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Published: October 19th 2006
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And wow did Ngorongor turn it onOur excitement at going on the first safari of our African adventure easily outweighed our disappointment (and hangovers) resulting from the previous nights Kombe la Dunia action which saw Brazil defeat Australia 2 - 0. In Swahili, safari means journey, so our holiday so far had been safari moja kubwa and although to date we hadn't seen many animals of the four legged variety, we'd certainly encountered many of the two legged variety, both local and mzungu! Before we could get started however we had to make several stops to buy food supplies and fuel. Why this was being done on our $115 a day time was a mystery, but we'd long since learnt not to get worked up about the way things are done in Africa. They just are...eventually. On our third and thankfully final "pitstop", the three of us (there was never a group waiting to be joined - just a sales pitch) were left unattended in the Land Rover whilst Chef Kelvis and Guide Joshua went off to find and haggle for charcoal. This gave every inhabitant of Mosquito River (translation) the chance to surround the 4wd and and gawk at
it's occupants like we were zoo exibits. On the other hand we wondered if this wasn't already part of the safari and we were surrounded by lions and hyenas. Ofcourse when the lions and hyenas got bored with staring at us they pulled out their old coins, crafts and "original" local jewellery that they were selling at a "special price". We spent a couple of hours lunching and frustratingly hanging around the campsite and by the time Joshua completed the park entry paperwork and we entered Lake Manyara National Park it was close to 2pm. One of the tactics used by all the safari companies to entice potential clients is to show them previous customer feedback forms. I was already thinking about what I was going to say about their organisation skills. Our frustrations however were forgetten about 50m inside the park gate when a stroppy adolescent male elephant let us know in no uncertain terms that he didn't like the look of us. After flapping his ears and stomping the ground he proceeded to piss and shit on the road infront of us, just to remind us that we were now on his turf! When our heart rates decreased
to a normal rate we noticed that the air was thick with a thick white and greenish like mist. It was actually millions of tiny butterflies that are only ever present for two weeks or so at that time of the year. Their favourite food was elephant dung and they were certainly kept well fed by our new friend alone! We could tell Joshua loved his job. He was extremely knowledgeable and enthusiastic and even though we really had to look hard to find animals he was able to point out to us all sorts of antelope, zebra, buffalo, wildebeast, vervet monkeys, baboons, flamingoes and numerous bird varieties. There were more elephants and giraffe that we could point a Masai Warriors stick at and our favourite moments of the day had to be the warthog that was training for the marathon - or was he keeping fit to outrun the lions? For several km he ran alongside and kept pace with our 4wd. The ground hornbills that were continuously making out and the lionesses that were playing tag with the wildebeast. At first we thought we were going to see some live action, but according to Joshua the lions were
Blue balls
How many shags does it take 'til this happens? just exercising, probably to run off a large meal that they may have recently had. Ofcourse the wildebeast weren't to know this and acted accordingly! Whilst we were out Chef Kelvis was whipping up a storm and we devoured a three course dinner and Australian red that we found in Arusha for just 7000TSh - $7Aus. We awoke at the crack of dawn and Kelvis was at it again, a full brekky to get the day started and we managed to get away only half an hour late, quite reasonable for Africa. The day was to be spent at Ngorongoro Crater, supposedly the eighth natural wonder of the world. To get to the crater we had to skirt around the edge of The Serengeti. We had deliberately chosen not to safari in The Serengeti as it was considerably more expensive and we later planned to spend time in the Masai Mara, which is an extension of the same park, but on the Kenyan side of the border. Atleast we can say we "saw" The Serengeti. The climb up to the rim of the crater was through dense forest and we were a little worried as the thick mist reduced our
visibility to just a few metres. Joshua assured us though that at ground level we would be underneath the mist. Since leaving Arusha the previous day we had witnessed many different eco systems, from lush tropical fields yielding banana and coffee to a parched land of scrub, acacia and cassia trees and rolling hills (mara) only inhabited by the Masai and their cattle. When we descended into the crater itself it was like nothing we'd seen before and we could easily have been convinced that it was infact a lunar crater we were now in. We didn't need to be convinced however that the Masai were a fearsome tribe and it was such a surreal sight to see the black stick figures clad in the bright red and purple shawls tending their cattle and smoking non chalantly amongst the wildebeast, buffalo and whatever else we were hopefully about to see. And wow did Ngorongoro turn it on for us. It would be much easier to list the animals that we didn't see. Leopard and cheetah. After only just a couple of hours we had chalked up four of the "Big Five". We were constantly amazed at how quickly and dramatically
the landscape would change and seemingly like the rest of Tanzania, the crater itself supported several different eco systems, the most striking being the bright shimmering salt pan that was home to thousands and thousands of flamingoes giving it a pinkish glaze. The highlights of the day once again revolved around the "big boys', in particular the old matriarch elephant with the huge...tusks and the pride of lions that found shade underneath the safari vehicles that had come to gawk at them. Had we have wanted to we could have reached down and patted them. Nobody wanted to. We took a picnic lunch which we ate by a small lake and surprisingly it wasn't the scattering of bones and buffalo helmets that confined us to the comfort and safety of the LandRover, but the vicious yellow beak kites that were stealing peoples food by swooping down and claiming it with their talons before the unsuspecting victims could get it into their mouth. The chicken wings and cornish pasties were a particular favourite. A couple of guides came over to share their condolences about the Socceroos with us. We must have looked surprised as they asked if we remembered partying with
Ngorongoro crater
Like landing on the moon! them only two nights ago. Ofcourse we said that we did, not having the heart to tell them that they all looked the same to us, especially at night and after a few Tusker beers. It was a bit of a let down when we ascended the craters rim sneaking our last glimpses of Ngorongoro before heading back to the madness of African "metropolis". The return journey seemed to take forever and we couldn't believe what a different world Arusha was to the serenity and beauty of both the lake and crater. We were taken back to the safari office to fill out our feedback forms and we did indeed tell them that their organisation skills needed some fine tuning, but more importantly we let them know that Chef Kelvis and Guide Joshua were both awesome at what they did and that it was our pleasure to safari with them. Karibu sana. (You are very welcome).
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Sue Grant
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Hi Guys, Isn't Ngoronogoro fantastic! We went there on our honeymoon. Love the photos, sounds as you you are having a blast. We are enjoying reading your tales. The Grants