Nancy and Ron travels

Thursday, November 9, 2017 On our way to our five star camp, Ikuka.

Up at 6:15 or so. We had packed the night before so to be prepared to leave by 8. We go for breakfast at 7. There are at least 8 of us leaving today. Most are off to Zanzibar and the 4 of us are going to a new camp called Ikuka. We need to be at the airport by 11 or so. That means that we still have time to look up trees and branches. Lots of fun to watch. The baboons are plentiful as well with their little for more animals and birds along the way. We love our guide Hassan, our driver Thomas, and our trainee Sonsten. We are having a great time. We drive around and see elephants, zebras, and impalas drinking. We also see lots of monkeys; the babies are full of beans, jumping all over the place, trying to climb the trees. We are in awe of the male Kudus with their magnificent horns that we run into near the water bed.

Two male Impalas fighting. They do this for territory. This entanglement didn't last long.

Impalas drinking. So beautiful and peaceful

Male Great Kudu

Male lion

We arrive at the airport around 11. The planes haven’t arrived yet. People are leaving for Dar or Zanzibar and some are arriving. Everyone has to wait as our new jeep still has people in it waiting for a flight. Our guys are not picking anyone up but they are waiting for us. We chat with others who were at our camp that we hadn’t really had a chance to spend much time with. The two women are sisters, one lives in Oxford, England and the other lives in Limerick, Ireland with her husband. The couple tells us that they’ve already been to Nova Scotia. It was a few years back and they had done a house exchange. I suggested that we exchange contact information in case they ever want to come back as Ireland is on our bucket list of places to visit. They are keen to do that.

We finally meet our driver and guide to take us to Ikuka, our next camp. Safe is the name of our guide and he seems very nice. We leave around noon and have about an hour's drive. We stop along the way when we see something of interest. We arrive at the camp around 1pm and are welcomed by Mark, the owner, and Tanya, an assistant manager. There’s also a worker there with wet face cloths and a cool Hibiscus juice drink to greet us.

Lunch is ready so we go in the main area and meet the other guests. They are either from England or Ireland. The main building has the dining area, a bar, stools, and couch and chairs. The deck has tables, chairs, lounge chairs, and la pièce de résistance, an infinity pool. We are going to be spoiled for the next four days. We soon see what being spoiled really means. Lunch is a buffet and one of the waiters holds your plate as you are placing the food on it. He then follows you to your seat to deposit the plate. Drinks are served; it is an all-inclusive place so we have a beer. The quality of the food being served is above average for sure. We find amazing salads: green salad with carrots and beetroot salad, nice buns, a meat or veggie pie, and I think that I am forgetting something else. After lunch there is a break as our next safari ride is only at 4 pm when we will meet our guide for the next 3 days.

Next on the agenda is going to see our home away from home. Andre and Wendy are in tent # 5 and we are the last tent in the corner lot, # 6. We all go into # 5 as Tanya shows us where everything is and other need to know items. I didn’t know that one could find a bed larger than a king, but they succeeded here. Everything is open and the view is incredible. Mountains and valleys everywhere. We won’t see many animals up here, but the views, wow. Ron and I make it to our bedroom and see that we have a dipping pool. (small 2 person pool). Because we are so secluded over in the corner of the area, it is very personal.

Our view from our tent

The main camp

Our private plunge pool

Our very elegant bedroom

After putting our clothes and stuff away, we return to the main building to go for a swim. Only 5 of us have decided to go for a dip to cool off. We return to our rooms to shower and get ready for our next safari.

The infinity pool

We meet up with our driver/guide for the next four days. His name is Lazaro. Right away we realize that he is sarcastic and funny, right up our alley. We are going to have fun. Our jeep is well equipped with cold water, soft drinks, and beer. A cooler is plugged in the whole time. Beats warm water by far.

Lazaro has heard of a kill; two lionesses killed a young giraffe. Of course, we have to head out to see that. We notice as we get closer that the mother giraffe is nearby and is pacing, probably grieving. A ranger is around, and drivers can get in trouble if they go off road to find or chase animals. We wait a bit and eventually close in for a good look. The lionesses are lying under a tree, as they need rest after the kill. The giraffe looks intact but we are told that the blood has been sucked out. Wendy and I had a quick look but seeing a young, dead giraffe is not too pleasing to view. After a bit we head out again to see what we can find. We see a super starling, beautiful blue winged bird. We are near the somewhat dry riverbed when about 100 meters ahead of us there are a couple of hundred Cape Buffalo coming our way to have a drink of water. A lot of them have ox peckers on them. (small birds that clean the skin of the animal by eating flies, ticks, etc.)

We then drive to the other end of the river to find two saddle-billed storks, an African Jacana, an Egyptian goose, a small heron called a common squacco, a black-billed stilt, and a bunch of Yellow- Throated Petronias.

Poor baby giraffe

Lion eating

Two killer lions

Cape Buffalo

Saddle-billed Stork

Common Squacco Heron

A Grey Heron, I think

Yellow-Throated Petronias

Between 6-6:15, we pull over for a sun downer. This is when our guide pulls out the booze cooler. It is what we call Happy Hour. We share some beer as the bottles here are large and the beer is not light. We have a great view of the sunset and the elephants. Nearing our camp, our guide pulls over to see Bat-Eared Foxes. Their den is very close to the road and we are very lucky that we catch them outside. What an awesome end to the day’s safari. We then head back in time to cool off with a shower then head back to the main lodge for pre-dinner drinks and chatting with all of the guest. Most of them are from the UK and one couple from Ireland.

We are called to dinner at 8 pm. The waiters serve us and continue to serve wine and whatever else until you say no more. It’s unreal. Dinner is green salad, broccoli salad, homemade rolls, mashed potatoes and chicken and gravy. So yummy. More exchanging of stories until about 9:15-9:30 when most are pretty tired and we retreat to our tents. Another big day is planned for tomorrow.