Monday, May 23, 2005
Honeymoon in Africa - Northern Circuit Safari, Day 4 of 8
Northern Circuit Safari, Day 4 of 8
Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
23 May 2005
This morning we departed at 6:15am for a sunrise game drive. A early morning balloon ride had just gotten aloft and was visible in the distance.
We re-visited some of the areas from the previous day in the hopes that some of the night's action and drama might be discovered (most of the hunts occur at night).
We quickly ran into herds of wildebeest and zebra migrating northwest, as they do this time of year every year.
We also saw group of resident elephants, including several adult males, females and many juveniles. One of the young ones was incredibly small and our guide estimated he was about 2 months old, and he kept nearby what we assumed were his 3 and 5 year old (approx) siblings. The tiny baby elephant was incredible to watch. He was energetic and running around happily and carefree. As he would run around, it was hilarious to see that he had very little control of his trunk at that age. His trunk trunk would flop around in all directions looking like a wet noodle. We watched the elephants, move about, eat, scratch themselves on trees etc. all the while the 2 month old just went running about. Viktoria found him irresitably cute. I agreed.
Next we travelled along the main park road (dirt double track) for for some 200-300 yards and we noticed a pair of hyenas walking directly toward us on the road. We stopped the truck and popped our heads up out of the sunroof to watch them casually walk right past the truck, within 5 feet of us. These animals are fierce and incredibly strong long looking; the neck think as their body and obviously supporting bone crushing jaw muscles. To see them so close was amazing.
We moved on down the road a little bit more, maybe 5 minutes worth of driving and we came upon a young adult male, possibly 2 years old or so. He was one the side of the road and he was licking and chewing and sniffing a clump of grass and a small thorn acacia bush growing in the middle of it. The faces he made were hilarious.
We called it the "stinkface" and it looked like a grimace combined with a frown. The scent he was intently interested in was most likely another lion's scent from spraying, most likely a female in heat, but it
could have been another male too. We've seen our own cats make this face when another "interloper" cat sprays something in our yard. In any case were 5 feet from this male and he barely took notice of us, he was so into the smell of this bush.
He decided to leave the bush as sauntered off down the road in front of the truck. He would stop and make locator calls back to his pride. This call is not what you'd expect from a cat, its more like a dog, more or less a "ruff... ruff.... ruff..." sound but at a very very low frequency and it carries for miles. It it not high pitched like a bark.
We moved on after a time, and visited the Masai Kopjes and found the same mating pair from last evening still there with a fresh zebra kill. I young male from the pride was sitting next to it, simply guarding it, not actually eating it. Vultures perched nearby (50 yards) on the kopje. Then the lion decided to abandon the kill for the shade of some bushes. Yet the vultures remained, they did not swoop down for the kill we expected. Yohannes was surprised at this.
We left the kopje and then headed back in the general direction of the male lion that had made the "stinkface" a while before. We quickly found another different mating pair that were in the tall grass, lying about, flirting with each other. We watched them for about 10 minutes but they did not mate. Yohannes decided to drive down the road a bit, since he thought he spotted a lion about 1/4 mile away approaching. We drove about 2/10ths of a mile and sure enough the lion popped out of the tall grass onto the road in front of the truck. The lion walked towards the truck on the road then around it in the grass then re-enteed the road as he passed by our truck. We realized that it was out stinkface lion from before (the mane and his size was recognizable).
We creeped along and followed him in the truck but we gave him some distance, about 100 yards back so he would not be annoyed by us. Eventually the lion veered off into the grass again and flopped over on his side to rest. He was about 25 feet from the mating pair. These were not competing males but were in what Yohannes called an "alliance". Its not a true pride but these two males have an "understanding" that they are are stronger together than seperate on the savannah. Y told us that its become more common for these alliance and they basically share the spot of "alpha male". The pride is stronger with 2 healthy allied adult males then a single alpha. If another male attacked them, they would defend as a team and stand a better chance of surviving the attack. The previous days mating pair, along with that huge male setting atop the kopje was also an alliance. Aaazingly, they also have an understanding about mating with the females. Somehow, the first male that finds her in season gets to mate with her, and there's no fight. This mating continues every 15 minutes or so for a week, until he's essentially worn out or she's through. If he's worn out, the second male can mate with her if she's willing.
We left the mating pair with the newly arrived co-alpha (his locator calls prior to this must have been directed at this mating pair) and went back to Masai Kppjes where Viktoria saw a femalr on 50 foot high kopjes with a strangling fig growing on top of it. The lioness looked down at us a few times but she wanted to nap and soon put her head down and did so. No cubs were seen but we suspect that they were hiding close by.
Y took us farther south next. It was wide open plains with no herds and he took us up to a small hill that had an amzing 360 degree view overlooking the Serengeti. This was cheetah country but none were seen today. We then turned around and went back the way we came. We stopped under an acacia for shade and had out "box lunch".
We stareted driving back towards the direction of the lodge and found 3 lions guarding a kill. This was an aduly lioness, a younger lioness, and either her sister or younger brother. At one point they dragged the kill farther away making it harder to see. However, we did see the dark gray hair and hooves, and realized that they had taken down a wildebeest. The adult female later veered off from guarding her kill and she started staking a nearby herd of wildebeets and zebras. She hunched down stalking then hiding in the grass, when she suddenly ran right into the pack of animals as they all ran past her. It was mayhem, a blur of animals went by and she could not focus in on any single weakened animal, so rather than over-exert herself on futile effort in the mid day sun, she returned the others. But to wathc her jump into the middle of that herd and watch them react was amazing sight, regardless that she did not make a kill at that moment. Her sagging belly, full of meat, told me that she was not particularly hungry in any case.
We left those lionesses, returning back to the mating pair at the Masai Kopjes from earlier in the day. At this point they were not overly active and simply lounged and napped in the mid-day sun. they breifly looked at us once or twice but would simply flop over onto their sides and nap. The lioness that V spotted earlier, high atop the kopje was also fast asleep laying on her side beneath a large strangling fig tree.
