days in the life of a
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Tanzania Safari - Part 1
February/March 2010
March 8, 2010
JAMBO, JAMBO!



































Jambo, jambo!

Swahili for "Hello, hello!"

Kim and I arrived home from our amazing 18-day adventure to Tanzania and Zanzibar
to find this sweet sign (made my dear Mama!) greeting us. 

What a time we had...I've got so much to share with you, I hardly know where to start!  So I guess I'll just jump right in and see where this goes...




































After 30 hours of travel time (yes, you read that right...20 hours in the air, plus layovers and time on the road!), we arrived at Kilimanjaro Airport in Tanzania late at night, where we met up with the rest of our group (15 of us in all...more about them in a later post!), loaded onto a van, and were driven to Kigongoni Lodge near the city of Arusha.

























When I say "near" Arusha, I really mean perched on a steep mountainside overlooking Arusha far, far below!  It was pitch-black when we arrived, so we couldn't see much except our van turned off onto a very narrow, dirt road that winded around to the lodge (which was dimly lit), we were led to our cottages in the dark, and we were so exhausted we immediately fell into bed.

























It wasn't until the next morning that we really got to see this charming little lodge out in the middle of nowhere.


























Such a nice, quiet place...but we only spent one night there.


























The next morning after breakfast, we officially met our safari group and the guides gave us a briefing and itinerary of what the next several days would be like.


























And we got our very first wildlife shots!

To our delight and amazement, as our head guide John was talking, all around us vervet monkeys filled the trees...


























...and jumped onto the roofs and furniture...


























The guides ignored them, as if it was no big deal to be giving instructions surrounded by a family of monkeys playing everywhere.

I think it hit me right then and there that I was a VERY LONG WAY from home!!!


























We split up into 3 groups, climbed into our Land Rovers, and headed toward our first safari site, Tarangire National Park.

As we drove, I snapped these photos through the windows...quick glimpses of the African landscape and people.






































































No...I was definitely NOT in Indiana anymore!

The adventure was just beginning!!!

March 9, 2010
TARANGIRE: TEMBOS AND TSETSES
























After a good night's sleep, we were off for our first safari destination, Tarangire National Park, where we got our first taste of wildlife viewing for a couple of days.

We were all so excited!  This is what we'd traveled halfway around the world to do, what we'd waited all our lives to see in person!!!  Our group of 15 climbed into 3 Land Rovers and started off into the great, wild reserve.

























We barely got inside the park when we came upon this incredible sight!!!

























TEMBOS!!!  ("Elephant" in Swahili!)

A whole herd of them, right alongside the road, right before our very eyes!!!

























I can't even describe to you the exhilaration we all felt, seeing these incredible animals so up close and personal, freely roaming in their natural habitat. 

I think more than one of us got tears in our eyes at this very first sighting!

























Over the next couple of days we saw more... LOTS MORE!!!

























One afternoon we were fortunate enough to see a group of elephants strung out a half mile or more, steadily moving in an organized parade from the river to higher ground...well over a hundred, for sure!  Even our experienced guides marveled at the sight, which apparently is very unusual.

























We even had a couple of very close encounters with elephants crossing right behind our Land Rover.  And I can tell you, we definitely gave them the right-of-way!




































So forever in my mind, Tarangire will be remembered as the place of tembos!


























But Tarangire will also be remembered for a more notorious species...the tsetse fly!

These nasty blood-sucking critters were thick in certain areas of the park, and they were very tough to kill.  Although we were all soaked in Deet insect repellent, the tsetses are not fazed by anything other than citronella spray, which unfortunately none of us were able to find before we left.  So we all spent a lot of time smacking and swatting at them...




































...and the back window and flyswatter were streaked with blood from the ones I was lucky enough to kill. 

These flies were such a nuisance that they were the inspiration for the name of our safari group, who will forever be known as the TseTse Warriors!


























But besides elephants and tsetses, we also spotted many other beautiful animals like this black-backed jackal (who we watched attack and kill a guineafowl chick right beside our Land Rover!).

























This tiniest of antelopes, the dik-dik...


























...and his bigger cousins, the impalas, which we would see at nearly every turn during the rest of the safari!

























Ostriches casually grazing on the plains...

























...and waterbucks in the water!

























Ugly warthogs...


























...and graceful, spectacularly-colored giraffes!




































Kim and I both especially loved the giraffes!




































