Greetings from Oz!
Yes, you read that correctly, I changed my plans again and am now in Perth, Western Australia and have been for a little over 24 hours.
In the end although the gorillas of Uganda sounded amazing it would've been fairly expensive and a lot of hassle to sort out so I booked a flight back to Jo.burg from Nairobi and then having spend about 8 hours drinking coffee in Jo.burg airport I took my original flight to Perth.
Having traveled on from Zanzibar up into Kenya we went leopard hunting but although we searched through the Ngorongoro Crater and Lake Nukuru NP we failed to find one until we got to the Nairobi Museum where there was a stuffed one on display! However, I did manage to find loads of white Rhino to add to the black ones I'd already seen along with more lions, eland (biggest antelope in Africa), Thompson and Grant Gazelles, waterbuck (that don't die easily and taste great!), bushbuck and all sorts of birds inc pelicans and long crested eagles.
While in the Ngorongoro Crater we (as a truck) decided to forget about roughing it for a night and paid an extra $40 each to stay in a great lodge/ hotel on the cliffs over the crater so had a night eating in a fancy restaurant then night in room with hot showers and big double beds. This little bit of luxury convinced me that camping isn't all that so then got upgrades virtually every night from there on in having been good and stayed in my tent whenever possible up until that point.
As my subject line may of suggested I've arrived in Australia and have sampled my first night of Perth's night life (though not convinced I went to quite the best hotspots Northbridge has to offer (maybe tonight!). I've got a couple of contacts from Africa (friends of people off the truck) that I'm hoping to meet up with so fingers crossed
I've not quite figured out my next move as my brain isn't really working too well having only had a couple of hours sleep in Nairobi before leaving for Joburg soon after 5am, then bugger all until arriving in Perth at about 9.30 yesterday morning, then failing dismally to get an early night yesterday as I had to go drinking ....
Not sure what other news is worth telling really, Nairobi isn't as bad as the name Nairobbery implys and the restaurant there called carnivors is sensational (paid equvolent of about 12 UK pound to eat as much dead animal as possible, managed to keep going for hours!).
Now I actully typed the details below for people that were on the truck with me but as it took forever to do I thought I'd share it with you as well! Here are the details of the animals I spotted and the locations of first sighting (the list probably isn't exhaustive as unless I got a 100% positive ID I didn't put it in the book). * after means it was also eaten, theory of how hard they are to kill stands!
the animals...
Chacma Baboon - Chobe
Vervet Monkey - Chobe
Eastern Black & White Colabus - Elsamere, Lake Nukuru
Tree Squirrels - chobe
Brown Hyena - Cape Cross, Namibia
Spotted Hyena - Moringa Watering Hole, Etosha
Lion - Etosha (female), Ngorongoro Crater (male)
Cheetah - Otjitotongwe Cheetah Park
Banded mongoose - etosha
African Wild Dog - Chobe
Black-backed Jackel - everywhere (though may well of also seen side striped jackel in second half of trip as book says bbjs don't tend to be seen north of Tanz and ssjs look similar just lighter in colour)
Cape fur-seal - Cape town harbour & cape cross, Namibia
African Elephant - etosha
Dassie - Cape of Good Hope
White Rhinoceros - Lake Nukuru
BLack Rhino - Moringa watering hole
Mountain Zebra - Namib-Naukluft Park (tried to eat but couldn't find, gutted!)
Burchells zebra - etosha
Bushpig - chobe
Warthog - Namib-Naukluft Park*
hippopotamus - okovango delta
giraffe -etosha
blue wildebeest - etosha*
REd Hartebeest - etosha
steenbok - etosha
springbok - etosha*
Thompson Gazelle - crater
Grant gazelle - crater
Black faced Impala - etosha
Impala - crater *
sable antelope - chobe
Gemsbok - Namib-Naukluft Park*
Bushbuk - Lake Nukuru
Eland - crater*
Greater Kuku - etosha *
African buffalo - chobe
Waterbuk - Lake Nukuru*
Puku - chobe
Leopard - Nairobi museum (stuffed)
(think I ate a few more than is listed but ....)
