Tuesday, June 23, 2015

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"?







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