East Africa: Tanzania

June 30, 2013.

Safari, which means long journey in Swahili, in East Africa is an experience which cannot really be described and can only be experienced.

Friends who have been to Kenya / Tanzania said that this is one vacation they cannot forget and would do it again as is. We can see most of the animals in Zoo or “managed” safaris in a Zoo, so what is different. Also, even in real jungle Safaris often the experience is to really see the regular antelope or deer in maybe groups of 5 to 10. If you really work hard you could see the head or the tail or just a brief glimpse of a cat at some distance. Due to these experiences, so far I was not a big Safari enthusiast as well. But I was intrigued and was not really sure what to expect. The traveler in me really wanted to find out. I am so glad I did as there probably is no place on Earth where one can witness such a high density of wild animals living in their most untouched natural environment in perfectly balanced eco system. To witness it is an unparalleled experience.

First up, I connected with Mike Toogood of www.africa-safari-direct.com. I got his reference from friends who used him in the past for this trip and we started with roughly the similar itinerary. Mike was professional and patient ant did several combinations to work out exactly what I wanted to do with my family. There was a sticker shock though and I was not sure why the trip comes out to be so expensive in Africa. I did do research on the web and looked at other companies — their itineraries and prices and found out that things are expensive. One could try to connect with one of the many local Safari companies to work out a better deal — Leopard Tours; Ranger Safari; KIBO Guides; Good Earth Tours are some of them in Tanzania. We stayed with Mike as it felt more comforting and professional.

Once you decide on who you want to use for your Safari arrangements, things are fairly straightforward in terms of itineraries. From time of the year perspective, June to September is perfect but people go throughout the year and experiences are somewhat different. Kenya or Tanzania or both is a question to answer. For me, we went in June and the migration effect causes much less animals in Kenya + Kenya has been open for tourist Safari for about 100 years vs. Tanzania been open for just about 20 years so is more preserved + Masai mara is special but size wise only about 10% of Serengeti, I decided to optimize for less travel between parks and focus largely on Tanzania. Also, another choice was to choose whether to fly into Nairobi or Dar-es-salaam. Nairobi meant two visas but is much closer to all the parks and so we chose to optimize travel time again.

Our itinerary plan was to spend 3–4 days in Serengeti including an extra day for Western Corridor. We chose this addition as Migrating herds at this time were expected to be in this region. Then the plan had 2 days for Ngorongoro with one full day of Crater safari and 2nd day for the things outside the Crater. We also added both sides a day each for Lake Manyara Park and Tarangire Park. The picture below form the web describes the plan, though the arrows are not quite the journey we took. For the last 3 days instead of going to Masai Mara we decided to fly from Arusha to Zanzibar and spend time unwinding on the beaches after 8–9 days of Safari drives.

We used Kenya Airways out of Mumbai and it was fine, but me being Emirates fan would probably choose Emirates if I were to repeat the trip. Visas can be done on arrival in both the countries. For hotels, the Safari part was completely taken care of by the travel agent including all meals. For Zanzibar bookings we used Booking.com and that worked fine. Travel to this part of the world does require Yellow Fever vaccination, these vaccines often run out and also needs to be taken at least 10 days before the travel so plan in advance. Malaria course is recommended, daily is what is common but we used the once in week one called Larimef.

Another aspect is to have enough US$ cash in smaller denominations for local use. US$ is almost the 2nd currency in most of Tanzania and credit card services charges are high. Also, hotel in Zanzibar refused to take US$ which were printed before 2002 which was rather inconvenient. Smaller denominations are needed for Tipping. Tipping is expected for porters, restaurant staff and Safari guides. There are norms on amount for each type of service and we stuck to those norms.

We landed in Nairobi early morning and drove to Arusha in Tanzania. The first thing that struck us as soon as we got out of the airport was the weather, it was perfect after the heat spell in India with slight overcast and temperatures around 20 Celsius. Our pre-arranged pick up showed up and we made it to the lovely little resort called Mount Meru Game Lodge in Arusha after a change of vehicles on the border. The painful part was the filling in of long forms to get into Nairobi, then filling another set to get out of Kenya and then fill yet another set to get into Tanzania.

As we drove into Tanzania, I realized that economically Tanzania may be behind Kenya but seemed more organized, people felt more at peace with themselves and in general the surroundings were clean and in harmony with nature. Over the course of our stay it struck me that Tanzania is a special country with so many distinctions:

1. Home to Mt. Kilimanjaro — highest peak of Africa.
2. Home to Lake Victoria — second largest lake in the world after Lake Superior in US.
3. Home to Lake Tahganyika — second deepest lake in the world after Lake Baikel In Russia.
4. Has 2nd largest gold reserve in the world after South Africa.
5. Home to Serengeti, the world’s largest concentration of wild animals in their TRUE natural habitat. It is the 2nd largest national park after Yellow Stone with an area of 14,700 sq km.
6. Cradle of origin of Human race at Olduvai Gorge.
7. Home of Masai tribe.

