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Published: August 6th 2008
We finally made it to the heart of Africa. The Africa that gave us a song by Toto, one of Angelina Jolie's children, and most of Paul Simon's music since the early eighties. And the "Lion King".
Flying out of Cairo to Tanzania was another marathon session. We connected in Nairobi, Kenya and made it to Moshi, Tanzania (in the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro) in the early afternoon. We did see Kilimanjaro from our plane as we descended, and I wish we'd taken a picture because it was the only time we'd see it. As close as we were to it while staying in Moshi, Kilimanjaro is usually surrounded by clouds and is rarely visible.
We stayed at the Springlands Hotel which is owned by Zara Tours, the operators of our safari as well as various Kilimanjaro treks. We really liked our new home for the next two days. A small room with private bath with a little fountain right outside. We spent a little time by the pool on our second day, and basically unwinded from the excitement and craziness of North Africa. We spent our nights sipping some of the local beers with such inspired names
as "Kilimanjaro", "Safari", "Tusker", and "Serengeti". We had the pleasure of meeting several friends from around the world over beers, most of them doing some mountain trekking, then a few days safari, followed by time on the beachy island of Zanzibar. We wussed and skipped on the trek, but would be doing the rest. We made some nice friends in Gerhard and Claudia, a couple from south of Vienna, Austria. They climbed Mount Meru nearby over four days of trekking and told us it was really wet and cold ... but fun. We had a great time talking about life in our countries and sharing some laughs. We celebrated Cosmina's birthday in style. I'd ordered a flower basket ahead of time to be delivered to our room, but she got a fruit basket instead. Oh well, hopefully the safari would make up for it.
On the morning of July 29 we got up early and met our driver/ guide, Fabian, who helped us load our things into the Toyota Land Cruiser that would be our home for the next four days. Fabian is a nice, laid-back guy, likes to listen to Bob Marley music (which we really got to
Blue Monkey
At the Lake Manyara visitor centerlike over the course of the safari), and taught us quite a bit about the wildlife as well as Tanzania in general. Another added bonus, was that we would be the only ones in our vehicle, aside from Fabian. Unlike other budget safari companies that may have six to eight clients per vehicle, we lucked out (and didn't have to pay the premium for it) by being the only two. No having to stop when the other people have to go to the bathroom or leaving when they get bored of something ... we see what we want and go or stay whenever we like. Fantastic!
After four hours of driving, we reached our first park, Lake Manyara. This was to be the smallest of the three parks we'd visit, but it was packed with animals. It is a groundwater forest (as opposed to a rainforest) and was poised at the bottom of a large enscarpment that marks part of the "Great Rift". As soon as we entered the park and pulled into the visitor's center, while Fabian took care of our park admission in the office, we had our first animal encounter with two Blue Monkeys that we
saw while strolling the short wooded visitor's center path. Luckily they were friendly and not very camera shy. As we made our way through the park over the next three hours, we saw baboons, zebras, hippos, elephants, giraffes, impalas, and dik dik (a very small deer-like animal). After seeing several dik-diks in a row, Fabian exclaimed, "This must be dik-dik day!". At one point we actually got out of the vehicle at a picnic site to see the flocks (and I mean in the thousands) of flamingos wading in Lake Manyara turning it a vivid pink color on the horizon. We looked to our left and saw some elephants about a half mile away. To our right: three giraffes (one baby) about a quarter mile away. Dad Nolan would love this! Too bad he couldn't be with us to experience this. We also were thrown when we stopped to view a small group of elephants (with baby) and they passed within a few feet of our vehicle.
Finally we finished for the day and drove to our hotel, the Highview Lodge. It's a beautiful hotel perched at the top of an overlook. Nice and clean after our dusty safari
-- the staff provided hot towels to wipe our hands and faces (wow). Then some Maasai tribesman (the prevalent tribe seen in Tanzania and Kenya known for their seminomadic settlement and cattle herding) took our bags to our room. Tall, dark and lean, they look very noble and wise, but the Maasai, as we would later find out, are pretty shrewd scamsters. Dinner, like many of the dinners we had in Tanzania, consisted of a lot of curry-style food: beef, chicken and vegetables. All washed down with a cold Safari Lager. We were entertained by a group of African drummers, dancers and acrobats.
