Last Day in Tanzania

We are spending our last night in Tanzania. We are about 25 miles from the Malawi border high up in Tea plantation country. This afternoon we visited a Tea plantation and in just two short hours learned everything there is to know about growing and harvesting Tea. I will condense it for you: 1. Plant some Tea. 2. Pick the leaves. That's about it. The reason it took so long is that our guide had to say everything at least twice. So in the spirit of the thing, in case you missed ti the first time: 1. Plant some Tea. 2. Pick the leaves.

We didn't even get a cup of Tea at the end of the tour:<) Not even Ice Tea:<) They don't even seem to grow Ice Tea there; I asked him twice.

Tomorrow we will descend to lower elevations and cross the border into Malawi.

Tea Plantation

Crossing Tanzania

We are about 2/3 the way across Tanzania. We passed through Mikumi National Park yesterday and saw several Giraffe, Zebra and Anetlope (mostly Impala) as we transited through the park. We didn't do a game drive in the park, but it was nice to see some animals as we drove through. We spent the night camping just inside the western edge of the park. Today, we climbed up through Baobab Valley and are now back at a fairly high altitude (5800 ft). Tomorrow we will make it to a campsite that is fairly near the Malawi border and cross into Malawi the next day.

Golden Africa Video Uploaded

I have managed to get the second video uploaded to Vimeo. There is a link to it on FishTalesFilms.com in the "Shot On RED section". The video, titled Golden Africa, includes sample footage from The Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania. At this time of year, the Savannas on the floor of the rift valley are a sea of golden grasses except in areas close to water. I was fortunate to get all three species of big cats, Lion, Leopard and Cheetah. The Leopard and Cheetah also had cubs, a big bonus! This film was mastered in 4K on RED and has been scaled down to a size that is presentable on the internet. Most of the footage was shot with a Sigma 50-500 lens (Bigma) and a Sigma 17-70 lens. This is a rough cut and will be updated at a later date. Editing 4k in the field on a MacBook Pro can be challenging and time consuming.

This video can also be viewed at http://www.vimeo.com/fishtales

Music for this video is Accralate by Kevin MacLeod

Green Africa video online now

It turns out that the internet connection in Stone Town isn't much better than it was in North Zanzibar, but I did manage to get one of the two videos that I've finished uploaded to Vimeo. There is a link to it on FishTalesFilms.com in the "Shot On RED section". The video's title is Green Africa and it includes sample footage from Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. The National Parks and Forests in this region are generally above the level of the great rift valley and at a high enough altitude (7500 ft or more) that they are cool and green compared to the Savannas on the floor of the rift valley. This film was mastered in 4K on RED and has been scaled down to a size that is presentable on the internet. Most of the footage was shot with a Sigma 50-500 lens (Bigma) and a Sigma 17-70 lens. This is a rough cut and will be updated at a later date. Editing 4k in the field on a MacBook Pro can be challenging and time consuming. Also, I don't have access to some nice footage shot at Nakuru that is on the disks of a failed Drobo Mini, so I won't be able to access that footage until September. At that time, I'll re-edit and upload a cleaner version, but for now, this will have to do.

You can also view the video at: http://www.vimeo.com/fishtales

Music for this video is Infados by Kevin MacLeod

North Beach Zanzibar

Well, there's good news and not so good news. The good news is that I have finished two videos and am ready to put them on my Vimeo channel. The not so good news is that the internet connection here at the north end of Zanzibar isn't adequate for an upload of that size. Tomorrow, however, we will be moving down to Stone Town for our last night on Zanzibar and supposedly the internet will be better there so I should be able to get them online. Stay tuned.

Zanzibar Sunset

The Road To Zanzibar

When I was a kid, one of my favorite movies was "The Road to Zanzibar", an old Bob Hope/Bing Crosby flick. Finally I'm here. There actually isn't a road all the way to Zanzibar because it's an Island, but there is a 2 hour ferry that will get you there from Dar es Salaam. Of course you can't actually get there in just 2 hours, there's another ferry that you need to take to get to the ferry, and a long taxi ride to get to the North end of the island where we are staying. Leaving the camp at 0700 gets you to the hotel by 1500. Zanzibar is a large, low island and is very green. Though it is part of Tanzania, it pretends to be a separate country with it's own immigration, customs and even it's own President. Pretty much all setup in case the ferry ever stops running. Tomorrow, I'm going to start editing some wildlife footage from earlier in the trip.

Journey to Dar es Salaam

It takes two fairly long days of driving to get from Arusha to Dar es Salaam. As we drop in altitude, the temperature warms up to what you would normally expect in the tropics. The countryside also greens up a bit as you gradually descend with lots of farms along the road. We will spend one night at Sunset Beach camp and tomorrow take a ferry to Zanzibar where we will spend 4 days. The truck will be staying at Sunset Beach awaiting our return. It's my intention to finish two short video pieces to post on Vimeo during this interlude. I might go diving one day too, just because.

