Safari to Africa Part I - Tanzania

Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania was the first stop on my two week safari to Africa. The crater is one of the natural wonders of the world. On the thriving 102 square-mile crater floor, thousands of wild animals live in a fishbowl environment. Everything is enclosed within the velvety green walls of a perfect volcanic bowl. It's as close to paradise as you could ever hope to get. If you have only one day in your life to visit an African game park, that day should be spent in Ngorongoro. I would compare it's magnificence to that of Yosemite Valley in California. When you see the crater for the first time you just start in amazement. After seeing Ngorongoro on the first day, all the other game parks we visited just didn't measure up. They each had their own special beauty but nothing close to the splendor of Ngorongoro.

We stayed at the Ngorongoro Crater Wildlife Lodge which sits on the rim of the huge volcanic crater. The view from 2000 feet above the crater floor is spectacular. A safari in the crater is an all day affair in a 4-wheel drive with a picnic lunch. The rim of the crater was foggy and rainy but once we arrived down on the floor it was beautiful. The clouds still ringed the crater but it was clear in the middle. It was as if the clouds avoided blocking the sunshine from the crater floor.

The variety of animals was incredible. We saw lion, elephant, black rhino, gazelle, zebra, cape buffalo, hippo, wildcats, pink flamingos, marabou storks, hyena, jackals, eagle, ostrich, warthog plus many more. Unfortunately most of the pink flamingos had migrated to Lake Nakuri in Kenya for the mating season so the flocks were relatively small.

Game viewing in the crater is extraordinary because of the unobstructed treeless landscape. The animals are accustomed to the presence of the vehicles, so you can get very close without interrupting their activities. At one point we spotted a male and a female lion laying in the grass soaking up the sun. After watching them for a couple of minutes the "bell rang" and they started mating. It almost appeared as though they were performing on queue.

Most of the animals appear in large numbers except for the black rhino. Poaching has almost led to their extinction. Fortunately, the high walls (2000 ft) of the crater make it more difficult for poachers. The desire to see the few remaining rhino can lead to a circus-like atmosphere. When the black rhinos were finally spotted late in the day laying in the grass 12 vehicles full of tourists converged to 'observe'. At one point our vehicle was within 30 feet of them.

Serengeti

From Ngorongoro crater we traveled to the Serengeti, stopping at the Olduvai Gorge on the way. Olduvai Gorge is a world renowned site for research into the origin of humans. The crumbling walls have revealed a continuous record of human life that goes back almost two million years. The Serengeti is Africa's premier game preserve. The sheer volume of wildlife is staggering. More than a million and a half wildebeest, a quarter million zebra, half a million gazelles and thousand of predators live in the Serengeti plains. The plains seem never ending. It's over 5,500 square miles of vast plains with periodic mounds of rock called kopjes. These are very similar to the rocky environment that lions are kept in at many zoos. The kopjes and the occasional trees are the only places that lions and other predators can find shade to escape the sun.

The huge herds had already migrated from the Tanzania portion of the Serengeti to the Masai Mara in Kenya when we visited. Even though we were in the Serengeti in the off season, there was still an abundance of wildlife. We saw lions, cheetah, leopard, gazelle, wildebeest, zebra, hyena, etc. We even saw two cheetahs devouring their fresh kill just 20 feet off the road. We also found a couple of leopards sleeping in the trees.

We stayed in the Seronera Wildlife Lodge which was built into a kopje. Most of the walls of the restaurant and lounge are natural rock formations and there were trees around the lodge that supported a large number of baboons. Notices are posted in the rooms to not leave the windows open or you might get an unwelcome baboon visit. They have been known to trash rooms and take anything that can be carried. While I was writing postcards one evening I was startled by a baboon at my window. He sat there staring at me for a few minutes before moving on. My room afforded me with an incredible view of the sunrise over the Serengeti.

The most memorable vegetation was the 'sausage tree'. It's an incredible looking thing. It looks like someone has decorated each of the trees by hanging sausages on strings from it limbs. The first thought when I saw it was "that can't be real".

The Serengeti is also where I had my first experience with medical care in Africa. The extreme dust generated in the dry plains contributed to my getting the worst sinus infection I've ever had. I spent a long time convincing a quack nurse that I really needed an antibiotic. The severe pain caused me to miss one of the afternoon game drives. I was pissed when I found out the group had seen a pride of 18 lions while I laid in my room in pain. A group of 5 adult female lions and 13 cubs walked around the van (within 5 feet) for about 30 minutes.

Lake Manyara

The last stop in Tanzania was Lake Manyara National Park. Lake Manyara is an extremely beautiful game park that's sandwiched between the 1000 foot wall of the rift valley and the shores of a soda lake. We stayed at the Lake Manyara Hotel which overlooks the park from the top of the Rift Valley wall.

There is a remarkable diversity of vegetation in a very small area that includes dense forest, palm filled glades, and grassy flat lands along the shores of the lake. There's a series of small rivers that provide permanent water for the animals and the lush vegetation. The park's most famous attraction is its tree climbing lion. Unfortunately the only lions we saw were laying on the ground. The large flocks of pink flamingos were also missing. They had migrated northward for the mating season. The animals we did see included zebra, elephant, baboon, buffalo, impala and giraffe. The most spectacular sight was the large hippo pool that was surrounded by tens of thousands of birds.