Tanzania Safari « Tanzania Safari Blog with Tanzania Odyssey

February 10, 2012

News from Adventure Camp

Filed under: ruaha,The Selous — Tanzania Odyssey @ 10:53 am

Our four camps in Selous and Ruaha will be closing for the rainy season around 24th March – Kwihala camp closes a little earlier, on 1st March. They will all re-open on 1st June, and Mbweni Ruins Hotel is open all year round – no closure.

Here is a little news on our properties:

Selous Impala Lodge, overlooking the Rufiji sunset

Selous Impala Camp – Jan 2012

The camp continues to thrive, situated as it is on the Rufiji in the ever popular Selous Game Reserve, only an hour’s flight from Dar es Salaam. The camp is pretty full in February and March this year, partly because of the fantastic 4 for 3 low season offer we have in place.

Selous Wild Dogs – photo by Dominic Oldridge

Wild dogs have again been seen in the Selous this season.

Lake Manze Tented Camp – January 2012 Newsletter

Environment

Lake Manze in Jan 2012 – full to the brim

The rains have almost finished here in Selous, in the whole month of January we only recorded 16mm, but there has been so much consistent rain up in Ruaha, that our lakes here are huge and they completely flooded the shore around, that is usually dry.

Some roads have disappeared now under water; water is so close to the camp that we can now see some of the animals that usually prefer to stay close to it: like for example the big water monitor lizard I found yesterday on the veranda of tent no. 12, basking in the sun looking at the landscape that the lake offers now.

The water also opened up the way to the airstrip. Sometimes the guests are collected by boat as the channel to the Rufiji is open, with the water being so high. Straight away they can experience an adventurous boat safari for a couple of hours on the way to the camp.

Sightings

A mum lioness this month has been the star of the game drives. She and her two cubs showed up almost every day with long sessions of playing and stalking little lizards and squirrels. We see them growing up and this is great.

Doing the same are the pack of 18 wild dogs we found around Beho Beho area. It seems to contain lots of half grown puppies who are now learning how to hunt, looking at the efficient strategy their parents use.

Together with the big animals’ sightings we can also mention the tiny and inoffensive bark snake we found in camp a few days ago. It is a Hemirhagerrhis nototaenia, very agile climber on quite vertical and difficult tree trunks.

Our Wild Firends – Genets

Genet kitten at lake Manze camp

Its 2:00 p.m., the sun is high in the sky, silence around, everybody is having a little nap before the afternoon activity, waiting for the sun to go down a little bit. Phil and I are sitting in the office, doing our daily duties, when we hear a strange crying sound just a few feet away. It’s a few weeks that we haven’t seen “our” genet.

It seemed to have disappeared, and we have been quite concerned for her, so we both run to the entrance in order to look outside hoping to see her. We hear it again, we look, we search but nothing! Once again, and again, and finally it’s there! No! It’s not her, it’s her kitten. Not one but two of them. She’s had kittens.

This is great news, she had disappeared to give birth to two fantastic tiny sweet kittens! One is right in front of our eyes, near enough to touch it if we wanted, but he was so quiet that we almost couldn’t spot him. The one making the noise is now probably experiencing his first outing from the nesting place. He’s literally running away from the mum, down the Doum palm here beside us. Mrs genet is running around trying her best to catch at least one of the kittens wandering around. When one is caught by mum’s mouth, by magic the other one leaves his games and follows the mother diligently, back to the nest.

Sarah and Phil, lake Manze Camp Selous

January 2012 Newsletter: Kwihala, Ruaha NP

young Bat-eared Foxes, Ruaha

A drop of rain falling onto the dry ground is like cold water being poured into a glass destined for your lips: it provides sustenance and renews life, it cools and it cleans; its vital, critical. We sometimes take that for granted, especially since many human lives are so viscerally separated from the real and tactile significance of it… yet it is by a very great measure, probably the most single important resource human beings have for their survival. Indeed, for the survival, growth and reproduction of almost every other living creature on planet earth. And so, Ruaha is wet and lush and verdant now and a renewal of life – with a little death thrown in for good measure – is taking place at a breathtaking pace.

