Jambo Jambo to the land of Hakuna Matata - Part 2

Day 0: Arrival into Arusha

Carved from a single piece of wood over 30 years

Landed in JRO airport around 8:30PM after a 20 hour flight journey. Bags arrived safe and sound. Greeted by Thomson folks and loaded into the Rovers. After a 45 min ride we reached RiverTree Country Inn where we were to spend the night. We could hear a stream in the background and smell an earthy green smell. Treated to a refreshing juice on arrival and after an initial round of introduction to the team and briefing we were quickly shown to our rooms.

Day 1: Arusha to Tarangire
After breakfast we met our head guide and the entire team that was going to be traveling with us for the next 8 days. We were going to Tarangire National Park famous for its herd of elephants. We stopped at the Cultural Center in Arusha, and were treated to some amazing African art.

At the entrance of the park we had a quick boxed lunch which was delicious. I was trying hard not to let my imagination get ahead of me. But I needn't have worried as nothing prepared us for what we were about to see. Impalas, Giraffes and Elephants of course, in herds of dozens to hundreds! The highlight of the day was seeing one such herd come down to a watering hole and quenching their thirst. A month old baby was  protected by the group and watching the baby scratch his royal bottom had us all in splits.

The Lone Mourner who couldn't walk away

I also experienced a humbling moment when we encountered a grieving elephant who was finding it hard to say goodbye to his/her dead companion. As much as I tried hard to not attribute anthropomorphic characteristics to this mourner, it was clear that this pachyderm was in sorrow. It was a riveting sight and left us humbled.

After a day of excitement we went to our campsite and checked out our tents. Treated to some bajiya for snack, had a hot shower and a delicious dinner and retired for the night. We were each given an alarm bell to ring in case of an emergency. Luckily we never had to use it even once.

The night was filled with sounds of elephants trumpeting, hyenas howling and some of us even heard lions roaring

Day 2: Tarangire

The kids started the day with looking for tracks of nocturnal visitors to the camp. Hyenas had left their footprints in the sand. This day was dedicated to exploring Tarangire. While the focus was on elephants, the fledgling birder in me has to mention the birds. The three birds that defined the trip for

Lilac Breasted Roller

me were the Lilac breasted roller, the Superb Starling (completely worthy of its name) and the White Headed Buffalo weaver! Having seen them only in aviaries in zoos before I was thrilled to see them in plenty in the wild.

The highlights for the day were our encounter with the first lion, seeing thousands of elephants near the swampy marshes in Tarangire and dealing with the anger of one of the matriarchs who was clearly not happy with visitors as she was fiercely protecting a newborn in her clan. We respected her wishes and left her clan in peace so much so we only have a mental picture of the incident. The mother in me understood where the matriarch was coming from.

In all the focus on the mammals I should not miss the trees of Tarangire. The Baobab or the upside down tree left its mark on the landscape. It was interesting to note that the Baobab's seeds need to be cooked to a certain temperature for it to germinate. This is achieved inside the gut of the elephants

The Baobab or Upside down tree

that feast on them. The Baobabs also have numerous scratches on them as the elephants seek them out to quench their thirst during the dry season. With a girth that would make Henry the VIII envious, the Baobabs give the Redwoods stiff competition for being the oldest living things on the planet. I would've loved to taste the leaves of the Baobab as they are supposed to be a delicacy and as nutritious as spinach.The other distinct trees were the sausage trees and the candelabras.

Day 2 ended with lessons in Swahili, some soccer and delicious dinner as always.

Day 3: Tarangire to Ngorongoro

Today we were heading out to the Ngorongoro Highlands to the Conservation Area.  The Masai are allowed to live within the area although the crater floor is dedicated to the wildlife. This was the big distinction between a Conservation Area and a National Park. The Crater has one of the highest concentration of wildlife.

Friendly soccer game at Aya Labe School

We first stopped at a local school called the Aya Labe School and interacted with the Head Master and some of the students. It was heartening to see so many girls at the school. The school had its own farm and a huge soccer field. The girls took to soccer with as much enthusiasm as the boys. After a friendly game of soccer we headed out to the famous Gibbs farm.

Hands down one of the most beautiful farms we've been to. It is a sprawling coffee estate, and the farm serves locally grown food in an ambience that is tasteful and luxurious. A resident artist was creating his masterpiece as we watched him work. The area was full of weavers (of the bird kind).

