Ok ladies and gents, our internet is back working again, hence providing you with several updates, and now, as promised in the last post – Adventure at the lakeside – be warned it’s a long one. As a brief aside, just a quick thanks to those of you who have previously left comments on the blog. They are appreciated and confirm/affirm that the overall tone, which during Mayhem's present absence has shifted to become more narrative than comedic, is still providing a source of interest/entertainment
Wow, that was amazing. The lake was a truly wonderful experience, there is so much to say, and all of it as wondrous as the next. So naturally I think the best place is to start at the beginning.
Lake Daluti takes a little bit of getting to, it requires a 30 minute walk along one of the main roads, to catch a Dala Dala mini bus for 20 mins to a stop near to my hospital. From there, a very enjoyable 3km walk down to the lake through the Arusha scrub. On the way we were treated to our trail passing through a farm that appeared to be growing a crop which would eventually become pepper corns. One of the disappointments was the lack of chameleons – we were told that it might be possible to see them – unfortunately the only two we saw were dead on the road, a real shame, as they were 5cm and the most vibrant shade of ultramarine I have ever seen.
As we drew closer to the lake we were greeted by the sounds of chanting and singing coming from a tribe which we had been told lived on the side of the lake. We paused for a brief rest and to simply enjoy the warm sounds coming from the edges of the lake. Continuing down through the woods which encircle the lake we came to the little bar on the lake side. Walking around the side of the building we got our first view of the lake. A beautiful jade expanse of water, bordered by steep hills and cliffs, densely wooded with equatorial forest.
Our time at the lake started with us simply stopping into the ramshackle bar, picking up three bottles of Fanta for 25p each and sitting in aged patio chairs, the white plastic discoloured to a tar stained yellow in the burning sun, and drinking in the view. We watched a small family, who had also managed to discover the lake, hire a dilapidated Canadian Canoe, and thought – that looks like the ticket for us.
While we waited for the family to return, we were treated to the site of a lizard, then type of which I have no idea, swimming across the edge of the lake and disappearing into the reeds. It swam in the same way as the Iguanas from BBC Natural World documentaries – its fore and hind limbs hanging limply by its side, while propelling itself forwards with its powerful tail. As the lizard disappeared into the reeds, a cacophony of noise broke forth from the sunfire yellow birds who had they delicate nests perched as if by magic on thin reeds, conscious of the danger that the lizard may pose their unhatched young
The little family returned to the dock and we exchanged our aged yellow chairs, for equally ancient chairs whose legs had been removed, allowing the passenger in the boat to sit with a few centimetres between their bottom and the thin, and damp, fibreglass hull. Myself and Carl, the other chap on the trip, Mayhem having taken the option of sun worshipping, instead of a big adventure, took up the oars fore and aft, and proceed to speed across the emerald water. Only pausing briefly near the centre of the lake, firstly to marvel that it had taken us 15 minutes hard rowing even to reach its centre, and then ponder how far the lake extended beneath us, and what creatures its fathoms might hold. I was almost expecting to feel some monster brush across the bottom of the boat at that point, but thankfully the only motion at that point was our passenger, Pipa, urging us to keep rowing.
We approached the other side of the lake, and began to turn the canoe. Our eyes alighting upon a isle situated in the far left of the lake which we had previously ignored. Our next goal acquired we set of at a clip to investigate this new land, or at least circumnavigate it.
As we approached the island, we realised that the island formed a narrow channel between the cliff walls and itself, and that it looked like navigating it would provide more than sufficient an adventure. After only a few moments of passing down the channel, we were out of sight of the main lake, and would have been hard pressed not to become confused with the tropically wooded cliffs and start believing we were in the Amazon. This feeling was amplified more as we had to slow the canoe to a crawl in order to navigate under the overhanging boughs of the massive trees. Their trunks dressed in suits of creepers, with similarly cascaded from their branches.
It various point we had to stow the oars in the boat and pull ourselves along using the branches of submerged trees. Skeletal branches reaching up from the depths to scratch along the hull of our little craft like spirits from the lake, inspecting this brightly coloured intruder. It was these moments, with the noise of our oars in the water removed, we could hear the calls, twitters and chirps of the animals and birds which lived, hidden in the dense foliage, only a couple of meters from our craft
After having completed our mini expedition around the island, giant smiles splitting our faces, we returned to paddling back towards the bar from which we had departed nearly an hour ago.
