The laundry question. We washed most of what we brought at Amboseli. That is roughly the half way point. The Four seasons offers a 50% discount to Tauck guests, but I avoided it anyway. Compared to the cost of the trip in total, the laundry is ‘fairy dust’. We packed in two Tauck ‘Eagle Creek’ duffels and a roll aboard. The new ‘OGIO’ duffels are smaller and I’m not sure we could do it with those. We basically carry five safari shirts, three safari pants, and accessories. I wore my hiking shoes exclusively except for my sneakers once … not needed. The Four Seasons was extremely ‘cavalier’ in our billing. When charging stuff you just give your room number and you don’t sign anything. I found it impossible to figure out the price of wine by the glass. In the end it did not matter. I charged at least a hundred dollars worth of stuff and my final bill was fifteen dollars … about a drink and a half … we had more than that.
The best safari ever:
As most of you know this was our fourth safari, and our third K&T. This was better than our first and second K&T’s put together. No migration crossing as they had not gotten anywhere near the Mara river yet. We saw the tail end of it in the Serengeti.
The list of first evers:
First time we saw Mount Kilimanjaro unobstructed by clouds.
First time we saw Mount Kenya unobstructed by clouds. (On two occasions)
First time we saw a leopard in a tree eating it’s fresh kill.
First time we saw three chetahs (mother and two young) eating a fresh kill
First time we saw lions ‘honeymooning’.
First time we got airborne in the balloon on the first try. (First trip didn’t get airborne at all)
First time we got a ‘long’ balloon ride … hour and a quarter.
Expectations: Future K&T travelers please keep these in check. It took us three tries to see most of it in one trip. The animals are not scripted although on this trip they appeared to be. We saw more in the Serengeti between the arrival airfield and the hotel than we saw in the Serengeti on the previous two trips. Our TD … Bill Mercadante is one of Tauck’s best. We have had him twice in Africa and once this year in Antarctica. He made everything happen seamlessly. All of the driver guides were terrific. We were a group of fourteen including two real’ children, and two teen agers. They were great. Everyone was very compatible and there were no exceptions. We all became one family. All of the tips are included for Tauck covered items, but I passed out a lot of ‘singles’ to hotel staff. Everyone was clearly very happy to be back to work and very happy to see us.
The trip home was seamless as well. KLM was within fifteen minutes of schedule everywhere. Their service was great. Amsterdam is a bit of a bottleneck for the return trip having to go through security to get to our San Francisco flight. The line took about forty-five minutes. There was no ‘second’ security go to Kilimanjaro. There were actually six small plane flights as the flight to Mount Kenya went through Wilson airport at Nairobi … same airport as the final flight to Nairobi. “That’s All Folks.”
Sealord - Glad your trip was so successful. I must have been lucky. On my only K&T I achieved 1,2,6, and 7 from your list.
We didn't see 3,4, or 5 but IMO, we saw some different but equally impressive animal activities:
a) lion bleeding above its eye - from some sort of fighting I'd conjecture
b) rhinos doing battle
c) a herd of charging and trumpeting elephants
d) a crocodile hauling away an animal in its jaws that was unsuccessful crossing the river during its migration
Great summary, Sealord. I hope our tour next month will be equally exciting. As we have nothing with which to compare it (it is our first African adventure), I’m sure it will be spectacular!
Wanted to show some of my photos from a December when it was wet. Note the elephants in the pouring rain, the bedraggled male Lion. Also a couple of photos of Hyrax, yes that cute little creature is the nearest living animal to an elephant. The larger black and white bird is a Secretary Bird, my favorite. More later
Sealord, I am delighted you had such an exciting an fulfilling safari; I guess, in your case, the fourth time is the charm. Love the sun setting behind the acacia trees. Each time I go on safari I learn something new, and I feel I will never be able to get enough of Africa. It changed me. As Hemingway said, “I never knew of a morning in Africa when I woke that I was not happy”.
Amsterdam layover question.... We will be arriving in Amsterdam from Seattle (Delta) and will have a 2 hour layover before our KLM flight to Tanzania (Aug 6th safari!). I've heard there are a lot of issues in Amsterdam. Anyone know how much time we will need in between flights? I thought 2 hours was sufficient but am now starting to get concerned. Thanks!
