Hi everyone
Remember in my last blog, I told you I would write a blog about poaching? Well, here it is. Poaching usually happens to the animals considered the big 5. Rhino, elephant, leopard, cape buffalo, and lion. They are hunted for trophies. The rhino for its horn, elephant for its ivory tusk, leopard for its skin, cape buffalo for its head, and lion for its claws and teeth. They are also hunted because they are big and the most dangerous to hunt.
Rhinos and elephants are the most hunted/poached nowadays. The rhino horn is used for aphrodisiac. Since it gets turned into dust, it is easy to sneak out of the country. A few weeks ago 5 rhinos were given to Tanzania from South Africa. This was a gift and while we were on safari, one of the gifted rhinos was poached in the Serengeti. Since it is such a large area, it's almost impossible to keep it patrolled.
In 2007, there were three men in the Ngorongoro who poached three elephants. Eight rangers found the camp of the poachers so the poachers shot at the rangers killing 2 and injuring one of them. The rangers shot back and killed 2 of the poachers and injured one. They interviewed the one who was injured, and found out that he was from Somalia. The three poachers had disguised themselves as Masaai so that no one would suspect them.
Poaching doesn't happen very often any more, but it still happens. Some of the international laws forbidding the export of ivory has helped decrease elephant poaching. I hope everyone who wants to will do their share to help stop poaching. There is a good kids book on this topic called Akimbo and the Elephants. Emilia and I both liked it.
Good bye for now.....
Showing posts with label Tanzania. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tanzania. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Sunny Christmastime
Hi everyone. Merry belated Christmas. We were on Zanzibar, which is an island off the coast of Tanzania, for Christmas. For Christmas day we were on the beach. We started the day by waking up and looking at all our presents. I got a jingle dress, an Eqyptian bookmark, a ruler with heiroglyphics on it, some turkish delight, a Croation doll, a Greek doll and a Turkish doll, a blue eye bracelet, one special african hair braiding, and Santa signed us up for swimming with the dolphins in the wild.
My favorite was swimming with the dolphins. The closest I got to one was probably about one metre. I felt like diving down and touching it, but something told me “no”. The way you see them is to look under water with your mask and you see them. To get into the water near them you have to jump off your moving boat while there are other moving boats around. You can’t hesitate. We also saw one baby dolphin with its mom, it was really cute.
After we opened our presents we went for a big buffet breakfast. There were even cream puffs and brownies... I especially liked when daddy thought the cream puffs were plain and he put chocolate sauce on his. He bit in to it and went “ wow!” After breakfast we went to the beach for the day. About lunch time, Mattias and I got hungry (of course) so we got some food from the beach bbq and cokes. After that, Me and Daddy built a sand man, (not a snow man) it was big but had to be lying down so he wouldn’t collapse. Later, me, mom, daddy and Thias all went for a long swim. The Indian Ocean is so warm, you actually feel like you are in a bath tub!
At dinner time, we went to a beach buffet dinner. It was a really really yummy dinner, and for dessert there was Christmas cake and fruit tarts.
For presents from the family, since there were no shops around, we decided to make gift certificates. Daddy is getting a new coffee press mug since his old one got left behind... Mattias is getting a soccer ball, Mommy is getting a new swimsuit, and I am getting a long skirt.
On Christmas we also picked a fresh coconut that was very yummy. My favourite part of Christmas day was present opening from under the drawn Christmas tree.
Bye for now, Emilia
My favorite was swimming with the dolphins. The closest I got to one was probably about one metre. I felt like diving down and touching it, but something told me “no”. The way you see them is to look under water with your mask and you see them. To get into the water near them you have to jump off your moving boat while there are other moving boats around. You can’t hesitate. We also saw one baby dolphin with its mom, it was really cute.
After we opened our presents we went for a big buffet breakfast. There were even cream puffs and brownies... I especially liked when daddy thought the cream puffs were plain and he put chocolate sauce on his. He bit in to it and went “ wow!” After breakfast we went to the beach for the day. About lunch time, Mattias and I got hungry (of course) so we got some food from the beach bbq and cokes. After that, Me and Daddy built a sand man, (not a snow man) it was big but had to be lying down so he wouldn’t collapse. Later, me, mom, daddy and Thias all went for a long swim. The Indian Ocean is so warm, you actually feel like you are in a bath tub!
