our Swahili, so you can imagine the great conversation! she teaches us the word for 'husband' and 'wife' and we find out she has a 2yr old son at home with her mother. She would like to see Australia some day, but says she could never earn or save that much money (and knowing that the average wage here is around $50USD PER MONTH!! you can imagine it's true). Anyway, we enjoy passing the time with her.
We do start to become concerned when there is no sight of our plane to Dar es Salaam, only the jumbo Italian jet. But we meet several others who are waiting as we are. We meet a British woman, late 60's, who has just been trekking in Ethiopia with her husband. Now, they look like travellers!
Our plane finally arrives, we get on and 20 minutes later, arrive at Dar es Salaam, an airport which is also mainly outside! We are too early to check in with South African Airlines, so we use up the rest of our Tanzanian shillings to grab a hamburger, chips and Coke at the cafe (they have Maasai people as the doormen). After all that chaos, heat and noise in Zanzibar, it's nice to have a break.
Around 1pm we get on the flight to Johannesburg, it is a 4 hour flight only, but we are happy it's so short! By the time we land and get a shuttle to the hotel, it's dinnertime and we are tired and hungry. We have been travelling all day. The hotel is actually attached to a big casino (Palace Casino) and not to a shopping centre, as we were led to believe. Since neither of us are big casino type people, the revelation did not really excite us. But we checked in, and then Shane went for a look around, and found a restaurant for dinner: Tribes African Grill. They sold him a couple of Castle beers to have in our room first (remember, we have been having Happy Hour drinks every night for the last 2 weeks!) and after we drained those, and showered, we had the BEST steaks in the world. It was a great meal, including HOT FRESH bread (never had that in Kenya or Tanzania). Caught up on the CNN channel later in the room, which wasn't too interesting, I must admit - I haven't missed TV at all.
Had a lazy morning and then headed back to the airport, where we were delayed 1.5 hours because there was some kind of problem with our e-tickets. Luckily they gave us meal/drink vouchers though, so we enjoyed a bite to eat during all the drama.
We made it on the plane! but unfortunately missed the great shops in the airport. Not like we needed to spend money though......
A very long 14 hour flight (babies, children, sneezing adults, Chinese gabbling, people wearing masks, the woman next to me sleeping on my shoulder --- NOT conducive to sleep or rest!) later we arrived in Hong Kong. The airport was SPOTLESS (at least one cleaner in every toilet, cleaning and mopping constantly) (This was a big change from Africa: something I'll never forget is all the garbage in Africa: blue plastic bags all over the place.) and well signed in English. Plus, everyone we asked for information was friendly, efficient, and spoke English very well. We organised a half-day tour of Hong Kong, then went to have a coffee and tea before the tour left. We felt pretty horrible, tired and whatnot, but didn't want to spend our whole 17-hour layover in HK in the airport!
It was a grey and dreary drizzly day in Hong Kong, but we still enjoyed the tour, we saw the longest suspension bridge in the world, the walk of the stars, the HK skyline, a Buddhist temple filled with incense smoke, antique markets. I would like to go back someday for a proper look around. In HK they speak mainly Cantonese, and in mainland China it's mainly Mandarin. So Willy (our guide) was teaching me a few words in Cantonese. I wish I remembered it better, but we were close to collapsing of exhaustion by the early afternoon. The tour ended, we were going to shop a bit but gave up - had lunch out instead, and then took the very quick electric rail back to the airport.
Returned to the airport around 3pm and found the Travellers Lounge - this is a great concept: we got a $60AUD package each. This included: a 2hr nap in an Asian inspired 'resting room' with futons on the floor in small divided rooms, total peace and quiet, and a wake-up call, a shower (heaven!), free food and drinks, tea/coffee, free internet, magazines, newspapers, and plush comfy armchairs, for 10 hours. So we lounged and relaxed until out flight at almost midnight. We felt wonderful, tired, but wonderful.
Only an 8.5 hour flight this time, and then finally back to Brisbane, another hour's drive, and home again. Kimberly and Mitchell were thrilled to see us, almost as much as we were to see them!
So, the end of our wonderful trip, but not the last one - especially not to Africa. We are already planning our next trip.............................

