The Circle of Life in Just 9 Days, Tanzania Mid-Feb

[Atravelynn]

This is amazing, Lynn. I wish I had seen it before I cancelled my two Serengeti Feb. trips, but actually better that I now KNOW more! Oh where can I get more time???? A question we all want answered.

and funds.

 

One question concerning temps. I don't mind daytime heat, but how hot was it in the tents when sleeping? If I can't sleep I am not a very happy camper. Not hot at night. I used an extra blanket. The rain cooled things off and brought in a dampness on my last 2 Tanz trips. It was not tropical sweltering humidity.

(which by the way I could be very happy ln those tents), so reason Number 2 for not going - I would have spent too much time and money trying to stay in an "upmarket" permanent camp!

 

Funny how the more you go, the less you need. true Except a great guide, abundant game - and a good boxed lunch!

(babies help too)

 

This has been so informative, as ALL your reports are, and I am imagining you are a researcher, scientist, or similar Accounting Professor, among other things, but that's winding down. You are quite diligent as a record-keeper. Diligent record-keeper, you got it. All part of the fun. But I have not yet done my taxes. Shame on me. I give up by the 3rd day. Good for us that you do not.

 

I feared all the cars I heard about (you know staying up at night obsessing!); though able to avoid in the Mara (thanks to a great guide, thank goodness) We found plenty to look at without a lot of other cars.

 

So, a thank you from me....Serengeti can go back on the list..but it has to wait until 2 others are checked off!

Good thing I subtract years on birthdays and I am actually getting younger.

 

What's ahead of Serengeti?

 

 

[Atravelynn]

Fabulous Lynn, it has brightened my weekend considerably. Thank you.

I want your Monday to be bright! Hopefully Monday so you are not waiting all week.

[Atravelynn]

you have just set the standards for note-keeping. its amazing keeping hourly records, but a great way to emulate, especially to keep track for old and forgetful me! that is, if i can remember to jot down the notes at that time.....

 

i love the giraffe pix. the giraffe bouquet especially.

I even outdid myself this time. I should sell my time sheet templates to finance my safaris. Oh wait, I'm not the only one in the world with Excel. Besides not everyone would find such recording tasks enjoyable.

[pault]

Wonderful to see a blue Blue Monkey and a beautiful Pygmy Falcon. And a bouquet of giraffes. And twiggy twiga are such a beautiful colour too.

 

Regarding "checking the tires", I am also amazed that you hadn't got it until now. We had to physically restrain the ever-helpful and active Bibi once when she wanted to follow our guide around the back of the vehicle to check the tires. "Listen, I want to know if they're half bald" she said, exerting her authority as the senior member of the clan. I do not lie. I did the same on my first safari, as I considrered myself a bit of a tire expert for some reason - that "man" disease we men have. My wife didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so she just hit me. You are not alone in being unfamiliar with that expression and I am surprised more confessions have not been forthcoming.

[Kitsafari]

. You are not alone in being unfamiliar with that expression and I am surprised more confessions have not been forthcoming.

i'll raise my hand...i've never heard that term before. but in Mombo, the gentleman at the back said he needed to stretch his legs just as we were about to race to the other end for a big cat. and i, naively, thought he really needed to stretch his legs...until i got off the vehicle and realised wat an idiot i was....

Edited March 23, 2014 by Kitsafari

[graceland]

What's ahead of Serengeti?

No excel spreadsheets; however my "finance guy" i.e. Greenlantern enjoys keeping track of numbers.

Along with a few "stateside" getaways through summer we are excited about our upcoming September safari with Craig Van Zyl into Zimbawbwe~ mobile camp in Mana Pools, 2 sites; Matusadona (2 camps) ending in Hwange ( 2 camps)~13 days -

Then I've hopped on the @Sangeeta/@Safarichick 2015 Zambia Mobile with Doug McDonald and the McKeith team, leaving GL back home to work on finances! He needs to sharpen that pencil so he can accompany me to the Serengeti. I would also like to spend some time at Alex Walker's Serian in Tz, as he has started a bit of a flycamp within the mobile camping and I'd like to give it a whirl and interesting enough for GL; he can't handle sitting in cars all day - has to roam about.

(Although Feb/March 2015 Could be possible - hmm)

Safaritalker's trip reports have definitely had an impact on our travel plans, LOL...I thought our SA, then the Kenya migration were "it "for us; heck we're just beginning! Unfortunately AIR fare gets in the way of us going more than once a year. My points might get me to Vegas for the Wild Life.

