Africa, Part II - The Animals

I've meant to write some additional Africa-related entries well before now, but I think that talking with so many people about it since we've gotten back, I was experiencing a bit of safari-stories overload. I'm better now. I was also inspired by this article about West African chimpanzees making weapons for hunting. Those chimps are so smart, I'm sure their weapons are of an intelligent design.

The strangest thing, by far, of seeing so many exotic animals in their natural environment, is how quickly one takes them for granted. I was struck by how odd it was, that by the third day, an elephant or giraffe sighting was no longer cause for celebration, but just another day in the safari vehicle. An elephant didn't even warrant a photo at that point, unless it was particularly close, particularly young, or was doing something of note (sharpening its tusks, tearing the bark from a tree, etc.). Not to say that they still weren't cool to see, it was just very easy to get used to the presence of these animals. Our first night at a safari camp, there was an elephant wandering around not even 50 feet from our tent. That's just how it was - they were there, you were a visitor in their world, so get used to it or spend the whole trip with your mouth open in astonishment (not good, lots of flies).

We were visitors, yes, but we certainly weren't unnoticed, especially by certain species. Impalas, zebras, many species of gazelle - they couldn't care less that we were there. Elephants too - they don't have much in the way of predators, once you remove 'humans with guns' from the list. Warthogs, hyeenas, cheetahs, baboons, wildebeests; they all were quite aware of our presence, although the reaction ran the gamut from disinterested to curious to wary to terrified, and varied even within species. We encountered hyeenas who were jolted out of their mud baths by our approach, and the next day our Land Cruiser raced a few hundred yards in the middle of the Serengeti alongside a younger hyeena who looked to be just having a good time. Wildebeests scattered en masse whenever our vehicle approached, while some gazelles and baboons, and zebras waited until they were almost roadkill before giving way. We frightened away a timid herd of Eland (Ben, our guide, said that they're all timid), only to be approached by a born-that-day baby Eland, still nearly blind, who mistook our Land Cruiser for a parent and bleated at us pathetically.

Yes, we did see lions, but not up close, and none that were active. It seems as though the typical savannah lion is about as lazy as your common house cat, lounging and sleeping most of the day. We were fortunate enough to watch - from a distance - a female cheetah at the hunt, although she whiffed on a Thompson's Gazelle. Two days later, we saw her up close in the same general area , a few feet from a road, with her three three-month old cubs. We also saw a serval slinking along the road one morning, that was kinda cool.

All said, there was rarely a day where we went very long without seeing something, whether it was one or more of the plentiful gazelle, hippos floating in a pool, warthogs scurrying around somewhat nervously, or one of dozens of species of birds. Still, it certainly wasn't anything like a trip to the zoo; more like a journey to another planet, where we were welcome but still alien visitors.

Africa, Part I - Jet Lag

I don't think I've ever had a serious case of jet lag before now, but I guess that the combination of flying across eight time zones, plus going from mid-nineties temperatures to the teens here at home, took its toll. It's been 3+ days since we've been back, and I still don't feel right. Hopefully the weekend will help with the recovery process.

I'm not going to try to squeeze all my thoughts on our trip to Tanzania into one post, because that post would end up being too damn long. So over the next week or two I'll probably divide it into several shorter entries, one for wildlife, one for people, one for locations & accommodations, maybe one other one also. That should ensure that any remaining readers will be driven from this blog permanently, leaving only my loving parents, and maybe my siblings.

Jenny already has some photos online - elephants mostly - and she's be adding more in the next few days. I have some short (15 second) video clips taken with my Sony still camera (the video camera stopped working on day 2 of our trip) that I'll try to upload to YouTube at some point also.

Africa Bound!

It's a done deal - we recently sent in our deposit and purchased our plane tickets for our two-week Tanzanian safari in early '07. We're certainly excited about it, now once I get the P.E. exam out of the way, I can concentrate on outfitting for this trip. We've already got most of the clothing and other gear covered, but we're probably going to need some additional photographic equipment; extra lenses for digital cameras - for what that's worth, they're nice cameras, but not super-nice digital SLRs - and some kind of way to store digital photos so we don't have to buy dozens of memory cards and sticks. And then, of course, there's the camoflouge.

That's right, every trip can be spiced up with a little bit of ugly-Americanism. I'm planning on passing myself off as an up-and-coming soldier-of-fortune, in Africa for the first time scouting the terrain and getting to know local customs and wildlife. Then, the last half of the trip will be the training portion, where I practice my fighting skills by sneaking up on wildlife and punching and/or kicking them, and then running away.

Why no weapons, you ask? First, I don't have any. Second, try bringing them on a plane these days. But most important, what kind of soldier-of-fortune would I be if I couldn't fight a lion with my bare hands? How would I expect the UN peacekeepers to hire me on for their secret UN asskicking unit that's going to finally restore order in the Sudan? Tanzania and its carnivores will serve as my proving ground for that conflict. Wish me luck!