Tanzania 2001 - More Animal Pictures

Monkeys

The blue monkey's fur really does have a blue cast to it when the sunlight hits it.

Arusha was the only place we saw colubus monkeys. Their long fur is beautiful, and at times they have been hunted for it. They were very shy, always dodging behind branches and disappearing into the dense foliage. We could often hear them calling to each other, even though we couldn't see them.

A vervet monkey family plays in a tree.

Baboons

We always saw baboons in groups. In Arusha, they were shy, like most of the other animals, and would melt into the forest when they saw us. In other locations, they were bolder, allowing us to stop and watch them as long as we wanted.

This is a typical scene of a baboon troop feeding and grooming.

A mother baboon nurses her tiny infant.

Baboons make the long climb up a palm tree to get the fruit.

Elephants

The grass in Tarangire was very high! This made it difficult to spot animals smaller than elephants (including baby elephants).

Some young elephants and a baby pause in the road. When the baby was in the tall grass, we could barely see the top of its head.

Compare the size of the elephant to the nearby jeep.

Flamingos

"Greater" flamingos are gray in color. We saw a few in various locations, but never got close enough to take a picture. "Lesser" flamingos are a bit smaller and are the familiar pink color.

Flamingos and gulls like the saltwater lake in the crater.

Giraffes

We always enjoyed seeing giraffes. Their long legs and necks give them an unusual way of moving that is simultaneously graceful and awkward, like tipsy ballerinas.

Of course, their height gives them a great advantage in reaching their favorite food.

They always make me smile.

Hyenas

We were amazed to get so close to hyenas. This group was just resting in the road. They looked friendly and doglike (but we knew better).

They don't look quite so sweet when they show their teeth.

Pack members gather under a tree to plan their next project.

Lions

Believe it or not, there is a large pride of lions hidden in this seemingly innocent grass.

When a few of them roll over or raise their heads, the eye is drawn in for a closer look. Lions often wait for hours, blending in with the terrain, until unsuspecting prey walks right up to them.

Wind ruffles the fur of a large lion, relaxing with his brothers on the Serengeti.

We came across a mating pair of lions dozing in the grass. Typically, they spend about a week away from the pride. The first day, they copulate every five or ten minutes. They slow down as they tire, and by the fourth or fifth day they are in no hurry. These two didn't look like they would ever move again.

But eventually the male stirred. He got up and nudged the female.

It didn't take very long.

The female immediately collapsed back into her nap. Soon the male was snoozing, too.

 

Tanzania 2001 - Maasai Village, Olduvai, Serengeti

This is an arena or conference center in the middle of the village. Note the fence built of trees. The women line up on one side of the area as they prepare to perform a song.

A toddler joins the adults forthe dance.

Both men and women wear a lot of jewelry. They pierce both the upper and lower part of the ear and wear big earrings through elongated holes. The colorful blankets are also part of their everyday clothing.

The choreography is simple. The men take turns seeing how high they can jump.

Steve pays full retail for some Maasai jewelry.

Olduvai (aka Oldupai) is a hot, dry place.

Three brothers lounge together on the plain. If they do not already lead a pride, they soon will.

Our presence did not interfere with their naptime.

This distant cheetah was barely visible in the tall grass.

If the sun isn't too harsh, hippos will come out of the water to graze or nap.

Male giraffes resolve conflict with a form of wrestling known as "necking". The sound of their huge necks slamming into each other is shocking, but they rarely get hurt. When the battle is over, they resume their friendship.

A savanna hare, just before it leaped up and raced away.

Bad luck for the zebra - a windfall for the vultures.

A secretary bird looks for small rodents and lizards in the grass.

Leopards spend a lot of time resting in trees. When they kill something, they will drag the meal up into the tree, out of reach of most other predators, to eat at leisure.

Wildebeest form a long line, migrating toward the rain and greener grass.

A wildebeest calf stops for nutrition.

A road on the Serengeti.

Travel Diary

Tuesday (June 5) - Maasai Village, Olduvai, Serengeti

Rosemary: We left the crater area and drove to a Maasai village. They performed a traditional song and dance. Women on one side, men on the other. The women sing and the men "dance" by seeing how high they can jump, one at a time, as the spirit moves them.

We were given a tour of a house. These are little round huts built of mud, cow dung, and sticks. Extremely dark inside. Leather beds. A smoldering fire to keep the bugs out. Our host has three wives. Each wife has her own house, and he must move from one to the other.

Of course, we bought their jewelry - beaded bracelets, necklaces, and a "fly chaser". They don't sell their earrings, which I would dearly love to have.

Steve: Woke up to a foggy day atop the crater. After breakfast, we drove back to the main road along the crater rim, to arrive at Serengeti that night.

