Category Archives: Travel

All the dust is coming from the Wildebeest dropping down the vertical face on the right.

The Wildebeest on the left is the one being taken by the Croc.

We’ve got 3 nights at this camp in North Serengeti to catch a Wildebeest river crossing. Our guides have been trying to keep a poker face, but we saw very little on Day 1, and word over the radio is that there aren’t so many more animals around, and that migration could be over.

We headed out on Day 2 and by the time we had our first rest stop (which was packed with tourists), we hadn’t seen much at all. Just before lunch we heard a commotion on the radio, there was a crossing, and we weren’t too far away. Our drivers both drove aggressively, rally styles, to get to the crossing as quick as possible and soon we spotted about 10 or so cars bunched up together to watch a huge Wildebeest and Zebra crossing.

Success!

There were 2 lines into the water, the Zebra’s were crossing on the left, and the Wildebeest were traversing a 5ft vertical drop to get into the water on the right (which made for spectacular viewing). This went on for a fair few minutes before some ominous shapes started appearing in the water, yup, Crocodiles.

As if the view wasn’t breathtaking enough, the presence of a Crocodile, then 2, then 3, had everyone excited. One Crocodile in particular was snapping at the Zebra as well as the Wildebeest and on it’s 4th attempt it managed to catch a Wildebeest by the legs, we all heard the beast wail (which was awful), then just like that the Croc had brought the Wildebeest down into the water and disappeared.

Sensing danger, the remaining Wildebeest and Zebra stopped crossing.

It’s interesting that many of the tourists were cheering about a Croc taking a Wildebeest, agreed, what we saw was a once in a life time thing, but a whole group of religious people cheering for the death of a Wildebeest, and praying none of the Zebras were killed by Crocodiles (whilst not at all praying for the Crocodiles to catch a meal), all seemed interesting to me.

The staff at this camp were so awesome, great people, great vibes, they sent us off with a sing and dance.

We got really close to this big boy, who really didn’t like us being so close at all.

More Hippos!

Lazin’ Lions.

Monitor.

Some kind of strange fungal growth on this skull makes it look way more interesting!

My tent for the next 3 nights!

I love sunsets more than sunrises.

I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of an animal that got louder and louder, and so clear and loud as it walked right past my tent. It wasn’t obvious to me what animal it was, but it sounded like heavy deep bassy breathing, and I thought it might have been a lion. This morning I was the first at breakfast in the big tent (as usual) and I was greeted by 2 of the staff who asked if I heard the lion last night! They said it was the big male, the king!

Today we made the trek to North Serengeti, another long hard day of bumpy AF driving. It’s almost like this trip is a test for me, a test in patience, in being calm in situations where I can’t have what I want when I want. Hearing some of the wild stories these older guys on our tour have to share over drinks at dinner has me thinking twice about judging people too early too.

Good morning friends.

Lone Hyena.

Traffic on the plains? Not quite, these guys aren’t in competition with each other, when one spots a lion, they radio the others so all can experience the sights. Pretty awesome, really.

Lioness amongst the Land Cruisers.

Cubs!

Best camp lunch so far!

Beer o’clock back at base!

Ima loooong way from home!!!

Birds are aggressive, they even come into the car for scraps!

Buffalo dining club!

At first we thought there was a lone Hippo, then we realised all that grey stuff in the water was hippo’s! They made an awesome sound, a lot like a cafe racer/motorbike sound (territorial sounds apparently).

Bumpy roads with no end in sight.

Serengeti shall not die. 1.8 million Wildebeest migrating to and from the spot where our camp is.

Beer o’clock!

Tent life, for real! Can’t see it in this pic, but I can see migrating Wildebeest in the distance.

Legit, every tent has a whistle, in case of what I have no idea lol!

Hands down the best meal we’ve had on the trip. Such subtle earthy flavours (far from sharp flavours of Thai food for example).

It’s been another huge day of transit, and the roads are getting even rougher. They’re corroded, so the surface of the road is a lot like corrugated iron, bumpy AF. Going slow is fine, but we’ve got major km’s to cover so our driver was doing 90km/hr on average which made for a really loud and bone shuddering ride for a big part of the day.

We passed a few Land Cruisers with broken rear suspension. Our 2nd car scored a cracked windscreen and a flat.

We made it to the Serengeti National Park though, and saw a whole lot of wildlife on the way; a male Lion pack, a Hyena, lots of Giraffe’s and Zebras, Gazelles, Antelopes, a huge Vulture and an Eagle mate sharing some road kill and also the destination for 1.8 million Wildebeest (we’ve come at the right time to see the wildebeest migration).

