I’m starting this blog post at a serious disadvantage. Although I’ve backdated the post so it says June 26, which really was our 4th day of safari, I’m actually writing this post on August 8—roughly 40 days after the experience. And here’s what I have to go on. My notes read a little bit like a Donald Rumsfeld press conference:
Sun grouse doesn’t like the white man
Vo houses mating pair
Ruppels long tailed starling
White crowned shrike
5 elephants grumbling 1 under 1 year old
Thomsons gazelles
Hippo pool
Lunch
Boys and photograph
5 cheetahs
Leopard in tree
So, let me try to piece this one together. We had breakfast in the dining room and then headed towards the trucks. I wasn’t super enthused to get back in that thing because the day before had been such a long one. But in we went, and soon we were out on the road headed towards some of the main Serengeti viewing areas.
The morning light was leaning through the trees and we saw some great packs of zebras with wildebeests, and lots and lots of birds. Kapanya is a talented ornithologist and it was wonderful having him name the birds and tell us about their behaviors. As you can see by my notes, an ornithologist I am not, and though I took a lot of pics, I gave up trying to remember which bird was which.
Soon we happened upon a group of 5 elephants with the cutest little baby you’ve ever seen. I can’t remember what their grumbling sounded like, but I do remember Kapanya telling us that it’s part of how solve conflicts over food.
Next we stopped in the middle of a huge pack of Thomson’s Gazelles. Their coats looked so pretty and shiny in the morning sunlight. Kapanya explained there was one male for about 50 females in the pack we were watching. He said the male rules for about 2 weeks before another male takes over.
We drove through some remote areas until we came to the hippo pool. I have never smelled anything so horrible. Don’t be fooled by the board games. Those hippos stink! And the way they manage conflict is to lift their tails, poo, and spread it throughout the pool. I was tired and ready for lunch.
We ate a box lunch in the shade and as we were preparing to leave, a bus full of school children pulled up. I was sitting next to the truck when a group of boys ran towards me. I could not understand what they were saying. They started speaking in Swahili to our driver Godfrey, who is a stern and serious man. He seemed to shout at them and I thought he was scaring them away, but then Godfrey brought me to the front of the truck and asked me to pose for pictures with each of the boys. I am not sure why we did this, but I am pretty certain the boys thought I was freakier than the hippos.
Right. So next we did another rushing towards something that our guides seemed to understand but we didn’t. The rest of us shrugged at each other, looking out the window as it started to rain. Finally we saw what the fuss was about. A momma cheetah and her 4 cubs were eating a gazelle under a tree. We watched them devour what was left of it, then they started cleaning each other.
After about 15-20 minutes of that, momma spotted another lone gazelle and started the process of stalking it. This might have been one of the most exciting parts of the trip—watching the 5 big cats slinking through the grass towards the lone gazelle. Soon mom took off in a sprint, but the attempt was a little half-hearted since her belly was already full. Still, what a thing to see!
Again, at this point I was tired of being in the truck and thought we might be headed back to the hotel. It was raining again and I was afraid of getting stuck. But we had another jolt of excitement as the radio went nutty. Someone wanted us to see something STAT. We rushed toward something at first along empty roads, but soon we saw about 20-30 trucks and knew it must be good.
And it was. Our second big cat in a tree, this time a leopard. We could not get as close because there were so many trucks around, but we did get a few good pics.
And then we headed back to the hotel, ate a late dinner and crashed into bed.
Zebra mamma and baby in the morning light.
Look at the little one, less then a year old.
Lovely fur.
We were told that hyenas are super mean.
The sausages can be fermented and made into a potent liquor.
This is a beautiful eagle.
I’m not a huge fan of the hippo.
We saw a whole lot of hippos.
To mark their territory, they poop and use their tails to distribute the nastiness. It was not attractive.
We watched a momma cheetah and her 4 sons eat a gazelle, then stalk another.
Time for a bath.
Here she is hunting.
My, your neck is long.
So these 4 giraffes walk into a bar.
We saw a leopard in a tree to match our cheetah in a tree.
We woke to the same gorgeous view of the crater on Day 3 of the safari, and we went about eating our breakfast without any clue about what a crazy day it would be. Would I have done anything differently had I known?
We packed up our gear and loaded the trucks. As we came out of the crater we saw lots of elephants, zebras, and giraffes on either side of the road. It was getting to the point where we were so accustomed to seeing these animals that Godfrey, our driver, wasn’t sure when to stop. That’s when Kapanya told us, “If you want Godfrey to stop just say Shimauma.”
I asked Kapanya why and he said “Our last safari was full of Japanese tourists and one day they yelled ‘Shimauma’ so Godfrey slammed on the brakes becasue he thought it meant stop. But it means zebra.” We all had a good chuckle and enjoyed showing off our new Japanese vocabulary.
Just out of the crater we were treated with a view that summed up my notion of what Africa would look like: green hills, beige grasses, Acacia trees, Maasai huts in the distance. And that’s when we got the treat of seeing a big group of giraffes. Our truck startled a group of 4: a momma and her babies. The babies fled to one side of the road while the momma was stuck beyond the truck on the other side. That’s when Kapanya explained to us that the babies were only about 3 weeks old. I apologize that I was talking baby talk during this whole video. It’s hard to control one’s self in front of giraffes.
