Booking Safari

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We left Dar on an early bus to Arusha where we planned to go on Safari. It was a full day on the bus with a short stop for lunch. When we got there I planned to walk around and check out a few places for accommodation. We had heard that things were a bit of a scramble in Arusha until after you purchased a safari since all the touts would be after you big time for the big dollars. We did have a little scuffle at the station, but Rasta Carlos was on hand to lead us to a nice guesthouse away from the touts. Kristen did cause quite a stir when she ripped up the price list of one of the touts in an effort to show him she really wasn't interested in reading it or having him in her face.
Carlos took us to a nice place, very reasonably priced and we met an Austrian couple there who had purchased a safari and were waiting for some more people to join them - maybe us. After chatting for them for a while we realized that it was probably a good deal for us as they had done all the bargaining and we could just hop on with the same deal as them. We checked in and went to check out another safari company with Carlos - this company was recommended by Ali Baba in Dar es Salaam - a very funny gentlemen we met the night before at our restaurant who made lots of good recommendations. His laugh was absolutely mad - a great character and one that really makes traveling fun. His 40 thieves were not in evidence, and not mentioned which was a good thing.
The second safari company basically offered us the same trip the Austrians had described, but for a higher price. They didn't try to sell it much at all - maybe they knew we would be going with the others. Carlos had won our business with his calm selling approach and helpful manner at the bus station - a good lesson for the other touts who were almost unanimously using the hassle-most marketing technique.
We sorted out the safari back at our hotel with the tour company - viewed the Land Rover and discussed the itinerary. We decided to travel on from the Serengeti National Park to Mwanza where they told us we could get a hydrofoil to Kampala - across Lake Victoria to the capital of Uganda. Since we missed out on the boat across Lake Malawi it seemed a nice plan to travel across the largest lake in Africa. It also meant we didn't have to take the long drive back to Arusha on the final day, and get a transit visa for Kenya to travel round to Kampala that way. In addition to the two Austrians there was a Kiwi in the safari group also, and she was traveling to Mwanza also on her way to a friends wedding in smallsville Tanzania.

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