The next morning, we met Fabian in the lobby after breakfast and headed toward the Serengeti Park. We got to the border of the Ngorogoro Conservation Area which encompasses part of the Serengeti as well as Ngorogoro Crater itself. This border also marked the end of the nice, smooth asphalt roads we'd been driving on. After this all the roads would be either bumpy, muddy, sandy or curvy (or a combination of the four).
We drove up and down the outer rim of the Ngorogoro crater for an hour or so on our way to
Serengeti. The top of this was very foggy which made for a very atmospheric drive, and when the mist broke we had this amazing view of the valley below. The blue sky and beige grasses (this is the dry season now), blended together so you couldn't differentiate where the savannah ends and the sky begins. We continued on to Oldupai Gorge (also known as Olduvai) which is where experts believe to be the origins of man, as the oldest human remains and bipedal hominid footprints had been unearthed (dating back 3.6 million years). There was an interesting little museum and the view of the gorge was spectacular. After leaving in the Land Cruiser, we were off-roading through the sand (supposedly better than the road, according to Fabian, which was too rocky), and we got stuck. Really stuck. Fabian tried throwing it in reverse and the drive, but the tires only went deeper. We found out later that the 4-wheel drive had crapped out. Fabian left the vehicle to check the situation and put a call in to headquarters. We were in the back seat and suddenly noticed Maasai tribespeople materializing from seemingly thin air all around us. Twelve to fifteen
Elephants
Baby on the loose of them surrounded the car and started talking with Fabian. We have to admit being a little nervous. I mean, we assumed this tribe is friendly, but who knows? We assumed after ten minutes, that they were there to help or watch in amusement (we couldn't tell). We got out to try to help Fabian, as did a couple vehicles passing by. For about two hours, they tried everything. Pushing the car with another vehicle. Jacking up the rear tire and putting rocks under the tire. Nothing worked. At one point there were at least 25 people (half of them Maasai) standing around the vehicle trying to figure it out. The cable winch on the front of our vehicle was apparently not working. Running out of ideas, we joined another vehicle from our company to take us to Serengeti Park, and our driver would meet us there after the company sent backup.
After an hour or so on the long, straight, incredibly bumpy road to Serengeti, we made it, and after 15 minutes, Fabian arrived with our car. Apparently backup came, they got the cable unwound from our winch and were able to pull him out. Then he must
Baobob Tree
The widest tree in the world! have flown down that bumpy road to get to us. He really came through in a tough situation, and we appreciated it. We ended up having plenty or time for over three hour afternoon game drive in the Serengeti (right on schedule, really). First thing we saw (aside from the usual ostriches and gazelles you usually see entering the park) were two lionesses in the middle of the road and three lion cubs. We didn't have to look for them ... they were just there. And the cubs were nursing. Cosmina all but jumped out of the car. We got close enough to touch them ( but didn't). It was truly an incredible experience. We continued after and saw hyenas, hippos, elephants, antelope and some more lions. After an intense day, we were glad to arrive at the Serengeti Wild Camp (our home for the night) right at sundown. After another hot towel (which turned from white to brown after we used it), we were shown to our very hooked-up tent. We had a small porch area with chairs and wash basin, two beds, a non-flush toilet, and a shower -- with hot water brought to us by the camp
staff. Cosmina immediately took a shower (and used up almost all the hot water, by the way) while I took some pictures of the outside. We had a nice dinner at the dining tent followed by a campfire with some fellow safari-goers, including a young Canadian woman who lives in NYC and two brothers, Miguel and Nacho, from Spain. Nice people, all the way around. We hung out with the friendly camp staff and shot the breeze a little before bed.
