The Travel Journals of Natalie and Heiko Carstens
Wild Times in Kenya and Tanzania for our 1st Wedding Anniversary (February 2010)
- a photographic safari in East Africa: Amboseli, Maasai Mara, Lake Victoria, Serengeti, Ngorongoro and Nairobi
Where to start!? What an incredible trip, so many stories and so many photos to share!
So, do you want to hear about the pride of lions hunting? the elephants mating? how about the hyena that introduced her newborn pup to us? or maybe you want to know about the cheetah mom that we watched teach her two cubs how to hunt and kill their prey? maybe you want to know about the spitting cobra attack? (don't worry, we were safe), and I'm sure you want to know about Heiko's kiss from a giraffe! ;-)
Many many thanks to Karin at Wild Times Safaris for all the work she put into our custom itinerary. It was a wonderful and perfect trip, from start to finish. We LOVE Kenya, and Tanzania too of course, but it was our first visit to Kenya and it totally blew us away and exceeded all our expectations. And to top it off, visiting the Giraffe Centre and The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust meant so much to us and our zoocrew.eu project and was a perfect ending to our trip! Thank you so very much Karin, for everything!
Travel Journal coming soon... (yes, most likely sooner than our wedding journal!)
Our Wedding(!!) and Africa's extraordinary annual migration (February 2009)
- a safari wedding, Tanzania, East Africa
In February, Heiko and I travelled to one of our favourite destinations, Tanzania. And as you might have guessed by now, the reason was for our wedding and honeymoon! Our ceremony took place on some kopjes (a rocky outcrop) near to Olduvai Camp in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area with a local Maasai tribe as our guests. The views around the area were just amazing, in the distance we could see the dust trails of migrating wildebeest and zebra, and we spotted Thomsons gazelle too. I know that some of my clients have been waiting to hear our news, so if you're interested go check out the following blog posts:
Many thanks to Meregan and Clare at Migration Safaris for the amazing itinerary and wedding planning, and also to Chris, our driver and guide throughout our trip. We had an incredible time, thank you!
Travel Journal coming soon...
Ultimate Africa - To Walk with Lions (July/August 2008)
- a photographic safari in Botswana and Zimbabwe, Southern Africa
This year we decided to go on an organised group safari aimed at photographers; we chose the 'Ultimate Africa' photo safari with Chris Weston (it was the opportunity to 'walk with lions' that totally reeled us in!) Now, where to start?! Honestly, this trip was incredible! We saw the majestic Victoria Falls on foot and by helicopter, had several opportunities to photograph from a small private boat in the slow-moving water of the Chobe River, roamed the Hwange National Park in search of it's wildlife, went horse-riding amongst antelope, zebra and wildebeest, and then there was the unbelieavable experience of walking with lions, unforgettable!
Many thanks go to Chris Weston and his fantastic team of people that made the trip happen. I'm also so grateful for the opportunities to visit and support conservation organisations right there on the ground and to see first hand the amazing work they are doing; it is something both Heiko and I are very passionate about. Also thank you to all the other photographers on the trip - what a great group of people. I will certainly not forget all the laughter we had, and I'm sure you won't either (if you want the truth, I'm giggling away at the memories as I type this!)
I know several of you have been waiting... patiently ;) and I'm sorry it has taken so long to publish my journal, but it's all typed up now, thanks to Heiko. And, so that you don't loose patience with me I'm publishing it without the photos... please forgive me, I just haven't had a chance to look at them yet, nevermind choose a few!
Read the full travel
journal...
Kaleidoscope of Tanzania, East Africa (October/November 2006)
- a safari holiday through the Serengeti, Ngorongoro highlands,
Tarangire and Ruaha
Heiko and I are back from our African adventure and, as usual,
we have lots to share with you!!
I'd like to take this opportunity to express our many thanks to
Bill at Safari Consultants
Ltd (a UK company) who made all our travel arrangements, and
Protty, our driver and guide for the first week of our trip for
providing us with a mountain of knowledge and much laughter. Thanks
also to Ethan and the Olakira Crew, "de Bikkels", Myra
and Wil for the messages you wrote in my journal. I'll be in touch...
So go grab a cup of coffee and some cookies and enjoy the read;
you'll learn about the places we visited and the wildlife we saw,
along with some of our adventures along the way. If you prefer to
have a copy of my journal (without photos) that you can print, please
contact me and I will be happy to send
you a version in PDF format.
Read the full travel
journal...
Incredible India (November 2005)
- an Asian adventure in search of the magnificent Bengal Tiger...
My ultimate dream of dreams has always been to see tigers in the
wild and in November 2005 we did exactly that! We made a 14-day
trip travelling to Ranthambhore National Park, Bandhavgarh National
Park and Kanha National Park stopping also in Khajuraho and Agra
for sight-seeing. Many thanks to Indian
Moments for the excellent travel itinerary they put together
for us. It was an amazing experience! We had excellent sightings
of the tigers in two of the three National Parks we visited, both
by jeep and by elephant back. It was truly a dream come true.
Read the full travel journal...
Safari Field Guide Training in South Africa (June-August 2003)
- six weeks at Antares Field Guide Training Centre on the Grietjie Nature Reserve near Phalaborwa
There were eight students on the course (including me) and I knew none of the others beforehand. It was a bit nervewracking venturing so far away from home on my own for so long but it was more than worth it and I would definitely do it all over again, without a doubt! I had an incredible amount to learn in such a short space of time with exams every Friday and a first aid course too - but I really loved every minute of it.
Read some extracts from my travel journal and letters home...
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