By Greg and Linda

As the planes got smaller I knew we had to be getting closer.  Twenty-one hours from Turkey and boarding a single prop puddle jumper meant it was time to see some big animals.  As the plane hit the dirt runway we could tell we were in a special place; the Serengeti in Tanzania would be home for the next few days.  Doug, Deena, Linda and I loaded into an open-air land cruiser, basically like an old jeep with no doors, windows or front windshield.  From the dirt runway we could see a herd of elephants and since there was no rush to go directly to the lodge we drove over with our guide Adas.  We sat and watched about 30 elephants walk by and basically pay no attention to us, they were too busy tearing down tree branches to eat and caring for the babies that stay close to the mom’s side at all times.   More on elephants later since it was time to look for some lion prides.  Bingo!  About a ¼ mile down a dried river we found a lioness and two cubs sunbathing.  As we sat in our open-air land cruiser about 10 feet from the lioness she abruptly stands up and walks towards the car and then meandered around to the back.  As I leaned towards the inside of the car to get further away from the lion I quickly realized we basically had no protection in the event the lion (or any other animal) decided that they were hungry.

Safari fact #1 – You can end up in an open-air car or a closed car.  Closed cars have full doors and windows where the roof pops up about a foot so you can view animals while you stand up.  There really is no comparison if you want to feel integrated with the wild but note that it comes with a level of danger or at least a big adrenaline rush every time you get close to an animal.

Time to head to the lodge, but not before we run into a small group of buffalo catching some shade trying to cool off as the hot African sun is going to sleep for the night.  So an hour or two into the safari we have seen 3 of the big 5, a promising start.  The big 5 are the most deadly of animals…the elephant, lion, leopard, rhino, and buffalo.

We pulled into a camp sitting on a small hill; since most of the Serengeti is flat this gave us great viewing opportunities from the camp itself.  We were welcomed with big smiles from everyone, a wet towel to clean up and an Arnold Palmer ice tea and lemonade concoction.  Before we could sip it down we looked out at a watering hole that was about 100 yards from the camp and seemed to melt into the view from the infinity pool that we sat next too.  In an attempt to not exaggerate, approximately 40 elephants were hanging out, drinking the water and taking a bath.  Time to walk to our rooms, down a dirt path surrounded by bamboo and small trees on both sides.  We were told we needed to get a security guard to walk us back and forth when it is dark since there are no fences between the animals and us.  With a guide and a flashlight in front, and guide with a shotgun behind us, we walked about 5 minutes to our bungalows overlooking the Grumeti River.  A huge wall made out of glass is what gives us a private view into the wildlife.  As the day comes to an end a large family of baboons along with some zebras are just hanging out for us to watch.  It was all so surreal we kept joking that they must have these animals in cages and once the guests shows up they let them go at different times so that there is always a constant stream of exotic creatures for the guests to gawk at.  Feeling giddy and in awe of what we have seen, it was time to shower up for dinner.  Of course the shower is outside, so while showering you could get some extra viewing in.  Dinner was the cherry on the sundae with a gourmet meal fit for Simba, the current King of the Jungle. 🙂

A 5:30AM wake up call and we do it all over again.  The highlight this day was seeing two prides of lion sitting by fresh kills protecting them until they finished eating.  We watched the hierarchy of the animal kingdom and the survival of the fittest unfold.  Lion kills weaker animal, eats what it wants as buzzards creep closer, hyenas patiently wait while the jackal run in a snatch smaller pieces of the kill.  All are hanging around waiting for the lions to move on to the next kill.  We head off across the flat plains looking for the illusive leopard, instead we find a group of about 30 giraffe elegantly gliding from tree to tree nibbling on whatever they could reach, so we make a quick right turn and get about 20 feet from the group.  We feel like we are wearing 3-D glasses and watching the movie Jurassic Park.

Safari fact #2 – In National Parks you stay on the dirt roads, so some viewing is from a distance.  In private reserves you can drive wherever you want and as close as your guide thinks is safe.  There are pros and cons to both.

