A heart-stopping experience in the Serengeti Park recalled here
Two weeks ago, I wrote in this column on the acute shortages of consumables and other essential commodities that prevailed in the 1980s. And how I and my colleagues at the-then Tanzania Tourist Corporation (TTC) cut corners to cover this ‘embarrassment’ as I escorted some American and European travel journalists to the famous national parks in the Northern Tourism Circuit (NTC).
What I did not reveal at the time was that, a few months later, I had to walk five kilometres in the mighty Serengeti National Park on account of the shortages.
I had at the time received two travel journalists from the London-based Sunday Times whom I had to escort in Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro and Serengeti.
Each of the parks has unique tourist attractions.
But the Serengeti Park and its two wildlife lodges, Seronera and Lobo, are the icing on the cake. Touring the Serengeti - so-proclaimed in 1951, and designated a World Heritage Site by Unesco in 1981 - is the ultimate safari.
Its 15,000 square kilometres teems with unparalleled wildlife: over two million ungulates; 4,000 lions; 1000 leopards; 550 cheetahs; 500 different bird species, and uncountable rodents.
It is in here that one comes across the largest annual animal migration in the world involving 1.5 million wildebeest and 250,000 zebras.
Wildlife pundits in Bongoland - and the whole world, for that matter - do know that the name ‘Serengeti’ comes from the word ‘Siringet’ or ‘Siringitu:’ a Maasai word defining the Park’s captivating Savannah’s rolling plains as ‘the place which moves forever.’
We had a day’s stay at the magnificent Seronera Wildlife Lodge in the middle of the Serengeti. This is a Lodge we felt our journalist must sample. Blending into the surroundings, it is stunningly constructed round a rock outcrop from glass and wood materials.
The following day, we left the lodge for another stunning lodge in the northern part of the Park: the Lobo. This is another structure which is ‘a dream of romanticism in its remote location.’ Lobo is strategically built into an enormous volcanic outcrop and artistically made of stone and local timber around clusters of large boulders.
It harmoniously merges with its surroundings and, from its raised location, provides stunning views of the spectacular scenario of wildlife.
But, about ten kilometres from the Lodge, our VW Combi car stuttered to a halt. And our driver-cum-guide sorrowfully announced that there was nothing he could do to get moving again.
I shuddered at the thought of hoofing with my journalist-tourists through the teeming wildlife - some very wild, indeed - to the next lodge.
After all, we could end up on the menu of the Serengeti lions. This would naturally hit global headlines, leaving a life-long scar on the tourism promotional efforts of Bongoland.
After some deep soul-searching, I offered to ‘sacrifice’ my life and walk to the lodge for help.
Boy! What a scary walk it was... My heart was almost pumping out of my mouth.
I did, however, recall the advice of a wildlife expert who said if you come across herbivores - wildebeest, zebras, antelopes and the like - know that lions and other carnivores are not around.
So, when I came to a small bridge which did not have a single ungulate, I was forced to divert from the road to the ridges nearby teeming with ‘friendly herbivores’.
After three hours of walking, I stumbled into the lodge - much to the surprise of its workers. However, arrangements were made to send a rescue car to my team in the wilderness.
I desperately needed an ice-cold beer to help shovel back my heart to its rightful place down in the rib cage.
