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January 28, Thursday. A New England snow storm. Only one runway is open at Boston airport, but we get our plane's wings de-iced and are off to Amsterdam. I skip dinner and opt instead for some sleep -- I see why they call the night flight a "red eye." January 29, Friday. In Amsterdam I meet Geroge and Anne Arris (who arrived from Atlanta) and we connect with the second leg of our flight to Kilimanjaro airport. At 8:15 pm we cross the equator. It is exciting because this is my first time ever in the southern hemisphere. About an hour later we land in Tanzania -- my first time ever on the contintent of Africa. Our plane, brightly lit against the African night, dwarfs the one-floor terminal building. We are met by Unique Safaris and driven to the Impala Hotel in Arusha. My bed comes equipped with a mosquito net, which I use even though I have not seen a single mosquito yet. January 30, Saturday. We three meet five others in our group (with the final two arriving tomorrow). Our three driver/guides (Deo, Nickson and Kennedy) and our trip leader (Boyd Norton) take us to Lake Manyara. The Land Rovers are impressive vehicles, with four-wheel drive, lots of road clearance, comfortable seats, and good head room inside. By the time we get to Lake Manyara I am convinced that all the Land Rover features are essential! The colors of the countryside are a beautiful muted set of reddish-brown, light green, and light blue, with the bright-red robe of the occasional Masai the perfect accent color (this is a very different place from the New England winter I left two days ago!). Our driver rolls the roof forward and we stand up in the back of the Land Rover for our first game drive. I am so awestruck by the abundance of exotic animals that I don't even get my camera out. We stop and watch a giraffe about 15 feet from us. He bites off and drops three branchlets from a small dead tree and then scratehes the inside of his ear with the remaining branch end -- sure looks like tool-making behaviour to me! Then a herd of about 30 elephants ambles across the road between our vehicles, at which point I force myself to dig the camera out. We also see baboon, impala, wildebeest, zebra, warthog, dikdik, and other creatures. Almost all the animals seem habituated to vehicles, so we can stop close without spooking them. January 31, Sunday. The Petersons arrive early (8 am) and the full group of ten leaves from the Manyara Serena Lodge to go to the Ngorongoro Serena Lodge. Farmers, not Masai herders, live in the countryside here, with tractor-tilled fields and small rectangular houses. Kids along the way beg for pens, since school is free but they must provide their own paper and pencils, which are expensive for them. The Serena Lodges are all relatively new (about three years old), interestingly styled on the outside, and fully modern on the inside: we feel as though we are in the lap of luxury. The Ngorongoro Lodge is situated on the west rim, with a beautiful view into Ngorongoro Crater, and high enough (7500 feet) to be malaria free (no need for bed netting). We do a game drive in the afternoon into the crater, seeing many animals. The crater rim makes a great backdrop for animal photography, so I am starting to make Kodak rich. Back at the lodge, I try the local "Kilimanjaro" beer ("bia kilimanjaro baridi," in swahili), which tastes pretty good after my being on the savannah all day. Supper is excellent, followed by a ritual dance performed by the local Masai. February 1, Monday. The excitement and eight-hour time- zone difference are finally starting to relax their grip and I get my first good night's sleep. Up at 5:50 am, breakfast at 6:30, and on the road into the crater by 7:15. We bring a picnic lunch and stay all day in the crater, seeing (yes!) more animals. A male lion walks between two of our vehicles in a half-hearted attempt at stalking some nearby elands -- the lion is a B-I-G cat! There is such an abundance of animal life here that we start joking about zebras being "gazebos," elephants "effluents," and Thompson gazelles "cheetah food". February 2, Tuesday. Another full day in the crater. Yesterday I got too much sun, so today I make a point of getting under the rolled-down roof of the Land Rover during mid day. I take a lot of zebra photos -- they are such obliging subjects. We also see a serval cat up close. The big adventure of the day, though, is the bull elephant. After the event, the Petersons and I (who were the three riding in Nickerson's vehicle) all remembered thinking the same set of opposing thoughts: maybe the elephant will come out of the hippo pool in front of us; oops, what if he does! Well, he did! Boyd Norton promises to send us each a copy of his photo from one of the other vehicles, where he swears you can see the fear on our faces as the elephant stares down on us. [The only other time I can remember being scared was driving up the crater ascent road (quite the road!) and then passing an on-coming car at a hair-pin turn on the left (English style).] The group has a discussion at dinner about the local people and we pretty much agree that we are impressed with their courtesy, friendliness, and pride. This society is New York City's opposite: no one swears, honks the horn, or is impolite in any way. Our drivers are especially helpful and also good at what they do: driving/maintaining the vehicles and finding/describing the local animal and plant life. George Arris sums up my feelings when he says that the trip so far has exceeded his expectations (and this from the person who, before the trip, had said that it would be a "once-in-a-lifetime adventure").
