Wonder of the Animal World March 2008

"Jambo" or Hi, as they say in Swahili, & "karibu" or welcome to my travellogue of our recent sojourn to E. Africa.

Due to the recent strife in kenya, we concentrated only on a safari in neighbouring Tanzania.

Our drive into the kingdom of the animals began from Arusha in North Tanzania, a city noted for its geographical location, exactly halfway between the extreme North & the extreme South of the African continent,  the exact line demarkated by a clock tower in the city center.

If you ever have time in Arusha, visit Saifuddin Khanbhai's amazing arcade. It is a treasure trove of animal carvings,art, handicraft, jewellery & just about everything else!

Arusha is also within view of the ravishing  Mt Kilimanjaro, so conscious of its beauty that it constantly hides behind a curtain of cloud.

Our first encounter with the animals was at Tarangire National Park - home to more elephants per square km than anywhere else on earth, an estimated 50,000!  We saw them in herds, from cute little newborns,  learning to use their still uncontrollable trunks, to great granddaddies, rolling in the sand, or playing in the water & mud. Some just shook their ears in defiance as if to say 'you are trespassing'!

It was our first introduction to a host of other animals too, from giraffes & gazelles, to waterbuck, impala & the naughty babboons.

Typical of the vegetation in this Park are the wetlands & numerous baobab trees.  These trees, known for their broad girth,(upto 15mtr in diameter) live for hundreds & thousands of years.  Also known as the Tree of Life, it provides shelter, food & water for animals & human inhabitants of the savannah region. 

Often referred to as the 8th natural wonder of the world, the Ngorongoro crater's rim is 3,600 metres above sea level at its highest point.  A volcanic crater , it has the distinction of being the largest unbroken & unflooded caldera in the world.  Slightly oval in shape, it is 21 km in diameter at its widest point on the floor of the crater. Its ever changing weather patterns provide a dramatic backdrop to the scenery & wildlife, & as we arrived at our lodge in the evening, clouds were pouring in over the rim like giant waves.

Grasslands cover the crater floor providing a natural sanctuary for a staggering variety of animals & numerous bird species & insects, & the last of Africa's black rhinos.  A small lake on the crater floor is also a magnet for migratory birds.

 We sighted herds of buffalo, wilderbeest, gazelles, zebras, lions basking & mating in the sun, hippos, eland, flamingoes, hyena, babboons, ostrich, warthogs & a countless variety of birds.  Lucky for us, we saw a lone black rhino, considering it was 1 of the 18 black rhinos left in the crater.

Our guide Ebrahim tells us that as elephants grow old & lose their teeth, those in the region migrate to the Ngorongoro crater as the short sweet grass is the only food they can chew & survive on until they die there.  As vegetarians, elephants otherwise tear on leaves & twigs & branches all day to nourish their large bodies.
A picnic lunch in a designated spot was impossible!!  To eat in peace, it was best to do so in the jeep , with the windows closed.  The babboons were always hungry & so were some colorful birds!

Adjacent to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area is the Serengeti National Park.  "Siringet " means 'endless space' in the Masai language.  True to its name, the land stretches endlessly here, on a flat plateau & over 14,000 sq. kms.

Dramatic wildlife interactions here are unimaginable.  Every year the most famous & awe inspiring natural phenomenon takes place here.  More than 2 million wildebeest, half million Thomson gazelles & a quarter million zebras are the stars of the greatest wildlife show on earth.  A host of antelopes, water buck, eland, & the statuesque topi with their yellow ankle socks join them on this annual migration.

In as long as 40 km columns, they swirl west & north into Kenya after the long rains in april may & June, & then south for the short rains every Oct & Nov.

So strong is their instinct to migrate for greener pastures, that no drought or gorge or crocodile infested river can hold them back. The wildebeest are known to reproduce in large numbers during this season, before their 1000 km pilgrimage back to the  Serengeti.

The wilderbeest (with long hair that covers their eyes) have poor vision but excellent hearing senses. Zebras on the other hand, have clear vision but poor hearing. Nature has thus made them perfect partners on their long & arduous annual pilgrimage .