Back on land we ordered lunch of chicken and chips, and returned to enjoying bottles of Fanta on the lake side. When the food finally arrived, having taken 45mins, it coincided with the conspicuous disappearance of a couple of chickens which had previously roamed freely on the patchy brown grass around the bar. In spite of this potential Poultry-cide, it was surely the best chicken and chips I have ever had the pleasure of consuming, certainly this would have only been augmented by the ravenous appetite we have worked up while out on the lake, but the Colonel at a certain fast food restaurant could certainly take a couple of tips from the cook by the lake.
Our dinner polished off, we set back of, in search of the rickety Dala Dala which would take us most of the way home. Assured that our day had been spent very wisely, and that it is adventures like the “Amazonian” canoe trip around the island which are the experiences electives are made of!
TTFN
KAOS
Monday, 30 March 2009
Fun in the sun
28/03/08
A rest day today, people have largely done nothing today but worked on their tans. I have potted in the kitchen – a great culinary masterpiece was produced – Fish and chips from basic ingredients. How many fish and chip shops in the UK are likely to serve Nile Perch in bread crumbs and local herbs with chips made of red sweet potatoes? I’m pleased to report that the others thought it was quite a good meal as well – for later we have a dish, the complexity of its production can barely be put into words. Due to the complete inadequacy of the English language to verbalise the advanced and bizarre culinary skills used – skills which incidentally I had to beg for tutelage in from a local shamen – I will merely provide you with the dishes local name and let you marvel in your own time – Raspberry Jelly!
While it has broadly been a rest day today, that is not particularly my sort of thing, thus i decided to go for an explore – stupidly wearing my Crocs. I had walked maybe 30 paces from the house when a 4cm thorn pieced through the flimsy rubber sole and buried itself into my foot. Suffice to say I was pleased to be so close to our villa, and a bottle of antiseptic spray – my foot now an attractive iodine golden yellow I’m hoping it won’t drop off until i have completed my ascent of Mt. Meru next weekend, and Mt Kilimanjaro the following weekend.
There is a plan tomorrow to travel to the East, to a Lake Daluti which is situated a 3km south of my little hospital out in the sticks. We have been suggested to go there because of the distance it is from the usual tourist haunts and is thus still a fairly pristine lake. Certainly the reports from others who have undertaken the trek down to the lake have returned with stories of giant eels, and fish in the lake which can be seen from the canoes which you can pilot across the lakes depths. Certainly it will be an interesting experience to see Africa where the tourists are not prevalent, for to some degree it has felt that a lot of the things we have seen have been to a large degree “put on” for the benefit of the white man
I’ll comment about it later
A rest day today, people have largely done nothing today but worked on their tans. I have potted in the kitchen – a great culinary masterpiece was produced – Fish and chips from basic ingredients. How many fish and chip shops in the UK are likely to serve Nile Perch in bread crumbs and local herbs with chips made of red sweet potatoes? I’m pleased to report that the others thought it was quite a good meal as well – for later we have a dish, the complexity of its production can barely be put into words. Due to the complete inadequacy of the English language to verbalise the advanced and bizarre culinary skills used – skills which incidentally I had to beg for tutelage in from a local shamen – I will merely provide you with the dishes local name and let you marvel in your own time – Raspberry Jelly!
While it has broadly been a rest day today, that is not particularly my sort of thing, thus i decided to go for an explore – stupidly wearing my Crocs. I had walked maybe 30 paces from the house when a 4cm thorn pieced through the flimsy rubber sole and buried itself into my foot. Suffice to say I was pleased to be so close to our villa, and a bottle of antiseptic spray – my foot now an attractive iodine golden yellow I’m hoping it won’t drop off until i have completed my ascent of Mt. Meru next weekend, and Mt Kilimanjaro the following weekend.
