Serengeti: Day 3

After breakfast, we drove out of the very cold fog that surrounded us, and into the crater.  Once inside, and below the clouds we could see the crater wall all around, sometimes straining to see the wall on the opposite side.  There is a forest down there as well as a few bodies of water.  A much more appetizing place to live for an animal than the Serengeti.  We saw some wildebeests (I like to call them ugly horses), more gazelles, elephants, buffalo, and a zebra being eaten by lions!

The zebra carcass was right in the middle of the road.  Half of it already missing as the kill probably occurred the previous night.  The father lion was off in the distance between the zebra and another pride of lions farther off in the distance, protecting the kill for the family.  Two cubs were munching away on breakfast when we arrived.  There was also some older brothers and the mother nearby protecting the kill from the jackals eagerly leering around for the leftovers.  We were one of close to 20 pop-topped safari vehicles watching.  It is a wonder the animals never attack the Land Cruisers. 

Simba wins again

Not too far away was a large pack of zebras staring in the direction of the kill site.  They all looked very mournful.  I’m sure they never get used to this circle of life.  While we were on the scene the fellow zebras walked with their heads down, not talking to one another.  I guess that’s how the zebra faith honors their loved ones.

By noon, we made our way up and out of the crater to make the four hour trip back, past the circumcised Maasai, out of Ngorongoro Conservation, along the highway with the many speed bumps alerting drivers of crossing villagers, and back to Moshi where we rendez-vous’d at Maria’s house and picked up our bags.  It was such a nice comfort to have this pitstop before parting with our big bags once again.

It was time to head up to Mowa villiage with Maria, in the foothills of Kilimanjaro Mountain.

Serengeti: Day 2

I was not sure what to expect on safari.  I thought we’d off-road through the plains and come upon whatever nature had to offer.  It turned out there are dirt roads with craters-sized potholes that all vehicles must stay on.  Lucky is when the animals are right next to that road.

Frankie received a call (oh yes, cell phones work all over the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater, but in Stony Brook, Long Island you’ll be shit out of luck) from one of his buddy drivers that there are some Cheetahs.  So we went on a Cheetah hunt, turning and backtracking to try and find the right road.  At one point a rock, kicked up by a vehicle coming from the opposite direction, hit the window next to Nicole, it startled her but all was OK.  About 15 seconds later we hit a bump and pop! The window shattered.  Small glass pieces are everywhere.  All this for some cheetas?  Unable to open the door and get out in the middle of Serengeti, Frankie struggled to the back seats to wipe the glass away.  Fortunately, the glass shattered and fell straight down, so no one was scratched.  We did eventually find the cheetahs, a mother with two of her babies, relaxing under the shade of a acacia tree about 80 yards away.

Before our lunch break which was back at the campsite we got to see two lionesses hunt a hogwart…damn you Harry Potter!....a warthog.  Though very slow, the warthog got away, as the lionesses seemed to have pounced too early, maybe they were showing off for the 8 vehicles lining up to see the kill.

There was also a leopard lounging in a tree, but it was too far away to get a good look at, even with binoculars.  We were moving right along, checking off the animals in the Big Five: cheetah, lion, elephant, buffalo, rhino.

We camped on the edge of Ngorongoro crater.  It is cold up there, and so is the shower water.  The thing that was amazing was the zebras hanging around the campsite and the elephants which came around sunset to drink the water from the bathroom tanks.  That was pretty unreal, and quite frightening as elephants can cause a lot of harm.

 TIA: This is Africa

Drink it all up, Mr. Elephant

The Argentineans

We dined next to a group of three Argentineans—Father, brother-in-law, and one of their sons, fresh out of law school.  They were in the midst of a 40-day trip taking them all over Sub-Sahara Africa looking at all sorts of animals and cities.

They were a lively group who spoke very little English so I (Nicole) got to use my Spanish speaking skills and translate the animated conversations happening. It’s amazing what kind of topics we were able to cover in our respective second languages----politics, sports and Argentina’s history and the corruption (they were telling us about the thousands of people who went “missing” in the 80’s after speaking out against a corrupt government). They know all about Giuliani and his “zero tolerance” policy –as it was adopted by Argentina’s president but has, according to our friends, caused all sorts of problems and illegitimate arrests.   We exchanged email addresses---everyone wants to come to NYC---and retired to our tents to get some sleep.

Did you know that there are no fences or wire around the campsite? We didn’t. For some reason, elephants, zebras, and forest hogs know not to trample on our tents.  I’m not sure why, but at night when they are snorting and traipsing around the campsite they just stayed clear from stepping on our faces beneath the tent.  At one point, I had a dream that I was pushing an elephant leg off my body because he was trying to step on the tent we were sleeping in.  At another point that night I dreamt that our good friends Ian and Amanda were coming to Africa for 4 years, starting right after our planned departure in January.  Good ol’ Larium dreams.

I was awake half the night fearing that we would be trampled by an elephant or eaten by a lion.  I could see the headlines now…..

