Part II: Safari in Tanzania

If you love the National Geographic channel like I do, then you will loooove seeing the real thing live! The only drawback is that you can't really get too close to the animals the way a camera lens can zoom in. But you will be able to drive up very close to the animals with no obstruction from fences or windows that you see at a zoo. At one point, I was literally 3ft away from a pride of lions! I really did have an urge to step out of the vehicle to curiously pet them. But that wasn't allowed by my driver. (Ha! I wonder why). So what's the next risky thing I could do? I stuck the entire half of my upper body out of the window. Yes, I know. It was not the brightest thing to do, but I wanted to take a photo and show people how close I was! And then... I lost my arm!!! Ha, just kidding! But in all seriousness, I really don't advise anyone doing what I did. Thinking back, if those lions were hungry, they could have easily jumped on me and pawed me out so fast that I would have been their Asian fusion meal for that day.

GAP Adventures
For my amazing safari adventure, my sister-in-law's cousin and I hired Gap Adventures. It was a 4 days tour that included a visit to Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, Mto wa Mbu, a Maasai village, and a delicious local Tanzanian meal. We were very fortunate to have the jeep all to ourselves and "Thomas" as our driver/guide throughout this journey. He was extremely knowledgeable and passionate about his job. I actually think he was the 'predator' because throughout our search, he persistently wanted to hunt down the animals during the moments when we were weary. He was so good that at one point he stopped the jeep and told us to look. We scrutinized the vast savanna but didn't see a thing. As it turned out, Thomas wanted us to see an army of ants rushing about on the ground near the tires! How the heck did he see that while driving?!
www.gadventures.com

Personally, 4 days is the perfect number of days to see all that we saw. Though I would probably extend a few more days to glimpse more of the Tanzanian culture. But 3 days of watching the wildlife was enough for me. After a while, you see the same animals over and over again and can get superfluous. The concentration of wildlife at Serengeti and Ngorongoro basically allows one to see all the animals within the space of one-two hours. But perhaps, not that I enjoy watching gore but I acknowledge the survival of life, it might have been more exciting if we saw some predation or killing on this trip. Instead, the animals that we saw basically lounged around, gave us an aloof and indifferent eye, and as if they were thinking "not another group of pitiful aficionados."

Maasai

Though it took 1.5hrs from Moshi to Arusha and another 3.5hrs to Ngorongoro Crater, driving is a great way to see Tanzania. Arusha is about 5x more populated than Moshi, and hence, busier and more active. At Arusha, I saw the most beautiful purple foliage! I didn't even know tree leaves can be purple! And that astonished me. But then the drive from Arusha to Ngorongoro became even more foreign mostly savanna range lands with scattered Maasai villages. Wow, did I just go back in time?! I learned that the Maasai clan is a semi-nomadic tribe that has resisted assimilating into the modern world. The traditional Maasai people still wear their traditional red robes (shuka) and live in huts the way their ancestors lived hundred years ago. Maasai society is still strongly patriarchal in nature and polygamy is common. Women do most of the work. And the measure of a man's wealth depends on the number of cattle and children they have. Some boys as young as 12 still practice circumcision rituals to represent the transitioning of boyhood to 'junior warriors'. During the healing process they would wear black clothes and paint their faces in white. I tried to capture pictures of these boys but I had a crappy camera and they charge outrages amounts for a photo. At last, when we went to visit a Maasai family's home and tour their living space, I thought I had stepped inside one of the displays at the Natural Museum of History with a cast of people dressed in Maasai styled robes. But behold, these people were real Maasai and those huts were really their homes! It was amazing. So if you want to see how our ancestors probably lived centuries ago, then I highly recommend a visit to Africa. Heck, you must visit Africa! It's a beautiful continent. It's nothing that I have ever seen before and it's enlightening. And finally, let me tell you, the traditional dances that the Maasai women do appear so simple. But in contrary, I just couldn't bob my chest or shoulders the way they do! [Check out what I mean in my video under Videos].

Part I: My Kilimanjaro

Have you ever felt an urge to do something but didn't know why you want to do it? Well I did. Prior to going to Tanzania this past month, my colleagues and friends would look at me with skepticism when I told them that I wanted to hike Mt. Kilimanjaro. After all, standing in front of them appears to be this gentle thin-framed somewhat fragile and soft specimen. "Mt. Kilimanjaro?! Wow! No kidding," they would say and continued to humor me with what they thought was my creative story. But quite frankly, even I often at times would entertain myself with my adventurous tale because, I too, didn't believe I would actually do it. But something keeps bestirring me from the inside to act upon this desire for the past few years. And I simply didn't understand why.

As a result, like any tasks that needs to be done, I started my planning of my trip to Tanzania. It began two years ago when I tried to entice my friends, my relatives, strangers, basically anyone, to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro with me. Majority of the people responded with a definitive 'no'. I get it because who really wants to "work hard" during their vacation? But to me, hiking 6-7 hours a day for 9 days did not sound like hard work at all. It sounds therapeutic! And I get it because being unable to shower for 9 days sounds dreadfully stinky. But to reach to the top of the highest mountain in Africa sounds too irresistible that I am willing to forgo some beauty and cleansing! And why not go alone? Of course I can but I would much rather share the experience of such excitement with someone. Last year, I managed to find one friend and one cousin interested. I thought my adventure was finally brought to fruition. However, the plan quickly dematerialized after a few months of bluffing. I thought, perhaps, Mt. Kili was really a crazy fancy of mine after all.