February 3, Wednesday. Today we are entering the
Serengeti. On the way we stop at the archeology dig in Olduvai
Gorge, with its interesting explanatory display. We are getting
a geological education as well as learning about the region's
animals and culture. Boyd takes a group photo ("Class of 99")
at the Serengeti overlook. The next stretch of road is the worst
we have seen, including "boulder gravel," ruts, and unspread
fill that try the ability of our drivers and Land Rovers. I think
about why I am impressed with the trip and come up with the
following list:
February 4, Thursday. It looks as though this is going to be our first "bad" day on safari. The wind blows up clouds of dust, we do not see many animals on our morning game drive, and we get lost among the rolling hills and sparse acacia forest at the edge of the Serengeti. But then, on the way back, we find our first lion at a kill and I get a lot of great photos. The lodge holds lunch for us, which is much appreciated. February 5, Friday. This day turns out to be the high point of the safari for me. On our first game drive into the Serengeti grassland, we drive cross country (no roads) to Hidden Valley, where Boyd positions us in the perfect photographic spot (good distance and light) for the unfolding action at the water hole. I take lots of photos of zebra and wildebeest as they migrate past and pause for a drink. Then a female lion takes a young zebra, after which two male lions steal her kill. The two lions fight over the kill, with the lame one getting a leg and the healthy one feasting on all the rest. Again, Boyd positions us for lots of good photos. By noon I am bushed, so I skip the afternoon game drive and rest at the lodge. This is the life! February 6, Saturday. We leave the Ndutu Lodge (my personal favorite) and travel into the center of the Serengeti, to stay at the new Serengeti Serena Lodge. On the way we see three lion cubs in a kopje and get more great photos. February 7, Sunday. Four of us elect to take the optional balloon ride over the Serengeti. We get up at 4:30 am and drive for an hour in the dark to get to the launch site. I am wondering why I am doing this to myself. Then we launch and I know why. The wind takes us along at about seven miles per hour and our pilot keeps us just a few feet above the grass (with occasional rises to get over trees). Then we rise temporarily to about 1000 feet for the "big view" and land. The whole flight seems but a few minutes, but actually takes an hour, and I take a whole roll of photos. We are served breakfast in the bush and then join our group at 9:30 for the morning game drive. We see the largest herd yet of wildebeest and zebra. On the way back from Magadi Lake and Moru Kopjes we see the largest elephant herd yet (around 50 individuals) and see interesting behavior. Boyd takes another group photo on Gong Kopje, with the famous wildebeest migration spread out behind us. February 8, Monday. Today we have to start our trip home. We drive out of the Serengeti, past Ngorongoro Crater, and stay overnight at the Kifaru Coffee Farm and Inn. Tough drive: long and bumpy. The latch on my door falls apart and the drivers have to secure the door with bungee cord (some of the group joke that the incident had been planned to eliminate me, but I'd like to think I hadn't been THAT obnoxious). The Inn has great coffee and I buy some beans to take home as gifts. February 9, Tuesday. We continue on to Arusha for some souvenir shopping and then say farewell to the three who are continuing on the optional Kenya safari extension. I had hoped to buy some Tanzanites, but the price is way beyond my budget. There is an amazing array of other souvenir options from which I am able to get what I need. I rest and clean up in my "day room" at the Impala Hotel and then go with the group to the Kilimanjaro airport for our evening departure home. On the whole trip I think I saw just one mosquito and never a tsetse fly -- I guess my worries about insect-borne diseases were excessive. February 10, Wednesday. Thirty hours and eight time zones later I arrive in Boston. The U.S. customs official asks me how Africa was and I tell him "beautiful." He also asks how the flight was, and I tell him "as good as a flight that long can be!" one of the fringe benefits of travel is that it makes you appreciate home -- it's good to be back. |