Monday, August 08, 2005
August 5
So the Safari has been underway now, since Tuesday. I had intended to keep a daily log of the event, but that quickly went into the dust bin of good intentions. So let’s try to catch up a bit.
Logistics: We gathered in Arusha, in the Meru House on Mon, then we were in the Arusha National Park Tue and Wed, camping in two-person tents for those nights. Thursday we returned to Meru House mid-morning to transfer all our stuff from the Victoria Expedition lorries to the Fortes Safari lorries for the rest of our trans-Tanzania jaunt, then spent the afternoon in Tarengira National Park, and the night at Migunga Forest Camp. Friday (today) we got an early start to go to the Ngorongoro Crater, then we stopped at the Olduvai Gorge Museum on the way to the Serengeti Park Youth Hostel, the only reasonably priced accommodations Maria could find for us on this night.
Impressions: Everybody seems happy with the Safari and what we have seen so far. The list of animals is really impressive. But from having done Tarengira and Ngorongoro in Nov of 2003 when things were green, I was disappointed by the much lower animal density. Last time I got hoards of animal pictures up close and friendly, right beside our lorry. This time the animals were few, and off in the distance in the brown grass, mostly too far away for decent photos. Our guides aren’t telling us that old “Boy you should have been here last week, did we ever see ANIMALS!!!!!” but it is pretty clear that it would be a much higher animal density in the wet season. Green grass = food for all.
We didn’t see a lion this time, but while we were looking for one we saw a CHEETA, which is an even bigger prize. So far, the main prize goes to the hippos for the way they splash the water and wipe and splash their broad asses with their little tails, and for their glorious pink bellies that show so well when they roll over in the water and have their feet up in the air.
Animals photographed: The colobus monkeys that are only found in Arusha National Park, blue and vervet monkeys, troops of baboons, dik diks, ugly warthogs, endless zebras, cape buffalo, Masai giraffes (official animal of Tanzania – the Twiga), herds of elephants, a python in a tree, hyrax (a cute rodent – for the longest time we thought the guide was calling the hyrax “rat”), incredible crowned cranes (the official bird of Uganda), rabbit, bush buck, water buck, wildebeests, hartbeests, the Thompson’s and Grant’s gazelles that always seem to cohabitate, camels for tourist rides (do they count?), spotted hyena, golden jackel, hippos, that cheeta lolling in the grass, a black rhino off in the distance (another prize sighting), ostriches, and a whole bunch of birds.
The Park Prize goes to Arusha National Park, where we saw the greatest density and diversity of animals. It is in the foothills of Mount Meru and gets lots more rain, so things were green and lush – good for living things. On the second day there we took a walking tour, with an armed guide. We came across four giraffes that let the kids get pretty close – Mothers were getting frightened – before they ambled away. Quite a thrill for the kids, although by now when they see another giraffe it has become ho-hum.
But we never actually saw Mount Meru, beautiful mountain that it is, even though we were right beside it. Our weather has been quite cold and continually overcast. The group is amazed that we can be here, three degrees from the equator, and be cold.
We are really enjoying having the family together. The four kids are getting along fabulously, and their excitement carries through us all. But they can be a bit much, and today we separated the boys from the girls. That helped a lot, but people are still saying they do NOT want to be in the same car with the boys for long periods any more – the continual noise is mind-shattering. We are hearing lots of sibling stories and sharing family history from multiple viewpoints – usually things that the older generation did not know were happening.
Of course there are lots of questions about Africa and African history that I enjoy expounding about, now that I am the Two Year Expert. And it is good to share about what we are all doing in life, though it feels hard to really get beneath the surface with Matt and Paola.
Sunday, August 7
Animals: Add mongoose, topi, impala, lions including several prides eating their kills, and a leopard right after it pulled its dead Thomson gazelle into a tree for safekeeping. What a BEAUTIFUL animal it is, almost iridescent in its glowing, spotted coat!
Our safari has hit its stride, as the adults subtly jockey to avoid being in the car with the boys who make loud noise non-stop. By now the girls are in one car and the boys in the other. We all hope to be in the car with Musa who provides a running commentary on Africa and its environment instead of with Msaka who merely answers questions when he can, or looks things up in a book.
