Here are a few notes we took while we were on our vacation. I hope you enjoy reading. Also, just a few of our favorite pictures. Thanks Again for a Wonderful Trip of a Lifetime.

Gardenia and Omar P.
Los Angeles, California
Safari Dates: June 10, 2013 to June 15, 2013

Day 1

After spending almost a whole day in between flights we finally arrive at Arusha, Tanzania. We were greeted by a woman by the name of Farida who wore a full headdress. We couldn’t believe it, we were stepping on African soil! Just like in any foreign country we’ve visited perhaps it is customary for customs agents to avoid cracking a smile and thus giving us a short sense of nervousness assuming the rest of the people would treat us the same. Farida kindly took care of our visa paperwork and led us to Trevor and Mattias our Arusha companions who drove us to our hotel early in the morning.

Mount Meru hotel was perhaps one of the most impressive resort hotels we’ve stayed in right next to the one in Koh Samui Thailand 5 years ago. The hotel had an impressive lounge with a lit swimming pool that was a little too cold for my liking so I just appreciated it from a distance and took pictures of the beautiful foliage that the hotel provided for a plenty of scenic pictures of mount Maru in the background. We slept most of the day trying to recover from the jet-lag of the previous day and when we went out for dinner to say we where impressed by the beautiful dinner preparations they had for us is not enough.

That night we had a very luxurious 5 course dinner under a candle lit canopy with a “welcome Mr&Mrs Omar” greeting made out of flowers on the floor. We felt as if we were the only couple in the entire resort. We had great steak and grilled fish while in the background played a playlist of the snappiest 80’s and 90’s KOST greatest hits. The people here are so nice and soft spoken, eating all this food was great for my palate but it also provided a strong sensation of guilt knowing that the same people serving me this savory dishes probably did not eat this themselves or could not provide this for their families. Keep in mind that Africa is the same place that is home to many starving people and many who die from simple diseases like the flu but dont have proper ways to care for such .

As dinner came to an end we preceded to a few cocktails at the lounge where rapid serving was not their primary concern but the wait was worth it since they did provide tasty drinks if you had a few minutes to spare. After 2 or 3 rounds we decided to call it a night since the next day we had another plane to catch to the west of the Serengeti.

Day 2

Today we woke up around 3:45am and could not fall back to sleep, perhaps it was from sleeping all day the day before or maybe from the luxurious stiff mattress that was awesome after a long flight but rather uncomfortable the next day. We watched Tanzanian TV programming which consisted of either religious programing of music videos that seemed to be directed by amateurs, maybe it was a poor budget that made these videos appear to be amateur.

We finally decided to get up around 5:30 to get ready for our busy day and start the day with a good breakfast. I was expecting a continental breakfast but instead I was surprised by a great buffet of grilled vegetables, baked beans, stuffed tomatoes, sausage links, bacon, fruits and these eggs that have much whiter yolk than were used to in the states. Fresh squeezed pineapple juice and watermelon juice were pairing all these good breakfast options.

Soon after we went to a smaller airport where we boarder the smallest plane we’ve ever been on, a two propeller Twinkie that has a cruising speed of 150mph.

Day 3

Little did I know that when I asked for a wake up call the night before and I saw no phone in our tent that the wake up call would be a young boy maybe about 16 years old knock on our door with a flashlight on one hand and a spear on the other.

Woke up early around 5:20am when we left for our safari and experienced hyenas as soon as we left camp, soon after we saw an incredible sunrise followed by elephants eating and breaking off the limbs of a tree. All this and it was still 6:45 am with our whole day still ahead of us. We soon we to the river where everything happens, we saw a whole colony of baboons groom each other while the babies played on the trees. We did that for about 30mins when we moved upstream and watched the wilder beasts drinking water from the river and attempting to cross it.

