Safari Stories

REENA:
Hey All,
Our Internet's been down so we haven't updated in a few days. What I'll do is recap the highlights of my experiences these past few days...I must say, I'm having the time of my life. Seeing wild animals up close is exhilerating and so fascinating. We have spent hours over the past few days just watching them in their natural habitat and there's nothing like it.
Before I get into the Parks, we visited a Masai Village and got a tour of it. It was a good experience but also kind of out of my element. They live so basically, (we went inside a hut made of wood and mud - never complain about an uncomfy mattress, because they sleep on wood!) I guess it was alright and very interesting to see, but at the same time the pre-school was sad to see. They had a small black board with holes in it and were learning off of that. But even with the little they have, they still seem to value even the smallest bit of educating their kids, so I guess that's something.
Ok, now onto the parks.
First off we have Serengeti National Park- WOW. Can I just start off by saying we have been so lucky and have seen every animal we wanted to - UP CLOSE. How up close??? Well, a lioness walked up to our car, grazing the side of it! We saw 2 leopards in trees, tons of giraffe, innumerable elephants and zebras up close, MONKEYS GALORE! (my favourite part, of course!) I think one of the most amazing animals to watch is the elephant. THey watch their kids just like humans do, and are very family oriented (kind of reminds me of the Manjis and Chohans!) and are so majestic in their movement. Mid day we witnessed three lioness on the prowl for some IMPALA meat! They were staked out at a watering hole but, Unfortunately for us, the kill could take days while they wait for an impala to risk the journey to drink water. The next day on our way out of the park, they were still there waiting.
At Serengeti, again we stayed at the Serena Lodge, again very beautifuly designed. This one was right in the game park and had individual huts so after dark as animals pass through or come looking for water from the swimming pool, we had to be escorted by a guard to and from the main building. Another beautiful design to match the surroundings which is mostly masai land. As we were having dinner we saw a couple of hyenas by the pool, and walking back to our room (#40), there was a zebra and a warthog by #57. The previous night there was a lion by the pool and people just stand there quietly and take pictures.
Day 2 at Serengeti we saw a few lionesses with baby cubs! So cute, they were all lying under a shady tree and the babies were playing around and drinking their mums' milk. Seriously, seeing things like this up close, NOT fenced up, is breath-taking.
Also, I think I've found my perfect vacation-style: SAFARI! All the fun of sightseeing, ANIMALS and excitement, but NO WALKING! For those of you who know, I'm a LITTLE bit lazy. Being driven around is so much better than the ZOOMOBILE (buggle - do you remember how tired I was that day?)
Next, we visited Olduvai Gorge where they found the oldest evidence of man-like footprints and bones. Very cool to think that this is in Africa and they are still uncovering various types of extinct animals to this day. That day, we also visited OLDEANI where Dadi Maa and Dada Bapa lived and mum used to go on school holidays. Mum will go into this more as she was so excited about finding the old dukan and home, AND finding 2 old ladies who remembered dadi maa!
Before heading into Lake Manyara, we stayed at a campsite (...) haha. Also again, for those who know me well enough, that's really taking me out of my element! Although, I must admit, it was a Luxury campsite with beds and a full bathroom and shower, BUT...STILL, a campsite, with bugs inside. The thing that made it a lot better was all the Vervet Monkeys around our room! Google them, they are the cutest monkeys I may have ever seen! They are so sneaky and fun to watch, got them on video wrestling and swinging around on trees! No more camping for me though, but don't say I didn't try it again.

Highlights from Lake Manyara: A Mother and baby elephant crossed the road in front of our car, so close! Lots of blue monkeys, Vervet monkeys and baboons (TONS OF BABIES) Lake Manyara is the only place in the world where you can see lions on trees so we were on the lookout for that but unfortunately, we didn't see any...We did, however, see three giraffes sitting (very rare).
Keep trying to find a baby vervet monkey to bring home (BABY BUGGLE!) but that doesn't seem to be working out.
The room we're staying in tonight in Tarangire has elephant poo RIGHT OUTSIDE OUR Balcony (which means, at some point today - it looked fresh hahaa, an elephant walked by and might have used our wall as a scratching post!) We're on the lookout for another one!
Can't wait to show everyone pictures and the video of this trip - it's really been amazing! After finishing Tarangire tomorrow, we'll be heading to Arusha (our last stop before going back to Nairobi) Less than a week to go and we'll be home! Miss you all..

ZEE:
OLDEANI - the highlight of my trip - it was like a pilgrimage. For those of you who don't know our family history, Oldeani is a little village located amidst coffee and wheat farms not too far from the Ngorongoro and Lake Manyara game parks. My grand parents used to live there and ran a 'department store'. It was no Walmart - probably a quarter of an aisle of Walmart, but for that area it was big. As children, in the sixties, we spent all our vacations there. It was wild and exciting. I remember many many trips to the game parks with my uncles (Husein, Kakababu, ...) - what I most remember is the trips to Ngorongoro to chase rhinos (unfortunately they are almost extinct). So, approaching Oldeani, the one and only winding tarmac road that went down the steep hill and up into Oldeani is now mostly dirt - a few patches of tarmac still left over actually confirmed to me that we were on the right track. At the turn-off from Karatu, we had asked a local guy on a little motorcycle directions to Oldeani. He gave us the instructions and since he was going in the same direction, he made sure we were following him. For a while we didn't realize that until a few times, when we stopped to read some signs or look at schools or buildings that are new to that area, we noticed that he had stopped as well. That is how warm and hospitable the local Tanzanians are, When he had asked as where in Oldeani we wanted to go, I had said "the post office" as I knew from there I could trace back exactly where the store/home was. The post office is still the same but the one and only street doesn't look anything like it did then. There are newer little homes now on both sides of the street but we recognized our store and home behind. Most of the 4-5 stores that were in our neighbourhood (Lalaji, Patel, ... don't remember the others) are now boarded up and not maintained (sad). We met an older lady, Fatima, who remembered everyone - she's the one who reminded me of Lalaji and their son Suresh (I think that's what she said) and the 'petrol station' which is no longer there. She said she used to deliver milk to us and remembers Maa, Husein and Sadru. We walked aroud the house and to the back and peeked in although it is mostly boarded. All the doors and windows are still the original doors - the horizsontally split door leading into khane, The back door leading into the dining area, the tree Azim, Mehboob, Salim and I used to climb (lots of pictures and video to show you). The trees that were in our yard, just outside khane are no longer there (I vaguely remember they were either the tall rose bushes or pomogranade (sp)). Standing there, I relived my childhood - Maa making rotli in the kitchen or knitting in the middle room with an eye out into the store; bapa, Husein and Sadru in the store, us kids running around through the store or the house or playing by the river in the valley behind our property, or making pretend cars with empty thread spools and a long stick and driving those up the road to the post office and back, playing cricket in the back, our dog, Jim, biting his own tale and driving himself crazy, or just being spoilt by maa, bapa (grandparents) and kakas (uncles) ... oh! those wild days. Oh, there's so much more I want to say .....

TARANGIRE GAME PARK:

This is an elephant haven. I have never seen so many elephants,and of course, we saw the other animals too - giraffes, zebras, herds of buffallos crossing over as though they were migrating, wilderbeasts,baboons, etc. The Sopa lodge we stayed at was right in park where4 elephants and other animals do come by looking for water but are pretty harmless if not disturbed. The only downside about this park is the tsetse flies (none around the lodge, though). The first day was fine but the next day they were a true pests. We constantly had to be on the watch. So we cut our trip a little short are are now heading to Arusha - another pilgrimage for me - my home town, Until tomorrow .....