How Good Does It Get?

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Sir David Attenborough deserves some of the blame for the numbers of people who want to look at and photograph wild animals in the wild. And for the desire of most to get the quintessential photo of the lioness killing, the leopard stalking or the cheetah chasing down an antelope. There are rather a lot of people rolling through the parks and most of them seem to have large and very expensive looking camera equipment.

We are well and truly on the tourist trail now. Trucks, planes and 4X4s cart mobs of us about all over Tanzania and they all seem to aim for the icons, the Serengeti, Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar. As I believe I have noted before, tourist do tend to get it right a lot of the time and if you wanted to see the Serengeti without tourists then you really should have come well before old Sir David did his thing on the Park and its animals.

So this post will cover the run into Tanzania, the Serengeti, the Ngorongoro Crater and some community projects we have visited along the way. And if you don't like photos of animals then look away now. (Actually dont worry. I am not going to be able to get photos up with this post)

9First though, Tanzania itself. After Ethiopia we were impressed by Kenya. More substantial houses, fenced farms and shambas. In the more fertile areas at least there was not so much nomadic herding nor, it should be noted, is there such a need for this. A lot more food about and life looks - to someone going past in a large truck or wandering through a market - a lot more prosperous. No problems with obesity in Ethiopia but Kenyans eat well and, on some, it shows. Tanzania is not - quite - there with Kenya but I reckon it is in the same zone.

While Kenya has free education for all children - provided that they buy the uniforms and such - Tanzania apparently only provides it up to year 4. This could be wrong but it seems that the lines of kids in their spiffy uniforms heading off to school are shorter in Tanzania than they are next door. Tanzania may rely more on the aid organisations and NGOs to provide the service. At one vocational training place we visited the cost per student was 65,000 Tanzanian shillings (about $A60.00) per year. This place was run by an NGO and receives all of its funding, other than fees, from outside the country. It apparently costs roughly 5,000 Tsh to outfit a child for school. Most people save with hand-me-downs or allowing the kids to grow into their uniforms - and some of the young ones need to do a lot of growing to fit theirs. Not a lot of money but then the average farmer on his hectare or so of land can bring in a profit of around 5,000 Tsh from a crop. Just for the sake of comparison, a couple of beers in a reasonable bar will cost 4,000 to 6,000 Tsh, and often more. They advertise it on special in some bars at 1,300 Tsh but we havent been to any of those yet.

We are becoming more used to changeable country but it is still a little surprising how quickly and dramatically the country can change in a short distance. Tanzania is generally green and lush but, move away from the water sources and it quickly becomes parched and much poorer. A lot tougher for everyone.

Arusha was the first major town we hit in Tanzania. Pulled into a very flash and modern shopping complex marked by the lack of ordinary locals and a lot of non-locals. But a good place to stock up on some of things that you do start to miss after a time on the road. Comfort type things like chocolate, coffee and bacon. We stayed out of town at a place called the Snake Park which is something of an institution for overlanders. We were there with another dozen or so trucks. As you might expect there was an excellent bar, lots of photos and T-shirts nailed to the wall, one from the Humpty Doo Pub.

A stop at Mto Wa Mbu, a community tourism project set up to try to give the local people some means of getting a little more from the tourists than dust as they pour through the village on the way to the Serengeti. It is very simple stuff. Local guides whos peak good English and know their village well walk with the group around the village talking about the houses and farming practices, giving us some banana beer - and even a little konyagi (local gin) - climbing a hill to look over the village and see a 2,000 year old baobab tree, a superb lunch at a local house and back through the gardens. Simple stuff but very effective. It took us about 5 hours to do all of this and was one of the most enjoyable times on the trip. The guides were excellent and prepared to talk very freely about their lives and the issues that concern them. The project was started about 10 years ago by an NGO and is now self sustaining.

On to Karatu, the jumping off place for the big parks. The roads in the parks were supposedly not too good (although this later proved a bit of a furphy), and we were again moved into Toyotas to go into the Serengeti and do the game drives. Unlike our Omo Valley experience this one was great. The vehicles were extended wheel base Toyota Troopies fitted out with lifting roofs. The one we were in most of the time had a fridge and power jacks for charging batteries. All had plenty of room and the drivers were all good at their job and knowledgeable about the animals and the place. Tanzania Ya Macho are an efficient and professional outfit.

The main event in this area is supposed to be the migration of wildebeest (or gnu) and zebra to and from the Serengeti to the Masai Mara or up the Western Corridor following the grasslands. We were told that the counts have come in at 60 million animals. Hard to believe until you see some of the grasslands and the numbers of animals that they carry. The area prior ot the actual beginning of the Serengeti is clearly much better grazing than the Park itself. Relatively recent volcanic activity distributed highly mineralised volcanic ash to a large area - thousands of hectares. The grasslands here are particularly suited to nursing mothers and their young and everyone has a baby - or is getting sorted out to get one. There is a lot going on.

The Masai have retained the right to stay in the good grasslands next to the Serengeti with their grazing herds feeding alongside herds of wildebeest, zebra, giraffes, buffalo and assorted antelope. When we hit the Serengeti the massive herds disappeared. Apparently, they will arrive within the next couple of months as the grass there becomes the best available. What does remain in the Serengeti are the predators who have territories to protect and who, thus, have limited opportunity to move with the big herds.

Over the two full days in the Serengeti we found a leopard, lions, buffalo, many elephants, giraffes, hyenas, hippotamus and half a dozen different species of antelope that - by the end of the time - we could readily identify. There were numerous sightings of lions. Mainly just sitting around waiting. They manage very well to look dangerous even when they are just lounging about and no one showed any inclination to get out of the vehicle when they were around. The solitary leopard was parked conveniently in a tree by the side of a track. It turned out to be a female with a cub that we missed. Others didn't. There were 20 Toyotas within metres of the tree while we were there and they came and went pretty regularly. The lady did not give a damn.

Hippos abound. Waterholes all along the Serengar River that cuts through the Serengeti seemed to have populations. The largest group though was one we came on late on the second day where well over 100 were in one waterhole. It was here that Janet demonstrated her skills with wildlife. Perched handily on a bank with the hippos on the other side of the waterhole she was busy taking her photos and chatting. A very large animal decided to come over to her side. She was totally calm telling all around that she could get up the bank faster than any massive animal. But he wasn't actually coming out of the water. He was coming over to that side of the waterhole because he needed to evacuate - to be gentle. He did and with a massive spinning of his tail to spread the stuff around, covering all of those on the bank with his product. She moved then. Hippo shit does stink.

Animals apart, the balloon ride was the hit for me of the Serengeti. We were collected well before dawn and taken to the appointed place. Just 3 balloons are allowed. The baskets were all laying on their sides because the wind was too high to have us take off with them perpendicular. We had to crawl in and lay on our backs and away we went. Awesome! We were up for a little over an hour floating or flying - not sure which is correct - between 10 and about 60 metres above the ground. What a way to start the day. Needless to say I will be taking whatever opportunities that come my way to repeat the exercise and just wish that I had done it years ago. I could go on but will only recommend that you find a chance to do it yourself one day.

Our closest animal encounter was with a hyena - or perhaps it was a couple of them. The hyena, or hyenas, visited the camp on the second night. It, or they, came through the camp quickly, sussed out the ute with the food and a couple of people in it, sniffed around the back - and the toes of its occupants, seemed to sideswipe our tent on the way out of the camp and generally ensured that we were all very, very quiet for a long time. They say that lions and hyenas never enter a tent but that canvas seems pretty thin when they are howling right next to it.

The Ngorongoro Crater was formed by a massive explosion. I think that it is about 225 kilometers in circumference and 600 metres down into the crater from the lip. The sides of the crater are steep and, while animals can leave once they are in, it seems to be difficult and, perhaps, not really worth the effort. There is plenty of water and feed in the crater and, as a result, amazing numbers of wildlife - both grazing animals and those that feed on them.

In the course of a relatively short 6 or 7 hours we had a pride of lions wandering around the gathered Toyotas, apparently just looking for shade - there are not that many decent trees in the crater. One had a couple of cubs that were very difficult to get to pose but the older ladies had not such inhibitions. We found other lions that had just made a kill and were feeding and lazing about, including a couple of large males. Our first, and for me, only cheetah was spotted along with the many, many grazing animals.

Black rhinos are a feature of the crater and the rangers take a lot of care to ensure that they aren't tampered with or killed. The lip of the crater has watching posts and there are patrols of very serious looking men with well cared for guns. The poaching threat is apparently very real with the animals - or their parts - fetching high prices.

Our first antelope at Samburu had us yelling for the driver to stop. Now we roll past herds of wildebeest, antelope and zebra without so much as reaching for the camera. Giraffes seem to be poking their heads out of trees everywhere and even elephants are pretty normal. The group of over 100 in the Serengeti were impressive and stopped us for a while but we now drive past them unless there is something special. The big cats are still worth a look as are the rhinos and hippos but it is now time to move on from the animals and see what else the place has to offer.

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Photos

leopard in a Tree
Mum leopard actually

Cheetah on Rock
Very special this one. Not everyone has it

And again
Just in case you missed it

Ostrich
dancing but you cant really tell from the still photo. Will have to wait for the video

Crowned stork
I think is the name. They are beautiful and always in pairs

Another bird
We didnt get a bird book and should have. There are a many spectacular birds here

Leopard Cub
just couldnt bear not to have a look

Hippos
Including the one that shat on Janet

Not Moving
for anyone and they just laid around and stopped traffic

Traffic
Only a few lions but they stopped all of the traffic

Elephant
in need I guess

Watchers
they sit up in these things and chase away the birds

Comments

[adam]

gnu
"Why would I bite 'im? I had a pie. Turns out a wildebeest is a gnu." I'm happy you used both those words in a sentence. Sounds like you're still having fun. Hi from us and the redbacks in your certified shed (I sent you that, didn't I?).

[sarah]

That Serengeti at dawn photo is really beautiful! Poor Janet - hope it wasn't too traumatic. Surely that stuff's good for your skin or something?

[Slowfeet]

Hippo Spinning Tails
She has been traumatised by it all. Every time she sees a hippo she starts to duck and weave. Cows are now in the equation as well. They ate her clothes in the San Bushmen Camp!