Tanzania

Monday, July 5 – Today was a day of patience. After breakfast and checking out we headed to the airport. Our flight was supposed to leave Zanzibar at 11:30 am and arrive in Arusha at 12:40 pm. We got to the airport around 10:00 am and were quickly told that the flight schedule had changed the week before and our flight was now at 2:45 pm. We were supposed to have received an email informing us of this fact, but we never received one (though I have to take part of the blame for not double checking the flight). So we waited and waited. They let us check in. 2:45 pm came and went. 3:00 pm came and went. 3:30 came and went. Meanwhile our safari company was supposed to be picking us up at the other end, so we had to keep calling them to change the time. No one seemed to know what the heck was going on. Finally at 4:15 pm we were able to board our plane. It seated all of 12 people and it was tiny. Finally we had arrived, only to discover that they had flown to Kilimanjaro Airport – about a 15 minute flight away from Arusha. After dropping off some passengers, we continued on and finally made it to Arusha around 6:30 pm. What a day. We went to the safari company to pay our balance and were told that they wouldn't accept half our money because the bills were dated before 2000. Yet another snag in our day. We paid by credit card (of course there was 5% additional charge) and then went to our hotel. We checked in, had a delicious dinner (thank goodness) and called it a night.

Tuesday, July 6 – Our safari driver, Athmen, picked us up at 8:30 am in a 5 passenger Land Rover (for just the two of us) and our home away from home for the next 6 days. We headed off to Lake Manyara National Park, a 2 hour drive away. Along the way we saw lots of Maasai, the prevalent tribe in the region, walking their livestock along the road. I can only imagine how many miles they must walk each day. The Maasai are tall, thin and dark skinned and are typically draped in colored cloth. We arrived at Lake Manyara National Park and the first day of our safari did not disappoint. Athmen popped the roof and we headed off. Over the course of the day we saw lots of baboons, blue monkeys, several different types of birds, impalas, warthogs (now there's an attractive looking animal), African elephants, zebras, hippopotamus, flamingos, Maasai giraffes, wildebeest, buffalo, antelope and monitor lizards. At one point in time an elephant walked right behind our Land Rover – so close that I could have touched it. The scenery was beautiful. After a full day “gamedrive” we arrived at our hotel around 4:30 pm – a spectacular spot overlooking Lake Manyara. We checked out the pool and the bar, showered and had delicious dinner before calling it a night.

Wednesday, July 7 – Today was long and bumpy day. We set off in the morning, leaving Lake Manyara and heading for Serengeti National Park. To get to the Serengeti we had to cross through the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, whose predominant feature is the Ngorongoro Crater. We skirted around the rim of the crater, in the thick fog along a very very bumpy road. We seemed to drive for hours, rattling along, amazed that our Land Rover was staying one piece. Along the way we stopped at Olduvai Gorge where footprints of early upright man, dating back 3.6 million years, were found (known as the Laetail Trail). Evidence of life had also been found, dating back 6 million years. After driving for several more hours we finally reached the Serengeti – it was impressive. In Maasai, they call it Siringeti, meaning endless plain, and it was just as I pictured Africa to be – fields of yellow going on forever and ever with only a few flat topped trees and wild animals speckling the landscape. As my Lonely Planet says, “How do you describe the Serengeti without using every cliché in the book....a visit to the Serengeti will guarantee immersion in the quintessential African landscape....” Along our drive we saw gazelles, ostrich, hartebeest, monkeys, antelope, buffalo and two lions – both of which were unfortunately sleeping. We finally made it to our lodge around 6:30 pm – spent from spending all day in our Land Rover rattling about. Our lodge was nestled into the Serengeti, built right into and around several large rocks. Roaming around were lots and lots of large rodent looking animals called hyraxes (or rock dassies). Keith and I enjoyed some wine before dinner, watched the sun go down amidst the clouds, had some dinner, had a small fiasco with the hot water (or lack thereof) and called it night.

