Safari Day 2 – The Serengeti

January 25^th, 2024

We were on the road by 8 am and our first stop was the Ngorongoro Crater Gate.  We wouldn’t be venturing down into the crater today, but running along the rim of it.  This still required a permit of some sort so while the guides worked on that, the rest of us had a pit stop, checked out the gift shop and read some information about the history and wildlife of the area.  One thing that I thought was interesting, was that tracking collars put on cheetahs for scientific research usually stay on the cat for a year, and then can be remotely detached and then retrieved.  That’s cool.

Approaching the Ngorongoro Gate:

A 3-D map of the area.  We are driving on the red line from the bottom right, up the mountain range, by the Ngorongoro crater (the bright blue spot on the left) toward the Serengeti on the top right.

After the gate, the paved roads were a thing of the past and we wouldn’t experience them again until the end of the safari.  About half an hour after the gate, we stopped at the main viewpoint for the Ngorongoro Crater which was absolutely stunning.  Although it’s called a crater, it’s technically a caldera.  To me, when I hear crater, I think of an asteroid hitting the Earth and causing a huge impact area.  This, however, was created by a volcano which essentially imploded, creating a large flat area with a rim of ridge around it.

Looking down into the crater:

Looking for animals:

Our group snapped a bunch of photos and broke out a few pairs of binoculars to see what we could see.  The crater is supposed to be abundant of animals but since the distances are quite long to the crater floor, the only animal we could pick out were a few herds of elephants.  Through the binocs I could see their tusks shining in the sun, it looked incredible.  I can’t wait to get down there…which will be on our last of the four-day safari.

Happy to be here...

From left to right: me, Selin, Jenni, Melanie, Marissa, Ryan

Back in the Land Cruisers, we continued along the rim of the crater, although the road is set back far enough that you can’s see into it.  We pulled into the Simba Campsite, which would be our home for the following night.  The guides wanted to drop some items off here to free up some space in the vehicles.  The landscape changed from jungle-like to small mountains covered in grass and we had our first views of the massive savannah plains of the Serengeti.  There were a few Masai huts dotting the hillside and also a Masai village surrounded by a wall made of large pieces of wood, obviously meant to keep the wildlife out.

The Serengeti's down there somewhere:

Masai huts:

Driving down to the Serengeti plain:

As we descended to the valley, there were some giraffes eating leaves from Acasia trees near the road, much closer to us than the couple of giraffes we had seen the day before in Tarangire Park.  The Portuguese asked Lewis to stop so they could pop open the roof and snap some pics.  Reaching the base of the mountain range, we were greeted by the sight of hundreds of wildebeests and zebras…yup, we have arrived in the Serengeti, which appropriately means “endless plain” in the Masai language.

We pulled into a rest stop for a bathroom break but there was a big pedestal with a couple of large replicas of skulls, one of Paranthropus Bolsei (never heard of it before) and the other of Homo Habilis.  The reason they were there is that this area is considered the “Cradle of Humankind” as fossil remains of both of these species, dating back almost 2 million years ago, were found here.

Seems like I'm more like the dumber Paranthropus Bolsei than Homo Habilis...

Continuing along the fairly straight, bumpy gravel road, Lewis informed us that we were still in a “conservation area”, which meant the the Masai people were allowed to graze their goats and cattle amongst the plethora of wildebeests and zebras.  Eventually we reached a gate and sign that signified that we were entering the Serengeti National Park and this was the boundary for the Masai cattlemen.

Our lunch stop in the Serengeti:

Some local kids hung out to get out leftovers.  Melanie and Jenni went to meet them.

Some of the many, many wildebeests:

Although most of the Serengeti is flat plains, there is the odd rock outcropping or even small hill, which tends to be covered with trees.  These are oases for certain animals and they stick out like islands in the vast flatland.  The road climbed up one of these hills and there was an official gate for the Serengeti National Park, where the guides had to pay our entrance fees.  It was also a good place for us to stop and have lunch, along with many other tour companies.