With that we decided to return to the lodge, freshen up, nap and would come back out for a later game drive in the late afternoon. Along the way back we saw an incredible and very funny sight: a lioness was sitting in the crotch of a large umbrella acacia tree, all alone, except for the fact that a group of 6-8 elephants were below her enjoying the shade. What was very funny was that she was obviously nervous and agitated because she wanted to get down from the tree. However this was not an option as she would be forced to jump onto the back of an elphant to get down. She must have gotten up in the tree first, napped then awoke and found her exit blocked by the elephant herd. We could not tell for sure but the elephants did not take any notice of her or simply did not care. An elephant adult has little to fear from a lion so they were simply enjoying the shade of the tree.
We returned to the lodge at 2:30 pm wiped some road dust from our faces and took a short nap.
We went back out at 4pm and drove amongst the vast herds of wildebeest and zebra, with a fading light.
We returned to the lodge, showered, and had a nice dinner around 7pm. We returned back to the room at 9ish, and were asleep by 10. We have a 4:45am wake up call for tomorrow since we have a balloon ride over the Serengeti where no doubt we'll be treated to a completely different view of the plains and the vast migration herds!
Entry by Jeff - Seronera Wildlife Lodge
We re-visited some of the areas from the previous day in the hopes that some of the night's action and drama might be discovered (most of the hunts occur at night).
We quickly ran into herds of wildebeest and zebra migrating northwest, as they do this time of year every year.We also saw group of resident elephants, including several adult males, females and many juveniles. One of the young ones was incredibly small and our guide estimated he was about 2 months old, and he kept nearby what we assumed were his 3 and 5 year old (approx) siblings. The tiny baby elephant was incredible to watch. He was energetic and running around happily and carefree. As he would run around, it was hilarious to see that he had very little control of his trunk at that age. His trunk trunk would flop around in all directions looking like a wet noodle. We watched the elephants, move about, eat, scratch themselves on trees etc. all the while the 2 month old just went running about. Viktoria found him irresitably cute. I agreed.
Next we travelled along the main park road (dirt double track) for for some 200-300 yards and we noticed a pair of hyenas walking directly toward us on the road. We stopped the truck and popped our heads up out of the sunroof to watch them casually walk right past the truck, within 5 feet of us. These animals are fierce and incredibly strong long looking; the neck think as their body and obviously supporting bone crushing jaw muscles. To see them so close was amazing.
We moved on down the road a little bit more, maybe 5 minutes worth of driving and we came upon a young adult male, possibly 2 years old or so. He was one the side of the road and he was licking and chewing and sniffing a clump of grass and a small thorn acacia bush growing in the middle of it. The faces he made were hilarious.We called it the "stinkface" and it looked like a grimace combined with a frown. The scent he was intently interested in was most likely another lion's scent from spraying, most likely a female in heat, but it
could have been another male too. We've seen our own cats make this face when another "interloper" cat sprays something in our yard. In any case were 5 feet from this male and he barely took notice of us, he was so into the smell of this bush.He decided to leave the bush as sauntered off down the road in front of the truck. He would stop and make locator calls back to his pride. This call is not what you'd expect from a cat, its more like a dog, more or less a "ruff... ruff.... ruff..." sound but at a very very low frequency and it carries for miles. It it not high pitched like a bark.
We moved on after a time, and visited the Masai Kopjes and found the same mating pair from last evening still there with a fresh zebra kill. I young male from the pride was sitting next to it, simply guarding it, not actually eating it. Vultures perched nearby (50 yards) on the kopje. Then the lion decided to abandon the kill for the shade of some bushes. Yet the vultures remained, they did not swoop down for the kill we expected. Yohannes was surprised at this.
We left the kopje and then headed back in the general direction of the male lion that had made the "stinkface" a while before. We quickly found another different mating pair that were in the tall grass, lying about, flirting with each other. We watched them for about 10 minutes but they did not mate. Yohannes decided to drive down the road a bit, since he thought he spotted a lion about 1/4 mile away approaching. We drove about 2/10ths of a mile and sure enough the lion popped out of the tall grass onto the road in front of the truck. The lion walked towards the truck on the road then around it in the grass then re-enteed the road as he passed by our truck. We realized that it was out stinkface lion from before (the mane and his size was recognizable).
We creeped along and followed him in the truck but we gave him some distance, about 100 yards back so he would not be annoyed by us. Eventually the lion veered off into the grass again and flopped over on his side to rest. He was about 25 feet from the mating pair. These were not competing males but were in what Yohannes called an "alliance". Its not a true pride but these two males have an "understanding" that they are are stronger together than seperate on the savannah. Y told us that its become more common for these alliance and they basically share the spot of "alpha male". The pride is stronger with 2 healthy allied adult males then a single alpha. If another male attacked them, they would defend as a team and stand a better chance of surviving the attack. The previous days mating pair, along with that huge male setting atop the kopje was also an alliance. Aaazingly, they also have an understanding about mating with the females. Somehow, the first male that finds her in season gets to mate with her, and there's no fight. This mating continues every 15 minutes or so for a week, until he's essentially worn out or she's through. If he's worn out, the second male can mate with her if she's willing.
We left the mating pair with the newly arrived co-alpha (his locator calls prior to this must have been directed at this mating pair) and went back to Masai Kppjes where Viktoria saw a femalr on 50 foot high kopjes with a strangling fig growing on top of it. The lioness looked down at us a few times but she wanted to nap and soon put her head down and did so. No cubs were seen but we suspect that they were hiding close by.
Y took us farther south next. It was wide open plains with no herds and he took us up to a small hill that had an amzing 360 degree view overlooking the Serengeti. This was cheetah country but none were seen today. We then turned around and went back the way we came. We stopped under an acacia for shade and had out "box lunch".
