The trip had been all about Kilimanjaro and that’s pretty much all we thought about until we got back from the trek, but we had booked a weeks Safari through the Ngorongoro, Serengeti, and Lake Manyara national parks too. All we knew was there would be no more walking as we would get driven round the plains of Africa looking at wild animals!  I think we were all looking forward to the no more walking bit especially! We could of done with a lie in after Kili but they were due to pick us up at 08:30 – doh!

In fact our guide Rachiede turned up early, but he was a laid back chap and he didn’t seem in too much of a rush as our first day would just involve a drive to the Ngorongoro Crater. We needed cash so we tried the Barclays near our hotel but the cash machine was broken, Rachiede kindly drove us into Arusha and we tried several cash machines – non of which would accept our cards, very frustrating. Having wasted half an hour trying all the cash machines in town we ended up back at Barclays where we had to take cash out over the counter. The cashier was really moody, probably because he had to fill in 3 or 4 forms, take copies of our passports, and move from counter to counter to carry out the transaction – it took ages! Finally we emerged with a big wad of cash – 400′000TSH – and hoped it would be enough to last for a while as we didn’t want to go through the bank nightmare anytime soon!

We then stopped at a supermarket where we bought snacks, I had a doughnut – lovely, for the journey ahead. The road from Arusha to Ngorongoro was tarmac something we didn’t appreciate on the outbound journey but would look forward to on the way back! We stopped at a overpriced tourist shop that sold carvings of pretty much any African animal you can think of, we were tempted with a life-sized giraffe but weren’t sure if we could take it as hand luggage on the flight home.

There were five seats in the back of the landy, two behind the driver and a bench of three at the back, the journey took about 3 or 4 hours so we were all soon feeling pretty cramped. We had a lunch stop on the way and were all gutted to find it was exactly the same packed lunch as we had had everyday on the Kilimanjaro trail – fruit juice, carrot sandwich, over-cooked chicken, boiled egg, a banana, and a few biscuits all stored in a white cardboard box – this was our lunch for pretty much two weeks! Still we had lots of things to snack on from the supermarket. The tarmac ended at the gate to the Ngorongoro park, it was bumpy dust tracks from now on.

The main feature of the park is the Ngorongoro Crater, which is apparently the world’s largest unbroken, unflooded, volcanic caldera – formed by a giant volcano exploding and collapsing onto itself around 2-3 million years ago. The crater sits at an altitude of 1200m, is 610m deep and covers 102 square miles.  It is considered ‘a natural enclosure’ for a wide range of wildlife, which due to this enclosure do not migrate and therefore leave the crater – meaning its a good place to see African wildlife year round. On the way to the campsite we stopped at a view point and got our first look into the crater.

The size of the crater was staggering spanning off in a complete circle, it must of been a massive volcano!  We could make out some herds of animals on the crater floor, although as they were just tiny dots it was a little difficult to make out what they were.  I think this was the first time it felt like we were going on Safari, it was definitely nice not to be walking!  The campsite was on the crater rim, a grassy area with a large tree in the middle and there were toilet and cooking blocks at each end.  We got our first sight of some Zebra as there were some grazing in the campsite and an Elephant was roaming around in the undergrowth nearby – pretty cool.

It got dark around 6:30pm anda little bit nippy – I thought Africa was supposed to be hot?  Dinner was served in the mess building, a concrete building where all the various groups staying on the camp congregated for their evening meal.  Again we had deja vu with popcorn and soup being served first, but to be fair the food was always excellent considering the facilities available.  After dinner Rachiede built a small fire which we sat around before we headed to our tents for an early night.  Rachiede had told us not to leave food in our tents otherwise a Boar might smell it and chew its way into the tent in search of it – nice thought as I had the single tent!

Next morning we headed down a steep dirt road into the crater and straight away could see herds of Wilderbeest and Zebra.  Rachiede raised the roof (so you can stand up) on the Landy and now we were properly on Safari!  The Wilderbeaet are pretty cool, they look a bit like an old man with their grey beard.  Apparently the Zebra and Wildebeest follow each other as they eat different parts of the grass.

We spent the day cruising around the crater, it wasn’t long until we saw our first Lions (females), which were surprisingly easy to see as they were just lying in the grass catching some rays!  They completely ignored us and the other 4WDs that had gathered around them, only 5m away – I guess they are used to it.  They act like big domestic cats, not doing much but sleep and yawn occasionally, although I wouldn’t want to step out the Landy to stroke them

We spent about 20 minutes watching them and then headed off to see what else we could see.  There were plenty of other things – Osterrich, Gazelle, Wild Boar, Hyenas, and Buffalo were all pretty easy to see.  We werent allowed to get out of the Landy so we headed to a picnic area by a lake for lunch, and an Elephant came wondering past.

