Tanzania Family Safari, Under Canvas - 17 Dec 2009

The Northern Tanzania Family Safari - R&T Families

NOTE: Names have been omitted / changed to respect guests privacy

Guide
Ake Lindstrom

Summary
Great all round trip, even more non vehicle options are always a good idea with large groups with younger members, 1 day less safari may have been better but then we would have missed a great lion kill. Ndutu is great for flexibility as you can walk and off road game drive, have bush breakfasts and lunch very easily.

Family Safaris are a bit different to the average safari and I always suggest trying to make sure that in the planning stages as many options are considered / put on the table as possible. Quite often you will find that actually a decent amount of down time is also a very good idea. Getting 'gamed out' - safari fatigue, is very common and so long drives need to be punctuated where possible. Snake parks, walks, cultural visits, Maasai olympics, breaks in a hotel with a swimming pool (preferably stay somewhere like that rather than just visiting for a couple of hours) are all options to consider.

18 Dec 09
Everyone in and a gentle start to safari

From Arusha the driver guides, Lesikar and Clemence, along with yours truly, headed along the Arusha Moshi road to KIA airport in good time to meet the private charter from Nairobi. Customs was easy enough and after picking up the slightly travel shocked team, we headed out to West Kilimanjaro.

Ndarakwai was our first stop. The camp is nestled into the base of a parasitic cone on a private 10,000 acre ranch. The style is very much ‘classic safari’ with kerosene lanterns, lots of canvas and wood. A total of 12 tents accommodates a maximum of 24 guests at one time and we actually had the camp to ourselves for the most part. The most charming parts are the dining area and the views from some of the rooms of un-spoilt bush. One comment was that it would be great to have a large panoramic view as the camp is very tucked away.

For the first day I decided to avoid the cars once in camp – they had traveled enough and so after some downtime we meandered out with Thomas, the resident Maasai guide, to a local Maasai ‘Engang’ or ‘boma’. The rather pretty pink flowers on the trees were Cape Chestnut on route and on arrival at the dwellings we were shown around. The visit was, in my opinion, one of the best I have witnessed so far as it was very low key. No one was pestering clients to buy beads, quite the opposite really. After a wander around and with explanations from Thomas we witnessed the goats and sheep being brought back from pasture (and market) and then headed back for a shower & dinner.

A bottle of champagne was brought by Mzee T at this point and I have to say this would be a magic touch to all future safaris (if I can find a decent supply of real champers!!).

Before dinner I asked Carlos from the horse riding safaris to give a talk and judge the ability of the riders for the following morning’s activity. There were more novices than expected but not to worry.


19 Dec 09

Horse riding & horses at Ndarakwai!

Post breakfast we all trundled up the hill in the landcruisers to the stables. Here there Carlos and his team paired man (and women) to beast and for a short time everyone walked / trotted around the nearby paddock to warm up their riding legs! As they headed out on horse back, some being led, a few confident enough to ride unaided, young S and I headed off with an armed ranger on a walk.

This area has quite a history. The Maasai initially acting as ideal wildlife custodians and then the German’s retreating forces under the masterful command of Paul von Lettow Vorbeck used some of these very hills as watch outs, dug trenches and slowly retreated further South. Latterly the area was turned into a ranch, successfully but after nationalization in 1975, fell into complete disrepair with rife poaching of wildlife, including elephants. Since then once taken over as a private wildlife conservancy in 1994 the wildlife populations have once again return with fantastic elephant herds once again visiting and residing here.

Elephants are a true love of mine and while walking we had the great fortune to watch a great herd of some 70 to 100 elephants in the distance (the riders also watched from a safe distance) and with our binoculars we even witnessed one female being mated in 2 separate incidents as the larger bull elephants took advantage of her! As she matures she will be able to ward off the amorous advances of some males and be somewhat more selective but this youngster seemed to be having trouble keeping the bulls at bay.

By mid day we arrived at the tree house to look out over the waterhole and sauntered back to camp for lunch. Here everyone was reunited for a short while before I took S out for a bush driving lesson.. To hone his throttle and clutch control I made him stop on a slope, placed my mobile phone behind the back tire of the 3 ton landcruiser and made him start the car and pull away. Well done S and thanks for not destroying my PDA!

