Apothecary Shed

We’ve been talking about making a trip to Africa for twenty years, and we finally did it. We visited Tanzania for a private safari with the African Environments company from August 31st to September 14th. Our very high expectations were exceeded on every front. If you are thinking about going to Africa, do what we did!

On the first day off the plane, we were blown away by the wildlife that we saw during a first short game drive on the way to camp. Seriously. During our trip, we took thousands of pictures and saw every animal you might imagine seeing, up close and personal.

So how do you even begin to share an experience like that without boring someone to death? Chop the trip up into bite size chunks? Divide by animal groupings? Cross cut through the trip?? OK, we can do that.

This is posting one. In this posting, we’ll focus on seven remarkable things.

Yeah, everything was remarkable. But we set the bar way high for this posting. If we had an experience that even the guides who do this every day found special, then it made its way onto this list of remarkable things.  Honestly.  Remarkable.

In a nutshell here’s what we’ll cover. In addition to seeing four world class Tanzanian national parks with all of the associated animals and scenery, we got to see these remarkable things:

1. Albino baboons (2) in Arusha
2. Elephants fighting in Lake Manyara
3. Black rhinos mating in Ngorongoro
4. Daily visits with a pair of mating lions less than 1km from our camp in the Serengeti
5. A cheetah climb a tree (twice)
6. Bushmen eat a big male vervet monkey during a hunt we participated in
7. Lions hunting in Tarangire

Even one of these things would have been a highlight. Together, they simply blew our socks off.

We’ll post another couple of contextual pictures and videos with each remarkable thing so you get a feel for the places we were. All in all, there are 68 pieces of media in this posting.

Off we go.

 

1. Albino baboons

Our first camp was in Arusha national park.  On our drive in from the airport on the first day, we saw lots of animals, including two albino baboons.

 

 

 

Arusha is a rain forest up high and shrouded in fog in places, verdant and wet with strangler figs and other interesting flora.

 

Incidentally, this lunch setup is indicative of the kind of hospitality that the African Environments people provide by default.

 

We hiked 15km in Arusha, sometimes bushwhacking through the forest.

 

2. Elephants fighting

The second national park we visited was Lake Manyara. This park as a much different feel than Arusha and is definitely more crowded. We visited for lunch and an afternoon game drive. We saw our first elephants here.

We even saw an elephant fight.

We can’t say for sure, but it looks like one of these elephants broke a tusk. All of this happened within 40 feet of our vehicle.

 

3. Black rhinos mating in Ngorongoro

When we arrived in Ngorongoro, we were running late. But a stop by the overlook at the top of the entrance road was in order. Remarkably we spotted a rare black rhino from the overlook. That was only a taste of things to come.

We were greeted at our camp by the Massai.

 

 

The next day, we spotted a group of three black rhinos. Two of them were mating. One of our guides later told us that he had only seen something like this once in twenty years.

 

We also saw some lions in Ngorongoro. They did not seem to mind the humans (as long as the humans were in trucks). One of them was so close that we could reach out the window and touch it. Doing so was not advised.

 

 

 

 

3. A pair of mating lions

On our way in to the Serengeti base camp we were running behind (because pole pole!). About 1km outside of camp was a pair of lions who were off from the pride mating. This ritual can last up to 21 days. We saw this same pair 3 more times on the way in and out of camp. The most memorable time was the first.

The sun set while we watched the lions 50 feet from our car.

 

 

Of course the Serengeti was full of animals.

We set out from base camp for three days of walking in the bush. Amy and I were accompanied by our guide James and a hilarious ranger named Safe. Both Safe and James were armed. All together, we walked 36km in the Serengeti.

 

 

 

 

 

4. A cheetah climb a tree

Even driving around between parks is a treat. On our way to see the bushmen, we drove through one of the most remarkable areas and were lucky enough to spot a cheetah climbing a tree. Our intrepid guide Denis, who is known for palling around with cheetahs, said this is remarkable. Cheetahs do not climb trees.

BTW, this is Denis Mollel, the best guide in Africa.

On the way to that impossible sight, we watched this huge male lion on his way to water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Bushmen eat a monkey

One of our most memorable and treasured experiences in Africa involved visiting the Bushmen. We spent time hanging out with the men from the (temporary) village in our camp, around the fire and under a huge baobab tree. We also went hunting. All told we walked/ran/chased 20km with the bushmen.

Our hunt was a big success from the Bushman perspective. We came home with a mongoose, 4 small monkeys, and the remaining haunch of a big male vervet monkey. The bushmen live the same way they did 10,000 years ago, venerating the sun, and waking up every day to see what they can find to eat.

We came home with the arrowhead from the hunt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once the vervet was cornered high up in a coconut palm, getting him down was a thing. The hunt paused for an hour while the monkey was finally targeted. Julian, the chief, shot him directly through the heart about 60 feet up. The bushmen were psyched and decided to eat the monkey directly on the spot.

 

Everyone always asks us if we ate the monkey. Of course we didn’t! Bush meat is riddled with parasites and things that we Americans (even if we’re from Tennessee) can’t eat. They did offer us the liver, though, just for the record.

Later that evening after returning to camp, we went to the lake to see the sun go down. Sharing our pictures with the Bushmen was really fun.

 

The next morning, before we departed, the bushmen danced and sang for us.

 

 

7. Lions hunting in Tarangire

Our final national park was Tarangire. This park was arid (we visited during the dry season), though there were waterholes and a river. As always, we saw lots and lots of animals: wildebeast, giraffe, zebra, elephants, lions, jackals, dik dik, water buffalo, cheetah, and more. We stayed at a tent resort with a lodge and running water.

Our guide Denis once again showed his remarkable understanding of the creatures we were observing. We found this female lion and her three cubs.

 

 

Lots of other trucks gathered around us. Another female (with a radio collar) walked right by us. Denis said, “Now we will be patient and have some coffee. Pole pole.” He knew the lions were going to hunt. We watched and waited for 45 minutes. All of the others left, off to see zebras or something.

Then it was time to zoom off to another location to catch the hunt itself just around the bend of the river. “Let’s go there,” said Denis. And we were off.

Instead of taking pictures or video of the resulting hunt, I watched it happen in real time. Amy has some fantastic video that she will share later (I know, this is like an Uncle Wiggly story).

After we got to our observation post, we watched the lions emerge from the bush and slink down the riverbed. A large herd of wildebeest and zebras was completely unaware of their approach. Finally, the lead lion took off running and spooked the herd just as she arrived in their midsts. Dust! Chaos! Confusion! Sadly for the lion, nobody was taken down and the hunt ended as 80% do, with no prey.

Incredible to watch.

Later that evening we returned to find the same lions. They climbed a tree beside us and together we watched the sun go down.

Those were the seven most remarkable things we saw on our trip to Africa. Of course we saw many other sights. An awesome experience to be sure.  Our planet is an incredible place.