Shady times by the pool.
Coconut palms can double as footrests in times of emergency.
17 October 2012
Princesse Bora - tough times
Morton's foot in foreground, tropical toughness beyond.
Shady times by the pool.Coconut palms can double as footrests in times of emergency.
Shady times by the pool.
Coconut palms can double as footrests in times of emergency.
16 October 2012
Herds, birds and turds
There was something that was always guaranteed during any safari...herds of animals (usually antelope), birds (some more interesting than others) and animals deficating (perhaps we frighten them)
More Madagascar photos
Lemur pee on Andrew's shirt
Tenric... which is supposed to be hybernating
How cute am I, let me count the ways.
Tenric... which is supposed to be hybernating
How cute am I, let me count the ways.
Africa- the soundtrack
Occasionally to fill in time in transit we'd make up songs relevant to our travels. Sorry in advance, they're terrible.
Africa mainland songs
"Kudu Something To Me" - You Do Something To Me"
"Baboonshka" - Babooshka
Madagascar Songs
"Lemur Me" sung to the tune to Lean On Me
"Night Lemur" - Night Fever - when looking for nocturnal lemurs
"You Can Lemur Hat On" - You Can Leave Your Hat On - when lemur is sitting of your head.
"Like a Birdgin, Thrushed for the Very First Time" - Like a Virgin - many bird English watchers in Madagascar, we figure given they get up a 4am to see birds they were probably mostly virgins, hence Birdgins
12 Days of this Trip
On the 12th day of this trip my true love showed to me...
12 travellers travelling
11 ellies eating
10 lemurs leaping
9 vultures circling
8 warthogs wallowings
7 antelope grazing
6 painted dog pups
5 leopards mating
4 birdgin bus loads
3 Robbie, Robbie, Robbies
2 Turtle doves (actually seen)
And a sling shot to keep them all at bay
Africa mainland songs
"Kudu Something To Me" - You Do Something To Me"
"Baboonshka" - Babooshka
Madagascar Songs
"Lemur Me" sung to the tune to Lean On Me
"Night Lemur" - Night Fever - when looking for nocturnal lemurs
"You Can Lemur Hat On" - You Can Leave Your Hat On - when lemur is sitting of your head.
"Like a Birdgin, Thrushed for the Very First Time" - Like a Virgin - many bird English watchers in Madagascar, we figure given they get up a 4am to see birds they were probably mostly virgins, hence Birdgins
12 Days of this Trip
On the 12th day of this trip my true love showed to me...
12 travellers travelling
11 ellies eating
10 lemurs leaping
9 vultures circling
8 warthogs wallowings
7 antelope grazing
6 painted dog pups
5 leopards mating
4 birdgin bus loads
3 Robbie, Robbie, Robbies
2 Turtle doves (actually seen)
And a sling shot to keep them all at bay
Time to relax, Ile Sainte Marie
We arrived at our final destination of the trip, Ile Sainte Marie, a small tropical island off the east coast of Madagascar. We were taken to our resort, Princesse Bora, by zebu cart and there began the relaxed, slow paced lifestyle for the next 5 nights. The individual straw thatched huts were more than comfortable with view through the coconut trees to the protected reef on the Indian Ocean. It didn't take us long to ease into the island lifestyle, within minutes of arrival we were sitting by the pool drinking cocktails. We felt a long way from the hot dusty safaris of mainland Africa, the 4:30am morning safari wake up was not missed.
Everything about this resort was idyllic but our favourite bit was discovering George the cat, her real name was Yoko but we preferred George (for those intreagued as to why, think "Of Mice and Men" or Warner Bros). She became a good companion for all of us who were greatly missing our cats at home.The snorkelling and diving were great, even directly from the shore of the resort. We hired a boat and skipper for the day and headed to Coco Bay where we heard the fish and coral were plentiful...and they were. What we hadn't expected was the commotion as we were finishing our snorkel as whales had been sighted. Though given our skipper only spoke French, it took a while to work out why we should be excited.
We raced out in the boat and found two adult humpback whales and their baby. Given it wasn't whale season, this was particularly extraordinary. Definitley worth a bit of sunburn.
Ile Sainte-Marie was possibly the location, or a part of, the mythical (possibly fictional) anarchist pirate republic of Libertatia. This colourful history is backed in part by the presence of a Pirates' Cemetery, just outside the island's principal town. The scourges of the sea, including the Dread Piratess Thomas (no kidding), share their resting places with later French colonial administrators.
Ile Sainte Marie was a perfect way to end what was an amazing holiday.
15 October 2012
Vakona_part 2
We trapsed into the jungle in search of the largest of lemurs, the Indri Indri. Unlike other lemurs these have a very short tail and ears a little like a koala. They are apparently extremely difficult to find but luck was on our side. Our guide did not let a lack of a path get in the way of tracking down a good lemur. Mud to our knees, the odd leech we found our Indri Indri and also some great close sightings of the diademed sifaka.
I
Vakona, part 1
The drive to Berenty had been fairly gruelling but the drive to Vakona forest was more painstaking. This was not due to the quality of the roads but the quality of the driver. We should have known when we discovered our driver was named Lala and he always wore a cream cardigan. A drive that normally should take 2.5 hours took almost 4 hours. Every minor road variation caused Lala to slow to snail pace or even come to a full stop. He drove like he was driving a Smart car not a new Land Cruiser. When we questioned why he was driving slower than a Zebu cart, his concern was protecting his car...apparently not protecting his tip. The roads were extemely good, I'm not sure he'd heard that a Land Cruiser was actually an off road vehicle made for roads far worse.
Our second issue with Lala (if you ignore his name and cream cardigan) was that he was suppose to be English speaking. We can count to 10 in German, it doesn't make us fluent in the language
Now we have vented about Lala....
