Year: 2011

New South Wales

Kosciusko View

On my flight home from Africa, I flew a final sector from Sydney to Melbourne. On a beautiful clear afternoon, we had a spectacular view of the Kosciusko Range under snow; a real contrast to the tropical heat of Zanzibar where I had started NT trip home, some 24 hours earlier. In this photo from […]

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Africa

Jambo Bwana

It seemed that everywhere we travelled in Kenya, we came across a silly little song called ‘Jambo Bwana’. It was sung when we were greeted at a hotel / resort, when the waiters came with a birthday cake for a guest and almost any other situation that was happy. It has a funky tune and […]

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Africa

Zanzibar

Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous part of the United Republic of Tanzania, in East Africa. Originally settled by Arab and Portuguese traders who visited the region in early times, it was controlled by Omanis in the 18th and 19th centuries. Up until the late 17th Century, it was a centre of the slave trade for the […]

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Africa

On to Zanzibar

The name, Zanzibar, reeks of mystique and magic. It is one of those African names like Tashkent or Morocco that have a similar sound to their name. We are now here in a waterfront motel in Stone Town We returned to Nairobi from our last lodge at Kichwa Tembo, arriving for a late lunch. A […]

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Africa

Our Last Game Drive

We finished our time in Africa on Friday with a final game drive and it was a good way to finish this Safari part of our trip. We left in the late afternoon and travelled the plains and close to the Mara River. It was a warm day and quite dusty. On our morning game […]

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Africa

Kichwa Tembo Camp

We moved here last Wednesday – a little way west across the Maasi Mara – and from where we could see a little more of this vast area from a different perspective. This tented camp is very nice. It is situated in a grove of trees at the side of the plain and the swimming […]

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Africa

Maasai Mara

We are now at Fig Tree Camp, which is situated on the Mara River in the Maasai Mara National Reserve in south-western Kenya. This huge expanse of open plains is actually the northern continuation of the Serengeti National Park game reserve in Tanzania. It is named after the Maasai people (the traditional inhabitants of the […]

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Africa

Mirrored Zebras

Dual Zebras in a nature reserve

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Africa

Nakuru National Park.

We have just spent the last two nights at Nakuru Lodge where there is an enormous amount of bird life and all of the recognized animals except for elephant. The national park is relatively small, only about 180 square kilometers, of which about 25 square kms are taken up by the lake. Nakuru means “Dust […]

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Africa

Lion Success

It’s rather hard to type when sitting in the rear seat of a Landcruiser as we travel to our second destination at Lake Nakuru. We didn’t have any Internet connection at Samburu but now that we are back on main road I can get a connection through the sim card In bought in Nairobi. Our […]

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Africa

Game Drives

Each morning, we leave Samburu Lodge for a game drive. Our party splits between two four wheel drive vehicles that are driven by Charles and Joseph. They both have an outstanding knowledge of animals and birds, and there is not one bird, or animal for which they have not known the name. Yesterday afternoon, we […]

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Africa

Samburu Scenery

The area around Samburu is semi-arid it has a wet season, but just now we are at the end of the dry season. It is rather dusty except the lodge is a little oasis. It is surrounded by a high fence to keep the animals out, but there are dozens of monkeys around the buildings. […]

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