Serengeti Day Two

The day started early with a 0600 wakeup and a 0630 departure for an early morning game drive. The first stop was for a gorgeous sunrise over the Savannah through the Acacia trees. Then we had a pond about an acre in size that had at least 100 Hippos in it. We saw loads of Elephants out working on their morning breakfast. A real treat was a mother Leopard in an Acatia tree with two fairly large cubs. They will probably be learning to hunt soon. We watched her come down out of the tree and head off into the tall grass to hunt some nearby Gazelles. After a bit, the Gazelles dashed off, and she didn't get one, but she may have wounded one because a Hyena dashed in and seemed to down something. Difficult to tell what happened in tall grass. A couple minutes later we saw the three Leopards come out of the grass, Mom lounged around a bit while the cubs chased each other, then we lost them in the high grass again. We thought they might be gong back up their tree, but in fact they went up another one nearby and I was able to get some additional footage there too. We also had a large pride of Lions, at least a dozen very near the 4x4.

We we left Serengeti around noon and made it back to Arusha around 6:00 PM, so we had another long day. Tomorrow will be a long one too as we start to head down to Dar es Salaam. We should make it a little over halfway and get to Dar the following afternoon.

Here are a few photos from Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti:

Serengeti Sunrise


Cheetah and cubs


Leopards


Lions on watch


Catnap after a big meal


Hyena


Elephants


Serengeti Sunset

Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti

Well, today's post won't be loaded with photos because we are camping in the middle of the Serengeti and there is not 3G available for my iPhone. So photos will have to wait until I get back to Arusha either tomorrow night or the next morning.

We drove up to the rim of Ngorongoro crater yesterday and camped on the rim of the crater at Simba camp. During the night some large animals passed through the camp, not sure what they were but I could hear them brusing us against my tent as they passed. We got up at 0500 and had camp broken by 0600. We drove down into the crater and were there for sunrise. Ngorongoro really lives up to its reputation. We saw at least a dozen lions, but all were sleeping off big bellies from a recent kill. Looked like a Thanksgiving food coma. We also saw several Elephants, tons of Zebra and Wildebeest several Ostrich, a couple Elan, a bunch of Hyena, some Jackal, and several Hippos and Warthogs.

After lunch we left Ngorongoro and headed North to Serengeti. The two parks share a boundary so even when you are traveling from one area to another it's like you are still on a game drive. While in transit we saw several Giraffe. We got to Serengeti around 3 in the afternoon and then did a game drive on our way to the campsite. We had the extreme good fortune of finding a Cheetah with a couple tiny cubs. The cubs are only two or three weeks old and still really fuzzy. We also saw a nice herd of Elephants including a little calf that is still nursing. We arrived at our campsite right at sunset. I'm doing a private 4x4 for these two days to make it easier to shoot with the RED. The rest of the group is in another 4x4. Tomorrow morning we will do another game drive in the 4x4s and then head back to Arusha where our Safari Truck is waiting

Arusha, Tanzania

We arrived at "Snake Park" camp outside of Arusha, Tanzania fairly late last night. On the drive down we had a view of Mt Killamanjaro shortly after crossing the border. It was about 50 miles away but visible through the haze. Brett said that he's never seen it from there, so we were lucky for the glimpse we had. Today we went into Arusha for some shopping and errands. We visited the Cultural Center which has a truly amazing gallery of African art. Its spiral ramp evokes memories of the Guggenheim Museum in NY. You can also buy Tanzanite gems at the cultural center. The only known Tanzanite mine in the world is located near Arusha.

This afternoon we start an interesting adventure. We will be away from the Safari Truck for a couple days. We will transfer into 4x4 Land Rovers and head up to the rim of Ngorogoro Crater. We will camp for the night on the rim of the crater at Simba Camp. Tomorrow morning we will do a game drive down into the crater, and about noon we will pass into Serengeti National Park, do an afternoon game drive there and then camp for the night in the park. The next morning we will do another Serengeti Game Drive and then exit the park around noon and come back to Arusha where our truck will be waiting for us. Should be interesting spending the night inside those two parks. Apparently they have Masai Warriors guarding the camps to keep big animals at bay.

On the road to Tanzania

This will be a fairly long day on the road for us. We have to go from Kemba Camp back to Nairobi, then south to the Tanzanian border. After we make the border crossing, we will continue on to Arusha and spend the night at Snake Park

A couple of my traveling companions shot photos of me during the game drive yesterday. I had the tripod setup in the 4x4 and it just comfortably reaches out of the top so I can stand up and shoot without worrying too much about something eating or trampling me. I also have been using a "Bean Bag" directly on the roof of the 4x4 for some shots. It's fats to setup and keeps the camera steady even at.500mm. If you want to pan, however, nothing beats the tripod with a fluid head.

