Tanzania, Nnorongoro (23 Feb 2010)
Nnorongoro ('the Valley') is one of the wonders of the world... it is so massive that you just can't imagine the power of this volcano when it used to erupt, millions of years ago... it almost takes a whole day to drive across it !
All of the hotels are located on the edge of the crater so that you can look down into it and so as you climb higher and higher you really see the vegetation change and feel the temperature drop. There were a lot of moss on some trees (very much like in some parts of Costa Rica) and it was very green.
We had a lovely lunch and then just leisured around the pool (not inside -- tooo cold) and took it easy. We had had a few hectic days with lots of driving around and it was actually quite pleasant to sit back and just enjoy the view.
The buffet for dinner was just superb and in the evening and when you went back to your room, they had even put a hot water bottle in your bed (with a Masai pattern on the soft cover !) as it can drop down to 15C or less in the evening, at such high altitude. Very nice touch, me thought. They even changed towels twice a day if you wanted to. For the/my records, it cost 4,000 Tsh to call home (i.e. £2/min) and using the internet was 15,000 Tsh for an hour (i.e. £7.50). A 1L bottle was 2,500 shillings but a 1.5L bottle was 16,000 at the market (so we did do the smart thing by stocking up on the way, esp. as it's not like we had to carry them since they were in the boot of the car -- or in the cooler box with ice cubes). I always hate sounding obsessed with money but these are all the 'extras' that are not included in the package and that you need to 'budget' for when planning the trip.
I also forgot to say, whilst on the 'formalities' side of things that the tourist Visa cost us £36 but can be obtained on arrival. They also have 'tip boxes' for staff working at the lodges (an average of 48 'behind the scenes') -- all of whom probably earn even less than the drivers and will never make the kind of tips that he will ($10 divided by 48 doesn't go very far !).
I usually send lots of post-cards and used to have a big budget for this but the post cards I saw were just dreadful... and I refuse to send anything that doesn't do the scenery justice.
Here is an email I'd sent after we'd spent the whole day in the crater (as I'm writing this, a whole month has gone by -exactly- and so my memory isn't as 'fresh' as it was on the day:
"Helloooo again,
No sunset tonight (again) so I thought I'd go back on line... while I can.
We had much better sightings today, with about 4 different lion sightings (the 1st one with 10 of them) but no real small cubs... most of the lions we saw were about 18 months - 2 years old..... cute, but not as 'cuddly'... still, we won't complain. We also saw a cheetah which is even rarer (i.e. there are only about 10-15 left in the crater, and the crater is HUGE... we drove all around it today and it took us ALL day).
I've taken a few good shots by now and managed to record the light quality ok on some pix... it's the light that fascinates us the most on some days... we find that no means of recording it does it justice, well... most of the time. You'd click away (or film away), look at the preview on the screen, look at the view again and think 'no, no, no... the colours are much brighter in reality'... and finding the right exposure for something bright in distance but darker in the foreground is impossible for me... I'm not technical enough... this is when I miss Roberto even more !
We are also enthralled by the trees and the beautiful flat-top acacias in particular... almost eerie...
I forgot to say yesterday that the food is absolutely gorgeous (buffets or menus) and that we are probably putting on weight due to serious lack of exercise... (you can't really jog where lions abound !). So far, none of us have been sick either, we are being very sensible and even cleaning our teeth with mineral water (as recommended by our 1st contact on arrival). The lodges give you 500ml or 1L a day (complimentary) anyway, but on top of it, we bought 12 x 1.5L bottles to be on the safe side...
We don't drink enough of it though... (a) Nathalie absolutely refuses to use their public toilets as they can be quite smelly and so won't drink to make sure she won't need to use them... and (b) I forget how hot it can get and don't drink enough, period. As a result, I am starting to have a slight sun-stroke and looking very red (we keep forgetting to apply sun-block, grrrrr). Yes, we should know better... just like we keep meaning to call our parents every night, and keep forgetting too... bad daughters !!!
