The evening before we left the Tloma Lodge in Karatu, we heard the sad news that our Trip Leader, Osbert Kihome's father has just passed away. He has to go back to Arusha to attend to his father's funeral arrangement. Luckily, OAT has several experienced Trip Leaders in the area. Our substitute, Rama, has just landed in Arusha that evening after leading a group in Zanzibar. This means Osbert's wife and Rama has to drive all the way from Arusha in the morning, drop Rama off, and the two drive back to Arusha. Rama has worked for OAT for 10 years and he did not miss a beat. He picked up where Osbert left off. I am sure he was very tired from the last trip but, he nevertheless, injected a lot of energy into our group over the last four days of the trip.
We are now at the last stop of our safari trip. Serengeti National Park (SNP) needs no introduction if you are into wildlife or have seen wildlife documentaries. It is huge - 5,700 square miles. It is famous for the largest wild animal migration in the world - 1.5 million wildebeest, zebras, gazelles, and elands. It is home to the largest lion population in Africa. Almost every known African wildlife exists in the SNP. This includes the rare black rhinoceros which were decimated by poaching. Today, only about 70 survive in the park. It is so rare that after spending three full days in SNP we did not see a single black rhinoceros.
We had a very nice breakfast at the Tloma lodge in Karatu before heading west to SNP. We choose and packed our own lunches at the lodge. On a table full of options we picked what we want in our brown bag and were helped by the lodge staff in putting everything together. That way instead of someone guessing what you want, you get to picked what you want for your lunch.
We stopped at one of the entrances to the SNP and had our lunch there. There were many other safari tourists. We finally arrived at one of the four OAT-owned tented lodges. It may sound dangerous sleeping in tents in the middle of a wildlife area but the tents are very well built. They are more like hotel-rooms except that the outer structure are all of very heavy canvas. You enter and leave the tent using heavy-duty zippers. We were reminded to make sure we zipped up the tents because you never know wild animals may wonder in.
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| A tented lodge |
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| There were six on one side, and six on the other |
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| A beautiful inside with a queen-size bed |
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| Shower |
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| Toilet |
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| Bathroom sink |
You cannot have a full safari experience without sleeping in one of these tented lodges in the middle of the wildlife area. At night you have hear all kinds of animal sounds - lions roaring, elephants walking past your tent, hyenas howling, animals fighting, etc. Sometimes you can hear animals just outside your tent! For this reason when we walk outside the tent in the dark we have to shine a light at the dining area so that one of the staff members can come and escort us. They are used to encountering wild animals. We are not. It is a safety issue.
On the first day at the SNP four of us went on a balloon ride. This is my second balloon ride on this trip. The first was in Masai Mara Nature Reserve. They are both very similar. Unfortunately, prior to coming to SNP there was a control burn of the savanna, to prevent big forest fires. So, looking down from the balloon was not as green as it should be and there were fewer animals on the ground.
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| Balloons waiting to be launched |
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| Camera equipment tucked into my jacket |
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| Fired up and ready to float |
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| Charred savanna because of control burn |
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| There were 16 passengers + 1 pilot |
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| Giraffe as seen from above |
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| Support vehicles following us |
Following the balloon ride, as part of the tradition, we had a champagne breakfast. It was a very nice breakfast, much better organized than the first one. Not surprisingly, since the cost is about US$600 per person for the balloon ride.
While having breakfast a group of mongoose came to join us, uninvited.
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| A group of mongoose invading our breakfast area |
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| Close-up of a mongoose |
This is the first time I have seen a mongoose. I've heard of the story about a snake and a mongoose but I don't know exactly what is it all about. I looked it up and according to an unnamed source, this is what it says: "The snake often eats the babies of the mongoose. Hence, the mongoose attacks the snake to protect its young ones. Since a mongoose is nimbler than a snake, it can save itself in most cases. It is believed that in a fight between a snake and a mongoose, the mongoose wins 80 per cent of the time."
The mongoose has a certain kind of protein that protects it from the venom of a snake. Therefore it seldom die from a snake bite.
We did game drives for all 3 days and saw a variety of animals.
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| Gazelles |
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| Hyenna sitting in the middle of the road |
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| Hippopotamus |
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| Lions lying in the shade |
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| Herons? |
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| A Topi, part of the antelope family |
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| Leopard in the tree |
The number and variety of animals we saw were astounding. There were animals everywhere, in their natural habitat. We got spoiled seeing elephants and giraffes by the side of the road. We don't even stopped the safari vehicles. It's easy to spot animals in this open Savanna. A few trees dot the landscape but it's mostly open grassland.
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| Lunch in the wild! |
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| Guide (L) Rama, and drivers |
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| A Group Picture in the Savanna |
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| There are 3 types of animals as this watering hole: zebras, hyenas and warthog |
We were served excellent food at the camp, although after a while, the food seem to taste the same. The camp staff were excellent. Their service is what you'd expect from a company like OAT. Our dining room has two sections, one for our group, another for the group in front of us or behind us. You can purchase wine or beer but all other drinks were included in the meals.
One intriguing part of the camp is the shower. This is how it works. You tell the "shower man" what time you want to take a shower. He will come to the back of your tent and fill up a bucket with warm water and lift it above the shower ahead. Inside the shower you pull a chain which releases the warm water to the shower head. You stop the shower by pulling the other chain. Your shower can only be as long as there is water left in the bucket. This means you have to conserve water and probably turn off the water when you are soaping yourself.
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| Bucket behind the tent |
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| The attendant fills up the bucket with warm water |
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| Two chains to pull - one on and one off |
I'll be remissed if I don't show you the beautiful sunsets that greeted us every late afternoon.
On our last day we took a one-hour flight from the Serengeti airport to Arusha. Our original flight was early in the morning. We would have landed in Arusha early enough for us to visit Shanga, a local enterprise that employs people with physical disabilities. Instead we ended up at the African Cultural Center, which is basically a huge souvenir gift shop, and where we've been on the trip to Arusha a few days before. Whether OAT receives any kickbacks from the company I don't know, but I am always suspicious of visits to places that are disguised as educational establishments but really are commercial businesses.
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| Arriving in Arusha from Serengeti |
Another head-scratcher is we had to rush through lunch at a local hotel and then quickly freshen up for our travel home. If we skipped the visit to the African Cultural Center, we'd have had a more leisure pace.
About half the group traveled by van to the Kilimanjaro Airport where we'll be dispersed to different destinations. Four of us are returning home to the US while two are continuing on a post-trip to Uganda.
Others in the group left later; a couple went to Zanzibar, the rest are returning to the US on later flights.
Osbert, our designated Trip Leader, came to the hotel to send us off. It was very generous of him to come after his father's funeral.
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| Osbert, left, and Rama |
On our last evening the guide and drivers performed a simple song and dance for us. It was a perfect ending to a beautiful trip. The name of the song?
Hakuna Matata, which means "no worries" or "no trouble" and take it easy. It is a phrase we hear over and over again everywhere we went on this wonderful safari trip!
