Archetypal Africa

A wildebeest herd and acacia trees on a vast savannah - a dream of Africa becomes reality.

Entrance to Tarangire National Park, Tanzania

Our introduction to the wonders of nationals parks in Africa. I was beside myself to be so close to the animals for the first time (Later on we got more blase)

It is a very strict rule in all the national parks in Kenya and Tanzania that you are only allowed out of the vehicles in a very few places--on hotel grounds, in campgrounds, and at ranger stations. So while the animals are free to roam at will, we are the ones who are confined!

The Greatest Guide in Africa

This is our Tanzanian guide, Joseph. Joseph knows everything about the animals, birds, plants and trees of Tanzania. He is interested in politics. He is an amiable companion, with a wicked sense of humor. He was with us the whole five days we were in Tanzania, and it was a sad day when we had to leave him and return to Kenya. We couldn’t know it ahead of time, But although all of our guides were quite good, Joseph was special. He set a gold standard not achieved by anyone else.

Upside Down Trees

Tanzania also is home to the amazing baobab (or upside down) tree--so called because its maze-like branches look like roots. Joseph has a particular love of baobab trees and talked about them frequently.

Joseph's First Coup

Within ten minutes of leaving the park entrance, Joseph pulled off the first of his many coups. We were still all excited about the zebras when Joseph stopped the Land Rover and pointed at some trees. It took us a few minutes to spot--it was a leopard having a lazy day in a tree! At the time, we didn’t fully appreciate Joseph’s game finding skills, but we soon learned, by talking to other guests, that finding a leopard is actually quite rare. Some people who have been to Africa several times have never seen one! And our fellow guests subsequently were unable to find this one, even though we told them where we saw it.

Red-Faced Elephants

In our first days of game drives, it became our custom to call out whenever we spotted a new animal. Towards end of day in Tarangire National Park in Tanzania I saw a motion off the corner of my eye and called out “elephants,” and immediately felt foolish because on second glance, I though I was seeing a termite mound, but then at THIRD glance it really was these crazy elephants with their red faces, marching over a hill towards us.

It turns out that elephants eat dirt to get minerals in their diet. And that’s how these elephants got their faces and ears all red--rooting in the dirt for minerals.

A Political Aside

Our guide, Joseph is just one generation away from tribal culture, and in his lifetime has lived through very profound changes in his country. Tanzania, after independence, became a very “pure” socialist country. It was an economic disaster, so in recent years they have slowly started to allow capitalism. Joseph hated socialism and welcomes capitalism. He also is very afraid of the United States going to war in Iraq. Everyone in Africa we talked to felt the same fear. The ripple effect on their countries will be terrible.
(Of course, subsequent events validated Joseph's concerns, as we now know.)

Amazing Birds

Saddle-billed storks by the Mara River in the Great Rift Valley.

Enchanting Dik-Dik

I have to say that the most charming animal in all of Africa is the shy little dik dik. It is a tiny antelope, about the size of a medium sized dog. You just want to put one in your purse and take it home with you.

Acacia Sunset

The scale of Africa is breathtaking. I have an affinity to great big wide open spaces, so the African landscape was continually thrilling to me.

Graceful Gazelle

This beautiful gazelle lives in the Ngorongoro(pronounced “goro-goro”) Crater in Tanzania. The crater is an immense extinct volcano. It teems with wildlife, who live a pretty sweet life because they are protected from the outside world by the walls of the crater.

Grooming

The baboon on the right is picking lice from momma baboon, who is sheltering her baby below her (you can just make the baby out if you look closely). Baboons are abundant in many areas and can be quite a nuisance. But, of course, they’re tremendously entertaining to watch

Snack Time

Road Block

Elephant Tantrum

This guy was not happy to see us. After stomping around a bit to express his displeasure, he finally decided to move out of the way and let us pass by.

We know he’s a male elephant because the males are loners. They live very solitary lives. The female elephants stay together in herds with their young.

