Luxury Safari Holidays

Hippos-and-birds-on-Lake-Manyara

Lake Manyara is the most beautiful of all alkaline lakes with its innumerable birds as well as supporting hippopotamus. A birdwatcher’s paradise, glossy starlings, weaver birds, eagles and many other species abound especially between October and April, when migrants visit.

The crescent shaped Lake Manyara National Park adjoins the lake and supports an extraordinarily dense and varied population of wildlife. With its 315kms², the park is relatively small but the scenery is wonderful.  In front of the steep wall of the Rift Valley open grassland turns into a landscape scattered with mahogany and fig trees to be taken over by acacia forests and the ground water forest with its abundant wildlife, such as elephants, rhinos, wildebeest, impala, Cape buffalo and giraffe, all present in large numbers.  Manyara is also the home of the tree-climbing lion, which can sometimes be seen in the candelabra and sausage trees that line the Simba River.

Tags: lake manyara, luxury safari, Tanzania Safari

Madikwe Safari Lodge views

Madikwe Safari Lodge, owned by one of southern Africa’s most respected safari companies, CC Africa, is situated within the vast Madikwe Reserve which is especially well known for the translocation projects of wild dog. 

This malaria free reserve consists of seventy five thousand hectares, vast plains, open woodlands and grassland dissected by the rugged Rant Van Tweedepoort and bordered in the south by the Dwarfsberg Mountains.  Dotted with huge rocky hills, this reserve is home to the “big five” as well as cheetah, wild dog, spotted hyena, brown hyena, giraffe, zebra, springbok, many other species of antelope and herbivores.   The endangered wild dog alone is seen by an estimated 50% of visitors and is cause for great excitement.  The rhino population consists of both the white and the rare black rhino.  In addition the elephant population on this reserve is the second largest in South Africa.

Madikwe Safari Lodge is a luxurious five star property which offers guests intimate accommodation which enjoys sweeping views over the game field plains.  Each of the sixteen very spacious suites features a sitting area, a bedroom with circular fireplace, a spacious dressing area with personal bar and a bathroom with twin hand basins, large bath tub, indoor and outdoor shower and private w.c.  Beautiful French doors open onto wooden decking which leads to an inviting plunge pool where you can cool off in the heat of the day.

Safari activities are focused on game drives in open topped 4X4 safari vehicles, both during the day and at night time when a spotlight is used, and you are accompanied by highly skilled and professional guides.  Madikwe Safari Lodge is also ideal for a family safari, and the guides are particularly adept at communicating with children.

Tags: madikwe game reserve, malaria free safari, South Africa safaris

 

Send a Cow makes a difference in Ethiopia

In December I was fortunate to be able to go on a self-funded tour of Send a Cow projects in Ethiopia with some other volunteer Ambassadors.  I have been to Africa many times on safari and have seen some wonderful things but this was an amazing opportunity to get an insight into what it is really like to live in Ethiopia.  It was a real privilege to be invited into the homes of families who have been helped by Send a Cow and to hear their stories in their own words.

Ethiopia is a beautiful country; it is twice the size of France and has a population of 71 million.  76% live on less than $2 a day and many actually have no way of earning money at all.  To a lot of us Ethiopia is synonymous with famine and the need for food aid but what we discovered is that there are also tens of millions in Ethiopia living well below the poverty line. If these people do not receive support they will one day be among those desperate for food aid. 

Poverty in the UK often just means the restriction of choice as we live in a country with a social security system that can help in difficult times. Poverty in Africa means hunger, ill health, no education and no hope for the future. We met families who had been living in extreme poverty, women in their sixties who had to work in fields for 10p a day, parents who could not afford to send their children to school, mothers whose children had died because of poor diet and lack of medical care.  Each of these families with training and support from Send a Cow are now able to grow enough vegetables to feed themselves and have some left to sell. They have broken the cycle of poverty and can now see hope for a better healthier future for themselves and for generations to come.