Fish Eagles were perched in the trees around the lake and occasionally came swooping in the search of food.  In the afternoon we checked out the Hippo pools, lots of Hippos not doing much but making a deep mooing noise.  Apparently they only move around at night to graze when the heat of the sun has gone, and we could only see the tops of their heads and back.

We also saw more female Lions and a cub that had made a recent kill of a Wildebeast as its carcas was nearby and they had blood on their faces.  We got pretty close to them, and again they completely ignored us.

Unfortunately we didn’t see a Rhino though as this is apparently one of the few places they can be seen in the wild as they are very rare.  We did see a load of small but loud monkeys at a toilet stop that were cute and amusing.

Late afternoon we headed back to the camp and spent a few hours relaxing, during which time an Elephant came and drank from the water tower only 20m from our tents.  He obviously came here reguarly as he knew exactly where he was going, although he was obviously wary of humans and was a little jumpy if anyone got too close.

Before we went to bed we walked down to the toilets and another Elephant was near the big tree, we accidently got a bit close and he had a little aggresive charge towards us – noticed first by Phil who shot off in the other direction sharpish!  Next day we headed for the Serengeti and shortly after leaving the campsite we saw our first Giraffe, probably the most gentile animal in Africa!

Along the way we stopped at Olduvai Gorge, a steep sided ravine in the Great Rift Valley, which stretches along Eastern Africa.  I didn’t know much about it but apparently it’s one of the most important prehistoric sites in the world and has been instrumental in furthering understanding of early human evolution!  It seems they have found the remains of our ancient ancestors here, preserved by several volcanic eruptions.  The most important discoveries were human footprints from millions of years ago and a skull that was a cross between a monkey and a human.  They have a museum there and we had a short talk from the curator of the site, which was reasonably interesting – although Phil fell asleep!  Here’s a photo of the Gorge:

Next stop was a Massai Tribe village, Rachiede had warned us we would have to pay 15′000TSH to get in so we were a bit apprehensive that it could be a bit of a tourist trap but thought we should have a look anyway.  We were greeted by a Massai Warrior called Nnn Terry (no idea how to spell his name but that’s how he pronounced it – we all thought John Terry!) and were first sung a welcome song by a group of women, and then the men did a jumping dance to show off their warrior prowess.  We  had a go at the jumping, whilst holding a Massai club.  Our attempts were pathetic alongside the warriors who cleared a couple of foot off the ground whilst we struggling to jump a foot high – given the higher you can jump the better warrior you are we were put to shame, it was very entertaining though!

We were then ushered into one of the huts, which seemed to be owned by a small old lady who Nnn Terry made get out of the hut so we could go in – it seemed a bit unfair!  The hut was not very high so we all had to stoop low to get in, and once inside it was pretty much pitch black.  There was a fire smouldering which we had to clamber over, which made the room smokey, Nnn Terry told us to take a seat on the bed (a hard platform slightly raised off the floor) whilst he gave us a talk of how the village worked and the different roles of men and women. He told us to become a warrior each man had to kill a Lion, and that he had killed 6, obviously we weren’t too keen on that idea but acknowledged that this was their culture.   Here’s Nnn Terry  coming out of the hut.

It was interesting  to hear how about their daily tasks, a life vastly different to ours, although it did make me wonder how much of it was a show for the tourists – several of them had digital watches and mobile phones!  Of course then we had to peruse lots of souvenirs that could be purchased such as necklaces, clubs, and  carvings – all of which seemed the same as we had seen elsewhere but for a higher price!  We picked out a couple of items and then we had to head out of the village to do some negotiation with a village elder and Nnn Terry, they weren’t the easiest people to negotiate with.  Eventually we agreed prices and made the trade.  They then showed us into a larger wooden hut outside the village that is used as the school.  As soon as we entered about 20 young kids burst into a rendition of a,b,c,d,e… and they explained they were teaching them English and Swahili.

They also said they needed a new blackboard, it was covered with a,b,c, etc but didn’t look too knackered, and showed us the tip box positioned in front of the kids – of course we felt obliged to give some tips , the kids clapping every time we did so – a not too pleasant experience!  Having seen enough we headed back to the Landy, feeling a bit like we had just been taken through a standard tourist show – interesting but I wouldn’t rush to do it again!