At dinner time, we went to a beach buffet dinner. It was a really really yummy dinner, and for dessert there was Christmas cake and fruit tarts.
For presents from the family, since there were no shops around, we decided to make gift certificates. Daddy is getting a new coffee press mug since his old one got left behind... Mattias is getting a soccer ball, Mommy is getting a new swimsuit, and I am getting a long skirt.
On Christmas we also picked a fresh coconut that was very yummy. My favourite part of Christmas day was present opening from under the drawn Christmas tree.
Bye for now, Emilia
No bears, no chickens....but the big 5!
We went on a 9 day safari from Dec’ 13 to Dec’ 21 the first day we went to Arusha National Park, it was a great starting place ‘cause you could see lots of variety of different animals and lots of them.There were lots of giraffes and we got lucky and saw a black and white Colobus monkey. They are rare to see because of how well they hide. We drove to a little view point and saw them in a tree and then when we were going back from the view point they were gone. The second day we woke up and drove to Lake Manyara National Park. Lake Manyara is famous for its tree climbing lions. The lions adapt to different habitats so this is why they climb trees in this park only. Although we didn’t see any, we saw lots and lots of elephants. The first elephant we saw was way in the bushes and you could only just see him. Looking contently at it, James (our amazing driver/guide) said lets skip this elephant because we will see many more up close. We drove about 2 minutes and guess what? We saw another elephant. Not necessarily closer, but a lot easier to see. Actually, he was very hard to see at fir... let me skip the details and give you the highlights and main thoughts!
Day 3 -we came about a metre away from a big bull elephant - he came so close we could have touched him, but instead we all jumped back. We thought we would drive away, but James just sat there while we freaked out! We asked him how do you know when an elephant is mad, he said since he is happily eating you don’t have to worry. Phew!
Day 4 - Serengeti - James pointed out a Leopard in a tree but all we could see was its tail. He suddenly stopped, backed up and we were looking all over wondering what he saw and then he pointed in the tree about 30m away. None of us could see it, then he gave us more detail about where in the tree and we found him!
Day 4 - When we were driving in to the Serengeti, practically the first thing we saw was a cheetah lying down in the shade of a bush. Then after a few more minutes driving, we saw a lion lying down. He was hard to see unless you looked backwards and then all you could see was her paws sticking up in the air! (lions are lazy). We got a good view of the lion then as you know we saw the leopard I mentioned above.
Day 5 - We woke up early in the morning and went for a game drive before breakfast. Luck must follow us because we saw a pride of lions. There were 8 females, 3 cubs and one male. He was the dominant male ( there can be 2 or 3 males per pride). James said the pride probably had more dominant males because sometimes the males will leave the pride for a bit. We watched them for so long that we saw them move from the long grass all the way to the rock outcroppings. We watched them for a long long time and we saw something very interesting that they do to protect their cubs. They leave their cubs on a smaller rock nearby all hidden and all the other full grown ones on the big main rock. Then we went back for breakfast.
Day 6 - on Day 6 we went and saw a bunch of wildebeast and zebra on their great migration. James said there were half a million Zebra and 2 million wildebeast. Zebra and wildebeast go together because wildebeast can smell well and zebras can see very well. We drove right into the middle of the wildebeast and zebra. you could hear the zebra making their weird almost trumpeting noise. We were surrounded by them and could not see the road but James knew by heart the way to go and the wildebeast and zebra would move out of the way.
Day 7 - Day 7 was very lucky for all of our leopard sightings. We went out in the morning looking for some good game. We saw a bunch of cars parked around bad luck rock (we don’t usually see anything there, but James was determined we would so we kept going back, and that day we saw a leopard and two cubs. James said there were three cubs, but we only saw two. Later that day, after lunch, we went for another game drive and came really close to a Leopard. You pretty much looked up and she was there sleeping in the tree. I am not joking that she was 3 metres away. After we looked at the leopard for a while I wondered, “hmmm, why doesn’t it have a kill in the tree?” then James said “ look right behind her.” and there it was, it was a grand gazelle pretty much eaten and would last maybe for that day. She had wedged it in between two branches and stuck its horns into a branch. The Leopard’s put their prey in a tree so hyenas (scavengers) and other cats cannot steal it. They also put it in a tree to rot for a day or two so it is more tender for eating. Their teeth aren’t strong enough for fresh kill. If it over rots they leave their kill for the vultures.