Renee … 111: A two hour layover is more than we had and it was plenty going to Tanzania. No added security screening. Coming back we had to go thru another screening and that took 45 minutes in line. The people who missed their (our) flight to Tanzania were on a Delta flight that was three hours late on departure. You can’t fix that easily. You can be more prepared if you can figure out what the inbound flight is doing … the airplane that you plan on flying out. Easy on flights from places with a limited schedule … very difficult if on Delta from Atalanta.
Thanks. His pose doesn't highlight the breast like in these, but I thought it was a slightly better pic. (I needed all 300mm of zoom!)
Update: by popular demand (not) I added the names of the birds below.
There are a lot of interesting birds on both K&T and B,SA,Z. At Ngorongoro crater our guide pointed out this pair of "Super Bustali" to which we replied, "What?" after we couldn't find it in our book. But after a bit of translation, we realized he said "Super Blue Starling"! (Actually it is a Superb Starling) It was much easier to spot and take photos than to remember all their names!
Crested Crane or Grey Crowned Crane and chick
Augur Buzzard
Crowned Eagle
Marabou Stork
White-backed Vulture. I always forget the name so I call it the Liberace Buzzard In all the samples I looked at I didn't see any with a back as white.
Jackson's Widowbird (this guy jumps a few feet off the ground during courting. It needs two photos- one to show the bird and another to show what it does when attempting to attract a mate.
Did anyone get to see the Tsessebe….yes this is the correct spelling , the large brown antelope with the black patches? We saw these in December 2019. Also see how wet the Savannah is and the flooded roads. I’ve posted a couple of pics by mistake of nothing.
Love all you bird photos Alan. Can you believe on our very first Safari, several of the folks would not stop for birds, they moaned like crazy. In the end, the TD had to put them in a separate vehicle and they never stopped to look at any birds. Everyone else did and still had as many animal sittings as they did. What gorgeous birds they missed
I’m not a birder but I enjoy looking at beautiful birds. We did not have any moaners. If someone wanted to watch we watched or sat quietly until they said sowa sowa. I got a little tired watching a cheetah through 12x50 binoculars that was a dot only to be recognized by our driver. Generally speaking, if I can’t see the animals eyes for me it is not a sighting. I posted a number of pictures of birds … b one R D’s. I don’t know all their names but I enjoy seeing them. If someone wants to spend twenty minutes observing their favorite bird that might become tedious.
SeaLord, if you haven’t ditched them and have time, could you post a comparison photo of the new and old duffels? Are the new duffels significantly smaller? Thank you
I am loving all of the photos of the beautiful and exotic birds. I remember the cute little Hammerkop bird from my Serengheti safari, but most of the names elude me. Thanks to Alan and British for posting (and captioning!)
British - Did anyone get to see the Tsessebe….yes this is the correct spelling , the large brown antelope with the black patches?
We were told that these were Topis. There habitat is Kenya and Tanzania.
Common tsessebe are found in Angola, Zambia, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), and South Africa. So you would likely see them on the B,Z,SA tour as opposed to the K&T tour.
I said they were topis, and that is what I remember, so blame Mr. B for this one! We have been to almost all those other countries, so this time I’ll forgive him 🤪
Alan, definitely hammerkops in the background of your first excellent photo! Also, I think topis are distinguished by their yellow stockings. I am trying to educate myself more about the many different breeds of antelope.
Luckily we didn't have any birders on either K&T or B,SA,Z It was surprising how many I saw and photographed from the camps!
Topis can also be distinguished- a single or dominant male/female(?) in a group is almost always seen standing on a hillock or mound as the photos attest!
it is either the Topi or similar that reminds me of Jar Jar Binks from Star Wars without the floppy ears.
Alan - I feel like an idiot but I've tried numerous times to load some photos from my African trips but somehow it is not working for me. Any suggestions?
Comments
Much cheaper
Recommendation was to do laundry at the Serena Lodges. Between $1 to $3 per item.
It's inexpensive in the Serena hotels, I had laundry done more than once.