On the way, we made a couple of stops: first, at a Maasai village where the natives encourage visitors. Upon arriving, we were met by one of the tribe who spoke English. He welcomed us and encouraged us to take as many pictures as we wanted. This was a gracious gesture on his part because many Maasai want money if you take their picture.

We went into the middle of the village, where the women sang and the men danced. According to Hassan, the dance was to celebrate the circumcision of a 15 year old male. Part of the dance was that each male jumped up and down on both feet several times. If I had been circumcised at 15, I’d be jumping up and down too.

Our host then invited us into his home, a hut made of straw and cow dung - not as disgusting as you might think. It was very small, with a sleeping area for him, a separate area for his wife, a fire pit in the middle, one small window for ventilation and a spot for a guest to sleep. It was very dark inside, so much so that when he invited me to take his picture, I couldn’t see his face through the viewfinder.

Afterwards, we were led outside to where the women displayed their beaded jewelry. We bought a few pieces and as we were trying to add up how much everything cost, one of the tribe members came over with a pocket calculator to assist. We could have negotiated on the prices, but they were so low we figured that the Maasai needed the money more than we did.

We then saw the school, where I gave the teacher two boxes of ballpoint pens I have brought just for such an occasion.

We left the Maasai and went to the Olduvai Gorge, site of the oldest human fossils ever discovered. This is the place where Louis and Mary Leakey worked for over 40 years.

The Maasai village after the tourists leave.

Rosemary: The real name of the place is Oldupai, not Olduvai. Apparently the first European scientist to come here misunderstood the name, and it became famous that way. There is a small museum and a local guide who gives a short talk about the history of the place. He thinks the "p" vs. "v" mixup is hysterically funny.

On to the Serengeti.

Steve: We had a box lunch at a nice little picnic area and climbed to an observation point at the top of a hill. "Serengeti" means "endless plain" and it is aptly named. It's almost 15,000 square kilometers (you do the math) and goes on forever.

On the road to the picnic are we saw lots of gazelles, some zebra, ostrich and eland, which are the largest antelope. Hassan thought there might be some cheetahs there, feasting on the gazelles, so we back-tracked a bit and went off road, into the grass. We saw all of the above (except cheetahs), plus a savannah hare and the skeletons of some recently killed zebra and wildebeest.

Rosemary: Lots of male lions. A group of three brothers just lying together on the savannah. We got close and circled them. One had a wound on his eyebrow. They were just relaxing, not bothered by us at all.

Steve: We then saw another couple of solo males, all of which were sleeping.

Further on, we saw a huge herd of zebra, some gazelles and more wildebeest. At one point, one of the gazelles, after running quickly for a while, started hopping along, like a circumcised Maasai.

Rosemary: Lions, savannah hares, eland, topi, gazelles, zebra, vultures, wildebeest, hartebeest, bustard, ostrich, warthogs, eagles - and more!

We saw plenty of dead animals, nothing left but a little skin and bone, or just bone. One zebra by the side of the road was still being worked on by a flock of vultures.

Lions on the rocks. Big rain in the distance - the gazelles start hurrying toward it.

Steve: As we made our way to yet another Sopa lodge, we could see it raining across the plains and we got a little sprinkle. A lot of the animals were headed towards the rainy area for water and hoping for some new grass to grow in the next couple of days.

We arrived at the lodge a little after 5:00 PM, showered and went to dinner.

Rosemary: We have a fabulous view from our room. The plains, hills in the distance. Nearby giraffes are eating the trees. Unfortunately, there is no screen on the glass door, so we can't leave it open for ventilation. No ceiling fan, but there is a table fan in the room. It's very hot here. As usual, hot water is rationed. Plumbing weirdness, also as usual. They put a bidet in every bathroom, but can't or won't install a properly designed shower. I suspect it's a plot to keep people from using the hot water.

I really like the Serengeti, the little I've seen this afternoon. The smell of the grass and the rain, the huge blue sky, animals everywhere. We drove off road for a while, and it seemed as though we were the only people there. It's so vast, it really does seem endless.

This Serengeti lioness was wearing a research collar.

 

Tanzania 2001 - Arusha National Park

A woodcarver creates souvenirs at the Cultural Heritage workshop

We stayed in a round hut among lush green landscaping.

In the trees we saw black and white colubus monkeys. A bit shy, they would peek at us from behind the foliage. Often we could not see them, but could hear them calling to each other.

We climbed to a viewpoint where we could see cape buffalo grazing in the crater below.

We saw many beautiful birds wherever we traveled.

The animals we saw on our first game drive included giraffe, buffalo, warthogs, bushbucks, waterbucks, red duiker, hippopotamus, zebra, black and white colubus monkeys, blue monkeys, black crested eagle, flamingos (both greater and lesser), royal crested cranes, egyptian geese, oxpickers, spoonbills, red billed duck, dwarf mongoose, striped frog, baboons, hornbills, francolin, sacred ibis, and butterflies. 

