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Africa » Tanzania » Centre » Selous Game Reserve
November 8th 2007
Published: November 13th 2007
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Where the sidewalk ends.Where the sidewalk ends.Where the sidewalk ends.

Where the highway pavement ends...
I have just (2 weeks ago) returned from my first real vacation in Africa, and what a great vacation it was. While the school-sponsored safari and trips around Dar were nice, nothing really compares to getting out and exploring a country for yourself. The set-up... most of my friends here were scattering around on various trips, either to the States for weddings, Zambia for elementary education conferences, or Zanzibar to learn how to SCUBA. As none of these applied to me, I floundered around a bit not really wanting my first Africa vacation to be solo, until kindly my friend Emma agreed to forgo a jaunt to Bangkok and take a random trip. We rented a car and drove, first south to Kilwa and then up to Selous, and back. Now, on my first inspection of the car, I noticed something a bit unsettling, a third pedal... again. For those of you familiar with my adventures in Phuket, or rather my misadventures in Phuket, I was a bit nervous about trying the whole manual transmission situation again. But on the dusty bumpy roads of Africa I'm quite proud to say I did fine!
On Saturday we headed out early in the morning as Kilwa is 300 km away, which theoretically should be a 3 hour drive, but is apparently a 6 hour drive. Why is that? Because with 60 km left, the road for all intensive purposes ends. Abruptly. The main artery south turns into a dusty, one-lanish, pot-holed monstrosity... it was great! Those 60km took approximately 3 hours in and of themselves as we bumped, coughed, and cheered when we briefly exceeded 30 km/hr. I love driving through a country to really see the small villages and the people there. Once outside of Dar I could definitely feel a greater affinity for Tanzania. In Dar I always feel a little wary of people's intentions, but on the countryside all I saw were genuine smiles (and some bizarre small child behavior I'll get to later). There were a few frustrations on the way, for instance our spare fuel can on the roof would not stay upright, and leaked! I tried to tie it on 3-4 times but ended up cursing at it and covering my hands in gasoline. Still, no real harm done, it just made the car (and I) smell horrible. We arrived in Kilwa at a nice beach side "resort". A resort in Africa is muuuuch different than a resort in Asia. The small bandas were quaint and comfortable, but nowhere close to the luxuriousness of Phuket or Bali or even Vietnam. Still, more than adequate for my purposes.
Our first night in Kilwa happened to coincide with Eid. If you are as ignorant of Muslim culture as I am, then you'll need an explanation of Eid. For the month of Ramadan, based around the new moon, Muslims are not allowed to eat or drink during the day (causing quite a bit of concern at times at school when during sports when they cannot drink water, even amid the extreme heat of the day). Eid is the celebration of the end of Ramadan. Here in Tanzania, Eid is not a set date but rather the new moon actually has to be "spotted" by an official. If it happens to be a very cloudy night, the official might not be able to see the moon, so Eid cannot take place. So the actual day of the holiday is not known until the day before! Around 4 p.m. on our first day in Kilwa the beach just started to grow more
Kilwa RuinsKilwa RuinsKilwa Ruins

Ancient ruins of a Muslim merchant dynasty and fort, built on the ruins of an even older Portuguese fort.
and more crowded and families in their best clothes came our and wandered around, celebrating their newly regained ability to eat during daylight. Sitting beachside at our resort we watched the festivities and talked with some random people. One of which was "Mr. Zagalo", a hilarious and drunk (and Muslim... drunk on the holiest day of the year) character from Kilwa. With our limited Swahili and his limited English we had a bizarre exchange where we learned he has "boati kubwa, no small boati" which as you can guess means he has a big boat, all the while drinking copious amounts of beer he kept buying.
For the rest of our time in Kilwa we mostly relaxed on the beach, diverting to kayak around the bay, swim, or wander the beach. That is, except for the morning trip to the most famous part of Kilwa, the Unesco World Heritage Site. Across the bay lies an island with ancient Muslim trader ruins, supposedly the oldest city in East African history. The expansive complex housed numerous ancient mosques, what would have been a large palace, and a small fort. Each of the buildings was built with coral stone, giving the walls a bizarre and interesting texture.
After several days relaxing in Kilwa we hopped back into the car and drove back over the 60km bumpy highway and then turned left, onto an almost bumpier side-road. On the map this side road looked about 40km, but turned out to be 80km! Little village after little village passed us as Emma became slightly anxious that we had made a wrong turn somewhere. Considering that there were no turns to be made, just a meandering windy, dusty, bumpy road, I wasn't too considered. Every village we passed through we were stared at, waved at, smiled at, or, most bizarrely, little children ran out yelling "Money, give me money." How would a small child in the middle of nowhere Tanzania learn this particular English phrase? The first time it was odd, the second time a little sad, but by the 50th time I was a bit annoyed with whatever social mechanism drove this pathetic phrase to infest the country. Alas, a long day of traversing the rural roads of Tanzania arrived us in Mbega Camp a little later than planned, but still with some daylight left. The camp is just outside (500m) the park entrance and
VulturesVulturesVultures