On our way to Vakona we stopped at a reptile and butterfly park. The reptiles were the highlight here, and not just because we saw very few butterflies (perhaps the reptiles ate them). The chameleons were great, coming in all shapes, colours and sizes. The colours were particularly outstanding, fluroscent greens, bright reds, vivid blues, some that blended perfectly to the branch they sat upon or the leaves that surrounded them. The images will probably do more justice than our explanation.
Like so many of our accommodations, Vakona Forest Lodge far exceeded expectations. It is set in a verdent jungle valley with a lake at its central base.
First up, an excursion to Lemur Island.
The name says it all really, it's an island with lemurs but not just any lemurs...tame lemurs. A small canoe takes you across to the island (lemurs don't swim) where the guide gives you a small piece of banana, within seconds a lemur is sitting on your shoulder eager for the fruit. We soon discover that the black and white lemurs near the boats are shy in comparison to the ones further up the path where you are inundated, sometimes with 4 brown lemurs vying for your banana. We had joked about lemur hat prior to travelling but we all doned some lovely lemur headwear, Debbie particularly when she "accidently" rubbed some banana in her hair.
The bamboo lemur was the smallest on the island and the most shy (and the cutest). As soon as there was any sign of banana the brown lemurs were all over you, it was difficult to get much to the others.
We also hired canoes one afternoon and paddled around the several small islands. One of those was Lemur Island, another had the Ring-tailed lemur (Maki). Our canoes got a little close to the island and a few of the Maki tried to use our canoes to seek freedom off the island...a couple may have been successful....oops.
A visit to a reptile park was made more interesting by the suspension bridges through the jungle which Andrew decided was fun to bounce on while others held on for dear life. His adventurous spirit did not extend to holding the snake, unlike everone else.
Our second issue with Lala (if you ignore his name and cream cardigan) was that he was suppose to be English speaking. We can count to 10 in German, it doesn't make us fluent in the language
Now we have vented about Lala....
On our way to Vakona we stopped at a reptile and butterfly park. The reptiles were the highlight here, and not just because we saw very few butterflies (perhaps the reptiles ate them). The chameleons were great, coming in all shapes, colours and sizes. The colours were particularly outstanding, fluroscent greens, bright reds, vivid blues, some that blended perfectly to the branch they sat upon or the leaves that surrounded them. The images will probably do more justice than our explanation.Like so many of our accommodations, Vakona Forest Lodge far exceeded expectations. It is set in a verdent jungle valley with a lake at its central base.
First up, an excursion to Lemur Island.
The name says it all really, it's an island with lemurs but not just any lemurs...tame lemurs. A small canoe takes you across to the island (lemurs don't swim) where the guide gives you a small piece of banana, within seconds a lemur is sitting on your shoulder eager for the fruit. We soon discover that the black and white lemurs near the boats are shy in comparison to the ones further up the path where you are inundated, sometimes with 4 brown lemurs vying for your banana. We had joked about lemur hat prior to travelling but we all doned some lovely lemur headwear, Debbie particularly when she "accidently" rubbed some banana in her hair.The bamboo lemur was the smallest on the island and the most shy (and the cutest). As soon as there was any sign of banana the brown lemurs were all over you, it was difficult to get much to the others.
We also hired canoes one afternoon and paddled around the several small islands. One of those was Lemur Island, another had the Ring-tailed lemur (Maki). Our canoes got a little close to the island and a few of the Maki tried to use our canoes to seek freedom off the island...a couple may have been successful....oops.
A visit to a reptile park was made more interesting by the suspension bridges through the jungle which Andrew decided was fun to bounce on while others held on for dear life. His adventurous spirit did not extend to holding the snake, unlike everone else.
What we've discovered about Madagascar
-The chickens have very long legs an roam freely everywhere including the road which is
probably why they need the long legs.
-The roads have more holes than road (maybe we could have guessed this one).
-Some lizards have no legs and look like baby snakes.
-All flights are delayed or changed in some way.
-Mojitos are extremely cheap $2 AU.
-Completed rice paddies are then used to make bricks.
-A Ring-tailed Lemur's tail always has 28 rings.
-The plants are more deadly than the animals.
-Chameleons are difficult to find, damn their camouflage ability.
-The minimum dowry is one zebu (typical market value 500,000 Ariary), plus extras for particularly desirable brides. One suspects Tracey would have demand an entire herd of zebu :)
-You may have more than one wife but you must spend equal time with each. Some husbands might say one wife is enough trouble, some wives might say sharing the burden of a husband would be good...of course we would not say this.
-When a villager dies they burn their house...too bad for the remaining family members...who also have to shave their heads.
-If you have any illness the cure is to drink a cup of blood from a live zebu before you sacrifice it...not so healthy for the zebu. None of us were tempted to try this with the various ailments we had.
-Apparently flying fox tastes good but white egret does not (we didn't try either, though we would certainly be happy to eat the fruit bat that kept us awake at Pondoro).
-You can fit 4 times as many people in any vehicle than would normally be recommended.
-Car jacks are unnecessary when you have a flat tyre, you just need a few villagers.
-Children start work at a very young age, tending rice paddies, laundry against the rocks, slaughtering a pig etc from the moment they can walk.
-Babies play anywhere, frequently found beside the road with no adult nearby.
-Whenever you see a Citroen/Peugot/Renault, reflect that in 40 years time it will still be going strong in Madagascar as a taxi.
-The remotest villages, hours from electricity, will always sell fruit and mobile phone credit.
-From what we have seen, it is likely more Madagascans die from accidents (particularly on roads) and illness (zebu blood not likely to help), than from old age.
probably why they need the long legs.-The roads have more holes than road (maybe we could have guessed this one).