17 january: *****celebrity sighting******

So we're enjoying the afternoon at the Zanzibar Serena Inn (small luxury hotel of only 51 rooms in Stonetown) and Shane is swimming in the pool with a little girl and what seemed like her nanny/au pair. Shane is playing 'sharky' games with the little girl, she is having fun.
Then, 'dad and mum' arrive and the little girl runs to them. The dad is Paul McCartney! I could hardly believe it, and the mum was his wife, Heather. They hung around the pool for a while and then went off to their rooms. I didn't say anything to Mum because I thought she'd laugh me off, and she thought the same thing. So there you go. Although Shane had his camera there, we thought it would be kind of tacky to play 'paparazzi' and photograph them on holiday. So, no photos today, sorry!

16-17 January: Zanzibar, Tanzania

Images by Shane Craswell Photography: Red colobus monkeys only found on Zanzibar Island (Jozani Forest). Doorways in Stonetown, carved wood.

Zanzibar is an island which is part of Tanzania, in theory. In reality, it is like it's own little country. Very different from the mainland. The temp is 34 degrees and very very muggy and humid, it hit us like a ton of bricks, after the safari being a comfy 27 degrees and quite dry most of the time. The religion is predominantly Muslem, so women are advised to cover up when out in public. This is not as bad as it seems: all they want is the women to have covered shoulders (t-shirts okay) and not wear short shorts or skirts. Not much to ask, I believe, but I saw many girls/young women wearing very skimpy clothing all over the place, not much cultural sensitivity there at all!!
Today we went on a Spice Tour on the island: we saw where all kinds of spices come from, what they are used for etc: cinnamon, cardamon, lemon grass, pepper, cloves and much more. It was really quite fascinating and we really enjoyed it - Shane actually scored most of the points (our guide made us guess what each plant was, and he got it right most of the time while Mum and I were still thinking!)
Stopped at Mtone Marine, a little beachside restaurant for lunch: pizza and Kilimanjaro beer. The atmosphere was very relaxing and we enjoyed the break. Later we did a tour of Stonetown, a World Heritage listed area. Long narrow lanes, rundown crumbling buildings, very Moroccan looking. The wiring on the buildings was incredible: it is so old that there is hardly any electricity inside the buildings, so outside on the walls, there are tangled messes of wires all over the place - an electrician's nightmare, not to mention the fire department, I'm sure!
Stonetown is quite dangerous at night, the lighting is bad, and tourists are recommended not to wander around there. There are some hotels which have been renovated and done up to resemble the original style, and they look fantastic. The government is receiving funding to continue renovating the area, and tourism is quite new here as well.