We stareted driving back towards the direction of the lodge and found 3 lions guarding a kill. This was an aduly lioness, a younger lioness, and either her sister or younger brother. At one point they dragged the kill farther away making it harder to see. However, we did see the dark gray hair and hooves, and realized that they had taken down a wildebeest. The adult female later veered off from guarding her kill and she started staking a nearby herd of wildebeets and zebras. She hunched down stalking then hiding in the grass, when she suddenly ran right into the pack of animals as they all ran past her. It was mayhem, a blur of animals went by and she could not focus in on any single weakened animal, so rather than over-exert herself on futile effort in the mid day sun, she returned the others. But to wathc her jump into the middle of that herd and watch them react was amazing sight, regardless that she did not make a kill at that moment. Her sagging belly, full of meat, told me that she was not particularly hungry in any case.
We left those lionesses, returning back to the mating pair at the Masai Kopjes from earlier in the day. At this point they were not overly active and simply lounged and napped in the mid-day sun. they breifly looked at us once or twice but would simply flop over onto their sides and nap. The lioness that V spotted earlier, high atop the kopje was also fast asleep laying on her side beneath a large strangling fig tree.
With that we decided to return to the lodge, freshen up, nap and would come back out for a later game drive in the late afternoon. Along the way back we saw an incredible and very funny sight: a lioness was sitting in the crotch of a large umbrella acacia tree, all alone, except for the fact that a group of 6-8 elephants were below her enjoying the shade. What was very funny was that she was obviously nervous and agitated because she wanted to get down from the tree. However this was not an option as she would be forced to jump onto the back of an elphant to get down. She must have gotten up in the tree first, napped then awoke and found her exit blocked by the elephant herd. We could not tell for sure but the elephants did not take any notice of her or simply did not care. An elephant adult has little to fear from a lion so they were simply enjoying the shade of the tree.
We returned to the lodge at 2:30 pm wiped some road dust from our faces and took a short nap.
We went back out at 4pm and drove amongst the vast herds of wildebeest and zebra, with a fading light.
We returned to the lodge, showered, and had a nice dinner around 7pm. We returned back to the room at 9ish, and were asleep by 10. We have a 4:45am wake up call for tomorrow since we have a balloon ride over the Serengeti where no doubt we'll be treated to a completely different view of the plains and the vast migration herds!
Entry by Jeff - Seronera Wildlife Lodge
Sunday, May 22, 2005
Honeymoon in Africa - Northern Circuit Safari, Day 3 of 8
Northern Circuit Safari, Day 3 of 8
Drive to Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
22 May 2005
This morning we woke after a second night of little sleep. But we had a nice breakfast and some strong Tanzanian kehawa that perked us up for the day ahead. Today's destination was the Serengeti National Park, which was visible from our present location far off in the distance (to the west of the Ngorongoro Crater).
After checking out of the Ngorongoro Wildlife Lodge, we loaded the Land Cruiser with our gear and drove along the rim of the crater westward, in the general direction of the Serengeti National Park. Along the way we passed another lodge and the NCA Police department.
Along the way we passed another lodge and the NCA Police department. Soon, we began a descent along the western edge of the rim into a valley named Melaga (pronounced may-lah-sha) which was stunningly beautiful and green. There were some small herds of zebras and there were several Masai villages (aka "bomas") along the way.
The huts are distinctive because they are thatch roofed stick structures alingned in a circle. One particular boma was setup for tourists, requiring an entrance fee but we decided it was "too touristy" for us, so we skipped it. (We heard later that it was not worth the $20 pp entrance fee). Along the roadside there were many Masai warriors, boys and women walking or standing along the roadway. Warriors wore the striking red or purple cloths and stood in groups talking (which I am told is their sole purpose as there a no wars to fight). The young boys were usually tending goats and cattle, and would run towards the vehicle looking for some change. The older teen boys, espcially the recently circumcized ones, would also be on the roadside. How did we know that you ask? Well, we were told by Johannes that the distinctive white face paint they adorned (which made them look like they were wearing a Trojan helmet or like their faces had a skull painted on) was the indicative feature. Another indicator is that they wore the cloths of the adult men, however the cloths were black, not purple or red. A little bit of background on this: when a Masai boy is circumcised, he moves from being a boy to, more a less, a man. This is something that the boys look forward to while they grow from boy to adolescent. My guess is that these boys are about 13 or so... and the rite of passage to manhood makes them for lack of a better term, celebreties, for a period of 1 year. During this year, they wear the white face paint and black cloths and thus can travel to any other bomas and will be highly honored, and automatically given food and shelter. They also wore a necklace of beads that was the size of a plate, and they ould dance for us as we drove by. The dance was pretty cool looking: a small jump which would make the necklaces bob up and down. Problem is it was sort of a touristy thing, and ultimately they were looking for some money.
As we continued our decent through Melage, the climate change was dramatic. It became warmer and slighly less green. In contrast the crater and the rim was much more green and lush. This however did not diminish the beauty of the valley it only was an indicator of what we would encounter as we got closer to the endless plains of the Serengeti.
We reached the border of the Serengeti sometime around 12-1pm local time. We stopped for the manatory tourist photo below the "Karibu Serengeti" sign. The park entrance was another 45 minute drive. We stopped for a few minutes to pay entrance fees, buy some maps, etc.. We noticed several agame lizards basking on the rocks. Lovely reptiles, the males have alternating longitudinal stripes of pink and blue, while the females blend into the background better with brown and gray colorings. We returned to the Land Cruiser and travelled the main park road towards our lodge for the night, the Seronera Wildlife Lodge. However, this took some time and we did a game drive of sorts en-route. It was an amazing introduction to the Serengeti, and basically set the tone for the next 4 days.
