Hatari Safari

Maybe you have seen the John Wayne movie Hatari but I am guessing that, if you did, it is long forgotten. It is nearly fifty years old. But it is certainly not forgotten in Arusha! Hatari means danger in Kiswahili, and the movie is about an oddly matched group of folks who capture animals to send to zoos. (Our San Diego Zoo is mentioned.) You can easily imagine how dangerous it would be to try to capture a rhino, which is what is happening in the opening scene.

I watched the movie Hatari in the Hatari Lodge, at least as long as the generator kept the electricity going. Then I was walked back to my very elegant room by a careful Masai guard, who scanned the grass, bushes and trees with a bright flashlight for wildlife, even though it was nearly as bright as daylight under a full moon.

But I am getting ahead of myself. Hatari Lodge is located near the Momella Gate of the Arusha National Park, just outside the park boundary. Our safari guide picked us up at the Usa River campus of the school, which is along the road to the national park. We drove into the park, which is at the foot of Mt. Meru, and drove slowly along the gravel and dirt road, peering into the bushes looking for wildlife. And we were not disappointed! Our goal in the afternoon was the Momella Lakes, spring fed and heavily alkaline, no fish live in the waters of the several lakes. But flamingos are abundant and gorgeous, especially when they fly just above the water, wings spread widely, revealing bright pink, shocking white and black accents.

Along the way to the lakes we saw giraffe, zebra, buffalo, bushbuck, one hippo, one hyena (who was sauntering along the road ahead of us), colobus monkeys, water buck and warthogs. And lots of birds, including Crowned cranes, Egyptian ducks, and a brilliant shiny blue Sun bird. Having been on safari before in Zambia, I knew to expect to be surprised by the birds, and I was not disappointed.

The park, and indeed the lodge, is located just between Kilimanjaro and the closer Mt. Meru. And we were gifted with a wonderful view of Kili as we headed around the lakes on our way to the lodge.

The lodge is so comfortable and so lovely that it was a treat in itself. Our hostess was Kate, who arrived in Tanzania just four months ago to teach preschoolers from Momella village as a part of the Momella Foundation, an organization promoted by the owners of the lodge to help the people of the nearby village. Kate's story is one that just sent chills tingling down my spine. Her grandfather had come from England to then Tanganyika and worked with the parks and wildlife agency, and was the man who had helped gather and care for the animals used in the movie Hatari. Kate's mother spent her childhood here, but once back in England, none of the family had come back to Africa, that is, not until Kate, who through one of those amazing coincidences, found a teaching job (and she is a pre-primary teacher) at the very lodge where her grandfather lived and worked. And her mother is coming back as well, to work for the owners of the lodge as a manager. As we ate out dinner in the dining room, listened to Kate's story and watched the slow moving buffalo just outside, it seemed one of those stories that was fated to be.

The next morning, we had a sunrise "Kili wake up" and tea was brought to my door. I sat on my porch and watched several giraffe nibbling just twenty feet from where I sat. Can you imagine? It was amazingly inspiring and soothing. Kilimanjaro was shrouded in clouds, but Meru was proudly free of them.

Our morning safari drive was along a different route, and we marveled at the variety of habitats we passed through. The colubus and blue monkeys entertained us all along the route. The unexpected delight of the drive was the large numbers and varieties of butterflies! Our destination was the Ngurdoto Crater, and we first drove up to a look out point called Leitong Point. Leitong is a Masai word that means, as it was explained by our guide Clinton, "If I drop something it falls straight down, a long ways down without interruption." It was a descriptive name for the viewpoint, as the crater spread out below us. We circled around in the opposite way and enjoyed the view from another viewpoint called "The Rock." The view was expansive, standing on the rock which jutted out over the crater.

Back at the lodge we had a leisurely lunch and conversation with the owner of the lodge. We were invited to the village to see the Momella Foundation in action. http://momellafoundation.com/

Every child in the village, about 350 children, was going to be given black shoes along with a shoe brush (to brush off the dust) and shoe polish and a sweater. These children are so poor (perhaps four children from Momella come to St. Jude) that they do not have uniforms. When we drove through the village, we asked Clinton where everyone was as things were really quiet. We soon learned. Near the newly built church, parents and children had gathered under a spreading tree, the children lined up according to age. The men had suits and ties on, and the women were wearing their Sunday best, brightly colored and patterned outfits. And Marlies explained that, if the children took care of the shoes and the sweaters, when they outgrew them, they would have newer, larger ones for them. The villagers clapped enthusiastically. There was something so genuine and so exciting to the gathering under the tree. It was a good way to end the safari, though we did get to drive back through the park and enjoy the animals and the vegetation and the views once again.