Giraffes are Irresistable

They look at you with their long-lashed eyes and snap--you gotta take another picture. They pose a challenge because of being so tall and thin. Feet tend to get cut out of the picture.

See the splotchy patches on these giraffes? That's how you tell the plentiful "Masai" giraffes from the rare Reticulated giraffes which we saw later in protected game areas in Kenya.

Look Ma, No Feet!

Mosquito Village, Tanzania

Mosquito Village is quintessentially African. It lies in a fertile valley between Lake Manyara and Ngorongoro--very lush green jungle, in contrast to the vast plains of Tarangire.

Boy Toys - African Style

Ngorongoro Crater

Ngorongoro Crater is enormous, and houses more than 30,000 animals, who live in relative tranquility. The vast plains of the Serengeti lie to the west.

Who Gnu?

It was in the Ngorongoro Crater where we first saw the fabulous wildebeests*, which became a big favorite for both of us. Wildebeests have a very peculiar gait because of their enormous forequarters, and they seem to rock as they run. A wildebeest herd on the move is a most stirring sight! (More about the wildebeest later.)

*wildebeest were formerly called gnus. I don’t know why the name was changed.

Flamingos in Their Gossiping Millions

Doesn't the sight of flamingos flying seem somehow . . . wrong? When your life's experience of flamingos is as kitchy props in cheesy movies, it's truly startling to see huge flocks of them in the wild. They are lovely (if flamboyant) to look at but not delightful to hear. In large numbers they make a terrific racket.

This is a good view of the inside of Ngorongoro Crater.

The Big Five

One of the legacies of the days of the big game hunters is the quest for The Big Five: Elephant, Lion, Leopard, Rhinoceros, Cape Buffalo. They are the most dangerous animals in Africa. Even today, they are the most-sought after animals, although we can't shoot them any more. Except with cameras.

Thanks to our brilliant guide, Joseph, we saw all of the Big Five in the first three days we spent with him. Although Cape Buffalo & Rhinocerous are certainly dangerous, ill-tempered animals, we didn’t find them nearly as fascinating as other animals like the big cats, wildebeest & warthogs.

This is a very old Cape Buffalo. His big grey horns, his badly scarred hide and his lethargy all reveal his great age.

Ancient Elephant

An ancient elephant clearly shows his age and decrepitude with his sad face and broken tusk. He hangs out in a marshy area in a grove of yellow acacia trees on the east side of the crater. You can see the mud on his legs where he’s been wading in the marsh.

Zebras & Ostriches & Jackels Oh My

Spotting an ostrich isn’t much of a challenge! They are big! They are abundant! Same with zebras--but it was still thrilling to see them wild and uncaged.



I was surprised at how pretty jackels are. The very word has a nasty connotation. But this “common” jackel looks a lot like a fox.


On the other hand, hyenas look as evil as you thought. There are a lot of hyenas in the Crater. They’re very important to the environment.

Hippo Pool

The “hippo pool” is in the center of the Crater. Hippos are a gregarious animal. They like to hang out together, even though they are quite quarrelsome and ill tempered. There must have been fifty or more hippos in this pool, floating, submerging, bellowing at each other, blowing water into the air. They can stay submerged for as long as five minutes. We sat in the Land Rover and ate our lunch while watching them.

Lake Manyara

August 19, 2003

When we checked in to our hotel at Lake Manyara, I walked out on the balcony to admire the view and felt that prickling on the back of the neck felt when you sense you’re being watched. I turned around and looked up into the eyes of a large baboon looking down at me from the roof! Baboons are so abundant and such a nuisance that some hotel employees’ sole task is to patrol the grounds and chase them away.

Baboons Everywhere

This picture really should be a movie. As we sat quitely in the Land Rover near Lake Manyara, a troop of baboons passed by in a seemingly endless stream. One snapshot can only capture the animals there in that moment, while before and after them came many many more.