The journey to the Serengeti was along dusty bumpy dirt tracks, and Rachiede was driving at a fair pace so we and all our gear were quickly covered in dust and sitting in the Landy became increasingly uncomfortable!  Eventually we reached the gate to the Serengeti, basically a signpost above the road, where Rachiede stopped to say our dreams were about to come true – apparently everyone dreams of coming to the Serengeti!  Nothing much changed initially but soon there were lots of Gazelles on the plains and the grasses became longer with plenty of trees dotted around.  Our campsite was pretty much on the plain surrounded by trees, meaning we were really close to nature as anything that wanted to come in could freely do so – it was definitely the best campsite on the safari though and surprisingly it had running water and a shower – luxury! Our tents are at the back left of this photo:

We arrived around 4pm and we  thought that would be it for the day but Rachiede soon ushered us back in the Landy to go and see what we could see.  Getting back in the Landy wasn’t too appealing but we were glad we did as we were lucky enough to see a Leopard in a tree   It was pretty hard to sport but again it wasn’t doing much other than lying there but it was still great to see – can you see it?

We also saw a lone Lioness relaxing right next to the road, she totally ignored us even though we were 5m away!

Rachiede had said there was a 50% chance of seeing a Leopard and 20% chance of seeing a Cheetah so that wasn’t a bad start.  The Serengeti is the Africa you see in the wildlife documentaries – wide open plains with trees dotted around (you can see why Leopards like it here).  There were Gazelle everywhere as well as the odd herd of Zebra or Wildebeest that hadn’t followed the great migration, which unfortunately had started early this year and was now somewhere to the north.  It was also hot so finally it was comfortable to wear shorts and flip flops all day!

We headed back to the campsite and after an evening meal and a game of cards we headed to bed.  Rachiede told us not to leave our shoes outside the tent as Hyenas would come and take them, and although I didn’t hear them apparently they could be heard moving around the campsite that night!

Next day was a full day of Safari around the Serengeti, it was probably the best day on Safari for me.  In the morning we we found a tree that had obviously been used by a Leopard as their was a dead Gazelle in it!  We also saw our first (and last) male Lion lying alone in the long grass, he was tricky to see but with Binoculars (thanks Stu ) we could get a good view of him.  The Serengeti has lots of rocky outcrops called Koppes, which were formed by lava bubbling up under the surface millions of years ago.  Lying in the shade  of one were some Lionesses and their cubs, and we also saw the Simba (Lion in Swahili) Koppe which is apparently the inspiration for ‘The ‘Lion King’ story.

We were really lucky because we managed to spot a Cheetah wondering through the long grass.  It was really tough to spot though as it blended in with the plain.  Smaller and more slender than a Lion or Leopard it was only in view for a few minutes before disappearing into the grass – even so it was great to see it even for that short time.

We went to the Serengeti visitor centre, where we followed a short but informative nature trail that explained some of the goings on in the park.  There were lots of Hyrax on the path a furry little creature, they seemed to like climbing the trees and eating leaves by somehow perching on the some tiny branches.  They were definitely the cutest thing we saw on Safari!

We went back to the camp for lunch and to relax whilst the midday sun was at its hottest.  In the afternoon Rachiede took us to a river where lots of Hippo had congregated and also a couple of Crocodiles!  There was lots of Hippo poo about, they seemed to not mind swimming in it, which made the smell not to great but it was still interesting to see!  The Crocs weren’t doing much, apparently they can go for a year without eating, probably waiting for some unsuspecting Gazelle or Wildebeest to come and have a drink!  Here’s Rich and Rachiede overlooking the river, you might make out a Croc to the right of Rich’s head.

Moving on we saw some Elephants in a stream, quite amusing as a little one was trying to climb the steep banks out of the stream but couldn’t quite manage it so his Mum pushed him up!  You can see him at the top of the bank in the photo below – I like Elephants!  Watching them eat we realised that they destroy anything near them – the banks of the stream,  bushes, trees, etc etc!

