Claire and Marks Megamoon @claireandmarksmegamoon - Tumblr Blog

Muscat and Dubai

After a brief interlude to attend Jonny & Janette's wedding, ship our belongings to Oz and say au revoir we started our journey east. We arrived in Muscat to see the sunrise as our taxi took us to the hotel, annoyingly we were a little weary and didn't take the opportunity to get some pictures - we will do better next time we see a sunrise! After a day chilling (maybe booing is a better word it was over 40degrees) by the pool we headed into the old town to visit the market. Fortunately for Claire, Mark decided he didn't need the camels the men in the market were offering for Claire so she has continued on the trip!!

As we were heading back to the hotel our taxi driver offered to give us a tour of the city. We took him up on this offer and he then proceeded to take us up through the mountains on the old road connecting the city. Just before the brow of the hill he told us to jump out and make a picture. It perhaps wasn't the best view but we did as he said, he then told us to walk up the hill as the picture would be better, he then drove off over the crest of the hill. After five minutes we started to worry a little as we could no longer hear/see the car or our driver. Fortunately we had only left Mark's New York Yankees hat in the car, we thought it was strange that he would want this item but it had been the subject of many offers in Zimbabwe so we prepared to walk down to find another taxi. A few minutes later he appeared and our tour continued uneventfully! We returned to the hotel to find a treat of the most delicious macaroons in our room - everywhere we have stayed is treating us very kindly on our honeymoon!

We also went on a sunset cruise, while we were hoping to find out more about the rock formation and see dolphins the captain seemed intent on showing us all 5* resorts on the coast line!!

Next stop was Dubai where we got to meet up with some friends and incorporating a visit to one of Mark's old favourites - The Cheesecake Factory. The next day we did what you have to do when in Dubai and went for brunch which was delicious, the drinks were fast flowing and Mark definitely enjoyed the cocktails though he never did manage the tequila sunrise that somehow arrived on our table even though Gaz and Claire "shotguned" it!

On our last day in dubai we hit the waterpark, Claire braved a few of the rides but left Mark to do the scarier ones while she returned to the lazy river to catch a few rays! Unfortunatley we don't have any pictures of this as we don't have a waterproof camera - something we are regretting now we are in the Maldives.... more on that later...

Mauritius

We had about a week in Mauritius before Madagascar and a few days afterwards which was an opportunity to relax and catch up with a few things.

Marks parents had recently bought an apartment there as part of a larger 5 star hotel development so it was nice to spend the time with them and explore the island a little bit but also maximise a lot of time spent in a sun lounger to top up Claires tan and get some much needed time in the hotel gym.

Richard and Jean, some friends of Marks parents were also staying for some of the same time so it was nice to see them as well, and join in a wonderful lunch for Richards birthday in Grand Bay.

Mark also got a couple of games of golf with his dad, sampling some of the amazing courses that Mauritius has to offer. Unfortunately his golf wasn’t so amazing!

Madagascar

Having relaxed and caught up with things for a week in Mauritius it was time to go to Madagascar and see some lemurs. Madagascar is a very poor country around 80% of the population lives on less than $1 a day, 90% less than $2 a day. It is twice the size of the UK and geographically very diverse from rain forests to semi-desert with highlands in-between! This supports many unique and rare flora and fauna species as well as animals, they think there are about 100 species of Lemur many of which are endangered. The roads aren't great, in some cases awful, but they are definitely worth the bumps, nauseaus feeling and long journeys (we averaged about 30k an hour on the main roads) because we had some incredible experiences in the East of Madagascar.

Our first stop was Mitsinjo Park which started as a community initiative focused on conservation and development and is funded almost entirely by visitors. So the walking boots went on and we went on a 2 hour hike in search of Lemurs. We were fortunate to see a family of wooly lemurs sleeping (they are nocturnal) and Indri indri known locally as Babakota, they are considered to be good luck by Malagasy people in East. Indri's are known for their singing and you often hear their song cry out through the forest. Due to its diverse diet this lemur will not survive in captivity, the territory each family requires is being compromised and as a result the breeding cycles seem to have changed from every year to every 2. We learnt that it is pretty difficult to take pictures of wild lemurs as they like to be 20-30 meters high in dense rainforest!

