Thoughts on safaris

   I’ve been on three safaris now, two tent and one luxury tent. Here are the pluses and minuses as I see them.

  If you can afford it, a lodge safari is the most comfortable. The food would be very good and the facilities are great and you stay in the park. A disadvantage is that they cost 5X a tenting safari. If you choose this option, make sure you will be in a car with no more than 4 people. If there is a lion on the left side, 6 people have to take turns watching. Very frustrating!

  Luxury tented camping is twice as expensive as tented camping but you get to sleep in mostly spacious places, eat six course meals and have hot showers The major disadvantage as I see it is that the camps are OUTSIDE the park so you have one to two extra hours of driving over bad, washboard roads. It’s very tiring!

  Tent camping is the cheapest and I’ve been told the restrooms are now much better. (They were horrible when I was there nine years ago) Some camp sites are not secure at night so you have to stay in your tent at night. NO peeing!

  If you can afford it , go lodge but ask for small 4X4’s. If you want cheap but not the cheapest, investigate several tenting companies. Some have bigger tents, a washing tent and better food. As always, you often get what you pay for.    My animal magnetism still works a little, I guess

Tanzania Safari Day 2

This is WAY out of order but deal with it! There are two glaciers in Tanzania, one on top of Kili and one controlling the Internet!    We left the lodge and went on another game drive where we saw many more elephants and Africa’s largest eagle. We ate lunch at the lodge, packed, and left for our lodge nearer the Serengeti. we stopped at a Maasai compound where for $25 each, we could enter the village life. OOPS, the pictures were on the previous blog, It’s a small village with only an extended family. (The chief and his 10 wives) They all greeted us and gave a welcoming dance and song. Marcia joined and the wives really seemed to like her. I thought I could get a great deal on her, maybe 20 cows . That would teach her to sacrifice me to the lion. (Marcia’s rebuttal)  Chuck was quite interested in the idea of having more than one wife, until he learned that the chief had 56 children he had to provide for and that each wife had her own house! The chief’s son told us  that all the women got along, helped care for each other’s children and developed close friendships.  Lots of good girlfriend time!  They were very friendly to me.  I think I could get quite attached to them!  So, it appears that Chuck will have to  make do with one woman!

Then drove to our next camp which was in a coffee plantation on the mountainside. The road there was VERY bad and it took about 30 minutes to get there. The people and food were great as usual and the view from our porch was amazing.

Arusha Day Hike

  We didn’t want to just hang around in Arusha, so we got a private guide on the cheap ($60)) We would take a local bus to the foot of a dirt road, then we would walk a few minutes to a village. After 40 minutes of steady climbing and asking how far to the village? (only 10 mins), we rebelled and asked for motorbikes. Marcia sat on one while the guide and I set on another ( along with the driver) After another 5 mins of riding, we arrived at village. The ladies were very friendly and were bottling banana beer along with a couple of guys. I remember it as tasting VERY bad so we passed on it. After walking a few hundred yards more we said “EnoWe said enough walking!) and we took the motorcycles back to the main road. The minivan bus had it’s usual twenty people in it so everyone is close and personal.

   We got back in twenty minutes and I fought with the local Wi-Fi until I got disgusted and went to find another spot. I found one at a Gelati shop and had to buy something

Tanzania Safari day 7

    Day 7 was Lake Manyara, the park famous for lions resting in the trees. They were all on strike and no one saw any! Our guide offered to climb a tree and roar but we didn’t ask him to do that. We saw the same old elephants, baboons, giraffes, various birds and a few hippos. We have been here too long if we are seeing the “same old, same old”

    We ate lunch in the park, then drove three hours back to Arusha

Tanzania Day 6

  We left our cabin at the east end of the Serengeti (I just found out that “Serengeti” is Maasai for “bad roads”!) We drove for three hours, then entered Ngorongnoro (NG) crater. It is what’s left of an ancient volcano and there is a large variety of the animals we saw earlier, just more concentrated. There was a newborn gnu calf and nothing killed recently that we saw. There are 14 rhinos in the park and we were lucky to see three! After lunch at a beautiful lake, we drove on to our lodge at Lake Manyara. It is the nicest one we have been in yet  

The grounds are beautiful and safe to walk around at night.

Tanzania Day 5 Life and Death

It was a normal breakfast start of bacon, eggs, toast, juice and fruit then off to the Serengeti After driving back into the park (30 mins), we came upon a herd of Cape Buffalo with an hours old calf. It was wobbly but could walk.Mom had some of the afterbirth hanging out but seemed OK New babies are cute! A half hour later we came upon the body of a young giraffe that had been killed by a small pride of lions during the night. It was partially eaten and the lions were resting under the trees, guarding the kill while digesting their meal. Life and death!

   Afterward we saw baboons, vultures, a kingfisher, more hippos and a tortoise! Many animals fear the mongoose because it will  jujum jumps up and bites the scrotum of the antelopes and buffalo so they give it a LOT of respect!

   We moved from our little prison cell of a room to an enormous room with a great porch.