Back at camp while waiting for our afternoon game drive we swim, nap and get ready to meet at 4:00PM in the lodge area.  As we walk out of our tented bungalow Doug and Deena are walking back towards the rooms and say there is an elephant blocking the path on the way to the lodge.  So, of course, Doug and I being the curious stupid Americans proceed to check out the scene.  Walking slowly and gingerly down the path with Linda and Deena behind us, we hear the elephants down to our left wrestling with the bamboo and eating away entire tree branches.  As we are crouched down attempting to see through the heavy brush an elephant pushes down all the debris between the two of us and we quickly make an about face and tear down the path at full speed.  Once a safe distance away we laugh and can’t talk because we are all hyperventilating.  It is really difficult to describe in words how big these elephants are. Sitting behind a fence or in a safari truck gives one a false sense of security because once face to face with a two story tall wild animal all bets are off.  You would think this was enough excitement for the afternoon but nooooooo, Doug and I have to go back to the scene because his sunglasses fell off his head during the sprinting retreat.  As we walk past a slight turn in the path we see an enormous adult female coming towards us staring us down.  We take off running again right after Linda snapped a picture from a distance.  Now the girls are yelling at us to get inside as they had called the head lodge and they directed us to all immediately go inside and wait for a ranger.  Exhilarating, dangerous, adrenaline filled, these are the emotions that can get a thrill seeker in trouble and it turns out we were close to serious danger without really knowing it.  Multiple guides looked at the picture and were certain the elephant was going to charge us; ears out, trunk down in charge mode and a clear path forward.  The mama elephant also shot us a warning trumpet, which certainly made her intentions clear.  This is when we found out elephants run at 30 mph and everyone one of their steps is five of ours, so there really is no escaping on foot.  Try to climb up a tree, and the elephant can just knock it down.  Best bet…stay away!

OK…so why the title of this blog?  Well, we all know that the mighty King of the Jungle is the lion, however, we beg to differ. Deena, Doug, Greg and I feel like the elephant should take on the title.  They are much larger, extremely destructive (ripping down trees everywhere they go) and can kill a lion.  Not sure who to lobby to in order to make the change, but the first step is documenting our opinion here! Roar.

After safely getting escorted to our truck we see more game and decide the day would not be complete without stopping in the middle of the flatlands watching the sunset with a gin and tonic, some bull tongue and nuts to hold us over until dinner.

G & T’s in the Bush!

A new day and we are on the hunt for a leopard again, but not before we are driven out to a new river bed location where they have set up a table and we eat a five star breakfast out in the bush.  Before we know it a herd of elephants is coming closer and closer so we stand up and listen as they slowly make their way through the jungle.  They are surprisingly light on foot, but you can hear them knocking over trees and eating anything in their path.  Ten minutes into hearing the commotion, without seeing it, a huge head appears through the trees.  Our guide tells us to stay close to the car and then I hear the guard pump the shotgun to get a bullet in the chamber.  Thrilling on the edge of scared and maybe even stupid we don’t want to leave so we can see how close they massive beasts will come.  A few loud fake coughs from our guide scares the herd away so we head home for the afternoon nap without seeing our leopard.    Luckily, the afternoon game drive produced our leopard!  At this point, we have 4 of the big 5 under our belt…we still need a rhino.  The leopard was stunningly beautiful and surprisingly didn’t mind posing for pictures as he chilled in a tree with all four fat paws dripping over the branch, just waiting for the sun to set so it could track down its next meal.

The last night was a celebration of being alive and reminiscing about our highs and lows of the day.  A little red wine helped us dig deep to describe how we felt about being in the middle of nowhere, scared but excited to view once in a lifetime wild animals.  Our host Amos (as in Famous Amos cookies…which Doug is working on sending to him) even joined in on the conversation, in broken English he told us, “I am happy for you because you are strong like me but I will be sad when you go.”  This is the typical caring and appreciation we felt from everyone we met in Tanzania and it really is great to gain a better understanding of how East Africa is still struggling to find itself and grow up to hopefully be like America one day, with maybe a little more modesty. 🙂

Back to our puddle jumper plane and we land on another dirt runway at the Ngorongoro Crater.  Once a volcano thought to be taller than Kilimanjaro the entire mass of land has collapsed and now forms a crater that houses all the animals one can imagine.  From the air it looks like a meteor landed on earth and carved out this round section now known to be the only place on earth above sea level like it.  One of the seven natural wonders of the world left us eager to take the one-hour ride down to the crater floor.

We had one goal, to see a rhino so that we could complete our big five viewing goal.  Before lunch the mission was accomplished and our guide, Peter, gave himself a pat on his back…of course we joined in.  Peter, as it turns out, is a Masai Warrior.  His parents were born on the crater floor but have since been removed by the government because the site is too important for tourism.  There are multiple stages in a Masai’s life in order to become a warrior; the last phase is to kill a lion.

Masai Warriors performing their traditional songs and dances.