There is a plan tomorrow to travel to the East, to a Lake Daluti which is situated a 3km south of my little hospital out in the sticks. We have been suggested to go there because of the distance it is from the usual tourist haunts and is thus still a fairly pristine lake. Certainly the reports from others who have undertaken the trek down to the lake have returned with stories of giant eels, and fish in the lake which can be seen from the canoes which you can pilot across the lakes depths. Certainly it will be an interesting experience to see Africa where the tourists are not prevalent, for to some degree it has felt that a lot of the things we have seen have been to a large degree “put on” for the benefit of the white man
I’ll comment about it later
Fun in the sun
28/03/08
A rest day today, people have largely done nothing today but worked on their tans. I have potted in the kitchen – a great culinary masterpiece was produced – Fish and chips from basic ingredients. How many fish and chip shops in the UK are likely to serve Nile Perch in bread crumbs and local herbs with chips made of red sweet potatoes? I’m pleased to report that the others thought it was quite a good meal as well – for later we have a dish, the complexity of its production can barely be put into words. Due to the complete inadequacy of the English language to verbalise the advanced and bizarre culinary skills used – skills which incidentally I had to beg for tutelage in from a local shamen – I will merely provide you with the dishes local name and let you marvel in your own time – Raspberry Jelly!
While it has broadly been a rest day today, that is not particularly my sort of thing, thus i decided to go for an explore – stupidly wearing my Crocs. I had walked maybe 30 paces from the house when a 4cm thorn pieced through the flimsy rubber sole and buried itself into my foot. Suffice to say I was pleased to be so close to our villa, and a bottle of antiseptic spray – my foot now an attractive iodine golden yellow I’m hoping it won’t drop off until i have completed my ascent of Mt. Meru next weekend, and Mt Kilimanjaro the following weekend.
There is a plan tomorrow to travel to the East, to a Lake Daluti which is situated a 3km south of my little hospital out in the sticks. We have been suggested to go there because of the distance it is from the usual tourist haunts and is thus still a fairly pristine lake. Certainly the reports from others who have undertaken the trek down to the lake have returned with stories of giant eels, and fish in the lake which can be seen from the canoes which you can pilot across the lakes depths. Certainly it will be an interesting experience to see Africa where the tourists are not prevalent, for to some degree it has felt that a lot of the things we have seen have been to a large degree “put on” for the benefit of the white man
I’ll comment about it later
A rest day today, people have largely done nothing today but worked on their tans. I have potted in the kitchen – a great culinary masterpiece was produced – Fish and chips from basic ingredients. How many fish and chip shops in the UK are likely to serve Nile Perch in bread crumbs and local herbs with chips made of red sweet potatoes? I’m pleased to report that the others thought it was quite a good meal as well – for later we have a dish, the complexity of its production can barely be put into words. Due to the complete inadequacy of the English language to verbalise the advanced and bizarre culinary skills used – skills which incidentally I had to beg for tutelage in from a local shamen – I will merely provide you with the dishes local name and let you marvel in your own time – Raspberry Jelly!
While it has broadly been a rest day today, that is not particularly my sort of thing, thus i decided to go for an explore – stupidly wearing my Crocs. I had walked maybe 30 paces from the house when a 4cm thorn pieced through the flimsy rubber sole and buried itself into my foot. Suffice to say I was pleased to be so close to our villa, and a bottle of antiseptic spray – my foot now an attractive iodine golden yellow I’m hoping it won’t drop off until i have completed my ascent of Mt. Meru next weekend, and Mt Kilimanjaro the following weekend.
There is a plan tomorrow to travel to the East, to a Lake Daluti which is situated a 3km south of my little hospital out in the sticks. We have been suggested to go there because of the distance it is from the usual tourist haunts and is thus still a fairly pristine lake. Certainly the reports from others who have undertaken the trek down to the lake have returned with stories of giant eels, and fish in the lake which can be seen from the canoes which you can pilot across the lakes depths. Certainly it will be an interesting experience to see Africa where the tourists are not prevalent, for to some degree it has felt that a lot of the things we have seen have been to a large degree “put on” for the benefit of the white man
I’ll comment about it later
Africa is SOOOOO annoying at times
27/03/08
Right that’s it I’ve had enough! No i don’t want to buy your trinkets, Yes I am going to the post office but no I don’t want your help finding it, I am NOT GERMAN and don’t want to buy your newspaper even if “good price, nice price for you mister sir!” AND IF ONE MORE PERSON YELLS “MUZUNGU” AS I WALK PAST... let’s just say its the last thing he will yell.
