Safari Day 1

January 25, 2019

Safari Day 1

The Nyange safari jeep showed up at Kundayo at about 9:15 on Friday, January 25, 2019. After picking up everyone else, we were off on our adventure. (Nyange is the name of the Safari company.)

The area just outside Arusha is Maasai country, so along the way, we saw several Maasai walking along the road and in the fields.  They were also herding goats.

Maasai men always carry a staff. They often break it off from a tree and use a “sandpaper leaf” to make it smooth.

We went through several villages.  Here is one.  Notice the church.

I was amazed at the variety of animals in all of the fields.  And we hadn’t even gotten to the national parks.

In this photo, you can see the major players of this adventure. At lunchtime, we found ourselves in Tarangire National Park where we stopped at the entrance point to check in and eat lunch.  It was then that we really introduced ourselves and discovered who we were all traveling with.

Here’s the rundown.

On the left is Phil. He’s probably about 60ish.  He’s originally from England but, for the last several years, he has been a world traveler, going from continent to continent with his backpack and huge camera, staying in hostels and enjoying the culture and adventures of wherever he finds himself.  He has not been to the United States because, apparently, there’s a rule that requires visitors to prove they have a certain kind of medical insurance, which for Phil would cost him $800. He’d like to see the Grand Canyon and reconnect with people he’s met on his travels but that doesn’t seem possible for now. He does plan to go to Toronto for a while and then fly to Mexico City.

The next traveler is Marion who is 52 years old.  She’s from Holland.  She has a husband and 2 grown children, ages 18 (son) and 21 (daughter). She is in Tanzania volunteering for a month at a very poor village in a preschool near Arusha.  She lives with the director of the school and his family.  She told about her life there where they cook over an open fire, and live pretty much without electricity, although she mentioned that her family was one of the few who had a (cold) shower in the bathroom. The village has rutted, dirt roads and there are no stores within a decent distance. She and her husband plan to hike the Camino de Santiago Pilgrim Trail in Portugal next summer. As you can see, she likes adventures.

Marianne is from Germany.  She is 75 years old!! She told me she hadn’t camped since she was a child. About 7 years ago, she hiked the pilgrim trail for 800 kilometers through Spain in one month. She went alone, although I think she joined a group. Marianne is a little deaf so speaking to her in the jeep or in a noisy room was difficult.  She is very short and very cheerful and oh, so full of energy. Her husband was from Poland and she has one daughter.

So, yes, we were a group of 4. Phil, Marion, Marianne, MaryLou.  Can you believe it!

While eating lunch, we enjoyed watching the cute little monkeys and their antics around the picnic tables.  One came quite close to me….then….all of a sudden! he grabbed for my muffin in my lunchbox. Before he could escape, Phil and I whacked him off the table. He went flying and tumbled to a stop a few feet away. Meanwhile, my whacking sent my water battle into Marion’s lunch which created a soggy mess. So there you have our first adventure.

As we traveled through Tarangire National Park, I became enamored with elephants and I started taking pictures.  So, how many photos of elephants do you think I need in order to understand that there are lots of elephants in Tarangire? In fact, there are 4500 elephants there and I think I tried to take pics of all of them. Here is a selection of photos and videos. I deleted a bunch of photos of elephants so you’re not seeing all of them, for sure.

As we traveled through Tarangire, I saw many of the wonders of Africa.  This is a picture of monkeys resting on a termite hill.  We saw many of these termite mounds everywhere.  They are like small hills.  This one happens to be surrounding a tree but most of them are scattered throughout fields. The monkeys think termites are a delicious treat so that’s why they’re lounging on this one.

We saw many wonders of Africa the first day but many of the photos didn’t turn out.  At one point I attached my iphone to my binoculars with interesting results but generally, I just did the point and shoot routine. Just about all of the animals we saw on the first day were also seen the other 3 days.

We did see a lot of birds which are hard to photograph. Phil is a bird lover (serious bird-lover!) and with his ginormous camera lens, he was able to take photos of all the birds we saw. For your reading pleasure, here is a list of some of the birds we saw the first day. It’s Phil’s list.  After the first day, I more or less gave up on remembering most of the names of the birds, although there were some that were stunningly beautiful with their iridescent wings and graceful flights.

The first night, we stayed at Haven Nature.  It’s also called Heaven Nature, depending on which sign you’re reading. It was a very nice camp with tents up on platforms and beds inside; hot showers; and, a lodge of sorts with beer for sale. (Phil was a beer lover, almost as much as birds.) Take a look at these photos of the first camp.

While I was out taking pictures of the camp, I noticed this Asian woman dressed in unusual couture and just had to take a photo of her.

Finally, I will introduce the 4 young’uns who were also on Safari with Nyange. They were in another jeep.  We were on the same itinerary so we camped together and ate together.  Here they are.  Three were volunteers doing a kind of education project together.  The young man and one of the women were from U.K. and the other woman was from Belgium.  The third woman, from Australia, was doing a medical internship at a hospital and will be a full-fledged doctor, ready for residency in 6 months.

That first evening, we had tilapia, pizza, vegetable soup, mixed veggies and wine for dinner.  Dessert was fresh pineapple. We enjoyed chatting and getting to know each other.

Thus ends day one of my Safari.

(Fun Sign on a store front: Wood Caving & Antics)