Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘African Safari’ Category

Africa’s Great Rift Called – and I Answered

Posted in African Safari, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , , , on July 17, 2011| 1 Comment »

Museum sign

 “We are the only beings on the planet who lead such rich internal lives that it’s not the events that matter most to us, but rather, it’s how we interpret those events that will determine how we think about ourselves and how we will act in the future.” Anthony Robbins

The monolith in Oldupai Gorge, the view behind the young man who told us the story of the landscape here. -- Photo by Pat Bean

African Safari: A Place of Beginnings

Places call to me. Africa called twice. The second call was for the wildlife safari adventure Kim and I enjoyed for two weeks in 2007, which also answered the first call.

I had long had a desire to see Africa’s Great Rift, where human life is thought to have begun. I had read much about the anthropology discoveries of Mary and Louis Leaky in Oldupai (also called Olduvai) Gorge in Tanzania, and wanted to see this place for myself.

The rift, a continuous geographic trench, stretches across Africa for over 3,000 miles, but the section in Tanzania’s Ngorongoro Crater is where the most important discoveries about our human beginnings have been made.

It was why, of the many safari choices offered of Africa, I had chosen the one that brought us to Tanzania.

And now I was here, looking out over the spot where in 1975 Mary Leakey had discovered a series of footprints showing our pre-human ancestors walking upright over 2 million years ago. .

Kim standing in front of some non-human remains found in Oldupai Gorge. -- Photo by Pat Bean

I even got to see a replica of these footprints in the small Leaky Oldupai Museum – after listening to a young man, whom I assumed was an anthropology student, explain the wonders found in this landscape.

I could hardly understand his heavily accented English, but it was accompanied by a theatrical performance that filled in the details of the words I missed. It was one of the most unusual, and delightful, lectures I ever sat through.

It was given on a high overlook of the gorge, beneath a thatched shelter for shade, looking out at

landscape that once was a lake. The lake was covered by a succession of volcanic ash; then, about a half million years ago, seismic activity diverted a stream that cut down into the sediments, revealing seven layers of the past. In doing so, it created an awesome research lab for the Leakeys and other anthropologists.

The site was used as the first monolith in the movie “2001: A Space Odyssey.” And the small Oldupai Museum here reminded me of those one used to find, and occasionally still does, while traveling across America on Route 66.

It’s both strange and wonderful how all of life seems to connect.

Read Full Post »

Mama: Swahili Term For Old Broads Like Me

Posted in African Safari, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , , , on July 15, 2011| Leave a Comment »

 “It’s a strange world of language in which skating on thin ice can get you into hot water.” – Franklin P. Jones

Duma -- Photo by Pat Bean

African Safari: The Power of Words  

In Swahili, the national language of both Kenya and Tanzania, the word for hello is jambo. It was a word we heard frequently, and one we spoke in reply, accompanied by a nod of the head.

I liked the word, and the acknowledgment of human recognition it implied between two people who did not speak a common language.

But on our third morning in Africa, one polite man used two words in greeting me.

“Jambo mama,” he said. Then turned to Kim and simply said: “Jambo.”

I asked Bilal later what that was all about. And he said “mama” was a term used to show respect to elders. While my vanity was a bit hurt, the respect offered me was appreciated. After that Bilal started calling me Mama, too, while Kim remained Kim.

I guess she couldn’t help it that she was 21 years younger than me and still a “hottie.”

Another Swahili word I was already familiar with was simba, meaning lion.

 

Big tembo and little tembo -- Photo by Kim Perrin

Other than those three words, Bilal’s radio conversations in Swahili while talking to other guides out in the field, was a lot of mumbo jumbo, which is a good old English phrase for confusing and meaningless.

Since all our guides spoke excellent English, I never had any reason to use any of the other Swahili words listed in my African travel guide, such as:

Duma, meaning cheetah

Twiga …giraffe

Impala … swala

Elephant … tembo

Kiboko -- Photo by Pat Bean

Mister … bwana

Hippopotamus …  kibuko

Rhino … kifaru

Then there is choo, the word for toilet, and chui, the word for leopard.