-Some lizards have no legs and look like baby snakes.
-All flights are delayed or changed in some way.
-Mojitos are extremely cheap $2 AU.
-Completed rice paddies are then used to make bricks.
-A Ring-tailed Lemur's tail always has 28 rings.
-The plants are more deadly than the animals.
-Chameleons are difficult to find, damn their camouflage ability.
-The minimum dowry is one zebu (typical market value 500,000 Ariary), plus extras for particularly desirable brides. One suspects Tracey would have demand an entire herd of zebu :)
-You may have more than one wife but you must spend equal time with each. Some husbands might say one wife is enough trouble, some wives might say sharing the burden of a husband would be good...of course we would not say this.
-When a villager dies they burn their house...too bad for the remaining family members...who also have to shave their heads.
-If you have any illness the cure is to drink a cup of blood from a live zebu before you sacrifice it...not so healthy for the zebu. None of us were tempted to try this with the various ailments we had.
-Apparently flying fox tastes good but white egret does not (we didn't try either, though we would certainly be happy to eat the fruit bat that kept us awake at Pondoro).
-You can fit 4 times as many people in any vehicle than would normally be recommended.
-Car jacks are unnecessary when you have a flat tyre, you just need a few villagers.
-Children start work at a very young age, tending rice paddies, laundry against the rocks, slaughtering a pig etc from the moment they can walk.
-Babies play anywhere, frequently found beside the road with no adult nearby.
-Whenever you see a Citroen/Peugot/Renault, reflect that in 40 years time it will still be going strong in Madagascar as a taxi.
-The remotest villages, hours from electricity, will always sell fruit and mobile phone credit.
-From what we have seen, it is likely more Madagascans die from accidents (particularly on roads) and illness (zebu blood not likely to help), than from old age.
14 October 2012
Berenty, a long way from anywhere
Talagnaro, known in colonial times as Fort Dauphine, is a 75 minute, customarily 3 hour delayed, flight to the southeast of Tana. Its beaches look gorgeous, the town is charcteristically third-world chaos, and for us was the gateway to Berenty Private Reserve. Our quest for spiny forests and baby lemurs was on for real now.It's more than three hours drive in a decent 4WD from Tolagnaro to Berenty.
Who knows how long it takes the local buses and trucks to cover those 80km. The road is far more holes than road. Though it is an interesting drive through villages and countryside.An alien place.
Acres of geometeric agave plantings flank the road, such as it is, before a crossroads. One fork leads to the defunct processing plant, one past a mothballed World Food Program distribution centre. Berenty lies beyond this. Berenty Reserve Lodge sits between the hot, dry, cactus filled spiny forest and a more verdant, cool, hanging vine, large tree forest.
The lodge itself is a long way from luxurious (think school camp) but is more than adequate. Its only purpose for us was to be amongst the lemurs...and this it certainly was. We had always said our timing of this holiday was mostly to be in Madagascar during baby lemur season. We
had thought perhaps we'll see a few of the babies at a distance, we had never dreamed that distance might be less than a metre away as they'd sit on the back of a spare chair at your breakfast table. The ring-tailed lemur (known locally as maki) are prolific, many with young ones attached to their stomach or backs...or generally causing mischief as any child would...cheeky little maki.
The brown lemur was also seen in abundance, also with young. They were a little more shy than the maki but still seen up close and frequent.The third most common was the verikas sifaka (many jokes being made about the sifaka, pronounced sea-fuca, we'll let you use your own imagination).
The sifaka was probably our favourite, not for the name, they move across land by dancing/leaping sideways on their back legs with their youngs ones holding on tight.
A favourite moment for Tracey and Debbie was heading into the forest while the men had siesta. Sitting on the forest floor, to the right a family of maki, to the left a family of brown lemur, in front the occasional dancing sifaka. The babies in each family would play, venturing away from their mothers as they slept in the afternoon heat.
Two more varieties of nocturnal lemur were seen on our night walk, the white footed sportive lemur and the mouse lemur, difficult to see and photograph but extremely cute. Not cute were the various large colourful spiders you'd find yourself walking into in the dark.
It was so dark it gave us the most spectacular view of the night sky. The stars have never seemed so bright.
The spiny forest is unlike anywhere we've ever seen and feels very alien. The plant life is far more dangerous than the animals here. All vegetation has either sharp spines or is poisonous. The sifaka lemurs manage to quite happily live here and can be seen leaping from cactus to cactus. It was also hot - damn hot - reaching 39.9C one afternoon. Even the locals were sweating, saying it was unseasonally hot. We had a slightly concerning moment during our walk when a couple of villagers came out of the spiny forest (beyond the middle of nowhere) wielding an axe and meat cleaver. They then proceeded to help us find chameleons.
The food at the lodge was plentiful, though not as extravagent as some places we'd stayed. Drinks were cheap and also plentiful. We tried to find a decent Madagascan wine but we now understand why mostly they serve South African and French. We call it swine -simple wine. Over all Berenty far exceeded expectations, well worth the long travel and gruelling drive.
Who knows how long it takes the local buses and trucks to cover those 80km. The road is far more holes than road. Though it is an interesting drive through villages and countryside.An alien place.
Acres of geometeric agave plantings flank the road, such as it is, before a crossroads. One fork leads to the defunct processing plant, one past a mothballed World Food Program distribution centre. Berenty lies beyond this. Berenty Reserve Lodge sits between the hot, dry, cactus filled spiny forest and a more verdant, cool, hanging vine, large tree forest.