The park borders farms. When the animals wander out of the park, the farmers chase them away. So they tend to be a bit shy. Often we would get a glimpse of an antelope getting a glimpse of us a second before disappearing into the forest.

Of course, we fell in love with the giraffes. They gazed at us calmly with huge, long-lashed eyes. Their height enables them to nibble on trees that no one else can reach. They love acacia trees, which have incredible thorns; their prehensile tongues and flexible lips let them delicately reach between the thorns for the tasty leaves.

In Arusha, we saw many giraffes on or near the road. We were able to get very close, sometimes within 15 feet of them.

We saw hundreds of beautiful butterflies all through Arusha.

Beautiful scenery was around every bend in the road.

Arusha is a relatively small park; unlike other places we visited, it was possible to see nearly all of it. When we reached this sign, it was time to turn around and go home.

We slept under mosquito nets.

Travel Diary

May 30 (Wednesday) Arusha National Park

Steve: We woke at 6:00 AM from a fitful night’s sleep, showered and went to the dining room for breakfast. As we were seated, the staff knew our names and welcomed us as "Steve and Rose". Apparently, this is how our travel documents read, so it was a continuing theme through the trip for Rosemary to be called "Rose". (Editor’s note: kids, don’t try this at home.)

Rosemary: Sometimes I am respectfully called "mother", which is a typical way to address a married woman, who would also be known by her oldest son's name ("Mother Max").

Steve: Breakfast was buffet, as it was at all the lodges we stayed at, with some juice, fresh fruit, omelette bar, breads & breakfast meats. We met Hassan at 8:00 AM and drove to Arusha National Park. On the way, we drove through the local weekly marketplace and saw produce being brought in from around the area, much of it balanced on the heads of the local women.

The day started cool and overcast and warmed later on, but we never got the full African heat we were afraid of.

Wildlife in Arusha National Park is protected from hunters, as was the wildlife in the other national parks we visited. Sometimes, however, the animals leave the park and raid the local farms. There are also game reserves where hunting is allowed. Hassan told us he used to lead game drives for hunters but quit because he didn’t like seeing the animals killed. He must have been good at his job, though, because he has unbelievable eyesight, being able to spot animals a quite a distance as he drives.

Rosemary: The lodge staff told us that if we need a wakeup call to let them know and they'll knock on our door. There are phones in the rooms, but apparently they don't actually work. (We brought an alarm clock.) Got up at dawn to the sound of birds I'd never heard before -- and roosters!

It was market day. People sell fruits and vegatables, displayed on the ground. They carry large burdens on their heads. A mixture of traditional and modern dress, some in full traditional clothes, others fully western, but most combining elements, with women wearing colorful fabric as a long wraparound skirt, often with a western-styled blouse or sweater on top.

There is a real flush toilet at the gate to Arusha National Park. But the elephants broke the water pipe, so it was off to the pit latrine instead.

Steve: This was an excellent day for viewing wildlife. The forest was lush and the land was covered in greenery. We drove around Large & Small Lake Momella, up Leopard Hill and through much of the park. We could see much of Mt. Meru [pictured, right] but Kilimanjaro was covered in clouds, so we never got a good look at it.

While hiking up to a vista point, we got attacked by safari ants, which are very quick and love to hide in your socks and pants legs. No one got bitten, but they were annoying and it took a while to get them off our legs.

Because there is no hunting, the animals are not as afraid of humans or vehicles, so we were able to get up pretty close to some of the animals. On our first day we saw:

baboons (many with babies) black & white colobus monkeys black crested eagle blue monkeys bush buck cape buffalo egret Egyptian geese flamingos (two kinds) francolin (bird) giraffes

hippos hornbills red billed duck red duiker (a type of deer) royal crowned cranes sacred ibis spoonbills striped frog warthogs water buck zebra assorted birds

Rosemary: Lush vegetation, the forest very dense. Thick moss on the trees, sometimes so thick more plants take root in it. Always bird calls and insect sounds, monkeys calling, buffalo grunting.

The hippos were out of the water, unusual for them during the day, but today there was cloud cover so they grazed at the edge of the lake. They all set down in a close group.

Lots of giraffes, sometimes very close to the road. They have big eyes and long lashes. Sometimes they will stop to look at us.

All the animals are shy. Baboons quickly vanish into the bushes. We saw where elephants had recently trampled the grass and eaten, but no glimpse of the elephants themselves.

The narrow road is mostly just a muddy wheel track. A "traffic" jam was caused when three vehicles stopped at the same viewpoint. But for the most part we saw very few other vehicles, and we had plenty of time and peace to see what we wanted. Exhausted by the end of the day, we were falling asleep sitting up in the car on the way back to the lodge.

Steve: After a long and tiring day, we went back to the lodge for a short nap before dinner.