The day after our I got back from safari I spent in Arusha, taking care of some last minute souvenir shopping and just relaxing. I bought a ticket for the shuttle from Arusha to Nairobi for 8am, tuesday morning March 17. The shuttle left at 8.30 with me and only 5 other passengers so it was very comfortable with no stopping. I had expected the road connecting these 2 major cities to be in good shape but I was wrong. There was a main road but large sections of it were in a state of repair and we were forced to take the dusty and bumpy alternative route. It was a terrible road and super dusty. All I could taste and smell was dust, there was no escape. The border crossing was easy though busy. It was the most people I had seen at any border. I got a week long transit visa for $20 instead of the usual $50 visa. We arrived in Nairobi about 6 hours later. I was looking for a cheaper hotel than the one I stayed in 4 months ago. A taxi driver suggested Planet Safari which had a dorm bed for $6.50. That worked for me. Planet safari is a small place not listed in the guidebook but it mostly used before and after clients return from safari. It is located on the top ninth floor of a building with a nice outdoor patio. It was a basic place but I was the only one in the dorm and it had an attatched bath.
I don’t like Nairobi at all. It’s a very busy place but I must admit it is very cosmopolitan and has everything you need in variety. I have tuesday night here, a full day wednesday and then fly home early thursday morning. This will be my last post for the trip I write abroad. It has been another memorable and amazing trip with many highlights. I look forward to planning the next adventure once I get home.

Comments (0) Mar 18 2009

Today was our last day but it was still a full safari day. We got up at 6.30am to pack up everything. We ate breakfast and left at 8. It was only a short drive to the descent road. There is only one road to descend into the crater and only one road out of the crater. Ngorongoro is one of the world’s largest unbroken calderas. It measures 20km across its widest point and was lush and green on the floor. Due to abundant grass and a steady supply of water, many animals live permanently in the crater. There can be up to a million hoofed animals and these in turn feed a healthy predator population. There are many buffaloes and zebras as we first start driving in the crater. The crater is mostly flat and treeless with a large salt lake in its center but with other smaller freshwater lakes feed by underground springs. We come across a family of foxes close to the road. There are really small and cute and new for me. We see many other animals but nothing unusual until Isaac stops the Landcruiser a few hours later. He checks a large grey spot in the distance and confirms his suspicions. It is a black rhino. Actually it is 2 black rhinos and one young. They are lying down but later get up and walk around. Though they are far I can clearly see them. There is another big animal crossed off my ‘wishlist’. There are about only 23 black rhinos living in the crater. Africa has the black rhino and the white rhino, both have been poached to near extinction for their horns. The white rhino was reduced to a single population in Umfolozi national park in South Africa. This population has been used to relocate animals to areas where they used to graze, including Lake Nakuru national park in Kenya where I saw them on the beginning of my trip. I saw many white rhinos in Kruger national park in South Africa but black rhinos are very rare there. I have been wanting to see one since my first safari. There are many differences between black and white rhinos but most of these are small. Some of the major differences are the type of eating they do. The black rhinos are grazers, eating leaves of small shrubs and grass. White rhinos are browsers with a low hung head for eating grass and will congregate in groups more than the mainly solitary black rhinos. Black rhinos are also known to be more aggressive and will readily charge just about anything. So, in a way it was good that this rare family of black rhinos was in the distance.
We drove around many corners of the crater before going for lunch at noon. We had lunch among a collection of skulls and bones of mostly buffalo. There were many birds around and Isaac told us to watch our food. I threw one piece of rice for a single bird and in a second I had 20 birds right beside. I could reach out and touch them. They flew off suddenly and I got a birdwing in the face by a large, predatory black Kite that was after my food and the birds. It was the first time I’ve actually been hit by a bird, I couldn’t believe it! We finished lunch and would have a short game drive before leaving the crater.
Only minutes from leaving the lunch spot we stopped. There were 2 cheetahs here, walking and lying around. I was blown away, more cheetahs! I was so happy. There were also a few huge bull elephants in the distance. Only solitary old males descend into the crater, family herd of elephants aren’t found here. The area around the ascent road is concentrate densely with zebras and wildebeests. They were everywhere, walking all over the road. We had to constantly slow down to allow them to move off or drive around them. A very dark rainfilled sky loomed ahead of us. We drove into torrential rain. The windows fogged up but Isaac still had to be careful as there were still many zebra on the road. We climbed out of the crater and it stopped raining. We had a long, uneventful drive back to Arusha. Even though it rained a lot on our safari, the area close to Arusha was still dry and dusty.
I really enjoyed the crater and it was a highlight of my trip, as was the Serengeti. This northern park safari circuit was my last activity before heading home in a few days.