BTW,

I heard "check the tires" when we'd go overlanding golf courses with six packs (3.2 beer) back in high school. Boys did not want to get too far from the cars in case we needed to make a mad dash off the greens!

Naturally, I was an observer, not a participant

As always you have most entertaining reports throwing all sorts of peripheral details into the mix; Very enjoyable to read.

[Atravelynn]

 

Anytime in Ndutu is a good time. Lake Manyara Ranch may get you an aardvark sighting if you are going to that park. In asking around about it, the dry season seemed to have slightly better odds on those sightings. But luck is luck. LMR would also be a pricier option than LM Wildlife Lodge. I think there are some Lake Manyara Ranch fans on the forum.

 

Right, African Hawk Eagle. Or wrong species altogether.

 

@@pault , Bibi comes up with the lines again and again. "Listen, I want to know if they're half bald." Unbelievable stuff.

 

@@Kitsafari , I hope the leg stretching did not disrupt your cat sighting.

[Atravelynn]

 

What's ahead of Serengeti?

No excel spreadsheets; however my "finance guy" i.e. Greenlantern enjoys keeping track of numbers.

Along with a few "stateside" getaways through summer we are excited about our upcoming September safari with Craig Van Zyl into Zimbawbwe~ mobile camp in Mana Pools, 2 sites; Matusadona (2 camps) ending in Hwange ( 2 camps)~13 days -

Then I've hopped on the @Sangeeta/@Safarichick 2015 Zambia Mobile with Doug McDonald and the McKeith team, leaving GL back home to work on finances! He needs to sharpen that pencil so he can accompany me to the Serengeti. I would also like to spend some time at Alex Walker's Serian in Tz, as he has started a bit of a flycamp within the mobile camping and I'd like to give it a whirl and interesting enough for GL; he can't handle sitting in cars all day - has to roam about.

Those are some exciting possibilities

(Although Feb/March 2015 Could be possible - hmm)

Safaritalker's trip reports have definitely had an impact on our travel plans, LOL...I thought our SA, then the Kenya migration were "it "for us; heck we're just beginning! Unfortunately AIR fare gets in the way of us going more than once a year. My points might get me to Vegas for the Wild Life.

BTW,

I heard "check the tires" when we'd go overlanding golf courses with six packs (3.2 beer) back in high school. Boys did not want to get too far from the cars in case we needed to make a mad dash off the greens!

Naturally, I was an observer, not a participant

As always you have most entertaining reports throwing all sorts of peripheral details into the mix; Very enjoyable to read. Thank you.

 

[Atravelynn]

Daily Log of Sightings and Time Spent

Aerial Ballet of Black billed Doves

Ostriches Marching Through the Wildes Steenbok in the rain. Rain seems to relax the antelope.

While sitting with the Laziest Cheetah in the World, we had a diversion when 4 bull elephants walked by.

Edited March 23, 2014 by Atravelynn

[Atravelynn]

Made a goof, can't delete this post completely, so I'll stick in my only sunrise/sunset photo. This is a sunrise. Clouds were usually heavy in early am and pm, obscuring colors. And here is a lioness basking, or maybe bathing, in those early orange rays.

Edited March 23, 2014 by Atravelynn

[ice]

@@Atravelynn

 

maybe "the laziest cheetah ever" was simply full?!

[Atravelynn]

I think you are right, @@ice.

 

Cheetah at Lake Manyara? Doesn't seem like a good habitat, but hope they enjoy it there. Now to the eles. Is the southern part of the park a preferred territory for eles as opposed to the other parts of the park, @Paulo?

 

Daily Log of Sightings and Time Spent

 

Near Twin Trees, aka Two Trees, Formerly Three Trees but one got knocked down

Near Twin Trees Small Marsh

A busy, three lane Highway, Small Marsh

Small Marsh

Small Marsh

Lake Ndutu

In total, I saw about 10 crossings of various bodies of water.

Mother and son in the rain

Edited March 23, 2014 by Atravelynn

[Jochen]

Oh wow, Lynn I almost missed this. What an amazing trip. Those cheetah cubs are absolutely adorable! And that giraffe bouquet shot; fantastic!

 

I really like the way you take notes says so much about a day. Question; I might have overlooked but... it seems you use some kind of app to make these notes in. What app is that?

