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“Genetic memory…people come here (Africa) from
-Richard Leakey, quoted in The Frozen Leopard by Aaron Latham
Safari Day 2
Mto-wa-Mbu Village through Ngorongoro Conservation Area to Serengeti National Park, with a stop at Olduvai Gorge
If Manyara means nourishment for the soul, I woke up for Day 2 thinking about how impressive our first park visit was and ready for more! The night had been warm, good for sleeping, but I still woke up really early, washed up and packed. Breakfast included eggs, sausage, tomatoes, cucumbers and bread. After eating we started out, our eventual goal for the day – the Serengeti. It would be a long, but extremely interesting day and in many ways – nourishing!
Getting ready for breakfast
We stopped right outside the campground at a small curio market. I found a fabric piece I liked and bargained to about $6.00 for what is a 4 meter long piece of Tanzanian cotton. The women wrap these into skirts or have them made into dresses. The women have a great way of combining colors and patterns, (as you may have noticed in some of the market photos). Our next stop was for gas and of course we shopped a little more since the gas station was surrounded by small shops, including one with nice mahogany items. Roger and Marsh bought mahogany bowls and I ended up with a small bowl and more fabric.
After the “errands”, we started driving to Ngorongoro, which is partly a crater. The road climbs up to and travels across the rim of the crater, before heading down the other end and into the Serengeti. (This safari is an out and back with the Serengeti as the turnaround.) The climb up is very scenic, very green, with some fields planted in corn and others planted in bright flowers, which Madil said are harvested for perfume. The Maasai live all through the area, some in small groups of huts, others in small villages. We saw many people walking on the road, some herding cattle and goats. We stopped at an overlook with views of the valley and
The group at the baobab tree
As we traveled higher it got cloudier and cooler. The paved road ends at about the Ngorongoro park gate; we would be on incredibly bumpy and dusty dirt roads until we reached this gate again on the way back to Moshi. Madil stopped to complete the paperwork, required at all the parks. We looked at the exhibits and toured the grounds. There is a black rhino painted on the outside of the visitor center – Madil mentioned that now we had seen one of the Big 5 – so we should not bug him about seeing a rhino later! I told him that if we didn’t see a “real” rhino, I would take his picture with this “rhino” on the drive out! The Big 5: lion, elephant, buffalo, rhino and leopard. These are considered the most dangerous animals, so of course are the ones everyone wants to see. Rhinos are the most difficult to find as there are very few of them left, only 19 in the crater. On a side note, the visitor center was selling “hakuna matata” bumpa stickas!!!
We continued up the road and almost immediately started seeing animals: baboons and then a buffalo right on the road. The only time I ever saw Madil get nervous was with this buffalo standing right next to “his” vehicle. He was watching it carefully and fully expected it to charge the truck – so he had one foot on the gas ready to floor it!
Fortunately, the buffalo turned away, left the road and Madil relaxed. We eventually topped out on one side of the rim of the crater. It was very cloudy so we couldn’t see into the crater at the 1st of several overlooks. The road passed near a lodge built right on the edge that Madil said cost $500.00 per person per night. On the way back, we will camp not far from this lodge. We eventually got to see into the crater just before we started down away from the rim. The crater is immense and gorgeous! I wanted to go running! Oh yeah, something might eat me...!
See why I want to run?!
The road continued down. Ngorongoro Conservation Area and
Maasai region - this is the valley and plains on the opposite side of the road from the photo above
We stopped for lunch at
Lunch with a view of Olduvai Gorge, laying on the table is a stalk of an oldupai plant referred to below
There’s a museum which reviewed the history of the gorge and the Leakey’s work. The exhibits include tools, bones, photos etc. from the four geologic layers in the gorge and a full size casting of the Laetoli or Hominid walkway.
One of the rangers gave a talk about the area. He explained that the word Olduvai is derived from Oldupai, the Maasai word for the wild sisal plant which grows throughout the area. The ranger mentioned that excavation is still going on today and he pointed out some of the archeological sites. We could see the Leakey’s house on one of the bluffs. At the actual sites, they used tented camps and even had their dalmatian dogs with them! Supposedly they slept in their vehicle with the dogs, as a precaution against predators.
I’m glad we stopped at Olduvai – it was fascinating to see this part of human history, man’s evolving journey. 3.6 million years worth of history! I put my hand on top of one of the footprints in the hominid track – it was just slightly smaller. These early people were tiny – we’ve come a long way!
