Africa – That's So Gigi

June 2, 2020June 23, 2020

Quintessential Serengeti

Sixth in a series

The road to the Central Serengeti is a long dusty trek in the dry season. Many people bypass this part of the trip and opt to fly in to camp but I would not recommend this the first time you go on safari. You are missing the essence of the Serengeti by taking this shortcut in my opinion. I’m not sure I would have appreciated the vastness, the desolation, the ruggedness, the magnificence of this creation. Golden grass plains extend out as far as the eye can see. I feel like I’m in the middle of a golden sea. At 5700 square miles, it’s no wonder I feel like I’m lost in this ocean.

Almost as soon as we passed through the entrance to Serengeti National Park we found a grassy marsh area where we saw a large pride of lions laying in wait. I would imagine that this is the coolest place in the Serengeti right now. Water is sparse but they manage to find what’s left of the creeks. This is the only place I have seen anything green in hours.

It’s amazing to see the lions here. They are much closer than what we saw in Tarangire. They are lean. They are waiting. They are watchful. This is no time to get a sip of water if you are a nearby impala.

We finally move on after watching the pride for quite awhile. Martin is listening to the radio and quickly darts our vehicle off to a single nearby tree. We are amazed to drive up and see a fat leopard soundly sleeping on a branch above, her belly hanging over the branch. Several branches above are the remains of the impala.

We drive further into the Serengeti towards our camp. Off in the distance we see a herd of elephants marching across the plains. I have a flashback to the Disney movie Jungle Book with the patriarch Colonel Hathi marching his herd across the landscape. It is truly surreal to be here in this incredible place.

After an extremely long, dusty, and exhilarating day, we arrived to Kiota Camp, our tent camp for the next two nights. We were greeted with warm wet washcloths and cold Kilimanjaro beer. I promise you there is no better way to end the day on the quintessential Serengeti.

May 26, 2020June 23, 2020

Joy, unabated

Fifth in a series

After an overnight stay at Lake Manyara Serena Lodge, we got up early for our trek into the Central Serengeti. We are leaving the comforts of lodge/hotel living and heading to our very first tent stay and getting into the meat of our safari in the Serengeti plains.

Just outside the boundaries of the Serengeti conservation area, we stopped at a boma, a village of the Maasai tribe. Some of the tribes will allow you to see their villages and show you how they live because this is an income stream other than selling their livestock.

The Maasai have inhabited Northern Tanzania and Southern Kenya since the early 1500’s. They are easily recognized by their colorful red checkered tartan like dress. The only exception to this dress is when the Maasai boys are sent into the wild for several months after they are circumcised wearing all black with their faces painted black and white. They are not supposed to pose for pictures at that time but you will see them frequently along the roadway trying to get safari-goers to stop and take pictures with them for money.

The Maasai have refused a more modern lifestyle that the government has tried to encourage them to live but they are starting to take on some modern day conveniences. You would occasionally see a Maasai man with a cell phone. But largely, the Maasai still live in the traditional way.

In the boma, the women and children build the houses. The men make fencing out of spiky limbs of the Acacia trees that are in abundance in this area as well as other scraps of brush. The houses are small, usually no more than 10 feet diameter on the outside. We actually went inside one and it was incredibly small. A small area for cooking with a small vent to outside, the only source of light in the hut-like structure. A small bench like structure for sitting and sleeping for the adults. Children sleep in the floor of the hut. There is no electricity and no running water. Maasai women and children frequently walk several miles a day for fresh water.

The huts are made with cow manure and sticks with very low entrances despite the Maasai being very tall. The women lead me over to help them work on a house in progress which consisted of weaving long sticks together through other sticks to make a wall. I did not work on the “mudding” of the wall with cow manure and mud. I have my limits in this adventure!

We went to the school house where the Maasai children gathered to show us that they could read the alphabet and say different words in English as well as their numbers. All of the children attend school in the same school house. They all learn English as English is widely spoken in Tanzania.

My dad was absolutely fascinated by all of this. He has always been an avid student of Native American culture and has an impressive collection of Native American artifacts. So this part of the trip is definitely up his alley.

The chief of this village talked to dad and explained elements of their culture. The Maasai men then took my dad, cloaked him in a red and blue checkered blanket and gave him a walking stick. They then taught him the dance of the Maasai men. The women were with me and taught me the chant that they do while the men are dancing. So we chanted the song while the men (including my 79 year old father) jumped and danced. The look on my dad’s face was absolutely priceless.

