AFRICA - The mosquito bites, the rice is cooked, MALARIA.

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LoL- Sorry for clickbaiting.

This blog post has absolutely nothing to do with Malaria, but if you're being honest, you've never clicked on something so quickly - hehe

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'IF I HAVE EVER SEEN MAGIC, IT HAS BEEN IN AFRICA.'

I recently read this sentence somewhere on the world wide web and immediately felt what was meant.

In the meantime, we have fulfilled my long-cherished dream (intentionally repeated) and we really did it...

It's been a while.
I can't tell exactly how long.
We still stubbornly ignore reality and with it the date, the time, and all the stupid responsibilities waiting for us in Germany.
Fortunately, it will still be a few more days before that happens. And the memories are still very fresh and will hopefully remain so for my whole life.
There are definitely good chances for that. ❤️

So.
EVERYTHING READY FOR SAFARI?

Then let's go:

Do you remember how the last blog post ended?
-I don't either. 😀

But I will start with the morning after.
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We were picked up very early by Domenic.
He will accompany you here for the next few days, just like he accompanied us.
He was there for almost everything we experienced, and we couldn't have wished for anyone else.

Domenic was standing in front of the lodge with a Jeep.
A real JEEP.
Just like we know it from TV.

We had so much space in it.
Often several people join together for a safari, and accordingly, these vehicles are spacious.
However, Juli and I didn't want to be cooped up with strangers for days on end, so we booked a private tour.
The guide even spoke our language pretty well, which was also important to us when we discussed our wishes with the company.
Of course, our English is fabulous, as you know, but it doesn't hurt to support Tanzanians in learning German. ;)

From then on, we started our biggest adventure ever. 😍

From our Alpine hut it took about 2.5 hours until we finally arrived after an exciting drive past some amazing African landscapes.
The first stop was the TARANGIRE NATIONAL PARK.
And for those who are thinking of a zoo or animal park, let me tell you:
'No. Just no.'
The animals live there.
Always have.
Wild.
Free.
And without fences.
They can decide to move to the city at any time. ;)
And in fact, for example, LIONS often get dangerously close to the villages.
There are many Maasais who have their huts there, and we could see very clearly the sharp wooden stakes around them as we drove by, which serve as protection for them and their animals.

The closer we got to the NP, the more excited we became.
What will we see?
Will we spot big cats?
More baboons, like on the way there? Giraffes? Zebras? Penguins?
Uhm. One of the animals is not native to here, but I won't tell you which one. 😝
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Everything that has nothing to do with elephants is really irrelevant to many. (höho) 🐘
And the Tarangire National Park is known as the PARK OF ELEPHANTS and is especially popular for that reason.
There are about 5000 of them in this almost 3000 square kilometer area.
So we were relatively sure we would see some.

I don't know how to describe my state of mind when we rolled through the 'entrance gate' in our (UN-SE-REM) Jeep.
My heart was pounding wildly in my chest. But externally, I was completely silent.
Excited.
Spellbound.
And so incredibly curious about what would happen next.

Huge termite mounds quickly reminded us of where we were, as did countless cute mongooses (not to be confused with the crustaceans with an L that sometimes end up on your plate when you're disgusted) ....

These were meerkat-like creatures that were more than happy to let us take pictures of them.

Domenic only drove on when we gave him the 'GO'.
Before that, by the way, he opened the roof of the Jeep so that we could see as much as possible on our game drive.
So we stood up, upper body out of the car, eyes set to 360 degrees, and ears wide open.
From then on, we were not allowed to leave the Jeep anymore.
Too dangerous.
Next, we saw wildebeests, then a few more... and even more... There were herds of them.
So if I were a lion... Yummy... The park is like a 24/7 buffet table. 🍴

Shortly afterwards, behind a huge baobab tree, we saw the first zebra.
It was so exciting to see such a beautiful animal live.
And was there even another one behind it?
And one to the right of it too?!
I must have pressed the shutter button of my new camera countless times until Domenic started driving again.

Gazelles were jumping around everywhere.
Antelopes were playing tag.
Wildebeests were chasing butterflies.
It smelled dry, it was dusty.
However, the humidity grew with every minute.
It was damn hot.
The landscape was traversed by swamps, savannahs of trees, riverbeds, and red dry earth.
The centerpiece,... something we kept coming across with the car, was probably the Tarengire River, which flowed through the prevailing drought.

