Safari

After climbing Kili, we went on a 4 day safari to Lake Manyara, the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro crater. There were seven of us including our hiking friend from Kili, an academic from Mexico, a young lady from Finland, our rasta driver guide and a cook. We piled into a land rover and headed for the wild. Among the wild, we saw clans of baboons, herds of wildebeest, flocks of flamingos, families of hippos, prides of lions and a monkey with blue balls. No, seriously, velvet monkeys have blue testicles all the time and it apparently has nothing to do with that old adage.


The places we camped were not fenced or enclosed in anyway so we were told not to go on late night bathroom trips. On the second night, Najam heard rumblings of lions behind our tent. I was asleep, thankfully. I did get awakened by the shrill cries of hyenas in the night. In the morning, we saw both hyena and lion tracks confirming our late night visitors. On the third night, we saw elephants close to camp and heard that one of the guides had spotted a lion in camp shortly after dinner. We removed all food and anything perfume like from our tents to keep the warthogs away. Also, we were told to not make too much noise in our tents and especially not to shriek if we got scared. Apparently elephants respond to shrieking tents by trampling on them.

One of the more impressive sights was viewing the drama of a lion pride and their half munched buffalo carcass from the night before. A hyena stalked the food and was chased off a few times by a female and a cub. But, as the sun waxed the lions energy wained and the hyena's persistence paid off.

A number of land rovers carrying other safari goers clustered around the scene. With not much other shade in the area, the lions took advantage of the shade from the vehicles and sprawled right next to the trucks. Much to their dismay, the trucks moved occasionally. It was funny to watch the mild agitation of one alpha male when his shade truck moved. Bothered by the sun, he moved on to the next truck, rubbing up against it first just as my cat does to my legs, and then pissing on it which my cat thankfully does not do to my leggs.

I thought of Mr. Meows back home and felt warm fuzzies in the presence of his distant cousin. These warm fuzzies quickly fled when my eyes met with the alpha's near our truck. When my cat looks into my eyes, usually he's saying "pet me, feed me, let me out now." When the lion stared me down, it was as if he was saying "I know you're looking at me, I could eat you." Very unnerving.