In the late afternoon we then headed out to the top of the parasite cone (all the hills in this area are all parasitic vents from Kilimanjaro) and had spreading views of the surrounding Maasai steppe. Back down and back to camp for dinner and dice games before bed.
20 Dec 09

Snake eats man!

This was a transfer day essentially – West Kilimanjaro to Ngorongoro. On the way we stopped off in Arusha where I could locate some eye drops and pills for the R family. Lunch was taken at the Arusha Hotel, situated right in the heart of Arusha town, supposedly half way between Cape Town and Cairo. To break up this day I asked the guests if they would like a stop off at the snake park and so after a rather tasty buffet we stopped off at the Meserani Snake park some 36km out from Arusha.

The Meserani snake park is many things from an overland camping spot, art gallery, pub and of course, a great place to see some of African’s deadliest reptiles (and great to see and hold the non deadly snakes too!). There is a great article and photo on the Rock Python cage of incidents of whole men being eaten by Anaconda in South America and as it was feeding time we witnessed plenty of mice / chicks being eaten too. Some were daring enough to hold a baby crocodile and the non poisonous rufous beaked snake. Great laughs when the croc released a stream of wee in defense..

On route to Ngorongoro there are superb views and we stopped twice – once to see the rift valley all the way to Oldonyo Lengai and then on top of the rift wall where I could give a quick history of the rifting process before heading up into the Mbulu highlands for a refuel at Karatu (lots of youngsters trying to sell trinkets there, one adamant that he took any and all forms of drugs and asked Mzee T to buy him a liter of petrol to keep him going for 2 days…) and then up and up to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and finally into camp for sunset.

Once in camp we were warmly welcomed by the Hoopoe camp team, lead by the very able Peter aka ‘Sauri’ Mollel. This lad will, as I’m sure the others will echo, go far given he right training and support. A very warm host and it was a pleasure to be under canvas on the rim of the worlds largest, unbroken, non water filled caldera!

Dinner and off to bed after a short game of cards, early start to come in the morning!

21 Dec 09

The 8th Wonder of the World

Ngorongoro is a massive caldera. It has at least 20,000 large mammals as well as well over 1000 predators, the most numerous mammal predator being the spotted hyena (500 or so), outnumbering the lion by around 10:1 (60 to 70). Some animals come and go, such as the wildebeest, zebra and elephant. Quite often it is referred to as the eight wonder of the world and at dawn as we headed over the rim into the crater, I believe that is a fair description that covers the magnitude, uniqueness, beauty and diversity that is Ngorongoro Crater.

Wake up was at 5.30am… lots of blank looks as we headed off but once at the rim and heading down the first game became apparent and everyone started to brighten with the day! Aside from the regular sightings of plentiful wildebeest, buffalo and zebra we had great lion and superb rhino. In fact the rhino were probably the closest I had seen them for years, which was a real pleasure. The massive mature bull elephants were easy to see with some stunning ivory (the poaching incidentally in places like West Kilimanjaro is a real concern now – the sooner the new lodge is built the better to provide a presence and deterrent to would be poachers). Breakfast was taken down by Ngoitokitok springs – the kites were present and annoying as ever. IG had the fright of her life as a kite swooped down to steal some food from her hand and P did a valiant job of distracting them as we all ate our breakfasts very close to the car. The kite problem is a perfect example of what happens when tourists feed wild animals and sadly when the kites become too bothersome they have to be put down – so for all would be safari goers don’t feed wild animals!!!

We were a little late to leave the crater and everyone by now needed a refuel and so back to camp for a late lunch. This day could have been better with an early breakfast and slightly earlier return to camp.

In the afternoon for those that wanted stunning views the option to head over to the Western side was offered. The male folk all opted to go and so we headed out in the vehicles to the outer slopes of Oldeani where we had superb views of Lake Eyasi and the Eyasi rift – formed some 20 million years ago and as dramatic as the main Gregorian rift scarp to the East. On the way back we chatted about the Maasai in the Ngorongoro (around 60,000 Maasai live in the NCA, up from 5000 when it was set up) and had amazing bull elephant right outside camp (and Steinbok too), and so after dropping the gents we returned with V and Ab for some photos. Dinner back at camp.