I already have a Texas twang that can sometimes be misunderstood, so I can easily imagine myself mispronouncing these two words, and telling someone that I had to use the leopard.

The Swahili word for beer, meanwhile, is prombe.  Kim and I, however, learned to call it Tuskers.

 

Read Full Post »

Leopard Chasing in the Serengeti

Posted in African Safari, Nature, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , on July 14, 2011| Leave a Comment »

 “There is just something spectacular about seeing wildlife in its natural environment that thrills us … Arun Kejriwai

We were too late to catch our leopard up in a tree, but I couldn't resist sharing this Wikipedia photo of this magnificent one out on a limb.

African Safari: A Day to Remember

I welcomed my first morning in the Serengeti from the balcony of our spacious Sopa Lodge suite, breathing in Africa’s morning light that left me eager to start the day. Red-cheeked cordon bleus – what a strange name for a bird – welcomed the morning with me.

After breakfast, and more great African coffee, Bilal picked Kim and I for a full day of wildlife viewing.

Red-cheeked cordon bleu

The day’s fantastic wildlife started as we exited the lodge compound’s gate – beginning with a green wood- hoopoe (another strange bird name) and a troop of baboons that included several babies being lugged around on an adult’s back – and never let up.

We saw impalas, water buffalo, hippos, lions, cheetahs, ostriches, dik-diks, zebras, wildebeest, Nile crocodiles and of course many species of birds – all before we stopped for a nature hike in a developed tourist area where the wildlife were sculptures, well except for the monkeys, one of which tried to steal Kim’s box lunch.

Kim being funny during our nature walk among the wildlife sculptures. -- Photo by Pat Bean

After lunch, I wandered around doing my usual bird hunting until Kim came rushing up telling me to come quick.

Back at the Land Rover, Bilal said “Come on mama,” and then we were off on yet another wild ride.

This time we were racing toward a leopard sighting, which Bilal had learned about while talking Swahil on his radio with other guides. We weren’t the only racers. Only about one in five visitors to Tanzania are lucky enough to see a leopard, we had been told.

Our leopard intently watching a Grant's gazelle. -- Photo by Kim Perrin

It was like a traffic jam at the sighting site when we got there, and learned the leopard had just jumped out of a tree and disappeared.

Then suddenly, as all binoculars were turned toward the distant landscape trying to find the animal, it walked right in front of our Land Rover. Our spot in the traffic turned out to be the best one for leopard watching.

Little bee-eater

Ignoring all the human fuss going on around it, the leopard stayed in the area for the next 30 minutes or so, patiently stalking a Grant’s gazelle. The gazelle finally spotted it, however, and was off and running, while the leopard simply slunk out of sight.

For once, I forgot to look for birds.

Bird Log of New Lifers: Red-cheeked cordon bleu, green wood-hoopoe, red-billed oxpecker, spotted redshank, brown snake eagle, lilac-breasted roller, black crake, sooty chat, blue-capped cordon bleu, speckled-fronted weaver. Verreaux eagle owl, Hilderbrandt’s starling, speckled pigeon, grey-capped social weaver, purple grenadier, lesser masked weaver, wood sandpiper, yellow-breasted apalis, white-headed vulture, hoopoe, little bee-eater, white-bellied bustard, bare-faced go-awaybird, white-browed coucal, Aug. 24, 2007, Serengeti National Park, Tanzania.

Next: Swahili

Read Full Post »

Looking Beyond the Answers to the Questions

Posted in African Safari, Travel, tagged , , , , , , on July 13, 2011| 5 Comments »

 

My mind's eye saw this young Maasai girl as one who will face the future unafraid. --Photo by Pat Bean

“A good question is never answered. It is not a bolt to be tightened into place but a seed to be planted and to bear more seed toward the hope of greening the landscape of idea.” – John Ciardi.

