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July 22, 2013

Out of the crater and into the gorge.

Posted by Grendel's Mother under adventure, Africa, Animals, travel, Uncategorized | Tags: dik dik, elephants, Leakey, Masai school, Oldapai gorge, Serengeti, Serengeti highway, topi, watering hole |
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Day four of the safari itinerary had us stopping off for a bit of culture as well as archaeology and “history.” I put that in quotes because the theories on how old mankind is and our origins are a source of hot debate.

But first things first. Just out of the hotel area we stopped off at the local school that was created to serve the Masai children living in the area. The government has made school mandatory and while more and more kids are going, still some little guys can be seen by the road during the day begging tourist jeeps for money while they tend the cattle. We were very impressed with kids and the school. Remember hearing your parents tell you how they used to walk a mile uphill in the snow to get to school? Well these kids literally walk up to two hours each way (with wildlife walking about by the way). They show up in uniforms, share books and supplies, and cram into benches. They were very well-mannered, smart, and had the most amazing smiles. We spent a few minutes with them letting them take pictures with our cameras (they loved seeing their images in the LCD screen) and then I spent a few minutes trying to figure out what buttons they pushed and how to undo the new settings on the menu. There’s no A/C or heat (it does get cold up in that altitude) and only a few toilets for hundreds of people. They need food, supplies, transportation, toilets, and more. Education has been very effective in helping these folks become healthier and it gives them some hope to live beyond poverty. Tauck Tours gives back to the places they visit and schools like this one are one of the beneficiaries of their goodwill.

The Origins of Mankind?

Now, after singing goodbye with the kids, we were off to visit the Oldapai Gorge where the famous archaeologists, Louis and Mary Leakey made some remarkable discoveries, including what is believed to be the remains of the earliest known hominid. A fun side-note where we can laugh at white people for a minute. The Germans came to the area and mispronounced Oldapai and called it Oldavai so the name has been promoted and pronounced wrong for decades. Oldapai is the Masai name for the Sisel plant that grows in the area. Whatever the official name is, the local dudes selling wood carvings of giraffes and hippos told me to call it Oldapai.

The area is an archaeologist’s dream because of the erosion of the distinct layers in the ground. Over millions of years these layers changed due to conditions of the earth at the time and some left really awesome fossil evidence including some footsteps taken by early men.

Giraffes Necking

After checking out some bones and the scenery and learning about the less than stellar character of Louis Leakey, we got into the jeep and Pascal, our driver for the day, took us out past some giraffes who were “necking.” It’s not what you think—in the case of giraffes, necking is when two males are battling for supremacy in the giraffe kind of way which of course being males would involve their egos and most prominent part of their body, their necks. They will slap each other neck-to-neck and sway their heads and necks around until one of them gives up. It was pretty cool to see. A little biology lesson here, the giraffes feed on the Acacia trees which have these spikes on their branches. The giraffes however, have these wonderful tongues that can maneuver between the spikes to get at the food on the leaves they need to eat. Now, as another defense, some of these trees can give off a yucky smell or taste making the giraffe move on to another tree to complete its meal.

I keep saying how all of these animals are beautiful and it is true—each one having a grace about them in their unique movements, behavior, coloring, they way walk or run, communicate, eat and survive in the wild. Something you can’t really get from a zoo.

Paying the Right Price and the Highway to Hell

Eric told us when bargain shopping in Africa (which is how you have to shop—no set prices), the price you end up paying for whatever souvenir crap you’re buying is the right price. Even if the teenager next to you got a spear for $5 less because “she is baby and got a special discount.” If you want something and are willing to pay for it, then that is the market balancing at a very micro economic level. And really, these are very poor people so anything you buy is helping these folks feed their families. With that philosophy in mind, Pascal chose a path of his own—the right path—to get us onto the famous “Serengeti Highway.”

