Escape to Prisoner Island

Since arriving on Zanzibar 5 days ago I have done pretty much nothing! Really! I've made a couple of shopping forays into Stone Town but beyond that and hitting the spa at the hotel, my only adventure was the ride on a traditional Zanzibarian fishing boat (Dhow) to Prisoner Island for a little snorkeling, a quick tour to the prison which has been converted into a resort (oddly it works), and a tortoise sanctuary.

Zanzibar Dhow (not mine)

The cruise started off late but as I haven't really paid too much attention to time for the past two months what do I care! It was wonderful to be back on boats again! The crew wasn't too sure what to do with me as I was willing and able to wade into the water, hop into the boats, and jump back out again - all without assistance! I think I threw the guys totally off when I insisted on checking out the mask and snorkel before we even left the beach! :)

The Dhow ride was about 30 minutes of cruising across a relatively narrow strait to Prisoner Island which is visible from my hotel. Unfortunately we didn't travel under sail but rather a rattly old outboard. On the plus side I was confident that I could pitch the 'captain' overboard and control the boat myself if necessary... I beginning to think that I've read too many romance novels as I keep imagining pirate scenarios (of course I'm not always throwing the pirate overboard)!

Once we reached the island we headed over to a small patch of coral reef that was my snorkeling grounds. I had been warned before hitting the water that the fish populations are not all that good and man did I see that. Not only is there very little diversity in the fish stocks but the numbers are really low as well. The corals show evidence of a lot of damage but seem to be redeveloping in many areas. By far the healthiest animal population (other than coral) was spiny urchins!

Picture the purple sea urchins that we have growing on the BC coast but add spikes that are at least one foot long!!! It was crazy how many there were and how long the spikes were. These ones have spikes so long that there was no way you could consider picking one up with your hands! They also had something (breathing hole??) that glowed florescent orange! Way too cool. The upside of not being blinded by the amazing number of fish is that you end up seeing so many different things!

Sea Stars Prisoners Island

I watched a sea cucumber feeding - too cool! It has a mouth (?) that looks like a bouquet of flowers (5?) that it leads with and I can only guess that it was somehow eating algae or something (not familiar with sea cucumber food!). I also saw the mantle of a clam buried into the sand. I kind of looked like it was a scallop but the mantel was zebra striped...too cool! The sea stars were somewhat similar but glowed with vibrant colours and had some serious bumps. The ones in the photo were collected by a young kid but they are representative of what I saw. There were also sea stars with long arms (about 1/2 in diameter and 6 inches long) that were bright blue!!!

After snorkeling for a while we headed to the island and after a brief and somewhat odd tour of the former prison - which is now a lovely resort (closed for renos) - we headed to the sanctuary for the giant tortoise! Incredibly habituated animals and I'm not sure the real point but I have to say the tortoises were very cool! Some of them were upwards of 150 years old!!! They have a breeding program but I'm not sure if they end up as food or sent to other places.

While on the island we also saw two small Dik diks! No that is not an obnoxious Zanzibarian (though I have met a few of those) it is a small antelope! We saw a few of these while in the Serengeti but they are very shy so I haven't gotten a decent picture before.

Back to the tortoises! They are these huge lumbering animals that literally creak like old leather creaks when they walk! It was kind of creepy as you could hear them moving towards you. If you had the lovely greens that they snack on you could hear them turn towards you and start moving at a slow but steady pace to get the food! Their legs are very short and more shuffle/drag than really lift and move. Their toe nails are something out of a horror story - long, dark, and in need of a pedicure! Combine that with them moving along concrete paths ways and you could sample the sounds of them moving for the next Wes Craven horror movie! Attach of the giant tortoise!!

After that there was time for some shell gathering and a quick swim! On that note - I have enough time to gather up some Zanzibar sand before packing my bags and heading to the airport for my trip to Nairobi. I hope you enjoy the pics below of the animals/sites of Prisoner Island.

