Safari

Before I left I was really nervous about the Safari. I always pictured it with lions sleeping next to me and sleeping on the ground in very uncomfortable places, but I was really wrong. I not only love what we are doing, but I love all the people and the places we stay. I feel like I have seen almost every animal I can possibly imagine. I have seen wildebeests (which I have never heard of until now), tons of zebras, giraffes, warthogs, elephants, mongooses, baboons, river monkeys, water bucks, hippos, lions, hyenas, beautiful birds, crocodiles, ostriches, buffaloes, many different types of antelopes including dick-dicks, impalas, topi, and gazelles. Not to mention all of the bugs. There is a statistic that all of the bugs in the Serengeti plains (which is as big as Holland) weigh more than all of the animals of the Serengeti Plains. My tour guide/driver, Mrosso, is also an amazing person. He is really nice and speaks English really well. He knows every single animal in Tanzania, and sees the animals while driving before anyone else does. He is always really helpful and does not risk anything. My whole family trusts him to keep us extremely safe.

When we were at our first lodge, Kirurumu Tented Camp, our whole family was really tired from almost 48 hours of traveling, but the lodge was beautiful. It was a little bit scary at night because of all of the animals making unfamiliar noises and it was much darker than I am used to. There were mosquito nets on the beds and everyone was really nice. The next place we went, which is one of my favorites, was by Lake Eyasi called Kisima Ngeda Tented Lodge. Everyone there was very welcoming and the food was really good. On the first day there we took a little walk around the campsite, which is really big. We saw lots of little monkeys on that walk. Before the walk, we went to a spring of freshwater which they built a wall around to make a semi-natural pool. The pool was really nice and warm. It was kind of scary with fish swimming around us as we were swimming. I slept better that night, because there weren’t as many animals.

The next morning we woke up really early with a wake up call of one of the people telling us to wake up with Hot Chocolate and Coffee waiting outside our tent. The reason we woke up early was because we were going to visit the Hadzapi Tribe, which is very close to Kisima Ngeda. We went early in time to watch them eat, and hunt breakfast. We walked pretty far until we came across the smallest antelope, called a dik-dik. When they caught it, they killed and carried it back over their shoulder with blood dripping out of its mouth. IT WAS SO GROSS!!!! When they brought it back to where they lived, which was a little straw temporary hut, they cooked over the fire for a couple of minutes and ate it. The whole entire thing. The Hadzapi didn’t used silverware or plates. They even offered my sister the heart; they weren’t kidding. They thought that we brought them good luck. After they ate it they sang songs and danced around the fire. It was really fun watching them dance, but not watching them eat; in fact, I even stayed in the car for the parts I didn’t like. At the end, they sold us beautiful handmade jewelry made out of beads and porcupine quills. It was so different from our life at home. The tribe never knew for sure if they would be able to eat each and everyday. The men only wore pants and shirts if they were lucky. The women wore Tanzanian cloth that didn’t cover them all that much. They didn’t keep track of ages, which my whole family thought was kind of strange.

After the Hadzapi tribe and before going on our next outing, we had a day at the camp. There were kids there for part of the day, which was fun, except they were much younger than us. They were really cute and fun to play with, and it was kind-of fun to think that I was playing with Chris Rock’s kids. We were playing next to the lake and waiting all day for their mom to

The next outing that we went on that day was to the Datoga tribe. This time, we were looking forward to going to the tribe, but not seeing something being killed. After the short drive we arrived at a clearing under an umbrella acacia tree that gave us shade. We sat on hand made benches and watched the Datoga make magnificent things out of used metal. They lit a fire and kept it going by pumping on bags that led to the fire. They melt the metals until they were liquid and poured them into a mold. It dried almost instantly and forms long metal strips. They used everything from old pad-locks to used nails. We watched them make the end of an arrow, which later, they would most likely sell it to a hunting tribe, like the Hadzapi. The arrow, which was created in front of our eyes, took less than ten minutes! It wasn’t simple either. There were spikes on both sides going along the whole thing. We didn’t get to watch them make these, but we bought beautiful bracelets. Mine is gold with little carved lines around the whole thing. It is a soft metal that is somewhat bend-able. We then visited the women, who were making Ugali, which is a Tanzania corn meal that has a texture of mashed potatoes. It is like tofu in the sense that it tastes like what you eat it with. That day was fun.

