Camping in the African Savannah

Summary of our safari days Monday 9.8 - Friday 13.8 (unfortunately they're a little strict when it comes to pictures on the computers here so we won't have many to post at this time, but I'll try to sneak in one or two when they're not looking)

Monday we drove from Lake Manyara to Serengeti. It was a long drive, but fortunately we had some entertainment along the way. We saw a leopard, elephants, ostriches (struts), giraffes, zebras and gazelles but most of them were far away or we only saw them for a brief moment. We were hoping to see more as we got to Serengeti and we did...

When we arrived at our camp site the sun was setting. As we were going to brush our teeth, we saw a buffalo eating right next to someone's tent! We got some photos before we walked back with a high pulse... Later we found out that they ate the grass around our tents all the time and that they were there during the nights also. 

During our game drive the following day we were lucky enough to witness a pack of lions going right past us! They went from one side of the road to the other, right next to our car and then they hung out for a while pretty close to where we were. It was amazing to see them so close, they're really beautiful animals. 

While Anne and I wanted to stay and watch them for a while, our driver seemed eager to go further. And we're very happy for that, because there was a leopard coming down from a nearby tree. We parked our car and looked at it gracefully making its way through the grass towards us. I thought they were really shy animals, but this one walked right past us. A little scary knowing how strong they are and how high they can jump but absolutely incredible to see. We got good pictures and some video clips as well so I'll see if I can post something later on.

After these two lucky events, we wanted to see more of course. We wanted to see if we could get a look at the fastest runner in the world, the cheetah (geopard). And guess what, we did :) After a long drive and lots of spotting for "nothing" (meaning giraffes, zebras, gazelles etc. - we were very spoiled at that point), we saw two beautiful cheetas having a rest under a tree. We drove up to them and took pictures while they were having what looked like an after dinner nap (maybe they'd just eaten one of the many cute Thomson gazelles around). 

Our last night at the Serengeti camp, one of the girls in our group was brushing her teeth behind her tent when she heard something moving in the grass in front of her. She aimed her head lamp towards the sound and looked straight into the eyes of a male lion! He was maybe 2 m away. I'm really glad it was her because she just calmly walked back to our guide and told him that there was a lion there (his response was "oh, you're lucky!" and went to have a look but it was gone then). If this was me, I probably would have either screemed, frozen and/or tripped over the tent as I was trying to run back as fast as I could. It's the female lions that hunt though so I believe it would have been worse if it would have been a female but still...

Since we we had been so lucky to see so much up close, we felt it was time for some blood and action! Our last day in Serengeti we saw some female lions eating their prey but unfortunately we had just missed the kill. Some blood, but not enough. Then, we saw two other female lions hiding and watching a bunch of Thomson gazelles eating. They slowly and almost invisibly moved closer and closer until they had decided that they were close enough and went for it. It was some long and intense minutes and the actual chase was over in just a few seconds, but unfortunately for us, the lions missed the gazelles this time. What a thrill though!

Someone in the group wanted to see many elephants together, up close and with babies (!). We saw a group with babies but not very close. What I found more fun, was an elephant that came right up to our car, probably wondering what large animal we were. He was huge and moved really slowly towards us. He could probably very easily have tipped us over or put his tusks (stoettenner) through our window or something, but fortunately he didn't. He just walked on after a little while. I was filming as he came closer and closer and I have to admit, I got scared when he was so close so I stopped filming and almost sat back down. Puh! Safari is exhausting but incredibly fun!!

Our next destination was the Ngorogoro crater. On the way there we stopped and visited a Masai village. This was surreal. They lived in tiny little huts and we got to come in and see what it was like in there. The guy we talked to was 28 years old and had only one wife so far, but his father had many. He was then saving so he could get more cows to buy another wife soon. The more wives you had, the more of a man you were. The women built and cared for the huts and the men visited them in turn. Very strange society. They put on one of their famous dances for us and Hilde joined them in the jumping - sporty spice! We visited their school and gave some gifts we had brought for them. Very touching to see them get so happy for a couple of coloring books, pens, crayons etc.

We got to our camp site and got ready for dinner. Suddenly everyone started going outside, so we did too. There was an elephant drinking from our water tank! We had heard that the elephants could smell water and that we shouldn't have any in our tents at night but seeing this huge animal drinking our water was just absolutely surreal.

During our game drive in the crater the follwing day, we wanted to look for the last of the Big 5, the rhino. Unfortunately we didn't see any rhino's but we saw the following:

hippos with babies (both in the water and out), flamingoes, the most beautiful male lion, lions eating their zebra prey (would have loved to see that hunt, but didn't unfortunately), jackals, hyenas, lots and lots of wildebeest and zebras.

Other animals we saw during these days were nile crocodile, impala, grant's gazelle, topi, hartebeest, suni, fisher's lovebirds, white-headed buffalo weaver, helmeted guineafowl, kori bustard, eagles, hornbill, vultures, crowned crane, hyrax, vervet monkey, mongoos (Timon), serval (first time our driver had seen one) and warthogs (Pumba).

