HOLLYWOOD ON THE SERENGETI
Hollywood on the Serengeti - Luxury Travel Magazine
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Hollywood on the Serengeti | |||||
| By: Ute Junker, Issue 45 – Summer 11 | |||||
| (Tanzania) | |||||
| UTE JUNKER SAW WILD ANIMALS ACTING LIKE THEY WERE IN A BLOCKBUSTER MOVIE; SEX AND VIOLENCE EVERYWHERE. | |||||
| A confession: as I plan my first safari experience, I’m plagued by an irrational fear. It’s nothing to do with being eaten alive by lions (or even mosquitoes): it’s the fear that I’ll be the first person to go on safari in Africa and not see any animals. Ridiculous, I know, but also undeniable. That’s one of the reasons I decide to make Lake Manyara Tree Lodge my base. This exclusive lodge, with accommodations for just 10 couples, is located in the midst of one of Tanzania’s most beautiful national parks. If I’m staying in a national park, I reason, the odds of actually spotting something increase hugely. In the event, my fear is allayed 10 minutes after the small plane deposits me at a landing strip near the national park. Just outside the airport, traffic has ground to a halt because there’s an old man baboon in the middle of the road. It turns out popular wisdom is right: there are plenty of wild animals in Africa. This realisation is reinforced when we enter the national park, where the fun really begins. It’s a two hour drive to the lodge, along a narrow track with dense vegetation crowding it from the sides. It’s a great place for spotting animals – if you know where to look. To me, it’s just a sea of green. Fortunately, my driver introduces me to the art of safari spotting, which is all about letting your eyes focus in a different way – a bit like trying to get one of those 3D images that used to be popular in newspapers. He shows me a tree with half its leaves ripped off, which suggests there are elephants in the area. Around the next corner, we find three elephants, performing a similar operation on a fresh set of trees. As we sit and watch them, I become aware that there are other shapes in the bush behind them. I spot a fourth elephant, then a fifth, a sixth, a seventh. This is how it will be for the next few days – herds of wildlife gradually swimming into focus. We see plenty more elephants on the way to the lodge, along with giraffe, monkeys, and not one but two hippos that have somehow secreted themselves behind a small bush. The most magnificent sight of all is almost concealed by the delicate leaves of a mammoth acacia tree. Stretched out on the lowest, broadest branch is a mother lion, her three teenage cubs sprawled languidly near her. Even my guide is impressed by that one. It’s almost dark by the time we get to the camp, which means the Maasai are on duty. After dark, anyone wandering around the lodge must be accompanied by an assegai-wielding Maasai, in case they encounter stray wildlife – one of the perils of sleeping in a national park. Surprisingly, the most-feared encounter is not a prowling lion but, of all things, a water buffalo. Water buffalo, it seems, are a deadly combination – both stupid and bad-tempered. Confronted with a human approaching in the dark, most animals - it’s explained to me - will either slink away, or give some sort of warning. The water buffalo does neither. It just waits for you to step on it, then it attacks you. As we walk to my cabin through the dusk, my Maasai companion points his torch at a bush. A pair of red eyes swims into focus. “Water buffalo,” he says calmly. I decide not to leave my cabin until morning. Stepping inside my cabin, I’m enchanted. Each of the lodge’s 10 “tree houses” is nestled in the shady canopies of ancient mahogany trees. Although the chic interiors – all bleached wood and neutral textiles – feature creature comforts such as sink-into sofas and a luxurious clawfoot bath, each tree house is so enclosed by greenery that you feel you’re alone in the forest. You’re not, of course, I discover on my first morning. Relaxing on = the wide deck that surrounds my house, I’m visited by a troop of inquisitive gibbons, eager to check out the new arrival. However, being on safari is not about spending time in your room. During our twice-daily game drives we see astonishing numbers of animals: zebra, wildebeest, jackals, klipspringers, impala and vervet monkeys join my spotter’s list, along with a bewildering array of birds (There are more than 400 different species in the national park). We explore the beautiful Rift Valley, where thousands of flamingos sit in a shimmering salt pan and, after the evening game drives, relax with frozen g&ts on the verandah. I’m