My Own Private Africa - Serengeti and Ngorongoro Late March 2015

[graceland]

Hi Graceland -

 

No GoPro, too pricey when I already have a Lumix that we use for underwater shots that works fine. Scott can tell you the particular model. I have used in in Hawaii, Europe, Alaska and Belize so it has been in caves, underwater and all over the place. We bought a selfie stick which I used occasionally, but I never got the close up underwater hippo shot I dreamed of. (I didn't know how dangerous they were before arriving). I don't usually shoot video so I have a lot of improvements to make the next time out now that I have seen and evaluated the footage! Scott says a Steadicam would be in order, but hey those roads are often rough and sometimes I wanted the moving shots. Oh well. I took a gorilla pod and never used it, but was having fun trying something new.

 

I used iMovie on my iPad to make the videos each night. Because it was all new I made them way too long (in retrospect), but realize now I will be more ruthless the next edit. I have four more videos to get uploaded, and I will try to keep this trip report moving but I refuse to write it on an iPad and I am usually at a computer at work, so not much time to devote to side projects.

 

Stephanie

 

Thanks for the info. It turned out great. I saw the stick and thought a go pro. I have one but yet to use it Practice is in order for me LOL. I had no idea I have iMovie. Haha. Thanks for the info. I am using this iPad as my computer is down and I rarely use it but for travel. Expanding my horizons LOL

 

Look forward to more

[Alexander33]

@ Scott8586

 

Your photographs thus far are really nice. Looking forward to more.

 

@ Steph8586

 

Thanks for posting this report. Enjoying it very much.

[Scott8586]

Pictures from day three. Young Hyena chewing on a gazelle skull; breakfast!

 

 

Bat Eared Foxes on our drive:

 

 

Pair of Young Lions on the Kopje:

 

 

Pride Love:

 

 

Sunset Glow:

 

[Marks]

Awesome photos and fun videos (not too long at all!). Some of the skies you've captured are just superb. I enjoyed post #23 a lot. It's nice to submerge myself into a "text safari" in addition to the photos.

[graceland]

+1

 

Great skies, and lions as well...

[Alexander33]

There's a look of almost ecstasy in that hyena's face! Love the bat-eared foxes.

[Tom Kellie]

That's One Spectacular Sky!

What a Little Face

~ @@Scott8586 and @Steph8586:

 

Your trip report has been great fun — with images that highly appeal to me.

Your ways with a camera and lens work so well.

Many thanks for sharing these on Safaritalk and for answering questions. I learned from your responses.

Tom K.

 

 

[ZaminOz]

Awesome!

[madaboutcheetah]

WOW - I just got back from Namiri myself - So glad and fortunate to see and photograph super cheetah mom (Abigale) the mum of two small cubs.

 

Thanks so much for this report @@Steph8586 ...... as you say, Namiri rocks!!!

Full credit to Asilia who run a fabulous outfit!

[michael-ibk]

Really wonderful report, photos, writing and videos! Especially like the lion cubs and the buffalo-lion encounter. Interesting music choices, very much enjoyed the vids. Thanks, and looking forward to more!

[Steph8586]

Well, for those of you still reading, thanks for hanging in there. Had some difficulties with the next video, but after a music change (apologies to Angelique Kidjo whose Afirika triggered the copyright sensors ). But "We OK" and we are back on track and heading out for Sayari Camp in the Northern Serengeti near the Mara River and the Kenya border. Leaving Namiri was very sad. In three days we managed to feel right at home, had such a good time on our drives with Erasto and Shinoi, that it just did not seem right that we were leaving.

 

On the way out we looked for our cheetah friends near Namiri without much luck. Instead we stopped to look at some fossilized giraffe bones in the riverbed, saw some hyena and wonderful birds. I miss the lilac breasted rollers! And we eventually headed out for the Seronera airstrip. While circling a kopje looking for who knows what -- pretty much anything makes us happy -- we were greeted by twin cheetah cubs and their mother. Then we had to race a bit to the airport, where we still arrived well before the flight left. We said good bye to Erasto and thanked Shinoi for what we now jokingly called his "Maasai Secret". On one drive his ability to spot some lions that were impossible -- and I mean impossible -- for the rest of us to see, I asked how he did it. He just shrugged, so I said, "Is it a Maasai secret?" Which Erasto found hilarious and started ribbing Shinoi about -- don't tell your Maasai secret or everyone will know how to do it.