Later on we got really lucky!  We spotted another Cheetah in the distance, stalking through the grass, it was pretty hard to see and Rich was struggling to see it.  There was a nearby broken tree so we used that as a reference but somehow Rich couldn’t see that either, thus a debate raged for about 10 mins as we tried to get Rich to find ‘the broken tree’!  Eventually we realised he was looking completely in the wrong place and he managed to find the Cheetah!  Even better the Cheetah then decided it need a drink and headed to the nearby river for refreshment, walking only 10m behind our Landy – how lucky were we!  It then proceeded to drink for ages at the river, we had a perfect view!  Then a Hippo noticed the Cheetah and wasn’t too happy, chasing the Cheetah away – and a stand off occurred for a few seconds but it seemed the Cheetah wasn’t prepared to mess with the Hippo!  Here’s a photo of the Cheetah drinking and you can see the Hippo coming round the corner just before their standoff.

We had spent a long time looking at the Cheetah but all vehicles have to be back in camp by 18:30 so we had to dash back quickly.  We went to bed early as next day we were going to be up for the sun-rise at 6am, a bit painful but it was worth it to see the sun rising over the Serengeti.

We passed by the tree where we had seen the dead Gazelle in the tree the previous day and this time spotted a Leopard in the tree   How lucky were we, two Cheetahs and two Leopards!  Again binoculars proved very useful as the Leopard was hard to spot, although you could see its tail hanging down.  Alas our time in the Serengeti, its an amazing place, was coming to an end and we head back to the campsite around 10am for some brunch.

After our brunch we headed out of the Serengeti, through Ngorongoro – basically back the way we came in, so there was lots of bumpy dusty roads, which had become rather tiresome by now!  We passed lots of Massai along the way, some decorated in their full traditonal dress complete with white face paint -basically they wanted tourists to stop and pay to take photos of them, a sad indictment of global tourism.  I tried to read but the road was so bumpy it was pretty much impossible, somehow Tom managed to sleep!

Eventually we reached the gate to Ngorongoro and with it the tarmac road thus making things a lot more comfortable!  We were in the mood for souvenir shopping so along the way we stopped at a couple of shops to purchase some carvings, paintings, and necklaces.  Our campsite was in the middle of the small town of Mto wa Mbu near Lake Manyara, the name in Swahili means ‘River of Mosquitoes’ which was a bit daunting!  The campsite was not like the others, it was a complex with many tour groups staying there, there was a swimming pool, and bar thus it felt a bit like a holiday camp.  In the evening whilst we enjoyed some beers (we preferred Tusker lager to Kilimanjaro lager) there was some African dancing which was fun to watch.

Next day it we headed off into the Lake Manyara National Park, Rachiede had warned us that after the Ngorongoro and Serengeti it wouldn’t be too exciting, although Lake Manyara is apparently the place to see birds.  I think had we done Lake Manyara first it would of been great, but having been spoilt in the other parks and feeling a little ‘animaled out’ it didn’t capture our attention quite so much.  There were things too see – Gazelle, Zebra, Boars, Baboons,  Giraffe, etc but they seemed to be quite thinly spread and we weren’t jumping out of our seats like we had done before.  The highlights were seeing a duck like bird eating a massive frog that it could barely fit in its mouth, a kingfisher type bird sitting next to the river, and a large group of Baboons playing in a large tree.

An interesting morning but we were now a little tired of Safari, being stuck in the landy definitely wasn’t helping, and when we came back to the campsite for lunch we decided we wouldn’t go out again in the afternoon.  We had a little walk around Mto wa Mbu although we got hassled to buy souvenirs from all the little shops so decided to head back to the sanctuary of the campsite and spent most of the afternoon relaxing instead!  In the evening we had our final ‘Bobbys’ meal together and sank a few beers in the bar.

Next day we drove back to Arusha, stopping at the expensive tourist shop as Tom wanted to buy a  chess board, the road was tarmac all the way so it was a relatively comfortable 2-3 hour trip.  Once back in Arusha we stopped at the post office so that Tom could post home his newly acquired chess board, which took about an hour whilst we had to wait in the Landy all the time being pestered by random guys selling random things!  Things take time in Africa!  Eventually we got back to the hotel and said our thanks and goodbyes to Rachiede – he had been a good guide and we gave him a big tip.

Safari had been great, the Serengeti was the highlight for me, although a week had been enough for us and I think we were all ready to do something else.  Phil and Rich were flying home that evening so after a meal and a load of packing we said our goodbyes, it had been a great trip and it was sad that the journey had come to an end.  I had a room to myself that night which was a luxury although it felt a bit strange to have so much space to myself.

Whilst the Tanzania mainland part of the trip was over the next day Tom, Kimberley, and I were off to Zanzibar for some sun, beaches, and sea!

I’ve uploaded a load of photos from the Safari here.

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 20th, 2009 at 4:19 pm While Shep was in Tanzania. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.