Vultures feeding on a buffalo.
therefore gets a few animals wandering through. Mbega is Swahili for a Colobus Monkey, and there were plenty around. The camp consisted of raised permanent tents with attached bathrooms. Not the Ritz, but pretty swanky for the middle-of-nowhere Africa. Emma and I planned four safaris for our two days there, two in the morning, two in the evening. Our first safari was a driving safari, but we chose to ride in their cars rather than drive ourselves because the camp's cars were just cool! Completely open and a little tiered, they gave great views and were more or less completely open (I realize that this is arguably both good and bad, but we'll get to that in a second). The landscape of Selous is amazing. The grand Rufiji river runs through it with hippos galore relaxing in its waters, several lakes dot the forested vistas, providing what I think is a classic Africa picture. On our first drive, giraffes, hippos, zebra, impala, and a lone elephant crossed our path, but the most interesting sighting was a large group of vultures feeding on a long-dead buffalo. The vultures were simultaneously disgusting and fascinating.
Our second safari was a boat safari along
Emma and Hole Emma and Hole Emma and Hole

Emma in our safari car with Hol our guide standing in front.
the Rufiji river. While we signed up for it I had visions of cruising along the river sighting giraffes and lions drinking on the shore, but alas the boat safari turned out to be a bird-watching adventure with a slight hippo edge. We cruised away from the park for most of the trip, sighting beautiful but altogether mildly exciting birds as German tourists with cameras the size of elephants snapped away happily. I was not unhappy with the boat safari, but it just wasn't at all what I expected. That night at dinner we were placed next to a friendly French couple, Jean and Simone, who we had met the previous night. We were a bit put off to hear that while our safari had been nice, they had stumbled upon five lions. I was a bit jealous as I had yet to see one!
Third safari... and you may think us a little crazy... was a walking safari. Yes, walking. We got dropped off with Hol our guide, and a little elderly man with a rifle that was questionably older than he, and possibly had no bullets. We strolled through the edge of the park for about 2km and
Dinner anyone?Dinner anyone?Dinner anyone?

A lioness feeding on a buffalo.
then found our way back to Mbega camp. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your sense of adventure, the only animal we saw on the walk were impala. Apparently they have seen lions before on this stroll, and giraffes and elephants are not uncommon. But it was fascinating seeing the landscape slower and from this new perspective. Hol was pointing out all the different types of trees, and giving us a basic tracking lesson around hoofprints, dung, and territories. Cool stuff.
Our final safari was another driving since we had enjoyed their vehicles so much. Again we spotted endless giraffes and impala, but on conversations with other drivers Hol quickly diverted our planned route to get a bit deeper into the park. As we rounded a curve we could see a female lion laying on her back panting, stomach jutting out. My first lion! And then another lion. And another. As we circled around the scene, trying to get the best view, we counted four female lions passed out around a very recently killed large buffalo. As we watched, one lioness wandered over to the carcass and started tearing at the legs, then sticking her face into a large hole in
Lion!Lion!Lion!

A very full lioness relaxing.
the buffalo's neck. Again, amazing and disgusting! We watched for quite a while, angling with other cars for the best spot. Keep in mind that we are in the vehicle with no walls or windows, simply open to four lionesses who thankfully are not hungry at all! A great sighting for our last safari and our last day of vacation. It also helped that we beat Jean and Simone there as they showed up shortly before we left. Who knew safari was such a competitive sport?
The following day we packed up and headed back to Dar, over the bumpy dusty roads. But by the time we got back into the mostly paved, trafficky, hot, roads of home, I was longing to be driving over those empty, bumpy roads again.


Additional photos below
Photos: 13, Displayed: 13


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TwigaTwiga
Twiga

Hello Twiga.
MbegaMbega
Mbega

Colobus Monkey = Mbega
Boat safariBoat safari
Boat safari

A bird on the boat safari.
Boat safari IIBoat safari II
Boat safari II

The view on the boat safari.


13th November 2007

asdf
I am jealous. And are those pics from a new digital camera? Cuz... they're pretty sweet pics.
13th November 2007

That twiga looks just like me... i'm glad that you so aptly named me. :-)
14th November 2007

Not a dull moment
Hey! It looks like your adventures are treating you well. I am so jealous and can't wait for you to take me on a safari when I visit ya. Miss ya. XOXO, Laura

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