My masterpiece safari experience

TARANGIRE,NGORONGORO AND SERENGETI

If you read this, you will be excited

On May 2nd, 2020, I wake up in the morning with full energy, motivated, confident, what was on my mind was am going to learn something new, I packed my staffs and put it in my backpack, during that time coronavirus was something threat the whole world, I took my mask on and sanitizer to clean my hands,

I got there and see the vehicle land cruiser 4x4 with open roof ready to take us to the park, I met with my fellows, the guide, photographer and my boss Mr. Hamadi (Managing Director of the face of Africa Adventures) and start our safaris, to Tarangire national park 120km from Arusha town we drive for almost 2hrs to the park, and start game drive to an amazing park the first thing the guide gives us an introduction about the park 

“the name Tarangire derived from the name of the river Tarangire which means (meandering”) named by the inhabitant tribe known as Wambugwe, he also reminded about Tanzania there are more than 120 tribes but connected by Swahili language and still some of the tribes maintained their authenticity 

Immediately we found 2 zebras looking at us very close I was listening to the guide for the facts and uniqueness about them,

“They are very closely related to donkey and horses but they have black skin under white’s coats and each zebra’s stripes are very different just like a human fingerprint, the most interesting thing they communicate through facial expression “body language” wide-open eyes, teeth also bark and bray their ears can signal feeling and the group led by stallion with several mares and offspring mostly eating grasses and leaves 

They can be hunted by lions, cheetah leopard and hyenas 

The information was so clear, the guide was so confident then I asked about his experience and found out has than 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry, he is fantastic knowing very well wildlife

Then he continues explaining about the baobab trees while I was looking at the landscape,

“The carbon dating shows baobab can live 3000 years, can have stored a large volume of water that’s why animals like elephant’s elands, chew the bark during the dry seasons” 

It grows mostly in African savanna used for many uses shelters, traditional ceremonies, food, medicine, juicy even beer animal-like baboon, warthogs eating the seed and others building their nests, so it provides a home for countless reptiles, insects and bats

 tsetse fly they bite and trouble us inside the vehicle, the roof was always open but the guide says we are in their territory you only have to put on your swatter or jacket on to avoid the bite

waterbuck they are large antelope greyish yellow-brown with a distinctive color on the throat, they love long grasses and browse plants occasionally, breeding male establish territory and bachelors are kept away and territorial bull can tolerate the younger male to protect the territory and the female can leave the herd to breed and calf stay hidden for a month and the mother visit a few times, I asked how do they protect their territory the guide said by standing proud with his head high showing his white band on the throat and face, they are showing off size and thickness of his neck

they have no speed and endurance so they depend a lot on the cover as a refuge from predators 

“there is a myth that the meat of older waterbuck takes on an unpleasant, that’s why predators avoid them sometimes”

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We move forward and saw herds of animals

 Impalas they have black stripes down the forehead, tail, and ear 

“that stripe is to identify, they continue to move crossing the road it was easy to distinguish them between males and females because males have horns  

“those are impala’s medium-sized antelope, they gather in a group sometimes up to hundreds during the dry season together searching for food, Impalas are herbivores, which means they only eat vegetation. Their diets consist of bark, leaves, wood, and stems, very active during the morning and evening they are fantastic jumpers.

Female have a gestation period of 6-7 months give birth and took the calve to the heard during the day

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Then I was so excited to see giraffes they are my favorite because I believe they are peaceful animals on the planet just like myself always love peace

“we call them Maasai giraffes, are the world tallest mammals the legs alone are taller than man, very long neck, they are browsing to acacia trees because of their height and size, they only need to drink once for few days, they spend most of their lifetime standing eating for more than 17 hours a day, giraffe’s spots are much like human fingerprints. No two individual giraffes have the same pattern, female giraffe breeding by welcoming the calve falling from 5 feet down to the ground, female Giraffe has one of the longest gestation periods around 14 to 15 months 

Male and female giraffes have two distinct, hair-covered horns called nosecones. Male giraffes use their horns to sometimes fight with other males, 

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We continued with game drives passing a beautiful environment I cannot forget it was very green, A lot of small animals like dick-dick, baboon, guinea folks, ostrich, grand hornbill and a lot of different species of birds,

Then we needed a break for lunch at Tarangire picnic sites the place has a wonderful view of the river and plain,

We eat our lunch and leave for game driving and viewing the wonderful park,  

We saw the big HERD OF ELEPHANTS

 The world largest animal on earth, they cannot stop growing, their life span is about 70 years, spend most their time grazing and browsing almost 18 hours a day, 3000-6400 kg weight, 36kg of dung (poo), and they throw mud and sand to protect themselves from the hot burning and small insect,

Also the elephant’s predators are humans hunted them because of the ivory.

