My turn to give back after all the help I got, trip report for Kenya and Zanzibar August 2013

[gregv]

Again I will combine our last two days in Zanzibar together here.

August 18th,

Today we woke up and had breakfast and met Karim and Jane to go to Mnamba Atoll island for snorkeling. There were about 20 people on the wooden sailboat. The ride was about 1.5 hours on the water with 4 locals driving and organizing the boat. We got to the island and snorkeled for about 1 hour and it was very nice blue/turquoise water. The snorkeling was decent, not as good as some other places we have done it (Caymen islands for example).

(sorry no pics of this, didnt bring my camera on the old wooden boat )

After that we drove about 15 minutes to another nearby island where they had fresh fish, curry and rice for lunch. Food was pretty good but not a lot to go around but enough for a small lunch and then fruit for dessert. After that we headed back and on the way back the motor lost some power so it actually too quite a long time to get back. They dropped off some guests on the way back so we got out too and walked along the beach, it was a nice long walk and better than being on the boat for longer.

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It was overall a fun day and nice to do something different than sit around at the hotel all day. The trip was also only $20 per person so pretty cheap. In general drinks are good are pretty cheap around here compared to Canada and the quality is pretty good as well.

WE went to a bar for a drink with Jane and Karim and then headed back to Cholo’s for another happy hour drink and dinner. The food and drinks were excellent again and we enjoyed a nice dinner with Jane and Karim. Dinner was very interesting as we got to hear a bit more about their lives and especially Karim’s. His life is obviously explained in his book however he gave us a pretty good description. He was left by his mom when he was 1 year old and raised by his dad who was Muslim. At 18 he was in love with Jewish girl so his dad kicked him out and he lived on the street for 9 months until he trained to be a police officer. After two years in the force he didn’t like it and went back to the street where after a bit he was put in jail for stealing credit cards from a bank. In jail he met a priest who volunteered in the jail and he calls the priest his “Real” father. After he was out of jail he became a nurse but it wasn’t for him and was back on the street where after a while he conned a hotel saying he was the prince of Saudi Arabia and stayed their for free for three weeks. After he was caught and on the run from authorities he fled to Australia!! Since his dad was wealthy he had money from his dad’s credit card but since his relationship with his dad was poor his dad cut him off. In Australia on the street again he did the same thing as the Saudi prince and was then caught by Australian officials. They couldn’t put him in jail but took away his passports etc and told him he was stuck in Australia and couldn’t leave without passports. This was when it got interesting….

He basically went underground and became very involved in trying to flee the country and get back to France. Eventually he got help from many large criminal organizations including the Taliban to be able to get smuggled from country to country and eventually back to France. It was very interesting to hear his side of the story since he said these criminal organization opened up their heart to him and took him in. It was quite clear his emotion about these groups and how different his view was compared to the mainstream media. He had always thought it was OK to take from groups (like the hotel) but never hurt individuals. He said you would be surprised what you would do when on the street with nothing.

(this is all very true and was really interesting to hear him talk about this, my French is pretty good but not good enough to read his book and understand it all but it sure would be an amazing read!)

Basically his first book ended in Australia and we has written his second book but doesn’t know if he will publish it since it names many criminal groups and some details about them and how they helped him on his way back from Australia to France.

In any case hearing his story and his past was very interesting and it left Anita and I wishing his book will be translated to English so we may read it someday!

After dinner we went back to the hotel for a tea and then off to bed. Tomorrow is our last day here and we head for a spice tour and then off to the airport for our flight to Dar Es Salaam and then on to Istanbul!

August 19th,

We woke up this morning after a lazy sleep in and went downstairs to have breakfast. We said goodbye to Jane and Karim as they were heading off to a spcie tour and then to the ferry terminal for a ferry to Dar Es Salaam and on to their trip in mainland Tanzania.

We had to be out of our room for checkout as someone else was moving in, so we packed our things, left them at the desk and headed over to the pool area as we have awhile to hang out before our driver comes to pick us up.