14-15 January: Lake Manyara/Arusha/Zanzibar

******note: images coming soon!********
We left the hotel this morning to drive to Lake Manyara, and did an afternoon game drive. It was a lovely park: Masai giraffes, elephants with their babies, vervet monkeys, some more different birds. Shane and Mum get all excited about the different birds, but I must confess that I can never remember them as well. But some of them are quite beautiful, I’ll give them that!
We arranged an early dinner so we could do an option extra: night game drive. It was very expensive, but well worth it. We hadn’t done a night one before, so it was quite fun. We had a big open sided jeep, and our driver, a spotter (who sat on the bonnet) and also the park ranger accompanied us, for safety reasons. We saw some of the animals we see during the day! Which really surprised us, for example, we saw elephants, eating leaves and destroying trees, like they do in the daytime. Apparently they only sleep 2-3 hours a day, the rest of the time, they eat. Also saw zebra and wildebeest, doing the same things they do during the day. I had expected all the animals to be asleep, so this was somewhat of a shock!! Also saw a hare, porcupines, mongoose, genets, bush babies (teeny tiny little monkeys), and the most hilarious, hippos out of the water. Hippos are huge, fat and have squat little legs, but let me tell you, when they want to run, they really go! That surprised me too. I know that they are the most dangerous animal in Africa, but I wasn’t expecting them to actually run! It was very entertaining to watch.
On Sunday we left the lovely hotel and drove to Arusha to catch our flight to Zanzibar. That’s when all the trouble began……we were met by our tour rep ‘Jame’ who seemed friendly at first, but she screwed up our flight arrangements and put us on different flights. She was also extremely unhelpful in my quest to have my borrowed (thanks Gary!) video mono-pod returned to me. It had been left behind around 9 days ago in Samburu National Park, and it was discovered by the hotel, who then sent it on to the tour company’s head office in Nairobi, who then sat on it for all that time, knowing full well that they were supposed to send it to meet me in Arusha……anyway, suffice it to say, I am very PISSED OFF at the tour company, and will be drafting a letter as soon as I return home. My feeling is that when you have a tour rep, they are supposed to assist you in every way possible in terms of your travel arrangements. Jame was rude, obnoxious, and not interested.
Anyway, we’ll leave all that anger and frustration behind, because at first glance, Stonetown is gorgeous – lots of narrow laneways, fabulous old doors, interesting architecture and buildings. Our hotel (http://slh.com/tanzania/zanzibar/hotel_zanzan.html) states very clearly NOT to walk around Stonetown at night, so we’ll have to explore by day. We had dinner on the Terrace at the hotel: a lovely seafood dinner. The Terrace is a small rooftop restaurant right over the beach, overlooking the gorgeous Indian Ocean. They do eat late here, we notice, we didn’t finish to almost 11pm and by that time we were stuffed!
The hotel is just gorgeous - it used to be 2 old houses in Stonetown, fully renovated. The rooms are quite small but very luxurious. The staff is excellent (thank you Wahid and Faouz from the Excursions Desk for their fantastic service!) and it was a lovely place to relax - we spent every afternoon lounging by the pool, overlooking the ocean, having drinks before dinner (Mum, Shane and I: white Bacardi & Coke - sometimes Shane would have a 'Kili' beer). Because the hotel is so small (only 51 rooms) you never felt crowded.

