Things (about safari) That Make You Go, “Hmmmm….”

• We met a Kenyan man on a rest stop during our bus ride from Nairobi to Arusha (where the safari started). He told us about how he knew the man who was the “Terminator” from the movies was now governor in California. He had read in the newspaper that this man was up for re-election, but it was unsure if he would win. His opinion? “I would vote for him – he is obviously a great warrior.”
• Elephants sleep standing up … it’s too far to the ground to lay down and besides their “hip” joints bend the wrong way.
• The blisteringly hot weather you expect in Africa, especially near the equator just isn’t here. The only time you really feel the heat in the sun is from 11 AM to just before 2 PM, and then only in the sun. When you’re in the shade, it can be downright chilly. According to our guide, this is pretty normal weather … if it gets more than about 5 degrees Celsius warmer, people talk about how unusual the weather is.
• So many songbirds!!! I imagined Tanzania and safari with lots of big game, but never thought about the fact that I would be awakened by songbirds.
• African elephants are huge! They aren’t as playful as the Asian ones, either. In fact, we had two big bull elephants test charge our Land Rover. Our driver/guide, Ben, has a technique to make the elephants think we’re a big enough animal to cut off its trunk (which would be the end of the elephant since it wouldn’t be able to eat) – rev the engine. Phew! It worked both times!
• Palm trees.
• A Maasai man, who while showing you the inside of his home, asks to change his Tanzanian shillings to United States dollars.
• Baboons are so like humans – and so playful!!! We spent a couple of hours over the course of two afternoons watching three baboon families. I wish it had been longer. Now that it’s later in the trip, I find myself wishing we could stop our hunt for big game long enough to watch the baboons play and groom each other.
• Zebra are shaped like donkeys, striped like race cars, and make a noise like a sick puppy barking/being stepped on.
• The hotel reception clerk whose first question to me when he got me alone was, “so when are you going to buy me an airplane ticket to America?” “I want to come stay with you and your husband and your parents.” When I pressed him for what he would do there, the answer was “maybe study” though later (really from the beginning, given then forthrightness of his question) it became obvious he wanted to get out of Tanzania so he can make some money. I told him I wouldn’t be buying him the ticket. He was disappointed. “All these American women are just not willing to cheat on their husbands! They are so in love they won’t buy me an airplane ticket.”
• Lions can sleep in trees.
• Almost no Tanzanian food at the lodge/hotels and a guide who can’t take you to a restaurant where you can get some.
• Mobile phones that work where there are no paved roads and the generator power (at luxury lodges) goes out at 11PM.
• Free internet in the middle of the Serengetti.