22 Dec 09

Young G makes the sighting of the Safari!

With a final crater descent to come we had breakfast and packed up our gear in camp before heading down to the crater around 7.30am. The sun was obviously higher than the previous morning and so I didn’t expect too much in the way of predator action but as we headed across the floor G chirped up ‘what’s that over there?!’ – sure enough a small, unmistakable cat with large pointed ears was pacing through the grass! Grace had spotted a Caracal and what a sighting indeed. This is the largest of the ‘small’ cats and has been know to hunt Impala and other small antelope but generally feeds on rodents and even birds.

We only spent a short time in the morning (seeing 2 cheetah near the historic fig trees) and ascended back to the camp, on route having very close up views of elephant and even a family herd in the Lerai forest – very rare to see as family herds tend to keep well away. One of the 2 female elephants had a very young baby of around 2 weeks old and with this many hyena around I felt nervous for the little one although with close maternal care and loving sisters and young brothers, there is a very good chance it will be fine.

Back in camp we collected picnic lunches, took a loo stop and headed off towards the Serengeti. Once past malanja depression and onto the outer rim of the crater it is easy to see that this side is a rain shadow and yet there are plenty of Acacia drepanalobium (the ant gall acacia or whistling thorn acacia) as mixed with A. seyal and A. nilotica – perfect for giraffe and we also saw a 8 strong herd of eland. A picnic lunch was taken at a view point where I also had the chance to explain the geological events that shaped the area and, more importantly, exposed Oludvai Gorge, our next stop.

Olduvai is a funny little museum – some people love it and learn a lot, others find it small and quirky and yet I think almost all of our group learnt some great facts here and from Jackson the latest young archeologist who gave a short lecture. The exposed millennia of fossils surrounded us as we drove through the gorge and briefly stopped at the shifting sands before driving completely off road, which is always a lot more fun than following the masses as they head on to the Serengeti on the main roads. A long trail of wildebeest thronged from the East, obviously coming from the Gol mountains and headed in exactly the same direction we were headed – Ndutu.

By late afternoon we found the main road to Ndutu and round Lake Ndutu with sightings of jackal, Thomson and Grant’s gazelle, 22 ostrich, warthogs and lots of giraffe right by the lake. We all headed in camp and everyone went straight to the rooms – it had been a long day.

Being on safari one can never guess what will happen next and sure enough, despite being the end of a long day as camp manager Otto and I were chatting about the days to come we noticed a car heading up near our camp.. A possible leopard perhaps? Well, never being one to keep guests out of the loop I told S to tell Mzee T (who was changing!) that we may have an exciting sighting near camp and they quickly came to join me at the car with Rupert. Sure enough, just down the road there was a great sighting with a female lion up in a dead tree trying her hardest to relax into a comfortable position. A female companion lay nearby and we decided to let others know right away. Everyone piled in the cars and we headed back over for some lovely shots (mine were terrible!) of this rather rare event. Lions generally are entirely terrestrial, although tree climbing lions are relatively common in Lake Manyara National Park. Sometimes they will ascend a tree to avoid the heat, avoid biting flies, or avoid each other! These two females were both very well fed and judging by their enlarged teats they could well be pregnant too. To top off the day we sought out a nearby male courting another female and headed back for sundowners by the fire before dinner.


23 Dec 09

The Migration!

An early start, slightly deadpan looks from the kids but that is very normal! We set off just after 6am this morning to try to take advantage of the early light and find some predators in action. To be frank, it was quite quiet! By around 8.15am we had reached the plains to the West and here wildebeest spread from horizon to horizon. We had found the main bulk of the migration. This 2 million strong mass of mammals, mostly wildebeest but with around 300,000 zebra as well as other plains game such as gazelles and even eland, was concentrated (or at least a vast part of the total) in this relatively small area. This magnitude of wildlife gathers here for a simple reason – food. Not any food but extremely nutrient rich grasses, commonly found at the base of the Ngorongoro highlands which is perfect for when the pregnant wildebeest (now 7 + months pregnant and due to give birth by around 8 months).