Comments (0) Mar 18 2009

Shortly after we left the Serengeti, we entered the NCA. It began to rain heavily. We could hardly see out the windows. It didn’t last long and soon after we entered came to a very dry area. It had not rained here for a while. We began seeing more Maasai and their goats and cows. Wildlife roams freely around the whole NCA area and we saw a few giraffes very close to the road. Isaac noticed up on a hill in the distance was an eland. The eland is the largest of the antelopes, weighing up to 1500kgs. I have been wanting to see an eland for a while. Isaac said there are many in the crater but they are shy. This might be the only time I see one, so I ask him to stop so I can take a photo of it. We reach our campsite on the rim of the crater around 5.30. It’s raining lightly but very sunny and there is a huge rainbow. I set up my tent under a huge tree on a grassy area with a bunch of other tents. This 4 day northern park safari circuit is a popular one and I am recognizing people that were camping near us in the Serengeti.
This campsite is called basic but it’s anything but. It had covered eating areas, electricity and to my amazement, hot showers! I shower and then join the Norwiegans already eating our pre dinner popcorn. After dinner, Isaac explains our program for tomorrow and then excuses himself. I never hang around long after I’ve finished eating. The Norweigans can all speak fluent English but they don’t. They only speak English when they are talking directly to me. With the exception of Chris, the other 3 only speak to me when they want to know what animals we saw that day. They’re not mean about it, they just don’t speak to me. Most people I spend time with who don’t speak English as a first language but can speak it very well, are considerate enough and make the effort to speak English, even when talking amongst themselves, but not the Norwiegans. They spoke English on safari and at the dining table, effectively leaving me out of any conversation, so there was no point to hang around and listen to them speak. I would hang out in my tent and read or look at the days photos.
I woke up in the middle of the night to relieve myself and could hear loud chewing. I stepped out of my tent, but not far. I could see 3 buffalos in close by and when I shined my light on them they did nothing, I took care of my business and went back to bed. Last night at our Serengeti campsite, Isaac told us to bring our shoes inside the tent for safe keeping. Hyaenas sometimes take away left out shoes but I didn’t think there was that much of a threat on the crater rim campsite, so I left my sandals outside but close to my tent. I was woken up by the ruffling of my ground tarp. I shook my tent to scare away whatever it was and brought my sandals inside. A few minutes later, I heard the same ruffling followed by the snorting and sniffing of a warthog’s snout. I guess he was checking me out but I had nothing he wanted. I wasn’t woken up again.