Tanzania Day 3 and 4

We drove out from our mountain retreat and drove out 30 minutes of bad road to the main road. The entrance to the Serengeti and Ngorongoro NP was PACKED with tourists and it took an hour for our driver to get the necessary permit and even the Park screwed up and he had to waste another hour or Day 4 to get the permit for Day 5! He was very philosophic about but you could see it bothered him in that he had previously filled out all paperwork by computer and had the permit OK’ed.

   We finally got to the Serengeti where over the last two days we have seen four cheetahs, many lions (some sleeping in trees), elephants, hippos, various gazelles, warthogs, birds and other small animals.

   The roads in the park are dirt and gravel so there is dust everywhere! Each night I cough up concrete and pick pebbles from my nose!

   The place we are staying now and for the next day is the smallest we have been in. It is barely 9 ft X 9ft and with two beds, there is only 12” between the beds. the view off the porch is great though with our own stork in a tree. The food is simple but good 

Tarangire

  We left Arusha at 9am, stopped for soda and water, then drove to Tarangire NP. It is known for it’s baobab trees and elephants. We saw plenty of both as well as lions stalking warthogs and a few giraffes. The elephants ranged from old males to a six week old calf playing in the mud. 

  We drove to our luxury camp down this bare dirt road. In the distance, we could see a beautiful lodge overlooking the river. This was suitable for Alex Trebek or royalty. We turned Right down down another road! We were greeted by a bunch of Maasai girls singing and dancing. The buildings were outstanding and our tent was very nice with netting all around. Dinner was six courses and I will gave all the weight I lost in Malaysia!

  After we went to bed, Marcia woke to the sound of something walking on the tent platform outside the open but screened window. She was sure it was a lion but since I didn’t see or hear it, there is no independent verification. She asked to move closest to the window (so I would get eaten first?) Everything was well the rest of the night. We breakfasted and went for another game drive in Tarangire

Tanzania, Africa

   Different month, different country! After being back in the US for eight days, it was time to travel again. (What was I thinking!) Anyway, Marcia and I got to Cleveland airport and after another three flights landed at Kilimanjaro airport in Tanzania at 9:30 in the evening (another 19 hours of flying) Maybe 200 people got off with us and most needed visas (as we did) so the line moved glacially.

  We are on a tour and the driver, Salim was waiting for us and drove us to Arusha. It’s the jumping off point of safaris and Kili  climbs. The town is very vibrant with women wearing wild, african prints and carrying loads on their heads. Traffic is chaotic with a mix of cars, buses, bikes and wheelbarrows.

   We will lMarcia got a $3 pedicure in preparation for our safari which leaves tomorrow.

Singapore, a Zoo!

   I decided to re-visit Chinatown and pick up some good luck charms. It is 10 days away from their New Year and the celebrations have started. There are no rooms available (I’m OK there) but the streets are packed and empty with cabs are hard to find. I did succeed and returned to Little India where I showered again. I shower two or three times a day but I’m still pretty sweaty.

   At 6:30pm, I walked a few blocks to where the shuttle bus would pick up people to go to the Night Safari. It was on time and the trip took 40 minutes through some traffic. Night Safari is next to the Zoo but not part of it. There is a tram ride through the park and the line for it was 30 minutes so it was dark when I got on. The tram rides on a path past various exhibits that are not obviously enclosed so there is a wild feel about. It is very dimly lit so most of my pictures didn’t come out. The guide was insistent on NO flashes and he stopped the tram once to reinforce the rule. There is a “Little Emperor” condition where a single boy child runs wild and there were a few of those. One kicked my foot until I growled at him and his parents moved away but still let him run wild. After the tram ride, I walked the trails which were even better since they were often BETWEEN the tram road and the exhibit (much closer!) I was very thirsty at that point and had a $4 lemonade (beer was $13!) I got back on the shuttle bus and after 105 minutes of heavy traffic, the driver gave up and said we are in Little India and pointed off at a 45 degree angle. A couple of the main streets were totally blocked off for a religious ceremony today. The first three policemen I asked had no idea    ( or didn’t understand me) as to where my hotel was. It is on a main road. Finally one said “very far” just what you want to hear at 11:3opm when you are hot,tired and sweaty. I walked over another street that had accessible traffic on it and grabbed a cab. It took another 10 minutes of traffic until the driver gave up and said it just two blocks ahead. I remembered the area and he was right. It was amazing the amount of foot and car traffic at midnight! The Indian and Chinese celebrations must be horrendous.

   I went out today for a $4 hotcake at Mc D’s and then went to see the “parade” There were a number of small floats carried on the shoulders of a single man. Looking closer, I saw many had a metal skewer through both sides of their cheeks which had to hurt if they let the load shift. My camera battery died then  (doesn’t it always!)  I recharged it and went back! The festival is Thaipusam and it’s banned in India! Most of the male marchers have multiple piercing, hooks, etc. They are also walking barefoot on the hot asphalt. They do this to give thanks for answered prayers (Lonely Planet) This was a very interestin day and I’m leaving for home tomorrow morning on a 6am flight. I’m probably not going to get a lot of sleep for the next two days so wish me well. This will probably be the last post from Singapore but stay tuned, I might post from Tanzania, Africa if I can find active Wi-Fi’s