The Serengeti is alive

Are you into looking at pictures? Good, there are many in this post ๐Ÿ˜€

But before let me thank you for crossing the fingers for me/us. It worked out! The driver dropped us at the border town of Malaba (ugly like so many border/port towns). Alas, he was quite surprised ๐Ÿ˜‰
We crossed the border by foot, not until we made a PCR test, which took about 2 hours (and was negative of course).
On the Kenyan side the town is called Malaba also and after a night in a cheap hotel we took the bus to Nairobi the next morning.
In Nairobi, which we reached just before sunset (yes, 12 hours in the bus ๐Ÿ™„ ), we stayed only 1 night.
A bus ride and border crossing later we finally reached Arusha in Tanzania. Here you can experience one of the down sides of being a white in Africa. Hustlers are showing up and surround you. Of course all of them are trying to make their money selling you whatever it is that they think you need. In Arusha the case was a taxi to the hotel and a Safari package that is of course the best one in town. I can’t stand this thing and I have to get quite rude in order to shake them off.

I already had done the work of getting in contact with several safari tour operators. You have to look into the packages they sell, what cars they use, how their reviews look like and of course the price. But the price shouldn’t be the only criteria. We wanted to see the migration and especially the river crossing at the Mara. In order to have time for that it is best to stay in a camp close to the river, which is all the way in the north. You don’t want to drive 2 hours in the morning just to get there. We found a perfect company. To give you an idea, we payed 1.850 USD per person (plus tip) for a 6 days / 5 nights safari. You think that is expensive? I agree, but I also received a ridiculous offer for 11.000 USD โ—

The first park on the itinerary was Tarangire NP, which is famous for baobab trees and elephants. We saw plenty of both. In one moment we saw a herd of wildebeests coming to a lake and it felt like a preview of what’s to come.

Passing through the Ngorongoro Conservation Area we made our way to the Serengeti NP (the former one we would see on the way back).
Growing up (we’re talking 80s here ๐Ÿ˜‰ ) I saw a lot of animal documentaries by Heinz Sielmann and also the Oscar winning one “The Serengeti shall never die” by Bernhard Grzimek. It faszinated me and seeing the migration is on my vision board for this year (and bucket list). “Serengeti” means “endless plain” in Massai…a fitting description.

To see a river crossing we had to find a herd that was close to the river or heading there (basically thinking that the grass is greener on the other side…despite the dangers of the river). On the first morning we came too late. The other guide didn’t inform anybody and by the time we came there the wildebeests were already on the other side. I was disappointed.
Lunch time we spent close to another herd that we hoped would cross back. We barely started eating when information got through that wildebeests crossed at another point. Our driver (as all others) hailed ass to make it there. It was a crazy drive but I laughed and enjoyed it a lot. And what can I say? We did see it! It’s a great sight and even seeing the crocodiles taking their share. I could see one wildebeest struggling with a crocodile bitting it’s ass and surprisingly it made it out (others didn’t).
Next day we saw another one. Same story. Several LandCruisers waiting on the outskirts and then hailing ass.

But there is so much more to see in the Serengeti. Take a look for yourself.

It is amazing how close we came to cats. And in one moment I came close to the most beautiful one: The leopard. Remember the picture from the one in Uganda hanging out in the tree? This one was only 5 meters away and didn’t shy away. AMAZING!

On the way out we had the chance to see several cheetahs and a pride of lions on the hunt.

I haven’t seen the big group of wildebeests as they seemed to be still in the west. The climate change is changing the routine and what we saw were the first ones that didn’t find enough food in the west and moved north immediately. Good for us. I would gladly come back as this is such a beautiful park.
So, in that sense I could have titled this post also “The Serengeti – A love story”. Because as with a beautiful woman, you always want to come back and discover more of her.

On the way back we went into the Ngorongoro Crater. As the Serengeti, this place was previously inhabitated by the Massai before they “agreed” to go somewhere else in order to establish the NPs. Anyway, the wildlife was not that impressive while the crater itself is.

Back in the village Mto wa Mbu we did a community walk. It’s a way to give something to the community. This time the guides explained about the rice and banana plantation (I still don’t like the beer) and at the end we went to Mama Africa’s kitchen and got served some traditional Tanzanian food. It was really delicious.

The last stop on our tour was to see the Massai. I really wanted to see them even knowing that it’ll be very touristy. Some of their traditions include breaking out some (2) of the front teeth and cuts in the cheeks. Formerly, you had to be healthy with strong teeth, skin and muscles to be a slave. To avoid ending up as a slave the Massai invented this. Very smart, back then…not so now. But tradition is very important to the Massai. They still maintain their nomad lifestyle herding cattle. Protecting them is the job of the Massai warriors and they will have to know how to kill a lion in order to achieve this (don’t know if the story is true that they still have to kill a lion in order to become warriors). And of course the jumping! The jumping is very important. It shows your strength and only strong warriors will get a wife…or wives (polygamy my friends). Each of them will live in their own (same-size) house.

What I could see in all 3 countries (and also saw 10 years ago in Ethiopia already) is that China is heavily investing in the infrastructure. Roads are being build everywhere. And I am not talking about 2 lane roads but huge tarmic roads. I am sure they have a plan in mind. At least, they are smarter in getting the recources out of Africa then the European colonizers.

Since I am already “talking” about buildings in a way let me also complain about the churches. The biggest and most modern buildings in villages are always the churches (and there is not only one). It pisses me off. Humankind is repeating the same mistakes as in Europe. Spending money on buildings for religions that use their power to hold on to old “traditions” and keeping the people small, instead of empowering the community. I think we could be much farther in our development without religion. Be my guest if you believe in a religion but fuck off if you try to tell me how to live my life.

Right now we are in Tanga. Whatever happens now is encore as I have seen all that I wanted to see. But maybe there is still a lot more to find out about myself. I certainly have found out where part of this anger comes from. Life is interesting.

Stay save!

Love,
Matthias

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