In order to go to safari we had to leave Dar. A 11 hours bus-ride (which under normal circumstances would take 9 hours) took us to Arusha, the hub for all safaris to Serengeti and Ngorongoro crater. These 2 big names, known by everybody who ever watched animal documentaries we had on our list.
But first of all we were very disappointed by the weather. Arusha was cold, grey and rainy. The hostel we had booked via internet was outside of town on a hill overlooking the town. Sounds romantic until you find out that the only way to get there is by walking up the hill on steep muddy tracks which we had to do in the dark with all our bags... Solar-powered electricity didn't work as there was no sun during the day and our room was less than basic. It turns out we had been blinded by the fancy internet page, which is unusual as normally the hostels have only rubbish homepages.
Anyway, we were there for a reason and the next morning we made our way to the town to find a safari for the next day. Apparently the way to go is in small groups with a guide and a cook. Not the big busses we've seen in Etosha. We asked at several safari booking offices and were lucky enough to find a group which we could join the next day, just how we wanted it. So we packed our stuff into smaller bags, left the big backpacks at the hostel and met Laura&Russell a couple from London with whom we spent the next 5 days.
Our guide was Thomas, a guy from the south of Tanzania and apparently a popular one as Laura&Russell had booked him specifically because he was highly recommended by others. Our cook was Moses who spoiled us with fabulous meals over the following days...
First we went to a Nationalpark at Lake Manyara, where "lions climb trees" according to the guide books. But Thomas tough us that this was a myth and that lions' paws are to small compared to their body weight. However, 10 years back there might have been the occasional lion on the tree because of nasty ants on the trees... But we shouldn't see predators in that park anyway. We stopped to see wildebeests, zebras, hippos, we came very close to giraffes and elephants but in hindsight this was just a teaser before we should go to the "serious stuff". Luckily it was a bit warmer once we had left Arusha, but it was still jumper-weather.
Our camping ground was outside of the park in a village called Mto wa mbu, which means "mosquitos by the river" but luckily it was too cold for mozzies, so all wildlife we had to deal with were some marabu storks which preferred to fight in the trees above us... or was it mating behaviour? it's hard to tell, but it was scary to watch these huge, massive birds (maybe double the size of a European stork) flapping wings and clattering their bills...
The next day we entered the famous Serengeti Nationalpark and we had company of numerous other cars and tourists. Someone said there are about 280 safari companies visiting the park... But luckily, the Serengeti is huge, is vaste, sheer endless, just how the name says: Serengeti = endless plain.
Before we went there we told Thomas what we would like to see, and while it was Laura&Russell's first safari and they freaked out seeing a giraffe already, we already had seen most animals in Etosha except leopards and cheetah and put that on the list. Thomas said, it would be no problem to see all of them. But as we drove around, Thomas on the driver seat looking for tracks, us sticking our heads out of the popped-up roof, it was us who spotted a giant black snake lifting its head in the grass (identified by Thomas as Black Mamba, but we were not convinced as it head cobra-like features) and later a serval cat, very rarely seen. And later on we had giraffes, hippos, elephants and lots of antelopes ticked off the list. "Ticked off" might sound a bit bored, but in fact, we always stopped, shut the engine down and watched the creatures for a while. It's amazing how little they are bothered by cars. They don't regard cars as predators or competitors... they are just there like rocks or trees. It must be strange for the animals that the "rocks" or "trees" are talking but they absolutely don't mind and still they are far away from being tame and they can't be touched. And finally at the end of the day we saw a leopard and his freshly killed gazelle high up in the tree. Leopards are the best killers when it comes to success-rate, we learned. Lions hunt in packs and their success relies on their skill as a pack. Cheetahs are fast but only for 3 minutes whereas their favourite food, the Thompson gazelles can run high speed for 30 minutes... But the leopard is most skilled and most successful. Leopards creep in the high grass unseen until they are very close to the prey, they stick their tail up and make the tip dance in the high grass, which makes dumb gazelle curious and that's when they get it...