To be fair when we arrived there was a novelty of being the “White man” and people wanting to have pictures with us, shake our hands and touch our hair. The shine was always slightly reduced as it transpired that at least 75% of these people being welcoming, were only being so as the “White man is rich” and wanted us to buy their tacky bracelet made of coffee beans.
That said, you become so used to responding to anyone with “hapana asantai” (no thank you), that unfortunately this automatic response has meant I have actually missed the opportunity to buy really great pictures.
Maybe it’s a British thing, but if I’m looking for something, then it is that something I am after and not for example a rhino made of old bottle tops – a commendable achievement in its own right, but by pushing it repeatedly in my face with the accompanying “Good price for you mista my friend” is certainly not going to increase any desire I have to buy it. It is the Maasi market where this is worst, there are probably 100 little stores at the market, each box, rather than shop, measures a bijou 2x3x4m, allowing you to quickly take in everything in the shop, but still they drive you hard to get you into their shop – and they are even worse if you attempt to walk buy without looking in their cramped store
However, it has to be said that the remaining 25% of people who come up to us on the street are genuine, and merely want to say hello, ask how we are, even if it is only as a chance to practice their English with the Muzungo
All of that said, Mayhem has come up with a great idea for a t-shirt - I was going to write about the idea he has had, however I have just been told that it is essentially a military secret and that it can only be disclosed when we have actually returned – each to their own and he is the head designer so fair enough.
OK we now have a day consisting of eating cake – FINALLY, swimming in the nearby pool and getting our cut price suits adjusted - £30 for a 120 thread pin stripped 3 piece suit – I LOVE Africa – ok I love it when I’m going to the store and not being hassled but still I LOVE AFRICA!
Right that’s it I’ve had enough! No i don’t want to buy your trinkets, Yes I am going to the post office but no I don’t want your help finding it, I am NOT GERMAN and don’t want to buy your newspaper even if “good price, nice price for you mister sir!” AND IF ONE MORE PERSON YELLS “MUZUNGU” AS I WALK PAST... let’s just say its the last thing he will yell.
To be fair when we arrived there was a novelty of being the “White man” and people wanting to have pictures with us, shake our hands and touch our hair. The shine was always slightly reduced as it transpired that at least 75% of these people being welcoming, were only being so as the “White man is rich” and wanted us to buy their tacky bracelet made of coffee beans.
That said, you become so used to responding to anyone with “hapana asantai” (no thank you), that unfortunately this automatic response has meant I have actually missed the opportunity to buy really great pictures.
Maybe it’s a British thing, but if I’m looking for something, then it is that something I am after and not for example a rhino made of old bottle tops – a commendable achievement in its own right, but by pushing it repeatedly in my face with the accompanying “Good price for you mista my friend” is certainly not going to increase any desire I have to buy it. It is the Maasi market where this is worst, there are probably 100 little stores at the market, each box, rather than shop, measures a bijou 2x3x4m, allowing you to quickly take in everything in the shop, but still they drive you hard to get you into their shop – and they are even worse if you attempt to walk buy without looking in their cramped store
However, it has to be said that the remaining 25% of people who come up to us on the street are genuine, and merely want to say hello, ask how we are, even if it is only as a chance to practice their English with the Muzungo
All of that said, Mayhem has come up with a great idea for a t-shirt - I was going to write about the idea he has had, however I have just been told that it is essentially a military secret and that it can only be disclosed when we have actually returned – each to their own and he is the head designer so fair enough.
OK we now have a day consisting of eating cake – FINALLY, swimming in the nearby pool and getting our cut price suits adjusted - £30 for a 120 thread pin stripped 3 piece suit – I LOVE Africa – ok I love it when I’m going to the store and not being hassled but still I LOVE AFRICA!
