Typed up: at Sakina Campsite in Arusha, at Kilimanjaro Backpackers Hotel
in Moshi Posted from: random Internet place in Moshi
So after going to bed late at the Arusha Crown Hotel, we got up early so
that we could hopefully notify the safari company that we were in a
different place than they were going to pick us up from. We talk to the
receptionist, and he said that if we went around the corner to buy him
some minutes, we could use his phone. A porter went with us and it was
all very smooth, except that nobody answered the phone number we called.
Luckily the hotel was fancy enough to have Internet, so we found on the
web page an after-hours phone number. That worked.
At ease that we would be picked up as planned, we went over to the
breakfast buffet which was better than we’d had in a long time. There
are some advantages to staying at a nice hotel. Anyway, 8:30 came and
went, and no pick-up. I spent my time uploading one picture (Tanzanian
Internet is not all that), and posting the Munich blog in the wrong part
of the website. A little late, our guide and cook showed up to get us
going on our safari. They had gotten word of our change of hotel pretty
late, so they’d been looking for us at Sakina Campsite, where we had
originally planned to stay.
We made a quick stop at Roy’s Safaris office to fill out some paperwork,
which led to a good time because we still only have our health insurance
info as a pair of scanned JPGs (thanks, Andy!) on our computer. That all
out of the way, we stopped by the Shoprite (grocery store chain here, I
don’t know if it’s related to the US one). There we bought 20L of water
(since we would only get 1L per person per day on the safari). We also
looked for a blanket without any luck. They sold mosquito nets, but our
guide had said that we would not be needing them. We also quickly
stopped into Woolworth’s to see if they sold blankets, but all they had
was an expensive comforter.
So we drove
off to safari. In the car we had the chance to get to know our hosts a
little bit better. Walter was our guide. He’s been a guide for 7 years,
5 years with Roy’s. He likes the company because they have good
vehicles. Peter was our cook. The car, like almost all safari vehicles,
was a Toyota Land Cruiser. It was white, had 2 spare tires, plenty of
clearance, and good tread on the tires. Some of the other companies ran
tires that are nearly bald. The baldest tires I saw were being put on a
regular bus that had broken down in the Serengeti. Our car also had a
pop up top, which allowed us to stand up and get a clear 360 degree view
of the surroundings.
Every day
followed pretty much the following pattern. After waking up, we would
eat breakfast that Peter prepared. This was typically some fruit, toast,
an egg. Then some days we’d get pancakes (more like crepes than American
pancakes), some others porridge. We also had hot beverages at every meal
(tea, hot chocolate, or coffee). Then we’d hit the road for a game
drive, which Peter usually did not get to go along. It was just Walter
and us in the car. Then either a box lunch (sandwiches, fruit, something
fried like samosa, cookies) or a hot lunch (pasta bolognese, curry, or
something like that). Then we’d go on another game drive, and finally we
would have dinner that Peter had spent the afternoon slaving away on.
Dinner started off with soup, then a main dish which varied, and some
fruit for dessert. (One day we got some kind of fried pastry for
dessert, which was very nice too.) Then we’d pretty much go straight to
bed. As you can see we did not starve. I think just about all the food
was made fresh every day.
At night we
slept in a tent that Walter and Peter would set up for us. The tent was
a sturdy dome tent, with steel poles and real canvas. Inside we got to
sleep on foam mattresses. Sadly we did not have sleeping bags, and
without a blanket it could get pretty cold. After the first night we
purchased a pair of Masai blankets to keep us warm, and they helped a
lot. Still, at Ngorongoro crater it got cold at night. I slept wearing
long underwear, pants, shirt, fleece, jacket, hat, hand warmers. Then I
was in my silk sleeping sack, underneath my Masai blanket and towel.
Danielle was similarly dressed.
Interestingly the campsites we stayed at had showers and flush toilets
(no TP) by having a big water tank on the roof of the toilet building.
The showers were cold, so we usually took them at our lunch break. At
the campsite in Serengeti the water ran out while we were there, which
didn’t make for a pretty site. But they had new water less than a day
later.
So with all the boring stuff out of the way, I think I can now tell you
about the actual game drives.
