Into the Wild

The last four days we have been on safari in some of the world’s best wildlife parks. Juliet & I got into the jeep in Moshi and along the way picked up a Japanese backpacker Yaz, in Arusha along with a French couple from Mayotte (an island off the coast of Madagascar). With our local guide Peter that was our team and we were off on our safari adventure.

The drive to the national parks was what Peter described as an African massage, which I can wholeheartedly agree with. Every organ and part of your body vibrated along the bumpy road with such ferocity that when you stopped it felt like you’d just done an aerobics workout.

Our first stop on our safari was Tangarire National Park; this park is one of the smaller parks but is famous for its elephants, and by golly we weren’t disappointed. Entering into the park I felt like I was in Jurassic Park, the jeep, the scenery, the hunt for animals, I was like a kid again. Every time I spotted an animal before the guide I gave myself a point, and I had heaps. The giraffes were the first animals that we saw, and they were just chilling roadside having a feed. I think I took about a thousand photos of the one giraffe in my excitement. Then as I pulled my gaze from the enormous giraffes, a herd of about 30 elephants came storming through on both sides of our jeep surrounding us; I felt just like one of the herd. They didn’t feel the same unfortunately and eventually moved on. There were obviously impala and Thomson’s gazelle everywhere but as far as I’m concerned they are just food for the big cats. Towards the end of the day we were hoping to see lions, and sure enough there were three laxxing in the shade under a tree. They are just like your standard household cats, hunt once a day, and then just lay about, but just enormous and instead of hunting rats and birds, they hunt buffalo and wildebeest.

This monkey raxxed those biscuits

Our herd of Elephants

Two Giraffes under the shade of a Baobab Tree

Lazy lions chilling in the mud

A herd of elephants on the dry river

Juliets tasty local sweet treat, the berries inside are actually chron

When we got to our campsite we met our cook Maurice. Now Maurice had the deepest voice I’ve ever heard, like Vin Diesel on crack. That of course didn’t affect his cooking, and somehow he managed with limited supplies to cook us a three course meal. He was a brilliant alarm clock as well, the following morning we had to get up early, sure enough he’d tap the tent and say “hello, ten minutes to time” and you’d be wide awake. We left for Serengeti National Park after a quick breakfast, which is on the other side of Ngorogoro Conservation Area, so we got to drive around the rim of the crater. We stopped off at the Maasai village on the way to Serengeti, they live in the Ngorogoro Conservation Area which is an area on the other side of the crater where they can live and graze their animals. The Maasai people are allowed into the crater, but not the Serengeti according to the national park laws. When we arrived they welcomed us with an elaborate song and dance. They played an instrument like a didgeridoo, and the men sort of grunted at different pitches while the woman hit the high notes and shook their jewelry. Their camps are very basic, they are surrounded by a huge fence, and within that fence they have a complicated array of circular cow dung dwellings, as well as a pen to keep their animals. In each dwelling there is also added protection for more livestock because of the constant danger of leopards, hyenas, and other predators. I had a jump off with the Maasai men, and for a people known for jumping I wasn’t that impressed. After I’d beaten the first guy, more of them wanted to verse me, but I didn’t have the stamina, I was ruined. Juliet put on the Maasai woman headdress as well as the necklace and joined in on the singing, she blended right in (she’s the one 2nd to the left).

Maasai village on the Ngorogoro Conservation Area

Juliet & two local Maasai from the village

The Maasai welcoming dance

The Maasai & I

Traditional Maasai jumping

Juliet blending in with the Maasai woman (second from the left)

The white Maasai

These two brothers showing us the way they live

So many selfies

If the Maasai had instagram, so many likes

When we got to the Serengeti around lunchtime you really felt like you were on safari, there were just thousands of zebra and wildebeest as far as the eye could see, a lot of the time they were in the way of the jeep and we had to give them a wee nudge. We learnt from our guide that wildebeest and zebra have a mutually beneficial relationship. When they migrate the wildebeest run in the middle and the zebra run along the sides, this is because zebra have very good hearing, and can alert them to any dangers. This however usually means it is the zebras that get picked off by the big cats. The zebras follow the wildebeest because they are very good at smelling the rain, and knowing where the green pastures will be. When the wildebeest cross the rivers, the zebras always hold back and let the wildebeest get eaten by the crocodiles, and then pass through when the crocodiles have been fed.

Two Superb Starlings

Wildebeest and zebra

A lone elephant on a mission

Checking out a big tree on the plains from a distance we saw two big shadows, and on closer inspection there were two huge lions having a nap in the tree and enjoying the breeze. I don’t blame them; it was a scorcher of a day. When we moved on from them we were passing another tree and saw a huge black silhouette with a swinging tale, and realized it was a leopard. This leopard played hard to get, it just wouldn’t turn around, no matter how much meowing I tried it just sat and faced the tree. It had a very pretty back anyway.

