Lions and Zebras and Warthogs, OH MY!

Nat managed to get up on time and out the door - thankfully Festo (who is not on Africa time- we have noticed) showed up right on the dot at 4am to take her to the airport. Kari heard her rustling around and being the key holder, leapt out of bed to unlock the door (not without struggling to get out of the mosquito net....but we are getting better!) The doors here require a key to lock and unlock - and Kari had the key tucked away after the "incident" we had a few days ago. The rest of us got ready and were picked up at 8am in a tan colored 8 passenger Land Rover by our Safari guide, Kili (like Kilimanjaro). We all jumped in the vehicle and headed into Moshi town to pick up the other two people who would be joining us on our 4 day safari. We all guessed maybe it would be an old bird watching couple or maybe a young married couple. To our surprise and delight, it was 2 girls from Australia who we our age! Kirsty and Becky (the Australian girls) piled in the car and we were off! 

We chatted and found out that Becky was in her final year of medical school studying to be a OB doctor. She has been traveling Europe and Tanzania for 3 months now and is planning on heading home in a few days. Kirsty is a high school biology teacher who is taking a year off. She flew here to meet Becky to climb Mt Kilimanjaro. After TZ she is heading to Thailand as well as a few other SE Asia countries for 3 months. Needless to say we found plenty to talk about with a biology teacher and MD student.

We drove 3 hours to the first park, and we quickly realized that once you get outside the city, donkeys are the equivalent to our deer. They are everywhere! We drove until we hit Tarangire National Park, where we stopped to have a boxed lunch along with many other safari goers. As we ate lunch, Kili paid our entry fee and we were off! We knew the top of the Land Rover came up but we weren't quite sure how until we came back from lunch and it was all set for us to go. It was super nice to be able to peer out the top and see everything that was going on. 

First things first. They really need to start showing the Lion King on the plane ride to Africa! Most of our knowledge of African animals has come right from that movie. This movie would have been a great refresher to watch before our safari. Thankfully, Kili knew all the names of the characters in the movie and it helped us along the way (telling us the warthog, aka "Pumba" was over there). The highlight of the first day was when we turned the corner and came across dozens of elephants crossing the road and heading right towards us (slowly, of course). Some were rolling in the mud to get away from the heat. We were in awe of how many there and how majestic they looked. 

Some of the other animals we saw at Tarangire National Park include; impalas, giraffes, elephants, zebras, jackals, guinea fowl, baboons, blue monkey, black face velvet monkey, ostrich, and our first cat sighting- two females and a cub lion! 

After spending 4 hours driving around and seeing all the animals, we headed out towards our camp site. Kili offered to bring us to a Maasai village to see how they live. The Maasai are a tribe that are really only prevelant in northern Tanzania and southern Kenya. There's only about 1.6 million (800 million in Tanzania and 800 million in Kenya) that currently live and practice the Maasai lifestyle/traditions. We agreed and stopped by. The Maasai live in small huts that are visible from the road.  One man has many wives and each wife builds a small hut to live in with her and her children. The huts are made of sticks, mud, dung, and wheat/hay for the roof. Inside the house there is one bed for the entire family and a small place to make a fire for cooking, and an area for holding dishes. When we got there, they performed two tribal dances and included us. They dressed us in traditional garb and welcomed us into their village. We toured the house and saw the schoolhouse. Becky had spent one week in a Maasai village during her time here and explained to us parts of their culture. It is vastly different than ours and difficult to put into words. If you are curious about them, look it up on Google and you'll understand what we mean. 

We headed to our campsite which felt more like a retreat than a campsite. We sat down to a gourmet dinner made by our camp cook, George. We all shared a bottle of wine and also enjoyed a few beers that we purchased at their bar. We were really living in luxury with the canvas tents that had twin beds inside- up on a bed frame. They were two to a tent, and Cari thought she'd attempt her first camping experience sleeping alone. (spoiler alert- she said she slept better that night than during the whole trip combined).

