Day One: Away to Magical Tanzania and Off the Internet

Away to Magical Tanzania and Off the Internet 

What does this giraffe think about us? 

1988 by Baobab Tree in Chobe 

As we are flying for a safari in Southern Tanzania I am thinking of our last safari trip with our children to Botswana and Victoria Falls 20 years ago.  This time we go with 2 other couples who we have traveled with before and we know they are smitten with the same curiosity travel bug as we are. The couples Marie and Steve (former high school teachers and Steve a former Peace Corps volunteer), Barbara and Peter (an anthropologist and a cardiologist) don’t know each other but we are sure they will quickly become good friends.

Peter 

Barbara 

For the last few weeks we have been discussing this trip but mostly talking about the practicalities of getting our Tanzania Visa, taking the typhoid and malaria pills and deciding what the essential items are to bring. We are confined to a small duffle bag, not a suitcase, which must be no more than 13 inches high and 30 inches long and weigh no more than 33 pounds due to the many small airplane flights we will be taking. When I weigh 
my camera, lenses and
portable computer in my small back pack I am already at 18 pounds! John feels it is essential to bring good binoculars, a head lamp plus a flashlight, I-pad and I-phone which are also heavy and insists I don’t need my big Nikon camera.

Marie

I am determined to bring my camera and want to buy a new zoom lens.  Marie says she will bring her I-pad and elects to use her I-phone to take pictures because she has purchased a special zoom lens attachment.

Steve

 Steve the group historian says he will only need an I-phone and 4 shirts. And then the question is what clothing--we are told it can be cool at night so we must bring clothing for hot and cooler weather. This is even more difficult for Barbara and Peter because they are going to Ireland after Tanzania and must pack for possible wet weather as well.  It will be a challenge to get everything in one small bag. As for the color of the clothing... it must not be white, or colorful or even beige or blue for these colors will attract animals. Hmmm I wonder, don’t we want to attract animals?  So it will be the safari colors of green, brown, grey and black. These colors are not a problem for me since I am usually in muted colors but for Marie who loves peacock colors this is a problem. She tries to dye a white shirt with coffee grounds to get the muted look. 

Safari Gear.. all that's needed

John orders from Amazon different types of shirts, pants and shorts of various fabrics looking for the perfect color and relaxed fit. Marie and I realize that for the Zanzibar part of the trip, which is Muslim, we must be fully clothed with shoulders and knees covered.

I obsess the most on whether to bring my computer. I have never taken a trip in the past 20 years without a computer and because I love to blog and work on pictures on the plane and I can’t imagine going without. However, my camera has to take precedence so I reluctantly opt for leaving the computer, taking my I-pad and of course my brush and decaf coffee. I wonder if my brain will work without a computer and my friend Jamila gives me a small tutorial on how to use the I-pad which I rarely use.

We fly to Dubai and are required to stay overnight there so take advantage of a hotel giving us a view of the water fountain dance to music with the Burj Khalifa, still the tallest building, in the background. Next morning we fly to Dar es Salaam and board an 8 seater Cessna for Selous Game Reserve to our first safari camp called Selous Impala camp.

Where is Tanzania?

I confess I have not done my research on Tanzania and as usual John has been the travel organizer. Tanzania is in Eastern Africa and borders Kenya and Uganda to the north; Rwanda, Burundi and Congo Republic on the west; Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique to the south; and the Indian Ocean to the east.  

The capital is the purpose built Dodoma, but Dar es Salaam is the largest city. The country has a population of 49,253,126 with the official language being Swahili. There are around 121 tribes each with their own tribal language but we are told the philosophy is to say you are Tanzanian first and your tribal name is secondary. We are told 1/3 of mainland Tanzania is Christian, 1/3 Muslim and 1/3 traditional. Zanzibar is 90% Muslim. We are going to southern Tanzania where the Rufiji and Ruaha River run through the reserve west to east and 90% of Selous Reserve is south of the river.

Baobab Tree 

Please Note: The data that you will read in these blogs is based on what we were told by our 8 guides at three safari camps. Six of these guides were Tanzanian from different tribes, one was a Masaii, one from Ireland and one from the Netherlands.  They were enthusiastic about southern Tanzania and informative about the animals and land they love. I have not fact checked this information with Wikipedia and hope you might be enticed to do so.  John did buy each couple a book called, Wildlife of East Africa by Martin B Withers and David Hosking. We used this to record what we were seeing and for some basic information about the animals and birds.

