Our first stop was at shop rite to buy some snacks for our big yellow truck journey into the wild! The yellow Absolute Africa truck is HUGE and you sit a couple of meters higher than anyone else on the road. The locals love it (in most places), they stare and wave continuously, especially in the small towns where they don't get that much through traffic!
We got to camp site in Arusha and were taught how to put up our tents (which was fun and exciting the first time, but jeepers the novelty quickly wears off!) Currently our little group is made of 7 people - 3 South African girls, 1 Irish man, 1 Chinese girl (from Brussels) , a Brit guy (who looks like johnny bravo) and an Aussie guy - all good fun ;)
The next day we left for a three day and two night safari into the Serengeti and Ngorongoro crater. The Serengeti is home to the famous 'Great Migration' where up to two million Wildebeest as well as 250,000 zebra and 350,000 Thomson's gazelle are constantly on the move in search of the richest grazing. Imagine these huge number of animals all moving from one location to another, being hunted by lions, leopards, cheetahs and hyenas! Safari at its best!
We were told that we wouldn't be going on safari in the big yellow truck (after all that excitement!), but we would be sent with a company called Green Bee Eaters, in a smaller 4x4 and our guide would be SIMBA THE LION!
Our first safari was in the Ngorongoro crater - It is a deep volcanic crater, the largest unflooded and unbroken caldera in the world! It's approx 20kms wide, 600 meters deep and 300sq Kms in area - just stop and think about how huge that is. And that is filled with animals, it's completely breath taking!
We were so spoilt that day in the crater - we saw lions mating (several times, which is a very disappointing show really, the male purrs really loudly and the whole encounter lasts only about 5 seconds... But I digress), three males eating a kill only a few meters away from us, a rhino (in the very, very far distance - but it counts when there are so few in the world), thousands of Buffalo and zebra, all sorts of buck, birds, warthogs and even a natural rainbow around the sun (this blew my mind!) It was amazing! We were all speechless as we retreated back to our camp site on the rim of the crater!
As we arrived at the camp our 4x4 was greeted by the zebra wandering by our tents and later that eve after dinner a male elephant was stomping around just a couple of meters behind our dinner hall - this made the warning of 'do not leave your tent at night' very real!!!
Next day we were up early and thank goodness we didn't have to take down (or put up) our tents! On the drive to the Serengeti we stopped off at a real Masai village to meet the people, play a whole with the kids and buy some of their local crafts. All the Masai wear bright red or blue clothing (bright checked blankets) and live in mud huts in the Serengeti. The villages are spotted all over the country side, but they are quite private people so you are only allowed to take photographs of them with their permission (and after paying $10 - ha). The men performed their jumping ritual for us, they all sing and try spring higher than one another (in order to prove they are a warrior) and the ladies/children danced in the background. We were then taken into their huts in small groups and our guide explained their traditions to us.
In a way they are quite similar to the traditions in SA - each village is one family unit and when the girls are old enough they are sent to another village, by arranged marriage, and 'paid for' in cows. The men can take on a number of wives and there is even a village we saw where the leader had over 30 wives. They also have a 'manhood' ceremony for the boys at about 13 where they are circumcised and sent out into the surroundings for 3 months before they can return. They drink a concoction of blood and herbs to make themselves strong and 'bleed' the cows from their necks without actually killing them. On a day to day basis the men are in charge of looking after the cattle etc and the woman, well, they do everything else!!!
We bought some bangles from the Masai and they explained all the colours to us, and in return we showed them our SA flag and explained our colours to them. They were intrigued and wanted to keep it, but unfortunately we didn't want to leave our only SA flag behind :) we then put on our shoOopsies (if you don't know what these red socks are about google them for a full explanation) and had some photos with them on, and once again were asked to leave leave them behind as they matched the red blankets perfectly! Again, we had to decline as there are too many photo ops ahead ;)
After the village we hopped back into the truck and headed on to the Serengeti... It was bump bump bump the whole way... A real African message!!! Once again we were so spoilt with our animal spotting - we saw giraffes, elephants, zebra, buck, two cheetahs hiding and chasing after a herd of zebra, a lion up tree (never seen that!) and a leopard! Literally we would say to SIMBA 'please find us a leopard', he would laugh and explain he can't guarantee anything and a few minutes later we would see it. This happened about 4 times and in the end it became a joke how often it would work out for us!
The next day was a 5am wake up and we were all super excited - it was time for our hot air balloon ride over the Serengeti!! There was a van waiting for us and it sped us off through the bush to the start point. We had a quick briefing from our guide and then we all had to hop into the basket, which was on its side so we were all hanging horizontal!
The flames started and withing a couple of minutes the basket was sliding gracefully over the Serengeti! It is so smooth and surreal! We were surrounded by the sunrise on one side and then the endless plains on the other (that's what Serengeti means) with the animals scattering below us. We went both high and low, sometimes seeing the world from a hundred meters up and then scratching along the tops of trees or gliding over the grass! We didn't see a vast array of wildlife but it is a completely different view compared to the truck. The animals are not accustomed to the sound of the ballon flames so they scatter in all directions which is so beautiful to watch. We saw Eland, bat eared fox, giraffe, buck and zebra (thousands as usual!)
We had a very gentle landing, once again in a horizontal position and were whisked off for a champagne celebration and photo shoot! After a few glasses of bubbly (and a slightly dizzy head) the guides gave us two full bottles for the drive and we headed off to the breakfast site. As a joke we said to the driver 'please find us a leopard so we can have champagne while viewing' and would you believe, not 5 minutes later we stumbled upon 2 leopards!
We had breakfast amongst the trees with a herd of elephants only a few meters in the distance. The best part was the toilet (ha ha; I really did just say that!) which was a three sided 'loo with a view' where you could sit and watch the elephants who were approx 5 meters away. Breath taking!
After the balloon ride we headed back in the direction of Arusha, back to our big yellow truck and to meet the rest of the tour we were joining with (our group of seven would now become 22!) The next two days we just drove to the coast , we bounced and ate dirt for two days... Not fun!! They were the hottest days we had on the truck and I was about to dehydrate and pass out - but in the end it was worth it!
We reached Dar Es Salaam but once again were greeted by the still, bumper to bumper traffic! We could see the sea in the distance but just... Couldn't... Get.. There! Eventually we got to the Mikadi beach campsite and sprinted into the warm Indian Ocean ;) ;) That eve we had a delicious seafood barbecue and were up early ready for our ferry to Zanzibar island! We hopped into a tuk tuk and zooted across (our driver was a maniac!) to the ferry! So begins our beach holiday ;) ;)
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