The Vacation of a Lifetime! (this is a link)
On Tuesday, December 20, Paige arrived for the Christmas holidays. The next day she and I set off from Tunis to Arusha, Tanzania. The object? A five-day safari that took in Tarangire National Park, the Serengeti, and the Ngorongoro Crater. The air travel there and back was not easy - 20 hours total to do nine hours of flying - but the experience made it all worth while, exceding our expectations in every way. Between the two of us, we took over 1,700 photos, some of which I'll share through this blog.
On the recommendation of a colleague who worked in Tanzania, I booked the tour through Safari Makers. Our guide's street name - his own term - was Tiger, and he was the best. (Most men we met had English - often vaguely Biblical - names as well as their birth or tribal names. TIger's was Domas.) At almost 31, he has been guiding safaris for seven years and had taken a two-year wildlife program. He knew every plant, animal and bird species in the parks as well as their geological formations. He also had amazing vision. One day, while driving over a bumpy trail at 50 km/hr, he spotted a leopard napping in a tree about 100 metres away!
Day One - Tarangire National Park.
Itinerary Day 1, 23th Dec: We will pick you up from your hotel at 0900AM and depart for Tarangire National Park including your picnic lunches. Enjoy the Tarangire’s mob of elephants, baobab trees, bird varieties, great landscape and the Tarangire River before transferring to Tarangire Osupuko Lodge at the end of the day where you will eat dinner and overnight.
At about 6 pm, after a long day in the Land Cruiser, we left the park for our hotel. Not far past the gates, Tiger took a left and drove through Masai settlements for several kilometres. The road was not much better than the tracks in the park, and seemed to degrade as we went along. I began to worry seriously about the quality of our accommodation. This was a "budget safari", but were we actually staying in a mud hut with a Masai family? Was I up for that much adventure?
Fortunately, I was not put to the test. At the end of the lane lay the Osopuko Lodge, the most beautiful place I had ever stayed in. It was built in the style of a Masai village, so each client has their own private "hut". Here's a shot of an interior.
The curved space concept continued in the bathroom where the toilet and the shower were each sequestered in their own Cs. There was a second shower outside, overlooking the park.
The bar/restaurant looks across the swimming pool (!) into the park. After my swim and Paige's outdoor shower (her suitcase didn't make it to Arusha, merde, so she had no suit), we had lovely gins and tonics - for the quinine, you know - followed by a beautiful meal of avocado salad, beef brochets and homemade brownies. So not a lot of roughing it occurred.
In the morning, the Masai excitedly told us that a lion had walked down the path right in front of our cabin overnight. Spread your fingers out fully. That was the size of the paw prints in the dust on the trail.
After a wonderful breakfast of fresh juices, some of the best coffee in the world, fruit, eggs, bacon (hmmm, bacon) and homemade toast, off we went for the long drive to the Serengeti.
On Tuesday, December 20, Paige arrived for the Christmas holidays. The next day she and I set off from Tunis to Arusha, Tanzania. The object? A five-day safari that took in Tarangire National Park, the Serengeti, and the Ngorongoro Crater. The air travel there and back was not easy - 20 hours total to do nine hours of flying - but the experience made it all worth while, exceding our expectations in every way. Between the two of us, we took over 1,700 photos, some of which I'll share through this blog.
On the recommendation of a colleague who worked in Tanzania, I booked the tour through Safari Makers. Our guide's street name - his own term - was Tiger, and he was the best. (Most men we met had English - often vaguely Biblical - names as well as their birth or tribal names. TIger's was Domas.) At almost 31, he has been guiding safaris for seven years and had taken a two-year wildlife program. He knew every plant, animal and bird species in the parks as well as their geological formations. He also had amazing vision. One day, while driving over a bumpy trail at 50 km/hr, he spotted a leopard napping in a tree about 100 metres away!
Day One - Tarangire National Park.
Itinerary Day 1, 23th Dec: We will pick you up from your hotel at 0900AM and depart for Tarangire National Park including your picnic lunches. Enjoy the Tarangire’s mob of elephants, baobab trees, bird varieties, great landscape and the Tarangire River before transferring to Tarangire Osupuko Lodge at the end of the day where you will eat dinner and overnight.
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| My first elephant in the wild - but not my last! |
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| So precious |
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| Weaver bird nest |
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| Nests in context - like little purses |
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| Warthogs turned out to be my favourite animals. |
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| The tiny dik dik is smaller than Libby - and maybe even cuter! |
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| Ostriches roaming free |
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| Tiger says giraffes are careless mothers. They just wander off in search of water if they're thirsty. |
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| Add caption |
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| Bummer of a birthmark, Hal. |
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| Actually, they're water bucks |
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| Gorgeous birds whose names I forget |
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| Black-faced monkey mother and child. |
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| Locals call them blue-balled monkeys. |
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| Baboon mother and child |
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| Baboon dad contemplates the meaning of life |
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| Impossibly cute baboon baby |
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| Monitor lizard goes for a swim |
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| I love this shot of zebras. Where exactly are the heads? |
Fortunately, I was not put to the test. At the end of the lane lay the Osopuko Lodge, the most beautiful place I had ever stayed in. It was built in the style of a Masai village, so each client has their own private "hut". Here's a shot of an interior.
The bar/restaurant looks across the swimming pool (!) into the park. After my swim and Paige's outdoor shower (her suitcase didn't make it to Arusha, merde, so she had no suit), we had lovely gins and tonics - for the quinine, you know - followed by a beautiful meal of avocado salad, beef brochets and homemade brownies. So not a lot of roughing it occurred.
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| Adorned for a bit of Masai dancing |
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| Gettin' down with the Masai! A lot of vertical jumping is involved. Thank you, Dr. Pommerville! |
After a wonderful breakfast of fresh juices, some of the best coffee in the world, fruit, eggs, bacon (hmmm, bacon) and homemade toast, off we went for the long drive to the Serengeti.
Just going through this again picking up tidbits for Mom's upcoming visit :) I think the purple-ish bird is a Lilac-breasted roller...
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