(March 5, 2013) -- I have received some terrific feedback on my first two articles as those who read my stuff transition from the publication that I used to write for to LBREPORT.com. This is going to be a very fun relationship between me and LBREPORT.com as I understand fully where the publisher Bill Pearl is coming from and appreciate the contribution that he makes to the journalistic world here in Long Beach.

I want to assure those of you who are just as focused on national issues as you are local and statewide issues that I will continue to share my views, opinions, and observations on national political issues. I know that this is always a two edged sword but all sides deserve comment and exploration and I am very committed to covering national issues as many of them have a profound impact on Californians.

Having stated the aforementioned I thought that it would be fun to expand on my comments about our recent trip to Africa. It was something that neither my wife nor I had ever wanted to do as we have spent our time and money exploring virtually every mountain state in this country including the State of Alaska. However, two years ago we went to a slide show presentation by one of my photographer friends, Dr. Carl Palazolo, who had been to Africa a half dozen times, and after leaving his house in Huntington Beach we were hooked on the idea of going to Africa, just once.

We spent nearly two years planning and saving for our safari and all that I can say is that it was the most amazing trip/experience that we have ever had. Last summer we went to Arctic Svalbard aboard the National Geographic Explorer Cruise Ship to photograph Polar Bears. That was a great trip and I took some Polar Bear pictures that are really spectacular, but in all honesty this trip was even more amazing than cruising through the ice fields 1,200 miles North of Oslo Norway looking for the largest 4 legged marine mammal on the planet.

Our trip started with a 10 hour non-stop flight to Amsterdam. From there we had a 3 hour layover and then caught an 8 hour flight to Kilimanjaro, which is located on the border of Kenya and Tanzania, in the country of Tanzania. We were then picked up by our Safari Outfitters, Ranger Safari’s, and taken to our hotel in Arusha, The Mountain Village Hotel.

This place was amazing, beautifully situated outside of town on very plush grounds. We decided to arrive a full day early just so we could have time to decompress and adjust to the time change after spending the better part of an entire day and night either on an airplane or in an airport. This was a very good decision on our part in retrospect as the time change is an 11 hour one and you never know what may happen in airports with making or missing flights. Amsterdam was experiencing snow and when flying that always makes me nervous.

The following day our safari people took us to the airport in Arusha and our entire group of 11 got on a chartered Twin Otter Aircraft and took the 45 minute flight to a landing strip in Seronera where we were met by our guides and the 4 Toyota Land Cruiser Safari Vehicles and began our trip to our camp, which was about a 4 hour drive.

Our first exposure to the Serengeti was on this initial game drive as within an hour we found ourselves right in the middle of the single largest migration of animals found anywhere on the Continent of Africa, the Great Wildebeest Migration. All I can say about what we saw for the next two hours is if you can imagine the 405, 110, 710, and 605 freeways all converging together and then joining forces in one large raodway then you may get the picture of what it is like to see a million or more Wildebeest all running together on their annual migration from the Southern end of Tanzania to places farther North. There are more than 1.7 million Wildebeest in Tanzania and I swear that we saw them all but I know that we only saw a portion. During the following 7 days we saw some amazing wildlife and scenery but nothing more amazing than the hundreds of thousands of Wildebeest we saw on our first day of safari.

As hard to believe as this may sound our trip just continued to amaze and please us as each and every day we saw hundreds if not thousands of additional animals found in Tanzania. There are over 500 species of birds in Tanzania and while we didn’t make a dent in that population we sure saw our share of them. Some of the most beautiful and exotic birds on the planet and it was fun taking their pictures with my super-telephoto lens.

February is special on the Serengeti as this is the time frame in which the Wildebeest, Zebra, antelope, and Gazelle come to the Serengeti to calve and when that happens it attracts the predators, most notably the big cats. We were there to photograph the big cats and to watch the interaction between the magnificent species of animals. We were not disappointed!

