HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Because the Xmas break was so long here, we took two weeks of it to travel outside Ghana to the Serengeti and Zanzibar, in East Africa (nearly 7 hours due East in fact). Jenn, Judi’s daughter, flew out from Calgary to join us, allowing us to have our own ‘family’ Xmas (Xmas day was actually spent in the Ngorongoro Crater, a wonderful area of about 30 square kms, with probably the biggest natural concentration of large wildlife in the world).

Everyone strives to see the ‘big five’ animals, but these become almost irrelevant due to the variety of animals and birds, and their proximity to one’s vehicle. Having said that, our big claim to fame, was to not only spot both a cheetah and a leopard, but to see them approach one another – Judi actually has a photo with the two of them in the same frame – something which the guides rarely, if ever, see. Admittedly it’s from quite a distance, but the sighting has been ‘documented’.

We were picked up by our guide, John, in a Land Cruiser in Arusha, Tanzania, near the base of Kilimanjaro. The mountain, as usual, was covered in cloud, but fortunately we flew over it later on our way to Accra, and were able to get a clear view of both the summit (20,000+ ft) and the crater, above the cloud. There have been rumours that, with global warming, much of the snow is disappearing from the mountain, but that certainly wasn’t the case this year. Someone who had just completed the ascent said that they were fighting through waist-deep snow at the summit.

We had allowed ourselves 5 full days of game viewing, and I was a bit worried that that might be overdoing it, and become fed up with the sight of animals. That turned out not to be the case at all, because we were in 4 different parks and settings, with a great variety of animals and birds. The most impressive was undoubtedly the Ngorongoro Crater, because of its open terrain, the variety and number of animals and their lack of skittishness in the face of rather too many vehicles.

Having said that, Tarangire was definitely the place to see elephants, and the Serengeti had its herd of 2 million wildebeest and countless zebra and giraffe. The Serengeti plains really made one realize what the Prairies must have been like with the buffalo herds, with animals from here to the horizon. It was the minor rainy season in the Serengeti when we were there, so there was plenty of grass to keep the herds there. Later in the year they all migrate across the border into the Masai Mara in Kenya, managing to cross the crocodile-infested rivers, by sheer weight of numbers. We were thoroughly entertained by the antics of the baboons at Lake Munyari Park.

The rain was mostly at night, so it didn’t hinder the game viewing, but it certainly introduced some challenge to the driving. The roads in the parks are deliberately unsurfaced (i.e. full of potholes), and the rain added the mud factor. There are defined trails, which vehicles aren’t supposed to leave, but as the holes and the mud got deeper, detour trails through the boggy land at the side of the main trails,even began to get wider and deeper. We had a good driver, so didn’t get stuck ourselves, but many 4 -wheel drive vehicles did. Fortunately all the drivers were only too willing to help each other in these circumstances.

4-wheel drives are absolutely necessary; we didn’t ever see anything even vaguely resembling a pick-up truck. We did come across a fully-loaded truck which had tipped over into a ditch on a bend. Righting it was more a matter of impressive ingenuity than technology. It was down in a ditch, and was being unloaded by the local Masai warriors, when we passed it the first time. Two days later, when we returned, it had been righted by building an ever-increasing pile of logs beside the vehicle, and using a wedge and lever system!

On several occasions, we had to detour to avoid creek fjords, which had become too deep, and one of the lodges that we were supposed to visit was completely cut off due to flooding. We managed to make other arrangements, but it was probably somewhat more difficult for the tourists trapped in the original one – there was only one access road, which had been flooded for 4 days, leaving them with missed flights, and an exhausted supply of fresh food.

Despite the fact that it was the Xmas holiday, we did manage to cajole rooms out of one of the two other lodges in the area, for one night, but had absolutely no success in trying to get a second night’s booking there. We tried everything in the overbearing, aggressive tourist routine, haranguing the hotel manager and the tour company, etc., but with no effect. (Usually, here, with things like airline seats and hotel rooms, it is first come, first served, but in this case they seemed more than usually committed to their future guests’ bookings. It wasn’t until following morning that we found out that the guests arriving were the President of Tanzania and his family and entourage of 40, coming for a 4 day Xmas holiday!) Perhaps the hotel manager had his priorities right after all!

As a result, we returned early to the Ngorongoro Crater, and were lucky enough to spend an extra night in the Lodge on the brim of the crater, looking down on the grassy plain of the crater floor, and the lake with its abundance of flamingoes. Although the crater is popular, it is quite possible to get away from other vehicles, and it is a wonderful area to see an almost complete range of animals (no giraffe for some reason).

I mentioned the cheetah and leopard sighting, but the most memorable incident for me was taking lunch, sitting on a rock overlooking one of the hippo pools. I suppose that I have had experience of aggressive crows, when trying to eat sandwiches on golf courses in BC, but this was the first time I have actually had a large bird swoop down and take a roll out of my mouth, scraping my cheek in the process! – Still, it was a good reminder that it is the ‘wild’, and I suppose I shoud be thankful it wasn’t a lion!

Zanzibar was of course a complete contrast to the vast open expanses of the Serengeti. We were back to the coastal humidity just as in Accra, and fortunately rather more sunshine than we had experienced in the first week. We found it to be a great mixture of Arabic and East African, with a bewildering maze of lanes in the old part of Stone Town (the capital), more reminiscent of Seville, or the Southern Mediterranean, than anything in sub Saharan Africa.

Zanzibar’s big claim to fame was as the ‘spice’ trading capital of the world, but it’s main attraction now is the diving and snorkelling. We did enjoy our spice tour where we saw how cloves, peppercorn etc. start out life. (Believe it or not, they aren’t grown in a bottle with a green top.)

It is heavily Moslem, and this year the start of the Haj, the big annual Moslem festival and pilgrimage time, coincided with New Year’s Eve. It is a time for families and parties for Moslems, and everyone (literally) was out on the streets. It was a wonderful way to end our vacation, wandering the streets, and dropping in and being accepted, as the only foreigners, at various street parties and entertainment. The best part about it, and the contrast to a Western New Year’s Eve, is that there was no need for alcohol to make the parties a success! Needless to say, we still didn’t make it to midnight, but we had the excuse of having to get up at 5.00 am on 1 Jan, to catch a plane home (or at least to our Ghanaian home).

Judi has left the story part of our trip to me and will use her ‘techie’ skills to add a sampling of photos from the trip. We both wish you all a Happy New Year, and hope that 2007 is wonderful year for all of you.