Selous Game Reserve - to and from

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With a short dhow ride with Mohammed and Mohammed across the channel to the airport on the next island, we said good bye to Lamu. We flew to Mombassa on November 25, where we spent two nights to ‘do business’ (i.e. shopping, emails, planning). We chose a bus company recommended in the Lonely Planet guide and booked two seats to Tanga, Tanzania for the following day.

After several loops around the block, we found our bus to Tanga at 6 am; neither bus nor office were marked with the bus company’s name. The sidewalk next to the bus was packed with hoards of people trying to talk to the driver/ticket man so it took a while to get our tickets. With considerable effort, we boarded and found seats on opposite ends of the very full bus. At 7 am, we set off...to pick up a countless huge buckets of margarine, giant sacks of rice, large boxes of detergent and dozens more people with boxes and bags of luggage, all of which was being passed in every direction, filling every empty space on the bus.

By the time we left the city, the aisle was filled waist high with cargo on top of which sat the extra passengers and we each had extra passengers sharing our seats and sitting at our feet. To top it off, it was 35 degrees outside (who knows what temperature it was in the bus) and the road was bumpy and unsealed the entire way. Crazy, but at least the scenery was beautiful; it was very lush with a succession of traditional villages lining the road.

Six hours later, we arrived in Tanga and were greeted by a group of screaming touts offering to help us find accomodation. We’ve learned that the prices increase by an average of 30 percent when you arrive with a tout so we managed to find a taxi and accomodation without their help; a skill we acquired in Kenya.

Our original plan (Plan A) was to spend a day in Tanga, then travel by boat to the island of Pemba for a visit before heading south to the Selous Game Reserve. Our boat tickets were reserved, our accomodations on Pemba were booked and we were set to go the following day. We just had to make a quick trip to the bank to withdraw enough funds for our stay on the island. No problem, except our little oversight of the fact that the only place you can withdraw money in Tanzania is in the capital, Dar es Salaam, seven hours by bus from Tanga.

So we decided to move to Plan B: plead with the managers of all three banks in town and offer them ridiculously high commision rates. Again we had no success. Plan C? Curse, panic, and then begrudgingly rearrange our entire travel plans...after all, travelling is all about being flexible. Luckily we had enough funds to get to Dar es Salaam and bought a ticket for the following morning on the best bus line Tanzania has to offer. We would do our banking in Dar Es Salaam and then coordinate our travels to the Selous Game Reserve.

Dar Es Salaam is a run down colonial city and is marginally cleaner and safer than Nairobi. We arrived in the afternoon, checked into our hotel, drew up a budget for the remaining 3.5 weeks of our stay in Tanzania and made a b-line for the bank. We withdrew a huge stack of cash (one Canadian dollar is equal to five hundred Tanzanian Shillings) and took a taxi back to the hotel. There are no budget accomodations or companies in Selous. However, we luckily found a place that offered a 'backpackers special' (1/2 price) to those who arrived by local bus (which travels 3 times per week). We then took a taxi to the bus station to reserve tickets to Selous to depart the following morning.

The bus station was more of a shanty town than a station. In fact, there was no sign of a bus, an office, or a station when we arrived to book our tickets. Insisting that we were in the correct location, the taxi driver found 'the bus mechanic' among the dozens of people staring at us and in Swahili, he reserved our tickets for 5:30 the following morning. We arranged for the same driver to pick us up at 5 am. With no tickets in hand, we were sceptical to say the least. It didn't help matters that our driver got in a fist fight outside of our hotel minutes after we got out of the car.

Not surprisingly, our taxi driver didn't arrive the next morning. Fortunately, our hotel owner was able to wake up some guy and convince him to drive us to the station. He drove us to a building bearing the company's name; a different location than we had been the day before. After a short dialogue (in Swahili) between the man at the office and our driver, we set off at high speed away from the city. Our driver informed us that the bus had departed at 5:00 (not 5:30) and that we were going to catch it en route. Forty minutes and an expensive taxi ride later, we met up with the bus. Although the bus was overpacked with people standing in the aisles and sharing seats, there were two seats next to one another waiting for us. Go figure.

