Wildlife Safari, Hakuna Matata

Fri 8/17 - Sun 8/19 another volunteer and I went on a wildlife safari to Ngorongoro Crater and Lake Manyara. We went with a small local company called Hakuna Matata. Note that the last "T" in "matata" is a hard "T" and should not be pronounced "matada", something locals were quick to point out to us after the Lion King has steered us all astray.

2 guys in their mid-late 20s, Elly and Temba, used to work as mountain and safari guides for other companies. They decided to start their own company and after a couple years of struggling and almost quitting, they were able to get it off the ground. Having a small office space just outside the CCS gates is huge for them, and many CCS volunteers go with them. They are trying very hard to succeed in the hopes of someday building a school. Temba, in particular, seems to have some natural business savvy and realizes the importance of happy customers, which means honesty and good service. They do still have a bit to learn about ensuring that all communication is clear so as not to compromise that intent for honesty (there was an incident with a group of our guys because it was not made clear that a certain part was not included in the "package" price), but I do think they're on the right track.

A few years ago they had some clients around Lake Eyasi, which is where some bush people live. They came to meet a young a boy in the bush who had no father, much older siblings, and a mother who could not afford much for him beyond life in the bush. They took the boy in and have since been housing, feeding, and clothing him and paying for his education. For a while he would eat only meat as that was what he was accustomed to. The bush people eat just about any animal but hyenas, which feed on the scraps of other pradators' kills. After a few months he began eating grains and vegetables, and now speaks fluent Swahili. He no longer speaks the click language he once spoke exclusively, but they don't know whether he forgets or if it's by choice. He is about 12 years old now.

Our safari guide, Augustino, has eyes like a hawk and can tell you the gestation period, number of young, and life expectancy of just about every animal you see. He was very personable and accommodating and kept telling us to "be free," meaning to ask questions, let him know when to stop, when to move on, etc. A good guide can make or break this experience, and he was great. I even got to talk to his 3 kids on the phone at dinner one night. They're aged 19, 8, and 5, and their dad works hard to be able to send them to private school for a good education.

Our cook was Abuu, aka Mr. D, aka Mr. Delicious. He earns his nickname and is a happy-go-lucky music lover who played Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, and local music for us after dinner.

The crater is an awesome open expanse while Manyara is much more forested. This made the perfect combination as the terrain was so different and so the animals were different as well. The animals we didn't see were rhino, leopard, and we barely saw a cheetah. It was so far you couldn't even tell what it was squinting through binoculars. We did see a bit of a stand-off between a lion and a zebra at the crater, which was pretty intense. The lions position themselves near the water they know their targets need to get to. A lioness was lying in the grass about 30 ft from us waiting for some zebra. A lion targets one animal for the kill rather than just running toward several and grabbing any one. It was pretty obvious which zebra was the target as a bunch of others crossed unscathed and the rest were much further behind. The zebra knew something was up, possibly because it was downwind from the lion, so it was a tense several minutes while the zebra stood still and the lion watched. The few times the zebra moved, the lion would start to crawl like it was stalking. I feel a little guilty about it (sorry, Zebra), but I was like a giddy schoolchild. The zebra let out a call to warn the other zebras and started to retreat. We didn't wait around after that so who knows whether that zebra made it.

Lunch at the crater was in a picnic area near a pond. There was a big group of Tanzanian students on a school trip who came to the van and wanted to talk to us and have pictures taken with Karen and me. Karen is my fellow volunteer with whom I went on safari. This might be the closest I will come in my life to feeling like a celebrity on the red carpet. She and I each stood while one kid after another came to pose with us for photos taken by their teachers. I might be gracing the walls of many a Tanzanian household this very moment.

At the end of our day in Manyara, a cluster of jeeps was stopped in front of some trees and people were peering into the trees with binoculars. Augustino talked to another guide and told us that there was some meat in a tree, which had surely been brought there by a leopard, although they hadn't seen the leopard itself. They take their kill up into the trees and eat there. I looked through my binoculars and rather than the chunk of flesh I expected to see, there was basically the entire body of a gazelle draped over a branch, legs, head, and all. Crazy.

A run-down of the animals we saw that I was able to jot down: zebra, wildebeest, marabou stork, giraffe, babboon, buzzard, Thompson gazelle, Grant's gazelle, spotted hyena, lion, jackal, elephant, guinea fowl, crowned crane, ostrich, Kori bustard, lapin plover, buffalo, warthogs, hartebeest, grey heron, hippo, flamingo, cape teal, cheetah (barely counts), pelican, bush buck, black monkey, impala, mongoose, hornbill, gray-headed kingfisher, vervet monkey, ibis, Egyptian goose, African fish eagle, blacksmith lapwing, white-browed coucal