Wednesday, 25 March 2009
Safari day 4 - end of the journey
Well just a quick wrap up of the safari, as I seem to be taking FAR to long to complete this story, and then at least I can try to return to current events, of which there have been plenty.
The descent into the crater was via a long winding dirt track which zigzagged the 2000ft to the craters floor. This gave us terrific panoramic views across the crater, with the herds of buffalo and zebra looking like tiny ants moving in time with one another.
Upon reaching the broad savannah covered floor, it was only moments before we came across a queue of traffic – A QUEUE, in the Ngorogoro crater, in the words of the oft quoted Victor Meldrew – “I DONT BELIEVE IT!” However we were really pleased to have found the delay, the other vehicles had stopped to look at a small yellow and brown dot on a small hillock – picking up the binoculars that spot was a Cheetah! Not only were we thrilled to see it for its own sake, but we had been quite despondent after the guide had told us we would not have chance to see this particular feline again as they don’t go into the Ngorogoro – thankfully he was very wrong!
After waiting for a while the Cheetah appeared to get bored of Mayhem sending off what sounded like 50,000 shots, rose to its feet and trotted off towards a group of wildebeest in the distance, possibly in the hopes of finding lunch.
The rest of the Safari took in great swathes of flamingos, vibrant pink against the blue sky (although I am colour-blind I know that a flamingo is pink before you comment Mayhem (mind you that said with Mayhem’s frequency of posting he could be dead by know, he head held like a glorious trophy in one of the girls bedrooms after pushing boundaries too far – either way no one would be the wiser!)
One of the girls came up with a tremendous way of taking photos through the large binoculars provided by the guide. I managed to use the same system to take some great pictures of the afore mentioned flamingos, and then bizarrely after having mastered the technique, much to my annoyance, I forgot it just as soon. Something I was to regret when we saw our first black rhinos
We were lucky enough to see three of the granite coloured beasts, quite a score card when there are thought to be only between 70-200 remaining in the wild.
Our safari ended with a lunch in the swamp – not as bad as might have been expected, apart from constant dive booming attacks from the nearby kites. The size of the birds, and speed with which they would stoop was more than sufficient to send people running for cover, resulting in the remainder of our meal being completed in the confines of our 4x4
After having finished our final meal of carrot and cheese sandwiches – bizarre, but that is what the cook provided us with – a peal of thunder rolled around the crater and signalled the end of our safari.
The descent into the crater was via a long winding dirt track which zigzagged the 2000ft to the craters floor. This gave us terrific panoramic views across the crater, with the herds of buffalo and zebra looking like tiny ants moving in time with one another.
Upon reaching the broad savannah covered floor, it was only moments before we came across a queue of traffic – A QUEUE, in the Ngorogoro crater, in the words of the oft quoted Victor Meldrew – “I DONT BELIEVE IT!” However we were really pleased to have found the delay, the other vehicles had stopped to look at a small yellow and brown dot on a small hillock – picking up the binoculars that spot was a Cheetah! Not only were we thrilled to see it for its own sake, but we had been quite despondent after the guide had told us we would not have chance to see this particular feline again as they don’t go into the Ngorogoro – thankfully he was very wrong!
After waiting for a while the Cheetah appeared to get bored of Mayhem sending off what sounded like 50,000 shots, rose to its feet and trotted off towards a group of wildebeest in the distance, possibly in the hopes of finding lunch.
The rest of the Safari took in great swathes of flamingos, vibrant pink against the blue sky (although I am colour-blind I know that a flamingo is pink before you comment Mayhem (mind you that said with Mayhem’s frequency of posting he could be dead by know, he head held like a glorious trophy in one of the girls bedrooms after pushing boundaries too far – either way no one would be the wiser!)
One of the girls came up with a tremendous way of taking photos through the large binoculars provided by the guide. I managed to use the same system to take some great pictures of the afore mentioned flamingos, and then bizarrely after having mastered the technique, much to my annoyance, I forgot it just as soon. Something I was to regret when we saw our first black rhinos
We were lucky enough to see three of the granite coloured beasts, quite a score card when there are thought to be only between 70-200 remaining in the wild.
