Africa has two seasons: the dry and heavy rains.  Monthly   various seeds slumbering in dry soil , suddenly become alive after the rain drops and cover the land of lush green carpet. African animal sensed  the smell of rain  starts to run out in  one of the largest migration route- from dry empty lands of National Serengeti park in the region of Masai Mara where they find  a lot of grass, bushes and  trees. The migration starts in August and lasts till October- November. Between November and January begins a gradual migration of animals back to the Serengeti. (“Siringitu” in Masai language means “the place where the land is endless.")

We   planned our trip so that we could see this remarkable spectacle. It was peak migration madness time , and we’d watched as hundreds of wildebeest approaching the surging  Mara river, frantically jostling up the steep banks. The million-strong herd was spread on every horizon.   The air is full of primeval African sounds. Increasing zebra snicker merges with sore antelope shout, the snorting and whining. Giraffes stride nodding their long necks and from the high observe the predators in wide endless plains. Elephants patiently follow in a line. At the end of long migratory herbivores columns prowl lions, hyenas, cheetahs, jackals . Above them flutter squads of pink flamingos, Egyptian geese, hawks, eagles.  All this endless column have to cross Mara  river – and there already waiting hungry crocodiles …In that place nature itself decides who will survive and who not The migration felt like being witness to a dramatic historical event, controlled by brutal ,violent forces. It still does. . American traveller McKierman in 1876 described this migration : ”About Africa what I  read in many travel books …if we manage to unleash all the world menageries the sight that I saw that day would be no worth this scenery . I can say that all these impressions couldn’t be photographed  or  told about. You can only feel or see  it. In these moments you can only feel and understand what a huge  price is paid for  survival   in nature: twice a year to do  a stunning circle of life.It embodies scale and mystery , the thin line between survival and destruction , the power to to take life or to transform it. A self- contained,  homogenous, identifiable world,  uncompromissing and irreducible.

The great migration images we left in our memories  and headed   to the  biggest Lake Victoria of Africa.

Its waters surrounded by shores of  Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Along the coast there are many small villages of fishermen. Not far from coast we pitched our tents.

Early in the morning we were awakened by the song of fishermen pulling a net. The song spread from the lake so nice, that we couldn’t believe that   a well-turned choir sings. Our route led toward majestic Ngorongoro crater.

Along the way we stopped in the village of local tribe masai. Masai themselves encounters as the highest and most significant African nation. This is militant, livestock tribe.

People live in the small shacks , a small area cordoned off by fence of tree branches. Animals are still an important part of their lives, the more you have     cows,  the wealthier you are. For the bride they  used   pay with cows.   Masai drink not only cow’s milk, but also the blood. With a thin rod they prick a cow’s jugular vein and lower the blood.  Such mixture is considered to be a source of vitamins.  After shortly talk with the Masai , we headed to the world’s greatest Ngorongoro crater.

The crater was formed millions of years ago after volcano walls were collapsed. Its diameter is more than 20 km ,the height from the bottom is   600 meters. Ngorongoro crater is so huge  that even has a different weather: on one side could be cloudy even rain, on the other- sunshine.

Crater is home to an incredibly rich big game squad : black rhinoceroses, buffaloes, lions. In the middle of crater lies  lake Magadi, in which flamingos like to return  after a major winter migration.

 We set our tents on the edge of slope. We cocooned in our sleeping bags, we held our breath as hyenas, attracted by the smell of a hippo carcass, whooped from the bushes nearby. Somewhere in the vicinity there was a roaring of lions.   Our route led us through Masai lands towards border of Kenya and Tanzania – to   Amboseli National Park. About this park  E.   Hemingway   said “the pearl of Africa”. This is one of the oldest national park’s in Kenya, founded in 1943. The park is situated right next to the border of Tanzania and Kilimanjaro (5895m.)- a lonely mountain peak in the world. Its luminous white hat is seen from Amboseli Park. This is what we saw. Amboseli park is the land of Masai, here are their villages. “Amboseli” in Masai language means shrivelled dust. This park is known as the largest population of elephants, also here lives lions, hyenas, buffaloes and another African fauna.

Goodbye Africa! I do not describe your cities- I just was in only one- Nairoby  from where was my flight. All the time I spent in nature. I do not want to travel through Africa by comfortable bus, live in comfortable hotels. My choice is to sleep in the tent, to cook meals on a campfire. At night I like to see  when   a billion stars cast an eerie light across a landscape of scurrying shadows. And to look for the South Cross above me.

I sincerely wish, that reading my travel descriptions everyone would understand, that in reality everything is much   simpler than we think sometimes.I am glad to be home, but in the all -moving, all-talking mayhem of modern life my restless thoughts go back to to that great and undefind space – Africa. Otherwise, the mystery of of the Great Circle of Life  remains largely unplumbed to me. Except in my dreams , where it still springs vividly to life.

Leonarda Sarakauskiene: info@sarakauskiene.lt

More pictures from my fairy trip :