Then we continued onward to the Conservation area and reached our Nyumba. I have to mention our two local Masai warriors who were to guard us in the night with their spears.  Like Argus with a Hundred Eyes, they seemed to have eyes all over their body. If we ever strode away from the camp site, they were right behind us offering us protection! Not sure if it is a myth, but we heard that even lions back down when they see a Masai warrior and I can see why. I certainly felt safe knowing we had a warrior outside our tents, but thankfully the warriors never had to use their spears.

Day 4: Ngorongoro

This day was dedicated to wildlife viewing in the Ngorongoro Crater. The Crater is famous for the

A view of the crater from above

Big 5 - Lion, Leopard, Rhino, Elephant and Cape Buffalo. The Big 5 is a term coined by game hunters as the 5 most difficult to hunt. Other than the leopard we saw the Big 4 at the crater.

The origin of the name Ngorongoro was very interesting. It refers to the sound of the bells worn by the Masai warriors who went into battle in the 1800s. The sound struck terror into the hearts of their enemies and hid the fact that the Masai warriors were actually very few in number.

A solitary black rhino

A Flamboyance of Flamingoes

Once again nothing prepared us for the sights we were to see. Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically through the plains (to quote Basil Fawlty) and buffaloes were only the start. Zebras locked in embrace as a camouflage were everywhere. We saw a pride of 5 lions, and one pair chose to mate right in front of our van. Happy to report that the kids took it in casually. The Crater was also home to the endangered black rhinos. We were lucky enough to spot a couple of them. Although no one knows the actual number of Rhinos in the crater we heard a number as low as 26. Poaching has been a huge problem until severe crackdown of poachers began a few years back.

There were no Impalas in the crater, but the place was teeming with Thomson's gazelle. The other highlight for us was the flamingo population at the saline lakes inside the crater. We saw a sea of pink from a distance. If you ever wondered why a group of flamingoes is called a "flamboyance", you can stop wondering. What a fitting term! The animals here are permanent residents as there is water available even during the dry season.

Often referred to as the cradle of life, or the Noah's ark of wildlife the crater defies definition and has to be experienced by every wildlife lover.

We had a picnic lunch at a hippo pool, and as we were heading back saw a few Masai herding cattle in the area. Our guide stopped to hand one of the young warriors a water bottle which was gratefully accepted.

Day 4 ended with delicious Tanzanian dinner and the kids learning to play Bao (very similar to "pallangkuzhi")

Days 5 : Ngorongoro to Serengeti

Today was the D day. We were heading to Serengeti, the majestic endless plains that at 6000 square miles is still only the second largest park in Tanzania but is the most famous. Its landscape comprising of savannah, kopjes, acacia trees, and hills. As we bid goodbye to the crater, we went through the Malanja depression and encountered many Masai along the way including boys with some kind of a face paint on them (probably getting ready for their circumcision ceremonies).

The Oldupai Gorge - home of early Hominids

Enroute we stopped at the famous Oldupai gorge. Oldupai (not Olduvai as misspelt by the German colonizers) has the oldest known evidence for hominid evolution and is the site made famous by the First Family of paleontology the Leakeys Louis Leakey was also the mentor for Jane Goodall and i especially remembered his famous saying "We redefine tool, or redefine man, or accept chimps as humans" following the chimp tool use discovery by Jane Goodall. We took a tour through the small museum and attended a very informative lecture on the geology and historical significance of Oldupai. An amazing place to visit, and it was quite moving to be there. It put us humans and our relatively short history in perspective.

As soon as we entered Serengeti we were stunned by the thousands of wildebeest as migration was in progress. Serengeti lived up to its name right away, as within 5 minutes into the park we encountered a pride of 6 lions just by the roadside. In all the excitement on seeing the lions we lost sight of the wildebeest and that proved costly, as that was to have been the only opportunity of witnessing the migration for us.

Close Encounter of the Spotted Kind

We had a boxed lunch and did a small hike to a nearby view point from where we saw little dark blobs of wildebeest dotting the plains everywhere around us. As we made our way into the park we were lucky to have a leopard walk right before our eyes. That  would be the highlight of the day, and was the closest we would ever get to a leopard in
the wild. Serval was another beautiful cat that we had a chance to observe in close quarters.

