Serengeti Safari

Awakening in Arusha's morning mist, we were taken to the office of the safari company we had hired, Basecamp Tanzania, and it's gregarious leader, Achmed. Achmed is a Briton of German heritage who is has been married to a Tanzanian woman for many years. He sports a Kaiser's moustache, complete with twisted ends that curl into circles on each end. This morning, one of the ends was limping slightly. Liz and I were also limping, as we entered the office and penetrated the cloud of cigarette smoke between us and Achmed. "Generator day!" He shouted above the lawn-mower-like roar outside. "...Tuesdays and Thursdays...do you want to check your e-mail?"

While waiting for our jeep to be packed, we chatted with Achmed and learned some new details about our last adventure. In a Beatle-esque deadpan, he recounted: "Oldonyo Lengai: I had some clients on it when it erupted in June, ...I don't personally enjoy climbing mountains."

So, it turns out that our lunch spot at the top was lava flow from less than two months ago. Funny that no one mentioned that to us yesterday. Achmed showed us a video clip taken by his clients of lava flowing out of the volcano and encouraged us to read more

We were introduced to our companions for the next four days, Christian (driver & guide) and Wilfred (cook). Liz and I struggled with the concept of having two people working for us - a strange complement to what I see as an odd activity: driving around looking for animals. The agenda, we were reminded, includes 2 1/2 days at Serengeti National Park, followed by one day in the Ngorogoro Crater. Off we went.

On our way to the Serengeti, we stopped at Olduvai Gorge, the area where Homo Erectus was known to walk the land. In the car, we started to feel that we were in the wilderness, Christian would direct us to elephants on the horizon and even to giraffes munching on trees right near our car. When we stopped to observe a lioness nursing her cubs, it was clear that we were in Serengeti. "You are very lucky," Christian assured us after seeing the baby lions, introducing us to the aim of his position: to make sure that the clients are lucky.

After a long drive, we arrived at the campsite and Wilfred burst into action. In a kitchen bustling with chefs, he established himself in a corner and got to work. The rest of us grabbed our tents and looked for a campsite. Liz, noting the wire over the dining area and the kitchen asked, "Christian, what is the wire for?" "To keep out the baboons," he answered rather unconvincingly. "And..." Liz prodded. After a long pause, Christian admitted, "Lions. They come here in the night to drink water. Be careful if you get up to pee in the middle of the night."

The Safari was a lot of fun. We rode comfortably in the jeep, enjoyed the scenery during the long silences and admired the animals when we could find them. We saw "everything" as they say, though we were eluded by the Rhinos. We saw Lions, Hippos, Giraffes, Elephants, Buffaloes, Cheetahs, Leopards, Zebras & more. The baby lions were Liz's favorite. Cute! I liked the Giraffes the most. Impressive.

The lions at Ngorogoro Crater are known to enjoy the shade of the jeeps. We had heard that they come so close, you could reach out and touch them. It's true, we were visited by a relaxed pack of lions and enjoyed seeing them up close. It was, however the most zoo-like part of the tour. It was much more interesting when we saw some focused lionesses marching down the road slowly toward a pack of warthogs. They stalked their prey quietly, approaching stealthily through the tall grass. We held our breaths in anticipation and then suddenly, Pounce! A lioness grabbed a warthog in her teeth and another chased the pack, losing steam before catching another through the frantic squealing. The lion (king) promptly grabbed the caught warthog and started to eat. That's how it works apparently, only the women hunt and the men eat first.

After four days, we felt very satisfied with our wildlife viewing and were ready for a slower pace. We went to the western slope of Mt. Kilimanjaro and relaxed there for a few days. After that, we made our way to Nairobi, via Moshi. In Nairobi, we started to ease ourselves back into the developed world, enjoying organic food and movies. After that, it was time for the three-day journey home, reflecting on a spectacular six weeks in Tanzania.

The full slideshows from our trip are here:
Zanzibar
(mainland) Tanzania