Way back when, at the very beginning of our trip, we went on safari in Tanzania. We've done so much since then that it feels like months ago, but really it was about 5 or 6 weeks.
We used a company called Good Earth Tours, and booked in a 5 day / 4 night camping safari. We figured, let's start the 'adventure' off right - and as neither of us has much if any camping experience, we figured it could be fun to give that a try (the alternative is to stay in lodges). We were hooked up with a pair of Canadians, Michael & Melanie, who turned out to be not only well-seasoned travelers to extremely remote spots (much thanks to their jobs in geophysics (him) and environmental science (her)), but also avid outdoors people - the kind of hard core that thinks canoeing & camping in below-freezing weather is a 'good time'.
As I mentioned before, we felt very fortunate to have these two as our companions - given we spent 5 days in a jeep and taking all our meals together, a bad pairing would have been disatrous! They were laid-back, had interesting stories to tell, and were easy to chat with. And if there had been any question in the matter, they earned full admiration points when, on a serene, meditative drive entering the Serengeti, Melanie broke the silence by whipping out her iPod and travel speakers and playing us some Toto for a collective Moment of Zen. I think (hope!) they found us to be good safari partners too, although I think they found us looking a little 'keen' for our trip, all decked out in new clothing & gear (I can promise that by this point we don't look too sparkly!).
As for the safari itself, we visited 3 parks. The first and least impressive was Lake Manyara, but given it was our first game drive, we were pretty much excited for everything - and especially enjoyed the monkeys. On the second day, we drove into the Serengeti, where we spent the middle two nights. Here, we saw lots of animals, including the usual suspects like zebra, giraffe, elephants, a few lions (though at a distance), hippos, buffalo, and antelope - and a wide variety of birds too, turning Jason overnight from normal guy to avid birdspotter. We did see one chase (cheetah v. antelope), but no kills or really any action to speak of. I was most amazed by the vastness of it all - endless plains and skies - trying to make myself understand that this was the animals' real home, not something manufactured for our entertainment.
Our last stop was in the Ngorongoro Crater (we spent a night camped near the rim), a beautiful self-contained park where almost all of the major animals live -- other than giraffe because there aren't enough trees for them to eat! The Crater is also home to 23 black rhinos - a critically endangered species which is often poached for its horn. We managed to spot a couple, but only very far away. That did complete our Big 5 viewing, though.
As for the camping, we think we fared pretty well, many thanks to some of our shiny new gear (namely my fancy-schmancy headlamp and Jason's too-cool-for-school safari hat, and of course our sleeping bags and inflatable pillows!). Good Earth's camping equipment - they provided tents & mats - was pretty nice, too; the tents were the nicest & biggest of the ones we saw at the campgrounds (many tour companies set up camp at the same location, so we could check out the competition).
We were treated to two stunning sunrises - one in the Serengeti on our early morning (6am) game drive on Day 4, and the other at breakfast over the crater on our last day. Evidence of those special moments and the others (plus evidence of the safari hat) can of course be found on Picasa, but here are a few to whet the appetite:
We used a company called Good Earth Tours, and booked in a 5 day / 4 night camping safari. We figured, let's start the 'adventure' off right - and as neither of us has much if any camping experience, we figured it could be fun to give that a try (the alternative is to stay in lodges). We were hooked up with a pair of Canadians, Michael & Melanie, who turned out to be not only well-seasoned travelers to extremely remote spots (much thanks to their jobs in geophysics (him) and environmental science (her)), but also avid outdoors people - the kind of hard core that thinks canoeing & camping in below-freezing weather is a 'good time'.
As I mentioned before, we felt very fortunate to have these two as our companions - given we spent 5 days in a jeep and taking all our meals together, a bad pairing would have been disatrous! They were laid-back, had interesting stories to tell, and were easy to chat with. And if there had been any question in the matter, they earned full admiration points when, on a serene, meditative drive entering the Serengeti, Melanie broke the silence by whipping out her iPod and travel speakers and playing us some Toto for a collective Moment of Zen. I think (hope!) they found us to be good safari partners too, although I think they found us looking a little 'keen' for our trip, all decked out in new clothing & gear (I can promise that by this point we don't look too sparkly!).
As for the safari itself, we visited 3 parks. The first and least impressive was Lake Manyara, but given it was our first game drive, we were pretty much excited for everything - and especially enjoyed the monkeys. On the second day, we drove into the Serengeti, where we spent the middle two nights. Here, we saw lots of animals, including the usual suspects like zebra, giraffe, elephants, a few lions (though at a distance), hippos, buffalo, and antelope - and a wide variety of birds too, turning Jason overnight from normal guy to avid birdspotter. We did see one chase (cheetah v. antelope), but no kills or really any action to speak of. I was most amazed by the vastness of it all - endless plains and skies - trying to make myself understand that this was the animals' real home, not something manufactured for our entertainment.
As for the camping, we think we fared pretty well, many thanks to some of our shiny new gear (namely my fancy-schmancy headlamp and Jason's too-cool-for-school safari hat, and of course our sleeping bags and inflatable pillows!). Good Earth's camping equipment - they provided tents & mats - was pretty nice, too; the tents were the nicest & biggest of the ones we saw at the campgrounds (many tour companies set up camp at the same location, so we could check out the competition).
We were treated to two stunning sunrises - one in the Serengeti on our early morning (6am) game drive on Day 4, and the other at breakfast over the crater on our last day. Evidence of those special moments and the others (plus evidence of the safari hat) can of course be found on Picasa, but here are a few to whet the appetite:
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| Speak no evil in Lake Manyara |
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| Dinnertime in the Serengeti |
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| Showing off in the Hippo Pool |
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| Hitching a ride across the plains |
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| Soaking in the scenery at the Ngorongoro Crater Lake |
3 comments:
It's a pleasure to follow your amazing world-wide travels. (I'm Mike Pozsgay's mom, Jess. We met at Mike and Lisa's wedding.)
Hi Ellen! Thanks for reading - what a surprise! :)
btw. Jay turned into an avid birdwatcher after our trip to South Africa. Jason and he can compare notes. :)
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