The SOPA lodges, as I have said before, are spectacular.... the ambience, the staff are lovely, the rooms are massive, the showers are spacious, they give us lots & lots of goodies (they'd put the BA goodie bag to shame!) and we feel really pampered here. They have a lovely pool overlooking the crater but it is just too cold to use it. Our driver had warned us (as it can drop to 14C at night here as we are quite high) but we thought 'he's from Tanzania, 23C water temperature would be cold for him'... but it was probably around 20C and just not warm enough for us either.
The best thing about being high up is the lack of mosquitoes because I managed to get biten about 45 times in the first 48H... mainly when we stayed in the tent I think. In fact, I haven't managed to have ONE good night's sleep since I arrived in Tanzania... either too hot, biten to death by mossies, or having nightmares and waking up... the beds are comfy enough, it's just me not acclimatising as I should I think.... (I know, it makes no sense considering how much I'm used to travelling and this is my 7th safari -- I can therefore only assume I'm getting older :)
Roberto has had acute anxiety attacks himself and we are starting to think it could be a side effect of the anti-malaria tablets ? (he's on Malarone, I'm on Doxycycline).
But we feel that London is absolutely miles away.
What else? Oh, the bird life is amazing too... lots of really big ones, many being migratory so I didn't see them last time (I'd come over in Nov 1997). The crater was also beautifully green... much much greener than I remembered (it was yellow & dry last time). So this is like a whole new experience for me too...
So far we've seen the usual suspects : giraffes (lots everywhere but none here), elephants, 3 jacals, hundreds of flamingoes (but in the distance, you can't drive to the lake shore anymore), some cute mangoose, some hyrax, lots of zebras, gnu (spelling? kind of wildebeest), buffaloes, Thomson gazelles, impalas, a few other types of antelopes, incl. the elans, about 20 lions, 1 cheetah, 4 rhinos, and I can't remember what else without looking at my pix again.
The big one missing is the leopard, of course... if we don't find them at the Serengeti then we've had it basically.
It is the season of the babies too, so we always have to stop every time we see a baby of any kind of animal because they are so playful and inquisitive (or shy) and Nathalie always makes the funniest drooling noises when she's in front of them... one little gnu had even lost his mother and just ran after our car with the saddest noise, thinking we were 'it'... We stopped the car so that it could sniff all around it and realise we were not his mother. It just broke our hearts.
Dinner is beckoning soon so I'd better stop here ... I can't wait to share the photos with you all to show you why I'm so in love with this place. I haven't really written a diary as such on this trip, I kind of know most of the animal facts already by now having heard them all before... the one I didn't know is that the female elephant, when in heat, can communicate with bachelor bulls all around the area by sending ultra-sound so that they know she's willing ! Saves a lot of wasted time chatting up girls who will NEVER say YES in a million years... if you ask me. Very smart. Pity we can't do the same... (she: "am I interested? are you getting ultra sound? No...so, take the hint"...).
Righteoo, I shall really go now..... bisous, Sylvie xxx"
We really loved Nnorongoro, you have to BE there to understand its appeal and we were really quite sad to be leaving it behind. Our driver was having problemw with his car though so before we headed to the Serengeti we first had to go to the Leopard Tours office at the Nnorongoro Wilderness Lodge and it was a real 'blessing in disguise' as we loved the view from there even more ! It seemed to be much nearer to the lake. The clouds would reflect in it and you could appreciate the perfect round shape of the crater even more. As a member staff pointed out 'it looks so empty from here, when you look down on it, and yet it's so rich with wildlife', in fact, some say that at the peak of the migration it has the highest density of wildlife in the world. It is so massive that you can't convey its magnitude in photos but you'd need more than one frame to fit it all in (no matter how wide an angle your lens has !).
We were so thrilled that Josuah that we'd had the chance to visit this beautiful lodge. It looked a little bit more 'basic' than the SOPA lodges in terms of facilities and decor looked quite 70's but it still looked like a very nice lodge with comfortable lounge and room and we'd recommend it for the view alone - probably the best in the whole area.
