Barb and Baden’s Excellent African Adventure – Part 4
Making Our Way To The Safari
We arrived in the town of Arusha today where we will be starting our safari. I now use the word town to describe Arusha a bit loosely but I’ll get into that a bit later. We travelled quite a bit today leaving the African Villa in Cape Town at about 4 AM as we had to catch our 6:15 flight and we ended our travel at about 6 PM in Arusha. It’s some of the stuff that happened along the way that was quite a bit interesting.
I have to say that only after 5 days of driving in South Africa, I had gotten quite used to driving on the left side, shifting with my left hand and signalling with my right. It’s amazing that something that we take for granted (like driving) can be radically changed and the adjustment that was originally thought to be a huge problem turns out to be easily dealt with.
Getting to Dar es Salaam (the capital of Tanzania) from Cape Town was really not much of a problem as we were on South African Airways which is a modern, efficient airline as good as any other that we have flown on. We were warned by many people that the customs and immigration process at Dar es Salaam is pretty convoluted and that it involved filling out several forms, having US$50 cash and having a lot of patience.
So anyway, back to the Dar es Salaam airport store. What ends up happening is that everyone who gets off the plane at the airport who isn’t a Tanzanian citizen has to fill in two forms for immigration. Under normal circumstances, most countries have the airlines hand these forms out on the arriving plane so you can get them filled out in advance but in this case, there is a couple of tables with the forms and everyone makes a mad dash for them and starts filling them out together. I should add that it is about 35 degrees and the highest humidity that has ever been imagined so the stress of getting these forms filled out is not enough to make you sweat.
After you fill everything out you proceed along the hallway and hand your forms and your passport to this guy in a uniform just standing around in the hallway. Oh, and you also give him the $50 cash money. The guy then walks 5 feet to a wicket and hands your paperwork to another official. I have no direct visual proof to state if everything that we gave the guy was given to the official at the wicket.
Depending on a number of unknown variables, you now wait for 20+ minutes with all of the other passengers from that flight and one by one they hold up the picture on your passport meaning that you can go up and get your passport and proceed. You then get your bags and proceed to the exit. In our case, we needed to get to the domestic terminal which required a 10-minute taxi drive.
Stopping at the information desk to ask how to get to the domestic terminal involves about 10 taxi drivers leaning over to hear what you are asking and then telling you that they can take you there. We ended up with two guys who took our bags and we followed them out the door, past the taxi stand and halfway into the visitor’s parking lot where they had their taxi parked. Asking why they did not have their taxi at the taxi stand seemed a redundant question at this point so I didn’t bother. The ride only cost us $5 each (plus a $2 tip) so it wasn’t a complete rip-off.
When we got to the domestic terminal we found the airline that we were going to take to get to Arusha and got our boarding pass. The departure gate check-in process comprised of us writing our name and passport number on a blank sheet of paper. We were then given a laminated card that said boarding pass on it. We ended up giving the boarding passes to the guy at the steps to the plane and they probably got recycled for the next flight.
The flight to Arusha was on a small single-engine plane that seated about 10 people. We had to stop at a different place first but we made it to Arusha as expected at around 6:00. This plane gave a whole new meaning to the term cramped seats. Compared to this plane, regular economy seats on a jet are made to feel like business class.
We were picked up at the Arusha airport and driven to the place where we would be staying for the first night which is a guest house called Onsea House. On the drive over we talked to our driver Nathan* about a lot of things about Arusha and Tanzania in general. The first thing that really amazed me is that I had thought that Arusha was some small town but it in fact has a population of 800,000! The major industries in the town are mosquito net factories and they grow roses that are mostly sold to countries in Europe. The drive over from the airport across town took about 40 minutes to get us to Onsea House where we were given our room for the night.
(* this name has been changed for privacy reasons)
It’s interesting that we were picked up at the airport just after 6 PM when the sun was still out and in the 40 minutes that it took us to get to our accommodations, it was pitch black. It was also a bit cooler than we expected it to be as it was really hot and humid when we were at the Dar es Salaam airport. It was easily about 10 degrees cooler in Arusha and we were told that the reason was that Arusha was at an elevation of about 1300 meters.
Our room at Onsea was quite luxurious and it was the first time that we had to use a mosquito net over the bed. Barb and I had already started to take our malaria medicine a few days ago because, unlike South Africa, Tanzania is a known malaria area (which is spread by mosquito bites). We’re also armed with some industrial-strength insect repellent which is supposed to be our first line of defence against getting the deadly disease. Apparently, malaria is either the top or one of the top causes of death in Africa – mostly because most people in Africa cannot afford the appropriate malaria medicine.
Finally, the Safari
This morning we made an early start and head out with our driver and guide Nathan eastwards toward our first safari destination which is the Tarangire (pronounced: taran-jire) National Park. All (or most all) of the safaris in Tanzania take place in protected national parks which have protections for the animals against poachers who apparently still kill a sizeable number of animals like elephants and rhinos.
By the time we got to Tarangire, the temperature had risen considerably since leaving Arusha some 2.5 hours earlier. The roads that we drove on to the national park were fairly good (all paved) and we passed several other safari vehicles heading in the same direction. One of the biggest differences is that all of the vehicles were the same as ours but everyone else had between 3-6 passengers whereas Barb and I were all by ourselves with our guide. Barb had done quite a bit of research on this and found that she was able to book us a private safari for only slightly more than what most of the safari companies were offering for group bookings. After the end of one whole day on safari as I am writing this, I can honestly say that the decision to go on a private safari was worth its weight in gold.
Our guide Nathan has been really great to have with us and from the time that we met him at the airport we immediately took a liking to him. He’s one of those good-natured African people who’s got a great outlook on life even though he’s living in one of the poorer parts of the world. More importantly, his knowledge and expertise as a guide have been very valuable to us in spotting different animals in the bush and for me, situating our vehicle to get the best possible photographs.
We spent most of the day driving in Tarangire with the exception of stopping for lunch at a designated picnic area. and of course, stopping regularly to take pictures. For the first hour to an hour and a half, we really didn’t see many animals and a growing sense of dread began to mount as I was wondering if the whole day was going to be like this with very little animal viewing to show for it. However we quickly had a pack of elephants walk by our truck and almost like magic, we began to see all kinds of animals every few minutes.
I simply cannot put into words what the experience is like seeing these animals up close in many cases mere feet from our truck. On example is two sleeping lions that we came across under a tree and we go within about 10 feet of them taking picture after picture.
I shot about 200 pictures today and I can say without any hesitation that the opportunities for taking fantastic pictures in one single day today had probably been equivalent to about 10 years worth of previous trips.
Tonight and tomorrow we are staying at a camp called Oliver’s Camp and it will be our base from which we will explore for those two days. Within Oliver’s Camp, we are staying in tents but the word tent really doesn’t do justice to our accommodations. The tents at Oliver’s have queen-sized beds, drapes, furniture and an attached shower, sink and toilet. It’s really a hotel room with soft walls.
The one thing that makes you really be on your guard while being here is that you cannot walk anywhere outside in the dark unescorted. So to go for dinner in the dining tent, you have to wait for a staff member to escort you with flashlights along the path to the main area where the dining room is located. The reason for this is that you don’t get eaten by a lion or a hyena on the way to dinner. As I am writing this section it is almost 11 PM and Barb is already asleep. Through the screen walls of our tent, I can hear all kinds of animals off in the distance. Apparently, the majority of the animal predators come out at night and make a bit of noise so how much sleep we will get tonight is uncertain. Hopefully, the noises stay “off in the distance”.
Walking Safari
Barb had arranged for a walking tour at Oliver’s Camp for this morning. In contrast to a traditional safari where you are driven through the park in the safety of a vehicle to protect you from the animals that might kill you, the walking safari gives you the opportunity to leave the vehicle behind and get up close to those very same animals. The way it works is that you get up early in the morning so that you can walk around the bush for several hours before it gets really hot and you follow in single file with guys with guns in the front and the back. It’s explained that the guns are there only as a last resort but that the animals in the bush are not always predictable so it’s best to be prepared.
Our host Rudolph, a likeable South African fellow is the lead on this safari and he carries his rifle at all times during the walk. Joining us is a park ranger who takes up the rear. He’s carrying what looks like an AK-47 machine gun and doesn’t talk much. Although no gun expert, I’m pretty sure that between the rifle and the AK-47, we have enough firepower and can probably deal with any situation that comes up.
The walking safari involves a lot of walking through the bush and talking in hushed voices. We occasionally spot an animal far away and attempt to get closer but in most cases, the animals run away on their own. We see lots of tracks made by elephants, lions, and African buffalos. Most of what we see in this category is elephant dung which, in case you were wondering, each piece is about the size of a cantaloupe. Email me if you want to see pictures.
We end up seeing a group of African buffalos and we try to get close enough to them to get a better look. African buffalos are in the category of the 5 most popular safari animals known as the Big Five. The other four of the big five are elephants, lions, rhinos and leopards. Apparently, this list was given to the 5 most hunted animals back in colonial times. Today, the name is more accurately given to the list of must-see animals when going on safari although we can say from personal experience that there are way more than 5 animals worth seeing in Africa. By the time we get back home, we may have a Big 25 or something approaching this number.
The buffalos also happen to be one of the most dangerous of the big five. The reason we were told is that, unlike other animals that may attack humans, the buffalos will do so without any warning. The other animals will give you some kind of indication that they are getting annoyed and may charge you which gives you the opportunity to quietly retreat and diffuse the situation.
With this in mind, we continued to approach the buffalos. We saw about 4-5 of them grazing in the tall grass and stopped about 100 meters away from them hoping that they would move towards our direction. We waited in silence for about 10 minutes and two of them started to move toward us. However one of the buffalos started moving in the other direction and all of the others started following so we never did have any direct encounter to write about. All things considered, maybe this was for the best.
The Crater
One of the most famous sites in Tanzania is the Ngorongoro Crater. Located just east of the Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro (pronounced: n-go-ron-goro) is one of the largest intact craters in the world measuring almost 20km across. It also happens to be one of the largest concentrations of animals in Tanzania.
At this point in our trip, we were staying at a hotel called the Plantation Lodge which is about a 20-minute drive to the gates of the Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area. The lodge is one of those old 1800′ – early 1900s era plantations that has lush tropical gardens, a big central house and several separate bungalows and attentive staff wherever you may want something. While Barb and I were taking a swim at the pool a nice lady came by to take our drink orders. There was a rumour that the Plantation lodge was built only 10-20 years ago but even if so I can’t help but feel that we stepped into a time machine and for the two nights that we stayed there it was more like 1908 instead of 2008.
We arrived at the Ngorongoro Crater park gates right when it opened at 6 AM so it was another early morning for us as we left the Lodge by 5:30. Because of the popularity of Ngorongoro, there are many other safari vehicles waiting at the gate for it to open. Getting into the crater involves driving up the steep road to the crater rim and then down (a very steep road) again to get to the crater floor. Both the up and down roads are easily the worst roads imaginable as you are bouncing along a potholed dirt road that goes on for about 45 minutes up and another 45 minutes down. To add additional excitement, the side of the road is a steep drop-off so if you manage to leave the road on the way up or down you’ll drop about 100 meters down.
One of the most interesting things that we came across on the drive up the crater was that there were elephants that lived on the outside of the crater and were actually able to walk up this incredibly steep embankment. We actually saw a full-grown elephant do this and we’re talking about a hill so steep that I would probably have trouble climbing it.
From the top of the crater rim, there is a spectacular view of the entire crater floor. I took several pictures of the crater floor from the top view but because of the panoramic view I need to stitch together 4-5 pictures when I get home to show you what it looked like.
Once you are at the bottom of the crater floor, you can take roads going off in many directions. One of the first animals that we came across was a family of jackals in the above picture. They were running on the road ahead of us and all stopped and turned towards me at the same time and I got this shot. For some reason, I had always thought that jackals were the same (or close to) hyenas but there are obviously quite different – the jackals being more like foxes than dogs.
We ran into more traffic in the crater than we did in Tarangire National Park but our guide Nathan was always able to direct us down a different road that the majority of the traffic was on so we were often alone in the crater with other vehicles many kilometres away going in different directions. It wasn’t until we moved on to the net destination of our safari and got different guides did we really come to understand how Nathan was a real talent. Nathan had an almost encyclopedic knowledge of all of the animals and birds that we happened to come across and he was amazing at spotting the most obscure animal (while driving, no less) that it took us time to even see what he was pointing at. In the five days that we were with him, we learned a lot about the animals of Tanzania but more importantly, we learned about the people and what it is like living in his country.
We spent a good 6-7 hours in the Ngorongoro crater and had both breakfast and lunch there in different locations. The view of the many different animals is only surpassed by the incredible beauty of the crater itself. Lions, hippos, rhinos, ostriches and countless other animals were seen that day it will without a doubt be one of the most memorable days on our safari.
The Photography of Africa
For those of you who are not interested in the technical details of photography, you can probably skip this entire section.
The planning of our African Adventure has been years in the making and as a result, I have known for some time that, more than any other Adventure, this trip would be a photographer’s dream. As part of that photographic planning in the last 10 months, I have done an upgrade of my camera body, purchased a new zoom lens and also a new laptop specifically with this trip in mind.
One of the biggest challenges in getting good photographs on a safari is having the appropriate zoom lens. In most cases, you are in a vehicle on defined roads and you are unable to control how close you can get to the wildlife. When I was looking at purchasing a new zoom lens I had to balance out the capabilities of the lens with the weight and cost factors. In the end, I chose the Nikon 70-300 f4.5-5.6 VR lens to complement the Tamron 17-50 f2.8 lens that I already had. The Nikon lens gives me 450mm of zooming power on my Nikon D300 and is the main lens that I have been using here in Africa – usually on my camera about 90% of the time. The VR (vibration reduction) capabilities of the lens are so good that I will never buy a new lens that does not have VR capabilities. The Nikon lens is a consumer lens made of plastic (compared to metal-based pro lenses) but I have found that this material has kept the weight of this lens down which is a really significant feature given that my camera backpack is already pretty heavy as it carries my laptop in it as well. In sunlight, the low-speed f5.6 maximum aperture (at full magnification) hasn’t been too much of a limitation but if I’m shooting subjects in shadows this becomes more of an issue. Again, the only solution to this would have been to go to a full pro-level lens at f2.8 adding size, weight and about $1000 extra cost.
About 14 months ago I took the step up to digital SLR cameras with the purchase of a Nikon D80 body (along with the Tamron lens above). The D80 was (and is) a great camera but when I was planning the Africa trip, there were several issues that made me reconsider this purchase after only owning the D80 for about 5 months sold it and soon bought my current D300 body. There were two main reasons for the upgrade: first, I read a lot about how dust is a big problem on safaris and how it gets into all of your electronic equipment. As I was going to be occasionally changing lenses getting dust on the sensor would have to be dealt with the D300 has a dust cleaning feature for the sensor and the D80 does not. Another big difference is that the D300 has rubber seals on all of the openings to keep dust out. The second reason was because of the D300’s better low-light capabilities although admittedly this was not going to be such a significant issue on this Africa trip.
The concern about the dust getting into all of the equipment didn’t really start to become a real issue for the first few days of our safari. Most of the safari roads in Tanzania are dirt and as a result, a lot of the red dust gets kicked up when other vehicles pass by you or when your vehicle comes to a stop. As you’re normally holding your camera in your hand while driving being prepared for an unexpected shot, there’s really no way to avoid not getting it covered in the road dust. What I did to minimize the impact of this was I got into the habit of wiping down all of the equipment with a damp cloth as soon as we got back to our room. I realize that this doesn’t get the dust out of all of the small nooks and crannies but that level of cleaning may have to wait until I’m back in Vancouver and may involve some professional camera cleaning.
For almost all of my wildlife shooting, I leave my camera set in aperture priority mode with the maximum aperture setting. For my Nikon lens, this would vary between f4.5-5.6 deepening on the focal length to which I have zoomed. Of course, this is to try and keep the subject in focus and everything else out of focus.
Even with VR, keeping a long lens steady is always a challenge when trying to achieve really sharp pictures. To maximize the steadiness of the camera, I used a bean bag resting on top of the roof of the car. Our vehicle had large sunroof openings so standing up gave me 360-degree unobstructed views and a place to rest my camera for all shots except if shooting high up in trees where hand holding the camera was the only option. For some reason that I cannot explain, I have not seen any other person using a beanbag on their car even if they are using an SLR and a long lens. Every other person who I’ve seen in other vehicles taking pictures seems to prefer to handhold their camera.
With this being the last day of our safari at the time of this writing, between Barb and I, we have taken about 1500 pictures and about 20-30 videos using Barb’s Panasonic FX01 pocket camera. I am carrying an 8GB and a 16GB compact flash memory card for my camera. I have been alternating between one and the other every day so that if I suffer a card failure there is less chance of losing several consecutive days’ worth of photos.
My D300 has 6 variations of RAW file format and I am shooting 12-bit RAW compressed which produces about a 10MB file in NEF format for each picture. I stopped using JPG a long time ago once I discovered how much more latitude I could recover a bad picture from NEF format as opposed to JPG. Of course, I have to convert any image from NEF to JPG in order to make is useful to post on my blog and on my laptop I have Nikon ViewNX and Adobe Photoshop Elements installed. ViewNX is used primarily for viewing my images and I can convert multiple NEF files to JPG using this software. For those images that need some touch-ups before I post them, I will use Photoshop which can also export to JPG when I’m finished.
Earlier this year I decided that the Dell Axim PDA that I had been using on the road for the past 2 years was no longer suitable and needed to choose a full Windows notebook. The main driver for this was twofold: I needed a reasonably large hard disk to use to back up my multi-gigabytes of photos from my camera on a daily basis and I also needed to be able to work with large image files being produced by my D300. The small screen on the Axim and the Windows Mobile operating system was just not able to work with 10MB image files and there was no option to edit NEF files.
As such, I bought the smallest, lightest notebook that I could find which ended up being a Sony VAIO TZ series running Windows Vista. One of the biggest selling features of this notebook was the ability to offer about 8-9 hours of battery life which has been a real benefit here in our safari camps where I have no power in our tents.
Overall I have been really happy with the D300 and hope to have a few of my favourite pictures pruned out of all of the overall shots sometime after I get home and published on my photo website.
Last Post
My next posting will be the final chapter of Barb and Baden’s Excellent African Adventure.
Baden


One Comment
Arlene Witzke
I can’t wait until you make a show on this trip Baden. I’m really looking forward to the next picture show dinner party (hint!hint!). Thanks for showing us a window on such a vibrant and unique part of our world.
Arlene