Liz & Richard's 2010 African Adventures

Off to Loliondo

Leaving the Serengeti we moved north to a Nomad Tanzania camp on a private reserve in Loliondo – about a 4 hour drive but we stopped alot.

We’re generally totally alone on the plain, but rarely a truck rumbles by, spewing a contrail of dust.  The amazing part is that in the rainy season the plain develops areas that can best be described as “quick mud” – like quick sand, but gooier.  Trucks sink 3 or 4 feet until they hit the underlying bedrock.  Drivers then spend 2 or 3 days digging their truck out by hand.  That’s why there are 3 drivers in most trucks.  The plain is littered with the open graves where trucks were once buried

 

Along the way there were giraffes (including some beautiful young)

And of course – herds of wildebeest ……….

…and zebras and impalas – could never get a shot of the impala defying gravity with their amazing leaps

And a female warthog with piglets, who adopted a wonderfully prayerful pose while rooting in the soil

Felix knew that Dickie loved reptiles so we stopped for every one.  Never saw a live snake – just a dead puff adder.  A favourite was a large leopard turtle. Beautiful shell pattern – and big.  Worth a lot on the illegal pet market

 

We also stopped for lizards – occasionally following them into abandoned aardvark burrows

 

Our new camp at Loliondo used yurts rather than tents.  Remember yurts from Grade 4 World Geography?

Same wonderful service; very good food; open bar….and the yurts are big and even more luxurious.  Clearly you want to be a boy scout in Mongolia.

(And once again we are the only guest – and Sarah has preceded us to Loliondo so we know the conversation will be great!)

Below our yurt, with sleeping area and washroom

 

At Loliondo, in addition to game drives we would have 4 memorable experiences – a walk in the bush, a night drive, a visit to a Masai village and dinner with the camp staff.

First the walk in the bush.  There were 5 in our merry band – Liz & Dick, Felix, John Lula (the ranger/guard) and a Masai guard.

John is carrying a very big gun…believe it was a .459 calibre – certainly close to a half inch bore.  The bullets were appropriately also very large – about 5 inches long.

The Masai’s spear is not a decoration.  The edge of that long leaf blade is sharp enough to shave with.  And it was really heavy. He mainly walked behind Dickie who was concerned he might be the one clumsy Masai – one stumble and it would be “Dick on a stick”.

The reason for all the firepower is – you guessed it – Elephants and Buffalo (the “E/B Factor”).  No one cares about lions or snakes.

Our briefing was simple – if confronted by an E or B    “Do Not Run”.

After due consideration Liz and Dick decided this was all a ploy.  While we stood our ground, the other 3 would run like hell and leave us as buffalo bait.

Now you’ll see in the following pic that John has his pants tucked in his socks.  Nothing is said about this; but Liz and Dick notice and promptly tuck our pants in our socks to avoid creepy crawlies, snakes, poison ivy, or whatever John our heavily armed guard is trying to avoid.

At the end of the walk we ask John what lethal animal or plant we had so cleverly avoided by following his lead - “Oh” he replied.  “These are new pants and I didn’t want to get wildebeest shit on the cuffs”.  Danger averted.

It’s very different walking on the ground instead of standing 8 feet high through the roof of a 3 ton truck.

It’s much harder to see things.  Trees and brush get in the way.  And the animals move faster than you thought.  They seem more cautious of us than when we’re in the truck.  Predators move on foot, not in vehicles.

But the big difference is that discovery that the savannah floor is full of holes.  Bunny holes – the ideal size to snap an ankle; warthog burrows – suitable for interring a mafia hit; all the way up to aardvark excavations where you could park a Smart Car.  Liz and Dick watch their own feet and the feet of the person ahead.

It’s interesting but definitely not conducive to taking photographs.

Liz decides that if we’re going to stare at the ground we might as well be productive.  She decides to take a picture of each of the myriad of wildflowers that no one notices until they constantly stare at the ground

But stopping and starting with the Masai with the razor sharp spear, a pace behind, does not seem like a great idea.  Sanity prevails.  Flowers wait for another day.

We return to where we had seen a disembowelled zebra kill the afternoon before – that day we waited to see if the lioness would return to her kill but she would not as long as we were there (bad photo below – somewhat gory)

Today – there is not a SPECK of anything where the zebra had lain – just some blood stains on the grass.  The veld cleans itself with frightening rapidity.

We close with a touching experience – a Grant’s gazelle calf, only a few hours old, is lying is the grass.  We almost step on it.  It has no scent at this age and by lying motionless has the best chance to avoid predators.  The cat’s optic wiring is sensitive to movement and they see in black and white. 

The calf is the definition of innocence. Like an allegorical Renaissance painting

 

And Liz – with the gazelle in the background

The walk was an interesting experience – not photo productive, but we learned and laughed.

More Loliondo – a Night Drive and Masai Visit

To start the night drive we drove out to a nearby kopje (great scrabble word – an outcrop popping up from the plain) for a sundowner – drinks while watching the sun go down – basic, simple, good concept!

