Off the Grid, and Off the Charts! - Mount Kilimanjaro

We've been off the grid for a few days. 

   We need to get caught up!  ... spent the last three days on Safari!  Out in the bush at the Amboseli Wildlife Preserve at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro in Kenya.  We stayed in a remote safari tent camp, off the grid with no electricity, no water, and no internet (yikes) so we couldn't keep in touch with the outside world. 

   But the scenery was off the charts, beautiful and magnificent.

It was simply amazing, seeing such a wide variety of animals in their remote native habitat.  And the setting was truly extraordinary, you run out of words to describe some of the incredibly spectacular surroundings.

   For example, the park is right up against the base of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain at 19,341 feet, and a place that I've always wanted to see.  The thing that makes it so spectacular is that it is not part of a mountain range - it rises right up out of the Serengeti plain to tower over the region.  It fills the sky and frames every view with a stunning world class panorama.    

   And the animals were extraordinary too, with a new mesmerizing view around every corner.  I will bombard you with pictures in this post, because I can't possibly convey the variety and range of scenery, mountains, animals, plants, etc. - flora and fauna (always wanted to use that phrase) to the max!

Capturing the Perfect Sunset

   The day we got there was late in the afternoon, and we immediately launched into a game drive.  You ride around in those open top vehicles and get a 360 degree view all around.  We saw an exciting sweeping scope of animals that afternoon as they came down to the watering hole - including lions, a rare sight most of the time.  We saw seven (count 'em) lions at one time!  

   The best photo opp of the day was heading back the the lodge and watching the sun set behind the famous and iconic Acacia trees and capturing that view on camera.  

   We enjoyed our rustic safari camp.  Although it was without many modern conveniences, it made up for it with great food, and a phenomenal setting, including a view of the mountain right out in front.  Tent camping at its best! 

   We saw so many animals.  We've been on wildife tours before in South Africa, mostly on our own.  This trip was conducted with a driver / guide who knew where to take us at the right time and the right place to see key views and just enjoy the atmosphere, and to take lots of pictures. 

   The wonderful aspect about all the views and landscapes and the scenery was that the backdrop to all this is Kilimanjaro.  It added an extra dimension to all that we saw. 

   Probably a top favorite of everyone is the elephants, and we saw hundreds of them, no lie!

Birds, all kinds of them!

   There was a wide range of all kinds of species, and we tried our best to capture most of them on camera, but often we couldn't really get close enough.   Sometimes we did ...

   There were an amazing amount of Ostriches.  Huge big things, like eight feet tall and ferocious too, they could kill you by kicking you ... no thanks!  This picture was taken at a distance ...

   And there were herons, egrets, eagles, cranes, flamingos and a countless more birds with African names we couldn't pronounce.  One funny thing to see was Cape Buffaloes (the big water buffalo creatures) almost always had a bird on their back, eating bugs I guess?  Harmony in nature?  This bird below was like 4 feet tall. 

Lions are always rare, but we got lucky

   Even the guide said it was a rare day to see a lion, and there were several in one area.  They don't move a lot during the day, they conserve their energy for hunting usually in the evening or early morning. 

Mount Kilimanjaro

   It's one of those places that captures the imagination.  It's also one of the largest mountains in the world and straddles the border between Kenya and Tanzania.  It used to be covered at the top with large glaciers but they have diminished considerably in the last 80 years, which gives the mountain a somewhat flat top appearance.  It's actually a dormant volcano and there is a crater up there. 

   Not far from the East Coast of Africa and the Indian Ocean, it is so massive and tall that it makes its own weather. 

The Last Morning, Sunrise and Giraffes

   One thing we hadn't seen much of prior to the last day were giraffes.  It's probably our favorite critter - they move in slow motion and they are so unusual to watch.  

   So our guide hatched a plan to leave REAL EARLY in the morning, like 5:30 am (still dark) and we would go to a distant area where there had been some sightings.  All these animals move around all the time in search of food, water, and safety. 

   We arrived just as the sun was coming up, and got some good shots of sunrise on the Serengeti.  

   And we found the giraffes, a whole bunch of them.  It was super cool!  They got accustomed to us and we were able to watch and snap photos for a long time.  A real treat.

   All in all, a real special time.   I know it sounds lame, but it's one of those things where you keep saying "I can't believe we're really here doing this!"

A Note About the Pictures

   Pretty much all of the pictures on our trip and on this blog, ever since we left home, have been taken with my trusty iPhone 4S - not the best vehicle for high quality pictures, but good enough. We sorely missed a better camera during this episode (and a few other places). But the trade off is carrying a bulky professional camera and lens around the world just for certain moments.
   You have to make some trade offs. We are constanty moving and barely have enough room in our back packs for a few clothes, and don't want the worry of a fancy expensive camera. Hard to lug around, and a target for damage, loss, or theft. Heck, my iPhone has already been dropped, kicked, soaked, scratched, covered in dust, and generally abused, but keeps on working.
   However, I love taking pictures and the dream would be to come back here, or Angkor Wat, or other places yet unseen, and get the best photographs possible with a top notch camera.
   The iPhone (with a little help from a lightweight decent quality Kodak digital back up camera) works fine most of the time and it's easy to manipulate pictures back and forth in digital format for the blog, email, archives, etc. Again, you have to make some sacrifices.

One last note ...

   This entire episode and visit was so significant.  It's not a metaphor.  Well, maybe it is ... Okay, cue the music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTtgVSxfr5M