Dust up my nose then sand between my toes – My Tanzanian Adventure

I’m currently sitting in a lovely seaside sports bar at the Mtoni Marine on Zanzibar, Tanzania. I sun is blinding as it reflects off the white sand and blue waters of the Indian Ocean. The bar is at the head of a little lagoon and there is a man standing at its mouth fishing as the tide rolls back in.

Sunset on Zanzibar!

This spot has become one of my favourites on Zanzibar as it is home to great bar tenders, fast and free wifi, and the best sun set view around! Oh yeah – it’s got a decent menu and more than one or two hotties stopping by to watch rugby or football (not women’s world cup of course L). Most nights I sit here, up-dating facebook or email, while watching the sun go down and hundreds of bats return from the offshore islands where they nest during the day. If I get really bored with all that I can watch the locals who are building boats further along the lagoon!

I digress however; Zanzibar is the final stop on my Tanzanian adventure – not the first one!

Tanzania has been a series of ‘interesting’ experiences for me! My excuse for extending the trip to TZ was to attend meetings for the Protected Areas and Poverty Reduction project that VIU is part of (with partners from Ghana and Tanzania). The general schedule was a couple of days of meeting at Usa River (near Arusha) and then off on 6 days of field trip to Mugumu (north of Serengeti National Park), and then back to Moshi (base of Kilimanjaro) for another day of meetings. After that I had about 10 days and no plans… except that I need to be back in Nairobi by 9:00 pm on July 6^th to catch my flight home.

The meetings in Usa were good but very busy! It was great to get an overview of what others have been doing and I got to report on the work that the students did in Ghana. It was also a good opportunity to spend more time with the Ghanaians as talk about next year… I’m putting in for sabbatical and if successful I’ll look at spending 6 – 8 months in Ghana. Even better – Donna and Joy were there as well so I had another couple of days hangin’ with them.

After the meetings we over we quickly headed out on our field trip. We took 3 4X4’s to Mugumu and I was joined (or rather I joined) by Grant and Rick from Work, Leslie King (X-VIU now Royal Roads), Joe & Hjalmer (FN from Tofino), Bob Hansen (Parks Canada), and 5 Ghanaians including Nat and KAS, as well as a couple of Tanzanians but I wont’ begin to guess on the correct spelling of their names now! J

Our route too us through Ngorongoro Crater Reserve (we looked into the crater but did not go into it until later) and Serengeti National Park!! A major contrast between TZ and Canada is that we can drive through the parks without paying… not so much here! The cost to drive through each park is $50/person/24 hour period (or part there of). The distance to Mugumu is quite far and since we headed out of Usa late we were basically only stopping if the wildlife was AMAZING! I spent much of my time taking the Gods that I had already gone to the Masai Mara as I had a feeling this wasn’t going to be the same (and I was right! J).

Pissed off buffalo!

Along the way we saw elephants, giraffe (more of these then I ever saw in Kenya) and some buffalo. Mostly though I was struck by simply how dusty it was! You could see clouds of dust on the horizon and knew that there was a group of tourists flying along the roads! It was also clear that animals were migrating to Kenya for green grass, as the plains were brown and dry for most of our journey through the Serengeti.

Our arrival into Mugumu was quite late (after dark) so other than our hotel I didn’t really get a good look at anything. The hotel was typically of many African places outside of the primary tourism zones – something that was originally quite beautiful but is currently showing signs of age and decline. Once we arrived there seemed to be a flurry of activity including new construction and increased focus put into the kitchen! I have no real complaints except that their mosquito-breeding program is out of control!!! I woke up one morning with over 30 bits on my arms alone!!!

While in Mugumu we attended meetings with folks associated with game reserves, a wildlife management area, 2 local communities that are study sites, and the tourism coordinator for Serengeti. The community visits were my favourite and I totally loved their reactions to Joe when he would sing and share stories of traditional life for FN in Canada. Bob indicated that the trip was a like grad school in human-wildlife conflict for him! For example, one village we visited had just had a conflict with a herd of elephants coming in to raid the crops… 100 elephants!!! I cannot begin to imagine that!