Birds
Ostrich - Cape of good hope*
Jackass Penguins - Roben Island & Boulders bay
White Pelican - Lake Nukuru
Darter - chobe
Hamerkop - Vic Falls
Goliath Heron - chobe
Green backed heron -chobe
great white egret - SA
Black backed heron - SA
saddle billed stork - delta
marabou stork - chobe
yellow billed stork - chobe
Sacred ibis - crater
Greater & Lesser flamingos - Lake Nukuru
Egyptian Goose - chobe
Tawny Eagle - etosha
Bateleur - crater
Augur buzzard - crater
Long crested eagle - Lake Nukuru
Martial eagle - chobe
secretary bird - etosha
African fish eagle - delta
white backed vultures - ? didn't records, (maybe etosha)
Lappet faced vulture - ? dito
Helmeted guineafowl - who cares! maybe chobe?
Southern Crowned Cranes - crater
kori bustard - etosha (africas biggest flying bird don't you know! - getting really bord of typing these now!)
blacksmith plover -chobe
Laughing dove - crayfish campsite ( Kenya)
Rosy faced lovebird - Coffee Bay SA
Rose ring necked parokeet - dito
Barred owl - etosha
pied kingfisher - delta
woodland kingfisher - delta
Malachite kingfisher - Coffee Bay SA
white fronted bee eater - chobe
little bee eater - chobe
lilac breasted roller - chobe
ground hornbill - namibian/ botswana border
yellow throated longclaws - crater
red winged starling - Cape twon
glossy starling - lake Nukuru
Pied Crow - Cape town
Oxpeckers - chobe (on Sable antelope)
Masked weaver - crater
Long tailed widow - Lake Nukuru
Other stuff
Nile Crocodite - delta*
Nile Monitor =- Coffee Bay SA
Water Monitir - chobe
Angle fish - zanzibar
And thats that I believe, hope you are all safe and well.
TTFN
JP
Internet Cafe
Northbridge
Perth
Australia
In the end although the gorillas of Uganda sounded amazing it would've been fairly expensive and a lot of hassle to sort out so I booked a flight back to Jo.burg from Nairobi and then having spend about 8 hours drinking coffee in Jo.burg airport I took my original flight to Perth.
Having traveled on from Zanzibar up into Kenya we went leopard hunting but although we searched through the Ngorongoro Crater and Lake Nukuru NP we failed to find one until we got to the Nairobi Museum where there was a stuffed one on display! However, I did manage to find loads of white Rhino to add to the black ones I'd already seen along with more lions, eland (biggest antelope in Africa), Thompson and Grant Gazelles, waterbuck (that don't die easily and taste great!), bushbuck and all sorts of birds inc pelicans and long crested eagles.
While in the Ngorongoro Crater we (as a truck) decided to forget about roughing it for a night and paid an extra $40 each to stay in a great lodge/ hotel on the cliffs over the crater so had a night eating in a fancy restaurant then night in room with hot showers and big double beds. This little bit of luxury convinced me that camping isn't all that so then got upgrades virtually every night from there on in having been good and stayed in my tent whenever possible up until that point.
As my subject line may of suggested I've arrived in Australia and have sampled my first night of Perth's night life (though not convinced I went to quite the best hotspots Northbridge has to offer (maybe tonight!). I've got a couple of contacts from Africa (friends of people off the truck) that I'm hoping to meet up with so fingers crossed
I've not quite figured out my next move as my brain isn't really working too well having only had a couple of hours sleep in Nairobi before leaving for Joburg soon after 5am, then bugger all until arriving in Perth at about 9.30 yesterday morning, then failing dismally to get an early night yesterday as I had to go drinking ....
Not sure what other news is worth telling really, Nairobi isn't as bad as the name Nairobbery implys and the restaurant there called carnivors is sensational (paid equvolent of about 12 UK pound to eat as much dead animal as possible, managed to keep going for hours!).
