We left at 9 AM on Thursday morning. Thursday was a holiday here in Tanzania so the children did not have school which made it very convenient that I would only miss one day of placement. On our first day we drove to Lake Manyara. It was an hour and a half drive the road was all paved which is truly a luxury here. Once we got there we set up camp, ate lunch, and headed out. On our trip we had 22 of us, four tour guides, four jeeps and two cooks. The meals were absolutely amazing! For lunch our first day we had grilled chicken, a hamburger, a samosa, juice, banana, cookie, etc. It was so much food! I am pretty sure that the hamburger was not beef, but what can I do.. I am in Africa! So I suck it up. And eat blindly whatever I am given.
Lake Manyara is GORGEOUS and it was probably my most favorite day of safari! It is a jungle environment, cool temperature and so gorgeous! Monkeys are EVERYWHERE. Before we even got into the park, as we were driving through a town there were about 20 monkeys passing on the road. Then when we stopped at the gates to use the bathrooms before we went out in the jeeps, monkeys were not even a foot away from us. It was insane. Blue haired monkeys and baboons.
This was at the top of the Lake before we headed down to it
In addition to the monkeys we saw lots of elephants, large reptiles, gazelles, bush babies, lots of birds, zebras, ostriches, giraffes, hippos, wildebeest, hyenas, etc. We went back that night, ate the awesome dinner that was prepared for us, and then some local Tanzanians played the drums and danced for about an hour. The place we stayed was a nice camp ground with a really nice outside dining area. But we slept in tents and the first night there were four of us in our tent. Our zippers to the doors did not really close any of the nights but at Manyara it was pretty warm. One of my friends Matt who was in our tent snored so incredibly loud and we had a good time of hitting him throughout the night. I cannot believe I forgot my earplugs!
The next morning we woke up and made about an hour drive to the Serengeti Park. This road was NOT paved. I almost got sick one of the days after eating because the roads were so bumpy. But always amazing. We saw our first lions, cheetahs and leopards in the Serengeti. We were in the Serengeti for two days and woke up on that third day at 5:30 AM so we could see the sunrise. I wish my camera had done the scenery justice. When you are first driving into the park it is complete flatland grassy fields. There are no trees to be seen anywhere. I was surprised by the lack of trees. Once we got into the park it got a little greener but not much, it is the dry season here though and as incredibly dusty. On two of the days I wore white shirts to try and not get so hot and they have turned light brown from all the dust. Sunglasses were a necessity and since mine have been MIA since "the squatter incident".. I was luckily able to borrow a pair from a friend! At our camp we were sleeping in the middle of the Serengeti with not gates to keep out animals.. we could hear animals stoping through our tents during the night. It was actually very scary and we were told not to leave our tent after dark, even with a group, as there could be lions or hyenas.
Sunrise in the Serengeti, this is also one small fraction of the Wildebeest Migration
We also stopped at Oldupai Gorge Museum on the way to the Serengeti. This is a museum where you can hear about and see molds of what scientist believe to be the oldest preserved human footprints. Apparently this is a huge thing that students and scientists from all over the world come to see that I never had even heard of. But I am also horrible at history.
On our last day we went to Ngorongoro Crater. This crater is made up of the sunken in volcanoes and houses thousands of animals. The scenery as you are driving down the mountain is breathtaking and beyond beautiful. Again, my camera can not do it justice. The crater is home to the black rhinos and we completed our "Animal list" by seeing them. Our camp site was beautiful but was a rough night. It was absolutely freezing and I was wearing three shirts, two jackets, two pairs of socks and had three blankets and still froze! It was so incredibly windy there. It was also right in the crater with no gates so there were animals walking right through our tents again. I have a video of an elephant stealing water with its trunk out of the water tank right in our camp. We were standing not even 6 feet from him. It was totally a Water For Elephants moment. I got it on video. Speaking of videos I am going to try and make a youtube page so I can upload all my videos. With the speed of the internet here, it is impossible to upload them onto my blog or even facebook. When we walked to the bathroom that night, we had to cross a field and three of us were walking in the pitch black with a small flashlight. We were walking and talking and all of a sudden we almost ran into a group of zebras. They didn't even run! They were blocking the path so we turned around and decided we didn't have to go that badly! We met a guy at the campsite that was like 22 and worked for Google News.. it was pretty cool. Him and his friends were on a World Tour.
Looking down at the crater
Elephant stealing water!
I think with our four jeeps, we had to stop on the side of the road at least 8 times. Also, the police here flag you down at random and you have to pull over. Apparently you pay them off each time so they won't try to find something wrong to give you a ticket. It is so strange and a lot of the police are corrupted here. Our guides were absolutely amazing!!
Massai. I thought before coming here that the Massai tribe was one single tribe living in the area. NO. There are Massai tribes EVERYWHERE. You cannot drive down a street or through a town without seeing a Massai in their bright red and purple congas. Also, while we were driving through Manyara and Ngorongoro there would be little boys no older than 5 years old herding about 70+ goats by themselves with no one around. They also stand on the side of the road waiting for you stop to take a picture of an animal and they ask for money. One of our tour guides grew up and is still Massai and it was interesting to hear about it. It is such a foreign concept. We saw some boys around age 14 clad in all black congas and with black and white face paint and headdresses. They wear this outfit every day for three months before and for three months after their circumcision.
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