The following article is a chronicle of a safari experience last October that has been documented by Nancy Prager-Kamel, Chairwoman of the Association of Foreign Press Corrrespondents (AFPC-USA).

Off to an incredible and propitious start, we went to get our yellow fever inoculation and found a rarity: a truly honorable doctor in New York City who wasn’t pushing his profit. We managed to score a last minute appointment with Dr. Slava Fuzayoff three days prior to our takeoff for our Tanzanian safari adventure. When I presented him with my record of overseas inoculations, he realized I had received the yellow fever shot 18 years ago and pronounced it appropriate for a lifetime—good to note! We went home to pack (lightly, as some transportation was of minor proportions).

Let’s begin with a history lesson. Tanganyika is a former state in East Africa. It became part of German East Africa in 1884 and was ceded to Britain as a League of Nations mandate in 1919 and as a UN trust territory in 1946. It gained independence in 1961 and merged with Zanzibar in 1964 as the United Republic of Tanzania. Independence brought free mandatory education to all, with exceptions given to nomadic Masai and Dogato tribes. There are 68 million people in the entire country; 2.3 million of these live in the Arusha region, one of the country’s safari hubs, that is home to 123 different tribes. Among the larger tribes in the country’s northern regions are the Maasai, nomads who have historically herded cattle. Other local tribes include the Meru and Hadza people. All tribes have special food,languages and characteristic customs.

The Arusha region is considered a gateway to a renowned safari due to the Kenyan-Tanzanian annual migration through the Ngorongoro Crater, which is listed as the eighth wonder of the world. There are multiple government-supervised national parks throughout Tanzania. These include Mikumi National Park, Mahale Mountains National Park, and the Serengeti, to name a few. One of the seminal experiences you can have is encountering wildlife up close. The visceral drama of witnessing a large-scale migration in a breathtaking natural setting is overpowering, an unmistakable sign that you’ve been removed from your daily environment. It takes you to a world in which we are an audience, and not a participant. From mammals to marine life, a number of species travel great distances or in large and breathtaking numbers each year. Make sure you bring your camera.

Our main focus was in the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater as we sought “the big five”: rhinos, elephants, lions, baboons, and wildebeests.

Some idiosyncratic facts:

Rhino body parts are sold internationally, especially in China, where they are used for exotic stimulation.
Elephants produce roughly five tons of sperm—locked up and ready to go.
Lions mate every 20 minutes for seven days (during this period, they do not hunt or eat). We were essentially treated to a porno exhibition. A lion’s mane turns black when they are about to die (12 - 15 years for males; 15 - 20 years for females). They also tend to wait an hour before eating their killed prey due to being so tired.
Baboons can and have openly engaged in homosexual intercourse.
During migration periods, wildebeests receive help from zebras. Wildebeests have weak memories and cannot recall their past migration paths and depend on zebras (who have very good memories) to lead them. Because the great migration coincides with the birthing season, zebras depend on wildebeests when traveling with their babies because wildebeests are said to smell rain in the air. Zebras also cross rivers first because they can judge water depth while wildebeests cannot.
Leopards will climb trees to hoist kills; they don’t like to share and want to keep them out of reach (compared to lions, who call to each other and drag carcasses back to their pride.
Giraffes are the only animals that have patterned skin—into their flesh!

Over 1.5 million wildebeests undertake a perilous journey every year, accompanied by other species such as zebras, topi, and gazelles. This migration forms a continuous circular loop from Serengeti National Park in northern Tanzania to Masai Mara National Reserve in southwestern Kenya and back again. Typically, such ungulates can be found on the Serengeti plains from late fall to late spring, arriving en masse to the Masai Mara by July, though the exact dates of the migrations vary from year to year.

The wildebeest’s journey through Africa is probably the most famous animal migration on the planet — especially notable for the animals’ spectacular and dangerous crossing of the Grumeti and Mara rivers in Kenya, where predatory crocodiles hide beneath the water’s surface to attack straggling wildebeest as they leap down from its banks. Hungry lions, leopards, and cheetahs join the hunt, too, while hyenas and other wild dogs scavenge for leftovers.

With the greatest of fortune we were guided by a truly gifted and informed man named Antoine Saulo. Besides his talent as an instinctive driver he is a trained mechanic… no small advantage on dirt roads and bush trails. His skill and character were apparent throughout our eight-day safari in northern Tanzania and greatly in evidence during a sudden storm when a rained out central road turned to 10 inches of slosh and rich red mud. As our jeep’s center bearing broke, he navigated us through washed out paths safely when mere mortals would have orchestrated a 180-degree flip! Antoine further demonstrated fine character and professional excellence when stopping to help less fortunate and talented drivers stuck in the mud. He placed himself in grave danger leaving the scene of a recent nearby lion kill to help repair a fellow guide's broken engine. I was brought up to know that a person's character is defined not by what we do alone but what we do for others. Remarkably, Antoine is also a superb photographer with razor keen vision—quite a gift when spotting hidden game in distant plains and in highly foliated trees. Acacia kirkii is one of 20 types of acacia trees; their branches twist in a sculptural form creating a balletic imagery!

We spent another day, beginning at 4 a.m, hunting with the young men from the Dogata tribe. Their language consists of sounds- mostly clicks which were interpreted for us by a specialized guide, Ausif.His knowledge of the diversified tribes, languages, and customs was encyclopedic. We felt indoctrinated into their world, not as tourists, but as guests. On a lighter note, several of the tribal chief’s wives took a profound interest in my handsome Egyptian husband, and the chief himself looked to expand his harem by one pale American.

The raw and beautiful nature of the country was exemplified by its people, including Edgar Masunga, who along with his son, Walter, managed our safari experience. We were familiar and had knowledge of many large,well known safari companies, but chose this small local and privately owned group to personalize and structure our two-person safari. Mr. Masunga runs a truly inspirational private school for boys and girls (many of them orphans) called Bethlehem Star. After a career with UN organizations, he has dedicated himself to this initiative begun by his dynamic wife. Walter is the head of the safari company which he runs with skill and charm. Our final extraordinary moment was when we spent the day with Walter and his father at the schools that they support for orphaned children. My husband and I were their guests where we spoke to them with our sincere and encouraging words, and they shared with us songs and conversation. Through this next generation, we were able to see that Tanzania has a truly unfettered future.

SED Adventures Tours and Safaris Co. Ltd

Namvua Plaza, 2nd floor ,

Middleton Road, Opp Arusha Main Bus Terminal

P.O. Box 11599, Arusha , Tanzania

Tel: +255 754 831 849 or +255 754 826 823

Kenya Office - Nairobi

Tel : + 254 722 677 475

E-mail: reservations@sedadventures.com

http://www.sedadventures.com/