Sunday in the bush

In the bush everybody wakes early. We are no exception and we are rewarded by the beauty of Africa and its shining sun, blue sky, red soil and the endless plains of the Masai land.

It has been raining and our Land Rover skates in the mud, crosses creeks, climbs up and down the Mara trails. Great driver, John.

Lions and hyenas are not difficult to spot today, but the highlights are the very close encounters with a leopard hanging down a tree just above our heads and with a sleepy hippo during the walk along the Mara river. Following a cheetah during hunting was not bad either. As were the endless herds of placid gnus, tail-shaking Thomson gazelles and hi-definition zebras (their stripes, at least).

And stunning landscapes and excellent food. What else can we ask for?

As the red sun sets on the Mara and, totally exhausted, we go to sleep accompanied by the sounds of wildlife around the tent, we still feel in our mouth the taste of this perfect day, maybe one of the most beautiful in our lives.

This time a bit less rough

Compared to Tanzania, luxury stay.
I could do also without the pool in the bush.

First stories and pics from Tanzania

Jambo everyone!

Mambooooo! (please, say "poa"). Habari? Nzuri!

I guess everyone now is busy working on pictures from Tanzania. It's going to take forever but I'll give you here a taste of what we've done.

Above is how we started, enthusiastic, full of energy, all clothes were still clean and in order, our Moleskine notebooks were still to be filled in with memorable events and statements, there was no dust in our hair and under the nails, grocery shopping had just been done, drivers and cook (right side of the photo) were all ready to go. Twende (andiamo)!

Very soon, we would ride for over 1.500 km on unpaved roads with our 4WD (above), eat dust ("dust is adventure", say our driver-guide Isack il Pallonaro), learning Swahili curse words, eating soup and ugali, waving at Tanzanian children, shooting pictures like there's no tomorrow (see below).

Of course, we would also enjoy so much sleeping in a tent, with all kinds of wather conditions, dry and humid, warm and with 5 degrees outside ("mist is adventure" say Isack), not scared by the wind threatening to blow everything away.



Above, our second day in Ngorongoro, after the visit of elephants and wild boars to our camp, a freezing night accompanied by the verse of hyenas, and a song contest among Swedes, Italians and Tanzanians. Inspired by the safari, the Italian proposal was "Ci son due coccodrilli ed un orangutan..."

Tomorrow, pictures of the animals, at last!

Leaving Zanzibar

Not the best way of doing blogs (posting just at the beginning and at the end of the trip), but you know what people say: no hurry in Africa (Tin Tin) or Pole pole (piano piano) and of course Hakuna Matata. Besides, broadband Internet is not exceptional (ahem, professional deviation...).

So few pearls, just for the record.

Safari was great, spotted 4 of the big five, rhino is missing but I had plenty of them in South Africa, so I was just happy to have seen many lions and a few leopards on the branch of a tree ("a quattro di bastoni" come dicono i miei compagni di viaggio romani).

Camping was tough, instead. The Lobo camp in the Serengeti was the top (weird latrines, no showers, nothing around, in the middle of nowhere: 30$ per person...). But at the end, not only did we survive but had become perfect tent assemblers!

Some highlights: driving by a few lions, falling in the creek while coming back from the Natron waterfalls, eating goat cooked by a Maasai, singing "Ci son 2 coccodrilli e un orangutan" to a Swedish/Tanzanian crowd, visiting a school with 500 beautiful children, a road accident with a cow, our driver guide Isack (aka "il Pallonaro" due to the biiiig stories he was able to invent - next post: the story of the cook of the Lobo camp and the revenge of the baboon).

Then, of course, Zanzibar: the whitest sand, the most tourquoise see, giant turtles, the jambo jambo cocktail. And the beach boys, all speaking Italian and trying to drag you into an excursion to some atoll or a restaurant. By the way, we've learned a little Swahili on the way :)

More in the next posts, almost time to leave now. Tomorrow 24 hours stop-over in Cairo, then Rome, then home.