The two highlights for me on the trip were doing the game drives in Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater. The first one was a major learning experience for me! I was in a vehicle with Rick (we have similar viewing/atmosphere needs I think) and two Ghanaians were shall remain nameless but who were on their cell phones the majority of the time! For those of you who do not know what this means… it also means that they were talking at the top of their lungs!!!!!!! Of course when the elephant (nursing with her calf beside her) decided to walk VERY close to the vehicle in front of us and then walk past ours, I did point out that turning off the cell was a good idea so as to not scare her!! I got some great shots of hippos that day but the highlight was walking huge herds of wildebeest on migration – knowing that they were heading to Kenya. They ended up crossing the road in front and behind us – way too cool!!

Ngorongoro Crater is something that simply needs to be seen! I have never seen that many species living that close together except for a coral reef!!! It was simply amazing! It starts with a long drive down into the crater where we saw Masai herders moving their cattle and goats down for grazing and water (allowed on small scale only) I have a great shot of cows, wildebeest, and zebra in the same shot… just outside of the frame is a spotted Hyena picking out lunch!

Spotted Hyena - with Wildebeest Leg!

Not 5 minutes later we came across a large pack of hyena snacking on the remains of a wildebeest! Later on we saw some lions (5 lioness in total and 4 males lions), buffalo and one cheetah (through bino’s only). The drive out of the crater was one of the highlights – a few folks were scared of the steep, narrow road full of switchbacks – it was the type of road that would make Gran’s knuckles and lips white!!!

Once back in Moshi I turned my attention mostly to figuring ut what I would be doing with the rest of my days. With the help of Donna’s friend Evalyn I booked a trip out to Zanzibar and here is where I am now!! I’m staying at the Mtoni Marine resort which is a about 10 minutes (10,000 TSH cab ride) from Stone Town – a historic and economic centre on the island. I am happy to not be staying in town; however, it would be fun to be able to access the variety of eateries and coffee shops there too!

Pineapple & Coconut Rum and the Henna Tattoo!

While on the island I’ve been the ultimate in lazy and decadent! My resort has its own spa so I started my stay with a massage (contemplating ending it with one too) and have since enjoyed a pedicure and hot-oil scalp treatment! Oh yeah – I am now sporting henna tattoos on my right hand and left foot!! I am also taking advantage of the wonderful menu – I ate warthog the other night (better than the buffalo I ate in Mugumu) and will either have impala or ostrich for dinner tonight! Nothing beats a candle light dinner on the beach with a great glass of red wine and fillet of warthog! Okay! Doing all that with a hot guy would be an improvement but I’ll worry about that later! J

Well I’m going to have to continue my ramblings about Zanzibar later – my hand tailored garment is ready and I must go try it on!! More later details later!

AG

Sir David Attenborough – Where Art Thou?

I will start by saying that it is about 5:30 am in Nairobi and that the Canucks are playing to win the Stanley Cup right now. The local wifi is on but the code they provided does not work… I may go insane before the staff awake and I can access thei computer! J Go Canucks Go!!!

A four-day trip to the Masai Mara (finally spelt right! J) is only just enough time but if you can afford ($ and time) more you should do you best to spend as much time as possible out there! I imagine that this is going to end up reading like a rambling journey, which is somewhat appropriate as that is exactly what a great game drive on the Mara is like!

James & I having a picnic on the Mara River

My journey actually began at the 2011 ATLAS Africa conference in Kampala, Uganda. The first day of sessions a guy in his early 30s shows up in full Masai traditional dress (which is really just Masai dress once you get to the Mara but in Kampala it seemed more of a cultural statement/costume). He was dressed in the criss-cross cloth, covered in beads that played tinkling music as he walked, and even carried what I considered, at the time, to be weapons (they must have loved him at the security check that we all had to pass through!).

