Ferdinand, the alpha male in Gombe Stream National Park
Close encounters
Tricia Welsh encounters East Africa’s teeming wildlife at close quarters on a luxury escorted safari through the best of Tanzania’s national parks.
Ferdinand sits on the warm sand, nonchalantly peeling a ripe mango. He chomps into the soft, sweet flesh, its juices dribbling down his stubbly chin. He hasn’t a care in the world. His offspring climb in the mango-tree branches nearby, enjoying the relaxing beachside environment.
It’s not a bad life when you’re the alpha male of a 30-strong chimpanzee community whose habitat is the thick rainforest of Gombe Stream National Park on the edge of Lake Tanganyika in western Tanzania.
Tented accommodation at Gombe Stream National Park
We’ve happened upon this scene of primate domesticity quite unexpectedly. “And it’s simply not fair,” insists Rob, a PhD research student from the University of Southern California, who is studying this community of chimps as part of his thesis on insectivores. “For the past three weeks, I’ve been getting up at 5:30 each morning, trekking for three hours up into the mountains trying to find the chimps, hardly even seeing them – and you just arrive by boat and find them eating mangoes on the beach!”
Indeed, we couldn’t believe our luck ourselves as, only ten minutes earlier, we had set off, trekking up the thickly-covered mountainside in search of the elusive chimpanzees, heading for exactly the spot Rob had described, since that was their last sighted location, when word came via two-way radio that the chimps were making merry on the beach.
Rob is one of several research students who come each year to help continue the work started in 1960 by pioneering British researcher Jane Goodall, whose continued observance of this particular community of chimps makes it the longest study of an individual wild-animal population in the world.
Giraffe on the Serengeti
We learn that chimpanzees have similar distinguishing facial features to humans so they are easy to recognise – all 100 or so in the park have names. They also share a staggering 98 percent of human genes, making them possibly our closest animal relative.
But right now, we are in awe of the sight of chimps at ease and at play, and the fact that they completely ignore our presence. We know we have to keep our distance and are mindful not to make direct eye contact, which might threaten them. We speak in hushed tones.
Indeed, our luck in finding these chimpanzees so quickly and conveniently has been almost a pattern – we’ve had more than our fair share of good fortune finding all wildlife since we set out a few days earlier from Dar es Salaam on an 11-day escorted safari incorporating the “Best of Tanzania” with African Travel Specialists.
The pool at Sands River overloooks the Rufiji River
Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that Richard Ruskin, owner and managing director of the company, is escorting this small group of five Australians and one Kenyan to what he insists are “his absolute favourite places in all of Africa”.
Ruskin estimates he’s been to Africa around 100 times and personally leads two to three tours a year. He has specifically chosen this trip and time of the year to take in the southern migration of the wildebeest from Masai Mara into the Serengeti; the wild chimps in one of the last of the rainforests, in Gombe Stream National Park; remote Ruaha – the biggest national park in Africa; and lastly, untouched Selous, the largest game reserve in Africa.
Since the territory we will cover is so expansive and the distances so great, it’s convenient that we have private aircraft to transport us to these remote places.
Our first stop is in the Serengeti, where there is almost a surfeit of animals. Locating them almost on cue seems to relatively simple: even an elusive leopard is spotted, dozing in a tree. In fact, each morning, Richard asks us our wish list for the day – and, without fail, delivers. It helps to have an experienced local Kikuyu guide such as John, who knows exactly where certain animals might be. Hence, we happen upon cheetah with cubs, lion with cubs, hyena with pups, hippos cooling off in rivers, countless graceful giraffe, pretty impala, Thompson’s gazelle and, of course, thousands and thousands of zebra and wildebeest.
A Masaii working at Jongomero Camp
Zebra and wildebeest are the main players in the annual migration, considered one of the last great wildlife spectacles in the world, and happily cohabitate on the savannahs. Zebras lead the way, eating the tops of grasses as they go, They are followed by the wildebeest, who leave the rest to the antelopes.
Recent rains have turned the vast savannah a soft apple-green, filled important water holes and refreshed the landscape. At one of these abundant waterholes, we find ourselves surrounded by so many zebra it’s like being dumped upon by a tonne of humbugs – black-and-white stripes everywhere with, every now and then, a tiny brown-and-white striped foal braying plaintively.
We stay in comfortable, ridge-top Serengeti Serena Lodge where accommodation is in traditional thatch-roofed, circular African rondavel native huts – equipped with all mod cons. The lodge is set out like a typical Maasai village, with animals having free reign, so at night, we must ring for an escort each time we venture out of our rooms.
Detail of the lounge at Jongomero Camp
It is a three-hour flight to Kigoma, where we board a primitive but sturdy dhow for a two-hour journey up the eastern edge of Lake Tanganyika to remote Gombe Stream National Park. Here, we stay in comfortable tented accommodation (which we double-lock against possible intruding baboons), experience our intimate chimp encounter, and relax each evening with sundowners on the beach. It’s an incongruously peaceful scene, watching the sun set over Lake Tanganyika with the mountainous silhouette of neighbouring Congo on the horizon, slow water taxis ferrying locals home and the lights of nocturnal fishing boats flickering around the lake’s edge.
