Defining Happy

For the last five days I have been on an amazing Safari traveling through four different national parks/conservation areas; Lake Manyara, the well-known Serengeti, Ngorongoro crater, and Terengerie National Park. Daniela and I were still traveling together and we were in a group with a loud mouth, chain-smoking, chatterbox, party animal couple from Spain, and a know-it-all dude from Slovenia.

I chose a no-frills safari and to be honest it still was a bit more luxury than I expected.  We had a private cook who whipped up three fresh meals on most days. On the days when we spent lunch time at the safari site our nice lunch was substituted by a boxed meal. Our driver/guide who was a bit quiet at first drove like a snail but he seemed to really know his way around the areas.

Overall, the couple from Spain drove me nuts. I imagined a quiet safari where all you would hear was the sounds of nature. But since they talked to each other and complained from the time we picked them up at their travel agents office on the first day to the time we dropped them off at their agent’s office on the last day I was forced to listen to my iPod to drown out the loud noise.  On top of that they rolled and smoked about 3048023948230 cigarettes every five minutes.  I thought for sure that between the dust from the dirt outside and the two chimney’s smoking my parting gift for the end of the safari would be lung cancer and emphezema.  Between them, the know it all cat with more “facts” than the driver/guide, and my travel partner checking her tan every two seconds I was just about ready for a half a gallon of a 63.7% alcohol filled drink.

Other than all of that the safari was BANANAS!! I swear I will never go to another zoo again. Seeing these animals in their natural habitat was like no other.  I felt like a big kid as I grinned from ear to ear at the sight of each animal. Well that was until about the 3rd day when you had already seen just about all there was to see.  By the 4th and 5th day we all were rolling our eyes and saying “if you can’t show us a lion eating or killing another animal we don’t want to stop anymore”.  I think we had seen just about every zebra and Bambi-like-animal in Tanzania.

The highlights for me would have to be watching a lion only a few feet away while he was getting medieval on a wild pig he just killed and sleeping in a tent in the middle of the Serengeti while wild animals swarmed around us at night.  Who does that?? I mean seriously.

Just in case any of you are considering going on a safari in the future here are some of my tips:

• Book a private tour – If I was by myself this would have been a no-brainer but I was traveling in a pair and had to consider the other person’s budget.  If you end up in a group with people you do not gel well with that can make your safari a little less amazing.

• Inform your tour operator of dietary needs – I’m a vegetarian and Daniela is kind-of a vegetarian (she apparently only eats “good” meat…whatever the hell that means) but the other three in the group were meat eaters to the core. They were a little pissed that most of the meals they were served were veg. They actually complained that it wasn’t enough meat.  All the meals were great but after seeing some of the lunch and dinner options that the other groups were having I would have liked to have some healthier options added in to the menu. After 5 days of eating starch on top of starch my bowels have gone on strike. Nuff said…

• Choose your tour operator wisely – We went with Ilmaasai Expeditions on the recommendation of a previous volunteer at the Hope Foundation.  Also because the owner, Loth, was very responsive and thorough when I communicated with him. With my previous experience with people who “work” in Tanzania a cat who was about his business and ON TIME!!! was definitely refreshing. I didn’t hesitate to book with him.  While his equipment (fleet of cars, office, supplies) seemed a little shabby compared to some of the other companies they were adequate and the service was 5 star.  I don’t recommend businesses or people quite often on this blog so you know if I’m putting my stamp of approval on it he has to be official.

• Clothes and packing – Ok so…I felt my attire was fine for this trip but there were a few chicks prancing around the campsites in daisy dukes and tube tops.  I always like to take the local customs into consideration when I visit a country.  I’m not here to judge but ass-hanging-out-on-a-safari? No bueno!  Also, I know safari hats look dorky as hell but when I almost suffered 32 degree burns on the top of my scalp from hanging outside of the jeep all day….I definitely wished I had one of those dorky hats.  I just went a lil’ chocolate Audrey Hepburn and wrapped my scarf around my head and I was cool.

• Camera batteries and memory cards – I brought an extra battery and an extra 16gb SD card. I needed both of them. They actually had electricity at all of the campsites so there was no problem with charging my camera batteries each night. Be advised that there will be 2309438204983 people trying to get to ten outlets. I almost had words with the Spanish couple for pushing me out of the way so they could hog the same outlet for the second day in a row.

 

Ok so I’ve run out of tips and this post was must longer than I had anticipated….. Enjoy the photos. The rest of them will be upload to flickr when I get a better connection.