Dire warnings were misspelled on this tree at the perimeter of the camp where Guardsman editr Michelle Stromberg slept.

A sheet of fabric drapes over a frame of poles and ropes, the only thing separating me from the large creature sniffing at the head of my tent. In abject fear, I lay motionless. I envision jumping up and down, scaring the creature away but as the images of animals play with the light of the moon on the ceiling of my tent, I think better of it. Best to be still and wait.

You never know what to expect when you travel in a place far from home. So for my vacation to Tanzania, I pack everything I thought I would need. I’m going on safari and the itinerary is simple yet exotic. First day: Lake Manyara. Second day: Olduvai Gorge. Third, fourth and fifth days: Serengeti. Last, but not least, a stop in the Ngorongoro Crater.

This is a big, bad place, or so I think. I need a safari hat and pants that convert to shorts in one quick zip -- at least that's what I see in all the travel photos online. Stepping off the Precision Air flight in Nairobi, I discover the bags teeming with all my must- have items did not make the trip.

Without any time to shop for necessities, I am driven from the airport to a campsite outside Lake Manyara. The camp is fairly modern by most standards -- they even have a pool but who wants to swim in a place that has the highest concentration of disease-carrying insects?

A giraffe crossing the plains.

 A one-day excursion into the smallest of the national parks, Lake Manyara, a “warm-up safari” my tour guide calls it, awaits us as we finish a breakfast of bananas and porridge. Because of Tanzania's not-too-distant connection as a British colony until 1961, the food and the people all have a hint of British sensibilities. Hence the porridge and the fact that English is their second language, making a native English speaker’s visit to the “dark continent” less so.

Of course everyone speaks Swahili and a little will take you a long way if you try to learn it. The language itself sounds like drum beats. Words like Jambo (hello) and
voomba (slang for fantastic) fall away from the mouth in a pleasant, almost natural way. One reason could be is that the verbalization is phonetic.

Greetings are simple. When someone meets you, they say hello and then proceed to tell you what tribe they come from. My guides, a cook and a driver, come from the Chagga tribe out of the city of Arusha.

At the start everything is photo-worthy. A blue monkey barely visible, but new to me, one hundred shots; a giraffe, two hundred. We make our guide, Silva, stop the Range Rover repeatedly.

A massai mother and her child.

The most unusual of observations is how animals typically seen in zoos react and even interact in the wild. It's nothing to see a zebra, an elephant and a wildebeest grazing together here.

When we reach the Serengeti on the second day, a large herd of elephants greet us by making their way along a well-worn path cutting straight through ours.
They lumber along creating a cloud of dust that covers their movements. We are almost close enough to touch them. Talk about surreal.
A giraffe stands up from where it was laying down. Knowing it has one of the shortest sleep requirements of any mammal (between 10 minutes and two hours in a 24-hour period), I wonder if it was sleeping. Close up, the sheer length of the creature is mesmerizing. Balancing that long neck is no small task and reflection of this is instantly discernable. The look of a coil in yellow and brown fur bounces gracefully past us.

At night, we pitch our tents and wash up. The dust gets into everything out here and I find myself washing layers of dirt from my arms. If only I had a towel.

A few people spill into camp and before long, a United Nations sampler of languages fills the space around me.

A herd of zebras making its annual migration.

Darkness descends over the grassy plain and that is when things turn more sinister. "Try not to use the bathroom tonight," Silva says to me.  "Why?" I ask.

"We are expecting lions tonight," He replies in a hush.

Gruesome images manufactured in my mind play out in detail as I think about what he said.

I tell myself that I'm safe. With all these campers here, why do I need to worry?

In the middle of the night, I awaken to a hideous shriek. A pack of hyena. Can a hyena tear through a tent? Why didn't I ask about that? I picture it happening and start to panic.

Something starts sniffing near where my head lays. I try to remain calm. It's not like I don't know where I stand on the food chain. A large posted sign in camp reading "Do not leave campsite. Animals will attack human being" drives the point home, especially the human being part. But being this close to something so wild paralyzes me. My jaw tightens and I find it hard to swallow. I imagine big, white teeth tearing my tent to shreds.

After a while, the shrieks stop and I fall into a deep sleep.