Day 8 - Day 8 was our luckiest day. We actually saw two kills. The first was a cheetah walking around in the grass. James said he is looking for rabbits, and the next thing we knew she had a rabbit in her mouth! It wasn’t hard for the cheetah. She just had to walk and pick it up. The second kill was the most amazing. It was five lions, one was male, attacking a heard of cape buffalo for a newborn young one. In a fight like this one, either one of the cape buffalo or one of the lions will die. After a while, some of the herd left. Only the mother and one other was left to help the calf. The lions got the calf and the mother buffalo made one last try to save her young and realised it was already gone. wah!: (
Day 9 - On our final day we saw a mother black rhino and her young. They were very far away and very scared of vehicles. There are still poachers but not in the Ngorongoro Crater where we were. There are only 27 rhinos left in this area. We also saw lots of Hyenas here, there are over 400 in the crater!
The safari was so amazing. I think we got really lucky on it! Everyone we meet says that Mima and I are the luckiest because of our age already doing crazy things like this.
Bye everybody, I will do another blog shortly about poaching.
Day 3 -we came about a metre away from a big bull elephant - he came so close we could have touched him, but instead we all jumped back. We thought we would drive away, but James just sat there while we freaked out! We asked him how do you know when an elephant is mad, he said since he is happily eating you don’t have to worry. Phew!
Day 4 - Serengeti - James pointed out a Leopard in a tree but all we could see was its tail. He suddenly stopped, backed up and we were looking all over wondering what he saw and then he pointed in the tree about 30m away. None of us could see it, then he gave us more detail about where in the tree and we found him!
Day 4 - When we were driving in to the Serengeti, practically the first thing we saw was a cheetah lying down in the shade of a bush. Then after a few more minutes driving, we saw a lion lying down. He was hard to see unless you looked backwards and then all you could see was her paws sticking up in the air! (lions are lazy). We got a good view of the lion then as you know we saw the leopard I mentioned above.
Day 5 - We woke up early in the morning and went for a game drive before breakfast. Luck must follow us because we saw a pride of lions. There were 8 females, 3 cubs and one male. He was the dominant male ( there can be 2 or 3 males per pride). James said the pride probably had more dominant males because sometimes the males will leave the pride for a bit. We watched them for so long that we saw them move from the long grass all the way to the rock outcroppings. We watched them for a long long time and we saw something very interesting that they do to protect their cubs. They leave their cubs on a smaller rock nearby all hidden and all the other full grown ones on the big main rock. Then we went back for breakfast.
Day 6 - on Day 6 we went and saw a bunch of wildebeast and zebra on their great migration. James said there were half a million Zebra and 2 million wildebeast. Zebra and wildebeast go together because wildebeast can smell well and zebras can see very well. We drove right into the middle of the wildebeast and zebra. you could hear the zebra making their weird almost trumpeting noise. We were surrounded by them and could not see the road but James knew by heart the way to go and the wildebeast and zebra would move out of the way.
Day 7 - Day 7 was very lucky for all of our leopard sightings. We went out in the morning looking for some good game. We saw a bunch of cars parked around bad luck rock (we don’t usually see anything there, but James was determined we would so we kept going back, and that day we saw a leopard and two cubs. James said there were three cubs, but we only saw two. Later that day, after lunch, we went for another game drive and came really close to a Leopard. You pretty much looked up and she was there sleeping in the tree. I am not joking that she was 3 metres away. After we looked at the leopard for a while I wondered, “hmmm, why doesn’t it have a kill in the tree?” then James said “ look right behind her.” and there it was, it was a grand gazelle pretty much eaten and would last maybe for that day. She had wedged it in between two branches and stuck its horns into a branch. The Leopard’s put their prey in a tree so hyenas (scavengers) and other cats cannot steal it. They also put it in a tree to rot for a day or two so it is more tender for eating. Their teeth aren’t strong enough for fresh kill. If it over rots they leave their kill for the vultures.
Day 8 - Day 8 was our luckiest day. We actually saw two kills. The first was a cheetah walking around in the grass. James said he is looking for rabbits, and the next thing we knew she had a rabbit in her mouth! It wasn’t hard for the cheetah. She just had to walk and pick it up. The second kill was the most amazing. It was five lions, one was male, attacking a heard of cape buffalo for a newborn young one. In a fight like this one, either one of the cape buffalo or one of the lions will die. After a while, some of the herd left. Only the mother and one other was left to help the calf. The lions got the calf and the mother buffalo made one last try to save her young and realised it was already gone. wah!: (
Day 9 - On our final day we saw a mother black rhino and her young. They were very far away and very scared of vehicles. There are still poachers but not in the Ngorongoro Crater where we were. There are only 27 rhinos left in this area. We also saw lots of Hyenas here, there are over 400 in the crater!
