Safari, First 2 Days
I visited all the animals.
And lo, I bored them.
I took a full day to recover from the Kili climb, a day spent pretty much curled up in bed moaning about the pain of needing to squat in order to sit on the toilet.
Our group, minus That Guy, did go out to dinner in Moshi. We went to a local place that appeared popular (or at least full of people) and had delicious food in ginormous portions. I had chicken stew with plantains, roomie had ugali with veggie stew and mchicha, her brother had a minced beef dish spiced with cloves and cinnamon, and surgeon had fish. I found you could never go wrong ordering fish, it was always great.
On Feb 2nd I was picked up, transferred to Arusha for lunch and a briefing, and set out with my driver Dave towards our first destination, Lake Manyara National Park. The alkaline lake stretches along the base of the Rift Valley escarpment.
The wildlife was apparent immediately on entry to the park. There were baboons hanging out along the road and pretty impala wandered by, not at all worried about the safari vehicles.
A tiny dik dik was startled when we drove by, but relaxed after checking out what we were. Safari vehicles - not recognized as predators!
And far off, giraffes stood on the horizon.
A family of warthogs. Warthogs...they're ugly. But allegedly quite delicious.
Hippos in the water. Or rather the one hippo that deigned to raise its head even a tiny bit.
But mostly there were elephants.
These were hanging out on the road and in the grass just by the road, and everyone had to stop to let them move away. They're used to the vehicles and will ignore them unless the babies get upset by engine noise, in which case they may charge.
So we sat there, engines off, shutters clicking.
Baby! Baby with closely folded ears :)
On the way out, another baboon group. This one watched over what was without a doubt a male. Without. A doubt.
The Lake Manyara game drive is essentially a loop. Once out of the park we headed for the first night's destination, Kirurumu Tented Lodge, located on the edge of the Great Rift Valley.
My room had a beautiful view of Lake Manyara.
The room had all the amenities, including hot running water. I loved everything but the insects at breakfast. Yes, it's open air, there'll be insects. But if it's a season where three wasps manage to drown in your OJ in the few seconds that you're engaged in fighting 5 flies for the jam pot, maybe it's time to set up a net over the eating area? I wasn't the only one who snatched my toast and ran.
In the morning we headed towards the Serengeti National Park.
To get to the Serengeti we had to drive through the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, and stopped in a spot with a lovely view of the Ngorongoro crater floor. It would be our third destination.
Before even reaching the official entrance to the park, I got my first glimpse of the Great Migration.
Run, wildebeests, run!
Because you look hilarious when you run.
Yeah you do.
You too, ostriches.
Damned things were so spooky. The dik dik has more courage than you!
As do the lovely little Thomson's gazelles totally ignoring your shenanigans.
While Dave was dealing with park entry paperwork, I stalked a gorgeous jewel of a bird. I'm pretty sure it's a Superb Starling, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it.
Giraffes eating shrubbery.
Coke's hartebeest. Not the prettiest of antelopes.
More giraffes. I love giraffes.
Night 2 would be spent at the Serengeti Serena Lodge in the Seronera area of the park. We had to close the roof as we drove through a tse-tse infested area to get there, but that was the only time the tse-tse flies bothered me...in the Serengeti, that is.
This was my room-hut, and I had the upstairs room.
And the very prettily situated pool. I took a dip in it when we stopped here for lunch, after which we continued the game drive.
Just as we found some nice giraffes to watch, Dave got an urgent call of his radio. A leopard had been spotted!
And we were off, driving at break-neck speed (o, at the limit of 50 km/hr, which on these roads was at least break-back speed) towards the sighting. Leopards are shy creatures, and if this one had been spotted walking somewhere, all our haste would amount to nothing.
But no, this one was chilling on a tree. More than that, it was chilling on a foliage-less tree, as if engaged in deliberate fantouristservice.
More and more vehicles arrived as alert calls went out all over the park. Tourists with cameras great and small, greeting every twitch of the animal's tail with a thousand shutter-clicks.
I wrote "shitter". Don't mind me, I have zoom envy.
The leopard abruptly got up and started heading down the tree, and we figured that was that. But nah, it just relocated to another branch.
A close-up of the gorgeous fur animal.
To its surprise (maybe), the second branch offered no better protection against this invasion of privacy than did the first, and in short order the creature departed for good amid a chorus of shutter-clicks.
We found some Grey Crowned Cranes on the way back to the lodge, but a crane ain't a leopard. Oh leopard, why did you leave us?
