On safari!
on Melissa Hipkins (Rwanda), 15/Apr/2010 05:36, 34 days ago
We are just sitting down and taking stock having just come back from a trip to Tanzania. This was our effort to keep out of the way during genocide memorial week. The choice of destination is down to Dorothy, a fellow volunteer based to the south of Kigali and sparked when we went as a group to Lake Kibuye a month ago. The organisation has been Melissa's and a cracking good time was had by us all.The main object of the trip was to sample a Safari to suit the volunteer pocket, sort of on the hoof without frills and furbelows. The initial plan was to be under canvas and for us to be a party of four, Dorothy and Ken, and the two of us. As Dorothy and Ken are not an item, it would mean boys and girls in their respective tents for 5 days. This caused a good deal of head scratching as we don't know each other that well and had no particular desire to take the relationships to dormitory level.Musings over the agonies of not being natural and uninhibited for the hours of darkness proved unnecessary as Ken declared he was out of funds and couldn't afford to come on this occasion. It also transpired that a certain amount of distrust with our tour operator had been engendered by his reluctance to deal with cards as opposed to cash, and the practical difficulties this would cause as he was in Germany. His suggestion to use a form of Pay-Pal met with extreme resistance from us all on grounds of excessive cost and unnecessary bureaucracy.So after ditching him, we went with a local operator working out of Arusha who also gave us the good news that as it was low season during the long rains we could stay in lodges for the same price as tents. No brainer really, so we went with a trip to Lake Manyara, the Olduvai Gorge, where the Leakys' made major discoveries of the origins of man and his ancestors, the Serengeti National park and ending up with that old favourite of sixties black and white wildlife programmes, the Ngorongoro Crater.Dorothy was happy to come as the third person and we shall send Ken the pictures.The flight demanded a very early morning start from Kigali so we had to organise a guesthouse close to the airport. By way of a send off, we had booked a restaurant of repute, known by us but not by the local taxi drivers. It took a great deal of searching and cajoling, made worse by there being no street lighting or road names. Eventually a party of those going to Arusha on the same flight and a few others met at this Ethiopian restaurant and enjoyed a good meal.Taxis in Rwanda have no meters, you have to negotiate a price before you set out and a great deal of haggling can ensue, especially if you know how much it was for the outward journey. The taxi driver for our return to the overnight hotel seemed to have agreed to a reasonable fee but appeared uncertain of the guest house's location. We soon became aware that the driver had his wires crossed and we were heading into town instead of to the hotel. Things became ugly when he declared the fare was insufficient and demanded 6000Rfr instead of 4000Rfr, the fare we had paid to get there. We protested that he had got lost and he should stick to the original agreement. He countered by parking in a garage and refusing to carry on unless we stumped up. Fraught negotiations ultimately involved us ringing the restaurant manager, who had ordered the taxi in the first place, and getting him to speak to the driver who in the end grudgingly completed the journey. He did not get a tip.We weathered the lack of a promised taxi to the airport and lost keys to hotel bedrooms to arrive in Arusha, Tanzania. Tanzania has a very different landscape to Rwanda, fields are big enough for tractors to be warranted and the roads have long straight sections, an unknown phenomenon on Rwandan journeys. The land is much flatter with distant hills rather than all hill and little plain. But in many ways the towns seem to be on much the same plan and the people of a similar disposition. Main roads through towns are paved but most of the side streets are rutted mud roads including the one up to the hotel we had booked in Arusha. It's a bit dispiriting to turn onto one of these streets, very narrow as well as muddy and wonder what style of accommodation it is leading to.The hotel was relatively new and adequately spacious but perhaps unsurprisingly in view of our early arrival, the room wasn't ready. However, we still had to meet the manager of the company organising the safari and pay him the rest of the money. Not knowing where this was in Arusha we were grateful to one of the hotel staff who was going into town and knew roughly where it was. He took us by way of a path through a park and over a football pitch to the hotel used as a landmark for the company's offices.The manager was very affable and explained what it was we had signed up for. He promised we'd be picked up from the hotel ready to set off for Lake Manyara. It being lunch time by now he recommended an Indian restaurant round the back of the block. It was a revelation of flavours and service. In Rwanda, you have to accept that meals once ordered take at least an hour to arrive; even the simplest of dishes must have to be made from scratch to account for the interminable delay. It is also felt necessary to wait until all the dishes for everyone are complete before serving, so those meals ready to be served go cold in the interval. Tanzania seems to have got it better organised and we were very grateful to be the beneficiaries.Our driver and guide, Hassan, arrived on time and began the 2 hour journey at a steady pace. We enjoyed the transition from rather squalid but colourful urban to sparser rural. The number of herds of cattle being driven alongside the roads astonished me, but Hassan explained that this was one of the Masai heartlands and there very existence depended on cattle. Straight roads in Tanzania mean deadly speed bumps, negotiated at walking pace to avoid taking off; what happens if you miss the inconspicuous approach warning signs I hate to think.I don't know what sort of image you have when someone speaks of going on a safari, I'm imprinted with the improbable accents and solar topees of Armand and Michaela Denis, but then my formative years are almost pre David Attenborough. If you have the idea that it's a free for all with Toyota land cruisers criss-crossing the