Tanzania (Part 3 – Safari)

Okay, last week on safari we saw a serious amount of animals, and more than just cows and goats!

First we drove to Ngorongoro Crater — the world’s largest inactive, intact, and unfilled volcanic caldera.  When we arrived at the entrance gate, our driver and guide, Julius, told us to close our windows because the baboons would jump in and grab our food. One family member scoffed at the likelihood of such an event and kept their window open. Before we knew it, baboons were surrounding the car and one had jumped in and began rummaging through the car. Everyone at the gate quickly jumped to our aid and cleared the area, and the baboon happily jumped out of the jeep eating our apple after having a few other snacks. Lesson learned:  listen to our guide!  

With that, we popped the top of the safari jeep, stood on our seats, and drove down into the crater. It was just after sunrise, there were no other cars in sight, and even the smell was amazing. The scenery alone was, as the kids would say, “Majestic!”  There were so, so many animals. We were soon surrounded by herds of wildebeest, buffalo, zebras, gazelles, and so much more. It was a particularly fun time because we arrived right after calving season so we saw lots of babies and kept saying things like, “baby warthogs have the cutest butt!” 

Later in the morning we saw more safari cars and soon learned to stop at herds of cars. Usually it was a group who said they could see a rhino in the distance, but we could never see it. The rhino is endangered because of poaching and our guide said there are only 9-10 left in the crater so it was rare to see them. We had given up hope and then, right before we left, we saw a mother and baby all on our own.

We then spent two nights in the Serengeti which was similarly spectacular. We saw many of the same animals but in a different way. The landscape is endless and beautiful, and some of the herds were enormous. We frequently had groups of animals surround us as they crossed the road. We were particularly moved by close-up encounters with large groups of elephants, zebras, and giraffes. We also got very close to some lions, Dev’s spirit animal and number one priority.  We finished the day with a swim in the lodge pool overlooking the Serengeti. 

For our last day of the trip, we went to the Lake Eyasi region to visit two tribes who are still living according to their traditional ways.  The Hadzabe, who are hunters and gatherers, have a language that uses clicking which is super beautiful, but not when we tried to do it. They taught us about the different arrows they use for each animal and then took us out hunting with them.  After a staggering kill count of one bird, they kindly gave us some archery lessons. We then went to visit the Dagoota tribe, who are known for their blacksmith skills (and trade arrowheads with the Hadzabe in exchange for food).  They came from the Nile region and used to live with the Maasai people before conflict drove them apart.  The women asked us questions and shared what their lives were like, and then gave us some lessons in grinding corn. The men showed us how they melt down metal and turn it into arrowheads, jewelry, and other functional items. 

We went back to the hub for a couple nights and said tearful farewells to our new friends. Next stop is Sri Lanka (via Dubai)!