Breakfast was an experience matched by no other, eating my hard boiled egg with black coffee in the middle of thousands of wilder beasts keeping a watchful eye over us was a memory all of its own. While watching all these hundreds of beasts crossing the river an elephant crossed behind them as if ignoring them or being quite indifferent of the baby wilder beast that would soon be drowned by a crocodile. The sight of watching this poor calf take his last breaths as the crocodile tried his best to drag him under the river will be etched for ever in my memory bank. I’ve seen thousands of these wilder beats in just 2-3 days and I know they’re the blood and oxygen that keeps the Serengeti alive but it was quite sad to see an animal take his last breaths before he became croc breakfast.

We moved on to find the lions only to drive past an agonizing wilder beast who had been disemboweled perhaps by the sharp claws of a lioness trying to feed her cubs but the poor thing was not dead yet and was hyperventilating, out safari guide Rafael assured us it wouldn’t be in pain for long and it would probably die the same afternoon yet it was only 10 am. We drove for about 3minutes through thousands of wilder beasts and hundreds of zebras and we came across a family of 3cubs and 3 lionesses resting under a shady tree while their kill laid in the sun. Surely the big cats where tired after hunting today’s meal and were catching their breath under the Tanzanian shade of a thorny tree.

We all waited quietly waiting for the momma lioness to cut up lunch and serve her sleepy cubs a nice roast wilderbeast sandwich. Siting ten feet away from these deadly cats in their own shade is got to be one of the most impressive experiences of this vacation and my life. The lions have now retreated to a different bush that provides more privacy than the previous bush, the lions don’t seem to appreciate out proximity so were moving on to not disturb their noon nap.

We’ve now moved to see a group of 12-15 vultures tearing apart a wilderbeast while fighting each other. These birds have about a 7foot wingspan and spread their wings to intimidate each other. In matter of a few minutes they’ve managed to eat most the wilderbeast, one of them made us laugh yet cringe when we saw it stick his head through the carcass’s butt and eating out of it. Although the size of a turkey, these birds seem quite strong, they can tug and pull of the entire carcass and move it with ease, they would’ve managed to devour the entire animal a lot faster if they would stop fighting for a second.

One can’t help to feel bad for some of the injured wilderbeasts, this next one we saw seemed to have gotten a spinal injury perhaps caused by those intense head bunts they give each other when they fight and although healthy looking his hind legs were almost useless. As we got closer to it, it somehow managed to get up and escape the horrifying sound of our quiet Toyota land rover Diesel engine. It was able to regroup with the herd but his legs gave out soon after and fell to their resting stance. There are millions of wilderbeast here but when you isolate your eyes upon one you don’t want to see it die or suffer, I wish that I had a loaded riffle to be able to put out of their misery the couple of agonizing animals I saw today, I know it’s the circle of life and in order for other species to survive some may have to die but it’s just hard to see them die slowly, waiting for their hearts to give out in order to put an end to their pain and suffering.

On a happier note we found 7 giraffes towards the end of our excursion, very quiet and peaceful animals that pass on that peacefulness to those who gaze at them for prolonged periods of time. We must have seen at least 300 baboons with their babies everywhere from the long grasslands to the top of every tree I sight. We ended out night with a very deep shiatsu massage from Stella and Badi a little stiff for my preference but I guess that’s how it’s done in The Serengeti.

Day 4

We got up late this morning, we decided to opt out of the traditional wake up person today so we woke up when the sun filled our room with light. We had a quick breakfast for we had to leave the West Serengeti to head to Central Serengeti, it was quite a bumpy ride with many warthogs and zebras in sight. About two hours into our trip we stopped behind another land rover to ask what they were looking at and much to our surprise we found our first cheetah laying in the shade. Although cheetahs look small on TV they’re quite long and you can see their muscles through their slender bodies.The cheetah seemed a little shy so we moved on, we found this place called the hippo pool it must have had about 100 hippos in a very tight space

Well we came across an area full of trees and about at least 500 zebras, we saw zebras till we got tired, and low and behold zebras happen to be lion food so a few minutes later after we got tired of looking at zebras we drive away only to see a big male lion feeding on one. The male was clearly visible because of his long and beautiful mange and as we focused on the lion we noticed about 4 lionesses probably the ones that took down the zebra and about 2cubs. The cubs were still full of blood around their snout where they dug deep Into the zebras belly to feed.