 The next morning, I ask my camp mates if they heard the hyenas. “No,” everyone replies. “Really?” I begin to feel silly for panicking and then I see footprints, big ones, all around my tent. A satisfaction washes over me. I slept on the floor of the Serengeti and survived. It wasn't so bad. One night down, three to go.

e-mail: features@theguardsman.com

---

INSTRUCTOR'S CHINESE CONNECTION

BY JIM PATTERSON
STAFF WRITER

An Asian child spins round and round as McAteer takes photo after photo. This was during McAteer's sabbatical in Asia. PHOTO COURTESY OF BOB MCATEER

Bob McAteer is excited about China. The head of the City College’s Photography Department recently returned from a China sabbatical with about 17,000 images of what he saw.

McAteer, who wanted to expand his knowledge of China’s photographic arts, was eager to discuss his three-month trip with The Guardsman.

Historically, Chinese photography was heavily influenced by the West, said McAteer. Today, however, the Chinese incorporate more of their history and culture in their photography.    

People automatically assume repression in China’s creative arts because of its communist history.  That is changing. “There is considerable social commentary in today’s Chinese photography,” McAteer said.    

“My experience in China helped me to better understand their approach to the photographic arts,” McAteer said. “It will also make me a more effective educator as I work with Chinese and Asian students and colleagues.”

 McAteer’s China trip was a win-win-win for him, his students and City College. It shows the educational community that City College has an understanding and appreciation of Asian photography and its cultural influences.    

Beijing, China’s third largest city with a population of 12 million, was the base of McAteer’s studies. He said sometimes Beijing resembled an American city. “U.S. fast food restaurants seemed to be on every street corner,” he said with a laugh.    

Though U.S. fast food chains were ubiquitous, McAteer consciously avoided eating at them. He preferred Chinese food, which he said “is nothing like Chinese food served in the U.S.”    

While studying Chinese photography, McAteer found an unexpected job, courtesy of a Chinese colleague, as a photographer for the nongovernmental organization Plan China, a division of Plan International. Plan is an international development agency that works with and for the benefit of children.    

As a result of his Plan assignment, McAteer photographed Chinese children in several rural areas. At one school, the children were studying English and appealedto McAteer to speak to their class. He was the first native English speaker the children had ever seen.

McAteer jumped at the opportunity to talk about his passion for photography. He said it was an unusual request but that he was happy to address the students and their teacher.    

Bob McAteer.

“The students were very excited to have me in their class,” McAteer said. “I was impressed with their enthusiasm to learn English.” He had kind words for the Chinese teachers, students and citizens he met.    

“The Chinese people I met were very respectful,” McAteer said. Never did angry Chinese approach him to argue contentious political issues.    McAteer said he was comfortable throughout his study in China. Several Chinese sought to impress him with English greetings and short English phrases.     

Likewise, McAteer learned a bit of Chinese while on study. “I know how to say, ‘How are you?’ in Chinese,” he said proudly. “Ni hao ma?”        

Rural China was most appealing to McAteer. Plan took him to many rural cities and towns, mostly in central China, to photograph children and their livingconditions. This opportunity gave McAteer some unusual photographs.    

“I have the foremost collection of Chinese toilets in California,” McAteer said laughing. In much of rural, China running water and indoor plumbing are rare. Thus, the toilets he photographed are of the manual variety. They consist of a hole in the ground surrounded by a small wooden structure. Plan’s work includes the education of children as well as addressing health and hygiene issues.     Our ancestors commonly called these Chinese toilets outhouses. If you are eager to see such images, you won’t have to go to China. Just stop by McAteer’s officein the Visual Arts Building.    

Aside from Beijing, McAteer studied in the central Chinese city of Xi’an, which has the distinction of being one of China’s longest inhabited regions withcivilization dating back 6,000 years. Xi’an, with a population of 4 million, is a mere hamlet compared to Beijing. Still, McAteer assured it was a great place to study.    

Now that McAteer is back from his sabbatical, what changes can students expect to see in his department? Aside from learning more about Chinese photography, they will see a program change. McAteer has changed the content of his introductory classes to integrate digital photography.    

McAteer says he has already begun folding his knowledge of Chinese photography into his classes. In addition to his photography work with Plan, he studied monuments, landmarks and museums while in China.    

City College now has an expert and a scholar in Chinese photography in McAteer. He plans to post his photographs so they are accessible to all interested students. He might also prepare a print book of selected photos.    

In addition to Beijing and Xi’an, McAteer studied in Hong Kong and Shanghai. He also studied in Vietnam and other southeastern countries.

e-mail:jpatterson@theguardsman.com