Weekend Safari #2--Arusha National Park
Trip Start
May 14, 2008
1
9
Trip End
Aug 19, 2008
Arusha National Park, Tanzania
Sunday, July 13, 2008
So yet again, our moderately hungover posse piled into a Land Rover and rolled out of Arusha. It's amazing that so much awesomeness can be this close to such a dingy, polluted, city. The park is stunning--set at the foot of Mt. Meru; full of gorgeous lakes, verdant foilage, and rolling hills. At the park entrance, while our guide made sure all appropriate fees had been paid and papers stamped (ALWAYS an issue in Africa), we wandered among a crew of giraffes placidly stripping the surrounding acacias of all of their goodness.
Our first activity of the day was a hike in the beautiful slopes of Mt. Meru with a seriously badass female park ranger. These are not the rangers we know and love from home. No corny green shorts or obscure factoids about animal scat here. Basically, the purpose of Tanzanian park rangers is to shoot any killer wildlife that dumb tourists may stumble upon. Shotgun-wielding park ranger isn't exactly a common career path for Tanzanian women, so I just had to ask her (forgot the name, unfortunately) how her job choice went down at home. Well, mom wasn't too thrilled, and indeed badass-ranger-lady kept her training course a secret. Now, however, the secret is out and she has become a minor celebrity. "When I go home," badass-ranger-lady explained, "my friends tell the men not to bother me, 'you know she can shoot a gun' they say..."
After a rainy, dreary morning, things cleared up for us in the afternoon. Perfect timing too, because we were about to go canoeing! I felt like as a Canadian, I should have some kind of innate canoeing ability. I can report that there is no such canoeing gene. And of course we just had to be with a group of seasoned multi-day canoe trip veterans. AND I was paired up with Greg, whose skills were only a shade more developed than mine. This totally humorless German couple joined our group for the trip, and they were not amused by our ineptitude. We sure were though. I was in hysterics most of the way around the lake, as Greg and I zigzagged along, needing 10 strokes for every single, smooth, effortless stroke made by our friends.
This was all fun and games until we rounded a corner and came face-to-face with mamma hippo and her baby, peering at us curiously from maybe 100-200 feet away. I don't know much about wildlife, but I do know that mothers are crazy protective of their young and that hippos are insanely aggressive. And I knew that Greg and I had little to no control over our canoe. Mama started making scary gurgling/growling noises and twirled her (admittedly adorable) ears menacingly. Our utterly useless guide insisted that hippos were not at all dangerous in water (WHAT?) and actually encouraged us to inch closer, to take a better picture of course! I was having none of it, and Greg and I paddled frantically, spinning in circles, but eventually reached what I determined was a safe distance from the killer fauna.
Other than our brush with death and the inefficiency of our technique, the paddle was spectacular. The lake, Little Momela, is framed on either side by Mt. Meru and Kili. I am happy to report that Kili was very snowy, with the glaciar stretching a fair way down the side of the volcano. We saw baboons, buffalo, and crazy snakes from the water, and were able (in theory, when I wasn't giggling uncontrollably) to sneak up silently to the animals. A really cool and unique way to see the park.
All in all a great day. Just what I needed to recharge ahead of what turned out to be a hectic week at work...
