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AFRICA 2010
PHOTO TOUR
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ce n ie r e p x e e im t e f li a in We offer a uniquegeonacned-excite you! that will challen
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The BIG
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Day One On arrival at Kilimanjaro Airport, and having cleared the customs and immigration formalities, the guide will meet us and convey us to the hotel. By the time we reach the hotel there is time for a quick meal before turning in for a good nights sleep in preparation for an early start on day two.
Day TWO After an early breakfast and lodge check out, we will depart for the Serengeti. The route takes us through a “mixed” small holding area before reaching the town of Arusha. This town has a population that has rapidly grown over the past 30 years and is colourful and busy. Having passed through Arusha the road heads west towards Lake Victoria passing through some coffee farms and then the more marginal rainfall areas of the Masai Steppe. It is possible that Masai Herdsman will be seen herding their cattle sheep and goats dressed in their traditional and colourful clothing. The further we get from Arusha the more rural the country side becomes. The road gradually drops down into the Great Rift Valley and passes through a few roadside settlements before bypassing Lake Manyara. This lake which will be seen in the distance, enjoys a beautiful resident Flamingo population. The road winds steeply out of the Rift Valley and into an area of farming. We will then pass into the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, climbing up to an altitude of over 7000ft above sea level. The road passes round the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater allowing a quick stop and viewing into the crater providing an insight of what can be expected on the return visit. Thousands of animals, birds, reptiles and insects live in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and the Crater, which is a photographers’ paradise. Each day is filled with interest and delight. The countryside and vegetation changes rapidly as we drive up the outside of the crater. As we decend the far side of the crater it changes again. The Ngorongoro Crater is unique in many ways and is a deep, volcanic crater, the largest unflooded and unbroken caldera in the world.
About 20kms across, 600 metres deep and 300 sq kms in area, the Ngorongoro Crater is a breathtaking natural wonder. The rich pasture supports over 25,000 animals, predominantly grazing animals, including some of Tanzania’s last Black Rhinos. Big tuskers roam the floor and there is also a resident population of Lions and Cheetah. Animals are free to leave or enter the Crater. Fortunately, most remain because of the plentiful water and food available on the Crater floor throughout the year. After leaving the Ngorongoro Conservancy we enter the Serengeto Conservancy and ultimately the Serengeti National Park. This day is about convering a “chunk” of Africa but there will be ample opportunities to spend the time taking breath-taking images of the National Park. A variety of animals and birds will be seen and the guide will do all he can to provide the best photo experiences as time permits. Finally, we arrive at the luxury tented lodge where we will be based for one night.
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Day Three & Four After breakfast we will checkout of our lodge, and move onto our next accommodation for two nights. These days will be spent exploring the central and southern parts of the park. The programme for the days will be set by the guide to maximise the potential of seeing particular animals and to make your adventure as enjoyable and as photographically profitable as possible. This flexibility in necessary and depends where for example, the Wildebeest herds are, sighting of lions etc as well as local knowledge of the Serengeti generally. The Guides may decide that it is necessary to travel a long way in order to see something unusual or of particular interest and plan the days accordingly. The guides know these parks very well, they will be doing all they can to help us see as much of the parks as possible and will endevour to give us the best photographic opportunites.
Day five & SIX Today we will checkout of the hotel and depart for our third lodge in the northern part of the Serenteti. The day will again be at the descretion of the guide and will culminate in arrival at our lodge where we will stay for two nights. All movements in the park can be considered as wildlife viewing and photographing opportunities as there are a wealth of animal life to be seen. This lodge is what could be described as a high quality tentage camp consiting of a number of tents each with their own bathrooms and a central reception and eating facility. A typical sixth day, dependant on the guide, might be an early start from the hotel before sunrise. First stop could be a pool on one of the rivers which is usually occupied by a very large pod of Hippo. This would be followed by a game drive arriving back at the lodge for a late breakfast. After breakfast there could be a short break allowing for some photographic instruction prior to an early lunch. Todays’ plans may evolve at the discretion of the guide as new sightings and information comes available. After our meal we will depart for the very northern sector of the park close to the border with Kenya on an afternoon game drive. Then returning to the lodge in time for dinner.
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Arusha national park
Size: 552 sq km (212 sq miles). Location: Northern Tanzania, northeast of Arusha town.
The closest national park to Arusha town, northern
whose steep, rocky cliffs enclose a wide marshy floor
Tanzania’s safari capital, Arusha National Park is a
dotted with herds of buffalo and warthog. Further
multi-faceted jewel, often overlooked by safarigoers,
north, rolling grassy hills enclose the tranquil beauty
despite offering the opportunity to explore a
of the Momela Lakes, each one a different hue of
beguiling diversity of habitats within a few hours.
green or blue. Their shallows sometimes tinged pink with thousands of flamingos, the lakes support a rich
The entrance gate leads into shadowy montane
selection of resident and migrant waterfowl, and
forest inhabited by inquisitive blue monkeys and
shaggy waterbucks display their large lyre-shaped
colourful turacos and trogons – the only place on the
horns on the watery fringes. Giraffes glide across
northern safari circuit where the acrobatic black-and-
the grassy hills, between grazing zebra herds, while
white colobus monkey is easily seen. In the midst of
pairs of wide-eyed dik-dik dart into scrubby bush
the forest stands the spectacular Ngurdoto Crater,
like overgrown hares on spindly legs.
