Category Archives: Carlson / James Family Travel

Heather, Warrior Queen of the Fleas

4 January, 2019 Mafia Beach Bungalows, Mafia Island, Tanzania

What the manager should have said was ” The noises at night are teddy bears dancing on your roof”. What he actually said was “the noises at night are rats on the roof and in the walls. But don’t worry, they won’t come in unless you have food in your room.”  

Well,  the good news is we had no food in the room. 

Through a mixup in reservations, we were limited to two rooms  on our first night, so Mark and Kirsten got one room while the rest  of us shared the bed and an extra mattress in the other hut.  It’s hot and humid like Zanzibar, so we spent a restless night listening to the teddy bears dance to a tune played by the squeaky room fan. Sarah woke up in the morning with flea bites. 

We’ve checked and there are no reasonably priced alternatives, so we are here for the full five nights.  

Sarah and I slept much better on the second night in the new hut, while Heather, warrior queen,  bravely fought the fleas by flashlight in our original hut. She described the flea carcass-strewn mattress battlefield to us the next morning.  After reading this, Heather says I did not give her enough kudos – it was a full on war, and she stopped counting at 50 flea casualties.

Mark and Kirsten had a teddy bear visit on night 3, and it stole the soap. Apparently this is a common occurrence according to the manager. The staff will try traps and ground pepper today to avoid more problems. 

I think we really need one good night’s sleep in a clean & cool room, unoccupied by wildlife. However, the staff are very nice, and it’s community run so we’ll grin and bear it.  

Mark and Kirsten have signed up for 3 days of diving, and the reports back have been good so far. Sarah and I went snorkelling this afternoon and had lots of fun being on the water . They took us out by dhow using an outboard motor, we spent an hour snorkelling, and then we came back under sail. 

Swimming with whale sharks was pretty special. The biggest one we saw was about 7m in length, but apparently Mafia Island only has the babies. Adults can grow to 18m.  They are feed on krill (like most whales), except they are fish so they are impossible to spot because they don’t need to surface to breathe. However they often do come close enough while feeding to show the top of their fins, and that is what the spotters look for. We ended up seeing 5 of them and swimming with 4 of them. Click here to watch the video in full screen… or watch the small version below.

Heather left yesterday and will be on her way back to Geneva later today after exploring Dar es Salaam. She took great pains to let us know how her 5 star hotel was. 

We leave to go to Selous and Ruaha parks for our next safari on Jan 6 – only 2 sleeps to go!

Always happy to go out in a boat
Mafia Island Bungalows. The rats live in the palm trees and then come down at night for soap
The kids go diving
 
Always happy to go out in a boat
Mafia Island Bungalows. The rats live in the palm trees and then come down at night for soap
The kids go diving
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Happy New Year from Zanzibar

26-31 December, 2018 Racoco Villa, Jambiani, Zanzibar.

We are staying in Jambiani on the south east coast of Zanzibar. It’s hot. Really hot. Certainly in the 30’s with high humidity. The airbnb we’ve rented is about 50m away from the beach… but we don’t seem to get the cooling ocean breeze that the waterfront hotels may get in the evenings. At least the bedrooms have fans, but it is still very hot and difficult to sleep.

The area itself is pleasant and extremely laid back. The locals are very friendly and all the 4-5 yr old kids say ‘Jambo!’ (Hi!) and give us high fives as we walk by. The waterfront hotels here tend to be very small with 6-10 rooms. The larger town of Paje is a few km north, and we can see the glare of the bigger hotel lights there. The luxury hotels are even farther away at the northern tip of the island.

Unlike every other ‘non-western’ beachfront tourist destination we’ve seen, the locals come out and use the beach too, but they are sensible and wait until the evening when it is cooler. There were a bunch of small kids playing soccer while others dug up clams and the parents watched. I’m glad we’re sharing the beach rather than just taking it over. The locals’ fishing dhows are anchored just a few hundred metres down the shore. Hopefully it will remain like that… but that’s not what we’ve seen elsewhere.