Serengeti National Park

We finally reach the Serengeti and it’s time to pop up the roof of our vehicle and drive around like real safarians, if there is such a thing.  Right after passing through the checkpoint with vending machines, toilets, and the registration area we see three giraffes!  What beautiful creatures with such an elegant gait.  Frankie remarks that catwalk models can learn a good lesson from these guys.  We already knew they are Nicole’s mother favorite animal, and now we know why.

Mom is right, they are beautiful

A lone zebra off in the distance proceeds a stop to watch a hyena crunch on some bones off in the distance.  Just before reaching our campsite, we come upon a mama lioness with her two cubs rolling around in the setting sun.  They weren’t more than 8 meters from the side of the road.

Relaxing after another pleasant day in the Serengeti

Serengeti means vast land, and it most certainly is.  Just as you can see the horizon when looking out at the ocean, the Serengeti is the land version of that.  Off in the distant southwest direction we see some mountains, but flat plains everywhere else. 

We make a final turn, passing some hungry hungry hippos hunkered in some waters, and arrive at our campsite when Frankie and Saidie quickly pitch the tents.  We have yet to see an African move that fast.

The campsite has two covered areas, one for the tourists to sit in, and the other for the cooks to prepare the meals at.  The food is tasty—a beef stew with rice—which we share with Frankie.  Saidie and the other cooks end up eating whatever is left from all their prepared meals.

A 3 Day Safari

The trip out to the Serengeti National Park is 5 hours.  We saw plenty of corn fields, it’s just about harvest time now and the maize will be shucked, husked, and put in storage for the year.  The road is paved but every time we go through a village there is some combination of very fat speed bump proceeded and followed by a more textured rumble strip of three bumps than we are used to seeing before a toll on the Turnpike.

The dirt is more clay then anything giving the grounds in front and beyond the street side stores a red hue.  With each strip of storefronts there is a deep expanse of small cement and mud hut housing.  We continue to drive on this road up some hills, passing some commuters and shippers on bike—shippers because they are carrying a bundle of branches or a larger bundle of empty 5-gallon jugs, we guess, used for porting water.  The bicyclists are sometimes pulled walking their bike up a hill or fixing their gear, perhaps it’s a manual gear shift for hills….

In order to go to the Serengeti we must first pass through Ngorogoro Conservation.  The difference between a conservation and national park is that Maaasai people can live on a conservation, but only animals and safari vehicles allowed in the national parks.  Ngorongoro is our day 3 safari so we are just passing through.  The road is incredibly bumpy, rocky, and dusty.  We will not drive on any surface better than this until we leave to go home after the third day’s morning game drive.

The Maasai People

The Maasai people are incredibly strong people and have been known to live up to 125 years old!  We see them scattered all over Ngorongoro, dressed in their traditional red/black or purple/black checkered blankets you can find at shops leading up to the conservation.  Some sitting on the side of the road, getting sprayed by the dirt in our wake, others walking with their large sticks along the side or off in the distance, and the young boys (age 12-13) heard cattle.  Almost always, when we pass them they wave at us and we wave back.  But are all these safari vehicles really welcome here?  It is certain their lifestyle has changed as a result of the safari industry.

Their villages are nothing more than a cluster of mud huts with thatched roofs made of a straw/hay-like material.  Before the government stepped in and restricted their hunting they survived on animal meat, cow’s milk and cow’s blood.  Now they receive government aid for water and maize.  They can still kill their animals, but not the zebras or other safari wildlife.  We saw some safari vehicles parked next to their village so that safari’ers can take pictures with the Maasai and of their village.  A tourist trap, says our chubby, friendly driver.

Oops, our Safari Team

My heavens we haven’t introduced you to our Safari leaders.

Frankie, as I just said is sort of chubby, not many Africans with such a body type.  He laughs at our jokes and is very knowledgeable in all things Safari.  He wears corduroy pants, a black T-shirt with zebras on it that says Tanzania, and big old black knit hat with Jamaica colored stripes around the bottom that scream rasta!

Saidie (pronounced Sah-eed-ie), is our cook.  Actually his name is just Said, but everything here seems to end in ‘ie’—baggie, Marchie (the month), eightie (8).  He is skinny, very closely shaved head, with hush-puppy-like shoes and jeans with a Calvin Klein wash fade to them.  He doesn’t speak much English but is very polite and a darn good chef, too bad his meals take an hour to prepare all the time.  We asked him if he cooks at home.  His response: “I have a wife.”  As in America, circa 1980, men usually do the grilling, while women do the rest of the cooking.

Maasai Circumcision

We pass by a spot where there are boys wearing black robes and have white paint on their face.  What was that!?  “Those,” Frankie says, “are the Maasai that have just been circumcised.”  Maasai go to school to about 7^th grade, then after their goat and cattle herding responsibility is over they reach their manhood landmark at age 14-15 of circumcision.  As you can probably imagine, the Maasai do not have sterile utensils to perform this coming of age activity and as a result many get infections and die.  After the circumcision is done, the group of boys stay together for a month, away from their village to recover.  Someone from one of their villages will bring an animal for them to kill and eat.  This was strange, and the black clothing made these boys look scary to me.

Last depressing Maasai factoid: they are polygamous and share wives, as a result HIV is a bad problem among this population.