The safari was so amazing. I think we got really lucky on it! Everyone we meet says that Mima and I are the luckiest because of our age already doing crazy things like this.
Bye everybody, I will do another blog shortly about poaching.
This is Africa
Tanzania has been a wild and amazing ride! We came here with a lot planned, unlike most of our travels to date. All we had to do was make sure we got busses and ferries to get to and from our various points of interest. Dar Es Salaam is not the city of dreams, rather, a city to avoid. Even the TI office was stumped when we asked if there was anything worthwhile to do! Having said that, we knew it would be a point of departure and arrival - so today, we have a full day to get ourselves caught up while sitting in a muggy, humid 35 + degrees before flying to S Africa tomorrow. The power is off for now, so the AC is not on either. This is Africa!
Our travels began with the fun bus to Arusha, 9 hours turned 12 - but best slow than option b, the driver who gets you there in 9, but you are so shell shocked when arriving you aren’t sure how you are still alive - luck of the draw. Arusha is the starting point for most safaris in Tanzania.
What a 10 days - too hard to describe - phenomenal. Mattias is giving a day by day highlight so I will leave that for him. Seeing the Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, Lake Manyara, Arusha National Park was a once in a lifetime experience - and we will never forget it. Bernie is working on getting the photos up - but the power here is on again off again and it is slow going - This is Africa.
From Safari we made the trek back to Dar to make our way to Zanzibar by ferry. Most tourists travel between places by air - now we know why- chaos is endemic in public transport here ( reminder to self -this is Africa). Emilia’s blog tells most of the story of Zanzibar - beautiful beaches, warm waters, lovely hotel for Christmas and lots of fun. We met lots of people, and the kids even found a good buddy to play with, Sonny from Germany was a great kid and they spent lots of time together.
Jambiani Beach allowed us some freedoms not seen to us in the rest of Tanzania. Feeling quite segregated from the locals in Dar and Arusha, we finally were at ease to mingle freely and not have the same security concerns. A breath of fresh air, and some fun getting to chat with the Africans. Mattias is a great barrier breaker as he wears a footie jersey daily and it always brings comments his way. It even started some footie games on the beach.
Tanzania has been a country of highlights for us, our only regret being that we often felt cooped up and unable to really get out and to mingle with the locals. We are reminded daily by ourselves and others - This Is Africa.
Happy New Year everyone - we long to hear your holiday stories too.
Our travels began with the fun bus to Arusha, 9 hours turned 12 - but best slow than option b, the driver who gets you there in 9, but you are so shell shocked when arriving you aren’t sure how you are still alive - luck of the draw. Arusha is the starting point for most safaris in Tanzania.
What a 10 days - too hard to describe - phenomenal. Mattias is giving a day by day highlight so I will leave that for him. Seeing the Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, Lake Manyara, Arusha National Park was a once in a lifetime experience - and we will never forget it. Bernie is working on getting the photos up - but the power here is on again off again and it is slow going - This is Africa.
From Safari we made the trek back to Dar to make our way to Zanzibar by ferry. Most tourists travel between places by air - now we know why- chaos is endemic in public transport here ( reminder to self -this is Africa). Emilia’s blog tells most of the story of Zanzibar - beautiful beaches, warm waters, lovely hotel for Christmas and lots of fun. We met lots of people, and the kids even found a good buddy to play with, Sonny from Germany was a great kid and they spent lots of time together.
Jambiani Beach allowed us some freedoms not seen to us in the rest of Tanzania. Feeling quite segregated from the locals in Dar and Arusha, we finally were at ease to mingle freely and not have the same security concerns. A breath of fresh air, and some fun getting to chat with the Africans. Mattias is a great barrier breaker as he wears a footie jersey daily and it always brings comments his way. It even started some footie games on the beach.
Tanzania has been a country of highlights for us, our only regret being that we often felt cooped up and unable to really get out and to mingle with the locals. We are reminded daily by ourselves and others - This Is Africa.
Happy New Year everyone - we long to hear your holiday stories too.
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