Tanzania - Serengeti (25 Feb 2010)

Who hasn't heard of the legendary Serengeti ??? Its name means 'where the sky meets the earth' (something like that) and it's so easy to see why when you're there.

Getting to its gate took us about 3 hours but it was really enjoyable... we really started to see the huge numbers of the migrations with black dots (i.e. wildebeests) as far as the eye could see, for miles and miles... they say that 3 million wildesbeests migrate but we felt we'd seen more like 10. We even asked Josuah: 'how on earth can they count them ???' and he'd explained that they take an aerial photo (say 1 square mile) and count the dots on that and then multiply it by however many square miles there are in the park.

I've never seen such huge numbers myself and we were so excited. The animals aren't jammed pack right next to each other but there were babies absolutely everywhere and they were so cute. We also passed many Masai people just sitting under a tree, chatting to each other, with their typical red cloth with blue stripes wrapped around them and it felt so 'typical'.

We also saw many warthogs and hyenas (first sightings).

We got the chance to visit a Masai Village on the way ($45 entrance fee to be given to the chief). It felt like it was a bit much for 40 mins but it was going to be our only chance to visit a typical Masai village and the only bit of 'cultural' inter-action we were going to have and we really couldn't pass up the chance (different photo ops too !).

Our allocated guide showed us his very humble home, which was pretty much made up of wooden sticks and cow dung, with just two tiny rooms, one where they cook and one where they sleep. There was almost no light coming in (no windows), just a small hole on the roof so that the smoke could get out when they cook. It was so dim in there that your eyes really had to adjust and it was also quite slippery so you had to manoeuvre carefully around the fire ! I couldn't wait to get out, I felt quite claustrophobic in there - sitting down uncomfortably, stooping over towards the fire.

He said that he had a wife in this village and another wife in another village 'as he had enough money to buy another cow in exchange for her'. Roberto asked how many wives he could buy and he'd replied: 'however many you want, if you have enough cows to swap them for'. Roberto had been asked earlier if Nathalie was his 'wife' and he said 'no, she's just my girlfriend' and so when pointing out to me the Masai chief had said 'and 'so who is that one then? your mother?'... oops. 15 years ago when I was younger (well, 3o) a chief had asked to 'marry me' stating he could give my father a cow or 3 goats, as he preferred. I guess I'm starting to show my age now ! :) NO marriage proposal this time round. Oh well, no regret... as much as I love the scenery I know that a life of making necklaces with beads would not fulfil me... besides, I would really miss feeling the wind in my hair if I had to shave it all off to 'fit in' !

The children's faces were covered with flies and I did wonder how many would develop an eye condition as a result. Basic principles of hygiene seemed to be lacking. Women were all bald, as traditional (only men can have hair). We were shown to the local school. Actually, the kids were playing outside and as soon as we started heading towards the school they quickly dashed in and sat at their desk in an orderly fashion. One then went to the blackboard and pointed to the letters of the alphabet and they all said in English 'A, B, C'... or '1, 2, 3'... and of course, for this performance, you were expected to put some money in the box to help towards their pencils and notebooks.

It was an interesting break and surely made us appreciate all the more the luxury of our homes in the West... Even my studio flat with minimal appliances was like a palace... just for having toilets that flush, a cosy carpet to walk on instead of slippery mud and a proper bed to sleep on instead of a straw mattress. They seemed to lead a very simple existence, at the bottom of valley, surrounded by barren but beautiful scenery. We'd been treated to the 'welcome dance' on arrival and Roberto had been asked to join in (i.e. leaping up in the air as high as you can). We got some fun videos of that.

Eventually, after a further hour, we got to the gate that said 'Serengeti'... with vast open space as far as the eye could see. Again, like at Nnorongoro, it has several types of scenery in there and the first day was mainly huge, 'endless' open space with 'rock islands' scattered here and there. Millions of years ago, when there was a lot more volcanic activity, some magma had pushed its way to the top and created these bizarre rock formations, now beautifully polished by the rain and winds. It was 'Lion King' scenery... you know the scene where it stands on top of the rock, contemplating its kingdom.... this was very 'Serengeti'. In fact, the first 3 'rock islands' we saw had lions on it -- because these 'islands' (in a sea of tall green/yellow grass) were the only areas where one could find shade.

