Tanzania Climb and Safari

Impressions on Tanzania Safari

By Ethan Beattie

We were off on a six day Safari through four different reserves. Lake Manyara, Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater and Tangerie. We left the hotel at around noon when saying we were supposed to leave at 9:00. It took less time to get everything ready than Kili because there was much less gear and there was a car instead of porters.

Driving through Lake Manyara we pass an elephant about five feet away, eating away at a tree. The little tree was no match for the elephant’s big strong trunk. The animal used its trunk like a lawn mower clearing everything in its path. The elephant ate everything including the sticks, twigs, leaves and branches unlike a giraffe, which only eats leaves. After a couple of minutes the elephant walked, behind our car, looked at us, and then kept on walking. It was unbelievable the size of this creature and how close he was to us. This was an amazing moment because it was a first day, so we had never seen a elephant before, and he was really close too. You could tell the elephant was younger because the size of the tusks weren't as big as when full grown. It seems crazy that someone would kill an animal just for the ivory from the tusks. The tusks were bright white and got brown as you got close to his face. Rounded and reflective, the tusks gleamed in the setting sun. The elephants must not have many predators because of the size and weight of just one elephant. After five to ten minute stay, we moved on to see what else we could see. On the way out we saw another elephant, a little farther away, but it crossed the road right in front of us again. It is amazing to see animals in the wild so close with no fence. This was one of many great experiences on our safari. There are so many different types of animals. It would be great to go on another safari in the future.

Kilimanjaro

By Siena Beattie

Kilimanjaro is the highest point in Africa at 5895m. It is in Tanzania near the border of Kenya. You are not allowed to climb the mountain without a guide so companies can charge a lot more than it should cost. It usually takes three to five days to climb it but the fastest was in eight hours. Some people have to turn around either because of the altitude or because it was too cold. The chance of not making it to the top is 1 in 5 so you have a pretty good chance of making it. But if you don't make it you won't die like you do on Everest, you just turn around and go back down. And even if you don't make it to the top, it is a beautiful and fun climb.

When we, my mother, father, Ethan, Ross and I, climbed Kilimanjaro, we had twenty people taking care of us we had 13 porters to carry our bags, one cook for them, two cooks for us, two assistant guides for the last day (the cooks and the assistant guides were also porters) and two guides. The guides were great. Their names were John and Thomas. They would help us up big steps and pull me up small cliffs. They were great fun to talk to and taught us a few words in Swahili like Pole Pole, Slowly; Jambo, hello; Pole, sorry; Asantay, thank you; Karibu, you're welcome and a few others. When we were on our final assent day we had to split into two groups because I was getting cold and stopping often. Dad, Ross, and Ethan went ahead with John and one of the assistant guides, William, while mom and I went slowly with Thomas and the other assistant guide, Guidian. We walked for another hour after they left us before I started to feel lethargic and extremely cold so we had to turn around and go back down. We found out later that it was probably hypothermia so it was a good thing

we turned around or else I might have died. One the way down, Thomas could not have treated me better if I was his own child. He gave Joseph my hiking poles so that I could ball up my hands to keep them warm while he held my arm ad served as my hiking poles. He held my hand all the way down and tried to warm me up when I sat down even if it did

n't work. At the camp again my mom and I lay down for a while. When the boys got back we heard that they had made it to the top and John had helped Ethan a lot pulling him up the last part of the way. When we got back to the hotel that was included in our climb we had to tip our entourage different amounts according to what they did for us: the guides

got the most, porters the least etc. We mosts have given them more than normal because John and William joined us for dinner and took us around Moshi.

When we were on the mountain we had some excellent

food. Our cook made wonderful soups. The only thing we didn't like was the sardine sauce that he made with the pasta on the night before we would go to the summit because we do not like sardines. Also the chicken we had for almost every lunch was over cooked and dry. The chickens in Tanzania are skinny and tall. They don't look anything like the chickens in Europe or the US. One day we asked William if he made the soup when he came to take away the bowls. He said yes and we told him it was delicious. “Asante sana,” he said. On the trail William told us that

he was going to some technical school. We told him no, that he should become a chef. We went for four days thinking he was our cook until John told us that it was Joseph was the one who made the soup and William was just our waiter. We laughed about it then gave Joseph our compliments about the soup. William thought we meant: Was the soup made by one of you?

Over all, the climb was great. We met some people from Finland who were going through the same company as we did. We ended up seeing the again in the middle of the Serengeti. We also talked to a woman from Canada who was studying in Tanzania at the time. There were people from all over the world but we were the only children on the mountain at the time. The climb itself was also great. Every day was a different experience and we climb over different terrine. Someday I will go back, but next time I will make it all the way to the top.