Along the way, we passed many volcanic formations called kopjes (prounounced cop-yes) which means "little heads" in Dutch. One of the kopjes along the way was called the Simba Kopjes and I can only imagine Simba would find these rocks an ideal spot to survey the plains for prey and for sunning and napping. And right on cue, we saw several "simbas" high on the rocks having a nap.
Assuring us we'd get much closer to more lions, Yohannes continued driving and along the way, we found more lions sleeping in an umbrella acacia tree. The moment was best described by Viktoria who declared that the "tree was literally dripping with lions".
We counted 4 lionesses and 6 cubs in the tree in various positions all seeking shade from the mid-day sun and more importantly escape from the nefarious and vicious tse-tse fly (since the flies do not fly above 3 meters).
We stayed at the "lion tree" for at least 30 minutes, enjoying the incredible sight. We stood above the truck's sunroofs, just observing them, taking photos and video, whispering back and forth about this cub doing this, and that lioness doing that... an incredible moment. But we would have many more.
On Y's suggestion we moved on and checked into the Seronera Wildlife Lodge.
The staff was very friendly and showed us to our rooms. 
Once inside our room, we were greeted at the back sliding doors by a resident vervet monkey. Since he was looking for a handout, we did not give him anything, but Viktoria did tease him breifly with an apple, waving it back and forth from behind the glass, the monkey watching every move in the hope that he could get his paws on it.
The lodge is immediately impressive.
Its built directly into one of the kopje formations. The centerpiece is the main boulder which was 50-60 feet high.
The restaurant and bar were literally built into the
kopje and the structure was mostly "open air" and unique. We decided to relax for a short time at the lodge, and then go on a short evening game drive later.
On the drive we returned to the "lion tree" but only one lioness was present with a single cub. We suspected that the rest were nearby in the grass and/or preparing for the night's hunting activities.
We then drove to a another kopje formation called the Masai Kopjes and immediately saw a single majestic male sitting atop the kopje. He was calmly sitting about 30 feet above the surrounding plains, with a casual eye on a herd of wildebeest about 1/4 mile distant. However, Yohannes noticed 2 other trucks about 100 yards away and he decided to go see what they were looking at. It was a smart call because it turned out to be a male and a female in the grass, mating in the grass about 10 feet from the dirt road we were on. Once they were finished, they flopped onto thier sides, exhausted. We caught the tail end of it, from about 50-60 feet away so the view was not great. However, Yohannes said "no worries" they'll be back at it in 15-20 minutes. In the meantime, we drove back over to the solo male on the kopje and took a series of photos of him. The light was amazing and he finally sat up and posed for me.
After a few minutes we returned to the mating pair. 
The nice thing was that the other 2 vehicles left, so it was just our truck and the 2 mating lions. We sat and quietly watched them for about 5 minutes when almost on command the male got up and started flirting a bit. 
The female also flirted, mostly by rolling around on her back, feet in the air. The male would sniff and lick her neck and then finally in position they mated. To say this was a gentle event was the opposite. It was pretty brutal, however it was an amazing sight. They were basically facing us and were within 15 feet of the truck. We stood above the sunroofs looking down at them. The male would lick and bite and near the end, the famale let out a roar the was so close and loud that the sound waves literally hit me in the chest and sent chills throughout my body. I was stunned and in awe of the sight, with a touch of fear thrown into the mix of emotions.
We stayed with them for about another 5 minutes and the whole time, they took very little notice of us whatsoever. We would have stayed longer but it was getting late (around 6pm) and all vehicles have to be back in the lodge by 7pm, so we left the lions to themselves. On the return to the lodge we did one last visit to the lion tree, but no one was home... all out for the night's hunt.
We returned to the lodge at 7pm, met and chatted with some New Yorkers, and had a few Serengeti beers at the bar. Around 8pm, we had a very nice dinner and then went to bed about 10pm.
The rooms were very nice and comfortable. I awoke startled at 2am to a rattling sound at our sliding glass door but it was only the wind.
the weather today was partly sunny and warm, about 75 degrees F. Night time temps were mild at 55-60F, with a gentle breeze.
Entry by Jeff Mergler, Seronera Wildlife Lodge 22 May 2005
Back to Index: http://mergs.blogspot.com/2005/06/honeymoon-in-africa-preface-and-index.html
After checking out of the Ngorongoro Wildlife Lodge, we loaded the Land Cruiser with our gear and drove along the rim of the crater westward, in the general direction of the Serengeti National Park. Along the way we passed another lodge and the NCA Police department.
Along the way we passed another lodge and the NCA Police department. Soon, we began a descent along the western edge of the rim into a valley named Melaga (pronounced may-lah-sha) which was stunningly beautiful and green. There were some small herds of zebras and there were several Masai villages (aka "bomas") along the way.
The huts are distinctive because they are thatch roofed stick structures alingned in a circle. One particular boma was setup for tourists, requiring an entrance fee but we decided it was "too touristy" for us, so we skipped it. (We heard later that it was not worth the $20 pp entrance fee). Along the roadside there were many Masai warriors, boys and women walking or standing along the roadway. Warriors wore the striking red or purple cloths and stood in groups talking (which I am told is their sole purpose as there a no wars to fight). The young boys were usually tending goats and cattle, and would run towards the vehicle looking for some change. The older teen boys, espcially the recently circumcized ones, would also be on the roadside. How did we know that you ask? Well, we were told by Johannes that the distinctive white face paint they adorned (which made them look like they were wearing a Trojan helmet or like their faces had a skull painted on) was the indicative feature. Another indicator is that they wore the cloths of the adult men, however the cloths were black, not purple or red. A little bit of background on this: when a Masai boy is circumcised, he moves from being a boy to, more a less, a man. This is something that the boys look forward to while they grow from boy to adolescent. My guess is that these boys are about 13 or so... and the rite of passage to manhood makes them for lack of a better term, celebreties, for a period of 1 year. During this year, they wear the white face paint and black cloths and thus can travel to any other bomas and will be highly honored, and automatically given food and shelter. They also wore a necklace of beads that was the size of a plate, and they ould dance for us as we drove by. The dance was pretty cool looking: a small jump which would make the necklaces bob up and down. Problem is it was sort of a touristy thing, and ultimately they were looking for some money.