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After a long game drive, we went to the camp for overnight inside the park,  

We woke up early in the morning because we were heading to Serengeti national park and spend almost a day traveling to Serengeti national park, we pass via Ngorongoro conservation area for viewing the crater, and experience of the crater is “masterpiece” I stood up, thinking and excited on how this world has been created, and the guide was explaining about the crater 

” approximately 2.5 million years ago, a huge volcanic eruption and created the world largest caldera and sanctuary for the wildlife, one of seven wonders of the world, Unesco world heritage sites, people referred as the garden of Eden, the only place on earth you can spot a big 5 animals, the strange thing is there is no giraffe inside the crater because they only browse while inside the crater there are no many trees” 

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On our way passing the Ngorongoro conservation area, we saw the great wildebeest migration it was too black the place where full of them, on our way to Serengeti national the migration is the largest movement on earth and we planned to see them well on our way back from 

The guide explained “the reasons why they stayed together because they graze different parts of the same types of grass” Although the migrations occur in a clockwise cycle between Tanzania and Kenya, most of the movement takes place in Tanzania – Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Loliondo Game Controlled Area, and Grumeti Reserve. In Kenya the migration stretches to the Maasai Mara Game Reserve, bordering Serengeti National Park in the north.

“January, February, and March we call it calving seasons, and the rest of the months they started to migrate to other places 

    After passing the migration in the Ngorongoro areas, we finally enter Serengeti national park it was late afternoon at the gate we saw two lions on honeymoon “they tend to find a very private spot just the two of them and stay on that spot for about a week. They meet (make love) after every 8 to 10 minutes in about 22 times a day. 

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About lions are most iconic creature in Africa the biggest cat on the continent and safari attraction, they live in a group called the (pride of lions), despite the power and strength of lions but still hunting isn’t simple 

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We arrived at Serengeti late evening we saw a beautiful sunset and drive to the camp early in the morning we woke up early in the morning the next day and starts for game drive in Serengeti national park 

“Buffalos one of the big 5 animals, dangerous, large like a cow, adults are dark grey or black, young are reddish-brown, they use their horns to protect themselves against predators. Male have bigger and thick horn compared to female, have strong sense but poor eyesight one of their strengths they cannot be allowed to left the cripple or blind on the group behind they will fight to protect them, they spend most of the time eating during the night

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Leopard at the trees I can still have the picture in my mind the way he was going down from the trees but the guide said leopard are very shy animal, one of the big 5 animals, a lot of people confused with cheetah, but they are much heavy than cheetah spots have differed, cheetah are chasing the pray, leopard pouncing the pray

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Spotted hyenas they hunt in a group and can take down an animal like wildebeest, zebra, antelope, small snacks including birds, fish, snakes, they have very strong jaw and teeth, they eat almost everything, they are social structure led by a strong alpha female hyena we saw then behind lions hunting are they are very common and we saw them often  

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Warthogs named because of their face, very strong made up of a combination of bone and cartilage to protect their face when they fight and they also have small ivory-like elephant, they live under the ground eat grasses, roots, their omnivorous they eat plants and animal’s origin they have a long life span of 17 years 

Coke hartebeest, big impressive animal on the savanna, they look like a domestic animal, short horns, they gather in a group of 10-30 easily spotted but difficult to approach, they graze, their weapon against predators its agility and running,

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Topi, they look like coke hartebeest coated is red-brown, considered to be one of the fastest antelope, they live with group and female are the one who protects the group, they stay in a very wide highly vantage area they can easily to see predators

We have repeatedly seen along of animal I cannot explain all of them, we started to go back home after 3nights in Serengeti national park we have seen a lot and the way back my eyes were on the landscape and blue sky in the endless plain we saw the migration already moved to Serengeti national park We saw them like million in the plain It was one my best memories the wildebeest, the pride of lions hunting, the landscape I also appreciate Maasai for naming an endless plain 

“The Serengeti Park derived its name from Maasai Language meaning endless plain. This massive plain (14763sq km) is home to many animals including Lions, Elephants, Giraffe, Wildebeest, Zebra, Leopard, and Cheetah, warthogs, Hyena plus a lots and lots of birdlife. In many cases, migration is taking place around Serengeti and at that particular time millions of wildebeest and zebra are mingling together followed by predators”

Lessons learned 

All Living things have struggled in life it only depends on what kind of struggle, and I have experienced the way animal live its almost the same the way human being live, elephants, giraffes, buffaloes spend their whole life eating they are large they have the strength you may think they don’t have a difficult time, the struggle is when the dry season comes and when they lose strength, fail to protect their calves they can be hunted and there are so many animals survive depending on the dry season to come so that they can have more food 

What I also think about life, the time people may see difficult time but at the same time the difficult you have somebody waited to take advantage of it –

I think God gives us the ability to think to live together so we are very clever enough not to live like animals.