Friday 5-2-14

Friday May 2, 2014

                We woke up at 5am, and oh, how early it was. We got all of our last minute packing done and decided to head off. It was still dark outside so off we went with our flashlight on the path, kids by hand, and heavily packed up with bags. The walk down was very fun. Jove thought it was a great adventure, but Ayla was very scared almost the whole time. She thought something was going to jump out and eat her. After a half hour walk we made it to the river and crossed by foot again. We were lucky that Abdala carried Ayla and Asa carried Jove. I almost fell one time, but recovered my balance fast enough.              

                Next we began our drive toward Morogoro to pick up some chipati (fried bread) for breakfast peanut butter and honey or Nutella rolls. We had to stop at a few dukas because most of them didn’t have any made yet, but after about five dukas we finally got enough for all of us. Abdala has become a very adventurous eater. He had his first taste of Nutella today. We put some on chipati and he loved it. It will be one of the things that Mamaliz buys for him when she comes back to the U.S. It is very expensive here because only the mzungu will eat it. Well us and Abdala I suppose. On toward Mukumi we went. It was about a two hour drive from Morogoro. The kids busied themselves with tablets and a little “I Spy”. We had to yell at them a few times. It is a long drive though so it is understandable that two siblings would fight in a car after having to be that close for so long. Along our way, Abdala stopped to talk with some Tanzanian police officers, I guess they are friends. One came up to the car and talked to Mamaliz for a little while, just joking around and whatnot. He asked Asa what tribe he was from. When Mamaliz said “Americani” he kept asking. Tried getting it across he understood American but past that, what TRIBE he belonged to. He just couldn’t understand that in America we don’t have tribes.

                Mukumi starts about 12km before the actual start of the park. But on that 12km drive we saw so many baboons on the side of the road. There were even some mamas with a baby clinging to their bellies and backs. I so badly wanted a picture but I guess if you take any photos prior to paying then you get charged an extra fee. So I don’t have photos of that part, but I do have the memory. There was a very large heard of impala off in the grass so we stopped and watched them as well. Once we made it to the actual beginning of the park to pay, that is when we really started to see animals. There was this massive herd of impala right away. We would clap our hands to get them to run a few yards. They jump so very high, it is just unbelievable. We saw zebra also, usually paired with the giraffe, but occasionally they would be off somewhere else. Lots of birds were around, so many of which were brilliantly colored. We made it to the hippo pool and that is the only area where you are supposed to be okay to get out of the car to check things out. They were more active than Mamaliz has ever seen. There was a whole family that would just pop a head up then duck back under. All day long they do this. There were even a few baby hippos amongst the group. At one point this baby hippo popped up on the back of one of the adults only to do this summersault off. So cute. After that Asa and I climbed on top of the jeep. We were able to take much better photos from up there. Unfortunately I forgot to put on sun block and so I fried up like an egg. At one point we stopped at a watering hole looking at elands (there were a few other types of animals there that we had already seen). Asa was the only one on top of the jeep at this point and all of a sudden there was a rustling in the long grass about ten feet behind him. This is an area where there are lions and leopards and so hearing this Asa nearly pooped himself thinking it was a lion. Turns out it was a wart hog. He yelled down to us and I was able to get the kids to turn around fast enough that we all saw it running away. On our way back toward the exit we saw a five foot monitor basking on the trunk of a tree. When we stopped to try to get a photo he climbed into a hole inside the tree. At a few different points we saw the biggest heard of giraffe I have ever seen. Well I have only seen in zoos, so I guess that is understandable, but still. There were at least 40 of them. We spent a lot of our time and a lot of our photos on the. Lots of close ups of the faces to capture that wonderful stupid look they get. It was amazing to see them when they are all running. It is as if you are watching in slow motion. There were a few different small herds of elephants which are my favorite. I really wish we would have been able to get closer, but they were not willing so we watched from afar. Just before leaving the actual park area we luckily came upon another family of baboon that we were able to take pictures of. There were a good 50-75 that we could see, but with the grass so long and so many trees there could have been even more. They started out in the road and as our car and one coming from the opposite direction neared they scattered off into the grass and trees. At one point while doing this a few of the adolescents began to fight. It didn’t last long but so interesting to watch.

                On the drive out there are these signs up in Swahili, but with USD amounts on them and a picture of a different animal. Finally we ask Abdala what they say. Turns out they are signs explaining how much it would cost if you hit and killed the animal.

It will cost you:

16,000 for a giraffe

110 for a baboon

4900 for a lion

500 for an impala

1900 for a wildebeest

4500 for a water buffalo

15000 for an elephant (although this might have been 150K, but I think the giraffe was the most because it is the symbol animal of Tanzania)

                The rest of the day was spent driving through many small villages that were just glorified truck stops where HIV runs rampant. When Dar es Salaam began to near the traffic began to get very bad. I have never seen anything like this. No one pays any attention to lanes, directions, anything. It is a complete free for all. I would never want to drive here.