Quest for chimpanzees
Gillian and I had been to Uganda before to see the rare mountain gorilla, and this time we decided to travel there to see chimpanzees. Our first chimp track was at Kibale national park near Fort Portal. Here the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) have habituated three chimpanzee communities to the...
Namibia – Land of living deserts
Namibia is the most arid African country south of the Sahara – not necessarily the sort of place that conjures up images of a destination for great safaris…….. But it is! Southern African deserts boast the richest diversity of life of all the world’s deserts……….no less than 204 species of...
Search for the shoebill
The shoebill (Balaeniceps rex) is a somewhat enigmatic large stork-like bird that is found in swamps between Sudan and Zambia in Africa. While the Ancient Egyptians were familiar with this bird, it was not known to Europeans until the 19th Century. Because it lives in such inaccessible and remote swamps,...
A morning game drive
We were staying in the last camp of our safari, Suyan, situated at this time of year in the far north-east of the Serengeti, just outside the park. This is an area that we are able to go for walks, night drives, and visit the Maasai pastoralists who live here,...
The Crossing
What is it with wildebeest? They must be one of the most ugly antelope out there, but they are such characters. They have such joie de vivre, such spirit! Yes, they are not very intelligent, but they don't seem to mind. In fact, I am convinced that they see themselves...
A serval cat hunting
We had just had a wonderful day in Ngorongoro Crater, having seen mating lions, hyenas, golden and black-backed jackals, fantastic birdlife, and stunning numbers of plains game (especially Thomson's gazelle, wildebeest and zebra). I was with an active cheerful group of three families from San Francisco, who had arrived in...
Mama Anna’s
I have not written anything recently because I have been on safari since the beginning of July. During this time I visited various parts of East Africa and have had all kinds of different experiences, including a Kilimanjaro climb immediately followed by a Mount Meru climb. Soon after these climbs...
Family camping trip to the Maasai Steppe
Ten days ago, over a weekend, we drove a couple of hours south of Arusha to an area where much of the migratory game we encounter in Tarangire national park in the dry season spend the wetter green season. We drove through vast areas of bush and grassland, passing the...
Trout fishing from Rutundu cabins on Mount Kenya
We arrived at dusk after a couple of hours drive on a very rough mountainous track. On the way we had seen signs of buffalo, elephant, eland and hyaena. We also came across my first flock of moorland francolin, a very attractive fellow to me! Our Land-Rovers pulled to a...
Wildlife weekend
It is astonishing what you can see in the equivalent of a weekend! I was on safari for three nights - really two full days, as the days either end were "travelling" days. We stayed in two camps both on the northern edge of the Serengeti Plains - Suyan camp...
Heading Westwards to the Serengeti
In Arusha national park Dave and our guests canoed around Momella lake during the afternoon, sneaking up to buffaloes, and watching crowned cranes in their courtship rituals. On our way back to camp at dusk we encountered three young hyenas lying in the road. They looked very endearing as they...
Kilimanjaro Western Breach News
The Western Breach Route on Mount Kilimanjaro was closed by Kilimanjaro National Park authorities following a rock fall which killed three climbers and injured others on 4th January 2006. Since then the park authorities have conducted several reconnaissance trips to the Western Breach to determine if and how the route...