I am very thankful to these guides, for a good guide makes all the difference in one’s enjoyment of a game trip. 

Selous Game Reserve ~ first incredible day

Selous (pronounced Seloo) is Africa’s single largest game reserve, three times larger than Serengeti which is the most famous park in Tanzania, and twice the size of Kruger National Park. A large part of Selous is untrammeled and uninhabited wilderness. John has chosen to go to the southern part of Tanzania in the hopes of avoiding the crowds that can be found in the north;  my travel book tells me that less than 1% of tourists go to Selous. Our travel books also says there are many elephants and leopards in this area. After our trip to Sri Lanka with Marie and Steve and our failure to find leopards despite a concerted effort in one park, Marie is particularly anxious to find leopards and giraffes. 

Our plane lands on rugged sandy ground and as we are picked up we notice the pilot putting tree branches around the plane’s tires. These are put there to reduce the efforts by hyenas to eat the tire rubber!

We are welcomed by safari guides Festo and Dennis with the words “Karibou” and learn how to say “assente sana” meaning thank you.  We start our 45 minute drive to our first camp site and are so excited to see elegant, graceful impalas in a herd or is it harem? 

Impala herds number  6-20 females who stay together for life with a single dominant male. I am sure the guides are surprised by our delight with seeing the impalas and wouldn’t normally stop because we learn later these are very common and in no danger of extinction. Next we see rathe shy giraffes and a 2-week old baby giraffe and learn there are 3 species of giraffes that don’t interbreed. 

Shy Giraffes 

The heart of a giraffe is about 2 feet long and weighs about 22 pounds. Giraffes are about 5 feet at birth and eventually reach 15-20 feet! I wonder how the mothers deliver these babies and imagine them lying down with their legs in the air!  Already one of Marie’s goals to see a giraffe has been achieved.

Next we suddenly stop on the road in front of 8 brown, black and tan blotched coated pack of wild dogs with amazing rabbit like ears. Even our guide is surprised as no wild dogs have been seen in 4-5 months. They feed on antelope, impalas and even zebras and wander over large territories. These are an endangered species and there is said to be only 5000 such dogs left in Africa.  They are lazily lying on the road and are very different from the wild dogs we were lucky to see 20 years ago in Botswana who were circling in preparation for a hunt. Clearly these dogs already had their bellies full. 

On the rest of the trip to camp we see a banded mongoose run through the bushes, a common waterbuck, wildebeest and kudus. This large antelope with amazing horns has a large round white circle on its rump making one think of sitting on a wet painted toilet seat. Sorry no picture of waterbuck at this time because he quickly runs away but the wildebeest and kudus are less shy.

Wildebeest

Greater Kudu

Like the giraffes antelopes are herbivores feeding mainly on grasses and foliage of trees. They are dependent on water and herds of bachelor males (like impala males) can be found fighting together trying to establish themselves as master bulls. Yellow baboons with close-set eyes and long tails run around the woodlands. I wonder what the hierarchy is

Yellow Monkey

 for baboons but it is clear they are into mutual grooming which is said to be part of relationship building. Already in 45 minutes we have seen so much and I realize how little I know about animals, their mating, eating, and relationship habits. Clearly we have landed in Giraffic Park.

Off the Grid ~ Selous Impala Camp

Dining Lodge

Back Yard View of Rufiji River 

We thought we would have internet but discovered at our first camp that this was not to be the case.  Instead we experience a rather low key, somewhat primal bush experience with eco-friendly tents situated on wooden platforms above the Rufiji river that houses hippos which snort at us, sounding rather like John’s snoring in the middle of the night. 

Front Yard

We are told we cannot go outside our tents unless a Masaai warrior guard guides us armed with a flashlight, a wooden club and a spear.
Will this armor really kill a hippo?  

Masaii

While we worry a bit that if we are attacked by hippos that we won’t be able to contact our children, we quickly adjust to the relaxation of being “off the grid” and especially, away from politics.  We have made a pact not to talk politics or say the name of “he who shall not be named.”  Hmm I wonder if we are capable of that!

Office Building 

Cook and Masaii Warrier

The managers of this camp, Crystal and Nick are delightful and helpful as are all the staff.  Contributing to the magic of this place our first evening ends with a wonderful meal on a deck where there is a camp fire burning. We watch the sun setting behind the palms and baobab trees and we don’t need any alcohol to relax. Already the environment itself is intoxicating. We follow the beautiful Masaii who take us back to our tents in the dark.

Dinner on deck with monkeys jumping on table