Now I actully typed the details below for people that were on the truck with me but as it took forever to do I thought I'd share it with you as well! Here are the details of the animals I spotted and the locations of first sighting (the list probably isn't exhaustive as unless I got a 100% positive ID I didn't put it in the book). * after means it was also eaten, theory of how hard they are to kill stands!
the animals...
Chacma Baboon - Chobe
Vervet Monkey - Chobe
Eastern Black & White Colabus - Elsamere, Lake Nukuru
Tree Squirrels - chobe
Brown Hyena - Cape Cross, Namibia
Spotted Hyena - Moringa Watering Hole, Etosha
Lion - Etosha (female), Ngorongoro Crater (male)
Cheetah - Otjitotongwe Cheetah Park
Banded mongoose - etosha
African Wild Dog - Chobe
Black-backed Jackel - everywhere (though may well of also seen side striped jackel in second half of trip as book says bbjs don't tend to be seen north of Tanz and ssjs look similar just lighter in colour)
Cape fur-seal - Cape town harbour & cape cross, Namibia
African Elephant - etosha
Dassie - Cape of Good Hope
White Rhinoceros - Lake Nukuru
BLack Rhino - Moringa watering hole
Mountain Zebra - Namib-Naukluft Park (tried to eat but couldn't find, gutted!)
Burchells zebra - etosha
Bushpig - chobe
Warthog - Namib-Naukluft Park*
hippopotamus - okovango delta
giraffe -etosha
blue wildebeest - etosha*
REd Hartebeest - etosha
steenbok - etosha
springbok - etosha*
Thompson Gazelle - crater
Grant gazelle - crater
Black faced Impala - etosha
Impala - crater *
sable antelope - chobe
Gemsbok - Namib-Naukluft Park*
Bushbuk - Lake Nukuru
Eland - crater*
Greater Kuku - etosha *
African buffalo - chobe
Waterbuk - Lake Nukuru*
Puku - chobe
Leopard - Nairobi museum (stuffed)
(think I ate a few more than is listed but ....)
Birds
Ostrich - Cape of good hope*
Jackass Penguins - Roben Island & Boulders bay
White Pelican - Lake Nukuru
Darter - chobe
Hamerkop - Vic Falls
Goliath Heron - chobe
Green backed heron -chobe
great white egret - SA
Black backed heron - SA
saddle billed stork - delta
marabou stork - chobe
yellow billed stork - chobe
Sacred ibis - crater
Greater & Lesser flamingos - Lake Nukuru
Egyptian Goose - chobe
Tawny Eagle - etosha
Bateleur - crater
Augur buzzard - crater
Long crested eagle - Lake Nukuru
Martial eagle - chobe
secretary bird - etosha
African fish eagle - delta
white backed vultures - ? didn't records, (maybe etosha)
Lappet faced vulture - ? dito
Helmeted guineafowl - who cares! maybe chobe?
Southern Crowned Cranes - crater
kori bustard - etosha (africas biggest flying bird don't you know! - getting really bord of typing these now!)
blacksmith plover -chobe
Laughing dove - crayfish campsite ( Kenya)
Rosy faced lovebird - Coffee Bay SA
Rose ring necked parokeet - dito
Barred owl - etosha
pied kingfisher - delta
woodland kingfisher - delta
Malachite kingfisher - Coffee Bay SA
white fronted bee eater - chobe
little bee eater - chobe
lilac breasted roller - chobe
ground hornbill - namibian/ botswana border
yellow throated longclaws - crater
red winged starling - Cape twon
glossy starling - lake Nukuru
Pied Crow - Cape town
Oxpeckers - chobe (on Sable antelope)
Masked weaver - crater
Long tailed widow - Lake Nukuru
Other stuff
Nile Crocodite - delta*
Nile Monitor =- Coffee Bay SA
Water Monitir - chobe
Angle fish - zanzibar
And thats that I believe, hope you are all safe and well.
TTFN
JP
Internet Cafe
Northbridge
Perth
Australia
posted by JP at 6:15 pm
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