Sunday July 16, 2023
We have arrived at 2am and I feel bad. Like physically not mentally. Oh we need to show our boarding pass to get to the next checkpoint. Then we get a temperature check. We passed. I then stopped by the toilet and then we stood the the customs like were they proceeded to take forever. Luckily Fiona pre-paid and printed out our stuff, however they only needed 1 of the 4 printed pages. Oh well. Lawson was also a shell of a human who was trying to not be sick? We managed to get through and get our bags. We made our way outside and there were many drivers waiting for their people. I took a few laps around and then Lawson spotted the Planet Expedition Lodge which was a 20 minute ride.
We finally got to the lobby by 3am and we’re in our room by 3:15. I go lock the kids in their room. No really there is no thumb twist to unlock, but you need the key! I proceeded to roll around and shiver back in my bed. Good times being sick and traveling.
Woke up at 8:30, I still feel like crap. I took a shower and still do not perk up. Woke the kids up at nine and then walked over to breakfast past the pool. Wow, a pool. Lawson also picked up on the pool too. I have a few measly bites of an omelette, croissant, and a bit of pineapple. I didn’t finish. I go back to the room take a decongestant and my malaria pill, and pack. The pickup is at 10:30. I teach Lawson how to use a lock and key.
We have 2 minivans that each take 3 people. I got with the other sickos Fiona and Lawson. The healthy people go in the other van. I sit in the front and chat with Enoch who has been doing tours for 10 years, he has two boys 6 and 3, and wants to visit Colorado? That one thru me for a loop? He wants to go someplace cold? Why? Any, the weather is great here – very mild like California. We go down a two lane road to a pharmacy to get drugs for the sickos. Then we pop over to a place of stuff, but behind the stuff place is is an art gallery full of very talented people. I would even go so far as to call it the Guggenheim of Tanzania.
Very cool. We go have lunch at a local place where beer is a buck. I have corn polenta, nan, spinach, beans and chicken. I have my first two African beers which are pretty tasty, Serengeti and the Kilimanjaro. We finish lunch around 3 and head to the Ngare Sero Mountain Lodge. The room is fantastic, and grounds are amazing. The old people have spotted monkeys so need to take the littles to observe.
The littles are to tired and Fiona is asleep so I go explore myself. I see horses, hydro electric pumps, a pool, an abandoned rabbit pen that holds around 50 rabits or more as it was huge, a bridge, and some very scenic lake scenes.
Very nice. Their are monkeys all along the river. I saunter back and dinner is at 7. I do not have any beer since I still feel awful. We had tomato soup, and then they brought out way too much food (beef, eggplant, cauliflower, salad, beans, sweet potatoes, and bread) and for dessert a very thick and rich chocolate muffin.
In bed by 9. The smoke from the kitchen is wafting into our room. It is thick. Bah.
Monday July 17, 2023
Man I sleep bad. The bed was good but I had to keep getting up to pee and shiver. Some alarm went off at 4am. Smoke starts again and the ibis birds and monkeys start hollering at 6:10 if you not awake yet you are now. We finally get up at 7:15 and I feel like a person who has smoked a cigar. We pop down for breakfast and have pancakes which is more like a crepe. It takes 20 minutes to make a waffle but we do not have time. We get a plate full of crispy bacon and toast. Niamh has some toast with her butter. She puts it on like cream cheese. I have my pancake, juice, coffee, and water. We go to reception and wait for Frank who picks us up at 8:45. We are off to the Arusha National Park and lake. I take 1800 pictures jpeg + raw which take up 35Gb. We see many things like zebras, warthogs, Guinea foul, bee eaters, flamingos, bluebeds, blue monkeys, baboons, and came to a clearing of 20 giraffes. Frank goes 50kph for a one hour drive back over some bumpy ass roads. I kept thinking of how cop this would be in a Rivian safari tour truck. We got back at 5pm and played croquette. I did manage to have a beer while playing, Twiga Ale. Lawson made up the rules as we played and of course he won or maybe Fiona?