We are daily witnessing butterflies & bees and all manner of nature’s inordinate fondness for ‘small life forms’ busy about their daily activities and replicating their kind in almost every corner of the landscape – what an incredible eruption of colour and movement! Witnessing the tail-end migration of Common & Brown-veined White butterflies drifting across the woodlands reminds one of snowfall almost they are so numerous! Perching on every object from their specific host plants to lion scat provides for interest and entertainment and wonderful photo-opportunities. The grass has become a verdant ocean drifting and swaying in the afternoon breeze, whilst Kudu and Giraffe even partake in ingesting some of its sustaining goodness, a broad departure from their otherwise obligatory diet of bushes and trees.

Watching lions hunting Lesser Kudu, Impala and Giraffe here over the last month has provided us with dropped-jaw excitement at times, and they have in so doing not failed to enthrall and draw the gaze of our guests who have the good fortune to come and stay for a while with us. January has seen a drop in leopard sightings but we have had 3 memorable experiences with these “Princes of Darkness”, once a leopardess deciding she ‘liked’ the vehicle and stayed walking around investigating the environment for some time, rolling on the ground, stalking prey, staring at the tyres (fascinating for leopards you know!) and then sauntering off into the savanna. A few steps and all that is seen is the white tip on her active “tell-tail” drifting effortlessly… silently… throught the long grass. “Death in the Long Grass” to borrow a phrase from another writer.

Elephants have been numerous and beautiful to spend time with in this stunning landscape of running rivers, mud and soft rain. We got a little wet… so what? So did the elephants! So many antelope and other larger game species, elephants certainly not excluded, are so enjoying the absolute abundance of food that surrounds them that they are engaged in social activity for much of the time. Watching baby elephant go to sleep at the feet of their mothers; and at other times having the “free time” to push and thump each other around, play in the water and mud and soft cool sand, allows one to really take a look through the proverbial ‘keyhole’ into their lives! Spending time with these animals, great and small, is what turns an ordinary ‘game drive’ into something more, an experience with nature, a chance to spend some ‘oblivious time’ in the “now” where you forget everything else and witness a spectacle which brings a smile to your face but pushes that smile deeper down. Elephant have the capacity, through our knowledge of their exceptional intelligence and their obvious gargantuan proportions, to really slow us down and make us start taking notice of beauty just for the sake of it, silence for the calmness of it, sound for the feeling of it and awe that something could be so big and yet so gentle. Delicate almost. The 28th of January was exceptional… over 25 different herds of elephant in one morning!!! The day before in the same area… one solitary, lonely bull!

Ruaha Wild dogs, January 2012

We had I think 5 or 6 Wild Dogs sightings in January – it’s not Selous, but it’s Wild Dogs! The pic here was from a sighting I enjoyed by myself for about 2 hours, following a pack of 29 dogs. Eventually we left them as some of the guests needed to ‘mark territory’. The dogs followed us (unbeknown to us of course) and pitched up with all of us standing around the car enjoying a drink and discussing them! A few minutes later we watched them kill a baby warthog not 20m from the vehicle, all of us standing around still with glasses in hand!!

We’re having fun out here! All the best and hope to see you soon.

Steven Roskelly

presently in Ruaha N.P. Tanzania
www.clearlyafrica.com (the manager guides at Kwihala are supplied by Clearly Africa, and spend approx 3 months each in the Ruaha)

RSA +27 83 564 3041 TZ +255 76 385 7736

Mdonya Old River Camp – January Newsletter

Environment

Mdonya and the surrounding Park has changed overnight with the much anticipated rains, from a dry and harsh environment into a lush and green Garden of Eden. Bone dry riverbeds have turned into flowing rivers, hippos that huddle anxiously in tiny caked puddles of water are now wallowing in deep pools and the elephants are out in great numbers, covered in mud, spraying great streams of water over their backs. The impala’s coats are glossy with health and the zebra fat with feasting. At camp our little office has all but disappeared into the overhanging foliage. It is a wondrous sight: the Great Ruaha’s waters glinting in the sun as you fly in to land at Msembe. An amazing transformation. What an incredible start to the new year of 2012!