The next day we went to Mantadia Reserve which is the most untouched of all parks. We did a few hikes, scrambling up through the rainforest to get to the Golden lemur (diademed sifika) before it went leaping through the branches which was an incredible sight.

Our final day in Andasibe was spent in the main tourist reserve which relative to the last few days it was a walk in the park! It became a bit of a scrum to try to get the best spot to the the lemurs. We saw more Indri, Golden including one with a young baby, Wooly and Brown lemurs - we never tired of watching them. Then it was on lemur island where rescued lemurs have been habituated and therefore like jumping on humans backs and eating banana from their hand. We loved our close encounters with the Brown, Black and White Ruff, Grey Bamboo and Ring Tailed lemurs, they were so gentle and their hands were so soft.

Then it was onto the Palmarium Hotel, the main attraction was the Aye-Aye. This is a critically endangered lemur as many Malagasy people think it is evil perhaps because it looks like it has rodent teeth, fox like ears, squirrel like features and its front middle fingers are more like pick's (handy for cracking open coconuts and picking grubs out of trees). The hotel began a conservation project recently. It took the rangers a year to habituate the Aye-aye on their private island.

The hotel's private reserve has a number of other habituated lemur's which we enjoyed feeding, including the Red Ruffed, Coquerels Sifaka, Indri, Crowned, Black and a unique cross-breed for the brown and black which made Grey!

After a long journey back to Antanarivo we enjoyed watching the sunset from the balcony of the Lokanga Boutique Hotel and then a delicious dinner before a tour of the city the next morning and a spot of shopping!

Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

Our final stop was Victoria Falls where we stayed in the Vic Falls Safari Lodge and the Vic Falls hotel as we couldn't decide between them! Both were amazing and we were glad we stayed at both.

We stayed the first night at the Vic Falls Safari Lodge and arrived in time to see the vulture feeding. Mark and Claire's mum went down with the ranger to watch the action up close. The lodge feeds the vultures 3 times an day and perhaps the vultures plan their day around it as half an hour before the food was out they were circling the spot and perched in nearby trees ready to swoop. While it might seem like a tourist attraction it is important as they are an endangered species mainly due to human activities such as electrocutions, poisoning and land use changes. Vultures are a critical part of the food chain and help keep the natural world in balance. It was quite a frenzy they created!

We then headed down to the Victoria Falls National Park to see the falls. They were fascinating to see, the amount of water tumbling across each second was mesmerising. There must be a lot of pots of gold at the bottom of the falls as we saw so many rainbows but it will take a brave person to go down an get them! The spray meant we got pretty wet as we walked the 2km route on the Zimbabwe side, Claire's mum and dad cleverly hired the rain capes from the hawkers outside, even if they did look a little stupid!!

The next day we went to see the falls from the sky and took a helicopter trip. It was worth every dollar and would recommend doing this if you are ever in Vic Falls. The helicopter let us appreciate the scale and magnitude of the falls. The worst part was having to step on the scales and be weighed - they were not kind after 10 days of breakfast, morning coffee and flapjack, brunch, afternoon tea, sundowners and nibbles and a 3 course meal!

The afternoon was spent relaxing and talking about how amazing the falls were with the soothing sound of the falls behind us. We found the smartest clothes in our suitcases (not much to choose from) and went to the iconic Livingston Room at the Vic Falls Hotel which continues the colonial feel of the hotel with antique silver tableware and hunting trophies on the walls. As it was our last night we indulged in the degustation menu which was 7 courses. The food and wine was delicious.

Our time in Botswana, Namibia (sort of!) and Zimbabwe was wonderful and we would recommend a holiday in this part of the world to any of you. We know a great travel agent too! To those of you who gave us an experience as a wedding present - thank you very much. We loved everything from the night drives, walking safari's, bush dinners, mokoro trips and the helicopter ride over the falls. M&Cx

Zambezi Voyager, Chobe River, Namibia

We left the land for two nights and went aboard the Zambezi voyager which is a houseboat on the Chobe river but registered on the Namibian side. Residents of villages situated on the river are generally fishermen and we saw quite a few out in their mokoros setting and collating their nets. It is not a job either of us envy as the river is full of crocodiles and hippos.