Our camp this time was in the middle of the nationalpark and unlike Etosha it was not fenced. So we were told the biggest intruder over night could be a hyena (anything bigger avoids humans) and hyenas would never attack humans... Still... I didn't go to the toilet that night when I heard them laughing (yes, hyenas bark in a way that sound like laughter) and roaming around the tents...
The next day we spent driving around and witnessing very spectacular scenes. The leopard of last night was still hanging around at that same tree, but when we drove there and watched him for a while, his food, the half eaten gazelle suddenly dropped down and almost out of nowhere there was a hyena which took the meat away and the leopard halfway down the tree could only watch... But he had a full belly and the gazelle meat was too old for him now anyway.
Further on we saw a pack of lions, 2 mothers with their asolescent cups. Seeking the shade they came over to our car and stayed there and we couldn't get enough of watching them so close up, we couldn't believe it. We almost couldn't get rid of them went we wanted to drive off... But there was so much more to come. We saw lions making love, which they apparently do every 15minutes and it took them 30 seconds including foreplay ;-)
We saw a cheetah sitting in thge shade of the tree, but veeeery far away. We watched amazingly colourful birds and incredibly huge birds (vultures, bustards, cranes, storks), some monkeys crossed our way, but not a lot as there are not many trees in serengeti. We came across more elephants and giraffes, but most of the time we just enjoyed driving through the landscape, head sticking out of the roof, wind (and lots of dust) in the hair and finally it was a bit warmer.
After lunch we would witness the highly dramatic scene of a pack of 10-12 juvenile male lions chasing a herd of buffalos. Buffalos are not easy to kill, it takes a few lions and many hours to be successful. Also buffalos are very likely to turn around and chase the lions instead and we watched exactly this. The herd of buffalos was several hundred animals and while the lead group tried to flee, the last buffalos, apparently the bulls tried to chase the lions away. The buffalos crossed the road on which several dozen cars lined up to watch the scene. One old buffalo cow was bleeding on neck and tail and snorting nervously as she was attacked before. But buffalos help each other and even now we could see how other buffalos tried to give her relief by chasing away the birds which tried to pick the wounds and they almost seem to console her by nudging her with their snouts, very touching. So they kept on crossing the road in front of us and we saw the lions trotting behind them, waiting for their next chance. Another buffalo cow was suddenly changing direction and instead of following the herd, she ran in the opposite direction, obviously searching her calf. But a buffalo separated from the herd... that's not good and we tried to talk her into turning around seeing the inevitable... We were so excited. We didn't want the buffalo to die but we didn't want lions to starve either. It felt like in a movie where you are supposed to watch but still you give comments when you see more than the lead character...
At the end the buffalo escaped as the lions were only practising... too inexperienced to finish the job. We all were reliefed, but excited like after watching a thriller.
As usual we finished the day with a big dinner and some card games.
Day 4 of the safari was a bit dull. We spent half a day to leave Serengeti and once we entered the Ngorongoro crater it was so full of cars, it was cold again and there was nothing to see we hadn't seen before. Except the rhino. There are no rhinos in Serengeti anymore, but in Ngorongoro they settled around 20 rhinos, which are rarely seen. So everbody was excited and the cars chased around the plain to come closest to the rhino which walked its way not caring about all the hustle around it. At least Thomas was proud to now having shown us "the big five". Every tourist wants to see the big five, but it's not the 5 biggest animals, but the 5 animals hardest to hunt on foot as the expression is from the early days. So the hardest to hunt on foot are lions, leopards, rhinos, elephants and buffalos. And we've seen them all. And not only seen. We had some unforgettable encounters!
The rest of the day wasn't very spectacular, we had lunch on a lake full of splashing hippos (but with enough distance to them) and with many other tourists around. And at the end of the day we went back to the village of Mta wa mbu where we wanted to do some walking the next day as everybody was sick of sitting in the car.
The walk turned into a bike tour which took us around the village and through it and we learned about the fishermen, the banana plantation, banana beer and we visited a primary school. The village seemed to be very dedicated to tourism and nobody seemed to mind us muzungus driving around their backyards. Of course they tried to sell us stuff but we are very good in saying no by now.