When Eric our tour director told us this was a very busy highway, I expected some pavement, lines, etc. Poor Dawn, still thinks like a westerner after days of being in Africa…she should know better. The “highway” was busy for sure—with buses and trucks going about 30 miles an hour and dust clouding the view ahead. After miles and miles and endless plains with Masai kids grazing their cattle and gazelles lining the fields all around, we came to the Serengeti gate. There are no guards or anything, just a sign over the road letting you know that you are now entering the Park. The Masai were allowed in the conservation area leading up to the park, but in the National Park humans were only allowed to visit. We stopped for some photo ops and continued onto a game drive through the park. This place was filled with species of animals and birds I’ve never heard of before. So let’s begin.

Serengeti Sightings Included:

A cheetah drinking from a watering hole. The first one I’ve seen and she was beautiful. The teardrop eyes looked at us and around her as she kept watch for other predators before slinking off.
Toppi—a kind of antelope that is brown with dark patches. We began to these guys a lot throughout the trip.
More Impalas. The women hang out together with one male who protect them. The other males hang out in bachelor herds and wait their turn to challenge the guy with the girls. It’s tough keeping up that kind of pressure, so the males do find themselves alone for a bit after being ousted.
Hartebeest—another kind of antelope I think. This one is lighter than the Toppi and Wildebeest.
Agama lizard—a lizard with bright orange (or red) coloring on his head.
Lots of Grant gazelles peeking up from the long grass to make sure Mr. Lion wasn’t lurking about.
Superb Starlings—beautifully colored birds that look shiny in the sun. These guys were seen a lot in our lunch areas.
Mongoose—little guys who are rodent-like but for some reason didn’t gross me out as they ran under my bench while eating lunch at the rest area.
Dik Diks—the tiniest of the antelope family (I think) and very cute. This little guy (see below) was hanging out getting some shade and watching for predators.
Baboons, giraffes, zebras, wildebeests, storks, and buzzards also filled the bill. We were becoming blasé about these guys already!

Elephants and the Glorious Four Seasons

One big stop before we headed off to the most amazing hotel was to view a family of elephants. Mama kept a close eye out on her little ones while the teenage boys trunk wrestled off in the distance. As the family moved, taking down a small tree in its path, it crossed the road in front of us. We must have been making too much noise because mama stopped right in front of our jeep and turned her head to stare us down. I gave a little jump when she snorted at us but was immensely relieved when she moved on. A little warning goes a long way when a four- ton beast gives you the stink eye.

On to the Four Seasons and a second day in the Serengeti National Park. What can you say about a Four Seasons that is planted in the middle of the Serengeti and has a year-round, clean, reliable waterhole directly in front of the pool and your gigantic rooms? From the moment we got there, baboons, antelope, zebra, gazelles and more took turns coming up to the pool for a drink. We had the most amazing show put on by a massive group of elephants who came up to swim, drink, eat and cool off at the pool right before sundown. Here is a video of just a few minutes of the show. It’s very hard to communicate how marvelous it was to sit on my balcony and take it all in. Some of the elephants had little spats and were chasing each other, others were spraying mud on themselves with their trunks and feet (to keep cool I guess), still others were pushing their young here and there keeping order, and all were taking turns lapping up the delicious clean water filtered into the hole by the hotel’s water system. Truly breathtaking and a great way to end the day!

A male lion hangs out under a tree in the shade while the noon sun blazes.

Kids take pictures with our cameras at the Masai school

Dik Dik is a really little guy.

Dad pushes the family into the water with a head butt.

Baby elephant nurses while Mama hangs out at the watering hole.

The Serengeti gate on the “highway.”

Giraffes roaming the Serengeti. Beautiful animals walked around our jeeps looking for trees to nibble.

Toppi is a kind of antelope.

The elephants were very close to the pool and right outside our rooms.

Elephants at the watering hole right before sunset cast wonderful shadows.

Watch a video of the elephants by the watering hole.

July 19, 2013

More cow bell! A day in the life of the Ngorongoro crater.

Posted by Grendel's Mother under adventure, Africa, Animals, travel, Uncategorized | Tags: Africa, crowned crane, gazelle, hippo, hyena, kori bustard, masai, Ngrongoro crater, ostrich, safari, Tanzania, tauck, warthog, wildebeest, zebra |
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Early to rise on our next day of the African safari because the animals don’t have A/C and they do their moving, eating, playing, killing, etc. early in the morning and late into the night. Every day our tour director had fun stuff for us to read at our tables and every day as we took advantage of the yummy buffets in these magnificent hotels, we read animal fables, jokes, and histories of where we were going and what we were going to see.