African Safari: A Conversation With Bilal

Kim asked Bilal if there were any female guides.

“Some of the other guides do, but I don’t,” he said.

“Huh?” Kim replied.

It seems Bilal thought she had asked him if he ever “visited” girls in the local villages in the evenings when he wasn’t driving us around Tanzania.

His answer when he finally understood the actual question was: “Oh no. They would be too afraid.”

Both replies were telling, I thought.

Our conversations with Bilal revealed a lot more about Africa than what could be seen with the eyes. Of course, we two “uppity” women tried to open Bilal’s eyes as well.

I suspected we were unsuccessful when he laughed in disbelief after Kim told him about our friend, Janice, and my daughter-in-law, Karen – two American women who both hold martial arts’ black belts.

Of course, there are things in life to be afraid of, like hippos that are at the top of the list of Africa's most dangerous mammals. -- Photo by Kim Perrin

“Now those are two women who could even kick your butt,” Kim had said.

But while respectful of our opinions, and us, we could see that Bilal didn’t believe her.

Later, when we were in Kenya, we visited a local Maasai tribe where a couple of the men demonstrated a game played with stones. This time I asked the question: “Do women also play the game?”

The stone game -- played only by men. -- Photo by Kim Perrin

“Oh no. They can’t understand it,” was the response given through our Swahili translator.

My tongue hurt from biting back the retort. We were, after all, guests in another country.

It wasn’t until the Maasai men were demonstrating to us how high they could jump from a standing position that I could once again smile.

A gaggle of young boys were imitating the men – as was one young girl.

She was with the women off to the side, and jumping despite the gentle hand on her shoulder, laid there by one of the women to try to get her to desist.

Perhaps, I thought, she will grow up to be a guide. There was certainly no look of fear in her face.

Read Full Post »

Luxury Lodge in the Middle of Protected Wildlife Habitat

Posted in African Safari, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , , on July 10, 2011| 1 Comment »

A colorful lizard roaming around the lodge swimming pool. -- Photo by Kim Perrin

The view of the Serengeti landscape from a Sopa Lodge patio was awesome.

“Plans to protect air and water, wilderness and wildlife are in fact plans to protect man.” Stewart Udall

African Safari: Serengeti Sopa Lodge

Kim in the pool in front of the Serengeti Sopa Lodge. -- Photo by Pat Bean

The wildlife viewing didn’t stop when we reached the Serengeti Sopa Lodge, another five-star hotel compound in the middle of nowhere, and again where we were treated like the royalty we were not. This was quite a new experience for this budget traveler. I loved every minute of it.

Meanwhile, not only did the lodge prove cliff-top views of the surrounding Serengeti landscape, but it also overlooked a man-made waterhole where we watched everything from monkeys to hyenas come in for a drink.

There was also smaller, quite colorful wildlife running all about the lodge compound.

Von der Decken's hornbill -- Wikipedia photo

After yet another delicious lunch, including a pumpkin soup that I came home and tried to duplicate in my tiny RV kitchen, Kim wandered out to the pool for a swim so I could take a picture of her with the Serengeti landscape in the background.

Afterward, she chased a red and purple lizard around to take its photo.

I, meanwhile went back to looking for birds. My best find was an strikingly handsome yellow-eyed fellow that I finally identified as an arrow-marked babbler. It would be the only one of its kind I would see on the trip, although I did see other babbler species and understand why they are so named. These birds are quite boisterous vocalizers.

And was being quite successful at it. By the time we met up again with Bilal for our afternoon game drive, my list of new lifers had grown to 67. Below are the ones I added to the list so far this day.