12-13 January 2006: Serengeti to Ngoro Ngoro Crater

(Image by Shane Craswell Photography. Serengeti landscape.)
Going back to our room alone last night (http://www.serenahotels.com/tanzania/serengeti/home.htm), I was told to get security to accompany me there. My western thinking: there are bad men lurking around. African reality: there are lions and buffalo roaming the hotel grounds and can be extremely dangerous!! Shane and I got bumped up to the honeymoon suite, it was fantastic!
In the morning, we did a short nature walk. It was really lovely to go for a walk in the bush, however, it was a guided walk and we had to be accompanied by an armed guard with an AK47, again, for protection against wild animals attacking. My foot handled the walk okay, but I borrowed a walking stick, which really helped.
There were 3 huge buffalo watching us, which made me a bit nervous, but we got through it okay!! (very different, seeing the animal's eyes when you are out of the vehicle and somewhat vulnerable...)
Today was a bit of a wash-out. We had car trouble, and so our driver/guide, Abdul, had to bring us to the Serengeti Airstrip. We then waited about an hour and a half for another tour company to drop off their clients to fly away. The guide from the other company, Candy, then drove us to our next destination, Ngorongoro Crater, which took about 4 hours. We just managed to make it to the hotel (http://www.serenahotels.com/tanzania/ngorongoro/home.htm) to catch lunch, and then spent the afternoon relaxing, napping and watching the great view from our balcony. The hotel is perched high on the crater rim, and the views are stupendous. It looks very ‘Jurassic Park’, misty, cloudy and green down in the crater. It wouldn’t surprise me to see a dinosaur down there!!!
So, we have lost Abdul, he had to limp back to his home base in Arusha to get the vehicle fixed. We get a new guide and vehicle, to arrive tomorrow morning sometime.
Friday:
Met our new driver/guide, Juma. He arrived at 8 am and off we went down into the crater to spend the day game driving. We were somewhat disappointed with the amount of game we saw, as all reports led us to believe it is a huge concentration of animals, but anyway, we spotted about half a dozen new birds we hadn’t seen before, and all the types of jackals, plus hyenas very close up. It’s quite a big crater, and we spent until about 4pm down there. Juma had a long day, he had to come here from Arusha this morning, he left at 6am, so he was pretty tired. We did managed to spot the elusive black rhino, but only through binoculars, as it was miles away (we don’t consider it a real spotting unless we can comfortably see and photograph the animal). Black rhinos are very rare, in the crater there are only 22 of them.
So, next trip here, we must look further for the black rhino!!
Late in the day we spotted a few lions, but they were very full from a recent kill and eating frenzy, and were lazy and tired, not doing too much.
Our safari is almost over, and it’s too bad!! We are having so much fun.
Here’s some Swahili I have learned:
Jambo/hello
Lala salama/ good night
Asante/thank you
Asanta sana/ thank you very much
Nina fereho, te menua chui!!/ I am happy, I have seen a leopard! (this one I tried out on the bar staff at the last hotel, they were very impressed!)
Ndia/yes
Apana/no

10-11 january 2006: Kenya to Tanzania/Serengeti

Images by Shane Craswell Photography: (1) lion eating his kill (2) Serengeti with rain clouds (3&4) cheetah with kill (5) leopard asleep in tree.




We departed from our tented lodge bright and early, we had to meet up with 2 other passengers on the road somewhere. However, on the way, things kept happening animal-wise, and we were almost an hour late!
We came across a big cheetah enjoying his kill, and were so close to him that we could hear him ripping the flesh etc. I’m not usually in favour of killing animals or anything, but here it is a giant circle of life. It’s incredible how everything in nature works so well together. For instance, you will often seen zebra and wildebeest together, and this is because 1)zebra are more intuitive (smart??) and will notice predators (lions etc) a lot quicker than the wildebeest can and 2)zebra eat the top layer of grass, and the wildebeest eat the next layer down, they don’t eat grass as high as the zebra.
We then saw a lion with his morning kill, he was a mean guy and wasn’t appreciative of our snapping photos and coming close. He dragged his kill away a few times until we drove off.
Our guide has been amazing, we hope to return to Africa and hire him on our own. If anyone wants recommendations re: Africa, we would be happy to give them our thoughts.

We picked up the 2 new people and went off the Izebania crossing between Kenya and Tanzania. It is utter chaos there! Trucks, people peddling goods, etc. We crossed over into Tanzania without much ado, and discovered that…… Tanzania has roads!! And they are driveable! They are good! They actually spend money on them! What a huge difference. In Kenya the roads are abysmal, if they are dirt, they are extremely bumpy and horrible (reminding us of the Kimberley roads in WA) and if they are paved, you can’t even drive on the paved part due to huge potholes every, say, 2 metres. No joke, they are terrible.
We are so lucky again – the 2 passengers we picked up were only going as far as the border crossing with us, they had their own tour vehicle to pick them up on the other side! So we are alone again for this tour.
Also, the scenery has changed, much greener. It actually rained during the drive. Lots of agriculture and farmlands. Lots of kopjes (big piles of rock) and hills. The people look more ‘African’ to me, what I mean is when I imagine Africa I see women wearing scarves around their heads and bright coloured cloth dresses. Here, they look like that! All the women carry stuff on their heads: water, wood, big bags of stuff.

