Serengeti, Tanzania

Sorry for the delayed posting, we have not had internet access for awhile. So this will be a long post! First of all, we have had a specific picture request, so this is for Evelyn (from Cape Town):

We last left off in Zanzibar, where we had a few days on the beach in Nungwi, the northern tip of the island. The next day, we traveled to Stone Town, which is the main city on the western side of the island. Zanzibar is famous for all the spices it grows, so on the way we did a tour of a spice farm. Our tour guide showed us turmeric, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, pepper, ginger, vanilla plants etc. We got to try a lot of the various spices and also lots of fresh fruit. Along the way, they wove us baskets and jewelry out of the grasses of the area. Here is a picture of natural nutmeg, and of us all decked out:

The next day, we flew from Zanzibar to Kilimanjaro, and were picked up for safari.

Anna’s Comments:
Flying into Kilimanjaro International Airport brought back so many memories and made me feel so calm and at ease. Being in Africa in general, and in Tanzania specifically, makes me feel inexplicably happy and that all is right with the world and that I am doing exactly what I should be doing in life. This was the first time I saw the airport in the daylight, and it was much nicer than I remembered! We then made the long and dirty journey to the Serengeti (7-8 hours from the airport). I forgot how dirty you get on safari. The dust billows in through the windows and coats everything, face wipes come back black with dirt and grime. We had a typical safari boxed lunch (undecipherable pieces of chicken and tiny bananas), and then got into our campsite in the evening. We camped inside the park, which was definitely an experience. There were hyenas and all other kinds of animals roaming around the campsite at night (especially frightening when we were the only tent in the campsite for one of the nights). Our cook made us a fantastic meal and we dined with a few of the other groups that were there that night. The next day, we got up early and had a delicious breakfast, then went out for our first game drive. Serengeti was named by the Masaai people, and means “expansive lands.” This is a very apt description as the plains go on and on. There are various little ecosystems though, with trees surrounding rivers and small hills and rocky outcroppings, so it made for a varied experience when driving around. Whereas Ngorongoro crater is almost like a Disney safari in that you drive around in a big circuit with animals nicely spaced out along the way, at a quick glance the Serengeti looks deserted. You wonder how you will ever find any animal in this vast space. But then you turn a corner and see a bunch of lions walking down the road, or a leopard in the tree. Our guide had to work a lot harder here as he didn’t have many other safari vehicles to go on to tell where to stop. He was always on the lookout for animals, and always asking the other cars that we passed if they knew of any gems. Joe will detail the types of animals we saw, but we did see an awful lot! Some of us were better than others at finding animals. For example:

Me: Look, a lion is swimming in that small pond.
Joe: That’s a cow.

Me: Look, a lion is sitting on top of that big rock.
Joe: That’s another rock. (to be fair, this one almost fooled our guide too)

Me (2 AM): There are monkeys crawling on our tent and stealing our rain fly. Also, there are hyenas encircling us.
Joe: That’s the wind.

Joe: Look, a lion in a tree!
Guide: Wow, you have good eyes.

No matter. I just waited for other people to point animals out. Definitely the highlight for me was seeing a certain special animal. As we were driving through the plains, both Joe and I heard a familiar voice and saw a flash of color out of the corner of our eyes. We yelled for the guide to stop, who thought we were crazy, and we saw a flock of wild Poquitos for the first time! They were Fisher lovebirds rather than Black masked, but they were so cool to see nonetheless. We were surprised to find that they lived in the trees of the fairly open plains, and in small groups- pairs, groups of 3-4. Ever since we saw them the first time, we kept seeing them wherever we went in the park, including at our campsite!

We searched far and wide for the huge and elusive wildebeest migration, unfortunately given that the rainy season has not been rainy yet, they had left the park in search of water elsewhere. We did see some smaller herds (maybe in the 100s of animals), but not the 1000s that we had hoped. Overall, it was an amazing experience. We returned to Moshi at the close of the safari, and met up with an old friend from Tanzania (Ibrah) for dinner at his home. It was very nice to reconnect with him, and to meet his lovely family. It is also great to be back in Moshi, seeing all the familiar places that do not appear to have changed in the last 5 years. I’m so glad to
be back.

Joe’s comments: Coming soon! enjoy some pics in the meantime...