So the past two weeks on safari within some of the most remarkable national parks within Tanzania have been some of the best time I have had in Tanzania and traveling in my life. I am so thankful that I am able to have this opportunity to travel for two weeks enjoying the breathtaking geography, wildlife, and sunrises/sets daily. There is an exorbitant amount to update anyone who’s lucky enough to stumble upon this post on so I will most likely keep it to certain stories and things, which I saw in addition to the pictures which I will try to load. To give you an idea of how our safari was laid out for the past two weeks our schedule is as follows: Left Arusha on the 20th and arrived at Ngorongoro Crater, from there we spent all day on the 21st in the crater moving to Serengeti NP on the 22nd. We stayed within the northern tip of the massive Serengeti NP from the 23rd till the 26th when we ventured to Wasso which is a small town close to Kenya. Spending a night there we then drove to Lake Natron where we would embark on a Maasai home stay for four days and three nights (stories to follow). Then we returned to Arusha this week for finals in which we are completing our Final ISP proposals in which we write our introductions, study sites, and methods of data collection for our respective studies.
Ok so location one, Ngorongoro Crater…I think it may be one of the natural wonders of the world but will need some confirmation. This crater is about 12 miles across and upon arriving to one edge you can honestly see the entire ecosystem within this bowl. There is a massive watering hole, sections of forests and bushland, but for the most part it is all grassland and flat and clear. This spot is very unique because since it is a crater the animals within it rarely migrate due to the difficulty of hiking out of the crater. Personally I have not seen any of the large cats up to this point, but heard from our foresters and Tanzanian drivers that we would have no trouble while there. So camping the first night we were told that due to the fog above the crater there is usually no visible sunrise but awaking at 6:30 we were surprised to find a multicolored sunrise lighting up the massive crater. Venturing into the crater not 20 minutes into the crater we encountered two male cheetahs lounging by the side of the road. We must have been within 10 meters of the two of them and after lounging and then licking each other’s faces the two of them got up and strolled within reach of our car. I could have opened the door and stopped them in their tracks, but they were merely traveling to another spot further down the road to rest there. It is obvious how large of a presence they have as the walk because all of the animals within a hundred meters of them were well aware of their presence and would sprint away to the other side of the herd. After we let the cheetahs roam off we continued on our hunt for the critically endangered black rhinos who number less than 20 in the crater and our goal of the day was to find some. Driving along we saw every safari animal imaginable within the first hour except for rhinos and lions. Then as we were driving our driver Karim spotted a black rhino in the far distance. With high-powered binoculars you could see its outline but little detail. After driving a bit more and just observing the beauty within the crater we made our way to our lunch spot, and not 5 minutes away from the lunch bathrooms and hippo pool we found four lions, two females and two male lions lounging. We stopped and took time for pictures and to watch these large powerful beasts sleep and walk around. After this we continued to the lunch site, which was just over a ridge a few hundred meters from this lion site. After eating lunch we were prompted to go to the bathroom to relieve ourselves before getting back in the cars to drive back through the crater home. On my way to the bathroom with a friend we noticed a large male lion appear over the ridge to the left of the bathrooms and casually walk behind the men’s room to the side of the woman’s room where he laid down on the cool pavement in the shade. He must have been walking within a stones throw away from us, except this time we didn’t have the vantage point or protection of the land rover to protect us. People were very calm in the sense that the Tanzanians around told us to keep our distance but pictures were fine. I later learned that at full sprint a lion can cover 100 meters in about 6 seconds, so any one of us could have been his lunchtime snack…whoops (sorry to almost get eaten mom and dad).
So returning to our campsite we had another night of relaxing cards and socializing by our tents and by the dinner table, while cape buffalo wandered through our campsite every hour or so and had to be scared away by workers. The next morning we hit the road on the way to Serengetti. During this drive we were on some of the flattest land I have ever seen. It honestly just goes on and on with no end. This full day trip took us to our campsite right before dinner and after setting up our tents we got to see another awesome sunset before dinner. The next 4 days were spent collecting data with our field study teams in the morning and being tourists in the afternoons. I completed my hunt for the big 5 while here seeing a Leopard two days in a row up in a tree. We also found a kill site with multiple female lions and all of their cubs, and the 5 or 6 cubs had bloody faces from the kill, but looked very satisfied lounging in the tree. Now off to Wasso where we spent a night in a small guesthouse.
