Hakuna Matata

Bull Elephant Under a Full Rainbow in the Serengeti

This is Real Life

Two weeks was simply not long enough to soak up the indescribable beauty of Tanzania, Africa. The places that we went, the people that we met, and the wildlife that we saw would honestly take me about two weeks to just talk about everything that happened. Clearly, though, the trip was unbelievable; the picture of the elephant under the rainbow above is just one example of the mind blowing things we experienced while in Africa.

All 22 of My Classmates, Plus Our Guides, at the Lake!

Traveling with a group of people hasn't really been my thing thus far in life, however, I found it quite enjoyable. The simple fact that I didn't have to plan anything was very relaxing and I could really focus on what I was seeing and not worrying about paying for meals or where I was going to sleep that night. Besides the fact that one of our coordinators in Tanzania stole $18k from us, the trip went very smoothly. Karma was on our side, though, and I am convinced that because we had such bad luck with the money we were graced with seeing every single animal that we had on our lists when we arrived! It may seem impossible, but this trip was straight out of a National Geographic episode of Planet Earth; just mind blowing.

I am figuring that the easiest way to sum up this trip in one blog post is to simply write a little blurb about each day with the best picture I took that day. Of course I am going to leave out a ton of important details, but that is what facebook is for now, isn't it? So, here we begin the most unforgettable thirteen day journey of my life:

All Packed onto the Bus, Heading to the Hotel!

Day 1: I sometimes forget the rewards of patience. Sitting on a plane for 16 hours was exhausting and it felt as though we would never, ever reach Africa. Making a pit stop in Amsterdam was really neat; I had never been to Europe, and although I don't really count the airport as being "in Europe" it's a step closer than little old Maine. Finally we made it to the Kilimanjaro airport in Tanzania, though. It was funny, it couldn't really be considered an airport, however, more like a building that housed customs and the visa office. The "runway" was simply a strip of pavement and although it was too dark to see at the time, I knew that it was not animal, or people, proof. That didn't really bother me, however, I finally landed in Africa, my dream country! We saw our first bit of wildlife when we reached our bus: a cat we named scruffy, for obvious reasons. The bus we all packed into was much too small for 22 people, but it was high time we all became friends, so we squished in just fine! Surprisingly, we stayed in hotels the entire time. My assumption was that we were going to be camping out in tents or huts, which is what we were told. Who can deny a comfy bed and a bug net, though? Not me!

The Merchant Using My Leg
as a Display Table

Day 2: The first day of adventure! After spending a good three hours waiting for our jeeps and guides to arrive (we got veryyy good at waiting around) we all packed in and headed off towards town. We got a nice little taste of town life for tourists when our driver pulled into a parking spot to "grab some food" for him and the other guides and we were swarmed by merchants pressing their goods to us through the jeep windows. Being a people person, I found it quite amusing and very interesting. For others, though, it was annoying. They closed their windows and ignored them, but me being an opportunist, opened mine right up and talked away, I even made my first purchase there, right through my window! After our thrilling time being harassed by the locals through our windows our guide (Salehe was his name and he was AMAZING) came back and took us to the location of our first safari! The safari was to take us around the base of a mountain (the name escapes me). It was originally going to be a walking tour, but lucky for us we were running late so we got to drive! We began around the first bend and BAM! There was a giraffe standing about 50ft away from the road! It was quite shocking, I had never seen anything quite like it in the wild and it is very hard to explain the feeling I got when I first realized that I was no longer in "Kansas" anymore, so to say. We proceeded onto seeing many baboons and warthogs (which was exciting, being a long-time Pumba fan). We stopped to eat the first of too many boxed lunches and after I got to hone in on my standing-while-using-the-bathroom technique. Come to find out I am very good at it! We moved on with the safari after lunch and stopped at a couple lakes, saw some hippo and flamingo from a distance, and so many beautiful birds! I also learned my first Swahili words: "yes" is "dio" and "let's go" is "trenday." We learned many more, but it would be a bore for me to list them all, so I'll continue with the adventures.