My dad hasn’t been known to be a joyous person. He was a serious child even by family accounts. He always tends to ruminate on the past, either in his perceived failures or where others had let him down. He concentrated a lot on areas where he would have been more successful if <fill in the blank> hadn’t happened. He spends a lot of time armchair quarterbacking his own life in retrospect instead of living in the moment.

But in this moment, dancing with Maasai men, wearing their traditional clothing, I saw the child that my father never was. I saw unabated joy in his eyes and he was smiling bigger and broader than I have ever seen or could have imagined.

If our trip was over today, it would have all been worth it. My heart was full….my cup runneth over.

May 19, 2020June 23, 2020

King of the Hill

Fourth in the series

Goodbye Tarangire. Our time was short together but wonderful! Martin picked us up and we headed out of Tarangire National Park. As we were leaving we stopped by the spot where the evening before we had seen a zebra carcass with a lioness nearby. Now there are three lionesses there and no zebra carcass. The vultures look fat and happy in the trees nearby. Things don’t go to waste in the African wild. Every scrap is eaten by someone.

So we hit the highway and headed towards Lake Manyara, a small much less traveled park on the edge of the incredibly large Lake Manyara. Lake Manyara was most famous for tree climbing lions but now those lions are seen more frequently on the Serengeti. Lake Manyara has 13 separate ecosystems according to Martin. There are areas that remind you of a North American timber forest, then there are swampy marshes, jungles, dusty desert type flatlands, and of course a big beautiful lake to name a few. Lake Manyara is also know for having the largest troops of baboons.

We watched as the troop leader left his post on top of a termite hill. A little guy decided it was his turn to try out being king of the hill. So he climbed up and sat on the top, looking out very serious. No doubt he will be a future protector of the family! He wasn’t there long before a cousin came up and they tumbled around together and off the hill!

We then drove the swampy marsh and saw dozens of hippos. There was an area where we could safely get out and walk up on a wooden bridge and overlook the swampy area. My dad really enjoyed gazing out across the marsh, pointing out hippos and water buffalo.

We went to the picnic area of the park where Martin served us a wonderful lunch. Dad really loves talking to Martin and asking him millions of questions. Martin is so good with him and explains everything and even pulls out his field guide sometimes to show him things.

The highlight of our afternoon is when we came across two big male lions snoozing underneath a bush. This was the first we had seen of male lions. You cannot believe how big their heads are! Very intimidating!

As we were watching them and I was taking pictures, Dad suddenly sneezed a very loud sneeze! One of the male lions lunged out of his afternoon stupor and roared loudly. He was not happy to be woken from his slumber by that loud sneeze! I think that was the first time that Dad or I thought we may actually be the lunch while we were on our trip! The lions are the true King of the Hill in this neighborhood.

After a long day of safari we traveled to the top of the ridge overlooking Lake Manyara park and stayed at the beautiful Serena Lodge. The sunset was spectacular with hues of pink and purple. While we sipped on ice cold Kilimanjaro beer we watched a performance by some of the Masaii tribe with beautiful singing and acrobatics.

All along the way of this trip, one thing strikes me over and over again…people here are happy. They are incredibly poor but their hearts are full of love. I think of the smiles of the young Tanzanian children as they run up to our safari truck and we hand them apples, protein bars, or bottles of water. All the stupid things we worry about at home just melt into the background of the hot African plains. I’m so appreciative to be here, to experience this, to open my heart to it all. I know when I leave this place, I will leave part of myself behind.

May 12, 2020June 23, 2020

Heaven on Earth

Third in a series

We woke to a foggy cool morning in Arusha. I wanted so badly to see Mt. Kilimanjaro that I knew was lingering just beyond the clouds. She was elusive, not yet ready to show us the beauty of Tanzania. Of course, in the light of day with a good nights sleep behind us, I wasn’t so intimidated as I was the night before. My confidence had returned! The culture shock from the night before had subsided.

My dad overlooking the foggy valley at Onsea House.

Martin, our guide for our entire trip, gathered us up that morning around 10 a.m. We drove towards our first destination, Tarangire National Park.

I was astonished by the vast openness of the countryside. There was no fencing, no barriers, no property demarkation….anywhere. As we drove, we watch Maasai women and children herding their sheep, goats, or cows to water. We watched other women carrying buckets of water on their heads. We watched very small children playing along the roadside without supervision. It was truly the Wild West!

Finally we turned to enter Tarangire National Park, one of the most famous wildlife conservation projects in Tanzania. It was established in 1970 and covers roughly 1100 square miles. It is famous for it’s high density of elephants and Baobab trees.