We stumbled on 5 elephants at first then 18 elephants where we stood for what seemed 5 minutes but In reality it was about a half hour. This second group had 5 elephants about 2-3 years old and the moms were pretty comfortable with us to the point where they were only about 3 felt away from us. I reached out to let them smell me with their trunk and the mother became protective and stepped away to a safe distance.

Day 5

We woke up at 5:20 am to be in the road by 6, we were greeted with coffee by Jonas to get our day kick started.

Lionesses took us to lion
2 lionesses and a lion lounging after mating
3 leopards at tree eating Thompson gazelle
One elephant before going back to camp

Day 6

We left camp again to head to ngororo crater, 15-20minutes we were greeted by a momma elephant and her calf approx 5 years old since the calf was already showing at least 4-5 inches of tusks. We stood there for about 20 minutes perhaps more in order to watch them eat and cross the road in front of us. We wanted to stay there as much as possible for we didn’t know when we may see another elephant group again.

As we carried on with our trip we saw at a far distance a cheetah mom with one or two cubs, they were so far I couldn’t count the cubs under the long Serengeti grasses. Since the cats were not clearly visible we continued with our drive passing the many clusters of volcanic rock formations that are the lounging pads for most predatory cats. The second or third set had two lionesses on top. The view from the 20 or less feet away that we were parked was phenomenal! We stood there for a while, one of then girls kept looking at a distance but I couldn’t see even with my binoculars what she had her eye upon, when we decided to leave I soon discovered that she had her eyes on her two sisters that were lounging by the water.

All of these cats had their snouts red which was a clear sign that they had killed earlier that day. At the rocks I tried to get the lionesses attention by waving my shemaugh in the air in order to get a perfect face picture and may have woken up some predatory instinct because one stood and looked like she may jump into our truck, luckily she must have realized that may not provide enough nutrients for the amount of energy needed to pursue me so she sat back down, my heart was about to jump out of my chest!

We left that scene only to find the sight of the day or perhaps the trip, we found the male lion and with him was two of his mates but we saw one of them carry an infant cub In her snout, the same snout that killed zebras and wilderbeast now has the gentle sensitivity to pick up her baby and not even scratch it.

We kept moving towards the Ngororo crater and it was a long bumpy ride with only a few ostriches on sight and maybe 3-4 hours into our ride we saw a rock formation with 3 male lions probably brothers since its a rare sight to see so many males in one place.

This is your driver-guide Arnold with ADS. My latest safari (September 27, 2013 to October 4, 2013) with my two guests from Chicago named David and Moira was really very good. We had the chance to see several groups of migratory wildebeest cross the Mara River in the North Serengeti. Another highlight was seeing the endangered black rhino very close to our vehicle in the Mara River area of the North Serengeti.

This was the second time for the clients to be with us for a safari in the Serengeti. Last time my guests traveled with us in February 2011 and hence it had been about 2.5 years since their first trip. My guests enjoyed very much being in the Northern Serengeti because their first safari was in the green season and they spent most of their time in the South and East Serengeti Plains.  Kindly enjoy the below photos that I would like to share with you.

– Sunrise at Kogatende – Northern Serengeti.

– Leopard cub at Wogakuria Kopjes – Northern Serengeti.

– Female cheetah with two cubs in Central Serengeti.

– Crossing at Mara River.

– Dung beetle at Mara River area.

– Lion Pride at Lobo Valley, North Serengeti.

– Two cubs at Sametu area – Central Serengeti.

– Cheetah at the top of termite mound – Central Serengeti.

– Rhino at Mara River area – Northern Serengeti.

– Big male lion at Kogatende, North Serengeti.

Thanks,
Arnold Y. Mushi
ADS Guide

Jambo from the bush! This is Anglebert Mrema, a guide for Africa Dream Safaris, with a report on the northern part of Tanzania. I am just back recently from a safari (September 26, 2013 to October 4, 2013) with Connie and Rusty from Georgia, USA.