Front of the Sopa Lodge that sits in the middle of nowehere in the Serengeti. -- Photo by Kim Perrin

Bird Log of New Lifers: Common ostrich, common fiscal, white-browed sparrow weaver, kori bustard, red-billed buffalo weaver, yellow wagtail, Rufous sparrow, banded parisoma, lappet-faced vulture, secretary bird ( Aug. 23, drive from Lake Manyara’s Serena Lodge to the Serengeti’s Sopa Lodge), Von der Decken’s hornbill, rock martin and arrow-marked babbler (Aug. 23, at the lodge.).

Read Full Post »

Posted in African Safari, Travel, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , on July 10, 2011| 1 Comment »

 “The very idea of a bird is a symbol and a suggestion to the poet. A bird seems to be at the top of the scale, so vehement and intense his life … the beautiful vagabonds, endowed with every grace, masters of all climes, and knowing no bounds – how many human aspirations are realised in their free, holiday lives – and how many suggestions to the poet in their flight and song.” – John Burroughs

They say ostriches stick their heads in the sand. Maybe so. But the ones we saw in the Serengeti preferred to stretched out their legs and run. It made for a glorious parade. -- Photo by Pat Bean

African Safari: Colorful Birds

Kori bustard -- Photo by Kim Perrin

The drive from Lake Manyara to the Serengeti was one of the most exciting bird-watching days in my life. I saw my first free roaming ostriches. Much bigger than I imagined, and boy could they run.

We passed a Kori bustard, which strutted across the grasslands like it owned them. We were close enough for Kim to even get a great photograph. This was a big bird, standing over three-feet tall.

There was this great big red-faced fellow, a lappet-faced vulture. he made ugly look beautiful, well at least to the addicted birder.

A flock of Ruppell's griffin vulture, with a lone lappet-faced vulture on the far left. -- Photo by Kim Perrin

A face only a mother could love, or not. -- Photo by Kim Perrin

And then there were the secretary birds,  so named because someone thought the stiff neck feathers looked like the quill pens secretaries used to stick behind their ears. it hunts its prey — small mammals, snakes, lizards, young birds, on the ground.

Secretary bird: Do you think this bird's neck feathers look like quill pens? -- Wikipedia photo

Like the bustard, the secretary bird we saw was strutting across the savannah as if it owned it.  

Next : the Serengeti’s Sopa Lodge

Read Full Post »

A Rough Ride Equals a Free Massage

Posted in African Safari, Nature, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 7, 2011| 5 Comments »

 

It's easy to see that giraffes are what help give the umbrella acacias their shape and name. -- Photo by Kim Perrin

“Each day I live in a glass room unless I break it with the thrusting of my senses and pass through the splintered walls to the great landscape.” – Mervyn Peake

African Safari: Runners, Wildlife and Thorns

When I travel from place to place in my native America, I try extremely hard never to get on a boring freeway. In Tanzania, Kim and I never had to worry about our driver, Bilal, taking such a wide interstate from place to place. There were none, or at least none in the areas we traveled.

We were lucky if the roads were paved. Their roughness prompted Bilal to joke that along with being our driver, he was giving us a free massage.

Which was perfectly fine with me. The bouncy ride was part of the adventure. And the slower we were forced to go, the more time it offered for sightseeing.

And there was plenty to see this morning as Bilal transported us from Lake Mayara’s Serena Lodge to the Sopa Lodge in the Serengeti. The drive took us from wide-open Wyoming like scenery through a misty jungle that brought images of Jurassic Park floating though our brains.

Wildebeest and morning mist on the Ngorongoro Crater escarpment. -- Photo by Pat Bean

One of the populated areas we passed through was Karatu, which Bilal told us was the home of many great marathon runners. Watching the area’s slim, black men brought to mind images of the Boston marathon and other long-distance races I had seen in which racers with such physiques were always frontrunners.

The misty jungle scenery came near the top of the Ngorongoro Crater, which was formed seven million years ago when the land was pushed up by volcanoes, then collasped. At the crater overlook, a Maasai salesman was immediately upon us, but Bilal suggested that we wait to shop somewhere that would benefit an entire Maasai community.

