Serengeti & Ngorongoro

V drugem delu našega dopusta v Tanzaniji smo si ogledali nekaj safarijev oziroma naravnih rezervatov. Serengeti je najbolj znan po dvakrat letnih množičnih selitvah zeber in gnujev (žal nismo bili tam ob pravem letnem času, da bi videli selitve), zraven njega leži krater Ngorongoro, poln velikih čred raznih živali, blizu pa je še jezero Manyara. Imeli smo najeto vozilo Toyota Land Cruiser s šoferjem, ki nas je štiri dni vozil naokrog. Izkazalo se je, da je imeti šoferja velika prednost, saj nam je prav on mnogokrat ustavil in pokazal kakšno žival, ki je sami skoraj zagotovo ne bi opazili.

We spent the second part of our vacation in Tanzania on safaris in national parks. Serengeti is best known for bi-annual zebra and gnu migrations (unfortunately we weren't there at the right time of year to view the migrations). Nearby lies the Ngorongoro crater, full of herds of various animals and there is also the Manyara lake. We hired a chauffeur-driven Toyota Land Cruiser who drove us around for four days. It turned out that having a driver was an advantage over going by ourselves as he often stopped and pointed out an animal that we would never have noticed.

Na začetku, prvi dan, smo navdušeno fotografirali vsako žival, ki smo jo zagledali. Tako sem usmerila fotoaparat tudi proti čredi krav, ki so se pasle na travniku zraven zeber. Pa sem se zdrznila, kaj neki delajo krave v safariju in zakaj jih sploh fotografiram? Šofer nam je pojasnil, da v rezervatih živijo Masaji in da so to pač njihove domače krave. Kasneje smo res videli tudi v rdeče in vijoličasto ogrnjene masajske pastirje.

At the beginning on the first day we excitedly took photos of every animal that we saw. I caught myself pointing my camera at a heard of cows that were grazing next to zebras. Then I asked myself: what are cows doing in a safari and why am I photographing them? The driver explained that Masai people live in the national parks and that these are their domestic cows. Later we saw Masai shepherds dressed in red and purple blankets.

Ceste skozi rezervate so izrazito luknjaste, zato nas je v avtu premetavalo sem in tja. Na poti smo srečevali številna podobna vozila kakor naše, polna turistov. Občasno smo videli ob cesti ustavljen avto, kjer se je šofer mučil z menjavanjem kolesa. In ni trajalo dolgo, da smo bili tudi mi na vrsti. Naš šofer je ugotovil, da je nekaj narobe z amortizerjem na levem sprednjem kolesu, zato je ustavil avto in se lotil popravila. Med tem se je ustavilo še nekaj drugih avtomobilov s turisti, saj so šoferji navajeni, da pomagajo drug drugemu in tako so se šoferji ukvarjali s popravilom, mi turisti pa smo stali okrog in opazovali mehanike pri delu. Od nekod se je prikazal masajski pastir, ki se je nemo približal skupini opazovalcev in tudi sam gledal, kaj se dogaja, nekoliko kasneje pa sta se skupini gledalcev priključila še dva masajska pastirja.

The roads in safaris are full of holes and we bounced up and down in our car. We passed many vehicles similar to on the roads. Occasionally we saw a driver by the side of the road changing a flat tire on his vehicle. Soon enough it was our turn. Our driver noticed a problem with the shock absorber on the left front wheel and he stopped to repair it. A few other vehicles with their tourists stopped as the drivers generally help each other when someone has a problem. So the drivers worked on our vehicle while the tourists stood around and watched them. A Masai shepherd appeared from somewhere and silently joined the audience and a little later two more Masai shepherds came to watch.