I was amazed at Martin’s eye. It was like he had X-ray vision! He scanned the countryside constantly as he was driving us through the park pointing out different animals and birds. However, the most memorable moment was when we drove to the Tarangire river bed and watched a huge herd of elephants digging for water. My favorite picture is of a mother elephant nudging her calf with her trunk. I look at my dad and he is smiling ear to ear. He is beyond happy. He is in his church. This is truly heaven on earth.

After a long day of driving through the park, we settled into Tarangire Sopa Lodge for the night. While waiting for dad to get a shower so we could have dinner in their excellent restaurant, I watched from our balcony the Vervet monkeys watching me. I went and sat on the bed. I then got up and moved to the balcony opening, they were closer. I moved back to the bed and to the balcony several times….laughing that each time I looked out that the monkeys were getting ever so closer to me on the balcony. Finally, I looked and they were sitting on the ledge of the balcony. Mischievous and curious…..not so unlike their cousins on the inside.

May 9, 2020June 23, 2020

Culture Shock

Second in the series

We flew into Mt. Kilimanjaro International Airport on September 27th at around 8 p.m. It was a long flight for both of us and my dad had never traveled internationally despite his lifelong desire to travel. I was amazed as we dropped down close to the runway in our rather large Boeing 777 to see very few sparse lights…..I don’t mean like landing in small regional airport in the States…but more like landing in the middle of a pitch black landscape on a runway that looked like it was lit with landscape lights.

It was a little overwhelming for even me (despite that I had traveled abroad before) to step into that small airport in this foreign country so I can’t even imagine what my dad felt. I just did my best to maintain my composure and emit that everything was under control! We went through Customs and multiple lines and finally grabbed our luggage. I wasn’t sure how it was going to work with the driver picking us up and of course I had no cell service! Finally, we found our driver and loaded up the van to head to our temporary resting spot at Onsea House in Arusha.

Driving from the airport into Arusha, I was struck by the scene. There wasn’t the normal convenience stores and brightly lit restaurants littered along the highway into town but ramshackle buildings, poorly lit roadways, and people everywhere that were obviously living in abject poverty. I felt uneasy. Honestly, I felt scared. I finally really understood what it must be like to come to a small town in the United States and be the only person of color…how overwhelming that would feel. This isn’t racism talking. It’s just an understanding of how different it feels to be the only one of your nationality in a sea of other people. We had no way to contact anyone in our world at that moment. No cell phone service, no sense of where our embassy was, no idea about local law enforcement….it was just us plunged into this exotic world. It was also stunning from the point of view that in the United States we have so much….abundance, stimulus, light, frenetic energy, automation, television screens, etc. I felt like we just came out of a time machine.

We settled into Onsea House for the night. The staff there were incredible. We were greeted with fresh drinks and warm washcloths. I think I breathed a sigh of relief! It was so nice to get settled and get a good night sleep….ready for the beginning of our adventure the next day, a real African safari….I couldn’t wait to see what that would bring.

May 9, 2020May 9, 2020

Tanzania: the Prelude

First of a series

Where do I start? Well I suppose we should go back to July of 2018 when I wrote “Have Passport, Will Travel” about my pending trip to Tanzania with my dad.

Now, I will tell you, Africa was never on my bucket list. I thought it was too far out of reach, too wild, too uncertain. When my Aunt Ann died in early July of 2018 though, I couldn’t stand to hear the despair in my dad’s voice. I’m convinced when Aunt Ann died, part of my dad died with her. I know his siblings Aunt Wilma and Uncle Billy felt the same. Ann was an amazing person. One of her favorite hobbies was photography. She and my uncle would go camping and they loved taking pictures of bald eagles.

My dad has always been fascinated with wildlife and the overall beauty of nature. I mentioned before that he can be a glass half empty kind of guy and that he has been agnostic or atheist most of his life, but his religion is nature. I remember how much he loved to travel to the mountains of Colorado and how when he looked up at the mountains, his eyes would get watery with tears.

My dad has subscribed to National Geographic for 40 years. He has every single magazine for all of those years. He is an avid reader, perpetually curious about the world, and has always had a desire to travel.

So here we go after months of planning! We read all kinds of material, must haves to pack, vaccinations, etc. before our trip. We must have seriously talked about this trip three times per week until it was time to go. My dad and I have never talked on that regular of a basis for our entire relationship. So this was truly going to be a journey….physically, spiritually, and emotionally. I really just had no idea how much of one.