Tanzania

Perhaps it was the laughter of the hyenas or possible the family of wild pigs scouring around our campsite, maybe it was the 2 buffaloes grazing nearby or the herd of zebras we had to avoid when we tried getting back to our tents, something told me I wasn't in Canada anymore.

Huddling with the 2 Swedish girls and my new Brazilian friend under the starry night in (the very difficult to pronounce location of) Ngorongoro Conservation area campsite, I felt a sense of regret at not being able to appreciate sights and moments like these more. Earlier in the day, we had a early game drive in the Serengeti where we saw numerous lions including a lioness watching a herd of buffaloes ready to pounce. We also saw a cheetah and numerous jackals, hyenas, ostriches as well as typical grazers and browsers such as buffaloes, antelopes, impalas and gazelles. As we left the Serengeti, we each stood with our heads through the open roof and sang our national anthems (Canadian English/French version of course).

Since the campsite in Ngorongoro was approx. high above sea level, it was incredibly cold and everyone had to put on as much clothes as possible. Many animals were also known to wander into the campsite including dangerous ones such as elephants, buffaloes and hyenas! Instead of calling an early night, we decided to finish our box of wine by the campfire with a tour group traveling from South Africa to Kenya. Their guide, Anthony from S.Africa, had an incredible amount of knowledge about games and history of Africa. He also told us that his favourite place was N. Mozambique to see game and in S.Africa, Zululand. It was at this campfire that we heard a bush pig attack a can pf peaches, used a flashlight to spot buffaloes grazing no more than 5-8m away from us and heard the celebratory laughter of hyenas. We also had to avoid the zebras grazing in the middle of our camp when we tried to get back to our tents from the campfire.

The whole night was a surreal experience. The night sky clearly showed the Milky

A 5-day safari in Tanzania
Written: July 15, 2007

As I'm writing this, I'm watching the red sunset over the yellowed and dry plains of the Serengeti's savannah. It had been a few days since I've written and left Uganda. After arriving in Kilimanjaro in the late afternoon, I took the complementary bus to Arusha. It's remarkable how different the countryside of Tanzania is to that of Uganda. While Uganda was lush and green, Tanzania's is yellow and dry and sometimes mountainous. Arriving in Arusha in the evening was an experience. As I got off the bus, flycatchers, touts and other disreputable types were trying to sell safaris and other things. I then found the hotel booked for me only to leave in disgust at the quote of $85 USD/night.

After walking around for an hour, I found the Centre House Hostel, a place ran by the Arusha Catholic Diocese for $8 USD/day including breakfast (w/ eggs!).

Day 2: I started my search by going to the tourist board office where I found Andrew from Shidolya tours. I went back to his office at the AICC (where UN Rwanda tribunal was taking place I checked it out for a bit) got some info. It was also there that I met the 2 Swedish girls (Ida and Maja) who would go on the same safari with me. After walking around for most of the day comparing packages and prices, we agreed on a 5-day safari that includes Lake Manyara, Serengeti, Ngorongoro and Tarangire with the Kilimanjaro Crown Bird Tours. Taking out money was a big hassle due to the 400 000 TSh limit. I ended the day buying a ticket at the Dar Express office for the morning after getting back to Arusha with the hope of catching the last ferry to Zanzibar.

Day 3: After making sure my planned itinerary changes were okay with my travel agent, Jennifer, I met up with the girls for the safari. I then found out that they had been attacked on Sokoine Rd. at 6:45 p.m. just 15 minutes after I had passed through to buy my Dar Express ticket! They had been jumped by 10 people and during the process, they were yelling and screaming but no one came to help them. The thieves even used weapons to hit the girls and Maja even saw one of them raise a machete against Ida before she kicked him in the back. The girls lost a lot of money, camera, passports and credit cards. They were however fortunate to come away with only scrapes and bruises but the most serious consequence was shock.

There was more bad news for the girls as Maja didn't get the 400G TSh she was supposed to from the ATM prompting me to make the joke, "Even the banks are stealing from you!"

Though the girls were tense from the incident of the previous day, it wasn't long before all of us and Erico (Brazilian lawyer studying Biology) were enjoying the amazing sights in the Lake Manyara National Park. We saw elephants, giraffes, baboons, flamingos, hippos, warthogs, dik-diks and many more.

Today, after an early drive throug the Ngorongoro Conservation area we arrived at the Serengeti where we saw liones, leopard, wartebeasts, gazelles and zebras. Then watched the sunset and we have an early game drive in the famous Serengeti tomorrow morning!