The game viewing was much more peaceful as it was either done from the houseboat or on the speedboat and the wildlife in some ways had to come to us as it needed to be close to the rivers edge. The exception to this was birdlife which there was a lot of and we could approach relatively easily.

Our eyes really were peeled as we tried to help Claire's mum fill in the wildlife checklist booklet that she got at Savute. The birds on Chobe made a big difference to its completeness but some things remained elusive.

Our sundowners on the river were pretty impressive and we saw beautiful sunsets each night. The boat below is not the one we stayed on but very similar.

And we got the opportunity to go fishing... unfortunately for Mark Claire caught more, and bigger, fish than he did - if catching it by the dorsel fin counts!! It is fair to say Claire didn't really enjoy the experience - how would you feel if you thought you were getting a tasty snack and instead get a hook through your cheek! So she retired after 2 catches to read her kindle and admire the sunset.

A few more pictures from our time in Chobe

Savute Safari Lodge, Botswana Day 2 & 3

After an evening by the camp fire sharing stories and experiences (one of Claire's favourite was about Elephant cake which entails elephant dung being decorated like a cake for someones birthday!) we were up and on the road, if you can call it that, for sunrise. The early rise was definitely made easier by the blankets and bushbaby's (hot water bottles) given to us to fend off the cold mornings.

Much like the lions the Savute Safari Lodge vehicles left in formation and we were on the prowl for leopard. Our driver Gee spotted a lone female but she wasn't so keen on being disturbed so quickly headed for thick bush. It is amazing how many trucks appeared from nowhere within just a few minutes.

Throughout the day we spotted lots of other interesting things like;

The remains of an elephant probably hunted by a lion

A Jackal with a mouse who was being closely followed by an eagle

Four types of hornbill including the ground hornbill which is considered to be critically endangered as it has traditionally be considered a pest by many including farmers and hotel owners. It is a territorial bird and when confronted by its reflection in glass (patio doors) it will fight with itself usually resulting is the glass being shattered.

A giraffe attempting to cross the river: It was a process which took about 5-10 minutes as he was scared of crocodiles so would go to the water and back off many times trying to tempt out any crocodiles that might be lying in wait.

Guinea fowl gathering under one of the trees in the camp waiting to go up and nest for the evening. However that evening was not peaceful as a leopard came through the camp that night looking for a tasty snack of guinea fowl. Those in the lodge below said they heard them fleeing in the middle of the night.

That evening the lodge watering hole provided much entertainment, we saw Wild Dogs pop by to see if there was anything they could eat/hunt, a hyaena tactfully making it way through a herd of about 30 elephants, a hippo seeing if the watering hole was deep enough for a wallow and 5 more elephants which appeared from nowhere and collectively disappeared within 15 minutes.

Out final morning in Savute was pretty special. We saw the whole pride of lions. After a rather speedy and bumpy drive (which may have damaged Claire's mum's back) we hurried to the location of the sighting. We were greeted by the two males within the pride, one of which passed within feet of the back of our truck at one stage. Gee then took us to the watering hole figuring that they would pass by, or stop for a while. Fortunately for us they stopped for a while and again we got to watch the pride play. It was mesmerising as the photos might tell you (there are about 200 in total)!

It is fair to say that safari is Mark's favourite type of holiday.. even when we are meant to be taking a break from wildlife spotting and enjoying a morning drink he is still looking. The binoculars never left his neck.

#savutesafarilodge

It was incredible watching this pride. We only wish we could have stayed all day watching them although we were looking forward to the next stop - Chobe!

Savute Safari Lodge, Botswana

We had another short flight to take to get us to Savute. Mark got the pleasure of being co-pilot though fortunately he didn't have to do anything! On arrival at Savute we headed straight out on a game drive and what a drive that turned out to be....

Savuti is a unique reserve. For many years it relied on pumping water into watering holes to sustain its wildlife residents. The chanel running through it started running again in 2010 having been dry for nearly 30 years. It is thought it started running again due to a shift in the tectonic plates and therefore they are not sure how long it will continue to run for, it dried up for 4-6 weeks in 2013. For now they are enjoying the water and have turned off many of the pumps to preserve water for when it might be needed next.