What we liked about the crater too is that it had different aspects to it. Most of it was open plains (perfect for cheetahs) but it had a forested area as well (better for leopards -- though they are incredibly rare there). The park regulations state that there shouldn't be more than 5 cars near an animal and for no more than 15 mins. Well, when we did see a cheetah, there were 28 cars and we were there for a good 30 mins. It was just like the paparazzi effect, everybody out with their big zoom lens... it seemed quite sad and this was a perfect example about why it's sensible to keep the jeeps to the road and not follow the animals off it otherwise the harrassment would never stop for them and they'd have no chance of ever getting a meal. Rangers are supposed to watch the cars from a distance (with binoculars) and drive down if such situations occur, but they didn't.
We were discussing poaching with our driver and he said that, unfortunately, it still happens and always will. A few individuals will always think they have the right to ruin it for everybody else so long as they can feed their own family. Tourism is the number one source of revenue for the country and in Arusha alone, pretty much 95% of employment is because of safaris (ALL safaris for Northern Tanzania start from Arusha)... so killing what people have come here to see is certainly not a sensible idea... not just for the animals themselves but for SO many who depend on the trade to survive.
Josuah said that to become a driver there is so much competition, a new company may need 15 but they'll have 500 applicants. You have to be quite knowledgeable to be able to answer most questions, must have strong driving skills (you can slip quite frequently in mud) and excellent sight to spot the well camouflaged animals. I don't think that the pay packet is very much at all but the biggest appeal are the tips - the recommended rate is $10 per person per day and this is in a country where the average person may earn $35 a month !
Our driver said he tends to work a week and stop a week (probably to have time to see his family) and said that as soon as he's dropped off his tourists at the local air-strip, as he's driving back the 6 hours to Arusha he"turns off the radio, puts his music on and doesn't care about the leopard sightings anymore... though of course if one crosses the road, I'll still give it right of way". He said that sometimes he sees even better sightings when he's just on his own, on the way back... in 8 years he'd seen some pretty lovely ones with cubs from every big cats. We were so envious !
Nnorongoro ('the Valley') is one of the wonders of the world... it is so massive that you just can't imagine the power of this volcano when it used to erupt, millions of years ago... it almost takes a whole day to drive across it !
All of the hotels are located on the edge of the crater so that you can look down into it and so as you climb higher and higher you really see the vegetation change and feel the temperature drop. There were a lot of moss on some trees (very much like in some parts of Costa Rica) and it was very green.
We had a lovely lunch and then just leisured around the pool (not inside -- tooo cold) and took it easy. We had had a few hectic days with lots of driving around and it was actually quite pleasant to sit back and just enjoy the view.
The buffet for dinner was just superb and in the evening and when you went back to your room, they had even put a hot water bottle in your bed (with a Masai pattern on the soft cover !) as it can drop down to 15C or less in the evening, at such high altitude. Very nice touch, me thought. They even changed towels twice a day if you wanted to. For the/my records, it cost 4,000 Tsh to call home (i.e. £2/min) and using the internet was 15,000 Tsh for an hour (i.e. £7.50). A 1L bottle was 2,500 shillings but a 1.5L bottle was 16,000 at the market (so we did do the smart thing by stocking up on the way, esp. as it's not like we had to carry them since they were in the boot of the car -- or in the cooler box with ice cubes). I always hate sounding obsessed with money but these are all the 'extras' that are not included in the package and that you need to 'budget' for when planning the trip.
I also forgot to say, whilst on the 'formalities' side of things that the tourist Visa cost us £36 but can be obtained on arrival. They also have 'tip boxes' for staff working at the lodges (an average of 48 'behind the scenes') -- all of whom probably earn even less than the drivers and will never make the kind of tips that he will ($10 divided by 48 doesn't go very far !).
I usually send lots of post-cards and used to have a big budget for this but the post cards I saw were just dreadful... and I refuse to send anything that doesn't do the scenery justice.