It was a long dusty, hot day but very rewarding in terms of game viewing. So we retired to our Nyumbas early and got a glimpse of the sun setting over the Serengeti plains.

Day 6: Serengeti

The acacia tree houses a couple of lions

This day will be best remembered for chasing after cats. We went from Kopje to Kopje and saw a pride of lions at almost each one of them. Serengeti is also the one place where we can see lions climb trees and sure enough we saw a bunch of those too. At last count we had seen close to 45 lions in a half day of game viewing.

Cheetahs were very elusive and we managed to catch a glimpse of a couple of them hidden in the grass. Cheetahs are day time hunters unlike the other big cats. Still the two we saw were just happy to laze around in the grass.

The two curious animals for me were the Agama Lizard (shocking red and blue), and the Hyraxes which looked like rodents but were apparently related to elephants!

The evening was spent beading and story telling. Our mentor talked about the value of story telling in an oral culture like the Masai. Every story had a moral and passed on important messages and values from one generation to the other. With rain pelting the plains, the kids were happy to curl around the mentor and hear and share stories.

Day 7: Serengeti

The day belonged to the hippos. We went from one hippo pool to another and saw hundreds of them lazing around. It is a wonder that some of the largest animals in the world are herbivores! Hippos kill more people in Africa than any other large mammal and so deserve our respect despite their lazy demeanor.

Death of a Hippo, Feast of a Crocodile

The kids were mostly seeing life everywhere around them, and today they also encountered death as we saw a massive floating dead hippo in the pool. A Nile Crocodile was stealthily feasting on the hippo.

The rest of the afternoon was hijacked by birds - from big ones like the ostrich to small ones like the larks, we saw so many species that at last count we were at 52 species! Didn't expect a bird bonanza at Serengeti.

Day 8 - Final Day

Clearing the "runway" with a rover

Although it was the final day, the adventure was not yet over. We were to depart to Arusha in a small 13 seater plane. The runway was flattened grass which was shared in true African style with Zebras and Giraffes. The Rover had to go around chasing them from the runway so our plane could land and take off! From high above we spotted our camps and for the first time it hit me how truly I was in complete wilderness in the middle of nowhere!

Our camp from up above

A week went by so quickly, but it was a week when every moment was truly savored. Disconnecting ourselves from the digital world, helped us all connect very closely to
each other and the physical world around us. With immense gratitude to the guides, drivers, camp staff, chefs we said our last good byes. This was truly an experience like no other. In a time when you hear about species extinction at alarming rates everyday, seeing so many animal babies in these protected areas made me feel more optimistic. All of us felt that this is an experience that will stay with us forever.

Will I ever visit Africa again? I honestly don't know, but I sure hope that my daughter would and she would be able to bring her kids some day to soak in the wildlife as she did. Will the Rhino be around? What about the Leopards and Cheetah? Will they become relics of the past or will they live to tell a tale, not just in the form of "Lion King"?

Jambo Jambo to the land of Hakuna Matata - Part 1

I have waited a lifetime for this - a trip to Africa, especially Tanzania and the wait was finally over this month. Ever since I watched "Gods must be crazy" and "Beautiful people" back in the '80s I knew that if there was one place I wanted to visit it was Africa. So 10 years back, my husband and I booked ourselves on a Serengeti Safari. A few months before the trip I found myself pregnant and in no condition to travel and had to cancel. The last 10 years has been a lot of fun thanks to the third member of the family, and we were waiting for her to grow up before we decided to try Tanzania again. Second time was the charm for us.

When we first let people know we were going to Tanzania we elicited many responses

Land Rovers and Safaris - Match made in heaven

• Category 1: Those who thought we were outright crazy - isn't it the land of conflicts, Ebola and the notorious Tse Tse, not to mention haven't we heard of people being mauled to death by lions?
• Category 2:Those who had done this before and who told us we would be just fine and this will be the best thing we've ever done in our life

The first category, are well wishers and we are thankful for their concerns and are glad to be back to tell the tale and hopefully this will convince them that a) we are not that crazy b) they can also do this. The second category - they are prophets and soothsayers and now having done the trip, we gladly join that clan of evangelists for Tanzania.