Sightings

Ruaha Pangolin

It is said that the top 3 rarest creatures to be seen in Africa are the aardvark, the pangolin and the caracal, in no particular order. Guests at Mdonya had the most unbelievable luck recently to find the elusive pangolin, a nocturnal, incredibly shy and rather odd looking creature. This wonderful specimen, large for its species, was spotted trotting along happily close to one of our roads near to the camp. With all the excitement and noise, this fellow, not being a fast mover at the best of times, dug in and stayed put, as pangolins are wont to do in defensive mode: the best option once spotted. He thereby gave all our guests the very rare opportunity to really get a close-up look at one. Chances are that none of us will ever see one again. The clever creature waited until all of us had visited, and as we drove away, we saw him uncurl and walk off, which we would have paid large sums to get a picture of, but none did, and the mysterious pangolin got the last laugh.

Our Wild Friends – Chameleon

Ruaha Chameleon

There have been so many through the start of this year in and around camp. Herds of zebra – who we don’t see here at all in the dry – have decided to make Mdonya camp their grazing grounds for a while and their many hooves can be heard thundering around in the evenings. Two lions graced us with a stealthy walk-past the dinner table as we had just settled into our starters at dinner – the starters went cold of course… the big cats always steal the news in the dry season.

In the wet we think it right that the smaller creatures get their just coverage. Enter the chameleon, which we don’t see here outside the rainy season: a most marvellous creature that appeared near the office, all flashing green and yellow, and a lot of black, a reaction to all the attention it wasn’t too pleased about. It’s amazing 360 degree rotating eyes watching our every move, its legs jerkily moving forward in very measured and slow turns, swaying gently backwards and forwards, as a means of camouflage, mimicking the movement of leaves and branches. Once safely back in the foliage, it turned a beautiful luminous green.

Mbweni Ruins Hotel in Zanzibar

The Mbweni Ruins – the old arab house

We have been repairing the historic ruins – 6 lovely rooms are being built into the “Industrial Wing” overlooking the palm gardens.
A “Wellness centre” including a spa aromatherapy centre has been installed in a wing of the old Arab house, the oldest part of the Mbweni Ruins.~
The current rooms have been refurbished and in some cases enlarged.
Mbweni is a lovely place to relax after safari – and our new Arusha-Ruaha-Selous-Zanzibar packages are making this easier than ever for the cost-conscious clients.

Take a look on our website in the Specials section :
www.adventurecampstz.com/acspecials.htm

please ask me for Agents’ nett rates for these packages.

- you can book a 6 to 9 night safari from Mbweni Ruins Hotel in Zanzibar, to Ruaha and Selous, beginning or ending in Arusha – for an unbeatable rate.
Valid (using high and low season rates) till 20th December 2012:

Agents’ Rates: Mbweni-Selous-Ruaha-Arusha Packages

Please don’t hesitate to ask me if I can help with rates or info any time.

Sincerely,

Flo Montgomery

info@adventurecampstz.com

The House of Spices in Zanzibar

The House of Spices, Zanzibar

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February 7, 2012

Beho Beho Bushmail

Filed under: The Selous — Tanzania Odyssey @ 1:36 pm

January – the first month of the year and a warm beginning to another exciting twelve months. Another year to do all the things you wished and dreamed of – to finally take that dream trip, give more, smile often, achieve your goals and find peace. January has proven to be a very exciting month and gives us a cheery push start to 2012. The Selous is green and lush with the good amounts of rain we’ve had. Birds and wildlife have been abundant and elephants and hippo’s slosh about in the mud and rejoice in the large pools of water forming everywhere. Game Activities are still happening – even if walks entail getting a bit of mud on your boots, and drives involve some delays with getting stuck in the mud! It’s all fun and games during the rainy season in the Selous and the animals are subjected to this too! The weather is fine – hot and humid most days and some days with heavy cloud cover. For the most part of the month – there has been minimal rain so the roads are good and wildlife viewing has been excellent.

January can be summed up pretty nicely with just one word – ‘Abundance’. There has been an abundance of a wide variety of animals, birds and reptiles throughout the month. Large herds of buffalo have been seen regularly – some herds comprising of up to a few hundred. Big herds of zebra, wildebeest and eland are seen regularly and the migratory Northern Carmine Bee-eaters are back. With their beautiful cerise pink bodies and blue heads – they fly along the sides of the vehicles in flocks of up to 30 – twisting and turning picking up bugs that fly out of the grass as the vehicles pass by! Lake Tagalala is teaming with wildlife with a huge variety of water birds and then a frightening number of crocodiles patrol the shores of the lake and big pods of hippos surface here and there.