The next day was the first day that we were able to go on a game drive. We drove off the extremely bumpy road, and after fifteen minutes, we entered the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and the very first thing that we saw were tons of baboons. They were everywhere. They were the first real game that we had seen on the Safari. They were so amazing!!!! The cute little babies on their mothers’ backs, climbing up trees, and drinking from all of the little rivers that are there from the rain. We drove on from the amazing site soon, to see the crater. Some people think that it is the Garden of Eden. The view of the Crater was absolutely amazing. It was beautiful; I thought that I was dreaming. We worked our way further up into the Conservation Area.

After seeing tons of animals in the conservation we passed through the gate on the way to the Serengeti. We saw millions of animals there too. It was the most incredible thing I have ever seen. After a couple of hours of giraffes, zebras, wildebeests, and much more, we slept at Ikoma Bush Camp, which was a tented camp in the middle of the Serengeti. It was definitely my least favorite camp. It rained and thunder-stormed both nights we were there. I also got tons of mosquito bites there. The food was o.k. The next day we woke up and after a short breakfast, in which my sister and I did not eat our eggs (again), departed on another game drive. We saw female lions from afar, and antelopes, elephants, zebras, giraffes, warthogs, and tons more animals. We went back that night to the camp and met four-year-old girl from Germany. We once again had an o.k. dinner, and then went of to bed. We slept well and woke up to a beautiful sunset. We then departd to Speke Bay, which is part of Lake Victoria.

After a wonderful day of seeing more animals, we arrived at Speke Bay Lodge. It was more like a hotel room then the other lodges, but we didn’t like it all that much because they wouldn’t let Mrosso, our tour guide, stay at the lodge, when all the others did. We had a good dinner and then went to sleep. The next day we relaxed. We did a lot of writing and work. We also ate breakfast with hippos. (They were in the water and we were at the restaurant.) Hippos make the funniest noises. It was a fun day, a day at the beach. We had a good lunch, it was a hamburger, a little different, but good. After lunch we read our books for a while and then went to dinner. We watched a T.V. show on my computer called “Freaks and Geeks” and then we all went to sleep.

We then went back to Ngorongoro and after another beautiful day of game drives we arrived at Ndutu Safari Lodge. About a mile or so away from the lodge, we saw a mother lion and her two cubs. That was our first close up experience with Lions. It was amazing. We got so close to them and I just wanted to snuggle up to them, not that it would be safe or anything. When we got to the lodge, we were really excited to find out that we could use Internet. We all took showers and enjoyed my parents favorite meal of the safari. We then went to bed after a great day and ready for another one.

We woke up the next day and went on a game drive after breakfast. We saw an entire pride of lions- nine of them!!! It was the coolest thing I had ever seen in my life. There were two male, three female, and four cubs. It was so amazing. We then saw my favorite animal of the whole safari, a cheetah. We were so close; it was amazing! When were there, I started to get a headache and it was starting to get blurry to see. We then went back to the lodge for lunch. I was feeling horrible so I didn’t eat. I slept on the couch while the rest of my family ate (I was told, delicious) lunch. While I was on the couch sipping my ginger ale, I was dreading the long ride that we were about to take in the jeep. When we left, I wasn’t feeling any better, but I slept on my moms lap the whole way (she won the award for the best human pillow) and by the time I woke up, I was feeling much better.

A little while later, we made it to the next lodge, called The Plantation Lodge. When we arrived, we got a really nice room that fit all four of us. We went swimming in a nice, but cold, pool. We had a nice afternoon-with more Internet access-and then we enjoyed a nice dinner. The next morning we woke, ready for an exciting second to last day at the Ngorongoro crater. We drove for a pretty long time until we started the decent. We saw a couple of elephants and then millions of wildebeests and zebras less that a foot away from us. There were also warthogs on herds of buffalo. None of them were scared of us. They were so close! We drove on and saw more lions and some rhinoceros’ from very far away; we also saw two more cheetahs. We saw many flamingoes. It was like a sea of pink (Leah, you would love it!). After lunch with trying to dodge the birds that were stealing lunches, we headed back to the Plantation Lodge and swam some more.

The next morning we woke up early so we would make it to Lake Manyara National Park. We drove through and saw hippos and an amazing herd of elephants. There was a little baby elephant underneath his mother. There were about twelve elephants three feet away from me. When we left that incredible sight, and we were off to Mount Meru game lodge for our last safari meal. It was a delicious meal of Tanzanian food. After lunch we took off, and headed to Rau Village to begin our volunteering.