Campsite 5: Ngorongoro Crater. After seemingly years on our butts, now eternally asleep from the combination of our bumpy journey and the more than firm seats, we were told that our waiting would pay off. We wake up early the next morning, to "beat the tourist rush," as Thad put it, a promise less than music to our ears, after spending such wonderful weeks with the Iraqu and Hadza. We abandon our truck, file into individual "Safari Cars" which are basically Land Rovers with roofs that pop open and are a staple sight all over this part of the country. Immediately, we felt like tourists far more than we had since our literal assignment in Zanzibar to "act like tourists". There is a stark and noticeable difference in the local's demeanor towards you if you clarify your status as a student rather than a tourist.
As we are cleared through the gates (a task that we later find to cost $200 per person...) we climb a steep hill through a jungle. The tallest trees I have seen, discounting the redwoods of California, loom and surround us. We turn a gradual corner at the zenith of the hill and come across a viewpoint which is permanently engraved in my aura now: our first sight of Ngorongoro Crater. Virtually level, the rim of the massive circular hole can bee seen in crisp, Planet Earth documentary series definition. The rim cascades down about a mile to a spectacularly open grassland, filled with sulfury lakes and candelabra trees, that look like cacti from Jupiter. We squint through our binoculars, mouths cemented open in astonishment, viewing the faint outlines and shadows and moving dotted figures of thousands of wildebeest, zebra, Thompson's gazelle, cape buffalo, and a variety of predators awaiting their all-you-can-hunt buffet.
We begin to fall into the crater itself in our safari cars, stopped by countless Maasai salesmen pawning "authentic spears" and "hand painted statuettes". It is heartbreaking, for a number reasons best left to a future blog post.
I must say, my time spent in the crater itself is probably best left to a verbal, eye to eye conversation filled with my studdering bewilderment at what I experienced. If I was too write about what was seen at this point I would -
a) come off as more than pretentious, sensationalist, and possibly "holier-than-thou" (I can almost see myself now, writing "I don't expect YOU to understand..."
b)bore you with my tendency to draw out my sentences to unnecessary proportions, never really reaching the point I originally intended to make, much like Miss South Carolina (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww)
Therefore, I will make a list of some the wild things we encountered.
1. Lots of ostriches. Stupid.
2. Literally thousands of wildebeest, chillin' and minglin' with thousands of zebra. Zebra and wildebeest tend to work in massive groups together due to their similar grazing and migration patterns.
3. Lions. Lions doing a number of crazy things...
a. Sleeping in the shade of our safari car. At one point, my life flashed before eyes, when a flashing camera from our assistant leader spooked the resting giant, who sneered in our direction, literally feet from our faces, letting out a grunt.
b. Two young males, fresh from a meal, lumbered by a huge crowd of wildebeest. Their potential prey was on top guard, protecting the young in small circles, but the bulging bellies of the lions should have been a tell that they weren't interested in any more food for a while.
c. a female who had taken down, obviously with the help of her pride, a full sized cape buffalo, devouring the enormous beast's head. A jackal hid in the bushes nearby for the scraps.
4. A hyena, slowly making it's way down the dirt road. I find hyenas to be the most terrifying of all the predators in Africa.
5. Grey lumps of hippopotamuses, lounging at our lunch area while I give a natural history report on, what else, hippos. Nothing like a live example to spice up a presentation.
6. A cancerous water buffalo, with large tumors on both front knees. It was heartbreaking.
7. Uncountable amounts of Kori Bustards, which, when said quickly sounds like a 1930s swooner cursing, but in fact is the largest bird of flight in the world.
8. Long Tailed Kites, birds that hang around picnic areas and swipe sandwiches with such ease, you will bite your hand before you know your lunch is gone.
And in the midst of this wonderment, I couldn't help but be taken out of the moment by the immense number of tourists. No sight worth watching was left unnoticed by dozens of safari cars, crowding the area. Each snap of a camera made a collective applause, each flash a strobe light dance club. It was not natural, it was not meant to be. Ngorongoro can be considered a self contained, self maintained zoo: just add wazungu. And that's exactly what the national government has decided to do. At some point in the late 60s, the government realized the untapped potential in the crater. The maasai who used to inhabit the area were booted from their land, with no choice but to be come cheap crap peddlers, now the tribe's main source of income country-wide. Ngorongoro Crater is now the most visited landmark in E. Africa, is considered one of the seven natural wonders of the world, and is a gigantic money maker for government workers, who claim to give the majority of income back to the maasai and land preservation, but numbers have yet to add up.
We climb out of the crater as the sun goes down, and drift into a deep sleep, (not before a long, intense discussion about the aid and repercussions of tourism). At 4 in the morning, my tent-mate Jessica and I awake to the raging screams of Habibu, hollering something in Swahili. We listen in confusion, assuming by this point every other tent is awake as well. A truck roars feet from our tent and screeches to a halt. Habibu is still screaming, and the faint sound of crunching sticks and branches is heard. Suddenly three people are screaming rather than one, one of which being Thad who is telling us to stay in our tents. Then, a brash, incredibly loud elephant trumpeting a warning call is blasted near our ears. We all yelp. A gun is cocked. The elephant lets out what sounds like the worlds loudest hiccup. A shot is fired. We wince. A second shot is fired, followed by the sound of gigantic footsteps galloping into the jungle once again. The park ranger had fired two shots in the air to scare the elephant, who was rummaging through our kitchen for potatoes.
Ngorongoro is a beautiful contradiction. It is proclaimed a natural gem, a spectacle unprecedented in the natural world, but also a place where you can spend a $2000 dollar night watching such "wildlife" from a crystal bathtub. It is a place where you are simultaneously as close as you can get to the natural world (elephants close enough to squish the grape that is your head) but not without the mechanical assistance of a menagerie of cameras and mp3 players. The once currency-less maasai will do a cultural dance for you, a tradition that has been repeated since the beginning of time, but not without a chain of bracelets and necklaces in one hand and the other hand open, palm up, waiting for payment.
I came away from Ngorongoro astonished, amazed at the sights and sounds, and ready to leave.
People still haven't taken showers.
I am glad I did.
More to come,
Tim
Wow - what amazing memories you're building, and how great to have this record of them! (too bad the smell-off can't be preserved in a scratch-and-sniff format...or maybe it's OK after all that it isn't.)
ReplyDeleteT, it is amazing to put this post (and the next one) side by side with your first post, back in July! No one had any idea what was to come, eh? Yer dad
ReplyDelete"...come off as more than pretentious, sensationalist, and possibly "holier-than-thou" (I can almost see myself now, writing "I don't expect YOU to understand..."
ReplyDeleteThese words stand out for me in this post, Tim. That was my exact feeling when I was in Ghana. I'm so excited for you and what you're experiencing. Ain't life grand when lived to the fullest?