Journal Entry for March 6, 2000
"Safari" in Swahili means journey. This one was to last for eight days into the National Parks of northern Tanzania, a new name for a country that was formerly the nations of Tanganyika and Zanzibar. Here are impressions from day one:
Today could possibly be the best day of traveling that I have ever had. This morning, following a restless night filled with malaria dread and two mosquito bites (through the net no less), we awoke, showered, had breakfast and met our guide Nicky at 7:45. We clambered into our safari vehicle and headed down the hill on a rough gravel road from our Lake Manyara Hotel to the National Park of the same name. We had enjoyed breathtaking views of the lake and the park area, and were anticipating a great day ahead. Motoring down the road to the park entrance we had our first of what was to be many animal encounters this day, as a troop of baboons was not only wandering on the road in front of us, but also frolicking in the bush on either side as well. We had never seen baboons in the wild, but this troupe numbered in the hundreds. It is remarkable how they resemble humans in many of their actions, most noticeable of which was a frightened baby running into its mother's arms for protection. The adults facial resemblance to gorillas is of course striking, as the rest of the body moves and looks more like the monkey's.
The baboons darted in front of and around our safari vehicle, as the whole troop made its way down the road. After a few pictures and a sighting of some vervet monkeys, which had an unusual blue tinge to their coloring, we arrived at the National Park entrance gate, paid the fees and drove in. Our safari was really underway!! This was Lake Manyara National Park, which turned out to be a sort of appetizer to the main course which would comprise Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, and Tarangire National Parks.
A short distance down the road we ran into another baboon troupe as we started our trek, crossing a stone bridge and a couple of dried river beds. As the rainy season is just about to start (March - May) this was not unexpected.
We escaped from the thicker foliage into an area of short grass, bushes and many trees. Last night, using binoculars, we had spied down on this area, noticing antelope like animals (actually gazelle or impala) grazing in the lingering twilight. Well the guesses were close to correct as soon a small family of impalas came into view. The mother and three little ones quickly scampered across the road to more grazing areas while the adult male chose to linger a while longer, eating from the shrubbery before finally joining his family. All of this happened under our watchful eyes and clicking cameras, as well the gaze of a vervet monkey, who was enjoying the spectacle from the top of a nearby bush.
The impalas moved out of sight and we also moved on, but only for a few meters, as off to our right with his head protruding high above the small trees, a giraffe(!) was feasting on the delicacies found on the upper branches of the trees within his reach! Being the first major sighting of the day, this impression stayed with me for quite a while until an even greater spectacle took his place - but I'm getting ahead of myself. Yes the giraffe was impressive - so big, and I also remember thinking that his color markings were not the orange ones of the zoo giraffes which I'd previously seen but more of a dark red or rust color. Other qualities were the two horns which surprised me as I didn't remember them on zoo giraffes, and secondly that I found his walking to be a bit unsteady - sort of like someone on stilts - not surprising for an animal of that height.
Leaving the giraffe, we headed down to Lake Manyara. Here we had our first encounter with a marabou stork whose size, white body and black wings give him a strong resemblance to the vulture family. The red head and large yellow beak provided noticeable differences. The stork was wandering along the beach, so we followed suit and had our first sightings of zebra, wildebeest (gnu), cape buffalo, warthog and the shy black backed jackal. The zebra, not surprisingly, reminded me of a horse but smaller and with distinct colorations. My impression was also that his head was bigger in proportion to the rest of his body than a horse's would be.
A small family of warthogs walked by our white safari van, while the wildebeest and cape buffalo hung out just minding their own business. The cape buffalo incidentally had numerous white fowl close by, and in some cases actually on the buffalo's back. After a short walk to the water's edge we reboarded our vehicle, had a peak at an almost fully submerged hippo (only nostrils and eyes visible), and then headed back inland, taking the road through areas of dense undergrowth. It was on this part of the trek when we suddenly zoomed by a feeding giraffe right at the trail's edge. We were so surprised but then so was the long necked giraffe and by the time we had our cameras out and ready, the giant had taken his frame farther away from the not so welcome guests in his domain.
Starting up the van again, we were only a few meters down the track when we all saw what was clearly an elephant 150 meters ahead and standing on the bridge which we needed to cross. I remember taking the camera out, but Nicky kept taking us closer and closer to the point where I actually had to back off of my zoom lens in order to keep the tusked hulk in full view.
What a magnificent creature!! He would dip his trunk into the river below him, and take in a large amount of water. Then lifting the trunk into his mouth, he literally gave himself a feeding like a baby drinking from a bottle. I suppose he was a bit annoyed by us as his ears kept flapping while we disturbed his water break. I recall noticing his long white ivory tusks, as I can't remember seeing any other elephant with a full set of tusks in any of my travels. Well when he had finished, he headed toward his game trail which we were unfortunately blocking, so Nicky expertly put us into reverse, giving the giant some extra space. And then suddenly he was gone - we drove over to the trail head but I remember thinking that it could have been magic as he vanished so quickly and completely.
So there it is - not our day, but just a 3 hour morning game drive in Lake Manyara National Park. Nicky handed me a tsetse fly that he had caught trying to bite him, and remarked that their disease (sleeping sickness) is very bad - the menacing stinger protruding from the head of the fly seemed to accent Nicky's warning.
Top of the van down, and we back in our seats, we hit the bumpy gravel road for our journey to the Serengeti. this was a great second stage to our day. We traveled past many fields which had been plowed and were thirstily awaiting the coming rains. Corn and wheat were just two of the crops which were planted. We witnessed a number of Masai farmers planting by hand, as the woman would drop seeds in the soil, and her children would come behind her and cover up the hole she had made. This sight was often made more impressive by the bright red wrap that many Masai, male or female, seemed to wear. Traditional dress and living in thatched huts made of branches and grass is still the way of life here. Many of the men tend the cattle and goats and wealth is measured in those terms. Even children don't necessarily go to school, as they often wind up tending the cattle and goats. I have been impressed by the friendliness exhibited by almost all Tanzanians as we tour through their country and try to master a bit of Swahili.
