Transportation
Outlying areas can be reached by taking little numbered pick-ups called dalla-dallas across from the Darajani Market that charge about 30 cents and like the matatus (multicolored buses) are filled literally to the brim with people as they careen crazily along narrow one lane roads. I wondered if this is where the Merry
Pranksters got the idea for Ken Kesey�s bus in the �60�s.
Virtually no cars on the road; only trucks and buses and a few vans. The people seem like they don’t see many overlanders; some-mostly women and little children wave-sometimes with thumbs up; occasionally an adolescent will give us the finger; many children hold out their hands and come running-obviously having gotten handouts in the past.
No one wants their picture taken. Most will turn their backs or rub the thumb and forefinger together indicating they want money if they see you with a camera. Most feel that it is a violation to have their picture taken and they will all want to be paid at least a couple dollars. One roadside young man threatened to throw a bag or oranges at Bob when he was trying to take a picture while we were riding along in the truck.
The kids are playing a Bobby Marley tape “Get up, stand up, for your rights…” Marley’s anniversary of his death was this week and there was a huge party at the Africa House in Zanzibar-lots of Rastifarians (or wannabes) here.
Bring T Shirts or any other cool clothes that young people in the States wear for trading with the local guys-you could come away with virtually any arts and crafts pieces you ever wanted. There is no money to buy anything Francis says. Even the locals go to a seller and offer 50 cents for a dollar item, he says. So if they can swap what they have with you that is how they get their clothes. Saw a Cliff Richards T-shirt while we were stopped at a roadside gas station. Cliff Richards! Cliff Richards! I yelled at the guy…I know him…in Tempe Arizona! He just laughed.
Sign seen over a business by the side of the road: Camp David Resort
Fields along here are not the small one acre parcels tilled by each family. These are full of rice and sisal-part of a large corporation. Huge fields of corn are all hand tilled.
I love to see the children so proud of themselves in their school uniforms running along side the road after school.
Truck Camp in Dar
As we drove into Dar at sundown, we almost choked on diesel fumes and charcoal smoke rising up from all the dinner fires. Worse than Bangkok where people at least wear surgical face masks. The truck drove to the car ferry for the ride across the bay to the uphemistically named truck camp-Mikadi Beach Resort it is called-for our first view of the Indian Ocean. Then, hot and sweaty, we dove for the wonderful outdoor showers enclosed in tile and green plants-the cold water feeling glorious. Our meal is cooked tonight by the Mikadi Camp Restaurant-wonderful white fish roasted in foil, salads and the ubiquitous french fries. We had to pay the bartender $1 to plug in our electronics.
The next day, while waiting fot the ferry back across the bay to Dar I could look down at the little Abdallah shop selling an odd collection of hair products, Fanta, water, rope, twine, a bicycle tire, empty plastic jugs and eggs. A few feet away a young kid was selling live chickens from a basket tied to the back of his bicycle. Another fellow is pushing along a bike with huge yellow water jugs tied to the top and sides; Another bike has a huge basket of coconuts. A black Malcolm X T shirt worn by a young guy in dreads.
I see what I think is resentment in the eyes of many who look up at us-the healthy, well-fed, big, well-dressed, well-endowed, well-educated…rich..,.on the ferry three Muslim men are looking at the truck-an older one talking animatedly to a younger one….the more he talks the more distressed his friend looks..wish I could be a little bird…It occurs to me that they have to bad-talk the west so they won’t lost their young ones to it…Bob would say I am just making an assumption based on paranoia…but the Muslim is not an authority on the West, I think to myself. I want to speak for myself. I don’t want him interpreting my life to anyone and yet we in the West do that all the time to “the Others.”
I’ll be darned if I can remember anything, except breakfast, that George has cooked for us so far on this overland trip!
The next morning, on the road back to the Snake Park there are small villages and shops; give me pen; give me something; what do you have to give me…the kids yell out to us as we drive past them. The little ones will fight over an empty plastic water bottle.
We are half way to camp when we come upon a huge bog half a mile long and 50 yards wide with several stuck vehicles. Everyone in the village is standing watching the goings on. We have to double back to find another road through some corn fields when we hit another huge bog with 3 feet of water and mud. We are well into the bog when a Land Cruiser, towing a mini-bus, comes into view. There is much yelling back and forth and then Francis realizes it is up to us to back out of the bog to let the Land Cruiser through. I am absolutely astounded at the ability of these vehicles to maneuver through the red slippery clay. Like I said, Hillary really missed some good 4- wheeling!
Drove past the Tanzania Military Defence Association. Reminds me that there has been very little police presence in Kenya or Tanzania. The compound has the only uniform wooden houses we have seen-apparently it is a military installation. all the other houses we have seen so far in Africa are made of sticks and mud.