So that was a real safari in the real Serengeti, definitely a "once in a lifetime"-experience!
Lake Manyara giraffe:
Anyway, we were there for a reason and the next morning we made our way to the town to find a safari for the next day. Apparently the way to go is in small groups with a guide and a cook. Not the big busses we've seen in Etosha. We asked at several safari booking offices and were lucky enough to find a group which we could join the next day, just how we wanted it. So we packed our stuff into smaller bags, left the big backpacks at the hostel and met Laura&Russell a couple from London with whom we spent the next 5 days.
Our guide was Thomas, a guy from the south of Tanzania and apparently a popular one as Laura&Russell had booked him specifically because he was highly recommended by others. Our cook was Moses who spoiled us with fabulous meals over the following days...
First we went to a Nationalpark at Lake Manyara, where "lions climb trees" according to the guide books. But Thomas tough us that this was a myth and that lions' paws are to small compared to their body weight. However, 10 years back there might have been the occasional lion on the tree because of nasty ants on the trees... But we shouldn't see predators in that park anyway. We stopped to see wildebeests, zebras, hippos, we came very close to giraffes and elephants but in hindsight this was just a teaser before we should go to the "serious stuff". Luckily it was a bit warmer once we had left Arusha, but it was still jumper-weather.
Our camping ground was outside of the park in a village called Mto wa mbu, which means "mosquitos by the river" but luckily it was too cold for mozzies, so all wildlife we had to deal with were some marabu storks which preferred to fight in the trees above us... or was it mating behaviour? it's hard to tell, but it was scary to watch these huge, massive birds (maybe double the size of a European stork) flapping wings and clattering their bills...
The next day we entered the famous Serengeti Nationalpark and we had company of numerous other cars and tourists. Someone said there are about 280 safari companies visiting the park... But luckily, the Serengeti is huge, is vaste, sheer endless, just how the name says: Serengeti = endless plain.
Before we went there we told Thomas what we would like to see, and while it was Laura&Russell's first safari and they freaked out seeing a giraffe already, we already had seen most animals in Etosha except leopards and cheetah and put that on the list. Thomas said, it would be no problem to see all of them. But as we drove around, Thomas on the driver seat looking for tracks, us sticking our heads out of the popped-up roof, it was us who spotted a giant black snake lifting its head in the grass (identified by Thomas as Black Mamba, but we were not convinced as it head cobra-like features) and later a serval cat, very rarely seen. And later on we had giraffes, hippos, elephants and lots of antelopes ticked off the list. "Ticked off" might sound a bit bored, but in fact, we always stopped, shut the engine down and watched the creatures for a while. It's amazing how little they are bothered by cars. They don't regard cars as predators or competitors... they are just there like rocks or trees. It must be strange for the animals that the "rocks" or "trees" are talking but they absolutely don't mind and still they are far away from being tame and they can't be touched. And finally at the end of the day we saw a leopard and his freshly killed gazelle high up in the tree. Leopards are the best killers when it comes to success-rate, we learned. Lions hunt in packs and their success relies on their skill as a pack. Cheetahs are fast but only for 3 minutes whereas their favourite food, the Thompson gazelles can run high speed for 30 minutes... But the leopard is most skilled and most successful. Leopards creep in the high grass unseen until they are very close to the prey, they stick their tail up and make the tip dance in the high grass, which makes dumb gazelle curious and that's when they get it...
Our camp this time was in the middle of the nationalpark and unlike Etosha it was not fenced. So we were told the biggest intruder over night could be a hyena (anything bigger avoids humans) and hyenas would never attack humans... Still... I didn't go to the toilet that night when I heard them laughing (yes, hyenas bark in a way that sound like laughter) and roaming around the tents...
The next day we spent driving around and witnessing very spectacular scenes. The leopard of last night was still hanging around at that same tree, but when we drove there and watched him for a while, his food, the half eaten gazelle suddenly dropped down and almost out of nowhere there was a hyena which took the meat away and the leopard halfway down the tree could only watch... But he had a full belly and the gazelle meat was too old for him now anyway.