Tree climbing lions

Anti-social leopard

Our camp that night was on the outskirts of the Serengeti with no fences. There was a dining area that was built like a huge cage that if a wild animal came into the camp at night everyone had to run there. It was exciting to lie in bed and listen to animals, mostly bloody wildebeest grunting, but I secretly hoped something good would come in start some havoc. The only scare I got was Juliet sleep talking waking me up in the middle of the night in a panic not knowing where she was, and I had to explain she was on safari (I left out the fact that there weren’t any fences).

Me reading excerpts from my diary to the masses

We had Maurice the alarm clock wake us up early the next morning to do a game drive across the Serengeti. Upon leaving the campsite we were instantly greeted by giraffe and elephants, and as we moved from the trees to the plains there were more and more zebra and wildebeest. Far in the distance where we were headed I spotted my favourite animal, the hyena. Once closer we found a family of twenty or so hyena getting ready for the day in the shade of a tree. They were laughing away, having a ball. The zebra and wildebeest gave them a wide berth, but they didn’t seem that worried by them. We were watching them when over the radio I heard “…..simba….nyati….” in an excited voice, and saw Peter put the jeep in gear as we span around, and hooned off into an unknown direction. Peter knew where he was going, and after 10 minutes we were there, and sure enough there were three young male lions lazily ripping into a buffalo under a tree. On our way back to camp we saw a tail moving in the tall grass, and then boom, a cheetah climbed onto a rock on the roadside looking longingly out across the plains. It then stretched, posed a couple of times and then moved on.

Sunrise on the Serengeti

Zebra....so Africa!

A zebra checking out a hyena, dayum

Wildebeest being very cautious of the hyena

Three young male lions enjoying a buffalo

Cheetah having a stretch

We were camping on our last night on the edge of the Ngorogoro Crater which overlooked the entire crater. On the way up to the crater edge our car overheated and turned off and we were stuck there alone with the wild giraffes outside, so although Juliet & I weren’t allowed to leave we decided to sneak out and take some photos. One of the things that I love about Tanzania is that everyone is so helpful, we waited about 10 minutes, and every single safari car that passed us, the driver got out and came over to our car to help. There were about 15 people there in the end when we got the car going again.

Giraffe having a feed

At camp we couldn't get an unobstructed view of the crater above all the trees and although all the signs said not to go beyond, and Juliet and I were on our last warning for wandering off, we decided to do it anyway. The views were pretty awesome, and we snuck back into the camp without anyone noticing. As we were getting ready for dinner we heard some commotion up by where our “dining cage” was, and as we approached we saw a huge elephant standing by the jeeps, trying to get to our water tank. It had already charged the local dog, I’d say probably scaring it half to death, so the elephant was on edge so we were very cautious as we approached for a photo op. It really just wanted to drink, and then as soon as it had its fill it went back into the jungle, no worries (hakuna matata). That night it was freezing, we were polypropped up, beanies, and sleeping bags, it was actually quite a nice change but a shock to the system.

At our campsite on the Crater

Looking out to the Ngorogoro Crater with some Maasai

Juliet in front of the crater with two Maasai boys

Juliet and the friendly looking elephant that wandered into our camp

On our final day we descended into the crater, which was a dramatic experience in itself, with steep cliffs, and tight bends. The crater (or technically caldera) was unbelievably scenic though, it was completely lush with vegetation, and very green. There were huge mountains on all sides, and from what I understood from the guide all the animals with the exception of the elephants remain inside by the formation of this caldera. In the wooded areas we saw elephants, and monkeys, and then exiting the wooded area onto the grasslands was our first (alive) experience with buffalo. They are enormous, and it makes you understand why they are considered one of the most dangerous animals in Africa. There were more lions in the crater but again, they were lounging like house cats in the shade of the reeds. We had a toilet break down by the lake, and realized it was full of hippopotamuses. Now there was a bit of a peninsula where you could get close to them from, so I decided that I’d try and get a nice close up photo. Now I’m not the smallest dude, the lack of exercise and high carb diet has affected my summer figure, I’ll admit, but I shouldn’t be able to intimidate a close to two tonne animal, but I scared the bejesus out of all of them. All thirty something hippos let out a panic grunt and fled away from me.

Looking across Ngorogoro Crater

Elephants, zebra and wildebeest in the crater

Two hippos

These scaredy cats (about 30 hippos)

The rest of the afternoon we had to see a rhino, so when we heard over the radio one was spotted we gapped as fast as we could. Unfortunately, it had parked itself right in the middle of the no drive zone (which carries hefty hefty fines, I know, I tried) so we couldn’t get great photos of it. The last animal we had to check out was the flamingos. I’d had an elaborate plan since packing that I wanted to get a photo wearing my flamingo togs next to some flamingos, and I’d even pre planned the hashtags and everything, but it just didn’t work out.

A gutted Nick, filled with disappointment; great shorts though

We left safari that afternoon, caked in dirt and in desperate need of a shower and a good mattress. The experience was something I’d recommend to everyone, it’s one thing seeing these animals in the zoo, but seeing them in the context of the Serengeti plains takes it “to a whole nother level”. When I got back to Moshi, post shower I wasn’t the lovely chocolate man that entered it, most of my tan had washed away.

And we were off first thing in the morning to Dar es Salaam to start backpacking!