The lodge itself is a long way from luxurious (think school camp) but is more than adequate. Its only purpose for us was to be amongst the lemurs...and this it certainly was. We had always said our timing of this holiday was mostly to be in Madagascar during baby lemur season. We
had thought perhaps we'll see a few of the babies at a distance, we had never dreamed that distance might be less than a metre away as they'd sit on the back of a spare chair at your breakfast table. The ring-tailed lemur (known locally as maki) are prolific, many with young ones attached to their stomach or backs...or generally causing mischief as any child would...cheeky little maki.The brown lemur was also seen in abundance, also with young. They were a little more shy than the maki but still seen up close and frequent.The third most common was the verikas sifaka (many jokes being made about the sifaka, pronounced sea-fuca, we'll let you use your own imagination).
The sifaka was probably our favourite, not for the name, they move across land by dancing/leaping sideways on their back legs with their youngs ones holding on tight.
A favourite moment for Tracey and Debbie was heading into the forest while the men had siesta. Sitting on the forest floor, to the right a family of maki, to the left a family of brown lemur, in front the occasional dancing sifaka. The babies in each family would play, venturing away from their mothers as they slept in the afternoon heat.
Two more varieties of nocturnal lemur were seen on our night walk, the white footed sportive lemur and the mouse lemur, difficult to see and photograph but extremely cute. Not cute were the various large colourful spiders you'd find yourself walking into in the dark.
It was so dark it gave us the most spectacular view of the night sky. The stars have never seemed so bright.
The spiny forest is unlike anywhere we've ever seen and feels very alien. The plant life is far more dangerous than the animals here. All vegetation has either sharp spines or is poisonous. The sifaka lemurs manage to quite happily live here and can be seen leaping from cactus to cactus. It was also hot - damn hot - reaching 39.9C one afternoon. Even the locals were sweating, saying it was unseasonally hot. We had a slightly concerning moment during our walk when a couple of villagers came out of the spiny forest (beyond the middle of nowhere) wielding an axe and meat cleaver. They then proceeded to help us find chameleons.
The food at the lodge was plentiful, though not as extravagent as some places we'd stayed. Drinks were cheap and also plentiful. We tried to find a decent Madagascan wine but we now understand why mostly they serve South African and French. We call it swine -simple wine. Over all Berenty far exceeded expectations, well worth the long travel and gruelling drive.
08 October 2012
Maholoholo wildlife rehab_photos
Andrew hanging out with baby white rhino.
Tracey feeding vulture. If you don't drop your arm after they've taken the meat from your hand they'll start looking for other meat...like your ear. This bird weighs around 25kg.
Bird food :-(
Tracey feeding vulture. If you don't drop your arm after they've taken the meat from your hand they'll start looking for other meat...like your ear. This bird weighs around 25kg.
Bird food :-(
07 October 2012
Simbambili - even more pictures
.
Leopards up a tree, avoiding three lionesses.
Painted dogs, on the hunt for waterbuck.
A hot afternoon, even for leopards
Leopards up a tree, avoiding three lionesses.Painted dogs, on the hunt for waterbuck.A hot afternoon, even for leopards
First lemurs_Lemur park_photos
Lemur Park- filling in time during delayed flight might as well see some lemurs.
Mumps' trusty slingshot. 
White rhino investing in its midden.
First impressions of Madagascar
Pictures to come separately
4/10/2012, en route between Antananarivo and Fort Dauphine, Madagscar
So far we've only seen Madagascar from the air and from in Antananarivo (the national capital of around 3 million), but a few things have caught the eye (and nose).
Paddy fields. We had no idea to expect these, yet every portion of watercourses (most of which are otherwise dry) have been terraced for rice crops.
Once the crop has been harvested, the remaining mud is packed into bricks of an ugly grey colour and stacked in the middle of the fields. These are then fired from within to cure the bricks, which lends a distinctive odour (probably not the reason Madagascar is sometimes known as the Isle of Aromas). Once dried the bricks are a pleasing salmon-pink, and Tana (as the city is affectionately known) thus has a rosy demeanour.
There are so many piles of bricks that the middle of a watercourse resembled, we fancied, an ancient civilisation gradually crumbling into nothingness.
The streets are a chaotic tangle of trucks, minibuses, ancient Peugots and Renaults, hand- and zebu-drawn carts piled high with unguessable cargo, bicycles and pedestrians with goods piled high on their heads (a basket full of 50 scrawny chickens does not make a great hat...glad we learned that lesson). Our driver, Patrique, astounded us by hitting nothing. Though there was a bit of a thud once, we're sure it wasn't a small child.
Businesses are small, and very much specialists. Chunks of meat, chicken and sausages hang outside ramshackle huts the size of your average (modest) garden shed. Others display selections of snacks, omnipresent advertisments for telcos & coke, PVC pipes, and so on. A layer of pinky-brown dust coats everything, recalling inland Australia after a dust storm.
Our guide, Jeff, asked us upon arrival whether we thought the local people looked more Asian or African. We weren't sure, though he tells us that Madagascan people have been described as "the most African looking Asians". This isn't a hard-and-fast rule though, and a great diversity abounds. Though our pale colouring does stand out.
Our first night was at Hotel Tana, about half a block from the presidential palace. Presumably one of the safest spots in town, though in 2009 when the coup d'etat occurred it may have been less so.
Possibly in recognition of that event, the restaurant we dined at was called Kudeta. Highly recommended, it was a bit like stepping back into France.
Aperitifs were called for, and the very-reasonable mojitos were an even more reasonable 5000Ar (equivalent to AU$2). Nibbles, including zebu skewers with a feisty sauce, whet our appetites. When we hit the dining table proper, things got even better.
Carpaccio of zebu, terrine of foie gras (du maison), crab, foie gras ravioli.....all were shared by the enthisiastic quartet, with a decent rose from Pays d'Oc.