The history behind the migration is relatively simple: volcanoes in the Ngorongoro highlands erupted mineral rich ashes which drifted following the prevailing West / North West wind directions. This mineral rich soils became populated with grasses, those grasses are nutrient rich and so following the short rains the grasses grow, attracting the wildlife which give birth around February. As the rains peter out post May (April, May) the migrating herds go through rutting (mating) in June and head north to the Masai Mara (in Kenya). In the Masai Mara there are year round water sources such the Talek and Mara rivers which keep the herds sustained. As the short rains start again (November in to December) the herds move south once more and the cycle starts again..

And so we stopped out safari vehicles, pulled out our chairs and had a picnic breakfast in the middle of the migration.

Stopping for breakfast is always a great way to break up the game viewing and there were some nearby holes to peer into. Most holes / tunnels here are made by aardvarks and some are extensive, often used as communal dens by hyenas. The hole nearest our picnic spot has most likely been used by jackals recently. Further a field another hole had lots of feathers from a white stork which met an untimely end, most likely to a Ratel (honey badger) and a still born wildebeest calf, possibly dropped by a stressed mother (possible chase or just still born). Leopard had been spotted and sure enough after seeing some safari vehicles far out near a tree we found the treed carcass of a yearling wildebeest. Spotting the leopard was actually rather more difficult as it was atop the tree lying in a vulture nest! A very small, most likely female leopard.

Leaving the leopard to the circling safari cars we found a coalition of 3 male cheetah and soon enough they stirred and started to prepare for a hunt. Despite our patience they did not manage to approach game close enough to hunt but on route back to camp we stopped at the leopard, this time the lead car had the good fortune to see the leopard below the vulture nest in plain view!

Lunch was back at camp and time to relax for most in the afternoon. After lunch I actually headed out to book a ranger but that same ranger later had some ‘problem’ and could not come out which rather dampened my plans for a longer walk. Nevertheless the ‘wazee’ and S joined me in a short wander around camp before we headed out for a game drive. Some stayed in camp and then we all congregated at the nearby hill for sundowners. Those that went on the evening game drive had the pleasure of seeing a mother cheetah and her 2 offspring (soon to be adults). They did set up for a hunt but were just too far to actually attempt a kill.

24 Dec 09

Marsh lions, hiding buffalo, Ndutu sunset

To avoid too many early mornings we set off after breakfast this morning and headed out towards the marsh. Here there are a lot of kills around, a sign of the current times of plenty! The lion pride in this area has numbered as many as 24 or so cats and is currently around the 17 to 19 mark. From other guides I have heard that the pride is actually made up of a coalition of 4 males. Well, today we saw a great group of 5 females and 5 cubs near the top / south end of the marsh looking very healthy indeed. We spent some time before heading out to see the leopard again (still in the same spot, the carcass looking decidedly lighter! What a luxury to be able to feed at leisure, unlike the poor cheetah that have to bolt everything as they are so easy forced away from their kills by the likes of lion or even hyena..). The male cheetah were spotted again (unless I am mixing up my days, which is entirely possible!!) as well as plenty of plains game before meandering back to camp for lunch. There was plenty of down time and this time we managed to snag a ranger for a decent walk in the afternoon. The ranger, Joseph, certainly looked portly but not long after starting out spotted the massive boss of a lone male buffalo. His eyes were certainly in good working order!

Our camp was set up on the NCA side of Ndutu which is quite simply fantastic when you want to walk or have an increased level of freedom. Just down the road is the Serengeti National Park side of the Serengeti short grass plains – walking and off road driving are prohibited.

On our walk we saw a Cape Hare and poppy approached within 2 feet, the hare preferring to stay absolutely still rather than bolting. Our walk then diverged towards Lake Ndutu, wildebeest tearing away to our left and a Hartebeest sauntered away to our right. Crossing the edge of the lake we had good views of both Lesser and Greater flamingo with a lattice of wildebeest footprints beneath our feet. Atop the nearby rise overlooking the lake I had Otto and his team set up a sundowner and there was even an impromptu game of rounders before we hopped in the cars back to camp for showers and dinner.

25 Dec 09

Thank you Santa!

