Journeys of the Heart: Tanzania

Come now and look upon the works of the LORD, *
what awesome things he has done on earth. - Psalm 46 (BCP)

In January, 2009 - I went to Tanzania on a photo safari and flew to Arusha which lies near the base of Mount Kilimanjaro. Arusha is a city of 600,000 people and has one paved road. Lying some 300 miles south of the equator, Arusha has only two seasons: 1) the dry season when the days are hot and the air is filled with dust; and 2) the wet season which brings days and days of rain which turn the dirt roads into rivers of mud.

We were in Arusha during the dry season and people crowded the streets. The women were dressed in bright colored clothes and both men and women carried merchandise on their heads.

I was part of a mobile tent safari with 9 other folks from the U.S.

Kay from Oklahoma City

AUDREY FROM CHICAGO

John and Dixie from Tulsa

Emily from Tennessee

Cindy from Oklahoma City

Sue and Lynne from California

and Jerry from Tennessee

(Emily's dad)

Our tour guide was Felician. Felician was born into the Iraqw tribe and was a herder with his father and brother until he was 6 years old when the government told his father he must send one of his sons to school. Because his father deemed him lazier than his brother, Felician was sent to school. The first day, Felician appeared in his traditional tribal dress with chains around his neck and ankles. The teacher explained that he could no longer wear his tribal dress, could no longer speak his tribal language, and must learn Swahili. Swahili is the common language of Tanzania and the government has focused lately on engendering a sense of nationalism throughout the 126 tribes that make up the country. It has worked so far, and Tanzania has a history of peaceful relations among its many tribes. When he was a young boy, Felician's father thought he cried too much. To teach him not to cry, Felician's father took a razor, cut both of his cheeks and put charcoal in each slice. Any tears falling down Felician's cheeks and into the cuts burned. Felician said that he learned to really consider whether anything was worth crying over or not. Scars are still evident on his face.

Felician did well in school and became a naturalist. He was employed by the Tanzanian government as a conservationist and later was hired by Abercrombie and Kent as a tour guide. His brother is still a herder in his village today.

Our mobile tented safari was deemed to be "luxurious" and it was by camping standards - but not by any Hilton hotel standards. The tents were tents - but had some great features not found in the normal campgrounds.

The back of the tent shows the make-shift plumbing features. The far left fixture serviced the toilet and had a mini-septic type system. Over the toilet in the tent was the chain that one pulled to flush the toilet. The green bucket in the middle held water for the shower and the green bucket to the right held the water for the sink.

Water for the shower and for the sink was heated in a large garbage-looking type can over a wood fire. Each tent had an "assistant" who would heat the water and carry it in green buckets from the can to the tent, climb the ladder and pour it into the canvas bag on the back of the tent.

Julius was the "tent assistant" for the tent shared by Kay and me. Every morning he awakened us with coffee and scones. He was a truly a gentle-man.

Our safari was an 11 day adventure. We spent 4 nights in Lodges in Tanzania and the rest were in the tents. The lodge nights were spaced every 3 to 4 days which allowed us to re-charge batteries and take good showers. Though we had lights and lamps in the tents, there were no electric outlets. So much for hairdryers. I wore a hat most of the time while on safari. We camped at 3 of Tanzania's National Parks: 1) the Tarangire Park which is filled with wildlife and the baobab trees; 2) on the rim of the Ngororono Crater; and 3) the Serengeti National Park.

Our camp in the Tarangire Park was along a creek bed that led to a watering hole for elephants and other wildlife. It was exciting on the first evening when we watched a family of elephants walk past our camp. At night we could hear them snorting along with other animals, including lions.

The Tarangire was also filled with baobab trees which I first heard of in high school when my French teacher had us read the LITTLE PRINCE by Saint-Exupery. Baobab trees have incredibly huge trunks that appear to be made of several tree trunks glued together. In the story of THE LITTLE PRINCE, the tree are said to be as "big as castles" so that a whole herd of elephants could not eat a singe one. After seeing these magnificent trees, I agree. The trees are hollow inside and bushmen have used them for shelter as well as warthogs and other animals. The trees spend many months of the year without leaves. As a result, their branches appear more as roots during the barren months. Legend has it that the devil pulled the tree out of the ground then stuffed it back into the earth upside down - with its roots showing above the ground and its foliage underground.

The first day of a wildlife drive was astounding. We saw incredible lions, jackals, elephants, giraffes and many more. The animals viewed our tour trucks as presenting no danger to them. As a result, we were able to get incredibly close to them. Here are pictures of some of those incredible beings.

This lioness was on the banks of a river where elephants were drinking, and she was forced to find other space when the pachyderms ran her off.

She ended up in the shade of a bush - watching the elephants on the bluff across the river. Here's a better
picture. Elephants are matriarchal and very family orientated. It's very difficult to get a good picture of a young elephant who is always in the middle of the family members.

Elephants normally sleep standing up although the younger ones will lay down to nap.

While watching the lion and elephant, Felician saw a male lion resting in the shade under a bush. The lion was lying between the river and large groups of elephants walking toward the river to drink. Felician said we needed to wait and see what happened. After about 30 minutes, a young elephant took off after the lion who lost no time getting out of the neighborhood. Felician explained that although the lion is deemed to be the "king of beasts" - the king is really the elephant. The elephant just doesn't know it.

(I had thought only people suffered from not knowing who they are; just think of how many people have no clue how truly wonderful they really, really are!) The lion jaunted up the hill towards our trucks - and we had to yield the right of way.

But we were able to get good photos of him.

Although he had every reason to be dejected,he

kept his head up.

He eventually found a cool place to get out of the sun.