Zanzibar is one of the world destinations for kite boarding, and four of us have signed up for kiteboarding lessons. Jambiani seems to be well situated for lessons: a shallow sandy bottom with the occasional sea urchin, and it’s a few km away from the two spots where the dozens of experienced boarders sail. Unfortunately, after two good days of wind, the wind died, so we have not been able to finish the course. This has happened to use before, and we think the best solution is just to buy our own kites and learn back at home.

We’ve rented a little 4 wheel drive suzuki, and we’ve done ok so far with Mark navigating & David driving. It’s about 1 hour from east to west coast, and three hours from north to south, so nothing is very far. There are police checks every once in a while, and we’ve been stopped eight times so far in our various drives around the island. It’s not just us – pretty well everyone gets stopped. They have all been pleasantly chatty and wanted to see our paperwork. Some asked if we were a family, where we were from, how long we had been in Zanzibar, and why we were driving when every else took tours. Others just wanted to give me a cool handshake just like you’d see two football players doing after scoring a touchdown.

We enjoyed Stone Town and the Jozani National Forest. Otherwise we’ve been melting in the room, or hanging out at “The Spot” restaurant and hotel, which is where Siren Pro Kiteboarding is located.

I’ve been playing with my camera: it can take pictures completely silently, and it will focus on any faces in the vewfinder, so all the market pictures were shot from the hip without me looking like a camera toting tourist!

We’ve had a quiet New Years and early bed because everyone hasn’t been sleeping well due to the heat. We plan to celebrate over breakfast on 1 January: midnight in Calgary is actually 10AM here. Then we leave in the afternoon to fly to Mafia Island for diving and hopefully snorkeling with Whalesharks.

One of many Dhows at low tide
Another day at the beach - the ocean was too warm
Sunset at the Promised Land Bar
Beach soccer in the cooler evening temps
She came and sat behind me
She came and sat behind me
She came and sat behind me
She came and sat behind me
She came and sat behind me
Mark keeps winning at Connect 4, & Sarah has finger nails!
Red Colobus Monkey
Sykes Monkey
Vendor in Stone Town
Vendor in Stone town
Future vendor in Stone Town
Playing Bao in the market. The younger generation just played on their phones
Photobombing my picture of this Stone Town door
 
One of many Dhows at low tide
Another day at the beach - the ocean was too warm
Sunset at the Promised Land Bar
Beach soccer in the cooler evening temps
She came and sat behind me
She came and sat behind me
She came and sat behind me
She came and sat behind me
She came and sat behind me
Mark keeps winning at Connect 4, & Sarah has finger nails!
Red Colobus Monkey
Sykes Monkey
Vendor in Stone Town
Vendor in Stone town
Future vendor in Stone Town
Playing Bao in the market. The younger generation just played on their phones
Photobombing my picture of this Stone Town door
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Merry Christmas from the Ngorongoro Crater

25 December, 2018,  Planet Lodge, Arusha, Tanzania

Merry Christmas!

We’ve just had a magical Christmas day in the Ngorongoro Crater after spending  a nice night at the Hhando Coffee Lodge in Keratu. The safari is now over, and we’re in Arusha until tomorrow when we fly to Zanzibar for 6 days.

Ngorongoro crater is a grassy plain with shallow lakes inside a 300 km2 extinct volcano crater. It is its own little ecosystem, and supports a huge amount of wildlife including wildebeest, ostrich, gazelles, zebras, jackals,  lions, hyenas, hippos, elephants, and a small population of rhino. The animals are so used to safari vehicles, that they are much less timid than we’ve experienced before.  Well… all animals except the one rhino we saw, that was eating its way in lazy circles about 500m from the nearest road.  The crater really is amazing, and a must-see. It was certainly the highlight of this safari for us.