The kopje is populated with hyrax – marmot like creatures whose claim to fame is that they are the elephant’s genetically closest relative

 

 

 

The night drive is structured with John holding a large searchlight standing (through the roof) in the passenger seat, Felix driving, Liz and Dick standing on the next row and Sarah standing in the back.

We saw a lot of interesting things – much of the hunting happens at night – but even stopping the truck and locking down the camera could not get a clear shot, as shown below

Highlights included two pairs of ratels, a genet (cross between a cat and a weasel that has gorgeous markings) many bunnies, zebras moving like ghosts and of course a multitude of reflected eyes.

You’re left with the feeling that in the animal world, daytime is for relaxing but night is when things happen….often unpleasant things.

 

Visit to Masai Village

(or is it Maasai? See it spelled both ways)

There are a lot of Masai on the savannah.  We see them frequently herding cattle.  But they do not like to have their pictures taken – they will demand money after the fact (post-photum?).  It’s too bad since they are very elegant in their brightly hued cloaks with their spears and short swords and clubs, and the ubiquitous stick that they use to whip their cattle and donkeys.  We like to believe that we inhibit photo taking out of cultural respect, but the spears and swords and clubs may have something to do with it.

So we pay to visit a village (Felix is half masai and speaks the language).  Photos are OK.  Unfortunately the men are away with their herds – the woman and children are there and the headman to greet us.

Theirs is a very different life from ours.  No electricity or running water (the women walk miles daily to get water), no sewage (you take a walk in the bush), housing is mud daubed wattle with an open wood fire for cooking – food is primarily corn meal and meat.

This is the headman’s house – he has two wives – hence two entrances!  Liz went in (as a funny aside – Liz was the tallest person in the village – Masai are known for their height) – there were small chairs and cots but not much room for anything else and the ceiling is very low.

They are a wonderfully proud and beautiful people

The tough part for us was the flies.  Richard hates flies.  The children’s faces are covered in flies – they are drinking from their eyes and the corners of their mouths

Pictures of children covered in flies are a universal fund raising photo for charities in Africa, but this visit revealed something to us – comparatively, these are not impoverished children – they have food, clothing, housing, access to schools – and they have flies .. because they have animals.

The headman was very taken with Richard’s watch and gold rings.  He fondled them frequently.  If I could have figured out how to get it home I’d have traded the watch for the spear - “Canadian man dubbed the spear hijacker”.

Part of the visit is that we buy some of the lovely bead work the ladies make…

Leaving, we gave one of the children a bottle of water and were reminded that as basic as conditions were, there was no litter, no odor (animal or human), clothes were all clean, children well fed.  Biggest problem is that they prefer to have their children tending their herds rather than being in school.

The “Last Supper” in Loliondo and a flight over the Crater

Our great times in both Nomad camps were the result of the kind, efficient and charming staff…many of whom we never saw.  Since we were the only guests in camp we asked Sarah if we could eat dinner with the whole staff – this idea quickly evolved into we would try local cuisine which involved us buying a goat…no, a large goat….they would BBQ it and we’d have a party!

There was a brief – very brief – discussion that Liz and Dick would have the honour of killing the goat.  We managed to avoid even meeting the poor creature.

When we returned from our night drive the crew was assembled, our table was set beautifully under the stars and dinner was ready (we think a little overdone since we were late)

It is notable that it took 18 people to look after the two of us!

The goat and its liver were spit roasted over an open fire

The goat was served with ugali (boiled corn mash), beans, tomato salad and a local green like spinach.

Our only regret is that we and the staff ate at separate tables under the stars.  (they prefer to eat standing up we were told).  There was some suggestion that the guys were offended by Richard drenching tabasco on otherwise perfect goat!

 

We are obligated to comment on the food.  Having lived with Felix for 10 days we learned – much to our surprise – that unlike other tropical regions (Mexico/Caribbean/India/SE Asia) Eastern Africa does not have a taste for hot, highly spiced food.  They love bland.  Ugali is boiled corn meal – very polenta like and rice is served plain.  Vegetables are boiled or raw – beans are really good – after dousing with tabasco.

As for meat – as Felix described it “we love the gristle and the fat and the tough parts”.  They certainly do.

They’re clearly not wrong, but we wouldn’t base a tour of East Africa on the cuisine.  Felix would join us for breakfast and dinner, but when we had lunch in camp he preferred to eat with the staff.  Because there was just Liz and Dick in camp we had a lot of leftovers.  We assumed that they’d get eaten by staff, but Sarah told us that generally the guys didn’t prefer our style of food so it was largely trashed.  We hope to correspond further with Sarah on this issue closest to our hearts and midriffs.

And then, very sadly, a last picture with Felix and “the truck” and off to the airport

And a final wave as we board our single engine prop with its lady pilot, other tourists and a young woman with a medical emergency.  Take off from the gravel strip – so many mixed symbols.  One more view of the Serengeti

As we fly we pass over our alkaline lake with the flamingos, the Ngorongoro rim, crater wall and the road we drove 10 days ago into the Serengeti

 

 

 

 

Now – off to Rwanda and the gorillas – Mount Kilimanjaro  says goodbye