Anne Sawicki Jinks' Travel Adventures: African Splendor Safari (Micato)

Michael and I left for our Micato Safari on Friday, February 14, 2025. We met up at Metro Airport and flew to Amsterdam, then to Capetown, South Africa

Map showing our destination stops

First Stop - Capetown, South Africa

View of Table Mountain

Lunch at Ricky’s American Cafe overlooking Table Mountain

Capetown’s altitude is about 3,000 feet where we were, which explains why I was so out of breath walking

Our home for 4 nights - Mount Nelson Hotel

View from my balcony

Our guide & driver in Capetown - Trevor & Bennie

Some facts from Trevor about Capetown: Tourism is #1 industry, there is a 35% unemployment rate, not enough skilled workers are available, the public school system is not very good, and private schooling is very expensive. Electricity from coal

Cable car to the top of Table Mountain, the floor turns so you get a 360 view.

One side of Capetown is arid and dry, the other side is lush and green (more the hippie/artsy side of Capetown).

Top of Table Mountain. is 3,563 feet

View of Capetown

Next a visit to Kirstenbosch Gardens - beautiful spot for relaxing, enjoying the fauna and even attending outdoor concerts in a beautiful outdoor area.

We were able to drink the water from this spring

Outdoor ampitheater in the gardens -

Andrew, our guide at the gardens, attends many concerts there - his favorite? seeing Elton John perform twice at the gardens.

Winery Visit

Visiting the Water Shed at the Victoria & Alfred Wharf Area

South African Apartheid Hero Statues with Table Mountain in the background, Nelson Mandela far right

Visiting the African Penguins

My beach identification didn’t come out very clear....

Boulders Beach

Capetown, S. A.

2-18-2025

We were pleasantly surprised when one of our stops was a special Micato coffee station along the road on the way to Cape of Good Hope - Just for us!!!

Yummy homemade donuts!

Trevor told us we were visiting at a great time - usually there is a queue waiting to have their pictures taken at this site. We didn’t have any crowds anywhere!

Driving up to Cape Hope National Park

False Bay - many explorers thought they had reached Capetown, but actually sailed into this bay

Cape Point National Park

Ocean road on one side is lush and green and compares to Amafali coast in Italy.

Sunset from my balcony at Lord Nelson Hotel

Anne and Trevor braved the 60-degree water in Camps Bay Tide Pool to wake up! We stayed in for about 10 minutes - refreshing!

Entrepreneurial spirit - rent a suana after your cool dip

Optical Art - all these formations on the left form an animal when looking straight at them

A rhinoceros!

Promenade along the water’s edge

Bo-Kaap area in Capetown is made up of mostly Muslim group with mixed heritage from across South Asia, Southeast Asia, Madagascar and other regions. One of the oldest neighborhoods in the city with cobblestone streets lined with Cape Dutch and Cape Georgian houses painted in bright colors, mosques, spice shops, restaurants. We drove through the area only

We left Capetown and flew to Zimbabwe to visit Victoria Falls (on the border of Zimbabwe and Zambia)

Driver Abbia and Dean, our guide

View of the mist from the falls and bridge from our Hotel

We visited an Elephant Sanctuary where we could get up close and feed the elephants

We walked through the Victoria Falls area and were soaked from the mist, but it felt good because the weather was hot. Victoria Falls, Mosi-oa-Tunya, “The Smoke That Thunders,” not the highest or the widest but the world’s grandest and most booming waterfall, a large lake of water flinging 360 feet straight down every minute of every day

A friend along the path at the falls

We had lunch overlooking the Falls

Looking down on the Zambezi River. Bungee jumping available....

We took a helicopter ride over Victoria Falls - the only way to grasp the immenseness of Victoria Falls

Creme of Tartar Fruit Tree

Our Victoria Falls Hotel - elegant with beautiful grounds

Micato Safari was started by Jane and Felix Pinto in 1966 in Kenya. Mrs. Jane Pinto took the time to come and meet us before our safari portion of the trip. You wouldn’t believe she is 89 years old - no wrinkles, beautiful face and smile. Unfortunately, her husband has Alzheimer’s and no longer meets travelers.

We came to the Giraffe Centre to see & feed the giraffes

We visited the Karen Blixen Museum - I enjoyed the visit

Path to Karen Blixen’s (Isak Diksen) home, now a museum

Original coffee plantation map at this location

Flying to the Maasai Mara National Reserve (Olare Orok Conservatory located in Kenya)

Peter Wambugo, our guide from Kenya (Kikuyu tribe, Michael and Danson, our great driver!

We were able to go off-road in the Maasai Mara Reserve. The ride in a safari vehicle is known as the “African massage” because of the bumpy ride.

We are at 6,000’ at the lodge - explains why I’m out of breath!

Thompson’s Gazelle

Our first animal in its’ natural environment - it was really a thrill!

Giraffe (one of my favorites)

On all our game drives (early morning, late afternoon, or all day), Peter Wambugo told us to tell our driver to stop when we wanted to see something: See mama

and to go on: Sawa sawa

Of course it took me until the last day to get that right!

Zebra - another one of my favorites

When Peter Wambugo, our guide, asked what animals we were hoping to see, I told him zebras. He laughed and said, “you will be zebraed out after this trip”. He was right!