When we arrived at our camp, just prior to dusk, we were greeted by a camp staff of very personable and friendly men. These are semi-permanent camps comprised of very large tents, 12 x 24 in size with a complete bathroom set up in the rear, with sink, shower (hot water), and flush toilets. The dining tent is equally impressive as were the two recreation and relaxation tents, where we could plug in our batteries for our cameras as well as our lap top computers. Cell phones do work on the Serengeti but the service is a bit pricey; we took ours but didn’t really use it until we got back to our hotel in Arusha at the end of our trip. Nights were just special as looking up into the sky was indescribable. We could see both the Big and Little Dippers and the Milky Way was more visible in the sky than at any time or place that I have ever been.

For the next 6 days we were amazed by the stunning scenery and the pure quality and quantity of wildlife that we saw. We had Zebras and Giraffes literally walking through our camp and at night we could lay in our king size, very comfortable bed, and hear the hoot of the Hyenas as well as the occasional roar of Lions, as they are primarily nocturnal in their hunting activities. Cindy and I really lost count of the number of animals that we saw but the number was in the hundreds of thousands and the proximity to many of them was amazing.

Photo courtesy: Les Robbins

You can’t get any closer at the zoo than we were to many of the animals that we saw. We saw dozens and dozens of Lions and Cheetahs and we also saw Leopards, although they are a little more difficult to spot due primarily to the fact that they are not active in the day time but are very active at night. We saw hundreds of Elephants and Giraffes, and also saw Cape Buffalo, and just about every specie of Impala and Antelope that are found in Tanzania.

There were many different species of smaller animals some of which, like the Warthog and Hyena, which are very prevalent and easy to spot anywhere you find this many animals. We figured that during the week that we were on safari we saw all of the animals that we came to see except the Black Rhino, which eluded us on this trip.

The Wildebeest were, without a doubt, the most amazing thing that we saw. By the second day that we were there they were beginning to calve in huge numbers and by the time we left it seemed like every other female Wildebeest had given birth to a baby. They are amazing animals to watch because they can stand within 10-15 minutes of being born and they can run within an hour of being born. Our guides said that there were somewhere between 1.7 and 1.8 million Wildebeest in Tanzania and this population of animals is what really separates Tanzania and the Serengeti from most other countries in Africa.

The scenery in Tanzania ranges from vast wide open plains to rolling hills with huge Igneous Rock formations covered with Acacia Trees. The Acacia is the predominant tree in Tanzania and I found them to be very beautiful. They are full of birds, bird nests, Monkeys, and also offer refuge and housing to the Leopards which can be seen laying, sleeping, and eating from their perches high up on the large branches of the trees. Some of the rock formations that we saw were amazing as they seemed to just rise up out of the plains and it was not uncommon to see Lions resting high on top of the large, flat rock formations, which according to our guides, gives them the ability to look out over the flat plains covered with high grasses in their search for food.

We saw Crocodiles, Hippos, and a myriad of small rodent like animals too numerous to mention. I will spend some significant time identifying all of the animals that we saw that I am not familiar with before I put together my slide show as well as add this adventure to my website.

The people in Tanzania were very friendly and it was heartwarming that they have embraced tourism to the degree that they have and in spite of the ever-present threat from poachers, they have embraced the fact that their precious wildlife resource is more valuable alive than dead. While Tanzania is the sole source of Tanzanite on the planet, their economy can't sustain on the exportation of Tanzanite Jewelry. Eco-Tourism is now a huge part of their way of life and we were surely happy that we could go there and experience for ourselves what we have only seen on The Discovery and Smithsonian Channels on television. Our guides were friendly, spoke excellent English, and were very knowledgeable. There was not a single animal that we saw that they could not identify and expound upon.

We have decided to return to Tanzania in February of 2015 to try to see and some of the things that eluded us this time. I will be assisting my good friend, Dr. Carl Palazolo, who put together this trip, with organizing our 2015 safari. While this may be a trip of a lifetime to many of you it is not as expensive as you may think. If you have an interest in going please do not hesitate to contact me through LBREPORT.com and through my website at www.greatlandphotography.com.