Blogs from Tanzania, Africa - page 10

Abfahrt von Nairobi bei 14 ° - wahrscheinlich hatˋs in Gauting mehr gehabt. Und als ich u 8.30 endlich auf der Straße war, schlief diese Stadt noch immer. Also nicht direkt Tiefschlaf, aber doch Schlaf. Die Fahrerei war dementsprechend angenehm und ich kam ohne größere Angriffe auf Pauls oder mein Leben davon. Ein paar Marabus glotzten mich an, dann war ich aus der Stadt draußen und es wurde sehr ruhig. Die Straße zur Grenze ist neu ausgebaut aber wenig befahren. Es geht durch Maasai Gebiet, große Kuh Herden ziehen dahin und wirbeln hohe Staubfahnen auf. An einem Brunnen warteten mehrere Herden geduldig, bis sie dran kamen - so gesittet wie Engländer an der Bushaltestelle. Die Maasai Männer haben alle einen Stock dabei, schon die kleinen Jungs. Die Frauen hier waren mit Halsreifen und Ohrringen aus bunten ... read more

So lucky to be staying on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater, a large volcanic caldera. The crater, which formed when a large volcano exploded and collapsed on itself two to three million years ago, is 610 metres deep and its floor covers 260 square kilometres. Estimates of the height of the original volcano range from 4,500 to 5,800 metres high. We set out with our guide Suleiman at 6am for a seven hour game drive, we were lucky to see a number of lion prides. Early morning we were able to watch the lions eating and roaming the park, by midday they were all sleeping, a couple just on the side of the road. The crater is home to numerous zebra, elephants and wilderbeast among the thousands of other animals. After two nights at the ... read more

After our first full night's sleep in Tanzania, we were rudely awoken by some roosters crowing in a coop right below the hostel building. Even with this interrupted sleep, the ensuing frigid bucket shower was good enough to jolt us awake. This day was set aside for "orientation," and no actual classwork was to be done - instead, the entire morning was spent setting up our classroom router and personal modems for internet, a valuable commodity. With an otherwise uneventful morning, we played card games until a lunch trip to Neema Crafts and Restaurant, the expatriate hangout in town. This unique establishment has won worldwide recognition for employing only disabled people. The menu wasn't exactly authentic Tanzanian, but the burger I had was very good, and the habanero and pili pili sauces added an East African ... read more

"Karibu!", greeted the Emirates flight attendants as we got off the long, but comfortable 18-hour plane ride. The Swahili word, meaning "Welcome", was emblazened on the roof of the Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam, and it concisely captures the warmth and hospitality we repeatedly came to expect of the Tanzanian people. The sterile airport entrance, coated with Western-style excessive security, begat a disorderly stampede reminiscent of an Indian temple or train station at the visa office. This was the location of the first snafu of the trip - we had been told adamantly by our program directors to ask for an ORDINARY visa, yet the officers insisted we obtain a STUDENT visa, which was $50 less expensive. After ~10 minutes of pleading our case to a guard who spoke little English, another kindly ... read more

Once again, we were treated to a quite different terrain from that of the previous safari parks. The Serengeti National Park (pronounced See-ren-geti, so we were told) is huge and while the western region comprises savannah, sprinkled with umbrella-throned acacia over a black clay soil, and the northern region is covered in open woodlands, the majority of the park is dead flat and almost treeless and seems to extend for ever. This gives rise to the name Serengeti, which is Maasai for ‘endless plains’. Before reaching Serengeti, we had an overnighter and a brief visit to Lake Manyara National Park. This is quite a small park, of which about two-thirds is covered by the lake, although this is ... read more