Safari over, waiting it out in Mosh-town

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Got back from safari yesterday. I didn't know what the itinerary was, so I just went with the flow. The other guys set this up. I forgot to mention in my last post that I joined up with a team consisting of a few co-workers of mine from my Motorola days who happened to doing the exact same itinerary that I had planned and at pretty much the same time. I got wind of this a week before I left and only had to arrive one day earlier to join their team. Pretty amazing. It was good to have the company.

Our safari hit most of the main spots close to Arusha/Moshi - Tarengeri National Park, Ngorongoro Crater, and Lake Manyara National Park. My friend had warned me that three days of safari is enough, here we had planned four, and my friend was right. Even if its elephants, lions, zebras, and hippos a few dozen feet from your car, you grow weary of riding around in a car all day long day after day.

Tarengeri National Park was day one, and it was awesome. Humungous park - we saw only a sliver of it, but we saw everything we wanted to see - elephants crossing the path 20 feet in front of us, a leopard in a tree with its kill (a gazelle) hanging from the branches, hundreds of wildebeasts, and a gazillion zebras. Ngorongoro Crater was just as cool. Same wildlife, with lions, jackals, hyenas, ostriches added to the list. Saw an old, beat-up lioness trying to return to her pride and the male lion kicking her back out and going back to his harem of younger lionesses. Lake Manyara was more of the same, but with more birds, which would be cool if that was your thing. And there were so many baboons, they were like squirrels. I didn't get to see too much more of Lake Manyara because I took two Dramamine pills in the morning. Those things are like tranquilizers - I was *out* most of that day. So, safari recommendations - do three days, unless you can make it out to the Serengeti, which is a much longer drive than we had time for. Our guide said July in the Serengeti is the when and where to do a safari. Oh yeah, binoculars and a telephoto lens for your cameras are an absolute must. Two guys on the team had telephoto lenses as long as my arm, so I left the wildlife photos to them.

We also did a cultural tour of the village next to Lake Manyara, which we all thought was cool and a nice break from the car. Obviously, the tour involves stops at artists' shops where we were encouraged to support the locals. As westerners, we all obviously stick out here and at every stop locals seem to appear out of nowhere to sell us stuff. Different country, same story. I swear there's one factor in each country that endlessly churns out the same crap. Here, its carvings, bracelets and paintings. We even had Maasai tribesmen (who I had thought looked very proud with their tall, slender frames, red togas and scabbards, and whom we were told wanted to preserve their way of living), join the fray. At the entrance to the Ngorongoro crater, these guys were pawning off bracelets, necklaces, and one of them even tried to sell me his spear! I said, jokingly, it wouldn't fit in my luggage, and he said "No problem" (their English was some of the best we had heard here) and showed how it easily came apart into three peaces and said, "Easy storage for your ride home." My whole image of them was shattered.

In short, the full meal deal for doing Tanzaia would be - Mt. Meru, Mt. Kilimanjaro, Safari, then a long weekend in Zanzibar. I had tried to do Zanzibar, but the flights didn't work out.

I saw the guys off at the airport yesterday and now I've got three days to kill in Moshi until my plane leaves on Monday. Tried to move my flight up, but not possible for a variety of reasons. So, I rented a bike from the hotel (imagine a 6'3" 230 lb. man riding a bike sized for a 5th grader) and decided to explore Moshi. Found a few Grishman books in a Christian book shop, some cheap internet (where I am now) and going to head to the local Porter Support Project to see how our team can send some of our old outdoor gear here to support the local porters.

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Comments

[Shiva]

Wow!
Congradulations on passing your final test!!!! Wow, it sounds like you are having a blast and seeing so much! I can not wait to see pictures!