A Year In Motion

Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa, lies in the north of Tanzania near a town called Moshi, close to the Kenyan border, and conveniently on our bus route from Dar es Salaam to Arusha. So we decided to overnight there in order to take in the view of the snow-capped peak, before the snow is projected to melt in 2020 due to the effects of global warming. Alas, during the 24 hours that we spent in Moshi, the clouds were heavy and low, and we saw no more of Kilimanjaro than if we had been sitting looking for it in Ireland or Honduras. But, snow big deal (pardon the awful joke).

Almost everyone who goes on safari in Tanzania will end up passing through Arusha. Lying to the south-east of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and the Serengeti, the town is full of cheap hotels, safari operators, and scammers, and despite that, we quite liked it. At this stage, we’re well accustomed to touts, and some of them can actually be quite useful, especially in an environment with no signs or anything else to guide you. And for the few who try to rip you off, there are as many or more who are just trying to earn a few shillings in an economy which gives them no other option of employment.

We shopped around a few safari operators before paying a visit to the local tourist office. This is an essential stop in Arusha, because not only is it next to a nice cafe serving great espressos, but it features a message board for travellers seeking other people to share their safari, thereby getting a lower price for all concerned. Safari vehicles in Tanzania sit 7 people, so up to 6 is a good number, and gives everyone a window seat for viewing the action.

We saw one ad from an Austrian couple, Ben and Sophie, for a 3 day safari, which was what we were looking for too. We met them later and arranged to depart the following morning with a 5th person, Nell, an Irish-American. The total cost per person was $335 including all entrance fees, meals and accommodation and we booked through Sunny Safaris who we can recommend. Our itinerary would bring us to three parks – Tarangire, Lake Manyara, and the Ngorongoro crater! Alas, no time for my dream destination of the Serengeti, but it just wasn’t practical. In any case, the famous Wildebeest Migration had already passed into the Maasai Mara on the other side of the border in Kenya. Another day perhaps.

We were told that Tarangire had the most wildlife at this time of year, so we set off there first. A few metres through the entrance gate, we were already spotting zebra, wildebeest and impala on all sides. Ben, one of the Austrians wanted to see elephants, and Tarangire with its large elephant population sounded promising. By the time we had completed our afternoon tour, we had seen close to two hundred elephants – babies, mothers, males, elephants with tusks almost touching the ground, giant elephants – amazing! One of the highlights was seeing a family of about 20 elephants drinking at a river, only for a herd of over 50 buffalo to move down the hillside, leaving clouds of dust in their wake, to drink beside the elephants, and only a few metres in front of us.

Tanzania definitely has more animals than South Africa – the numbers are overwhelming – but Ninfa had one mission only – to see a lion. We had seen a leopard sleeping on a tree by the roadside, but on morning two, we hit the jackpot. On the road ahead of us, a group of cars was stopped at a fork in the road. On the low, wide pillar which held the signposts, a fat lioness was sitting proudly, and she looked scary! We were marvelling at the power she radiated, no doubt the queen of the jungle, when she shot down from her perch and started off in pursuit of a kudu about a hundred metres off. The excitement was rising, and the jeeps circled around the side of the road with the lion and kudu in view. The lion was crouched down, and every step was in slow motion as she closed in on the kudu who was oblivious to the danger. Everyone was hoping the lion would catch her prey, except Ninfa who was hoping the kudu would live to graze another day. In the end, due to divine intervention or a well-honed skill of survival, the kudu bolted and the lioness went skulking off into the forest. It was really exciting, and encapsulates everything about a safari in the wild. That’s why you’re not allowed to get out of your car (although I did have to brave the wild for a quick toilet break nearby a herd of elephants later in the day).

That afternoon, we went to Lake Manyara. Lake Manyara is surrounded by dense forest, which makes it less than optimal for game viewing. Ideally you want thin vegetation and low grasses to be able to spot the animals, and this was anything but. On the other hand, its ideal for primates, and we saw hundreds of baboons, as well as vervet monkeys and blue monkeys, Down by the lake, you can get out of the jeep, and we took the opportunity to stretch our legs and get a closer look at the numerous storks, pelicans and far off in the distance some pink flamingos. On the way out of the park, we hit a traffic jam. Traffic jams on safari are some people’s idea of the worst possible thing, but to be honest they have their purpose. If you see a traffic jam, it means it’s something well worth seeing. This time the jeeps took their turns stopping to view a sleeping lioness and two lion cubs playing and rolling in the dirt – an excellent finale!

Our final day was a trip to Ngorongoro Crater, and we definitely saved the best for last. We left camp at 6am and drove for an hour to the park entrance. From there its another hour to the crater peak, through dusty, foggy, treacherous roads lined by Maasai villages. The crater itself offers an amazing landscape – a flat and dusty bowl surrounded by a steep circle crowned by huge looming clouds. And in terms of game viewing, it’s outstanding. There are no elephants here, but plenty of zebra, wildebeest, impala, hartebeest, and best of all – lions!