 

Anyway, the short flight to Kotagende was uneventful, just us and a couple of others with us on the plane. I seemed to always choose the side with the best view and had a lovely view of the Mara River on landing and noticed several giraffes browsing near the strip. We were greeted by Calson, our guide and adventure leader for the next three days. After the "paperwork" was complete we were off for Sayari Camp -- via a game drive of course. Before leaving Calson repeated his mantra - "Check your pockets make sure everything is buttoned up this is an open vehicle." We enjoyed the different landscape in the Northern Serengeti and started right off with some wonderful elephants and klipspringer were everywhere. It was much rockier and so there were different types of antelope including the "elusive" oribe, which we saw on every game drive.

 

We cruised the kopje's for leopard, but were not able to spot any so we headed to camp for lunch. We arrived to a greeting by Rodger, Julie, Nhatu, Happy and Solomon and probably others I am forgetting. After being met with a cold towel and a refreshing drink, we decided to freshen up in our tent before lunch. We were the only guests for the first two nights we were at Sayari, so it was truly personal and magical. Julie and Rodger were wonderful hosts and your slightest wish was met. Despite being only two of us, the camp was full on service as if ready for ten more to arrive. Julie was offering private massages in the tent, pointing us to the bar, to the gift shop. Explaining there was wifi in the tents now and not in the common areas (and excellent call) and making us feel welcome and at home.

 

When I saw the tent, it was pretty amazing. By "tent" the walls and ceiling were made of canvas, but it bore little resemblance to a mobile tent camp as the photos show. Honestly, my first reaction, was, "Wow, I miss Namiri -- this is really fancy." Within a day I was lapping up all of the luxury and just as happy with Sayari as Namiri. The pool was heavy on some leaves and bugs (it was a windy day) so I skipped the idea of a swim. The animals also did not disappoint. After a wonderful lunch -- Fred the chef is extremely talented -- we were back out on the trail of the big game. Again we focused on the rocks looking for leopard and instead we ended up watching a family of Olive Baboons for a bit. Then, to our surprise as we drove slowly past another set of rocks, a huge leopard crawled up onto the top of a rock to take a look at us. It was the first leopard of the trip and after enjoying the lions and cheetah that were so plentiful at Namiri, it was amazing to see yet another variety of big cat. This guy had jaw muscles and shoulders that I could not believe. Now I can imagine how they haul a gazelle up a tree to eat it.

 

After some time he decided to move off into the trees on the rocks, so we drove on and it wasn't too long before we saw another leopard on a rock -- it was like they had been placed out for easy viewing. This was a smaller female, quite a bit smaller and we watched her for a long time and then she began making the funny chattery call like and started moving so we followed. Calson was as exchited as we were, this guy brought so much passion and knowledge to his job. His enthusiasm was contagious! The leopard went into a river gully and A THIRD LEOPARD was down there and they were fighting - the snarling and sounds were incredible. We practically drove up to the gulch to watch but they were stopped about 15 feet apart in the bushes. Eventually they came out into the open and fought again. We finally surmised later that it was a mother trying to get the daughter who was likely 18-24months old to leave and find her own territory. Whatever the reason it was spectacular and we watched leopards for about two plus hours that evening. Sadly, there are very strict rules about being back into camp at 7:00pm and the ranger lives near the camp so we had to leave, but we were so excited we just held on for dear life as Calson got us back just under the wire.

 

After a quick change for dinner, we had another wonderful meal outside and got to hear many wonderful stories from Julie and Roger who have managed safari camps for years throughout Africa. Julie is South African and Roger, although born in Tanzania, is Zimbawean. So many ideas for future trips after this meal -- but of course only after a return to Sayari.

 

We were escorted back to our tent, and thus began the longest night of our lives. Scott discovered his wallet and passport were missing. Needless to say we did not sleep much that night, and between googling the embassy -- Dar Es Saalaam and the unavailability of embassy staff for an emergency passport on the weekend (this was a Thursday night) this vacation was turning into something we hadn't planned. More tomorrow and enjoy the video - we are still happy and relaxed for all of this part...

 

https://vimeo.com/126215603

Edited April 28, 2015 by Steph8586

[michael-ibk]

Oh sh*!$)$ - really hope the passport situation could be resolved and didn´t spoil the rest of your holiday!

[TonyQ]

@@Scott8586

I have really enjoyed your photos - great to see the bat eared foxes

@@Steph8586 - I have loved the videos - not too long. Lion with cubs are great!

Lucky with the leopard sightings.

Passport a worry - hope it was sorted....

[Scott8586]

@@Scott8586

I have really enjoyed your photos - great to see the bat eared foxes

@@Steph8586 - I have loved the videos - not too long. Lion with cubs are great!

