Tanzania..... The Fat Duck of Africa

We are ending up our trip now and 6 months has flown by. In a way we have been a little disappointed to finish in Tanzania but in another way it has been good as we are redy to head home now. OK this is just one couples experience in Tanzania so I would say it isn't the gospel on travel in Tanzania, especially as travel is so dependent on the luck of the draw of what people you meet along the way. Disclaimer over and down with, lets tell the tale.

So there is this restaurant in London called The Fat Duck. It supposed to be the quintessential experience in gourmet dining. The problem is that everyone I have ever talked to says it is all hype and that while there's some interesting dishes that come out at the end of the day you get overcharged for a fairly average experience ......this is what we found Tanzania to be.

Tanzania has Kilamanjaro, the Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti, which is what you see day in, day out on your favourite Discovery Channel programmes and hence is supposed to be the quintessential Africa (so somene told us). Also you always get told how welcoming people are in Africa (and everywhere else we have been this is true, especially Botswana). In Tanzania everyone greets you with the greeting Jambo, which is suppsoed to be a short version of 'hello, how are you doing', but we have a sneaking suspicion that it actually means 'hello tourist give me your money and I will give you a fairly average travel experience for a very expensive price'. The problem is that you get that every 2 seconds of the day. The other problem is if we did agree a price on something on several occassions we got asked for further money or another tip later on. It just got really annoying and worse than anywhere we have been in the rest of our travels.

In saying that the countryside is beautiful and that is why it makes the Discovery Channel time and time again and we did find a great little hotel in Moshi called the Haria Hotel where everyone was extremely helpful, it was our little oasis amongst the hassle of northern Tanzania. The big saving grace for us is that Tanzania also has Zanzibar within it (well actually off the coast) and these beautiful islands and beautiful people has made a lovely end to our trip. They say Jambo as a greeting and are very laid back and actually want to talk about 'stuff' with you.

We recommend Zanzibar to anyone, the mainland of Tanzania we could take or leave, good if you want to spend lots of money and get hassled a lot to spend money.

Back home in a few days now. See you all then. 6 months has flown by and we can't wait to see you all and bore you with photos.

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