FALLING asleep in a tent on the hard forest floor was hardly the way I expected to spend my first night on safari.
But images of cosy lodges and comfortable beds were quickly dispelled as I settled in for the night in my two-man tent with my new Syrian friend Mohammed.
We made camp in an area of Tanzania known as Kware, which became our home for the first two nights of the safari in the Tarangire National Park.
There were no electric fences to keep out the lions and no guns to protect us against predators - just a circle of candle lamps on the ground surrounding the tent.
There was also the bonfire we made before eating a dinner of sausages and pasta, while listening to the sounds of zebras, hyenas and buffalos in the distance, underscored by the constant sound of crickets chirping in the forest night.
We had been advised that if we set foot outside the tent to use the bathroom (a tent with a portable toilet inside) we have to be vigilant and arm ourselves with a flashlight to scare off any unwelcome guests.
After not the most pleasant sleep we were told the next morning that a leopard had passed just 50 metres north of the camp in the night, while a herd of buffalo had left a particularly pungent calling card nearby.
Our second night was more comfortable, but try falling asleep to the squeals of what could have been a warthog being mauled by a predator.
I had set off on the safari shortly after descending the summit of Africa's tallest mountain, Mount Kilimanjaro.
I was joined by nine other people from the 30-strong team who took part in the Kilimanjaro expedition, organised by the Dubai-based Gulf For Good campaign, to raise money for disadvantaged children in Tanzania and renovation of a hospital in Kenya.
Our multinational crew on the safari included three Britons, three Americans, two Syrians, an Emirati and an Indian.
After reaching the foot of Kilimanjaro we headed 100km west to the town of Arusha, which is the regional capital, to start our latest adventure - a four-night safari organised by Serengeti Select Safaris Limited.
It would take us to the Tarangire National Park for the first two days, Lake Manyara National Park on the third and Ngorongoro Conservation Area on the fourth and final day.
All are located roughly in the northeast region of Tanzania.
After piling into two open-top jeeps and being introduced to our two drivers/guides Rio and Alex, we set off from Arusha to the Tarangire National Park.
As you enter the park you cannot help noticing the eerie looking baobab trees that dot the landscape, which are almost devoid of leaves.
These trees have thick trunks, most are hollow and serve as reservoirs for rain water, as a site for wild beehives or used by hornbills for nesting.
Surprise
The Maasai tribe, our invisible neighbours and whose territory we were staying on, also believe the trees provide sanctuary for ghosts and spirits.
For most of us this was our first time in Africa and our first real look at its wildlife and we were not to be disappointed.
Within the first half-an-hour we had seen a group of seven or eight zebras, along with around 25 impala - a species of East African antelope of which the males have an impressive set of horns.
Lunch was taken at a lodge overlooking the park - which many of us wrongly thought we might be sleeping in that night.
However, it did offer a birds-eye view of the activities of the animals below.
The most noticeable was a herd of elephants drinking at the river, while another group were moving about with their young offspring.
It was like a scene from Jurassic Park as we watched the animals roam freely - including wildebeest, ostriches and the waterbuck (another type of antelope).
However, going on a safari is potluck and you just have to be in the right place at the right time to get a glimpse of the wildlife.
During the afternoon, we came across a monitor lizard sitting lazily on a rock near a water source, the small Kirk's Dik-dik antelope (which are usually solitary animals), the Maasai giraffes that inhabit the park, a dwarf mongoose, a long crested eagle and a hyrax - which looks similar to a short-eared rabbit, but is actually the nearest living relative to the elephant because of its anatomical similarities.
Measuring 2,600sqkm, Tarangire National Park has the second largest concentration of wildlife in the dry season after Ngorongoro Crater, numbering as many as 100,000 animals.
Before sunset we also came across a large concentration of more than 100 baboons, vervet monkeys, warthogs and bird species such as guinea fowl and vultures.
