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...
African Wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) are back in the Serengeti!
In 1989 and 1990 African wild dogs were seen quite frequently in the Serengeti Plains during the rains and short dry season (December - April). Then sometime in 1990 they disappeared. I think the last time I saw three individuals was in 1991 near the Ndutu woodland. This was very...
Close Encounters of the primate kind….
The young Blackback came over and sat not far away, gazing into the distance, as if in deep thought. And then an interaction most people only dream about - being fifteen feet from a four hundred pound Gorilla picking scabs off his fingers and eating them. A curious gaze from...
What to write about?
Sometimes sightings are too numerous and too astounding to allow me to begin the recount them in a blog. It would result in a long list which certainly to me would sound nearly impossible to view in a two week period (my last safari). I have decided to mention the...
Big Tusker
What a beautiful huge tusker! Sadly an animal like this is a rare thing to encounter these days. We saw this fellow in February 2007. Justin.
To the summit of Mount Meru
My ten year old son Laurence has recently become interested in mountains and climbing them. He had no experience climbing, or even hiking very far, so I was initially a bit skeptical. However his frequent requests to climb a mountain led me to suggest Mount Meru after the New Year....
A green Green season
This December's (2006) safari reminded me of what the "Short rains" used to be like in the 90s. While marvelling at the lush green landscapes and the frollicking antelope, my mind would switch to logistical preoccupations: "Can we cross the river?", "Will we get to camp?", "Which track should I...