Thursday, July 8 – Today was a fabulous day. We set off in the morning around 8:30 am for a morning gamedrive. Our first sighting was that of leopard up in a tree. We'd seen it's kill up in the tree the night before, but now the leopard was lounging up in the tree protecting it's food. Over the course of the morning we saw many spectacular sights including two lions – one strolling about and another one laying majestically with a beautiful mane, a cheetah and it's kill, more buffalo, several types of antelope, several types of birds, two different types of gazelles, hartebeest, ostrich, giraffes, zebras, a hyena, hippopotamus and jackals... and that was just the morning. We got back to the lodge around 1:15 pm, had some lunch and a rest, and headed back out at 4:00 pm. Our afternoon gamedrive proved to be equally impressive. We saw tons of elephants, more lions, a Nile crocodile (a rare sighing in the Serengeti), zebras, hippos and giraffes, etc. All and all it was a marvelous day.

Friday, July 9 – Today was a quiet morning in the Serengeti. We set off around 9:00 am in search of wildlife. We saw a couple of giraffe, a couple of elephants, and a couple of different types of birds. The highlight of the morning was seeing another cheetah. After driving around for several hours searching for more wildlife to no avail, we headed back to the lodge (as an aside, we must drive several hundred kilometers a day in search of animals). We had the afternoon to relax by the pool and then headed back out again around 4:00 pm. The afternoon proved to be much more productive than the morning. We saw wildebeest, more lions, buffalo, jackals, hyenas, elephants and another leopard up in a tree. Another good day in the Serengeti.

Saturday, July 10 – Today we had a very early start as we were awoken by strange animal sounds outside our room – when we pulled back the curtain we saw a large hippopotamus grazing away. He was so close that you could hear him chewing the grass – it was quite a sight. We set out around 6:30 am for an early morning gamedrive. In addition to seeing the usual gazelles, jackals, hyenas, lions, elephants and impalas, we also saw a water buck (a kind of antelope) and a sable cat. The sunrise was incredible. We headed back to the lodge around 8:30 am, had some breakfast and checked out. We then set out back across the Serengeti, heading towards Ngorongoro Crater. It was once again a very long,dusty and bumpy ride. We had a few more animal sighting with the highlight being three lions shading themselves under a tree. By late afternoon we arrived at the Crater and our lodge. The Crater is a a collapsed volcano and on the Crater floor lives lots of wildlife. My Lonely Planet says the following: “The views from the misty highlands of the rim are spectacular, but they're nothing compared with the photo opportunities that await down on the crater floor....” Our lodge sat right on the the rim of the Crater and Keith and I enjoyed some wine as we took in the amazing view.

Sunday, July 11 – Today we spent the morning down on the floor of the Crater. We were not disappointed. The landscape was beautiful and the wildlife was amazing. We saw hundreds of zebras, huge elephants, a couple of lions and flamingos, just to name a few. I think the highlight was seeing two black rhinos – a rare sighting - and seeing thousands of wildebeest migrating and at one point in time engulfing our Land Rover. By mid afternoon our safari was drawing to a close as we headed back to Arusha. We made a few stops along the way, picked up some souvenirs, bought our bus tickets for the following day and checked into our hotel for the evening. We then bid Athmen farewell – he had been a wonderful guide. Our safari was something we will remember for a lifetime.

Monday, July 12 – Today was a long day. We were up bright an early and by 7:00 am we were at the station ready to board a bus from Arusha to Dar Es Salaam. We were taking Kilimanjaro Express, the supposed best company to take. Needless to say we were both a little upset when we discovered there was no bathroom on board (though our concerns were eventually alleviated), given that it was a 9 hour ride to Dar. We did stop briefly for lunch at a less than ideal spot and bathroom stops consisted of pulling over on the side of the road and everyone dashing into the woods (we were the only non-locals on the bus and clearly this is common practice). It ended up being a 10 hour ride to Dar and we couldn't wait to get off the bus. It was another 30 minute or so cab ride to our hotel. We finally made it to our DoubleTree by Hilton and Keith worked his magic and we ended up being upgraded to a beautiful room, facing the ocean. It was a perfect spot with a pool, fitness room, a pier, etc. We were psyched. We celebrated with a bottle of wine and a delicious dinner.