Shooting on a Game Drive in Nakuru National Park, Kenya.


Shooting with the Sigme (Bigma) 50-500mm lens on RED.

Nakuru National Park, Take 2

Nakuru National Park was excellent again. I had a White rhino and a Black Rhino. The Black Rhinos are more rare and harder to find because of their solitary habits. Last time I saw several White Rhino, but no Black, so this was a treat! I also had several Giraffe, a bunch of Zebra, loads of Baboons, a couple Ostrich (females), several herds of Cape Buffalo, a Lioness laying in the grass under a tree and several species of antelope. All in all, another productive day.









White Rhino


Black Rhino

Back to Nakuru

We are officially underway on Phase two of the trip. This will be a long journey, about 55 days from Nairobi, Kenya to Cape Town, South Africa. Along the way, we will pass through Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. Our first stop is at Kembu Camp near Nakuru National Park. This was also the first stop on the trip to Uganda and Rwanda, so the location is familiar to me. It's a comfy place with grassy areas for tents, hot showers and a nice bar/restaurant. We will be having dinner in the restaurant tonight because we are celebrating two birthdays (Brett and Nikki). Not both the same day, but close enough for one party.

Tomorrow is a game drive in Nakuru National Park. A couple weeks ago when we passed through here it was the first wildlife experience for us and it was awesome. I have high hopes for tomorrow. I've booked a private 4x4 for myself tomorrow. When shooting motion with a really long lens, anybody even shifting in their seat can put some shake in the shot. So a few places on the trip, I will strike out on my own.

Here's what Kembu Camp looks like:


On the way from Nairobi, I saw these two signs on opposite corners of an intersection. I wonder what it takes to get into the Precious school?

Back in Nairobi

Well, that trip didn't go exactly as planned. The idea was to get up bright and early on the 10th and leave Kigali, Rwanda to drive all day long to overnight in Jinja, Uganda. We barely made it 1/3 of that distance due to a late start and a variety of delays enroute. The place we stayed was "Interesting". I can't say it was the worst place I ever overnighted in, but it's way down there on the old bell curve. Plan B on the 11th was to get as far as Eldoret in Kenya. Nope. We made it within 4 miles of the Uganda/Kenya border by about 5:30 PM, but our driver was tired and decided to stop there for the night. Three of us (Brett, Maryke and myself) decided to forge on to Eldoret by taxi and fly to Nairobi the next morning instead. We all had pressing business in the city and needed to get there by the 12th. It took awhile to scrounge up a taxi driver who would make the journey, so we didn't get on the road again until after 7:00, then we immediately hit a gridlock of trucks trying to cross the border so ti took us over an hour to make it about a mile. Fortunately, the immigration officers were twiddling their thumbs because of the blockage so there were no lines to get stamped out of Uganda and stamped back into Kenya. We didn't get to the guesthouse we were staying at in Eldoret until midnight, then we had an early rise to get to the airport in time for an 0835 flight to Nairobi. Upon arrival in Nairobi, we were met by Smiley, the world famous taxi driver from Karen Camp who efficiently (as possible in Nairobi traffic) got us each to our destinations. Tomorrow at 1700 is the orientation meeting for the next leg of the journey.

Kigali Rwanda

Well, the first leg of the journey is finished. We wound up the trip today Kigali, capital of Rwanda, with a visit to the Genocide Memorial. It is a sobering reminder of the terrible times Rwanda went through in 1994 when almost 2 million people were brutally slaughtered. It is a testament to Rwanda's spirit that they have proceeded to rebuild their country into a model of stability and cooperation. The people are friendly and enthusiastic and the infrastructure is better than the neighboring countries.

Tomorrow morning we begin a long drive back to Nairobi. It should take two long days to cross Rwanda and Uganda and get back into Kenya, then about another half day to get back down to Nairobi. I should have a couple days in Nairobi to take care of some things before we start the 55 day journey south.

A relaxing day in Ruhengari

Today is a relaxing day in Ruhengari (also known as Musanze). I'm going to use the time to do a bit of reorganizing of my gear and get ready for the long haul back over to Nairobi. I walked into the local vegetable market today. It is bustling with activity with a huge selection of fruits and vegetables. Farming is quite extensive in this region.

