Mikumi NP - Easter 2016

Up close with ele's.

Easter weekend and it’s the traditional Mikumi run with an eye on the rain which starts this time of the year. With crowds expected the plan was to camp and we were informed at the gate of one other party at the Hippo pool camp site. News of the lions was positive with them being spotted in the area the previous day.

January 2016 - Back to Mikumi NP

Lazy lions at Mikumi

After the car behaved from our last week’s trip and with a long weekend on offer, it was Mikumi again with a night at Udzungwa mountains planned. We were on the road early Saturday morning but there was swelling on my jaw which we decided to monitor and keep going. 

January 2016 - Mikumi National Park

Mikumi elephants are awfully chilled around cars

After a string of car trouble over Christmas we were back on the road but uncertain how the car was going to fare. It was probably the quietest drive with both of us on the edge listening intently to the car. The car itself, despite the odd sound after the engine had to be opened as a result of the broken timing belt, appeared to be cruising as normal. Passing the very spot we broke down the couple of weeks before was kind of strange but also relief that we had made some ground.

Lake Manyara NP & Amani Nature Reserve

The Maasia steps decent on to Lake Manyara

Our Christmas trip to the Serengeti had been put on hold thanks to car trouble on the way north from Dar es Salaam to Arusha.  So instead, after a delay in Moshi to get the car sorted, we'd changed plans and headed to Tarangire national park.

But now, the tsetse flies of Tarangire national park finally got the better of us and we decided to check out Lake Manyara national park which is about an hour away. 

Tarangire National Park - December 2015

Home of the elephants, Tarangire National Park, Tanzania

2015 was a disaster for us in terms of bush time as a result of work in Kenya for 6 months and then car trouble! Car trouble has finally caught up with us and I guess in hindsight, if there was ever a good time to cop it, may as well be the year that has already been a bad one in terms of bush time.

Saadani National Park - January 2015

The isolated beach by the campsite is a highlight

After spending Christmas in the Serengeti and new years in Selous, the 3^rd long weekend in a row in January could not be missed to get in to the bush again. After weighing up Mikumi with the rain around, we decided to check out Saadani National Park for the first time. 

Selous GR: New Year's in the South

The focus of Selous is the Rufiji River

The decision to visit Selous with the rains in December was made on the way back from the Serengeti as we had only 3 days after Christmas to decide where to go for the New Year's Eve long weekend. Selous is expensive and very difficult in the wet and the game would be off the river this time of the year.  But...

Serengeti NP: Christmas in the rain

Storm clouds gather over the Serengeti plains at Simba Kopjes

Another Christmas and another plan is hatched to spend Christmas under the stars in the best park in the world. The last time we were here in the Serengeti was to check out the Mara crossing and there is no way anything would top that. We were or course following the herds once again, and like the previous year, the rains were chaotic and the herds we running out of synch. 

The Mara Crossing

Northern Serengeti, Tanzania, August 2014.


Herds gather on the far side of the Mara River in Northern Serengeti

The annual Wildebeest migration in the Serengeti is one of nature’s greatest spectacles and it’s most intense moment is surely the Mara River crossing. While we have witnessed the migration on the plains in the Southern calving grounds 3 years in a row, the Mara Crossing remained the first prize.

Sri Lanka - July 2014

Fighting elephants

We headed to Sri Lanka for a couple of weeks in July, to see friends and family. This time we didn't do the trip around the country like the previous year, spending quite a bit of time in Colombo, but we did take some time out to go check out the ancient city of Polonnaruwa, the 2nd capital of Sri Lanka.  We also checked one of the National parks nearby, called Minneriya, which is home to some nice herds of elephants.  This post is just a few photos of the elephants and birds we saw in the area.