Animals are like humans. Some are good parents and some are most neglectful. Elephants are very family-centered and protect their young by putting them in the middle of the herd as they graze and travel. Giraffes, on the other hand, are most neglectful.

One afternoon, we saw a newborn giraffe with the umbilical cord still attached.

There were
adult giraffes grazing at a distance from her but none that were close. Felician said that giraffes have their young, drop them and then go eat. They do this tho' they have carried their babies for a gestation period of 450 days. When the mothers are finished eating, they'll come back to where their babies were left. But sometimes, the babies aren't there. The baby giraffe we saw seemed to get frightened and took off - running quite a distance until she stopped and looked at us - a far distance from the adult giraffes. Felician said that a predator like a leopard probably had her in his sights, and she would have no defense since she was a newborn, alone, and knew nothing about protecting herself. I still think about this baby giraffe.

This wonderful bird is a plover and always brought a smile to my face when she was perched close to the road. Felician would say before starting a wildlife drive, "Let's see what Mother Nature has for us to see today." When a plover showed up, I was tickled to death!

This sign is at the entrance to the Lake Manyara park reserve. It's a good reminder of the gifts that Mother Nature gives to each of us. Here are some we were given.

This little one was "followin' in his momma's footsteps" - literally.

This little zebra was busy watching us watch him. Baby zebras have brownish stripes unlike the black ones of the adults. Zebras have very weak backs, cannot be ridden and cannot be used as pack animals.

The monkey on the right is a young vervet monkey. They are the typical stereotypical monkey - playful, curious, and seemingly innocent.

Baboons, on the other hand, are aggressive and ill-tempered. (see one with her baby to the left). If baboons are fed by humans, they become more aggressive. In South Africa, a person will get a hefty fine if caught feeding a baboon. As for the baboon being fed, authorities will destroy it. Baboons carry their young on their backs and sometimes under their belly. They have incredibly large teeth and were definitely not my favorites!

This is a wildebeest or "emu." Along with zebras and gazelles, they are part of the great migration which travels from north to south and back again across the Seregeti in search of water and green grasses. They are also the ones that National Geographic show getting eaten by the croc as they try to cross a river. I love their beards.

This is a cape buffalo which are known to be tempermental and kill humans more than any other animals. They are one of the "Big 5." The others are the lion, leopard, rhino, and elephant.

This is a jackal which is similar to our fox.

And this is the infamous hyena. Hyenas love to sit around in pools of mud, and I'm not sure what color their coats really are. They are real "crunchers" and will eat the bones of animals killed by other predators.

Speaking of mud holes, warthogs also love them and have daily mud baths. These creatures run with their tails straight up and have faces that only a mother could love.

At the other end of the spectrum is the beautiful crested crane which is also the national bird of Uganda. We never saw them fly - and I can't imagine them wallowing in mud.

We watched a lioness stalking zebras from afar one afternoon. Although the zebras were barely visible, she could see them and was watching and stalking.

Lionesses do all of the hunting for their pride. The male lions rest. . .and rest. . .and rest. And sometimes, they just can't stay awake, no matter how hard they try.

And sometimes, they can't help but yawn - - - wide - - -

But - they are beautiful creations.

Lionesses, on the other hand, sleep on the ground, on their backs ( like one of my dogs) - and occasionally in sausage trees - and sometimes in tall grass with their babies.

Trees also serve as lookouts for some lionesses. We were lucky to see 2 in a tree.

Leopards are elusive creatures and are not even counted in the wildlife census that is attempted every few years because they are so difficult to find. Felician told us to look for 4 legs hanging from trees. I had no idea what he meant. In the tree to the right, there's a leopard asleep. This was the first of two leopards we were able to find.

By the time we had ooh'd and aah'd over and over, she woke up to see what was going on.

But she never budged from the tree.

The next day, we ran into another leopard who was lying on a tree limb and was closer to the road. I was able to get a better picture.

She was something else!

And could have cared less about us watching her.

Cheetahs are similar to leopards but they have a black stripe on their face which makes it easy to distinguish them. Cheetahs are also picky eaters. Whereas leopards will kill their prey, haul it up a tree to keep it safe from other animals, and then return to eat later, cheetahs will kill only when hungry and eat it fresh. They save nothing for the "rainy day" fund. We saw 2 groups of cheetahs.

These two cheetahs were busy playing and grooming each other for much of the time that we sat and watched them. There were three of them in the group and always one seemed to be a lookout. They eat every two or three days.

While in the Serengeti, we were able to see a part of the great migration of wildebeests, zebras and gazelles on their annual pilgrimage in search of green grass and water. It was totally amazing. I think everyone felt like I did; i.e., that we were witnesses to one of the most incredible manifestations of the Divine Intelligence in this life. Approximately 1.5 million wildebeests migrate each year and around 500,000 zebras. The zebras see well during the day and can give the alarm for predators. The wildebeests hear well at night and can also watch out for everyone. The wildebeests and zebras need each other to survive. That's a lesson we humans could learn from these beings also.

(more to come)

Comments

What a wonderful adventure!!!
I'm here via Granny Annie.
Felician's story is so interesting, and sad too. His father's way of making him stop crying was cruel.
Those tent accommodations are really nice.

Posted by: Jamie Dawn | February 16, 2009 at 12:44 PM

That was one well told story...I felt like I was almost there....wonderful pictures and great descriptions...I can't wait for more.

Posted by: Lucy Stern | February 16, 2009 at 10:55 PM

Becky,this great!!! Now come see us and tell more in person.

Posted by: Granny Annie | February 17, 2009 at 10:37 AM

Hey, friend! Thank you for sharing this incredible adventure of the senses and beyond -- perhaps "rocketed into a fourth dimension of existence..." More, more.

Posted by: Ellen Feaver Lynn | February 22, 2009 at 09:45 AM