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It seemed like a good idea at the time.) The night before I lay awake thinking “What have I gotten myself into?”
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We left Iringa, Tanzania, where I had been volunteering teaching English, for Ruaha National Park; myself, a driver, and a cook. We were going at least 80 miles an hour in the Land Rover on a dirt-and-rock road marked 50. It was hard to tell, the speedometer didn’t work. The driver’s name was Goodluck (really!).
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We arrived at the safari site in the early afternoon. I grabbed my gear and headed towards my hut, just then a mother elephant and her baby strolled across the path 20 metres in front of me. Amazing! What an introduction to my four days of safari.
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Ruaha National Park is bigger than the Serengeti and is the biggest park in East Africa. Our few buildings were smack in the middle of this wilderness. Guests are escorted by an armed guard after dark.
I got up at 6 a.m. every day to a beautiful, red sunrise spread across the horizon. Coffee and cookies were served at 6:30 and then I would climb into Goodluck’s Land Rover. Each day we did three, two-and-a-half-hour safari drives, with yummy meals in-between. Goodluck knows the park, the back roads and where to find the animals. Occasionally I would spot something before him, but often he would see an animal or bird, stop, point at it, describe it and I would still have trouble seeing it.
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One day we were driving along and Goodluck pulled over by some large trees on the riverbank. “See.”
“Where?”
Pointing. “Up there.”
Along a lower branch curled a huge python. “See the big bulge, it’s fed recently; being cold-blooded, a big meal could take two or three months before it’s digested.”
The Great Ruaha River is as wide across as B.C.’s Fraser River and in the dry season it has no running water in it, just occasional pools of water. One morning we parked on the riverbank, I looked around in amazement: impala and giraffe on the riverbed, baboons on the riverbank and a herd of Cape Buffalo in the shade under the trees.
Another day we came to a stop almost under a low branch with a leopard draped on it; chin down, eyes opening lazily to look around, tail flicking occasionally. He was beautiful up close! A resplendent tan color with black spots. Like a postcard or one of those African safari videos. When three more vehicles arrived, which was very unusual, the leopard got up slowly and climbed down the tree into the bush; in a moment he was gone or hidden.
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Giraffes are a favourite of mine. I think it’s because of how striking they look and the way they move – an awkward gracefulness. When walking, they move both legs on the same side, forward at the same time. It’s really something to see them move through the trees or over the savannah.
Sometimes I would see just a head move across the tops of the trees almost as if there was nothing below propelling it. Clearly, they are one of the least difficult animals to spot on a safari.
When I booked the trip I signed up for a “walking tour” across the wilds with two armed guides. (It seemed like a good idea at the time.) The night before I lay awake thinking “What have I gotten myself into?”
Up at 5:30 a.m., it was just getting light out. I had coffee and some bread with jam, and was quickly on the road. My two guides were dressed in military-type fatigues. Peter carried a high-powered rifle with a six-shot chamber, good for stopping big game, he explained. Noel carried a sub-machine gun that looked like an Uzi.
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Short instructions: single file with Peter in front, me in the middle and Noel bringing up the rear, no loud talking, never get in front of Peter, and the hand signals for “stop”, “freeze” and “crouch down.”
We followed trails littered with poop and tracks from various animals. Peter would stop and give more details about the poop than I really needed, and tell me where the animal was headed. Elephant dung is huge and everywhere; so were the flies. I can’t imagine doing the hike without the huge amount of bug repellant that I had sprayed all over me!
We hiked along the top of the riverbank and in the dry riverbed. We saw cranes, water birds, eagles, and a troop of baboons scooted five metres in front of us, one with a baby clinging to its’ back. In the larger pools there were hippos, while crocodiles sunned themselves on the sand.
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The brush was dry and I could see through it somewhat. The guides said that they would not do this walk in the rainy season with everything green; it would be too easy for lions to stalk us.
At one point we were in the riverbed approaching a hill and we could see a hippo towards the top. It started coming down the hill towards us. We made a quick 90 degree turn away from it and up the riverbank we went. The guides said that hippos kill more people (usually farmers or fishermen) in Africa than any other animal.
Beautiful scenery, a sunny day, great guides (with guns), and while we all kept very watchful, most of my anxiety had eased by the end of the safari.
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