But today had its snags. Shari wasn’t feeling well. Symptoms seem like food poisoning from the meal we ate at the local cafe last night, but we all ate the same stuff and nobody else got sick. So we decided cut short our game drives and head directly to our next destination, the fabulous (and complimentary) Kijereshi Tented Camp. But when we regained cellphone access, I called Maria at the Safari Office. Seems that when Majit offered the accommodations, he didn’t have his schedule with him and unfortunately the Camp was totally booked. So we turned toward Mwanza, while Maria looked into whether the Hotel could accept us a day early. They said they could.
Meanwhile I called Ann Mtayangulwa to see what was happening at my school. Nsumba, it turns out, will not reopen after the food riot – which apparently included stealing a truck, and some glass and other damage – until the end of August. So that pretty much nixes the cultural exchange programs we had organized.
On arrival, the hotel happily informed us that they had three double rooms for us. I pointed out that that only took care of six of the ten of us. Their smiles faded. Much discussion and negotiation. Finally they did come up with enough rooms for us, and things settled down.
Maria called to invite us to her home, where she had prepared a dinner for the other Peace Corps Volunteers in the region, and us. It was delicious, and the reunion with the PCVs and the discussions with my family and with Maria was immediately open and excited and engaging. My family was pretty tired from the day of travel and went back to the hotel with our drivers, and I stayed on until about midnight talking with everybody. Kara was there from Sumve, and it seems that it was definitely arson that burned down her school’s dormatories. Six students were sitting in the pokey already, and several teachers were under investigation. Kim had just come back from South Africa, and was on her way to Dar es Salaam to quit the program with no regrets. Sounds like it was a good decision for her – her school has largely disintegrated. The current Headmaster is paranoid, the teaching atmosphere has gone south, and six teachers simply did not return after the mid-year break. Kathleen is almost odd man (woman?) out, with no disasters to talk about at her school and with things basically going well.
On the way from the Serengeti, we passed a field being set up for NaneNane Day, at Igoma. We are now thinking of going there tomorrow for a few hours, and then on to the Bujora Museum. We won’t stay overnight at the Museum as originally planned, but should still have a tour there, followed by dinner and a native dancing program. Since we still have the two safari wagons, we can also take along all the other PCVs in town. Should be fun.
Meanwhile we will see if it is possible to cut short our time in Mwanza in favor of spending more time in Zanzibar. That means both finding accommodations for 10 in Zanzibar during the high season, and changing our flights – both seem pretty iffy. But who knows, until we try...
So the Safari has been underway now, since Tuesday. I had intended to keep a daily log of the event, but that quickly went into the dust bin of good intentions. So let’s try to catch up a bit.
Logistics: We gathered in Arusha, in the Meru House on Mon, then we were in the Arusha National Park Tue and Wed, camping in two-person tents for those nights. Thursday we returned to Meru House mid-morning to transfer all our stuff from the Victoria Expedition lorries to the Fortes Safari lorries for the rest of our trans-Tanzania jaunt, then spent the afternoon in Tarengira National Park, and the night at Migunga Forest Camp. Friday (today) we got an early start to go to the Ngorongoro Crater, then we stopped at the Olduvai Gorge Museum on the way to the Serengeti Park Youth Hostel, the only reasonably priced accommodations Maria could find for us on this night.
Impressions: Everybody seems happy with the Safari and what we have seen so far. The list of animals is really impressive. But from having done Tarengira and Ngorongoro in Nov of 2003 when things were green, I was disappointed by the much lower animal density. Last time I got hoards of animal pictures up close and friendly, right beside our lorry. This time the animals were few, and off in the distance in the brown grass, mostly too far away for decent photos. Our guides aren’t telling us that old “Boy you should have been here last week, did we ever see ANIMALS!!!!!” but it is pretty clear that it would be a much higher animal density in the wet season. Green grass = food for all.
We didn’t see a lion this time, but while we were looking for one we saw a CHEETA, which is an even bigger prize. So far, the main prize goes to the hippos for the way they splash the water and wipe and splash their broad asses with their little tails, and for their glorious pink bellies that show so well when they roll over in the water and have their feet up in the air.
Animals photographed: The colobus monkeys that are only found in Arusha National Park, blue and vervet monkeys, troops of baboons, dik diks, ugly warthogs, endless zebras, cape buffalo, Masai giraffes (official animal of Tanzania – the Twiga), herds of elephants, a python in a tree, hyrax (a cute rodent – for the longest time we thought the guide was calling the hyrax “rat”), incredible crowned cranes (the official bird of Uganda), rabbit, bush buck, water buck, wildebeests, hartbeests, the Thompson’s and Grant’s gazelles that always seem to cohabitate, camels for tourist rides (do they count?), spotted hyena, golden jackel, hippos, that cheeta lolling in the grass, a black rhino off in the distance (another prize sighting), ostriches, and a whole bunch of birds.
