Update

The trip has been wonderful so far. While the realities of city life are so far away I've found time to spend hours just looking at scenery. I wonder why people don't do it more often.

Two more weeks have gone by and with them 4 more main stops. As my computer access time is limited I'll summarize again. I hope to be able to post photos next week when I return to London.

Pemba Afloat
Living on a sailing yacht anchored in a lagoon on a small remote island. Waking each day to a beautiful sunrise and watching local fisherman return in their dugout canoes with the night's catch. Some canoes stop by to sell live fish, crabs, lobster or squid which become lunch or dinner. A nearly constant breeze keeps it comfortable and free of insects. Brilliant night skies filled with stars since there is no real town with electric lights for 20 miles. A nice relaxing place to have time slip past.

Saadani Safari Lodge
This was as much a beach resort as a game lodge. Sunrise over the ocean each morning streams into the cottages on the beach. There isn't much wildlife though due to both the season and large areas of land having been burned deliberately - by poachers, park rangers or both depending upon who you speak with.

I see giraffe each day and spot lion tracks in a dry river bed. I also see antelope tracks on the beach one morning only a few hours old. Most notably I start to observe population differences in the same species I saw in Kenya. Obvious differences occur in color and hair, for example the warthogs here have long manes and whiskers. On the last evening we spot a pair of lions in a grassy area apparently waiting for the daily trek of the herbivores from the grazing areas to the river to drink. They jog away as we approach, the only time I've seen lions move due to human presence.

When leaving we stop by a rural Maasai village where the homes are mud and stick and the people sleep on cow hides on dirt floors. Appearances can be deceiving though, because the village elder second in status to the chief carries a mobile phone and I'm told owns 600 cows valued at about US$300 each.


Selous Impala Camp
This is a luxury tented camp where the target market is upscale tourists looking for comfort in the bush. This is the first place I stay where hot water is available on demand. All of the other places used solar water heaters except Pemba Afloat which had no hot water at all. The camp is on the river and you hear the male hippos calling each night.

Game is plentiful here as the river draws animals during the dry season. I see male hippos mock battle for territory, a large greater kudu with horns almost 4 feet long horn the mud, male giraffe sparring head butts, baboons digging up roots and knocking the dirt off them before eating and elephants smelling each other's mouths when meeting. The real highlight is the boat safari and when we beach the boat in the mud to watch two male elephants graze. After about 20 minutes of this one has come to within 10 feet of our boat. He takes some mud and throws it on his back with his trunk and then takes more and throws it at us! Some splatters on me and he turns and slowly walks away to graze again without looking back. I think that he was tired of having us be there.

Mdonya Old River Camp
This place touts itself as an adventure camp and really delivers on expectations. Animals walk through camp every night and in the 3 days I'm there I see greater kudu, impala, and giraffe eating close to me and have elephants [night 1] and buffalo [night 2] eat and sleep just outside my tent. There are lion tracks in the camp after night 3 which is likely why nothing slept outside my tent that night. The warning not to walk around outside at night is well heeded!

Game concentration and diversity here are outstanding. By far the best park I've visited so far. My last morning I saw 10 species of mammals before breakfast. Although there are so many highlights from here, two really stand out.

During a full day drive we see numerous lions (38 by end of day), but the big cats are always interesting. While we are driving I see what appears to be a large cat walking on a hill in the distance. I tell our guide who instructs the driver to go up the hill. As we drive the guide asks me exactly where on the hill I saw the shape and I try to direct him to the spot. He seems skeptical, but as we get to within 50 yards of the area he spies the cat and identifies it as a leopard. Leopards are solitary and generally nocturnal, so are not often seen by tourists. It is a big deal to see one and the other tourists in the car congratulate me on spotting it. For almost 30 minutes we watch the leopard as he slowly walks further up the hill, occasionally stopping to lie down which allows us to really study him. They are amazing animals combining beauty, grace, and power. Finally he walks over a rise we can't safely drive beyond and we watch him disappear.

The next morning I go for a 2 hour walk along the Ruaha River with the same guide. It is hot and uneventful. We stop for a breakfast break on the drive back and then continue as it is well over an hour back to camp. I doze off and on in the jeep as it is hot and sunny and while driving at almost 30 mph game generally run when they hear the jeep coming. Almost back to camp and during a brief waking period, I am staring out at the trees eyes largely unfocused when I catch the prototypical profile of a male lion with full mane. "Lion" I shout and the driver immediately breaks hard. I tell him to back up and as he does we all search the trees. The guide spots 2 lions, but not where I saw the profile which I'm frantically searching for. Then I spot him and immediately next to him why they are there. There is a freshly killed young female giraffe lying in the trees. Little of giraffe has been eaten yet and it is interesting to see what has been eaten and guess how they caught and killer her.

Over the next 22 hours until I have to fly out we revisit the site 3 more times to watch the lions (5 total) progress eating the body. In the early morning visit we watch both a lioness and the big male actually feed. They wrench meat from the bone and move parts of the carcass with obvious great strength. I hear their teeth scraping against bone and cutting flesh. Their labored breaths mark the struggle to rend meat and separate joints. At one point the male shifts position and brushing his tail against the resting lioness feels she is too close. He turns on her with blinding speed and fierce aggression; roaring jaws wide open with teeth bared. She roars back as she cowers on the ground ears flat back.

I take loads of photos hoping at least some will turn out. The camp manager surmises that the lions drove the giraffe into the thicket of smaller trees where she couldn't easily run and tripped and fell over a tree (there was a sapling bent under her body) where upon the lions quickly killed her by crushing her windpipe with their jaws. Seeing it was an experience that I will never forget.

Kigongoni Lodge
This is a quaint hillside lodge on the outskirts of Arusha a city of 400,000. It is far enough out of the city to be peaceful and overlooks fields of coffee and greenhouses of roses and strawberries. I'm only overnighting here due to flight schedules. Tomorrow I fly to my last stop at Mahale to hopefully see the chimps there. There are rumors that the park has stopped chimp viewing hikes after several chimps caught flus from tourists and died. I'll have to see what the situation is when I get there. I hope to see them, but can understand how protecting them is much more important.