Main courses stepped up the excitement. Pave of zebu, three noix of zebu, octopus risotto and local pork were all split into quarters and made their ways around the table. Yum.
Madagascar being, as it is, the source of renowned chocolate, Andrew felt obliged to order the selection of house chocolate specialities. One dessert between four was fine by this time, though we did supplement it with some house-prepared flavoured rums (ginger, banana, vanilla) for the promotion of digestion.
All of this came in at roughly AU$120.Bargain.
4/10/2012, en route between Antananarivo and Fort Dauphine, Madagscar
So far we've only seen Madagascar from the air and from in Antananarivo (the national capital of around 3 million), but a few things have caught the eye (and nose).
Paddy fields. We had no idea to expect these, yet every portion of watercourses (most of which are otherwise dry) have been terraced for rice crops.
Once the crop has been harvested, the remaining mud is packed into bricks of an ugly grey colour and stacked in the middle of the fields. These are then fired from within to cure the bricks, which lends a distinctive odour (probably not the reason Madagascar is sometimes known as the Isle of Aromas). Once dried the bricks are a pleasing salmon-pink, and Tana (as the city is affectionately known) thus has a rosy demeanour.
There are so many piles of bricks that the middle of a watercourse resembled, we fancied, an ancient civilisation gradually crumbling into nothingness.
The streets are a chaotic tangle of trucks, minibuses, ancient Peugots and Renaults, hand- and zebu-drawn carts piled high with unguessable cargo, bicycles and pedestrians with goods piled high on their heads (a basket full of 50 scrawny chickens does not make a great hat...glad we learned that lesson). Our driver, Patrique, astounded us by hitting nothing. Though there was a bit of a thud once, we're sure it wasn't a small child.
Businesses are small, and very much specialists. Chunks of meat, chicken and sausages hang outside ramshackle huts the size of your average (modest) garden shed. Others display selections of snacks, omnipresent advertisments for telcos & coke, PVC pipes, and so on. A layer of pinky-brown dust coats everything, recalling inland Australia after a dust storm.
Our guide, Jeff, asked us upon arrival whether we thought the local people looked more Asian or African. We weren't sure, though he tells us that Madagascan people have been described as "the most African looking Asians". This isn't a hard-and-fast rule though, and a great diversity abounds. Though our pale colouring does stand out.
Our first night was at Hotel Tana, about half a block from the presidential palace. Presumably one of the safest spots in town, though in 2009 when the coup d'etat occurred it may have been less so.
Possibly in recognition of that event, the restaurant we dined at was called Kudeta. Highly recommended, it was a bit like stepping back into France.
Aperitifs were called for, and the very-reasonable mojitos were an even more reasonable 5000Ar (equivalent to AU$2). Nibbles, including zebu skewers with a feisty sauce, whet our appetites. When we hit the dining table proper, things got even better.
Carpaccio of zebu, terrine of foie gras (du maison), crab, foie gras ravioli.....all were shared by the enthisiastic quartet, with a decent rose from Pays d'Oc.
Main courses stepped up the excitement. Pave of zebu, three noix of zebu, octopus risotto and local pork were all split into quarters and made their ways around the table. Yum.
Madagascar being, as it is, the source of renowned chocolate, Andrew felt obliged to order the selection of house chocolate specialities. One dessert between four was fine by this time, though we did supplement it with some house-prepared flavoured rums (ginger, banana, vanilla) for the promotion of digestion.
All of this came in at roughly AU$120.Bargain.
05 October 2012
Ten go to Pondoro
2/10/2012, Malule private reserve, South Africa
About two and a half hours up the road from Sabi Sand is the Balule private reserve that ajoins Kruger park. A forty minute teeth-rattling drive from the main gate gets you to Pondoro, which is reputed to be the cream of the crop of the lodges in that area. We had three nights to look forward to.
Our party of six swelled to ten as we met up with Neha (Sej's sister), her friend Prash, and Digby and Margie (Charlie's uncle and aunt). The banter cranked up to eleven, and we were away for surely the least-reverent safaris ever undertaken.
Our safari crew of Mark and Eric was a completely different flavour to Simbambili. We had the sense that Mark would drive around the bush, waiting for radioed notice of animal sightings. Periodically he'd let fly a radio burst of "Robbie-Robbie-Robbie" (the lodge's senior guide), or "Sam-Sam-Sam"/"Greg-Greg-Greg" (other local guides), and this triple callout was seized on by the peanut gallery (ie the ten of us).
Calls of jafi-jafi-jafi, wine-wine-wine, dinner-dinner-dinner were frequent, as well as our attempts at Afrikaans-accented "Robbie-Robbie-Robbie" (Prash won the prize for best accent, though it emerged that he'd been working on it for quite a few years). It got to the point when Neha outright asked Mark "so who's Sam-Sam-Sam?". To his credit, he eventually got into it ("pleasure-pleasure-pleasure").
Eric, our tracker, was nowhere near the calibre of Mumps, and things occasionally got a bit tense between him and Mark. Nevertheless, Eric got into the spirit of another of our traditions: the old "hands in the air" trick borrowed from rollercoasters. There were many watercourses to be descended, and up went hands from throughout the vehicle....and, occasionally, from Eric on his bonnet-mounted tracker's seat. Even Mark let go of the wheel on one or two occasions to join in. One can only wonder what the Germans/Americans/English/Chinese in other vehicles made of this.
The food was even better than Simbambili. Finally, we started to sample the local fare. Ostrich and impala made appearances, as did mielle-pap (a white maize derivative that we were later told needed to be eaten every five days at a minimum to maintain ones African-ness). We were treated to excellent service, though it must be noted that it was less personal than Simbambili. The breakfast buffet groaned under the weight of offerings, and each morning the menu of hot offerings changed. The hunter's omelette, egg & bacon mini-pizza and beans with olives and mushroom were highlights. Small wonder that after a 4.45am wakeup call, safari and breakfast Andrew opted out of morning safari walks following breakfast.
