Safari

Safaris are on almost everyones bucket list and luckily enough for me it was an add on of our volunteering that we could organise through the volunteer group. A 3 night and 4 day safari through the Serengeti, Lake Manyara and Ngorongoro Crater. To say we were excited was an understatement! Our whole house had organised to do the safari together. 2 jeeps pulled into our share house drive way with tents on top fridges in the back and that excitement just became a little more real!!

Riding shotgun was our cook next to our driver Vic. Vic was a legend and we couldn’t have asked for a better guide. He was funny, entertaining, knowledgeable and had an eye for spotting animals. If our first journey was anything to go by, the next 4 days were going to be full of adventure. Less than an hour in, one of our Jeeps had broken down, on a main road mind you we still had 4 days of touring the Serengeti in the middle of nowhere to get through.

To get to our first campsite and national park we had to go past the other 2 including the serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater. We stopped first at the Crater lookout and the view was truly breathtaking, Waterholes, forests, deserts all in one crater. We drove from the crater, through the Serengeti passing hundreds/thousands of Wildebeasts and Zebras as far as the eye could see. As they went of into the distance i turned my head to notice in the foreground was a large group of Giraffes and Zebras, eating the greenery that surrounded our jeep. I didn’t know where to look at. Just as we past them our jeep stopped. We jumped out and after taking many a deep breath and pinching myself i finally took in what was around us. Behind us we had Giraffes and Zebras joining us in eating lunch. Either side we had towering hills covered in green grass and trees and directly in front possibly the most impressive of them all, a birdseye view of the serengeti in all its glory while sitting down and eating a packed lunch in the middle of the Serengeti. An experience that is a must for anyone, in the middle of know where, surrounded my wildlife and wilderness!! Just like most things on this trip words don’t do it justice. Hopefully this picture does.

Throughout the rest of the drive we had seen Massai villages, cow motorbikes with 4 people on them carrying glass panels and not to forget the same jeep braking down another 2 times. After this little adventure within an adventure we arrived at our campsite. We had about 30 minutes to find our tent and freshen up before we headed off to our first national park. Jess and I managed to make good use of our 30mins and found a local Massai Market selling souvenirs and local products. We managed to spend a small fortune here buying paintings, souvenirs etc.

Lake Manyara was out first introduction to Safari and the national parks of Africa. Its a forest, full of greenery, layers of trees with streams of water running through them at ground level. Throughout this national park you will see hundreds of Monkeys, Baboons large and small, Spider Monkeys etc. Not shy, the monkeys are very cheeky and playful and aren’t afraid to come up close to the jeep, especially after they become curious when we exit the jeep. Warthogs/pumbas were plentiful. As it was the dry season and drought was in full swing whilst we where there the lake was scarce, during the wet season Hippos can seen the only evidence we spotted was a skeleton that was unable to survive the drought. In the forest Snakes-Pythons, Elephants and many other forest dwelling animals can be spotted however we weren’t lucky enough to have seen these. A reality of Safari that nothing is guaranteed and every minute, every hour and every day is going to be completely different from the day before.

We set back to our campsite where the cooks had been working feverishly to prepare a delicious meal for all of us. Proceeding this meal we were treated to an hour long performance of African dancers and singers. Full of Acrobats, drums and singers. I could have watched them for hours. Unfortunately that was the end of day 1 i went to bed dissapointed it was over but excited out what was to come.

After a surprisingly good night sleep in a tent we were off on day 2. This time was a day of driving through the Serengeti. One of the most famous and largest of the African Safari national parks, i had heard and read a lot about it so i was expecting big things. However not even my expectations could have prepared me for what was to come. As we drove into the Serengeti for the 2nd day in a row we noticed as far as the eye could see thousands upon thousands of Wildebeasts and Zebras, we asked Vic what was the reason for this. To our disbelief and extreme luck we had come across the Great Migration. For those of you who don’t know the Great Migration is the movement of approx 1.5 million Wildebeasts and 30 000 Zebras move from the Serengeti to Kenya and we were lucky enough to be right in the middle of it. Try to imagine that!!

We came upon the entrance to the Serengeti National park, learnt a brief history, had a security check and we were on our way. About half an hour in on our right we saw a rock with a large tree on it approx 50 metres away. As we slowed down past the rock our keen driver Vic pointed out that a Pride of Lions were perched upon the rock. It was their “pride rock”. This being a first Lion spotting we were ecstatic and over the moon if only we knew what was to come. Further along the path we saw more of the migration. With millions of Zebras and Wildebeests comes the predators and hunters. Sitting just waiting on the side of the road were Hyenas and Vultures, waiting for their opportunity. After a few hours my neck was beginning to get sore as I wasn’t sure which way to look or what to look at. Our options were endless. We stopped at regular intervals looking at everything and anything until we came across a little movement in the long grass. There was 4 motionless legs upside down poking out the top of the grass. We knew that was a dead zebra but there was still movement around the body. After 10-15 minutes of trying to work out what was causing the movement we saw a large orange tail flick up above the grass level, followed by another tail then a little orange body jump up. It was a Pride of Lions hidden away in the grass 10 metres from where we were parked.