Comments (0) Mar 18 2009

We left the small village near Lake Manyara around 8am. We had a long drive to Serengeti. We climbed the rift valley road up to the crater highlands. The road climbed steeply more through some forest to the rim of the crater. We stopped at a viewpoint of Ngorongoro crater. Tomorrow we would be exploring the crater.
We continued on from there through the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA), a vast area of 8000sq km. Local Masai people have been grazing their cattle here for hundreds of years. That’s why this area is a conservation area instead of a national park. There in no cattle grazing allowed in a national park. The landscape was very flat and featureless.
We took a side detour to Olduvai Gorge, 5km from the main road. Since we entered the NCA, we left the smooth tarmac for a bumpy, dusty road. The Olduvai gorge is one of the cradles of humanity. It was here a few decades ago that the Leakey’s discovered some of the oldest and most important human bones, linking our evolutionary past. There was a very informative museum and a viewpoint over the dry and inhospitable gorge. There were many other visitors here, large groups of package tourists.
After we left the gorge, we continued towards Serengeti. We stopped at the main gate which was on a forested hill. It was the only hill around. Serengeti means ‘ endless plains’ and from a viewpoint on top of the hill, it was a very appropriate name. The landscape was flat and treeless as far as I could see. It was hard to imagine that this seemingly barren landscape supported one of the largest populations of wildlife in the world.
As we entered the proper park, the weather turned cooler and it started to rain. We had the roof of the Landcruiser opened but had to close it for the rain. The rain would let up and we would open it again. It kept on like this for the rest of the afternoon, opening and closing the roof. The further on we got into the park the more the landscape slowly changed. Trees started to appear and shrubs. There were zebras, giraffes, wildebeest, thomson’s gazelle, grants, gazelle, hartebeest and topi.
Isaac got information of a leopard around with some baboons. We went to the area and saw the baboons, but no leopard. We did see a herd of elephants that were black from the mud. The earth here is all black sand which is very slippery in the rains. Most of the roads have had coarser sand with pebbles added to them for traction but sometimes we would come to a black sand stretch. Once the Landcruiser began sliding sideways, it felt like we were sliding in the snow. Isaac was an experienced driver and would let off the brake and ride it out.
It was raining hard when we saw the first of many lions. The rain makes most animals hide and is not a great time for safari driving. We watched the lions for a few minutes but they were hard to see through the fogged windows. The rain came in if the windows were open too much. We reluctantly headed to our campsite for the night in the heart of Serenget in a place called Seronera. The rain stopped when we got there and we set up our tents. I brought my own tent and saved $20 on the safari price for using my own equipment. It was called a basic camp but had running water and showers and covered eating areas.
After dinner we could hear different groups of lions calling out to each other a few km from camp. There are no fences here and it was a little unnerving knowing that there were huge predators not far from us. Isaac said sometimes they wander through camp at night, along with elephants and hyaenas. I heard hyaenas and lions calling throughout the night but still managed to sleep well. I was happy to be back in my tent.

The next morning we were all up at 6am for a small breakfast of coffee and cookies. We left on our game drive at 6.30. Giraffes and buffaloes were only a few minutes away from camp. We drove for a while seeing nothing unusual, mostly impala, warthogs, hartebeest, grant’s and thomson’s gazelle and a few topi. After a while we came across some lions. They were a bit in the distance but easy to see. Then Isaac got some information about something special and we left. I thought it must be something special in order to leave lions! We drove determinedly to the spot. We could see a few vehicles there but we had to take the road, which was a long way around. In contrast to the Maasai Mara in Kenya, drivers in Serengeti don’t go offroad. They require a special permit in order to leave the established tracks. This is good for the park to reduce erosion but not good for close up photos. You have to hope something is fairly close to the road.
We got to the spot and at first glance I thought they lions but they turned out to cheetahs! A family of 5, 4 cubs and the mother, though the cubs were almost the same size as mama. They lied around a lot but also walked around and the cubs play fought with each other. They also chased each other using a bit of their speed that can propel them up to 110km/h for short bursts and which will be essential for catching their prey. Cheetahs are fast declining in many parts of Africa. This is partly due to poaching and farmers killing them because they thought they killed their cattle but also due to the natural selection of the cheetah. Cheetahs are large cats but very slender and built for speed. They are not tough and must eat anything they catch quickly because they are often chased away from their kills by lions and hyaenas. Also take in to account that only a small percentage of their chases result in successful kills. It takes a lot of energy to reach their high speeds and an unsuccessful hunt is a substantial loss. There are only about 9000 cheetahs left in Africa with the largest populations in Namibia.
I have never seen cheetahs before and they were high on the top of my ‘wishlist’ of animals, along with wild dog and black rhino. I was hoping to see a cheetah either here in Serengeti or in Ngorongoro crater but I never expected to see 5 of them. This is better than I could have hoped. We watched them for a while and after they moved away we followed another track that let us get closer to them again. Isaac was never in a rush and we were allowed to watch any animals as long as we wanted. I really liked this. I hate to be rushed on safari.
It was getting late in the morning now and I was starving. We started driving towards camp and then saw a male and female lion together. Males and females only get together for about a week during mating. They were really close to the road, though they were fairly inactive, just lounging about. We left them after a while, only to stop 2 minutes later when we noticed the rest of the family, a female and some cubs on top of a rocky outcrop. We only stopped here for a few minutes because they soon disappeared out of view. Isaac said we would be back at camp around 10.30, we arrived at 11.30. Brunch was waiting for us, pancakes, sausage, fruit and more. We packed up camp and left at 1pm. We had to be out of the park when our 24 hour entry permit expired at 3pm but still leave enough time to stop for anything on the way.
Isaac received more information on something special and we the opposite way of the gate. They were a few vehicles parked on the road but it wasn’t apparent what they were looking at. There were only a few big trees around and nothing noticeable on the ground. We stopped and Isaac said there was a leopard in the tree. It was on the first large branch of the tree, lying in a weird position. I could see it with my binoculars and with the digital zoom of my camera. The leopard is the most elusive of the big 5 ( lion, leopard, rhino, elephant,buffalo) to see, so we were very lucky to see one. I had not expected to see a leopard, but of course hoped we would. The Serengeti was proving to be an amazing place, lions, leopard and cheetahs all in the same day. After the leopard we drove towards the gate and made it out of the park with 20 minutes to spare.

