Life's a Beach

Fancy relaxing on a beach after your African safari? Here's a few ideas for you. Air Mauritius fly from Australia to Johannesburg, so you can stop in Mauritius in both directions, both pre and post safari. Mauritius has many great resorts to offer.
http://www.beachcomber.com.au/mauritius/beachcomber_hotels

A great combination would be to utilise Air Mauritius' offer of a free night's accommodation in Mauritius on the way to Africa because their flights do not connect. Then travel on to Johannesburg, spend some time in Cape Town, then visit Madikwe private game reserve before shooting up to Victoria Falls for a few nights. Then back to Johannesburg to pick up your flight to Mauritius for a few days R&R on a beach before heading home.

Alternatively you could fly straight through to South Africa with Qantas or South African Airlines, have a sensational safari in South Africa, Botswana or Namibia (Don't forget to squeeze in Victoria Falls.) and then take a side trip to Mozambique where you will find some absolutely stunning beach resorts.
http://www.mozambique.co.za/Popular_Selections-travel/mozambique-romantic-holiday-packages.html

You may prefer East Africa of course, in which case you could combine a trip to the spectacular northern game viewing areas like the Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, Lake Manyara and Tarangire with a couple of nights in Zanzibar's historic Stone Town before moving across to the eastern side of the islands for a beach break at one of the many resorts there. Baraza Resort Camp; Spa for example.
http://www.baraza-zanzibar.com/

For something a little different you may like to visit the game reserves and National parks in Southern Tanzania. There are generally less visited and are wilder and woollier. There's a string of them like stepping stones reaching westward from Dar Es Salaam. Mikumi, Selous, Ruaha and Katavi. Foxes Safaris have great camps in each and you can relax at the end with a few nights at Lazy Lagoon, their beach resort on their own island in the Zanzibar Channel.
http://www.tanzaniasafaris.info/LazyLagoon/accomodation.htm

Last but not least Kenya. How about a 10 night safari visiting Samburu, Lake Nakuru, Masai Mara and Amboseli topped off with a few nights relaxation at somewhere like the sensational Manda Bay Resort in the Lamu Archipelago of Northern Kenya.
http://www.mandabay.com/

It doesn't matter in which part of Africa you plan to have your safari experience, there's a great beach resort waiting for you at the end, with great food, icy cocktails and white sandy beaches. The perfect way to end your trip.

I'm Excited!

I'm a little excited today. In fact the last time a Pom was this excited was at about 5.15pm on 30 July 1966.
Google the date and you'll know what I'm talking about. The reason for my current agitated state? Well there are two actually. Firstly I'm heading off to Tanzania in October to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, leading a small group on a 9 day professionally guided adventure.
http://ucango.com.au/_webapp_765339/9_day_Mount_Kilimanjaro_Adventure

This group is filling fast. It promises to be an amazing, life changing experience for all of us, so get on board now. All the details are on the above link. Safety is paramount and we even provide porters. There is no technical climbing involved, but let's be honest, it is a tough climb so a certain standard of fitness is required.
Having said that, the climb is suitable for a wide range of people. The youngest ever climber was 7 year old Keats Boyd from Los Angeles and the oldest was 82 year old George Solt from Buckinghamshire, England.

The second reason for current state of euphoria is that I have managed to secure a private departure exclusive to Ucango Travel on Wilderness Dawning's 11 day/10 night Okavango Wildlife Safari departing on 16 May 2012. This tour (8 passengers maximum) will be lead by ornithologist and author Jan Lewis. It is a non-participatory camping trip through the wildlife hotspots of Botswana. This mean, no cooking, no putting up of tents, in fact no discomfort whatsoever. Your tents are large, two man, walk-in tents with camp beds and all linen. No sleeping bags required. You even get a nice fluffy doona. You will spend two nights on a houseboat in Namibia on the Okavango River before visiting the Okavango Delta itself, Moremi Game Reserve, Savute and Chobe National Park.  I can promise you the most amazing wildlife experience you've ever had. Apart from Jan's knowledge you will also have a professional driver/guide and camp attendants to cook and erect the tents for you. All you have to do is enjoy the trip. Just click on the link below for all the details.

http://ucango.com.au/_webapp_647368/Okavango_Wildlife_Safari

So there we have it. Two incredible adventures to choose from. I only hope that I don't have to wait another 45 years for experience this level of excitement.

Dung is Fascinating

More and more companies are offering walking safaris, and it really is an amazing experience.  You'll get to see nature close up. You walk in small groups, usually no more than six. You have a guide and often a guard, both of whom are armed in case of emergency. Don't let that alarm you though, reputable companies have highly professional guides trained to avoid dangerous situations. Guides who get their guests into a situation where they are forced to fire even a warning shot will get into all kinds of trouble with the authorities.