Here is an email I'd sent after we'd spent the whole day in the crater (as I'm writing this, a whole month has gone by -exactly- and so my memory isn't as 'fresh' as it was on the day:
"Helloooo again,
No sunset tonight (again) so I thought I'd go back on line... while I can.
We had much better sightings today, with about 4 different lion sightings (the 1st one with 10 of them) but no real small cubs... most of the lions we saw were about 18 months - 2 years old..... cute, but not as 'cuddly'... still, we won't complain. We also saw a cheetah which is even rarer (i.e. there are only about 10-15 left in the crater, and the crater is HUGE... we drove all around it today and it took us ALL day).
I've taken a few good shots by now and managed to record the light quality ok on some pix... it's the light that fascinates us the most on some days... we find that no means of recording it does it justice, well... most of the time. You'd click away (or film away), look at the preview on the screen, look at the view again and think 'no, no, no... the colours are much brighter in reality'... and finding the right exposure for something bright in distance but darker in the foreground is impossible for me... I'm not technical enough... this is when I miss Roberto even more !
We are also enthralled by the trees and the beautiful flat-top acacias in particular... almost eerie...
I forgot to say yesterday that the food is absolutely gorgeous (buffets or menus) and that we are probably putting on weight due to serious lack of exercise... (you can't really jog where lions abound !). So far, none of us have been sick either, we are being very sensible and even cleaning our teeth with mineral water (as recommended by our 1st contact on arrival). The lodges give you 500ml or 1L a day (complimentary) anyway, but on top of it, we bought 12 x 1.5L bottles to be on the safe side...
We don't drink enough of it though... (a) Nathalie absolutely refuses to use their public toilets as they can be quite smelly and so won't drink to make sure she won't need to use them... and (b) I forget how hot it can get and don't drink enough, period. As a result, I am starting to have a slight sun-stroke and looking very red (we keep forgetting to apply sun-block, grrrrr). Yes, we should know better... just like we keep meaning to call our parents every night, and keep forgetting too... bad daughters !!!
The SOPA lodges, as I have said before, are spectacular.... the ambience, the staff are lovely, the rooms are massive, the showers are spacious, they give us lots & lots of goodies (they'd put the BA goodie bag to shame!) and we feel really pampered here. They have a lovely pool overlooking the crater but it is just too cold to use it. Our driver had warned us (as it can drop to 14C at night here as we are quite high) but we thought 'he's from Tanzania, 23C water temperature would be cold for him'... but it was probably around 20C and just not warm enough for us either.
The best thing about being high up is the lack of mosquitoes because I managed to get biten about 45 times in the first 48H... mainly when we stayed in the tent I think. In fact, I haven't managed to have ONE good night's sleep since I arrived in Tanzania... either too hot, biten to death by mossies, or having nightmares and waking up... the beds are comfy enough, it's just me not acclimatising as I should I think.... (I know, it makes no sense considering how much I'm used to travelling and this is my 7th safari -- I can therefore only assume I'm getting older :)
Roberto has had acute anxiety attacks himself and we are starting to think it could be a side effect of the anti-malaria tablets ? (he's on Malarone, I'm on Doxycycline).
But we feel that London is absolutely miles away.
What else? Oh, the bird life is amazing too... lots of really big ones, many being migratory so I didn't see them last time (I'd come over in Nov 1997). The crater was also beautifully green... much much greener than I remembered (it was yellow & dry last time). So this is like a whole new experience for me too...
So far we've seen the usual suspects : giraffes (lots everywhere but none here), elephants, 3 jacals, hundreds of flamingoes (but in the distance, you can't drive to the lake shore anymore), some cute mangoose, some hyrax, lots of zebras, gnu (spelling? kind of wildebeest), buffaloes, Thomson gazelles, impalas, a few other types of antelopes, incl. the elans, about 20 lions, 1 cheetah, 4 rhinos, and I can't remember what else without looking at my pix again.
The big one missing is the leopard, of course... if we don't find them at the Serengeti then we've had it basically.