Our driver picked us up on time and we headed to the spice tour. It was quite interesting on the spice tour to smell and learn about all the spices as well as the local fruit.

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We also got to watch a coconut climber who climbed all the way to the top of a tall tree and sang a song! Then he came down and we drank coconut juice and ate coconut from a young and old coconut. The juice was better in the young one and the fruit better in the old one.

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WE bought some spices and then headed to the airport for our flight. Our driver was very kind and he gave us some fruit and even gave us two paintings on canvas that his brother painted!! He was a very nice man and we paid him well for the rides and gave him some tips so seems he returned the favor. We would recommend him for sure to anyone who went to Zanzibar and needed transportation.

The Zanzibar airport is a little old school with no screens showing flight status and no intercom so its difficult to hear the people speaking which flight is leaving. At least there was free wifi and it was pretty fast to keep us occupied as the flight was 1.5 hours late to leave. It didn’t really matter how late as we had a 6 hour wait in Dar Es Salaam anyways and at least there was wifi in Zanzibar.

We arrived OK with our bags in Dar and had the long wait for our flight. After about 2 hours we were able to at least check our bags and go through security where they had a restaurant. Anita and I had a falafel burger and fries that was actually pretty good for airport cafeteria.

Then we watched a movie on the computer and waited for our flight.

[gregv]

I know this is more of a safari forum and about African trip reports. Not sure how people or moderators feel, but we continued on to Istanbul and Berlin and I would be happy to continue posting my report and photos on there if its OK with the theme of this forum and if there was any interested from you guys/gals.

[Game Warden]

Go for it @@gregv

[gregv]

Well I enjoyed posting my report on my African safari and seemed some members enjoyed it as well so Ill continue with our adventures to Istanbul. It was sure exciting going on our safari but nice to head over to Istanbul where its a completely different world and the culture is very interesting. I know this is more a safari forum but hopefully you will enjoy none the less

August 20th,

We waited this morning for our flight in Dar Es Salaam and left on time for Istanbul. Anita and I were both able to get about 4-5 hours of sleep on the flight! It left at 3:30 am so its an awkward time to fly. We were in the very back of the cattle car, last two seats. Turkish airlines offer some good service and very nice, modern planes. Flight was smooth and we arrived on time.

At arrival it was a bit nice to be in a more developed city with a proper airport. We cleared customs just fine and got our bags. We rented an apartment through VRBO and the owners cousin picked us up at the airport and drove us to the apartment. It’s a great spot right in the heart of the city with a private terrace and a view of the Asian side of city and the Bospherous!! We showered up and headed out for the afternoon.

We walked around at it was ridiculously hot. Warm weather and very humid, sweltering hot considering it was 4:45 in the afternoon. WE headed up and walked a bit around the blue mosque and sultahnemet square and had lunch in the square. Food was pretty good, Turkish cuisine of course.

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WE were pretty tired actually from the early flight time and headed back to the room for a little siesta after we checked out a local shop. The glassware, plates etc. they have in Istanbul are beautiful and there are alot of stores selling them, some better quality than others.

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We woke up after a few hours nap and headed out for dinner to a place Anita read about. Our apartment is a great location and is two minute walk to the blue mosque and 10 minutes to the restaurant Anita found. The food was fantastic!! We had kebabs with veggies, rice, bread and yoghurt. Very authentic and very delicious. I also had a local beer that was quite good. Then they gave us a free baklava and Turkish tea which was also very good. I had the apple tea, Anita the regular. WE then walked around a bit as the weather is nice and comfortable at night and then headed back to the apartment and off to bed. Tomorrow we are going to see Salih for secrets of Istanbul tour!

August 21st,

Today we woke up after a nice sleep at about 7am. Mom and Dad warned us about loud early morning prayer but we slept right through it, lol!!

WE got ready and met Salih from a tour company recommended by mom and dad. We got there and there was a group of 9 of us. It was an excellent tour and Salih was very friendly with a lot of information to teach us.