Wildebeest

Ostrich

Elephants & Giraffe

Black faced monkey

The pride of the jungle

I’m glad we didn’t see this Cape Buffalo attacked by the lions. We witnessed a lot of animals partaking in this prey

Hyena

Baby hyenas

Impala

Maasai Mara - Olare Mara Kempinski

Our home for 4 nights

Great Pool

Our lodging - in the evening we had to be escorted to our room to prevent possible encounters with animals!

No air conditioning here - probably could have used another fan

Outdoor shower

Our balcony

There was a river near our balcony and we had a hippo visitor

Cape buffalo

Kirk’s Dik-dik (miniature antelope) another favorite of mine

A group of zebras is called a dazzle

Lionesses relaxing and washing up

Black faced monkey

Lilac breasted Roller

This morning we headed out at 5 am for our hot air balloon ride. On the way we had to wait while a herd of zebras and wildebeest migrated across the road. Peter Wambugo said that the animals are migrating too early because of climate change. I have a video of the zebras and wildebeests crossing in front of us but am unable to download it here - who knows - I’ll try again later on.

Our hot air balloon over the Serengeti

Our wonderful breakfast in the great outdoors with champagne and wine!

Loos with a view (loved it!)

Visiting a Maasa Mara tribal village

Entrance to the King of the tribe’s home.

The King with his sister in the background

He showed us how to make a fire rubbing rough sand paper tree and a soft cedar tree.

Michael with the Maasai Mara men

Watching the lioness

We heard a cub crying

And then she(?) came out to join Mom

Off-road stop to toast the sunset with wine, wingdings and wontons

Toasting a beautiful sunset and a great day!

Peter Wambugo, Michael and Danson

Outside dining after our game drive - saw Southern Cross and lots of other stars

We saw a troop of hippos on our morning drive going to airport

Then another flight to the Serengeti

I am happy to report that we had three African women pilots on our flights- unfortunately I wasn’t able to get pictures

During peak season (August, September, October) there is a queue of vehicles waiting to get into the park.

A dazzle of zebras

Common Water Buck

Klipspringer tiny antelope - they mate for life and when one dies, the other commits suicide!

Tsetse fly swatter - they were not too bad during our drives

More zebras!

Four Season’s Lodge - we could not go off-road on our game drives in the Serengeti

A friend I met on my way to breakfast

Our afternoon game drive was great

We saw the lions mating

Impalas

Secretary Bird

Masked weaver bird

Baby monkey on Mama’s back

Impala family

Flying to Coffee Plantation

Superb Starling

Our lodging at the Manora at Ngorongora - Michael’s cottage on left, mine on the right

After a full day game drive I came home to the maid prepping a bubble bath for me! We were really spoiled on this trip!

We toured the Coffee Plantation with Jumani. Then he brewed fresh coffee for us. The coffee plantation and the Manor border the Ngorongora Conservation. Area

We took turns helping roast the coffee

Visiting Ngorongoro Conservation Area (Northern Tanzania)

Only one road in and one road out

The area has plains, savannas, and forests, with Maasai people living on the land among the wild animals. It’s home to the big 5 - elephant, lion, leopard, buffalo, and rhino - and can’t leave out the giraffes and zebras. The volcanic Ngorongoro Crater is the world’s largest caldera. Human footprints dating back some 3.6 million years were found here.

Altitude at the rim of the crater is about 7,000’ and the crater floor about 6,000'

Overlooking the Crater

Saffron Finch

Lake Manyara

Secretary Bird

Peter Wambugo asked Michael and me if we were interested in seeing the birth of a baby elephant - it was something special they arranged for us. Of course we said YES. When we arrived where the birth was to take place - SURPRISE - no birth

BUT a special treat!

Lunch in Ngorongora Conservation Area

Adam, Sigi, my butler, and Peter with Manor help in the back

And guess who sat down in a chair and immediately fell backwards to the ground???

I must go on a diet!!! Didn’t get hurt and gave everyone a good laugh.

Morning coffee on my balcony at the Manor with a visit from a dik dik

This is the only place we saw a leopard and a rhino (with binoculars).

Tanzanite, the gem, (named by Tiffany) is a beautiful blue stone only found in Tanzania and will soon become rare - we mulled over whether we should buy some but decided against it.

Black faced monkeys

Water Buck

Very thin looking lionesses!

White Pelican

Vegetable & herb garden used by the Chef at the Manor

They have horses available for riding.

WHAT A SEND OFF ON OUR LAST NIGHT!

Before having our dinner together with Peter, the entire staff of the Manor came out playing instruments and singing songs for us to come back to Africa. It was about a 4 minute song, after which they presented us with a cake for dessert. A very moving send off to say the least!

And a bonus - Peter Wambugo shared the history of his family. He is from the Kikuyu tribe, a Bantu group native to Central Kenya. When his grandmother on his father’s side gave birth to twin boys she was a Christian while still a member of the tribe. The Kikuyu believed the birth of twins was a bad omen and the weaker of the two had to be killed. His grandmother refused to kill the weaker one and plotted with her sister to take the weaker boy and raise him as her own. Life went on and when the time came for settling his grandfather’s estate, they had to prove that the boy brought up by the Aunt was really his Grandmother’s child. Fortunately, there were witnesses still alive who swore in a court of law that Grandmother’s story was legitimate. The boy raised by the Aunt was Peter Wambugo’s father!