"The wild dogs cry out in the night
As they grow restless, longing for some solitary company
I know that I must do what's right
As sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti
I seek to cure what's deep inside, frightened of this thing that I've become"
- Africa by Toto
Greetings from Tanzania! A place full of such beauty deserves a post of massive length. During the first six days of our trip in Tanzania we remained on
the mainland and pretty much lived (notwithstanding the nights) in the safari cars.
We first drove from Kilimandjaro to Arusha, then to the Ngorongoro hills from
where we drove to Serengeti and then back to Ngorongoro Crater. We went on
three safaris, and stayed in hotels, lodges, and at a camp site in the great
Serengeti National Park. We also visited a Masai village where the Masai tribe
showed us around.
-->
I learned various funny things. For example when the old leader
of the pack of elephants gets old it gets kicked out of the pack. However,
usually after some lonesome wondering it finds other elder elephants that form
their own senior bachelor squad. Or the fact that you can almost always
find some Knu running because once one starts to run, everyone else follows.
One time we were cut off from the road by a herd of at least a thousand knu
running in what seemed like a never ending queue, an oddly relaxing sight.
The scenery possessed this unreal beauty that left me aghast
on various occasions. Everything looked like it was straight out of fantasy
novels and movies. I remember standing on a hill looking over the massive
Ngorongoro Crater, or driving through the seemingly never-ending savannah of
Serengeti, and just feeling like a tiny little particle compared to it all. To
put things into perspective, one of the trees we drove by was several hundred
years old, and will probably go on to live another several hundred years. I'm
lucky if I last even one century. In a place like that it's hard to believe
that beauty as such was not designed but came to be by chance.
Of all fancy lodges we stayed in, the camp in which we stayed
for two nights in the midst of Serengeti was still my favorite. I loved the
sense of adventure it brought, with the wild animals wondering outside our
tents during the night and the fire, around which we sat watching the sun set
beyond the horizon.
The last lodge was great as well because it was high up and provided
a view over the whole Ngorongoro Crater, although I would not suggest it to
people who are afraid of heights. The sixth day marked the end of our journey
on the actual continent, as we took a small propel plane to Zanzibar, an
autonomous island on the southern coast of Tanzania. So we went, 'from the bush
to the beach' as said by the local pilot (who hated flying). If my feelings
were to be condensed in two words, I'd say the experience left me extremely
humbled and grateful.
Kisses,
J