We had dinner again in the same room, but it was a serve yourself dinner. We had minestrone soup (very tasty), they brought us chicken since the meat of the meal was fish so the two no fishy people had chicken, potatoes, beet salad, and broccoli. I had mango juice and water for dinner. We were back into the room by 9 and i had a very nice hot shower and was attempting to save my photos to hard drive by it got to a half way point and it failed. Bah! So much for my grand plan of backing up all my photos. I was in bed by 10.
Tuesday July 18, 2023
Some stupid alarm went off again at 4 am and kept going till 5am, and then the Ibis birds and monkeys went off at 6:15 again and Fiona’s alarm went off at 6:30. She does turn it off. I get up and as soon as she sees me she springs into action. Oh well. I did sleep better then the night before and there was less smoke or I was so clogged it didn’t matter. We are going down a little earlier for breakfast to have a waffle this time. We are seated at 7:30 and have a waffle which Lawson didn’t eat since there was no maple syrup? There was honey and I had honey on mine and it was very good? Lawson ate 20% of his waffle which I’m confident about since it came out in a flower shape. Niamh can’t butter her toast for some reason but both kids did manage to swallow their respective pills / medicine.
Frank picks us up at 8:30 and we take all our bags with us to drive 2.5 hours to the next place, Tarangire National Park. It is 9:30 now so have about another hour. We are passing the Arusha airport, a local airport.
We stop and see local Maasai people at the watering hole getting water for their needs with their donkeys. How about grilled corn? Sure let’s have some. We make it to out next destination Tarangire National Park by 1:04 are in massive queue to get into the park. Bah!
Boy, once we made it in we saw elephants, elephants, and more elephants. Crazy the number of these majestic beasts but was easily over 100. Throw in a lion and a leopard and it was a pretty good day. How about a sunset with elephants. Ok.
We rolled into Oliver’s Camp at 6:30 for the sunset. Pretty cool.
Had a local beer, two in fact, which were pretty tasty called Safari Lager. A soft bread roll, creamy spinach, carrots, potatoes, chicken, anc Fiona’s favorite zucchini, and Niamh’s favorite gravy for the chicken which apparently is as good as if not better than Nana’s gravy?
Anywho is is late 10:45, need to shower quick and not get eaten by the wildlife in our tent. I think I have a solution for photo backup too? And there is a story about luggage being ‘locked’ in the trunk. Goodtimes. Up at 6:30? Hum.
Wednesday July 19, 2023
Ha! I got my copy method to work! Here is a hungry hippo and a little hungry hippo. It is 7 and we have to go.
We were 20 minutes late to breakfast and a poor lady was standing waiting for us to get our act together. We finally shuffled out and I had scrambled eggs, 1 sausage, and a bit of bacon. The view for breakfast is amazing.
We did a loop around the park. The flies were horrible which Lawson sleep through.
It is a beautiful place here. Around noon we found our first lion.
We then found around 6 more. We went back to the camp at 2 for a rest and then back out at 4. We saw a leopard and stuck around to see if it would eat a zebra. It didn’t, but we visited a bathroom And had to check before going in is there was any wildlife like a lion in the bathroom. Fiona mentioned you might poop your pants if that happened to you lol.
We saw the sunset twice as we went from the valley floor back up to the camp. That was cool.
For dinner I had rum and Coke before and a Moscow mule to pair with carrot ginger soup to to start and for the main okra , broccoli and cauliflower, steak, and mash potatoes. To end dinner we had a cake and a dance.
I took some night photos in both devices but think the Sony wins.
Thursday July 20, 2022
I woke up at 5 :30 to a lion roaring. I then setup my phone for a time lapse and my iPad to record the roaring. I think I got the lion roaring around 5 times over 30 minutes. We later learned the lion was 2Km away, but sounded pretty darn close! I had an omelette for breakfast at 7:15 with coffee.
