Arusha National Park

Our first safari day! The day I’ve been waiting for! Being completely honest here, climbing Mount Kilimanjaro is NOT the part of this trip that came from my bucket list; but going on safari 100& is. Originally we were going to do an excursion to the Chemka Hot Springs today but after reading up on Arusha National Park and walking tours in the park I knew that I’d much rather do that than the hot springs; I don’t even swim! In our planning stages I had sent my Kili Crew a text that, no pressure on them, but I was going to change my day from the hot springs to the walking safari and, without hesitation, they all concurred that they’d join me. So here we are!

Our little crew met for breakfast at the buffet lodge and everyone was *close* to on time meeting back in the lobby for our 8am departure. By 8:10 all four of us had assembled but our driver guide, King Solomon, was not there. As the clock approached 8:15 we were deciding how much time to give it before reaching out to Rob to see what was going on since we had now way to contact Solomon directly. I suggested we give it five more minutes when the hotel clerk came out to let us know that Solomon had just called and apologized that he was running late due to terrible traffic and the rain but he would be there shortly. I was just anxious to get on the road and go!

Solomon arrived a few minutes later, full of apologies for traffic that wasn’t his fault, and I was giddy as we loaded up in our first safari vehicle! We learned about Solomon, he is a biologist, and broke him in to our kind of crazy on the 90ish minute drive to the Park.

We stopped at the park gates so Solomon could take care of our entrance requirements and we used the restroom while Shane began a full on conversation with some birds. At only 554 sq km, Arusha National Park is one of the smallest national parks but there are efforts to expand it and include more protected land.

Driving through the park gates we were all excited (I try not to talk about how others traveling with me are feeling, except when I know it to be the case) and reminding each other to keep our eyes open; head on a swivel! Katie and I both announced right away that we would be the worst spotters and I had my money on outdoorsman hunter Shane to have the best eyes. After about ten minutes driving a narrow road with high vegetation on either side, the edge of a clearing could be seen coming into view. “Ok, time to really start looking, a nice wide open plain is the perfect scene for some spotting!” We didn’t have to spot long, almost immediately someone yelled, “Zebra!” Sure enough, not just a zebra but an entire herd of zebras were right there, a hundred or so yards in the distance, grazing in the rain.

“Wouldn’t it be so cool if like a giraffe sauntered out to complete this scene?” Solomon pointed straight ahead towards a tree by the road, “Oh, the giraffes are just right there.” and pulled the car forward a bit until an insanely tall giraffe was right in front of us, birds perched on its hide munching away on his resident bugs.

But it wasn’t just a giraffe with some zebras; it was a whole family of giraffes! Giraffes of all shapes and sizes! And there, there in the distance, pumba!!! Warthogs and bush bucks poked around in the grass alongside the zebras. Cape buffalo, augur buzzards, egrets, and hadada ibis dotted the landscape as we squealed in awe; happy tears *almost* escaping from my eyes.

Close to the road, another giraffe studied us as he used a stick to scratch himself. Amusing us with his resourcefulness as he shoved a stick into his ear to scratch the good spots and scratched his head all over. Is this for real?!

Solomon continued driving down past the open plain and the vegetation again grew denser. “Monkey!” A blue monkey was tucked into a tree, Solomon assured us that there’d be others. Just a couple minutes later the cry of “Monkey!” came again. This time, baboons! Two baboons sat in a tree grooming each other. Another minute down the road, more baboons, sitting solemnly on the side, observing all of us who dare enter their park. My window would only slide open about six inches, causing much frustration as we tried to coo over the baboons off to my side and we gave up hope of being able to open it more without breaking it. Not happy about that.

But I digress. Another baboon was posing for us on the side of the ride; Katie couldn’t help herself and started cooing sweet nothings to him out the window; he promptly turned on his heels and disappeared. I suggested that perhaps we may want to be more careful and remember that these aren’t our dogs; they don’t want to hear us! We had no problem throwing “shhh”s to each other as needed throughout the rest of the day. Or was that just me shushing people? Possible but no shame!

Amped up with excitement and our adventure, we declared that our nest big adventure together should be gorilla trekking for Katie’s 40th birthday in a couple years. In fact, our tradition shall be a big adventure for each of our “0” and “5” birthdays; since Shane and I are on the same cycle though we’ll get to add a couple bonus trips on off-years.

We continued driving and Shane questioned if he was spotting a buffalo off in the distance. Solomon stopped and scanned the landscape before declaring, “Rock buffalo! We, call that an ALT,” he explained, “animal-like-thing.” A group of hornbills perched atop a naked tree, showing off their silhouettes against the rainy gray skies, before we happened upon an entire family of baboons perched on downed tree limbs on the side of the road. On one end, two baboons joined forces grooming a larger baboon, quite focused on his booty. One even grabbing his back leg and pulling it out to the side so they could get in there better! Now that is love. On the other end, a mama sat grooming her baby who turned around to nuzzle against her while an old lady baboon sat in front of them. More mamas and babies snuggled while the boys kept an eye on us.