In the morning, we had a great breakfast and packed up our stuff to head to the Serengeti. We drove for another few hours, stopping at a view point looking over the Ngorongoro Crater, where we were going to be on the third day. After arriving at the Serengeti gates, we enjoyed a boxed lunch that George had prepared while Kili paid the park fee. We continued driving into the Serengeti with the roof open, quickly realizing that large dung beetles could whip into the Land Rover (even while going 60km/hr on the highway)! As we were driving, we all heard a large scream from the back- a beetle had zoomed past Kari's face (she ducked and panicked, naturally) and hit Cari in the forehead. Cari leapt up despite the fact that we were going so fast, screaming bloody murder. Kili and George thought this was hilarious- and pointed out that they do not bite! 

The Serengeti was absolutely enormous. We came across what seemed like thousands of wildebeest and zebras. This is their migratory season and it was quite the sight. We also saw hyenas, one cheetah, a slender mongoose, lots of birds, a couple camels, baboons, hippos, and topi. The highlight of day 2 was when the guides spotted a leopard close to the road, hiding in some brush. We spent a few minutes waiting for the leopard to come out, and he gave us quite the show. He walked along a tree branch and headed in between the land rovers, and eventually crossing the street, posing for us. 

We pulled into the new campsite in the Serengeti and it was rainy and gloomy. It was definitely not as luxurious as the first camp site! It was explained to us that this campground had no fence, and there was a possibility of lions, hyenas, and other animals waltzing though the site. In fact, there were several giraffe just a football field away. Kili asked us if we wanted more of the Kilimanjaro beer and we all agreed, deciding we needed a drink to get us through this night! He explained to us to that normally there's a "mobile bar" that comes through the camp sites (there were quite a few camping areas all spread out) but because of the rain it was not coming today. We hopped in the car and went to a small canteen just 5 minutes away. It was crazy to think there is an operating shop in the middle of the vast park with all the animals around. While there, we saw our first Buffalo! Upon returning to our site, we saw Zebras and Buffalo standing in the driveway, and there were Buffalo RIGHT THERE like a few feet away from where our friends were waiting. It was so amazing. We cracked open the beers and thought that if we were going to die, being eaten by a lion is quite the way to go!

We had another amazing dinner prepared by George (can he just come home with us?!) and crossed our fingers for a good nights sleep. Kili told us we would hear the lions grunting between 4-5am every day to mark their territory, but "don't worry, they are more afraid of you than you are of them" HA!  Brittany decided she needed to take 50mg of Benadryl to get through the night. Not only were the animals loud, the other campers were loud as well! Cari and Kari barely slept a wink- listening to hyenas rummage though the garbage, neighbors snoring, and lions grunting. Brittany slept really well - having her malarone dreams all night. Kili had told us the evening before to be ready at 6am for a quick breakfast and a morning drive. 

We headed out as the sun was rising. We saw giraffes (one was VERY close!), topi, our first sighting of a male and female lion on their honeymoon (more on that later..) hippos in the pond, more lion, and rounded out the morning drive with more giraffes and elephants. You know you are getting spoiled when you look out the window and think, "oh, just some zebras, nothing special" We learned that the young baby zebras were actually brown and white, and they turned black and white when they get older. We were due back at the camp for brunch at 11 before heading to Ngorongoro Crater. We were served more food than we could eat (this was becoming a theme here) and packed up - leaving the Serengeti around 2pm. We continued on to the Crater.

We made it to our third and final campsite- and it was quite nice. Not as nice as the "resort," but a step up from the Serengeti. We were camping up on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater. There were a lot of people at this campground, including people from Norway and Germany. We showered while our tents were getting set up and relaxed a bit until dinner was ready.  We had to get used to the "squat" toilets, because they didn't have the "western" toilets we were used to. We quickly learned to always carry a roll of toilet paper with us!!! Everyone ate together in the makeshift dining hall. At camps like these, each Safari group has their own guide and cook. The cooks travel along and bring a mobile kitchen. When arriving at the camp grounds, they get set up using the very limited facilities they have- normally just a sink and tons of counter space. They each prepare the food for the people on their respective Safaris. It was an interesting experience. We ate dinner in a huge shelter with tons of other people, but it was still somehow an intimate setting- chatting with the people in your own group and eating the food personally served by our cook. 

