Lions, Giraffes, and Zebras…Oh My

I’m not sure where to begin to describe what our safari was like, but in a word - SPECTACULAR! Start by thinking of every African animal you know, multiply those by thousands or tens of thousands, put yourself in the middle of a field with all of them, add some dusty roads and a beat-up Landcruiser, and you can be on a safari in your head. We visited three national parks, so I will try and capture a little bit of each of them; Lake Manyara, Serengeti, and Ngorogoro Crater. In much the same way that it is difficult to describe the enormity of the Grand Canyon to someone, the Tanzanian national parks are so immense they are often beyond description.

Lake Manyara

At 10:30 am our Landcruiser, guide (Ema), and cook (Aidano) arrived at our hostel to pick up Ariana, myself, and SallyAnn (a wonderful Australian woman who came with us). We made a couple of quick stops in town before heading to “Mosquito Town” which sits just outside Lake Manyara to drop off some of our camping supplies. It was quite strange to be in the position of not having to set up the tents or make sure the lunch was ready or do anything else that might be considered work. We strolled about town for a bit getting to know all the locals who work very hard to make sure you visit their shop (more about this later).

With the roof on the Landcruiser off, so we could stand up when we saw something, we headed towards Lake Manyara. On the way we saw our first wild animal, a few giraffe (or in Swahili “twiga“) browsing on the acacia trees outside the park. Needless to say we were amazed to see this creature in the wild and spent about 20 minutes taking pictures. At the park entrance we saw a handful of small blue monkeys (not actually blue) and marveled at their cuteness. As we drove down the road in Lake Manyara, we soaked of the sights and sounds of a tropical rainforest - massive trees, lots of birds and monkeys, etc. After driving through the rainforest for a while, the trees open up to a massive grassland that surrounds the lake. We saw some Zebras, warthogs(Poomba!), and Cape Buffalo on our way to the Hippo pond. We watched the Hippos splash around for a bit and just sat quietly to take in all the scenery. We slowly made our way back to the main gate, enjoying watching the playful baboons along the way.

Back at camp, we found our dinner table set with hot water for tea and coffee ready. We had a quick cold shower to rinse off the dust and enjoyed some terrific food from our cook. Fried fish and chips, vegetables, avocado salad, and a banana fritter for dessert. We spent a couple of hours talking to Ema about the current political situation in Tanzania and then got to bed early.

The Serengeti

The morning began with a wonderful breakfast with lots of fresh fruit (the pineapple is so good it actually tastes like a different food) and slowly packing camp to leave by 10:30 am. We drove past Lake Manyara to the entrance gate for Ngorogoro and Serengeti. The roads are all very bumpy and dusty, but the scenery was stunning. In Ngorogoro, the Masaai people are allowed to live, graze their cattle, and build temporary communities. Traditionally the Masaai would be purely nomadic, but as in the influx of tourists increases, the number of Masaai standing on the side of the road hoping tourists will stop and pay to have their picture taken has greatly increased. They have set up “villages” that are pure tourist stops and the safari vehicles pay $50 to stop and visit. This money is helping to educate some of the children, so it’s not all bad, but our guide guessed the Masaai would be gone in 10 years.

We drove out of the mountain and got our first view of the Serengeti, which means “endless open space” in the Masaai language. It is similar to looking out over the ocean in its size. We stopped for lunch at the visitors center with 40-50 other safari vehicles on basically the same journey before our afternoon game drive on the Plains. We took off in search of a leopard we heard talk of, but after stopping near a rocky outcropping our engine only revved as we tried to leave. We took a look around the vehicle and noticed that what appeared to be the axle was sticking 12 inches out of the back tire. Our guide said “oh shit”, we said “oh shit.” He pulled out a three foot part from the vehicle, put it in the car, informed us that it was only the part that controls four-wheel drive, switched it to two-wheel drive and headed off successfully. We all breathed a sigh of relief. Breakdowns like this are not uncommon at all, but our Safari vehicle, while sufficient was a piece of junk. Later that day the driver closed his door and the window shattered. Depsite all this, the vehicle served us well the whole time and we were proud of it by trips end!

The animals we saw were amazing - lions, leopards, elephants, ostriches, zebras, giraffes, wildebeest, hippos, lots of birds, and lots that I am forgetting. I will let the pictures speak for themselves, but pictures fail to capture what it feels like for a male lion to walk inches from your vehicle and then slowly wander past. We had to keep reminding ourselves that this was not a zoo, but a very wild place.

We enjoyed our evening camping in the Serengeti and enjoyed the stars in this remote location. I have never seen the Milky Way so bright. We sipped a glass of wine with SallyAnn and hit the sack in preparation for our 5:00 am wakeup.

We woke early, had a cup of coffee and hopped in the safari vehicle to get out on the plain for sunrise. The pictures will show it was incredible. An umbrella acacia tree makes the perfect foreground for a brightly colored sunrise. Our morning game drive allowed us to see a baby leopard climbing around on a tree, as well as a large herd of elephants. Our guide knew everything about every animal, so it was as educational as it was beautiful.

Ngorogoro

Off to Ngorogoro. Ngorogoro is a crater formed by an extinct volcano that has collapsed and left a crater about 20 km. wide. It is basically its own ecosystem as the animals that live here rarely leave the crater. The walls are steep and everything that is necessary to support life is in the crater. Again, the view is difficult to describe so check out the photos. Again, the wildlife was captivating (I am running out of adjectives!) and we were fortunate to witness a wildebeest giving birth. I have the video to prove it and we couldn’t believe what we were watching as the baby was born and then walking within five minutes. You think your baby is gifted? Don’t compare it to a wildebeest! There is much more to talk about, but it will have to wait til I see in person as I am getting tired of writing and my time on the internet is coming to an end.

We made it back to Arusha last night and are spending today planning the next leg of our journey. We are a bit weary of being such an obvious outsider in the city and are hoping to escape and have a bit of time not dealing with the day to day stress of being two of only a handful of Muzungus! We are having an incredible experience each day and are thankful for every opportunity. My journey is nearly half-way over and I can say it continues to transform me.