Our safari took us to Lake Manyara park, on to the Serengeti and then to Ngorongoro crater. We camped one night in each park, took extended "game drives," and spent far too much time with two dudes we'd just met.This was not your average camping trip, however (not that I'd know, since I've never been camping before). In addition to our driver/guide, we were provided with a cook who was quite adorable and worked doubly hard to please certain picky eaters who will remain nameless (he even found vegan cookies, bless his soul!). Plus we had popcorn every night, which is always welcome.
Our two companions were men traveling singly, one Brit and one American. The Brit was a pun master, rattling of a seemingly endless stream of puns and jokes of knock-knock-level maturity.
Other than the joke-off, a safari is basically an endless car ride with the occasional animal sighting (not so occasional at the most exciting times). The ride from Arusha to Lake Manyara is four hours, Serengeti is another six or so from there. Our car broke down in one of the parks and our driver/guide added mechanic to his moniker as well as oil to his hands.
So, what did we see? Well, lions and giraffes and hippos and elephants, of course. Flamingos, ostriches, lizards, one snake and tons of tourists. The highlight of the trip to our American companion was when we saw a lioness hunt and kill a tiny gazelle. The silly gazelle not only didn't notice the giant lion nearby (or the ten land rovers), it turned around and walked straight toward its predator.
The Brit was endlessly amused by zebras crossing the road since, in his lexicon, a "zebra crossing" (pronounced like the name Debra) means the lines painted on the asphalt for pedestrian use.
I also took pictures of these elephants sans cars, but this gives a more accurate depiction of the safari experience. Whenever there's a good sighting, cars pile up and suddenly you're stuck in a traffic jam in the Serengeti.
Hippos and giraffes were M and my top priorities, and we saw many of both. Vegetarian animals are far cuter, don't you think? Although people are quick to tell you that hippos kill more folks in Africa than any other animal. Still, look at those little legs and tiny ears! Precious! Here is also a view of the Serengeti from a short hike - one of the few allowed hikes, for fear of animal attacks presumably. The variation in topography in so close proximity is impressive. I especially like those flat-on-top trees in the expanse of savanna.
The hippo pool experience is not quite captured by a photo alone. Those giant beasts are hanging around in their own excrement and who knows what else; the water is continually bubbling with what I can only assume is the product of unashamed flatulence. A wee bit stink-a-rific. Every now and again a hippo will roll over onto his massive back and reveal a pink belly before covering himself in mud and filth. Our guide says they use mud to avoid sunburn since their skin is sensitive to it. I can relate.
Ostriches and giraffes are so strange looking if you stare at them for too long. They look like dinosaurs, or like the cranes at the Port of Oakland. They were unperturbed by their audience. In fact, other than herds of zebra and wildebeest dodging our car, the only real interest taken in the tourists was by the jackals.
On our way to Ngorongoro, we stopped at Olduvai gorge and learned that it should really be called Oldupai. Apparently a German butterfly researcher asked locals what this area was called. They told him Oldupai, which is a kind of plant that holds water in its stalk for non-rainy days. The researcher misheard and the name persists.
Olduvai/pai is the location where Louis and Mary Leaky found three different species of early humans and is also where Mary uncovered the famous footprints of an Australopithecus afarensis (the same sort of early human as Lucy, pre-human rock star). My sixth grade self (whose dream was to become a paleoanthropologist) was in bliss.
On our last morning, I got into a stubbornness battle with the Brit (he tried to challenge how stubborn I can be. Oho, big mistake). He insisted that the gigantic birds on the tree at our campsite were white-necked ravens and I decided to go out on a limb and be obstinate. Yes, I could see the white necks on these birds and they looked mighty raven-ey, but it's sometimes fun to argue. Anyway, the Brit was asked to take the picture of another group and before he did so he asked the guide what those birds were called.
"Colombo Crow" replied the guide. Or something close to that name, anyway. I was laughing to hard to really hear. The Brit then asked our guide what the "white-necked birds" were called and got the same response.
Stubbornness: 1; Accuracy: 0.
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