So ended day 2.
And lo, I bored them.
I took a full day to recover from the Kili climb, a day spent pretty much curled up in bed moaning about the pain of needing to squat in order to sit on the toilet.
Our group, minus That Guy, did go out to dinner in Moshi. We went to a local place that appeared popular (or at least full of people) and had delicious food in ginormous portions. I had chicken stew with plantains, roomie had ugali with veggie stew and mchicha, her brother had a minced beef dish spiced with cloves and cinnamon, and surgeon had fish. I found you could never go wrong ordering fish, it was always great.
On Feb 2nd I was picked up, transferred to Arusha for lunch and a briefing, and set out with my driver Dave towards our first destination, Lake Manyara National Park. The alkaline lake stretches along the base of the Rift Valley escarpment.
The wildlife was apparent immediately on entry to the park. There were baboons hanging out along the road and pretty impala wandered by, not at all worried about the safari vehicles.
A tiny dik dik was startled when we drove by, but relaxed after checking out what we were. Safari vehicles - not recognized as predators!
And far off, giraffes stood on the horizon.
A family of warthogs. Warthogs...they're ugly. But allegedly quite delicious.
Hippos in the water. Or rather the one hippo that deigned to raise its head even a tiny bit.
But mostly there were elephants.
These were hanging out on the road and in the grass just by the road, and everyone had to stop to let them move away. They're used to the vehicles and will ignore them unless the babies get upset by engine noise, in which case they may charge.
So we sat there, engines off, shutters clicking.
Baby! Baby with closely folded ears :)
On the way out, another baboon group. This one watched over what was without a doubt a male. Without. A doubt.
The Lake Manyara game drive is essentially a loop. Once out of the park we headed for the first night's destination, Kirurumu Tented Lodge, located on the edge of the Great Rift Valley.
My room had a beautiful view of Lake Manyara.
The room had all the amenities, including hot running water. I loved everything but the insects at breakfast. Yes, it's open air, there'll be insects. But if it's a season where three wasps manage to drown in your OJ in the few seconds that you're engaged in fighting 5 flies for the jam pot, maybe it's time to set up a net over the eating area? I wasn't the only one who snatched my toast and ran.
In the morning we headed towards the Serengeti National Park.
To get to the Serengeti we had to drive through the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, and stopped in a spot with a lovely view of the Ngorongoro crater floor. It would be our third destination.
Before even reaching the official entrance to the park, I got my first glimpse of the Great Migration.
Run, wildebeests, run!
Because you look hilarious when you run.
Yeah you do.
You too, ostriches.
Damned things were so spooky. The dik dik has more courage than you!
As do the lovely little Thomson's gazelles totally ignoring your shenanigans.
While Dave was dealing with park entry paperwork, I stalked a gorgeous jewel of a bird. I'm pretty sure it's a Superb Starling, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it.
Giraffes eating shrubbery.
Coke's hartebeest. Not the prettiest of antelopes.
More giraffes. I love giraffes.
Night 2 would be spent at the Serengeti Serena Lodge in the Seronera area of the park. We had to close the roof as we drove through a tse-tse infested area to get there, but that was the only time the tse-tse flies bothered me...in the Serengeti, that is.
This was my room-hut, and I had the upstairs room.
And the very prettily situated pool. I took a dip in it when we stopped here for lunch, after which we continued the game drive.
Just as we found some nice giraffes to watch, Dave got an urgent call of his radio. A leopard had been spotted!
And we were off, driving at break-neck speed (o, at the limit of 50 km/hr, which on these roads was at least break-back speed) towards the sighting. Leopards are shy creatures, and if this one had been spotted walking somewhere, all our haste would amount to nothing.
But no, this one was chilling on a tree. More than that, it was chilling on a foliage-less tree, as if engaged in deliberate fantouristservice.
More and more vehicles arrived as alert calls went out all over the park. Tourists with cameras great and small, greeting every twitch of the animal's tail with a thousand shutter-clicks.
I wrote "shitter". Don't mind me, I have zoom envy.
The leopard abruptly got up and started heading down the tree, and we figured that was that. But nah, it just relocated to another branch.
A close-up of the gorgeous fur animal.
To its surprise (maybe), the second branch offered no better protection against this invasion of privacy than did the first, and in short order the creature departed for good amid a chorus of shutter-clicks.
We found some Grey Crowned Cranes on the way back to the lodge, but a crane ain't a leopard. Oh leopard, why did you leave us?
So ended day 2.