Ethiopia is traditionally a pastoral society so the need for livestock is not as great as in some of the other African countries where Send a Cow works.  What they do desperately need is training in sustainable but simple agricultural techniques.  All the families we met talked about how important the training on composting had been to them.  Traditionally cow dung is used for fuel and occasionally spread on the land where it quickly dries out and has no beneficial effect.  To learn that they could compost the dung and use it to feed the soil was like a miracle to them.   Such a simple technique but one that can increase the fertility of the land five times.   A lot of the families had also worked out their own ways of improving their land.  We saw many innovative but simple irrigation systems, very effective in areas where water is in short supply and often has to be carried over a mile from the nearest water source.

It was also very encouraging to see how the training that families received was passed on to other families.  Once new skills and techniques had been learned the families were very keen to teach them to others so that they too can become self-sufficient.  We met many ‘copy farmers’ whose lives had been changed thanks to the support and training they had received from a family in a Send a Cow project. 

One person who made a deep impression on me was a lady called Amarech.  We met her and her son on our first day in Ethiopia.  Amarech is 61 and a widow.  She lives with her son and his six children on a small plot of land in an area north of Addis Ababa.  Life had been very tough for Amarech.  In the last drought she had to sell her cow, they could not grow anything on her land and they had no money to live on.  She even had to go and work on another farmer’s land for 10 pence a day.  She was selected by her community to be part of a Send a Cow project because she was so poor.  She received the training and stated to put it into practice on her own land.  To be able to grow vegetables they first had to bring in more soil as the ground was so dry and hard.   Every day she had to make 14 journeys of 1 km to fetch water to water the vegetables.  She had to carry it in a 20 litre container which weighs about 20kg when full of water, a big task for such a tiny lady.   Eventually she was able to make enough money from selling her vegetables to be able to buy a donkey to help carry the water.  Together with her family she has worked hard and they now earn enough from selling the vegetables that they grow to be able to send her grandchildren to school and have a healthier diet.

Amarech said that one of the reasons they were doing well was due to the continuous support of the project extension worker.  Each Send a Cow project has an extension worker who visits the families twice a week to make sure they have understood the training and have no problems.  We heard many times from the families that this was one of the most important aspects of Send a Cow.  Not only did they receive the training but they also had people caring and supporting them until they could be self-sufficient.

Amarech’s son is very proud of his mother and all that she has achieved.  He had not been able to finish his schooling but now he is able to afford to pay for distance learning for himself.  He said that before they joined the project he felt that he was worth nothing and he had nothing to give.  Now he feels that he is a real person and that he has something to give others.  People visit him to learn the new techniques and skills from him.  Not only does the training give families the resources to be self-sufficient but it also strengthens them as individuals and binds families closer together.

We were just leaving when a tiny elderly lady came out and said that she wanted to show us her land.   This was Amarech’s mother so she must have been in her late seventies.  She had copied the techniques that had been taught to her daughter and was using them to grow her own vegetables. She was rightly proud of them. 

The family still doesn’t have a lot and life is still tough for them.  They live in small mud huts with no windows, no electricity and no water. The land is still very dry and there are sometimes night frosts that kill the seedlings. What they do now have are the resources and skills to be able to build a future for the whole family and to be self-sufficient.  

One of the staff in Ethiopia described it like this:

“To help a small child start to walk an adult will often give them a finger to hold.  The child can then walk around using the finger to help support them.  After a while the finger is no longer needed and they walk unaided.  Families in Ethiopia can be like the small child. They want to walk but in order to do so they just need a bit of help and encouragement for a short period of time.  For them the finger is Send a Cow. “

I would love to go back to Ethiopia again.  We only saw a small part of it and it is a country rich in history, culture and landscape.  It was a real privilege and an inspiration to meet the staff and families involved in Send a Cow and hopefully I will one day be able to go and see how the work has spread to even more families in need.

If you would like to know more about the work of Send a Cow, please go to the website www.sendacow.org.uk.

