Safari at Mikumi National Park

taking shade from the noonday equatorial sun

We had been at our language training session for all of four days and realized that our brains were going into serious overload. Not only is Swahili a foreign language, but it does not resemble anything that we have been used to.....Our schedule called for a day off toward the end of the week. As a group, we decided to move that day off up one day and proceeded to make the arrangements for a one day safari to Mikumi National Park...one of many parks in Tanzania. In fact 25% of the area of Tanzania is dedicated to Parks of some kind.

We had to leave the retreat centre at 0430 in the morning to get to the reserve before sunup....which is when the majority of animals are feeding and watering.....and so a tired bunch of eager Livinstone wannabes were up and boarded our miniscule buses for the 2 hour trip to MNP.

Along the way, we started to see the reality of the way people live in the countryside. Many of the homes we passed, were made of wattle and daub and in a lot of cases, locally made adobe bricks. But all were being serviced by way of charcoal fires and open latrines and of course there was no electricity.

Entrance to Mikumi NP

As we came closer to the park, we started to see more and more Baboons running along the highway, many in the pursuit of death. The highway we were on was the only highway that links Dar Es Salaam with the Congo and Zambia and a lot of heavy transport trucks use this road and drive recklessly. Then we saw our first Giraffe and soon made the park entrance and the official visitor centre.

Our first wild animal, a very gentle Giraffe

Our entry into the park took a few minutes as our drivers negotiated the price. Foreigners pay more than locals and we had yet to get our landed immigrant status. But we were quickly on our way. The park is what one might imagine, flat, arid, lots of tall grasses and singular handsome trees dotting the plains. Within minutes of entering the park, we came across our first herd of Wildebeest and Zebra. The Wildebeest is known locally as the "zero brain" animal and uses the relationship of the Zebra to depend on their ability to see far and their sense of smell.....

Zebras and Gnus together...symbiosis for survival

Throughout the 5 hours we were in the park, we saw and counted over 18 different animals that up to now, we had only National Geographic or the Disney channel to rely on for our knowledge. But here we were up front and in the face of these animals. Most of us were truly awestruck. The Zebra is a beautiful animal, with an intelligent face and real personality. The Gnu or Wildebeest is truly a scatterbrained animal that panics and tries to run in all four directions at one time.Many of the parks deer relatives were seen, Impala, Springbok and water antelope...the best was seeing the many Springbok kindergartens as the parents kept the newly born infants together for safety and also for ease of management.


Springtime on the plains, means food for the lion king

The highlight of the day for me, was seeing a Hyena on the side of the road....so camoflauged that I did not realize it was there until we passed him. We visited several water holes and confronted elephants, Hippos, Crocs. Along the way, we passed more and more Zebras, Elandts and Cape Buffalo. However the big cats were elusive and we did not see any. Only the night before though, they had been busy at the water hole and had taken a meal with a view.

Remains of a Zebra, caught only 24 hours previous

We stopped for a picnic lunch at one of the many sites within the park to stop and rest. This was truly a day to remember as we shared pix with each other and sights of animals the other bus had seen and we had not. Finally around 2 pm, it was too hot and the animals had started to take shelter from the 35 degree directly overhead sun. It was time for us to head back to the retreat and have a shower and dinner and then a night to recover...tomorrow, we were back at Swahili training.