Day 1 -
We caught an early morning flight into the northern part of the Serengeti in a small twin prop plane. Our family was the only passengers on board. Meg was scared to fly in such a small plane. Her knuckles were white while clutching the seat as we took off. As we flew over the huge expanse of desert we could see far below us Maasai villages with their bomas (fences made out of bushes and branches) encircling their livestock. The Maasai are tribal people who were once nomads. We also saw a wildebeest and zebra migration. From our view point it looked like a trail of ants. After landing on a dirt runway, we were met by our guide, David, and immediately set off to see some animals.
We saw many different varieties of antelope, giraffes, elephants, hippos, vultures who were feasting on dead animal remains, and crocodiles. We also witnessed two different river crossings by the wildebeests who were migrating to the north looking for greener grass and water. This time of year in Tanzania is the dry season. During the last crossing a wildebeest foul almost became a meal for a crocodile! We were pleased that he made it across safely; it was pretty tense there for a minute. Towards the end of the day, as we drove to our tented lodge, we saw 3 cheetas snoozing under a tree, and a little further down the road a lioness. I couldn't believe how close we were to all of these animals. We took lots of pictures!
Once at camp we were shown to our tents, which I must say were luxury tents! Each tent had a small living room with a sofa, desk, and lamps. The floors were hardwood, and the bathroom was tiled and had a toilet, a big tub and separate shower. While we were at dinner that night, they warmed our beds with hot water bottles. Now this is camping in style.
Day 2 - This morning we drove out to a Maasai village…early! As in, before the sun was up! We were escorted inside their boma with all the cows. The kids got to help the women milk the cows. Meg got butted aside by a calf who wanted to nurse. It was funny, watching her get knocked over by the hungry baby. I couldn't help but notice how poor their living conditions were. The children had flies around their eyes and everyone just tramped right through all the cow dung. We were invited in to one of their little huts that are made out of sticks, mud, and dung.
They are just barely big enough to stoop in; GG hit her head while entering the little hut. (She has grown considerably on this trip!) Inside there is a little pen where they keep the baby goats to protect them from lions during the night. Then we entered a room where they had a fire burning. There is a very small window that the smoke is supposed to escape through, but at the moment the smoke was filling the room. Our eyes stung and we couldn't see where they were telling us to sit. Finally, the room cleared and we were sitting on beds made of stretched cow hide. We sat there and were told about the Maasai way of life. It was very sobering. By the time the boys are around 7 years old, they are responsible for taking out a herd of goats to graze. The older boys take the cows. Sometimes they have to walk over 10 miles to find good grass. These boys eat a breakfast of milk (sometimes enriched with cow blood) and corn meal, and they don't eat again until they bring the herd home in the evening. The 14 and 15 year old boys are training to become warriors and have to live somewhere else outside of their village. The women and girls are responsible for building the huts, cooking, milking, and growing crops. They also make beautiful beaded jewelry to sell so that they can purchase items such as soap, and other necessities.
We spent the remainder of the day on a walking safari, and then went on a night game drive where we got to see some nocturnal animals. As we sleep at night the Maasai are on duty to watch over us with their spears and bow and arrows. Our camp doesn't have a fence and so any animal can come right up to your tent. We heard a zebra walking around our tent tonight.
Day 3 - Today when were driving around viewing the animals, John and Luke asked if they could get out of the jeep and kick the tires (that's safari lingo for I need to pee). Just seconds later our guide very calmly asked if they would please get back in the jeep. He had spotted a male lion laying under a tree not more than 25 yards away. Wow, what an experience! Later, we saw a pride of lions who became disturbed by a herd of elephants that marched into their territory. We also saw a leopard hiding up in an Acacia tree.
We arrived at our next camp by night fall. It was a private camp with a personal chef. Our tents were set up out in the open grasslands with nothing else around them. The tents were more primitive than the last place where we stayed, but still had nice comfortable beds. Each tent had a flushing toilet, and portable shower. The staff had to haul hot water, freshly boiled over a fire, and pour it into an eight liter bag above the shower head. The water smelled like smoke, but the shower was refreshing. We heard lots of animals outside our tents last night. A hyena, something that was grazing and chewing loudly, and a lion!