[Atravelynn]

Daily Log of Sightings and Time Spent

 

Get up Little One!

The previous day we had listened to a leopard crunch the bones of its prey as it ate, unseen by us in a marsh in Hidden Valley. After an hour, the leopard showed itself briefly, and slinked through the marsh, out of sight once more. The following day we went back to the marsh and saw the leopard descend from its tree and disappear into the marsh. We'd catch occasional glimpses of its ears as it remained crouched low in hiding. The herds poured into the marsh over the course of hours. Not one of the thousands of wildebeest in the area detected the hidden leopard.

The leopard's head and back of its ears can barely be seen here. It is well concealed hidden in the marsh.

Suddenly the leopard sprung at a wildebeest calf and killed it.

 

Calving and leopard kill -- what a day!

[Atravelynn]

Oh wow, Lynn I almost missed this. What an amazing trip. Those cheetah cubs are absolutely adorable! And that giraffe bouquet shot; fantastic!

 

I really like the way you take notes says so much about a day. Question; I might have overlooked but... it seems you use some kind of app to make these notes in. What app is that?

Thanks Jochen. The app is a piece of paper with the printed grid shown, only the cells are about 3 times as big as those shown here so I can write in them in a sloppy and loopy manner while driving. I took a handful of those sheets with me, using some real old thin paper to save weight. The grid is made in Excel. Then I copy it and paste it as a paste special, choosing Pictures Window Metafile, into a Publisher document. Then I save the Publisher document as a JPeg so that it can be uploaded here as an attachment. A table or Excel doc does not format properly in safaritalk so I used a JPeg. There is probably an easier way to make the info presentable.

 

Daily Log of Sightings and Time Spent on the Last Day

 

 

 

Lake Ndutu

Lake Ndutu

Rendezvous in Ndutu

I had hoped to meet up with some Safaritalkers if our plans coincided. They didn’t but I did glance into a vehicle pulling up next to mine to see a familiar face from last year—a photographer from Lithuania. We had stayed at the same camp in 2013. What fun to cross paths again.

 

I also got to meet Ernest again when we encountered him in Ndutu and he confirmed receipt of the biscuits I had brought for him last year. The Ernest connection was:

In Sept of 2011 Ernest of Flycatchers was my guide in Northern Serengeti. At one point during that trip I explained to Ernest that I thought the terrain looked like chocolate chip cookies/biscuits because the grasses were like the golden biscuit and the wildebeests looked like the brown chips. Ernest must not have eaten too many chocolate chip biscuits because he asked me to explain that analogy several times. I did my best to compare the chocolate pieces/chips in a biscuit with their resemblance to the wildebeest-dotted hills that surrounded us. But I don’t think I was very successful. So I vowed that if I ever had the good fortune to return where I could meet up with Ernest, I’d bring him a bag of Chips Ahoy.

In March 2013 I upgraded from Chips Ahoy to Entenmann’s Chocolate Chip Cookies and packed a box for George too. We planned to track down the Flycatcher camp in Ndutu to deliver the Entenmann’s to Ernest, but we ran into a Flycatcher vehicle the second day in Ndutu and George flagged it down to ask about Ernest. Hussein, the Flycatcher driver, told us Ernest was in Arusha but that he’d make sure the chocolate chip biscuits and my note made it to Ernest.

And so they had.

 

The report has come to an end. Now if you’ll please excuse me, I have to “check the tires.”

Edited March 23, 2014 by Atravelynn

[ice]

@@Atravelynn

 

you certainly had more water / rain than I had two weeks after you

[Rainbirder]

Wow!!!

What a superb trip report Lynn!

 

(Martial Eagle and Common Snipe.)

[pault]

I love all that water - really beautiful scenes. Leopard action is very special - who would expect to see that right out in the open like that? Fantastic. And your only sunset shot is fantastic too.

 

Is it really all over? It seemed to go by so fast. Thank you for another wonderful report. Where's next?

[graceland]

The Leopard kill was AMAZING..

 

You did lose me at "the app is a piece of paper with the printed grid shown"

...well no ,I understood that, but what followed...made my brain loop....

 

No matter - you did it well!

 

Your 9 days were too short for us...

[Atravelynn]

I love all that water - really beautiful scenes. Leopard action is very special - who would expect to see that right out in the open like that? We were sure hoping for something and committed several hours of waiting and watching to back up those hopes. Fantastic. And your only sunset shot is fantastic too.