One of the rocky outcroppings:

Our whole group...unfortunately whoever we asked to take the picture was a bit too far away...

Here's a zoomed in version:

This is a Kori Bustard...a huge flying bird.  In fact, the male is the heaviest living animal capable of flight!  I asked our guide Lewis what the name of the bird was, and with his thick Tanzanian accent, I kept hearing "Calling Bastard"!

An impala:

Our guide Lewis often had a shortwave radio on, occasionally chatting with the other guide Max and listening to other guides.  It was all in Swahili so I couldn’t understand what they were talking about however they would announce to one another if they found some interesting wildlife. 

 

We pulled off of the main road towards a random building in the middle of the plains that had solar panels on the roof but didn’t look to be currently used.  Why did we go there?  Well, there was a male lion hanging out near the structure, lying down and panting a bit in the late afternoon sun.  We snapped a few pics but then both vehicles left the area almost as soon as we had arrived.  Why?!?  Well Lewis had heard on the radio that a ranger was coming, and we weren’t supposed to be on that side road near that building.  Thanks for risking it Lewis!

The other half of our team escaping back to the main road:

Back on the main road:

As the afternoon drew on, we stopped along with half a dozen other Land Cruisers (Toyota really has this safari business sewn up…it’s pretty much the only vehicle you see out here).  Everyone was trying to spot a leopard in a tree about 100 meters from the road.  Lewis described where it was after he looked with the binoculars and I was also able to see it.  Philip did too, or at least he thought he did but none of the other Portuguese members of the group could find it.  They were questioning whether there really was one there.  We were starting to pull away when a second leopard jumped up onto a lower branch and was much more visible.  Sweet.

A truck is stuck in the mud...

I guess he's not so lucky...

Testing the Land Cruiser's abilities:

The leopard's in that tree...trust me.

The leopard is considered one of the Big Five.  A lot of people think that the giraffe and hippo should be in the Big Five before the leopard, but Lewis explained that the reason that the animals that make up the Big Five (rhino, elephant, lion, buffalo and leopard) were chosen because they are the toughest to hunt on foot by big-game hunters.  They are sought after due to their horns or skin.

The last sightings of the day were a herd, or also known as a “bloat” (sounds very appropriate), of hippos in a small lake and a solo Marabou stork hanging out at the top of a dead tree.

Somebody's tired:

We arrived at camp which consisted of three buildings: a bathroom complex, a kitchen and a dining area.  Our tents were already set up so once we settled in, we enjoyed watching the sun set, had dinner and then a relatively early night as breakfast was to be served at 6 am and we would be heading out on a game drive around 6:45-7 am.

Me and Selin..happy with the day.

A nice sunset to finish it off:

It was a fantastic day in the Serengeti!  That night, even though I had earplugs in, I heard some interesting animal noises, most of which I couldn’t figure out.  The next morning, Lewis said that he had heard a lot of lions…I’m sure that’s what I heard too…awesome!

Safari Day 1 – Tangarire National Park

January 25^th, 2024

Unfortunately, my illness stuck around for 2-3 more days so I laid low in Nungwi.  It’s possible that it was my second round of Covid.  It wasn’t until the third day that I finally ventured out and saw the beach, which was only about 400 meters away.  It was a nice beach for sure, I just wasn’t in the mood for it.

I took a dala dala (local bus) back to Stone Town for one night and then flew to Arusha, a small city which is the hub for most safaris that go to Tarangire, Lake Manyara, the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater parks.  Thanks to my new German friend Thomas, whom I had met at Kizimkazi on the south end of Zanzibar Island, I had booked a four-day safari with Mountain Warriors for $700 USD, which I thought was a good rate.  I had inquired with some other companies and they wanted over $2000.   The one I picked was a “budget” safari, meaning we would be sleeping in tents some nights, which was fine by me as that feels more like you are on a safari!

Some local school kids on Zanzibar Island:

A fun way to get around on the small lanes of Stone Town, my motorcycle taxi to the airport.