Our next stop is Ruaha National Park, where an impala on the red-dirt airstrip necessitates a second approach. On arrival at Jongomero Camp, congenial staff members sing and dance a traditional welcome. Accommodation is in eight luxury tents overlooking what from December to March is the raging Sand River but today, is a dry riverbed, favoured by elephant, impala, monkeys and dik-dik, who use it as a natural expressway.
Jongomero, in its remote location, has solar power, writing paper made from elephant dung and a hippo-friendly swimming pool – local wisdom being “if they fall in, they can climb out”. The camp is unfenced: hence, elephants wander about the tents by day; leopards, lions and hippos prowl by night. Two Maasai warriors or askari patrol the camp around the clock and each tent has a very loud hooter for guests to blow if there is an animal emergency.
A lion dozing in the Serengeti shade
Mine gets a workout when I arrive to find there’s an elephant in my room – an elephant shrew, that is – about the size of a field mouse. I do feel a fraud alarming the whole camp, but I don’t fancy it cuddling up to me in the night.
A highlight is an early-morning wildlife walk with camp manager Moli (short for his surname, Molinaro) and an armed ranger from the Tanzania Wildlife Authority. Walking along the dry riverbed, we study elephant prints, see trails left by hippos in their nocturnal foraging, and learn about different animal droppings. “M&Ms,” suggests Moli, picking up a handful of small impala scats. “Maltesers,” he says, indicating giraffe droppings. We examine the content of elephant cakes to learn about the pachyderms’ diet, see porcupine burrows and check out the fresh spores of leopard, baboon and more.
At a natural hippo pool, we observe at close range dozens of crocodiles sunning themselves on rocks. Heron and maribu storks wait patiently to snatch fish. Nearby, a pod of hippos watches – their eyes and ears just skimming the surface. Suddenly, one emerges to reveal its huge frame, as if to scare us off.
Tented luxury at Sands River in Selous Game Reserve
On the homeward stretch, we are gently ambushed by camp staff who have set up a beautifully laid-out breakfast table, laden with fresh fruit salad and juice, warm muffins, individual quiches, sausages, bacon, toast and home-made jams.
The food is exceptional at Jongomero, each lunch and dinner seemingly better than the last and all offered in enchanting locations: the riverbank by day and the riverbed itself, lit with braziers, by night.
On our last evening in Ruaha, as we stop for sundowners, Richard spies through binoculars a lion about to pounce on a small herd of zebra. After much squealing and dust flying, the zebra escape unscathed, but it is a close call. It is exciting to see such close-up action.
Tented luxury at Sands River in Selous Game Reserve
Our next flight takes us to Selous Game Reserve, where we stay in Sand Rivers Selous luxury camp – a total contrast to Jongomero, as it overlooks the wide, fast-flowing Rufiji River. Its architecture could be Balinese, with open, white-washed, adobe-style structures and low-fringed, thatched roofs. In our stylish, open-sided huts, we have to secure small things out of sight from the thieving vervet monkeys who live in the trees outside; room-service breakfast arrives in a monkey-proof box.
The river is the focus here; the quiet punctuated by the constant grunts of contented hippos wallowing in the waters below. A river excursion in flat-bottomed boats reveals green-armoured crocodiles sunning themselves on sandbanks, a myriad colourful birds and yet more hippos.
And it’s here, in Selous, that Richard Ruskin appears the happiest. “Of all the trips we do – and I’ve been to most of the national parks and game reserves in southern and eastern Africa – this is my favourite: Selous. And Ruaha. Ruaha is the prettiest national park in Tanzania, and here at Selous, the view from Sand Rivers lodge is one of the most beautiful river views in Africa.”
The writer was kindly hosted by African Travel Specialists
Photography by Tricia Welsh and Richard Ruskin
Travel Facts
Getting there
- South African Airways flies from Perth and Sydney to Johannesburg, with onward connections to Dar es Salaam. Phone 1300 435 972 or visit www.flysaa.com
- Kenya Airways, phone 02 9767 4310 or visit www.kenya-airways.com
Getting around
- Melbourne-based African Travel Specialists offers an 11-day, fully escorted Ultimate Wildlife and Chimp Safari each year to Gombe Stream National Park, combined with a trip to see the southern migration of the wildebeest from Masai Mara into the Serengeti, and visits to Ruaha National Park and Selous Game Reserve. Prices, including all internal flights, 4- and 5-star accommodation on a twin-share basis, English-speaking drivers and guides, all meals on safari, game drives and entrance fees, start from AU$16,990. Phone1300 761 980 or visit www.africantravel.com.au
tips
- Pack sturdy walking shoes; light-weight, khaki or neutral-coloured, long-sleeved cotton shirts and trousers; sunscreen; strong insect repellent containing Deet; anti-malarials; a waterproof jacket; antiseptic wipes; a soft daypack; a wide-brimmed hat; and sunglasses.
- Drink only bottled water and swim only in swimming pools.
- Never wander away from lodges and always ensure you have an escort, particularly at night.
- At the time of writing, AU$1 = 826.4 Tanzanian shillings (TZS), although US dollars and Euros are readily accepted and generally preferred.
Further information
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