Our safari together was fantastic as shown by the amazing pictures below. We had nine days on safari covering the Serengeti, Ngorongoro and Tarangire ecosystems with one night at Kuria Hills on September 26th in the North Serengeti , two nights at Buffalo Camp on September 27th and 28th in the Northeast Serengeti, 2 nights at Sametu Camp on September 29th and 30th in the Central Serengeti , one night at Ngorongoro Lions Paw Camp on October 1st and our last two nights on October 2nd and 3rd at Swala Camp in Tarangire National Park.

The Great Migration seems to be heading south through the northern regions of the Serengeti ecosystem. There were big herds of gnus and zebras moving from the extreme northern areas including the Lamai triangle, crossing southbound at the Mara River and heading to the woodlands area around Nyamalumbwa Hills in the North Serengeti. We also saw a lot of these migration herds at the Togoro woodlands and plains as well as around Banagi hills and the Sametu marsh and plain in the Central Serengeti areas. We may end up seeing the herds at the southern plain of the Serengeti a little earlier this year than normal, and it could be due to the rain showers scattered in different corners of the Serengeti.

At Kogatende in the North Serengeti we had a great number of highlights, and obviously the first one was an amazing number of wildebeests crossing the Mara River heading south. We saw four good crossing and all of them were over 40 minutes long.

The other noteworthy sight was honeymooning leopards at Wogakuria hills in the North Serengeti. The female leopard had an interesting behavior because it had babies on the other kopje just nearby the area. To see her mating again with such young cubs was probably one way of defending the babies.

Near Buffalo Camp in the Loliondo game controlled area we had an interesting coalition of seven male lions with one big male and since these animals are territorial, to see seven males together was something. Probably the big male had to tolerate the young ones in his pride as a survival strategy within a competitive territory.

We had interesting sights at Seronera valley as well as Sametu marsh and plain in the Central Serengeti. We had a leopard drinking at a pothole near the road. We also had a pride of 18 lions with four very young cubs of about 5 weeks old at Maasai Kopjes. This pride tried to hunt zebra with no success. At Sametu marsh and plain we had a great sight of cheetahs on a termite mound during our early morning game drive. The cheetahs tried to stalk a gazelle nearby but also with no success.

Hereby are photos to share with you.

Mama lion with four cubs of about ten weeks old at Seronera Valley, Central Serengeti.

Gnus crossing the Mara River, North Serengeti.

Leopards cub of about 12 weeks old at Wogakuria Kopje, North Serengeti.

A two year old leopard drinking at Seronera valley, Central Serenget.

Cheetah with two cubs during an early morning game drive near Sametu marsh, Central Serengeti.

Leopard near Silale Swamp in Tarangire National Park.

The Great Migration in the Northern Serengeti.

More shots of the wildebeest crossing the Mara River in the North Serengeti.

Thanks,

Anglebert Mrema
ADS Guide

This is driver-guide Claude Shitindi and I would like to extend a warm greetings to the ADS community. In the last seven days I was in the bush with a couple from Ohio named Mark and Alice. We started our safari together on September 30, 2013 when I met them at the Kogatende Airstrip in the North Serengeti after they had flown in from Arusha. Our itinerary included 3 nights in the North Serengeti, 2 nights in the Central Serengeti and 1 night at the Ngorongoro Crater.

We had a fantastic time and all the places we explored had good game viewing. The North Serengeti at Kuria Hills Camp was stunning and the game was incredible. We had good sightings of lions with kills, a cheetah with an oribi antelope kill, a mother cheetah with two little cubs, crocodiles, wildebeests and other many other herbivores species.

Down in the Central Serengeti it had just gotten very green after a couple weeks of black ash from the controlled burning. Large herds of elephants, zebras and gazelles were seen in most places. At the Seronera valley we tried to search for leopard for almost one hour and fortunately we got to spot three of them (mother plus two young). They had a kill that one of them was eating on the ground as there was troop of baboons nearby. Baboons can sometimes steal a kill from a leopard. Eventually the baboons were able to spot the leopard eating and one male came and chased the leopard which had to drop the kill.