The laundry question. We washed most of what we brought at Amboseli. That is roughly the half way point. The Four seasons offers a 50% discount to Tauck guests, but I avoided it anyway. Compared to the cost of the trip in total, the laundry is ‘fairy dust’. We packed in two Tauck ‘Eagle Creek’ duffels and a roll aboard. The new ‘OGIO’ duffels are smaller and I’m not sure we could do it with those. We basically carry five safari shirts, three safari pants, and accessories. I wore my hiking shoes exclusively except for my sneakers once … not needed. The Four Seasons was extremely ‘cavalier’ in our billing. When charging stuff you just give your room number and you don’t sign anything. I found it impossible to figure out the price of wine by the glass. In the end it did not matter. I charged at least a hundred dollars worth of stuff and my final bill was fifteen dollars … about a drink and a half … we had more than that.
The best safari ever:
As most of you know this was our fourth safari, and our third K&T. This was better than our first and second K&T’s put together. No migration crossing as they had not gotten anywhere near the Mara river yet. We saw the tail end of it in the Serengeti.
The list of first evers:
Expectations: Future K&T travelers please keep these in check. It took us three tries to see most of it in one trip. The animals are not scripted although on this trip they appeared to be. We saw more in the Serengeti between the arrival airfield and the hotel than we saw in the Serengeti on the previous two trips. Our TD … Bill Mercadante is one of Tauck’s best. We have had him twice in Africa and once this year in Antarctica. He made everything happen seamlessly. All of the driver guides were terrific. We were a group of fourteen including two real’ children, and two teen agers. They were great. Everyone was very compatible and there were no exceptions. We all became one family. All of the tips are included for Tauck covered items, but I passed out a lot of ‘singles’ to hotel staff. Everyone was clearly very happy to be back to work and very happy to see us.
The trip home was seamless as well. KLM was within fifteen minutes of schedule everywhere. Their service was great. Amsterdam is a bit of a bottleneck for the return trip having to go through security to get to our San Francisco flight. The line took about forty-five minutes. There was no ‘second’ security go to Kilimanjaro. There were actually six small plane flights as the flight to Mount Kenya went through Wilson airport at Nairobi … same airport as the final flight to Nairobi. “That’s All Folks.”
Nice wrap-up! What an appropriate and fantastic final photo!
Sealord - Glad your trip was so successful. I must have been lucky. On my only K&T I achieved 1,2,6, and 7 from your list.
We didn't see 3,4, or 5 but IMO, we saw some different but equally impressive animal activities:
a) lion bleeding above its eye - from some sort of fighting I'd conjecture
b) rhinos doing battle
c) a herd of charging and trumpeting elephants
d) a crocodile hauling away an animal in its jaws that was unsuccessful crossing the river during its migration
Great summary, Sealord. I hope our tour next month will be equally exciting. As we have nothing with which to compare it (it is our first African adventure), I’m sure it will be spectacular!
Wanted to show some of my photos from a December when it was wet. Note the elephants in the pouring rain, the bedraggled male Lion. Also a couple of photos of Hyrax, yes that cute little creature is the nearest living animal to an elephant. The larger black and white bird is a Secretary Bird, my favorite. More later
Thank you all, you have been extremely helpful!
Sealord, I am delighted you had such an exciting an fulfilling safari; I guess, in your case, the fourth time is the charm. Love the sun setting behind the acacia trees. Each time I go on safari I learn something new, and I feel I will never be able to get enough of Africa. It changed me. As Hemingway said, “I never knew of a morning in Africa when I woke that I was not happy”.
British, I, too, love the Secretary bird, but my favorite has to be the lilac breasted roller.
Amsterdam layover question.... We will be arriving in Amsterdam from Seattle (Delta) and will have a 2 hour layover before our KLM flight to Tanzania (Aug 6th safari!). I've heard there are a lot of issues in Amsterdam. Anyone know how much time we will need in between flights? I thought 2 hours was sufficient but am now starting to get concerned. Thanks!
I read that on the internet so it must be true
but I'm not buying it! Manatee and Dugong, sure, but Hyrax, hard to believe.
Many incorrectly think it is the national bird of Botswana, but that distinction belongs to the kori bustard
Alan,I love the lighting in your photo of the lilac breasted roller. Thanks so much for posting.