Today was a long game drive, down into the Ngorongoro Crater. From what I’ve read, the Masai named it after the sound their cows’ bells make. (Seriously, this country needs some brand marketing expertise.) This vast dining table for many of Africa’s animals and birds is the largest un-flooded continuous caldera in the world. It spans 12 miles and hosts 30 thousand animals who come to feed and drink and hang out in the lush grassy plain that millions of years ago was the inside of an active volcano. The volcano imploded and I’m pretty sure left its ejected remnants back on that road we took getting up there. Looking around at how big this thing was, I was left in awe of how big that volcano must have been.

The drive down was fun and beautiful trees and flowers dotted the side of the “road.” As we went, we could see across to the other side of the rim, the sun starting to peek through the clouds. One of our first sightings was the warthog. Yes, the warthog—remember Pumbaa from Lion King? This thing looks like a little pig with huge tusks. Actually, it is a pig with big tusks. It’s a funny little thing that leans down on his front wrists when feeding and is so stupid that it will start running at the sound of a predator, then a minute later stop running because it forgot why it was running and consequently will get eaten. But, I will say they made me giggle because they are just so funny looking when the run and hey, how can you not be entertained by a warthog?

Along the road we also saw lots and lots of gazelles (in fact they were pretty much everywhere we went). I surmised they were in such abundance mainly due to the fact that they were dinner for many a predator. There were two kinds, Thompson and Grant gazelles. A difference being in a bit of color here or there. We also saw lots of varieties of the antelope family. One prevalent species was the Impala. You could tell it was an Impala by the “M” on its behind. There were two black stripes that ran down on either side of a black tail forming an “M.” I also told my dad he could look at their eyebrows—the females don’t have horns but do have a uni-brow. (I had to explain that one to him after a few dubious looks.)

The gazelles had lots of grazing buddies and had no problems hanging out with the Cape Breton buffaloes (big huge animals with heads and horns that looked like the kind of hats the Spanish matadors wear). Anyway, they looked like dumb cows to me. In addition, we saw a bunch of flamingos swimming in the big lake in the middle of the crater and a few other birds such as the Crowned crane, quite a beautiful bird, especially when in flight. Another pretty big bird we eyed was the Kori Bustard. The driver guides who were telling us what everything was called had thick accents, so my ongoing joke for the remainder of the trip was, “there’s another bastard at 2 o’clock.”

Also grazing were wildebeests, who were everywhere in various stages of the migration. Wildebeests look like a combination of animals. Our guide today, Steve, told us the story of how they came about. Side note: I asked “Steve” where he got his name and he said it was short for Stephen which then made sense. The Germans had a stake in the area before they got kicked out after losing the war. Now back to the story at hand…When all His creating was done, God realized there were parts left over from all the animals he made. Not one to let something go to waste, He used some stripes from the zebra, a head from a warthog, a neck from a buffalo, the body (or legs at least) of an antelope, and some mane from a lion to create one last animal—the wildebeest. Millions of them migrate throughout Tanzania and Kenya each year and move where the food is.

The big predator in the crater was not the lion, (we did see a few in the far off distance) but the hyena. The hyena is a funny fellow who makes little nesting places (shallow burrows it looked like) and tries to scavenge food when possible. They do in fact attack prey in groups but can be shooed away by larger beasts if alone. We saw a few hanging out by a waterhole and being watched intently by the nearby herds.

Of course the treat for me in this place was seeing the zebras. I’m not quite sure their real purpose on this planet since they can’t be used like horses and donkeys (backs aren’t strong enough) and they don’t seem to be a major source of food for predators (although they are on the diet of crocodiles, big cats, etc. when they get caught off guard), and I’m not sure that they eat anything that needs to be eaten. They are pretty to look at though. And they are pretty smart. They stand in unique positions when grazing so that predators can’t quite tell how many of them are in a group. They like to confuse others with their stripes and stand head to tail to keep watch (and I think to help bat away flies with the tails). They are known to lead the wildebeests to the big rivers to cross, then back off and let them go first (to get eaten by the crocs). The young ones are brownish and each zebra’s stripes are unique (like snowflakes). Now that’s God’s artistic work—especially when you see herds of them all over the place. Beautiful creatures, yes.