There has been constant change and movement with the lions in the area and many times we have seen what seems to be a Beho Beho pride forming. Four lovely adult females plus their four cubs have been seen often. Earlier in the month, whilst out on drive Heribert discovered two cubs stranded in the Beho Beho River and thought these two must have belonged to the Beho Beho pride. They stayed there for a couple of days and we went back to check on them on a daily basis hoping that their mother had left them hidden to go hunting and was just delayed to return. After a few days – they were gone, and we hope they were reunited with their pride.

The three musketeers are continuing to enjoy being king of the African savannah and are seen regularly in their territory. One of the males has been spotted many times on honeymoon with his lovely new lady. Within the Beho Beho area we’ve seen a number of females – some seen alone or in small groups, (sometimes straight from the main area in the camp) and one day a very hungry looking lone single female looking desperate for some food. Onesmo also spotted a single female with a zebra kill in her prized possession as well as finding more than once a female hunting on the battlefield plains.

Heribert discovered a new pride of lions which he had never seen before. They were quite far from the camp near another one of the airstrips in the Selous called Kiba. The pride composed of five – four females and one male who were unfortunately in a terrible condition. Each member of the pride was badly cut especially the male who had a bad cut on his hind and front legs. We could only guess that there had been some sort of territory pride war between this family group or a careless attempt to bring down a large prey which had failed?!

Some say that the Selous has more Leopards than lions! With the number of tracks we find in the Beho Beho area and with the calls we hear regularly at night – we could perhaps say that this may in fact be true. Yet it is still incredibly difficult to see this stunning and elusive cat. This month though, we have been showered with leopard sightings – sometimes even day after day – and each time a different one! It’s been fantastic!! Heribert caught a glimpse of one on a drive and Walter caught a leopard by surprise as he was trying to hunt an impala. Unfortunately the leopard jumped up from his position when the vehicle arrived and was spotted by the impala who then proceeded to charge after the leopard in defiance! It was very amusing for all!! Onesmo (AKA the leopard man) has seen at least 3 or 4 sightings. One was on a walk where him and his two guests stumbled onto a sleeping leopard in the bush. It was a big male who jumped up sleepy eyed and quickly turned and ran through the bushes. A few days later, Onesmo saw yet another big male leopard on the way with guests to enjoy Lake Tagalala. This big guy was quite relaxed and moved off slowly but allowed some pictures to be taken before he disappeared.

The local Hyena clan are still up to their usual tricks and we hear them calling every night and sometimes followed by the eerie cackling or laughing sound they produce when they are excited. The regularly take down big game near the camp which is surprising for one of Africa’s greatest scavengers. The Hyena’s of the Beho Beho though are a force not to be scoffed at. Recently we found them feeding on a young giraffe – each tearing at the carcass and crunching through bones with their strong jaws and teeth. There was some squabbling over scraps, which could only be expected with a family feast for hyena – there is definitely no dinner-table etiquette here. When another vehicle arrived to the scene, one of the hyenas took this opportunity of distraction to steal the main meal from the rest of his family when they weren’t looking. And he galloped off into the bush with almost the whole carcass – a pretty impressive thing considering a baby giraffe can weigh up to 80 kilograms.

Blackie’s pack is around and is seen every couple of weeks as they move throughout their territory. They are all very relaxed and love lounging around in the shade – allowing guests to photograph them. With his eleven youngsters still healthy and growing strong and doing well, Blackie’s pack continues to be the firm favourite sighting by all. Seeing the painted dogs always stirs some emotions inside and you get the feeling you are seeing something extra-ordinary and something extra-special. A glimpse into a delicate world of beauty and wonder.

January has also been a month for some new and unique sightings – such as a nocturnal honey badger seen by Heribert and guests one day. He was surprised to see this quirky little critter during the day fearless and courageous! A large flap-necked chameleon was also found in the garden behind the office, which made for some great photos. She was a beautifully large specimen and was in the process of shedding her skin – hence her grey patchy appearance.