We were driving along a quiet track when I saw a traffic jam in the distance. I asked our driver to turn around and make his way to the jam, as it was bound to be good. As we got closer, we could see the vultures circling in the air, and we had a good feeling this was going to be spectacular. When we got there, people in another jeep told us there were three lions. As we got closer, we saw two jackals scavenging on the remains of a dead zebra, while the vultures law skulking in the background waiting their turn. Around the scene lay a lion and two lionesses who had already had their turn, and were waiting a while before coming back for more. It was an incredible sight.

We thought that we wouldn’t be able to beat that, but a little later we saw another smaller traffic jam. This one was even better. Two lions and three lionesses were circling a small group of buffalo, and moving themselves into position for an attack. We sat wonderstruck at the back and forth of the moves, at the daring of the buffalo to charge the lions, at the lions regrouping and attempting to isolate a sole buffalo. We watched for around half an hour at this marvellous sight before the lions resigned themselves to a lost battle. Ngorongoro had proven incredible! We stopped for lunch at a lake and admired some hippos before heading homewards.

The next day, I took a trip to a nearby village to see a little of how the locals live. A school-teacher offered to be my guide for a small fee, and he showed me around the village and the farms and houses of the locals. A couple of local boys joined us, and I admit I was a little nervous that one of them was casually carrying a machete the whole time. But they weren’t in the least bit threatening. They were delighted to have a visitor and enjoyed posing for photos. The children, as always in Africa, were adorable, although a little shy. It was sad to see how dirty they were – snot dried on their faces, and legs and hands caked in dirt. Even a toddler was crawling around in a dirty yard. But what option do they have – no electricity, living in mud huts, sleeping on floors. Most of the women were busy mixing mud and repairing their houses. One of the local women showed us her ornamental Maasai costume and told us a little about the traditions of the village. It was an interesting and sobering insight into the day to day life and poverty of the majority of Tanzanians.

So that marks the end of our trip to Tanzania. Next stop is Uganda to which we will travel by bus through Kenya. Look out for our next post from Uganda!

Photos from Safari are online – check out http://photos.ayearinmotion.com/Africa/Tanzania

Another early start in our first day in Tanzania as we traveled from Mbeya to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. There were no seats on the luxury buses so once again we had to opt for a local bus. We were told that the journey would take 12 hours, but when we arrived 15 hours later we were not surprised. After 10 km, one of the back windows (across from our seat) of the bus broke. It was very early in the morning in the Tanzanian mountains so we froze for 3 hours and later Tony suffered from a chest infection.

Dar es Salaam is a city for African standards but we found it a bit quiet, especially since it was almost impossible to buy alcohol anywhere. We stayed for 2 days to catch up on administrative stuff, but since there are not many attractions we spent most of our time chilling out in the best hotel in the city, the Kilimanjaro Kempinski, which has an amazing view of the city from the 8th floor bar. The best thing in Dar was finding a delicious Lebanese restaurant “Al Basha”, where we ate all our meals. In our opinion the food in Africa is quite bad so it was fabulous being able to eat high quality Middle Eastern cuisine.

With nothing more to do in Dar we left on the “slow ferry” to Zanzibar, a place I had always dreamed about. The slow ferry leaves at 12:00 pm, costs $20 and took us 3 hours to reach Stone Town. On the way back there is no slow ferry during daytime so we had to take the more expensive “fast ferry” which costs double price and was only faster by 20 minutes. We arrived in Stone Town and it immediately it started raining cats and dogs, so we checked in at the first hotel we saw. The prices in Zanzibar are obviously very different than in mainland Africa. We both dislike the fact that in the island everyone quotes prices in US Dollars. If you don’t have Dollars sometimes they will take Tanzanian Shillings but at a ridiculous exchange rate and the other times they will tell you to go yourself to the bank and exchange them for Dollars. On more than one occasion we both (myself a lawyer and Tony lately acts like one also) had to demand our right to pay in the official currency of the country, Tanzanian Shillings, of course. Another thing is that most places do not take credit card and if they do they will charge you up to 8% extra. Yes, we are in Africa, so we have accepted this so far, but in Zanzibar being so expensive and touristy we expect a bit more of service. The more I travel through Africa the more I come to appreciate my country, Honduras, and realize that we are more advanced. We are “3rd World” also, an unpolitical correct term that some people still use; but charging in another currency, charging commission to credit card purchases, and exchanging money at a rate other than the official one are all regulated by law and constitute illegal acts in my country.

