ONE LAST NIGHT IN NJOZI CAMP BEFORE RETURNING TO REALITY, BLOG 15, APRIL 19TH 2020

 

On our drive back to camp we again enjoy the lines of cattle egrets skimming just above the ground on their way to Lake Ndutu for the night. We also reflect on all the astounding encounters we have had on this safari with George. What amazing things we have had the fortune to experience.

As we pull into the camps driveway, George tells us we should leave Njozi by 7:30 in the morning since the journey to Arusha will take seven or eight hours. Salama and Lema are waiting for us as usual and we take the warm towels they offer with appreciation. We bid George goodnight and tell him we will see him in the morning.

As we walk to our tent there are new guests being escorted by staff members to their tents. George told us this morning that two groups of people were arriving at Njozi today. Paul and I look forward to meeting the guests this evening. We both agree at the two camps where we were the only customers, we missed the socializing with other safari goers at the end of the day. It is always fun to compare notes of your days sightings and to get acquainted with other folks that love Africa as much as we do.

When we walk to the bonfire tonight there are two young men seated near the crackling flames, each enjoying a beer. We introduce ourselves and find that the California natives are traveling with their parents and an uncle. When the rest of the family arrives and once Joseph has taken their order for drinks, we greet one another. The second group of people join us and we go through the same process of introductions, not that I will possibly remember all their names! One couple from the second group is from Colorado and their traveling companions are from California. As everyone is chitchatting, the two couples from California realize that they actually live in the same area and have attended functions together.  How small the world is!

 

David and Useph have joined this noisy crowd and readily answer questions from the new guests about their work in Ndutu.  At some point, Paul shows the researchers the video he took of the stealthy lion who got put in his place by the angry lioness. I can’t remember if it was David or Useph who nearly doubled over with laughter while watching the video.

David listens to a conversation Paul and I have with the Colorado couple about our African safaris. One of the topics we discuss is how disgusted we were with the behavior of humans at the wildebeest crossings that we witnessed in 2018 and they had witnessed on one of their safaris. David interjects that there is a new warden now and that rules have been put in place for guides at the river crossings. One of them is that vehicles must stay a certain distance from the riverbanks, (I think it was 80 meters). Another rule is that no one is allowed out of vehicles. The four of us are delighted to hear about these changes!

Vana appears in front of us and announces that it is time to come to the dining tent for dinner. The staff have seated us all at the same table which proves to be a tight fit but we make it work. Paul spends his time enjoying the company of the California couple that are traveling with their sons. I am seated next to the couple from Colorado and the three of us visit all through the meal about our African adventures and travel in general. It is quite noisy in the canvas tent with all of us happily chatting away.

Paul and I are the first to leave since we need to prepare for our departure tomorrow. Our dinner companions say goodnight and tell us that they will see us tomorrow. We reply that unfortunately we won’t have that pleasure since we are going home tomorrow. We bid everyone goodbye and wish them the best of luck on their safaris in the coming days.

This morning we eat our last breakfast at Njozi alone as the people we met last night have already departed on their morning game drive. I wish I was out in the bush with them! We gather our luggage and meet George at the truck. We say goodbye to the staff and hand over the thankyou note which includes the tip money. For some reason we didn’t take a photo of the Njozi camp staff! I was sure we had but if we did it was deleted somehow. We wave so long to the wonderful people of Njozi camp as we drive down the driveway for the last time.

George has not popped the top of his safari truck this morning since we are in travel mode and not game drive mode. George does stop before we exit Ndutu so we can watch a hot air balloon land. The colorful balloon sits down near a line of grazing wildebeest and most of the animals ignore the colorful bag of gas.

We reach the Serengeti gate and continue towards Ngorongoro Crater. There is a scattering of zebras, various antelope species and wildebeests. I ask George to stop briefly so I can take a photo of a tower of giraffes looking elegant in the morning light. We begin to see Maasai herding their cattle to grazing grounds plus the neat circles of huts that make up the Maasai bomas.

In some place’s there are vivid purple flowers carpeting large swaths of ground which makes for a stunning scene. Regrettably, George informs us that the flowers are an invasive species but I can’t remember where the flowering plants came from.

Two hours after leaving Njozi we reach Ngorongoro Crater. George parks the truck and Paul and I walk over to the viewing platform and look down at the crater floor far below us. Even with binoculars it is impossible to clearly make out the wildlife at the bottom of this deep hole. Paul and I visit the restrooms before clambering back into the truck.