There is a cheetah sighting this morning around 9. Wholly cow we saw two cheetahs that were ushered out of their home by dummies on a walking tour. I had the picture setting set to single which was lame as I was trying to fumble around trying to focus on two cheetahs learning they were being spied on by dumb humans. Then we were off the the next great adventure 2.5 hours away. Ah bumpy roads be damned.
We pulled into the swinging bridge place for lunch at noon and had chef left overs which were quite good. We then did a rope bridge tour which was suppose to take 1 to 1.5 hours, but the kids raced from platform to platform and we finished in 45 minutes. We then pulled into the oldest national park and didn’t see much of anything – a bunch of baboons, and a few blue monkeys. I had gotten up at 5 and was falling asleep since there was nothing to see and we were going to try and find elephants. However, niamh through up and BeBe (eg Nana) was falling asleep and didn’t eat any lunch which is not good. So the Fiona, Lawson, and Tim are in the mend and now Niamh and BeBe are not well.
We pull into the Escarpment Luxury Lodge at 3:15 and were greeted with singing. Then Upedno (meaning ‘love’) gave us the ground rules and gave us our keys. We settled into cottage 1, the kids in 2, and the old people in 3. The kids perched in there room (eg lawson played on internet, and so did Niamh), so Fiona and I went to the lounge and had a wine and beer. I had to go back to the room twice 1) to give more popcorn to Lawson, and 2) to help get Niamh hot water in the bath. Our room is very far from reception. WaaWaa.
I checked in a new beer and at 6:30 singing started so I recorded it, and then joined in. Niamh missed it but grandpa Alan recorded it. I took a picture with then at the end of the entertainment. Before all this excitement I took a nice sunset picture to boot.
For dinner was fresh home baked bread, salad bar, potato soup, and pumpkin curry. It was all very good. Alan claimed to have his best tandoori chicken this evening too. Capped of with pumpkin pie. Niamh is with Fiona and I’m with Lawson, he is super tired and so am I so just blew up at each other since Lawson didn’t hand over phone after repeated asking. Anywho that is sorted and now us 9:45 so also need to go to bed too.
Friday July 21, 2023
Man I got a full nights sleep finally! Only after wrestling Lawson’s phone from his hot sweaty hand. Anywho I woke up and freaked out as I thought we were late since it was 7:55, oh wait we do not need to be up till 8:15 to have breakfast at 8:45 as we are leaving at 9:30. I get out of bed at 8:15 and get my stuff and am ready by 8:30, Lawson is on his game too. We pop over to house 1 and check in with the Fiona. Niamh will stay behind and get up at 9. Ok. We all trundle down to the same table we had dinner and had breakfast. We only spend one night here as we are off to the highlands. 10 ladies from India flew over for a 50th birthday party, they get a song and dance. We get a slice of cake with our breakfast. We load up the truck and head off.
Before we head up we do a TukTuk tour. Two per TukTuk, and we (Lawson and me) get Akmed for our driver, Fiona and Niamh get Tony, and I didn’t get the old persons driver’s name. Before we left we signed our life away for the TukTuk and for a local lunch.
Useff was our main guide. We saw rice paddies, went to a local market where I over paid for motorcycle sandels and we picked up red bananas and two mangoes; Frank has a cool pair of sanders so wanted to be like Frank.
Skipped artwork and the meat market, but did go for a banana beer talk. It is just strong enough to kill the bad stuff, and it is rebottled/labeled in Heineken bottles. They also have banana wine in a beer bottle that is 10.5% and the joke is after 5 of those you will be an expert in Swahili. We saw a banana farm and then had a buffet style meal. The round potatoes were super with beans, more beans, rice with extra spice, spinach and pita/nan bread.
We leave the village around 2 and make it up to the highlands around 3:45, and drive another hour till we hit the golf ball buildings we are staying at called the highlands.
