Category: 2016 Africa Trip

Well my bags are packed and it looks like I know what I’m doing. I’ve posted off my small carry on suitcase to Matthew in Australia with Parcel monkey… No pun intended.  

That just leaves me with 15 kilos of camouflage clothes that cover me, plus the heaviest medical kit ever for Africa. ??Just hope I don’t get mistaken for an animal resident . So excited and nervous I can’t breathe.  ??? Leaving Friday for Kilimanjaro  ✈️?

 

My garden looks sad. It knows I’m leaving, and the guitars will weep but hey! Kilimanjaro here I come. ?✈✈✈Ps. My insides have gone completely ?

I arrived nearly in one piece. Manchester terminal 1. was a gross disaster, Dubai was a silver gilded palace, Nairobi had a field of zebras next to the runway ……?and Kilimanjaro was a pretty hut.

Rushing to make my connection was only hampered by me getting locked in the toilet with my bags outside ???. Shouted for help but the handle fell off!! I made it,,, want you all with me in The Lake Duluti Serena hotel near Arusha, Tanzania.

Its under the hump of Africa to the east and just below the equator!!! Look me up ..

Kiddie facts, Mount Kilimanjaro is 5,895 meters high  it’s the tallest mountain to rise up from sea level. It’s an extinct volcano and has 5 different biospheres. The top one where the snow is will eventually melt by 2020 because of global warming !!?

Yesterday was amazing. I’ve had difficulty uploading pictures but they speak for themselves. An indescribable long dusty day with my guide’s invitation to be part of a rare Masai celebration and then viewing so many birds and animals so close to me in the forests and Rift Valley!!! Elephants, baboons, Hippos,pelicans and cranes, .warer buffalo, zebra and wilder beast. Staggering.  I’ll post this and try with the pictures before my 6am start ????????

Another amazing day. Elisse my guide is so knowledgable I’m in his shadow. Today was a drive around the Ngorongoro crater which is actually a Caldera. It looks like a crater with a 250 Kilometer rim and 26 km across which is a 1000 feet below the rim at 2000 ft. It’s chilly in the morning and baking hot by 1 pm.  So many animals s birds but spread out. You have to look for them. Thank god for my binoculars but wilderbeast and zebra and water buffalo you could almost touch. Hyena and jackal and elephants!!!!! And wart hogs and lions !!!!!!! I miss you all so much. Xxxxx  will try again with the photos. Xxx

Little family of Baboons in the forest before the Rift Valley.

so sorry everyone but the pictures don’t seen to load but it is all staggering and not really what I imagined. I left the Ngorongoro crater this morning through mist and rain. The vegetation was so different as we dropped down into Masai grazing land. Everyone greets you even from the road… with ‘Jambowhich is like ciao or ola!! You have to leave that controlled area into the cast Serengeti. This is why I came. The birthplace of man and endless savannah dotted with umbrella acacia trees. We pulled up so close to some lions… and old mum, young male son and female.   Elisse shows me how to distinguish male and female and age!! A several cat with pointed ears, eagle and secretary birds… everything but far apart. Arrived at the tent … its remote and totally breathtaking. Will try with pics. Miss you all. Xx

Yesterday after driving for over an hour across endless grassy plains and seeing no one,  my guide pointed out a mother cheetah and her 4 cubs. They were about 4 months old so they will live. Because of predators there is only a five percent chance of survival. She stood protectively on a termite hill and her long body, almost like a greyhound, covered her young. She was on lookout. We drove to within 6 feet of her and it was wonderful that she knew we were not a threat and ignored us. Elisse radioed to the cheetah researchers and after 20 minutes Denis rolled up.  Her name was Tia Maria. It was her third litter. There have been so many moments especially with the birds and the elephants.

My tent is huge. The lights are solar powered and every day they bring you  a flask of hot water and glass bottles of mineral water. The bed is huge and every night I find a hot water bottle in a knitted cover. I have two showers, one inside and the other outside with shoulder high wooden panels. Its fabulous because as I give myself a good scrub and send back the Serengeti dust that I have collected all day which is everywhere, I look across at the umbrella acacia trees, the savannah and endless empty plains. There are only 8 tents and the chef here is outstanding. Dinner is outside under a tree, after drinks around a fire  The table is covered in white linen…… miss you all