Nov 3, 2018 - Zanzibar--Mnemba Island

03 Zanzibar – Mnemba Mnemba (nem bah) is a small island off the eastern coast of Zanzibar. It is very small, can be walked around in about ½ an hour. It is a small green patch surrounded by the most beautiful white limestone beach. And, surrounding that are reefs, full of fish and beautiful coral. It is a private island, with a resort owned and operated by & Beyond. There are only 12 cabins each tucked into the trees. Pine trees mostly, planted here in the early 90’s. The needles are acidic and stop some of the undergrowth, but they do...

Oct 30, 2018 - Zanzibar--Stone Town

02 Zanzibar – Stone Town Getting to Zanzibar is not easy, nor quick. We left home at 1:15 PM on Friday, and finally arrived at our hotel, the Park Hyatt, about 3 PM on Sunday. Even though there is a 10 hour time change, that is a long time to travel. We flew from Vancouver to Frankfurt, long layover, then to Addis Ababa. From there a flight to Zanzibar, with a stop in Kilimanjaro (to unload passengers, and recount the ones that remained on the flight, to make sure no extras had joined). The arrival in Zanzibar was speeded up by a very...

Oct 19, 2018 - Another trip--Zanzibar and Ethiopia

We are off on another trip, first to Zanzibar and then to Ethiopia. Linda says that she is going to write a journal so you should receive update notices. If you do not want to receive the update notices, let me (Robin) know and I will delete you from the list.

Aug 31, 2018 - Olakira, Serengeti

August 31 - Olakira (Serengeti) This morning we agreed to do William’s time and left at 6:15 (after coffee) with breakfast in the vehicle in search of the elusive rhinoceros and to see if the lions were still active. We found a large number of vultures feeding on carcasses ( no animal goes hungry in the Serengeti!), a male lion and a young male feasting on a wildebeest, four young lions playing with a stick, but no rhinoceros(!) before stopping under our favorite tree for breakfast served by William. Nothing better than food in the Bush!...

Aug 30, 2018 - Home is a mobile tented camp

It rained very hard last evening and into the night, so everything we put on this morning was cold and damp. Had an early bush breakfast...choice of eggs, omelets, bacon, sausage, toast, muffins, yogurt, granola, fruit, juice.....and this after our coffee was delivered to our tent. This also after getting absolutely NO exercise. Into our open van around 7am, with lots of blankets and even a hot water bottle. Life is good. It was pretty cold and we searched for the elusive rhino and cheetah, finding neither. But saw the beauty of the...

Aug 29, 2018 - Northern Serengeti

August 29 Olakira (Serengeti) - We had agreed with our guide William that we would do one morning drive at his time (6:15am), but today we would do our time (7:15). We were awakened at 6 with a “Good Morning” and coffee mysteriously appearing through the zippered pass-through window of our canvas tent! Breakfast was cooked outside over a charcoal grill with a choice of eggs, toast, fresh fruit, coffee, tea, etc. Our plan for the day was to hopefully see a migration of the Wildebeest over the crocodile filled Maya River. Also obviously to...

Aug 28, 2018 - Northern Serengeti

Up at 5am for a pickup at 6 am for the 8:30 flight to northern Serengeti, Tanzania. After 2 hours of bumpy road we arrived at the air strip for another 2 hour flight in one of our favorite types of transportation....am 8 seater prop. We had a fabulous game drive from the air strip to our new “home”, a mobile tented camp. On the way we saw some of the thousands of wildebeest migrating to the south. They will cross the lovely Mura River (the largest river in the Serengeti National Park) many times as they migrate from north to south. The...

Aug 27, 2018 - Ngorongoro Crater

August 27 - Ngorongoro Crater Today is our trip into the Ngorongoro Crater. After a leisurely breakfast we meet Wilfred for the descent of 2000 feet to the floor of the crater. After passing through a canopy of beautiful Acacia trees we arrive to the plains of the floor. Yesterday’s Manyara was thick with trees and bushes and difficult to see animals whereas today it is somewhat easier to spot although they do blend in with the grasses and environment. Our first sighting is of a group of older male Cape buffalo. Moving on we come upon...

Aug 26, 2018 - Manyara National Park

Up at 5:30 to get to breakfast by 6:30. We would have liked more time to enjoy the nice buffet at the Arusha coffee lodge. Our driver wanted us to be ready by 7 am to get to the Arusha airport for our flight to Lake Manyara airstrip at 8am. Fun little 12 seat prop and a quick uneventful flight.....the kind we like. We were met by our game drive guide Wilfred who herded us into his 6-seat van to Lake Manyara National Park. It is a very large lake surrounded by acres of lush thick foliage and many wild animals...like elephants,...

May 14, 2018 - Lake Manyara National Park

Today we went to the park but there was much flooding. We tried to get to several sreas but the roads were washed out. Therevwas so much rushing water! Instead we went to the local market innthe village. We went to the vegetable and grain and house hold areas. Then wevwent tobthe tourist and craft sreas ehere we were hoiunded bu salrsmen! No money today! We returned dor lunch at the hotrl. I opted for an afternoon at the pool and seam a few timed. Mona and Cindy joined me and we had Kikimanjaro beers. Early dinner and off for a night safari...

May 13, 2018 - Lake Manyara National Park

Today we traveled to Lake Manyara National Park. It took a couple of hours but Adam drove sliwly. We arrived at 11:30. We are staying at Lake Manyara Serena Hotel, overlooking the Lake. It has been raining here so there is lots of mud. We we ate lunch at the lodge and went on a game drive. We saw zebras, wildebeest, baboons and hippos!!! Lots of other monkeys were around including the blue ball. We returned to the lodge at 6:00, watched the acrobatic show at the pool, ate a nice dinner, and slept soundly.

May 12, 2018 - Tarangire National Park

Game drives today, looking for elephants, buffalo, and Zebras, as well as lions and leopards. We had breakfast at the lodge, fruit and cereal, and omlet station with Swedish pancakes. I was up about 6:30 and had coffee on the fabulous stone terrace overlooking the river, watching a herd of impalas. We hunted (looked for) animals all day. We found many elephants. We would their behavior 15-20 minutes then move on. One young male even charged at the vehicle, but turned away... trying to impress some females, ie Mona!!! We saw the solitary...