Kari and Cari decided to take advantage of the earplugs that Kari had brought. Kari also decided it was time for 25mg of Benadryl, taking it slow!! Maybe we were all just so tired, or used to sleeping with the animals so close by, but it was the best night of sleep we all had gotten! It actually got REALLY cold overnight. We didn't have a way to check how cold it actually was, but we were guessing at least 35 degrees. We got an early 6am start again to do our final drive though the Ngorongoro Crater before heading back to town. We saw rhinos in the Crater (along with many, many other animals), which completed the "Big 5." The big 5 are the 5 most dangerous animals to hunt on foot. The animals are: Buffalo, Rhino, Elephant, Lion and Leopard! We were ecstatic we saw all 5!

This is where we experienced the coolest/most terrifying moment of all of our lives. We drove up to another honeymooning lion couple as they were lounging on the side of the road. There were quite a few Safari vehicles around, seeing the huge cats close up. The female lion soon got bored and decided to start wandering between the pack of land rovers, flopping herself down right in front of us. Kili explained that these lions were on their "honeymoon" which means that when the female chooses a male to mate with, they mate every 30 minutes for 3 days straight!!! That's quite the feat. The female lion started provoking the male by growling and nudging him with her paw. Kili explained this was a sign that they were about to get it on.... if you know what we mean. Everyone watched and waited, while more Safari vehicles started showing up. This did not please the male lion and he started showing his teeth and growling a little at the cars. We started to get a little nervous but Kili wasn't fazed. The female got bored and started wandering around through the cars, ending up directly in front of Cari's window. Of course, everyone was panicking and snapping photos. Cari quickly slid the window shut and almost peed her pants. The male and female lions laid next to each other and- boy- was Kili right! The next thing we knew the male had hopped on the female and we had a FRONT ROW SEATS, let me tell ya. It was quick- probably less than 15 seconds. They laid down and rested as we were all freaking out. We must be the fertility group because we not only saw these particular lions as well as the lions mentioned earlier, but we also saw lizards mating, giraffes mating, baboons mating, and zebras mating. It was pretty funny and turned into a running joke between us. 

Random thoughts/fun moments of the weekend:

1. Cari's use of "The Travel John." For those of you who are not familiar, this is a personal, disposable urinal bag that changes the liquid into a gel. We got the idea to bring them from a nurse we work with while we were delirious on a night shift (thanks, Dausyn!). Every morning, Cari emerged from her tent, carrying the gel filled travel john 
2. We had a blast chatting with the girls and learning Aussie phrases. "Cans" can refer to beer, they say "mate" all the time, and use words like "reckon" and "heaps"! Super fun. We also learned that one of the girls will be at the same hotel we are staying at in Zanzibar...at the same time! We will definitely be meeting up in a week to swap stories and have a beer........or two.....or three......A funny quote Kirsty said when we were talking carrying children vs. adopting, "I feel like carrying your own child is like baking a cake from scratch!"
3. Cari has yet another new boyfriend, this time a married man (!!!) who was a safari guide/cook. He was giving Cari the eyebrows every time he passed by her, and has already asked her to go on a "date" in downtown Moshi sometime this week...she declined....respectfully reminding him that he was married.
4. Kari almost got her camera taken away by the Ngorongoro Crater Rangers. They stopped to talk to Kili and by instinct Kari turned on the camera she had. The flash popped up and it appeared that she was taking a picture. The rangers immediately told Kili that it had to be deleted, but there wasn't actually a photo that was taken! They didn't believe her and had to look through the camera to make sure.
5. A rule we had to follow when leaving the truck was to always shut the windows, because as Kili said, "if you leave the windows open, baboons come in and steal your stuff"

As a parting picture...here is us, the whole group, in front of the Land Rover. George, the cook, is on top. Kili is on the end of the group, next to Kirsty, Becky, and then the three of us!

-Kari, Brittany, & Cari