Sue Burdett

Tags: african safari, ethiopia, send a cow

Luxury suite at Pafuri Camp

Although Pafuri Camp in the northern Kruger National Park  is a fantastic year round destination, the best time for bird enthusiasts to visit is during the summer months when resident and migrant species are breeding.  January was a good month for bird watching and over 70 species were recorded in the camp.  Highlights include spottings of African Wood Owls, a Great Painted Snipe, a Dwarf Bittern and the Black-throated Wattle-eyes.  The best time to see mammals at Pafuri Camp is during the dry winter months when they gather in large numbers at the scarse water resources.  Night sightings have also been good including thick-tailed bush babies, impala, waterbuck, myriad nyala and bushbuck.  Vervet monkeys and chacma baboons are ever present and even a hippo was seen wading up the river one night.

Tags: kruger national park, Pafuri Camp, south africa safari, Wildlife news

Chitabe Camp

There have been some fantastic thunder showers and lightning storms, making way for the beautiful landscapes of summer and clear star filled skies.  Shades of green with red-orange flame lily and lilacs of the pretty lady have replaced the browns and golds of winter.

The wildlife sightings have been excellent.  The resident male hippo has been seen grazing in and around the camp and a female cheetah and her two cubs have been spotted at Robin’s Floodplain.  Guests were lucky enough to see the cheetah family take down an impala.

The resident lioness has been seen with two males and everyone in the camp is hoping that she will successfully give birth to her first cub since they first met her when she was eight months old.  The lion activity has provided the recent specialist photographic safari group with plenty of entertainment and some great photo opportunities.

The wild dogs have been traversing the area leaving remnants of their successful hunts all over the concession.  The pups have been growing well and are very healthy. 

Chitabe Camp lion

The skies are full of birdlife - raptors and waders are plentiful.  There have even been sightings of rare Painted Snipe in the pools near Robin’s Floodplain.

Tags: Botswana Safari, Chitabe Camp, Wilderness safaris

Camp fire at Little Governors Camp

There have been some good rains throughout January with hotter and dryer weather towards the end of the month.  Temperatures have been climbing to 33 degrees celcius.  The Mara River has been rising with waters filling up to half way up its banks which has made life rather diffidult for the resident crocodiles and hippos.  The crocodiles have been passing their time on top of the banks or in the forest while the hipos have been moving towards the slowest running waters.

Forest life:

Thousands of caterpillars have hatched and matured leaving the forest full of silk threads hanging from trees.  The Klaas Cuckoo and Greater Spotted Cuckoo, two of the few birds that can andle the caterpillars toxicity,  have been feasting on them. Visitors have been treated to a beautiful display of butterflies including Swallowtails, Zebra Whites, Blue Tigers, Diadems, Orange Tips and Monarchs.

Hot air balloon over the Mara

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wildlife: 

The grasslands have been growing a little longer and are just the right height for most of the plains game.  When it becomes too long the grazers will migrate to the rivers where the hippos have been feeding.  The grazers will be able to spot predators in the shorter grasses. 

There have been plenty elephant sightings this month with large herds, followed by bulls, moving through the Musiara Marsh and then into the forest to feed on the new growth of Teclea.  Three local bulls have been seen in the forest around Little Governors Camp.

A large herd of about 400 buffalo have been moving betweeen the Musiara Marsh, the park gate and Rhino Ridge.

Now that the buffalos have moved on the rhinos have been visible from the balloon flights.  There have also been some great camp sightings with a male, female and calf been seen opposite the river bank.

The lion prides have been spending more time apart as the game becomes more sparse - needing to cover more ground.  They have occassionally come together for social interaction or if there is a kill.  The Paradise Pride managed to kill a hippo and were feeding on it for days. 

A young cheetah and her cub have been spotted and Shakira and her two cubs are still on the Trans-Mara side of the river.   There have also been sightings of another female cheetah traversing the boundary of the reserve.  The three resident cheetah brothers have moved towards Keekarok on the Burrungat Plains.  The longer grasses here are providing good cover - although their prey is starting to move onto the shorter grasses.