Our safari ended with a lunch in the swamp – not as bad as might have been expected, apart from constant dive booming attacks from the nearby kites. The size of the birds, and speed with which they would stoop was more than sufficient to send people running for cover, resulting in the remainder of our meal being completed in the confines of our 4x4
After having finished our final meal of carrot and cheese sandwiches – bizarre, but that is what the cook provided us with – a peal of thunder rolled around the crater and signalled the end of our safari.
Saturday, 21 March 2009
Safari day 3
Our camp is divided into four tents, one of the guide and cook, two for the girls, and in spite of Mayhem’s suggestion to bunk up together with the girls for warmth and own protection, a separate tent for the guys
We rose at 6am, all quite bleary eyed due to spending too much of the previous night excited and marvelling at the various noises floating through the Savannah night, to a breakfast of tea biscuits and hot chocolate before setting off for an early morning safari.
Certainly for myself the highlight of that day was seeing a hippo, which must have certainly been morbidly obese, waddling across the savannah and crossing the road right in front of our vehicle before sliding into its muddy pool to cool off.
Although I personally considered the hippo to be the highlight of the day, possibly due to their odd image and body, another sight which must certainly rank as one of the more unexpected sights was that of two mating lions. Certainly this event took up a huge amount of space on Mayhems memory card, his camera managing 6 frames a second, sufficient that he was able to display for the girls, at length, essentially a movie of the event – combined with his own unique commentary
This romantic tryst between the lions sealed an overall theme for one of Mayhems photography portfolios, apparently focusing exclusively upon pictures of animal’s bottoms and the genitalia – including various episodes of monkeys interfering with themselves much to the elation of the girls. This certainly prove to provide a stark contrast to his other portfolios of truly artistic wild life shots, fashion/catalogue photograph sessions with the girls against a magnificent African sunrise, and Oakley pseudo-promotional photographs of both of ourselves “Looking good even in the brightness of an early morning sunrise”. The next question is can he manage to convince them that a swimsuit photo session is a good idea? - Doubtful
We survived the day with only a few minor lurches towards the vehicles grab handles, not that the vehicle became truly unsteady again, but that our confidence was still sorely bruised, and frankly did not recover for the remainder of the trip
We arrived at the Ngorogororororo crater (that’s a terrible word, its like Banana, it never ends), where we were to pitch camp that evening. We arrived for about 5pm, just as the sun was beginning its descent towards the horizon, providing us with sufficient light to see the crater spread out below us. While the lions the previous night had provided an exciting night in the tents, certainly this view was far far superior, especially with the giant African tree sitting in the middle of the camp which we loosely grouped our tents around.
On this site, there were two toilets, one near to the tents, but frankly quite grotty, and newly built toilet blocks on the far side of the camp, separated from the main camp by a small field. It was that field that was to provide the most fun that night. We were advised to pay attention to noises that night around our tents, as it was quite likely that we would have wild pigs entering that camp, and for that reason we should ensure that all our tents were secured, that there was no food left in the tents and no shoes etc left outside. Shortly after we had been given this warning, as we sat around our dining table under the stars, a dark shape shot between the tents signalling the first pig to enter the camp – and associated with much girls screaming – mainly from Mayhem!
The anxiety level was raised amongst the girls during walks to the toilet, were torches were used to scan into the darkness, not to find our way – for the toilet block provided a sufficient beacon to aim for – but to locate eyes glinting back in the darkness, which we would then endeavour to give a wide birth. Our final journey to the toilets that night was cut short by a pair of eyes about 20ft away, close enough to show the outline of a large animal, which the girls were convinced was a lion, however our guide reassured them that it was most probably a buffalo, but that they themselves are quite dangerous, and that we should be wary during the night of any other trips to the loo – this was reinforced by a disclosure that the camp, unlike the previous night had guards, ARMED guards. Now the previous night we slept out with lions, and there were no armed guards, so this admission did really make us wonder what might be lurking in the forest fringes around the edge of the camp.