As luck would have it, Donna, Joy, and I sat beside him and after a while I simply had to strike up conversation…. When else would I get to talk to a real live Masai Warrior?! It turned out that: a) his name is James, b) he is a graduate student in the US who is currently doing his master’s data collection, and c) he is studying at Clemson University where my friend Greg Ramshaw teaches (Greg and I graduated from U of A together & James took a class from him). Well as any of you who have worked in communities, particularly in Africa, once you know someone that the other person knows… you have the inside track!!

Over the course of the next day I ended up having a photo taken with James and his friend William (also Masai) about 5 times (the conference provided a photographer that printed up the pics, complete with the conference name/date!). I also mentioned that I was hoping to go to the Masai Mara but that I didn’t think I would be able to… Enough said really! The next thing I knew James had contacted folks that he used to work with and made arrangements with William (who happened to be a driver/guide with a Land Cruiser 4X4…this will be important later) to pull together a package that fit into the very high end of what I could pay but at the same time was something that I really couldn’t afford not to do! Here’s what the deal was:

a)    Return transport from Nairobi to the Masai Mara,

b)   Day 1: Two game drives (morning and afternoon)

c)    Day 2: All day game drive

d)   3 Nights accommodation at Basecamp (and amazing eco-lodge).

e)    Total cost of the package: (approx) $1100

Oh yeah – I was the only tourist in the car!  So it was my schedule to follow and my photography needs that were met! Basecamp is an award willing eco-lodge and the food they serve (set menu) was at least 4 stars!! I cannot believe the food they served – breakfast stayed the same (sweet corn fritter, sausage, eggs and fried fungus if you wanted it) but lunch and dinner always changed! They were at least 3 courses and the soups starters were always amazing. I just about fainted when I got a salad… wait for it… with huge chunks of feta on it!! J I am still trying to get over my cheese deprivation in Ghana!

Other balloons getting ready to fly!

That other thing that I added onto my trip was actually a gift (best ever) from my parents, brother, grandmother, and Janay… a hot air balloon ride over the Mara! This was something that I had dreamed of doing for years (decades really but who wants to admit to having dreams that are literally decades old?) and thanks to those folks I had the cash to do so! William (again – it’s who you know) arrange a special deal with friends of his who have started a new company “Hot Air Safari” for me to join the morning ride two days ago. The experience was about 4 hours long (about 1 in the air) and it was worth the $400 USD and then some – I think the actual rate is somewhere between $450-$500 but this experience is one that anyone going to the Mara should do! I would also highly recommend Riz (our pilot) and Andrew (company director and another pilot) as they ran an incredibly safe and thrilling tour… and by now I am just a wee bit done with being toured!!

Okay here are the goods on my experience in the Masai Mara!

Day 1: Depart Nairobi for Basecamp – the journey takes the majority of the day but there are some pretty significant highlights for the first timer! After leaving the traffic and pollution of Nairobi behind, you head off to a more rural existence and start to see some of the familiar sights of rural life in Africa. There are small towns teeming with activity, men sitting under trees playing games or chatting, weekly market set-ups, and of course folks selling all kinds of products along the road (from veggies to souvenirs!).

The first major ‘sight’ is definitely the lookout to the Rift Valley that you get when driving down the escarpment to the valley below. The views are something that you get from high mountains but quite literally the valley opens up as far as you can see! The road down the escarpment is one that would have my grandmother’s knuckles and lips white and may turn the faint at heart into a raving lunatic! For those of you familiar with the Ice Fields Parkway it shares some similarity – a primary difference? Well trucks hauling fuel will pass on blind corners going up hill! There are also pull-off spots that folks (regardless of the direction they are driving) will pull into. These spots reminded me of the food sellers along the Cape Coast highway in Ghana – everyone sold exactly the same thing in buildings that looked exactly the same!

We didn’t make any stops until we hit the town of Narok where we met up with James and three other folks (a graduate of Clemson who also knew Greg and his travelling buddy, and a prof in Marketing from Narok U). We ended up staying for a quick lunch and I spent much of my time recruiting James’ classmate (who is Canadian) to come to VIU for the GIS program!!

