Safari #1

Part of our service trip included a safari in the Ngorongoro Crater. We were split into groups and my group went Friday morning. We woke up early, ate breakfast at the orphanage and then loaded into two safari jeeps for a 20 minute drive to the crater. 

A little info about it..

The Ngorongoro Crater, is the world's largest inactive, intact and unfilled volcanic caldera. The crater, which formed when a large volcano exploded and collapsed on itself two to three million years ago, is 610 metres (2,000 feet) deep and its floor covers 260 square kilometres (100 square miles).

Once we got there, our safari guides had to check us in and that took about an hour. The endless baboons provided the entertainment while we waited. We were warned to not leave any doors or windows open or they'd go inside looking for food. I watched as one aggressive baboon swiped at a little girls hand, hoping to steal whatever snack she was holding. Yikes! 

These safari guides are experienced, so they drove fast down the windy road into the crater.  It was a bouncy, precarious ride alongside steep cliffs. We'd go barreling around a corner just in time to swerve and miss another jeep coming the opposite direction. Oy! We decided to play some tunes and distract ourselves. I felt like a teenager dancing and being crazy in a car driving too fast. ;)

Kiana Gregory was sitting next to me and she is a HOOT. We all had a ball together. 

This is Lake Magadi in the center.

We passed some indigenous huts on our way in.

This safari is known for being able to see Africa's "Big 5" ... lion, elephant, buffalo, leopard and rhinoceros. 

Our first glimpse of buffalo!

You're only allowed to get out at specific, designated places. And there weren't many, but this was our first stop. Not gonna lie, these big herds of zebras just yards away were pretty cool!

We had been watching that music video that Kristin Bell and Dax Shepherd did on a safari in Africa, singing. Toto's song, "Africa" and thought it would be fun to imitate it! I haven't collaborated all the clips I took but I made Josie do it with me and we started our music video in front of these zebras. That's right, my striped friends, you're soon to be famous. ;)

I feel like it was around this time that my first story takes place....

The top of the jeep comes off so most of the time we were standing up, looking at the animals. But then occasionally when there isn't much to see and it seems like the driver is just hauling to the next site, we would sit back down and visit, just looking out the windows. It was during one of these times that we suddenly hear a buzzing noise. 

Hmmmm.

We look up to see a black cloud of BEES passing over the top of our car. I felt like my heart stopped. I specifically remember slouching down in my seat, imagining what we could possibly do if they decided to dive down on top of us! Luckily, no such thing happened and 30 seconds later we seem to clear of any honey gatherers, minus a couple buzzing around, trapped in the back of the jeep. We continue visiting and I mindlessly readjusted myself in my seat. 

That's when I felt it. 

A sting. 

You know how it takes your brain a minute to process something. Well that minute was about .3 seconds before I FLEW out of my seat screaming "AHHHHHH!!! I got stung! I got stung!!!!" 

Sure enough, there was that d@#% bee, buzzing stupidly right where I had been sitting. 

"Where? Where did you get stung?!" everyone asked. 

Now I probably turned 5 shades redder than I already was as I pouted, "MY BUM!!!!"

The whole jeep erupted in laughter (as did I) while Josie and Olivia sacrificed themselves to be the ones to check if the stinger was still in. Bottom lip protruding, I begrudgingly pulled my jeans down a couple inches while everyone waited for the news.

 No stinger! 

As my prognosis was being shared, it suddenly crossed my mind that I was wearing my garments!!!! (of course) And I had STILL been stung! Right through them! Well that filled me with immediate, righteous indignation and without thinking and with no filter, I angrily shouted, "Wait!!! WHERE THE H*** WERE MY GARMENTS!" (Except, I MIGHT have said the real word.) For a split second, it was dead silent, then, I've never heard 8 people laugh harder in their entire lives. We were all on the floor, crying with laughter. It was honestly one of the funniest moments of my life. SO, I suppose I forgive you African Bee. Feel free to sting my hiney, anytime. ;)

(The ironic part of this story was that apparently when Travis told Collin I would be going on an African safari, his eyes got big and worried and he said, "Oh no. I hope no African bees get her!" Ha! Jixed I was!)

If you look off in the distance, you can see the thousands of flamingos standing in the water! It was a sea of pink!

By the end we were really tired of seeing these darned buffalo, haha. They are everywhere!

The lions were hard to spot, but these were the first ones we saw.

We stopped by the lake to eat our lunch. The water is FULL of hippos. And even though we were told they are the most dangerous animal, we were allowed to go right up to the banks and be just feet away from them. We probably watched them for at least half an hour just swimming and playing with each other and making crazy weird noises. 

Right under this tree is also where one of Josie's favorite stories happened...

Someone in our group was trying to gather everyone together for a picture right next to the water. Being playful, I kind of sprung forward to sort of simultaneously join the picture and photo bomb it. But I didn't realize how close to the bank they were and stepped on uneven ground, almost falling into the water, screaming, and having to grab onto someone to save myself. An onlooking tourist saw the whole thing and in a thick accent, chuckled and drawled, "Don't. Feed. Zee. Animals." We just died laughing. I'm glad I didn't become hippo food that day. ;)