There was, of course, a lot of greenery.
But most of the once probably lush grass was as dry as straw.
It felt like the landscape changed every few hundred meters.
All in all, it was how you might imagine Africa.
The seemingly endless expanse made me feel like I had beamed myself straight into a nature film.
There are apparently around 500 bird species there, but I don't think we even saw half of them.
A Japanese proverb says:
'When the vulture becomes extinct, your mother will be the ugliest bird in the world.'
And I would love to take away your emerging fear now, but unfortunately, we did not spot any creatures of this species. Although there used to be a lot of them...
(your thing, what you make of it now) 😝

We heard many other flying creatures rather than seeing them, but those that showed themselves had really beautiful colorful feathers in some cases.

Overall, there was so much going on in terms of animals, but at the same time, there was a silence like I had never heard before.
I quote Juli, who, when I asked her about her impressions, replied as follows::

'It felt lonely. You felt lost in a way. But completely whole in another...'

I know exactly what she means. I was there.But I feel like I can't even come close to telling you guys what we saw. How it felt.

And guys - maybe you can somewhat grasp how it was when a LION crossed the 'street' right behind our Jeep.
A lion. (!!)
A really big predator in the wild. 😯
So close.
She walked from one shrub to the next so calmly and was gone as quickly as she had come.
Unfortunately, that was the only lion encounter on that day.
And unfortunately, I couldn't take a memory photo that quickly either.
But believe me, it is stored here forever. (*tapping the side of my head with a finger*)

Later we saw the first pachyderms.

Big, small, young, old, thin, fat, paired or competing.
We observed mud baths and even fights between the elephants.
Elephant calves teasing their slightly older siblings and rolling on the dry ground as well as
heavyweights vying for an elegant uhmm elephant lady and locking their tusks together.
All just a few meters away from us.

We were speechless.

Some of them didn't like the sound of the Jeep when we got too close, and I imagined what would happen if the 'subtle' threat that some elephant bulls expressed towards us became bitter reality... Would he chase us over the barren plains? Flatten our car?

I just hoped that Domenic knew exactly what he was doing and tried to trust....
Him.
And the elephants.

Speaking of Domenic.
Not only did he sometimes stop abruptly, grab the binoculars because his eyes with built-in zoom spotted a (for us) tiny black dot on the horizon that moved somehow differently than the animal park inhabitants we had already seen..... he also told us some really interesting things about the animals here in between... Things we neither knew nor thought we'd ever know one day.....
For example, when we saw the first giraffe...
you know... those beautiful creatures with the incredibly long necks... Well... Anyway... There were a few of them standing there among the baobabs... Their heads protruding above the treetops and a few zebras and wildebeests were standing around them.
Domenic told us that now the other animals feel very safe and are completely relaxed.
Because giraffes are a kind of SECURITY in Africa.
Actually logical - they see 'trouble' first.
As they tower over everything and everyone, it's not so easy for lions to sneak up unnoticed.
Giraffes would definitely show if a predator is still far away and the other animals can react early enough to not be crushed by sharp teeth in the end.
So if a zebra meets a giraffe, it often happens that it deliberately stays near to be able to breathe for at least a certain amount of time.

We ourselves often completely forgot to breathe with everything we experienced that day.

When the sun in the African bush was no longer directly overhead and the evening was almost replacing the afternoon, we unfortunately had to leave.
With exciting input and countless impressions in our luggage, we set off for our pre-booked lodge, which fortunately was only about half an hour away from the NP.
I knew what it would roughly look like from pictures.
I had done a lot of research in advance and didn't want to stay there during the safari for no reason.... BUT what we got at the end, I couldn't have imagined even remotely.
At first, we had no idea what to expect.
Domenic drove off the road and we had to drive for miles on an unpaved road through the dense nature.
Then suddenly there was a clearing.
Zebras, wildebeests, antelopes, gazelles..., almost all the animals that had just wreaked havoc in the Tarangire NP also welcomed us here.
And just to remind you:
Here too... Even more so here... these animals are here because THEY want to be here... Not because people want them to be here.
This was really wild Africa, of which I had only heard and read before.
The entire area of our accommodation was NOT fenced in... directly in front of us was Lake Manyara - a fact that was completely unclear to me until now.
Pelicans were flying around, incredibly ugly Arabian storks, and flamingos as well. And among all the huts, there were many wildebeests watching over our sleep.
But when we were shown our accommodation for the next 2 nights, our mouths dropped once again.
Basically, we slept in huge tents.
They were firm and covered, but they were still TENTS.

However, the size was enormous.
We had a real toilet, an inviting, large, really cozy bed, and a small balcony with a view of the savannah, where we saw the most beautiful sunset. Ever.

