Tanzania Highlights

We have been home from Tanzania for a week now and I've been promising to blog about it but haven't really known where to start. My 20 page photo book became a 36 page book because there was so much to say about a holiday that was only 5 full days. When we got home, Mum facetimed me and asked "what was the highlight?" I was stuck as to what to say. There was no highlight because there was absolutely no lowlight. I cannot possibly imagine what could have been done to improve any of the days or parts of the trip. But people like highlights so I will try to share one highlight from each day that we were there, excluding the travel days. The highlight of those two days is that the flights were smooth and we made it safely. Precision Air was good. Pretty much the highlight of any air-travel day.

Sunday, October 20^th

The day started with the chance to see Kilimanjaro "open" as the locals call it which means that the summit is visible. But even more fortunate is that the whole mountain was clear. That is not a common occurrence so we were very fortunate right off the bat.

We wanted to learn a bit about the people and cultures of Tanzania so we had a one day hiking tour of Materuni village in the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro. By this time the mountain was "closed" but the landscape was stunning. Tanzania is at the end of its dry season so it was dry and dusty but in the foothills of the mountain, everything was lush and green. The Chagga tribe lives in this area and grows coffee as it has been grown for generations. The coffee trees produce coffee for over 100 years because they are shade grown and fertilized with manure. There are no chemicals used so the plants have a lower yield but a higher quality and the trees last longer. Chemically fertilized trees only produce for about 10 years.

Richard took us through the process of making a good cup of coffee starting with dried green beans to a delicious cup of steaming coffee. We watched as he sang and danced all the coffee songs of his tribe that go with each step and then we were able to buy that same coffee to take home. Of course, we didn't think of the fact that we don't have a coffee grinder and we have a pound of delicious coffee beans but I think Corey could imitate Richard's song and dance while he grinds the beans in his mortar and pestle. It would be just as good and highly entertaining. He's not convinced and is hoping to find a grinder sometime in our shopping excursions.

Monday, October 21^st

Our first game drive was in Tarangire National Park. This is a smaller park but with lots of animals to see. Our guide, Godlisten (pronounced exactly as it looks), took us to a watering hole that was mostly mud and aquatic plants. It was surrounded by baboons and filled with birds. A large monitor lizard came crawling out of the surrounding grasses and started rooting in the mud for frogs and other yummy snacks. A hammerkop caught a frog and was trying to kill it and eat it before a stork, trying desperately to sneak up quietly, stole it for his dinner. While we watched what was happening in the pond, Godlisten was watching in the distance with his binoculars. “Cheetah!” he exclaimed and we all grabbed our binoculars to see the cheetah move from under the tree on the other side of the pond and into the grasses further away. What had disturbed him? The large herd of elephants that were coming to cool off in the mud. There was an old matriarch, adult females, and several babies from “tiny” to teens.  They drank and sprayed water over themselves and rolled in the mud. “Some people believe that elephants can’t get up if they lie down,” Godlisten told us but we saw that wasn’t true. They were rolling around and having a grand time covering themselves in the mud that would cool them and protect them from insect bites. They frolicked, as only elephants can frolic, for about 20 minutes and then they moved off and vanished in the grass. I am always amazed at how elephants can easily hide.

Tuesday, October 22^nd

After a fantastic night at Rhotia Valley Tented Lodge (there is nothing like hearing a large wild animal moving next to your tent in the middle of the night while the baboons scream in the distance), we drove to spend the day at Lake Manyara National Park. This is supposed to be a great location for birds and we certainly saw many species. It is also a great place for monkeys. We had stopped to see a group of vervet monkeys playing in the trees when a large male elephant crossed in front of us further down the path. We laughed that as we were watching the little monkeys next to us, something so big could just appear and disappear back into the trees. As we were driving away, a second male walked across the path behind us, just where we had been stopped. Godlisten reversed the jeep and we moved back to see if there were more. Corey and I stood with our binoculars looking into the forest (remember how elephants can hide?) and I suddenly noticed a large set of grey legs moving closer. We all froze and waited to see what would happen. A huge bull elephant came lumbering out of the trees and stopped about 20 feet away from us. We held our breath. He looked one way and the other and then came walking toward the jeep. Corey and I both had our cameras ready and aimed at the elephant as he continued toward us then moved around the back of the jeep. As he got to the far corner, about 3 feet from us (really it was only the back of the jeep between him and us), he stopped, sniffed the jeep, looked at us, and the continued on his way into the trees. We just stood there for a few… seconds? …minutes? while the enormity of what had just happened sunk in. Godlisten said that he knew we would be okay because we were both so quiet and calm so the elephant didn’t feel threatened. I always tell me students that if they want to see something spectacular in nature, they need to be quiet. It’s too bad no elephants come lumbering across the path at Brandt’s Creek in Kelowna!