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Although elephants are uncommon in Arusha
famous neighbour, while also forming a rewarding
National Park, and lions travel altogether, leopards
hiking destination in its own right.
and spotted hyenas may be seen slinking around in the early morning and late afternoon. It is also at
Passing first through wooded savannah where
dusk and dawn that the veil of cloud on the eastern
buffalos and giraffes are frequently encountered,
horizon is most likely to clear, revealing the majestic
the ascent of Meru leads into forests aflame with red-
snow-capped peaks of Kilimanjaro, only 50 km away.
hot pokers and dripping with Spanish moss, before
But it is Kilimanjaro’s unassuming cousin, Mount
reaching high open heath spiked with giant lobelias.
Meru - the fifth highest in Africa at 4,566 metres
Everlasting flowers cling to the alpine desert, as
(14,990 feet) – that dominates the park’s horizon. Its
delicately-hoofed klipspringers mark the hike’s
peaks and eastern footslopes protected within the
progress. Astride the craggy summit, Kilimanjaro
national park, Meru offers unparalleled views of its
stands unveiled, blushing in the sunrise.
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Day seven After a late breakfast we will check out of this lodge and relocate to the Ngorongoro crater. The guide will take us through the Serengeti, viewing the wildlife prior to anafternoon exit out of the park. We will travel to the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater and check into the lodge for two nights. This lodge is set on the edge of the crater and has the most spectacular view over the soda lake and the whole crater.
Day Eight After an early breakfast, we will descend into the crater with a packed lunch. Nothing is certain but it is expected to have good sightings of Flamingoes. A good telephoto lens will be most valuable. The day is spent in the crater including a lunch stop. We will return to the lodge in the afternoon. The floor is an interesting place and has a number of different areas as well as soda and fresh water supporting a range of animal and bird life.
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An extraordinary photo adventure
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Day Nine After breakfast and having checked out of the lodge we will head back to Arusha along the same road that we travelled a few days previously. The ascent down the side of the crater will be taken at a slower pace enjoying the vegetation, bird and animal life. Lunch will be included on the way back to the lodge east of Arusha where the first night was spent and we stay here for two more nights.
Day ten Today we head out to the Arusha National Park with a packed lunch. This National Park is a very different type of Park as it is at a higher altitude than the Serengeti it has a higher rainfall. The trees are magnificent and dense in places with very little ground cover. There are areas where there are soda lakes and also fresh water where one can expect to see some animals and birds. There are rare Colobus monkeys and also the Blue Sykes monkeys. You may also see a variety of rare bird that are found here. There’s a good vantage point and cloud permitting the breathtaking Mt Kilimanjaro can be seen.
Day eleven After a leasurly breakfast and a quiet time allowing one to Photograph the hotel surrounds and pack up for final departure, we will check out of the hotel and travel back to the Airport with the Guide prior to departure.
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Serengeti National Park
Size: 14,763 sq km (5,700 sq miles). Location: 335km (208 miles) from Arusha, stretching north to Kenya and bordering Lake Victoria to the west.
A million wildebeest... each one driven by the same
pound the open plains, as more than 200,000 zebra
ancient rhythm, fulfilling its instinctive role in the
and 300,000 Thomson’s gazelle join the wildebeest’s
inescapable cycle of life: a frenzied three-week
trek for fresh grazing. Yet even when the migration
bout of territorial conquests and mating; survival
is quiet, the Serengeti offers arguably the most
of the fittest as 40km long columns plunge through
scintillating game-viewing in Africa: great herds of
crocodile-infested waters on the annual exodus
buffalo, smaller groups of elephant and giraffe, and
north; replenishing the species in a brief population
thousands upon thousands of eland, topi, kongoni,
explosion that produces more than 8,000 calves
impala and Grant’s gazelle.
daily before the 1,000 km pilgrimage begins again. The spectacle of predator versus prey dominates Tanzania’s oldest and most popular national park,
Tanzania’s greatest park. Golden-maned lion prides
also a world heritage site and recently proclaimed a
feast on the abundance of plain grazers. Solitary
7th world wide wonder, the Serengeti is famed for
leopards haunt the acacia trees lining the Seronera
its annual migration, when some six million hooves
River, while a high density of cheetahs prowls the
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southeastern plains. Almost uniquely, all three
As enduring as the game-viewing is the liberating
African jackal species occur here, alongside the
sense of space that characterises the Serengeti
spotted hyena and a host of more elusive small
Plains, stretching across sunburnt savannah to a
predators, ranging from the insectivorous aardwolf
shimmering golden horizon at the end of the earth.
to the beautiful serval cat.
Yet, after the rains, this golden expanse of grass is transformed into an endless green carpet flecked
But there is more to Serengeti than large mammals.
with wildflowers. And there are also wooded hills
Gaudy agama lizards and rock hyraxes scuffle around
and towering termite mounds, rivers lined with fig
the surfaces of the park’s isolated granite koppies.
trees and acacia woodland stained orange by dust.
A full 100 varieties of dung beetle have been recorded, as have 500-plus bird species, ranging
Popular the Serengeti might be, but it remains so
from the outsized ostrich and bizarre secretary bird
vast that you may be the only human audience
of the open grassland, to the black eagles that soar
when a pride of lions masterminds a siege, focussed
effortlessly above the Lobo Hills.
unswervingly on its next meal.
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w w w. e p h o t o. n e t . a u
This African Photo Safari is a unique experience. It is one of the few places in Africa where you could see the “Big Five� .
With some luck one could
see 30 to 40 different species of animals and over 150 different types of birds.
The Serengeti Plains are memorable and the Ngorongoro Crater just has to be seen! The guides are highly skilled, helpful and passionate about doing as much as possible to give us the best opportunities available.
Phone: (08) 9221 4185 Mobile: 0418 924 243 info@ephoto.net.au Shop 2, 159 Murray St Mall Per th Wester n Australia 6000