It was harder to spot animals because of the tall grass and because there wasn't a great many tracks we could actually drive on. So, again, if a cheetah started to walk away from the tracks, you'd soon lose it.

This kind of scenery was very beautiful in its own right but after a few hours we did start to miss having some trees around... and once we'd lost the area with the 'rocks' then we pretty much didn't see much at all for the next 2 hours on our way to the lodge. Nathalie worried that we'd never see any animals again, especially 'no leopards who need trees to sleep on' but I assured her that there would be parts of the Serengeti with many many trees and that this was just a parenthesis.

Indeed, as we eventually drove closer and closer to the forested areas, we started to see more elephants, more giraffes in particular and lots of birds (plenty of bee-eaters, rollers...). We had seen PLENTY of birds in Nnorongoro as they too had migrated but they were mainly bigger ones. I really enjoyed their vibrant colours too... parrots, love birds, etc.

What we did see here that we had not seen before were the Marabouts (with such an ugly face) and the vultures.

By the time we got to our lodge it was just the golden hour and the view from the Serengeti Sopa left us awe-struck. We had a gorgeous room with a balcony overlooking the park, and Roberto even told the guy who showed him around the room 'is this view real or did you stick a poster on the window?'. But it's exactly how it felt: too beautiful to be true.

Knowing that the 'golden hour' doesn't last a proper hour I quickly ran out with my camera and tried to capture the magic of this moment before its quality disappeared. I was so glad I did because the next day was cloudy so we never saw it again quite as beautiful as we did the moment we first checked in.

The lodge was just gorgeous with lavish buffets and massive four-poster-beds with mosquitoe nets. Every Sopa lodge we stayed in had two massive beds in it, you could see that it was tailor-made to the American way of thinking !

We did see 2 leopards here, but they were not great sightings (we never saw their faces as they were sleeping) and they were not too close to the road so you needed binoculars to appreciate the beauty of their coat. Compared to the incredible sightings we had had at Sabi Sands (in South Africa), Nathalie was quite disappointed as they are her 'favourite'.

It was actually quite cool whenever it was cloudy and we did have to dress up warm if we wanted to the roof open but we were enthralled by the scenery pretty much constantly. I think that the Serengeti worked its magic on Nathalie & Roberto just the way it had done so on me and on pretty much everybody who comes here, I'm sure. You'd have to have a heart of stone not to be moved by such 'raw' beauty.

We were ever so sad at the thought of leaving... my heart was ever so heavy when Josuah dropped us off at the Serengeti air-strip. We had had such a wonderful time, taking in so many beautiful landscapes, landscapes that had not changed much for millions of years, with the cycle of the migrations intact... (more or less)... even just 10 mins before we got to the airport we saw a beautiful hippo pool with gorgeous lush palm-trees around.

When we took off on the 12 seater plane and looked down, again, it looked so barren... like a desert with hardly anything standing out (the Serengeti is mainly flat, or hilly at most) and yet we knew different.

I'd like to think that I'll go back one day... it'd be unbearable to think I may not. I really enjoyed February so much more than November. This was my 7th safari but come to think of it, I'd always gone Sept-Oct-Nov-Dec, I'd never done one Feb-March and what a mistake it was !

At least we knew we were still going to have 3 days of sunshine and beach in Zanzibar before heading back to London in the winter. I don't think we could have coped with a harsher transition. We did need these three days, psychologically, to recover from the game drives (not just 'emotionally', i.e. for losing the sheer beauty of what we saw, but also 'physically' as it was very tiring to do all this driving). You wouldn't think it is if you don't do the driving yourself, but it still affects you.