convinced Lake Manyara is a safari experience that can’t be bettered - until I visit its sister property, Ngorongoro Crater Lodge. The lodge’s location alone makes it a must visit: it’s perched on the rim of an extinct volcanic crater, 60km wide and filled with around 25,000 wild animals. However, that’s just the start of Ngorongoro’s delights. The suites, which from the outside appear to be simple thatched mud houses, have a wonderfully madcap decor – like they were decorated by someone’s mad Victorian great-aunt who packed everything she owned – complete with woven chandeliers - and moved to Africa. The sweeping curtains are velvet, the walls a rich purple, the bathtub has a view over the crater. Then there are the game drives. In the crater, we see cheetah and lions, zebra and giraffe, wildebeest and impala, all behaving like they’re in a Hollywood blockbuster. Sex and violence are everywhere, resulting in some unforgettable images. Three hyena, faces covered in blood, tear into the stomach of a felled wildebeest, undisturbed by our proximity. A black-maned lion refuses to move from the patch of ground on which he’s collapsed – the guide tells us he’s been mating for three days. The lodge’s location also allows for excursions farther afield, including Olduvai Gorge, site of some of the most important finds in human prehistory. At the right time of year, you can even head out to the eastern Serengeti to watch the wildebeest migration. I have arrived just too late, I’m told, so I’m surprised one morning, when I ask my guide what we’ll be doing today, and he suggests catching up with the wildebeest. “Haven’t they gone?” I ask him. “I think we can find them,” he says, and we drive out onto the astonishingly wide, empty grasslands that are the Serengeti. Only they’re not entirely empty. My first glimpse of the wildebeest is a line of animals silhouetted against the horizon. It’s a cave painting come to life, an eerie reminder that humans have seen this sight for thousands of years. As we get close to the main body of the herd, I experience the surreal sensation of being surrounded by wildebeest as far as the eye can see – a dense concentration of wildlife that has to be seen to be believed. It’s not just wildebeest, either. The migration involves a whole range of animals including lions, who know a walking feast when they see one. It’s a long day out on the grasslands, and by the time we return to the lodge, we’re covered with dust. As I step into my suite, I’m delighted to discover that my butler has already drawn a bath and scattered rose petals in it. Now that’s the way to end the day. | |||||
| GETTING THERE | |||||
| Kenya Airways has recently launched a codeshare agreement with Qantas: Qantas flies from Sydney to Nairobi from A$3,173 for a return economy ticket while business class tickets are from A$8,812 return. Kenya Airways flights from Nairobi to Dar Es Salaam begin at A$467 for a return economy trip. Business class flights are from A$931 return. | |||||
| kenya-airways.com | |||||
| From Dar Es Salaam, there is one more flight and a drive. Coastal Air operates daily flights from Dar Es Salaam to Lake Manyara airstrip (around $300 per person one way) which is 1.5 hours from Ngorongoro Crater Lodge by car (Transfers are arranged by the lodge in a closed game viewing vehicle.) From Lake Manyara airstrip, Lake Manyara Tree Lodge is a 2.5 hour scenic drive through the national park. | |||||
| WHERE TO STAY | |||||
| Lake Manyara Tree Lodge | |||||
| Rates: About A$690 per person, per night sharing during March and May and between 11-30 November and between 1-20 December; from A$865 between 1-15 June, all of October, between 1-20 December; and around A$995 during January, February, between 16-30 June, July-September and between 21-31 December. +27 11 809 4314 | |||||
| lakemanyara.com | |||||
| Ngorongoro Crater Lodge | |||||
| Rates: Around A$729 per person, per night sharing from March-May and from 11 November to 20 December; A$1,000 from 1 to 15 June and 1 October to 10 November; A$1,345 January, February, between 16–30 June, September, and between 21–31 December; and $1,500 July and August. +27 11 809 4314 | |||||
| ngorongorocrater.com | |||||
| WHEN TO GO | |||||
| East Africa can be visited at any time through the year. December to March is the summer season. Rain tends to fall in Tanzania during April, May and November, so the best time to travel between June and October. The wildebeest migration pattern is spontaneous and the timing changes seasonally, but they can usually be seen from June to August. | |||||
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