 

Is it really all over? It seemed to go by so fast. Thank you for another wonderful report. Where's next?

Since I have not been invited to join you and Bibi, I'll venture out on my own. Namibia for the first time.

 

 

 

 

Thanks @@Rainbirder for swooping in--very birdlike of you--to verify the bird names.

 

@@ice, even later than you went, in March 2013 there was less rain than this trip in mid-Feb. Back in March 2013, the week before I arrived in Ndutu, which would have been Mar 7-14 there was so much rain (I was told) that outings were cancelled some days. So you just never know. Those swollen, raging waters I saw were trickles 24 hours later. Very temporary. And very localized. One day we had maybe a couple of drops while we were out and about. I get back to camp and a couple tells me they opted to remain in camp for the afternoon rather than go out in the deluge.

[Atravelynn]

The Leopard kill was AMAZING..

 

You did lose me at "the app is a piece of paper with the printed grid shown"

...well no ,I understood that, but what followed...made my brain loop....

 

No matter - you did it well!

 

Your 9 days were too short for us...

Now maybe I am being as dense as I was with the tire checking. There is no app. I use a piece of paper and record with a pen. I bring several pens because I always seem to lose at least one. You could call that the replacement pen app.

[twaffle]

Another great trip report which seems to have finished far too soon.

[pault]

 

I love all that water - really beautiful scenes. Leopard action is very special - who would expect to see that right out in the open like that? We were sure hoping for something and committed several hours of waiting and watching to back up those hopes. Fantastic. And your only sunset shot is fantastic too.

 

Is it really all over? It seemed to go by so fast. Thank you for another wonderful report. Where's next?

Since I have not been invited to join you and Bibi, I'll venture out on my own. Namibia for the first time.

 

 

You're invited!! Oh, I feel sad now.

 

Unfortunately, where and when isn't even close to being decided.. But if you want to leave the whole of August 2015 to January 2016 free......

[SafariChick]

 

I think these are the cutest little cheetahs I've EVER seen; and what a terrific mom. (Actually I've never seen cheetah cubs, only leopard..and now I HAVE to)

 

One of the best captured incidents ever. How fortunate to be able to stay out, follow the continuing story, and then have them come to you in the car! I'd be so high....George would not be able get me off my cloud. No matter how good he is!

 

BTW, how did you come to know of George? I have canceled two planned Serengeti trips because I just had bad vibes on the guides...I like GREAT recommendations ~ as everyone knows the guide makes the trip...and our upcoming Sept safari I am pretty darn sure of our guide! (Thanks to ST members)

 

They are so worth the effort and money to find.

 

I have always thought Green Season would be lovely on the Serengeti. You are proving it YET AGAIN.

 

 

And why we all read ST reports

Thank you Graceland. I was just assigned George for Tarangire by Eben Schoeman Signature Safaris when I had Eben help me book a Tanzania Flycatchers trip in 2011. I added Tarangire on to the Flycatchers part for 3 nights and George was the guide. Then I specifically requested him again in March 2013 for Ndutu. George is now with The Wild Source.

 

Let me echo your "Thanks to ST members" comment. I got some help here on photographing moving subjects before I left. Those cubs were almost in constant motion (they were running for their lives for much of the time after all!) and without that help I think many of the cheetah cub shots would have been fluffy blurs.

 

Just finishing page 1 of the report and am totally wowed already. Sign me up for your exact trip ASAP! I was just noticing before your comment about the photography that while your trip reports are always excellent, your photos are really superb this time around! The cheetah cubs are outstanding, the licking lions in post #19 are charming, and the wildebeest scene i post #18 is beautiful and almost reminds me of a painting!

[TonyQ]

@@Atravelynn

What a superb report!

Excellent practical detail (as always) along with creating a real feel for the place

I like how you take us through your thinking in planning the trip

I am glad that the circle of life concentrated on the birth aspect more than the death aspect!

The photos are excellent throughout. The cheetah cubs are so cute.

Baby wildebeest are amazing - on their feet and ready to run in such a short time

Pictures I particularly like (alongside many of cheetah!) - bouquet of giraffe, zebra reflection, blue monkey (looking blue!), and towards the end, the meandering line of wiildebeest crossing the water shows the environment and experience brilliantly

Your report also emphasises the importance of a good guide in the overall trip experience

Thank you - I have really enjoyed it.

Edited March 24, 2014 by TonyQ