Elephants in Tarangire National Park

Day 3: Possibly the most exciting day of my life, with the exception of Day 9 of the trip perhaps. So, for those of you who don't know I am utterly and ridiculously obsessed with elephants. I love everything about them and am completely amazed by everything related to them. Honestly, I can barely remember anything else that happened this day because I saw my first wild elephant and it was just about the most unbelievable experience I have ever had. Not only did I shed a few tears of joy, when I first spotted the elephants I began to full on choke because I inhaled so quickly in my excitement. If my professors didn't understand the level of my obsession before this day, they certainly did as I was gasping for air, crying, and trying to take pictures all at the same time. Ok so clearly I could go on forever about the elephants, but throughout the entire trip I probably saw over 800, so I will proceed to the other details of the day and then frequently

Maasai Boys by the Road

return to the elephants throughout the days. Before we even got to the park we had to pass through Arusha, the city we were staying in, and we got to see how rural people got to live. It was very sad, actually, that when we were driving through and we stopped anywhere the children would run to the jeep and beg for anything they could get (mainly sweets, money, or pens). We also passed some Maasai on the way to the park. They are a very interesting tribe that I actually have learned a lot about in school. We got to see them with their ceremonial paint on which was fantastic! We also passed a road side market where they were selling colorful everything! When we got to the park, besides the elephants, we saw so many other fabulous animals! We got to see Ground Hornbills, Dik Dik (they are so adorable, like tiny little deer), more giraffes (always), too many zebra to count, warthogs, and yeah, you get the picture. The list of animals we saw every day is endless. After the exhilarating day we headed back to our tented lodge for some delicious dinner (of rice, goat and beans of course) and then crashed into bed.

That Shadow is Our Jeep! SO CLOSE!

Day 4: Surviving the night was a relief! Being in a completely canvas tent had us worried that we were going to be mauled in our sleep, lucky for us, though, there were Masaai warriors walking around the grounds all night, warding off any Leopards that got the idea that two tasty Americans were residing behind the thin canvas walls. We headed back to Tarangire and passed some sparring Impala on our way in. As if I thought that seeing the elephants the day before hadn't had been exciting enough, we saw them even closer today! A few came so close I had to back up in the jeep because I thought they were going to reach in and grab my camera! Just amazing. Also, there were so many babies! They were precious! After seeing more amazing animals (Bat Eared Foxes, Secretary Birds, a couple Leopard Tortoises) we headed to Charles Foley's camp. He has been living in Tanzania for nearly 17 years researching elephants and he gave us a very

Eating the Sour Baobab Tree Seeds!

interesting (outdoor) lecture about their behavior. I was thrilled and even got him to sign my animal field guide. Such a nerd. While we were in the "lecture" an elephant walked right through the yard! It was amazing! Charles' wife Lara and his two adorable daughters were there as well and after the talk with Charles we got to explore the camp a bit. We were told that they lived there for 11 years, until the girls got to be big enough where they could start to get in trouble. When the girls were babies, though, the couple had to get a Leopard-proof cage to put the crib in because Leopards are attracted to baby cries (just like in Tarzan) and the huts were not strong enough to keep them out! How crazy! Anyways, we got to taste the seeds of a Baobab tree (the ENORMOUS trees you see in photos of Africa); they were really sour but surprisingly tasty! It was an information-packed day and on our way out we got to see some Ostrich! They are hilarious!

Day 5: To the Serengeti! We headed out of the tented lodge and began our what felt like forever drive to the Serengeti. Luckily we had our Guide Salehe to entertain us; he taught us a song in Swahili! It goes something like this:

The Oldest Footprint Display!

Jambo
Jambo Bwana
Habari Ganie
Mzuri Sana
Wageni
Mwakaniebishwa
Tanzania Yetu
Hakuna Matata
Basically what it means is it is welcoming visitors to Tanzania and telling them all the places they should go visit (that part I left out, the song is much longer that what I wrote above). We made a pit stop to get gas and while we were there, per usual, we got swarmed by merchants. One, who I must say was very attractive, was asking us about America and if we knew any Chris Brown songs. He then continued on to sing us "Beautiful People," a Chris Brown song, and from then on we referred to him as "Chris Brown." We headed through to the Ngorongoro Crater where we had to pass through to get to the Serengeti. We took a pit stop there to look at some of the maps and lo and behold I found an anthropology jackpot! There was a display of where they found the oldest footprint and we were going to drive right over it! I was so excited! Finally making it through the gate, three hours later we reached the Serengeti and took a pit stop to look at the view! It went on as far as the eye could see; absolutely amazing.