We got our briefing about the Safari at the Mount Meru Lodge and spent rest of the evening just unwinding. The vegetation of this place was rich with plants one would expect in deserts like Cactus to trees which looked more like they belong to Mountain areas. The giant cactus looking tree was unlike anything I had seen before. Another observation was the food — for vegetarians like us there was the localized Indian food with enough chapatti, rice, lentils and curries. This was true throughout our trip.

Next day morning we had our drivers show up with 2 land cruisers for the 2 families. These drivers were to stay with us through the Safari of 9 days and would be our guides as well. So it is very important that there is a connection and comfort with them. The vehicles themselves are powerful of course for the Safari but are also very comfortably equipped with a roof that can be raised for game viewing and photography. We drove out to arrive at Kirumuru Tented camp and had our lunch there. This is a beautiful facility near the Lake Manyara Park.

We had our first Safari that evening in the Lake Manyara Park. We saw our first Baboons and blue monkey, Giraffe, Zebras, Antelopes, different birds including the Hammer Corp (makes heavy nests) and lots of Elephants. The vegetation here was dense with lots of big trees like normal jungles one would expect. Most interesting episode was an Elephant running on the pathway right at us for 5–7 minutes and then it suddenly went into the jungle on one side.

We entered the Serengeti / Ngorongoro area next day morning and spent next 5 days in this region. The start was not the most promising as we had 2 flat tires in space of half hour but from then on it was pure magic. I cannot forget the endless grasslands which is where the name Serengeti comes from; the vast forest fires which are set by the forest rangers to clear off dry grass to make way for new green grass; thousands and literally thousands of animals, sometimes zebras and sometimes wilderbeasts, running in long never ending lines migrating to greener grass and water; the majestic lions; the mesmerizing yellow eyes of a leopard up close; the beautiful birds; the ideal family herds of elephants; ever elegant giraffes; and not to forget the school after school of hippos.

The Sopa lodge at the Ngorongoro crater and the M’balageti tented camp — owned by Indians, managed by South Africans — in the western corridor were just incredible. To be able to maintain such beautiful facilities right in the middle of the wild where you need escort in the night to go even within the resorts was something special.

I do not think I can describe or even remember all the exhilarating sitings we had of the wild. But to give you a glimpse of how special this journey was, let me start with first saying that it was satisfying to have seen all the big five — Lion; Leopard; Elephant; Buffalo; and Rhino — in their wild setting. We were really lucky to have seen lions on each of the days and all in very unique ways

• Day 1 — Two lioness on a big bolder pacing around; and then lioness panting after a zebra kill with pride of 10 lions along with her — the lioness was right in front of our jeep and a grown cub walked to her; and we were not done when we saw a lioness on a tree(which is not common I am told) with lion sitting underneath

• Day 2 — it was special as we saw mating of a male lion with 2 lioness in 10 min intervals. Our guide told us that the mating goes on for 5 days and this was likely the first day based on the intervals between encounters
• Day 3 — we saw 2 male lions with 2 lioness right next to the road. Male lions in full view truly looks like the King of the jungle; and the day was made special by a leopard with a cub in the tree- leopard carried a dead gazelle up the tree and then walked around on the tree branches and finally posed on the closest branch hardly 10 meters away from us; we were driving out of Serengeti and it was only appropriate that we saw a lioness sitting in a ditch towards the end of the park bidding us good bye.

• Day 4 — In the crater we saw a lioness walking past a herd of zebra and deer; and then the pride of 4 lionesses in the bushes.
• Day 5 — In Tarangire park we saw a pair of lion and lioness — lioness walked on the road in front and then walked and posed on side of the jeep, male lion walked in the bushes close by and then both sat down in tall grass hidden from site. It was a catwalk and we were really lucky as due to tall grasses in this park we could have only seen them if they were on the vehicle pathway.

How can I forget all the other animals. More of the unforgettable views:

1. School of maybe 100 Hippos — all in water once and all outside 2nd time. They stay where it is cooler as have no sweat glands. Oil from body makes parts of body look red/yellow. The yawning hippo is a picture to behold.
2. More than 1000 zebras migrating was breathtaking. Looked like a never ending line running from one side to other. There were of course 20 or 30 times we saw smaller groups scattered in regions close by the vehicle or drinking water with caution.
3. Migration at this time in June 2nd week is in western corridor close to lake Victoria. Saw literally 1000s and 1000’s of WilderBeasts running in long and narrow group- literally migrating. Saw them twice in the same patch. Zebra follow close behind apparently and so we had seen them a day earlier in the area before the corridor.
4. African elephants with their ears up is a picture perfect moment. We saw many herds with almost a few days old to big full grown males. A herd of literally 100 elephants coming to a small water body. Elephants having mud bath. And babies few days to few weeks.
5. Ostrich are actually quite big — bigger than zebras. Male is black and female white. They are 3rd fastest animals! Again we saw plenty to our heart content.
6. Giraffes always look the cool dudes! Saw groups of them running and crossing road, 3 of them in perfect erect and still pose, as one or 2 or family with small ones, eating from flat top or umbrella Acacia trees OR even grazing in groups of 10s and 20s.
7. I do not want to forget to mention Gazelle and antelopes of various size, mostly in big groups. Hopping, running, grazing. So much fun to just stop and see the various activities — drama unfolds every time in a different way.
8. There were also plenty of Buffaloes particularly in the Crater.
9. Birds were very interesting as well — Kori-heaviest bird to fly; Flamingos of two kinds lesser and greater in a small beautiful lake and also in Crater water body; Hammer Corp- bird with heaviest nest of 30 kgs or so; Tawny Eagle, white breasted eagles, fish Eagle, Butler Eagle; group of vultures, and many small birds like the beautiful blue birds; and the Secretary bird.
10. Also saw solitary spotted Hyenas many times, black back jackal, lots of baboons, lots of Worthog (same family as wild boars), crocodiles in river, guinea pig families; monitor lizard…

The only animal we saw once and that too at a distance is the endangered Black Rhinos. It is a shame that there are so few of them left due to poaching, so much so that they are under 24 hour watch by rangers. We did not see any Cheetahs, maybe next time.

I also want to mention the vegetation especially the Acacia trees both the flat top and umbrella top. They are known for their medicinal value among the Masai and great for Giraffes; the Sisal plants which were used for making ropes and its stem is used for making Tequila; and the really old Baobab trees. This is besides of course the grasses of various heights all over; cactuses and the long thorn trees.

On our way to the crater, we visited the famous Olduvai Gorge where there are active archeological work ongoing. There have been discoveries of homicides in this part from 2.5 million ago and then at least two later periods. This area is believed to be the cradle of origins of human race. The Safari companies have arrangements with the Masai villages where one can pay $50 per vehicle for a tour of the village and hear about the Masai culture.

Some fascinating facts about Masai:

1. Usually each village has one big family. Many wives to a male — wonder how all males find wives given natural ratio would be 50:50? Answer was that the wives can leave anytime to marry another and so move around. The village we visited had 3 families. One had 6 wives with 24 children and another with 8 wives and 32 children. Now a days children are going to primary schools. This requires money and so now there is shift to fewer wives and fewer children.
2. Live in small huts with 2 small beds covered with cow skin and a chula for making food. Each hut is for 1 wife. The village itself is surrounded by a fence around the settlement. Middle part is open area for dance and ceremonies.
3. Masai move from one to other settlement if lack of water and grass. They do not destroy the settlement instead would leave behind the huts for any other family to use.
4. They do not eat wild animals and live in harmony with them. Village is a self-sufficient economy — eat meat of own cattle, drink their cattle milk and blood. Make a daily soup of Acacia tree leaves which serves as the medicine which keeps them healthy. They eat no other vegetables.
5. Carry long sharp knives, mounted on long wood sticks. Also have short wooden bludgeons for protection. When meat is being eaten, without invitation (neither given), one uses his knife to start eating.
6. Have donkeys as beast of burden.

I do want to say though that the village did appear little made up and the folks were looking to extract money. There is government help for water, education and primary health like deliveries of babies. So I wonder how much of the original Masai culture is left and how much is a tourist set-up.

We spent the last day of Safari at Tarangire. We drove to Arusha for lunch and then took a flight to Zanzibar for 3 days of beach and sun. Zanzibar is an interesting island and unlike rest of Tanzania which is majority Christian population, is mostly Muslim population. It has lot of history as well:

1. Fishing village before Vasco Da Gama discovered the island and became a Portughese colony for about 150 years. Stone town was constructed using typical island stones. This construction is still a great tourist attraction. They also have the classic large carved doors, which I believe got added during the Arab rule.
2. Remained an Arab colony till 1964. Center of slave trade where slaves were brought chained from East Africa and auctioned to Arab buyers here.
3. Slavery was abolished officially due to efforts of an English Missionary in late 19th century who constructed a church at the site of the slave market. The altar is said to be in the exact place where the main “whipping post” of the market used to be.
4. Zanzibar merged with Tanzanica to be part of Tanzania but with a separate President and government.

All the history aside, Zanzibar is a beautiful island with white sandy beaches and emerald water. There is also a small island owned by Bill Gates in an effort for sea fauna conservation.

It was indeed a beautiful experience and I will not feel complete without a few word of Swahili which we picked up during our stay: Mazuri Sana- very good; Hakuna matata — no worries; Jumbo — hello; Asante Sana — thanks very much; Karibu — welcome; and Lala Salama — sleep well.