We never scoped out the "comprehensive wine list", but selections from the standard list proved excellent. Pinotage again, pinot noirs (a little thin, though one smelled of bacon), a very good chardonnay with the toasty notes so craved by Tracey and Henry, syrah of quality, chenin blanc at lunch and, for the leavetaking breakfast, some rather decent blanc-de-blancs in the "cap du classique" style. Pretty much everything was from the Stellenbosch region, which seems synonymous with South African wine. We envy the others who were off to that area subsequently. We also continued our tradition of shots of Amarula in our morning game drive coffee stop.
Somehow, in between fixing punctures, being shown how to harvest naturally-occurring toilet paper (although the lesson was clearly not completely taken in, as Mark observed that a sample shown by someone would "tear your anus" - you have to hear this said with an Afrikaans accent to get the humour), bagging one another in true Australian style, critiquing each others' tree impersonation (apparently "jazz hands" don't look much like foliage) and the ongoing joke duel between Charlie, Digby, Tracey and Henry (others joined in at times, but found it hard to plumb the scatalogical depths managed by the Foul Four), we we even managed to see some animals.
The range was extraordinary, surpassing in variety what we'd seen at Simbambili. Fewer birds, and only one leopard, but on two occasions we saw four of the "big five" on a single safari. Both black and white rhinos treated us to their company, a close encounter with a young bull elphant at dusk illustrated the perils of the bush by night, and a local band of six lion brothers meant that sightings of males were more often than not of several at once.
Safari 1
Large male leopard, giraffe, elephant at dusk, water buck
Safari 2
Water buck, kudu, giraffe, male lion, wildebeest, herd of Cape buffalo
Safari 3
Giraffe, White rhino, puncture
Safari 4
2 male lions, elephant, cape buffalo, black rhino, giraffes, puncture,
Monkeys raid hen,sej
Safari 5
5 male lions, zebras, giraffes, tree squirrels
We skipped one of our afternoon safaris to go to Maholoholo Rehabilitation Centre...not for alcoholics or drug users as our host advised; though he did mention someone drunk turned up injured one day following a brawl, they did treat his injuries before sending him back into the wild :-)
Maholoholo takes in injured wildlife, treating those that can be and returning them to reserve. Those animals that can't be released for various reasons (eg change of scent such that their former pride won't recognise them as a friend) are kept at the centre. We were first shown the feeding of the wild painted dogs. Digby was selected to wheel the impala carcus into the cages with the protection of a guide holding a stick (not a slingshot this time). The dogs tore it to pieces in seconds in a feeding frenzy whilst making strange chuckling noises.
Baby white and black rhino, cleaver honey badger, lions, leopards, no spiky haired baby cheetahs due to potentail TB. Feeding vultures. Food cages.
[pictures to come, bandwidth poor]
About two and a half hours up the road from Sabi Sand is the Balule private reserve that ajoins Kruger park. A forty minute teeth-rattling drive from the main gate gets you to Pondoro, which is reputed to be the cream of the crop of the lodges in that area. We had three nights to look forward to.
Our party of six swelled to ten as we met up with Neha (Sej's sister), her friend Prash, and Digby and Margie (Charlie's uncle and aunt). The banter cranked up to eleven, and we were away for surely the least-reverent safaris ever undertaken.
Our safari crew of Mark and Eric was a completely different flavour to Simbambili. We had the sense that Mark would drive around the bush, waiting for radioed notice of animal sightings. Periodically he'd let fly a radio burst of "Robbie-Robbie-Robbie" (the lodge's senior guide), or "Sam-Sam-Sam"/"Greg-Greg-Greg" (other local guides), and this triple callout was seized on by the peanut gallery (ie the ten of us).
Calls of jafi-jafi-jafi, wine-wine-wine, dinner-dinner-dinner were frequent, as well as our attempts at Afrikaans-accented "Robbie-Robbie-Robbie" (Prash won the prize for best accent, though it emerged that he'd been working on it for quite a few years). It got to the point when Neha outright asked Mark "so who's Sam-Sam-Sam?". To his credit, he eventually got into it ("pleasure-pleasure-pleasure").
Eric, our tracker, was nowhere near the calibre of Mumps, and things occasionally got a bit tense between him and Mark. Nevertheless, Eric got into the spirit of another of our traditions: the old "hands in the air" trick borrowed from rollercoasters. There were many watercourses to be descended, and up went hands from throughout the vehicle....and, occasionally, from Eric on his bonnet-mounted tracker's seat. Even Mark let go of the wheel on one or two occasions to join in. One can only wonder what the Germans/Americans/English/Chinese in other vehicles made of this.
The food was even better than Simbambili. Finally, we started to sample the local fare. Ostrich and impala made appearances, as did mielle-pap (a white maize derivative that we were later told needed to be eaten every five days at a minimum to maintain ones African-ness). We were treated to excellent service, though it must be noted that it was less personal than Simbambili. The breakfast buffet groaned under the weight of offerings, and each morning the menu of hot offerings changed. The hunter's omelette, egg & bacon mini-pizza and beans with olives and mushroom were highlights. Small wonder that after a 4.45am wakeup call, safari and breakfast Andrew opted out of morning safari walks following breakfast.
