Where Are Ron and Ellen?
Portugal (Ron and Ellen), Southeastern Africa (Ron), 19 September 2013 - 13 January 2014
Ron and Ellen in Porto, Portugal, October 2013
Safari in Selous Game Reserve, Tanzania - Peak Experience
27 November 2013
Afton, Virginia, USADear family and friends,
Ron has emerged from the Selous Game Park in Tanzania, where he has been out of internet range. The park is a 21,100 square mile game reserve that is one of the largest in the world, and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982. Wikipedia says, "Some of the typical animals of the savanna (for example elephants, hippopotami, African Wild Dog, cape buffalo and crocodiles) can be found in this park in larger numbers than in any other African game reserve or national park."
The falls he talks about visiting before going to the park are Kalambo Falls, one of the tallest uninterrupted falls in Africa, and the Kalambo Gorge downstream is about 1 km wide and up to 300 m deep and runs for 5 km before opening into the Lake Tanganyika rift valley. It is in Tanzania, at the southern end of Lake Tanganyika.
Here in Virginia, we were lucky and had only rain and wind (lots of both!) from the big winter storm that moved across the US this week. The sky is just starting to clear here, but I think the northeast is probably still having bad weather that will create problems for Thanksgiving travel.
Our daughter, son-in-law, grandsons, and granddog will be coming here for Thanksgiving tomorrow, and we are all looking forward to the traditional turkey dinner. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
Love to all,
Ellen
Safari in Selous Game Reserve, Tanzania - Peak Experience
27 November 2013
Written on the train from Kisaki to Mbeya, TanzaniaHello, my dear,
Across from where I am sitting in Kisaki, outside of the Selous Game Park, where I am waiting for the 22 hour long train back to Mbeya, is my favorite fruit tree: the mango - which would require a green house as large as our house and at least 6 stories high. My extra mangoes from the village near our camp were stolen from my tent by one of the local monkeys, but I had one served to me for desert every night in the camp.
Time has flown since my last report to you 12 days ago and unless there is some change in my available Internet services it may be closer to two weeks before I get this report to you.
The boat trip on MV Liemba [African Queen] to Kasanga took about 12 hours longer than scheduled, and arrived in Kasanga so late on that it had to spend the night because it would have gotten to Zambia after the border had closed. Jose, our Spanish friend stayed on the boat for the night since he was in route to Zambia but we left and found a backpackers' camp about 5K from the docks where we - Edelgard, her roommate on the boat, Yuko (the PhD linguist from Japan), and myself spent a couple of nights. My first African camping experience, right on the beach in a large tent with a concrete floor and a covered patio for around $21 a night. The ladies shared a bungalow with a private bath while I used the tent and a bush shower (peculiar overhead bucket with warm water in an outside enclosure). The tent was a pleasant experience overall. Beautiful views at night and in the mornings. And both mornings we were up very early.
The next day we hired a car to drive us to the waterfall on the Zambia border which is supposed to be the second something or other (either African or world wide). Perhaps you can find it in some waterfall statistics on the Web. It was an impressive waterfall from the top where the driver left us with a guide, and the ladies hiked to the bottom while I stayed somewhere nearer the top where the view was wonderful. Turned out the path was more like a slide going down and a climb coming up and I was pleased with my decision.
On Sunday we were up at 5 to catch a bus to Sumbawanga, where we stayed in the Lupenzo Guest House. Monday Yuko caught an early bus to where she was living and working, and Edelgard and I continued on to Mbeya where we spent two nights in the Livingston Hotel where we enjoyed nice single rooms with hot water and wonderful food for $30 per night. I finally got caught up with my laundry and slept later than I had been able to for many of the proceeding mornings.
The 1st Class Express Train (ha ha) from Mbeya to Kisaki Station was to take 22 hours and leave at 2 in the afternoon. Instead it left after 8 pm and didn't arrive until about 10 pm the next night. Somewhere along the way the train kept stopping for a while and finally they disconnected the engine and it went somewhere else to have the engine replaced or significant parts replaced. After it returned and was connected to all the passenger cars we thought it went faster and didn't stop to rest.
We were met at the station in Kisaki by Edelgard's father's driver in his 24-year-old Land Rover and her friend Christine, who was visiting from Munich, and driven to the nearby supplementary camp of Mbega where we had dinner and spent the night. The next morning we drove about 85 K to the main Mbega Camp. The camp itself was located about 5 K outside of the official park gates and the park entrance fee was $65 for a 24 hour period. The tent in the camp was on poles, large sleeping area with a floor covered with mats and a selection of furniture; mine had three single beds, a separate space with warm water shower and toilet, very clean, with some type of rubber or vinyl flooring and a covered patio with a lounge and table. The sleeping area had zippered tent flaps with large netted windows at the toilet and patio ends, as well at the sides, and the tent ceiling was high' supporting mosquito nets over the beds. From the front patio I had a beautiful view of the river and sunsets. OK it was a tent, but it beat anything I had or experienced in Vietnam. The only flaw was the monkeys could work the zippers enough to get in when I was not there, and did so on two occasions, taking my mangoes, lemons, cookies, and sugar bag, as well as pulling other stuff out of the side pouches on my back pack. Each night someone brought a kerosene lantern and left it on the front patio and from 6 to 10 every evening I had electricity to charge the various electronics on a little shelf in the toilet area.
We made several different kinds of excursions during the 5 days we were in the park, including the trip from and to Kisaki. We made a drive along the lake area, a trip to the near by village, car trip into the Park, a walking safari in the Park for an afternoon, a full day boat trip up the river to a very beautiful lake, and for Christine's birthday we took a safari buggy to a more distant lake - but we were caught in a rain storm and altered our destination.
Each of the experiences - walking, driving, or by boat - were very different and all wonderful. On foot walking around and being surrounded by giraffes, stepping on all kind of scat from elephants to hyenas, with lots of kinds of birds, was a unique experience. But exploring the long shore of the lake from a boat where we witnessed a live predator experience where a baboon ran a baby impala into the lake where the crocodile forced it to choose between the crocodile and the baboon on the shore, and the baboons chasing each other to take the carcass until the larger baboons showed up to take it from the smaller ones and then other large baboons from the next tribe showed up to fight the larger ones for possession. It was a rare show to watch live.
The river banks were high but the shore of the lake was gradual and one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. Large trees of various shapes and shades of green, beaches and fresh green grass and various wild life on the shore or under the trees.
We saw elephants, hippopotamus, wildebeests, warthogs, wild dogs, mongoose, water bucks, greater kudu, buffalo, impalas, lions, giraffes, squirrels, bats, and others I don't even know the names of. My favorite were the hippos and the giraffes, but the lions, wild dogs, and the large family of elephants were spectacular also.
All in all I would say this was a peak experience and I owe a lot of thanks to my guide and friend Edelgard. And perhaps the pictures and videos will share the experience better than my words. Be patient, they will come in time.
The train has stopped about noon at a village and I have a signal so I will try to send this.
Love and miss you,
Ron
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Last updated: 27 December 2013
