We had a terrific time on Safari, which was my (Robyn's) favorite part of the entire three month trip. We got into Dar Es Salaam on May 30th after almost 24 hours of travel (and a night spent in the Johannesbourg airport) and quickly discovered that my bag did not make it from Antananarivo (not that big of a surprise, actually). After making our report, we met Amisi, a taxi driver friend who Dila had sent to meet us at the airport. He took us to Dila's home, where we were able to shower, nap, and peruse gossip magazines until she got home from work. It was so good to see her! The next day, Amisi swung by and took us back to the airport (where I picked up my bag--yay!) and we left for Arusha. Our flight out of Dar was 2 hours delayed, so we had time to do a preliminary perusal of the Dar airport gift offerings. Finally, we got into Arusha around 9 p.m. and checked into the Jacaranda hotel, anticipating the safari the next day.
Our driver Gebby picked us up at our hotel the following morning at 8:30 and we set out for an all day drive to the Serengeti! We passed through Arusha and several small towns
nearby, as well as the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. We had a picnic on the edge of the Ngorongoro crater and then continued on to the Serengeti. On the way, we had our first glimpses of giraffes, zebras, gazelles, lions, cape buffalo, ostriches and several other species--just driving through the park to camp we saw 22 separate species! At around 5:30 we got to the Seronera campsite, where Gebby and Semini (our cook) set up our tent and made dinner while we relaxed.
That night, we had a three course meal and retired early. We were both exhausted after all of our traveling, so we fell immediately asleep. Nonetheless, I was wide awake around 3 am when I heard a rustling and saw an ominous shadow outside of our tent. My heart was pounding! Could it be a lion??? We had been instructed by Gebby NOT to leave our tent if we could help it between 10 p.m. and sunup. I lay awake, trying to calm my heart and to move as little as possible for another hour until I could stand it no longer and had to wake up Peter. I pointed out the shadow and the noises to him and he agreed that it sounded like an animal was outside our tent! What could it be??? By this time, I had become somewhat calmer, telling myself that it must be a grazer rather than a carnivore because it had not yet burst through the tent and gobbled us up. Still, it was ominous and I was not about to leave the tent, even though we both really had to use the bathroom.
Around 5, we started to hear the movements of other people breaking camp, so Peter decided to brave going outdoors. He gingerly poked his head around the side of the tent and came back with the report of NOTHING! At first, we were in denial then we came to admit that we had just spent three hours being scared silly by the wind and night sounds of Africa. So much for our credibility as intrepid adventurers!
We set off early the next morning for a game drive, hoping to catch up with the great migration, which was rumored to be 85 km away on the other side of the park. On the way, we saw hyenas, jackals, hartebeast, impala, a male and female lion couple ("honeymooners" said our guide Gebby), hippos, warthogs, hyrax, about 20 Nile crocodiles, lunching elephants, and tons of exotic birds! Finally, we made it to the migration and saw a herd of wildebeast, which our guide estimated to be about 100,000 animals strong and which comprised a mere fraction of the migration (the bulk of which proceeded us by about a week). Still, it was amazing to see this huge movement of animals, which can even be seen from space! On the way back to camp, we got even luckier and saw a pair of brother cheetahs lazing on the road after a successful hunt. That evening, we had a nice dinner and retired early again, as we'd barely slept the night before. Ironically, the next morning, we learned that there had been both a female lion and a herd of wildebeast in camp, but we slept like seasoned safari veterans through this excitement.
On our final day in the Serengeti, we saw tons of beautiful birds and then, to my delight, came upon a family group of about sixteen elephants grazing. I could have stayed and watched them all day, but we had to get to our lodge in the Ngorongoro crater that night and Gebby was eager to find us a leopard before we left, which he did--way off in a tree, lazing in the sun. It was amazing that he saw the leopard at all and we felt very, very lucky to see this shy animal, even at a distance. Gebby also spotted two dead antelopes in trees (evidence of recent leopard activity).
After breaking camp, we drove back to Ngorongoro, stopping at the way at the Olduvai gorge, where the Leakeys made their breakthrough discoveries of early hominid fossils. While there, we had a lecture on the site by a Maasai tour guide, which was fascinating. The Maasai have lived in this area for centuries and still have rights to graze their animals in Ngorongoro conservation area, so we saw quite a bit of them from a distance. Just as the sun was setting, we reached our lodge. By this time, Peter was quite a bit worn down with congestion and a bit of a fever, so we were happy to be indoors in a very luxurious hotel on the rim of the crater. The next day, we woke up early and toured the crater floor. We saw many of the same species that we had seen in the Serengeti, with the addition of the rhinoceros and hundreds of flamingo. We felt extremely lucky to have seen the three rhinoceroses, especially since there are rumored to be only 18 left inhabiting this area of the world. We picnicked near a pond with three hippos in it, then drove back to Arusha, stopping for some souvenirs on the way. As Gebby drove us to the airport, Mount Kilimanjaro stepped out of the clouds to say goodbye. I don't think the safari could have been better!
Pictures: Me and Peter in front of a famous Zanzibari Door; With Massoud, the head of the Zanzibar4Obama campaign; Me modeling my new hair; Stone town architecture; goodbye Dila!; and Peter and Dila at dinner.