Anyway, moving on to the great things….we were lucky that the weather improved greatly the next day as it stopped raining. We met people that had been there for a week and had seen rain and cold everyday. We chilled in Stone Town, walked through town, watched beautiful sunsets, had delicious coffee and did some activities. Zanzibar was governed by Oman so the Arab influence is still quite present. You can evidence it in the beautiful details of the architecture such as the exquisite carvings in the big wooden doors, the balconies, and certainly in the very conservative population. As well there is quite a big Indian influence and population. The elements of Arab, Indian and Black African mixed together make Zanzibar a very exotic place such as its name evokes

The first activity we did in the Spice Island was a “Spice Tour”. We were taken to a farm on the outskirts of Stone Town where we were shown the traditional way of planting spices. In Zanzibar traditionally all crops are planted together and mixed in the farm in the same plot. We were shown cacao, nutmeg, vanilla, Arabica coffee, ginger, pepper, cloves, curry leaves, lemongrass, etc. as well as some fruits. It was an ok tour, but Tony thought that similar activities we had done in Honduras were better.

Afterwards we walked through the market looking at the varieties of fish and fruit mainly. I am also glad to point out that so far from what we have seen in Africa, we have a bigger variety of fruits in Honduras and definitely better tasting bananas. For many years there has been a big banana case in the World Trade Organization in which Latin America against European Union demands same treatment for exporting our bananas as the African countries receive. Maybe this is the reason why we can still buy good bananas in Honduras and not in Africa, as probably all good African bananas are exported to Europe. We then walked through the Old Slave Market, which is now a church, to hear about the old slave trade in Zanzibar. At night we walked through the famous food market which looks very organized and tasty, but obviously overpriced. Fortunately we decided to skip the seafood and went only for a Zanzibari pizza which is La Vache Qui Rit (triangular creamy cheese) cooked in dough; as later we were told horror stories about the hygiene of the market and the not so fresh seafood.

Definitely the highlight in Stone Town for us was taking a dhow to Prison Island, where we could play with the second biggest species of turtles in the world. And boy they are not big, they are giant! Four of these turtles were given as a gift by the government of Seychelles to the British Governor in the day and happily they have been able to reproduce and now are a family of more than 50! They are so gentle and love being hand fed by all the visitors. We could have spent all day with them but we had a shuttle to catch to Kendwa, a beach in the North of the island.

An hour later and we were in paradise. We were so tired of public transport that we opted for the daily touristy on time and very comfortable minibus that takes people from Stone Town to several beaches along the island for about $7. It’s a service we recommend highly as they even aid you in looking for a hotel that suits your needs and do not leave you until you are satisfied with your choice. If we had taken a dallah dallah we would have been uncomfortable, would have taken double the time, would have been exposed to risks, and would have had to walk 2 km from the main road with our bags (we were told thieves operate there waiting for tourists) and then many more km on the sandy beach looking for accommodation.

After looking at many options we opted for a hotel with a big wide beach in the middle of Kendwa. Kendwa is a beach at the very north of the island of Zanzibar, and located next to Nungwi a bigger town with many more options and more of party vibe. We were pleased we had chosen Kendwa as the beach was absolutely perfect: wide and long white sand. In Kendwa there is not much tide so it is possible to swim anytime or lay in the beach, which is not the situation in most of the beaches in Zanzibar. Very easily we could have spent all our days lazily at the beach, but we went scuba diving. We took a boat for almost 2 hours to the Mnemba Atoll and dove there. We were hoping to see many marine turtles but only got to see one, in Honduras we saw many more. The visibility in the water and the colors of the coral are not as good as in the Caribbean or Red Sea but we saw fish we had never seen and in large quantities. To my delight we saw many starfish. We were given time to snorkel also but the sea was too rough there to make it enjoyable. For one dive we paid the shocking price of $80 (with discount). Diving is always great but in Zanzibar the highlight is just chilling in the beach, watching the sun rise and set. We could have just stayed there for much longer but we had to move on. If it were not for the “papasi” (touts in Zanzibar) who wont leave you alone all day, Kendwa would have been paradise. Among them are the famous Masai tribe who inhabit the inner parts of Tanzania. It is very interesting to see them walk the beaches in their traditional costumes selling their jewelry as some of them have realized that they can make much more money in Zanzibar than in their territory. Just seeing them in the beach is an attraction in itself.

Before our safari adventure we had to return to Dar, where the highlight was meeting our good friends Nadia and Alex, with whom we traveled the next day to Moshi and Arusha to start our safari adventure. It was great to catch up with her on the 10 hour bus ride.

I would like to remark two things. The first is to apologize to our friends and family when we describe too much specific details, making it a bit boring (as we were told), but we do it because travel blogs are a very important tool for travel planning. Other traveler’s blogs have helped us with our own organization and we hope to do the same for others. The second thing I would like to mention is that the more I travel the more I realize that paradise is at home in my country, in Honduras. I am proud of all the natural beauty we have, the friendliness of the people, the fair prices, the lack of touts, and especially that it is still quite virgin and untouched in terms of tourism invasion, making it a fantastic destination. I urge travelers to travel there and offer my help in any matter required.

Until next time, from safari-land…