Mzungu Maasai

Today I want to talk about how fortunate I have been to see so many amazing sights here in Tanzania! It is such a beautiful country, and I feel like I have just scratched the surface of all the national parks here. Last week I was really blessed to visit a lake here in Arusha. I didn’t even know about this lake, and it’s literally thirty minutes from where I live. We went in the late afternoon and had a guide row us around the lake, telling us about the different birds and animals there. If you go in the late afternoon, the sun is setting across the water which is reason enough, but the birds are also coming home to nest for the evening. We saw different types of kingfishers, herons, weavers (the male builds a nest for the female during mating season, and she picks which one she likes), and even two fish eagles! Truly an incredible experience. Also in Arusha is the Arusha National Park. A few years ago, I took the staff there on an outing. One of the main things I love about this park is that you can see both Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Meru at the same time here! It’s really cool! The other thing I loved was seeing Colobus monkeys for the first time there. These are black and white monkeys who don’t have thumbs, so they jump from branch to branch or tree to tree.

One of my favorite parks to visit is Tarangire National Park which is located in Manyara region southwest of Arusha. It is close enough to where we live that you can get up early and make a day trip out of it and be home in time for dinner. This is the park where we take our students every year for a little field trip, and it rarely disappoints! You can see all kinds of animals here especially herds of zebra and wildebeest. Some other animals that we have seen are giraffes, elephant herds, baboons, lots of monkeys who hang out at the local feeding areas and steal your food, mongooses, various antelope/deer-like creatures (eland, water buck, impala, etc.), lots of different bird species, LIONS, and even a cheetah home from the hunt this last visit! We normally see at least five to seven lions although my first trip ten years ago, I saw a male with two females hanging around. The different watering holes are fun to watch because you can see all different kinds of animals in one place. We saw giraffes, elephants, baboons, zebra, and wildebeest all at one time at one hole. The kids always have an amazing time as does the staff.

One year I was able to visit Ngorongoro Crater which is the world’s largest volcanic caldera and is located in part of the famous Rift Valley. To get into the crater, you have to drive up and up the mountainside (hoping to see a gorilla or two) and then down into the crater. Inside the crater, you can find all five of the “Big Five” here: lions, leopards, elephants, Cape buffalo, and rhinos! I have seen all five, but I really don’t consider the rhino because we saw him, but he was so far away that I don’t really consider it a true sighting. That day we saw so many animals, but the coolest thing that happened to us was two male lions came and LAID DOWN RIGHT NEXT TO OUR VEHICLE to take a nap! My friend, Langoi, and his son (my godson), Loy, came with me that day. Loy was hanging out of the top and I was terrified that he was going to be a snack for these lions! But, man! What a cool experience! Another cool experience was eating lunch at the “HIppo Pool” and watching the hippos bob up and down in the water. On that trip, I was staying at a camp near Lake Manyara, and the hippos would come “visit” me every night. They would eat outside of my tent, and they are very loud eaters! We also had a wildebeest/zebra stampede through the middle of camp one night. You could hear the animals racing up and down and then would hear the cries of the Maasai guards following them to steer them out of the camp.

The best park by far is the Serengeti National Park. I think when people think of a safari in Africa, they think of the Serengeti and the song from Toto, “Sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti…” To get here, you drive through Ngorongoro (not the crater itself), past Olduvai Gorge which is considered the “Cradle of Civilization” and contain the “Footprints of Man” (which I have also seen on a different trip to Loliondo and Lake Natron near Mt. Lengai), and on into Serengeti. You can see ALL of the animals there (although I STILL haven’t seen a rhino!). I spent three days there, and it was the perfect amount of time. On the first evening as we were about to turn onto the road leading to my camp, we came across two female lionesses with a fresh kill (wildebeest or water buck, I can’t remember which). They and two male lions ate on that kill the entire three days I was there. You could see vultures flying overhead and hyenas trying to get the courage to confront the lions and steal some meat in the distance. It was truly the “Circle of Life”. I went in December which is one of the best times to see the zebra/wildebeest migration through the Serengeti.

My last destination is hands-down my favorite place in the world: Zanzibar! I have visited twice now, and I would go again and again because, at heart, I am a beach girl. This is one of the most beautiful islands I have ever seen with white, sandy beaches and turquoise waters that come right up to your apartment during high tide and flow way off in the distance during low tide. I’ve never seen anything like it anywhere else. Overall, I have only spent three full days on two separate trips there, but I managed to pack a lot into those days. I have walked through Stone Town and the Darajani Market where you can visit all of the shops in different alleyways with spices and fresh produce. I have taken pictures of the beautiful “Doors of Zanzibar”. I’ve seen the Freddie Mercury museum and the Old Fort. I have been to Jozani Chwaka Bay National Park and seen the red colobus monkeys and the caves formed from the ocean coming right up to the cliffs. I have watched the sun set twice from Nungwi Beach and the kitesurfers at Paje Beach. I have eaten at The Rock Restaurant which is built, literally, on a rock in the middle of the ocean. At low tide, you can walk there, but at high tide, you have to take a boat. I still need to visit both Prison Island to see the tortoises and Mnemba Island to see the beautiful water, so I guess I will have to go back soon!

I hope you enjoyed my tour of Tanzania! As I was looking back over the thousands of pictures that I have taken through the years, I reflected on just how blessed I am that God has allowed me to spend this time in a place I love at this season of my life. The animals are just the “icing on the cake”!