The 5 minute trip report

....or less.

Spent the month of October in Kenya/Tanzania/Rwanda. My pictured won't
be up on the web till February probably.

Notes:
The roads are BEYOND AWFUL. Car broke down five times in the first 36
hours of the Rift Valley and Masai Mara.

Nairobi - not as bad as everyone says

Masai Mara - Great. Stayed in a tented lodge, an amazing experience.
Saw lion pair mating. Saw hyena with bloody spine in its mouth. Two
leopards. Cheetah jumped on jeep. nearly charged by an elephant.
Giraffes everywhere. Wildebeest and zebra all over.

Lake Nakuru - Long harsh drive to get there. Glad I saw the flamingos
and the rhino.
Treetops/Aberdares - Nice to say I stayed in Treetops, but
dissapointing overall.

Lake Naivasha -Didn't get to see the lake. The lodge, the Naivash Sopa
was great.

Amboseli - DUSTY, horribly barren. Great elephants. Saw a hippo come
all the way out to the road. Saw a baby hyena dash back into its hole
in the ground. Had a horrible vehicle breakdown. Lots of Ostriches.

Kenya/Tanzania border: Like the Wild West. Saw a pickpocket get the
beating of his life here.

Arusha - Gateway city to Tanzania safari

Lake Manyara - beautiful hotel. Skipped game drive to get to Serengeti
earlier

Serengeti - didn't realize I would have to drive through couple dozen
kilometers of dusty barren land before getting to the plusher plains.
Full day game drive in Serengeti was EVERYTHING I have dreamed off.
Saw the most amazing, perfect male lion. Herd of HUNDREDS of buffalo.
A leopard with an impala in a tree. Lots of elephants. Saw TONS more
lions all over driving out of Serengeti.

Ngorongoro Crater - EARLY morning game drive saw lions try in vain to
hunt buffalo. Buffalo sent the lions fleeing. *Greatest moment of
whole trip* Cheetah. Hippo. Rhino. More lions. Loved the Crater.

Kigali, Rwanda - An absolutely beautiful city. Stayed at the Mille
Collines. (the Hotel Rwanda)

Nyungwe Forest - Tracked chimpanzees. The hardest thing I have ever
done physically. Had to completely break our own trail for hours.
Struggled not to fall down ravines. Got a 30 second glimpse of chimps.

Murambi Genocide Center - Saw petrified skeletal remains of genocide
victims. Horrifying beyond the imagination.

Volcanoes Forest - saw the legendary mountain gorillas. Simply one of
the most awe inspiring, breathtaking moments of my life.

Rwanda country - the most beautiful countryside I have ever seen.

All in all East Africa was amazing.


Wayne Hazle
www.waynehazle.com

Fascinating. Thanks.