At Sametu Kopjes in the Central Serengeti we found four cheetahs and the Sametu lion pride with 16 individuals including the big resident male. It was so nice to watch in the quiet of early the morning light and we were lucky to be the only vehicle at the sighting.

Our morning in the crater was beautiful as we spotted a rhino, pride of lions and hyenas hunting a young buffalo. The ambush took more than one hour because the mother and other buffaloes were really trying to protect the baby by chasing the hyenas. However, eventually the buffaloes  finally came to give up from being too exhausted.

I hope you enjoy the following pictures from my safari with Mark and Alice from Ohio, USA.

A cheetah feeding on an Oribi antelope in the Nyamalumbwa Plains, North Serengeti.

A mother cheetah with two young cubs in the Wogakuria area, North Serengeti.

An elephant feeding in the Seronera Valley, Central Serengeti

Mother and calf rhino in Olakira, North Serengeti.

Lions with a wildebeest kill in Olakira, North Serengeti.

Leopard feeding on a gazelle in the Seronera valley, Central Serengeti.

Cheetah in the Nyamalumbwa Plains, North Serengeti.

Lilac breasted roller near the Maasai Kopjes, Central Serengeti.

Grey Crowned Crane in the Ngorongoro Crater.

Thanks,

Claude Shitindi
ADS Guide

Here I am again to display the photos during my most recent safari with a very nice family of four from Massachusetts named Mark, Theodore, Donna and Pam. Our safari began on September 24, 2013 with two nights at Serengeti Bushtops Camp and two nights at Migration Camp, which are both located in the North Serengeti.

We then proceeded to explore the Central Serengeti areas with two nights at Four Seasons Bilila Lodge before finally concluding our trip with two nights at the Ngorongoro Crater split between one night at Crater Lodge and one night at Manor Lodge. The trip ended on October 2, 2013 when the guests departed back home to Massachusetts on the evening KLM flight leaving from Kilimanjaro Airport.

The guests and I had a good time together and they really enjoyed the beauty of the wild. One of the highlights of the trip was seeing a mother rhino with a young baby near the Mara River in the North Serengeti. Thus below are the photos to share with you:

We do hope that the number of lions will increase in the Ngorongoro Crater if we have this kind of male around! We witnessed these lions copulating about every 9 nine minutes. The gestation period for lions is about three months and they can have up to four cubs at a time. Hopefully, we will have some new cubs in the Crater at the beginning of the year.

We saw this lioness that killed a wildebeest around Wogakuria Kopjes, North Serengeti.

When I was driving through the Fort Ikoma area on the way to pick up the guests, I saw large herds of wildebeests and was beginning to think that most of the migration had already crossed the Mara River. However, upon arriving to the Mara River area the story was different and it became clear that most of the migration is still located up in the North Serengeti, which is good news for clients with October safaris. We saw thousands of wildebeests on both sides of the Mara River and even a nice crossing that lasted 30 minutes.

We saw this huge male leopard around Lobo Hills in the North Serengeti. He was eating a Grant’s gazelle. I can say that I have never seen a big male like since I have been a safari guide. My clients were even comparing this male’s size with some of lions we have seen. It was an extraordinary sight!

I was very happy with the game viewing on the safari and especially the situation around Lobo Kopjes and Lobo Hills in the North Serengeti including the Grumeti Game Circuit. The vegetation was green and there were large numbers of animals.

Regards,

Elisson Mkonyi
ADS Guide

Good morning from Tanzania! My name is Patrick Clement Kivumbi and I am a driver-guide with Africa Dream Safaris. This time I was with a group of four persons from Washington State named Robert, Linda, Kristan and Darcie. We were in the bush from September 21st to October 01st 2013 and w had a wonderful time together with noteworthy wildlife sightings. The following are some of highlights during this great safari.

– Here you can see three lionesses around the lobo valley on the top of the Kopjes. They were enjoying the sun in the afternoon time.

– Two male lions again around the lobo valley.

– Another sighting in Lobo but this time with a big male leopard on the top of the tree with a grant gazelle kill. Everybody was amazed how big this leopard was. I was surprised the way the leopard was active and feeding without any shyness.