Comments (0) Mar 18 2009

Safari planners was there to pick me up on time at 9 am. We drove to their office to get the rest of the clients. I would be joining a group of 4 Norweigans, 2 couples just a little younger than me. When I walked into the common room there was some obvious tension and anger among the Norweigans. I went into the office alone to pay my balance and asked what was happening. Apparently the Norweigans weren’t happy about another person joining them but it was ok now. I sat outside to let things cool down. I met one of the guys and introduced myself as ‘ The guy you didn’t want coming.’ He said it was ok now but I think he still didn’t like the idea of another joining their group. I met all 4 of them but really only talked to Chris.
After running some last minute errands we finally left Arusha at 10.30. We passed the junction I came from a few days ago and then joined a road to the northern park circuit. This road was only 2 years old and in immaculate shape, not a pothole in it. Along the way we saw some giraffes. We arrived at a small village near the gate of the park. We settled in a Fig Resort for lunch and for our room for the night. It was a nice self contained room with fan. After lunch we left for the park.
It was only a 10 minute drive to the gate of the park. Tanzania’s national parks use a credit card like system for payment instead of cash. Isaac was having a problem with his card and the system and this delayed us for almost an hour. While we waited a large, fearless baboon entered our Landcruiser in search of food ( while we weren’t in it) but found nothing.
We finally entered the park at 3.30. I didn’t care if I visited Lake Manyara or not and wanted to spend most of my time and money in Serengeti and Ngorongoro but since Lake Manyara is on the way to these parks, it’s always included on the itinerary. Lake Manyara is small at 330sq km and 230 of this is taken up by the salty lake. The park lies at the foothills of the cliffs of the rift valley and has some lerai forest and open grasslands. We saw plenty of baboons along with a few blue monkeys and vervet monkeys in the forest. In the grasslands were zebras, giraffes, thomson’s gazelle and buffalo but these were all in the distance. Upon entering the forest again we came close to a herd of a dozen elephants. There were elephants of all ages and they were feeding on both sides of the road. One of them came very close to us, they were not aggressive at all. On the way out of the park, we came across more elephants and had more close encounters. Lake Manyara was proving to be better than I expected and I was glad we came here.
We left the park around 6.45pm and headed back to Fig Resort. Since we were delayed when we wanted to enter the park, Isaac gave us the option of coming back to the park the following morning at 6am for a 2 hour game drive before breakfast. I could go either way on the matter so I let the Norwiegans decide. They choose not to come back to the park, which was fine for me. It meant I could sleep in till 7.30.