Note to Shane’s fellow photographers: Shane has now taken 58Gb of images on this safari alone…….every night it takes him a couple of hours to download them onto our laptop and burn to DVD. It’s a pain in the ass. Especially as I need the laptop as well, to make blog notes to later upload to my blog site (whenever I can get internet access that works!!). Maybe we should have brought 2 laptops with satellite wireless internet connections…..ha ha……

Afternoon game drive in the Serengeti – we saw hippos, hyenas, lioness and lion, giraffes, elephants, buffalo, the list goes on an on. Excellent afternoon, and we checked into the Serena Serengeti Resort, which is just gorgeous. They have internet here! And it works! Although at home our internet is about 10 times faster, so it took about an hour to upload all the blog stuff from when we left Nairobi. The internet has been really annoying, but really, we’re having so much fun, it doesn’t really matter. It cost us $5US for 15 minutes of internet time, extremely slow too. We are going to take advantage of it while we are here!!!!
Wednesday morning……………went on a spectacular game drive with Abdul, our new driver (he is from Arusha/Kilimanjaro, 4-months newlywed, and quite young. His English is not as good as Magic’s unfortunately)………………….the drive started off slow, but then we spotted a lioness with her kill ( a zebra). We watched her for ages, she was absolutely stuffed, after the chase and kill, and dragging the zebra to a safer spot, she was exhausted. We watched her for about half an hour. Eventually it got too hot and sunny for her, and she went into the bushes to lie down, meanwhile still having a close view of the kill.
Then, we came across another leopard!! This time lying in the branch of a tree. We, and about another dozen tour vehicles, were enthralled. We ended up staying over 2 hours, just watching and observing. Got some great shots, both images and with my video camera. It was very enjoyable game viewing!!!
Abdul is teaching us words in Swahili, and then we are wowing the bar and restaurant staff with our knowledge. They really appreciate our efforts, amidst much laughter. Most of the guests in this hotel are what you would call, snooty, for lack of a better word. So most of the guest don't even try to communicate with the staff, only to ask/demand for drinks/towels/etc. Leopard in Swahili is ‘chui’.
In the arvo we left for another game drive, to see the hippos (they were fun, but noisy). It absolutely POURED with rain along the drive, it was fantastic. They love the rain here. Except later we saw rather bedraggled birds and animals, they looked very cute.
Tomorrow onto NgoroNgoro Crater, with a huge concentration of animals in the crater. Should be fun!!