We stopped in the town of Kaltera which was one of the first realizations of the underdeveloped nature of this nation. The roads continued unpaved and as in other parts of the country, the main mode of transportation is walking. The bicycle is also in, and I can recall seeing two men riding on a bike, their herding sticks held in their right hand and laying on their respective right shoulders. It looked like a real twins act. We checked out prices at a local sarong seller, and costs for the tourist don't tend to be cheap, as we noticed in last night's hotel as well.
Leaving the town, our road climbed into the Ngorongoro highlands. The temperatures dropped to a much cooler level and we had some great views of rolling farm land and Masai villages on either side of the road.
We devoured our picnic lunch at the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Park entrance and then were off once again. Red banana for lunch was quite good, as were the colors of Africa (there - I said it - I'm really here!) with the red earth, green foliage, white cumulus clouds and a beautiful azure sky. Our next stop was for pictures of the Ngorongoro Crater. With a diameter of 12 miles it is one of the largest volcanic craters in addition to being a sanctuary for African wildlife. With threatening rain overhead we followed along the rim, past the Ngorongoro Wildlife Lodge where we would stay for two nights later on our safari, until we started our descent to the expanse of the Serengeti Plain, opening up in front of us.
The Serengeti, Nicky's favorite park in all of Tanzania, is a flat mostly treeless plain. The flat topped acacia tree is dominant but in some areas no trees grow. This is because the topsoil is a thin layer deposited here by a volcanic eruption many years ago which is enough to cover the plain but can't support trees with a deep reaching root structure. In fact there are outcroppings of rocks called kopjes which actually stick out above the plain in spots and become a good lookout point for the predators of the Serengeti.
Nicky explained a bit about the plain to us - that it is a plain covered with a thin layer of soil and of course on could see for miles! The landscape was parched and as we drove on we encountered many Thompson's gazelle which are native to the plain and live here all year round. These were sometimes intermingled with small pockets of zebra and later also wildebeest. Nicky said it was part of the wildebeest migration - actually led by zebras as being the more intelligent animal of the two.
We continued on, and after a few kms noticed that suddenly there were no more wildebeest or zebras. Our guide/driver said this was the time to be on the lookout for predators - animals that will hunt the wildebeest to survive. We weren't disappointed. Eight hundred meters farther up the road we saw a safari vehicle parked on the side of the road - with two exhausted lionesses just a few feet away. We pulled in behind, in awe of the first lions we had ever seen in their natural habitat. One of the females looked pregnant but she had just dined on a wildebeest calf that could have been the cause of the enlarged stomach area. Just a bit farther up another female was recovering from the exertion of the hunt. She too seemed to be gasping for air and allowed us to get all the close up shots we wanted while she regained her strength.
A few minutes and half a roll of film later, were off again, now riding with the top of the van up to give us a better view of the Serengeti around us. Our next stop was the Serengeti Park entrance gate. Nicky paid the fee and we took a walk to the top of the kopje or hill for a great view of the vast plain. There we also saw a number of agama, colorful lizards with the male actually sporting a multitude of colors on his back: red, green and blue to name a few.
Heading into the treeless plain, we did see another small pride of lions, also asleep. This is the habit of the king of beasts as they prefer to hunt at night when the temperatures are cooler, and then rest during the daylight hours when temperatures can get well into the 30's.
Passing many zebras, Thompson's gazelle, wildebeest and more, we made our way further to the northwest. Our next pull off was to another kopje where a giraffe's head protruded from the rocks above us. Pulling to a stop with cameras ready we encountered not one giraffe but four, the largest of which , towering above us, clambered down the hill and past our vehicle to the safety of his family. His immense height was truly a sight to behold - imagine that long neck has the same number of vertebrae as a human neck!
The giraffes were like slow motion moving giants swaying back and forth while lumbering across the green grassland.
Another kopje, and another fantastic sighting - this time a cheetah, just laying on top of the hill which gave him the best vantage point to survey the surrounding plain. He was wary of our presence but did not scamper away leaving us the opportunity to take some good pictures. I was surprised by the color of his fur as it was more to the white with black spots than the yellow I had grown to expect. The cheetah attempted to ignore our presence, closing his eyes much of the time, and only resumed his vigil after our departure.
Back on the road, past a watering hole - no hippos - and on to a side safari trail, where the end had another fantastic sight - a leopard was sleeping on the branch of a tree, his orange and black potted fur hidden from the sun by the shade the branches provided. Tucked in between two branches of that tree was the remains of his latest prey, a young wildebeest, whose legs and hooves were clearly visible. The leopard must have dragged it up for safe keeping and indeed the next day when we revisited the tree, both leopard and carcass were gone.
Thinking the day was about to close we made our way toward our hotel. But this spectacular day would not end yet. Baboons, giraffes and zebras were sighted on the drive, but the most astounding was still ahead. The wildebeest migration, or a part of it, was in a great hurry to move to a new source of water and galloped/trotted on its way - thousands of wildebeest crossing our road and thundering past. The sounds were indescribable - how I would imagine American Indians feeling when the great buffalo herds of the past rumbled across the plain. We paused for a quarter of an hour until the last wildebeest crossed the road ending this seemingly endless stream that was migrating farther on.
Now just a few kilometers up the road a fitting conclusion to this day as the luxurious Serengeti Sopa Lodge bid us welcome with spacious rooms, a most friendly and hospitable staff, and a beautiful sunset to cap what was one of the most awesome traveling days of my life!
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