Again we arouse early in the morning, just as dawn was breaking, even before sunrise. This gave us the chance to properly wake, and get breakfast underway before witnessing the most magnificent sunrise to date. At least a third of the camp seemed to be sitting out on the slopes, cameras in hand, filming the sun as it climbed from a golden sliver to a burnished disc of fire rising above the crater, casting a magnificent early morning light across the camp, providing the impetus for Mayhem’s morning catalogue shoot. Certainly on return to our house in Arusha, the girls general, low level displeasure at Mayhem’s constant photography of them, waned as they crowded round to see on his computer how flattering a picture he had been able to take in that morning light.
After Mayhem had finished his shoot, the camp was broken and we set of for the final day of Safari. No longer would we be scouting around the edge of the crater, and viewing it at a distance, but actually descending the steep 2000ft walls into the crater itself.
We rose at 6am, all quite bleary eyed due to spending too much of the previous night excited and marvelling at the various noises floating through the Savannah night, to a breakfast of tea biscuits and hot chocolate before setting off for an early morning safari.
Certainly for myself the highlight of that day was seeing a hippo, which must have certainly been morbidly obese, waddling across the savannah and crossing the road right in front of our vehicle before sliding into its muddy pool to cool off.
Although I personally considered the hippo to be the highlight of the day, possibly due to their odd image and body, another sight which must certainly rank as one of the more unexpected sights was that of two mating lions. Certainly this event took up a huge amount of space on Mayhems memory card, his camera managing 6 frames a second, sufficient that he was able to display for the girls, at length, essentially a movie of the event – combined with his own unique commentary
This romantic tryst between the lions sealed an overall theme for one of Mayhems photography portfolios, apparently focusing exclusively upon pictures of animal’s bottoms and the genitalia – including various episodes of monkeys interfering with themselves much to the elation of the girls. This certainly prove to provide a stark contrast to his other portfolios of truly artistic wild life shots, fashion/catalogue photograph sessions with the girls against a magnificent African sunrise, and Oakley pseudo-promotional photographs of both of ourselves “Looking good even in the brightness of an early morning sunrise”. The next question is can he manage to convince them that a swimsuit photo session is a good idea? - Doubtful
We survived the day with only a few minor lurches towards the vehicles grab handles, not that the vehicle became truly unsteady again, but that our confidence was still sorely bruised, and frankly did not recover for the remainder of the trip
We arrived at the Ngorogororororo crater (that’s a terrible word, its like Banana, it never ends), where we were to pitch camp that evening. We arrived for about 5pm, just as the sun was beginning its descent towards the horizon, providing us with sufficient light to see the crater spread out below us. While the lions the previous night had provided an exciting night in the tents, certainly this view was far far superior, especially with the giant African tree sitting in the middle of the camp which we loosely grouped our tents around.
On this site, there were two toilets, one near to the tents, but frankly quite grotty, and newly built toilet blocks on the far side of the camp, separated from the main camp by a small field. It was that field that was to provide the most fun that night. We were advised to pay attention to noises that night around our tents, as it was quite likely that we would have wild pigs entering that camp, and for that reason we should ensure that all our tents were secured, that there was no food left in the tents and no shoes etc left outside. Shortly after we had been given this warning, as we sat around our dining table under the stars, a dark shape shot between the tents signalling the first pig to enter the camp – and associated with much girls screaming – mainly from Mayhem!
The anxiety level was raised amongst the girls during walks to the toilet, were torches were used to scan into the darkness, not to find our way – for the toilet block provided a sufficient beacon to aim for – but to locate eyes glinting back in the darkness, which we would then endeavour to give a wide birth. Our final journey to the toilets that night was cut short by a pair of eyes about 20ft away, close enough to show the outline of a large animal, which the girls were convinced was a lion, however our guide reassured them that it was most probably a buffalo, but that they themselves are quite dangerous, and that we should be wary during the night of any other trips to the loo – this was reinforced by a disclosure that the camp, unlike the previous night had guards, ARMED guards. Now the previous night we slept out with lions, and there were no armed guards, so this admission did really make us wonder what might be lurking in the forest fringes around the edge of the camp.