Meserani Snake Park-Again
East African parks are great; toilets, and showers-some with hot water. Although on this night the water was cold. Found out in the bar later that the meter reader had offered to fix the meter so it would run half as fast if the owners of the park would kick back a monthly fee to him.
While our electronics recharged again I talked with the Brit still at the park who was motorcycling overland. His wife was in their tent recovering from the removal of a molar tooth that day in Arusha. They had lived in Guyana for two years (remember Jonestown?) with the British Volunteer Service and said it had an interesting mix of people and had a waterfall that has the longest free fall in the world but gets no publicity. He had been married 10 years with apparently no children. They rented their house out in London. Said if he could keep his expenses down to 600 pounds a month he could travel indefinitely. ($900) His father was a Cambridge graduate, he said, who still climbs mountains in Nepal. I think we are finding the one percent of the world’s population who have figured out how not to work.
The Ngorongora Crater is a conservation area and National Heritage Site. After breaking camp in the Sarangeti, we drive another two hours up to the Crater rim where we set up camp so we can be ready for the drive down into the Crater the next morning. The crater is 16-17 km across; the difference between a park and a conservation area is that people can live in a park; so many Maasai life in the Sarangeti but none in the crater. The crater sides are covered in a dense rain forest; Black Rhino only here; no giraffes here because it is too steep for them to walk down; no Topi or Impala here; the alkalai lake is filled with pink Flamingos; Corey Bastards are mating; hyenas with their lowered backsides slither along…
The Land Rover dodges huge elephant poop on the roads meandering along the crater bed.
Maasai and Samali Ostriches: incubation 48 days; female watches the eggs during the day and the male at night. Biggest enemies are man and lions; Red Billed Duck; Black Winged Stilt; Black Headed Heron; White Heron; Sacred Ibis; Crowned Crane; Wida Bird; European Stock: coming from Europe with no passport and flies back in December-he is not ours, Francis says.
Common and Golden Jackal; Flamingos by the million who eat algae and salt that makes them pink; Spotted Hyenalives 35 years; noctural;4- 5 months gestation; he was walking the whole night that is why he is sleeping. No one else eats the Hyena except other Hyenas when they die. Lions may kill them but they don’t eat them. Male Lion eats first-big boss-then the mother and the cubs; 40 lions in the crater; sometimes you see no lion because they don’t know you are coming to see them and they just lie anywhere in the tall grass where you can’t see them, Francis says.
Wart Hog; monkey sitting on top of an Acacia Tree-the king of the world. A mini bus drives up. Ladies in nice clean white blouses sit in the back with their suitcases with wheels on them; probably staying at the expnsive Ngorongoro wildlife Lodge on the rim. “My god they are not even camping; not getting the full-on experience!” the kids yell out to each other laughing hysterically. By the way, at a potty stop, one of the kids spotted a tourist all dressed up like Safari Guy just stepping out of Magellan Catalogue. All the crew and kids laughed themselves silly.
Francis says that the animals in the crater are very polite because they haven’t been in the hunting block outside the crater where they learn to be scared of the human.
Black Headed Heron eating baby Black Mama snake; male elephant with biggest penus ever…swinging between his legs as he walks. Weighs 3 kg, Francis says. How does he know, Bob retorts.
We stop at Tak Tak spring for a rest and watch a school of Hippos.
When the zebras walk or run away from the car, their heads bob up and down telling the lions “I have seen you, I have seen you, I have seen you,” Francis says.
We drive around a bend to find five Forest Elephants all in a row. They are waiting for pictures, Francis says smiling. Then we drive up and out of the crater and head back to camp.
I love the remnants of the Swahili cadence in Victor’s English.
Giraffe: “It is raining and he is very happy there-he is getting a shower.”
Bob watching elephants: “This makes you feel badly there are zoos.
Topi: lives up to 20 years, gestation 7 months, smell and sight are bad so they stand on termite mounds to see the lions-so no Topi in the crater because there are no termite mounds in the crater.
Bob: “My everlasting memory of Africa will be the Acacia Tree.”
Sarengeti means endless in Swahili…endless horizons, endless silence, endless pleasure for us.
Grand Gazelle: male has long horns and female has short ones; Lilac Breasted Brawler: Black Jackal-scavenger-only kills rats or grasshoppers; Impala has one mate-the male has to fight to get the female.
Best 4-wheeling ever! Hillary really missed a good time when she took the helicopter in!