Oh, one more
boring thing. We drove exclusively on dirt roads. And not just unpaved
hardened roads. There were places where Walter decided to drive next to
the road for a bit because that was better. This was mainly an issue in
the Serengeti, which is a great plain criss crossed with unmarked dirt
roads. It was fine while we were actually looking for animals because
we’d go slow, but if we were going somewhere then the ride could get
pretty bumpy.
We went to 3
different parks. On our first day we were in Lake Manyara National Park.
It’s relatively small, going from thick forest to plains at the lake.
Then we spent 4 days in the Serengeti, which is mostly plains with (at
this time of year) brown grass. We did spend most of our time in the
more interesting parts of the Serengeti, namely kopjes (rock
formations), areas with trees, and water. Finally we spent a day at
Ngorongoro crater, which is a giant crater of a volcano that erupted 2.5
million years ago. It is mostly plains, has a few salt lakes,
So, game
drives. The first thing we saw were blue monkeys (maybe 20 inches of
body) at Manyara. We saw more monkeys in that day than any other. We saw
many baboons, in large troops. There were also vervet monkeys, and some
other kind I don’t remember (but I think there is 1 picture). It’s
really cool to see monkeys do actual foraging, and that’s really true
for all the animals we saw. It’s great to see the actual natural
behaviors and group sizes. In the zoo you can see what the animal looks
like, but you get pretty much nothing of any food gathering behavior
which is, after all, what takes up most of an animal’s time. (BTW, I
nominate the picture on the left as the official baby Mackay picture,
since it was taken on her birth day.)
We were
lucky to see a lion sleeping in a tree in Manyara. This is something the
local lions are known for, but don’t do much anymore. The lake used to
be bigger than it is today, and the surrounding countryside was swampy.
In that environment, the lions would often climb the trees to be dry.
Anyway, we were lucky to see that. In the Serengeti we found some cubs
just hiding in the tall grass, waiting for mom to come back. At zoos
baby animals seem to be a rarity; something to be treasured. In the wild
you see them everywhere. For just about every animal we’ve seen, there
were many babies. We never saw the “traditional” lion view of a pride of
lions hanging out under a few trees. The prides we saw were much more
spread out. Also, they like to hang out in tall grass so while you might
see one animal, there could be 5 others asleep, invisible.
We saw
several lions stalking, but managed to miss the actual hunt. We were
watching a lion stalking maybe 3 meters from the car. It went along a
ditch a bit away from us when we heard the lions half a mile away had
made a kill. So we went to check it out, but it wasn’t very visible from
the road. Then we heard that one of the lions we had been watching had
caught a warthog, so we went back there. The male came over for that
kill, and just carried the whole pig in his mouth. Several cubs pestered
him for a bite, but he rebuffed them several times. Walter says warthog
is the sweetest tasting animal, and the lions really like it.
Another time
we were driving along, and saw a female lion with two cubs walking
across the plain, and then breaking into a run. They stopped just a
couple meters from a road, where we saw them again. They were behind a
bush so we couldn’t see much, but we could definitely hear them tear a
carcass apart. Presumably the mom had made a kill, and then went to
fetch her two cubs so they could eat.
We saw a lot
of elephants, which have become my favorite animal. Even more than most
animals, they ignore the cars, and it’s awesome to see a family group
amble on by, or just listen to them crunching up trees as they strip off
the bark. Early on a big bull elephant blocked the road for quite a
while. Eventually several of the safari drivers decide to “chase” it off
by getting the cars 3 in a row, inching towards the elephant, and
revving the engine. The elephant did leave, but I did not get the
impression it was because of the cars. Then later we saw larger groups
of elephants, including several calves. I am amazed at how many of these
large animals we saw. From TV you really don’t get a feeling for how
frequently you see them (and most other animals).
We saw many
other grazers as well, even though the majority of them have migrated
north. (We are contemplating trying to catch the migration in Kenya.
We’ll see if that pans out.) We saw many gazelle, who don’t migrate.
They’re everywhere. Then on the Serengeti we saw some small groups of
zebra and wildebeest that had missed the migration. Apparently they’re
all going to be lion food before the migration returns. In Ngorongoro
crater we did see large herds of those 2 animals, because there is
enough food/water available there year round.
