A Photographic Safari to Africa

Eastern Africa

During the month of November 2009, I was privileged to be able to spend 22 days in eastern Africa on photographic safaris. During that time our small group of 6 travelers, two of whom are very close friends, visited six (6) national parks, saw two major African cities, spent a couple of days with native Masai tribes in their villages, and were lucky enough to view every major animal and avian groups of wildlife one would hope to see in Africa. After saving and planning for more than 18 months, I was actually standing on the ground of the dark continent looking at the snow-covered, tallest mountain in Africa, Mt. Kilimanjaro. I stayed in the exclusive Mt. Kenya Safari Club, visited the Mt. Kenya animal orphanage, spent a night in the famous Norfolk Hotel in Nairobi, enjoyed the comfort of first class accommodations in permanent tent camps, and reveled in the luxury of a mobile tent camp in the middle of the Serengeti. Then, after riding around the parks of Tanzania and Kenya in a flip-top Land Cruiser, I journeyed on with one of my friends to Rwanda to trek into the rain forest and spend an hour with the mountain gorillas made famous by Dian Fossey.

This site will describe the parks I visited, show some favorite pictures (I took over 1000) and hopefully interest you in some day taking the same journey. I hope you enjoy this vicarious "trip." Be sure to send me a message when you get to the end letting me know what you liked. First stop: Tanzania!

The Parks of Tanzania

Lake Manyara National Park

The park is located just southeast of the Serengeti in the Great Rift Valley, which was created by a 3700-mile-long crack in the earth extending from Turkey to south of Tanzania. The park covers 125 square miles, of which 94 sq. miles are of the Lake itself. Manyara animals are protected and there is an amazing variety of wildlife, vegetation, and birds. Visitors will see giraffe, elephant, two species of baboon, African (cape) buffalo, monitor lizards, leopards, Vervet monkeys, impala zebra, bushbuck, reedbuck, waterbuck, 380 species of birds, and acacia, tamarind, baobab and sausage trees.

Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area

Towering above the Serengeti Plains in northern Tanzania is Ngorongoro Crater, sometimes called the eighth wonder of the world. It is renowned as the largest unbroken, unflooded caldera in the world and has been declared a World Heritage Site. When the center foundation of the volcano collapsed eight million years ago, the result was a 2000-foot-deep crater with a 102-square-mile floor at an altitude of 5600 feet. A great concentration of animals lives year-round in the fertile crater. Visitors will see large herds of wildebeest (10,000 to 14,000), buffalo, black rhino, zebra, eland, hartebeest, elephant and hippo. Lions, hyena, jackal, cheetah, and leopard are also prevalent. The only large animal not represented is the giraffe. The swamps serve as a migratory stopover for thousands of flamingo and numerous other bird life can often be seen.

Serengeti National Park

The Serengeti, meaning "extended area" in the Masai tongue, covers 5700 square miles to Kenya on the north to less than five miles from Lake Victoria on the West. The park offers savannahs, short grass open plains, long grass plains, dense woodlands and a central range of mountains. Every area has rivers, lakes and rock outcrops, each with its own peculiar environment. During some seasons the grassy plains feed animals in incomprehensible numbers. Wildebeest, zebra and gazelle are counted by hundreds of thousands, and they are accompanied by hartebeest, topi, ostrich, lions, cheetahs and leopards. During the rainy season, huge herds of wildebeest and zebra can be seen traveling across the plains to reach the rich grasses that burst forth as a result of the rains. Here visitors can view giraffe, hyenas, hundreds of species of birds, agamas (small, colorful lizards), hyrax (rodent-like animals that live around the rock outcroppings), crocodiles and warthogs. A visit to the Serengeti is a memory that can never fade.

The Parks of Kenya

Amboseli National Park Samburu Game Reserve Masai Mara Game Reserve

Amboseli National Park

Dominated by the majestic, snow-covered dome of Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain, Amboseli is one of Kenya's largest reserves, at 1259 square miles. Despite dry, dusty, rocky, thorn bush landscape, two permanent swamps--the Simek and Longinye--guarantee the gathering of large numbers of elephant and impala, providing remarkable game viewing.

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Samburu Game Reserve

Clustered around the Usao Nyiro River only a short distance from Mt Kenya, Samburu is considered one of Kenya's most photographic game reserves. Located in the Northern Frontier region, it is rich in mammal species unique to the area -- thin striped Grevy's zebra, reticulated giraffe, gerenuk, maneless lions, and Oryx. Birds characteristic of Samburu include the blue-naped mousebird, vulturian guinea fowl and Somali ostrich. The river divides Samburu from the Big Springs game preserve where visitors can see monkeys, baboons, civets, mongoose, hippos, dik-dik, Kudu, and gazelles.

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Masai Mara Game Reserve

An extension of Tanzania's Serengeti ecosystem, the Mara is considered by many to be the best wildlife observation spot in Kenya. It is home to the "big five"--lion, elephant, leopard, buffalo, and rhino. Here, 695 square miles of rolling grassland, bisected by the Mara River and its tributaries, thrives beneath acacia, forested hills and riverine bush. One of the most staggering wildlife events known, the annual migration from the Serengeti of hundreds of thousands of zebras and wildebeests, happens only here. Birding is excellent and you can expect to see hoopoe, marabou stork, and crowned crane.

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*Destination Handbook, Tanzania & Kenya: The Natural Wonders of East Africa, International Expeditions, 2008.

Rwanda

Volcanoes National Park

"In the heart of Central Africa, so high up that you shiver more than you sweat," wrote the eminent primatologist Dian Fossey, "are great, old volcanoes towering up almost 15,000 feet, and nearly covered with rich, green rainforest - the Virungas". Situated in the far northwest of Rwanda, the Parc des Volcans protects the steep slopes of this magnificent mountain range - home of the rare mountain gorilla - and the rich mosaic of montane ecosystems, which embrace evergreen and bamboo forest, open grassland, swamp and heath.

An exhilarating trek through the cultivated foothills of the Virungas offers stirring views in all directions. Then, abruptly, the trail enters the national park, immersing trekkers in the mysterious intimacy of the rainforest, alive with the calls of colourful birds and chattering of the rare golden monkey, and littered with fresh spoor of the mountains’ elusive populations of buffalo and elephant. Through gaps in the forest canopy, the magnificent peaks are glimpsed, easily accessible and among the highest in Africa, beckoning an ascent.