Having said that, don't expect to get as close to the animals as you would in a vehicle, to which they have become somewhat habituated. Nevertheless, your guide will get you as close as is safely possible given cover and wind conditions.
Our guide at Rhino Walking Safaris at Kruger National Park in South Africa took us to within twenty metres of a white rhino by skillfully using the wind direction and by keeping us behind a fallen tree which had the animal charged, it would not be able to jump over. Rhino's not surprisingly are not great jumpers. It was incredible to be so close on foot to such a huge animal - a real adrenaline rush.

Being on foot within a hundred metres of a herd of elephants is quite a buzz too. Even at a distance you can feel the power and size of these wonderful creatures, and you'll hear the rumbles and squeaks of their communications. Lions are good fun too, though they'll see you more often than you'll see them on foot. They're not going to attack a group of people, but will stay warily in the distance watching you intently as you pass by.

You will see some wonderful insect and bird life. You'll learn the importance of termites and dung beetles to the environment. You may find a hornbill nest - a hole in a tree, sealed by mud except for a narrow slit by the male bird. The female lays her eggs in the hole and the male feeds her and the chicks through the slit. The female then goes through a complete moult and loses the ability to fly. Once she has regrown her plumage she breaks out of the nest opening which is then resealed by the chicks. Both adults then feed the chicks through the slit until they are old enough to break out and fly themselves.

Your guide will also show you the various animal tracks and teach you how to identify which animals have passed by looking at their dung. Giraffe droppings are very small for the size of the animal and the droppings of male and female are different. You'll be looking at poo in an entirely different light by the end of the walk.

So don't be afraid, be a little adventurous, do a walking safari and see the real Africa. Here are a few examples of some companies that offer professionally guided walking safaris.

Rhino Walking Safaris - Kruger National Park, South Africa.
Norman Carr Safaris - South Luangwa National Park, Zambia.
Robin Pope Safaris - South Luangwa National Park, Zambia.
Wilderness Journeys - Serengeti National Park, Tanzania.

There are many others. Call me for details, Peter Emery 1300 822 646.   

Brothers in Arms

It was a cold, drizzly morning in the lowveld of Sabi Sands abutting Kruger National Park. Just the sort of morning when you can drive for hours and not see a single animal. In weather such as this they seek shelter in the midst of the thorny scrub. Then as the landrover breasted a low ridge and emerged into a clearing we were confronted by two dead bodies, their killers still standing over them. The corpses were buffaloes - a calf and its mother. Their slayers - two young male lions - brothers in arms, their tawny manes glittering with beads of rain, their rancid breath condensing into clouds in the cold air. We had only just missed the kill, the brothers had yet to start feeding. I could imagine the scene a few minutes earlier. The lions ambushing the  buffaloes, narrowly avoiding the mother's horn and taking down the calf first - a relatively easy kill.

The mother would have been much harder to bring down. She'd have refused to leave her calf even when it was dead and she'd have kept the lions at bay for a while. She would have tired though, and one of the lions would have jumped onto her back, risking a jaw shattering kick that would have condemned the big cat to a lingering death by starvation. Meanwhile, the other brother would have clamped his jaws around the Buffalo's windpipe. Perhaps the first lion would have severed the beast's spinal cord, causing her to collapse. Death would have followed swiftly then.

Now as we drew to a halt at the edge of the clearing the brothers snarled at us, taken by surprise at our sudden appearance, a shockingly loud guttural rasp in the drizzle dampened silence. They settled then, realising we weren't a threat, but unnerving us all by staring straight through us with their cold amber eyes. Eyes that oozed arrogance and confidence. Eyes that said "I can kill you anytime I like."  Then they started to feed, tearing a hole at the mother's rear end, ripping open her tough hide as though it were cotton. But all the time they watched us. Even while their muzzles were buried deep in the gore their eyes were fixed on ours, daring us to try to steal their meal. Now and again they raised their heads to show us their bloody faces - another threat?

Finally we left the brothers to eat their breakfast in peace and returned to the lodge for ours with mixed feeling about missing the kill. They are exciting events, but not for the faint hearted. The kills you see on nature programmes on television are usually very clinical affairs and often the editor will cut away once the pray animal has been caught. There's no squealing or screaming and very little blood to be seen. It must be remembered though that lions kill to survive and are not deliberately cruel - unlike humans. Indeed lions will kill as quickly as possible, usually by suffocating the animal with a bite to the windpipe. The last thing they want is a potential meal that kicks and waves sharp horns about, so they try to make it quick, less chance of being injured themselves that way. 

Hyenas and African wild dogs? Well that's another story.