Again we arouse early in the morning, just as dawn was breaking, even before sunrise. This gave us the chance to properly wake, and get breakfast underway before witnessing the most magnificent sunrise to date. At least a third of the camp seemed to be sitting out on the slopes, cameras in hand, filming the sun as it climbed from a golden sliver to a burnished disc of fire rising above the crater, casting a magnificent early morning light across the camp, providing the impetus for Mayhem’s morning catalogue shoot. Certainly on return to our house in Arusha, the girls general, low level displeasure at Mayhem’s constant photography of them, waned as they crowded round to see on his computer how flattering a picture he had been able to take in that morning light.
After Mayhem had finished his shoot, the camp was broken and we set of for the final day of Safari. No longer would we be scouting around the edge of the crater, and viewing it at a distance, but actually descending the steep 2000ft walls into the crater itself.
Friday, 20 March 2009
Lions and elephants
ROAR
“What was that?”
ROAR
“That!”
Scream from the girl’s tent on our right
“Girls did you hear that?”
“YES IT WAS LIONS!”
“COOL!”
“NO ITS NOOOT!”
Yes that night was a fun one. As mentioned we saw lions just outside of our camp that evening, and continued to joke about the possibility of lions and other things coming into the camp while eating dinner. Dinner was served in a little hut, but, that little hut was surrounded on all sides by a strong metal cage (slightly thought provoking to be sure) especially when the guide calmly replied that it has been 10 years since a lion BROKE INTO a tent – but that we were not to worry as the canvas was lion proof (now thoroughly reassured – wibble!)
So after a communal trip to the toilets, we all settled down for the night, ok we all tried to sleep. Ok we all went into out tents to listen intently to the noises of the night. Yes the first noise was roaring. It sounded like there we several animals roaring together, I have no idea how far away they were, but never the less, it was an amazing experience. I really expected to wake up in the morning and find that Virginia MacKenna was in the camp for breakfast the sounds outside of our camp were so Born Free.
Unfortunately the roaring didn’t last long, but the smiles on Mayhem’s and my own face were enough to make our heads fall in half. Then we heard a crack!
Fear, terror, abject sense of self perseveration, whatever, we both frozen. The cracking and rustling continued, this time not from some far flung corner of the Serengetti with the noise coming into camp on the wind, but very much from the edge of camp, in fact I was sure that I could see the offending tree through our mesh window. We both looked at one another and whispered excitedly together “ELEPHANTS”
Yes that night we had elephants walking through our camp! We could not see any of the offending pachyderms, but we sure could hear them!
There was no suggestion that lions actually entered our camp that night, but it was certainly the most exhilarating night of my life under canvas!
“What was that?”
ROAR
“That!”
Scream from the girl’s tent on our right
“Girls did you hear that?”
“YES IT WAS LIONS!”
“COOL!”
“NO ITS NOOOT!”
Yes that night was a fun one. As mentioned we saw lions just outside of our camp that evening, and continued to joke about the possibility of lions and other things coming into the camp while eating dinner. Dinner was served in a little hut, but, that little hut was surrounded on all sides by a strong metal cage (slightly thought provoking to be sure) especially when the guide calmly replied that it has been 10 years since a lion BROKE INTO a tent – but that we were not to worry as the canvas was lion proof (now thoroughly reassured – wibble!)
So after a communal trip to the toilets, we all settled down for the night, ok we all tried to sleep. Ok we all went into out tents to listen intently to the noises of the night. Yes the first noise was roaring. It sounded like there we several animals roaring together, I have no idea how far away they were, but never the less, it was an amazing experience. I really expected to wake up in the morning and find that Virginia MacKenna was in the camp for breakfast the sounds outside of our camp were so Born Free.
Unfortunately the roaring didn’t last long, but the smiles on Mayhem’s and my own face were enough to make our heads fall in half. Then we heard a crack!
Fear, terror, abject sense of self perseveration, whatever, we both frozen. The cracking and rustling continued, this time not from some far flung corner of the Serengetti with the noise coming into camp on the wind, but very much from the edge of camp, in fact I was sure that I could see the offending tree through our mesh window. We both looked at one another and whispered excitedly together “ELEPHANTS”
Yes that night we had elephants walking through our camp! We could not see any of the offending pachyderms, but we sure could hear them!
There was no suggestion that lions actually entered our camp that night, but it was certainly the most exhilarating night of my life under canvas!
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