Lucky with the leopard sightings.

Passport a worry - hope it was sorted....

 

Thanks - the last full day at Namiri was full (in terms of pictures), so I'll post a few more before I get to Sayari. As for my passport, am indeed back in my home country, but there's more to come. Let's just say I was, as @@Steph8586 writes, wide awake most of the night - I had visions of a baboon coming across my passport and ripping pages out, one at a time, just for fun...

 

The hyenas seemed epecially close to our tent that night - that kept me alert as well.

[Scott8586]

These are posted elsewhere, but here they are as part of the trip report. One of the four 'Killers' from the National Geographic article on Serengeti Lions:

 

 

More Pride Love:

 

[Scott8586]

Images from the first day at Sayari Camp. Klipspringer On the Rock:

 

 

Male Leopard on the Rock:

 

 

Young Female on the Rock:

 

 

Jumping Down from the Perch:

 

 

Young Female again:

 

 

Older Female Leopoard - at the end of the day:

 

[michael-ibk]

Fantastic leopard encounter and pics, but I just love the Klippspringer!

[TonyQ]

+1 for the great leopard photos - but I also love the lion cub with its mother.

[graceland]

Leopards! Beautiful; you did had a very special Own Private Africa!

 

I had my own personal fright with a lost passport while in Kenya in February. It sure can take the wind out of your sails..or - game drives.

Hope all was QUICKLY resolved..maybe still at Namiri?

 

I guess we have to wait...but meanwhile loved the lion and cubs and sunsets and leopards. Great day for you, until the absent wallet/passport episode.

 

I've heard great things about Sayari.

[Steph8586]

Where did I leave off -- oh yes, the missing wallet and passport. Did I mention that every time we got in the safari vehicle Calson said, "remember this is an open vehicle, check your pockets and make sure everything is secure." The fact that you are in the Serengeti, it is midnight, and there is nothing that you can do at the moment to address the problem. With the great wifi available in the tents I read all about the process (which requires an in person appearance at the nearest embassy). Since Dar Es Salaam was not on our itinerary, and with the missing wallet AND passport, Scott had no ID whatsoever, I was congratulating myself on bringing color photocopies of our passports and retaining the handwritten paper receipt for the Tanzanian visa we purchased on arrival (since that was missing with the passport as well). The room was torn apart several times, we tracked every step since the wallet had last been seen (putting money in the Namiri Plains tip box as we left camp the previous morning. Then there was the ride to the airstrip, the flight, and our game drives at Sayari.

 

We told Roger the bad news, and he was (being half British) unflappable. He told us to enjoy the game drive and try not to worry about it and they would send some folks out to look. Of course, we told Calson the bad news and went to our leopard watching sites from the evening before and criss-crossed the fields, traveling slowly looking in the grass. Like the proverbial needle in a haystack, this was like looking for, well a wallet in the Serengeti. After an hour or so of looking Calson told us he would give the other folks more input on where we were and where to look. I have to say no matter how much you try to just "forget it and move on", that was virtually impossible to do. After about an hour, Calson pulled over on a hill at the last spot where he had good radio service with the camp before we headed further out and radioed back. Amazingly, one of his fellow guides and one of the other camp employees Solomon, had gone back out to the area where we watched the leopards and found the wallet and passport. It was unbelievable to me that they found this and it was like the weight of the world was lifted off Scott. I had already resigned myself to spending a few days in Dar-es-Salaam and -- in a moment of great foresight I purchased travel insurance that would have covered the costs of all of the additional costs with changing flights. Fortunately, we did not get to take advantage of that benefit!

 

What I would also like to note is that this is just another example of how Asilia staff go above and beyond to assist guests. While we were out (before the wallet and passport were found) Roger had been working the radio to find out what would need to be done had the passport not been found, was contacting Namiri to see if it was in the vehicle or the tent there, and trying to locate the pilot and aircraft to see if it had been left on the plane. I could hear the guide who (with Solomon) found the passport laughing over the radio he was so happy he had found it. We finally were able to just relax and enjoy the rest of the game drive, and enjoyed the gathering herds of Zebra and Wildebeest. Apparently against all expectations and the typical pattern the migration was wandering through this area -- we were the only ones here presumably because the migration was supposed to be in the south somewhere.

