Safari - The Journey

Well after a few days rest after Zanzibar... rest being lying on a beach! we set off again, Meg and i have a luxurious 10 hour trip to look forward too on DAR Express (it actually was quite luxurious) We were meeting Ross, Phoebe and Marie there... so once we arrived we got talking to 2 other travellers they were German, and were heading to the same place as they were.. Arusha Backpackers.. thank god we spoke to them because i dont think Meg and I would ever have found it.. the accomodation was quite good, it had luke warm showers and nice comfy beds... the traffic noise was terrible and the hostel was above a petrol station so that did not help! We supposedly got "free" internet which actually turned out to be quite expensive due to false advertisement... i argued we should get it free because we didnt no... doesnt work like that in Tanzania.. (Mum you should be proud the way you got both my shampoo and conditioner free.. thats still going by the way) anyyway the others finally arrived and we were able to eat dinner altogether, quite nice, then we had a few drinks, i got a bit tipsy.. and there was guys from a Safari company trying to get some business they heard we were wanting a Safari.. and it so turns out thats the one we went for (Shidoyla if anyones thinking of doing safari) it was the 2nd cheapest we found and it just sounded good..(the cheapest had no availabilities) so they were very nice, picked us up and took us to an ATM so we could pay out deposit. although they were like an hour late or something.. but hey.. this in Tanzania.. and time and Tanzania DO NOT mix! anyywayy i'll skip all the crap and get into it...
The first day we travelled to Tarangire National Park, we camped just outside the park and when we got there we dropped off all our stuff and Joseph ( our cook) then the 5 of us and Moses (the guide... dont you just love their names) went into the park.. first thing we saw was Vultures eating a Zebra... it was amazing!! watching them fight and losing their whole head inside the skin.. you could actually hear them tearing the flesh apart.. there was so many vultures.. alot just waiting for a decent bit of skin to be broken before going in for a feast.. Moses said it probably died naturally because there was no signs of an attack.. We were able to see alot of Wildebeast and Zebra.. wow wildebeast are so ugly.. cross between horse, cow and i dont even no what else...moses said they're made from spare parts.. we saw them drinking from a waterhole.. that was cool, they just fully walked into the water, but didnt stay in for long. well to be honest by the end of the first day i was quite over Zebra and Wildebeast.. eh just another zebra.. haha no.. if they were doing something cool then it was good again!
We also saw a dead Giraffe, it had been dead a few months and it was just alot of bones lying around and some skin/fur left... quite interesting and we actually looked at it for quite a while there were ALOT of bones..
We also got to look over a huge valley type thing, although my camera wasnt good enough to pick it all up it was amazing being able to see the monkeys, warthogs, giraffes, zebras and whatever else all just going about their business while we were looking from a distance.
We saw lots of elephants and got quite close to them.. we were able to see where they had ripped off the bark from a boaboab tree... and saw baby elephants.. we got so close to one... he was right beside the road eating from a bush and he trumpeted at us. i practically shit myself.. i thought he was going to charge! haha
We also got our first glimpse of a lion.. well a lioness.. she was just lying in the shade half hidden by a bush.. she was watching the zebra at a watering hole.. there were loottss of cars but no action.. so we kept going, we heard from other people how she had got up and attempted to catch a zebra, but failed.
The next day we travelled to the Serengeti, such a loongg drive!!!!!! we past through the Olduvai gorge, a lot of discoveries have been made there like evolution of humans and everything, quite interesting but diffucult to follow when they were talking all homo sapiens and that kind of terminology. Well we passed through the Ngorongoro Conservation Area to get to the Serengeti, and got out first glimpse of the crater, it was enormous!!! but difficult to make out much standing at the rim of it. so we had a few photos and kept going.. we saw a Masai Village.... from a distance but it looked interesting, we were so excited to do our cultural tour when we got back to Arusha.. anyway.. once we got into the actual Serengeti.. it literally was just endless plains... i heard it was exactly like that.. but still the sight of it was unbeleivable, i would love to see an aerial view... since we had taken so long to get to our destination.. we made our way to the campsite... IN the Serengeti... no fences... purely in the wild... and i elected to sleep alone...? why i dont no!? anyway Moses said if we saw anything interesting on the way we would definately stop... well lets talk intersting.... perhaps seeing a lioness stalking and killing her prey? or then the lioness fighting over the dead giselle... oh and when we were leaving to get a better position... so Moses had to get out of the car and look at the motor.. when there was what... at least 5 lioness' around.. crazy man! haha i was the one that spotted the lioness chase the giselle, it was short and sweet and absolutely amazing, we all had the biggest rush ever! eventually we had to get to the campsite because it was getting darker and we still needed to set up... so we were driving along all talking and just so happy at what we'd seen, when Moses breaks and reverses, Joseph had spotted lions (lioness and a young male lion) lying at the side of the road.. we were soooooooooo close, we were able to get the most amazing photos! ones with us and the lions!!! i just wanted to get out and pat them.. they looked so soft!! but that would have been quite stupid, they didnt seem too be too fussed by our presence!