We set up camp in the middle of the Serengeti protected only by one guard with a gun with rubber bullets and little plastic tents. We got less sleep this night then the first as the noises always seemed close and loud. At one point whilst en route to the toilet there was a hyena 5 metres away from the campsite.

Day 3 was an early wake up call 5am to watch the sunrise over the Serengeti. Not being a morning person i wasn’t exactly thrilled with this idea, that was until we arrived to watch the sunrise. It was pitch black, a single flat tree in the foreground like one you would see in the Lion King and over a period of about 40 mins this beautiful orange round sun rose over the horizon above the tree and filled the sky with light! Again that description does not do it justice, the photo needs to be seen to be believed. Already on a massive high and it only being 6am we came across a small dam filled with 20-30 Hippos filling the lake. The size and the stench took me massively by surprise. As the sunlight seemed over the Serengeti the more nimble and rare animals came out such as the Antelope, Deer and the animals that get hunted fill the plains before the more dominate animals come looking for food.

Up ahead was a Serengeti traffic jam. 6-7 Jeeps all stopped on the side of the road. Of course we followed suit pulled over wondering what everyone was looking for. Again in long grass, keen eye Vic spotted small black spots on a yellow background. After minutes of my eyes adjusting a Leopard got up sitting on its hind legs, as curious of us as we were of him. Only a couple of minutes later another small movement and another Leopard sat up which according to Vic was extremely rare for them to be in pairs as they are normally Solitary animals..

We navigated our way through the traffic jam once the leopards had enough of us. This day was going to be another day of exploring the Serengeti and around the corner was always something new. Before long we came upon a little watering hole and right on the edge was 2 pride of Lions, cubs and all and next to these families was a Zebra carcus. As it was this were the families and the

zebras we had seen on day 1 in long grass. They had just finished feeding and were all asleep on top of each other only a matter of metres away from us. 4 fully grown Lions with 5 cubs, a totally surreal and unforgettable experience. Early that afternoon we pulled into a campsite. It was a big vacant lot with one big single flat tree, one water tank, a toilet block and a kitchen. It was overlooking the Ngorongoro crater. Right on the edge of it. A tent with a view! That night while we were preparing for dinner walking towards the toilet block we heard a loud bang next to the toilet block and walking up to our campsite was a fully grown Bull Elephant. The elephant came up past the toilet block and kitchen, placed its large trunk into our water tank and started drinking. He kept going for a few minutes then casually walked past our jeeps onto the other side of the campsite. I was only a matter of metres away from a fully grown Elephant no protection of a jeep or car anything, just on my own. Quite possibly my favourite experience from the whole Safari.

The final day was a tour of Ngorongoro Crater. Ngorongoro crater is the largest unbroken crater in the world. An old volcano that is now extinct and has its own fully functional ecosystem inside. It can even been seen from a plane. It has numerous ecosystems all in the one crater. It was wetlands full of Giant Pink Flamingos, Hippos, Birds everywhere and thirsty animals. Not far from the wetlands was forest. Monkeys everywhere, Cheetahs, trees broken down from Elephants. Theres was herds of Elephants everywhere baby ones to fully grown ones. Wild Buffalo the most dangerous animals in the serengti and the crater were plentiful. Around from the forest was grasslands Zebras, Wildebeasts, Lions and in the distance 50-60 metres away eating grass was a Rhinoceros. The rarest of them all almost extinct and all endangered we were lucky enough to spot one all be it from a distant but still close enough to marvel in its beauty. That was the big 5 safari animals complete. We managed to see all 5 including the beautiful Rhino which was truly spectacular yet sad knowing that may be the last one i'll ever get to see wild, not due to me not going back there but the fact of poachers killing them for their horns and skin and taking the numbers down so low extinction is practically inevitable.

Having wrapped up a day in the Ngorongoro crater it was back to our house we went. We started by heading back through the Serengeti. Thinking we had seen it all we could something on the dirt road our jeep was travelling on not too far ahead. As we got closer we were able to make out what it was. A dead wildebeast and sitting next to it a metre away from us was an adolescent Lion which had just caught himself dinner. Still breathing heavily from the catch he wasn't phased by us pulling up directly next to him to marvel in his strength and power. To this day I still can’t believe we were that close, almost touching distance, but thats what I constantly kept saying to myself the whole Safari. Everything was unbelievable and everything was so surreal! It should be a bucket list item for everyone and if its not definitely consider it. The best thing I believe about Safaris is you aren’t guaranteed anything. Everything is a surprise, everything is unexpected and it doesn’t matter how many times you go it is going to be different every time. A MUST DO!!!!!

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