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We went to blue mosque,

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hagia sofia,

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Istanbul university, Salih’s favorite 2 mosques (forget the names), spice market, grand bazaar, shisha place, kabob house etc. Smoking shisha was fun and an interesting experience. I have done it at home but doesnt have the same feel as doing it in Istanbul )

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8. our tour guide Salih

Anita and I having fun!!

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It was very informative and we really had a great time. It was much better than just walking by ourselves as you got to learn a bit more about the city plus it was good to get a idea of where we were walking for our next few days here so we know where we are in the city!

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We met a couple from Vancouver on the tour – Wisam and Maresa. They seemed to have similar interests to us and we made plans to meet them for dinner later on.

After the tour, we explored the spice market a bit more. We were on the search for chicken spice which mom had bought before from the spice market and was very happy with. There are hundreds of stands but Salih had told us that the locals most often buy spices from the stands just outside of the spice market because it is usually cheaper as these stalls pay less for renting the space. We checked out a few shops. As per the usual, we encountered many very pushy “sales” people at every stand. Many of the chicken spices had salt in them and I was on a mission to find saltless chicken spice as I thought this might be better quality. We finally settled on a shop called Sen Baharet and bought a few things there including chicken spice. We found a NYC women in there who goes to Turkey every year and goes to this shop to buy their special chicken spice. Their chicken spice was a mixture of saffron, pepper, curry etc. which was not as ground up as the other mixes I saw around.

At night, we met the Vancouver couple and took the tram to Taksim square. We went to a Meyhane style restaurant that Wisam had read good things about. The food was mediocore and the service was terrible. We had a drink called Turkey liquor called Raki (45% alcohol) which is an anise flavored liquor that you mix with water and ice. I was surprised that I liked it, although barely. After dinner we went to another restaurant that Wasim and Maresa had gone a few nights prior and we stayed for a few drinks and ordered a whole bottle of Raki. Its not the greatest drink but when in Istanbul you have to drink it!!

Wasim and Maresa were clearly younger and more energetic than yus and after this, they still had energy to go out. They convinced us to go to another area of town called Tophane and we ended up smoking shisha at a café until 3am!

[gregv]

August 22nd,

We woke up this morning at about 10am after going to bed so late. It was a very hot day and we had a bit of a later start!! Im too old to go out until 3am, lol!! Even though we had a lot of fun last night I didn’t like that we stayed so late as today I was tired and a bit grumpy and didn’t like the fact that we wasted a bit of the morning sleeping as I wanted to see more of Istanbul!

We went out to the Arasta bazaar and Anita bought some nice linen scarfs from a shop where the owner is from Edmonton and had been living in Turkey for the last 7 years.

WE shopped around a bit more, went and explored the bazaar and had a lazy day with some ice cream and tried a yummy donair. WE also went into another mosque as well as explored the spice market!!

1. Turkish man washing up for prayer

2. beautiful hand painted tiles on mosque

3. carpet inside mosque

4. ceiling in mosque

5. Anita (the women have to wear a head scarf in the mosque)

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8. candy in spice market

WE headed back to the apartment and had a nap and did some research on the city.

After that we had planned to meet Marc and Melissa from Ottawa (we have been living in Ottawa the last 5 years but just recently moved to Calgary) as they were in Istanbul at the same time on their honeymoon. It was great cause Marc had not told Melissa so we came to their hotel and met them in the restaurant there and she was so surprised and couldn’t register why we were here lol!! We went out for dinner with them for a nice dinner and Turkish place Anita picked out. The food was pretty good and we had a good time with them for dinner and caught up on their trip and our trip. We planned to meet tomorrow night for sheesha!!

We headed back to the apartment after that, checked our email and off to bed as we are excited for our visit to Turkish bath tomorrow!!

August 23rd,

Today we woke up early and went for a Turkish bath! It was very cool. You start off by undressing and putting on sandals and a towel. Then they take you to a large room made totally out of marble with a big area in the middle and then small rooms on the side with big marble sinks and faucets. You start by relaxing in the room which is a bit hot and pour cool water on yourself. After about 10 minutes you head to main area where the attendant scrubs you down from head to toe with an exfoliating brush and gets rid of all your skin cells.