At one point on the vast Serengeti plains one morning, we stopped our vehicle to absorb the liberating sense of space.

The horizon was a clear 360* circle around us & the entire landscape was dotted with animals.  There were hundreds & thousands of them, many following a leader into the horizon, others just stationery dots. I felt humbled & in awe of nature's might & glory.

Elewhere, we watched herds of buffalo making their way through endless waves of high grass, & giraffes moving solemnly among flat topped acacia trees the dot the Serengeti landscape.  It was fascinating & amusing to watch hundreds of hippos in a hippo pool, in clear sight of a giant croc doing the same thing on the other side !

If you are lucky, predator spectacles abound. Many are fortunate to watch cheetah, lions & leopard in hot pursuit of their prey.  'After the feast ' scavengers take over for they always smell a kill.  These are the hyenas & jackals, wolves & serval cats.  We once watched as almost 15 giant vultures slowly surrounded a mother cheetah & her cubs feasting on a gazelle, awaiting their turn. 

There is more to Serengeti than large mammals; from gaudy colored lizards to hyraxes & dung beetles, & hundreds of colorful species of birds ranging from the ostrich to the bizarre secretary bird .

For a different perspective of the National Park, there is nothing better than a hot air balloon safari.  Lifting off at dawn, one can literally get a 'birds eye view'.  Below,  the Seronera River gleams in the morning sun, as it coils between bushes & low trees. We glide just above a flat topped acacia where a vulture sits guarding her nest.  Our balloon frightens her off revealing the 2 eggs she is hatching !  The little airstrip parallel to the river is busy this morning , not with flights but with zebras & hyenas!  On the plains beyond, herds of animals are drifting & hippos snort & yawn a 'good morning' to us from the cool of their pool.  True to tradition upon landing, we are congratulated with champagne & a full English breakfast cooked on a balloon burner!  Our table, complete with fine linen, silver cutlery & english porcelain, has been prepared under an exquisite umbrella tree.

One should not forget the Masai whose land this belongs to.  A proud & independent pastoral tribe, they originally migrated here from the Nile. Their togas  like red robes are said to have their origins in the ancient Romans.  Over hundreds of years, they have preserved their culture, living in total harmony with the wildlife. Each village is a cluster of twigs & clay 'igloos' surrounded by a circular enclosure also of twigs, into which they drive their precious cattle at night, safe from the lions. Cattle are the Masai's currency, around 7 to buy a bride.  Also their food; meat on ceremonial occasions, milk & blood any time of the day.  The blood is collected straight from the living animal, whose neck artery is pierced with an arrow for the purpose, then sealed with dung!  The Masai don't want change but did'nt mind our visit.  They're more intent on selling you their jewellery & spears, for the profits help them buy little luxuries & build their schools ( also built with twigs just outside the enclosure).

A constant source of delight is the birds.  There are numerous varieties from herons to  hornbills; from buzzards to bee eaters; from the hamerkop to the kory bustad (yes correct spelling), the heaviest flying bird.  The list goes on .

We sadly left the Serengeti, heading southeast for Lake Manyara National Park.  Like all National Parks, we were only allowed:- to drive on designated tracts, never step out of the vehicle, & view the wildlife from an open hatch above the vehicle.  At lake Manyara too, we were nowhere near the lake but from a distance we clearly saw pink.  And through our binoculars, we saw, stretching for about a mile from left to right, a long pink ribbon with legs !  They were an estimated 4 million pink flamingoes ! These birds live off caustic volcanic lakes which team with brine shrimp or blue green algae, on which they feed, causing  their characteristic pink colour. Lacking such food in zoos, they turn white, unless fed carotene substitutes such as carrots, beets or red peppers.

In the hot season, these lakes recede, & so begins the migration of these birds in search of a suitable lake.

The list of animals & birds we spotted throughout our safari covers a great part of the A to Z of African game. It is too long to list here, but the magic of the wild remains strong in us. Yes, we hope to be back to capture the essence of wild Africa once again.

'Asante' in swahili means thank you.

Thank you for sharing with us our adventure.