Safari

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After eight short months in Dublin, the travelling bug crept right back up on us and bit us hard. Although we only had a two week break from work, we decided to take flight to the one continent we missed out on in our round the world trip, Africa.
We landed in Dar Es Salaam at midnight and headed straight to the hostel we had booked days previous. Unfortunately, when we arrived we were told that the hostel was fully booked and that they had “forgotten” to make a note of our booking. Left with no other option, we drove around the city looking for a room until eventually, we stumbled upon a remote guest house. Some things never change; it felt like we had never been home at all. We were right back into travelling mode and loving it.
That night we became reacquainted with our dear old mosquito friends and they really seemed to have missed us, feasting on our European blood.
We left early the following morning to catch a bus to Arusha; our base for the safari trip. By this point, after fifteen hours on a plane and ten hours on a bus, our feet were so swollen we could have given the elephants a run for their money!
Again, arriving late, we were exhausted and the small city failed to impress us. However, the following day, with a solid sleep behind us we were a lot more positive and enthusiastic about getting out on the streets of Arusha.
Being two of very few white people in town, locals stopped, stared and smiled at us quite regularly, other seized their opportunity and tried selling us safari tours, hats and paintings. All were extremely friendly and helpful, whether we bought from them or not. Men and women cooked food at the side of the streets, smells (both good and bad) filled the air and jeeps, cars, mopeds and bikes fought for space on the narrow dirt roads.
Amid all this craziness, we found a bar surrounded by beautiful gardens with African music playing and there we stayed until the sun went down.
Nothing could have prepared us for the four days that lay ahead. We had high hopes for our safari trip but actually being there and experiencing The Serengeti National Park, The Ngorogoro Crater and Lake Manyara surpassed our wildest expectations. It is so difficult to do it justice with words or pick out the highlights or describe the utter sense of awe we felt from beginning to end.
The parks were filled with new life all around; from baby baboons, tiny elephants, giraffes so small they were barely walking, hippos lucky not to be squashed by their mothers as they cooled down in the pools and wildebeest and zebras in their hundreds.
Animals came right up next to our jeep, with a baboon even jumping onto the bonnet. We came face to face with huge elephants and giraffes ate from trees above us. For us, the most beautiful and exciting of all the wildlife were the cats. We were lucky enough come into close contact with lions on every one of our game drives. The jeep did not phase them in the slightest, whether they wandered alone or in a pride. Our driver would just park up next to them so we could watch them happily for as long as they stayed put, often for up to thirty minutes at a time.
Apparently the leopard is one of the cats that is not so easy to spot, but luck was on our side. We saw the fascinating animal on three game drives and two of the encounters were up really close.
Our arrival in The Serengeti National Park was timed perfectly to the wildebeest migration. Thousands upon thousands of zebra and wildebeest covered the plains as far as the eyes could see, before heading north to Kenya, following the rain. It was while we were in the middle of the migration that one of the most exciting part of our safari took place. A lion came up through the long grass hoping for a kill but before it could attack, it was spotted, causing a stampede straight for our jeep. Hundreds of zebra and wildebeest took off at full speed in an attempt to escape the claws of danger. All that could be heard was the thumping sound of hooves hitting the ground and the dust rose up all around us. Luckily for the animals, they survived although it would have been nice for us to have seen a catch.
We stayed in beautiful lodges during the safari, with fabulous views, delicious food and a swimming pool, to dip into between our drives. Because the lodges were built right in the middle of the national parks without any fencing surrounding them, the lions could be heard growling in the middle of the night. On our last night, Paulo was woken by a scratching noise on the bed. Thinking nothing of it, he put his head back down. Then there was a soft bang and some more scratching, this time on his pillow. With no electricity, he scrambled for the head lamp only to discover a bat in the bed. It was four o’clock in the morning and we had to get up in less than two hours, so I was content to wrap myself up in a sheet and ignore the whole situation but Paulo was not resting until the bat was out of the room! In fairness, he did eventually manage to banish the disgusting creature but not without the bat leaving some stinking remains in the room behind him!
We have had such an incredible adventure, now off to Zanzibar to relax, rest and chill out on the beach.

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