Africa… I love it and hate it. My time in Africa has been filled with a lot of highs and lows, both making the trip a very memorable and challenging experience. I feel that in the past month I have learned a lot about myself, my limits, African culture, discrimination, the world, and of course animals.
I arrived in Nairobi on Friday April 6th. I had a great evening at the Boulevard hotel where I was able to sleep in my own bed and even watch the news.
On Saturday I took a walk around Nairobi and found an open air market where I was able to bargain for some awesome crafts and souvenirs. It was a great experience to interact with the local people and see what they were able to create. It did get a bit overwhelming though, because they are very aggressive when pushing their products. I felt very safe in Nairobi and never had any problems. That night I took advantage of the movie channel on the TV and finished a great book. My coworker Kim arrived at about 10:30 that night and I was so excited to catch up with her. It was really nice to have a traveling companion again.
Easter Sunday this year was very laid back for me. Almost everything in town was closed because of the holiday, so Kim and I spent the majority of the day laying by the pool in our hotel and re-energizing in preparation for our voyage. We also endulged in some jelly belly jelly beans that I had received in a care package from my mom a week earlier. Thanks mom! I missed my family a lot that day, but I was able to call my grandma’s house where I knew that a large portion of my family would be located. It was great to talk to loved ones.
Monday was the departure day for our safari. My GAP tour consisted of a great group of people mostly from the US and a couple from England. We filled up two safari vans and left the hotel early that morning.
It was a 6 ½ hr drive over very bumpy roads to Samburu where we would spend our first two nights. The drive was my first time out of the city in Kenya, and it was a very eye opening experience. The poverty was overwhelming. You could definitely tell that you were in a 3rd world country once you left the city. I almost felt like a time traveler because along the road you would see donkeys pulling carts of sugar cane and children that didn’t look older than 5 were in charge of large herds of goats herding goats and camels. Women would be walking with large bags or jugs on top of their heads and a child strapped on their back. It was a very interesting ride.
Once we arrive at Samburu, I was in for another eye opener. Our campsite was very primitive. It had no running water, no electricity and the toilet was what they called a “long drop” aka a hole in the ground. Not like an outhouse- those I’m used to, but seriously a cement whole in the ground. It was disgusting. Cockroaches were everywhere and the smell was horrible. The site itself was nice though, and our tents were sturdy, so we were going to be ok.
That evening we went on a game drive and it was amazing. The first animal that we say was a leopard sleeping in a tree. It was beautiful. The leopard is by far the hardest animal to see, and bam… there it was. We also had enough luck to spot 5 cheetahs drinking from the river, a water buffalo, a reticulated giraffe (only found north of the equator) a gravy zebra (also rare), impala, gazelles, Onyx and elephants. It was amazing. The landscape was beautiful as well.
The next morning, Tuesday, we had an early morning game drive and saw a lot of animals again. The most exciting was when we came across a river. If you looked to one side you saw about 20 giraffes, and if you looked to the other, there were about 30 elephants. It was so cool.
That afternoon we went on a tour of the Samburu village. The Samburu are a native tribe in Africa who still live in the tribal ways of life. We were greeted at the village entrance by the women who were beautifully decorated in many colorful beads and bright clothing. They sang us a welcome song and we participated in a welcoming dance. We were able to learn about the culture and tour their huts. The Samburu are a nomadic tribe, so they move when there isn’t enough food for their animals. Because of this, their houses are made of sticks, branches, grass, animal hides and animal dung. They are very small, but contain a couple different rooms. They mainly eat the meat of their goats and cows, the dairy from them, and they drink the blood of their animals as well. They did have a school where the children were educated and a medicine man that took care of them when they were ill. Marriages were arranged and the cost of a wife was 10 cows. Men could have as many wives as they wanted as long as they had enough cows and a way to support all of them. Warriors protect the village at night from the lions and cheetahs with spears made from the village blacksmith. It was an amazing culture completely different from anything I had ever experienced.
On Wednesday the 11th we woke up early, packed up camp and were on the road by 6:45 for an early morning game drive on our way out of the park. On our way our I spotted some wild dogs (which are apparently very rare) and Joseph, our driver, yelled “TAKE PHOTO” as he crazily drove after them. It was a lot of fun and we laughed about it a bit.
After leaving the park we had a 4 hr drive to the Equator where we stopped for photos and a demonstration on how water swirled opposite directions on opposite sides of the equator. Kinda cool.
Eventually we arrived at our campsite in Naru Moru, near Mt. Kenya. This campsite was much better with showers, green grass and even flush toilets! Once there we had a nature walk around the bush and learned that if you burn elephant dung and inhaled the fumes it would cure a headache (in case you ever find yourself in the situation with a fire, elephant poo and a headache). We saw a bunch of monkeys along the way as well. That evening we sat around the campfire and sang songs in Swahili, the language of Kenya.