The Park Prize goes to Arusha National Park, where we saw the greatest density and diversity of animals. It is in the foothills of Mount Meru and gets lots more rain, so things were green and lush – good for living things. On the second day there we took a walking tour, with an armed guide. We came across four giraffes that let the kids get pretty close – Mothers were getting frightened – before they ambled away. Quite a thrill for the kids, although by now when they see another giraffe it has become ho-hum.
But we never actually saw Mount Meru, beautiful mountain that it is, even though we were right beside it. Our weather has been quite cold and continually overcast. The group is amazed that we can be here, three degrees from the equator, and be cold.
We are really enjoying having the family together. The four kids are getting along fabulously, and their excitement carries through us all. But they can be a bit much, and today we separated the boys from the girls. That helped a lot, but people are still saying they do NOT want to be in the same car with the boys for long periods any more – the continual noise is mind-shattering. We are hearing lots of sibling stories and sharing family history from multiple viewpoints – usually things that the older generation did not know were happening.
Of course there are lots of questions about Africa and African history that I enjoy expounding about, now that I am the Two Year Expert. And it is good to share about what we are all doing in life, though it feels hard to really get beneath the surface with Matt and Paola.
Sunday, August 7
Animals: Add mongoose, topi, impala, lions including several prides eating their kills, and a leopard right after it pulled its dead Thomson gazelle into a tree for safekeeping. What a BEAUTIFUL animal it is, almost iridescent in its glowing, spotted coat!
Our safari has hit its stride, as the adults subtly jockey to avoid being in the car with the boys who make loud noise non-stop. By now the girls are in one car and the boys in the other. We all hope to be in the car with Musa who provides a running commentary on Africa and its environment instead of with Msaka who merely answers questions when he can, or looks things up in a book.
But today had its snags. Shari wasn’t feeling well. Symptoms seem like food poisoning from the meal we ate at the local cafe last night, but we all ate the same stuff and nobody else got sick. So we decided cut short our game drives and head directly to our next destination, the fabulous (and complimentary) Kijereshi Tented Camp. But when we regained cellphone access, I called Maria at the Safari Office. Seems that when Majit offered the accommodations, he didn’t have his schedule with him and unfortunately the Camp was totally booked. So we turned toward Mwanza, while Maria looked into whether the Hotel could accept us a day early. They said they could.
Meanwhile I called Ann Mtayangulwa to see what was happening at my school. Nsumba, it turns out, will not reopen after the food riot – which apparently included stealing a truck, and some glass and other damage – until the end of August. So that pretty much nixes the cultural exchange programs we had organized.
On arrival, the hotel happily informed us that they had three double rooms for us. I pointed out that that only took care of six of the ten of us. Their smiles faded. Much discussion and negotiation. Finally they did come up with enough rooms for us, and things settled down.
Maria called to invite us to her home, where she had prepared a dinner for the other Peace Corps Volunteers in the region, and us. It was delicious, and the reunion with the PCVs and the discussions with my family and with Maria was immediately open and excited and engaging. My family was pretty tired from the day of travel and went back to the hotel with our drivers, and I stayed on until about midnight talking with everybody. Kara was there from Sumve, and it seems that it was definitely arson that burned down her school’s dormatories. Six students were sitting in the pokey already, and several teachers were under investigation. Kim had just come back from South Africa, and was on her way to Dar es Salaam to quit the program with no regrets. Sounds like it was a good decision for her – her school has largely disintegrated. The current Headmaster is paranoid, the teaching atmosphere has gone south, and six teachers simply did not return after the mid-year break. Kathleen is almost odd man (woman?) out, with no disasters to talk about at her school and with things basically going well.
On the way from the Serengeti, we passed a field being set up for NaneNane Day, at Igoma. We are now thinking of going there tomorrow for a few hours, and then on to the Bujora Museum. We won’t stay overnight at the Museum as originally planned, but should still have a tour there, followed by dinner and a native dancing program. Since we still have the two safari wagons, we can also take along all the other PCVs in town. Should be fun.
Meanwhile we will see if it is possible to cut short our time in Mwanza in favor of spending more time in Zanzibar. That means both finding accommodations for 10 in Zanzibar during the high season, and changing our flights – both seem pretty iffy. But who knows, until we try...