Renee … 111: A two hour layover is more than we had and it was plenty going to Tanzania. No added security screening. Coming back we had to go thru another screening and that took 45 minutes in line. The people who missed their (our) flight to Tanzania were on a Delta flight that was three hours late on departure. You can’t fix that easily. You can be more prepared if you can figure out what the inbound flight is doing … the airplane that you plan on flying out. Easy on flights from places with a limited schedule … very difficult if on Delta from Atalanta.
Thanks. His pose doesn't highlight the breast like in these, but I thought it was a slightly better pic. (I needed all 300mm of zoom!)
Update: by popular demand (not) I added the names of the birds below.
There are a lot of interesting birds on both K&T and B,SA,Z. At Ngorongoro crater our guide pointed out this pair of "Super Bustali" to which we replied, "What?" after we couldn't find it in our book. But after a bit of translation, we realized he said "Super Blue Starling"!
(Actually it is a Superb Starling) It was much easier to spot and take photos than to remember all their names! 
Crested Crane or Grey Crowned Crane and chick
Augur Buzzard
Crowned Eagle
Marabou Stork
White-backed Vulture. I always forget the name so I call it the Liberace Buzzard
In all the samples I looked at I didn't see any with a back as white.
Jackson's Widowbird (this guy jumps a few feet off the ground during courting. It needs two photos- one to show the bird and another to show what it does when attempting to attract a mate.
Southern Ground Hornbill
Wattled Crane
African Fish Eagle
Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill
Pel's Fishing Owl
Black-collared Barbet
Crested Barbet
Egyptain Geese
Red-winged Starling
Did anyone get to see the Tsessebe….yes this is the correct spelling , the large brown antelope with the black patches? We saw these in December 2019. Also see how wet the Savannah is and the flooded roads. I’ve posted a couple of pics by mistake of nothing.
Love all you bird photos Alan. Can you believe on our very first Safari, several of the folks would not stop for birds, they moaned like crazy. In the end, the TD had to put them in a separate vehicle and they never stopped to look at any birds. Everyone else did and still had as many animal sittings as they did. What gorgeous birds they missed
If Sealord's report and all the photos don't make you want to go to Africa or go again, then maybe travel isn't your thing!!
I’m not a birder but I enjoy looking at beautiful birds. We did not have any moaners. If someone wanted to watch we watched or sat quietly until they said sowa sowa. I got a little tired watching a cheetah through 12x50 binoculars that was a dot only to be recognized by our driver. Generally speaking, if I can’t see the animals eyes for me it is not a sighting. I posted a number of pictures of birds … b one R D’s. I don’t know all their names but I enjoy seeing them. If someone wants to spend twenty minutes observing their favorite bird that might become tedious.
SeaLord, if you haven’t ditched them and have time, could you post a comparison photo of the new and old duffels? Are the new duffels significantly smaller? Thank you
I am loving all of the photos of the beautiful and exotic birds. I remember the cute little Hammerkop bird from my Serengheti safari, but most of the names elude me. Thanks to Alan and British for posting (and captioning!)
Here's a couple more for you from K&T. I think the first one is the Hammerkop you mentioned.
We were told that these were Topis. There habitat is Kenya and Tanzania.
Common tsessebe are found in Angola, Zambia, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), and South Africa. So you would likely see them on the B,Z,SA tour as opposed to the K&T tour.
I said they were topis, and that is what I remember, so blame Mr. B for this one! We have been to almost all those other countries, so this time I’ll forgive him 🤪
Alan, definitely hammerkops in the background of your first excellent photo! Also, I think topis are distinguished by their yellow stockings. I am trying to educate myself more about the many different breeds of antelope.
Luckily we didn't have any birders on either K&T or B,SA,Z
It was surprising how many I saw and photographed from the camps!
Topis can also be distinguished- a single or dominant male/female(?) in a group is almost always seen standing on a hillock or mound as the photos attest!
it is either the Topi or similar that reminds me of Jar Jar Binks from Star Wars without the floppy ears.
Alan - I feel like an idiot but I've tried numerous times to load some photos from my African trips but somehow it is not working for me. Any suggestions?