Jambo was our song of choice.
Thursday morning we left Naru Moru and drove 4 hrs to the Great Rift valley. The great rift valley was formed by a massive earthquake millions of years ago and is believed to hold the cradle of civilization. It was an amazing view. We also stopped at a beautiful waterfall called Thompson falls. It was a 200-300 meter waterfall, but some of its beauty was taken away by the large swarms of people hassling us to buy things.
From there we drove to Lake Nakuro- a lake famous for the millions of flamingos that flock to its shores. The lake was absolutely beautiful with all of the birds in it. It was pink almost all the way around. We also a white rhino there, some hyenas, hyrex, tons of baboons, impala and zebras and even another rare wild dog! It was amazing.
Friday the 13th didn’t bring me bad luck, but it did bring a long, hot day of bumpy roads. We drove 7 ½ hrs in the van to Masi Mara. The roads in Kenya are horrible. Most are dirt, but when they are paved they are full of potholes. The Africans like to call it and “African massage”. I was a bit crabby by time we actually reached the Masi Mara but was happy to find that our tents were covered tents on a wooden platform with cots in them. And, they even had hot showers!
Saturday the 14th was by far the most amazing day of the safari. We were extremely lucky in our finds. We left on our morning game drive and the first thing that we saw were some impala. Not a big deal, they are everywhere… but these impala were spooked, like something was after them. We drove a bit up the road and came upon a cheetah and her two cubs. The cubs were so little and furry, it was adorable. Well, the mom cheetah was hungry and was hunting the impala for breakfast. We saw her break out into an open run and go over the hill where the impalas were. We followed her as best as we could in the van and when we found here again she had an impala by the neck and was dragging it into the higher grass so her and here cubs could eat. It was so amazing to watch nature ate work. The next amazing thing that we saw was a male lion. It was my first male lion, and it was great. The lion was near a giraffe carcass – his kill from last night. As we continued to watch him, a vulture flew down to the carcass and tried to start eating some of the left over meat. At that point… 14 lions, male, female and cub emerged from the brush and came to defend its kill from last night. They all started to eat the giraffe again and it was absolutely invigorating to watch. We were so close to them that the lions would look you directly in the eye and you would swear that they were going to jump on you next. We watched that for a long time because it was so amazing to watch how the animals all worked together, or didn’t get along. It was so cool. By time we were done watching, the adrenaline was flowing through my veins. And if that wasn’t enough, later in the after noon we spotted a male and a female lion together. They were in mating season, so we sat around to see if anything would happen. Apparently, lions mate every 20 minutes for 7 days during their mating time. So, we waited around and sure enough…. The lions started to mate right in front of us!!! It was crazy. After a great day like that, we all went to the lodge for a drink and finished off the day with a hyena feeding. It was a great day!
Sunday April 15th was spent entirely in the vans. It was a VERY long day. 7 hrs from Masi Mara to Nairobi where we dropped off and pick up some people on our tour and then another 5 ½ hrs to Arusha, Tanzania where we would be spending the night in a hotel. We were all super excited to be out of the vans when we arrived at the hotel, but that attitude quickly changed. We were all starving because we hadn’t eaten much that day at all, so when we got to the hotel we went to the restaurant. I have never been so discriminated against in my life. First of all, let me explain that the feeling in these countries is that if you are white, you give out money to everybody that you see… so you are constantly harassed to buy things or to just give people money. It gets old really quick. Well, the staff at the hotel had given us a menu to order off of, but then also explained that they had a buffet. They highly recommended the buffet and said that it would take longer to make anything else off of the menu because the cooks were making food for the buffet. Funny how the buffet was significantly more than anything else on the menu. Well, we decided that we wanted to order off the menu, and they were upset. So, our chicken sandwiches that we ordered took 2 ½ hrs to make, came out the wrong order , were cold and had bones in them. Now, it could have been just bad service…. Except many black couples that had sat down after us order, ate, and left all before we got our food. And, when it came time to pay the bill… they said that the menu they had given us was out of date and they wanted to charge us almost double for our meals. It was horrible discrimination and I was so angry. Our tour guide had a talk with the manager and got it figured out… but I was so angry!
The next morning I had a cold shower in the hotel, and when we called to have someone come and fix it, the guy took a valve off of a pipe and water flooded all over the bathroom floor. Kim and I were at our wits end… but what can you do but laugh. We drove from Arusha to Lake Manyara that morning and when we arrived at our campsite we were very happy. We did some bargaining in the markets before going on an afternoon game drive in Lake Manyara park. The park was beautiful and we saw a lot of giraffes and elephants. On the way out of the park we almost got stampeded by an elephant! There was a group of elephants on the road and we were slowly coming up behind them with the lights off because we didn’t want to anger them. However, Cara, one of the girls in the van was wearing a headlamp with a light on and the elephant got pissed off. We turned the light off in time, but it was exciting and funny none the less.