– Here you can see the leopard down from the tree protecting his territory.

– Now the leopard is resting under the tree after being full and exhausted.

– Here is a dik dik, the smallest antelope in the Serengeti.

– Zebras migration during one evening around Banagi hills heading to the safety of the Acacia woodlands for the overnight.

– It was a big party for the scavengers including vultures, jackals, and hyenas who were all fighting to feed on a fallen elephant.

–  We saw this action near Silale Swamp in Tarangire where a lioness successfully hunted a reedbuck antelope.

Thanks,
Patrick C. Kivumbi
ADS Guide

This is driver-guide Godson Mbonye reporting from Arusha, Tanzania. I am here to post my latest bush report. This time I was the guide for a group of 3 persons travelling from Oregon, USA named Leslie, Emmaline and Ron. The safari began on September 21, 2013 and concluded on September 27, 2013. It was a short but sweet trip! We enjoyed a total of 6 nights in the bush with 5 nights in the Serengeti split between the North and Central regions (Lemala, Buffalo and Sametu Camps) and 1 final night at the Ngorongoro Crater (Lions Paw Camp).

The wildlife activities started on September 21st at Kogatende Airstrip where I met the guests upon arrival at the Mara River or Kogatende Airstrip. We enjoyed the surrounding game drive circuit and had a good time watching the wildebeest migration cross the famous Mara River. We saw crossings on two different days.

The weather in the Serengeti was on cool side with the short rains taking place, which are small afternoon thunder showers. The bushes and grasses were green, which is a good sign for the grazers and browsers of the Serengeti. The cultural tour with the Maasai at Buffalo Camp was nice and I think a great experience for the clients.

The Central Serengeti game viewing did not disappoint and was as good as we would normally expect for this time of year. In the Ngoronogoro Crater we managed to see six rhinoceros in different areas. We ended with an early morning game to crater where we got enjoy some time with a large pride of lions.

Pictures are as follow:

– Two asinonixjubitus resting under shade by rocks land at Kogatende.
– The same family jubitus, second position.
– L’oxodanta siclotis, crossing Mara River in a way of wildebeest crossing migration.
– Wildebeest seen on crossing way at Mara River, number seven crossing way.
– The same herd on the same time heading on crossing way.
– Wildebeest seen wet after crossing the river. They were passing just in front of us.
– Family of cheetah behind a termite hill, not far from the Mara River.
– A fire ball lily flower shining in a bush as a red candle light during the early morning at Kogatende.
– A long line of Wildebeest seen on que into the water, with pretty vegetation on both rivers bank.
– Lions adults cubs seen hungry looking for prey on the plains at Kogatende.
– A King of jungle seen tired after having his lunch caught by the queen/lioness at Kogatende.
– Here the Queen of jungle prepared to catch a prey for the Kings Food.
– L’oxodanta Africana in a bush of acacia at central Serengeti.
– Food of King Lion eaten a half, had a pose for a while before keep eating his meal.
– Three leopards seen in these two trees while resting in its branches.
– Fish eagle seen standing on dead tree, within a nice view of landscape shown two horizons of Serengeti hills.
– Civet cat while hunting for small rodents in the Ngorongoro crater.

Thanks,
Godson Mbonye.

After having operated this very challenging CEO Group with Africa Dream Safaris I could never look at an alternative safari operator again. Your team and the logistical handling of this group with all their demands was fantastic, especially as this size group is a challenge on safari. The group of 36 absolutely loved the Four Season Lodge the facility enhanced the entire VIP safari experience and we even had elephants coming to drink at the water hole in front of the pool twice, it was our own private viewing without leaving our sunbeds.

The two highlights for everyone was the river crossing at Mara river where we had the private camp set up just for lunch right on the banks of the river, the service and food was all under canvas and was one of the tastiest meals we had the entire trip. Not sure how you guys got everything there, but thank you Sharon. The other highlight was the hot air ballooning which is an absolute must for any traveller to the Serengeti. The farewell dinner in the bush just put the finishing touch on an awesome safari experience.

We hope to see you in the Serengeti again soon!

Gail du Toit