Ok, next story. I had gone to the bathroom and when I got back to the jeep, everyone was scrunched inside the jeep, eating the box lunches the safari provided. It was a beautiful day and I didn't understand why we weren't eating outside. So I grabbed my box and announced I wanted to eat by the lake. Brighton quickly jumped up and wanted to join me so we made our way down to the water. Not long after we started eating, I noticed a large bird (ahem, HAWK, I was informed) circling above us. I warily glanced at it and made sure Brighton was aware. It looked like someone else was rather hungry. It would stay steady to one side then swoop down closer to the other side. Phillip, our tour guide, quickly came up to us and warned that these hawks have been known to take off a finger, trying to steal food. He said to just keep our lunches covered. (Later, we found out that we had a very liberal driver. All the other drivers wouldn't even allow their people to eat outside the jeeps. Phillip merely let us know that we could lose a finger. Progressive parenting.) I was instantly nervous, but Brighton was undeterred. I became skittish, jumping up any time it swooped and didn't take my eyes off the bird as I tried to stuff food as quickly as I could in my mouth. I kept saying to Brighton, "Uhhh, don't you think we should head back??" He just shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, like, this dumb bird ain't going to bother me. I had finally settled down again right when it happened! The hawk had waited long enough and came flying down, quick as lightening, dive bombing Brighton! I jumped up, screaming his name as he fell over, the hawk grazing his side and coming up finger-less. Once I realized he was OK, we grabbed our lunches and stumbled/ran laughing back to the jeep. Bah!!!! Close encounters of a hawk! Not on my agenda for the day!

We also had to laugh at the tinfoil packets of white powder included in our lunch. Hmmmm. I imagine they're a little more lax on drugs out here than the states, but really? ;) 

Salt for the egg.

Go away dumb buffalo!!

These zebras were so close the trail that we reached out to smack their bum! Phillip swerved. ;)

I am bad a judging distances, but near the end of the day, we came upon this lion laying very close to the road. Phillip seemed really amazed that it was so close and not running away so he mused that it might be sick. We just stopped and watched it for at least 10 minutes. Crazy being so close to a lion out in its habitat!

Another point where a picture doesn't do justice, but part of the road was covered in a canopy of the coolest trees. Acacia trees... so iconic of Africa. 

At the end of the safari we were scheduled to visit a Maasai tribe. Here is a group of them heading back to their village. All Africans identify with which tribe they are from. This particular ethnic group chooses to live a traditional, pastoral lifestyle in the crater. And for a fee, they'll let you see their village. ;)

After greeting us, they took us over to a clearing and showed us their "jumps" while singing. I say singing, but it seemed more to be rhythmic moans and noises. It was fun to watch! I love learning about different cultures. (When I told my grandma about getting to see a Maasai tribe, she said, "Oh, aren't they the ones who can jump really high?" Ha, she was right! I guess there had been some documentary she watched on TV about them.)

Then the women put their necklaces and jewelry on us and performed a song. Very sneaky way of persuading us to buy their wares. ;)

The women were all bald and adorned heavily with beads and earrings. The one that approached me seemed happy, but I wondered if they truly were. 

Besides their individual huts, the only building around was a dilapidated room used as a schoolhouse. It was dingy, oppressive and smelled like sadness. 

The children all sat at their desks and recited the English alphabet for us. 

A boy in our group had gathered pencils and balls to donate to the school and presented them then. As the pencils were passed out the children couldn't contain their eagerness. They grabbed at them in as many bunches as they could hold. 

I noticed a schedule on the wall.

From there, the man in charge divided us up into pairs. They said the huts were too small to fit anymore than three people at a time. I was paired up with Olivia and assigned to a particular Maasai man who knew rudimentary English. The huts don't have doors, they just have a small opening in the side that you follow through a short hallway, curving into the center of the hut. I'm telling you, from the SECOND I approached that doorway, I did not want to go in. But in I went. We had to stoop, as the ceilings were low. There was a very small space in the center with a stove type contraption and some shelves and a chair. He sat on the chair and motioned for us to sit on the two beds that were taking up the remaining space. As I perched on the very edge of one bed I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye and realized there was a person in the bed! They sort of lifted their head then collapsed again. Were they sick? I have no idea. I've just never felt more choked by darkness than I did for those 5 minutes in that room. The man tried to explain the features of the hut and their lifestyle but I don't remember a thing he said. I just wanted to get out of there! The second we emerged I pulled hand sanitizer out of my purse and just wanted to bathe in it! I get the shudders just thinking of how icky the whole situation was. And I don't even know why! While everyone else started looking around at the jewelry, I bee-lined it for the jeeps. I wanted to get as far away from that place as possible. What's interesting is I figured everyone had a similar experience as me. But when they all started coming back to the jeeps they seemed puzzled by how I felt and acted like their huts and tours had been fine... nothing strange at all. EXCEPT Olivia! She came back to the jeep and started describing how evil she had felt on our tour without hearing me say it first. So we BOTH had had the same feelings. Go figure why. We had been warned when visiting the village to steer clear of the witch doctor's hut, but I don't think that was the one we were in. Who knows though... maybe it was. I was just so glad to see that place in our rear view mirrors. Perhaps they don't deserve to be pitied, but I felt immensely sorry for those people. The flies crawled around on the children's eyes and poverty emanated from every aspect of that dirty existence. 

Climbing back out of the crater provided more spectacular views! 

The jeeps stopped at a roadside souvenir shop before heading back to the orphanage. I bought some salad tongs, bracelets and soccer jersey's for the boys. There was actually a lot of really cool, wooden sculptures, but too $$ to buy. Josie had been touching a figurine that toppled into one next to it, creating a domino effect as a whole row of expensive carvings crashed into each other. I watched in pure amusement as she tried to stop the destruction, only to knock over more souvenirs in the process, whipping her head around to see if anyone was looking. Like a clumsy character in a comedy. I was dying laughing! She was super embarrassed and tried to apologize, but the worker just laughed at her and waved her apologies off. It was like watching a kid get in trouble and I had the giggles the rest of the day thinking about it and teasing her!

We got back to Falco's when it was dark, but they had saved some dinner for us. Quite the adventurous day! Stung by a bee, hunted by a hawk and almost swam with the hippos. All the stuff a good safari are made of! :)