Worst Road of My Life!
So today we were in for a drive. The morning started at 6 AM to finish our game drive in Tarangire. We probably left the park around 11 AM and started our drive to the Serengeti. To get there we had to back track a little before we could take the turn to go to the Serengeti. On our way there Eric was providing all sorts of information on the Masai.
They live in tribes, they mostly manage their herds of cattle and goats. If you have a lot of mules you are considered lucky as the mules can be used to carry the water and to assist with moving. The Masai themselves are vegetarian and mostly eat polenta and vegetables. They do not swim and consider it bad luck to even talk about swimming. The men primarily will wear red and the women will wear blue for their shukas. Women will keep their hair short or shaved and men will also keep their heads shaved but the warriors can have their hair long. There is only one chief to the many villages and he has many wives. I think Eric mentioned that he has 70 children! He decides who the next chief will be (usually the eldest son). There is a council of men who comprise of the different villages but all will defer to the chief. Children as young as 4 start herding. They do go to market about once a week to sell their goods.
On the drive we moved from the flat low lands to the hills where we stopped briefly by Lake Manyara to see all of the storks nesting in the trees, everything was painted white from the storks offerings. Here is where we moved from the Masai Tribe to the Iraqw (Ear a koi) Tribes. They live similarly to the Masai but initially were more of a Warrior Tribe, they were living further north but had been moved out due to the national parks.
I did question the name of one of the local art galleries we drove by, Malaria Village Gallery. Hmm… I think I’ll skip the malaria thank you. We did need to stop to check our air pressure quickly and while backing up had quick a thunk as we hit a really large rock while backing up. To get to the Serengeti you need to drive through Ngorongoro (N gore o gore o) Conservation Preserve. So while we stopped briefly to pay the park fees, Africa decided to remind us that nature is everywhere and while our back was turned all of a sudden a large group of baboons had taken over the road.
Driving into Ngorongoro we stopped at one of the nearby overlooks and had a nice picnic lunch. While we were lunching there was a commotion in a group to the right of us. Looks like they may have some uninvited picnickers in their group by the sign of some biting ants (not sure if they are army or fire ants) but the group was vocal about their new friends. Thankfully our only friends who were visiting near us where a pair of Raven’s who had found someone’s unattended lunch.
African Massage!
After lunch we were in for about 3 hour drive and goodie for us the only road through to the Serengeti is under “construction”. We did run into the guy who runs the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and he stated, 2 weeks this will be done in 2 weeks, and I laughed. Nothing like a 3 hour African Massage. The rattling of the vehicle was quite intense and there was no drinking water without giving yourself a good shower (score, this is how you get a shower!). I joked with Eric that if you threw a bucket you could screw a lid on in the back of the vehicle you could put some detergent in there and your clothes and you could clean while you drive. Look at all of the services you could offer!
This road, if that is what you can call it is the worst road I think I have ever been on. Take the loosest gravel road you can imagine, add potholes and any other sort of obstacle you can think of and multiply it by 100 and you may have something close to what this road is. Due to all of the lose dirt and the vehicles going by the one fun thing to watch whip around was all of the dust devils, they were everywhere! It reminded me of living back on the farm as a kid when we would have them whip through. Funny how you can be so far away from home and there are things that can bridge the gap and bring you back to what is familiar.
This road does not come without casualties right before we entered the Serengeti we saw a few vehicles that had crunched together. We finally reached the border of the Serengeti and it was time to stretch the legs and wait in the long, long lines to pay the entrance fees. Thankfully Eric was on top of it so I was able to go off and explore. Beyond the little fly friends that were buzzing about on the hike up the hill the birds were out and having a blast. I did chuckle as outside of the car I was able to give myself a once over, and while sitting in the car I didn’t think about it but I got a lovely arm and ankle tan.
What a Welcome!
Soon enough we were back on our way and almost immediately we took off on an overgrown path and started to drive around the kopjes (think pride rock) and enjoy the large boulders that speckled the savannah. We got a treat quickly as Mufasa himself was snoozing away on one of the rocks. A black backed jackal was circling around trying to assess if he was going to be on the move. This lion had the most wonderful head of mane possibly but did have a little bedhead issues. I could have stayed and watched him for quite some time but Eric said he hated to rush us along but we needed to keep going as he wanted to make sure we made it to camp before dark.
On the rest of the way we saw some cheetah, got our first glimpses of the various antelopes (Hartebeest, Grant gazelle and Thomson Gazelles), some hyena’s who had just been munching away on some dinner and the secretary bird who was out on a snake and bug hunt. The sun was starting to dip low in the sky and we arrived at our first camp, the Kati Kati Tented camps.
Upon arrival we were greeted with mango juice and told how the camp operates. Usually they have 10 tents but were slightly over capacity for tonight so they added 2 tents for the evening. This camp is full out in wild so once the sun has set until sunrise you are to be escorted to and from your tent. They have the main dining tent which has a charging station for electronics at the end and then you have individual tents that flank it from side to side. My tent for the evening was the last tent of the line (tent 7). When we arrived there first thing I noticed was the large spider we were standing next to. He was about the size of my palm and flat and grey. I drew the guides attention and he stopped his feet and the spider started to scurry away but towards my tent and I said no not to my tent! Go the other direction! He is not the bedfellow I want.
I had guardians watching over me with 2 storks in the nearby trees. Now this is not your average camping tent. These were large canvas tents that upon entering you have a nice bed with a vanity and around the back you have your separate private in tent shower and toilet. Now to use the shower (again only a few hours in the morning and evening) someone will bring your hot water to pour it into the tanks and if you run out of water you just yell water or shower to the person who is behind the tent manning the water availability. The main thing is they keep the hours short for shower time for the safety of the guy working the water. You have access to a light within the tent but no electrical outlets. Outside of the tent you have a lantern that will be on all throughout the night and if you want to go up to the main tents you just shake your lantern and someone will come over to escort you in.
Being in the last tent on the row I had 3 access points open to all of the friends who live in the park so who knows what experience I will have over the evening. I settled in quickly, took a nice shower to clean up. The water ran out quicker than I thought and had a head full of shampoo, and with it being peak shower time it took a little bit of time to get my next bucket full of water.
Sounds of Silence or Screams of Terror
Dinner is served all at the same time so we all started to emerge from our tents to head over to the dining tent. Arriving to the dining tent a woman was screaming her head off. I don’t know what she was saying in between her screams as she was reverting to her native tongue (I think it was Danish perhaps, not exactly sure). It seems like a bug had flown into her ear and wasn’t coming out, they were trying to flush it out but it was enjoying its new space and was crawling around. They ended up taking her to the local doctor in the park, upon her return she had mentioned that the bug had left her ear on the way there but they did another flush to make sure nothing was left behind.
Eric and I had dinner together and discussed the day and how we wanted to set up for the next day. While we were enjoying dinner, Eric who I joke is the bug whisperer had another dining companion of a little praying mantis who was crawling around on him. I could have sworn I heard a rumble and asked is that a thunderstorm I hear. Eric disagreed with me and said no, its unlikely to be a storm being dry season and all. Sure enough I was right, and I got a little thunderstorm for my evening. The lightning was further away so we got a little drizzle and the rumble but not a major storm. No better way than to sleep to the rumbling of thunder. Back to my tent they had closed all of the flaps to not see outside but I figured if there were shine of some eyes I wanted to be able to see it so I opened most of the flaps and let the noises of Africa to waft in all night.
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