Tanzania 2015 - Western Kilimanjaro

Moivaro Lodge - Tuesday, 28 July 2015

Festo met us at the airport and drove us to our lodge. The motorcyclists must be wary, car drivers do not give them the right of way. The lodge consists of a main building and lots of cottages. The main  building has reception, a lounge, a dining area, and a large veranda. The pool is in a field. A fire pit is next to the pool. Some of the cottages are duplex, but most are single rooms.


We met our tour leader before dinner. His name is Ombeni Sampson Taka. His father's name is Sampson. The middle name for all the children is the father's name. For the first part of the trip, we called him Sampson, but for the main trip, we called him Ombeni.

We ate dinner on the veranda. Anna waited on us. She placed a charcoal burner under the table to keep us warm. Our room was cool and damp, we could have used a charcoal burner in it.

Kambi Ya Tembo - Wednesday, 29 July 2015

The next morning, we ate a leisurely breakfast and met out fellow travelers at 9:30. We stopped at a store to change money and use the happy room, then continued on to Western Kilimanjaro. About 30% of the drive was on unpaved road. Our camp is name Kambi Ya Tembo (Elephant Camp) and is situated near the Kenya border.

As we approached the camp, Ombeni gave us a talk about a certain acacia tree that giraffes love to eat. The tree creates little nests that ants move into. When a giraffe starts to eat the leaves, the ants attack the giraffe.

The camp has a main lodge with seating for meals and a fire pit overlooking the Sinya Preserve. Each bungalow was a tent with a thatched roof and front door.

The tent had an attached bathroom and dressing area. We had a view towards Kilimanjaro, but the mountain has been shrouded in clouds for at least a week. Near camp, we spotted the go-away bird (Corythaixoides).











After lunch, we went for a walk with our Maasai guide, William.  He spotted some bush babies in a tree, but none of us could see them. I took a shot of a dark area. After he shook the tree, the bush baby moved.

We hiked a short hill, looking at scat. From the top of the hill, we had an expansive view of the game preserve.

 In the distance, our guide spotted a giraffe. With my super zoom camera (Nikon P900), I was able to get a picture of the giraffe with some zebras. William thought they were 2 km away. The couple with us had a Nikon P600, which we had considered. He was also able to get a picture, but without as much detail.

It was comical how much effort and time we spent getting the photo of our first animal. The joke is that we saw so many giraffes and zebras by the end of the trip, that we would never had stopped for this photo late in the trip.

We relaxed back at camp and watched a beautiful sunset from the lodge. We met a fellow named Raf who had some connections for a tour in Turkey. He gave us his card.

 

 

 

 Sinya in the Morning - Thursday, 30 July 2015

On our first game drive at 6:15 in the morning. We saw a giraffe by the side of the road within ten minutes of camp. The giraffe was not 2 km away, more like 10 m.

As we drove we saw Thompson gazelles, baboons, elephant tracks, more giraffes, elephants. The baboons had babies. The elephants had torn down a huge limb from an acacia tree and were devouring it.

Next we saw some birds: the kori bustard and the ostrich.

We saw some giraffes that were scared by a wandering Maasai.

Next up, we saw impala, great gazelle, wildebeest, zebras and vervet monkey.

We spotted a herd of zebras with young ones. The babies are brown and white. The wildebeest was nearby. The two species tend to herd together. The zebras see well and the wildebeest hear well.











Towards the end of the morning drive, we drove to an abandoned Maasai village near the Kenya border. We were allowed to cross the Kenya border for up to 100 meters.

Sinya in the Afternoon

In addition to more giraffes, gazelles and monkeys, we saw the jackal and the dik dik  (the smallest antelope) for the first time.

We saw a tower of giraffes that contained a mama with baby and two standing with necks crossed.

The landscape is beautiful, with clouds overhead, mountains in the distance, animals wandering in open plains and sand devils whirling away.

Since our arrival the previous day, Kilimanjaro had been hidden in clouds. We joked with our guide that we would deserve a full refund if we never saw Kilimanjaro. Towards sunset, our guide noticed that the peak of Kilimanjaro was visible among the clouds. He spent 10 minutes trying to explain to us all where the peak was located.

As the minutes passed, Kilimanjaro became more and more visible until it was clear. An elephant was walking nearby and Ombeni redirected the elephant with the land cruiser so we could take a photo of Kilimanjaro with the elephant walking in front of it.

We enjoyed a glass of wine in an open plain as the sun set behind us, the full moon rose in the east, with Kilimanjaro to the south.

 
On the way back to camp, we saw the bongo antelope that is rare to see in the Sinya.

 

 

 

 

 

Maasai Village - Friday, 31 July 2015

The next morning, the full moon was setting as we headed out to visit a Maasai village. Kilimanjaro was still visible in the southeast.

We drove to a local Maasai village. The children tend the herds, the women tend the houses and village, the men think.

After the Maasai visit, we headed out on another game drive. We saw many of the same animals as yesterday: dik dik, baboon, giraffe, impala, great gazelle, kori bustard, elephant. The new animals for the day were a Marabou stork and gerenuk antelope.

As for animals had seen before, we saw more of them: a baboon with baby, a tower of giraffes and a herd of elephants with a nursing baby.

We drove back to Arusha after the game drive. We met more people from our safari, but three people missed their connection in Amsterdam. We hope to see them in two days.