George has to stop at the Ngorongoro entrance gate in order to sign out before we can continue our journey to Arusha. As we drive away from the Ngorongoro gate a troop of baboons is walking down the middle of the highway. The primates take their sweet time moving out of our way so we can continue on. The baboons are our last wildlife sighting I am sad to say!

We drive in and out of small villages with plenty of interesting scenes to take in. We also converse with George on various subjects including George asking me how I got my Swahili name. I tell him a guide in Tanzania by the name of Tumani (sp), gave me that name because I was so interested in birds. George exclaims that he knows Tumani and that now Tumani has his own business. I’ll be darned.

We follow a tractor hitched to a disk and George explains that this is one of many custom workers who go around and disk up fields for villages or individuals. This practice of disking gets the fields ready for planting much faster than the old way of digging the soil up by hand or using oxen teams. It is bound to save a lot of aching backs and arms too.

One of the most heart wrenching things I see is a woman with a baby attached to her back, walking down into a river bed where there are only potholes of muddy water. She is carrying a small plastic container and I hope I am wrong but I think she is there to dip up some of the foul water.

Seven hours later we arrive in the bustling city of Arusha. There are numerous motorcycles and they follow no traffic rules, weaving in and out of the crush of cars which irritates our low-keyed guide. George has to make a stop to get the Masai sandals he ordered for me as a gift. George had to know my shoe size so that is why he didn’t have them with the gifts he presented us at the beginning of the safari. When George returns to the truck, he is holding two pair of sandals. I assume one pair is for Paul but George says no, he ordered me a second pair because I saw the first honey badger😊. I try the on the colorful sandals at George’s request and sure enough they fit. I thank this generous man for the sandals and all the other gifts he showered on us. It wasn’t necessary nor expected but much appreciated.

We arrive at the day hotel mid-afternoon, (we ate boxed lunches as we traveled that Njozi camp provided for us), and George makes sure that the hotel has a reserved room for us and plans to take us to the airport before he says goodbye. We profusely thank our guide for the wonderful experiences we had in the Serengeti and Ndutu. We hand him a thankyou card with his well-deserved tip money. As George drives away I stand at the doorway and wave at him but he doesn’t see me.  I think his thoughts have turned to seeing his wife and children who are waiting for him on the other side of Arusha.

We have our room for three hours so we shower and I repack our suitcases as our weight limit for our carryon luggage is 26 pounds each. I have a set of luggage scales and with a few things stuck in our coat pockets we manage to keep our two sets of carryon luggage around twenty-five pounds. Paul says he bets they won’t even weigh our luggage here in Africa and I bet him that they will. I lost that bet by the way!

While I was packing Paul went to use the complimentary computer the hotel provides to check in and print our boarding passes. Paul got along fine until it came to printing out the boarding passes and the office staff couldn’t figure it out either. Tenacious Paul kept trying various things to get the tickets printed and, in the end, he got it done. Once our time in the room is up, we go to the restaurant and share a pizza then wait for the shuttle to take us to the airport.

At the airport we wait in line to put our luggage through the first screening machines. Then we wait in line to check in. Once we reach the desk Paul drops my Swahili name to the woman who is helping us. The young lady starts laughing and says no she is Bibi Ndege and tells Paul he is Babu Ndege. Paul and I had wondered why several people would laugh at my name on this safari and now we know. I am too old to be Mama Ndege, I am a Bibi, translation Grandma while Babu is of course Grandpa. Hilarious. Paul again drops my Swahili name at the passport check desk and he gets the same reaction, laughter. Hey if it puts the security folks in a good mood it is worth it.

From Arusha we fly to Dar es Salaam where we sit on the tarmac for over an hour while people got off and others boarded. From Dar it is a seven-and-a-half-hour flight to Amsterdam where we have a two-hour layover. I find a café where I buy a triple chocolate muffin and chocolate milk. I was craving chocolate to say the least and oh my gosh was that muffin delicious! We leave Amsterdam and nine hours later we arrive in Atlanta where we use our global entry card for the first time. It was so easy, no long lines to stand in and we just breeze through customs. We leave Atlanta and arrive in Kansas City and we are so tired when we get here that we spend the night in KC.

So that is the end of our adventure. We have had eight wonderful safaris to Africa but if I were to rank them, I would have to put this trip at the top of the list. The camps were incredible, our guides just fantastic, all the staff people friendly and caring, and the wildlife sightings and behavior we experienced was unbelievable.  Nancy