The food there was included in the price, and since it wasn't cheap, we were more than happy about that. 😝
Everyone was super nice. We were treated very courteously, and everyone did what they could to make our stay as unforgettable as possible.
Let's just say: SUCCESSFUL. ✅

We knew we had to get up very, very, very early for the next game drive, so after this day, we fell into a coma.
2.3 hours later, my cell phone alarm woke me up.
It made sounds in regular intervals
Brr... Brr... Brr....or Www...Www....Www
However.
I woke up sleepily.
Looked at the phone. No alarm. Hmm.
Looked at the time. Way too early.
Huh??
What's that?

It took me a while to realize what exactly had woken me up.
It was some gnus standing right in front of our tent and emitting their rutting calls at regular intervals.

Can't you find another spot for that??

Did you know what sounds wildebeests make?
And while we're at it -
Would you say zebras are white with black stripes or black with white stripes? 🦓

However - there wasn't much sleep left after that.... Suddenly, all I could hear around our tent was rustling, scratching, crackling...
Animals that I couldn't identify were right nearby.
Loud howling... Was there a roar??
I was so fidgety and nervous that night.
I fell back to sleep at some point, though, as the alarm startled me again.
This time it was really the alarm.
It was still pitch dark.
Luckily, there was a flashlight in each tent for these moments.
All the tents had a lot of space between them.
And, of course, we had one of the last ones on the property.
It took a few minutes to get to the reception and restaurant area, and suddenly I didn't feel so 'safe' anymore, walking along there in the dark.
I mean... Didn't we even hear HYENAS at night?
I mean... If there were all the other animals, why not LIONS too??
I mean... We're in fucking Africa!!?

I shared these thoughts with Juli and... Na na...
The queen was not amused. 😅

Suddenly, it made sense to me that we were accompanied to the tent by a 'security' the night before.
No, not a giraffe. (Although there were some crazy ones there on the last day).
But a real person, also equipped with a flashlight, shone the way for us. I thought he wanted money, like most people who do something for you here.
Suddenly, however, I saw the actual meaning behind this action. 😯
I wanted to make sure, and after Domenic confirmed to us that it was DEFINITELY hyenas we had heard, he told us that there could be LIONS here FOR SURE.
Do you hear me?? LI-ONS!!
Near us.
At our tent.
Hidden among all the bushes and tall grasses.
Since our imagination and Domenic's words weren't enough for us, we also asked the manager...
'Oh yes, of course sometimes there are lions here.'
Uhm.
In the evening... when we returned from the 2nd day of the safari, I wanted to know more.

So when our flashlight security brought us back to the tent, I wanted to know:

'Is it safe for us to walk around?'
'Not really'
He explained that in the dark, you can't see what is lurking there.
There are wildebeests and antelopes everywhere, but what might be hidden behind the herds cannot be seen.
Uhm. Okay...
But honestly, guys, what is this guy gonna do now if a predator comes towards us at that very moment?
Hit him on the head with his flashlight??
I'll just leave that there.

But you can be sure that from that moment on, we sometimes felt really uneasy when we shuffled along there.
During the day, it was no problem to explore the area alone.
'Lions are normally sleeping during the day'
(Oh, well....)
Juli even had a bit more to deal with in terms of 'fear' than me.
Sometimes she was a bit angry about my lack of concern.
But I want adventure!! And if that means ending up in a lion's mouth, so be it.

🦁 Meow.

I'll just quickly go back to the morning after we were woken up by the wildebeests.

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Domenic was already waiting at the Jeep for us.
It was just after half past six.
The savannah was still in the dark.
We had already eaten something quickly and had our packed lunch under our arm.
On that day, we went to the NGOROGORO CRATER, which is about 3 hours away.
It is located on the edge of the Serengeti and was created when a volcanic mountain collapsed at this point.
Wikipedia says the following about it:
'The crater floor is at about 1700 m and the walls are between 400 and 600 meters high, so the crater rim is at about 2300 m.
The diameter of the crater is between 17 and 21 kilometers. In total, the crater has an area of 26,400 hectares.'...
I can't say why, but I was looking forward to this day even more than the previous one. 😊

The climate varied greatly due to the different altitudes there.
You have to imagine it....
On the way to the
crater, it got colder and colder.
Fresher and fresher.
The air noticeably got thinner.
It only went uphill.
I was somehow really trembling and cursed myself for not wearing more clothes that day.
It was so foggy.
Do you know the short story by Stephen King 'The Mist'?
If so, you know what was going through my head.
If not, just be sure that it wasn't something good.

The fog was so thick that you couldn't even see your hand in front of your face.
You couldn't see half a meter ahead.

We were almost swallowed by it.

It was really creepy.