Broken Down, Per Usual

After breaking down, which became quite a regular occurrence, we proceeded to our hotel which was beyond amazing. Placed right in the middle of the Serengeti it was hidden from view, but the view from the back was expansive and endless. After a long day of driving we headed to bed early, only to be kept awake by baboons running across our roof. Not having windows that closed all the way was an experience, i was convinced a baboon was going to sneak in and attack us in the night! We survived, though, and woke up to see them all sitting on a huge rock outside our window in the morning.









Day 6: So my streak of not getting sick was ruined today, after breakfast I started to feel a little funny,

Hyraxes Cuddling for Warmth After the Rain

and by the time we were on the road I felt like there were knives stabbing at my gut. I must have accidentally opened my mouth in the shower or something. Gross. Today was the day of the hyrax. We got so excited over the first few we saw, little did we know that they were literally everywhere. Even though this day was not as exciting as we thought it was going to be it was still quite eventful! Right out of the gate we saw a huge water buffalo, and around the bend we spotted a hyaena right in the road carrying a baby in it's mouth! Apparently she was moving dens. Even though the day was pretty uneventful, we were in Africa after all, so interesting things were inevitable. For instance: there was a road block on one of our safaris so we had to go on a "detour" aka basically turn out jeep into a boat and rev across a massive puddle/lake. We made it though, obviously, and it was great fun. We saw what we thought was a dead baby zebra,

Baboons on the Roof! Little Buggars!

but it was just playing dead cause it was scared of us, it got up and trotted away as we drove off, silly little thing. We also got to see a tortoise in the road! We got to see a young male lion too. We made it back through all the mud and after dinner we got a little show: one of our classmates Conner played the piano for us! It was a nice way to wrap up the day, I even got to see the baboons that made all the racket on the roof, little stinkers!

Day 7: We started out the day with what we thought was a leopard, but in fact, it was just a stump. It was annoying how much time we spent trying to determine whether it was a leopard or not, but it made for some very funny jokes after the fact. After breaking down, once again, we finally made it to the

Mama and Baby Hippo Lovin!

hippo hole! After getting our fill of seeing over 70 hippos all lounging around in the water hole we headed to the hotel for lunch. This was a big day because we were basically chasing the setting sun trying to make it to the Great Migration before dark! On our way we spotted yet another lion, a second leopard and kept our eyes peeled for a cheetah, but with no luck. The grasslands were out of this world! They went on forever, so National Geographic and all, no, it was better than that! We were zooming around some rocks when BAM! We hit the Great Migration! No photos could capture what it looked like. All I can think to explain it is endless numbers of wildebeest and zebra, just millions of them! I guess it was kind of like in that scene from the Lion King right before the stampede, except more animals and much farther into the distance. I tried to get a photo but I couldn't, I just had to stare and admire it. We started to head back, sooner than I wanted, and on our way out of the grassland we drove right past two massive bull elephants (see photo at top of page). The rainbow was real life too! On the way home we saw lions crossing the road, it was awesome!!

Giraffe Next to the Road

Day 8: Today we saw an unbelievable number of
giraffes today, in the road, but the road, everywhere!
So strange they always seemed to travel in groups of seven.

We also saw our fourth leopard and he was amazing! At lunch we sat in a circle of chairs, some of us in the middle, and we got bombarded by small birds and hyraxes, it was hilarious!

Cheetah Near the Road

And last but certainly not least we FINALLY got to see our cheetah!! He was just lounging in the road, so our jeep turned back to go get my friend Paige's (because cheetahs are her favorite) and when we made it back he was up and about, heading over to a tree. He was beautiful!!

Wildebeest Next to One of Our Jeeps!

Day 9: Today we went into the Ngorongoro
Crater. We had no idea what was in store for us today. Right off the bat we saw just so many wildebeest. They are so funny and I love the noise they make! So on this particular trip we had nothing but good luck, to say the least. When we were in the crater we saw a few cheetahs, so we decided to stop near one because it was just crouching in the grass and we could take nice pictures of it. Al of the sudden we looked to our left and we realized that it was stalking some gazelle. We couldn't believe that we were even seeing this interaction, let alone what was about to happen. As soon as the realization hit us that this cheetah was on the attack, we revved up the engine and got to see a hunt take place!! We even saw the cheetah eat the baby gazelle it was unbelievable! Even better than National Geographic, no joke.