Wednesday, October 23^rd

We had another fantastic night and very peaceful morning at Rhotia Valley before heading to Ngorongoro Conservation Area. We left for Oldupai gorge at noon because it costs $300US per 24 hour period to be in the area and if you are there a minute longer, they charge another $300. We were spending the next morning in the crater on our last game drive so we wanted to make sure we had enough time to really see it well. As we drove through the park, we saw many animals including giraffes, zebras, ostriches, buffalo… all grazing alongside the cattle and donkeys of the Masai. We arrived at Oldupai Gorge at 3pm to see our birthplace as human beings. Corey said that for us atheists, this is like our Mecca or Jerusalem!  Godlisten said that it was rarely visited because there isn’t much to see. The museum is small and dusty with a lot of information about the Leaky family and the footprints that they found but people are often disappointed in the $20 they have spent.

I had read that it was possible to take a guided walk into the gorge so while we were looking in the museum, Godlisten arranged for a guide to take us there. We spent an hour and a half in awe (you are wrong Oprah) as we picked up fossils ranging from 20,000 years old to 2 million years old. The archaeologists and anthropologists don’t even bother with the animal fossils anymore and Lucas, our guide, showed us a prehistoric elephant that is starting to be exposed by the wind. There are 700 archaeological sites that focus exclusively on humanoids: skeletons or tools. As we were walking along, Corey picked up a round green stone and asked Lucas what type of stone it was. He started telling us but as he turned it over, he said “This is a Homo Habilis chopper.” One side had been broken to make a sharp edge to chop whatever they were chopping at the time. I have no idea what type of stone it was. The fact that it was something made by our ancestor, 1.8 million years ago, took precedent over anything else! The tool will be collected and catalogued and may end up in a museum somewhere near you. How cool is that??

Thursday, October 24^th

During the night at Rhino Lodge, where we were staying, a pride of lions killed an old buffalo on the other side of the lodge from us. We knew nothing until the owner told us about it at breakfast. The carcass was left and we were told that it would probably be all gone within 3 days. The lions would be sleeping close by so it was important to stay within the lodge area. We were gone by 6:45 anyway so there was little chance of us encountering the lions but it’s unbelievable to be so close to something so powerful.

Ngorongoro Crater is a large, flat, open area with a salt lake in the middle. There are large herds of zebras, antelope, warthogs, gnus, buffalo, hippos, as well as lions, ostriches, other birds, hyenas, jackals, and the 22 black rhinos that exist on Tanzania. Corey spotted one! There are a few treed areas around the perimeter of the crater so we were driving through slowly, having just seen 5 lions (2 males and 3 females) when Corey yelled “Stop!” He thought he had seen our first hippo of the trip. Anyone who knows me knows that I love hippos and I was starting to despair about seeing any. Godlisten backed up a little and Corey said “It’s a rhino!” and it was. He was in the trees, walking peacefully along. We all watched him with our binoculars as he moved into the trees. Apparently rhinos have the same ability as elephants to easily hide. Godlisten did a little clap of joy at seeing the rhino. It is a quite a rare sighting. 

  

Other exciting sightings on this day included a secretary bird, a kory bustard (not to be confused with a corey bastard,) a spoonbill, and more lions. One beautiful male lion decided he wanted to move into the shade so he walked across the path in front of our (and 5 other) jeep but again he stopped and looked to make sure we all noticed he was there. He was gorgeous and proud. We spent 5 hours in the crater before we had to move out and get to the park gate.

So those are highlights for each of the days. They are really only one highlight per day when the days were filled with highlights. The birds, the people, the food, the scenery were all incredible. Godlisten, our guide, was incredible. I was sad to leave because I felt like I was saying goodbye to a good friend. Our tour company, Tanzania Journeys, was amazing from the very first inquiry I sent. I kept adding things to our itinerary based on what I had read and Fran adjusted the schedule to maximize the time we had there. If you ever think about doing a safari, forget Kenya. Tanzania is the place to go and Tanzania Journeys is the company to go with. And of you are lucky enough to get Godlisten as your guide, you will experience the most amazing holiday of your life. 

 

Videos of the elephant and the lion are here.