This hungry simba had his eye on a tommy (Thompson's gazelle). -- Photo by Kim Perrin

Zebra, cheetahs, lions, gazelles, monkeys, giraffes, gazelles, and other African wildlife were also on the sightseeing agenda this morning. We lingered the longest to watch a mother cheetah with four young cubs that stayed mostly hidden in the grass while the mother kept a look out.

Bilal stopped to show us the whistling acacia tree, on which grow hollowed nodes favored by ants. The ants create holes in these bulbous growths and when the wind blows over them the produce a whistling sound.

Despite the thorns, giraffes find this plant a delectable meal.

Whistling acacia

I found this information fascinating, but once again, our sight-seeing put us behind schedule. And so Bilal again put the pedal to the metal to get us to the Serengeti lodge in time for our scheduled lunch. Kim and I just hung on – and smiled.

Next:  The Homeless Maasai

Read Full Post »

Lake Manyara Sights too Awesome to Pass Up

Posted in African Safari, Nature, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , , on July 6, 2011| 2 Comments »

“Slow down and enjoy life. It’s not only the scenery you miss by going too fast – you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.” – Eddie Cantor

Lake Manyara sunset was the first of many Africa gifted Kim and I. -- Photo by Kim Perrin

African Safari: Lake Manyara Continued

I know I said we were going to drive to the Serengeti today, but I decided to linger a bit longer at Lake Manyara to share some of Kim’s photos with you.

She took hundreds, if not thousands, compared to my relatively few, and sent me a slide show of the best of them shortly after we returned from Africa. But they were in a format that I couldn’t download onto my computer.

Kim and I in front of our Serena Lodge rondeval. -- Photo by Kim Perrin, using timer and tripod

An orchid growing around the lodge. -- Photo by Kim Perin

Finally, last night, she found a way to send me the originals that I can copy and use for this recap of our 2007 African safari. It would seem a shame to waste her efforts, and all my efforts downloading them this morning, to skip showing you at least a few of them.

I hope you enjoy. And tomorrow, I promise, we’ll drive to the Serengeti.

In addition to lions and elephants, Kim and I also took time for smaller things, like this awesome chameleon we watched as we ate our lunch. -- Photo by Kim Perrin

A mama lion and two cubs in Lake Manyara National Park. — Photo by Kim Perrin
 

Read Full Post »

Posted in African Safari, Nature, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , , , on July 5, 2011| Leave a Comment »

 A Wild Race to Lake Manyara’s Park Gate

This was our first truly close-up look at an elephant. There would be many more before the trip ended. -- Photo by Pat Bean

“…nature has ceased to be what it always had been, what people needed protection from. Now nature tamed, endangered, mortal, needs to be protected from people.” – Susan Sontag

African Safari: The Ugly Poaching Business

There is no nighttime wildlife viewing in Tanzania’s national parks. That’s when the poachers come out, Bilal told us.

It used to be, he said, that the poachers made war on the park rangers, but now the park rangers are shooting back. And Tanzania doesn’t want tourists caught in the crossfire.

This is a Masai giraffe, the largest of the several subspecies of giraffe found in Africa. It is a bit darker than the other subspecies, has jagged spots and tuft of hair on its tail. -- Photo by Pat Bean

But despite the government’s crackdown, according to several recent news articles that I’ve read, poaching is still a major problem in Tanzania, as well as some other African countries, and in some areas is even increasing.

What Tanzania’s official crackdown on the illegal activity meant to us in 2007 was that the park closed its gates at 6:30 p.m. – and there was a big fine for not checking out of it by that time.

Perhaps because of some great last-minute sightings of an elephant dusting herself off and a mother giraffe with a young one that were too terrific to pass up, Bilal may have lost track of time. That was one of the great things about our guide. He always seemed as excited at watching wildlife as we were – well unless it was small, nondescript birds.

