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Published: January 8th 2011
'The unit is power!' Thatwas the motto for our group while we were on our safari, first voiced by Jacob, one of our guides. We met up with our whole group after breakfast at the Karama Lodge. There were eleven of us all together, with Liam and I being the only non Brits.
Our first day we drove to Lake Manyara national park and had an afternoon game drive. We saw a bunchof elephants, giraffes, zebras, hippos,and other animals, but no lions.
We were kept awake for a bit the first night by some possessed, manaical cats,but for the most part it was peaceful. Our second day we drove up the escarpment of the Rift Valley and made our way to the Serengeti. On the way we stopped to look over the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater, which is the largest complete caldera in Africa. We were going down into the crater later in the safari. For our lunch stop that day we went to the Olduvai Gorge information center. This is the place where some of the oldest human ancestors were found by the Leakey family. We didn't get a chance to go down intot he gorge, but it was cool to get to look over it and think about the millions of years of history that that place has.
We spent the next two days in the Serengeti national park. We spent both nights at the same campsite, and every evening we had dinner under the stars. There aren't any light sources in that area, so you can see millions of stars.
Apart from the afternoon game drives we also had early morning ones. The temperature is noticably cooler before the sun gets too high, and it's a good opportunity to see animals up and active before they find shade for the day. Apart from the animals we saw in Manyara, which were also in Serengeti, we also saw water buffalo, wildebeest, many different antelope and gazelle, warthog, and lions, leopards, and cheetahs. Jacob and Martin, our two guides, told us we were very lucky with all the animals we waw, especially the leopards and cheetahs.
Our next stop was the Ngorongoro crater, at 2400 m. We camped on the rim for one night, and it was quite cold. The next morning was another early start, and the day was just as lucky as the ones before it. We saw more cheetahs, multiple black rhinos, flamingos, several male lions next to a kill, and two barrel rolling hippos.
The last day of our safari was in Tarangire national park. We had a much quieter afternoon game drive, and got to watch two amazing thunderstorms circling around us in the distance as it got dark. This morning has been pretty uneventful, apart from a monkey stealing some toast and eggs from the kitchen at breakfast. We were dropped of at our hotel in Arusha, and now we've got four days until the start of our Kilimanjaro hike. We're both getting really excited about it.
Oh yeah, soap. For any wouldbe travellers in Africa, I have a piece of advice for you. Always carry a bar of soap in your pocket. Most bathrooms will have toilet paper, but most to not have soap, so it's a good idea to have your own supply.
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mary lou
non-member comment
the safari soounds grand.
I get the new s from you folks. we missed you at Christmas but now that you were with Liam and soon be back home. love to you both and see you soon!!!!! love from gramma.