We left the Serengeti yesterday. On the way out we saw a very nervous cheetah, eating her recent kill while watching for approaching hyenas. We also saw a scene strait out of the Lion King: a pride of lions sitting on the top of a large granite outcropping just like it was Pride Rock. Also on the way out, we stopped for a few hours at the Oldepai Gorge Museum. If you don’t recognize the name, it’s because us westerners have been mispronouncing it ‘Oldevai Gorge’.  We looked out over the excavations started by the Leakey’s, and had a look through the excellent museum on the evolution of man.

We spent 1 night in Arusha at the Planet Lodge, where we went through the Central Market. Next update from Zanzibar:  Stone Town, spices, beaches and diving.

Merry Christmas!
Keeping a watchful eye out: If a hyena arrives, the cheetah will leave in a hurry
Pride Rock? 3 lions visible top left
Oldepai gorge
The Ngorongoro crater is about 20km in diameter. Those are the volcano walls surrounding the crater.
crater floor
baby cape buffalo
crater floor
crater floor warthog
There is one forested area on the floor
Ngorongoro Crater
Another day of topping and tailing... and gossiping
Colourful Arusha Central Market
Selling pet chickens in Arusha
Arusha - Is Sarah getting shorter?
 
Merry Christmas!
Keeping a watchful eye out: If a hyena arrives, the cheetah will leave in a hurry
Pride Rock? 3 lions visible top left
Oldepai gorge
The Ngorongoro crater is about 20km in diameter. Those are the volcano walls surrounding the crater.
crater floor
baby cape buffalo
crater floor
crater floor warthog
There is one forested area on the floor
Ngorongoro Crater
Another day of topping and tailing... and gossiping
Colourful Arusha Central Market
Selling pet chickens in Arusha
Arusha - Is Sarah getting shorter?
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Real Housewives of the Serengeti (Lion edition)

21, 22, 23 December, 2018. The Thorntree Lodge, Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

ACT 1 – The story so far… a pride of lions near Lake Ndutu has had two females come into heat. They have both left the pride for a private lakeside rendezvous with the dominant male …surrounded by 8 safari tourist vehicles and at least 25 cameras. Unbenownst to no one, a second male has also left the pride and sits about 15 metres away, occasionally craning his neck over the tall grass to see what is happening.

The dominant male lies near his favoured female. The second female lies about 5 metres away, occasionally craning her neck to sneak peaks at the second male.

…and…. ACTION!

The second female makes some suggestive moves. The dominant male goes over to her. The first female pretends she doesn’t notice anything.

‘Grrrr’… says the second female, and takes a swipe at the dominant male. She walks off about 20 metres in a neutral direction. The dominant male, somewhat mistified, returns to his favourite female. The second male has seen all this, and sneaks over to the second female. The dominant male notices and takes a few steps towards the pair, but he’s tired and it’s early, and so returns to his favourite female. Then he changes his mind and goes for a drink at the local watering hole, which is only a few steps away.

While he’s drinking, his favourite female leaves and goes to visit the other pair, to wait her turn with the second male. The dominant male sees all this, and returns to the watering hole once again to drown his sorrows.

End of Act 1.

_______________________________

Who knew the lives of lions could be so complicated?

After leaving the Ndutu plains, we entered Serengeti park. We saw a second pride of 7 lions who had a mostly eaten wildebeest carcass. The dominant male could not eat any more… but he was not ready to let the younger lions have any. When the senior lioness walked away a few steps to lie in the grass, you could almost hear him think: “I want to go over with her, but I can’t leave the carcass. Hmmm, what to do…” He eventually dragged the entire carcass off so he could sit near her but still have the carcass nearby. One of the young males came too close, and he asserted his dominance quite strongly. Kirsten took a great photo – if i can only figure out how to upload it.

Actually we saw a lot more than lions yesterday. We found a cheetah and three cubs that must be just weeks old. As this was in the park, we had to stay on the roads, so we followed her for about half an hour until she crossed very close to us. Then we saw two hyenas take down a wildebeast about 500m away. We found a dead gazelle up in a tree near the hotel, so there is a leopard in the area. We also saw hundreds of thousands of wildebeast, and thousands of zebras having just completed or still in progress with their annual migration. There is a lot happening!