Not a bad collection of wildlife for our first day of viewing, though we were in for a shock when the guides looking after us took us to our tented accommodation.
Our second day was spent in the same park and soon after setting off we were in luck - having to stop our vehicle to allow a group of more than 60 migrating wildebeest pass.
Soon afterwards we came across a herd of around 30 to 40 buffalos, which just might have been the same ones that left a present for us overnight.
Among the birds we spotted were the superb starling, of which adults are bluish in colour, and the lilac breasted roller bird, which perches high up in trees and can spot insects, lizards, scorpions, snails and rodents moving about at ground level.
The trees that inhabit the Tarangire National Park, apart from baobab, also include doum palms and flat-topped or umbrella acacias.
However, looking for Africa's "big five" animals - elephants, buffalos, leopard, lion and rhinoceros - calls for patience.
After seeing elephants and buffalos on both days, finally a leopard was spotted lying on top of one of many termite mounds, while other highlights included a jackal.
However, we also saw a dead elephant that may have been the victim of a poacher as both its tusks were missing, before finally catching a glimpse of a pair of lions resting in the grass.
Our third day was spent at Lake Manyara National Park, which is around 330sqkm - of which around 230sqkm is occupied by the lake - and where the wall of the Great Rift Valley can also be seen.
The most common animal we spotted was the zebra, which seemed to mingle quite happily with wildebeest, while giraffes, warthogs and birds such as the black-headed heron, guinea fowl, vultures, marabou, yellow-billed storks, pelicans and cormorants also put in an appearance.
Our next stop was the "hippo pool", part of the Simba River where at least 20 hippopotamus weighing anything between 2,000 to 3,000kg were cooling off.
Lake Manyara is also a favourite place for seeing flamingos and we saw the pink glow of thousands of these birds along the waterway.
Two hot springs - Maji Moto Ndogo and Maji Moto - also expel their water into Lake Manyara.
The Maji Moto is the hottest at around 60C and considered hot enough to cook an egg in 30 minutes.
One reptile always associated with Africa, but so far proving elusive, was the snake.
However, on our way out of the park one of our group spotted a green python - measuring around two-and-a-half metres long - as we crossed a bridge over a small stream.
After roughing it for two nights in an open campsite, we were happy to spend our third night at the more luxurious Rhotia Valley Tented Lodge and Children Home, which would be our overnight base before our final day at the world famous Ngorongoro Conservation Area.
The Ngorongoro measures over 8,300sqkm, but we would concentrate on the 2,200m deep Ngorongoro Crater, which occupies an area of 260sqkm and has the biggest concentration of wildlife in the world.
We entered the park after seeing lots of Maasai cows and soon got our first glimpse of Thomson's and Grant's gazelles.
For only the second time we observed lions, this time a pair sleeping near a water course, and a little later came across another "hippo pool".
The variety of wildlife was intriguing as the crater was full of zebras, warthogs, hyenas, ostriches, elephants, jackals and migrating wildebeest, but the crowning glory of the entire safari was the appearance of a pair of cheetahs.
This caused great excitement with more than 20 safari vehicles grinding to a halt as we observed them and waited for a better view to capture them on film.
As we wound up the safari, one of the world's heaviest birds, the kori bustard that can weigh up to around 18kg, came into view.
However, our biggest disappointment was not viewing any rhinoceros.
This was put down to the weather being bad at the crater and particularly cold on this occasion, as well as the fact that their number had dropped to below 20 in the area in recent years.
My final day was spent travelling going back to Arusha, having a look around the Maasai Market for gifts and the food and spice markets, before taking a six-hour bus journey to Nairobi International Airport, in Kenya, for my connecting flight back to Bahrain.
--
Jean-Louis Kayitenkore
Procurement Consultant
Gsm: +250-08470205
Home: +250-55104140
P.O. Box 3867
Kigali-Rwanda
East Africa
Blog: http://www.cepgl.blogspot.com
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