The leopards have become more brazen allowing for some great sightings.

Tags: governors camp, Kenya safari, Masai Mara

News from Selinda Camp - Botswana

The rainy season has not been a disappointment with some fantastic wildlife sightings.  Large herds of elephants have been seen along the paths through the forests to the spillways where they cool off and quench their thirst in the waters.  Babies have been seen frolicking in the water not too far from their protective mothers. Zebra have been frequently spotted and lions have also been seen gorging themselves on the plentiful supply of food.  The game drives have been enhanced by the many sightings of visiting carmine bee-eaters – darting briefly towards the vehicle and taunting the photographers with a wonderful display of colour.  

Tags: Botswana Safari, selinda camp

Zarafa Camp News - Botswana

Large breeding herds of elephants, up to 100 strong, including a handful of tiny babies have been making daily appearances on the floodplains and into the lagoon.  A bull who has become a regular at the camp over the last few years has been spending his days walking around the camp munching on the fever berries and fresh grass.  More herds of elephant have been spotted congregating outside the camp on the open floodplains of the Zibadianja Lagoon and woodlands north of Selinda. Two baby leopards have been out and about and although no-one has seen them yet their little prints have been seen with their mothers in the dusty tracks.

The camp management, with the help of guests, have spent the last few months collecting photographs of predators in order to identify the different types in the area. They have identified nine different leopard and individual members of two wild dog packs in the southern Spillway section of the camp.  Some unknown wild dogs have also been identified. On one occasion while some guests were following a pack of dogs near Shumba Pan the staff at the camp received a call letting them know that the dogs were heading towards the camp. Everyone went out to the front deck of the camp where a crouching impala had been spotted hiding in the grass.  The suddenly, out of nowhere, some dogs   pounced on the impala – dragging it to the front of one of the tents.  It caused great excitement in the camp and made an excellent photo opportunity.

Lions have also been spotted, specifically four female lions and three cubs from the Selinda Pride who were spotted along the treeline towards Zibadianja Camp.

Tags: Botswana Safari, luxury holiday, zarafa camp

Crystal clear waters of Zanzibar

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Diving and snorkeling update from Zanzibar

The waters in December for wonderfully flat in Zanzibar – perfect for snorkelling and diving.  Mantas have been spotted at one of the deep dive sites in the Pemba Channel and local fisherman have been spotting loads of hammerheads whilst out fishing.  Large pods of dolphins have been spotted daily.

Fishing report

November through to March is considered the best time of year for billfish and this year has been no exception with some excellent catches.  Sailfish, blue and black marlin and Dorado and yellowfin tuna are in full season.  Other  recent catches include wahoo, king mackerel, black runner, skipjack tuna, bonito and barracuda.

Tags: Tanzania Safari, Wildlife news, zanzibar

Cheetah and cub spotted on Kenya safari

The Mara has seen some great “short rains” recently quenching the dry short grass - turning it into an emerald green carpet.  Although life is good for the grazing plains game, the predators are having to work a bit harder as their tawny colours stand out. 

The plains are covered with white, apricot and red flowers.  The plains game all have young and now that the grass is at its optimal level - the large herds of buffalo are covering less ground.  Giraffe are spending most of their time browsing around the camps in large herds whilst the elephant herds have been fairly sparse with most roaming the surrounding areas in search of new growth on the trees.  The larger than average hyena population  have been scavenging more than ever - returning to old kills in search of food.  Aardwolf and bat eared foxes have been spotted feasting on dung beetles.

The catfish in the Musiara marsh have come out of hibernation and many different varieties of frogs have emerged - much to the delight of the water birds who are taking advantage of the abundant supply.

The lion prides are thriving and teh cheetahs are also doing well with the surprise arrival of a an unfamiliar female and her two cubs. Leopard sightings have also been good due to the shorter grass.

Tags: Family Safari, Kenya safari, Masai Mara