serengeti – That's So Gigi

June 23, 2020June 23, 2020

The Road to Maasai Mara

After three days on the Central Serengeti, we set off on the long road towards the Maasai Mara. While the true Maasai Mara Park is actually in Kenya, it borders the northern most part of the Serengeti National Park. The Maasai Mara is known for the Great Migration. The total area under conservation in the Greater Maasai Mara-Serengeti ecosystem covers roughly 9700 square miles. Massive herds of wildebeest, zebra, and other grass eating mammals migrate South in the dry season looking for water.

My dad is really excited about the Great Migration and this was one of the factors that attracted us to Tanzania as the ultimate destination for our safari. He has talked many times over the years about wanting to see the Great Migration as it was frequently highlighted in his National Geographic magazines.

On the way to our northernmost camp, we happened across another pride of lions…this one with several young cubs around twelve in total. They laze around with moms and aunts with the young male nearby. It was incredible to get so close to these youngsters.

The golden grasses disappear and give way to flat plains that are spotted with short bushy trees. The name Mara means spotted in the local Maasai language. The road is long and desolate but beautiful.

Along the way we were lucky enough to see a large herd of Giant Eland. They are the largest species of antelope and are extremely skittish. Martin told us that we were lucky to see one, much less the large herd that we saw. There are only about 15,000 Giant Eland in Eastern and Central Africa.

Moving along the spotted plains toward our destination, I’m amazed by Martin’s ability to spot wildlife in the distance and then get us up close to it. Out of nowhere, we veered off our road and rolled up to a male lion snoozing after what appears to be a very filling meal.

We get back on the road. My dad is totally amazed at how close we got to this male lion and his meal!

Finally, we are getting closer to camp and then we see it….the Great Migration! As far as your eye can see there is a line of wildebeest with zebra interspersed. No wonder we have seen so many lions today! They are hanging out close to the buffet!

As we headed down the road, we came across a big bull elephant in the road with his family near by. He issued a warning to us and was very aggressive. We turned off the vehicle and sat quietly until he decided we were no longer a threat and wandered off. These creatures seem so docile most of the time but they won’t hesitate to fight for their family.

We finally stopped for a late lunch at the Kogatende Serengeti Airport. If you were flying in a bush plane to the Mara River this is where you would land…but look at all that you would’ve missed so far! Sometimes the long traveled road has the greatest wonders.

After lunch, we ventured to a lookout over the Mara River, waiting to see if we can see the wildebeest cross. There are hippos in the water everywhere here. But the scariest thing we see in the water are the crocodiles. It’s very clear to me why the wildebeest are so reluctant to cross the river. The crocodiles are as long as trucks and span probably four feet across. I never dreamed of how gigantic they are! We see a dead wildebeest in the water with six crocodiles fighting over the feast. One is grabbing the wildebeest and doing its barrel roll in the water.

So much more to see this day…another leopard sleeping on a rock, three baby giraffes eating from short acacia trees, a trio of Cape buffalo, a hyena den with several young…theres so much to take in that it is overwhelming.

A short thunderstorm rolls in and rains on us for a while. As we head to camp on the now very messy roads we watched zebra grazing on the plains with the orange of sunset against the dark purple clouds. I realize yet again that Tanzania is a spiritual experience….I see the expression on my dad’s face and know he feels the same.

The beauty here defies that all of this was created by one organism. Intelligent design is evident in every corner of the Serengeti.

Finally, we roll into our new camp, Lemala Mara, a very remote mobile camp that moves with the migration. The camp dining room was set up family style and all of the guests came together and had a beautiful dinner. The star of the meal was the green plantain soup. But the highlight of the dinner was when the camp staff danced around the table singing songs. The most notable song goes like this:

Jambo, Jambo bwana, Habari gani, Mzuri sana. Wageni, Wakaribishwa, Kenya yetu Hakuna Matata. Kenya nchi nzuri, Hakuna Matata. Nchi ya maajabu Hakuna Matata. Nchi yenye amani, Hakuna Matata. Hakuna Matata, Hakuna Matata. Watu wote, Hakuna Matata, Wakaribishwa, Hakuna Matata. Hakuna Matata, Hakuna Matata.

Translation:

Hello, hello sir, how are you? Very fine. The visitors are welcomed to our Kenya. Don’t worry. Kenya is a nice country. Don’t worry. A country of wonder. Don’t worry. A country of peace. Don’t worry, don’t worry, don’t worry. Everybody don’t worry. You’re all welcomed, don’t worry. Don’t worry, don’t worry.

They go on to mention Tanzania, Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro, Serengeti, and Kilimanjaro in the rest of the lyrics. I wish you could hear it sung. It is the most beautiful song and brought so much joy to my heart. It brings tears to my eyes just to write these lyrics and hear it in my head again. I wish everyone could experience this. I am truly blessed for this experience.

June 9, 2020June 23, 2020

Glamping on the Serengeti

Seventh in a series

Now when I said we went to our first tent camp in Quintessential Serengeti, I don’t mean your summer vacation tent that took your parents two hours to put up. I don’t mean long walks to the park bathrooms and showers either. Kiota Camp, this is truly camping in style!

Our tent was a double queen with extremely comfortable beds, writing desk, running water and toilet with a shower kind of tent. Now mind you when you are taking a shower, it’s from a gravity bucket mounted outside your tent. You have to schedule your shower and if you run out of water you just yell “more shower!” and the guys outside your tent go running for more water they are heating on the fire. You really couldn’t ask for more comfort out in the middle of nowhere.

The main tent had couches and chairs and a separate dining area. They had a campfire that you could also sit around as you watched the sun go down. When walking back to your tent at night you had a flashlight and a walkie talkie. We met wonderful people at Kiota. One couple from California was a life saver when he figured out where I lost my pictures on my computer!

The men of Kiota Camp are truly the most friendly and helpful! Every day when you roll into camp after a long day on the Serengeti plains they meet you with cool wet washcloths and a cold drink. They hurry to prepare your hot gravity shower so you can truly unwind for the evening. Only men work in these camps because the women stay home with the children. Working out here is no easy task…they carry water to tents, cut firewood with rudimentary tools, cook all the meals, and haul our heavy duffel bags.

My son owns his own forging business (Bravehawk Forge) and was actually on Forged in Fire last year. I decided I would bring one of his tomahawks in case we wanted to trade for something with a tribal chief. Imagine trying to figure out how you are going to bring a weapon of this sort into a foreign country. I wasn’t sure how it would go over! But the tomahawk made it and I didn’t go in for questioning!

One night at Kiota Camp, Dad and I were watching the men of Kiota Camp breaking branches with their hands, their feet and rudimentary tools…no chainsaw or other power tools….so I went down to the tent and brought up the tomahawk. I showed it to one of the men and told them I wanted them to have it. He was so excited…he went behind the main tent where they work and showed the other men…all talking spiritedly in Swahili. They came out with the tomahawk and asked if I would take pictures with them with it. They all lined up and took pictures individually and together with the tomahawk. Such a small gift to them makes such a big difference in their lives.

Of all the places we stayed in Africa, Kiota Camp was probably my favorite. I would return in a heartbeat!

At night, lying in the dark, you could hear animals crunching the grass nearby, the grunt of a Cape buffalo, the braying of zebras, the distant roar of a lion. I wished so badly that I had night vision goggles when I looked out the window of the tent! There were things that were so close that I could not make out in the pitch black darkness.

Early in the morning, Dad stands and looks across the Serengeti plains….we have a big safari day today and what we see will be incredible….

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 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.