It started raining just after we went to bed. In the morning it was bleak – we were supposed to depart with a picnic breakfast but there was limited enthusiasm with the rain peppering down.. So, breakfast in camp and then a quick confab – yes everyone wanted to head out on a game drive before lunch and so off we went. The hatches were closed, faces were pretty grim, was there going to be a safari revolt!??

As the rain lightened we found a pride of lions out on the plains – it was the marsh pride! There was one lioness, definitely more battered than the others, had one eye and so easy to identify. The cubs were great to watch and we maneuvered to secure the best photographic opportunities as the cubs and mums played. And then they started to hunt..

Lions statistically hunt more at night time. They have great night vision (lots of light sensitive rods in their retina at the expense of any significant colour vision) but are also opportunists and so a day time hunt is never out of the question.

One female looked into the distances and spotted a line of wildebeest, heads bent and walking in single file. She very quickly assessed the opportunity and started walking far head of the column, stopping to look back at her sisters who quickly responded. The triumvirate all seemed to know their roles. Lead female heads far ahead, second female to the tail, 3rd female (one eye) covers the middle and keeps the cubs in check.

Their progress was quick and their patience was an obvious result of years of hunting. The lead female was eventually lost from sight as she had managed to position herself on the far side of the approaching herd, which hid her from our view as it the column of around 70 wildebeest and one family of zebra progressed. At one point I thought the zebra had spotted the rear female and yet as she remained still so the column continued slowly, pausing to graze. Suddenly an explosion of activity marked the start of the assault and the female at the rear reacted by launching herself towards the scattering column – one of the lions had to catch a wildebeest and sure enough the lead female had timed her attack to perfection. The rear female soon gave up – no need to continue and waste energy on an attempt that would most likely fail now that the herd had bolted. The lead female had managed to secure a strangulation hold on the wildebeest now, it was simply a matter of time. It’s mouth and nose covered the unlucky male wildebeest started to succumb and within a few minutes, as the rest of the excited pride of cubs and 2 females approached, the wildebeest died before us.

The next 40 minutes was a rich series of interactions as the cubs toyed with the dead wildebeest, the females interacted and congratulated each other and then the lead female helped the cubs to open up the carcass. Not always easy to stomach for some guests, we had one casualty as P spent a little too long looking through a telephoto lens as the scene became bloodier, I don’t think she was alone though!

After a kill what to do? It was time for Christmas lunch! When we arrived back at the camp Otto and his team had ben hard at work setting up a bush lunch just below camp. The setting was very pretty indeed and throughout lunch we had views of game below us. Turkey was served, nice and moist, plenty of vegetables and we even managed to confuse the pudding for a main dish! The rest of the afternoon was spent variously relaxing and chatting before Otto asked who would like to see the preparation of the traditional evening meal..

In Tanzania most celebrations have a meat dish of some sort and in Maasailand that is normally goat (on rare occasions such as a wedding a bull may even be killed for food). The camp team had organized a goat to be brought over from the Masek area of Ndutu by a local Maasai herdsman and now, in camp, the camp crew prepared the goat traditionally. 3 people were brave, staying long enough to see the choking method carried out – hard to stomach the first time for almost everyone! The preparation was then finalized over a scented matt of herbs (Lippia or ‘bushmans tea’ plant), legs and ribs impaled with wooden stakes and then all slow roasted over an open fire.

By early evening the cooking had been completed and the troops gathered. Goat was served up with some more traditional fare (barbequed chicken) and post main meal the crew sung a welcoming song before presenting our group with a cake. S was asked distribute the goat in a traditional way, first pieces to the parents and then the youngsters. A traditional Tanzanian end to the celebrations and a great day of contrasts and fun.
26 Dec 09

Flying high!

After a wake up call at 6.30am everyone finished up their packing and post breakfast it was time to say farewell. Otto and his team bid us all bon voyage in the car park and we set off for a final game drive. Right below camp and along the environs of Lake Ndutu were at least 3 different groups of elephant. I had news that they were over at the Lake Masek area but they had obviously come over to say goodbye. Always a pleasure to watch, the young males were testing each other’s strength and forcing each other up and down the slopes as we watched. One female had no tusks and another young male had lost one of his and broken the second, most likely fighting. On route to the airstrip we passed by numerous Giraffe (and a moulting Gabar Goshawk) and we even had time for a spot of fossil hunting. It is actually remarkably easy to find fossils in many areas of the Serengeti, none more obvious than Ndutu where Man and beast have evolved side by side around these very important water sources. Bones of animals are quickly saturated with the calcium rich liquid (again, the volcanoes are to blame for this!) and become fossilized for future generations to find.