It is the season of the babies too, so we always have to stop every time we see a baby of any kind of animal because they are so playful and inquisitive (or shy) and Nathalie always makes the funniest drooling noises when she's in front of them... one little gnu had even lost his mother and just ran after our car with the saddest noise, thinking we were 'it'... We stopped the car so that it could sniff all around it and realise we were not his mother. It just broke our hearts.
Dinner is beckoning soon so I'd better stop here ... I can't wait to share the photos with you all to show you why I'm so in love with this place. I haven't really written a diary as such on this trip, I kind of know most of the animal facts already by now having heard them all before... the one I didn't know is that the female elephant, when in heat, can communicate with bachelor bulls all around the area by sending ultra-sound so that they know she's willing ! Saves a lot of wasted time chatting up girls who will NEVER say YES in a million years... if you ask me. Very smart. Pity we can't do the same... (she: "am I interested? are you getting ultra sound? No...so, take the hint"...).
Righteoo, I shall really go now..... bisous, Sylvie xxx"
We really loved Nnorongoro, you have to BE there to understand its appeal and we were really quite sad to be leaving it behind. Our driver was having problemw with his car though so before we headed to the Serengeti we first had to go to the Leopard Tours office at the Nnorongoro Wilderness Lodge and it was a real 'blessing in disguise' as we loved the view from there even more ! It seemed to be much nearer to the lake. The clouds would reflect in it and you could appreciate the perfect round shape of the crater even more. As a member staff pointed out 'it looks so empty from here, when you look down on it, and yet it's so rich with wildlife', in fact, some say that at the peak of the migration it has the highest density of wildlife in the world. It is so massive that you can't convey its magnitude in photos but you'd need more than one frame to fit it all in (no matter how wide an angle your lens has !).
We were so thrilled that Josuah that we'd had the chance to visit this beautiful lodge. It looked a little bit more 'basic' than the SOPA lodges in terms of facilities and decor looked quite 70's but it still looked like a very nice lodge with comfortable lounge and room and we'd recommend it for the view alone - probably the best in the whole area.
What we liked about the crater too is that it had different aspects to it. Most of it was open plains (perfect for cheetahs) but it had a forested area as well (better for leopards -- though they are incredibly rare there). The park regulations state that there shouldn't be more than 5 cars near an animal and for no more than 15 mins. Well, when we did see a cheetah, there were 28 cars and we were there for a good 30 mins. It was just like the paparazzi effect, everybody out with their big zoom lens... it seemed quite sad and this was a perfect example about why it's sensible to keep the jeeps to the road and not follow the animals off it otherwise the harrassment would never stop for them and they'd have no chance of ever getting a meal. Rangers are supposed to watch the cars from a distance (with binoculars) and drive down if such situations occur, but they didn't.
We were discussing poaching with our driver and he said that, unfortunately, it still happens and always will. A few individuals will always think they have the right to ruin it for everybody else so long as they can feed their own family. Tourism is the number one source of revenue for the country and in Arusha alone, pretty much 95% of employment is because of safaris (ALL safaris for Northern Tanzania start from Arusha)... so killing what people have come here to see is certainly not a sensible idea... not just for the animals themselves but for SO many who depend on the trade to survive.
Josuah said that to become a driver there is so much competition, a new company may need 15 but they'll have 500 applicants. You have to be quite knowledgeable to be able to answer most questions, must have strong driving skills (you can slip quite frequently in mud) and excellent sight to spot the well camouflaged animals. I don't think that the pay packet is very much at all but the biggest appeal are the tips - the recommended rate is $10 per person per day and this is in a country where the average person may earn $35 a month !
Our driver said he tends to work a week and stop a week (probably to have time to see his family) and said that as soon as he's dropped off his tourists at the local air-strip, as he's driving back the 6 hours to Arusha he"turns off the radio, puts his music on and doesn't care about the leopard sightings anymore... though of course if one crosses the road, I'll still give it right of way". He said that sometimes he sees even better sightings when he's just on his own, on the way back... in 8 years he'd seen some pretty lovely ones with cubs from every big cats. We were so envious !
posted by Sylvie at 8:25 PM
<< Home