Safari day 1

I think it is now an academic fact that this blog is going to run between 2-4 days behind life here in Africa, so lets try and do the Safaris a day at a time

Well Safari was EXCELLENT. Just a couple of high-lights as an introduction; we all saw the animals which we wanted to see, Mayhem nearly lost his face to a Baboon due to sticking his camera into the mother’s baby’s face, and the night sky in the Serengeti was so bright that I’m not sure mere words will be able to describe it – but naturally I will try

Our Safari (Swahili for journey for those of interest) started at 8am on Saturday, being picked up from our house here in Arusha by a modified Toyota Landcrusier. The car is itself quite an oddity, as far as I am aware this particular design has not been used in the UK for at least 10 years, however it seems that this model is still made in Africa, and there seem to be hundreds of them on the roads.
In terms of modifications, the top appears to have been chopped off and the back extended, the structural integrity being maintained (?!) by the extension being a solid metal box welded to the chassis but with an extendible roof, and in order to hide the joins, the entirety of the inside is coated with what almost appears to be a textured gloss paint, not dissimilar from Artex. Although I believe that the giant cracks in the windows are an optional extra

Our collection was followed by a 2 hr drive to the first National Park – Lake Manyara. Within 2 minutes of entering the park, we saw our first Baboons. The pictures of which Mayhem managed to take are magnificent – particularly those of the mother and baby, however, he has also managed to inter-space these pictures with equally disturbing sequence of pictures of the baboons interfering with themselves, and copious shots of monkey genitalia – as my sister is fond of saying “whatever floats your boat!”
- It would also transpire that Safari genitalia would become an increasingly large proportion of Mayhem’s photography portfolio.

Other sights within the park were mainly giraffes, hippos and elephants. The first spotting of an elephant was a lone mother in the jungle, at distance, with her calf, which got the entire vehicle very excited – how much would this pale into insignificance at some of the experiences we were yet to encounter. Herds of Giraffes seem to live along the lake edge, which when viewed from a distance, against the green wooded slopes of the valley in which the lake sits, look exceedingly like long distance shots of dinosaurs seen in Jurassic Park. When we reached these animals at close quarters they appeared largely unphased by our noisy ride, in fact seeming to be content to assume positions which frankly seemed to be suggesting that they were posing for the camera, this proved to be true even for a rare forest giraffe, distinguished from its brethren by a coat comprised of deep browns and blacks, appearing in contrast to the plains animals seen earlier in the day,

As we finished that day’s safari, the park had saved the best till last as it were. Even though we were getting tired from the heat, at 5pm one of the girls yelled to stop the jeep, thinking she saw an elephant. The vehicle came to a stop and slowly travelled backwards, but nothing could immediately be seen. Then with a rustling, a lone elephant pushed through the jungle, and began feeding from a tree not 15metres from our vehicle. A Natural World documentary style hush and whispers instantly descended on the vehicle. Much to our further amazement, this animal was merely the vanguard for a herd of approximately 12 individuals, including their infants, all entering the clearing and feeding. After taking their fill the animals proceeded the cross the road within 5 meters of our car and heading back into the jungle from whence they came (that phrase added specifically to please Mayhem). For up to a minute after these animals had left us; we continued to whisper to one another, through faces split with smiles.

In spite of Lake Manyara being a shallow fresh water lake, as the evening drew on, a sulphurous smell rose up from the lake, vaguely reminiscent of rotten eggs, fish and an after smell of flatulence (but that said, by this time of our trip several members of the groups bowel’s have been acting up shall we say, and thus the flatulence might not be fairly blamed on then lake!)
Our campsite for that evening was a walled in site, all very secure and at least 15mins drive from the park entrance, sufficient that no one even considered the possibility of having that natural fauna of the area come to visit night. Although we were kept awake at the start of the night by the cacophony of noise from the various frogs and insects in the woods around the camp. Certainly the following nights in the more remote sites, would prove to be much more stimulating...

More safari adventures tomorrow!