June 06 Hjalli and Magga Dora took a safari with Exodus.  The tour was a 15 day camping tour with 20 people.  The truck had benches with lockers inside.  Fortunately the group got along great as there wasn't very much space in the truck .  The tour started in Nairobi and reached down to Zanzibar.

Lake Naivasha; a bird watchers paradise.

The first stop was Lake Naivasha. There we visited Elsemere, the home of Joy Adamson of Born Free fame. The colobus monkeys had become accustomed to afternoon tea on the lawn.

Crater Lake park has no dangerous predators and thus we went for a walk with the animals.  There were many giraffes, Thompson's gazelles and zebras.  During the trip we learned that zebras as as common in east Africa as sheep is in Iceland.

Giraffes have few natural predators due to their size. Therefore they move gracefully over the planes. Their weak spot is their neck and so they rarely put their head  down; preferring to eat cacti rather than drink water. It is their strong point as well. They can tee off a predator with their head if it bothers them. So the strongest neck is boss.  That is what this friendly gesture above is all about.

Next we went to Lake Nakuru. There we came upon the rarest of creatures in east Africa; the black rhino. Estimated only about 4-600 left in east Africa.

In Africa more people are killed by hippos than with any other animal. This happens at night when the hippos come out to graze.  They are not comfortable outside the safety of the water and will charge anyone they feel is threatening.

Lake Nakuru is mostly famous for their enormous flocks of flamingos. The lake has a pink streak all along the shore. The park also has abundance of wildlife. Zebras, impalas, buffalos, rhinos and leopard we saw.

The trip took us next to the Serengeti. The reserved are including and around Serengeti is roughly the size of Iceland. There the animals rule and let us visit.

A leopard was lying lazily in a tree by the road. A lioness surveyed us. The elephants were too busy grazing to notice. In spite of all this our campsite was unfenced and unguarded. The hyenas found this very humorous...

From a hot-air-balloon we could see the zebras and wildebeest herding as they prepare their migration up north to the rains. Post flight we were served a colonial style breakfast on the savannah.

The Ngorongoro caldera.  In Iceland Askja is only half the size.  The caldera is 20 km across and almost 1 km deep. Our campsite was on the brim of the caldera, at 2500m above sea level. That night resembled Icelandic camping quite a lot.

The caldera has served as a natural natural park through the ages as it has plenty of wildlife and a year round watersupply.  An estimated 25.000 animals live in the caldera. The only people allowed to live in the surrounding natural reserve are the Maasai. Their distinct red clothing is a warning for lions and other predators to stay away.

This pride of lions was setting out on their morning hunt. Didn't seem to think of us as food.

Under Kilimanjaro MD did a cultural walk around the Chaga village. They are largely Christian but in hours of need there is a certain tree they consult. We may take some comfort in that it was consulted after 09/11/01

Kilimanjaro  (5895m). The group walked to first camp and enjoyed the view from above the clouds.

In Dar es Salaam we took the ferry to Zanzibar. Stone town is a historic place. It was ruled by the sultan and a center for commerce in the Indian Ocean. In the late 1800 the British overtook the island in the shortest war in history (45 min).

The war was instigated by Livingstone who witnessed the slave trade there.  People were lured to Zanzibar where they were sold off to the middle east.  The British abolished the slavery. Now Zanzibar deals mostly in spices and tourism.

In Nungwi we found a natural aquarium that is for conservation of the green sea turtle.  There Hjalli also met his twin.

Our adventure ended there in Nungwi with a traditional celebration of the 17th of June (a.k.a. rainstorm). We are sure to visit east Africa again. It's people are friendly and the wildlife is breathtaking.  

2007 (c) Hjalmar Gislason & Margret Dora Ragnarsdottir