Tonight we’re literally camping out in the open in tents. The sun is going down now and I’m about to watch the sunset by an open fire. I can see endless Wildebeest migrating from my tent and the sounds are amazing! It’s going to be wild listening to the sounds later tonight as I doze off!

Breakfast. I’ve legit been the first at buffet brekkie (my fave!) every single morning.

We met the Maasai and had a little tour of one of their villages. These guys recycle tyres for shoes.

They greeted us with a dance and song.

Maasai kids.

Baboon trying to get in our car.

Street cat in the shade.

Volcano crater.

Our lodgings for tonight.

Animals grazing outside my window at Sopa Lodge.

Sadly we had to say goodbye to our amazing lodging (I would have loved to see the sun go down one more time with that amazing view), and after a huge trek we reached our next lodging, which was also amazing, and again only a one night stay.

I’m starting to get that this is going to be an ongoing thing, but it’s understandable as these guys have organised a huge 3 week trip with the intention of seeing absolutely everything so we never ever have to come back. We’re only 1/3rd the way in and I’m already quite exhausted at the pace of the tour, and the amount of travel!

PS: Really bad Wi-Fi around these parts, not a bad thing though, right?!

Our chariots for the day.

Cheeky monkeys at the first pit stop.

Elephant skull.

Caged up! We had a picnic in a cage so the monkeys couldn’t steal our food.

Loved these beautiful blue birds.

Getting friendly as they were after our scraps.

Termite mound.

We saw lions, but everything we had spotted was pretty far away until a couple of elephants decided to cross right in front of us.

I got a little concerned, won’t lie! Amazing stuff.

Zebras.

Our trusty steeds.

Selfie.

Photo stop.

Arrival at our accomodation after a very long off-road safari.

No it’s not dirty water! We were greeted with tamarind juice.

I heard we were staying in huts, but this is about as luxurious as a hut gets!

Way wider than widescreen view.

Beer o’clock till the sun goes down.

We lost a day in transit, and it was a nightmare as our flight was cancelled which threw us into chaos as we had an interconnecting flight to catch in order to make it all the way to Tanzania. Our tour manager Benjamin is a christian man, he prayed his ass off, and somehow, with the help of an amazing airline hostess, we made it by the narrowest of margins.

We got to our hotel at midnight, had a quick meal and we were all in bed by 1-2AM, the next morning we were straight into these mighty Toyota Land Cruisers, and off on a Safari, which started out pretty damn slow as many of the animals were so far away (a zoom lens would really have been good…), but the pace picked up when we found a pack of lions, with one young female attempting to sneak up on some wild boar, but with no success, then, whilst watching a large group of elephants, the largest of the group decided to head straight for us and cross right in front of us, day made, that was quite an experience for sure.

Memories of Vegas.

ZEN found.

Lani on the red.

Casino, so… might as well roulette!

Transit day today. We had a flight in the morning to Johannesburg, then a late lunch/early dinner at the casino (where I had the best grain fed steak I’ve had in AGES!). Bet on 8’s and lost!

View of Cape Town from Robben Island.

Nelson Mandela’s courtyard at Robben Island.

Rust Bucket #1.

Rust Bucket #2.

Crocodile, Kudu, and Springbok! 3 animals I’ve never eaten before. Crocodile tasted like Chicken, the Kudu was a bit tough, the Springbok tasted like veal.

Cableway up to Table Mountain.

Early start to the tour today with a ferry ride out to Robben Island, an island which was a high-security prison where Nelson Mandela was held captive for 18 years. The first half of the tour was a bit meh, as we never got off the bus, but the 2nd involved a tour guide who was an inmate once, he added a personal touch to what would have been a pretty dry history class.

We then hit Marco’s African Place for some real African food (loved it!), and then we caught a Cableway up to Table Mountain where we spent the rest of the evening. At some stage the sun was really starting to burn me so I found the only stretch of shade up at the bar, there I ended up making friends with someone who was also hunting down shade, she ended up being from Bondi, Sydney. SO RANDOM!

Local Art by Daniel 2019.

Boss taking a shot of the ladies.

Mum & Jen, her drinking buddy!

Eternal Paper Flowers. Flowers that feel exactly like paper. Leave them on and they die, pick them off and they last forever.

Low clouds enroute to Cape Point.

Group shot!

Mum & Son.

This couple from Germany shipped their bikes (BMW of-course) in for a ride around South Africa.

Cape Point.

So far from home.

Boss on top.

Simontown’s Town.

Enso spotted.

KO’d.

Zebra skin.

Beachside.

Old school change rooms by the beach.

Andre and his M3. Met up with this guy who I recently met on Facebook. He was once head of search at Saatchi. We had a few beers and talked about as much shit as we could before the bartender called last drinks!