How BIG is the WORLD?

Friday, October 21, 2011

27 SEPTEMBER – 1 OCTOBER 2011

Gorgeous leopard

SAFARI (meaning more photos of wild animals)

TARANGIRE NP, LAKE TANGARA, NGORONGORO CRATER AND SERENGETI NP

Returning to fetch my pack which was already packed as I was planning to go to Arusha today, I find chaos is loudly breaking out at the hotel. By the time I get there the Israeli girls have found out that this trip is not spending a night at Ngorongoro when they were told it would.

here kitty, kitty, kitty

This does not auger well, I feel but my money is already tucked down a sock. There is much toing and froing on the street in front of the hotel, accusations of being lied to (true), no change of itinerary and as the girls have only paid a deposit, they cancel. That now leaves four of us on safari – Carol and Miguel from Spain, Juro from Slovakia and me with our driver Mosha and cook, Anuary. We now have lots of room in the car and after several stops for this and that we finally get going. Next stop is Arusha to buy a couple of onward bus tickets for Juro and I because we are not returning to Moshi at the end of the safari from Serengeti. While waiting for Anuary and Mosha to come back to the car, I try to buy some peanuts – and the bloke tried adding another 100 shillings on the cost just because he could!! I am very happy not to have had to tackle the touts here because I have a feeling they may have been twice as bad as in Moshi. From Arusha we drive west for a couple of hours to arrive at Tarangire National Park. We spend the afternoon driving and animal spotting – the usual lions, giraffe, wildebeest, buffalo and herds of elephants.

The park is in great shape and seems very well managed. I get to know my fellow passengers: Carol, Miguel and Juro have climbed Mt Kilomanjaro together so are already very good friends. The Spaniards have a stash of Spanish smallgoods with them that they kindly share, but Juro who can speak English and Spanish insists on only speaking Spanish with them. I try to keep up but my Spanish is so rusty that I give up and figure if he would like to include me, well and good. Otherwise I will suffice with my own company as this safari is twofold – it takes me to Serengeti and Ngorongoro and it gets me further west towards Lake Victoria which I could not do without private transport through the national parks.


Hide me, mum

We arrive at Panorama Camp in the evening just outside the village of Mto wa Mbu – river of mosquitos – on the escarpment of the Rift Valley with fabulous views of the lake in the distance and the wonderful night sky. We have standing tents, but no luxury here and I am very happy to have my own mossie net to use here. Our cook, Anuary does a fab meal for us and afterwards we are entertained by The Black Tigers (and Terry told me there are no tigers here in Africa!), a local crew with great acrobatic skills. But why, of why do they insist on singing Guantanamero?


Big elephants and an even BIGGER tree


Lake Tangara in the Rift Valley

Carol tells me that their porters also broke out singing that song when they completed the Mt Kili climb and they thought it most unusual! I suggest that surely ‘The Lion sleeps tonight’ could be more apt?

The morning brings to light the fabulous views from our vantage point camp and Lake Manyara is visible in the far distance. The second day of safari we have a guided walk right by Lake Manyara out through the village of Mto wa Mbu and onto the outskirts of the NP. We see buffalo, hippos, Thompsons Gazelle (no springboks here) who pronk just the same, and far away in the distance flamingos! Lunch is followed by a cultural walk through the village’s banana plantations learning all about the different varieties of bananas (yes, I already know them but the walk was pleasant enough), call in at a Makonde carvers workshop and end with a visit to try the local banana beer – yuck – no better or worse than sorghum beer or millet beer. Earlier this day I couldn’t find my drink bottle and a packet of chips are missing – I suspect the baboons have raided my tent?

Bet one of these baboons raided my tent

On our return I make a search of the campgrounds for my drink bottle with the thought that the baboons may have dropped it because they wouldn’t have been able to open it and it was empty. BINGO it is found and I have it back – unbelievable luck really.

Our third safari day takes us into Ngorongoro Crater which is absolutely HUGE – the biggest caldera in the world (Africa has been the making of my geography knowledge, I reckon). Just the drive around the crater rim to the floor takes over an hour along the descent road.

jic you were wondering what Ngorongoro looked like

There are only three roads in and out of the Ngorongoro = a descent road, an ascent road and ascent and descent road that heads over to the smaller craters nearby. No views from the top due to cloud cover but heading down all becomes visible, including the diminishing Lake Magadi which does have flamingos. It is very, very dry here with vast herds of wildebeest and a sprinkling of animals but certainly not as many as I had anticipated. I think that if this was my one and only safari I would be disappointed. As it is, I have been thoroughly spoiled with only cheetahs and wild dogs on my ‘to see’ list now. One highlight though is seeing the Masai people up close and personal – no cultural visits as such, just lots of glimpse of them by the roads wrapped in their traditional brightly coloured blankets. On the way to Serengeti we spot a few boys with painted faces – new initiates. But I notice that women are not to be seen roundabouts – too busy working at home I guess while the blokes are gallivanting tending their cattle.

Late afternoon we enter Serengeti National Park and our driver heads straight to an area where we see two cheetahs – wow. I cannot think of anything else to describe how delighted I am, because they are absolutely gorgeous.

Gnus, wildebeest, call em what you like

When we arrive at the Twiga (giraffe) Rest House in Seronera there is no power because the generator is broken. But Annuary still does a fab job cooking up a storm, we still get hot water and the beds are netted and comfy so all is ok again.

Next day is spent driving and animal spotting – we see a great lion pride complete with males, lionesses and many cubs. There are many hippos, giraffe, wildebeest, elephants and even another cheetah very far away up in a tree. We drive back to house for lunch and while Carol, Miguel and Juro take a siesta I spot Mosha climbing into the car. He’s heading back to the airport, which is past the information centre, so I ask for a lift. It turns out to be really interesting and I spend a fascinating hour or two there..

Its a twiga

They show dvds of the Great Migration and Lions – both are really great to watch, especially after seeing the animals for real. I price the dvds in the gift shop - $12 each!! I pick up something else - $12!! Other tourists are all happily paying him dollars for the souvenirs but I suspect that this guy is plucking prices out of thin air. I ask him again how much, in shillings and the prices drop somewhat but not enough to tempt me. I reckon I can pick up a David Attenborough doco at JB HiFi when I get home for less and be guaranteed of the quality as these are all burned copies. There is an information trail here and I learnt many, many things including the fact that all baby wildebeest are born within the space of 3 weeks every year – and the baby wildebeest can stand within 10 minutes of birth and run at full speed within the hour of being born!!! The crocodiles living in the rivers depend on the great migrations crossings – one wildebeest is enough to sustain a croc for six months, until the next crossing!

This afternoon the short rain set in – but not so short this afternoon. I am happy with all we have seen but Juro is pretty determined to see more. After an hour of driving in the rain even he becomes despondent and lets us give up so heading back to our final dinner together at Twiga we meet up with its namesake right nearby.

Last day we have a morning drive before breakfast – two cheetahs far away, but the real highlight is a leopard right next to the road with a carcass high up in a tree that he returns to nibble on at intervals. We spot a lovely lion, hippos, giraffe and of course more wildebeest.

Juro and I get dropped at the bus ‘stop’ at Seronera around 10am with our packed lunches and we farewell our safari companions. Then we wait and wait and wait and of course I get chatting and end up drinking warm beer in the shade until the bus finally turns up at 1.30pm. Our seats are there and off we go, through more of the Serengeti to exit at the Ikoma Ggate. Bye bye Serengeti

FACT: Tanzania is home to a formidable number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites including Kilimanjaro NP, Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Serengeti NP, Selous Game Reserve and Zanzibar’s Stone Town. The other ones I missed are the Kilwa Kisiwani & Songo Mnara ruins down south and Kolo-Kondoa Rock Art Sites (no idea where they are). So even though Tanzania has one of the highest proportions of protected land of any African country - about 30% is protected in some form - limited resources limit conservation efforts whilst soil erosion, deforestation, desertification and corruption continue erode the Tanzanian natural wealth.