Serengeti – Snapping The Globe

The Sneaky Monkey Lodge

Glancing out from our table in the restaurant, it wasn’t uncommon to see animals wandering by and stopping to quench their thirst at the watering hole located adjacent to our lodge….

The Serengeti Sopa Lodge.

Located 45 minutes from the Seronera Airstrip and 319 kilometers from Arusha, the Serengeti Sopa Lodge is located in the Nyarboro Hills, overlooking the plains of the southwestern Serengeti National Park.

It had been a full day, having risen early, flown to the Serengeti and already seen a myriad of animals. It was nice to arrive at our lodge and be greeted with cool towels and fruity drinks to quench our thirst.

As we entered our spacious, tastefully furnished rooms, we admired the local fabrics and artwork and the small, entrance area sitting room, complete with mini refrigerator and mini bar. Painted in earthy tones, our room contained two queen sized-beds surrounded by flowing mosquito nets and a colossal bathroom. Stepping out onto the balcony, we admired the view of the plains below. It was amazing! We were smack dab in the middle of the famed Serengeti!

Below us, various antelope strolled through the trees and above us, monkeys swung from branch to branch, occasionally dropping onto nearby balconies and peeking into the lodge’s rooms. So fearless they seemed, we wondered if they might jump into your lap while relaxing on the balcony!

During the three days that the lodge was our home, we came to appreciated its open and airy floor plan filled with large comfortable chairs made of driftwood, with huge cushions and colorful throw pillows.

Our assigned tables in the dining room were perched on the balcony allowing us to look out over the Serengeti while we enjoyed the prefix menus and bountiful buffets. My husband, a picky eater, thought that he might lose some weight during our adventure, but after viewing the lavish spreads, he realized that all was lost! The food was so delicious and offered something to satisfy everyone’s palate.

The service was beyond anything we could have ever imagined. Each and every one of the employees of the Serengeti Sopa Lodge did everything to make our stay beyond magnificent. After discovering a breakfast doughnut, resembling something my late grandmother made for me as a child, one of the workers recorded the recipe and brought it to me on my last day! I can’t wait to try it!

And…after long days on the bumpy roads of the Serengeti, it was always nice to relax at the bar for a cold beer or tasty cocktail. The bar, located in the corner of the lowest level, offered an open terrace with comfortable chairs and heaters for the chilly nights.

It was here that we learned a story about the sneaky monkeys!

Although we would have loved to have left our veranda doors open for ventilation and there was a screened door, we adhered to the warnings about the keeping the doors closed. On many occasions, we spotted the local monkeys peering through the glass or taking naps on our balconies. We joked that the monkeys were casing the joint!

I had also heard stories about monkeys grabbing purses and cameras from unsuspecting tourists and had had my hat stolen by a monkey in Thailand. I knew what they were capable of…our doors were staying locked!

Well, one of the sneaky monkeys, had apparently been casing our neighbors room. As she stepped out onto her balcony to admire the sunset, she neglected to shut the screen door behind her. Realizing his opportunity, the monkey jumped onto the balcony and dashed past her into her room. Grabbing all of the sugars from her mini bar, he ran past her and jumped onto her neighbors balcony, appearing to mock her as she screamed for help!

SO traumatized by her experience, she definitely had to retire to the bar for a drink to calm her nerves!

Lesson learned, watch out for monkeys!

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Serengeti Sopa Lodge

http://www.sopalodges.com/serengeti-sopa-lodge/overview
Address: 99 Serengeti Road, Sopa Plaza, Serengeti
Rates: Rates vary by season, Low, High and Peak, Single Suite, Double Suite and Triple Suite and Full Board and Half Board. $170-$865 per night

The Endless Plains

The Seregeti.

Covering almost 30,000 square kilometers with its location in northern Tanzania and Kenya, the Serengeti’s wildlife and scenery is beyond anything imaginable. As far as the eye can see, the Serengeti spreads out…offering nature’s magnificence….the endless plains.

Disembarking from our aircraft, we stepped into the bright sunshine and were greeted by our safari guide, Fahad. This was the person that we would come to rely on for the next week as our driver, our guide, our teacher and more importantly, our friend. As he accompanied us to the front of the small terminal, our baggage was loaded and we were introduced to our safari vehicle, Mathilda.

Into Mathilda we climbed, the five of us taking one of the six seats in the back. The roof was raised and we were on our way, scanning the horizon and observing the Thompson’s gazelles that grazed just across the road. This was it! Our first sighting on the Serengeti! So, they weren’t one of the Big Five…but it was just the beginning!

Turning left onto one of the many roads that criss-crossed the park, we bumped along, spotting other vehicles in the distance. As we slowed, we noticed movement near a patch of acacia trees…a herd of elephants! Slowly they ambled along, two youngsters with four older females. We watched them slowly until continuing further down the road. Here, we encountered another herd, and this one came extremely close to Mathilda!

What a start!

During the next few hours, we encountered warthogs, giraffes, lions, cape buffalo, monkeys, and hippos! We even spotted a cheetah holding court on a termite hill and a leopard resting on a large branch as well as countless birds flitting about and resting in the brush.

By the time we had reached the Serengeti Sopa Lodge, we had already spotted FOUR of the Big Five!

After checking into our accommodations, we enjoyed a delicious lunch and a small amount of time to unpack and freshen up. Four o’clock rolled around and it was time for our evening game drive. Not having to venture extremely far from our lodge, we saw many more of the same animals as earlier, however, the highlight of the late afternoon was finally seeing a large dazzle of zebra!