So eventually we kept going again and saw HIPPOS!!!! they werent doing much just half submerged in the water, but after un uneventful first half of the day, it certainly was one of the best days of Safari.. well they wer all amazing really! We helped set up.. well help or hindered? either one.. haha with 4 girls and ross... i dont think we were too much help, but we were staying put for 2 nights so that wasnt too bad, the first night there was people everywhere, then the second night they had all disappeared, its funny we were probably the youngest in the campsites everything perhaps expect the last night, and we were always first back into the tents ready to bed... i would wake up to go to the toilet, and people would still be up chatting? weird. haha.. well the food was amazing, lunch was usually a packed lunch, except one day we went back to the campsite and had a warm meal, and dinner was amazing!!! so good! but sleeping the first night.. we had buffalo near our tents and they were sooo noisey i swear they were walking right beside my tent and mooing.. if thats what they do? so annoying, i thought i may have dreamt it to begin with but the others said they heard it too.
Day 2 in the Serengeti, we were on the hunt for male lions... real male lions not teenagey ones!!! and who would have thought Moses new exactly where to go.. but he did... we were able to see 2 male lions who were "bachelors" without a pride, and 1 male lion on honeymoon with a lioness, and yes... we saw them having sex... multiple times.. and yes i got photos and videos.. and yes we were extremely immature about it. haha but how often do you see lions going at it? haha the lion would like give a little roar and it was all over.. hilarious!
We also saw a leopard!!! HUNTING!!! extremely rare apparently. it was awesome, we saw it in the tree, then go down.. we lost it for a while then we saw it drag an impala up the tree and put it high up in a fork of the tree then it left it there while it relaxed, we counted i think at least 16 cars... when theres something good.. everyones there, just so happened we always had a pretty good position!
We saw hyenas, wow if they aren't the mangiest looking things i dont no what is.. haha but i dont no.. i like them.. they are scavengers, but they are strong!!
If you want a sexy animal (apart from impalla and giselles) the cheetah, the way it walks, i dont no its so smooth, unfortuantly we didnt see a cheetah hunting but we did see one walking beside the road before going of into the plains! we went back to camp for our warm lunch and a rest, sitting in a car for so long even if it is amazing senery can get tiring. haha. (im not sure if we had the break before the cheetah or not? oh well) anyway then on our evening drive we went to see some mongoose and jackals, absolutely hilarious the mongoose was scaring off the jackals, haha so funny!!! but that got old quick... not much compared to lions hunting or going at it.. so we kept on our merry way.. and we happened to bump into a hugggeee pride of lions with like i dont no 6 or 7 cubs?! we watched them playing and stalking eachother, they wereee soo adorable!!!!!!! saw them drinking water. they were all different ages, some were bigger than others, but oh so cute! i could have stayed there for ages, but the cars did start to build up and we decided to leave... or Moses decided. haha
The last day in the Serengeti we took a different route and went to see lots of hippos in watering holes, we saw one hippo out of the water, just standing there for ages, then it eventually made its way into the water, there was heaps of hippos in the water, no idea how many, but the males were fighting over their territorys, and there was babies playing.. we stayed there for quite a while, then went to a different watering whole where we were able to get out of the car, that was cool, there was also crocodiles in the water.... oh and here is where i realised i had my period ( sorry guys) well that wasnt nice considering everyone left their sanitary items in Arusha, and we were in the middle of the god damn Serengeti, but luckily we were leaving that day, and a minor mirracle occured at the gift shop. Well after the hippos we were off again to the Ngorongoro crater, took a while again, but didnt see much along the way, we got to the campsite, LOADS of people there, ate and went to bed, the early morning sure were making me tired!!!
We decended the crater floor on our final day.. and really we had seen 4 out of the 5 BIG 5.. all i cared about was the Black Rhino! and sure enough after a few lions and an elephant, Moses, good old Moses had spotted one.. yes in the distance, and we had to use binoculars and you have to zoom in on my already zoomed in photo to realise it was anything but a grey dot but we had done it.. seen the BIG 5! Cheetah, Lion, Leopard, Buffalo, Rhino. done and dusted.... but unfortuantly i was half asleep for the rest of the time in thee crater, the only other thing we saw were flamingoes, oh and a zebra that had been attacked by something but was still alive for the moment... quite sad, the food chain can be cruel..
But im almost out of time.... next i'll talk about the "cultural" tour.
-Laura