Kenya & Tanzania Wildlife Safari

[Freaky]

Here is my travelogue of my trip to Africa... Since it is going to be long and in-depth, it will take a few days for me to finish and photo's posted later...:?

Date Travelled: 22/3/07 - 3/4/07

Cost: You don't want to know:rolleyes:

Places visited: (in order I travelled and brief info lifted from my itinery)

1. Tsavo West National Park, Kenya
The twin national parks of Tsavo East and Tsavo West together form one of Africa's largest wilderness reserve's. Tsavo as a whole consists of 10 million acres of pure wilderness, incorporating savannah, ranges and hills, acacia and montane forest, and an extensive river system. On safari here, you will see large herds of elephants, eland, giraffe, impala, kudu, dik dik, leopard and possibly Rhinoceros. Tsavo is a birdwatcher's paradise with numerous species of weavers, hornbills, sunbirds, rollers, guinea fowls and raptors commonly seen.

2. Amboseli National Park, Kenya
The combination of scenery, people and animals is what makes Amboseli National Park so facinating. Beautifully situated at the foot of the towering Kilimanjaro, it is the home of brightly painted Masai tribe. Here you can see lions, cheetahs, spooted hyaenas, wild dogs as well as gnus, kaffir buuffaloes, Burchells Zebras and elephants.


3. Lake Manyara National Park, Tanzania
This beautiful park us a the base of the Great Rift Valley escarpment and comprimises of forest, woodland, grassland and swamps. Since it is only 130KM from Arusha it may be visited as a day excursion. The following wildlife are easily spotted: gazelles, impala, buffalo, wildebeest, famous climbing tree lion, hyaena, babbon, giraffe, hippopotamus, and a great number of smaller animals. 350 species of bird, storks and flamingoes.

4. Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
The park covers 14,763 sq km of endless rolling plains, which reach to the Kenyan border and extends almost to Lake Victoria. The park is teaming with stunning wildlife - it is thought that over 3 million large mammals roam the plains. In May or early June, you can witness the annual migration of millions of zebra and wildebeest in search of water and forage as the seasons change.

5. Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania
The park is located between the Serengeti and Lake Manyara. It is home to the famous volcanic Ngorongoro Crater, which is the largest unbroken caldera in the world. The crater (610m deep and 260km squared) is a microcosm of East African scenery and game and is usually visited on the way back from the Serengeti to Arusha. Scenic granduer and stunning views are the hallmark of this wonder of the world.

[Freaky]

Travel Tips

Things to pack: (Non-photographic)
A wide range of clothing depending on season you go as temperatures varies a great deal in some areas. But don't pack too large of a case, otherwise the van / landcruiser may not have enough room to fit everyone's luggage in the vehicle.

Hat, Sunscreen is a MUST... otherwise you will turn out like me.

BRING BOTTLES OF WATER AND AS MANY AS YOU CAN CARRY. I only bought 12 x 1.5 (1 case) and not enough. HOTELS THERE DO NOT PROVIDE WATER WITH MEALS. Hotel rooms will give you a small bottle, your tour company will give you 500ml a day and that's it.

Coming from SE Asia and in high humidity climates, the dryness is a real shock to the system. You will be drinking lots and lots of water. If you don;t want to bring, you can by water from hotels at US$3-6 per litre. You calculate... My carton only cost me RM9.90...

Unless you fly in to a town such as Nairobi, Arusha or other spot, then you can request the driver to bring you to a local shopping centre to buy water for your WHOLE trip. (Don't be penny pinching here) and be generous with your allocation per person. You don;t want to stop again for water as there may not be a place for you to stop.

Of course hotels don't like people bringing their own "drinks" to the table, so we as a group purchase 1 bottle and brought our own for the rest of the meal.

Apart from that, all else is standard travelling gear.

Insect repellant if you want, but most lodges supply. A multi-V suppliment is also recommended as somehow, much of their food seems lacking in nutrients.