Ena izmed turistk, Američanka, je Masajem ponudila žvečilni gumi in naredila veliko sceno iz tega, da jim je kazala, kako naj le žvečijo in ga ne pogoltnejo. Masaji so mirno žvečili in si verjetno mislili svoje, namreč prepričana sem, da glede na številne trume turistov, ki se dnevno prevažajo skozi rezervate, verjetno ni bilo prvič, da so videli žvečilni gumi in da jim je bilo najbrž jasno, kako se žveči. Ko je navdušenje nad žvečilnim gumijem minilo, je Američanka iz svojega vozila privlekla nekaj, kar je izgledalo kot hamburger (ni mi jasno, kje ga je dobila sredi afriške divjine, verjetno so jim morali narediti hamburgerje v hotelu, kjer so prenočevali), in ga ponudila enemu izmed Masajev. Ta ga je vzel, pogledal, in spravil v culo, ki jo je imel pod ogrinjalom. Potem je Američanka iz avtomobila prinesla še nek blok z nalepkami in se lotila lepljenja nalepk na roke Masajev. Ti so mirno gledali in ji pustili veselje, mi pa smo se zgražali, ker se nam je zdelo njeno obnašanje do Masajev precej nespoštljivo. Komentirala sem nekaj v zvezi z neumnimi Američani, pa so me slišali, in so bili tako užaljeni, da so se obrnili in odkorakali stran. No, vsaj Masaje so potem pustili pri miru.

One of the tourists, an American woman, offered the Masai guys chewing gum and made a big show of demonstrating how they're supposed to chew it but not swallow it. The Masai chewed quietly and probably secretly rolled their eyes. I'm pretty sure that considering the masses of tourists that come their way every day it wasn't the first time they saw chewing gum and probably knew how to chew it. When her excitement over the chewing gum waned, the American woman produced a hamburger from her vehicle (I have no idea where she got a hamburger in the middle of African wilderness, she probably had it made at the hotel where they were spending the night) and offered it to one of the Masai. He took it wordlessly and put it away in a pouch under the blanket in which he was wrapped. Then the same woman took a sheet of stickers from the car and stuck the labels onto the Masai's hands. They just stood there and let her have her fun while the rest of us tourists were appalled at her inappropriate behavior. I muttered something about stupid Americans and they heard me and took offense, turned their backs and walked away. At least they then left the Masai alone.

Glede teh Masajev pa tudi nisem povsem prepričana, ali so resnični, ali so le nastavljeni za ogled turistom. Namreč ko so se na nekem počivališču Masaji približali našemu avtu in nam ponujali spominke, je pihal veter, ki je privzdigoval njihova ogrinjala, tako da sem prav dobro videla, da so imeli pod ogrinjali oblečene termo velur puloverje, ki so izgledali precej novi, enemu pa je privzdignilo krilo, pod katerim so bile vidne kratke hlače iz odrezanih kavbojk. Ne vem, ali se pravi Masaji pod ogrinjali res oblačijo v puloverje in kavbojke. Ponujali so nam tudi ogled masajske vasi, za katerega so hoteli zaračunati po 50 USD na osebo, kar se nam je zdelo preveč in se zanj nismo odločili. Mislim pa, da vsaj nekaj Masajev zares živi v teh rezervatih, saj se je med turističnimi vozili na cestah skozi rezervate znašel tudi avtobus, ki je izgledal kot redna linija, videla sem, da je bil na njem sprevodnik, ki je potnikom pregledoval vozovnice.

I'm not sure whether the Masai were real or just some people dressed up as Masai as tourist attractions. At a rest stop where Masai approached our car to sell us souvenirs, the wind was blowing and it raised the blankets in which they were wrapped to expose new looking fleece sweaters and cut off jeans underneath. I don't know if real Masai wear fleece and jeans under their blankets. They offered a visit to a Masai village for US $50 per person which was too much for us and we declined. But I do believe that locals really live in the villages in the national parks because I noticed a bus that looked like it had a regular route and a conductor was on it to check tickets.

Za razliko od južnoafriških safarijev, kjer smo največkrat videli le posamezne živali, so v Tanzaniji rezervati mnogo večji, gostota živali v njih je prav tako velika, tako da smo lahko videli živali v zelo velikih skupinah. Med drugim smo videli zebre, gnuje, bivole, slone, Thomsonove gazele, impale, opice vervet, pavijane, žirafe, nilske konje, hijene, flaminge in še marsikaj. Najbolj sem bila navdušena nad levi, ki jih je bilo večkrat mogoče videti, tudi prav blizu avtomobila. Na enem mestu smo imeli priložnost opazovati levinjo, ki je sedela ob cesti in gledala proti čredi zeber v daljavi. Verjetno si je izbirala, katero bi najraje pojedla. Drugo levinjo pa smo videli v pozi, ko se je pripravljala na lov, saj je bila usmerjena proti čredi antilop. Žal je bilo v bližini preveč avtomobilov in hrupa, ki jo je zmotil pri koncentraciji in je misel na lov opustila, raje se je ulegla in se začela po mačje umivati. Prepričana pa sem, da bi z malo potrpljenja in na kakšnem manj obljudenem delu rezervata verjetno lahko videli levinjo pri lovu.

