An Africa odyssey

JohnM · Thursday at 11:53 PM

Mt Meru, to the west of Mt Kilimanjaro. Mt Kilimanjaro is Africa’s tallest mountain at 5895m, while Mt Meru is Tanzania’s second-highest volcano at 4566m.

Coffee plantation near Arusha. This traditional shade-grown agroforestry system produces lower yield, slower ripening and enhanced flavour complexity compared with modern full-sun cultivation. The coffees of Tanzania, Kenya and Rwanda are excellent – and Ethiopia of course, the home of coffee.

The Arusha clocktower, symbolically, but not quite accurately, marking the halfway point between Cape Town and Cairo. Mt Meru looms over Arusha.

Heading east of Arusha towards JRO and Kili dominates the skyline, with the volcanic cone/crater clearly visible from this side.

Then hauling out of JRO at sunset, looking out of a dirty window.

And thus ends the Tanzanian part of our odyssey.

JohnM · Sunday at 5:05 PM

Another night at the Four Points, NBO and then on the bird to Mombasa.

And to our hotel on the beach for the next night.

The tide in the afternoon was very high, inundating the beach up to the hotel’s wall, so we didn’t get a chance to walk on the beach.

JohnM · Sunday at 5:58 PM

Next morning it was off to Vipingo Ridge private airstrip to begin our aerial safari across southern Kenya for the next eight nights. Five flights to eventually return us to WIL (Wilson GA airport) in Nairobi.

Destinations: Tsavo East NP (1 night), Tsavo West NP (2 nights), Amboseli NP (2 nights), Masai Mara National Reserve (3 nights).

This will be a contrast to the African massage of driving long distances on rough roads and save a lot of time. Bring it on.

Scenic Air Safaris is headquartered at WIL, with this secondary base at Mombasa.

Cessna Grand Caravan configured with six recliner seats and two on the bench at the rear bulkhead.

Hauling out of Vipingo Ridge.

It was about a 40-minute flight to Tsavo East. We entered the park and meandered to our lodge.

JohnM · Sunday at 6:05 PM

Grant’s gazelle. Lilac-breasted roller.

The Tsavo parks are major elephant sanctuaries.

The male giraffe was trying his luck but she was not quite up for it – at least in front of onlookers.

And of course you’ve always wondered…

Continuing the theme…

Gerenuk – giraffe antelope. They can stand on their hind feed for prolonged periods, reaching higher into the trees to browse.

JohnM · Sunday at 6:08 PM

Then to our lodge in time for lunch.

As we were about to set off on our afternoon game drive, this was found in the grounds of the lodge. Elephant dung beetle (Heliocopris species). A female because it lacks the large horns characteristic of the males.

JohnM · Sunday at 6:11 PM

We ended the day with a bush sundowner.

G&T time.

JohnM · 2026-10-06T19:12:25+1100

Next day, we bid the lodge farewell and had a morning game drive as we made our way back to the airstrip for the flight to Tsavo West NP.

Finally, a gerenuk adopting the unique feeding posture that they are adapted for.

Meerkats.

Red-and-yellow barbet.

We then entered a large separate section of Tsavo East NP where orphaned elephants from the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust rescue centre in Nairobi are eventually reintegrated gradually into the wild at about 3 years of age. They stay in this reintegration unit until they are about 10 years old.

Lesser kudu, hartebeest, helmeted guinea fowl and rufous-naped lark. Then to our bird for the 30-minute flight to Tsavo West NP.

Main road and railway between Nairobi and Mombasa.

JohnM · 2026-10-06T19:16:57+1100

On the drive to our lodge. Vulturine guinea fowl.

Baobab tree with trunk bashed about by elephants.

Tsavo West NP has the Shetani Lava Flows, from volcanic activity 500-200 years ago near the Chyulu Hills. ‘Shetani’ means ‘devil’ in Swahili because the local people believed the eruption was the devil emerging from the earth.