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Road to Nowhere
Driving on the African plainsIn our last blog, we expressed our undying desire to leave Egypt and that was before we spent an entire day negotiating the Egyptian visa office and mailing a package of souvenirs home to the US. We know that beauracracy is everywhere but this was a whole new level. With our reentry visas stamped in our passports (we hope) and our package mailed at an incredibly expensive 4-day delivery rate (which will never make it in 4 days), we got on the plane actually looking forward to Nairobi, a place legendary for its tourist hassles.
Upon hearing that we're going to Nairobi, not one person we've met during our travels has had one good word to say. It's unanimous that the best thing to do in Nairobi is to get out. We can't dispute this because we didn't even spend the night. We arrived at 4 in the morning expecting to be greated by someone from our safari company. Someone was there with a piece of paper with our names scribbled on it, but he had no idea about our safari trip, just that someone had asked him to get us. Also, it would cost us $25 to get to
See Anything?
Whathris tries to spot a cheetah town where our safari would pick us up . Mildly annoyed and bit sketched out, we paid for the ride because it was 4 am and the cab drivers outside didn't look any more honest. We waited for 4 hours in the lobby of the nicest hotel of Nairobi unshowered, exhausted, and starving (not helped by the smell of the $25/person breakfast buffet next door). When the 8am safari shuttle to Arusha, Tanzania did pick us up, any attempt at sleep was quickly dashed by the very bumpy Kenyan roads. When we got to Arusha, we collapsed asleep until our safari departure the next day.
We had booked a 4 night/5 day safari ahead of time (which we would suggest doing as opposed to finding a safari once you get here), but the challenge was paying them. While well worth it, this safari is the most expensive per day expenditure we've had on this trip, and no one in Africa takes credit cards. You don't realize how much you take these little plastic things for granted until you have to make a payment without one. Buying enough US dollars was not an option, not to mention being dangerous to
Great Migration
The Wildebeests and Zebras stop to rest carry. Even with online banking, a bank transfer still has to be done in person. Ultimately, we had to have Chris' parents take care of the transfer from the US. Once the bank transfer was confirmed and we had a good sleep, we set out on what is referred to as the Tanzania Northern Circuit, spending one night outside Lake Manyara National Park, two nights in Serengeti National Park, and the final night on the rim of the Ngorgoro Carter Conservation Area. This is the low season in the Tanzania, and while we could been very unfortunate with our timing, we instead got really lucky. May is still considered the rainy season here, but the rains ended early this year. Instead of seeing downpours, we caught the annual mass migration of the wildebeasts and since it's spring, many of the animals we spotted had young with them. The local hotels and shops are eagerly anticipating the high season that officially starts in June (but they are expecting the World Cup to be delay the tourists), but we liked that we shared the parks with relatively few other Landrovers.
On the way to Lake Manyara, our guide Salim pointed out
The Big 5
An elephant approaches the weekly Masai cattle market. For almost the entire 2 hour drive to the park, for miles in all directions, people wrapped in traditional Masai blankets were driving their cattle in for sale. When we reached the Lake Manyara park, we were greated by baboons that surrounded the car in the grass and in the trees. In addition, to the baboons, our sitings that day included herds of impalas (including one with a poachers trap caught around its neck), giraffes, zebra, silver monkeys, a dig dig antelope, a marshall eagle killing a mongoose, buffalo, lots of elephants, and a gruesome dead buffalo being eaten by vultures.
While the first game drive was successful, on the first night, we definitely thought that our budget-conscious choice of a camping safari over a lodge safari was a big mistake. We felt a bit trashy as we said goodnight to everyone else and climbed into our little tent, the only one pitched on the lawn of a pretty crappy motel. On the other hand, this is one of the only times that we can say we had a private cook prepare our dinner for us. Along with our guide Salim, Geila rounded out
our group and cooked up our meals for us. We're still not sure why the safari companies don't have the cooks remain on the sites and a cook for everyone there that night, but this is just the way safaris work. Each group has its own cook preparing meals for just the two of you beside all of the other cooks doing the same. Geila kept us really well fed (10 pieces of toast for 2 people at breakfast is more than enough) and popped out everything from quiche to African specialties. Our tent was small, but our meals were not.
On the second night, the camping decision redeemed itself, as we moved to a campsite in the middle of the Serengeti. Justin may have been dismayed by the sign that warned us not to leave the campsite because the wild animals will attack, but Chris was really happy to find other tents and other fellow campers. This was the camping experience that we had signed up for, even if it did come with hyenas cackling at night. During the day we went for several game drives with Salim, and saw more animals than we can list. We were
definitely exited to see the reknowned big 5 - lion, elephant, buffalo, leopard, and rhino - and Salim did not disappoint. In the beginning, he warned us that the leopard is really difficult to spot and many safaris go without. But on that first day in the Serengeti, we found the elusive leopard with a freshly killed antelope up in the tree with him. Much less difficult to find, but in many ways the most impressive thing we saw was the migration of the wildebeast. We certainly would not have predicted that a large herd of zebras and wildebeasts eating grass would be extraordinary, but the sheer number of these animals are amazing. The Landrover pulls up and for miles in every direction are thousands and thousands of animals. The migration occurs annually, as the wildebeast move from the southern Serengeti to the northern Masai Mara and back to follow the water and grass. Even though the wildebeasts require this migrations for their survival, they have absolutely no sense of direction. But nature works in amazing ways and has paired up the wildebeasts with the zebras who lead the wildebeasts from point to point. The viewing window of this spectacle
The Big 5: Rhino and baby
It is a little hard to see, but it's a rhino. is actually pretty short, so again we were lucky.
Our final campsite looked over the rim of the Ngorogoro Crater, a lush volcanic valley filled with animals because of plentiful water and lush plants. While this view was amazing, the most exciting site that night was the elephant that wandered into our campsite. Chatting with our fellow campers, we were all shocked to look up and find an elephant standing there. Attracted by the campsite's water tank, he took a few drinks, wandered over to a nearby tree, ate a few branches, and then lumbered slowly away. The amazing thing is that this huge animal actually took us by surprise. Not one of us heard the animal approach until it was just feet away from us.
The final day in the crater produced our greatest "adventure." Just a half hour into our game drive, Salim drove us off the road to follow an elephant, but when he turned the truck around, we got very stuck in the mud. We were there for four hours, and here is where we learned the vast communication gap between Tanzanians and us. It is really hard to explain what happened, but it
The Big 5
A Buffalo looks confused was as if we had become invisible while they worked to get us out. At one point, the two of them just wandered away leaving us in the middle of the Crater surrounded by animals for half an hour. When they returned they didn't say a word and set about trying to get the tires unstuck with rocks they had gathered. We would gladly have helped, but they left before we had any idea what was going on. After three hours, Geila asked us if we wanted lunch, the only thing they said to us the entire time. Finally, Salim called the ranger station, and fortunately for him, he went to school with this ranger because I don't think we were supposed to be where we were stuck. The ranger towed us out, and then we continued the safari as if nothing had happened. Any unhappiness that we had about the situation was quickly removed, when Salim announced that he had found a rhino in the distance. Knowing full well that his tip would increase with this find, Salim charged off after the only one of the big 5 that we were still lacking. There are only 19 rhinos in
Stuck in the mud
Salim and Geila ponder how to get us out the entire crater, and we found one with a baby. In celebration, Geila joined us for a toast with the last beer in our cooler. We might have had a rough day, but the safari ended on a really high note.
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Jacque the idiot
Jacque Foo
Six Feet Under
Love ur pics, especially the six feet under. Happy travel.