Day 1 - Tarangire National Park
I don't really remember too much about it because it was nothing out of the ordinary compared to my overland. We saw mostly elephants, giraffe and zebra. It was Matt's first day in the wild so he really enjoyed just seeing the animals. We saw some buffalo, big animals and really dangerous because of their strength.
Day 2 - Tarangire National Park
The highlight of the day was seeing two male elephants chase after a female and try to mate. Isaac alerted us to the action after we heard the female trumpet as she ran away from the first male. Isaac said they were trying to mate but the female didn't accept the male, hence the noise and running. Then another male chased after her, as shown below but he was unsuccessful as well. Isaac commented on the chase, "See the fifth leg is out." Other cars drove past this scene but didn't stay long enough nor were they quiet enough to see everything play out.
The next major sighting was two ostriches chasing each other in another mating ritual. Isaac pointed out the female fluffing her wings as a sign that she was ready to mate. The male took the hint and chased after her wildly. They ran back and forth across the field and even crashed through a herd of zebra. However, the male was not successful here either. Once again, everyone else missed the action because their drivers didn't know what was going on and they drove by. Isaac was great because he pointed out the animals and repositioned our truck so that we could get a better view. He told us Spanish and Italians sometimes don't get to see a lot because they make a lot of noise.Day 3 - Lake Manyara
We drove into a pack of elephants by mistake. They were hidden by bush and we came upon them fairly quickly. Isaac moved us out of the way into a safe position. Apparently elephants can only see 1-3 meters away from them and because we were in a car we looked like another big animal to them. Below is a mother elephant eying us and protecting her baby.
Next we encountered a chameleon crossing the road. He was bright green and slowly changing color. He was also ever so slowly making his way across the road. Another driver almost ran over him but luckily, Isaac had to warn the other driver not to hit the chameleon.
After driving a bit, Isaac pointed out an leopard and we have no idea how he spotted it. It was about 250 yards away, laying in a tree. He told us later that he saw something there and said to himself that there's not supposed to be a nest there so he backed the car up and pointed out the leopard. He knows the area pretty well.
While we were watching the leopard, two kids and an older lady drove by. We pointed out the leopard which the kids saw but the old lady couldn't. She kept saying "I can't see it. Can I get out?" Having been denied getting out by her driver, they drove on. She was lucky she didn't get out....
As we were watching the leopard, some impala started to make huffing noises, alerting others to the leopard or so we thought. Then out popped a lion, looking right at us. It got down in a crouched position ready to spring. Isaac had his door open but quickly shut it saying he didn't want to become its next prey. Other trucks stopped to see the action but they made too much noise and the lion and leopard left. Although, I think the leopard left because of the lion.
Day 4 - Serengeti
On our way to the Serengeti, we stopped for lunch at a popular eating spot. There were a so many people there that I remarked to Matt,"Everyone and their mother must be here." And right afterwards we ran into the Michigan crew, Irene, Addi, and Munish all eating lunch.
On our drive into the Serengeti, we saw a couple of lions lying under trees and a leopard in a tree. The best sighting was of one lion trying to attack a baby elephant. The lion was sneaking up but the mother elephant charged at it and made a loud trumpeting noise. The lion reared on its hind legs and ran away.
Day 5 - Serengeti
We saw a lot of lions just laying around and a bunch of zebra at this water hole. Zebra are nervous animals that are good at sensing danger. They ran from the hole every time a car drove up.
Isaac informed us that the zebra and wildebeest often travel together because the wildebeest have a good sense for finding water holes and the zebra are great at sensing danger. The zebra are the ones who say its ok for the wildebeest to go to the water hole.
Day 6 - Serengeti
We passed a truck that had been broken down for 3 days (which was the entire time we had been there). The front axle was off the truck. Isaac talked to the driver and gave him water and peanuts. Apparently he hadn't eaten anything since they broke down and was just waiting for repairs to come.
After some more driving, we saw a lion stalking a herd of zebra. We were tracking it until it got too low to the ground for us to see. Then all of a sudden it jumped up closer to the herd but it jumped too early and only managed to split the herd in two groups. One brave zebra stayed near the lion and alerted the others to its presence as they others ran away.
Next we saw a cheetah. This cheetah was very hard to see. We had been looking at where this other guide told us the cheetah was for about 10 minutes and couldn't see anything. Frustrated with us, this other guide got on top of his truck and made some noise. Then the cheetah got up and walked a bit further away, giving us the glimpse we were waiting for.
On our way to Ngorongoro that afternoon our truck got a flat tire. Isaac and Mr. Bean, our cook, quickly changed the tire, which was punctured by a big screw.
Day 7 - Ngorongoro Crater
Ngorongoro was cold. I wore my warmest clothes there. Isaac even wore a blanket over his everyday short sleeve shirt. We started out at 6 am and got down in the crater in enough time to see some action. We saw some lions playing with each other while the male guarded their kill. Hyenas and jackals were waiting for chance to steal the kill.
Then we saw a male and female lion stalk another herd of zebra and wildebeest. They got too close and the herd saw them so the hunt was over.
Afterwards, we drove through a spot where Isaac normally sees rhinos but didn't see any. After leaving the area, he pointed out one that was really far away. I got to check it out with the binoculars but it was really hard to tell if it was a rhino or no. I asked Isaac how he knew it wasn't a buffalo and he said the face is different. It did kinda look like a rhino. Although, later Isaac pointed out another rhino and it turned out to be a buffalo so this makes me wonder about this first sighting.
Day 8 - Hadzabe Hunt in Lake Eyasi
We woke up early again to meet the Hadzabe tribe and go on a game hunt with them. We headed out into the bush with two men from the tribe. They were armed with bows and arrows and a couple of dogs. The men quickly spotted some guinea fowl in the trees up ahead and they took off running. They could run fast. The older guy got underneath this tree, under a bird and fired a poison arrow up at it. The bird got away and we had to look around the area for the poison arrow head because it fell out of the arrow. After searching for a good 20 minutes, we gave up and headed in the direction the bird flew. Then the dogs spotted the bird and the other guy ran quickly and shot it with an arrow, right through the lungs. It turns out that the poison arrow had actually hit the bird and cut its leg so that it couldn't really move around. The men made an impromptu fire by rubbing sticks together and cooked half the bird right there. They offered me a piece and I turned it down the first time but took them up on their second offer. It tasted a bit like chicken and was very smoky because of the fire. They took the other half back to the camp. It was definitely a pretty exciting last day.
Sorry for the long posting. I could actually write a lot more but decided to cut down a bit.
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