We set out on our drive to catch up with the resident pride of lions. The pride consists of 3 generations including a lot of cubs from as young as 4 months. The heat of the day meant they hadn't strayed far from where they were last spotted in the morning which meant out guide Gee had some interesting water obstacles to navigate to get to them (there were a few nervous self drivers on either side studying his route)! When we arrived at the pride they were beginning to show signs of moving. What we did not expect was what we went on to witness.

The three adult lioness' started to move away from the pride. They were headed for the small herd of buffalo about 750m away and began stalking their pray with 2 taking the direct route and another flanking them. It was incredible to see how close they got to the buffalo despite there being more than 10 safari trucks and 2 filming vehicles (they were allowed to get much closer to the lions and have been filming the pride for over 2 months).

Next thing 2 of the lioness' were off, charging down the buffalo. The buffalo were a lot faster than you would expect them to be but from what we could see one of the lioness' got very close to one of the buffalo but not quite close enough as the buffalo continued to sprint off into the distance to the delight of some and the disappointment of others in our truck. We were so fortunate to see it and had the lioness got a little luckier it would have been interesting to watch the buffalo protect the victim as buffalo's will attack a lion in order to try and save their own.

A couple of elephants had been casually looking on, probably glad there were not the hunters intended targets this time. Uniquely in Savuti the lion will hunt elephants, mainly in what is jokingly known as suicide season when it is dry and the temperatures get to 45 - 50 degrees. During this time most of the grazers and migratory herds, buffalo, antelope etc have moved on to greener pastures. The Savuti lion pride has adapted and specialise in hunting elephant in order to stay alive during this time.

The excitement didn't quite end there as we witnessed the hunters return to the pride and the tenderness and affection of their reunion. The cubs played joyfully, happy to have their mum's back but innocently unaware of what the missed kill meant - oh to be young!!

All that and it was only game drive No1 in Savuti!! M&Cx

#savutesafarilodge #desert&deltasafaris

After another short flight on the small plane our next stop was Moremi Crossing Camp. This was an entirely water based camp where you could do Mokoro trips or walks on the nearby Chiefs Island. On arrival we had to take the long route round to the camp as there was an elephant by the usual boat pick up!

Our first afternoon was spent doing a game walk where we heard some unusual impala snorts which were the result of a lion stalking them. We then saw a flash of a Lion and the Impala running off, as we went to follow, the lion gave a warning growl so our guide thought it best not to follow. We saw a lot of elephants and antelope on the rest of the walk as well.

On the second night, Mark had arranged for us both to do a Wilderness Camping trip which involved us sleeping "rough" on one of the islands. What we didn't know was that "rough" meant having 2 guides, a chef and a waiter to look after us in a luxury tent. It was really nice sleeping on our own island, especially when a herd of elephants passed through the camp in the middle of the night. The following day our guides took us back to the main camp by Mokoro and via a quick walk on one of the nearby islands where we found an elephant tusk that had broken off in a fight - it was really heavy. We then got back to camp (the long way as another elephant was at the mokoro mooring) and had a shower and managed to relax a bit.

Elephants caused entertainment throughout our stay at Moremi Crossing. At this time of year the palm trees are producing palm nuts which are a favourite snack of elephants and baboons. The elephants goes to the tree and using their trunk and a front foot they shake the tree and the ripe nuts fall to the ground. Occasionally a baboon, innocently enjoying palm nuts at the top of the tree, has been known to be shaken out of the tree. We were told the elephant trumpets and runs and this foreign object falling from the tree, the baboon shrieks and runs from the shock of being shaken from the tree. However the baboon is usually the lucky one as it only runs about 20 meters while the elephant runs over 100 meters so the baboon goes back to clean up!!

#underonebotswanasky #moremicrossing

We flew to Maun, Botswana from Joburg and immediately jumped on a small propeller plane for our short 20 minute flight to our first camp Pom Pom in the Okavango Delta. It was incredible flying over the delta and seeing the expanse of water and small islands, we even managed to see a few elephants, hippo, zebra and giraffe from the plane.

Pom Pom was an amazing camp that had a mixture of water based activities in a mokoro (a local type of wooden canoe), speedboat and also game drives (day and night). We were lucky enough to see lots of elephant and antelope plus a fantastic sighting of a leopard sitting by a recent impala kill and a lion who had stolen the leopards previous warthog kill.