Flying over Stone Town.  Quite a weird apartment complex making a big plus sign when viewed from above.

The harbor:

Prison Island that I visited two weeks earlier, when I first arrived at Zanzibar.

My first view of Kilimanjaro, the tallest free standing mountain in the world at 5895 meters.

Approaching Arusha:

The small Arusha airport:

Gotta love the arrival lounge!

The day before the safari, Rosemary, an employee of Mountain Warriors, came to my hotel to go over last-minute details.  I paid her the outstanding balance (I had previously sent a deposit) of $559 in cash.  I had a $100 US bill but the rest was in Tanzanian shillings.  The East African countries tend to not have large denomination notes with the Tanzanian biggest one being 10,000 shillings…the equivalent of $4 USD.  So do the math…oh, I’ll do it for you, that’s 115 x 10,000 notes!

Makes you feel rich!

The original plan was that I would be picked up between 6-7 am and that Rosemary would give me a more accurate time that evening.  Later, she left me a voice message and the plans had changed for some reason and my pickup wouldn’t be until 9-9:30 am.  That seemed a bit odd.

 

In the morning I found out why.  There was supposed to be a Polish couple joining, along with 3 others who had booked with another company but unfortunately the couple got food poisoning and had to delay for a few days.  I guess this put Rosemary into overdrive as she tried to figure out what to do with me.  There are hundreds of tour companies and it makes sense that they work together at times, so she found a tour that fit me in.

 

Rosemary and a driver picked me up and took me to a “Cultural Experience”, really it was a super big gift shop.  This seemed to be a bit of the cart before the horse, isn’t the gift shop at the end of your visit?  We met a guide named Max with his Toyota Land Cruiser from a company called Suricata Safaris.  Suricata means “meer-cat” in Swahili.  While waiting for some other tourists to arrive to create a group to go on the safari, Rosemary and I wandered into the gift shop.  Man, there was a lot of stuff on the three levels inside, from statues of animals, to earrings, to purses, to coffee tables and more.  

The entrance:

So much stuff...

The thing I found most interesting, to my surprise, were precious stones.  A couple were at a glass counter, like you’d find at a jewellery store, and they were looking at a bunch of blue gems.  It is known as Tanzanite and is only found in this area of Tanzania.  The larger the stone, the darker blue it is.  You could buy a stone for as little as $50 and splurge to over $30,000!  Precious stones are definitely not my thing, but these were beautiful, and it was interesting that this is supposedly the only place in the world to find them.

Tanzanite, small, big and the rare multi-colored:

Just in case you want a crucified Jesus in your backyard...

The other tourists showed up and it was time to get on the road.  Max had each of us tell everyone our name and where we were from.  Beside me in the van was a 38-year-old Turkish woman named Selin, and she works as a stewardess on fancy motor yachts.  Her last gig was on a 30+ meter boat, privately owned by an Israeli.  In the middle row were Melanie and Jenny, two nurses in their late 20s, from Lille in France.  And rounding out the group I the back row, were Marissa and Luke from Kansas.  Marissa is just finishing her medical studies and wants to practice general surgery while Luke is a young aeronautical engineer.

Bottom left Selin, behind her Jenny, at the back Marissa and Ryan, and Melanie behind me.

My first impression was that this was going to be a fun group to spend the next 4 days with on safari.  We chatted and got to know one another as Max drove the Land Cruiser about and hour and a half to the gate for the Tarangire National Park. 

A big baobab tree by the entrance:

A bit of a foreboding pile by the entrance:

Elephant skulls are crazy looking...check out the teeth.

We waited at the gate while Max paid for our permit but then we were thrown a bit of a curve ball.  We were unaware that there was another group of tourist, eight Portuguese people in their 50s joining us.  They had suffered a delayed flight and instead of arriving the night before, they were just making it to Tanzania.  Most Land Cruisers going on safaris here can seat 8 people, the guide and 7 guests.  This meant that two of the Portuguese were going to have to join our vehicle, and either me or Selin (one of the two solo people) was going to have to join the rest of the Portuguese group.  Max did not explain the whole situation to us at first and we didn’t understand why our newly formed group had to split up, and we were resistant to it.  Once we knew the details, it seemed like the only option was for me to go to the other vehicle.  It felt as if I was on a “Safari Survival” reality show, and I’d just been the first one to get kicked out of the vehicle!