Two Rhinos! 

So not only did we have the excellent good fortune to see the hunt, but we saw one of the most endangered species in the world. No, not one, FOUR of them! We saw FOUR rhinos!!!! The picture here we think was a mother and her adolescent, because rhinos usually travel alone. We also almost got our faces ripped off at lunch time because the kites (which is a type of bird) were swarming. Not only were they around (and when people started to throw crumbs they attacked), but guinea fowl were underfoot and so were the little finches. We actually saw a kite pick up a guinea fowl (which is almost the size of a turkey) to try to get the crumb it had scooped up! It was crazy! We headed back into town afterwards and although everyone else went shopping, a couple friends and I stayed back to relax and have a beer before our adventures the next day.

Grandmother and Grandchild from the
Datoga Tribe

Day 10: Today was fantastic for me, the diehard anthro major, because we went to not one, but TWO different tribes! First we went to visit the Hatzabe, which are one of the last hunter gatherer tribes left in Africa. We arrived and after a quick briefing from the guides (about their poison arrows, what they eat- roots- how disease was ravaging their population, etc.) we headed in to meet the people. We went right up into the cave that they lived in, they are nomadic so they don't have permanent shelter, and shook everyones hand, even the little nuggets. We got a tutorial about how they poison their arrow heads (they use a poisonous tree and rub it on the end) and then they began to show us how they made fire. It was fascinating. What they did was they took a knife that they had traded for and placed it on the ground. They took a little piece of wood and placed it on the blade.

Making Fire

With the Datoga Women, All Married to One Man

Then they took a longer stick and began to rub it between their palms with the end touching the other piece of wood,
kind of like what you picture boy scouts to
do. After that they put the hot coals into this wooden hand piece thing which we soon learned was a

pipe and then started ripping on it. Apparently a lot of the younger kids in the tribe smoke a lot of marijuana, it took us all by complete surprise. They offered it to us, but we politely declined. After we went down by where al the women and babies were and met them, then my friend Annie and I went off with the guide who showed us a tree whose sap acted like Neosporin. After admiring the tree for a while we all headed out to dig up roots with the women. The roots they eat, Shumu, contain a great amount of water so that's a main part of their diet, along with small birds and baboons. It tasted a lot like cucumber! After we headed back to camp and got to shoot their bows, which was much harder than expected! We bought a few pieces of jewelry from the women on our way out, then headed to the Datoga tribe down the road a ways. This tribe is a pastoral tribe that is no longer nomadic. The people we visited was composed of one family, whose husband had four wives (in the picture here), with over 20 children! This tribe receives tattoos on their faces (made from knives) when they reach a certain age, I think. They also gauge their ears. In this culture, brides are traded for cows,

so fathers are pleased when they have daughters because that means he will eventually get more cows, which are essential to their people. The little nugget you see in the picture greeted us at the gate and he was too cute! When we visited I got to grind corn (I was a natural), we saw how they do metal work over the fire, and we got to purchase a couple of their goods. We also got to go into their huts (the picture to the left) which was amazing! We headed back soon after and I got to purchase a mountain of hand crafted baskets before hitting the hay.

Carving

Day 11: Today we headed into a village, which was much different than I expected. When they said "village" I pictured it to be kind of like another tribe, but it was actually a town. And in this town were 120 different tribes. The name of the village was Mto Wa, which translated to "lots of mosquitoes," with good reason too, they grow rice there so there's lots of water. We got a tour of the rice fields and then the rest of the village. We made a stop to watch one tribe carve (to the right). Then we went into a makunde house, it was very small, a hut, with no walls on the inside, just sheets hun to separate small rooms. Next we moved onto the Chaga tribe who specialize in brewing banana beer. The process is interesting and I was tempted to taste it, but I saw the fermenting bananas covered in bugs, flies, and worms so I decided to resist. We moved onto a tribe who painted these beautiful paintings, all of them were on display outside and I got a few for a ver good price. We headed back to our hotel (called Twiga, which means giraffe in Swahili) and I bought a few things for my sisters in the shop there then headed into the street, which was an adventure. It turns out that the venders here were the ones who bombarded our jeep the first time we passed through (remember the