The next two days were filled with game drives beginning early in the day. We spotted hyena, dik dik, baboons, ostriches, hartebeests, secretary birds, guinea fowl, impala and many other elephants, giraffes, cape buffalo, cheetahs, zebras, and lions. In fact, the Serengeti should be named the land of the lion…they are quite plentiful and we were excited to spot them on many occasions.

The Serengeti is not all about wildlife viewing, though, that is what most people come for. There are some other places of interest in the park which help to break up the day and give everyone some time to stretch their legs and enjoy a respite from the bumpy roads.

The Serengeti Visitor’s Center, located in the heart of the Serengeti, is set in alluring natural rock formations (Kopjes). A guided or self-guided walk offers a wide range of up-to-date information on the Serengeti ecosystem. The beautiful trail is lined with exhibits on the Serengeti’s history, ecology, people and conservation and hundreds of rock hyrax resting on the walls.

The Michael Grzimek Memorial Rhino Post is a ranger post in the Moru Kopjes. It’s conservation project has a goal to protect and monitor the remaining Serengeti black rhinos, provide sound biological management to its population and to secure the Moru area for the introduction of additional rhinos. While the Serengeti was once home to approximately 1000 black rhinos, poaching reduced the population dramatically. The Rhino Post, named after Michael Grzimek, who fought to protect the rhino, offers a small hut detailing information on its conservation efforts.

Another interesting stop is at the sound rocks of the Moru Kopjes. Here you can hike to the top of a rock mass where several ancient boulders produce mellow notes when tapped with smaller stones. Whether once used as instruments or a method of communication, it is now a interesting stop for visitors…and the views aren’t so bad either!

Some of the most memorable moments of our time in the Serengeti were watching a coalition of cheetah relaxing under a tree, a large male lion lounging near the roadway and who later joined his black maned brother in a search for their next meal, being charged by an enormous, tusked elephant, lunch in the middle of the Serengeti under a sausage tree and beautiful African sunsets.

Trying to explain to our family what we were seeing every day was extremely difficult. So surreal were our experiences, we were giddy with excitement even when exhausted from the long days. Absorbing all of the information that Fahad gave us was sometimes overwhelming, but always impressive…that man knew something about everything! Driving along, he never failed to miss things even far out in the distance!

The most memorable times, however, were when Fahad received a call on his radio and began to drive extremely fast. We knew that something good was in store!

Nicknaming him “Fishtail Freddy”, we joked that Fahad was on a mission…sometimes a “mission impossible”. After downloading the Mission Impossible theme song, we would play it for him to inspire him and assist his driving skills! On our last day, shortly after the charging elephant, Fahad picked up the radio, listened and began to drive quickly. Turning on our theme song, it was just finishing as we pulled up to five other safari vehicles lining the side of the road. Here, we found out what the fast driving and fishtailing had brought us to.

In the distance, there was not one…but two black rhino! The last of our Big Five!

We often joked that our wonderful Fahad, many times over, gave us Serengeti ice cream, Serengeti sauce, Serengeti nuts and, often, Serengeti whipped cream…now he had given us the Serengeti cherry!

What a way to end our time in the Endless Plains!

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Serengeti

http://www.serengeti.org/index.html

Safari Express

http://safari-express.com/

Ranger Safaris

http://www.rangersafaris.com/

Time For Me To Fly

A safari.

Traveling all the way to Tanzania was not for museums, markets or the beautiful Arusha hotel, however much we enjoyed them. Though we appreciated our short stay in Arusha and many things that it had to offer, it was time to go. Time for the real deal.

Since I was a child, watching Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom, I had been fascinated by the places and animals that its host, Marlon Perkins encountered each week. I was particularly enthralled by Africa, a land so colorful and filled with people and creatures that were such a contrast to what my young eyes beheld every day. Though I was from a small town, and travel was not part of our every day lives, I knew that one day, I would manage to make the long journey and set my feet upon this vast continent’s ground.

Life as a flight attendant offers many opportunities to see the world. Any occasion that I was able to secure, to see every city that my airline offered, I took. I particularly enjoyed my travels to Africa. Ghana was my first foray and I loved the people, the culture, the food and the landscape. It was succeeded by trips to Senegal, Liberia, Nigeria and South Africa. Though I was able to go to the famed Lion Park in Johannesburg, play with the baby cubs and drive through their sanctuary and even do a game drive in Senegal at the private Bandia reserve, eastern Africa eluded me. A safari where I stayed in the parks, able to watch the wildlife from the lodges was what I wanted to do.

For my landmark 50th birthday, I promised myself that a safari trip was what I wanted most. Booking the adventure took place seven months ahead and the wait was almost unbearable, but eventually I found myself in Kenya and then Tanzania.

Leaving early from our hotel, we made our way to the Arusha Airport. An extremely small airport with mostly small aircraft, it was surprising to hear that a couple of our travel companions had arrived here from Amsterdam on a Boeing 777. Wow!

After our arrival and making our way through security, we stood alongside the runway awaiting our aircraft assignments.

Soon, we were boarding one of Shine Aviation’s Cessnas and rocketing down the runway. Arusha’s dense landscape spread out before us giving way to mountains and gorges. Although we were told that on some days, Kilimanjaro is visible, unfortunately, we did not have the pleasure. We settled in for the hour flight and before long, the landscape became more barren. I was mesmerized by the Maasai villages that were discernible here and there along our flight path.

As we descended, small animals dotted the landscape and the landing field appeared before us. Lower and lower, our aircraft dropped until we were bumping along the Seronera airstrip. Finally, I had made it.