Our adventures around Africa, including The Great Migration, Kilimanjaro, Kenya, Cape Town, South Africa, Tanzania, and of course the mountain gorillas of Uganda.
Kenya Morocco Namibia Seychelles South Africa Tanzania Uganda
Gorillas in the Mist-y Impenetrable Forest
“Last but not least” is a definite understatement for the final leg of our East African Adventure….trekking to see mountain gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Uganda. Besides our summit of Kilimanjaro, this was our favorite “bucket list tick” of the trip. It was both thrilling and moving to find and observe these gentle giants in their incredibly lush, remote environment. Mountain gorillas are shy and peaceful animals, and the families that we had the privilege of watching interact with…
Videos from the Serengeti
I added a few videos to my Serengeti post after I had already published it, so here they are in case you missed them. The wildebeest crossing is long, but the others are pretty short. Here’s a (loooong) video of the wildebeest crossing. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2t4cbuHDzM] And a video of the wildebeests after the crossing. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4LG-gtUvgM] A little lunchtime shotgunning throwdown caught on video. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuTLLhIqbZg] And a not so peaceful giraffe duel video. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POSIF4EQE9A]
Legendary Expeditions’ Mwiba Tented Lodge
Next up on our East African Adventure was a completely different landscape and experience. We would be staying at Legendary Expeditions’ Mwiba Tented Lodge which is located on a Wildlife Reserve. This meant we could enjoy our game viewing both on foot, walking among the more than thirty natural springs found on the reserve, and in open safari vehicles that are able to drive off-road to get up close to sightings. We took a walk to a game viewing blind overlooking…
Our Serengeti adventure, filled with firsts
Our Serengeti safari was filled with many firsts. We saw an actual crossing (of the Mara River) of thousands of wildebeests and zebras, leopards mating the wild (twice in ten minutes – impressive!), twin leopard cubs, a male giraffe duel, and a crocodile attack on a wildebeest, among many others. I really did try to pare down our pictures, but it was such an amazing experience (and all in just 3 days), I just had to share many… A herd…
Legendary Expeditions’ Serengeti Camp
After a lovely stay at Legendary Lodge Arusha, we moved on to Legendary Expeditions’ Serengeti Camp for a photo safari and to see the great migration of wildebeest, zebras, various antelope and other animals. A terrific moving map of the route of the great migration can be found here: http://www.expertafrica.com/tanzania/info/serengeti-wildebeest-migration. The camp is set up in different areas throughout the year according to where the great migration is expected to pass; it is the definition of luxury camping. Trip created by our…
Legendary Lodge Arusha
We began our Khashana East African Adventure tour in Tanzania at Legendary Lodge in Arusha. One might be a bit unsettled when turning onto the road leading to Legendary Lodge in Arusha. The drive from Kilimanjaro International Airport to the turnoff takes about an hour, and is lined with bars, bars and more bars, with lots of Tanzanians hanging out, motorcycle ‘taxis’ everywhere, and occasional fires burning (it was evening). The highway through town was the only pavement we saw; dirt…
Day 7 on Kilimanjaro
The mood was high our last morning on Kili. Sure, we and our guides were excited about our successful summit of Kili yesterday. But the whole trekking team took on an air of pride and accomplishment and celebration. We couldn’t have done it without them all supporting us in so many ways. Before we took off, we held the tipping ceremony and said good-bye to the porters. The guide books say that porters will often look disappointed by the tip…
Day 6 – Summiting Kilimanjaro
Summit Day dawned early. We had a 2am wakeup call. Lucky for me, I had been able to sleep from 8 to 12:15, and just rested from then until 2. The altitude was still affecting Will, and he hadn’t slept at all except for a small catnap the previous afternoon. Today would prove to be a verrrry long day for him. After a breakfast of porridge and choco-coffee (everyone needs a little chocolate to help power them up Kilimanjaro!!), we…
Day 5 on Kilimanjaro
Summit Eve! Today we would hike across the ‘Saddle’ between Mawenzi Peak and Kibo, reaching our highest altitude yet, 15,180′. The good news this morning was that Mark was feeling better. The bad news: Will hardly slept at all (a symptom of altitude sickness). It was a cloudy day, so no great views, and it was cool, but not freezing. We skipped teatime, and had an early dinner at 5ish. The advice for tonight was to sleep in everything we…
Day 4 on Kilimanjaro
Day 4 provided a spectacular sunrise across the cloud horizon while the moon was setting near a clear view of Mawenzi Peak. The birds (streaky-headed seedeaters and alpine chats) were chirping, the three-striped field mice were scurrying, as we stepped out into the CHILLY! morning. But the clear morning meant that cell and data reception were fully available, and this would be the last day for it, so we checked email, texted our families, and posted a couple of pictures…