Adventures in Africa

Where do I begin? The tea time / volleyball game event was a delight. We toured a dairy farm and played “beach” volleyball with some mwazungos (white folks) that were in town on holiday. The next day we took a VERY bumpy ride to Ruaha in the jumpseats of a jeep-like vehicle. Before we even entered the national park we were greeted by elephants, zebra, and giraffes. When we entered the actual gates, we saw waterbucks and hippos. Just the tip of the iceberg… Upon arrival we were treated to a lunch unlike any other meal we’ve eaten in Tanzania (salads AND deserts). The camp is run and owned by Chris Fox, an Englishman who was born and raised in Tanzania’s bush. For this reason the cuisine is five-star, plentiful and tea time is all the time. Before going on our first game run, we looked around our bandas, tents with thatched roofs, a sitting area with a hammock, private bath… the works. On the run we immediately came across a family of tembo (elephant). Elephants are the most feared animal because of their ability to trample you to death. One of the mothers, the matriarch, decided that we were too close to the newborn and “mock charged” us. As Jim Pullen stated, “It’s a ‘mock’ charge, until it isn’t…” On that same trip our guide, Samson, pointed out every almost every animal Ruaha had to offer. Lions were walking away from a kill ten feet from us, zebras were all over, warthogs ran away with their tails high, and giraffes were a common site. (Ruaha should be called “Giraffic Park”) We returned to the camp about sunset. The sunsets in Africa are the best in the world but they were even more beautiful behind the silhouette of the baobob. Dinner at the camp was a full feast, surpassing even our lunch, lit by candles and lanterns on the dry river bed that is raging during the rainy season. It was hard to sleep that night, not just because of the excitement of being in the camp but also because the lions that were roaring right behind our tent kept my heart beating. Elephants rubbing against the palms kept Jan up as well.
Coffee was served in bed the next morning. We got up early to catch an early game run. This run was probably the best. We had a picnic breakfast underneath a baobob on the top of a hill that overlooked herds of elephant and giraffes. The cinnamon rolls were the first to go. That morning on the safari, the only animals that seemed to be awake were the baboons and impalas, but after breakfast we saw our most exciting site of the trip. Two giraffes, a male and a female, were right next to the road. As we were looking at them another male, bigger than the first, came walking up from the other side of our opened vehicle. Right away we new something was out of the norm. There was this unexplainable vibe that one could only pass as instinct. The two male giraffes began to stand off for the rights to the female. (This is where you’re probably thinking, “Aww… how cute… two giraffes… what damage could they possibly do?” Right?) Our mouths were wide open to these two giraffes beating each other by means off their hard heads and huge necks. One blow dropped the other giraffe to his knees. The brutal fight lasted about a minute and ended with the bigger one chasing off the weaker and now bloodier one. Luckily, I caught it all on video! Crazy! After that we never looked at those “cute” giraffes the same again. We saw lion cubs, buffalo, countless bird species, monkeys, gazelle, dikdik, hyrax, guinea foul, and I’m sure I’m forgetting a lot. Oh yeah… when we returned from our day run, monkeys had stolen my coffee mug from the morning and threw it off the roof after I caught him. Bad little monkeys! They liked to play just outside of our tent and one even paid Jan a visit in the bathroom. The full day was concluded with another lovely gourmet dinner, campfire, and drinks. I thought the night’s excitement was over but the scariest moment happened when I, being sluggish from dinner, was walking too far back from Shaina and our guide to the banda. I heard a strange growl (stranger than the lion’s from the night before) and focused my torch on a hyena not fifteen yards from me. Its eyes were an unforgettable green. Scary! The guide looked back and made Shaina uneasy because her guard was not focused on her in the dark. I made it back in the tent and told Stan, my roomy, what had happened. The hyena had already walked off, but the eyes of jackals could be seen fairly close to Sunita and Shaina’s tent.
The next morning we were scheduled to leave, but I hadn’t gotten enough of the bush and decide to do a 6:00am walking tour before we left. Samson was my guide. He prefaced the walk by saying, “We’re going to have a “mild” walk, exploring animal tracks, birds, and feces around the camp.” The hour walk was very educational. I learned how to track every animal we’d seen, make rope out of baobobs, and discovered the complexity of animals’ skeletal remains. We were looking at dung tracks when we heard a grumble (not my stomach). We had unknowingly walked into another herd of elephants. They’re surprisingly quiet until they want to be noticed. The young mother made herself known with a mock charge. No problem… except this time I didn’t have the protection of a vehicle. Samson made sure that the four of us slowly backed up. He explained that we had a “close call” and should probably return back to camp. While we retreated the matriarch of this family got wind of our smell and began stampeding towards us. Samson yells, “Okay, start running!” Normally when an elephant (like a lion or other wild animals) begins to charge, you are supposed to stand your ground, so I knew it was bad when Samson said to run. The four of us got away safe, but I still got a picture off… unbelievable! It was an exciting end to an exciting adventure…
But it didn’t exactly end there…
On the way out of Ruaha, we were going to stop by the hippo pool. We were abruptly stopped by a speeding car coming around an S-curve. We had had our second (be them both minor) car accident of the trip. The first was a fenderbender. This one did a small amount of damage to front frame of the car that Miraji, our friend who was our driver for the trip, had borrowed. Pole sahna…. “So sorry…” The thing that really makes this story interesting is that the truck that hit us was carrying (wait for it…) barrels that read “JET FUEL”. I can’t make this stuff up. We actually hit another truck carrying jet fuel. While Jim and I stood guard, watching for possible oncoming vehicles and/or dangerous animals, the owner suggested that we drive to the nearby airport (aka. “dirt road”) that should have some “tools”. The “tools” didn’t include a crowbar… instead we pulled the frame away from the front wheel with bamboo sticks. We still made it to the hippo pool with enough time to make it out of the park in time. The ride back wasn’t nearly as long as the ride there for some reason. What a trip!
The next day we did some shopping in the market, then came back to the flat to find out that we have no running water (and won’t for another week). Our last class that was supposed to be six days long was changed the night before class began to only three days. The college teachers had a different view about why they were in class with us and requested that the class be shortened to two days. It was not the success that we were hoping for. I guess two out of three ain’t bad. It was a learning lesson in cultural differences between college professionals and… us. Just one more lesson in a journey of newfound knowledge I suppose.