The flight, Regional Air, was on time and we lifted off from Ndutu all the way back to Arusha, passing over Ngorongoro Crater, rain clouds on many sides. On arrival it was time to say farewell to the R family as they connected with their Zanzibar flight whilst I joined the T family for some lunch at Shanga House. The Shanga (meaning bead) project here is well established and not only can one buy bead work but relaxing with an enjoyable lunch is part of this project’s core offerings. The lunch was great. From here off to Arusha Town centre where I bid farewell to the T family. And now back to office work!

Mammals seen on Safari
• Elephant (100 strong herd of around 20 families in Ndarakwai, many in Ngorongoro including family)
• Waterbuck
• Greater galago
• Blue monkey
• Olive baboon
• Zebra
• Banded mongoose
• Lion
• Leopard
• Cheetah
• Hippo
• Giraffe
• Spotted hyena
• Bat eared fox
• Black baked Jackal
• Golden Jackal
• Buffalo
• Eastern white bearded wildebeest (note this is a slightly different species to the wildebeest found in the Serengeti, separated by the rift valley for around 2 million years)
• Western white bearded wildebeest (Ngorongoro & Serengeti)
• Coke’s Hartebeest
• Eland
• Steinbok

Reptiles & others
• Plenty of snakes in the snake park from the very lethal black mamba to the easy to handle rufous beaked snakes
• Crocodiles (only at the snake park)
• Agama lizards, red headed rock and tree species
• Leopard tortoise
• Terrapins (again snake park!)
• Lots of insects from the Emperor moths to the very noisy crickets around Ndutu camp, plenty of caterpillars and butterflies

Birds seen on safari / heard on safari
• Black saw wing
• Red fronted tinker bird
• Fisher’s lovebird (possible hybrid yellow collared)
• Hadada Ibis
• Spotted flycatcher
• Chin spot batis
• Augur buzzard
• Olive thrush
• Red chested cuckoo
• Mountain buzzard
• Ostrich
• Little spotted woodpecker
• 2 banded courser
• White napped raven
• Hunter’s Cisticola
• Plain backed pipit
• Rosy breasted longclaw
• Gabar Goshawk, black morph
• Gabar Goshawk, juvenile
• Eastern pale chanting Goshawk
• Pearl spotted Owlet
• Namaqua dove
• Ring necked dove
• Baglafecht weaver
• Rufous tailed weaver
• Speckle fronted weaver
• Chestnut headed weaver
• Blue capped cordon blue
• Verreaux’s eagle owl
• Egyptian goose
• Greater flamingo
• Lesser flamingo
• Black headed heron
• Hammerkop
• Crowned crane
• White stork
• Marabou stork
• Ruppel’s Griffon vulture
• White back vulture
• Hooded vulture
• Lappet faced vulture
• Cattle egret
• Yellow billed oxpecker
• Blacksmith lapwing
• Little ringer plover
• Ringed plover
• Hildebrant’s starling
• Superb starling
• Coqui francolin
• Grey breasted spurfowl
• Yellow necked spurfowl
• Hybrid grey breasted and yellow necked spurfowl
• Helmeted guineafowl
• Black bellied bustard
• Kori bustard
• White bellied bustard
• Common Ostrich
• Southern ground hornbill
• Secretary bird
• Greater kestrel
• Batleur eagle (now short tailed snake eagle)
• Eurasian marsh harrier
• Pallid harrier
• Steppe eagle
• Tawny eagle
• Black chested snake eagle
• Chestnut bellied sandgrouse
• Speckled moosebird
• Lilac breasted roller
• Eurasian roller
• Hoopoe
• Green wood hoopoe
• Von der decken’s hornbill
• Red & yellow barbet
• Pied wagtail
• Yellow wagtail
• Fisher’s sparrow lark
• Red capped lark
• Common drongo
• And quite a few more…