Peter looked like any guy in America wearing hiking boots, khakis and a pressed safari shirt ~ but the average American can’t say that they have killed a lion with a spear!  Peter was the first of his group of Masai warriors to hit the lion with a spear, so he was awarded with the tail of the lion, which really made him a ladies man among the Masai women since this shows his strength and courage.  It is also a sign of strength as well agility when the warrior could jump the highest during the Masai traditional dances, which we were fortunate to watch live!  Their traditional songs were riveting. We could not help but to sing them daily once we caught on…to include having Simon (our host) and the entire kitchen staff join in one lovely evening, which we fondly refer to as the Rose Dinner.  The Rose Dinner was an unforgettable evening where the staff flooded us with an absurd amount of rose peddles.  We thought we could not top the Faru Faru lodge at Singita (the first Safari), but when we were literally drowned in roses (at the andBeyond Crater Lodge) in conjunction with enjoying a dinner fit for a king, we were dumfounded.  The red wine and red roses lead us to feeling a bit giddy, hence the Masai impromptu dance routine that we all took part in.

We were so very sad to have our safari experience come to an end.  The only thing that would have made the experience even better was to have Deena and my dream of having a baby lion cub to cuddle with each night come true, but wishful thinking. 🙂 Oh, or to perhaps delete one memory from my memory bank, which is as follows:  It was late and the four of us had just finished up a fabulous dinner and were being escorted by our rangers back to our bungalows.  Greg, obviously still experiencing an adrenaline energy surge, decided that he was an elephant and pounced at me and inadvertently pushed me in to a pricker bush.  I survived, but could have used a real elephant as back up to ward him off.  🙂

Now, on to Zanzibar, which is an island in the Indian Ocean off the northeast coat of Tanzania and is part of the republic of Tanzania.  It was time to relax for a few days and wind up the trip before sadly seeing Deena and Doug off.

Zanzibar was the perfect place to kick back and relax.  The beaches are gorgeous, but the island is pretty poverty stricken outside of the resort areas, but that didn’t stop the people of Zanzibar from having warm attitudes and welcoming smiles. In the US “You are welcome” is a common reply if one thanks someone, but in Zanzibar it is also used as in you are being welcomed to wherever you are…versus just saying “welcome” (aka karibu in Swahili). The population is 99% Muslim so all the women were covered to varying degrees, but the tourists get a hall pass in terms of complying.  The top industries are spices and tourism, so the food was fabulous.  The lamb kofte’s were to die for…I had them for three out of my four dinners!

Overall we spent three weeks with Doug and Deena and we were so very sad to see them go.  It is always so special to get a slice from home when on our travels and the D & D visit was just what the doctor ordered.  Albeit, we were a little worried about our livers after spending a week with our dear friends (the lovely Lindys) in Buenos Aires, but we survived! J Thank you D & D for meeting us during our travels.  To anyone reading the blog consider this an open invitation to join us somewhere or anywhere.

A few other tidbits we picked up from our East Africa Travels:

* Never throw out anything.  Someone can always use it happily!  We saw so much poverty and people wearing shoes, shirts, pants, etc. that we Americans would have tossed out a long time ago.  We happily gave away two garbage bags filled with hiking gear and even our “bugaway” fancy safari shirts.  We smile just imagining the new owners wearing some of our things.  We are probably happier than they are about the exchange.

Yup…that is the back of a goat. Apparently goats are so used to being transported this way that they
just hang out calmly on the mopeds.

* You can fit two people and a goat on a moped. You have got to make do with what you have!

* Enjoy your free flowing water.  It was amazing how many people we saw on the side of the road with large plastic buckets transporting water back to their homes.  We will never be able to turn on the tap again without being thankful.

* Whether you like our government or not, you should be thankful for the conditions that we live in.  The one and only road up and down the Ngorongoro Crater was a complete mess after it rained the morning we were leaving.  It was not paved, so it turned in to a total mud pit, so much so that it stopped all incoming traffic and we barely made it to the airport.  Trucks everywhere were sliding off the road or stuck for hours.  Tourism is the main industry in the Crater, but that revenue flow can be totally stopped due to a little rain.  That would not fly in the US.

* Cattle will go for walks without leashes or fences daily to graze and will willingly come back home when finished.  In the Masai tradition, it is the boys that walk the cattle while the ladies gather firewood and water.

* Even with an ominous cloudy sky, the most breath taking sunsets are in the Serengeti.

That is all for now.  We are on the way to South Africa to meet up with some of the family that is flying in from the US to go explore their South Africa roots with us.  We can’t wait!  We have missed everyone so much!

MORE PHOTOS:
– Africa – Tanzania Safari (Serengeti & Ngorongoro Crater) and Zanzibar