There were also questions about affordability. This is certainly a trip that is worth saving for and can be achieved with a little bit of planning and prioritization. I have always believed accumulating experiences is better than accumulating material goods.

Some of the warmest, diverse people we've met

Tanzania turned out to be everything we dreamed of, and nothing that we dreaded about. Also called as the Switzerland of Africa, it is amazing to see a country with a colonial past, one that is surrounded by so many conflicts, populated by 120+ tribes remain a multicultural, peaceful hub. The people are one of the friendliest, and the language Swahili which unites all the different tribes liberally borrows from other languages especially Indian ones (Bajia, Dhukan, Kitabu, Shukran for starters). A large number of Gujarati settlers from West Coast of India arrived as businessmen in the East Coast of Africa and their influence is seen everywhere.

Although we never got to visit a Masai Boma, we were lucky enough to interact with a few Masai warriors who guarded our camps with spears and also with some of our guides who hail from the Masai ethnic group. Some of them still "keep the culture" while others have let go. We learned from them that cattle fights are mostly things of the past, Masais are taking to cell phones, they are somewhat reluctantly sending their kids to school and are trying to deal with change as best as they can. One of our guides recommended a book called "Is it possible" which addresses the challenges faced by Masai in finding a balance between tradition and modernity. As we were told that taking a picture of the Masai without some kind of compensation was akin to stealing their soul, I refrained from taking pictures except for the one long distance shot. Although not one to pay attention to clothing and jewelry even I found it hard to not admire their Shuka and the long ear rings that adorned the women.

I realize that the phrase Benevolent Dictator is an oxymoron but from everything we heard about President Nyerere he seems to fit the phrase to a T. After 20 years in office he left the country with strong social gains, albeit in poor financial shape. If today Tanzania is renowned for its conservation and for its national parks then Nyerere deserves some credit for that. We also learned a bit about the conflict between Kenya and Tanzania along the borders between Serengeti and Masai Mara. Animals of course don't know borders and migration happens seamlessly between the two countries although Tanzania has the largest area of the Serengeti under its control.

June is a great time to visit Tanzania. It marks the beginning of the cool, dry season and while Ngorongoro region is quite chilly in the night time, the overall weather was very pleasant. It is also the mating season and we were treated to some amazing courtship dances and child rearing scenes from the animal kingdom. Babies were everywhere - from Egyptian geese chicks, to elephant calves, lion cubs, baby hippos. It touched my heart to know that there exists a place in this world for hundreds of thousands of animals to live and bring up their young without too much human infringement.

Dinner tents

Tents that shame Buster Keaton!

Preparing for the trip included making sure we were up to date on shots and also getting additional shots for Yellow Fever and Typhoid. Anti-Malarial tablets were prescribed and some of us took it and others didn't. Citronella was the "perfume" of the day to keep the Tse tse at bay. We are happy to report that we were not haunted by mosquitoes, and the Tse Tse were easily manageable and most of the times hardly noticeable. We were asked to drink bottled water everywhere and at the camp sites reminded to "washy washy" before every meal.With these simple precautions we enjoyed a safe and memorable safari. As always I did my reading for the trip which included "Worlds of the Masai", "Out of Africa" and "The Tree where Man was Born". Also purchased a Wildlife guide for East Africa which came in extremely handy. A couple of trips to REI and we were all set!

Picnic Lunches Safari Style

We were promised luxurious, yet Eco-friendly campsites and they delivered on their promises. At first glance the camps reminded me of Buster Keaton's in "Battling Butler", and having experience it can safely say our camp and service would put Buster's Butler to shame. Flush toilets, solar lighting and hot showers in every tent redefined camping in the wilderness for us. Boxed and Picnic lunches were extraordinary not just because of their culinary value, but also because of the presentation and Eco-friendliness - steel tiffins, reusable cutlery, plates and cups and a Masai Shuka for tablecloth. Transportation was on Land Rovers with a convertible type roof and having spent a good chunk of 7 days on them I can safely say that these vehicles were designed for Safaris and can take on just about any terrain with aplomb! Our wake up call was "Jambo Jambo" and when the camp crew came to our tent to call out "Jambo Jambo" and hand us a jug of hot water to wash our faces we didn't have to nag our kids to wake up. They were out of their beds in a jiffy!

