As we bounced along the bumpy dirt road, dust was flying in the air and filling our Land Rover. Along with dirt, anticipation filled the air as we embarked on our 8 day safari that would lead us through four National Parks in Northern Tanzania.
Joining us on safari was Cody (Dustin's brother), Mary Lou & Ashley (Dustin's aunt & cousin), Fido (our guide), and Moody-G (our cook). Hoping to give everyone a glimpse into our journey which brought us through Kenya and Tanzania, we've narrowed down a list of "highlights" ranging from close calls with Somalia camel herders, defining moments at the squatters for our "new arrivals", jaw-dropping viewings of a pride of lioness & cubs surrounding its prey, and close encounters with young, aggressive male elephants.
So, let us take you through the arid desert, lush jungles, and high onto the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater, but for this one Dustin and I are sitting it out (or as some might say "passing the buck") to Ashley, who graciously accepted the daunting task of compiling all of the amazing experiences we had in the last week into one hilarious story after another...Enjoy!
Karibu to Africa!
Over our 8 day safari the five of us experienced and saw many amazing and fascinating things. We couldn't have had a better introduction to Africa. We set out from Nairobi, Kenya to Arusha, Tanzania in a small van. The roads weren't really roads. There were many "throw-you-out-of-your-seat" bumps and innumerable pebbles, rocks, and boulders. We were just about to hit the Kenya-Tanzania border when we spotted a huge herd of camels on the side of the road. Thinking this was pretty cool we asked our guide to stop so we could jump out and take a picture. Dustin, Cody, and Mom got out of the van and started snapping pictures. The next minute is a blur. Cody all but catapulted into the van, followed by Dustin. All I saw was an old Somalian man wearing cloth draped over his body running top speed and shaking his stick around with a big long spear. He and the camel-herding men he was with started yelling what sounded like pretty harsh words as he continued to poke his spear into the window. At this moment I realize Mom is not in the van. She's still behind us taking pictures. Cody is in the front of me yelling "Get in the van! Get in the van!". Mom finally trots back to the van totally oblivious to whats going on. Cody and I all but pull her in by her belt loops as Cody yells "Get in the van!" one more time and slides the door shut like his life depended on it...which for all we knew it did. As this is happening our safari guide, Fido, is attempting to speak to the Somali camel herder who is demanding money for the pictures. We're anxiously awaiting take-off before we get speared with the stick, but all our eyes dart to our driver's seat and it's empty. Frantically, we search for our driver only to find him peeing off to the side, staring over his shoulder with a smile and quizzical expression. He tries to make his way back to his door, but the Somali man's comrades are blocking his door. So, Fido tells them to come to his side and he'll pay them, which he does. As he reaches into his pockets for the more money they demand, he exchanges a mischievous look at our driver and BAM! our van peels out and leaves the men behind.
Cody breaks our dazed silence with "I'm not comfortable anymore." Which the rest of us find hilarious after his original proclamation five minutes earlier..."I am comfortable anywhere!" After recovering from the shocking encounter we begin to find the whole camel incident the most amusing thing we've seen so far. A little while later we safely make it to our hotel and, as far as we can tell, the Somali man didn't stalk us on his camel...we then headed out for supper at Khan's - an auto body store by day, Indian BBQ restaurant by night.
Karibu (Welcome) to Zion Campsite...
Which is worth mentioning, as this was where I was first exposed to the ominous squatter toilet - a porcelain hole which would pretty much become our "staple" relieving hole for the next 8 days. I knew the squatters and I weren't going to be good friends the first time I used it. I could hardly squat, balance without falling, pull my clothes out of the way, and hold toilet paper. So Rachel, being a veteran, held my pants for me so I'd have one less thing to worry about...though she "ran" away with them- only to leave me standing in the stinky squatter. I'm proud to say since that day I've become a squatter pro. It even came to the point that I could say without doubt "I'd pick that last squatter over this one." I can't even count the number of pictures the five of us have taken of our African "porcelain throne".
Day 1: "Look! A dik dik!"
Holy animals! The first day far surpassed our expectations for the wild game we'd see. Too many to mention- enjoy the pictures (coming soon). Elephants galore. We even had a herd surround our vehicle and the young male elephant charged at us...no injuries thankfully. There were zebras and wildebeasts everywhere which "loved each other" according to Rachel...who would say this every time we'd drive by a herd. These animals were always found together since the zebras had the best eyesight and wildebeast had keen ears. Don't be surprised if Rachel and Dustin dress up as a wildebeast and zebra for Halloween in the near future- you'll be sure to hear Elton's "Can you feel the love tonight" exuding all around them.
Day 2: We'll take a bush any day...
