African Safari. It was the first thing that came to my mind when I heard of my CSC Assignment in Tanzania. And here we are. Thanks to UDOM for arranging such a fantastic trip.
Friday, 1st May 2009. We depart to Mikumi National Park in 2 vehicles. We stayed at Hilux hotel in Morogoro. Morogoro is a town between Dar and Dodoma. Its right in the middle of hills and has plenty of beautiful landscapes around.
Saturday early morning we depart from Morogoro. All excitement in air. It feels so good to be driving on road between the woods. We noticed a few joggers .. probably they were practicing for marathon . and bicycles are very common here.
So, 30 Km before the main gate, we were greeted by baboons. And we were all excited. Safari begins. Then we witnessed a herd of buffaloes near a mud pond and a few birds on and around them. Observation the crows look so different. They are not all black, but have a strip of white belt around their neck.
We reached the main gate, got some arrangements done for our stay at Mikumi Wildlife Park and then hired two open Jeeps and a guide to go for Safari. We spotted a big bird sitting on top of giant tree, as if it was greeting us 'Karibu' (means welcome).
Then we saw some lazy buffaloes wrapped up in dirt and mud all around. They didnt mind we taking pictures. Paparazzi moment for them!!
Then we could spot some deers, antelopes, zebras. They were shy and we couldnt get a good shot. We passed a wooden bridge which could carry only one jeep at a time. I doubt if an elephant ever attempted to use that. disciplined animal. So after crossing the bridge we were greeted by lots and lots of elephant. One thing was prevalent. They were as free as we feel when we walk in our backyard. They didnt mind Jeeps going around them. I had seen many elephants in India or Kerala to be specific, but I could see the difference. Here elephants have long tusks, big ears .. and they are agile .. very active. This Jungle has a traffic rule. If elephant is crossing some road, you dont want to mess with him. One of that gigantic animals showed his discontent when our driver tried to raise his engine roar .. Well we better keep off them.
Then we go On and On. We were in Lion region. Apparently there are 200 lions in this park. I dont know how did they count. Our driver was so sure about there whereabouts that he went offtrack .. took his Land Rover Jeep in the woods near one bush close to a ditch. He said we should see lion here. hmm .. we were not so lucky. Need to explore more.
We kept going .. witnessed many more Elephants. It was afternoon now. Our driver kept going offtrack .. showing us some lion tracks .. but we couldnt find any lion.
Then we could see some poles near trees.. They were Giraffes .. And plenty of them. All watching at us .. looked like they were amuzed .. looking at us as if they never saw human beings .. or probably they were simply imitating us !!
Then we spotted some Zebras .. they like deers and antelopes probably .. because we saw them together ,, most of the time.
We stopped at a Lake. More like a large ditch with green colored water. There were 8-10 Hipppos in it. They looked pretty comfortable sitting in water. Our driver made some sound .. and all hippos responded in succession. Looks like there is some established communication. I didnt expect that in Jungles.
After eating a small piece of sandwich that we were carrying, we continued our safari. Then there you go. A big herd of deers and antelopes. They didnt mind we going close to them. They seemed to welcome their guests. Afterall we were in the middle of jungle. It was fun watching some deers running around, and some demonstrating their running and long jump skills.
On our way forward, we witnessed elands, wilder beast (Wolfgang called it GNUs and I liked the name, so I decide to call it GNU). Our guide said it is hard to see Elands as they are very shy. We were lucky I suppose.
Ok, then we stopped at a huge tree. It was a camp site. We could see some remains of campfire. We noticed a wild pig near a pond. So, coming back to the huge tree. We were a bit tired by now. So we decided to take a break. Meanwhile someone invented this game of climbing a limb of a tree. When everyone was playing with branches, Sean climbed the main trunk. It was spectacular.
Now we are back on our safari Jeeps. Final Mission. We need to find the Lion. Simba Simba where are you. Our Jeep starts the exploration. We go off route, driver could follow some trails. And there you go. behind a bush, halfway into the ditch we see the King Lion sitting quite. Probably he was taking rest in afternoon. He was watching us, when we were standing on roofs and bonnets of our open car, picturing this incredible animal. Mission accomplished.
And we came back to our camp .. happily, seeing each other's photos and voting for the best shot of the day.
We stayed at Camp in the night. It was an experience in itself. We could hear the chirping of birds and the wind outside. At around 10 pm, elephant made its presence felt with loud elephant trumpeting. Well scared us all for sure.
Everyone woke up early to witness the sunrise and take a last look at those incredible animals. It was drizzling in morning so we could not see the sunrise but we did notice some animals .. running around as they do every morning.
So, we depart, reach Morogoro and then to our New Dodoma Hotel. Happy. Fulfilled and Satisfied. Mission Safari Accomplished.
And for your information. Simba is Lion, Twiga is Giraffe and Tembo is Elephant. These are Swahili words.
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