Bond and his two friends have also been in the camp – but only recently in the last week of January. He has returned after disappearing for some time and definitely returned determined to make another good first impression. One morning all the staff came to the office garden to start the daily morning meeting, only to find Bond squashed between the solar panels and the fence – feeding on the delicious grass growing here. He then tucked himself under the washing line and continued to feed – regardless of how many people stood around him. Determined and stubborn – Bond was not about to move for us to have our meeting, so we accepted defeat and moved the meeting to the main area to leave Bond in peace as he circumnavigated the tiny clumps of grass between the fire hose and the steps!! It is amazing when you see an animal as large as an elephant managing to fit between the smallest spaces possible – just incredible!

The green season continues but not as one would imagine. The last two or three weeks have seen hardly any rain and the pools that were forming everywhere have started to dry up. This means that as animals become stretched for water resources – our watering hole in front of the camp livens up. A large number of animals – from elephant, hippo, waterbuck and lion (only after midnight!) become regular visitors to our main dining area watering hole. Game also returns to the lake’s and game drives to these areas is a sure way of seeing a wide variety of wildlife near these water courses. We hope whilst you are reading this that you too are enthusiastic with the start of the New Year with the first month of 2012 already behind us. And for those of you who have made a few new year resolutions we hope you are trying to stick to them and if not – no worries – for that’s why we make them so that they can be broken!! Wishing you again a wonderful and prosperous New Year – Enjoy 2012 and all that it will hold…

Recently Heribert posted some fantastic photos of Hippos fighting on the blog. Check this out at Beho Beho Bushblog

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January 30, 2012

Surprises, suspense on Tanzanian safari

Filed under: Tanzania Safari,The Selous — Tanzania Odyssey @ 9:29 am

Originally published January 28, 2012 at 7:01 PM | Page modified January 29, 2012 at 7:19 AM

A safari in Tanzania should always begin in the Serengeti, but there’s much more to explore.

By Mary Ann Anderson

McClatchy-Tribune News Service

PREV 1 of 3 NEXT

SARAH DURANT / AP

Wildebeest are seen at sunset in the Serengeti in Tanzania. Wildebeest and zebras rumble across one of the world’s biggest nature reserves during annual migrations.

SELOUS NATIONAL PARK, Tanzania — The hot African sun was unrelenting, the sky broken only by an occasional wisp of cloud. My guide, Mtambo, and I were alone in the Land Rover for an early-morning game drive.

As he drove through Selous National Park, gazing at the verdant treetops for an elusive leopard, I glanced at him. Mtambo, of the Ndengereko tribe, was of an indeterminate age. He could have been 40 or 70, but this much is known: He can identify every African critter or bird that crosses his path.

He pointed out an ebony tree, all gray and gnarled and not black as I thought it would be.

“It is black inside,” he said in a pure and simple declarative statement before driving on.

A few minutes later we stopped in a clearing framed by acacias and baobabs. Mtambo shut the engine, and for long minutes we just listened to the sounds of Africa: the softest of winds whirling around as rhythmic as iambic pentameter, the high pitch of a bazillion insects and birds. A bazillion of those, too.

All around us was an avian orchestra of calls, songs, whistles and tweets. Above the crazy din, a hornbill trumpeted “wah-wah-ned!” I thought it was a baby’s cry.

But no leopard, at least not on that day.

Leopards don’t come out on cue, and neither does any other African wildlife. But on safari, there are always surprises and elements of danger, plenty enough to satisfy a sense of adventure and curiosity and develop a healthy respect for the natural world.

Tanzania, in East Africa and surrounded by geographical treasures of the Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, the Indian Ocean, Mount Kilimanjaro, Lake Victoria, Lake Tanganyika and Lake Malawi, is a melding together of Tanganyika and Zanzibar.

The Serengeti

A safari in Tanzania should always begin in the Serengeti. Our journey took us to Singita Grumeti Reserve in the heart of the Serengeti, a Maasai word meaning “open plain.”

The Singita Sabora Tented Camp borders a windswept plain where you can see forever. Evening brings all sorts of animals close to camp, and all night buffalo snorted, lions roared and hyenas barked just steps away.

On our drive to Faru Faru, the next camp in the Singita reserve, the hunt was on again for leopard but they remained hidden that day, too. “It’s not easy to find them,” said our ranger, Arnold Swai. “Never is.”

We hunted for cheetah instead, finding a pair of young males resting in the shade of an acacia, their colors blending in easily with the warm notes of Tanzanian earth. We were greeted at Faru Faru with big glasses of sweet iced tea and a lunch of fried fish. Who knew you could get touches of Georgia it in the heart of the Serengeti?