Electrical points are same as UK / Malaysia

[Freaky]

Camera Equipment

Here is a list of MUST BRING ITEMS:
1. Blower
2. Microfiber lens cloth or paper wipes
3. Cleaning brush or lenspen
4. Beanbag

Africa is extremely dusty (in non-raining times)

Here is a list of Highly recommended items:
5. Min 400mm lens. ( i had 70-200 2.8 plus 2x converter and still find it too short at times. Zooms are better than primes as you can compose the animal and shot better)
6. a nice wide lens for the landscapes, sunrises and sunsets.
7. Tripod and monopod (if you have both, you won't neccessarily use them, but plonk them in the car for good measure, you'll never know when you need them)
6. CPL and ND Grad filter ( I had CPL but dun know how to use it *sigh*, but grad would have been nice for the sunsets and sunrises.)
7. Minimum 2 batteries, though if you have and can afford, bring more (full day safaris go 6 hrs normally, but we did from 6.30 in morning to 6pm at night)
8. Bring enough memory cards and/or something with large harddisk (I shot 12+G of pics in RAW with 1 x 2G CF and 1 x 1G CF and downloaded to my computer at night) Though I didn't go through 3G in any day, on some, if we had bumped into more animals, could easily have done so.
9. sturdy camera bag that can carry your stuff with easy access as you are stuck in your safari vehicles and don't want to be holding you lenses (like me as I forgot to pick up another case to fit my 70-200 *sigh again*)

Other items you can consider:
10. Flash Gun (for birders; night time safari, some places have most don't; during dinner or around the resort.)
11. other normal range lens
12. Binoculars
13. If you have lots of things to charge each night i suggest a multi-point adapter with a surge protect. The resorts all run on generators. Some switch off generators at night, If your room don't have enough outlets, you could be stuck.
14. A second body (many times I had to switch lenses to get the shot. Mostly I had the 70-200 plus 2x, but sometimes the animals get real close)

[Freaky]

A few things to note for those who wish to travel to Africa...

You will need Yellow Fever shots (RM300), Malaria tablets (especially if you go to Lake Manayara as plenty of mozzi's).

I flew Emirates to Dubai then to Nairobi. I believe if coming from Malaysia or South East Asia, a shorter route would be MAS to Mauritiaus to Nairobi. Singaporeans and Malasyaian no need to apply for visa to both countries. Not sure about other SE Asian Countries. As an OZ passport holder, it cost me US$50 for a visa to Kenya and another US$50 for a visa to Tanzania.

Visa's can be purchased at point of entry. Make sure you bring cash. I heard one lady ask if they take credit... lol... Then ask if there was an ATM in the airport... lol again... no ATM only after immigration. Don't know how she managed to get thru...

If you don't havve US$, then there is a money changer before you reach immigration.

OK enough of the boring, but important stuff, onward with my review of each place we visited. More tips will come with the review.

[Freaky]

My trip started at 2am... that was the flight time anyway:mad:

8 Hour flight to Dubai, 5 hour transit, then another 5hr Flight to Nairobi... Finally in Afica...

Hopped over to the domestic airport across the street and straight onto a chartered flight (another 1hr) to our 1st destination Tsavo West. Not a moment too soon as the Pilot rushed us to get on board as the Kenyan President was about to arrive at the airport and when he did, no flights in or out for at least a few hours...

Here is a cloud shot from the chartered flight
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Shot over the shoulder of the Pilot
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Our landing at a bush runway
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[Freaky]

Upon landing the plane, we say giraffes, elephant, impala's and zebras running away from the runway...

Here is my first animal pic... just out of the plane

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[Freaky]

Once our bags was off the plane, we jumped right into our "landcruiser" (More on this later) and went on our 1st safari... No time to change, no time to rest, no time to check in the lodge (even though the airstrip is 10meters away from the airstrip)....

Impala jumping past the car
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Zebra bum sniffing
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Yellow Neck Spurfowl
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[Freaky]

As it was getting dark and we were all tired, we started back to the lodge...

Ostriches...
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Another car viewing the ostriches
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Watering hole near the lodge
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Continued Tommorrow...

[ckii96]

Great place! Thanks for sharing. :)

[sE_vIxEn]

finally found your thread... haha... looks like shots worthy of National Geographic... great job. :)

[leslie]

When i grow up i want to go to Africa :D ..deng.... Freaky u have 12 GB..is this all :D

[qqmeng]

nicely documented!

[Caveman]

wooo.. love it, I like the ostrich shot most. Still dreaming when can I go there. :?

[jayhan]

wow great stuff.
personally i like the zebras butt sniffers shot.
absolutely perfect timing. any idea why they do that for??

