Dar es Salaam Diary

So, when I was in third grade, we had this project where we had to take a shoebox and use it to create a diorama of some far-flung region of the world. I chose the African savanna, and so my shoebox was painted bright blue and green, and had little cardboard cut-outs of zebras, giraffes, and elephants. Either because my parents love me very much, or because they haven't done a whole lot of redecorating over the years, I believe it is still on display in our home in Pittsburgh. Anyway, where I'm going with this is that on Sunday I had the experience of feeling like I had stepped inside that diorama.

Along with two of my fellow "campers" (Kiwi Sandra and German shrink Miriam) I went on my first safari to nearby Arusha National Park. We were able to arrange the trip through MS-TCDC's transport officer, and so bright and early at 9 AM, a man named Aziz was waiting for us at the reception in a sturdy four-by-four. After about 15 minutes down the main road and another 20 or so on a rather rocky dirt road, we were at the front gate. We hadn't even passed through the gate when Sandra ran to get me from the bathroom to show me our first giraffe.

That giraffe (or twiga) would be the first of at least 100 that we saw yesterday. In addition, we saw a number of punda milia (zebras, literally "striped donkeys"), nyati (buffalo), mbango (warthogs), and a glimpse of two hippos bathing. I've posted a few of my favorite pics on Flickr.

In addition, we caught a glimpse of Mt. Kilimanjaro, though it was swathed in clouds for most of the day. Much more prominent, and quite beautiful, was Mt. Meru (which we can also see each day from "camp.") A lot of people climb Meru as a "practice run" for Kili, though word on the street is that it's actually a more technically challenging climb. However, it's a bit lower than Kili, so people don't suffer so much from altitude sickness. It's also a hell of a lot cheaper to climb, so I'm thinking that might be a fun activity for the dry season.

But back to our safari... Most of our time was spent in the car with Aziz (who served as a tour guide and Swahili teacher as well as driver), stopping and getting out of the car when we wanted to take pictures or simply stare. We also wanted to walk around the park a bit, so after lunch we had one of the (required) armed guards lead us on a little hike. He was quite the knowledgeable guide as well (I now know about 20 different uses for Sodom's apples -- a small green fruit that was quite prevalent in the park -- but perhaps I'll save that for another post).

I would have to say that my main impression of the giraffes was that they just strike me as highly improbable animals. They are just so incredibly tall. And given that there really weren't that many tall trees in the park, their height seemed kind of unnecessary. But they do have a certain elegance about them. And serenity. In fact, nearly all of the animals that we saw just seemed to be extremely peaceful, languishing on tree branches, playfully nudging each other, loping around, or contemplating a mouthful of grass. I suppose we humans are fond of romanticizing and anthropomorphizing our non-hominid fellow inhabitants of this planet, but I did feel as if maybe they have figured out something that we've yet to grasp.