The drive continues as we spot a group of jeeps in one area—always a sign of something cool to see. So we ride on over to where the hippos are all hanging out. This was my first close-up view of them in the water and I loved it! Ladies and gentlemen, here is an animal who hangs out most of the day just floating in water. It doesn’t intentionally hurt people or animals, it just keeps to itself, letting birds hang out on their backs, rolling around in the muck…ah the life. Now if you mess with one of them or get between them and where they want to be, then watch out, because they can turn into mean S.O.B.s in a hot second. There are more humans killed by hippos in Africa than by any other animal. I still like them. When I win the lottery and build my personal lazy river, I’m going to install hippo art along the river as a reminder of my new friends.

So now off to lunch. But where to have lunch in a place like a crater filled with wild animals? Eric the tour director teased us beforehand by “ordering” lame sandwiches for a quick and dirty lunch when in fact they actually put out quite a first-rate picnic for us in the bush. Table cloths and real silverware with tasty barbecued chicken and rice went well with our African beer and wine. We dined under some yellow acacia trees—called yellow fever trees. When early pioneers came to Africa, they camped out under these trees (which grow near swamps filled with mosquitoes) and contracted yellow fever. They blamed the trees at first (brilliant), so hence the name.

After lunch we drove through the other side of the crater seeing more herds moving about and some colorful birds. Up and up through the beautiful acacias onto a hellishly bumpy road, we circled back around the rim to paradise—our hotel at the top of Ngorongoro. We ended the night with a nice reception and dinner with our fellow Tauck traveling family. And to put a nice touch on the end of a day of adventure, the hotel put hot water bottles in our beds at turn down. After a minor freak out at what was lurking in my sheets, I sank into happiness and bliss. Next stop—the Serengeti!

The beautiful zebra, each with its own unique pattern.

“…I will survive, I got all my life to live, I got all my love to give, I’ll survive, I will survive, hey hey….”

Rollin, rollin, rollin, keep that hippo rollin…weeeee!

Kori Bustard (there’s goes another bastard) bird

The female ostrich blends into the daylight scenery for camouflage when nesting. Males are dark for blending in when they guard the nest at night.

A herd of wildebeest roaming the plains of the Ngorongoro Crater. Just some of the millions that migrate each year.

“I’ve…almost…got..it. Man this things been stuck in my ear since the Mara.”

“We see you hyena dudes. Keep walking, that’s it, just keep walking…”

A Crater grazers committee meeting roll call: “Okay, um, wildebeests?” “Present.” “Gazelles?” “Here!” “Hippos?” “We’re over here!” “Flamingos?” “Yup, present.” “Zebras? Hey, where are the zebras and who’s watching the hyenas?”

Hyena watches us from his resting place.

Just out for a stroll–hyena

Gazelles are not sure what to make of our jeep.

Mr. Warthog.

More zebra!

The Cape Breton buffalo. Or what I like to call the cow matador.

A view of the salt lake in the crater as we make our way down the rim.

Another beautiful view of the crater rim and valley.

Lunch in the bush, done Tauck Tours style.

Masai tribe members dance and sing for us (and jump high to show their prowess).

July 18, 2013

“In Africa, something is true in the morning and a lie by noon.” Ernest Hemingway

Posted by Grendel's Mother under adventure, Africa, Animals, travel, Uncategorized | Tags: Africa, Arusha, Baboons, Blue Monkeys, giraffe, great rift valley, Hemingway, hippos, Lake Manyara, Mto Wa Mbu, Ngorongoro, safari, Tanzania, zebras |
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Our second day of the Tanzania and Kenya safari started with a drive through Arusha where they have been holding the tribunals for the Rwanda genocide that happened back in 1994. There were a lot of interesting scenes through the town and dad and I had to look at a map after being told as we were going around a round-a-bout, that we were now at the halfway point between Cairo, Egypt and Cape Town, South Africa. It was a constant astonishment to us how large Africa is. I’m still not convinced that the continental U.S. can fit into Africa four times. The maps are skewed for sure.