Today we saw maybe 20 lions over the course of the day including three cubs that were 5 or 6 months old. We found the leopard near our camp, but it disappeared under a bush and would not come back out. And we saw a hippo who showed us both of his weapons- his huge mouth… and his windshield wiper-like tail that spreads his poop in all directions at high speed like a manure spreader. Actually this last one may not be an official hippo weapon, but it certainly would be effective. And we found a very elusive Serval cat – the female is about the size of a big house cat, but they look like a cheetah

We leave the Serengeti tomorrow, and hope to visit the Oldepai Gorge Museum. then we’re off to the Ngorongoro crater for Christmas day.

Handsome leading man
The 'happy couple', or so we thought
NSFW
drowning his sorrows
Hyena ralaxing in a mud puddle
Hippo
Big and little
Big mouth
James Bond would escape by running on the hippos
Topi Posing
It's not cold. There's too many flies!
Don't touch my meat!
4-5 months old
Life doesn't get better than this
Game spotting is easy: Just look for the other vehicles!
Serval Cats - this mother and kitten are about the same size as our siamese cats were
 
Handsome leading man
The 'happy couple', or so we thought
NSFW
drowning his sorrows
Hyena ralaxing in a mud puddle
Hippo
Big and little
Big mouth
James Bond would escape by running on the hippos
Topi Posing
It's not cold. There's too many flies!
Don't touch my meat!
4-5 months old
Life doesn't get better than this
Game spotting is easy: Just look for the other vehicles!
Serval Cats - this mother and  kitten are about the same size as our siamese cats were
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Did civilization miss something?

20 December, 2018. Mbugani Migration Camp, Ndutu Plain, Tanzania

We visited the Hadzabe bushman tribe this morning. They speak the ‘click language’ , and live as nomads in the bush. They hunt with bow and arrows, and wear clothes made from hides of animals they’ve skinned plus hand-me -downs. We were supposed to go very early in the morning and hunt with them, but it was raining hard so we went over after breakfast… and after the rain.

It’s been fascinating- they have zero carbon footprint as a people. Actually, the Datooga and Maasai basically have no or negligible carbon footprint either, yet they are being pushed to join the rest of the world. I think there’s a lot we can learn from them on how to live simply again through living comfortably with what they have rather than wanting more.

After leaving the bushmen, we drove along the top of Ngorongoro crater on the way to Lake Ndutu.   We could see rhinos on the crater floor with binoculars as we drove by, and we look forward to trying to find those on our visit to the crater floor in a few days.

Bushmen
Salim talking to the local masaai kids after lunch
small scale wildebeest migration
Sibling cheetahs. Note how full the left one is
Bat eared fox
 
Bushmen
Salim talking to the local masaai kids after lunch
small scale wildebeest migration
Sibling cheetahs. Note how full the left one is
Bat eared fox
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400 cows

19 December, 2018 Eyasi Lodge, Lake Eyasi, Tanzania

400 cows is what the first wife of the chief of the Datooga tribe recommended that Mark pay to Kirsten should they ever decide to get married. It would be up to Kirsten to decide what to do with the cows. 

It was as if Sarah had provided the script to the first wife beforehand.  After a tour of the their village, and a demonstration of how to grind corn into flour, we started asking questions of each other through the interpreter/ guide.  They asked Sarah to explain how we were all related. When it became clear that Mark and Kirsten were not married, then came the recommendation that 400 cows was appropriate.

So Mark now has a goal, and Kirsten has a decision to make: what to do with 400 cows.  They may never get married! 🙂 

We left the Sangaiwe Lodge this morning and drove to Manyara Lake where we saw a huge number of baboons and blue monkeys… with a few elephants and a distant leopard thrown in for good measure.  And Heather learned that ‘brother’ in swahili is ‘caca’, which is french for ‘poo’. I’m sure that will get old fast for most of us. 