The park’s vultures: White Headed Vulture; Hyena; Jackal
This is pleasure-we are finally out of the chaos of the city. Writing helps assimilate our experiences so we can move on…
Glossy Starling: Marshall Eagle; Dove; Bee Eater; Francis: I have to study and put it all in my mind. Guinnie Fowl; “Monkeys are not afraid of you they just like to be by their friends.” Velvet Monkey; Water Buck: males have horns, stay close to the water and need green grass. His enemy is the lion.
The Hippos are grazing all night and in the morning they come back and are sleeping in the day, Francis says. They are mating in the water, delivering babies in the water. They kill many people because they know man is not a good animal. They stay in the water 10 minutes without his breathing. Gestation is 8 months and life span is 40 years. Many Hippos together is called a school: Just like children-they must be together. Now is midnight for them. They roam 5 km at night and return to the pond in the morning. The Park has to arrange for keeping the ponds filled with water because otherwise we can get a problem and Hippos have to die when their skin dries out.
Then Bob says to Francis: “There are humans that eat 25kg a day, the gestation is 9 months they eat animals and leave a big mess.” Francis is delighted “very good, very good” he says. Bob and Francis are friends.
Black Smith; Embrella Acacia-big old one; Maasai Giraffe: gestation 15 months; lives 35 years. When they are walking or when they are ambling their legs are together and when they are running their legs are asymetrical. It is illegal to kill this animal, Francis says. Leopard: a loner-if you see two leopards together either they are mating or it is a mother with her cub. After the baby is born the male is takes off. They are afraid of the dew, like a housecat, so they stay in the tree. At night they are coming down and hunting for their food. When they are killing they put the food in the tree and they are there eating for three days. For hunting they have to use their cunning because they run so slow-they have to hide somewhere and wait-like the lion. Cheetah runs 110 km per hour and is fastest land animal. He cannot climb-just walks. Don’t know if we’ll see him today because of the tall grass…
Much sighing-becoming more and more relaxed…like the animals….
Many Ostriches; Francis says the best animal viewing is July-Sept when the grass is brown and everything is dry and animals are gathered around the water holes. However, Bob saw more animals this trip than he did six years ago in August.
Saw part of a pride of male lions out in a field. Francis spotted a lioness on a rock sleeping-she is waiting for the sun; completely relaxed with one foreleg wrapped down around her rock. There are only 3000 lions in the park. Lives 16-20 years; gestation 5 months. Sometimes their teeth break and they can’t eat food and they have to die. They eat 40 kg of meat-can go one week without eating; nocturanl-very active at night. Later we drive up to a vehicle and two lionesses are lying in the shade against the back wheel. Several vehicles arrive and park in a semi-circle around the lions so we can all take pictures.
We are triumphant! We have seen the “Big Five,” Buffalo, Elephant, Leopard, Lion, Rhino.
Sarangeti Spoof: a person says they have spotted an animal and everyone tries to see it. It is not funny.
We stop at a Maasai Village on the way out of the Sarangeti. “They are people-not monkeys,” I say, and refuse to get out of the car. Most everyone else goes inside the village, made of sticks and bushes, to watch the males do their jumping dance and make the Wilderbeast sound while the females try to sell their necklaces. It costs $5 to go into the village-this is not a cultural exchange or an I-Thou experience either one.
Egyptian Geese; The elephants kill and they pile branches on top and wait for three days to make sure he isn’t going anywhere; Toni Eagle; Wilderbeast: they are very stupid, Francis says, if one crosses the river they all have to cross…like sheep. If they have been in the hunting block, when you stop the car they are not sure of their life. They remember those bad people there. If they have always lived outside the hunting block you can go right up to them and they are not afraid of you.
There are about 5 people to a car besides the driver. The tops of the vehicles pop up so you can stand up and view the animals and take pictures.
Our driver is Francis, about 55, who lost his wife 6 years ago. “I have four boys-I beat you,” he says laughing. There are about 5 people to a car besides the driver. The tops of the vehicles pop up so you can stand up and view the animals and take pictures. The 4-wheelers have radios and the drivers let each other know of animal sightings. We leave the two young Tanzanian cooking crew chattering and bantering in Swahili and take off across the Sarangeti with our drivers.
The second night we stayed at the Merani Snake Park near Arusha Tanzania. We showered and headed to the park bar for a drink and to plug in the electronic equipment for recharging.
Our tour company has contracted with a safari company in Arusha to take us in 4-wheel drive Land Rovers to the Sarangeti National Park and the Ngorongoro Crater. (www.roysafaris.com) We leave behind George and James to watch over the truck and to putter with necessary maintenances.
