DIANA'S AFRICAN ADVENTURE

For the last ten or so years I'd been getting more and more into the animal scene; so naturally I've been wanting to go to Africa. This trip wasn't a must-do for anyone else in the family, so I went alone. Since I'd been saving my art earnings, I flew to London February 9, 2001 and from there to Nairobi, Kenya (there are no direct flights), arriving on a Sunday morning. Sunday afternoon I visited the real "Out of Africa" Karen Blixen Home and also Giraffe Center, both fascinating and a terrific "easing into" Africa. I knew the tongues of giraffes were 18 inches long, but I had no concept of all the saliva that drips down when you feed one!

This trip was a departure from all my/our other trips, since those I arranged myself, dealing directly with hotels, B & Bs, busses, planes, trains. For Africa I needed help (for one thing, you must have a guide in many of the parks/reserves to which I wanted to go). After lots of searching/reading I chose the African Adventure Company, out of Florida, and it was a perfect match. My trip could not have been better, with two of the best guides, one in Kenya, and one in Tanzania, and furthermore, a great mixture of lodges, permanent tents (i.e. "normal" toilet facilities), and real tents out in the bush. I also wanted to spend as much time in the bush, and as it played out, I literally only had two nights out of the three weeks in a city (Nairobi). The hotels/lodges were outstanding, with African prints and sculpture, and wonderful scenery/animals all round.

My first 8 days were spent in Kenya--the tour was supposed to be a guide, and 7 tourists in a large pop-top van. I was the only one in Nairobi and so amazingly, I had a private tour for the first few days, and then a Japanese news reporter came on board. From the Ark in Abedare, where you literally live next to/over a waterhole and ground, where I observed everything I'd read about elephant behavior, I went to Sambaru, where I experienced my first lioness, for me very emotional, because she and I just kept staring at each other. Her face and the really wise and sweet expression in her eyes got to me; I actually felt we were communicating (I know what you're thinking, but she already had some sort of animal dinner in the weeds in front of her; she didn't need my meat!) I took videos and prints of the antics of many vervet monkeys, who played all over the grounds of the Samburu Serena Lodge, as well as in the high trees in the bush. I'd have an early morning game drive (p'haps 6:30 or 7:30 am) for a couple of hours, then back to the Serena (a series of small cabins and a main dining hall and pool, right next to the Ewasa Ngiro River, home to alligators, water buffalo, maribou stork, etc.) A late afternoon game drive, maybe 4-6:30 and then you're on your own again. This is pretty normal for most African safaris, since you are on animal action time.

I won't detail everything, though I've got it in my journals and on film, but suffice to say guides John (Kenya) and Loishiye (Tanzania) were so good that I saw leopards 4 or 5 times and lions and lionesses countless times. Almost every tour book I'd read here mentioned how you'd be lucky to see a leopard (they are loners, and quite reclusive, though you'd probably see a lion and maybe even a cheetah (also saw several of these). And yes, I saw black rhinos, and water buffalo, all of the "Big Five." What was just as fascinating for me were such things as spending hour watching monkeys or (olive) baboons; elephants' behavior; fascinating and colorful, both large (maribou storks, various eagles and vultures) and small (lilac crested roller, superb starling, yellow weavers) birds; and unbelievable flowers and trees. Lake Nakuru (Kenya) for example, has a resident population of hundreds of thousands (rising to a million during migrations) flamingos and pelicans (which also get pinkish when mating). The lake looks pink! What a cacophony of birdtalk (not song) and wing flurry! Of course I went too close to the water and almost lost my sandal in the black mud. Two of my (new to me) favorite small animals are the rock hyrax (Tanzania) and the tiny dik-dik, a full-grown antelope relative only 14-18 inches high. The dik-dik mates for life and is truly elusive, on account of its size! I caught a precious few photos of the dik-dik, sited several times in both Kenya and Tanzania.

On the open grasslands of the Masai Mara, the northern extension of the Serengeti, were many animals, birds, etc. At one point our minibus was stuck in some disguised-by-tall-grasses-mud, and it was quite exciting waiting for a ranger to come, since we were all open on the top and the lions were interested when another van/bus wanted to help pull us out. In other words, stay in your vehicle! I should mention that no weapons/guns/rifles are allowed--the guides may not carry them. So if you are in trouble, you radio to a park ranger, although one time we did hitch up to another minibus and pulled them out of a deep puddle (did I mention the "roads" are most interesting? Dirt and ruts and narrow and rough--just the way you'd want it to be, and all animals, except humans, have right of way).

The next two weeks were spent in Tanzania--it was our guide Loishiye, and Betsy and Don from the Boston area and Kristy, an ER physician from the Dallas area. Fortunately we were all interested in birds and gentle animals as well as the Big Five and we didn't need to see a "kill". In fact Kristy and I quite adamantly did not want to see a kill (many tourists really want this experience and guides are used to hunting for a hunt to please them). So, although we came upon a huge pride of lions enjoying a huge water buffalo, the buffalo was long dead when we saw the feast--it was interesting that in one of my photos the top rail of our Land Rover (open at the top) is in the same photo as the lions staring at us. In other words, we were within 5-6 feet of their dinner, but as long as we stayed in the Rover we were fine.

