Serengeti farewell - homeward bound.

Given the choice of another morning game drive, or a morning by the pool looking out over the Serengeti plains, Andrew and I opted for the pool.  Pre-lunch “Safari“ beer followed, then yet another 3 course lunch.

The others arrived back at 2pm with tales of wild hippo parties down at the water hole.

Photo credit: Mike Stewart

We had a lazy afternoon, and animal-themed talent quest at sunset. Dara took the prize with an Irish song, although it was hard to see the animal connection!

Photo Credit for these three photos: Kevin Kearney

Day 19

We started on our way home, having to stop only a couple of kilometres from the hotel to let a large lioness cross the road. The Dik Dik antelope lay low as the huge cat padded past.

An emergency stop at the Rangers Station was needed when the bonnet hinges on Elias’s Landcruiser broke. Within minutes of a phone call a team of mechanics arrived in another Leopard Tours Landcruiser. Two new hinges were produced and efficiently fitted. Leopard Tours are the biggest tour company in Tanzania with over 200 vehicles.  It was comforting to have such good backup available when we were so far away from civilization.

Photo Credit: Clare Kearney

The rest of the drive back through the Serengeti and over the Ngorongoro Crater passed without incident.

Big game hunter: Mike swatted 45 Tsetse flies during the week.

Once we were installed in yet another Serena Hotel Elias and Elliot took us on game drive in the Lake Manyara National Park.  More monkeys and giraffes, but with a forest and lake backdrop. Elephants so close you could also almost reach out and touch them. Bush bucks, squirrels, and bush babies. Interesting fact – the bush baby is a primate!

The night concluded in the TV room watching England being beaten by Croatia.  A sad day for Andrew.

Day 19

We were dropped off at the slightly run-down Sundowner Hotel at Arusha and said farewell to our wonderful drivers and guides Elias and Edwin. Mike presented them with tips, but also fly swats and mosquito repellent.  They learnt to hongi. It was both a sad and happy ceremony.  Sad to leave the guides and happy to be on our way home.

  It seems a life time ago we arrived in Kilimanjaro International Airport. Back after nearly three weeks we parted ways with Kevin and Clare who decided to spend the weekend with friends in Malawi. We are on our way home.

A big thanks to Dara for all the editing over the last three weeks!

And special thanks to everyone who read this far!

La la salama!

Photo Credit: Kevin Kearney

The Big Five

The Big Five is a term used on safari and refers to the most sought-after animals.  The Tanzanian big five are lion, leopard, rhino, elephant and buffalo.

Day 16

The track down in to the crater took its toll on the vehicles. We had one puncture, and the wheel was quickly replaced by Ellias and Edwin.

 Then, via the vehicle radios, we were alerted to a pride of lions on the move. We soon came across a large lion and lioness were enjoying a very public second honeymoon.

Closer to the lake … hippos …. and then black rhinos.  The concentration of animals was extraordinary.

The whole day was filled in with relaxed game viewing. We headed back up the steep paved road to our hotel on the crater rim in time for happy hour, and to watch the sun set.

 Day 17

A misty morning added to the dramatic scenes as we drove around the crater road towards Serengeti National Park. Acacia trees with browsing giraffes.  Grant’s gazelle and elephants. Masai people wrapped in red shukkas sitting on rocks on the roadside. So dusty, dry and barren.

We passed the track to Olduvai Gorge where Mary and Louis Leakey found the remains of "homo habilis", about 1.9 million years old, probably the first early human species. Later we crossed the Olduvai River bed. Olduvai is the Masai word for the large sisal plants which lined the riverbanks. 

The drivers called in to a Masai village where we had a cultural dance, fire-making demonstration, and a look around.  The houses are small round mud and stick structures, barely able to fit a six-foot westerner.  A Masai can have several wives and several huts to house them all. The villages are surrounded by spiky African thorn fences which keep the cows, goats and sheep in, and the wild animals out.  Hyenas, jackals, leopards and lions are common in this area and are all looking for an easy meal. The Masai diet consists of only meat, blood, milk and maize.

These guys pride themselves on how high they can jump.

Mike demonstrating our inability to jump.

Fire -making demo.

Success!

Manzani Flat-headed Rock (Spiderman ) Agama Lizard

 After a stop at the entrance to the National Park we drove at speed down an extremely rough corrugated straight road.  It was very hard on the vehicles, and our bodies.  They call it the “Tanzanian Massage”. 

Serengeti means “end-less plain”.  There were grasslands in all directions to the horizon, with small hills in the distance.

Grazing animals were abundant.  On top of a mound, a cheetah.  Further on, in the distance, a black rhino.

As we progressed further into the park, lone trees appeared and mounds of smooth weathered volcanic rock dotted the grasslands.

We lunched in the shade of a sausage tree.  So-named because of the large sausage-like fruit dangling from it's branches. The trunk bore leopard scratch marks from where they drag their kill up high. The hoofed remains of an antelope carcass hung from a prominent branch.

Every so often, the drivers would get a message on their CB radios alerting to big cat activity.  We saw a large pride of lions sleeping in the sun. Then three lionesses and about eight cubs feasting on two freshly killed zebras. We viewed these from about 10 meters away; cubs playing together and jumping around their dinner like playful kittens.

On the final leg of the day’s safari, we spotted a leopard sitting on top a large smooth rock.

Worn out from the day of bone-shattering jiggling, we enjoyed beers on the deck of the hotel. The setting sun was a bright red orb as it dipped below the distant hazy African hills. We had seen the big five in one day.

Winos on Safari

Day 14

Leopard Tour drivers Ellias and Edwin picked us up at 10pm. They were driving matching Landcruisers equipped with double spare tyres, shovels, eight elevated seats, and a pop-top for game viewing.

We had a four hour drive to the game park, lunching in Arusha. The 36km driveway to the hotel at Tarangire was dusty and rough, but game was abundant. Elephants, Grant’s gazelles, zebras, cheetahs, warthogs, wildebeest, buffalo and lions … just a taste of what was to come.

The mighty Baobab tree

A Black-backed Jackal.

There were no boundaries to the National Parks. The animals can wander in or out.

The Sopa hotel was really nice. There were lots of critters running over and around the buildings. The cute Rock Hyrax is only about 30 cm long but it's closest living relative is the elephant. For those with a zoological interest, this little animal has internal sex organs!

That is a Rock Hyrax on the right!

Day 15

Clare's birthday.  She was serenaded by the local staff with song, ululating, trilling, and dancing at the breakfast table.

After another morning drive around Tarangire we headed over the Great Rift Valley past Lake Manyara to Ngorongoro National Park.  It was cattle market day in the village on the way and the locals were out in force in bright colours.

Our driver Elliot is from the Parra tribe. The local Masai tribe are mainly nomadic cattle and goat farmers.

When passing by a donkey on the side of the road Ellias commented “Masai Landcruiser!” Obviously there is some inter-tribal rivalry.

Our stop for the night, Serena Ngorongoro, was perched high on the crater rim and every room had a view of the enclosed plain. The lake in the middle was shallow and will dry up in the coming dry season.

Clare had a second birthday ethnic song and dance, followed by a cake complete with candles.