Maasi Warrior in the Ngorongoro Highlands

Walking in the Ngorongoro highlands we met a young Maasi warrior who became our unofficial tour guide. He spoke very broken English, but enough to make himself understood. He is the son of his father’s fourth wife. We walked a long way with him. (It felt so good to get out of the Land Rover.) Little children and herds of goats followed us, giggling shyly whenever we looked directly at them.

You can see how beautiful the countryside is. Our guide pointed out his mother, who appeared to be very amused at the sight of him with us. We were grateful to our young guide for giving us a glimpse into Maasi life we never would have otherwise seen.

Joseph

Pat took the picture of Joseph and me on the escarpment above Lake Manyara. What a difference in terrain, just a few miles away from the Ngorongororo highlands! The aridity and red dirt are reminiscent of Southern Utah.



This is Pat and Joseph in Tarangire National Park. Ack! the camera "auto-focussed" on the background & yr. humble servant failed to notice until we got home & it was too late to take another.

Rare Colebus Monkeys

Taken in the Aberdare forest. Aberdare was the only place where we saw the fabulous colobus monkeys with their luxuriant, extravagant tails. The forest was so dense there was very little light, so my pictures don’t do them justice. They are protected now, but the Kikiyu and Maasi tribes used their tails in their warrior attire.

Divine Lewa Downs

My journal entry for August 23, 2002 simply says: “Died and went to heaven--Lewa Downs.” Lewa Downs was by far my favorite place of the entire trip. It belongs to the Craig family, descendents of British settlers, who lost their best land during independence. They have made the best of their situation by taking the “inferior” land remaining to them, and forming a wildlife conservancy, supported by tourism.

Weaver

The Craigs have two interrelated goals: preserving the wildlife and self-sufficiency for the local people. They achieve them through tourism and providing employment--not just tourist-related, but also building furniture, farming, and wildlife management.

Karamushu, Our Maasi Driver-Guide

Our Lewa adventure began when we were picked up at the airstrip by our Maasi driver-guide, Karamushu, who was our main guide for the duration of our stay. Although he dresses in traditional tribal garb, he is a completely modern man who sees a good future for himself in tourism.

Rare Zebras & Giraffes

As we drove to our lodgings, Karamushu pointed out some of the rare animals living at Lewa--the endangered Grevy’s Zebra (poached for their beautiful pin-striped coats--notice their big ears), and Reticulated giraffes, whose patches are smooth and defined compared to the more common Maasi giraffe. The countryside is semi- arid, with grassy plains, thorny shrubs and rocky hills and mountains. Mt. Kenya, a beautiful mountain, can be seen off in the distance from many vantage points at Lewa.

Rare White Rhino

The advantage of being in a private reserve revealed itself right after lunch on our first official game drive. Until then, we’d only seen rhinoceros far off in the distance. In National Parks, one must stay strictly on the roads. At Lewa, to our amazement and delight, when Karamushu spotted a rhino family grazing on a hillside about a mile from the road, he simply abandoned the road and took off over the bush to get as close as possible. What fun!
Rhinos are fierce creatures. This is a white rhino--so called because of their wide front lip, not their color. “White” is a corruption of an Affricaner word meaning “wide.” There was a baby rhino among the animals we saw there, but the brush was too thick and its mother too cagey for me to get a a very good picture of it. Can you see its headless body behind the mother, on the right? The heavy brush is obscuring the head. Aargh. Frustrating!

African Twilight

After a long day on safari, instead of returning to the lodge, Karamushu mysteriously drove us to the top of a high hill. There we found ourselves gathered with the other guests to toast the sunset at an overlook with a magnificent view of Mt. Kenya. On this particular night, there wasn’t much of a sunset, but that didn’t matter nearly so much as the intoxicating experience of being in this ruggedly beautiful place and the sense of having all of Africa spread before us.

Kitonga

It was here where we met our other Maasi guide, Kitonga. He is absolutely beautiful to look upon, smart, ambitious and funny. He brightened our stay at Lewa with his love of practical jokes.

Breakfast in the Bush

Morning Scenes in the Bush

A herd of elephants saunter by.

Camels await their passengers.