Once leaving Narok we were quickly off the tarmac and it felt like my ‘real’ Masai Mara journey began. I started seeing the vibrant reds and oranges of the Masai men and women’s plaid blankets as they walked in the fields – herding the sheep and cows. Taking it all in was difficult as I felt a bit like kid in a visual candy story – too many choices of what to look at. The road itself didn’t help – William and James referred to it as the African Massage!!

Not too far along the bumpy (not as bad as some of the roads in Northern Ghana) road I started to see signs of wildlife. Thompson’s Gazelles and even Zebra… at that point I didn’t really know William and didn’t feel like I could ask him to stop and it was KILLING Me! Of course I had no idea what I was really in for so in retrospect I’m glad I didn’t ask him to stop!

About 1½ hours from our destination we came across a group of Greeks travelling together in a Mutatu (white mini buses that may or may not be 4 wheel drive – they are used as safari vehicles and taxis here) that had blown a fuel pump. Since our vehicles was empty (except for my luggage – which is not smallJ) we picked up the three wives as they had been sitting along side the road for 2 hours with only water to drink and had long since missed lunch! I thought it was interesting that William asked my permission – I’ve never been on a tour where as the primary paying client I get a say!! It was actually quite uncomfortable J.

The ladies were a nice addition and it turned out that one of them had been to BC and Spider Lake (20 mins from my house) of all places… it really is a small world. As we got closer to the lands that are actually part of the Mara ecosystem (there are community lands and protected lands on the Mara) we started to see more wildlife and as it turned out my game driving experience started when I spotted a herd of Elephants walking through the bushes on the hill across from us (this is where having a 4X4 comes in handy).

As I mention William and James are both Masai and it turns out that they have not only worked on the Mara for a long time but also grew up there so William was comfortable driving off the beaten path (outside the park and occasionally in) to get to the prime animal viewing locations. As we started driving through the bush I immediately got a sense of just how amazing this experience was going to be – we started seeing all kinds of large mammals!

Impala with weird horns

Big Daddy Elephant!!

On our way to that first group of elephants we came across: Impala, gazelle, topis (large antelope), elans (moose sized antelope that look like a cross between cows and deer), and then a small herd of Masai Giraffes!!!! J They are so beautiful and after seeing them in the wild I don’t think I could stand to see them in captivity! Eventually we found our group of elephants and it was simply AMAZING. When mom and I saw the herd of elephants last year I didn’t think that I would ever have such an experience but this trip – well the drive out was only the first of many times that I was surrounded herds of elephants (males and females) that included many young and old… there were lots of babies and some were so incredibly tiny!!!

Eventually we all agreed that despite the desire to stay with the elephants all day we should head off to our respective camps and before you know it I was checking into Basecamp!

View of Mara & Talek River from my tent

I will definitely have to post pictures of Basecamp as I’m not sure that my descriptions will begin to capture just how amazing this place really is! Everyone stays in Safari tents that are set-up on wooden platforms under thatched roof structures, but do not picture a tent like we would stay in at home! There are a couple of highlights including being met by a person holding a lovely warm and wet facecloth to help you remove the road dust! The rooms are spacious and contain a queen sized bed and shelving building in (hanging on the wall really) there is both a urinal, toilet (where they collect the urine for watering the trees) and an outdoor shower! There is also a lovely deck with a hammock and lounge chair and from both you can see the Talek River (Masai for Mosquito River) and the start of the Mara!!!! The best aspect of the place (other then the Masai Warriors that escort you around the camp at night) was definitely the food!! Any place that can feed me feta cheese in the middle of no-where is tops in my book!!

Do you really need me to tell you?