Then they take you to the main area where they totally wash you with warm soap/bubble bath and a small massage. Then some more relaxing with water and juice. It’s a pretty cool experience and you feel sooooo clean after!!

We also got a 30 minute massage after which was very nice and a great way to start the day.

After that we came back, had breakfast and got organize. We then headed down to Galata bridge area and bought tickets for the two hour Bosphorous cruise. While we were waiting we went and had the famous fish sandwiches. They have small golden boats floating in the harbour making tons and tons of fish and then you go to the shore and pay for a sandwich with fish, bread, lettuce, onions. Its cheap and delicious and a good way to have lunch. An interesting environment as a lot of people around having lunch.

9. they make the fish on these small boats

We then did the Bosphorous cruise which was nice and relaxing and a good way to see the city on the European and Asian side and all the nice building and landscapes. After the boat ride we headed back and showered and rested.

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We went to Fuego restaurant for dinner and saw Salih again!! It seems he really likes this restaurant as he is always there and its also his meeting place for tours. The food was really good and tasty. WE had kebabs and local cuisine.

We then met Marc and Melissa again for Sheesha and some tea and chatting and hanging out, headed back home for the night. The guys at the sheesha bar come around once in awhile and really get your sheesha going when its starting to slow down I have no idea how they generate so much smoke, its fun to see. I took several pictures of this guy and he loved the pics!! I got his email and emailed him about 5 pics and he just loved it

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[armchair bushman]

With regards to your service in Zanzibar:

One would expect better service from the waiters at an international hotel and restaurants geared towards foreign tourists. However, we are talking about zanzibar here. Tanzania is one of the sleepiest, slowest places on earth, and Zanzibar takes that to the next level. Island attitude. No hurry.

[armchair bushman]

BTW, this is a GREAT trip report. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Great photography.

And I'm glad you got to experience a conservancy safari as well as the national reserve.

[gregv]

BTW, this is a GREAT trip report. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Great photography.

And I'm glad you got to experience a conservancy safari as well as the national reserve.

 

Thanks!! Glad you enjoyed the trip report, its been fun writing it!!

[PT123]

Greg,

 

The Bosphorous cruise sounds great, I wish that I had done that when I was there a couple of years ago. Since you visited the Asain side as well you can proudly state that you walked on three different continents in the same trip - pretty cool!

[gregv]

Greg,

 

The Bosphorous cruise sounds great, I wish that I had done that when I was there a couple of years ago. Since you visited the Asain side as well you can proudly state that you walked on three different continents in the same trip - pretty cool!

 

Hey PT!! I never thought of that lol, good point!! It was a nice cruise and cool to see the city from the water. We went on the cruise for about two hours an they have longer ones i think about 4-5 hours. The two hour one is more than enough and gives you an interesting, different vantage point.

[gregv]

August 24th,

This morning we got up and got ready and it was another hot day. No clouds today so very hot and humid. Istanbul is by far the hottest compared to Africa and Im getting tired of sweating all day!! I hope Berlin is a little cooler.

WE did some walking today over to a more modern area called beyoglu and just walked around and had lunch. WE checked out a delicious place for some baklava and Turkish delight!!

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Just kind of hung out today, walking and checking out the sights and locals etc. This is our last day here and we stayed about the perfect amount of time as we are running out of stuff to do that is of interest to us. We checked out some more mosques as well as the famous (but touristy blue mosque)

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We headed back in late afternoon just to get a break from the sun, relax a bit and get packed for Berlin tomorrow. On the way back we headed over the main bridge between the "new, trendy Istanbul" and the "old historic" Istanbul. Its fun to watch all the fisherman fishing over the bridge and catching fish where all the boats dock and garbage is in the water. I wonder if these are the fish we had in the fish sandwich yesterday :eek:

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We are going to meet Marc and Melissa to head to Taksim square to have dinner tonight so we need to be all packed and ready to go.

