On safari in Tanzania

Lake Manyara, Tanzania (15 February 2008).

On Monday we flew from Zanzibar to Arusha and got picked up by our safari company, Green Footprints. The guide was a bit late and there was some confusion because there was a different guide who was picking up a Mr. & Mrs. Gonzalez. We had to call the main gal at GF to sort out the confusion. It was getting late so we felt a bit bad about rousing her out of bed.

The next day our guide picked up up and took us to the Green Footprints for a short briefing. We met Laura (she’s Dutch) but is temporarily the director. She is actually traveling across Africa overland with her boyfriend. Anyway, she told us about our itinerary, what we would do, stuff about malaria, yada, yada, yada. Then we left for our first adventure; canoing on small Lake Momella in Arusha National Park.

The canoe trip was quite fun, though a bit slow (for my taste and I was doing all the paddling). But we saw lots of birds, learned about the acacia trees, and got up close and personal with the hippos. Not that close, since they are quite dangerous actually. Debby and I confused the rocks with the hippos initially, but eventually we figured out which was which. We supposedly took a game drive in the park, but that was really the drive back to Arusha. Our digs in Arusha were really nice (forgot to mention that detail). We had a really swanky tent with a view of Mt. Meru. Though we never saw it because it’s always cloudy.

The next day we drove over to Lake Manyara National Park—a couple of hours NW of Arusha. We ate lunch in the park and saw (and heard) elephants. Debby was the first to spot the elephants—which made her really proud (she does have really good eyesight). That night we slept at Plantation Lodge, an upscale lodge in the middle of a plantation. I loved it. It had a colonial look & feel and was in the middle of really green farmland. Plus I got to go for a run with our guide. He looks pretty fit, but he’s more of a weight-lifter.

Yesterday we did a short bike ride. Which sounded like it would be great but a bit of a fiasco. We got the place and found out the bikes were in really bad shape. I spent some time trying to educate the “local activity guide”, i.e. the guy in charge of the bikes, how to fix them up. But it seemed to get him (and Debby) all flustered. Plus it was getting late—and hence hot—so we just kind of left in a hurry. Not 10 minutes later the rear tube on my bike exploded. I swapped wheels with one of the guides and we continued. After the swap my rear wheel was running (on the brakes) but everyone was flustered and so I just kept riding.

We rode downhill and through a banana plantation. We stopped at a local pub, and they showed us how they make banana beer. After my third flat for the day the local guide just gave up and made us walk. Fortunately we were close to where the truck was going to pick us up. We then went to lunch, which was at the home of a family in the region. They gave us a really tasty lunch. Here in Tanzania the basic staple is something called ugali, which is made with semolina.

We had the afternoon off and in the evening we had a tasty “bush” dinner—we ate a fancy elegant dinner in the park. After dinner we had a night game drive. We rode around the park in an open air vehicle. The best part was seeing hippos out of the water (hippos spent all day under water to protect their skin and come out to feed at night). They are really heavy but walk like they are they are on tip-toes. It was really funny to see them walking around. We also saw a female lion looking for dinner.

Today we woke up at 4:30am to drive to Ngorongoro crater. The safari company crewed-up and placed us in a lodge that is far away from the crater so we had to leave the lodge at 5:00am to get to the gate of the park by 6:00am, when it opens. The visit was really amazing. The crater is oval-shaped (measuring about 18km by 25km along the axes) and holds an incredible amount of wildlife—kind of like diving in a fish bowl with lots of fish. We saw rhino’s, cheetahs, lions, zebras, buffalo, flamingos, elan, wildebeest, Thompson gazelles, topi, and tons more (too many to write them all here).

Tomorrow we drive to the famous plains of Serengeti.

R