9 january 2006: Visit to a Maasai village

Today we visited a Maasai village, it was certainly an experience! Our guide arrange for us to pay around $10USD each to the village chief and then we were invited into the village to meet everyone and take photos and video. The Maasai are very striking looking, very dark black skinned, and they often wear bright red 'kangas' (blankets) which they reckon keep the lions away. Plus heaps of beautiful jewellery, bead necklaces, bracelets, earrings (they notch their ears and have huge holes in the lobes). They tend goats and cattle, this is what they do all day - the children do it as well (if they're not in school). They basically walk around all day with the herd to make sure they have food to eat, and water to drink. Their animals are everything to them: they are considered 'rich' and 'wealthy' if they have lots of healthy animals.
The village is surrounded by sticks and twigs making a strong fence to contain the village, and keep out wild animals. The villagers keep their cattle inside at night, this means that the whole area is based on cow dung. Lots and lots of cow dung. Luckily for Shane, he was wearing boots. Mum and I were wearing sandals...... we enjoyed a hot shower with copious amounts of soap later that day though...
The boys showed Shane how to light a fire without matches, using hard and soft wood and dried....you guessed it....cow dung. This is 'The Man's Job' every morning. After he lights the fire, the women from each hut come and get some fire to light their own fires inside their huts. The huts are made of twigs, branches, and....yes....cow dung! (they love the stuff! it's very useful!) and they are quite spacious inside, even though they look small. You have to hunch over to enter them and they generally have several separate rooms inside: first, an entrance way, then a small area for the woman (and husband, if he is there), they sleep on animal hides on the floor. Sometimes there is a small area for a goat (so they can milk it first thing in the morning) and then another room for the kids. This is a polygamous society, the men are allowed as many wives as they wish, and they take advantage of this, as you would, I suppose! if you were a man, that is..... anyway, the man gets to choose where he sleeps every night.
Another thing I noticed: the whole village looks after the children as a group, it's not just left up to the individual parents to do all the work. Actually, the whole village works as a community, they have few material possessions and all the money they earn (from selling jewellery etc) goes to benefit the whole village, not just the single person. The Maasai have overcome so much, and yet they remain relatively 'untouched' by Western culture. They are not drunks, they don't smoke, they don't eat junk food. They survive mainly on goat blood, milk and meat. They don't eat any 'bush' type food.
We noticed their awesome sandals; made entirely of car tires, except for a few tiny nails holding the soles together. They also seem to like wrist watches, especially the digital kind (although I don't think they know how to tell time, most watches I saw them with didn't even work). The children adored my video camera, because I could film them and then play it back on the screen, they couldn't get enough of that! This society is a big believer in circumcision, both for boys and girls. However, with the boys it is a big celebration and a festival atmosphere, the circumcision is done in front of the whole village with much frivolity and whatnot; whereas the girls are circumcised in their individual family huts, only the family attending. Hmmmmmm....what does this mean? well, in this society, men are KING and women are second class - even though they do most of the work. (Just like western society, haha). The Maasai do send their kids to school, although it it difficult for them because often they have to send the kids away to boarding school, which they have to pay for, not to mention books, school supplies and uniforms.
This is a semi-nomadic society: they stay in one place for about 8 years, that's when the pile of cow dung in the village gets too high, they've got to move on!!! (no, I'm serious!)
I also noticed their ears: they 'notch' them, cut them with a sharp stone or a sharp knife, for decoration. Their jewellery is really beautiful and they are a very proud and majestic people. What a incredibly humbling experience - you couldn't learn anything about this in school, that's for sure.

7-8 january 2006: Lake Nakuru, Masai Mara

Long drive for most of the day, arriving at Lake Nakuru late afternoon. On our fabulous game drive we spotted a white rhino!!! Actually, several rhinos. So, the ‘Big 5’ is now complete – but don’t get me wrong, there are heaps of other animals and birds to be seen. We also saw lots of baboons and baboon babies, and a jackal, and or course, a gazillion (yes, it’s true, I counted) pink and white flamingoes, which Lake Nakuru is famous for. The lake is a giant soda/salt lake and it attracts the flamingoes. It looks very spectacular from a distance.
Spent the night at the Shaba Lion Hill Lodge, which was nice, except again, no internet access. (Since we left Nairobi it has been impossible to get any internet access so all my blogging is done on the laptop, hopefully soon we will be able to upload stuff. Even in Nairobi it was so slow that it took me one hour to upload 7 small images…..) But, if that’s the price you have to pay to be here, I gladly pay it!!!!!!!!
Unfortunately Shane was violently ill during the night, and I was sick as well. Today we are feeling better, JUST. I hope it’s not Mum’s turn next!

Today, Sunday, was a very long driving day as well. We also had a fan belt break, and this involved us hopping onto another minibus with our French friends Bertran and Mirienne. They are on another tour but we are sort of traveling together in a way. Then we also hopped onto another minibus, and then our driver caught up with us, having had the fan belt fixed in a small town. We arrived at the Sarova Mara Tented Camp: it’s gorgeous! We are in a big tent with a wood floor, ensuite attached and so on. Even a little deck out front. It’s very luxurious.
Afternoon game drive around the Masai Mara: saw a cheetah with his kill! And a lion with his kill! And Mara Giraffes, topis, elephants, wildebeest, hartebeest, buffalo, the list goes on. Another awesome day.