As we continued our decent through Melage, the climate change was dramatic. It became warmer and slighly less green. In contrast the crater and the rim was much more green and lush. This however did not diminish the beauty of the valley it only was an indicator of what we would encounter as we got closer to the endless plains of the Serengeti.We reached the border of the Serengeti sometime around 12-1pm local time. We stopped for the manatory tourist photo below the "Karibu Serengeti" sign. The park entrance was another 45 minute drive. We stopped for a few minutes to pay entrance fees, buy some maps, etc.. We noticed several agame lizards basking on the rocks. Lovely reptiles, the males have alternating longitudinal stripes of pink and blue, while the females blend into the background better with brown and gray colorings. We returned to the Land Cruiser and travelled the main park road towards our lodge for the night, the Seronera Wildlife Lodge. However, this took some time and we did a game drive of sorts en-route. It was an amazing introduction to the Serengeti, and basically set the tone for the next 4 days.
Along the way, we passed many volcanic formations called kopjes (prounounced cop-yes) which means "little heads" in Dutch. One of the kopjes along the way was called the Simba Kopjes and I can only imagine Simba would find these rocks an ideal spot to survey the plains for prey and for sunning and napping. And right on cue, we saw several "simbas" high on the rocks having a nap.
Assuring us we'd get much closer to more lions, Yohannes continued driving and along the way, we found more lions sleeping in an umbrella acacia tree. The moment was best described by Viktoria who declared that the "tree was literally dripping with lions".
We counted 4 lionesses and 6 cubs in the tree in various positions all seeking shade from the mid-day sun and more importantly escape from the nefarious and vicious tse-tse fly (since the flies do not fly above 3 meters).
We stayed at the "lion tree" for at least 30 minutes, enjoying the incredible sight. We stood above the truck's sunroofs, just observing them, taking photos and video, whispering back and forth about this cub doing this, and that lioness doing that... an incredible moment. But we would have many more.On Y's suggestion we moved on and checked into the Seronera Wildlife Lodge.
The staff was very friendly and showed us to our rooms. 
Once inside our room, we were greeted at the back sliding doors by a resident vervet monkey. Since he was looking for a handout, we did not give him anything, but Viktoria did tease him breifly with an apple, waving it back and forth from behind the glass, the monkey watching every move in the hope that he could get his paws on it.The lodge is immediately impressive.
Its built directly into one of the kopje formations. The centerpiece is the main boulder which was 50-60 feet high.The restaurant and bar were literally built into the
kopje and the structure was mostly "open air" and unique. We decided to relax for a short time at the lodge, and then go on a short evening game drive later.On the drive we returned to the "lion tree" but only one lioness was present with a single cub. We suspected that the rest were nearby in the grass and/or preparing for the night's hunting activities.
We then drove to a another kopje formation called the Masai Kopjes and immediately saw a single majestic male sitting atop the kopje. He was calmly sitting about 30 feet above the surrounding plains, with a casual eye on a herd of wildebeest about 1/4 mile distant. However, Yohannes noticed 2 other trucks about 100 yards away and he decided to go see what they were looking at. It was a smart call because it turned out to be a male and a female in the grass, mating in the grass about 10 feet from the dirt road we were on. Once they were finished, they flopped onto thier sides, exhausted. We caught the tail end of it, from about 50-60 feet away so the view was not great. However, Yohannes said "no worries" they'll be back at it in 15-20 minutes. In the meantime, we drove back over to the solo male on the kopje and took a series of photos of him. The light was amazing and he finally sat up and posed for me.
After a few minutes we returned to the mating pair. 
The nice thing was that the other 2 vehicles left, so it was just our truck and the 2 mating lions. We sat and quietly watched them for about 5 minutes when almost on command the male got up and started flirting a bit. 
The female also flirted, mostly by rolling around on her back, feet in the air. The male would sniff and lick her neck and then finally in position they mated. To say this was a gentle event was the opposite. It was pretty brutal, however it was an amazing sight. They were basically facing us and were within 15 feet of the truck. We stood above the sunroofs looking down at them. The male would lick and bite and near the end, the famale let out a roar the was so close and loud that the sound waves literally hit me in the chest and sent chills throughout my body. I was stunned and in awe of the sight, with a touch of fear thrown into the mix of emotions.
We stayed with them for about another 5 minutes and the whole time, they took very little notice of us whatsoever. We would have stayed longer but it was getting late (around 6pm) and all vehicles have to be back in the lodge by 7pm, so we left the lions to themselves. On the return to the lodge we did one last visit to the lion tree, but no one was home... all out for the night's hunt.
We returned to the lodge at 7pm, met and chatted with some New Yorkers, and had a few Serengeti beers at the bar. Around 8pm, we had a very nice dinner and then went to bed about 10pm.The rooms were very nice and comfortable. I awoke startled at 2am to a rattling sound at our sliding glass door but it was only the wind.
the weather today was partly sunny and warm, about 75 degrees F. Night time temps were mild at 55-60F, with a gentle breeze.
Entry by Jeff Mergler, Seronera Wildlife Lodge 22 May 2005
Back to Index: http://mergs.blogspot.com/2005/06/honeymoon-in-africa-preface-and-index.html
Saturday, May 21, 2005
Honeymoon in Africa - Northern Circuit Safari, Day 2 of 8
Northern Circuit Safari, Day 2 of 8
Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania
21 May 2005
Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania
21 May 2005
This morning we woke after a night of little sleep. We grabbed our day packs and headed down to breakfast with Yohannes. After a nice breakfast and kehawa we loaded our packs into the Land Cruiser at 8:15am and started our drive down into the crater below for a full day game drive.