And then suddenly,... as quickly as it appeared in front of us, it was gone again.
And all we saw was dense greenery in front of us.
And baboon butts. 🐵
And it was getting bright.
The sun was shining.
It finally got warmer.
We were now descending into the crater.
It was indescribable.
I have rarely seen so much concentrated beauty.
Once again, I was speechless at the sight of this fantastic world that opened up to us.
Up high, but felt only a stone's throw away, the crater rims were still hidden behind thick clouds.
In front of us was open grassland, mountains, evergreen mountain forests, and long and short savannas.
All alternating.
Recurring.
Where just countless acacias stood, there were waterholes dominating everything in the next moment.
There was so much to see.
And where the Tarangire National Park was particularly impressive, especially due to the wildlife, it was mainly the landscape that flashed me at the crater.
Even without living beings, I couldn't get enough of it.

We stared.
We marveled.
We discovered.
We absorbed everything.
We tried to grasp it... to internalize it.
We enjoyed it and let it work its magic.

But of course, there were also many, many animals there... I think Domenic said there were about 30,000.
However, what you don't find there are the giraffe security.
For these animals, the descent into the crater may not be possible due to their anatomy.
But there is an endangered species there - RHINOS.
A dozen or so in total, and unfortunately, they didn't show themselves to us, but that had absolutely no impact on this trip.

We experienced and saw so much that we never thought possible.
Not even in our wildest imagination.

What I have a really great memory of is definitely the shimmering white Lake Magadi.
The alkaline lake, due to volcanic ash, is basically the centerpiece of the crater.
There were really so many water birds of every kind you can imagine.
Flamingos, pelicans, storks, cranes, and hundreds of other creatures, whose names I can neither pronounce nor write.
Every now and then, an ostrich strutted past.
Jackals peered at the shore for their lunch.
I had the movie 'The Land Before Time' in my head over and over again, and I wouldn't have been surprised if a dinosaur suddenly crossed our path.
However, hyenas moved indifferently right past our Jeep in this world.
Zebras were everywhere.
Wildebeests.
Antelopes.

Buffalo herds.

Gazelles.

When we stopped at an inflow of the big lake with the funny name 'Hippo-Pool', we eagerly ate our packed lunch and were stared at by a horde of hippos from the water.

So I took a bite of my chicken and sipped my Desperados while hippos snorted loudly just 10 meters away.

How can anything top all of this??

No matter where we drove in the crater, everything looked so damn peaceful.
We didn't see any lions in the end.
... until I saw a paw peeking out from behind a bush.
Yeah, I PERSONALLY discovered it.
Not Mr. ZoomEye.
Not Juli, who usually spots all the animals first.
No - ME.
I was a bit proud, I must admit.
It was a male.
Every now and then, he stretched lazily.
But he was simply really well hidden.
Hidden by a lot of undergrowth.
We stood there for quite a while (of course with the engine off) near him, but all we were allowed to see occasionally was a brief glimpse of his gigantic paw, a tiny part of his mane, or his tail pom-pom.
But still...
Who can say that they have seen a living wild lion in Africa...? Never mind that I can't 'prove' it.
Never mind that I haven't had a functioning WiFi for days.
Never mind what was and what is still to come.... I was so incredibly in the here and now like never before.

I was so impressed from minute one that day, as never before, and couldn't believe where I ended up.
More at the end, right on the edge of the Ngorogoro Crater, there were even a few tears of overwhelmingness...
Well, maybe one of those nasty tsetse flies flew into my eye. Who knows.

At the end of this safari, we unfortunately didn't see the complete Big Five of Africa, but everything that happened... everything we saw and didn't see... was simply PERFECT!

To make it clear:
ELEPHANT ✅
BUFFALO ✅
LION ✅
LEOPARD ❌
RHINOCEROS ❌
But if you replace the last two with MONKEY and DOLPHIN, nothing could make me happier anyway. 😊

And besides, everything you didn't experience is always a valid reason to travel to certain places again. :)

Unfortunately, the visit to the crater came to an end much too quickly... As is usually the case with beautiful things...

However, we extended our stay at the lodge for another night so that we could explore the surroundings, including the lake in front of it, in detail.

The pool also wanted to be tested by us. 💦

Plus, we wanted to do nothing for 1 day just to really realize everything.

The sun didn't show itself like the rhinos on the next day, the pool remained unused, and it was even quite windy,

but I can finally say that these 3 days were the most beautiful, intense, and formative days I have ever had.

I am truly grateful to Jehova for having experienced this (*cough) and if dementia doesn't come over me in my later years, I will remember every second of it.

🦁 🦓 🐃🦒🐒🐂 🐘 🦅

And with that, I close this entry and now my eyes.

It's already 10 p.m.

I'm already beyond my bedtime.

'Baadaye'

and maybe see you again another time...