5-6 january 2006: Samburu NP & Samburu village

Well, we stayed up all night at The Ark, but unfortunately missed out on seeing any big game. We did see, however, hyenas, mongoose, genets (look like small cats) and lots of birds, as well as big buffalo.
After brekky we headed back to the Aberdare Country Club, ran into the GM again and showed him our leopard images, he thought they were spectacular!
Drove to Samburu National Park and did an afternoon game drive: saw oryx, giraffes (on came so close to the vehicle!), Grant’s gazelles, impalas, dikdiks, klipspringers etc. All of these animals are so camouflaged! I am getting Shane to photograph all the animal bums (see zebra, above), I think they are so cute!!!
We also saw a whole heap of birds. The scenery is much like the Kimberley we remember in WA. Lots of volcanic lava (from Mt Kenya). We also visited the site of Survivor: Africa, which was great (although it’s just an empty space in the land, nothing left of the huts or whatever).
Checked into the Shaba Lodge, a gorgeous lodge on the edge of the Samburu River. Monkeys in the trees, crocs in the river, the odd Samburu tribesman wandering around the grounds.
We were all very tired so had an early night.
Excellent day!
The next day we left early for a game drive and saw 2 elephant families right close to the vehicle, a few baby elephants too. They destroy a lot of the vegetation by stomping around and ripping branches off trees. They are fantastic to see.
We also came within 10 feet (yes!!! truly!!) of a big sleeping lion!! He was absolutely fabulous to watch, and he was sleeping like a baby. His pride of about 5 lionesses were nearby, relaxing in the shade. We were stoked to see the lion, this means now was have seen 4 of the ‘Big 5’ animals (buffalo, elephant, leopard, lion) and only the rhino left to see, which we will see at Lake Nakuru tomorrow.
Excellent games driving!!
In the arvo we spent time at a Samburu village near the hotel. This is not a ‘tourist’ village, rather, a real tribal village. Our guide is friends with the tribe, and occasionally brings his groups to get a real taste of life in the village. The people welcomed us with song, and accepted us to go into their village. They are so colourful (somewhat like the Maasai that are more well-known. Lots of red colours, lots of bead necklaces, and the men have quite intricate head things on, the more colourful they are, the more wives they want. It is a polygamous society.
Had an incredible afternoon there, the people are so friendly and welcoming. It was a real education to see how they live. They mainly survive on goats: they drink the blood, the milk, and eat the meat. Their whole lives exist of keeping their goats fed and watered, so they are a semi-nomadic people.
Later we had a long chat with Magic about the people, and the problems they encounter, trying to live in a modern world. I feel so privileged to see this.
Note: my foot is getting better every day, I am now able to walk, albeit with a limp. However, I have also come down with some bad gastro problems, so I am still a bit weak (haven’t eaten much in the last day). But, who cares! It’s not stopping me from enjoying this incredible land.

4 january 2006: The Leopard

We had pretty much finished the game drive, packed up our cameras, and were heading for The Ark, when the elusive leopard ran across the road about 500 metres in front of the vehicle. It was so exciting! We advanced oh so slowly, and were privileged to see the leopard stop in a tree very close to us. He actually stopped and looked us over for a good minute (enough time for Shane and Mum to snap him, and me to video him!). It was the most exciting thing to happen, our guide said we were very lucky because it is quite rare to see leopards, even though there are plenty around.
And it’s only Day 1 of the safari! We are loving being here, spending heaps of money, but at this point we are out for a good time, no matter what. Money can’t get in the way of us now!!! We are spending heaps on 1) tipping and 1) buying bottled water for drinking, brushing teeth, etc etc. We haven’t worked out which is costing more…..

Au revoir Canada.......Africa, here we come!!!

Today, it is -14 degrees, but with the wind chill it feels like -25. Translation: VERY COLD. One more sleep, then we're on our way to Africa. Shane celebrates his 42nd birthday today!