Then one day during January of this year, a law of attraction happened. It turns out that my sister-in-law had two cousins and one of the cousin's wife were interested in climbing Mt. Kilimanajaro. We started communicating through emails and then we were booking our flights and tour operators, and then like instant magic, I was going to T-A-N-Z-A-N-I-A! Everything happened so fast and smoothly. The week before my departure, I still couldn't believe that I was heading to Africa.

Probably the best way for me to summarize my dream-came-true trip would be visually. (See under videos). But in short, I now understand why I had to hike Mt. Kili. I have always been inquisitive in understanding our journey of "life". Perhaps destiny had taken a role here. The moments I had at this mountain had finally shown me all the elements, whether it be physical, mental, or emotional, I had felt and seen all aspects of it there, and sometimes all three simultaneously! I came back down a different person. I have "grown" a little bit more. And what is most special to me is that it was at this mountain that I finally experienced what "free" and genuine "happiness" is like.

TUSKER TRAIL
A huge part of the joyous memory I had at Tanzania had to do with the people whom I met on this journey and choosing the right tour operator. There were 10 trekkers, including myself, hiking the Lemosho route. Amazingly, everyone of us got along very well. For our tour operator, we chose Tusker Trail. We had 44 porters and 3 guides escorting us. The 3 guides, Eliakim, Liberati, and Shabani, and an emergency porter, Godlisten, walked with us during the hike while the rest of the porters raced ahead to set up the next camp before we arrived. They all had a task and had done a spectacular job in ensuring our trip ran smoothly and successfully. (www.tusker.com)

Shabani, Godlisten, Eliakim, Liberati

On this trip, to my delightful surprise, I had built good friendships with a few of the crew members. There were Charles (Head Master of Camp), Regan (waiter), and Joseph (water boy). They shared with me details about their passion and hobbies. And then of course there were Eli, Libe, Shabi, and God. These guys were very entertaining and patient with me whenever I had an obstacle. I immediately came to love these four men and to this day still miss them terribly. They were the ones who helped our group to summit safely and successfully. Without their genuine care and support and Eliakim's great leadership, I'm unsure if I would have been able to step on the soils of the summit and participate a birthday celebration. (Yes, the Tusker crew threw a surprise birthday party for one of the trekkers whose birthday was on that day! How cool is that?!) Because I bonded so well with them, the only complaint I have about Tusker is their policy of not allowing their employees to keep in touch with the clients. (Um, how would Eddie Frank, the owner of Tusker, be able to meet his wife if he didn't get to keep in touch with her on their hike?) The point is, I have unfortunately lost a few new friends on this trip, which I'm very sad about.

Despite that one policy, Tusker is the tour operator one should use if one plans on hiking Mt. Kili. Comparing to most of the operators I saw on the mountain, Tusker had fairly sturdier and more reliable equipment. Moreover, the guides are very knowledgeable about the mountain and are medically certified. They do medical check up on the hikers twice a day to monitor our oxygen level and any health issues. They are probably one of the very few operators that carry a large supply of oxygen in case one needs it. There were instances where other tour operators would even ask Tusker for help! Furthermore, the food we ate was surprisingly delicious and yummy. None of the 10 trekkers had stomach issues. The two Tusker chefs are trained by the Culinary Institute of America and had concocted a variety of amazing treats for us. To this day, I'm still perplexed on how they managed to bake cakes and brownies at such cold weather conditions with the lack of kitchenware! In any rate, if you are thinking of hiking Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tusker Trail is the right choice. They are slightly more expensive than most operators but given the uncertainty of the mountain's weather, it's better to be safe under trusting hands than sorry. And if you happen to get Eliakim, Liberati, and Shabani in your hike, then you got very lucky!

My fellow trek-mate Niki patiently wrote out the details of our hike. If you're interested, please read her blog! http://nikiharry.com/ 

RECOMMENDATIONS 
Prior to my hike, I did some research on how I should prepare for this trip. There were some useful information that I found on other webs, but this is an additional input from my experience. (This is assuming you are hiking/camping for 9 days).

• No need to bring a large day pack! I made that mistake and carried my Gregory 60 Deva, which  weighs 5lbs 8oz. I recommend going with a smaller and a lighter pack.
• Bring a bandana or a buff; something you can use to cover your face from the dust and the cold.
• As suggested from most websites, layering is key! A light gore-tex jacket is highly recommended. And a warm thick fleece pant that you can wear at night or under your hiking pants.
• Lots of wet wipes! And tissues. There will be some sniffles and possibly nose bleed which happened to me!
• Glad-lock plastic bags to store your things. The bags turn out to be quite handy keeping out the dust and condensation. It's also easier to see what you have in each bag when you need to pull an item out.
• No need to bring a book or a heavy journal book if you don't have to. The nights turned out to be too cold for me to want to pull my journal book out. I just wanted to get into my sleeping bag and go to sleep! 
• A solar charger. If you must be in touch with the outside world, there were certain points on the mountain that a few of my trek mates were able to text their family back at home.
• I brought my water filter but didn't even use it. Tusker provided filtered water for us. So make sure the operator you choose does that. But no need to think, just go with Tusker!
• If you have the option to buy waterproof vs. not, get the waterproof.
• Electrolyte or hydration tablets for your water. Extra boost of energy and hydration helps!
• Extra snacks for your guides. They will appreciate it!
• There are supermarkets in Moshi where you can purchase almost any toiletries. Just a fyi, in case you forgot to bring something along with you. It's Africa, but yes they do have modern supermarkets.