North Tanzania and Safariii

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After another day or so of volunteering I hit the road again and headed up North to Moshi. I took an 8+ hour bus ride that was actually quite an interesting ride. It is unsafe to travel at night (narrow two-lane roads, lots of passing), so you have to go during the day, which means it is HOT. And lets just say they stop once for everyone to go to the bathroom on the side of the road, meaning no toilets. Yes, I chose to hold it. They do stop at a highway restaurant for 15 minutes. I survived the ride and was so happy to arrive in Moshi. I got to the NGO volunteer house and everyone was so welcoming, the staff and other volunteers. I actually went with some of the volunteers to their afternoon project, which was teaching adult english. I was so glad I went! The class was really interesting as a discussion on corporal punishment took place and I made a few more new friends.

The next morning I was off on a four-day safari! Watching the sunrise and seeing Mount Kilimanjaro for the first time as I rode to Arusha was spectacular. After being passed on to 5 people and driven all over the place (just had to trust them) I was put with 2 guys and a girl (also by herself) from Germany. They were my new safari buddies and we were all put in a jeep packed with all our camping gear. And finally we were off for an adventure of a lifetime!

As we drove East we passed many Masai (tribal) villages and admired the beauty of the country side. That day we went on a safari through Lake Manyara and actually saw a lot of animals: tons of baboons, monkeys (2 types), elephants, giraffes, zebra, wildebeest, hippos, boar, flamingos, and many other birds. I really enjoyed the scenery of this park as it was almost jungle like as you drove in and then it opened up to the plain and the bush. The best parts of the game drive were to see a hippo (most dangerous animal in Africa) out of the water roaming around (very unusual) and witnessing two huge elephants fight (literally slamming into each other with all their force and chasing each other around) or maybe they were playing.

The next day we headed to Serengeti (I am pretty sure what Lion King imitated). It was quite a long drive, but the passing landscape was breathtaking. We drove through the mountains of N'Gorgongoro conservatory area, which is so green and lush I can't even describe it. The area is inhabited by Masai people, who's villages are spread about as they graze the open land with their cattle, goats, buffaloes, donkeys, and there are other animals all around to (giraffes, zebra, etc.). It was really surreal and very hard to explain.

After overlooking N'Gorongoro Crater (I'll explain history and beauty later) and Serengeti's seemingly endless flat plain from above we dropped into Serengeti and went on an afternoon game drive. Again I felt like we saw merely everything and would stop often to just be in silence and watch the animals interact and move about. The highlights of this game drive were seeing hundreds (maybe even thousands) of wildebeest migrate and a female lion climb a tree. I guess most lions elsewhere don't climb trees, but here they do it because of the heat and the annoying flies. Before the sunset we went to a campsite (right in the middle of the plains) and set-up camp. As our chef prepared us dinner I was quite annoyed by the flies (wishing I could climb a tree right about then like the lion), but continued to prepare to fight off the mosquitoes of the night. Later as I crawled into the tent the guide said, "hopefully we don't get any visitors" (meaning lions, boars, etc.).

The next morning we woke up at 5 am so we could be driving as the sun rose. The colors were unbelievable as the sun got closer to breaking through the horizon. As the sky lightened I realized we were amongst so many animals. The lighting made all my pictures look just brilliant (like they were taken in sepia) and it was all natural light. The highlights of the morning game drive were: being surrounded by a herd of buffalo, as they are not afraid to make eye-contact with you and remain completely still; and finding a pack of four female lions and two cubs, who at first were sleeping but slowly they all began to wake-up. Once one of the lions began its move towards the herd of buffalo they all got up and followed. Here we were just feet away from six lions walking along side of our jeep with a buffalo breakfast in mind. We watched for awhile to see if there would be any action but the lazy lions were too slow at the two opportunities they had with smaller packs; 3 and then just 1 buffalo. By this time the sun was high enough in the sky that it was too hot for them to hunt, so they went and all laid under a tree for shade. Once they laid down in the bush it was almost as though you would never know they were there.

After lunch and packing up our campsite we were off again. On our drive out of Serengeti we saw a huge male lion laying under a giant umbrella tree that stood alone on miles of flat plain, so Lion King. As we drove for a couple hours on dirt roads we saw herds and herds of wildebeest and zebra again. The zebra were precious as they stand face-to-face, but overlap a bit so they can rest their heads on each others backs. It would be the cutest picture or greeting card, but it was impossible to capture as I couldn't get it while driving (bumpy road) and when we stopped the sound of the jeep would make them lift their heads or move entirely. Grrr - frustrating! We started to head back up into the mountains of the N'Gorongoro Conservation Area, which I couldn't get enough of the picturesque beauty, life and scenery. I seriously can't even describe to you how amazingly beautiful it was; bright green landscape with rolling hills and mountains, the ever so often Masai villages spread about, Masai people roaming and herding their various livestock. It's definitely a sight to see!

We reached our campsite and it was absolutely breathtaking as it overlooked the N'Gorongoro Crater. The crater was formed 3 million years ago by a giant volcano that exploded and collapsed into itself making it 2,000 feet high and 100 square miles. It gives me goose bumps just thinking about it. It is so green and lush because of the rich, volcanic soil. The fossil provide enough evidence that their were hominid species (humans, chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans) occupying the area; there was proof of footprints on the original hardened lava. Pretty cool, huh!?!

The next morning as we drove down into the crater the sky was literally on fire while the sun was rising. I was standing up the whole time in the jeep. It was truly surreal! As we reached the bottom of the crater we immediately saw lions in the distance and only a few yards further we found 3 females lying in the bush and then a male also popped his head up. We sat and watched for some time as there were the lions, hyenas, zebra, wildebeest, buffalo, etc. all around us. I was in awe as we were literally watching the food chain. The lions were disappointingly lazy, but one did corner a buffalo and chase it. However, because the other lions didn't bother to help the buffalo ended up chasing the lion. This did make the male sit-up and make sure nothing happened to the female lion getting chased. He definitely was the king lion. Then the hyenas started fighting and making tons of cackling noise, which the lions did not like, so the 'king' got up and went over to them. They kind of stopped, knowing the big boss was not happy and coming over. But they didn't stop for long and the 'king' was so pissed he lifted his giant paw to swat at them. It seemed like the hyenas knew he was not messing around and whimpered off. Then suddenly our driver through our jeep in reverse and we flew backwards up the road a bit (Where are we going?!?) and abruptly stopped as he pointed out 2 cheetahs in the distance, so cool!!! We continued to drive all throughout the crater and it was absolutely thrilling. We saw hyenas hunting zebra and wildebeest (the babies) and rhino, elephant, hippos, ostrich, jackel, flamingo, beautiful birds, etc. It was thrilling and I was so hyped!

After the crater safari drive we headed back to camp, packed up and drove back to Arusha as the safari was over. 😞 I was gonna miss my driver, cook and new German friends! We stopped at a Maasai (tribal) market, which was really cool, walk around. We did get quite hassled to buy stuff though. When we reached Arusha the driver didn't know were he was suppose to drop me off. I knew this was going to happen because the morning I left on the safari I was passed off so many times. There was a Art in Tanzania house in Arusha but I did not know where it was and neither did anyone else. So the driver took me to the bus station and I got on a local bus (ugh!). I basically was on a race against time as it is not safe to travel at night. As the sun was setting I traveled two hours to Moshi and got there right as it was dark. Two other backpackers (one from Japan) saw that I was alone and helped me find the guy I was looking for to take me to the volunteer house. I was so relieved to get the to the house; hungry, tired and hot!!!!

The next day I traveled the 8+ dreadfully hot hours back to Dar on a bus with 3 Finnish men. What an amazing (long) weekend of traveling!

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