(To answer one of your questions, when Loishiye sees no lions, hyenas, whatever in the tall grasses, he stops the Rover; Betsy, Kristy, and I go to the back of the Rover for a pit stop on the "road, or as Loishiye asks, "Does anyone need to mark the territory?" Don and Loishiye obviously mark territory elsewhere. And when we picnicked, we picnicked watchfully.)

Loishiye's eyes were so good he literally ascertained there was a leopard in a tree about 1/2 to one mile away. We saw only what could have been the silhouette of a branch or vine. It was of course the leopard's tail; we drove right next to the tree, and two of my all-time best photographs resulted as a memory of this close encounter.

The most fun--and all of us agreed (I was so lucky to have such compatible tour mates) were the nights we spent in tents really in the bush. The tent crew went ahead and pitched these where you'd probably see animals and we each had a tent. There were also the crew's tent, the mess tent, and the screened dining tent (i.e. open all round, with screens). Candlelight dining (no electricity, obviously) and unbelievably good food. I look out into the darkness while we dine. "Loishiye, I see a big animal just out there". Loishiye takes a flashlight, looks, returns, and tells us there are four lions just on the other side of the screen. What should we do? Nothing. Continue eating. If they wanted us, they'd have us, but they really don't want us; they have lots of impala and gazelles. But Loishiye and Victor (our waiter!) did the rounds of the tents with the Rover's motor roaring and we did have Coleman lanterns outside our tents. Later L and V and the others threw rocks at the hyenas that came through. Four nights of lion sounds and one scary encounter when 3 lions visited Victor in the mess tent (he backed up all the way to Loishiye's tent and the Rover, which they started up). We could hear them as we enjoyed Sundowners (cocktails) before the roaring fire, and simple hors d'oeuvres outside, before the call to the dining tent. One night I unzipped my tent to take a video (my camera has "night vision") and Loishiye yells out sternly, "Diana! Get back in your tent!" I wouldn't have gone out; I just thought I'd stick the camera out.

In the morning one awakens to wonderful birdsong, and then you hear "Jambo!" (hello) and the sound of warm water being poured into the canvas basin outside your tent. The six days and nights we did real camping (as compared with permanent tents, which are also quite lovely) were in Tarangire (Tanzania), a much less frequented reserve with wonderful wildlife viewing, greatly varied terrain, and huge baobab trees, and then we camped on the Serengeti plain itself. In Tanzania we did much more game viewing, almost constant, with drives of 3 or 4 hours early morning and again late afternoon/early evening, because this is what we wanted and Loishiye was most amenable.

Loishiye took us all over and to other unusual places. Highlights include the school in Arusha where the children all lined up by grade and then sang and danced for us. We'd bought pens and I'd bought watercolors and paper, brushes and colored magic markers, because they need everything. (I've since sent more materials to the school). We visited a Masai village and because Loishiye knew them well, we got to sit and talk in the chief and his wife's home (made of sticks and dung--but it smells only of the cooking smoke, certainly not dung). Everyone was very friendly. Once when Kristy, Betsy, and Don hiked up to a crater (with a rifle-toting guide), I sat in the grass to paint, near some hut/homes. Soon I was painting a Teddy Bear and a rabbit for two little children and about 4-5 women and then men, and we were communicating in gestures and smiles, since I don't know Meru or Swahili and they knew no English, really. A hint for anyone going to more remote areas; do bring a Polaroid camera also, although it takes up lots of room (and lots of film). I took Polaroids at the school and in the Masai village; of the children and people I painted with (soon several of them were drawing with the markers while I painted), and in the camp. Except for the camp crew, none of them had seen a Polaroid and many had never seen a photo of themselves. The expressions on their faces as they watched these pictures develop was something to see. Some had been photographed by tourists before, but Loishiye said no one had ever brought a Polaroid along (probably because to make it worthwhile to give out photos, you need a big Polaroid, and even the film packs are large), and so they hadn't seen photos of themselves. So I gave out photos and everyone was delighted to get a photo of themselves or their children. I only wish I'd brought more film!

I must mention Ngorongoro Crater, 10 x 12 miles or so. Nobody is allowed to live there, so it is the closest thing to a natural animal paradise. The terrain changes within the crater, from a lake to plains to trees and lush growth--amazing. The early morning and late afternoon light and its effect leaves you open-mouthed in wonder and it was there I fell in love with zebras. Or maybe it was on the Serengeti plains when the three cheetahs ran to kill a darling baby zebra and I yelled wildly, "Run, Baby, run! Run, Baby, run" and a big Daddy Zebra kicked the lead cheetah, the other zebras quickly surrounded the baby, and they all ran off safely. Oh, my. Zebras are graceful and beautiful, interesting and even comical at times. And the Daddy actually stays with the wives and kiddies.

We got to ride in the middle of the great migration--on the Serengeti plains, in the midst of thousands of wildebeest and zebras (who usually migrate with them). We were off road, just ploughing along in the Rover, Kristy and I, and Betsy and Don, standing up, looking and looking, while Loishiye drove. Whenever we wanted, he'd stop, for filming. That was so thrilling! Just two months before I'd seen I-Max Serengeti and the migration with surround sound and the huge screens, and now I was physically there. Unbelievable!

Lots more adventures, and if any of you are going to Africa and would like to know more, I'm here! About sickness--really only one night there was I sick (I was sick for most of 5 weeks when I came back, with a little protozoa I brought back, but home is a good place to be when you're sick). I thought I could get Africa out of my system, but I surely hope to return there.