Comments (0) Mar 18 2009

I got up at 5.30am monday morning in Kigali to get the bus to the Tanzanian border. I have a lot of travelling to do in the next 2 days to get to Arusha, so I wanted to get started early. I litterally got the last seat on the bus. It was a small foldout chair in the asile right near the door. My large pack was on the floor in front of the door which was really annoying because anytime someone got on or off the bus, I would have to pick up my pack, which isn’t that light. Thankfully we didn’t stop that much. The road was good all the way there and in 3 hours we were at the border. It was 9.30am Rwandan time but as I crossed the border, it was 10.30am Tanzanian time. I had no problem crossing the border and after eating 4 chapatis for breakfast, I was in a minivan heading for Kahama.
The road to Kahama was pretty good, better than I expected. The landscape was mostly scrubland and some trees but became drier the further I got from Rwanda. I arrived in Kahama at 4pm and wanted to keep travelling so I would have less distance to cover tomorrow but there was no bus leaving to Singida now, it was too late in the afternoon. I would have to overnight in Kahama. Kahama is a small, dusty town that doesn’t even get a mention in my guidebook. The bus passed a few hotels on the way to the station and I checked into a very nice room. It was self contained, hot water and TV. I ate at the hotel and had my first Kilimanjaro beer. I went to bed early because I had another long day ahead of me.

I got up again at 5.30am and by 6 was in a minivan heading for Tende. I was on my way to Arusha but had to switch to a large bus at the Tende junction. We reached the junction before 8 but had to wait till 8.15 for the bus coming from Mwanza. I met a local guy, Titus, and sat beside him. He helped me get the real price for my ticket and not the Mzungu price and saved me $4. The bus was ok, it wasn’t crowded but it was a piece of shit. We had to stop to fix a flat tire and then numerous other times for small repairs of what, I’m not sure. We reached Singida at noon and stopped here for lunch. After that we left the tarmac for a horrible dusty and bumpy road. The landscape was very dry and clouds of dust would enter the bus anytime traffice passed us in the opposite direction. There wasn’t much of anything along the way. A few small towns and that’s it. Like yesterday, we just passed a lot of uninhabitated open space. Tanzania is vast and spread out, such a contrast to Rwanda where every piece of land is cultivated.
Night fell and I still wasn’t in Arusha. We finally arrived at 9pm. It had been 15 hours since I started travelling, my longest travel day on this trip by far. I was so glad to arrive. I took a taxi to a hotel. There were no bodas here. I didn’t think the room price was fair so I looked at a few other places and found a room at Minje’s for $6.50, without bathroom but it was clean and quiet. I ate at the African Queen, chips and chicken washed down with a tasty and light Kilimanjaro, a 500ml bottle costs $1.20.

Safari shopping
I was out of my hotel by 7.45am. I only had limited time and wanted to get on safari as soon as I could. Dominic, a local guy/tout who I met last night, was outside waiting for me. Without asking he took me around to a bunch of tour operators. It is low season now and difficult to find a group to join. I had 4 to 5 days to do a safari and my ideal safari was 2 nights in Ngorongoro crater and 2 nights in Serengeti but it looked like this wasn’t going to happen. There are standard safari circuits and since I’m only one person, I would have to join group doing one of these. Once I found out the price of a 5 day safari, it was clear I would only have enough to do a 4 day safari. The typical 4 day safari was the first day in Lake Manyara national park, sleep in a room in a small village near the park, second day drive to Serengeti, passing through the crater, camp in Serengeti. The third day was game drive Serengeti in morning and then drive to Ngorongoro crater, camp on rim of the crater and the last day was a game drive in the crater before returning to Arusha in the evening. I talked to numerous operators and they all had the same itenirary. It was just a matter of finding one who was going soon.
While looking around, I met Darco, a Serb, who was also looking for a tour, but only 2 days. He was having trouble and joined Dominic and I. I was exhausted by walking around and looking so much, so I left Dominic and Darco and took a siesta. Dominic would keep an ear out for my safari while he looked with Dominic. He came back in the afternoon and had a promising tour. I went with him to Annex hotel whose in house safari company, Safari Planners, had a group of 4 people leaving the next day for a 4 day tour. I could join them and the price was the average price. I was still sceptical, so I only paid for half the tour and would pay for the rest tomorrow morning. Safari Planners would be picking me up from my hotel at 9am. I went out for breakfast at the African Queen and was ready and waiting.

Comments (0) Mar 16 2009