We thought the last bus ride was crazy; this experience CANNOT be exaggerated. By 8am, and countless stops later, the bus was soo packed with people that those standing couldn't stand upright and were leaning over the seats to hold on to the windows/seats for balance. There were as many people on top of the bus and hanging off the sides as there were inside. Many of the passengers were women travelling with infants and small children as there was a nurse visiting the destination village. The roads were unsealed and muddy and it rained most of the day. Whenever we reached a hill, the standing and roof passengers had to get off, run up the hill and reboard.

We stopped at every village along the way, which was multiple times per hour. At each stop, most of the passengers unloaded for a break and dozens of new passengers waited to board. Then a few minutes later, the process of reloading the bus would begin. This involved a lot of pushing and shoving as the crowd fought to get on the bus all at once. Children were passed in and out of windows and men crawled over the seats to the back of the bus and up laders to the top of the bus. The owner would stand back and watch the chaos until the final person pushed their way on. Being the only white passengers on the bus, we drew alot of attention from the locals; the children would come running to our window screaming "jambo mazungo" (hello white man) while the adults tried to sell us everything imaginable from cell phones, calculators and nail clippers to fruit, nuts and drinks.

Twelve hours and 250 kilometers later, we arrived in Selous. Transportation in East Africa is a matter of getting from A to B; comfortable, efficient and safe travel is not an option for most. We were the only passengers who were phased by this experience, and we had seats. Although we feared for our lives for most of the journey, it was certainly an experience we will never forget and the scenery was beautiful.

Selous is the largest and wildest game reserve in Africa; only 6000 visitors a year. Unlike the Northern Parks, the animals are actually frightened of vehicles. Although you don't see the same number of animals as you do in the northern parks, it is much nicer as it is more natural and undisturbed. The other parks can seem a bit like a zoo, overcrowded with safari trucks and vans.

We spent 3 nights in Selous. The lodge was much more luxurious than we had anticipated; our tent even had it's own bathroom with running water and a western toilet. The tents were set along the banks of the Rufiji River, which housed a massive hippo and croc population. We were instructed not to wander at night! The hippos could be heard calling each other around the clock; it sounded like a big, deep laugh. They stay in family groups along the river and call out from group to group. It was awesome to hear them in the tents at night.

During our stay, we went on a boat safari, where we saw countless hippos and crocodiles close up, and two truck safaris, where we only saw one other truck. Most of the animals ran away from the truck as soon as they spotted us. We saw mostly girraffes, who look very graceful and and at the same time very awkward when they run; they look like they are in slow motion. We also came upon a hippo sleeping next to the road who, upon waking, took off at full speed through the bush. It is amazing how fast they can move with their stalky bodies and short stubby legs. He just plowed through everything in sight. The crazy bus drive was definately worth it!

For obvious reasons, we decided to fly back to Dar Es Salaam and make that bus ride was a once in a lifetime experience. That would be it for our Safari experiences. Next destination: Pemba Island.

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Photos

The Welcoming Committee
The local children coming out to get a look at us as we arrived in Selous.

Ready for the hunt
Well, just with the camera of course.

Don't get too close
We got an appreciation of the true size of the hippos during our boat safari. Absolutely enormous!

Morning fright
Tracey had some unwelcome guests in the shower each morning. Much to Jay's enjoyment.

Cranium Collection
The camp has accumulated an impressive skull collection.

Sleepy Giants
Aside from the hippos, these guys rule the river.

Caught by surprise
Selous had the largest population of giraffes that we had seen. It was hard to get close to them as they were so wild. I guess mama didn't want to leave the baby alone.

The Luxury Pad
The inside of the safari tent. Quite a step up from the previous safari accomodations.

Tough Customer
The Hyenas in Selous are a seperate gene pool. They dwarf their northern cousins. This guy probably stood about 2.5 feet at the shoulders. Not to be messed with!

The Bus Stop?!
Most city bus stops are equipped with shotgun armed guards! Luckily, we didn't find out why.