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Published: March 20th 2008
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Sun 17th Feb - Stayed in bed until about midday. Packed up our rucksacks and said goodbyes - was very sad, we've made some really good friends at the Hoff. Stanley's taxi took us to The snake park campsite outside Arusha where we met our tour leader Jo and checked in on our month long tour. We were shown our accomodation for the next month - a canvas tent about 7 foot square! Had a BBQ with the 18 people who are on the tour and went to bed quite early,very tired.
Awoke having not slept too well mainly due to no pillow - will use a pile of clothes in future. Buffet breakfast in the bar then the group went on an organised Masai walk. We took 4 camels with us - me and gems rode one for a bit. We were shown a masai village out in the sticks and got to see inside the mud huts. They lead very basic lives, eating cow and goat meat and drinking water, milk and blood. The chief of each village often has multiple wives - the one here had 9 wives and about 50 kids! he was 87 yrs old!
Looked
round the masai museum near the campsite - it's illegal but they still practice female circumcision in a lot of masai villages which sounds very painful. With the men they have to be circumcised and show no emotion on their faces or they are cast out of the tribe! Had a bit a a sleep in the afternoon while the others went into Arusha on our truck 'Shangani' - they were delayed by roadblocks as George Bush was in town! Looked round the snakes and crocodiles in the park zoo area.
Alarm went off at 5.30am on Tues morning. Packed up our tents and a small rucksack for the next 4 nights. Washed up as I'm in the cheetah group for rota jobs. Left our big packs in Shangani and set off in 4 Toyota landcruiser safari vehicles. Drove to the Tarangire National Park where we did a game drive. Really lush, green landscape here as there is a permanent river even in dry season. Saw a lot of elephants, bulls and groups of females and young. Also saw giraffes, baboons and plenty of antelope and bucks. Stopped at a picnic site for lunch. Loads of black faced monkeys were
hanging around and one snatched and stole my sandwiches! Drove on to Twiga campsite (giraffe in swahili) and set up tents. Lovely campsite with a nice bar and swimming pool! Had a beef stew,rice and fried banana dinner then were entertained in the bar by a percussion band,dancers and acrobats!
Up at 6am on Wednesday for breakfast at 6.30. Swapped 2 of the 4x4's for one big one which Gems and I, Kieran and Ally, Henry and Catherine, Mike and Livingstone the driver, were in. On our way to the Serengeti we passed the Ngorongoro crater viewpoint - amazing. Drove on to a masai village which was very traditional but they had opened for tourists - it was 10,000 shillings each to enter! (5 quid) Watched them dance - the high jumping they do, and were shown round some of the mud huts by an english speaking masai. It was very windy up on the crater top and we got covered in dust. Next stop was the Olduvai gorge where the first human remains have been found - hominids. Looked at the fossil footprints made over 3 million years ago! From here we drove from the ngorongoro national park into
the Serengeti national park which is vast grasslands in the south. Immediately started to see an abundance of wildlife - zebra, wildebeast, antelope, warthogs, giraffe, hyena, jackal, buffalo, primates and plent of birds, including ostrich. The 4x4 has removable roof panals so you can stand up to take photos and look through the binoculars. We were suprised to see so many animals grazing together - zebra and wildebeast look out for each othere as one has good sight and one good hearing. We were really lucky later on to see 4 lionesses sunbathing not far from the track. Arrived at the unfenced campsite just in time to set up tents before dark. Dinner was made in a caged hut by the few staff there. No electricity, no showers and the crouch toilets didn't flush so were soon full and stinking! Couple of Safari beers before bed.
Thurs 21st feb - woke up at 6am having had to wee in a bottle in the night - you can't leave your tents as wild animals could be roaming around! Set off on a game drive in the 4x4's. Lots of the more common animals were around but we soon came accross a
rare sight - a leopard in a tree, quite a distance from the track but still very visible. Have now seen 4 of the big 5 - lion, leopard, elephant and buffalo, just rhino to go! Also saw a lot of hippo, one river must have had a hundred of them all wallowing together - they are very dangerous and kill the most humans of all the animals even though they're vegetarian! Back to the campsite for spaghetti lunch then out for an afternoon drive. Lots of elephants, giraffe, warthogs and some good examples of sausage trees! Towards the end of the afternoon we were driving along and stopped to ask anothere 4x4 if there was anything to see up ahead - they said no. Within 30 seconds 2 cheetah crossed the track right in front of us! It's apparently really rare to see them in the serengeti. We watched them walk through the grass to a rock which they sat on for a while. They spotted a mother and baby antelope and started chasing them! It was quite hard to see because of the long grass, but we think they killed the baby but left it to see if
the mother came back as it was too small a meal. Sat round the campfire to have dinner. Am really used to being dusty and dirty now! Some elephants walked 5 feet past our tent at one point. The sunsets are beautiful.
Up at 6am to do a morning game drive in the serengeti. Saw our first male lion at a distance with 2 lionesses and a cub. Later we saw another leopard high up in a tree,hiding from a lion on the ground who had a kill. Just before we headed back for lunch we spotted a lioness in the long grass near the track, looking over at asome antelope and wildebeast. Watched her for a while stalking them but she didn't attack. Took our tents down before lunch, and after we set off back to the Ngorongoro crater. Arrived at our next campsite, another open site right up on the rim of the crater, which was quite cold! Erected tents and had a wetwipe wash. We had to put our bags in the 4x4's overnight as the site is known for warthogs trying to get in tents for food and toiletries! 2 zebras strolled in for a feed
at one point and some elephants were hanging around the shower blocks! the perverts.
Up at 6am on Saturday for a sausage and boiled egg sandwich before heading down into the crater for a game drive. Really cold morning so had to wrap up. The crater is 10km in diameter and you view the amazing landscape and 25,000 animals as you descend the steep track into the crater. Saw lots of zebra and wildebeast, a few hyenas, buffalo and warthogs. The lake in the crater is inhabited by thousands of flamingos which was an amazing sight. Highlights included a lion and lioness sitting on a hillock just above a really attractive pool full of hippos and a few rhino - at a distance but now we've seen the big 5. Another spot was a lioness stalking and chasing a baby zebra whilst 5 other lions watched - she failed to catch it though. On the way out we saw a 4x4 pulled up looking at a pride of lions in the distance - or so we thought, until a huge male and a lioness walked out from in front of their vehicle. They sat down about 3 metres from our
4x4. That in itself was amazing to see but then they proceeded to mate! Twice! The steep, windy, very rough track out of the crater through dense jungle was awesome. Back to camp for tents down and cooked lunch. Livingstone then drove us back to the snake park campsite at Meserani. Had my first shower in 5 days!
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Tom
non-member comment
2 points
point 1) although the hippo does kill a lot of human beings it is infact the fresh water crocodile that is the biggest human killer in the animal world. point 2) why do warthogs need toiletries?!