  

No Gnus is Bad News

One of the most moving sights on this earth is the great wildebeest (gnu) migration of East Africa. Sitting in an open vehicle on Tanzania's Serengeti I was brought to tears.  Our guide had driven into the midst of the herd - two million animals plodding along, following the smell of the rain, knowing it would lead them to green pastures where they could raise their calves. The vast African sky was a blue dome and the only sound was shuffling hooves and the soft "nooo, nooo" of the animals as they flowed around us like a black river. In the distance was the high, hazy rim of the Ngorongoro Crater. Only here did the clouds linger, adhered to the mountains. I defy anyone to to remain unmoved by such a scene.

Prides of lions lazed nearby, some on their backs, legs pointing at the sky. Their bellies bulged and their muzzles were red with blood. So much food. How they must love it when this great herd passes their way. For a while hunting is relatively easy and they don't have to trek miles through the heat and dust in search of a meal. How fortunate for the human race that a small biting fly has preserved this wilderness for us. If not for the tsetse fly this part of East Africa - the Serengeti and the Masai Mara would be grazing land and the wildlife would be long gone. These little insects, whose bite feels like you're being jabbed with a hot blunt needle killed the domestic cattle which had no immunity to sleeping sickness and eventually the settlers gave up. Sleeping sickness is no longer a problem in either the Mara or the Serengeti but the tsetse flies remain, mostly in the wooded areas where they will swarm around anything large - like a landrover, making life uncomfortable for the occupants. Just remember that if it wasn't for these little flies you probably wouldn't be there in the first place.

The migrating herds are always in the region, so no matter what time of year you visit you will have a good chance of seeing them. Just remember that it is a natural phenomenon and the location of the animals depends on the rain and where good grazing can be found. However, here is a rough guide.  From November to May the animals mass in the plains of the southern and eastern Serengeti and it is here in February and March that they drop their calves. By the end of May the rains finish, the grass starts to die and the great herds head north west in search of better pasture and by July they begin to mass on the southern side of the rivers that form the border with Kenya's Masai Mara.

Then as if by an unheard signal they begin to cross the rivers. This is what you see on those amazing wildlife programmes on television. Wildebeest and zebras struggling through the swirling brown water pursued by enormous Nile crocodiles. Amazing to see, though not for the squeamish. You have to be very lucky too, as obviously there is no set day - it just happens, usually in July. Then between July and September the great herds settle for a while in the Masai Mara, though many always stay behind in the Serengeti.  Then as the rains start to fall once more in Tanzania in October/November the animals once again begin the long trek south, and so the whole cycle begins again.

So, now if you are interested in seeing this incredible spectacle you have an idea of how to time your trip. Remember though, that even if you do miss the great herds, both the Serengeti and the Masai Mara have so much more to offer. Both are a must for any wildlife enthusiast at any time of the year. For further information please call me - Peter Emery at Ucango Travel on 1300 822 646.

Isn't Nature Great?

Have you ever been watching a wildlife programme on TV and thought to yourself "Why don't zebras have better camouflage if nature is so smart?" You'll have noticed that they stand out a mile on the great plains of Africa.  Well, the fact is that their stripes aren't meant to be the usual sort of camouflage that blends in with their surroundings.  A predator, let's say a lioness, will approach a herd of zebra in an attempt to panic them, making them run so that she can pick out a weak individual. The herd will run, but to the lion's eyes the zebras' stripes blend together to form a great amorphous mass, making isolating an individual animal very difficult. Not for nothing is a group of zebras called a "dazzle."

Lions themselves have an interesting adaptation. Examine a close-up photo of a lions face and you will see a distinct white line under it's eyes. Being predominantly nocturnal hunters this gives the big cat an added advantage over it's prey in the pitch black African night. This white line reflects any ambient light from the stars or moon into the lion's eyes enhancing it's night vision.  Prey animals like the impala for example don't have this, so while they can smell danger as the lion approaches in the dark they are unable to see it. imagine how terrifying that must be. The lion of course can see the impala as though it were wearing night-vision goggles.

You will often see prey animals such as impala or wildebeest approach a predator like a lion when they have spotted it.  This isn't as stupid as it might seem.  Many predators use ambush as their primary means of catching prey. The prey animal will be quite relaxed as long as it can see the predator. It knows it can out-run and out-turn a predator in order to escape. Once the predator disappears from view however, the prey animal will become very nervous.  It can be fascinating to watch lions hunting as a pride. It's as if they use telepathy to get into position. You'll see the pride watching a herd of wildebeest, seemingly quite relaxed and uninterested when as if at some unheard signal they suddenly become alert and move into hunting mode. Some of the pride will crouch and begin slinking through the grass, circling around behind the wildebeest herd, where they will hide in the undergrowth, superbly camouflaged by their tawny coats. At another silent signal other lions who have remained behind will charge at the wildebeest herd, panicking them and making them run........straight into the ambush set by the lions crouching in the long grass. It is an incredible thing to watch such a lion hunt develop.