We spent the morning game viewing at Tarangire and had lunch back at camp. We packed up and headed to Mto Wambu or as I refer to it "Mosquito City". We all decided to take showers and with only 4 shower stalls I was odd safarian out- but boy was it worth it! For the next 15 minutes I listened to musical showers...let me explain. When you turn that shower faucet on you never know what your going to get. Cold, colder, forget-it-cold water, warm, warmer, scald your skin hot water. A small stream trickling through a needle or a full on Victoria Falls cascade. As I listened to Cody brag about his warm shower, Dustin's sounded favorable as well, Rachel hadn't complained yet, mom is in the last stall yelling "Shit! It's cold! Shit! Ooh, Argh!" As I strategically planned which shower I'd take, Cody yelled "Hey where did the water go?" Dustin is in the next stall laughing, clearly enjoying his nice warm spray. Cody starts fiddling with the faucets and his shower is back on at full force. Dustin is left to squat under the trickle coming from his faucet. Rachel joins in the game and, as they tweak their faucets, the shower water magically appeared and disappeared from stall to stall. And lets not forget mom who, after hearing how nice everyone's showers are, is now swearing at the other three for their luck with hot showers. This whole time I'm taking dirty clothes from them, handing new clothes in and trying not to drop anything as tears roll down my cheeks from laughing so hard. Everyone was done by the time it was my turn to shower. I enjoyed a nice luke-warm shower with good water pressure. As they say "Save the best for last."
Day 3: Pruning Dustin's beard
Fido told us if we wanted to see a rhino at Ngorongoro Crater Dustin had to prune the woolly mammoth that had been taking up residence on his face. We didn't want to chance it so Dustin was able to pony-up a scissors and mom went in for the shearing with some help from Fido. After the downsizing, Dustin went back to being Rachel's night in shining armor with a little less fur. We set out for the drive down into the crater and spied three of the Big 5: Lions, Cape Buffalo, and elephants, as well as tons of other wildlife. We made it back up to the rim of the crater for dinner and experienced one of the BRIGHTEST highlights of our safari. There, in our campsite, about 10 feet away from the 5 of us were 2 huge bull elephants. They had meandered up out of the crater to drink from the camp water tank. For a long stitch of time we watched the show in humble silence as the bulls moved away from the tank only to clash tusks giving us quite a show. PS-as the elephants were drinking a lady came out of the bathroom which happened to be 10 feet or less directly behind the elephants. The look on her face = priceless.
Day 1: "Look! A dik dik!"
Holy animals! The first day far surpassed our expectations for the wild game we'd see. Too many to mention- enjoy the pictures (coming soon). Elephants galore. We even had a herd surround our vehicle and the young male elephant charged at us...no injuries thankfully. There were zebras and wildebeasts everywhere which "loved each other" according to Rachel...who would say this every time we'd drive by a herd. These animals were always found together since the zebras had the best eyesight and wildebeast had keen ears. Don't be surprised if Rachel and Dustin dress up as a wildebeast and zebra for Halloween in the near future- you'll be sure to hear Elton's "Can you feel the love tonight" exuding all around them.
Day 2: We'll take a bush any day...
We spent the morning game viewing at Tarangire and had lunch back at camp. We packed up and headed to Mto Wambu or as I refer to it "Mosquito City". We all decided to take showers and with only 4 shower stalls I was odd safarian out- but boy was it worth it! For the next 15 minutes I listened to musical showers...let me explain. When you turn that shower faucet on you never know what your going to get. Cold, colder, forget-it-cold water, warm, warmer, scald your skin hot water. A small stream trickling through a needle or a full on Victoria Falls cascade. As I listened to Cody brag about his warm shower, Dustin's sounded favorable as well, Rachel hadn't complained yet, mom is in the last stall yelling "Shit! It's cold! Shit! Ooh, Argh!" As I strategically planned which shower I'd take, Cody yelled "Hey where did the water go?" Dustin is in the next stall laughing, clearly enjoying his nice warm spray. Cody starts fiddling with the faucets and his shower is back on at full force. Dustin is left to squat under the trickle coming from his faucet. Rachel joins in the game and, as they tweak their faucets, the shower water magically appeared and disappeared from stall to stall. And lets not forget mom who, after hearing how nice everyone's showers are, is now swearing at the other three for their luck with hot showers. This whole time I'm taking dirty clothes from them, handing new clothes in and trying not to drop anything as tears roll down my cheeks from laughing so hard. Everyone was done by the time it was my turn to shower. I enjoyed a nice luke-warm shower with good water pressure. As they say "Save the best for last."