It took us a some time to decend into the crater. Along the way there were Masai on the road, coming out of the bush, waiting for rides, etc.. Along the way, we had many views of the crater and a small masai village. We took some pictures discreetly, since the Masai boys believe you should pay them money for photos.
The dew and mist was heavy at this time of the morning and the landscape and climate was not unlike Scotland. Our guess was that it was about 50 deg F with a slight breeze blowing.
After a steep decent down the dirt/clay road we reached the crater floor. Looking back up the crater wall we saw a line of Masai cattle, tended by Masai boys, coming down their own trail into the crater floor to drink from the spring. The Masai have a special arrangement with the Conservation Area: as indigenous people, they are allowed to bring their cattle and goats into the crater and live within the Conservation area, but that cannot live in the crater itself; only up above and beyond the crater rim. All Masai and animals must be out of the crater by nightfall, which is about 6:30pm year around.
Our driver (who went to Univ of Texas for Zoology) told us that he wished the Masai were not allowed into the crater at all with their animals. He said that there has been some problems in the past with their domestic animals tranmitting diseases to the native wildlife, such as distemer which is a problem for the big cats. The dogs that the masai keep are also not vacinnated for common canine diseases and they can easily transmit these diseases to the canine wildlife as well.
Some of the animals we saw today:
Silver backed and Golden Jackals, Thompson's gazelles, Elands (large antelopes), 5 black rhinos (2 separate groups: a pair, and another male female pair with a baby rhino), 1 lioness, then later with a small group of 4-5 females with cubs), Zebras, Cape Buffalo, Wildebeests, hundreds of flamingos (both Lesser and Greater flamingos), hyennas, warthogs (mating pair, many adults and young), Corybustard (a bird that looks like a large roadrunner and looks very "Jurassic"), crowed crane, hartebeest, rufous tailed weaver bird, Hippos, Black Kites, Vitalin Weaver (black and yellow), Ostriches (both males and females), black-faced vervet monkeys, baboons.
I (Viktoria) especial like the warthogs which are funny little creatures with lots of attitude. They march around the area with lots of confidence with their tails upright like a flag pole.
We had lunch by the "Hippo Pool" and relaxed for a bit. We had to be mindful of the Black Kites who've been well fed by tourists in the past and are no so brazen that they will swoop down without warning and steal food from your hand or even striaght from your plate.
After a full day in the crater, we made our way towards the exit road at about 5pm. On the way out, there was a single bachelor male elephant failry close to the road, near a grassy open yet forested area. He was a wonderful, huge old male, standing near some trees happily munching on lots of grass. We then moved towards a grove of trees were some toilets were built and watched a group of vervet monkeys playing loudly in the trees above. They constantly called to one another making quite a racket.
We then started up the steep exit road to leave the crater, which was cut into the rainforest clinging to the side of the crater wall. The earth was very red and the rainforest so think as to be virtually impenetrable. It must be a monkey's paradise in there. We watched the clouds roll roll over the lip of the rim and observed close up how it clings to the sides of the crater wall.
We returned to the lodge before sunset, around 5:30. The hotel had given us an upgrade to a second floor room, which turned out to be a suite. The first floor was a small living room that had a slider out to a nice porch. A narrow stairway to the second floor brought you to a loft with a nice queen bed. Overall this room was much nicer and we were pleased because we were able to sleep with the windows wide open to the crater without worry.
Tonight we watched the sunset and had dinner with Yohannes. After dinner both of us got massages (only about $45 for a full hour!). I was in bed by 10:30 and sleeping soundly after a full day. Jeff stayed up until 11:30 or so, sitting on the porch to read until about midnight.
Journal Entry by Viktoria, Ngorongoro Wildlife Lodge, 21 May 2005
It took us a some time to decend into the crater. Along the way there were Masai on the road, coming out of the bush, waiting for rides, etc.. Along the way, we had many views of the crater and a small masai village. We took some pictures discreetly, since the Masai boys believe you should pay them money for photos.
The dew and mist was heavy at this time of the morning and the landscape and climate was not unlike Scotland. Our guess was that it was about 50 deg F with a slight breeze blowing.
After a steep decent down the dirt/clay road we reached the crater floor. Looking back up the crater wall we saw a line of Masai cattle, tended by Masai boys, coming down their own trail into the crater floor to drink from the spring. The Masai have a special arrangement with the Conservation Area: as indigenous people, they are allowed to bring their cattle and goats into the crater and live within the Conservation area, but that cannot live in the crater itself; only up above and beyond the crater rim. All Masai and animals must be out of the crater by nightfall, which is about 6:30pm year around.
Our driver (who went to Univ of Texas for Zoology) told us that he wished the Masai were not allowed into the crater at all with their animals. He said that there has been some problems in the past with their domestic animals tranmitting diseases to the native wildlife, such as distemer which is a problem for the big cats. The dogs that the masai keep are also not vacinnated for common canine diseases and they can easily transmit these diseases to the canine wildlife as well.
Some of the animals we saw today:
Silver backed and Golden Jackals, Thompson's gazelles, Elands (large antelopes), 5 black rhinos (2 separate groups: a pair, and another male female pair with a baby rhino), 1 lioness, then later with a small group of 4-5 females with cubs), Zebras, Cape Buffalo, Wildebeests, hundreds of flamingos (both Lesser and Greater flamingos), hyennas, warthogs (mating pair, many adults and young), Corybustard (a bird that looks like a large roadrunner and looks very "Jurassic"), crowed crane, hartebeest, rufous tailed weaver bird, Hippos, Black Kites, Vitalin Weaver (black and yellow), Ostriches (both males and females), black-faced vervet monkeys, baboons.
