Walking Safari, Ruaha National Park
For months I have been trying to get this trip together; people have been joining and dropping out and every time it seemed to be coming together something or other has forced a postponement. Finally now, at the end of the year it happens: we have a full group , everyone says yes, the dates are OK, they can afford it – let’s do it!
It’s family and friends: my mother, niece and nephew; Maggie, a family friend from London; Claudia, a friend of mine from Austria and Monique whom I met last year in Tanzania and has been keen to join another trip. Quite a mixed bunch, but cohesive.
From the start the trip is a bit off kilter: flights are changed, timings are off and I have to keep changing my carefully made plans; perhaps I have over-planned, perhaps having my mother along is affecting me – I worry and stress while the others have fun. The weather is pretty hot, the landscape yellow and dry – I can’t help comparing to the lush green of February when I was last here. Entering Mikumi National Park, at first there are very few animals to be seen ( I worry). Then we run in to some Elephants and finally hit the jackpot at the big waterhole – this is where the action is!
Nearby two Lionesses are resting in the shade; when a dainty Reedbuck gets stuck in the mud by the water, one of them immediately goes into a stalk, only turning away when the lucky antelope struggles free.
And so on – we see all sorts of birds and animals, seems everyone has a great time but I am still a bit stressed and worrying so I don’t quite notice. Really we see a lot, and there is a stark, wild beauty to the parched landscape – it’s just different to the picture I had in my mind.
From Mikumi we head on to Udzungwa Mountains to hike up through the forest to the Sanje waterfall and hope to see some endemic monkeys. My plan to beat the heat with an early morning start falls through (I hadn’t counted on the park’s opening hours) and Monique’s ideas of “good shoes for hiking” are canvas basketball shoes; Maggie rents two huge sticks, painted with red and white stripes to help her up the slope. We buy some drinking nuts from the vendor at the trail’s start, load Rotem with extra bottles of water and, somehow , we make it one piece all the way to the top for an amazing view. We head deeper in to the forest to yet another fine waterfall to swim and collapse – or ,for Shachar and Rotem who have plenty of energy left, to explore further.
On the way down the monkeys dutifully make their appearance: first a party of showy Angola Black-and-White Colubus and then masses of the endemic Udzungwa Red Colubus. Maybe things are not going so badly after all – perhaps I can relax and start having some fun!
We end the first part of our trip at the very comfortable Tan/Swiss Hotel with good food and a new swimming pool; even Monique can find little to fault with this fine hostel and we dine happily on a mixed menu of international/Tanzanian/Swiss cuisine.
Part 2 – coming soon!