Of course the real reason for travelling to the Mara is the wildlife and that was like living in a BBC Planet Earth episode – all that was missing was David Attenborough’s voice given me running commentary on what I was seeing!! My experience in viewing wildlife in Ghana did not prepare me for what I would see and how close I would get when I was in Kenya! I saw 2 types of gazelle, 4 different antelope, lions (male and female), leopards, cheetahs, and more zebra, hippos, buffalo, wildebeest, elephants, giraffes than I could count! Some of the highlights were being surrounded by zebra and elephants (close proximity – like 10 feet! J) and getting to see hippos and lions create the next generation! That’s right – some good animal porn! J

Masai Mara from a balloon...with a local Masai!!!

As for the ballooning – I simply do not have the words to tell you how amazing it was! We floated over the Mara seeing animals and landscapes in totally different ways! The quiet was occasionally broken by passengers pointing to animals and by the whoosh created by Riz firing up the gas to heat up the air! A cell phone did go off but after a threat of imminent death it was quickly turned off… Only in Africa would you get cell coverage 1000 feet in the air in the middle of the Masai Mara!!!

Masai Warriors - He who jumps highest gets the girls!!

While floating over the Mara I could easily see the damage done by vehicles moving off the set tracks (like people moving off the trails to avoid mud!) and the ‘cattle highways’ that are created by the thousands of cows that migrate into and out of the Park each night – in theory cows are not allowed in the park but in reality they go in (with the Masai herders) every day!!! Of course it is a risk as there is little herders can do to protect their livestock while in the park and as they are only armed with spears I think they have to be some serious levels of courage (and perhaps mental health issues J)!

Wildebeest

After the balloon ride we headed out to Entim – a lovely eco-lodge located right on the Mara River… you know the one that Wildebeest and Zebra cross while dodging Crocodiles!!! After our lovely champagne breakfast we headed down to the river where we saw hippos and crocs!! After breakfast we headed out on a game drive that would normally end back in Talek River but for me it was just the start of a full day game drive!

I spent the day with James and William driving all over the Mara – heading up Look-Out hill, driving along the Mara River to see hippos (even a couple making sweet sweet hippo love J), crocodiles (one was really fat and the guys speculated that it may have had a zebra for lunch), antelope, and so many animals that I didn’t know where to look first! We had an amazing picnic sitting on the banks of the Mara watching crocs swim up and down the river!

Leopard!

In the afternoon we started our hunt for Rhinos – the only animal of Africa’s big 5 (Lion – check, leopard – check, elephant – check, buffalo – check, Rhino - L) that I haven’t seen! I wasn’t lucky enough to see one but I did get to see Lion’s having sex… even caught the post-coital growling on video! J After that we saw tons of birds and mutatus… 15 passenger van like vehicles that one should NEVER go on safari with! I said that I would come back to the importance of 4X4’s!! When we were waiting for the lions to get busy (literally) we watched/heard a group of 4 mutatus roar down the main road, which just happened to be on the other side of a river, trying to get to where we were! Fortunately they were unable to cross the river on the path that we took (an official path but 4x4 needed to pass).

Later on we headed over to the Park Warden’s place to seek permission to stay on the Mara later than normal (6:30 pm exit = sundown). While over there we caught sight of what the Mara must be like in high season – over 5 mutatus were parked next to a rather sick looking male lion and another 4 were just down the road parked next to a leopard who was trying to sleep in the shade! It made me realize that I would be less likely to enjoy life on the Mara during the high season and that I think some tourists (particularly those who can afford $10,000 camera/lens sets) really should consider what they are purchasing – why would you come to the Mara and travel in a vehicle that cannot go most places on the Mara???!!!!

Well I know that I have not begun to share all my experiences but since I went on this part of my trip I’ve made it to Tanzania, gone to the Serengeti National Park, visited the Ngorongoro Crater, and made plans to leave for Zanzibar tomorrow! On the plus side I’m now officially on vacation so will have more time to catch you up and post some pics!


A selection of pics from the Masai Mara:

Cranes

Buffalo

Spotted Hyena 

Simba - no really it is!!

Sun set on the Masai Mara

Hippo!