Tanzanian Safari

Flying over the new Lengai crate

After a fantastic whirlwind trip around Rwanda, my uncle and I headed east to Tanzania. In Arusha we met three of my cousins and two friends for a ten day safari. We began our trip by flying from Arusha to Nduara Camp, on the Serengeti plains just east of the National Park border. On our way, we flew over Ol Doinyo Lengai (which the Masai people refer to as “Mountain of God”) and saw its new crater, a result of the mountain’s volcanic eruption less than two years ago. 

Lengai

The plains at Nduara Camp were very dry due to delayed rainfalls and heavy usage by  Masai, who graze thousands of cattle on the plains. The first few days we were accompanied by what seemed like all the 450,000 gazelle living in the Serengeti; quite a few giraffe, many zebra and hyena, and a pride of elephants with babies. The most stunning part of Nduara for me was the sheer vastness of the plains. It was absolutely breathtaking, and a real change for my eyes which have seen nothing but rolling hills for the last year.  

Serengeti plains near Nduara Camp

After a few days at the Nduara Camp we drove west to Ndutu, a wetter area where we were able to observe more wildlife. Our first morning at the camp I woke up to catch a glimpse of two adult and one baby wildebeest running from a hyena less than fifty feet away from me. At Ndutu, we also had a chance to catch a view of more zebra, elephants, wildebeest, buffalo, flamingo, some cheetah with cubs, two lion prides, hippos, a leopard, and even a crocodile.

Most evenings ended with a beautiful sunset, equipped with fire, seats, and a drink

Our last safari stop was Ngorogoro Crater—an unbroken, unflooded volcanic caldera. It was formed when a giant volcano erupted over two million years ago. The crater is 2,000 feet deep and covers 100 square miles. Again, I was more impressed with the landscape than the animals. The fact that we were inside a volcano with so much life around us was something I couldn’t seem to wrap my head around.

Wildebeest blocking the road at Ngorogoro Crater

The Crater was fantastic, something I feel incredibly lucky to have seen and won’t ever forget. But, after over a week of working really hard to see animals on the plains, Ngorogoro felt a little9 bit like a petting zoo. The animals were completely habituated to the presence of large safari cars and did not move a bit. In fact, the wildebeest would not leave the road to let us pass! Here we saw (among other things) more hyena, buffalo, lions, hippo, and rhino.

Ngorogoro Crater

At the Ngorogoro Crater Lodge, I opened a National Geographic magazine in the bathroom. Expecting to read an article about the exotic place I was currently in (what else does the National Geographic write about, other than incredibly exceptional things?!), I was surprised to see an article about Central Pennsylvania. I guess exotic and interesting are terms open for interpretation.

After our Crater visit, I said goodbye to my uncle and cousins at the Kilimanjaro Airport, where they went on to catch international flights. I re-boarded the plane we had taken from outside the Crater and headed to the smaller Arusha airstrip close to town. Steve, the very friendly pilot, let me drive the plane back! That’s right: yours truly, who at sixteen couldn’t drive a golf cart in a straight line, maneuvered a plane in Africa. Fantastic trip.