I tried to think positively about it.  At first, I thought they were Polish since there were so many Polish tourists on Zanzibar, but I just hadn’t listened to them talking long enough.  I got in the front seat, introduced myself, and we just went through the gate and immediately pulled over to an eating area to have our picnic lunch.  Since each Land Cruiser carried their respective food, even though the lunches were identical, I had to sit at the table with 6 of the 8 Portuguese tourists so that the portions were the same.  They were nice people but only a few of them spoke a bit of English so unfortunately it did mean that over the next 4 days I sat in a vehicle where only Portuguese was spoken, therefore it was a bit boring for me (compared to what it would have been like in the other vehicle).  The group consisted of four couples: Phillip and Bella, Pedro and Paola, Armando and Natasia. The pair that went to my original vehicle were Jose and Carla.  Jose was definitely the joker of the group.  Okay well, sometimes you just have to roll with the punches.

 

After lunch, we began a mid-afternoon game drive, which isn’t usually the best time to spot animals as it usually hot and most animals are sleeping or resting.  The first animals we saw were baboons followed by some elephants.  I can never get sick of seeing these giants.  Next were some warthogs and then something I hadn’t seen while in Uganda…a couple of cheetahs!  They were just chilling in the grass, but still cool to see.

Some warthogs:

A pretty bird in a tree...can't remember the name of it.

A "parade" of elephants...not parading.

Time for elephant lunch.

Elephie Selfie.

I like big butts and I cannot lie!

I think I might have something for elephant butts...as this is a picture that Naomi reminded me of from India many years ago...

Marissa and Ryan enjoying the show.

Safari rush hour:

My first cheetah in the wild...not the greatest shot, but still counts!

Momma and baby:

These are waterbucks.  Lewis said that lions don't hunt them because they can secrete something that makes them taste bad...

We stopped for a toilet break at a viewpoint overlooking a river with some monkeys running about.  There was a nice viewpoint of a river below with an elephant wandering around in the distance.

Can you spot the elephant?

From left to right: Jenny, Melanie, Ryan, Marissa, Selin and me.

Monkey time!

Monkey Time!

Whose tail is this?

Monkey Wrestlemania!

An unusual move by mom:

On our way out of the park, another new sighting for me was a couple of ostriches.  They weren’t terribly close to the road, but my guide Lewis had a pair of binoculars which helped.  There were some giraffes in the distance, which Team Portugal were excited to see (I’m a bit jaded since I saw many up close in Uganda and fed some in Kenya).

A vehicle whipped by us, and unfortunately took out this lovely Lilac-Breasted Roller:

A vulture...one of the "Ugly Five":

Back on the highway, we headed about 10 kilometres back towards Arusha before turning north for about an hour to a small town called Mtumbu.  It turns out that the Portuguese signed up for a fancier safari than the rest of us, so we dropped them off at a lodge that was built a few years ago by the Suricata Safari company.  It was a bit of an odd looking building as it was quite square and completely made of red brick.  It did have a nice view of Lake Manyara though, where there is another national park.

Lake Manyara:

The rest of us were taken to a campground in town.  It was almost like a compound, with a gate manned by a guard, and buildings running around the perimeter with our tents in the middle on the coarse grass.  It was a nice place though.  There was a small grocery store just outside the entrance, bathrooms with hot showers, a covered dining area, open air but covered kitchen prep areas for the guides, some rooms and finally a bar and restaurant with a small pool outside.

We had a nice dinner and found that out that our chef Salim likes to cook a lot of food…way too much food. 

Our dinner group:

Afterwards I ventured over to the outside portion of the bar and watched the second half of an African Cup of Nations football match before calling it a night.  Tomorrow, we head off to the Serengeti!