The rooms are amazing with a twin room on the right and primary on the left of two domes.
We made it over to the bar for sunset we’re I have a morgan-n-coke, passion fruit gimlet, and an Irish Old Fashion. All very good. Then dinner at 7 with Frank to tell us than we have to be in the truck at 7am to beat all the people on the game drive since it will be very busy. For dinner we beef, chicken, pototes, cheese board, and a chocolate mud pie that was pretty darn good. I ate Lawson’s. We rolled back to the room and the fire was raging in the primary, the hot water bottles made it to the beds, and Lawson squealed when he felt the hot water bottles. I was against the fireplace so was being slowly cooked until Niamh came sobbing into our room to change with me. Sure. Oh wait the heated blanket was up to 11 on her bed. Jeez. I but it back to 1 and then roll around till the alarm goes off at 6 am. The wind was howling during the night that I thought the golf balls would take flight.
Saturday July 22, 2023
We manage to make it down to breakfast by 6:35 and start munching away but there are no old people. There are always old people in the morning. At 6:50 they roll in and we have our fruit cups, toast, and coffee. It was windy and cold. We are in the truck by 7:20 and proceed to go down hill for 45 minutes until we hit the caldera entrance by 8. The fog is thick so much so that wipers have to be used on the way down.Right in time! Woot Woot!
We saw more lions, a rhino from very far away, many zebras, baboons, wilder-beasts, hyenas, crown cranes, many hippos, another great day.
Another good dinner too. A pina colata and Jackson’s special drink which was very good, and during dinner had a Kilimanjaro Lager. To eat there was a song and dance for the people behind us from Australia. Apparently this was their third dance and song. There was pork and lamb for dinner, Lawson had his pasta with cheese (it was family style so he had to share a little bit), green beans, and other sides. I had a cheesecake for desert. I sat across from Frank who has a three year old named Mahair, but is not married. He is on his way to become married this year and the ceremony/reception last only a day. He apparently has known his girlfriend off and on since he was a kid. He himself is the middle of three brothers. We met his older brother a few days ago outside of Oliver’s Camp. Anywho, back to the golf ball tent around 9, and Jesca was asking about the fire which she helped with.
Sunday July 23
Woke up at 2. Need to figure out how to put more wood myself? Woke up at 7 as there is a hike today and we left at 8, but before we went we had breakfast which was watermelon with strawberries for the kids, fruit cups for everyone else, toast and coffee. It was cold and foggy.
Down the bumpy road for 30 minutes but this time we turned left. And into the fog. We could sort of see the lake we would be hiking down too. The 4 of us went with Alan. I’m not sure Alan is going to make it back up.
We we killer ants and pink flamingos. It is nearly 1000 feet down and back. Francis was the national park ranger with an AK47 looking for leopards or other things that would cause harm. It was steep going up and down in less that a mile one direction. Baracka was our local guide.
We get back around 1 through the same bumpy road, and had lunch. More watermelon for the kids and hot chocolate.
Off to see a Maasai village which was great.
We also bought some local items. I got two beer mats. We are now at dinner. Another passion fruit gimlet for me
Monday July 24, 2023
We are leaving by a little plane today to the Serengeti. However I stoked the fire all night so I managed to have it be warm/hot when waking up. Fiona got sick around midnight- goodtimes. We are up at 7:30 and packed by 8. We have our standard breakfast, but Niamh in addition to her watermelon cup gets chips and guacamole for breakfast but she is already full. Dickson really knows the kids now and they pretty much each the same thing every morning! Lol. We leave the 8,700 foot highlands down the bumpy road to the viewing area. Too much fog.
We stop and I get a Kilimanjaro beer shirt and pull money out of the ATM hopefully the rest of what we will need for the rest of the trip. We get postcards for the kids to sign. We are at the air strip waiting for the plane. Our boarding cards are brown. I had 6 tiny little bananas and 2 muffins, and a pair