WE walked all the way back to Taksim square for dinner with Marc and Melissa so we did a lot of walking today. On the way we bought a roll of Turkish delight and shared it between the four of us before dinner!! The Turkish delight is soooo good here along with the baklava. Dinner was a really cool place that was super busy and a nice place to sit. They had a live Turkish band that was excellent and really fun to listen as well as watch some locals dance. They also had a belly dance later which was fun to watch as well. The dinner was only OK and the service was quite bad so we left a little disappointed in the dinner experience.

We then walked all the way back to the room, finished packing and getting ready to leave for Berlin. Time sure flies by when on holidays as we have been here for 5 nights and it went by really fast!!

August 25th,

We got up and headed to the airport. The airport is VERY busy in Istanbul and it took quite awhile to clear customs, check our bags etc. We had gone a bit early so good thing we had a lot of time. Flight was smooth and we arrived in Berlin with no issues and got all our bags.

We took a cab to our place and its really nice. Its in a great area with good restaurants and bars etc. We met all our friends here for the wedding and everyone is in the same area and a great spot! (our good friend Genevieve from Canada is getting married here to her longtime b/f who is a German diplomat so we made sure to end our trip in Berlin to attend the wedding)

We found out on Sundays that they have a weekly flea market on Sundays in an area near our place. We headed there and it was fun. They had a concert with little flea markets, food and drinks and people just hanging out and having fun. WE spent some time exploring and seeing Berlin. It was a lot of fun and it seems like an awesome city with lots of cool sights and things to see!!

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We got back to the apartment and contacted everyone and met up for some sushi dinner. It was super good and was just the right meal for the sushi Anita and I had been craving over the last several weeks.

After dinner we headed over to Gen’s place and had drinks and hung out then headed back to the apartment for bed.

[FlyTraveler]

Hi Greg,

 

Great report and nice photos!

 

We have been in Masai Mara at the same time, I can recognize quite a few things on your photos, we flew via Istanbul, as well. Should write a report and publish it along some photos when I have time. We also did Lake Nakuru, Lake Bogoria, Lake Naivisha, Amboseli NP, Selenkay and Ol Kinyei private conservancies.

 

The dead giraffe on your picture has slipped and fallen down the riverbed. We saw it just before dusk on Aug. 09 while a lioness was eating it. Took a few photos, but unfortunatelly there were many vehicles and didn't have a good view, hardly got the shots inbetween tree branches and high grass.

 

Are you using 70-200 f:2.8 lens? What is your camera body?

 

Cheers!

[gregv]

Hi Greg,

 

Great report and nice photos!

 

We have been in Masai Mara at the same time, I can recognize quite a few things on your photos, we flew via Istanbul, as well. Should write a report and publish it along some photos when I have time. We also did Lake Nakuru, Lake Bogoria, Lake Naivisha, Amboseli NP, Selenkay and Ol Kinyei private conservancies.

 

The dead giraffe on your picture has slipped and fallen down the riverbed. We saw it just before dusk on Aug. 09 while a lioness was eating it. Took a few photos, but unfortunatelly there were many vehicles and didn't have a good view, hardly got the shots inbetween tree branches and high grass.

 

Are you using 70-200 f:2.8 lens? What is your camera body?

 

Cheers!

 

Hey!! Glad you enjoyed my report, we had a wonderful trip i hope you had a good time as well. Do you know how the giraffe died?? Seems like you went to quite a few places, what was your favorite?

 

For camera gear I brought two bodies, both Nikon D7000's. I mounted one with the NIkon 17-55 2.8 for animals really close to the vehicle and for landscape shots. I mounted the NIkon 70-200 2.8 on the other body with the NIkon 1.7TC. Both those lenses stayed on both bodies the whole time. I bought the second body right before the trip so I didn't have to change lenses and boy was I glad I did it was way too dusty and I would have got dust in the camera for sure. As far as the 70-200mm, 99% of my shots were either on the 70mm or 200mm end and very few in between. I used the 70mm end often for landscapes and then the 200mm for closeups of animals. Those two lenses worked wonderfully. There were times I wished I had more reach then the 340mm (70-200 with the TC) but not often and I could just crop the picture a pic. I couldnt warrant the cost of a 200-400mm or a big prime.