[karen0111]

I love the Ostriches picture... but why look not so sharp geh?
or my eyes got problem? :rolleyes:

[iamyuanwu]

The ostriches picture... love it!
Don't know what makes it so compelling... I just know I like it a lot.

BTW, looks like the tail is sharper than the head?

[mobbes]

As it was getting dark and we were all tired, we started back to the lodge...

Ostriches...



I thought the ostriches represented "we" hahahaha... Good shot! Love the zebras too :)

[Crazymalaysian]

Got me dreaming of an african safari outing, post more freaky. :)

[siew]

Wow, more more more

[JackJack]

i really like the landscape there, so wide so long so far!

[Freaky]

Thanks for the comments...

anyway regarding the zebra's... they are not actually sniffing each other's butt. LOL... They naturally and instictively line up...(wish Malaysian's can learn this) as a defense mechanism... You'll see what I mean when I get to the Serengeti pictures...

Ostriched not sharp because... you'll find out later...

Anyway... Continue with the story...

[Freaky]

Day 2...

Safari safari safari... that's why you go to africa... that's what you do all day every day... stuck in a car looking at animals...

Giraffe...
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This is the Black-Bellied Bustard
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No idea about this bird... no in my "birds of east africa" book...
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[Freaky]

European Roller
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Female Van der Decken's Hornbill
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Another European Roller... I think...*sigh* I'm really bad at birding...
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[Freaky]

Anyway... as you go on safari... there are no guarantees in what you can or cannot see... You could do the same track, day in day out and see different things... You can do different tracks and keep seeing the same things...

Once in a while something interesting happens...

We drove to a river... forget the name... and a herd (think you call them herds) of Hippopotamuses were lying...

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stayed there for a few minutes... Hippo's are boring... stay underwater for around 6 min at a time, stick their heads up for air, then go back down...

Once in a while they may "stretch their legs"

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But for some reason... this guy suddenly got restless...

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[Freaky]

Without any warning... Mr. Lard Bucket started climbing the bank of the river...

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[Freaky]

Hippo's never or extremely rarely get out of the water during the day... They usually stay in all day and come out to eat at night...

But today, old papa here decided to move the herd...

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so one after another, they heaved their chubby bodies out of the water...
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all in an orderly fashion...
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Big and small...
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Finally to say good-bye... He says to us... "You enjoyed the show?"
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[Freaky]

Here are some other animals we bumped into on that day...

warthog...
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Can't remember what this was...
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Forgot to buy the "Animals of East Africa" Book... *Sigh*
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[Freaky]

Tsavo West Lanscape...
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[Freaky]

Back to the lodge for breakfast... This is the view from our rooms and dining area...

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Some lizards around the lodge
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[Freaky]

after breakfast... back out again...

The Greater Blue-Eared Starling
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One of the Big Five - Buffalo
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Zebra Portrait...
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[Freaky]

landscapes...
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[Freaky]

giraffe...
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Then back to the lodge for lunch... with visitors...

Marabou Stork...
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Red-billed Hornbill
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[Freaky]

Here's a better pic of the European Roller...
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Ended the day by going to a Hippo Pond, a place where we can walk out...but what we say in the mornin was far better... The water was cleaner here, but hippos were far away and underwater...


Finally can walk around...
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That was the end of Day 2...

[JackJack]

http://www.shutterasia.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=731&d=1176391808

this giraffes....so big! And the stomach....beer belly or pregnant?:D

[derickuan]

Freaky...you convince me that I need to come to this place during my lifetime......basically everywhere is animals....great travelogue and pictures....
:rock:

[noordin]

Nice. That reminds me that I should to do another wild life park tour again.

[Freaky]

It's been more than a month... since my last entry... :mad:

so I think it's time to finish the rest of the journey... Have processed nearly all my pics, will continue with day 3 tonight... :)

http://www.shutterasia.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=731&d=1176391808

this giraffes....so big! And the stomach....beer belly or pregnant?:D

No idea :D

Freaky...you convince me that I need to come to this place during my lifetime......basically everywhere is animals....great travelogue and pictures....
:rock:

Nice. That reminds me that I should to do another wild life park tour again.

Yes... I believe all who love to travel and photography should make at least 1 trip to africa in their lifetime...