Anyway, all of a sudden Kim and I found ourselves being

Yellow-billed oxpeckers. We would see these on the backs of giraffes and water buffalo. -- Wikipedia photo

bounced around in the back of the Land Rover, holding on tightly but with grins on our faces, as a worried Bilal put the pedal to the metal in a race to get back to the entrance before the deadline. It was a deliciously wild ride that added a touch of adventure to our already full day.

We made it with two minutes to spare, and we could audibly hear Bilal exhale a sigh of release, and see the smile return to his face.

He slowed down for the drive back to our Lake Manyara Serena Lodge, and stopped to let us photograph our first spectacular African sunset.

Blacksmith plover: We would see many of these during our drives across Kenya and Tanzania's grasslands. -- Wikipedia photo

I’ve heard artists and photographers talk about Africa’s great light, and now I was getting to see it for myself.

What a great day.

Bird Log of New Lifers: Little egret, white stork, sulphur-breasted bush shrike, common bulbul, tawny eagle, white-rumped swift, emerald-spotted wood dove, blacksmith plover, grey-headed kingfisher, Egyptian goose,

African spoonbill -- Wikipedia photo

black-headed gull, grey-headed gull, great cormorant, lesser flamingo, great white pelican, yellow-billed egret, yellow-billed stork, black-winged stilt, African spoonbill, pied avocent, two-banded courser, southern ground hornbill, yellow-billed oxpecker, fish eagle, long-tailed fiscal, silvery-cheeked hornbill, crowned plover, marsh sandpiper, Hilderbrant’s francolin, helmeted guinea fowl, dark-capped yellow warbler, great reed warbler, cliff chat , August 22 afternoon drive in Lake Manyara State Park.

Next: Drive to Serengeti National Park

Read Full Post »

Lions in Trees, Comical Baboons, Oxpeckers on Giraffes

Posted in African Safari, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on July 4, 2011| 3 Comments »

 “We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value ..” – Maya Angelou

One of Lake Manyara National Park's famed tree-climbing lions. -- Wikipedia photo

African Safari:Where the Wild Things Are

At the entrance to Lake Manyara National Park is a sign that reads: “Take nothing from the park but nourishment for the soul, consolation for the heart and inspiration for the mind.”

The next few hours would provide Kim and I with plenty of all three.

As a normal rule, lions don’t climb trees. But if we were lucky, we were told, we would see some tree-climbing lions in Lake Manyara National Park.

Southern ground hornbill.

We were lucky.

And along with lions sprawled out on tree limbs, we saw oxpecker birds gleaning insects from the backs of giraffes, watched the comical antics of baboon families, including one small one that would taunt his bigger cousins then rush back to his big male papa for protection.

We saw a few lingering flamingos of the millions that feed on the lake before migrating elsewhere, and dozens of colorful birds. And we came across zebra and gazelles dining together, with a few keeping watch for lions and cheetahs that wanted them for dinner.

Zebras and gazelles dining together in a grassy plain area of the park. -- Photo by Pat Bean

In fact, I don’t think there was even a single moment during our afternoon game drive when we were out of sight of wildlife going about their business. So accustomed to Land Rovers were they, that we were totally ignored, which would not be the case, Bilal warned us, if we were on foot

Lake Manyara, named after the Masaai word manyara for a plant that is used to grow stockades for livestock., has a quite diverse habitat, which accounts for its broad range of species. The landscapes go from lake to jungle, and includes an acacia woodland forest, open grassland, and a swamp.

Lesser flamingoes at Lake Manyara -- Kuru Travel photo

At one of our stops, we had southern ground hornbills strutting around on one side of us, giraffes on the other side of us and both elephants and water buffalo nearby.

I didn’t know which way to look, but I think the hornbills got the majority of my attention. These large black and red birds have voices that some say sound human.

And according to a Masaai  folk tale, their conversation is as a man speaking to a woman. He says: I want more cows, and she replies: You’ll die before you get them.

Next: A wild race to the park gate

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »