africa, part II : the safari
25 january 2001

bye bye beach, boo hoo! arusha is a town that sits at the foot of mt. meru, a majestic peak, not too far from kilamanjaro. we showed up there late in the afternoon, with the hope of booking a safari leaving within a couple of days. safari tours are big business here and our guide books advised us to shop around. the great thing is that you can really customize your own trip and we did just that. we signed on with a company called "nature discovery" owned by a french man who spent a lot of time with us. we even requested a guide who knew birds, something new to me but familiar to gary. we had to pay in cash because he didn't take credit cards and this is probably the only time in our lives that we'll have had our hands on a million of any type of currency. it cost a million shillings, believe it or not and after a visit to the atm, we headed straight for the hotel, not wanting to venture out again with such a wad. it was apparent by the third day that our private safari "needs" had been perfectly met. more about that later. these personally tailored safaris offer many options, including accomodations in very upscale lodges, however, we chose the camping scenario. YES, THE PRINCESS ACTUALLY CAMPED FOR THREE NIGHTS!

now, don't get me wrong, in my younger years, i camped a lot, but somewhere along the way, the thrill of using the outhouse waned for me. it's still the main reason i won't be making a habit out of this activity. i digress....back to the arrangements. our party consisted of the two of us, our driver/guide, christopher, and our cook, raphael. in other words, we didn't really have to do any of the work like setting up the tent, or boiling the water, etc. we even had cots in our tent! the only way to camp. unfortunately, there's still that toilet problem no matter how special the food is. not to dwell on this matter but i had never before experienced the "squat toilet" and readily admit that i never want to again. some indoor buildings have this design as well. this is one of the reasons i'm not an excellent third world traveller. maybe i can learn to accept this; that remains to be seen.

with everything in place for the next day, we set out to wander around town and in thinking ahead for our post safari excursion, we went to search out a bus ticket to a less touristed town tucked away in the usambara mountains. since we weren't doing a trekking safari, we wanted to hike and were steered in this direction. arusha was definitely the worst and most annoying place for street touts of the whole trip and i mention this because i had a serious meltdown at the bus station. it was the one time i didn't feel safe, being hounded and surrounded by 6 or 7 guys trying to sell us tickets for the non luxury bus. i told gary to get me out of there, i was starting to lose it, and we quickly found our way to the office of the top of the line bus company and bought tickets for the following week. riding on a bus is my least favorite way to travel; air con, comfy seats, and toilet required. mission accomplished. back at our hotel, we passed the afternoon hours by reading, writing, and putt putting. not to gloat but i actually won a game, as gary had a 17 stroke hole. i'm not sure how that happened but i was in stitches as i witnessed this anomaly. at dinner, we chatted with a german woman whose partner was in the hospital with malaria. { by the way, we're still taking the drugs, two more weeks to go}. an early night and then.......

we're off bright and early, a banner day to embark on a 4 day safari. clear skies and sunshine. i had no idea what to expect but a real sense of excitement was coursing through me as we drove farther away from the noise and ubiquitous red dust of arusha. immediately, it was obvious that christopher was an extraordinary guide. as i've said before, "it's all in the guide"; i'm convinced that having someone who knows his stuff can really take the experience to new heights. he informed us that he brought his "bible" with him, a detailed encyclopedia of birds, birds, and more birds. let's put this in perspective. on the first day, we identified 45 different species, final count for the entire trip - 104! wow! by the end, i could distinguish a lilac breasted roller, a maribou stork, a helmetted guinea fowl, a crowned crane, a secretary bird, and a superb starling, to name a few. and were they ever colorful. could we possibly take up birding as a hobby? maybe if we lived in a more conducive climate. cruising along in our land rover, {a true safari vehicle}, we made camp; actually we just watched, and after lunch we were ready for our first game drive. this is pretty much what you do "on safari" and if anyone had tried to explain to me what the buzz is about it, i'm not sure i would have grasped it completely. i had never been all that interested in observing animals at the zoo or otherwise {except my cute cat}, but now i understand. i'll try my best to paint the picture. i can honestly say this is one of the most thrilling things i've ever done, watching animals in their natural habitat.

we headed for a national park called lake manyara, prodigal forest with beautiful trees. the acacia tree, abundant in africa, is my current favorite. the area had recently been blessed with rains after a two year drought and it couldn't have been more green. there in the trees and on the road were several families of baboons. what playful creatures! they were going about their business of grooming each other, swinging from trees, and just sitting in the road. seeing a lot of animals in one place has a different feel to it then just seeing one lone creature wandering around. next we encountered warthogs, weird looking animals, nicknamed, "african express" for their quickness. they seem too bulky to be quick but they can really hightail it when necessary. baby warthogs are especially cute. from that point on, it was a non stop view-fest of zebra, elephants, giraffe, and impala, sometimes side by side sharing the same space. we learned that these herbivores all eat different parts of the landscape, so they don't have to compete for food. fascinating. seeing the animals at such close range, you can really detect certain qualities. the giraffe's spots don't even look real, the enormity of an elephant is new, especially in numbers, the sweet faces and soft eyes of the impala are beautiful to behold. sound sappy? i'm sure, but i've never seen anything like it. being in such an environment really enhances the sense of being part of some larger realm, almost beyond the scope of our imagination and that is the only way i can describe it.

since you aren't allowed out of the jeep, these vehicles have an open roof so you can stand up on the seat, poke your head through the top, and whip out the binocs. great way to work on the tan, i might add. proceeding along towards the lake, we saw hippos bobbing up and down in the water. they can be dangerous and will charge a human if one is in their path. since they mark their scent, they only know one way to go so look out, people. at this point, i had already decided that we had gotten our money's worth and knew this would be the highlight of our trip. but then we came upon two, not one, but two lionesses sleeping in trees and i almost jumped out of my skin. anyone who knows me is aware of my attraction to cats. i'm drawn to their aloof, mysterious, "i'll do it on my own terms", personality. but the aura of this one sleeping lioness, framed symmetrically between two horizontal tree branches, was simply magical. in my awestruck state, i could have watched for hours. there's a real serenity in simply observing.

now, it was late in the day and we returned to camp for a dinner of fresh tilapia, as tasty as i've ever had in a restaurant. an exhausting day of being mesmerized for so long and it's lights out early in camping-land. and then the rain started and didn't stop dumping for most of the night. these were the short rains; it's all relative, but the next day, after pulling out, we saw that parts of the village were flooded. "what are the long rains like", we queried, as we had to sit in a queue of safari vehicles waiting to pass through a completely rutted and washed out road. it was a scene with many men having to guide the oncoming traffic down the hill before we could attempt going up. i was sure we would be broadsided as these jeeps sloshed their way down, but i was pleasantly surprised. it was a muddy mess, and sad to think that there isn't any money for repairing some of these widely travelled roads. eventually we got going and our journey took us through some tribal villages, into the ngorongoro conservation area, a slight climb in elevation. it was still raining and getting a lot colder and i was hoping i had brought enough clothing. our destination was the rim of the ngorongoro crater, where we would camp for the next two nights.

ascending the mountain, we were shrouded in mist, making the view into the crater impossible. the crater was once volcanic and is a great spot for seeing wildlife and this is where we went for our game drive that afternoon. it was completely different in landscape from what we saw the previous day and one of my favorite sights was the spotted trunks of the trees, where leopards like to hang out. we heard that there had been one in a tree but it panned out only as a rumor. these felines can easily camoflage themselves, blending right in with those patterns on the trunks and none were to be found. when we stopped for lunch, a black faced monkey mama with baby in tow, decided to come through the roof of the jeep and sweep past me, smoothly stealing a banana right from my hand. gary saw it coming but it happened so quickly, i barely realized it. she then spitefully sat right next to me while consuming it. the nerve! oh well, she was there first, i guess.

moving on, we drove down to the lake; a mecca for pink flamingos. hundreds, no, thousands were there wading, and in front of the lake, snoozing in the coolness of the wet sand were five male lions! this lion experience was becoming surreal for me; we were only about 100 feet from them. hard to fathom, even as i stood there, mouth hanging open. how can a sleeping creature be of any interest to watch, but undoubtedly, they were. periodically, one would get up, look around, and lazily change position, not giving us a second thought. taking in the whole picture, with the flamingos in the background was nature at its most perfect. the adventure continued, as christopher spotted some black rhinocerous in the distance {that man has eagle eyes} so we started driving in order to get a better look. they aren't of a gentle nature and when we got closer, one actually came charging straight at us. we hung for just a moment but then drove quickly away, christopher explaining that they could do some serious damage to the car. {what about us?} these animals all look different from any pictures or videos i've ever seen; this is part of what makes them so fascinating to look at.

our list for that excursion also includes buffalo, gazelle, more elephants, and another 30 species of birds, or so. driving back up the steep ascent to the rim, christopher identified different plants for us. the beautiful jacaranda tree, with it's purple blooms and the euphorbia tree, a cactus shaped like a candelabra, are two that stand out for me. good thing i'm from colorado and was used to checking out the scenery, not the vertical drop. off in the distance, we were able to eyeball the huts of the maasai tribe, with their straw roofs, and standing against the land, the red of their traditional dress. later on, we would see some young men dressed in black with faces painted white, having just been circumcised, {ouch}, signifying warrior status. back at camp, trying to stay warm, we were once again impressed with raphael's creative campground cooking, not the least of which included banana muffins baked from scratch! i don't even do that in a real kitchen. we were getting a bit spoiled with treats such as fresh mango and papaya at every meal.

i know i sound perky, but at this point, the not being able to shower {cold running water only}, and the toilet conditions, although this one had a seat, and the rain, were starting to put me in a mood. but i talked myself right out of it by remembering that i would probably never have this opportunity again and i looked around at the circular shaped campground with the powerful old tree in the middle of it, and my attitude changed. a better night's sleep and i was ready for the next day of safari, 6 january, gary's birthday.

breakfast at 7:30 and the rain was gone, making us raring to go. what new sights could this day possibly bring? this is the advantage of not having any idea what you're in for because everything is monumental. by now, giraffe grazing at the tops of trees, and elephants moving in rhythm were a common occurence. we would be doing our game drive in the plains, right on the edge of the serengeti. but first a pit stop at the olduvai gorge, another former volcano, where mary and louis leakey made many archaeological discoveries. this is the site of what's called the hominid trackway, actual human footprints dating back 3.6 million years ago, embedded in what was once volcanic ash and somehow preserved through erosive forces. they uncovered it in 1978 and several years later, made a plaster mold of it so they could continue to study it after re-covering it to preserve it. you hear of these famous people doing this work but having the chance to stand where they stood and think about how this relates to the big picture, really brings it home.

another realization regarding the "big picture" happened for us that afternoon as we drove through yet a third type of landscape, flat, open plains. we were lucky enough to witness the wildebeest migration! this is an amazing phase of nature, whereby these migratory animals move constantly in search of water. they graze these plains at this time of year, seeking out the calcium rich soil for the females, pregnant, who will give birth the first part of february in the central part of the serengeti. they then travel to lake victoria and on to an area called the maasai mara in kenya. they looked to me like fairy tale creatures, with an almost horse shaped body with a hump, skinny, muscular legs, and a "beard", certainly resembling no other animal that i've seen. they are extremely gregarious, literally travelling in packs of thousands. we drove for several hours and as far as the eye could see in every direction were wildebeest, appearing as black dots covering the horizon. we can only compare it to what we think the herds of american bison must have been like covering the western plains millions of years ago. i kept thinking of michener's book, "centennial", as he describes this habitat.

they are such graceful animals, but have the tendency to trample each other {sometimes fatally}, when crossing streams, as they are ingrained to all cross at the same place. many times we saw this crossing, fortunately without casualty. once again, we noticed the co existence of other animals, mostly zebra and gazelle, ostrich, and cattle egrets, which stand very close to the wildebeest, eating insects, while symbiotically keeping them off the coat of the wildebeest. it seemed like each wildebeest had his own personal butler as we viewed this phenomenon of nature. a new sight for us was the spotted hyena, somewhat doglike and wandering around in the midst of this migration. we saw a few here and there and then christopher sniffed out, you guessed it, LIONS! from far away it looked like one or two but when we drove right to them, there were seven in total! we got really close, maybe 10 feet away and i couldn't understand why they weren't attacking us at such close range. christopher explained that they couldn't really smell us, only the gas and oil of the jeep. if we were to get out, he assured us we would be attacked. also, they were not hungry, mostly hunting at night and relaxing by day. they were nestled into these mounds of dirt that were most likely dug out by hyenas and overtaken by the felines. we had a nice long look at those beauties. we were beyond satisfied in the lion department and felt really fortunate, especially when chris said that they are not always visible.

our last night at simba {lion, in swaheli} campground was warmer and quite pleasant. right as it got dark, we noticed something rustling at the edge of the camp. what could it be? indeed, it was an elephant, visible only by her white tusks, come to have a little snack. none of the staff seemed to think this was unusual but we were riveted and followed her every movement. we just smiled as we ate dinner and tucked ourselves in, trying to grasp everything we had been able to take in. we could not have hoped for a more diverse view of landscape and wildlife in three days of being on this safari and felt that it had life changing properties for us. i think this feeling of having seen something so extraordinary will stay with us for many moons.........

to be continued..........