The big 5: lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo, rhino

The small 5: ant lion, leopard turtois, elephant shrew, white-headed buffalo weaver, rhino beetle

The ugly 5: hyena, wildebeest, warthog, hippo and marabou stork

Our fab 5: Thomson's gazelle, lion, fisher's lovebird, leopard, giraffe

The african savannah has many trees as well. The most extraordinary, I think, is the Baob tree, the umbrella tree and the sausage tree.

I believe we were really lucky to see what we did even though we didn't see any rhinos. I guess we'll have to come back for that some other time :) After a long drive back to our hotel in Arusha we had a very needed shower and a beer with the group. The next morning we said our goodbyes and left for the town of Moshi - the basis for our Kili trip.

Africa - here we come!!

Friday 6.8.2010 and Saturday 7.8.2010
06.55 Departure time from Oslo Gardermoen, an early start on our trip but a long way ahead before we reach our destination. No problems with checking in and off we went. The route was Frankfurt, Addis Ababa and then Kilimanjaro international airport. We had a couple of hours to kill in Addis Ababa so we had time to experience the local food and look at some souvenirs. Managed not to buy anything though. Good girls!

We almost went all the way to Dar es Salam which was the final destination of our flight, but luckily we woke up on time and asked a couple of questions… We got our visas and even all our bags – happy times!

3 am: Arriving at the Outpost lodge in Serengeti Rd, Arusha, after a taxi trip from the airport. Lots of rain but our taxi driver told us it was “only for tonight” so we crossed our fingers for that and then went to sleep.

At around 11 we got up and went downstairs for breakfast at the Mambo café. There we met some people from England, Norway (!) and Canada who arrived from their Kilimanjaro climb. Out of the six people, four made it to the top. One of them was blinded the last km but still kept on going. Another had Star Wars hallucinations and fluids that had built up and came out of her eyes – she had to quit. They all started telling stories of -20 degrees and strong winds, headaches, chest pressure, sickness, stomach problems etc. I think we were all a bit taken back by how extreme this trip really is, but fortunately they all agreed on it being a great trip all in all and something for us to look forward to. I think it’s great to hear their stories regardless of how bad they are and to get some good tips on what to do and not to do and also what we can expect.

After breakfast, we went with one of the GAP tour guides to see the city of Arusha. We saw general street life and the market as well as historical monuments, “the middle of Africa”, several Coca Cola signs and the museum of the famous stone Tanzanite. The most expensive visit was definitely the latter… Beautiful, beautiful stones!

The pressure to buy paintings, fruits or other home grown and home made products was quite intense at times but our guide, Peter, was quick to push them away. When coming back to the hotel, we enjoyed a few drinks by the pool before a meeting with the group to prepare us for the great safari trip ahead. I can’t wait to see some animals (hopefully up close and in action) and the famous African savannah.


Sunday 8.8.2010
Start of the day at 7.00 with breakfast and a good chat with our new safari friends. First destination for the trip was the cash machine and then money exchange. It’s difficult with large dollar notes here, but unfortunately they didn’t have dollars today so I guess we’ll have to manage with what we have. Tanzanian schillings are also a possibility but it’s hard to know how much we’re going to spend here so it’s easier to stick to the good old USD.

After a pit stop at a souvenir shop with happy rooms (rest rooms) and a changing of a tire, we were on our way to the lake Manyara national park. Along the way we saw a marathon race with people running barefoot or with flip flops only! We also saw some funny looking trees and giraffes and zebras! We were all excited to see our first flock of African wild animals :)

We arrived at our camp, Twiga camp, in the town Mto Wa Mbu. Our tents were already put up by our assistant guides and we went directly for lunch. Really good food made by our cooks. Pretty westernized food though, but better than expected.

After lunch we headed for a walk in the village. We visited a banana plantation growing the rare red, and the more common yellow bananas. We also saw how the local people lived, very interesting and a bit sad as well because of the low standard. Building a brick house takes 10 years and is expensive so most people live in wooden huts. After this we went to see a rice field. Many people also live from rice production – a bit surprising to me. Across the street was an orphanage. We stopped by and the kids were really happy to see us and sang a few songs for us. It was very touching to see these young kids who had lost one or both of their parents, mostly to AIDS we were told, playing and singing in this tiny little room. They did also finish off with a song basically begging for money which many of us thought was a bit unnecessary but hopefully the money we gave will be used for something good to benefit them directly.

At the banana plantation, we were promised to taste the local banana beer. We walked through what we would call many people’s yards and back yards and into a place where they made this brew. It was served in a plastic mug and passed around the whole group. It tasted sour and hade some sort of grains in it so I would rather recommend one of the other local beers instead, for instance the Serengeti or the Kilimanjaro.

Then there was time for our afternoon game drive. We drove off into the bush and saw baboons, vervet monkeys, water bucks, a Black Mamba snake, Zebras, Giraffes, Hippos, elephants, Dik Diks and lots of different birds. Some of the animals were a bit far away but it was fun seeing them anyway and I hope we will see more of them up closer in the next few days.

Back at camp we had our last hot water shower for a few days (barely water at all though) before a lovely dinner and an ice cold beer. At nine, it was time to hit the tents. Me, all by my lonesome. I thought I would be too scared to sleep in my own tent, but it feels pretty good here actually, at least for tonight. Less comfort awaits us in the nights to come apparently, and a higher probability of getting stepped on by an elephant or something… Good night & sweet dreams… :)