Day 4 -
We set out before sunrise. It was breathtaking to see giraffes, and elephants silhouetted against the pink sky. Lots of animals were out in the early hours of the morning. We saw hyenas, cheetas, leopards, warthogs, baboons, monkeys and a male lion who had a very full belly. It was a great day for viewing animals. On our way back to camp we rounded a curve in the road and spooked a giraffe. It slipped in the mud and feel to its knees. Poor thing, its hind legs were going faster than its front legs and it kept falling. Eventually he got up and was able to lope away. We could tell that he felt embarrassed as he hid behind a tree peeking out at us:) We also encountered an elephant that wasn't all that happy that we were viewing him so closely, and he let us know it. He fanned his ears out, trumpeted loudly, and made a move that looked like his was going to charge our jeep. This isn't the first elephant who has behaved this way, so the kids were all a little unnerved by this. 
I didn't want to go to dinner tonight because that same male lion is somewhere outside our tents roaring. The escorts came to get us and I asked them if they had a gun. They just smiled and nodded their heads trying to assure me that we are safe. On a side note: all our tents only sleep two people so MC and Lawrence share a tent, and Meg and GG share a tent. The kids all seem fine with this set up - even with a lion close by!
Day 5 - We toured around the central Serengeti this morning looking at rock formations called Kopje.
The lions like to hang out on these rocks because they have caves and they're good look-outs for prey. The cheetas hang out on the termite hills and use those as look-outs. Later we headed down to the southern part of the Serengeti where the terrain is mostly prairie with a couple of sparse trees. We did come across a couple of oasis areas that contained a small pond, with green grass and palm trees. This is where the hippos hung out. It took us about 9 hours to get to our next facility. The area was very dry because of the time of year so there was a lot of dust as we drove. We saw giraffe, elephants, ostrich, wart hogs, and lots of gazelle and antelopes along the way.
We stayed at another tented lodge that over looked a lake, which was mostly dry; the kids were excited to explore their new tented rooms.
Day 6 - Today we visited the eighth wonder of the world - the Ngorongoro Crater. It was huge! The crater was once a volcano that collapsed on itself. They think the volcano was bigger that Mt. Kilamanjaro. We drove down into the crater where their are lots of animals. The giant lake was mostly dried up and now served as a salt lick. We drove around viewing all the usual animals and then saw our first rhinoceros and it's baby. It was a very dusty day down in the crater. I couldn't wait to go to our next tent and take a shower. As we drove we passed several Maasai herding their cattle over the mountains to greener grass. The cows were all very skinny. I can't imagine what it would be like to live like the Maasai, but they don't know anything different.
We stopped at a medical facility that African Dream Safari's supports called F.A.M.E. It was started by an American cardiac anesthesiologist and his wife. The clinic serves the people in the suburbs and out in the bush. The doctor gave us a tour of the place. A lab has recently been added and they are upgrading the clinic to a hospital. There are 30 local people who are part of his staff. He invited John and I, or anyone else who may be interested, to come out and work with him. There are a couple of guest houses on the property. The only problem he has are the elephants getting into his garden!
Day 7 - Our last day on safari! We spent the majority of the day driving around in the Tarangire National Park. The terrain was beautiful. It had hills, grasslands, trees, shrubs, and swamplands. There was also a river that flowed through this area. The highlight of the day was when a herd of elephants came lumbering down into the river bed and started bathing themselves in the mud. It was so awesome to watch them splash themselves with their feet and then throw mud onto their backs with their trunks. Many of them actually laid down in the mud and rolled around. One teeny tiny baby elephant was running full speed through the shallow water, throwing its trunk around. Then it would trip, and roll around the mud trumpeting away happily. It was quite the little spunky elephant:) Our guide told us that the mud acts as a bug repellant, sunscreen, and helps to cool their skin. At the end of the day we headed back to Arusha, where our trip began. What an experience! We couldn't have asked for more.
Golden Family
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