We never scoped out the "comprehensive wine list", but selections from the standard list proved excellent. Pinotage again, pinot noirs (a little thin, though one smelled of bacon), a very good chardonnay with the toasty notes so craved by Tracey and Henry, syrah of quality, chenin blanc at lunch and, for the leavetaking breakfast, some rather decent blanc-de-blancs in the "cap du classique" style. Pretty much everything was from the Stellenbosch region, which seems synonymous with South African wine. We envy the others who were off to that area subsequently. We also continued our tradition of shots of Amarula in our morning game drive coffee stop.
Somehow, in between fixing punctures, being shown how to harvest naturally-occurring toilet paper (although the lesson was clearly not completely taken in, as Mark observed that a sample shown by someone would "tear your anus" - you have to hear this said with an Afrikaans accent to get the humour), bagging one another in true Australian style, critiquing each others' tree impersonation (apparently "jazz hands" don't look much like foliage) and the ongoing joke duel between Charlie, Digby, Tracey and Henry (others joined in at times, but found it hard to plumb the scatalogical depths managed by the Foul Four), we we even managed to see some animals.
The range was extraordinary, surpassing in variety what we'd seen at Simbambili. Fewer birds, and only one leopard, but on two occasions we saw four of the "big five" on a single safari. Both black and white rhinos treated us to their company, a close encounter with a young bull elphant at dusk illustrated the perils of the bush by night, and a local band of six lion brothers meant that sightings of males were more often than not of several at once.
Safari 1
Large male leopard, giraffe, elephant at dusk, water buck
Safari 2
Water buck, kudu, giraffe, male lion, wildebeest, herd of Cape buffalo
Safari 3
Giraffe, White rhino, puncture
Safari 4
2 male lions, elephant, cape buffalo, black rhino, giraffes, puncture,
Monkeys raid hen,sej
Safari 5
5 male lions, zebras, giraffes, tree squirrels
We skipped one of our afternoon safaris to go to Maholoholo Rehabilitation Centre...not for alcoholics or drug users as our host advised; though he did mention someone drunk turned up injured one day following a brawl, they did treat his injuries before sending him back into the wild :-)
Maholoholo takes in injured wildlife, treating those that can be and returning them to reserve. Those animals that can't be released for various reasons (eg change of scent such that their former pride won't recognise them as a friend) are kept at the centre. We were first shown the feeding of the wild painted dogs. Digby was selected to wheel the impala carcus into the cages with the protection of a guide holding a stick (not a slingshot this time). The dogs tore it to pieces in seconds in a feeding frenzy whilst making strange chuckling noises.
Baby white and black rhino, cleaver honey badger, lions, leopards, no spiky haired baby cheetahs due to potentail TB. Feeding vultures. Food cages.
[pictures to come, bandwidth poor]
02 October 2012
Simbambili safaris
Simbambili Lodge treated us to our first classic safaris and we loved every single minute of it, in spite of the 5am starts.
Our party grew as we joined up with Sej and Henry (Andrew's cousin), and the banter ratcheted up acccordingly. Wonderful to share the experiences - and they were utterly worth sharing.
Simbambili itself is pretty damn luxurious - all suites boasting chilly plunge pools (perfect for the mid 30 degree days), outdoor day beds overlooking the african plains and so on, the lodge itself being a spacious, airy haven with excellent food and wine, and all on a small scale (never more than 16 guests at one time). We were treated to exceptional, personal hospitality and felt more like invited guests than paying customers. Whether Alison in front of house, Locks and Reinas keeping our glasses topped up, Liam piloting us through the bush and providing ongoing education and passion, or Mumps tracking down the most elusive game and impressing us both with his humour and even more so his slingshot (his personal line of defence against the world's most dangerous predators - seriously).
Safari 1 - afternoon
We warmed up with giraffe, waterbuck and impala (aka JAFI, for Just Another ...Flaming... Impala). Liam pushed the truck up a watercourse in search of leopard, and he and Mumps hopped off (with both rifle and slingshot). They told us they were going to search for the cats, and if they weren't back in 10 minutes the lodge was thataway.
Literally half a step later, they said "there they are", and five metres away there they were indeed. Not only were they so close, but were also very much in the mood. We showed no sense of decorum and stuck around to watch them mate.
We returned to them after sundowners (a very fine safari tradition) and drama played out. Hyenas turned up in the hope of scrounging a feed. There was quite the standoff between one and the male leopard. Pretty clearly Mr L was put out at having his mating time interrupted (hard to do, as it lasts about two seconds, though is repeated every 10-15 minutes for up to three days). However, the risk of injury meant that actually fighting the hyena was out of the question, so up a tree he and Ms L went. It just happened to be the tree we were under.
So there we were: ten humans in an open vehicle, with two leopards just over our heads. Things got a little tense when Ms L advanced out onto a brach, bringing her to maybe two metres from Andrew's now-quite-nervous head. It really is astonishing how close you get to the animals, and how easily you relax in their company.
Happily, the hyenas took off. The leopards got out of the tree, and back into action. We repaired back to the lodge for dinner - a spectacular affair in the Big Boma, featuring some lovely oxtail (but sadly no local specialities).
The pattern of the next two days had been set. Rise early, safari (including a stop for coffee with a tot of Amarula), return for sizable breakfast, heavy session of lolling/lazing/lounging, sizable lunch, more arduous lolling/napping/wallowing, safari at 4pm (including sundowners while watching consistently amazing African sunsets), outrageously large dinner, then off to sleep before 10pm. Every day is different, and you wouldn't want to miss a moment.
Safari 2 - morning
Just when we believe it couldn't get any better, it does. On our 5am safari we come across 3 lionesses (sisters). They appeared slightly distressed which we discovered was due to their breakfast being too close to the camp. Our tracker bravely attached a chain to the back of the vehicle with the lions watching intently, that chain is then attched to the leg of their "breakfast" - a half eaten water buck. We drag the water buck away from the camp with lions in tow, it certainly give a new meaning to the meaning of fast food delivery. Mumps pull out his knife and offered for us to share.