The first tribal visit today was to the Datooga tribe that does metal work. The girls now have bracelets. We have a second tribal visit tomorrow to visit bushmen. If you remember “The Gods Must be Crazy”, these are the tribes that speak with a series of clicks and live a nomadic existence in the bush. 

the '400 cow' lady is on the left
bracelets 'r us
We were pretty close to this one
Riding on Mum
Night time....
Day Time!!!!!
 
the '400 cow' lady is on the left
bracelets 'r us
We were pretty close to this one
Riding on Mum
Night time....
Day Time!!!!!
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How did he see that?

17, 18 December 2018, Sangaiwe Tented Lodge, Tarangire National Park , Tanzania 

We were stopped at a corner just about to turn left in the Tarangire National Park. Salim, our guide glanced to the right prior to turning and said “there’s a leopard”. 

We all looked. 

“It’s lying on the branch”

We looked harder.

“it’s on that tree, on the big limb that has the vertical branch”

Heather got the binoculars. Mark, Kirsten and I zoomed in our cameras. It was really hard to see, but we could finally make it out. I have no idea how Salim could see it with a single glance through sunglasses while driving.  A number of other safari vehicles passed by us and missed it completely too.

Unlike the leopard Sarah and I saw in Samburu, this one did not move as we approached, so we got to look at it closely. 

I had been worried that the National Parks would not be as good as the conservancies that we visited in Kenya. However the elephants were as close as we’ve ever seen, and today we watched as one group played in a waterhole. 

Unfortunately Sarah’s been sick, probably from something she ate yesterday. She was very quiet in the back seat saying very little through the day… until Heather asked how to tell whether the elephants were male or female. Sarah perked right up and finally got that awkward ‘birds and bees’ conversation over with. Pheuw… better late than never. 

… and we’ve discovered Heather’s favourite African animal: the dung beetle.  It actually was kind of fun watching these things appear out of elephant dung, and roll dung the size of lacrosse balls across the road. I have named one of them Sisyphus- it pushed the dung ball up the tire track, only to have it roll back down again. 

Sarah sat out day 2 at Tarangire and felt much better at end of day. She should be 100% tomorrow. The kids and I saw 5 lions: 3 sleeping, 1 eating grass and then being sick, and the final one was hunting. They really are like every cat we’ve owned. We were downwind of the one that was hunting, so it quickly disappeared from view as it went away from us. 

And I realized we missed a golden family opportunity- there was another family with older kids at the picnic area today.  They were all dressed in matching khaki pants, shirts and safari hats!  It would have only cost me a little money and all my self-respect

We’re off to two lakes tomorrow: Manyara first, and then staying overnight at Lake Eyasi. 

At top of hill near Sangaiwe gate to Tarangire park
The professionals have arrived
Baobab tree
Lots of elephants
Spot the Leopard. Now imagine you were not looking through a 300mm lens.
Sleepy but alert leopard
Sleepy but alert leopard
Dung beetle!
Mud bath
Silly cat - being sick after eating grass
They should call this a kaleidoscope of zebras, not a herd
 
At top of hill near Sangaiwe gate to Tarangire park
The professionals have arrived
Baobab tree
Lots of elephants
Spot the Leopard. Now imagine you were not looking through a 300mm lens.
Sleepy but alert leopard
Sleepy but alert leopard
Dung beetle!
Mud bath
Silly cat - being sick after eating grass
They should call this a kaleidoscope of zebras, not a herd
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The gang is all here

16 December, 2018.   Arusha, Tanzania

…All the gang except for Chloe and Stephanie, of course. Unfortunately they had to stay home and work. We are missing them already, but happily they will be with Stephanie’s family on Christmas Day. 

Mark, Kirsten, Sarah and I spent a hot day and a half in Moshi before picking Heather up at the Kilimanjaro airport this afternoon. We’re now in Arusha and leave for the 9 day safari tomorrow after breakfast.  

I’m  not sure about the availability of an internet connection while we’re travelling, but we will send updates when we can. 