Well, I mentioned the “road” to Lake Manyara in my last post so I’ll start this post with our arrival in the Lake Manyara area which was pretty much due west of Arusha and not very far in miles but high on the sore bottom scale. Again—working the “core” was very healthy on this trip (holding on to the sides of the jeep to steady yourself).

Before we got to the park we drove through a very interesting town. The town was created by the first President of Tanzania as a unification project. The Tanzania population is made up of 120 different tribes. The President wanted to bring the tribes together so he pulled in representatives from all 120 tribes to live in the town of Mto Wa Mbu. Had he a better PR team, they would have picked a better name to bring in the tourists. Mto Wa Mbu translates into Mosquito River. (Hey, I want to go there!) But I will say their bananas tasted pretty good and they do have a web site! Eric, our tour director gave us a special sweet, orange looking banana that was quite good. Okay, so on to the National Park and our first game drive.

As the jeep trekked slowly through the forest-lined dusty road, we kept our eyes peeled on the trees. A very unique tree grows only this area, called the Baobab, which to me looked like the tree of life in Disney’s Animal Kingdom. It was cool looking. They also had a cool looking “sausage” tree. Aptly named and you can see why in the photo below.

Anywho, the tops of the jeep were off so we could stand up and look out over the roof for a great 360 degree view. Monkeys were the first on the list to be spotted. A few Blue monkeys swinging in the tree led to a spotting of a troop of baboons hanging out on a creek bed. They seemed a little shy and ambled away slowly. We later saw a couple more of the Blue monkeys running across the plain (I’m chuckling at the memory of the bouncing little guy).

Other sightings included some kind of cool stork (I failed to write down the name at the time) and her young one sitting atop a tree, some more monkeys and then a large field filled with baboons—big and tiny—eating, grooming, and playing. They sit on their behinds and pick out seeds (or something yummy) from the grassy areas and leaves on small bushes. The little babies were hanging on to their mamas either by sitting on their backs as the mom’s walked on all fours or by clinging to their bellies underneath. Some of the little ones were only about a month old. The teenagers were swinging and laughing in the clump of trees before a bunch of them decided they didn’t want to be entertainment for us anymore and moseyed on across the road and off to another hangout. That was a fun highlight of the animal viewing during this drive. Seriously, how can you not have fun watching baboons and monkeys running around?

We continued on to the hippo pool and I saw my first hippopotamus. Lots of them actually—baking in the hot sun on the banks near a pool of water. Usually they are in the water but were taking a sun break. They have very sensitive skin and it will dry up if they cook too long. More on them later—they became a fun show to watch and I felt a kindred spirit to these animals who love to just float in the water all day long.

So, as we moved around the park we had wonderful views of the Great Rift Valley escarpment. The Great Rift Valley stretches for long miles along Africa’s east coast. Its undulating hills and well, valley, were caused by the tectonic plates crashing against each other. Many, many thousands of years later its home to lots of wildlife including the awesome Zebras and Giraffe we spotted a little ways from the hippos. More on them later as well. Our first day of game driving was exciting but we were going to see lots more than that and much closer as well.

On up the mountain we ate a lovely lunch and made our way up through the Ngorongoro Conservation Park. Halfway to our hotel I was startled when all of the sudden a very large Cape Breton buffalo appeared just a foot from my window. One shriek later and he and his buddies fled into the tropical forest that surrounded the road.

Our hotel sat on the rim of the crater overlooking the plains at a very high elevation—it was actually chilly there—and had magnificent views. The animals roamed around the hotel and a few calls in the night served as a reminder that the animals are very active at night. Upon our arrival at the hotel we were greeted by some Masai warriors and women who sang and danced for us. I’ll talk more about the Masai later, but suffice it to say the bar had been raised again for sure.

Stay tuned for a trip around a very cool crater filled with cool animals, birds, flowers , and trees.

P.S. The headline of this post was inspired by our tour director, Eric, who started off each day of our group meetings/outings with a quote or story related to Africa. My favorite was the children’s book, Giraffe’s Can’t Dance, which I brought home for my favorite 4-year old neighbor!