Week 8- Safaris of western Tanzania

Hi friends! 

We left off at Katavi National Park.  Here is Emmet’s account of his birthday safari:

“I woke up on my birthday to the sound of the hippos. They take a mud bath in the almost dry river only 100 meters from our guesthouse. When we got to the Katavi Park Headquarters there were elephants just out of the fence eating the leaves of the trees. When we actually got into the park the first animal we saw was a reed buck and then a giraffe. Our driver’s name was Juma and we were with two German men named Aaron and Timo. Juma was a very experienced guide. He helped us find the three leopards we saw. The first ones we saw there was a mom and one cub with their impala carcass in the tree with them. The mom was taking a nap while the cub was munching away. The next leopard was taking a nap too. He had his impala carcass in his tree too! Then we went to the hippo pool and there were hundreds of hippos. One of them had cracks in its back and the oxpecker birds were peck peck pecking out the bugs. When we left, we went to see crocodiles and we had to nudge one of the crocs tails to get our safari car through! 

At lunch, we had an amazing birthday cake with a firework-sparkler as a candle.  Everybody sang happy birthday in German, English, and Spanish, too! Juma said there was no Kiswahili version of Happy Birthday. But we still had not seen a lion today. Then we went into the forest to find some big cats and when we came out, there in a bush there were five hyenas!!! We set off into the forest again - we only saw a herd of topi and a herd of beautiful Roan antelope. Then when we came out of the forest Juma yelled out “lion!” we were all like “where where”?! And we looked over the roof and ten feet away from us there was a huge female lion. 

There was ten vervet monkeys in the tree and three of them were babies! When we went back to the hippo pool there were zebra, impala, topi, hippos, elephants and giraffe. Three baby elephants were shooing the adults away from the water holes, by using their trunks and making loud noises.The elephants they dug these big holes in the ground to get water. Then they would use their trunks to get water, and they came up with their trunks in their mouths drinking water. They tried to shoo us away by waving their ears and trunks and swinging their heads”.

Katavi was a highlight, but now we are heading on to the fishing town of Kigoma, in the green and mountainous area on the north end of Lake Tanganyika. We hear good recommendations for Jacobsens beach and guesthouse located just outside of town. We arrive there in the dark, and are escorted to our rented tent a quarter-mile down the path through the dark forest.We wake in the morning to find a forest of vervet monkeys and a herd of zebras surrounding us, and the beach only a stones throw away. Right away we recognize the need to be very careful, because the monkeys find anything you leave out, such as our bug spray and shampoo which they toss down the hill after realizing they are not tasty treats. They also open our toiletry bag in a blink of an eye and eat our last two cough drops, which is quite humorous to watch. The vervet sat in the tree delicately licking the cough drop like a piece of candy, and growling at its mate as she approaches for a view.

One of the main reasons for Kigoma’s small tourist crowd is the proximity to Gombe Stream National Park. This is the famous forest reserve were Jane Goodall conducted her research on chimpanzees, and we are reading her book My Life with the Chimpanzees outloud as a family while here in the area.  Well, Kim’s been dreaming of visiting chimps on Jane Goodalls turf for many many years, so we make a push to visit the park for a day trek. Unfortunately, for safety reasons, children under 16 are not allowed to visit the habituated chimps, so Steve and the kids stay behind snorkeling on the beach and watching baboons for the afternoon.  I head up the mountain with my guide Idie. He

is very knowledgeable and has been working with the chimps and local researchers for 8 years now in Gombe Stream NP. We head up the steep grade towards the area where the chimps were sleeping last night, but do not find them. Therefore we keep our search up for almost 3 hours, up and down steep terrain, across valleys, and finally, we hear their foraging calls to one another as well as the Tanzanian researchers studying the F-family group of chimps. We eventually catch up to them after a 5km adventure - my face is beat red and I am sweating profusely from the humidity, but I can’t believe how exciting it is to be sitting next to chimpanzees while they carry on their daily lives. 

We have to stay at least 10 meters away from the chimps and move off of their path if they come your direction, but this is generally the only rule to abide by. There are about 25 in the community today- they are foraging while on the move for the late part of the morning.  A good number of them are young ones of varying ages, which you can tell by the white tuft still on their tails. A few older females standout, and then the gang of male chimps and the alphaare also very prominent.  The youngsters are as sweet as could be as they mimic their elders, jump and frolick with the siblings and cousins, and make the silliest faces. The adults forage on a few different fruits, fern fronds, a specific leaf of a tree and insects. They are continually grooming and playing with the youngsters too. All their actions, movements and facial expressions are so human-like, it is incredible to witness!  I get to spend just over an hour with the chimps, then we head back down the mountain to Park Headquarters.  The 2-hour evening boat ride back to Kigoma is full of stories and sharing photos with the family.

 

More in the coming weeks, as we are heading to the northern plains of the Serengeti. We are prepared for a more ‘tourist’ atmosphere when we get there, but are still relishing the remoteness of our travels thus far.  

We’ll be in touch next week!
XO Kim, Steve, Amelia and Emmet