Safari Part 7b

September 4, 2009

Continued...

We wait at the airport, a small, dirt runway affair, taking pictures with Mike and following around the many rock hyrax (little guinea pig type critters). Then load into the small plane to head back to Arusha.


The plane seats maybe 30 people, maybe, and it’s packed. They pass out cold water. The pilot opens a Tupperware container of candy, lifts it up, says ‘In flight service’ and passes it back among the passengers.


The flight is short, 45 minutes back to Arusha, where we are picked up by Mike’s wife, Flavia, and his nephew, Gabey. They take us shopping. We had high hopes for this shopping trip, as we were told it was a kind of bazaar with local artisan’s work. What it really turned out to be was a sort of up-scale mall for wazungu tourists. Over-priced and not fun. Clearly, shopping in Africa just isn’t going to happen.


Then they take us back to our first, and worst, hotel. We have a couple of hours before the flight which are spent repacking and getting everything into bags. This includes about 15 pounds of coffee that Papa Mandela has left for us with reception. This coffee is from his farm, and he’d offered to bring us some. We were expecting a few small bags of whole bean coffee. What we got was 12 large bags of pre-ground coffee. But we somehow make room in our luggage and just pray that customs won’t assume we’re drug smugglers. Considering everything we’re carrying now reeks of coffee, it may be dicey.


Then we head up for a quick bite of lunch and, of course, a glass of wine before we get picked up by Gabey again.


He drops us at the airport at about 6 pm, and Africa leaves us with one last spectacular sunset. By 9 we’re off to Dar el Salaam (the current capitol), then Amsterdam (and bloody mary’s) and finally back to JFK by about 2 p.m. And then I have to say goodbye to two women that I have spent almost every moment with for two and half weeks, who were with me as I vomited on top of mountain, dressed in shukas and danced with me, and sang with me while hiking across an enormous plateau.


It has been journey. One that could not have been better. No one had a bad day, or a bad mood, or even (apart from altitude sickness and banana beer heartburn) felt a little off. It has been a journey of discovery, of the self and the world. And now my only question is: who will fund the next one?


Tomorrow: Who knows?


Photos: Rock Hyrax. Mike Taylor.

Safari Part 7a

September 4, 2009 (Serengeti Day 4)

We get up this morning and pack, plus arrange our tip for Mike. We’re also leaving with him some gifts for Junior and Anita’s copy of Hemingway’s short stories that we read aloud on the mountain. Mike is thrilled with the book since he has just gotten a call asking him to stay in the Serengeti to pick up a couple that is flying in two days from now. So he has two open days and the book will be a good distraction.

We grab our bags, make our goodbyes to the staff, and pile into the Land Rover. We immediately pop the roof open and our three heads poke out. We can’t waste a second. Mike receives a call on the radio from a ranger buddy. Ahead of us, just off the road, a lioness has taken down a zebra. And there are cubs. Good morning, Serengeti.

We drive up to it, and watch in fascination as the lioness and a group of cubs have their breakfast. An enterprising and daring silver-backed jackal is sneaking in to steal scraps. The adults pay the jackal no heed, but the cubs are intently focused on him. We watch as they weigh the decision of whether or not they should attack. A few of them even make a move toward him, but are always inevitably brought back to their meal.

After watching this for a while (watching big cats eat is pretty awesome), we finally give Mike the go ahead. Good morning indeed.

We move on toward the airport.

Mike has been humming and singing a popular Swahili song called ‘Anita’ all morning. This prompts me to lead a round of the ‘Jambo Jambo’ song, which in turn gets Anita and I doing a poor rendition of ‘The Hills are Alive’ from The Sound of Music. This, in turn, prompts Mike to mention that The Sound of Music is one of his all-time favorite movies that he always watches with his kids. This, in turn, and finally, leads the three of us into a rousing rendition of ‘Do, Re, Mi’.

Who would have ever suspected that one day I would be driving on safari in the Serengeti singing ‘Doe, a deer’ at the top of my lungs with my companion and safari guide? You cannot make this shit up. (And yes Mom, I thought of you since I watched that movie growing up with you). ((And yes Daniel, I thought of you too)).

Doe, a deer, a female deer. Ray, a drop of golden sun. Me, a name I call myself. Far, a long long way to run. Sew, a needle pulling thread; La, a note to follow Sew; Tea, a drink with jam and bread; and that will bring us back to……….

Doe. Doe. Doe. Doe.

At the end of our sing-a-long, we notice that this morning it’s as if the giraffes have come to see us off. They line the road to the airport. And the last one we see before we turn off is the cutest, fuzziest, smallest one we’ve seen yet. Adorable.

Goodbye to you too Serengeti.

To be Continued...

Photos: Lions eating Zebra. Looking at the Jackal. The Jackal. Baby Giraffe.