We also saw buffalo, hyenas, tortoise, impala, waterbuck, bushbuck, deiker, kudu, nyala.
Safai 3 - afternoon
Saw the leopards again... still mating. We stopped for our sundowners while watching hippos playing in a waterhole. Also saw our first bush baby (google it, super cute) and slender mongoose.
Safari 4 - morning
While tracking some lion prints we saw a swarm of baboons coming out of a tree. They were soon forgotten when nearby we found the 3 lionesses again hanging out by a waterhole. If that wasn't thrilling enough we then noticed our mating leopard pair sitting in the tree above them, not looking too pleased about having their mating interupted. It was a bit of a surprise when a third leopard came out of the brush and joined them up the tree. Eventually the lions got bored of waiting for the leopards to come down and they wandered off. The leopards disappeared shortly after, probably to continue their mating.
We also came across a 2.5 tonne white rhino that came within metres of our vehicle, marked it territory and moved on. Then we trached down some wild painted dogs which are apparenly extremely rare, there were 14 in the pack, 6 of them puppies. They catch their prey by their superior stamina, once it tires they rip the hunted animal to shreds in minutes, thankfully we didn't stay around long enough for this.
Our time at Simbambili was amazing and we're already planning a return trip.
Our party grew as we joined up with Sej and Henry (Andrew's cousin), and the banter ratcheted up acccordingly. Wonderful to share the experiences - and they were utterly worth sharing.
Simbambili itself is pretty damn luxurious - all suites boasting chilly plunge pools (perfect for the mid 30 degree days), outdoor day beds overlooking the african plains and so on, the lodge itself being a spacious, airy haven with excellent food and wine, and all on a small scale (never more than 16 guests at one time). We were treated to exceptional, personal hospitality and felt more like invited guests than paying customers. Whether Alison in front of house, Locks and Reinas keeping our glasses topped up, Liam piloting us through the bush and providing ongoing education and passion, or Mumps tracking down the most elusive game and impressing us both with his humour and even more so his slingshot (his personal line of defence against the world's most dangerous predators - seriously).
Safari 1 - afternoon
We warmed up with giraffe, waterbuck and impala (aka JAFI, for Just Another ...Flaming... Impala). Liam pushed the truck up a watercourse in search of leopard, and he and Mumps hopped off (with both rifle and slingshot). They told us they were going to search for the cats, and if they weren't back in 10 minutes the lodge was thataway.
Literally half a step later, they said "there they are", and five metres away there they were indeed. Not only were they so close, but were also very much in the mood. We showed no sense of decorum and stuck around to watch them mate.
We returned to them after sundowners (a very fine safari tradition) and drama played out. Hyenas turned up in the hope of scrounging a feed. There was quite the standoff between one and the male leopard. Pretty clearly Mr L was put out at having his mating time interrupted (hard to do, as it lasts about two seconds, though is repeated every 10-15 minutes for up to three days). However, the risk of injury meant that actually fighting the hyena was out of the question, so up a tree he and Ms L went. It just happened to be the tree we were under.
So there we were: ten humans in an open vehicle, with two leopards just over our heads. Things got a little tense when Ms L advanced out onto a brach, bringing her to maybe two metres from Andrew's now-quite-nervous head. It really is astonishing how close you get to the animals, and how easily you relax in their company.
Happily, the hyenas took off. The leopards got out of the tree, and back into action. We repaired back to the lodge for dinner - a spectacular affair in the Big Boma, featuring some lovely oxtail (but sadly no local specialities).
The pattern of the next two days had been set. Rise early, safari (including a stop for coffee with a tot of Amarula), return for sizable breakfast, heavy session of lolling/lazing/lounging, sizable lunch, more arduous lolling/napping/wallowing, safari at 4pm (including sundowners while watching consistently amazing African sunsets), outrageously large dinner, then off to sleep before 10pm. Every day is different, and you wouldn't want to miss a moment.
Safari 2 - morning
Just when we believe it couldn't get any better, it does. On our 5am safari we come across 3 lionesses (sisters). They appeared slightly distressed which we discovered was due to their breakfast being too close to the camp. Our tracker bravely attached a chain to the back of the vehicle with the lions watching intently, that chain is then attched to the leg of their "breakfast" - a half eaten water buck. We drag the water buck away from the camp with lions in tow, it certainly give a new meaning to the meaning of fast food delivery. Mumps pull out his knife and offered for us to share.
We also saw buffalo, hyenas, tortoise, impala, waterbuck, bushbuck, deiker, kudu, nyala.
Safai 3 - afternoon
Saw the leopards again... still mating. We stopped for our sundowners while watching hippos playing in a waterhole. Also saw our first bush baby (google it, super cute) and slender mongoose.
Safari 4 - morning
While tracking some lion prints we saw a swarm of baboons coming out of a tree. They were soon forgotten when nearby we found the 3 lionesses again hanging out by a waterhole. If that wasn't thrilling enough we then noticed our mating leopard pair sitting in the tree above them, not looking too pleased about having their mating interupted. It was a bit of a surprise when a third leopard came out of the brush and joined them up the tree. Eventually the lions got bored of waiting for the leopards to come down and they wandered off. The leopards disappeared shortly after, probably to continue their mating.
We also came across a 2.5 tonne white rhino that came within metres of our vehicle, marked it territory and moved on. Then we trached down some wild painted dogs which are apparenly extremely rare, there were 14 in the pack, 6 of them puppies. They catch their prey by their superior stamina, once it tires they rip the hunted animal to shreds in minutes, thankfully we didn't stay around long enough for this.Our time at Simbambili was amazing and we're already planning a return trip.
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