Two Hundred Cattle

March 21, 2011

That’s how much I’m worth over here. Learned that the other day. If I marry a Masai warrior, my dad will get 200 cows. Of course, I’m five years older than prime marriage age, but they’d still take me.

Luckily, Dad held onto me. He showed up in Ghana a week and a half ago and we bounced around here for a few days, then headed east to Tanzania. We had a connecting flight in Ethiopia, or rather we thought we did, but when we arrived at 10 PM and headed to our gate, they told us the flight was cancelled. We probably should have questioned the long line of people standing behind the “Hotel Voucher” desk, or the fact that nobody else was at the gate when we arrived, but silly Americans, we didn’t. Oh well. Now I’ve been to Ethiopia! Doesn’t matter that we got to the hotel at 11 PM and left at 7 AM; I was there.

From Arusha, we went to Ngorongoro Crater, the Serengeti, and Lake Manyara.. Ngorongoro Crater is a collapsed volcano and it’s so cool I’m pretty sure it’s actually another planet.

The first morning, on our way down into the crater from the lodge, after we had been driving for 45 minutes or an hour, our guide just casually pointed out “There’s a cheetah over there.” That’s when it all began.

There are so many habitats within the one ecosystem so there’s tons of variety of animals, trees, landscapes, sounds, everything. It’s also basically paradise for the animals that live there because it’s protected by the crater walls, which means the only predators are the ones within the area. The lions make bank on this deal, because there’s plenty of snack food all the time, and any other lions that try to come from outside can’t compete because they’re not as strong, since they’re not as well-fed. So the Ngorongoro guys are the biggest in the world and just own the place like nothing else matters.

We also found two black rhinos, which are apparently really rare, so our guide was really excited about that. I think it was because he had the best and the brightest of all safari-goers, which is why we saw all of the Big Five in two days, but I let him think it was his own expertise that led us there.

What are the Big Five? The elephant, buffalo, lion, leopard, and rhino. They’re the ones all them hunters want. And we got ‘em all! Except we let them live. I guess that’s the major difference between us and the poachers.

On our way out, we stopped at a Masai village, where we (and our American dollars) were welcomed with open arms. I sort of messed up the whole tradition thing when I tried to join my dad in the welcoming ceremony, not realizing it was a gender-specific jump-a-thon, but I don’t think they minded too much. They just redirected me and there I went, jumping away.

The Serengeti was exactly as marvelous as you might expect. Excuse the cliché, but waking up to the sunrise over the acacia landscape was remarkable. We heard the hippos grunting right outside the hotel and went out on our way. Our trusty guide Edward found us a nice big leopard, which is tough because (A) they’re solitary, so they’re harder to find (B) they’re shy and (C) there aren’t many of them because they’re selfish- they don’t look out for each other the same way lions do. She had an antelope up in the tree with her, so we were there right for snack time. Yum.

Later we saw a lion hunt! We drove by a huuuuuge herd of zebras and wildebeests (they’re always pals, don’t know why, but they’re always with each other) and when they realized there were lionesses nearby they started freaking out. They were scampering all over the place and making all kinds of noises and it was really quite fascinating. Unfortunately one of the zebra bros didn’t make it, because two lionesses took him down, while his pals all scattered, but lucky for us, that meant we got to see the cubs! After the zebras and the wildebeests had disappeared, a pack of about 13 (maybe more, but we counted 13 for sure) cubs followed the lionesses. So cool!

Driving out from the Serengeti, we stopped at Oldupai Gorge, which is where they’ve done lots of excavation and found bones that track five steps of human evolution, starting right after Lucy. It brought me right back to my days as a geologist, that time I took geology without a lab. That was smart.

Anyway, then we moved onward to Lake Manyara, which used to be a flamingo haven but they all died because of global warming. At least that’s what Edward told us. He wasn’t shy to remind us of global warming at pretty much every opportunity. So there we saw tons of different bird species, lots of monkeys swinging around and jumping on top of each other, and a hippo run across the road. That was maybe the coolest of the least expected sightings. Hippos are huge (duh), and their legs are little stumps, but those guys can run! I don’t think he could outdo a cheetah, but I do think he could outdo me. Especially if he’s hungry…

All in all, it was a fantastic trip. For those faithful readers who aren’t sick of my gabbing yet, I’ll list all the sightings below:

· African Buffalo
· Cheetah
· Guinea Fowl
· White-Bearded Wildebeest
· Zebra
· Eagles
· Ostriches
· Serval Cat (looks like a small cheetah)
· Elephant
· Black Rhino
· Lions, including cubs and lionesses
· Flamingos
· Black-Faced Vervet Monkeys
· Warthogs (Pumba!)
· Single-hump Masai Camels
· Masai Giraffes
· Leopard
· Crowned Crane (bird)
· Agaemon Lizard
· Bats (in the lodge dining room and lounge!)
· Leopard Tortoise
· Banded Mongoose
· Dwarf Mongoose (Timon!)
· Jackals
· Rock Hyrax (rodent the size of a rabbit, curiously enough possibly closest living relative to the elephant)
· Hippos
· Crocodile
· Cattle Egret (little white bird)
· Gray Heron
· Parrot
· Black-Winged Stilt (bird)
· Superb Starling (bird)
· Blue Monkeys
· Glossy Ibis
· Egyptian Geese
· Trumpeter Hornbill
· Red-billed Hornbill
· Bushbuck (antelope)
· Ground Hornbill
· Crowned Plover (bird)
· Two-Banded Coarser (bird)
· Grants Gazelle
· Thomson’s Gazelle
· Elan Gazelle
· Topi Gazelle
· Dik Dik (tiny little antelope, cat-sized)
· Impala (antelope)
· Kori Bustard (bird)
· Marabou Stork
· White Stork
· African Pied Wagtail
· Tropical Boubou
· Lapped-faced vulture

So there you have it! An African safari wrapped up into 1115 words. Until next time!