 

It was funny to hear the constant "gnu gnuing" of the wildebeest herds. If we stopped, Scott seemed to find it irresistible to call out to them and they would answer in every case. The only other thing we noticed is that the TseTse flies seemed to be more of a problem in this area than at Namiri, where we really didn't have them at all. They were annoying, and I have to admit the bites didn't really hurt but I did a lot of whacking at them with my hands/hat or whatever I could reach. We saw several lions lounging in the brush along a small stream trying to stay cool during the heat of the day, but they were too concealed to really get any good video.

 

And as if we hadn't used up all of our luck for the trip, on our way back to camp for lunch we spotted the elusive black rhino! It was outside the typical "rhino area" and when Calson and I saw it trucking along through the brush I said - "was that a hippo?" He said, "No - it's a rhino!" His excitement was as great as ours and we took off to head it off and got to watch it along the river where it was preparing to take a mudbath (I think) until it noticed us and decided to take off! Sadly, I didn't start the video right away. Sometimes you just need to watch and enjoy and not worry about documenting it. It was so amazing, three leopard the night before, a lost and found passport and wallet, and now the black rhino! In the northern Serengeti/Maasai Mara there are only 13 black rhino so it is pretty rare to see one. While of course we wanted to see rhinos, but I thought the Crater would likely be the only place to have a chance to do so.

 

When we returned to Sayari basking the glow of our rhino sighting and passport recover for lunch and a short break, Roger -- after presenting Scott with his wallet and passport -- in that typically understated British way commented, "Might I suggest that you leave your wallet and passport in the safe in your tent?" What a good idea. Needless to stay, that is where they remained for the rest of the trip, and I never did get to see the embassy in Dar Es Salaam.

 

I haven't put much here about the game viewing, but will provide the video and let Scott add some photos. This is the shortest video of the trip, mostly because we were so focused on the lost passport during the morning. As the photos show there had been some burning in the area in anticipation of the rains that had not really arrived yet, although we saw lots of thunder and lightning in the area and there were beautiful clouds in the skies. Every night there was an amazing sighting right at sunset (as we had to make our 7pm curfew). Tonight it was a termite mound where the bugs were alight and leaving the mound, while a [insert appropriate venary here -- I'll try "busyness"] of mongoose and helmeted guinea fowl engaged in a feeding frenzy! There is some video of this and I apologize for the poor light conditions, it was really dark when I was trying to capture this.

 

That evening, at dinner, Julie had set up a special private table for two out by the pool, but right as we began to head over the heavens finally opened up, so our cocktails were in the lounge and the table was moved inside and we still had a lovely romantic meal. I did not bring a camera, but it was magical as if it was for a honeymooning couple, and once again... My own private Africa. We shared sparkling wine and slept much better this night than the night before and enjoyed the sounds of the rain on our tent while we stayed dry inside and had fewer hyenas howling outside!

 

Until tomorrow SafariTalkers... here is the video from Day Four at Sayari Camp.

 

https://vimeo.com/126088532

[Marks]

Great videos and leopard photos (the first one is kind of comical). So glad to hear they found the passport and wallet - I can't imagine the odds!

[Steph8586]

I forgot to mention one other sighting. A zebra surrounded by a circle of dozens of vultures caught my attention. She would periodically charge at them and they would scurry away, but move right back in. We went closer to see what was going on and discovered she gad just given birth to a stillborn calf. Thus had to have happened within a short time of our arrival. She kept nudging the dead calf and staving of the vultures. I don't know how the word gets out, but dozens more vultures were circling and landing. Periodically one bold one would move in and snatch a piece of the afterbirth before being chased off. After about ten or fifteen minutes, she finally left the baby and the hordes of vultures moved in. Really brought to vivid life the phrase, "they were on it like a pack of vultures."

 

We left and didn't stay to watch them tear into the calf. I am sure within the hour all was gone.

[Alexander33]

What a relief to find that wallet and passport -- miracle is more like it! I know that news of their discovery must have been a tremendous weight off your shoulders. Whew!

 

My, The Rock in post # 41 certainly makes a nice "stage set" for the klipspringer and the leopards. Great photos.

[Scott8586]

Yes, I felt impossibly fortunate to have my passport and wallet back - I couldn't thank Solomon, and the others at Sayari Camp, enough.

 

Second Day at Sayari Camp, Zebras on the ridge:

 

 

 

Curious Topi:

 

 

 

Zebra and the Vultures:

 

 

Black Rhino:

 

 

(we're watching the movie Duma (2005) as I add the pictures here ... ;-)

[michael-ibk]

Fantastic shot of that Rhino!

 

Wow, really incredible that they managed to find your passport, must be harder than the proverbial needle! Glad that that situation was resolved relatively quickly, and you could enjoy your safari again.