As compared to safaris in South Africa, where we usually saw individual animals, the safaris in Tanzania are so much larger and the animal density is higher so that we usually saw animals in large herds. We saw zebras, gnus, buffaloes, elephants, Thomson gazelles, impalas, vervet monkeys, baboons, giraffes, hippos, hyenas, flamingos to name a few. I was fascinated by the lions that we saw often, sometimes very close to our car. One time we were fortunate to be able to observe a lioness who sat by the side of the road and observed a herd of zebras in the distance. She was probably selecting the tastiest one. Another lioness was in a hunting pose, facing a herd of antelopes. Unfortunately there were too many cars and noise that probably affected her concentration so she gave up hunting and rather laid down and starting washing herself, just like a domestic cat. I'm sure that with a little patience in a more remote part of the national park we could have witness a lioness hunting.

Izmed velikih pet živali (lev, leopard, slon, nosorog in bivol) sem zdaj v živo videla tudi bivola, tako da mi do popolne zbirke vseh pet manjka le še leopard. Tega so uspeli videti moji sopotniki, ki so sedeli na drugi strani avtomobila, kakor jaz, saj so videli leoparda, ki je skočil z drevesa, jaz pa žal nisem imela te sreče. Torej za leoparda bo treba še v kakšen safari, čeprav ga je menda težko videti, ker je bolj nočna žival.

Among the big five (lion, leopard, elephant, rhinoceros and buffalo) I now saw the buffalo so that the only one I still haven't seen is the leopard. Those who were sitting on the opposite side of the car managed to see one jump off a tree but I wasn't so lucky this time. So I will have to visit more safaris in order to see the leopard although it is difficult to spot as it is more of a nocturnal animal.

Eno popoldne smo prispeli do našega prenočišča dovolj zgodaj, da smo imeli še čas pred večerjo oditi na sprehod v bližnjo vas. Moja prva reakcija ob misli, da bi šli peš v vas, je bila, da je prenevarno, saj sem po devetih mesecih življenja v Johannesburgu kar podzavestno prepričana, da se v Afriki ne hodi peš naokrog, ker je prenevarno. Potem pa sem se le spomnila, da sem potovala že marsikje po svetu in da doslej še nisem pomislila, da ne bi šla nekam peš. Na poti v vas so za nami tekli otroci in klicali »give me money«, v vasi so nas takoj našli prodajalci spominkov in nas oblegali toliko časa, da smo nekaj kupili, na poti nazaj pa smo se ustavili v gostilni, kjer je bilo po pričakovanju pivo trikrat ceneje, kakor potem zvečer v našem prenočišču.

On one of the afternoons we arrived at our lodging early enough to be able to take a walk to the nearby village before dinner. My first thought when we walked towards the village was that it probably isn't safe because after living in Johannesburg for nine months I naturally assumed that it's too dangerous to walk in Africa. But then I remembered that I had traveled to many places in the world and that I never had the impression that I shouldn't walk. On our walk to the village the children chased us, yelling "give me money". The souvenir vendors in the village spied us and wouldn't leave us alone until we bought something. On our way back we stopped at a restaurant where we predictably had beer that cost one third of what it cost later that night at our lodge.

Po obisku Tanzanije sem precej spremenila moje stališče do Afrike. Prej bi za potovanje vedno raje izbrala Azijo, zdaj pa sem ugotovila, da zna biti Afrika zelo zanimiva, prijazna in vsekakor vredna nadaljnjega raziskovanja.

After visiting Tanzania I completely changed my mind about Africa. I used to believe that only Asia is worth visiting but now I know that Africa is very interesting, kind to tourists and definitely worth further exploration.