grassy plains in an anarchic tussle to be the first to get up a buffalo's nose forget it. You stick to the trails and proceed in an orderly fashion or the park rangers will give your driver the red card without the option. This can put them in an awkward position if they have pushy clients because they are the ones who pay the hefty fines not the punter. In all the parks and conservation areas we visited decorum was observed, except during moments of high drama.I'm not going to itemise all the animals and birds we saw; Melissa's photographs will bear able witness to the numbers and variety but I will give you the highlights. For years I have dismissed the idea of safari as a way of being spoon-fed an experience of exotic Africa without much effort expended. It has always seemed to me that you dial up the nearest pride of lions and motor leisurely across to park beside them, only to have the next scenario radioed in from the scouts who do the real work.Not so. For almost the whole of our stay in the national parks (no herders and their stock allowed and no settlements tolerated within the boundaries) and conservation areas (limited access to stock and settlement) we took active roles in trying to pick out whatever moved or flew. At this season, the grass is lush and long. This is partly why it's low season; it's difficult to see more than 50 metres off the trails. It became more and more of a challenge to identify the smallest suspicion of animal presence and you get competitive in being the first to see something new or unusual. We had been allocated a land cruiser with a pop-up roof, that is to say one that carried the metal roof on struts so you kept a measure of protection from the sun. Some we saw had only a retractable roof that gave unrestricted vision when you stood up but in return you had to endure the full force of the sun. The bottom of the food chain in terms of vehicles for a safari was what initially I mistook for a petrol tanker. It was a high sided converted lorry with school bus type windows and no open roof for about 20 punters. The few we passed contained a sorry looking bunch uncomfortably packed in .There is radio traffic and exchanges of observations take place. We were in the dark as to what was being said, all traffic seemed to be in Swahili but you could tell something was up when the Sunday Afternoon amble gave way to a more purposeful and lurching progress.One such happened on the second day in the Serengeti; the object of the change of pace was kept from us; I think to avoid disappointment if nothing materialised or possibly for the "rabbit out of the hat" effect. We soon saw a collection of trucks similar to ours parked on the trail around a scrubby bush and two lions out in the grass 50 metres from the road. Not much was going on; lions are not ten a penny at this season as many are off nearer the migration routes so there was the novelty value. About 5 other trucks had precedence over us so we could not see clearly the other lions laid out under the bush, about 6 in all. The trail followed a watercourse marked by acacia trees and in the distance on the other side of the trees was a large group of buffalo moving steadily along the skyline. Some parties of tourists lost interest the inactivity and moved on; others arrived and joined the queue. All the pride seemed to want to do was sleep in the shade; the two in the grass had crossed the trail and gone nearer the trees.A pair of adult buffalo and a half grown calf had detached from the main group and were progressing by degrees towards the trees not far from the pride. They made their way down out of sight into the stream bed and stayed there a while. One of the lionesses was taking some notice of their movements. The two adults closely followed by the calf emerged from the undergrowth on our side and looked around unconcerned.We could see this lioness crouch and stalk the group, but lost sight of her as she crept through the grass. Without warning she appeared and seized the calf by the neck. The calf's cries made the adults immediately turn on the lioness and simultaneously alerted the others still sleeping 75 metres away. The adults had successfully driven off the first attacker, but as soon as the rest arrived, they were too distracted to concentrate on only those harming the calf. A succession of lions kept sufficient grip on the calf for it to succumb after only minutes from the beginning of the attack. Surprisingly quickly, perhaps after the calf had ceased to make noises of alarm, the adult buffalo lost interest and slowly made the journey back to the main herd. The spectacle of the corpse being devoured was happily denied to us by the herbage, glimpses of bloody maws all the evidence of a successful kill.Other sights were notable but not so dramatic; leopards framed in the evening sunlight balefully eyeing us before descending for their evening patrol. A cheetah seen briefly rising from the thick grasses to scan the gazelles nearby only to submerge and remain concealed. A limping hyena followed parallel to the road emerging with one back leg a freshly tattered stump.The other surprise was the quality of the accommodation. Lodges hardly does justice to the hotels for the most part commanding splendid views from atop cliffs and the crater edge. With meals thrown in and just a modest beer or two to pay for it was all unexpectedly good value.The beginning of my job looms and I'm still desperately composing PowerPoint presentations with an increasing fear that they are not going to address the students real needs. I get the feeling that the language is going to be a real barrier and that my practical experience will not reflect the conditions out here. Melissa's experiences in Rwandan schools seems to show that classes of pupils are not used to interaction and asking questions, so it's going to be difficult to gauge comprehension unless I institute a series of unofficial tests regularly. It will be too late by the time exams come round at the end of the sessions.On a different subject, it's ICT2 next week, that is to say In Country Training 2. We are both going to Kigali for the week although strictly speaking I don't need to attend. I shall be present for Kinyarwanda lessons but probably slope off for the rest of the day. I shall make another visit to the college where I shall be teaching and to another institute who are interested in using me.