Banana market:


A smart shopper uses her head:


Street seamstresses doing alterations while you wait;

Gorillas in the mist

Yesterday we had a long dusty overland journey through southwestern Uganda, a border crossing into Rwanda and then a climb up into the mountainous area of Ruhengari. Today was our Gorilla trek. We started from our campsite at 0600 and went to the park headquarters for an orientation. Then we did a 40 minute drive up higher to the trailhead. The trek in to the Gorillas took about 1.5 hours and was a fairly steep climb. The trails are very good and I hired a porter to carry the pack with my RED (best 10 bucks I ever spent:<). The weather was perfect, clear skies and pleasantly cool temperatures. We had a fantastic encounter with the Gorillas. They were in a relatively open. There was a large Silverback male, a couple large Blackback males a couple females and one cute fuzzy little baby. We were really close to the Gorillas, usually less than 10 feet. They went about their Gorilla business as though we weren't even there.

Queen Elizibeth National Park

Queen Elizabeth National Park is the oldest and best established game park in Uganda. I split my day into two parts, and early morning game drive and an afternoon boat cruise on Kazinga channel. During the game drive I saw several species of antelope, some Lions, a nice Warthog, a herd of Cape Buffalo and a couple Hippos. In the afternoon I did a cruise on Kazinga channel that connects Lake George and Lake Edward. The shores of the channel are loaded with groups of Cape Buffalo (both in and out of the water). Hippos are plentiful in the channel, I saw dozens of groups of them. We also saw several elephants at the water's edge and one nice sized Nile Crocodile.

Chimpanzee Trekking

After a long cross country trip from Jinja to Kibale, with a shopping stop in Kampala, we arrived at a lovely campsite in tea plantation countryside. We did an afternoon trek in Kibale Forest to a group of Chimpanzees. We found a group high in the treetops and waited for one of them to come down. Then we tracked him to an area where he was taking his afternoon rest. We spent about an hour with him and then we radioed the other half of our group and called them over to our location so that they could see him too. Then we went back to the area that we had originally heard the group in the treetops and more Chimps had come down to the forest floor. We saw the Alpha Male being groomed by one of the females and also a pair of little guys playing. One thing that can't be adequately described is the sound the Chimps make in the forest when they start vocalizing. It's so loud that you'd think that you were in a small room rather than out in the open forest. We also saw a troop of about 80 baboons, but in the forest they are much more shy than they are out in the open Savannah.



Just a yawn

Nile White Water Rafting

The city of Jinja, Uganda is located on the northern end of Lake Victoria. The various Nile tributaries flow into Lake Victoria from the south and west, then the main stream of the Nile flows north past Jinja on its way to the Mediterranean. While this area is not known for wildlife, it does have a reputation as Uganda's action sports capital. The best example of this is the stretch of Class 5 rapids that draw white water rafters from around the world. Nile River Explorers is the largest rafting outfitter on the river. As luck would have it, yesterday they had 47 rafters, but today there was just me and two of my Africa-In-Focus travel companions. So we had a raft and guide to ourselves in addition to a safety boar and 3 safety kayakers. The safety boat is there to pickup people who wind up in the water, or to shuttle anyone around a rapid if it doesn't look like something you want to attempt. The safety kayaks are there to pick you up if you get tossed out in some serious white water. The rapids on this stretch of the Nile are quite impressive. We did one Class 4, 6 Class 5's and we portaged to the middle of a Class 6 below some truly scary water and put in where it turns back into a mere Class 5. That's the one that we got flipped in and wound up getting trashed in 10 ft standing waves. That's when you really appreciate the safety Kayaks because they can maneuver into that washing machine and tow your ass out!. I considered us to be lucky to only flip once, any of the 8 rapids we went through could have done it. The last three Class 5's that we went through were pretty cool because we managed to power through them while coming really close to losing it.







This didn't end well for us:

Into Uganda

Today was a long journey from Eldoret in Kenya to Jinja in Uganda including a border crossing. When I say long, it's more a matter of time than distance. From our campsite Northeast of Eldoret to the Ugandan border is about 70 miles and from t her border to Jinja is another 75 miles (as the crow flies). No problem, that's a couple hours, right? Wrong. Road conditions, numerous speed bumps on the highway (seriously), a generally meandering route and traffic (mostly slow trucks) make it more like 6 or 7 hours. Then there's the border crossing. We were warned that this could take some time since there may only be one immigration window open and long lines, especially exiting Kenya. Luckily, it went quite smoothly and we managed to get out of Kenya and into Uganda in less than 45 minutes. So our total travel time for the 175 or so miles took about 9 hours. Comfortable, but still tiring. Jinja is located in the North end of Lake Victoria near the source of the Nile River. Our campground in Jinja is a pleasant place a few miles North of Jinja on a high bluff overlooking the Nile. It has a nice grassy area to pitch tents and a beautiful swimming pool. It also has upgrades available and after a long road trip, I decided to forgo the tent and opt for a nice little chalet with a Queen size bed and a nice bathroom with hot shower. There's a time and a place to sleep in my tent, and this is not it:<)

Campground in Jinja:


Campground Firepit and Bar:


Campground Pool:


View of the Nile as it passes the campsite: