Krause House

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Safari Day Six: Drive to Serengeti National Park



We are out at the Oldupai Gorge. This is where they believe humanity began. They had so many skulls of animals that they found there that are long extinct. The Leakys are the first people to search this site. The bathrooms here were the most interesting I have ever used. It was a hole with two small platforms to squat on. Serengeti is the Massai word for endless plan, and that is exactly what it is.
We saw our first leopard today. They look so much like cheetahs. It is so dusty here. Whenever we drive by another car, our vision gets swallowed by a giant cloud of tan. Being here has made me very sad what it has done to the Massai people. They push their products onto you and do not accept no for an answer. They paint their faces so you will take a picture with them and give them money.
We just arrived at Dunia Camp. We found out we will be showering with the bucket shower! All of these camps really strive to be eco-friendly.

Safari Day Five: Ngorongoro Crater




First thing when we got to the Crater this morning, we saw a big pack of hyenas stealing a cape buffalo kill from two female lions! What a way to start the day. The lions were so angry. They had the deepest growls, but because the hyenas have such strong jaws, the lions did not dare approach them. The hyenas were making their laughing noise almost as if they were mocking the lions. Their coat was much different than I expected it to be. They are mostly a medium brown shade, but a few of them had black spots and big bushy tails. They look almost like puppies. There were a few little jackels that kept trying to get a piece of the meat, but would get scared by the much bigger animals and run away.
It is extremely foggy in the crater. It is so thick it feels like it is misting on you. Two lions walked so close to the side of the car that if we had rolled down the window we could have touched them. We stopped to watch four cape buffalo and were told that there was a lion stalking them. As soon as she decided to start chasing, two others popped up out of no where. The buffalo ended up getting away, but it was really neat to see how the lions worked together. Ammy said that lions do not attack humans because they know that we would jump back into our vehicles too quickly.
After a lot of binocular searching, we saw our first Rhinos. They were fairly far off the road so it made it difficult to see them which was frustrating.

Safari Day Four: Drive from Tarangiere to Lake Manyara




Lake Manyara National Park is on our way to our lodging for the next two nights, Rhotia Valley Lodge. We passed an Obama hairstyling salon today. Ammy said they are very common to see now. Lake Manyara National Park is so lush and green. It looked just like Hawaii for the twenty minutes before we officially entered the park.
Ammy told us that the Massai people carry on their culture by choice. Their children herd the animals and some look as young as three. But, they are such happy people.
Jia Longu Ni= My name is in Swahili
I am very surprised how well we have all done being so disconnected. The funny thing is something huge could have happened in the news, and we would have no idea. Everyone we meet doesn't have internet access either so they don't know either. We are joking we are going to come back with English accents because everyone we converse with has one.
Rhotia Valley Lodge was built to finance a children's home. The couple who started it are from the Netherlands. They started an NGO there, but wanted a way to finance it in part from Tanzania. It is up at 5700 feet so it is chilly here! We are getting up really early tomorrow to go to the Ngorongoro Crater. It is supposed to have incredible wildlife, but lots of people. The crater walls are so steep that it is a self-sustaining eco-system.

Safari Day Three: Tarangiere Park

I think that I was so excited to hear a lion that I woke myself up last night. Sadly, no hearing of lions, but I think I may have heard a hyena and some animal grazing outside the tent. Getting up at six to go out on safari proved not very good today. I was surprised because I thought animals were more active early in the day. In our rooms at Oliver's there are whistles in case something happens at night! The manager here, Marcus, goes barefoot because he left his shoes out one day and a hyena at them!
We saw our first Cheetah today. They were not as bright as I had expected, and she blended so well into the back round. We woke up from our afternoon naps today, and there was a giant elephant a few feet from our tent! We looked each other right in teh eye and then I took off back into my tent until he left to join his herd.
Afternoon Safari: We saw our first lions! Ammy was able to spot them from so far away! He saw their legs sticking up in the air. We were able to drive up very close to the male and female. They were napping. The male really looks like Mufasa. Ammy told us by the way that they were sleeping they were in breeding, and sure enough, we waited about 30minutes and got to see how nature happens! It all happens in less than ten seconds. Dad kept saying to Andrew who had the camera, "Shoot Shoot Shoot! If you screw this up, I am disowning you!". We now have approximately 100 pictures of lions mating!

Safari Day Two: Drive from Arusha to Tarangiere

I learned that coffee bean plants need a lot of shade. They are shaded by a Flem Tree that has bright red flowers. The air here has a really strong smoky smell. On our drive today, we saw many huts that the Massai people live in. They are warriors who carry spears with them at all times. They wear bright pieces of fabric wrapped around themselves(many that we saw wore red). The little children in Tanzania put the biggest smile onto my face. They always smile and wave when we drive by.
Today we saw two dikdiks. They are very small little animals that mate for life. If one dies, the the other will die soon after because they are so lonely. They are the smallest antelope. The zebras and wildabeests are often seen together because they have a symbiotic relationship. They zebras rely on the wildabeests to smell where the water is, and the wildabeest relies on the zebra to see where the enemy is. We saw our first elephant today! And once we saw the first, we saw a bunch of them! The feeling of the jeep driving is a lot like the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland. The jeep moves slow, but jerky around turns. There are Boba trees here that are huge! It would take probably ten people to wrap their arms around it.
We arrived at Oliver's Camp tonight! This place makes me feel like I am in an old safari movie. We are sleeping in tents, but it is the nicest tent I have ever seen! The bathrooms are permanent, but are open air. I am nervous that an elephant will pop his head in as I am showering! There is communal dinners at a long table and a big fireplace where everyone gathers for sundowner drinks before dinner. They say that you can hear the lions at night. The people in the tent next to ours said they heard lions and hyenas the night before. The camp is not fenced in so the wildlife can wander in and out. You also need an escort to walk you places after dark. We are waking up early tomorrow to try to see a lion!

Saturday, August 14, 2010

First Day of the Safari

Today..there are so many things that happened that I don't know if I can put it all into words. We are learning some Swahili
Karibu=welcome (both to welcome some to a place or to say you're welcome)
Esante Sana=Thank you very much
Jambo=Hello

We saw many women today who carried baskets and buckets on their heads. It was right out of a picture, and it fascinated me. These loads looked really heavy, but the ladies were not even fazed. We met our guide, Ammy, wife and daughter today at their home. We laughed with the children of Ammy's village. We saw lots of wildlife today. We saw giraffes, zebra, hippos, lots and baboons and some monkeys that are only found in Arusha. I still cannot believe how close to the animals we can get. It felt just like when the people visit Jurassic Park for the first time. Everyone is so friendly. They all wave and yell JAMBO as you go by! We went on our canoe trip with a guide named Nelson, and at first, I didn't think we would see anything, but then out of no where we heard a Ga-Rumph. Two giant hippos appeared! They are huge animals that have the shortest little legs.

Day One in Tanzania JAMBO

The following posts are what I kept in my journal.

Today we arrived at the Moivaro Coffee Plantation Lodge in Arusha, Tanzania. Africa is so different than what I expected. The majority of the roads that we drove on were paved and majority of people spoke English very well. I cannot wait to see what everything will look like in the morning. We are going on a canoe trip tomorrow which should be really fun. Tanzania is much colder than I expected it to be. You can see your breath when you're outside. There is even a fireplace in our room which we had lit for us to heat the room up! The tipping here is really interesting to me. You only tip a dollar or two if the service you feel the service is way beyond average. The flight today was really easy. We watched movies and read the whole time. The airport was not nearly as hectic as I had expected it to be. The journey begins tomorrow! I can't wait.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Safari Day One

JAMBO!(hello in Swahili!)

We arrived safe and sound in Tanzania. We were all surprised to have internet, as we were told that we would not, but we are fairly certain that tonight is the last internet night!
We got in last night, and I was immediately surprised at how cold it was here! I could see my breath when we were outside. We woke up at 7 this morning to start our safari. It was amazing. I do not know if there are words to describe it here. It is everything and nothing like I imagined it to be all at the same time. We saw lots of giraffes, zebras and warthogs! We went on a canoe trip today also where we were able to get really close to three hippos. We spent the rest of the day touring Arusha National Park. We saw a lot of baboons which are such funny creatures. The look like they are fighting half the time!
We have also been working on our Swahili. Everyone here speaks excellent English, but for common phrases they respond in Swahili, and we wanted to be able to keep up.
Caribou=your welcome
Jambo=hello
Tomorrow we are touring the rest of Arusha National Park and then off to Oliver's Camp for two nights.
There are places that look just out of the Lion King!

Monday, July 26, 2010

Our last day in Amsterdam

Today wasn't quite as busy as yesterday. We all ended up sleeping today which was much needed! Even Dad slept until 8am...which is unheard of for him!
Mom, Kelly and I went to Madam Tussauds Wax Museum and we had a ball! We got our picture taken with Madonna, Obama, Winston Churchill and Lance Armstrong among many more! I cannot believe how lifelike and real all of the figures look.
Andrew and Dad went to the Heineken Brewery while we were there and had lots of fun to! It is no longer a working brewery, but they have created it so it is interactive for guests.
Dinner was pizza and now were all catching up on our internet life because we don't think that we'll have access to it until we get back to the states. I'll be keeping my journal so this blog will be updated whenever we get a chance!
Tanzania here we come!!
Hugs and Kisses to everyone at home. We miss you!

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Amsterdam: Day Four

Today was a busy, busy, busy day!
Andrew made it here safely. He navigated the public transportation successfully! We decided to start the day quickly so that Andrew wouldn't get sleepy! We took him on the canal boat tour through a tour of the outer city. We learned that Amsterdam got its name because of the dam that they built on the river Amstel..interesting!
Then we came back to the hotel, and Mom and Andrew took a nap. Dad, Fuzz and I took off in search of pizza...and ended up touring the Imperial Palace. The queen doesn't actually live there anymore, but she does conduct business there and stays when she is in Amsterdam. The palace was so intricate and beautiful. It is almost too hard to describe the beauty of it. There is marble everywhere and gold and silver galore. They are currently renovating the outside, so we didn't expect much, but boy were we blown away. I wish I could put the pictures up now for you all to see, but that will have to wait until we get home on account of having no way to load them onto this computer!
Afterwards, we came back to the hotel to get Mom and Andrew. We took off for the Jordanne district for some pizza for dinner which was delicious. We stopped at a little place on the side of the road and ordered two pizzas.
The Anne Frank house was next on our list of activities! You cannot imagine how small this place is. They have converted the house into a museum for people to walk through and get a better idea of what it was like. Anne's father was the one who published her diary after he learned that she had died in the concentration camp. Her dream had been to be a published writer one day.
And now back we are at the hotel, and I for one am very tired. Still not entirely sure of our plans for tomorrow yet..maybe the Heineken Brewery Tour? We'll see!
Tomorrow is our last day in Amsterdam! We take off the following day for Tanzania so we need to see it all and get our souveniers!
Hope everyone is doing well. We miss you!

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Day Three

Last night the time change really caught up with us all. 3a.m. rolled around and we were all wide awake! So we watched Amsterdam at night from our window which was really neat to see. The city was so busy even in the middle of the night.
Today we went on a canal tour throughout the whole city. We were able to take a bunch of different canal tour boats through the whole city. We saw the Anne Frank House from the outside. There are over 2500 houseboats that line the canals of Amsterdam..one I saw even had a hammock..now that would be the life.
We stopped and ate at a Doner Kebab place that was delicious...turns out our dutch isn't as good as we thought, and we didn't quite end up with what we ordered but it was delicious all the same.
Amsterdam is the city of bicycles! They are everywhere and definitely have the right of way ahead of people. We learned that there are over 50,000 bike thefts per year in Amsterdam which surprised me because everyone already has a bike!
It was a busy day, and I think we're all pretty tired. Andrew gets in tomorrow morning...wish him some luck finding his way here alone on the public transportation!

Friday, July 23, 2010

Second Day

Hi everybody!
We had our first full day today! We woke up for some breakfast and then Dad, Fuzz and I took off for a walk around a park close to our hotel which was absolutely beautiful. There was lots of people sunbathing outside, and while we didn't feel that it was quite suntanning weather, it must be pretty warm for them right now. We then went back to wake up mom who hasn't quite adjusted to this radical time difference. We went to the Van Gogh Museum afterwards which was beautiful. They say that they have over 1.5million visitors a year!!
We had some good ole' American food at the Hard Rock Cafe! Burgers and salads for dinner!
The time difference is such a change! We were eating dinner tonight when it was 8 in the morning at home! Luckily, Tanzania is only a one hour difference from here so it won't be hard to get used to that!
Andrew is taking off from Costa Rica today so he'll meet up with Grandpa tomorrow, and then he'll be on his flight here.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

We Made It!!

Hi everyone!
We are in Amsterdam. The public transportation was definitely an experience when we landed at the airport. It is tough to not speak a language, but it made it that much more of an adventure. We took the train to Centraal station and then realized that we were no where close to the Marriott so we asked the sweetest English couple for some help. They helped us get on the right tram which took us close to the hotel and here we are. We are all very tired from the time change, but are trying to adjust as quickly as we can! We walked all around Amsterdam today. We all saw the red light district...exactly how I pictured it to be. Amsterdam is a beautiful city. The architecture is beautiful and so unique. The city feels so safe. We walked around for hours and didn't feel uncomfortable. We haven't tried any of the local food yet, but I am sure that it will be amazing by the smells walking by the restaurants.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Packing Away

The trip is coming up quickly! We're all packing away and trying to make sure that we don't forget anything! We fly out tomorrow at 9am to Minneapolis and then head on over to Amsterdam for five days! Andrew will be flying to meet us from Costa Rica in Amsterdam so we're all looking forward to seeing him after his study abroad experience!
No promises on how often we'll be able to update our blog, but we will do our best. We will all be keeping journals so we'll keep our thoughts recorded and get them up here when we get internet access. This trip came up so fast, and I still can't believe that we leave tomorrow!

Here is our itinerary for the next three weeks!
Love you all! See you when we get home!


DATE ACCOMMODATIONS ACTIVITIES

Wednesday

July 21

Travel Day

Delta Flight # DL 2670

Depart Jackson Hole, WY (JAC) @ 9:00 am

Arrive Minneapolis, MN (MSP) @ 12:17 pm

KLM Royal Dutch Flight # KL 6058

Depart Minneapolis, MN (MSP) @ 3:25 pm

Thursday

July 22

Arrive Amsterdam, Netherlands (AMS) @ 6:35 am

Friday

July 23-

Monday

July 26

Andrew will arrive on July 25th

KLM Royal Dutch Flight # KL 652

Arrive Amsterdam, Netherlands (AMS) @ 8:10 am

Day 1

Tuesday

July 27

Moivaro Coffee Lodge

Arusha

Double Room

Triple Room

KLM Royal Dutch Flight # KL 571

Depart Amsterdam, Netherlands (AMS) @ 11:00 am

Arrive Kilimanjaro, Tanzania (JRO) @ 8:25 pm

Pickup at Kilimanjaro Airport by Deeper Africa guide, Aminel Nnko (“Ammy”), after clearing customs. Ammy will have a sign that says: Krause. He will transport you to Moivaro Coffee Lodge for your evening dinner and overnight.

Dinner and overnight at Moivaro Coffee Lodge.

Day 2

Wednesday

July 28

Moivaro Coffee Lodge

Breakfast at Moivaro Coffee Lodge. Your next ten days include in-depth opportunities to learn animal identification, wildlife tracking, and spotting wildlife in the landscape in the company of a Deeper Africa naturalist. As well, Ammy will begin to introduce you to conservation issues including human wildlife conflicts, poaching controls and conflicts, and community involvement in wildlife conservation.

Begin your wildlife viewing in Arusha National Park which contains savannah, lake, and forest ecosystems. Arusha National Park is rich in herd animals, interesting birds, and you may have sightings of the rare colubus monkey in the forest ecosystem. Seven shallow lakes were formed from the volcanic activity caused by Mount Meru’s eruption. Alkalinity in the lake from different algaes is perfect food for filter feeders, including flamingos. It is also a great habitat for hippos. Between the floor of Ngurodoto Crater and the area called Little Serengeti you’ll have ample opportunities for sightings of zebra, buffaloes, elephants, giraffes, warthogs, and several species of antelope.

Focus first on animal identification and learn to distinguish herd species. Enjoy a picnic lunch in the park. While wildlife viewing throughout your safari, you’ll have a cool box in your Land Cruiser stocked with water and your favorite sodas.

Morning meet up with your canoe guide. Enjoy canoeing on Lake Momella with great bird watching and hippo watching.

Dinner and overnight at Moivaro Coffee Lodge.

Day 3

July 29

Thursday

Oliver’s Camp

Tarangire National Park

Double Tent

Triple Tent

Laundry included

Beverages including alcohol included

Breakfast at Moivaro Coffee Lodge. You’ll drive from Arusha to Tarangire National Park with wildlife viewing as soon as you enter the park traveling south into the remote wilderness. You have exclusive access to this area of the park as there are no other lodges or camps in the area. Off-road game driving and walking safaris are allowed in this wilderness zone within the park boundaries. Your naturalist guide and private Land Cruiser are available for wildlife viewing from 6 am to 6 pm.

Tarangire contains a range of ecosystem: from grassland and woodlands in the north, to scrub and wetlands further south. The Tarangire River cuts through the park and empties into Lake Burunge in the west. As water sources dry up in the park after the end of the rainy season, animals migrate to the only permanent water available - the Tarangire River and the Silale Swamp system. Huge numbers of zebras make up the majority of the herds in Tarangire. Wildebeests, buffalos, and antelope are found as well. From the camp, Land Cruiser wildlife viewing will bring you close to Tarangire’s trademark elephants and baobab trees as well as the cats, snakes, and other animals.

Sundowners (“drinks at sundown”), dinner, and overnight at Oliver’s Camp.

Day 4

July 30

Friday

Oliver’s Camp

Breakfast at Oliver’s Camp. Tarangire boasts one of the largest and most conspicuous elephant populations in East Africa. There are large family groups with many calves being born each year. The population continues to recover from the devastating effects of poaching in the eighties. You will see herds of elephants, and gain up-close encounters with the matriarchs, babies, teenagers, and bulls. Your close contact will help expand your understanding of these incredible animals. Spend several hours surrounded by the herds, and you cannot help but feel their wisdom. Tarangire is also known for its abundant baobab trees, most of which are over 600 years old.

Sundowners, dinner, and overnight at Oliver’s Camp.

Day 5

July 31

Saturday

Rhotia Valley Tented Lodge

Karatu

Double Room

Triple Room

Breakfast at Olivers Camp. After breakfast Ammy will drive you to Lake Manyara National Park. Setting against the Rift escarpment is Manyara’s evergreen groundwater forest. While it looks like a rainforest, not enough rainfall occurs to sustain this forest. Rather, mineral springs seeping through porous volcanic soil provide most of the water for the huge mahogany, tamarind, wild date palms, croton, sausage trees, and strangling figs. In additional to the evergreen groundwater forest, the park also contains a variety of ecosystems including acacia woodland, grassy plains, a swampy fan delta, and, of course, the lake. This variety attracts a wide variety of mammal, bird, and wildlife species. Flocks of flamingos are attracted to the large amounts of algae in the lake’s soda environment while the forest areas attract large flocks of pelicans, storks, herons, ibis, and egrets. Bird watching is spectacular at Manyara, with over 380 bird species recorded. As well, the primate viewing which includes blue monkeys, vervet monkeys, and very active baboon troops is quite enjoyable. Enjoy a picnic lunch while you observe your surroundings.

Elephant, buffalo, impala, bushbuck, waterbuck, hippos, and lots of elephants roam near the lake. There are sightings of klipspringers on the rocky escarpments on the southern side of the rift wall.

While at Rhotia Valley consider visiting the children’s orphanage. Rhotia Valley operates a bed & breakfast which puts all profits into the care and well being of orphaned children from the local community who are provided with a safe place to live and a quality education. To learn more about Rhotia Valley Children’s Home visit: www.rhotiavalley.com. You can also take a guided walk through the community, if you choose.

Arrive at Rhotia Valley for dinner and overnight.

Day 6

August 1

Sunday

Rhotia Valley Tented Lodge

Breakfast at Rhotia Valley Lodge. After breakfast Ammy will drive you to Ngorongoro Crater with wildlife viewing and picnic lunch.

The Crater is an expansive environment inside an extinct volcano. Between 20,000 and 30,000 animals wander the floor. The Crater ecosystem showcases an astonishing microcosm of East African wildlife environments: grasslands, wetlands, acacia forest, and soda lake environments - with beautiful flocks of flamingos at the right time of day. Wildlife visibility is excellent, and there are wonderful opportunities for photography. Zebra, wildebeest, and gazelle mingle together; while herds of buffalo graze the long grass areas. Bull elephants and rhino are often seen feeding in green marshes, and there are plenty of hyenas. The lakes and marshes are home to exotic water fowl. Hippos lounge in the water holes and it is not uncommon to see lions.

Arrive back to Rhotia Valley Lodge for dinner and overnight.

Day 7

August 2

Monday

Dunia Camp

Serengeti National Park

Double room

Triple room

Laundry included

Beverages and alcohol included

Breakfast at Rhotia Valley Tented Camp. Head out after breakfast for the drive to Serengeti National Park. Picnic lunch at Oldupai Gorge while you stop to visit the famous Leakey digs. The Rift Valley was home to the first humans, and the Leakey family has successfully excavated some of the oldest humanoid skeletons ever discovered. Many people believe that Oldupai is the birth place of humanity. You’ll visit the onsite museum and hear a short lecture about the gorge from the resident anthropologist. Picnic lunch at Oldupai Gorge.

The word ‘Serengeti’ is derived from the Maasai language, meaning endless plain. This vast savannah grassland extends northward into the Maasai Mara in Kenya for over five thousand square miles of land, forming one of the world’s largest wildlife refuges. This is land as it was in the beginning; no fences, no settlements, just a perennial migration of wildlife. In a journey that reaches back through time, these herds of animals (currently estimated at 1.25 million) follow the seasonal rains - traveling from the Serengeti into the Mara instinctually moving with the seasonal rainfalls, sometimes migrating as much as 300 miles a year. Wildlife is allowed to roam freely across the Kenyan and Tanzanian borders, uniting the two parks into a single ecological unit that supports the largest concentration of large mammals on the planet.

The annual migration is what makes the Serengeti famous. The herds gather on the Tanzanian side of the ecosystem from sometime in November or December through early July. The migration includes vast herds of wildebeest, but also zebra and Thomson’s gazelle. The herds steadily move southward through April or May when the seasonal rains cause them to turn and begin the journey back northward toward the Maasai Mara. Wildebeest are well suited to harvest the short grasses that cover the semiarid plains of the Serengeti. The soils of this region have an underlying hard pan covered by a fertile layer of volcanic soil. Grass growing in this soil is highly nutritious taking up nutrients trapped by the hard pan.

Sundowners (“drinks at sundown”), dinner and overnight at Dunia Camp.

Day 8

August 3

Tuesday

Sayari Camp

Serengeti National Park

Double Tent

Triple Tent

Laundry included

Beverages and alcohol included

Breakfast at Dunia Camp. Continue wildlife viewing as Ammy drives you northward to the Mara River area. Picnic lunch. Sayari Camp is located in a stunning area of the Mara River, in the unspoiled and undiscovered northern part of the Serengeti. The Mara River area hosts a very high density of cats, elephants, crocodile, hippo, and antelope. Even though you are at the northern edge of the Serengeti, Sayari is still on parkland and within the boundaries of the Serengeti’s UNESCO’s World Heritage Site and International Biosphere Reserve.

Lunch, sundowners, dinner, and overnight at Sayari Camp.

Day 9

August 4

Wednesday

Sayari Camp

Breakfast at Sayari Camp. This northern section of the Serengeti connects with Kenya’s Maasai Mara Game Reserve. Rolling hills and thorny acacia woodland dominate the landscape. Evergreen forests flank the Mara River, with special habitats sheltering primates and leopard, while the river itself and its swamps are perfect habitat for water birds and crocodiles. The leopards in the forest habitat are very shy, so you will have to be very patient for a sighting.

Sayari is ideally located to witness the world famous river crossing of the Great Migration which occurs from time to time during the end of July, August, and November.

Lunch, sundowners, dinner, and overnight at Sayari Camp.

Day 10

August 5

Thursday

Sayari Camp

Breakfast at Sayari Camp. There are always hippo pods and crocodiles in the Mara River; the river is just a short distance from camp. Plain’s game is plentiful on the “little Serengeti” plains area which is not far from Sayari. There are opportunities for sightings of resident topi, hartebeest, gazelle, wildebeest, and elephant. Many other animals occupy the plains area. This is a remote wilderness area, untouched by the tourists who roam the more populated areas of the Serengeti.

There are three lion prides with territories near Sayari camp area and Ammy will begin tracking them as soon as he arrives. There are cheetahs on the “little Serengeti plains” and you may have the opportunity to see a collared cheetah, who actually roams down from the Maasai Mara. The Mara cheetah is being followed by the Cheetah Foundation which operates in the Maasai Mara and the border to the Kenya is only 15 to 20 kilometers away.

Lunch, sundowners, dinner, and overnight at Sayari Camp.

Day 11

August 6

Friday

Shooting Star Sea View Cottage

Zanzibar

Double Room

Triple Room

Breakfast at Sayari Camp. Morning game drive as you travel to Kogatende bush strip for your late morning bush flight to Zanzibar. Say goodbye to Ammy at the airstrip, as he needs to drive the Land Cruiser to Arusha. He will have your plane tickets for you and picnic lunches for the flight. The pilot will assist you in getting checked in and getting your luggage boarded on the plane.

Tanganyika Flying Company bush flight

Depart Kogatende airstrip @ 10:50 am

Arrive Zanzibar Airport (ZNZ) @ 2:15 pm

Pickup at Zanzibar Airport by Deeper Africa driver. He will have a sign that says: Krause . He will drive you to Kiwenga beach and Shooting Star.

Dinner and overnight at Shooting Star Sea View Cottage.

Day 12

August 7

Saturday

Shooting Star Sea View Cottage

Breakfast at Shooting Star Sea View Cottage. Activities as you choose:

Village walk to nearby Kiwengwa Village

Snorkeling at Mnemba Atoll (Additional charge)

Deep sea fishing or diving (Additional charge)

Sailing trip on traditional dhow (Additional charge)

Bicycling (Kayaks available)

Sunbathing at the pool or on the beach

Beach walking and exploring

Lunch, dinner, and overnight at Shooting Star Sea View Cottage.

Day 13

August 8

Sunday

Shooting Star Sea View Cottage

Activities as you choose.

Breakfast, lunch, dinner and overnight at Shooting Star Sea View Cottage.

Day 14

August 9

Monday

Shooting Star Sea View Cottage

Pick up by One Ocean at 7:45 am for morning snorkeling. One Ocean is the premier dive and snorkeling operation on Zanzibar. They will have you back at lunch time. Visit their website @ www.zanzibaroneocean.com.

Breakfast, lunch, dinner and overnight at Shooting Star Sea View Cottage.

Day 15

August 10

Tuesday

Shooting Star Sea View Cottage

Activities as you choose.

Breakfast, lunch, dinner and overnight at Shooting Star Sea View Cottage.

Day 16

August 11

Wednesday

Travel Day

Breakfast and lunch at Shooting Star Sea View Cottage. Morning activities as you choose.

Pickup by your guide @ 2:00 in the afternoon for transport to the Dar es Salaam ferry. We have you booked with first class fare. Upon arrival look for your Deeper Africa driver at the Dar es Salaam ferry departure dock. He will have a sign that says: Krause. Transport to the Slipway Restaurant for dinner. Arrange the pickup time with your driver and he will return to take you to the international airport.

KLM Royal Dutch Flight #KL 569

Departs Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (DAR) @ 11:35 pm

Day 17

August 12

Thursday

Travel Day

Arrives Amsterdam, Netherlands (AMS) @ 7:40 am

KLM Royal Dutch Flight #KL 6059

Departs Amsterdam, Netherlands (AMS) @ 10:20 am

Arrive Minneapolis, MN (MSP) @ 12:15 pm

KLM Royal Dutch Flight # KL 7990

Depart Minneapolis, MN (MSP) @ 5:00 pm

Arrive Jackson Hole, WY (JAC) @ 6:26 pm

Tanzania Emergency Contact

Nguigi Githinji 0784-666510

Ammy Nnko 0787-50063

Zanzibar Emergency Contact

Robert DeMello 0777-413009

Dar es Salaam Emergency Contact

Fran Marti 0787-144388



Tipping Guidelines

Tanzania Safaris

v Please remember:

· Gratuities are at your discretion and should commensurate with the service that you receive.

· Gratuities can be given in US Dollars or Tanzanian Shillings.

· The exchange rate is about 1463 Tanzanian Shillings to the US Dollar. Lower exchange rates will be used by some hotels.

v Gratuities comparable to a 20% tip (Level of Excellent Service):

Waiter at lodge or hotel: $1 from time to time

Porters or Baggage Handlers: 50 cents per bag

Smaller lodges with tip staff boxes: $3- $5 per person, per day

Deeper Africa Guide: $10 - $12 per person, per day

Canoe Guides: $15 for the entire family

Snorkeling Guide: $20 for the entire family

Drivers: $5 for the entire family

v Recommended tip amount for your safari: $160 to $200 USD per person