Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro, Serengeti- oh my!

We weren't sure if it would be worth while to go on safari for 4 days but we are SO glad we did. There is so much to see in Tanzania, I will probably have to come back.

Jen, Laura, Christine, Maggie, Elena and I left early on Saturday morning and our guide drove us east towards Arusha and the national parks. The drive to Lake Manyara was about 4.5 hours from Moshi but we were all so tired we slept almost the whole way there. We went to HeavenNature campsite first to drop off the chef and all the gear and then we set off the the park. The campsite is on the crest of the Rift Valley and the park is in the basin of the valley. The wall of the valley runs all the way from Syria to Mozambique! This park was definitely the most green that I have seen in a while. Our guide had eyes like a hawk- he saw everything! Impalas, bushbucks, dik diks, baboons, vervet monkeys, giraffes, hippos, zebras, wildebeest and elephants. Just as we were leaving the park we turned a corner and there was a mama and 2 baby elephants in the middle of the road. The babes retreated to the brush but mama came to check us out- walking literally 6 inches from the side of the jeep. This happened after we were just told about elephant/jeep protocol. Sometime they are known to stick their trunks in the top of the jeep and you have to stay very still because if they feel something there (possibly threatening) they will jab the vehicle with their tusks. I don't think any of us took a breath. We also had a training driver with us who would not take he hand off the ignition. He was ready to get the hell out of there whenever he got his cue. My favorite park for the nature, by far. Very dusty though- little did I know the Serengeti had a present in store for me. Back at the campsite dinner was ready for us at 7:30pm and we all sat around a nice big campfire afterward. It gets amazingly cold at night so we bundled up. Again, the Serengeti would be much more intense.

Day 2 we drove almost 2 hours to Ngorongoro Conservation Area and down into the crater. The crater was formed after a massive mountain volcanic eruption cause the mountain to collapse in on itself because all of the rock on the mountain is limestone, a crater was formed as opposed to protruding mass (fun fact: technically it is a caldera not a crater.) The crater is 600m top to bottom and the drive into was full of narrow roads and steep cliffs. There are a number of Masai (tradition tribal Tanzanian people) villages within the area because it is not actually a national park. The government did try at one point to up route them but failed- rightly so. The crater is very similar to Lake Manyara in it's greenery. A lake in the middle of the crater keeps things well hydrated. Because of this there were loads of zebras, wildebeest and gazelles grazing all over the place. We also saw some pumbas (warthogs- as in timon and pumba... you should see the lion king references coming by now), lions (sunbathing), flamingos (pink and gray- quite cool) and a rhino (through binoculars and definitely not photo compatible.) We stopped at the lake in the crater for our picnic lunch. However, we had to eat it in the car because there were these hawks that would dive bomb you and take your food if you were outside. A game drive after lunch turned out to be a short one when we got stuck behind another jeep with a flat tire. Luckily, it was in the middle of a herd of zebra. They're gorgeous animals, I didn't mind. We were off then for the second worst drive I've had in Tanzania (second to the dala dala to Pangani)- onward to the Serengeti. For such a popular park they have to worst roads- more than one of us got motion sickness. Giraffes just lined the roads on the way to the campsite which was about an hour long drive into the middle of the Serengeti. Got to the campsite in just enough time to set up the tent and table for dinner. That night we were going to have to eat in the caged in shelters, you know, wild animals like the smell of food and hyenas will eat absolutely anything. Before we went to bed we were reminded that we were in the middle of this park and we needed to be prepared for anything that may happen during the night. Example: Lions will often lean on the tents in attempt to feel your body heat (eek!) and if this is to happen gently push it off the tent and it will roam away. Screw that- is what I thought. I'm not touching a freakin lion. Luckily I didn't have to deal with that. If we had to use the bathroom in the night (I drank liquids strategically so that this would not be happening) we had to take a flashlight all around our tent, scan the surrounding bush and trees (because cats eyes will illuminate so we would see them no problem and not to worry- right!), and after every step we took towards the washroom we had to do a 360 degree check around us. I don't know about you but I would pee myself by the time I arrived at the washroom. One, because of nerves, and two, it would take forever. Just as we were packing up and heading for the tent a nice hyena friend strolled on through towards the washroom. I would be peeing in the tent if it came to it.

Day 3 after no late night lion adventures we headed off at 5:45am after a cup of tea to see the sunrise over the Serengeti. Doesn't that sounds like a dream? It pretty well was. It is flat for miles and miles and the colours of the sunrise completely fill the sky! Then it was time for a 6 hour game drive before lunch. If it weren't for the fact that I was IN the place that the lion king was staged in, I would have fallen asleep. Right away we stumbled across some cheetahs lounging in the morning sun, maybe 10 feet from the jeep. We were so lucky to see things so close! We, of course, saw loads of giraffe, zebra, wildebeest and buffalo. Almost immediately after the cheetahs we came across 3 female lions (they are the hunters- independent women!) in hunting formation near a group of buffalo. The lions sit in a triangular "V" shape and the first lion to attack is the one at the furthest point of the V and then the other 2 loop around to make sure the prey doesn't get away. We hung around for about 30 minutes, checking them all out but there was no action to be seen. We did get within 7 feet of a massive lion though which probably will never happen again. After lunch and a nap (it was hard to sleep in the blistering heat of the serengeti) we went out for another drive and found 6 lions and 3 cubs feasting on a buffalo. It would have been cool is that was the product of the hunting formation we saw earlier but I don't think it was, too far away. At the pond there was a huge group of hippos chilling.. I mean baking on the shore. Out of all of the animals in Tanzania the hippo is up there on the list of animals you don't want to mess with. They're seriously underestimated in my book. Just outside the campsite there was a herd (? don't know the official term for a group) of baboons, babies and all, and a couple monkeys. There is a big tree in the campsite right outside the kitchen shelter and they steal anything and everything, take a couple of bites and hurl it with all of their strength to the ground below. No one walks under the tree. More hyena vistors at night too. It is comforting in a way. You can tell by the sound of the steps of the pack that it isn't a lion. "Things could be worse," is what we had to tell ourselves.

Day 4 we were up a reasonable hour (7:15) to have breaky and pack up the jeep. We headed out of the serengeti back towards ngorongoro. The guide took us to an undisclosed location to see "shifting sands." They are mounds of very fine sand and dust that move through the desert (17m per year) towards the equator and then into the Indian or Atlantic Oceans depending on where in Africa the sands are. If it weren't for this migration of sand, sea level would never be constant. It is the recycling of earth's materials- nature is pretty impressive. From there we headed to Olduvai Gorge which is where the first human remains were found, as well as homo habilis and homo erectus and the beginning of the hominid track, buried within millions of years of rock. The exact sites aren't open to the public anymore (for preservation) but we had a view overlooking the entire gorge. As if that wasn't enough for the day, we were then invited into a small Maasai village by a friend of our safari chef. She showed us the inside of these very dark, clay and stick houses and some of the traditions of the Maasai people. Personally, it wasn't the most comfortable I have ever been. I don't think a lot of Westerns frequent these areas. It felt a little like we were invading their space even though we were invited. Finally, we arrived back at the hostel around 10pm, shoved some food down the hatch and went to sleep. Safari takes more out of you than you would think!