I (Viktoria) especial like the warthogs which are funny little creatures with lots of attitude. They march around the area with lots of confidence with their tails upright like a flag pole.
We had lunch by the "Hippo Pool" and relaxed for a bit. We had to be mindful of the Black Kites who've been well fed by tourists in the past and are no so brazen that they will swoop down without warning and steal food from your hand or even striaght from your plate.After a full day in the crater, we made our way towards the exit road at about 5pm. On the way out, there was a single bachelor male elephant failry close to the road, near a grassy open yet forested area. He was a wonderful, huge old male, standing near some trees happily munching on lots of grass. We then moved towards a grove of trees were some toilets were built and watched a group of vervet monkeys playing loudly in the trees above. They constantly called to one another making quite a racket.
We then started up the steep exit road to leave the crater, which was cut into the rainforest clinging to the side of the crater wall. The earth was very red and the rainforest so think as to be virtually impenetrable. It must be a monkey's paradise in there. We watched the clouds roll roll over the lip of the rim and observed close up how it clings to the sides of the crater wall.
We returned to the lodge before sunset, around 5:30. The hotel had given us an upgrade to a second floor room, which turned out to be a suite. The first floor was a small living room that had a slider out to a nice porch. A narrow stairway to the second floor brought you to a loft with a nice queen bed. Overall this room was much nicer and we were pleased because we were able to sleep with the windows wide open to the crater without worry.
Tonight we watched the sunset and had dinner with Yohannes. After dinner both of us got massages (only about $45 for a full hour!). I was in bed by 10:30 and sleeping soundly after a full day. Jeff stayed up until 11:30 or so, sitting on the porch to read until about midnight.
Journal Entry by Viktoria, Ngorongoro Wildlife Lodge, 21 May 2005
Friday, May 20, 2005
Honeymoon in Africa - Northern Circuit Safari, Day 1 of 8
20 May 2005 Northern Circuit Safari, Day 1 of 8
Moshi, Tanzania
Moshi, Tanzania
I awoke this morning, after a breif sleep, at about 6am. V was sound asleep still. The birds outside the window were extremely busy and talkative so sleep was not an option once dawn came. I got up and looked out the window and then watched these little yellow "weaver birds" working diligently on thier hanging nests. The tree outside the window had at least 10 nests and several birds working on them. The weaver bird had a black head, gold body and was roughly the size of a finch. Another type of bird, probably a barbit (red head, white breast, blackwings), was also busy on his hanging nest. It was interesting to watch them enter and exit the nests, since the entrance was at the bottom of the nest through a special tunnel that they weave to make it difficult for predators to get in. They also like the very end of branches so that the black momba and other snakes cannot easily reach them.
We went to breakfast at about 8-9am, and enjoyed it. Some eggs, fresh bread, some homemade jams and good strong Tanzanian kehawa (coffee) or chai (tea). After breakfast we loaded our things into the Land Cruiser and headed out on Day 1 of our safari.
Tarangire National Park, Tanzania
First stop: Tarangire National Park (pronounced tar-on-gear-ee), which was about a 3 hour drive from Moshi and our lodge. This little park is home to hundreds of birds and some elephants and giraffes. Some big cats are present but they're rarely seen here. On our drive in we saw a small herd of free roaming zebras on the Masai steppe (free roaming because they live outside the boundaries of a national park).
Upon arrival at the park, the first thing we saw, while standing up and out of our Land Cruiser sunroof, was a group of Impalas. These are deer sized animals with long sweeping horns. The herd was most likely a bachelor herd of males. Next we saw an umbrella acacia tree chock full of storks
and 3 eagles (one was a Steppe or Tawny Eagle and the other 2 were Black Kites). 
We spotted our first African Elephants sometime thereafter. It was a group of 6 or so, with 2 young adult males and 4 juveniles. We stopped along the roadside to observe them for 10-15 minutes.
We stopped for lunch at about 1pm at a picnic area overlooking a valley. We were mostly done when a rain shower forced us back into the truck. With that headed back in the direction we came and spotted another group of 4 elephants, all standing under an umbrella acacia, trying to keep dry. About 10 minutes pass and we spot another group of 6 elephants quite close, within 50 yards of the road. They were milling about, happily throwing dirt on themselves, and another one tearing at a small thorn acacia tree, as they often do. We heard the cracking of the trunk of the tree when the elephant succeeded in breaking it into to pieces. The sound was loud and quite clear from where we watched.
After a short time, we departed the Tarangire NP. Once we exited, we departed northwest towards our next destination: Ngorongoro Conservation Area (pronounced ing-gor-on-goro). We travelled about 2.5 hours longer on good pavement, passing some small towns along the way.
Locals were often on the roadside carring things, either by foot or on bike. We also saw many Masai; the men (warriors) were usually talking in groups or walking along the roadside, the boys would be tending goats, and thge women were usually hauling wood or water and usually on thier heads. the Masai areeasily recognizable with thier red or purple cloths. which are quite like a kilt, plus another cloth draped across the shouled.
Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania
At some point in the mid afternoon, we both drifted off to sleep for about an hour. The ride was smooth at this point and the jet lag set in hard. I awoke at the gate of the Ngorongoro CA. Baboons
were running about looking for trouble or food. Yohannes went into the office to pay the entrance fee and suddenly a large male baboon jumped into the window of the Land Cruiser hoping to steal some food. Afraid we'd soon have a babboon literally on our laps (a very bad situation) we both yelled at him and I quickly took a hand towel and gave him a couple of sharp snaps across the snout. The second one convinced him to leave, and as he left he gave a look that seemed to say "ok, see you later". When Yohannes said keep the windows closed he was not kidding. With that we decided to hit the bathroom at there and we left the truck. Somehow we missed closing a window (dumb) and when I returned and opened the door of the truck, I was greeted by the baboon, sitting in the truck on the floor quickly stuffing Haribo Gummi Bears, one by one, into his mouth (these were Viktoria's and they were supposed to last the whole trip). The baboon had them all over the floor and had about half of them eaten. I tried to convince him to get out of the truck but he just looked at me, only mildly concerned, and he continued eating... actually he picked up the pace a bit. The vision of that baboob stuffing the gummi bears into his mouth, double fisted, is a hilarious one. If I only thought to bring the camera with me so I could have gotten a photo of this guy. to make him leave I had to walk around the other side of the truck (thus clearing an exit for him, which I had blocked by my poresence in th eopen doorway) and then bang on the opposite window. Again he looked at me with little concern and continued eating. One of the rangers had seen what had happened and was walking over to the truck and managed to scare him off. Once we scared the babboon out we looked at the mess: a half eaten, 2 pound, bag of gummi bears. When V returned (she missed all this) we told her the bad news: she was not impressed. Realizing he just ate about 1 pound of gummi bears she proclaimed directly at the baboon: I hope you get diarrhea!The incident behind us, we passed through the park gate and immediately started ascending the crater rim on a red clay road, leaving the tarmac behind us for the next 6 days. We were approaching 2100 meters or so, and were now in a semi-tropical rainforest area. It was markedly cooler and it felt slightly damp. By the time we reached the rim, the temperature was probably 20 degrees F below the temperature in Tarangire NP (it was about 80 degrees in TNP and my guess was it dropped to 55 or 60 degrees F at the rim). An elevation gain of 2000 meters makes a huge difference.
Ngorongoro Wildlife Lodge, Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania
We made our way to our lodge for the night: Ngorongoro Wildlife Lodge, located precipitously above the crater rim, with a spectacular view of of the crater floor below.The Ngorongoro Crater itself is technically a caldera, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (http://whc.unesco.org/pg.cfm?cid=31&id_site=39) and a so called Wonder of the World. The are is a mini-ecosystem below more or less contained within the walls of the caldera, and the view from the top of the rim is simply stunning.
(http://www.africanencounters.com/Tanzania/ngorongoro.htm).
The Wildlife Lodge has a large outdoor patio outside the restaurant which looks down into the caldera offering unbelieveable views. I expected the place to look much smaller than it is, but even though the opposite wall is visible, the distance is deceiving; and, since the rim is 2000 feet above the floor and it looks like no animals are there.
However, this again is an optical illusion, because once you start examinging the floor you start noticing dots of animals, then herds of them. The first thing we noticed was a herd of Cape Buffalo, then "eagle eye" Yohannes actually spotted a black rhino standing in a clearing. Only when V and I used binculars could we actually see the extremely rare animal. The perspective is much like viewing ants from a rooftop; visible but immediately noticable and very small.
We ordered a few Serengeti Lagers and sat on the patio watching the nightly clouds drift over thetop of the crater wall and then roll down the inside of the crater wall. You can imagine that this was very relaxing way for yours truly to pass the time. When the clouds decended about 500 feet below the crater rim, the warmer air below dissolved the clouds before our eyes. 
Around 6:30pm we were rewarded with a beautiful sunset over the lush green of crater, bathed in golden twilight.
We finished off the evening with another Seregeti and a very nice meal then returned to our room for the evening. The room afforded the same view of the crater floor as the patio. The temperature at night fall was no more than 50F with a slight breeze and a bit of a mist. 50 degrees? This is Africa? Considering the heat and humidity we left behind in New Jersey, I'll take this weather happily!
Journal entry made on 20 May 2005 by Jeff Mergler, Ngorongoro Wildlife Lodge, Tanzania.
Back to Index:http://mergs.blogspot.com/2005/06/honeymoon-in-africa-preface-and-index.html
Thursday, May 19, 2005
Honeymoon in Africa - Arrival Day
Honeymoon in Africa
19 May 2005 - Arrival Day
19 May 2005 - Arrival Day
We took off from Amsterdam with KLM and we landed about 8 hours later at Kilimanjaro airport, about halfway between Arusha and Moshi. It only took us about 22 hours to get here and 4 of those were wandering about Schipol Airport in Amsterdam. The flight is not bad at all! The airport was very small; and about what you'd expect to greet you in the Carribean.
However, there was something different about this place. Maybe it was the "smell of Africa" that hit you as you departed the plane and climbed down the stairs to the tarmac, maybe it was just knowing that you were in Africa, finally. Whatever it was, we were immediately excited and it finally hit us: "wow, we're in Africa".
After customs and baggage claim, we were greeted by Yohannes Kamm (our driver and guide for the
next 8 days) at the airport and promptly driven off to our lodge in Moshi called the Kilimanjaro Lodge (aka Mama Clementina Foundation). MCF is a vocational training school for women and girls so that they can learn skills in the hospitality and restaurant business. The accomodations were very comfortable and nexpensive, and the staff was ueber freindly and professional. All meals were delicious, quite varied and also inexpensive. This would be our "base camp" between safaris, whereas we'd return here several times over the next 21 days.The guides we used were Tanganyika Trekkers (www.tanganyikatrekkers.com) and their office is out behind the MCF so the location is ideal.
We arrived late but the staff had a wonderful meal waiting for us and we enjoyed it thoroughly, along with couple of Kilimanjaro Lagers. The beds were very comfortable and firm so sleep came quickly for both of us, but I found myself wide awake again at 2am and decided to simply read for a while. At about 5am I think I fell asleep again.
Back to Index:http://mergs.blogspot.com/2005/06/honeymoon-in-africa-preface-and-index.html
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Honeymoon in Africa - Departure Day
Honeymoon in Africa
18 May 2005 - Departure Day
18 May 2005 - Departure Day
We made the flight on time with no problems (that's because we did not fly out of JFK, and my wife was well packed and ready to roll out the door on time, this time). :) KLM took off from Newark and we landed in Amsterdam about 7 hours later the following morning. A good flight.
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