Dried fish anyone?
Kirsten is having fun pulling Mark over
Together at the Materuni Falls
 
Dried fish anyone?
Kirsten is having fun pulling Mark over
Together at the Materuni Falls
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Even more lions and cheetahs

12, 13 December,  Porini lion camp, Olare Motorogi Conservancy, Kenya

Situated on a conservancy adjacent to the Masa Mara, this camp is run by the same management as the amboseli camp.  The advantage to the conservancy is that there is limited access to just the few companies that work in the area, and those companies are not limited to staying on the park access roads like they are in the Masa Mara.  So we could go up close to the lions and cheetahs: they did not seemed bothered by us at all. 

They have two lion prides in the area, and also two cheetah mothers with their cubs. One of the lion prides is over 20 lions.  And one of the lion mums had three babies that were three weeks old. They were just learning to walk, and we could see the mum still picking them up by the scruff of their neck.

Like Porini Amboseli, there are no fences between the tents and the park. The animals are able to freely roam through the area. This is not a problem during the day, but after dark they require us to have staff walk us to our tents. Both nights,  we were awoken by very noisy grazing. The first night, it was a hippo, and the second night was a cape buffalo: we stayed in the tent!

We got to watch the cats very closely. It is amazing how similar their  behaviour is to house cats. One of the similar behaviors was how house cats play with mice, birds, etc. The mother of the 4 cheetahs had captured a baby gazelle… and the cubs were playing with it, learning how to hunt. It was a good life lesson for these endangered cubs, but it was hard to watch for more than a few minutes.

We were here for two days. Next stop is Moshi and Arusha in Tanzania to pickup Mark, Kirsten, and Heather. Next safari starts on Monday.  

Cheetah Mum
The cubs have ruffled fur behind their necks
cheetah cubs playing
cats playing
cats playing
Topi for dinner
Sundown at Olare Motorogi
Topi at sundown
Young male lions at play
Lion practical jokes:Hit your friend in the head just as the picture is being taken
Looks and sounds like a cat drinking
Toying with a baby gazelle
Run!
Keep running!
Mum & 4 cubs
three week old lion
three weeks old
Masai Giraffe
 
Cheetah Mum
The cubs have ruffled fur behind their necks
cheetah cubs playing
cats playing
cats playing
Topi for dinner
Sundown at Olare Motorogi
Topi at sundown
Young male lions at play
Lion practical jokes:Hit your friend in the head just as the picture is being taken
Looks and sounds like a cat drinking
Toying with a baby gazelle
Run!
Keep running!
Mum & 4 cubs
three week old lion
three weeks old
Masai Giraffe
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Flooded Again

11 December 2018, Intrepids Safari Camp, Samburu Park, Kenya

“Hello, Housekeeping” were the words that woke us up. “You have to get up now”. 

We’re more or less over the 10 hour time change from Calgary, but this was the first time we’d slept soundly through the night. The morning game drive starts at 6:30 and I’ve never had to be woken up before. I thought we’d slept in and I wondered why my alarm had not gone off. 

“You need to leave now”. 

I looked at my watch: 1:36AM. 

“The water is coming up and you need to leave now”. 

There are two rainy seasons in Kenya: the Big Rain in March/April; and the Little Rains which is around now. It’s rained overnight many times since we arrived a week ago, but the days have almost always been nice weather.  It had rained on and off yesterday evening, however, upstream it must have rained a lot.

The hotel area floods continually in the big rains, and frequently in the little rains.  It’s no big deal because everything is built on stilts.  But we had to leave our old tent, which was closest to the river, and come back to a more central one. One other guest was evacuated from the tent beside ours,  but the rest of the guests were fine. 

There was about a foot of water at ground level around the tent. We were carried to dry land with all our stuff. 

The water was within 6″ of needing to evacuate the entire camp… but by the time we got out,  the level was dropping and hotel staff were no longer concerned. 

By this morning, the water flow was still high, but the level was back within the banks. 

We had a great game drive this morning. With breakfast done, Sarah’s gone back to bed!

The camp would have been evacuated if the water had reached the yellow line
morning after
lots of water
morning after
 
The camp would have been evacuated if the water had reached the yellow line
morning after
lots of water
morning after
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