We managed to see a few rare animals. Walter got a cell phone call, and
just said that somebody had seen “something.” By the way he was driving
we figured it must be something pretty special. It was a leopard in a
tree, but it was so far away that I couldn’t even make it out in the
binoculars. (There’s a picture, but I doubt you can see it there
either.) Then we got a better view point where you can just make out a
cat silhouette sitting in a tree. But we were lucky, and later that same
day we saw another leopard. This one was much closer, so that with the
help of binoculars we were able to recognize it as a leopard, spots on
yellow coat and all.
At one point we saw two cheetahs sitting under a tree. They were also
pretty far away. Watching cats relax isn’t very exciting, so we did not
spend much time there. Finally we saw a black rhino in Ngorongoro park.
To give you an idea of how rare that is, there are 30 of these shy
animals in the crater, which is about 250 square kilometers in size.
Being shy, the rhino was really far away, though. There is a somewhat
high res movie of the beast where maybe you can make out that the little
black line is a rhino. I don’t feel like I saw a rhino at all, and only
barely that I saw a leopard, but now we have at least technically seen
the “big 5.”
We saw
several animals that we weren’t expecting to see. That’s probably down
to us not doing a lot of research, but they were welcome surprises. The
biggest surprise was the amount of hippos we saw. They are cool to
watch, cooling down in the pools. The first night at Manyara they were
even making their deep, laughing calls to one another. I didn’t know we
were going to see ostriches, but we saw quite a few of them. Fun fact:
males, who are black, sit on the eggs at night while females, who are
gray-brown, sit on the eggs during the day. I also really enjoyed
watching the secretary birds high step through the grass looking for
various reptiles.
There were a
ton of birds in general. Danielle is much better with those than me, but
I enjoyed watching their pretty colors, as well as the raptors. In one
place we saw a nest with 2 eagles and 2 chicks. Then one eagle took off
and it was great to watch it gain altitude without flapping its wings
once. We also saw shrikes, which are the birds that pin baby birds to
acacia trees and then later eat them. (We did not see that actually
happening, though.) There was the bastard bird, which is the largest
flying bird (30 lbs). Several kinds of vultures up in trees, of course.
We saw some
smaller critters, like large groups of hyrax climbing acacia trees.
There were 3 kinds of mongoose, including one huge group of banded
mongoose. I always thought dik dik lived in South American rain forest,
but apparently they’re right here in Africa. We certainly saw several.
We saw one mouse. In the Serengeti there’s a very colorful Agawa (?)
lizard. The few lizards we’ve seen here are much more active (and
bigger) than the ones we have at home.
On our way
from Serengeti to Ngorongoro we stop by Olduvai Gorge. There is a small
museum with an interesting exhibit about the place, along with a nice
collection of bones and early human tools to look at. A docent then
explains it all to you, pointing out various features of the canyon.
This is where they’ve found remains of Homo Australiensis, Homo Habilis,
and Homo Sapiens. Just 25km away is the site where they found the famous
footprints made by humans 3.6 million years ago.
To all of you at home, sitting on a pile of money, let me tell you, come
to Africa and do a safari. And if you are, here are my safari tips: 1.
Bring plenty of extra water. 2. Bring your own toilet paper. 3. Bring 1
pair of binoculars per person, they’re not that expensive if you
consider your plain ticket and safari cost. 4. If you want pictures,
bring a telephoto lens.
We were very happy with Roy’s Safaris. Peter was always friendly and a
great cook. Walter was a great guide, and could answer just about every
question we had about the animals. Only sometimes did he have to refer
to his bird book to ID a bird.
Equipment rave, our binoculars are great. The only thing better would be
to have 2 pairs. We’ve used them to look at foxes at home, church towers
in Europe, and now at animals in Africa. They’re light weight, compact,
and sturdy. They are Nikon ProStaff 10x25. I think we paid about \$150.
No workouts this week. Safari is only marginally healthier than being a
couch potato. You sit on your butt and get fed good food.
Pictures are still uploading (not in order), but most of them are there
now.