Rhino's too have some interesting behaviour patterns.  White (or wide mouthed) rhinos heads are held much lower than their Black (or hook lipped) cousins. This is because they are grazers, they eat grass. Black rhinos are browsers and eats shrubs and leaves hanging from low trees. You are more likely to encounter white rhinos in open ground and for this reason an alarmed female with a calf will always run away behind it's calf in order to protect it's rear. The black rhino is more often found in scrubby areas and an alarmed mother will run ahead of her calf in order to clear a path through the undergrowth.

I think perhaps my favourite adaptation from the natural world is that of the flat-topped acacia thorn tree of the Masai Mara and the Serengeti. These trees will allow giraffes to feed on them for just so long before sending out chemical messages to other trees in the immediate vicinity warning them that they are under attack. The trees then begin to produce extra tannin which the giraffe's find distasteful and so wander off to find another group of trees to feed on - and so it goes on. The animals get a feed but don't decimate the trees. It's all wonderfully sustainable. I just love nature. 

The Great Thirst. Part Three - Leaving Timbuktu

The camel ride to the camp took half an hour.  Going up the dunes we had to clamp our legs tightly around the camel to prevent ourselves from toppling off the back, and then on the downward slope we had to lean back as far as we could to stop ourselves tipping over the animals head.  It wasn't a comfortable journey in the searing heat, but we reached the Tuareg camp both uninjured and unmolested.  Rubbing our battered backsides we were ushered towards the nearest tent as the rest of the group arrived.  The camp consisted of half a dozen semi-permanent large goat skin canopy tents.  The sides were pegged up to allow the free flow of air and as we stooped to enter Ahmed shooed away a few goats to make room for us all.

There were several indigo clad men already inside, their dark skin stained blue by the dye.  These were true blue men of the desert. There were no women but Ahmed assured us that they were making themselves useful collecting water. I had thought theirs was a matriarchal society.  Having settled cross legged on the sandy floor, hot, sweet tea was served in small glasses.  Those of us who could speak French chatted politely with the tribesman, while those of us that couldn't just sat patiently and enjoyed the shade and the tea.  Then, pleasantries over, it was down to business. With a nod and a quiet word from Ahmed a blue robed youth left the tent and returned some minutes later with his arms full of souvenirs that we were obviously expected to buy in return for the tribes hospitality.  These items were placed on a rug in front of us.  There were long, curved knives encased in black, camel leather sheaths, silver bracelets, rings, beads and other basically worthless trinkets.  We all purchased something after what seemed like hours of tedious haggling but I still treasure my Tuareg knife.

Back in town, our backside still numb from the return camel ride, we trooped off into the dusty streets to explore.  Shin and I were soon accosted by a group of small boys whom we employed as guides and we didn't regret it.  They gave us a fine tour, showing us the houses where early European explorers had lived including Rene Caille, who in the eighteenth century become the first white man to reach Timbuktu for many years..  His was an especially hazardous voyage for he had travelled disguised as a young Arab studying the Koran with a group of Mohammedan tribesmen who would certainly have murdered him had they discovered his true identity. His house in Timbuktu was no different to any of the others except that it bore a plaque bearing his name.  It was mud built and had carved wooden shutters on the windows.

The boys then showed us the main place of worship - The Mosque de Sankore. Anywhere else it would have been considered tiny and unimportant, tucked away as it was, down an unimpressive side street.  Yet the boys were proud of it and we tried to appear suitably impressed as we took photos of the short, stubby minaret that pointed towards the blue sky like a brown thumb.

And so that was Timbuktu.  There was a hotel without guests and a supermarket without stock where a slow fan stirred the turbid air, cooling the flies that searched in vain for something to eat or lay their eggs on. An attempt had been made in the early eighties to make Timbuktu a destination for French tourists in the same way that Tamanrasset in Algeria had become popular until the troubles started there.  In the early eighties one flight a week flew in from France with tourists and UN staff, but one day the plane crashed on landing, killing everyone on board and nothing had landed at the airport since.  The town was dying a slower death than the poor souls on the plane.

By the time we returned to the truck, preparations were under way for our departure and soon Timbuktu was behind us.  We passed the airport on the way out of town, and there was the blackened wreck of the jet that finished Timbuktu's short stint as a tourist mecca. Then as suddenly as Timbuktu had crept up on us, we were back in the desert, stuck up to our axles in soft sand, cursing as we heaved the sand ladders about and wearily dug the wheels free for the hundredth time.  Timbuktu, I reflected as I sat by the camp fire that night had pretty much lived up to my expectations. It was desperately poor, unlovely and totally forgettable and yet I was excited at the thought that for the rest of my life I could claim to have actually visited this legendary place, and let's face it, there's no doubt that the name Timbuktu still conjures up a certain enigmatic aura.