Further on we saw a pack of lions, 2 mothers with their asolescent cups. Seeking the shade they came over to our car and stayed there and we couldn't get enough of watching them so close up, we couldn't believe it. We almost couldn't get rid of them went we wanted to drive off... But there was so much more to come. We saw lions making love, which they apparently do every 15minutes and it took them 30 seconds including foreplay ;-)
We saw a cheetah sitting in thge shade of the tree, but veeeery far away. We watched amazingly colourful birds and incredibly huge birds (vultures, bustards, cranes, storks), some monkeys crossed our way, but not a lot as there are not many trees in serengeti. We came across more elephants and giraffes, but most of the time we just enjoyed driving through the landscape, head sticking out of the roof, wind (and lots of dust) in the hair and finally it was a bit warmer.
After lunch we would witness the highly dramatic scene of a pack of 10-12 juvenile male lions chasing a herd of buffalos. Buffalos are not easy to kill, it takes a few lions and many hours to be successful. Also buffalos are very likely to turn around and chase the lions instead and we watched exactly this. The herd of buffalos was several hundred animals and while the lead group tried to flee, the last buffalos, apparently the bulls tried to chase the lions away. The buffalos crossed the road on which several dozen cars lined up to watch the scene. One old buffalo cow was bleeding on neck and tail and snorting nervously as she was attacked before. But buffalos help each other and even now we could see how other buffalos tried to give her relief by chasing away the birds which tried to pick the wounds and they almost seem to console her by nudging her with their snouts, very touching. So they kept on crossing the road in front of us and we saw the lions trotting behind them, waiting for their next chance. Another buffalo cow was suddenly changing direction and instead of following the herd, she ran in the opposite direction, obviously searching her calf. But a buffalo separated from the herd... that's not good and we tried to talk her into turning around seeing the inevitable... We were so excited. We didn't want the buffalo to die but we didn't want lions to starve either. It felt like in a movie where you are supposed to watch but still you give comments when you see more than the lead character...
At the end the buffalo escaped as the lions were only practising... too inexperienced to finish the job. We all were reliefed, but excited like after watching a thriller.
As usual we finished the day with a big dinner and some card games.
Day 4 of the safari was a bit dull. We spent half a day to leave Serengeti and once we entered the Ngorongoro crater it was so full of cars, it was cold again and there was nothing to see we hadn't seen before. Except the rhino. There are no rhinos in Serengeti anymore, but in Ngorongoro they settled around 20 rhinos, which are rarely seen. So everbody was excited and the cars chased around the plain to come closest to the rhino which walked its way not caring about all the hustle around it. At least Thomas was proud to now having shown us "the big five". Every tourist wants to see the big five, but it's not the 5 biggest animals, but the 5 animals hardest to hunt on foot as the expression is from the early days. So the hardest to hunt on foot are lions, leopards, rhinos, elephants and buffalos. And we've seen them all. And not only seen. We had some unforgettable encounters!
The rest of the day wasn't very spectacular, we had lunch on a lake full of splashing hippos (but with enough distance to them) and with many other tourists around. And at the end of the day we went back to the village of Mta wa mbu where we wanted to do some walking the next day as everybody was sick of sitting in the car.
The walk turned into a bike tour which took us around the village and through it and we learned about the fishermen, the banana plantation, banana beer and we visited a primary school. The village seemed to be very dedicated to tourism and nobody seemed to mind us muzungus driving around their backyards. Of course they tried to sell us stuff but we are very good in saying no by now.
So that was a real safari in the real Serengeti, definitely a "once in a lifetime"-experience!
Lake Manyara giraffe:
Serengeti giraffe (can you see the difference?):
Lions in the shade of our car:
Posing hippo:
Wildebeest threesome in Ngorongoro:
The 4 game-spotter:
Typical Serengeti (How many lions can you spot?):
Warthogs in Ngorongoro:
Happy zebra:
Lake Manyara elephants:
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