Tuesday morning we had an early morning game drive and we saw more animals… however the special tree climbing lions were hiding from us. So, we went back to the campsite, had some breakfast, packed up camp and were on our way to the Serengeti. It was a 5 hr drive there, but once we got there we popped the top of the van and started looking for animals. We came across 3 lions on a rock that we watched for a bit, the the landscape and weather was more entertaining than the animals. It was pouring rain off in the distance, and with the sun shining we saw a beautiful rainbow. We also had a fantastic lightning show to watch and the clouds were so dark I almost thought that we were going to see a tornado. There was no tornado, but when we got to our campsite it was pouring rain. We huddled under a shelter and ate dinner followed by the singing of camp songs like “The Princess Pat” and “Boom Chick A Boom”. It was a lot of fun, despite the rain.
Wednesday morning we woke up early for and early morning game drive. The night before we had heard lions roaring outside of our tent, so we were excited to see if we could spot them. Sure enough, the next campsite down there were three lions perched on a large rock. It was right next to the tent! Crazy! The campsites that we are staying in are in the middle of the park and surrounded by the animals. There are no fences or anything to keep the animal away from you, so you always need to be careful and aware.
That morning we also came upon large herds of wildebeest and zebra. Serengeti is famous for it wildebeest migration where millions of wildebeest make the journey to finder greener grass. It wasn’t the season for the migration while we were there, but we still saw plenty of them. It was fun to watch the zebra as well… they were rolling in the mud to cool off. That afternoon I skipped the game drive because I was getting sick of being in the van all of the time. So, instead I sat at the campsite, drank some wine, read my book and watched a beautiful sunset. It was just what I needed. That night there was some more campfire singing before bed time. Thursday morning we had an early morning game drive in which we saw a lot of cats. We spotted 5 cheetahs making their way down the road and through the grass. It was a lot of fun to watch them because they act just like house cats. They were playing with each other, climbing trees, jumping and chasing one another. It made me miss my kitty at home a bit! The next cat that was spotted was a leopard sitting on a log in the grass. They are just such beautiful creatures.After our game drive, we packed up camp and were on our way to the Ngorongoro crater. It was another long drive, but along the way we stopped at the Oldvui gorge. The gorge was created by an earthquake millions of years ago and some of the oldest human fossils ever found were found here. When we arrived at the crater, it was pouring rain. That night was a wet one, because our tent leaked as well.Friday we made our way into the Ngorongoro crater. The crater was created millions of years ago when a volcano erupted and then collapsed upon itself. It was a huge basin just filled with a wide variety of animals. The landscape was gorgeous and the animals plentiful. We saw a cervil cat which we had not seen before, some lions, many elephants, zebras, hippos, and many more animals. The scenery was the most beautiful part of the day, and the drive to the top of the crater, the most exciting part. I was sure that we were going to roll the van off the cliff, but all went well and we made it ok. From there we drove back to Lake Manyara where we would spend the night.
Saturday morning we took a village tour with a Masi guide. The Masi tribe is another of the traditional tribal tribes in Africa. He took us through the village and showed us the wood carvers, rice growers, banana plantations, and how banana beer was made. It was interesting, but my favorite part was seeing the families and the children. It is crazy how extreme the poverty in these countries is, but the children always manage to bring a smile to my face. They love to see their photos on the screen of my digital camera after I take it.
That afternoon we drove back to Arusha where we spent our last night at a campsite there. We all went out to dinner at a nice restaurant and had a great dinner together (even though the power went out for a bit).
Then next day was our final day of the safari and Kim and I boarded a shuttle bus back up to Nairobi where we were once again harassed horribly along the way by people trying to sell us things. I said goodbye to Kim and met up with my friend Joe who is in the peace corp. in Kenya . We went out to dinner at a restaurant called Carnivore where they let you try exotic meat like ostridge and crocodile. It was a good experience and nice to be able to hear about Joe’s experiences in Kenya as well.
Today is Monday and I am exhausted from my travels in Africa. Originally Joe and I were going to go climb a mountain and explore a bit, but I am so exhausted I decided to check into a hotel and just relax instead. I need some alone time. This will give me a couple of days to re-energize before heading off to Greece where I will meet up with Katy! I can’t wait!
Photos to come when I have a faster internet connection.
P.S. Peter... I can't wait to see you! I miss you!
