Safari Day 2

January 26, 2019

Safari Day 2

We left the first camp at about 9:30. In the morning, we explored the rim of Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Our itinerary said we’d go to the Serengeti on Day 2 but since safaris can spend only 24 hours in the Serengeti, it’s better to arrive there in the afternoon so that the next morning one can do an early morning game drive. Ngorongoro is a huge area, almost 8300 sq km / 3200 sq miles, so it’s easy to spend a couple of days there, both on the rim and in the crater.  The biggest draw to Ngorongoro is the crater which hosts most of the animals like the endangered black rhinos. (On Monday, day 4, we went into the crater.)

Here are photos taken from a viewpoint on the rim. What you see is Lake Magati. It’s about 1 mile straight down to the bottom. (Notice the wifi sign.  HeeHee)

That morning, we saw lots of scenery and animals so take a quick look.

Baobab Tree

Elephants...again

Don't remember the name but it's lovely.

Ostriches can be 4 meters high!

More ostriches

Can you see the lion head, right center?

Fighting Impala

Same fighting impala

Giraffes

Notice the termite hill....

A view....

Before going into the Serengeti, we stopped for lunch. Here you see a ½ sandwich with a filling of margarine and grated carrots. Yes, I gave it a taste—two bites, actually.  The first one didn’t count because I couldn’t believe what I was tasting. The samosa was excellent.

Here are some of the other visitors we dined with.

At the rest stop, we climbed up a hill and saw a gorgemous view. Well, I guess my backside isn’t exactly the view you were expecting….

Finally, back on the road, we made it to the entrance of the Serengeti.  Phil remarked that it’d be a good place for a pub. (LOL!)

Now we began to see Africa in it’s raw natural state.  We saw a carcass along the side of the road.  Notice the lion to the right and back a bit. (You might need to enlarge it.)

There were lots of lions in the Serengeti.  I was reminded of the Lion King.

Although lions are natural enemies of zebras, they occupy the same space, seemingly peacefully.  We came upon a pride of sleeping lions. A few feet away, were the cubs and in the background, you can see the zebras cautiously grazing and watching.

Speaking of zebras, they were everywhere. Some of them were brown instead of black and white striped.  I thought that was odd until I realized that they roll around on the ground and the brown is actually the sticky dirt on their black and white hide.

Wildebeasts.  What strange creatures. What are they?  Janet says that they seemed to have been designed by a committee. Their faces are a bit like horses, but there’s a hairy bump behind the neck, somewhat like a buffalo (but way smaller), then they have a narrow backside with skinny legs and a long swishing tale.  They kind of lope along. What odd creatures.

Every year the wildebeest migration takes place in January.  Usually, it’s earlier in the month but huge herds of these animals move north.  This takes place in only a few days so most people on safari don’t get to see the great migration.  The migration was late this year because there has been more rain than usual and the herds were enjoying the green grass on the plains of the Serengeti. We were fortunate enough to see several large (did I say BIG) herds of wildebeest moving across the Serengeti.  They would move a ways, then spread out and eat, then move again.  It reminded me of what it must have been like with the buffalo on the plains of the Midwest in the United States 300 years ago. Take a look. This vid is a very small group of wildebeasts in migration.

Now comes the most exciting part of the day.  It was late in the afternoon…approaching evening really.  We joined some other safari jeeps that were parked on both sides of a small field.  As our eyes adjusted to the outlines of the grass, we saw a leopard that appeared to be stalking….something.  Occasionally, he stopped… and waited… and watched.

ALL OF A SUDDEN!! the leopard moved! Briefly, we saw that he had grabbed an animal in his mouth.  Before we could blink, he was in the tree and the dead baby impala was draped over a branch.  It happened so quickly! so fast! that our brains couldn’t process what had actually happened.  After a few seconds, there was a collective gasp as we realized that we had just seen an authentic kill on the Serengeti. It’s beyond words to describe!!!

Take a close look at the leopard's face. It's a little dark from early evening shadows.

Our guide, Ronald, said that what we saw was extremely rare. First of all, leopards are solitary creatures who hide in the trees away from the safaris. Very few visitors get to see them.  THEN, to see a leopard stalk and kill an animal is practically unheard of.  Ronald said that he didn’t know of anyone who had seen a leopard kill like that.  I was completely overwhelmed with awe.

As we drove to camp, I looked out over the serenity and beauty of the Serengeti and wondered about my small place in the world.

The second night we stayed in a more primitive camp.  The tents were quickly put up in a large field. We had to set up quickly because it was dusk when we arrived and we didn’t want to try to organize everything in the dark. I bunked in with Marianne that night.  Other groups of campers were sitting around campfires doing all the noisy fun things you do around a campfire. Although I wore my earplugs for part of the night, the ground was hard through my pad and the cooks were up at 3:30 to start breakfast. The rest of us rose at 5:30 to be ready to leave at 6:10 after a quick cup of coffee.

(A Fun Sign on a portable kiosk beside the road in a village: “Mr. Barack Obama”)

So, on to Safari Day 3.

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)