The clock was striking 11 and we weren’t even to the second ranger station yet to meet our ranger for our walking safari; already I could tell that we would probably be hard pressed to actually be back at the Lodge by 4pm, as Rob had instructed me to tell Solomon we needed to be back by then, to meet with our guides and prepare for tomorrow. But this is just so cool! I spotted a red dika but the elusive bugger was to quick to capture on camera.

Just a few minutes later we arrived at the second ranger station. We all hit the head while Solomon met our ranger, Johana. Johana was armed with a something aught something shotgun and would be deciding where we would go for our walking safari and leading us. He joined us in our land rover and explained that we would head further up the mountain and hike down to see the crater area. Sounds good to me.

Bopping along on the muddy uneven terrain we marveled at how well the land rover navigated. I want one. “Colobus monkey!!” Kyra excitedly shouted and pointed; she had been set on trying to spot one and booyah, spot one she did. Not just one but a whole family of them swinging through the trees with their gorgeous, long, silky, black and white fur flying in curtains behind them like giant, graceful, long haired skunks. I shall call them the silky skunk monkeys. Kyra has definitely earned the title of “Master Spotter” so far today!

Our next cause for excitement was a giant drive-thru tree in the middle of the road. Solomon stopped so we could get out and explained to us that what we were seeing was a couple hundred old tree covered on strangling fig; caused by birds dropping seeds from the “strangling” fig trees that then begin to grow on whatever tree they’ve been dropped on and drop roots down to the ground, strangling the host tree. But also, how damn cute are Katie and Shane?

An hour after picking up Johana, we finally pulled off and parked at the Meru Crater Trail; time to get out and stretch our legs! Johana led the way as we started uphill, explaining to us that there were stinging nettles and to watch out for them. Well, this California girl sure as hell doesn’t know what a stinging nettle is and was in for quite a shock when my hand barely brushed the edge of a plant as I stepped past and all of a sudden my finger was on fire! What the hell??? These things are no joke! My finger stung and burned for what felt like an eternity, but was probably ten minutes, as I rubbed and blew on it, trying to find some comfort. Eventually the pain subsided. But then wham! Johana led us past a particularly dense section of nettles; I kept my hands up to be safe but, guess what, they will sting you through your clothes!!! My legs and ass were flaming all over. It was like as soon a one area would stop stinging I’d hit the damn nettles again and another area would be on fire. As I describe in one of my videos, stinging nettles are assholes.

Johana looked back and warned me that there were brown ants on the trail ahead of us and not to stop but to move through them quickly as they will get in your clothes and bite. Oh awesome. I turned around to relay the message to everyone behind me since I was closest to him and then rushed over the ants on his heels. A few hundred feet later I had to stop to get a thorn out of my sock. But it wasn’t a thorn, it was a brown ant! A giant brown ant feasting on my ankle and brown ants all over my hiking boots! “Get them offffff” I cried and Johana reached down and started picking ants off of me. Thankfully I was wearing leggings so they at least couldn’t get up my pant legs! Then another sting on the side of my foot; they were IN MY SHOE. Johana pulled my boot off and we made sure all the demon ants were gone. Solomon assured me that they aren’t poisonous and they don’t have any venom so the bites are just bites and nothing else to worry about. Well, that’s some comfort.

As Johana was pulling ants off of me the others spotted a bushbuck just feet away. I was too preoccupied with the ants and being eaten alive to pay it much mind. With my ant trauma subsiding as we continued hiking I asked Johana if he’s ever actually encountered a threat from a wild animal and had to use his something aught something shotgun. Turns out he has, apparently cape buffaloes can also be assholes. Their protocol is to first fire warning shots into the air and that has always been an effective deterrent for him.

Rounding a corner and slightly descending, the hilly mountainside opened to a lush crater with a picturesque waterfall far below. Pictures do it no justice; the scene was majestic. Solomon and Johana both laughed when I asked if it was possible to hike down to the waterfall, I didn’t mean NOW, I knew we didn’t have time for that, I was just curious in general. The idea was preposterous to them so that was a hard no.

From that point we turned around to hike back the same way we had come. On the way back I knew where the evil stinging nettle patches were and just how quickly to move through the nasty gigantor brown ants and exercised extreme caution. Something caught Johana’s attention and he gestured his hand for me to stay (I was still the one closest to him) as he bolted off the trail. He turned around and whistled for us, waving his hand for us to follow. We navigated nettles and were greeted with a different crater view. And more colobus monkeys in the trees overhead! He had thought he heard them and he was right. They were high up and harder to spot but the graceful skunk monkeys were jumping and playing.