From there we headed off to Olduvai Gorge where we enjoyed seeing the museum that chronicled how researchers unearthed evidence of homo sapiens who lived there 17,000 years ago. It was humbling to see the stone tools and footprints, and I especially enjoyed the photographs of the researchers themselves. It’s hard to imagine being part of a discovery that gives such insight into human evolution.
After visiting the museum we got back onto the road and after what felt like many hours we finally came to the entrance to Serengeti National Park. We bought a few trinkets from some Maasai who were stationed at the entrance, and then we drove across the broad plains watching all the gazelles and wildebeest.
We stopped for lunch in a shady area. This was a tough time for me. I was feeling very car sick and I had to lie down in the truck for a while. I had a hard time eating my lunch, so we fed some of it to the dog who was helping the Maasai herd goats along the road.
After lunch we passed down towards a lake where we saw lots of pelicans, then we drove up a hill where we saw lots of elephants. I felt a bit anxious because it was getting late, but our day did not seem to be winding down as the two drivers were having a frantic conversation on the radio. That’s when Godfrey turned the truck around and started racing down the road. Then he drove off the road and started racing through the tall grass. We had no idea where we were going.
Soon we came to the base of two Acacia trees and Kapanya was scanning the horizon. “That’s a perfect example of a typical Tanzanian tree,” he said. And I was thinking, they rushed us out here for a tree? That’s when we saw the cheetah in it. Cheetahs do not have retractable claws. That makes it very hard for them to climb trees. We spent about 20 minutes taking pictures of said cheetah before a swarm of bees chased us off.
As we were driving away our driver said, “There are very few people in the world who see that. You have special pictures.” In fact, none of our guides had ever seen a Cheetah in a tree. They had picked up news of the sighting on the radio, and made the decision to get out there as soon as possible instead of heading to the resort. Good decision? I was getting ready to wonder about that.
That’s when our rushing changed. Instead of rushing to see the cheetah, we were rushing to get to our hotel. We could see dark clouds on the horizon, and we asked Kapanya several times where we were going but it was hard to believe the hill he pointed to was reachable tonight at all, much less by nightfall.
And soon the road turned into a river, and we started hydroplaning all over, and then we finally got completely stuck in the mud. I mean the whole back of the truck was buried in the mud. I can’t even describe to you how we got that truck out, but we finally did. And we kept on driving and driving until the sun went down and then we kept driving some more.
By the time we got to our last hotel of the safari I was toast. We had a half-hearted dinner and passed out. It was the longest day of the trip and by far the hardest. I’d rather climb a mountain than sit in a truck.
But then again, I don’t think I’d change it. Because how many people have a picture of a Cheetah in a tree?
Leaving Ngorogoro Crater
Olduvai Gorge: humans were here 17,000 year ago.
Entering the Serengeti.
Hello giraffe. What pretty eyelashes you have!
Here’s the other truck.
This elephant was very old. The hole in his ear came from a fight.
The trip to Africa is getting so close. We feel nearly ready. Seven weeks from today we’ll be boarding a flight to Atlanta where we’ll then board a flight to Amsterdam. We will spend two nights in the NH Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky in Amsterdam recovering from jet lag (it’s a 10 hour time difference) and touring around the city. John has never been to Amsterdam and I have not been there since 1991.
From Amsterdam we have a direct flight to Kilamanjaro airport. Our guide will pick us up and take us to our home for another 2 nights, the Dikdik Hotel. We’ll have 3 nights total at the Dikdik, 2 before the hike and 1 after the hike. I wonder how we’ll feel before and after.
Our climb starts on Thursday June 14. I give specifics about that in another post. The short version is we will be walking for 8 days and sleeping for 7 nights on the mountain.
Kilimanjaro
After a recovery night in the DikDik, we’ll head for safari to the Ngorongoro Crater. We’ll be staying at the Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge.
Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge
After 3 nights in the lodge and 2 days viewing wildlife in the crater, we’ll move on to the Serengeti. This will be a fun adventure for 2 nights, since we’re staying in the Mbuzi Mawe Tented Camp.
Mbuzi Mawe Tented Camp
Our guide will then take us to the Serengeti Airport, where we’ll catch a flight to Zanzibar. We’ll have 3 lovely days and nights of recovery at Diamonds Star of the East.
To get home we have to take 4 airplanes so I hope it goes well. Zanziabar to Dar Es Salaam to Amsterdam to Detroit to Phoenix. It will be a long day of travel and I think we’ll be plenty tired.
From Amsterdam we have a direct flight to Kilamanjaro airport. Our guide will pick us up and take us to our home for another 2 nights, the 
Our climb starts on Thursday June 14. I give specifics about that in another post. The short version is we will be walking for 8 days and sleeping for 7 nights on the mountain.
To get home we have to take 4 airplanes so I hope it goes well. Zanziabar to Dar Es Salaam to Amsterdam to Detroit to Phoenix. It will be a long day of travel and I think we’ll be plenty tired.