Trying to find Cathy to Show her the Tortoise!

merchant who used my leg as a table?) and boy did they remember us and boy did they give us a run for our money. They tried to charm us into buying things but lucky for me I'm an excellent bargainer and I got three paintings for an incredible deal.  We all headed back to go dip our feet in the pool and on the way there my friend Amelia and I came across a leopard tortoise! Our friend Cathy is obsessed with them so we scooped him up (which wasn't easy, he 

Mama and Baby Baboon

was massive) and ran around, sneakily, trying to find her without attracting too much attention. We finally found her and she was so happy! We packed up once again and headed to the Lake Manyara National Park for an afternoon safari and we saw all sorts of neat birds. The forest was also home to a plethora, and I mean tons, of monkeys. We saw vervets (which have THE CUTEST babies ever), blue moneys, and baboons galore! There were baby moneys everywhere so I was in heaven. We also spotted a couple elephants grazing in the bushes!! We headed back and ended the night with a delicious dinner and Josh and Harry doing a Mainah rendition to the cheetah hunt, which was priceless.

Adolescent Ostrich

Day 12: After heading back to Lake Manyara National Park and staring at some more baby baboons and elephants. We also got to see many  giraffes in the road and more leopard tortoises. We stopped when we spotted a cluster of ostrich, we think they were adolescents, and the funniest thing happened. We were just parked watching them when all of the sudden something spooked them and they all got up and started running around in every direction and spinning in circles like complete loonies!! It looked like they were straight out of a cartoon it
was hilarious!! We moved on and came to an open area where we saw thousands upon thousands of flamingoes. There were just too

Pit Stop By the Lake

many to see them all, in the picture to the right all the white in the water behind us are flamingoes. We moved on further into the plain and came near a herd of water buffalo. Now, these are the most dangerous animals in Africa because they are so territorial, so we didn't go too close, but of course the boys played the "Look, I'm closer to the buffalo than you are" game. Then Amelia started to act like a flamingo because she was wearing a pink dress so that was priceless. Then, of course, our car broke down again on our way to Arucia, our last stop before we headed home the next afternoon. We gave out pencils to kids and finally started to make it back. We got to see Mt. Kilimanjaro on the way back so that was sick!When we got back ad started to eat we thought that they had just forgotten to include meat in the meal, but then they rolled out this ENTIRE roasted goat and started to carve it just for us! It was too funny!

Mt. Kilimanjaro at Dusk (While We Were
Broken Down on the Side of the Road)

Day 13: Our final day in Africa, so sad. We were told that we were going to eat with the Massai tribe, which I was stoked about because I learn about them all the time in my classes, but it turns out that we were just going to go hiking to see where they lived, which was cool too. So we started our hike at the bottom of a small mountain and began the trudge up, which was grueling to say the least, although very beautiful. We thought we had gotten to the top a solid 20 minutes later, but it turns out that that's where the hike began. Did I mention it was raining as well? Yes, very muddy and a basically vertical climb. We hiked through some gorgeous farmland and learned that one family can only have two or three cows because there's not enough grazing land. When we finally got to the

Where the Cows Lived

 top there were many children to meet us. We got to tour one of their huts, which for a large family, was very tiny. It also had a bull tied up in it (so he would not breed with the females outside), three goats and a bunch of chickens. All right where the family slept. It was unbearably hot and I couldn't imagine all cramming in there to sleep, but they do. Outside the hut we drew pictures for the kids and handed out crayons. Our guide showed us the little place where they kept the cows,

Absolute Chaos at the Airport

nothing but a patch of mud with sheets held up by sticks. We soon headed, or I should say slipped, back down the mountain and to a Massai market where we spent our remaining dollars. We headed back to our hotel in Arucia for lunch, I gave the rest of my pencils to one of the guys who works there, we headed to a mall, which was boring, then off to the airport. Once at the airport and finally, through the chaos (and power outages) we boarded the plane and began our journey home. I was so sad to see Africa go, it was such an unbelievably amazing place to go and I hope I can return someday. It is still surreal, months after I have returned, and I still can't believe our good luck never ran out!! It was certainly a trip to remember.

All in all, I'd say it was quite a success.


Today, my life is just Shelby.