Just a few minutes into our next game drive, Arnold’s radio crackled to life from a call from another ranger. All I picked out was “chui,” Swahili for leopard. Finally! The holy grail of all African wildlife. Arnold punched the gas, driving quickly for about a half-hour. Then there Miss Chui was, slumbering in the top of a tree, nearly completely occluded by gnarled limbs and thick leaves.

“We are lucky,” whispered Arnold. “It is very rare because they are so elusive.”

Sasakwa, the last of the three Singita lodges we visited, crowns a hilltop overlooking the vastness of the Serengeti. It is stunning.

“Being up here with these views puts the entire Serengeti into perspective and just how far it goes,” said assistant lodge manager Christopher Ford. I pondered getting a job there washing dishes, making beds, mowing the lawn — anything to see that view every day.

Untouched wilderness

The Serengeti is a tremendous introduction to Tanzania, but when you return or even extend your first trip, there’s always the “second safari” to lesser-known areas.

The untouched wilderness of the Selous Game Reserve is one of those places. Americans have yet to discover the Selous (pronounced “sa-loo”), a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the world’s largest game reserve.

Only a handful of camps dot the Selous, including the Selous Safari Camp where we stayed. Like the Serengeti, it is home to the Big Five, untold numbers of impala, a lake filled with crocs and hippos, and those bazillions of birds.

Everywhere sunbirds, bee-eaters, weavers, rollers and herons flit from tree to tree in the primary and pastel colors of yellow, green, blue, red, lilac and pink.

Mtambo also showed me “hippo highways” crisscrossing the Selous where those big boys come out of the lake at night, making tracks through savanna grasses for a midnight snack. Riki Tiki Tavi made an appearance, with Mtambo showing us a banded mongoose and explaining, “They kill the big snake.”

Our next stop was Jongomero Camp in Ruaha National Park, another perfect spot for a second safari.

The very uncrowded Ruaha is characterized by its diversity of open plains mixed in with riverine forests, savannas and acacia woodlands. Parts of it are so lush and thick that you can practically be standing next to an elephant and not see it. So many giraffe are here that a Dutch couple jokingly called it Giraffic Park.

The camp is not fenced and Maasai warriors — the askari — accompany you everywhere, lest samba (Swahili for lion) might be lurking in the tall grasses.

Then there’s Ngorongoro, which takes safari to an entirely new level. Ngorongoro, once an active volcano a few million years ago, is the world’s largest intact caldera. Nearly 2,000 feet deep, it is a virtual Garden of Eden, sheltering one of the most dramatic wildlife havens on Earth.

More than 30,000 critters graze its pastures at any given time, not including the birdlife and flocks of pink flamingoes that flood the lakes in an explosion of color. For the predators like lion, leopard, cheetah and hyenas, Ngorongoro is like a big open buffet for tamer creatures like buffalo and zebra. There are few hiding places in these high open plains, leaving a natural collision course waiting to happen.

Ngorongoro, which means “deep” in Swahili, is home to Maasai pastoralists who predominantly inhabit the conservation area, tending to their cattle and goats in a peaceful coexistence with the wildlife.

Only five hotels rim the crater, and Extraordinary Journeys, which set up almost our entire itinerary into Tanzania, selected for our group Ngorongoro Crater Lodge. The luxurious lodge, at about 8,000 feet in elevation, stands sentry over the crater and its terraced slopes. The view is simply unreal.

“Contrary to the belief that the animals are ‘trapped’ inside the crater, they move frequently in and out, especially the wildebeest and zebra during the Great Migration,” said lodge manager Innes Pruissen. “It’s a unique, amazing place.”

Yes, I think, as is all of Tanzania.

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November 23, 2011

Serengeti Migration Update – 23rd November 2011

Filed under: Serengeti,Tanzania Safari — Tanzania Odyssey @ 9:50 am

UPDATE: Kennedy has just called in to say he’s seen a wildebeest herd of over a million strong between Naabi, Gol Kopjes and Golini.

Nomad guides also report seeing some smaller herds down in the central Serengeti area, groups spread out between the Moru and Maasai Kopjes. Good rains in the area means there is plenty of grazing around.

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