This trip to wasso comes with another very interesting story. There is a man up in northern Tanzania in a district called lushoto who is a priest. A few months ago this man came out saying that he has a tree which was touched by God, and that God told him to tap the tree for its medicine and to administer it to people in need. This topic has exploded among Tanzania and every single person you speak with knows of Babu (Babu means grandfather, but that is what they are calling him). Babu has been charging people 500 Tsh for the medicine (1500 Tsh = 1 USD), so essentially 33 cents in order to take this medicine, which can cure diabetes, cancer, HIV/AIDS, or any other chronic illness. So as word has spread over the last couple of weeks this miracle cure has become the hottest commodity within Tanzania. People are scraping together all of their money in order to pay for rides to this tree in order to find a cure for their sickness. It is an interesting topic in the sense that people who are deathly ill are being removed from their hospital beds to travel up north to wait in 5 days worth of slowly moving traffic where people are camping out on the side of the road while waiting in line for the Dawa (medicine in swahili). Truckloads full of people in the back compartments are driving along extremely poor unpaved, rocky, hilly roads during the wet season. Most of these cars are stalling out if excessive rain comes, and a number more are breaking down along the trip. People have taken the medicine and say that their HIV test thereafter responds negative after being positive their entire life. So think what you want about whether or not this medicine works, but Tanzanians here are going crazy for it.
Back on track…so after our long drive to Wasso passing all of this traffic we were on our way to Lake Natron the next day. Here we would be embarking on our second homestay in Tanzania. I have mentioned the Maasai before here, but they have an amazing culture and it was an experience I couldn’t have imagined. The first day meeting up with my mama in town was much like my Bangata homestay in which the mamas came and were matched up with their sons and daughters and we all hugged and then split up into our own adventures. I walked with my mama to town where we met up with the rest of the mamas and students to have sodas at a Duka (streetside shop). My mama who had a child less than a year old, was feeding him soda as he sucked it down happily. Then after doing a bit of food shopping we went somewhere in town where my mama picked up a goat which she began to carry in addition to her baby which was strapped to her back. We were walking with a few other students and their mamas to our side of town and I quickly relieved my mama from here goat and offered to carry it. The journey took about 35 minutes to our boma goat in arms. Arriving to our boma I realized that one of my friends named polly would be staying within my boma, being that each of our babas (dads) were brothers. Our boma was right by the river and on the first day my younger brother Marco and I went to a real beautiful waterfall about a 20-minute walk up the river. We went swimming and relaxed on the rocks for a while before hiking back for dinner. The typical days hereafter began with sleeping outside on a cowhide under a bug net, and then waking up to walk the goats out to the hills to eat fresh grass and watch the sun rise. Then we would return and myself, being a child and not a murani (maasai warrior who care for the cattle) I spent time with the rest of my mama’s 7 children and the other 10 or so within the boma. As a child we have no worries other than helping around the mamas around the boma, playing in the river (at any given time during the hot hours of the day there are about 30 naked children running and playing in the water), walking to town, or resting in the shade. Then around dinnertime we would eat and relax outside until and event called an esoto happened. An esoto is a dance that happens after dark when the murani come back from being in the fields with the cattle all day. The dance consists of a half circle of warrior men connected to a half circle of young girls aging 10-15. The men sing a series of chants while taking turns jumping and stomping their feet, as the hit the ground they run at the girls and turn, in effect whipping their hair at the girls who they are trying to court. As the men chant in unison the girls sing back in high-pitched tones while shaking the immense ammout of jewelry around their necks. The sounds around the esoto take over the boma and can be heard from far away. I attended the esoto all three nights of my stay with the maasai because I was staying in the boma where it took place. I had friends travel from the other side of town up to an hour walk at 10 pm to attend the dance. I can say that after attending three of the esotos my jumping in the circle became significantly better. After the last day in our home stay we returned to our campsite where we returned the favor to our mamas by buying their jewelry. The next day we headed back to Arusha for finals week. This week has been a lot of work with final ISP proposals laying out our entire studies which we will all be splitting up to complete on Friday. Friday morning I will be going to Mazumbai Forest reserve with 8 other students on a 6 hour bus ride then a 2 hour car ride up to the swiss chateau where we will be staying.
Sorry if any of you have lost interest after this long post, but I’ve just needed to record it all for personal records and so I don’t forget all of this. Hope you have all enjoyed this and if you need to contact me while I am at mazumbai give me a call at +255762147422 (use skype and choose Tanzania or buy a calling card, it can be expensive on a cell phone) or email me and I may be able to check that once or twice over the 20 days.
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