The mokoro was a great way to see the delta close up and we managed to get close to some elephants on the water as they crossed from island to island.

It was a great introduction to Botswana and good way to start the trip.

I (Claire) then went to Cape Town for a few days with my Dad to meet my Mum (she had been in namibia for 3 weeks teaching), buy some diamonds and indulge in gastronomic delights! We started as we meant to go on spending the first evening in the bar at the Taj hotel indulging in MCC (South African sparkling wine) and Pinot Noir.

The first stop in Cape Town was Prins and Prins to buy some diamonds! The decision to sell my wedding dress (I spent too much money on it) was made on one condition, I paid the over-spend back and kept the change to buy jewels! My theory was I will get a lot more wear from a diamond bracelet than my wedding dress.

From there Mum and I headed to the The One and Only for an afternoon of luxury. It started in the spa with amazing treatments and finished in the Vista Bar with an afternoon tea buffet and cocktails. The food was so incredible it was almost impossible to pace ourselves and if you ever get the chance to go you have to have the Smoked Margarita. For dinner (not that we needed it) we went to Mama Africa which says it "gives soul-deep happiness only an african mother can give." It was brilliant! The food is delicious but the traditional african music is what really got me. Mum and I couldn't sit still as the rhythm is infectious!

The following day was Mandela Day and everyone is encouraged to give 67 minutes of service (volunteer) with each minute representing a year he was in service of South Africa. Mum was given the little piece of paper above quoting "The time to be happy is NOW. The place to be happy is HERE. The way to be happy is to make others so" by Robert G. Ingersoll. So I am passing it on so you all can remember to live life happy! I certainly am!

On our final full day there was a little time for wine tasting which is one of my favourite things to do. You can't blame me!!! It was followed by another spot of afternoon tea and MCC at Pierneef where they had the most incredible chandeliers and the roof is made from old wine barrells! I think i could live off cake and wine if given the opportunity. But it all had to come to an end as we had a flight booked to Botswana for the next stage!!

I am paying for my over-indulgence in Cape Town now and 2 trips to the gym in Mauritius have resulted in a serious case of the DOMS. As long as I can make it to my sun lounger tomorrow it will be fine ;-)

St Lucia, South Africa

We headed down to St Lucia for 3 nights with Claire's Dad to spend some time with Mark's brother, Craig, and stay at his B&B (http://www.parkerscottages.com). St Lucia is an estuary and next to the iSimangaliso Wetland Park which is a UNESCO world heritage site meaning there was lots to see and do (there is still lots for our next trip).

When we arrived we headed out for a sunset stroll in the buffer zone hoping we might catch a glimpse of some wildlife. We didn't see much but the sunset was beautiful and Craig found a porcupine quill. That night was the world cup final so we wrapped up (its winter here) and headed to the local watering hole where we met some of Craig's friends and a lot of German fans! Dinner, beer and the football were all good!

The next day we headed into iSimangaliso self driving through the park to get to the beach at the end. On the way we saw a lot of different types of antelope's, hippo's in and out of the water and a few beautiful birds. The beach was lovely and peaceful as it is quite remote and the number of cars entering the park is restricted - if only the weather had been a little warmer/less windy it would have been great to spend a day there. On the way back we saw something Claire had never seen before... white rhino and not just one but 5 in 3 different groups. They were quite far from the road but still amazing to see.

That night we went on a night game drive so we put on almost all the warm clothes we had with us and borrowed some from Craig but it was still freezing! It was pretty slow and looking like the highlight would be holding a chameleom and the hot chocolate and rusks but in the last half hour was saw a hyena, bush baby, serval and got very close to a black rhino. The black rhino was incredible as there are only 2 in the park and usually are quite shy.

The next day we took a photography lesson, pretty much all of our pictures to date have been taken on auto so after 3 years it was time to learn how to use the camera! It is still taking some getting used to but hopefully a few pictures are better than we might have taken. We tried out what we learnt that afternoon when we went on the sunset cruise down the river to see hippo, crocs and birds while enjoying a few beers.

We had a great time in St Lucia and would recommend visiting the area and staying at Parker's Cottages. M&C x

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