They have the sweetest curious expressions, with long, thick eyelashes! 

And the little bird on his shoulder is pretty cute too!

It was a terrific two days in Tarangire...little did we know, we had only scratched the surface of the animal-viewing in store for us the rest of the safari!

Here are some short videos of some of the animals in Tarangire.  The voices you hear are our guide and the folks in our Land Rover with us...I thought about erasing the sound, but I really believe it adds a little bonus amusement value.  Enjoy!











March 10, 2010
NYUMBA SWEET NYUMBA

Camping is not my thing.  In fact, my idea of "camping" is a nice Holiday Inn with a hot shower and soft bed. 

So as much as I wanted to go on safari, the whole accommodation situation had me a little concerned since we were told that most of the nights we'd be sleeping in nyumbas.

"Nyumba" in Swahili means "home."

"Nyumba" in Terry-language means "glorified tent."


























And that is exactly what they were, but the fanciest tents I've ever slept in!


























Check this out...a queen-size bed decked out in nice linens, luggage racks, shelves and hangers, a sisal rug, overhead solar-lighting (no electricity), and even pillows and wall-hangings for decoration.

Then through the zippered opening in the back...


























...each tent had an attached bathroom, with a vanity area and 2 "sinks"...





































...a flushable port-a-pot (which, frankly, was the worst part of the whole set-up...is there any possible way to make a port-a-pot luxurious???!!!)...





































...and even a hot shower!


























(The shower was a pretty ingenious contraption!  We told the camp staff when we wanted hot water to shower and they would fill up the blue tubs with water heated over a fire, crank down the green canvas bucket that was suspended in the back of the
nyumba, fill it up with hot water, and then hoist the full bucket up again.  To shower, you simply turned a lever and gravity caused the hot water to cascade down in the shower...very nice after a hot, dusty day on safari!)




































When we would arrive at a new camp, the staff greeted us with cold washcloths and refreshing fruit juice before they showed us to our nyumbas.


























The way I understand it, the camps are moved around according to the animals' migration patterns.  Our safari group stayed in 4 different camps for 2 nights each.

When I say "camp," I really mean a mowed section right out where the animals are.  There were no fences, we were sleeping in the bush.  At night lying in our dark tents we could hear animals...hyenas, warthogs, leopards, baboons, and even lions.  I have to admit it was a little creepy knowing that just on the other side of the canvas wall a wild animal could be lurking.

At one camp, I woke up to a herd of impalas right outside our tent, and just down the hill was a family of elephants!  Now that's something I just don't see every morning!

























At the Ngorongoro Crater camp where I took these photos, right behind our tents were a bunch of tall acacia trees.  All night long we heard screeching and chattering, only to realize in the early morning light that the trees were filled with baboons!  I tried to take photos, but the lighting was terrible and they were hiding up among the leaves. 

I said to Kim, "I wish they'd come down out of the leaves so I could take a picture of them," and just as the words came out of my mouth, baboons by the dozens started pouring out of the trees like water...apparently the head-baboon had given an order to evacuate immediately and they did!  If you look very closely, you can see the silhouettes and tails of 8 or 9 baboons in this photo as they made their hurried mass exit out of the trees onto the ground and into the bush!




































Wild animals just outside?!  Not to worry...we had "armed guards" patrolling the camp at night.

At this camp, it was two Maasai warriors armed with SPEARS!!! 

And wearing tennis shoes!

When I told Kim I sure hoped our warrior-friend Papai wasn't actually relying on a spear to protect us but had a pistol tucked underneath his clothes, Kim said he figured if  Papai saw a lion, all he had to do was outrun us all (which I'm pretty certain he'd be able to do without any trouble!).

One quick funny anecdote about Papai...one night around the campfire, some of the folks were talking to him and asking to see his spear.  As he showed it to them (he spoke little English but smiled a lot!), his cell phone rang!!!

A CELL PHONE???!!!

Is it just me, or is there something comical about that image?????


























Anyway, back to the camps...in the central area was a large tent where we gathered for our meals.


























Evenings were spent talking and laughing around the campfire...


























...sharing stories and swapping tales with our TseTse Warrior friends....


























...and taking in a peaceful sunset over the African landscape.

And, you know, after a while, it really didn't even feel like a tent...

For a few days anyway, in the far-off wilds of Tanzania, it became our Nyumba Sweet Nyumba!