Back in the land rover, Solomon explained that we would now go for our picnic lunch and then, depending on our time, we could do a shorter hike to see another waterfall and possibly drive around to the lagoon with the flamingoes. I really wanted to see the flamingoes. As Solomon was driving to the Maio Picnic Site, we discovered a bottle of wine in the one of the seat back pockets.

Maio Picnic Site is just a grassy area set against a petite little waterfall, but there were no brown ants! Solomon conveniently had wine goblets in the back of the land rover and we enjoyed a hefty picnic lunch of samosas, some type of potato meat pies, hard boiled egg, bread and cheese, chocolate, and juice. It was so much food. None of us ladies could finish and we packed our leftovers into one box to save for later. I appreciated that the same picnic lunches had been packed for Solomon and Johana who sat at the water’s edge near Shane and chatted amongst themselves while us ladies perched on the picnic blanket.

It was 3:15 by the time we finished lunch, and not humanely possible to be back to the Lodge by 4pm, maybe 5:30 at best! As Solomon walked us through our options I was sad to speak up as a voice of reason and suggest that we skip both the waterfall and flamingo lagoon and head back because of the time. The other gals want to get their hair braided, we need to meet with our guide, and we need to get organized because we leave to climb Kilimanjaro tomorrow morning! The rest of my crew is pretty go-with-the-flow and agreed.

Driving back from lunch, the trees swayed with blue monkeys hopping about. One little fatty sat by herself going to town munching on a bunch of berries. She could not be bothered with any of the others’ foolishness, she was busy chowing down. I like her style.

We thanked Johana and said goodbye to him at the upper ranger station where we had picked him up earlier. We spotted the occasional dika and bushbuck as Solomon drove, only stopping again back towards the entrance of the park for more giraffe time now that the rain had subsided and we could watch them easier with the roof popped.

It was after 4:30 by the time we left the park; I felt so bad that we would be so late getting back, like a kid fearing detention for being late to school. As soon as I had service again I sent Rob a WhatsApp with an update on our time and he was so “hakuna matata” about it. He assured me that no worries, the hair braider he’d arranged for Katie and Kyra was close by the lodge and our Kilimanjaro guides had flexible schedules for meeting us this evening.

It was around 6 by the time we got back and Rob was waiting to take Kyra and Katie for their hair. They are each getting a couple french braids to keep in the entire time on the mountain but I’m not joining them as it only takes me less than five minutes to do my customary “adventure braids” and I like having my hair down when I sleep. Rob asked how our safari was and then gave me a big high five and congratulated me when we told him I got bit the brown ants. Seems I’ve hit a safari right of passage!

I went back to my room for a few minutes and found that the rain had been heavy enough that water had leaked in under my door and the first three feet of my entryway were flooded. At least it’s just the floor and the roof wasn’t leaking like in part of Kyra’s room last night.

With nothing to do in my room I decided to go wait in the lobby area so I at least have some wifi (none in the rooms) while I waited for Rob and the gals to get back and for our Kilimanjaro guides to show up. Two men walked in and one looked familiar so I pulled up the Everlasting Tanzania webpage to see if I was right; yup, that’s one of the guides. I went over and asked if he was Said and introduced myself. The other gentleman with him, our second guide introduced himself as Filimone but said I could call him Chaz. I introduced them to Shane, who was sitting outside downloading photos from his nice camera, and felt awkward trying to make small talk while we waited for Rob, Kyra, and Katie to return.

Once back we went up the restaurant area to gather around a table and Rob bid adieu as were now officially in the hands of our guides for the next several days. Said spread a map out on the table and walked us through each day with the basics of what to expect, how many kilometers each day, expected hiking hours each day, and how gradual or steep to expect the terrain to be. I had our laundry list of gathered questions. I was the official group scribe, jotting down notes, and making sure we had all of our lingering questions answered. After close to two hours of nervously meeting and feeling the anxiety ball up in my stomach we had all our questions for tonight answered and it was time for gear check.

Said and Chaz followed us to our rooms so they could confirm that we had the right gear for the mountain. They had us each pull everything out of our duffel bags and review with them each and every item we had packed. If they thought we were lacking in an area they’d ask us follow-up questions and they ensured we weren’t bringing anything we didn’t need. They have concerns that my summit night jacket isn’t warm enough but I assured them that I’ve worn it in very cold temperatures and I had enough layers to fit under it that I was confident it would be fine.

Gear check complete, we said goodnight to Said and Chaz. It was after 9pm by the time we got dinner so all hopes for a solid early night’s sleep is basically out the window. Tomorrow, Said will pick us up at 8am to take us to the mountain!!! I’m rather embarrassed to admit that my nerves are so frayed that tonight is the first time in my life that I’ve ever bit my nails.