 

Hope that helps.

[FlyTraveler]

Hi Greg,

 

Thanks for your reply about the photo equipment.

 

Regarding the dead giraffe, it has slipped and fallen down the riverbed (broke it's spinal cord, lions don't hunt giraffes in Mara, especially during the anual migration period.)

 

In terms of my favourite place from the trip, you know that this is a hard call. We used 3 different safari companies - the backbone were Gamewatchers Safaris with their "adventure camps" in Selenkay and Ol Kinyei private concervancies. They offered a good package, which included flights from Nairobi to Selenkay (Amboseli eco system), then to Ol Kinyei (Masai Mara eco system) and back to Nariboi with full day visits to both Amboseli and Masai Mara. Before this went on a two days cheap trip to the lakes with another company - African Game Trek Safaris and after the private concervancies stayed 3 nights at a camp in Central Mara (Freeman Safaris). All of these places are very different and beatiful in their own way. In the conservancies you get a lot more privacy (you went to the North Concervancy and have noticed this), almost no other vehicles and overal a lot more intimate experience. On the other hand, there is a lot more action in Central Mara - river crossings, huge number of migratory animals (wildebeest, zebras), it is like beeing in a big city vs. a small pictures town. You know the Lake Nakuru NP, there are hundreds of thousands flamingos at Lake Bogoria...

We had the best safari experience while in Central Mara also due to having a specially modified for photography private Land Rover (open top with padded bars, the seat next to the driver removed and the door open to the floor, so you can take photos of lions from an eye level).

Anyhow, I will write a report if I find the time. Tried to place images on this reply, but it didn't work for some reason...

 

Cheers!

[gregv]

Hi Greg,

 

Thanks for your reply about the photo equipment.

 

Regarding the dead giraffe, it has slipped and fallen down the riverbed (broke it's spinal cord, lions don't hunt giraffes in Mara, especially during the anual migration period.)

 

In terms of my favourite place from the trip, you know that this is a hard call. We used 3 different safari companies - the backbone were Gamewatchers Safaris with their "adventure camps" in Selenkay and Ol Kinyei private concervancies. They offered a good package, which included flights from Nairobi to Selenkay (Amboseli eco system), then to Ol Kinyei (Masai Mara eco system) and back to Nariboi with full day visits to both Amboseli and Masai Mara. Before this went on a two days cheap trip to the lakes with another company - African Game Trek Safaris and after the private concervancies stayed 3 nights at a camp in Central Mara (Freeman Safaris). All of these places are very different and beatiful in their own way. In the conservancies you get a lot more privacy (you went to the North Concervancy and have noticed this), almost no other vehicles and overal a lot more intimate experience. On the other hand, there is a lot more action in Central Mara - river crossings, huge number of migratory animals (wildebeest, zebras), it is like beeing in a big city vs. a small pictures town. You know the Lake Nakuru NP, there are hundreds of thousands flamingos at Lake Bogoria...

 

We had the best safari experience while in Central Mara also due to having a specially modified for photography private Land Rover (open top with padded bars, the seat next to the driver removed and the door open to the floor, so you can take photos of lions from an eye level).

 

Anyhow, I will write a report if I find the time. Tried to place images on this reply, but it didn't work for some reason...

 

Cheers!

Thanks for the response. Glad u had a good time as well and interesting to hear about that giraffe, too bad about its fate.

[Atravelynn]

You have a great eye for photos, and not just safari shots. The face in the the smoke, the hot pots in the fire, the brightly colored dishes/glassware, the curved benches--all very artistic. What a well rounded trip you had.

Edited October 26, 2013 by Atravelynn

[gregv]

You have a great eye for photos, and not just safari shots. The face in the the smoke, the hot pots in the fire, the brightly colored dishes/glassware, the curved benches--all very artistic. What a well rounded trip you had.

 

Thanks!!! I definitely enjoy photography and this trip was just great for me to take pictures and I just loved my first safari.