After lunch and the museum visit we continued our road trek to the Serengeti. We again gave our extra food to a Maasai herder boy - Big Smile!!! Today’s lunch included Laughing Cow cheese which
This area between Olduvai and Serengeti is much drier and warmer than the crater area. Finally reached the
We all bought cold drinks and snacks – even found potato chips! Madil popped the top so we would be ready to look for animals. We headed into the park and our first game drive in the famous Serengeti! Gazelles, giraffes, elephants kind of far away, a few hippos doing absolutely nothing in a small hippo pool, wildebeest, usually with zebras, many birds including storks and vultures. Mick continued to check everything off on his list – he is a great bird watcher and competed with Madil on discovering and naming the birds. Madil was trying to find predators and drove to areas near kopjes or water holes, where they might be. He was on and off the radio as well. At one point he listened to a radio call and asked if we were all ready to move on. He then takes off incredibly fast – for these roads – and heads to an area we had not been to yet. We figured out that when he did this it was most likely a Big 5 or predator sighting, but he would never tell us anything until we actually got there. Never wanted to get our hopes up too much. (But, we were really lucky on this trip and saw many great and amazing animals!!!) Madil also did an excellent job of positioning (and re-positioning when necessary), our vehicle for good viewing, even when many other vehicles were around. Having a good guide/driver makes a HUGE difference in the quality and fun of the safari experience.
Anyway, this radio call happened to be for a lion family resting just off the road. At first I couldn’t see them – they are so well camouflaged by the tall grasses. But then two cubs popped their heads up! Mostly, we watched the cubs playing. Every few minutes the Mom would look up and check on the cubs, but Dad never moved except for twitching his tail. Madil told us that the males mark and defend territory and keep the family or pride together. The females hunt, although the males get to eat first! If another male takes over a family, he will kill any cubs so that he can start his own family. We watched the lions for a long time. I couldn’t believe how close we were – about 15-20 feet away.
We drove to a group of acacia trees and spent some time looking for a leopard. Madil suspected one was in the area near the trees because the animals appeared nervous and watchful, one bird was squawking a constant warning. There were also monkeys who had retreated really high up in the trees. We stayed for a long time but never spotted any predators. Madil even drove away and circled back just in case!
We started to head for camp, visited the hippos again and saw tons of zebras and wildebeests. Zebras are fairly orderly, walking in lines, or so it appears, while the wildebeests are running amongst them like maniacs. They are ugly and comical and we all loved them, especially Mick! He would “speak” for them: “Hey, I’m here, what’s happening, what’s going on?” We would all laugh; for most of you readers this qualifies as "had to be there"!! The zebras seemed to have an orderly migration plan while the wildebeests basically run all over the place. They all get along. If the vehicle approached zebras on the road, they would take off very quickly, while we didn’t seem to bother the wildebeests with our approach.
Sometimes I think we stress these animals more than we might think as we’re experiencing their habitat “on safari”. There are some park rules, such as no game drives at night and a lot of etiquette, such as turning off engines when stopped, approaching slowly, giving any animal with cubs a wider berth. So, even though I know that these parks and the animals within them exist because
Reached our camping area just before dark, witnessing a wonderful sunset as we were driving. It was beautiful watching the light change as it played across the unending plains. The word “Serengeti” is Maasai for “land of endless space”.
I love acacia trees!
Our camping area was in the park and NOT fenced in, animals can and do walk through it. The communal cooking and eating areas are set up in concrete and mesh enclosures. We were told to leave all food in the truck. And, if we got up during the night to use the “facilities”, to shine our lights in all directions first. Looking for eyes looking at you! Yikes! Needless to say, none of us were too excited about going out into the night alone!
No running water at this camp and hole in the ground “squat” toilets. We were getting used to being dusty and grubby! We ate a late dinner in the “enclosure”. During dinner we heard lions roar – Madil said they were about 5k (3 miles) away. Awesome! After dinner, we did a group trek to the toilets and then to the tents. Jane was able to sleep through the night until about 4 AM, when we both needed an outdoor “visit”. The night sky was amazing – zillions of stars and the milky way. No animals in our headlamp field of vision!
However, I heard animals all through the night. Zebras, lions roaring, hyena barking. At one point, I’m laying there listening, thinking – wow – I’m in the middle of the Serengeti right with, and surrounded by, all these incredible wild animals. How cool is that?!!! Maybe my thoughts had something to do with the fact that we (mankind) evolved in savannah landscapes. Maybe there is a fragile, primitive memory connection. Maybe I once lived here...
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