That's enough background for now and it's time to focus on the wildlife. Before I move onto Part 2 for a Day by Day highlights of our week long safari I have to mention a few words about our tour operator - Thomson Safaris

There are a number of options available if you want to choose from a local company in Africa. As this was our first visit to Africa and we were bound to have a lot of questions I picked a US based operator - Thomson Safaris. They are a slightly more expensive than the others, but are very experienced (30 years in Africa), with a long history in the region, and extremely reliable.

Thomson worked out splendidly for us. All their local Tanzanian employees have been with them quite long (4 years to 30 years). Everyone seemed very happy with their employer and this we could sense from the warmth and the service we received on the ground. The company is involved in many good projects in the community that we had a chance to check out (Aya Labe School, Sangha etc).

One of the safari goers had an emergency (appendix burst) and needed a surgery. He had to be rushed to Arusha, and was immediately operated upon. When he rejoined the safari we heard from him the kind of support he received on the ground from Thomson folks. We were very happy for that family and very pleased with our choice.

Thomson sends detailed checklists, action items including obtaining visa, shots, what to pack etc. So it was very easy to prepare for the safari. So they have our family's hearty recommendation.


OK now for Part 2 and the actual details of what we did in Tanzania.

May - The Month of Reading Women

When you get your child a Kindle, she turns quiet and spends 4 hours straight on it, that you have 4 quiet hours for yourself to read too! That's what happened at our home the first summer weekend. As you can see from the list below, I've had a productive month of reading.

"Primeval and other times" by Olga Tokarczuk kicked off this month. She was my choice for OBOC - Poland. The concept itself is not new. Primeval tells the history of Poland from 1914 to contemporary times from a microcosmic view of a small village called Primeval, its inhabitants both living, non-living and the super natural. But the execution was very refreshing! The chapters were each very short and was written from the point of view of one character but time was flowing and horrific and unimaginable events were happening in the background and every character including the flora and fauna are all affected by the events. This does not mean the book was entirely dark, although some chapters were very hard for me to read. But there is still so much beauty in everyday life - whether you are grinding coffee, milking the cow, planting bushes, or collecting mushrooms in the wild. God on the other hand seems to have become bored with mankind and has abandoned him and viceversa.

The non-fiction choice of this month was "Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA" by Brenda Maddox. Numerous books have already been written about the discovery of the Double Helical structure of the DNA. But most of the narrative have been around the three men - Watson, Crick and Wilkins with Rosalind's role being minimized to having contributed a X-ray evidence. In reality we now know that Rosalind Franklin's role was much more than that and she herself was only a couple of steps away from the grand discovery herself. That the science world and especially the Noble Committee has not been fair to women is widely known. Even today it is not easy for women to succeed in what is perceived as a man's world. So one can only imagine what Franklin must've faced in the 1950's. With a superlative scientific brain, a stream of publications that would do any scientist proud, with path breaking work in crystallography with coal, DNA and Viruses it is just unbelievable that Franklin is not widely known. Maddox's biography is a very engaging read and sheds light on some of the reasons why the dark lady has been kept in the dark. A must-read book!

Now onto the dystopian world. I wrapped up "Station Eleven" by Emily St.John Mandel and it is a great book, no doubt! Part mystery, part post-apocalyptic novel, part ode to Shakespeare and the theater, it tells the story of humanity (or at least whatever survives of it) after a "Georgian flu" pandemic wipes out most of the world as we know it. With no more cars, planes, Internet, Television, Medicine and Nation States the world is a tough place to live in and people band together in small communities and eke out a living. The Traveling Symphony visits some of these towns and performs Shakespeare alluding to the fact that the bard himself was a product of the black plague. The book and the writer have so much promise. If you've not read "The Road" by Cormac Mcarthy you will give much more praise to Emily Mandel. Unfortunately I read both these books in parallel and while "The Road" scared and scarred me, "Station Eleven" left me a bit unmoved as the survivors of Station seemed to be doing OK and were very civilized for having lived through such a disaster.

I also read "Angelmaker" by Nick Harkaway (incidentally the son of the illustrious LeCarre). A thoroughly enjoyable book with a very interesting premise. Steampunk to the core. A bit wordy and long, but still able to hold your attention. 

Overall a wonderful month of reading (mainly) women and I am now ready for June and looking forward to summer!