Day 3: Pruning Dustin's beard
Fido told us if we wanted to see a rhino at Ngorongoro Crater Dustin had to prune the woolly mammoth that had been taking up residence on his face. We didn't want to chance it so Dustin was able to pony-up a scissors and mom went in for the shearing with some help from Fido. After the downsizing, Dustin went back to being Rachel's night in shining armor with a little less fur. We set out for the drive down into the crater and spied three of the Big 5: Lions, Cape Buffalo, and elephants, as well as tons of other wildlife. We made it back up to the rim of the crater for dinner and experienced one of the BRIGHTEST highlights of our safari. There, in our campsite, about 10 feet away from the 5 of us were 2 huge bull elephants. They had meandered up out of the crater to drink from the camp water tank. For a long stitch of time we watched the show in humble silence as the bulls moved away from the tank only to clash tusks giving us quite a show. PS-as the elephants were drinking a lady came out of the bathroom which happened to be 10 feet or less directly behind the elephants. The look on her face = priceless.
Other friendly animals visited us at camp as well. Zebras walked where they pleased - quite close even! As we thought the circus show had wrapped up for the night-Dustin and Cody spied something on our way to the ritualistic bedtime bathroom stop. Flashing his headlamp up and down the bushes only 20 feet away Dustin spied two glowing eyes low to the ground. As we continued to watch, the eyes ascended and with a head-on view there were 2 huge water buffalo-reputed to be the most dangerous of the Big 5. Mom and I got the heck out of there and yelled at the boys to follow. But, if you know Dustin & Cody at all, you'd understand why they had to get "the" picture first. The camera shutter closed and we were once again making our way safely to the African porcelain toilets.
Day 4: One more dirt shower please...
We headed out of our circus campsite on our way to the Serengeti. Let's be clear here. Everyone should expect to get dirty on safari, even the khaki cargo pants, packable breast-pocketed vest and green safari hat won't keep you safe from the dusty, dirty, grimy shower that awaits you back at camp. With the top of our vehicle completely open to the sky and our windows rolled down to let some "fresh" air in, the dust is wafting in like a skin-staining incense. As I try to "man" up and take the dust right in the face I exchange a glance with Mom & Rachel...too funny. Mom has her jacket over her nose and mouth like a gas mask and Rachel has an all-purpose old gray t-shirt strip shanghaied around her head over her nose and mouth and up around her head again. Even with the best efforts we were covered with a nice coat of grim (down here it could be "the" style - feel free to ask us to bottle some up and bring it home for you. I'll give you a good price).
Even with the dust, the Serengeti didn't disappoint. Fido got us prime viewing of lions in zebra-devouring action. Two lionesses and one large male breathed heavily as they rested under a tree with their share of the meal. In the background three other lions were pulling and yanking on a slab of zebra. One of these was a small cub who was going at it like he had never tasted zebra before. His entire face was bright red as if someone had very poorly applied the brightest hooker shade of lipstick they could find. As if that wasn't enough Fido found us four of the "Big 5" within minutes. We finally spotted - no pun intended- our first leopard who was lazily sleeping in a tree. As we drove back to camp we played audience to a herd of 60 elephants lining up single file to cross the road. Back at camp the night ended pleasantly with a nice cool shower. I flashed back to all the crazy things I'd seen that day as that African skin-staining incense circled down into the shower drain. I was back to clean skin! At least for the night.
Pictures and Part 2 to follow in a week....
Day 4: One more dirt shower please...
We headed out of our circus campsite on our way to the Serengeti. Let's be clear here. Everyone should expect to get dirty on safari, even the khaki cargo pants, packable breast-pocketed vest and green safari hat won't keep you safe from the dusty, dirty, grimy shower that awaits you back at camp. With the top of our vehicle completely open to the sky and our windows rolled down to let some "fresh" air in, the dust is wafting in like a skin-staining incense. As I try to "man" up and take the dust right in the face I exchange a glance with Mom & Rachel...too funny. Mom has her jacket over her nose and mouth like a gas mask and Rachel has an all-purpose old gray t-shirt strip shanghaied around her head over her nose and mouth and up around her head again. Even with the best efforts we were covered with a nice coat of grim (down here it could be "the" style - feel free to ask us to bottle some up and bring it home for you. I'll give you a good price).
Even with the dust, the Serengeti didn't disappoint. Fido got us prime viewing of lions in zebra-devouring action. Two lionesses and one large male breathed heavily as they rested under a tree with their share of the meal. In the background three other lions were pulling and yanking on a slab of zebra. One of these was a small cub who was going at it like he had never tasted zebra before. His entire face was bright red as if someone had very poorly applied the brightest hooker shade of lipstick they could find. As if that wasn't enough Fido found us four of the "Big 5" within minutes. We finally spotted - no pun intended- our first leopard who was lazily sleeping in a tree. As we drove back to camp we played audience to a herd of 60 elephants lining up single file to cross the road. Back at camp the night ended pleasantly with a nice cool shower. I flashed back to all the crazy things I'd seen that day as that African skin-staining incense circled down into the shower drain. I was back to clean skin! At least for the night.
Pictures and Part 2 to follow in a week....