Land Rovers and Land Cruisers in Africa are a necessity on the mud roads-in American cities they are just expensive status symbols. It took four hours to travel the 200 miles to the Sarangeti. Tanzania has begun paving the road all the way to the Crater which will dramatically increase the tourist influx. The Maasai walking by the side of the road try in vain to get the Rovers to slow down; there are virtually no other cars on the African highways-only trucks and buses.
On the way we pass by a weekend market…charcoal fires filling the air…cooking food for the festivity. “Young people come here to see each other,” our driver says.
We set up camp and ate dinner around a lantern. I drop, exhausted from the jouncing, into bed only to wake up a few minutes later by the sound of elephants playing although it didn’t sound much like playing at the time. Woke again when I heard Bob outside the tent-zipping and unzipping the flaps again and again and juggling the bottle of water we left outside. Finally I reached over to find Bob sound asleep. It was a Bush Pig, I am told later by the cooks. Woke again when I heard grunting, which at the time I thought was snoring coming from one of the other tents; a lion, we are told the next morning-not more than 10 yards from camp.
Beautiful tall Masaii men and women still maintain their tribal lifestyle and religion-wearing red to keep the lions away from their cows. They live in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. The cow is the practical and spiritual focus of their lives. The religion is animistic-they see God in everything.
The women build the houses, gather the firewood, cook and take care of the children. Every day the woman walks five miles for water and firewood.
The man tends the cattle and keeps the lions away. The man eats alone and she hides while he is eating. The Maasai only eat meat, milk and drink hot blood-but they do not eat any wild game.
A boy is cirumsized at about age 16. If he cries out he cannot get married because it means he is not a man. Women used to be circumcised (clitorectomy) also but Francis says that has stopped in the Maasai tribe.
The man can have more than one wife. Some believe if the live in a house they will get sick so they live in the bush and make fire with sticks. They use no medicine or hospitals. If they die they just throw them in the bush, Francis says.
They make a beer called Hadsa out of honey. They sleep on the skin of an animal. They eat birds and baboons. The Chief wears the skin of a baboon,. Children go to school from age 7 through 7th grade by law in Tanzania. If they are not in school there is trouble, Francis says. The 122 tribes in Tanzania are allowed to intermarry and that is why we are not fighting each other, Francis says. Tribes are Christian, Muslim and Animist. They can marry Whites, Francis says.
A week before picking Bob and me and another 3 people up in Nairobi, the WorldWide Adventure Company had taken about 15 others across the Masi Mara into Rwanda to see the Gorillas. Their stories made us sorry we didn’t go…”we were 2 meters away from them…they were so relaxed…and peaceful. The gorillas were completely comfortable with us being there…”
Our first day out the kids were hyper as hell from being stuck in the mud for two days after seeing the gorillas. I threatened to abandon the truck as soon as we got to Dar es Salaam but earplugs got me through. The second day was better…our good natured trip leader talked the kids out of the Michael Jackson tape. Our guide, Rod is South African; the crew-Kenyans. George is a great cook and James-a good driver. The truck is a great way to see Africa because you sit up high and can see all over.The luggage and kitchen stuff is underneath the seats…accessible from outside.
As the truck was moving through the Kenyan/Tanzanian border a young kid wanted $100 American for his little hand-carved giraffes; we all laughed and he yelled up at us “I want to be the Bill Gates of Africa!” then quickly added, “I am just joking!”
Stayed the first night at Namanga Camp where Bob discovered a small pretty Maasai woman named Eunice tending the small camp store. Eunice gave me my Maasai name-Milanoi. We exchanged addresses and she promised to make me a necklace with my Maasai name and send it to my home. (I never got it of course.) She refused to take money for the necklace or the postage so I gave her a silver ring. But in the morning she didn’t give me my 20 shilling change for a Fanta I drank the night before and then the other shoe dropped. She asked me to send her clothes, shoes (size 4) earrings and nail polish and clothes for her 9 year old son. Our expectations of cultural exchanges so different…we hate feeling “used” under the pretenses of friendship. Extend that to our Aid programs world-wide. Who is used by whom?
In Arusha the truck parked for an hour outside an internet cafe so we all climbed down the five-step vertical ladder to a hundred outstretched hands.
Saw a westerner (Brit) sitting by himself at a sidewalk table so I joined him. He had been in the country eight years trying to make a go of a business but had given up and was going back to the UK. He said you can’t make it if you are honest….hands out all over Africa, he said, all the way from the little kid in the street to the top.
Remembered a taxi driver in Nairobi: “80% of the businesses are owned by the Indian minority and they are very very rich,” he spat! I told him what the taxi driver had said and he said, oh, that’s the way it is all over Africa. Fills an economic need for the country but the Africans never get an opportunity to learn the skills they need for self-sufficiency.
Laughingnomad 