The next morning, we had breakfast and met up with Fabian for our morning Serengeti game drive. The Serengeti is a wide open savannah with those horizontal-strata acacia trees sprinkled throughout. The scenery was stunning, even without the animals. But we still saw lions, hippos, cape buffalo, cervil (a small bobcat-like animal), giraffes, elephants, and others. Fabian tried really hard to get us to see a leopard. We've heard from other people that they are very difficult to find. The closest we got was to see was a gazelle carcass that a leopard had dragged into a tree. But no leopard. It didn't matter to us. We had a wonderful time. The afternoon was spent driving back to
Just one of the Maasai
Their blankets are quite warm our hotel from the first night (a few hours long), but along the way Fabian was able to get us very close to some cheetahs and (Cosmina was happy to see) a baby cheetah. That night was spent in the Highview Hotel again, and we slept very soundly.
Cosmina is happy to report for all the baby animal lovers out there that the final baby animal count was eight and they included: lion cubs, baby buffalos, hyenas, elephants, hippos, monkeys, cheetahs and last but not least giraffes. Cosmina's biggest wish was to see lion cubs and that was pretty much fulfilled early on. She's currently filing a report with Baby Headquarters to keep them abreast of the current situation. Thank you for your support!
We spent the final morning at Ngorogoro crater. It is a huge area with lakes and chock full of wildlife. The biggest difference from the other two parks (aside from the stunning backdrop of the lush crater rim) was the incredible amount of wildebeests and zebras that roam here. These two species seem to like to stick together, perhaps its safety in numbers since they are the lion's favorite prey. We saw more of
Cosmina's Bachelorette Party
Entertainment at Highview Hotel all the species we'd see at the other parks, otherwise, except for a male lion. The males prefer to hang out in the crater, whereas most of the Serengeti hold lionesses. One of those interesting tidbits we learned. The male looked pretty exhausted, hanging out in the field on his back with his paws in the air. Another very scenic and memorable day. We exited the crater, another spectacular drive of twists and turns leading from the dry brown grasslands to the lush rainforest on top.
And the drops on the edge to our left were very steep. Once we got over the ridge of the crater and started the descent, the clay road started to get muddy from earlier rains. The Land Cruiser slid a little bit, as did some of the other vehicles we saw, making for some teeth-gritting turns. It was exciting and nerve-wracking, but Fabian saw us safely to the bottom. All in a day's work.
The rest of the aternoon was spent driving back to our base in Moshi. We said our goodbyes to Fabian for a very memorable safari. We checked back into the Springlans Hotel, had the dinner buffet (just $8 apiece!),
and met up with Claudia and Gerhard for beers, as they too had just returned from their trip (to the top of Mount Meru). We swapped stories and called it a night.
The next morning, we took off for Zanzibar, Tanzania. We arrived there about 1 pm and had an airport taxi transfer waiting for us. We've come to really appreciate having someone pick us up from the airport, thus alleviating the stress of figuring our way around. A nice gentleman picked us and he informed us that he was taking us to another shared shuttle van to our hotel. We booked the hotel in Zanzibar and this transfer with our safari tour company ahead of time and we expected to be sharing a shuttle van (at US$15 per person)with other tourists. It was saving a quite a bit of money and we were happy. So the first driver dropped us off at a rendez vous point at our shared minivan and out of nowhere demanded $US 150. We were sure we were misunderstanding the currency or maybe the language barrier was playing a trick on us. Then we slowly started to understand that he wanted us to pay
Between Serengeti and Ngorogoro
The sky and land blend together... the picture can't do it justice for all three nights at the hotel plus the ride. And he wanted cash payment... right there on the street. We were floored and of course refused, requesting receipts and expressing our unsureness at the amount of nights we were going to stay at that hotel. Eventually another guy intervened and we ended up just paying for our taxi ride. That experience left a really bad taste in our mouth, but luckily we had the hardening experiences of North Africa as training. In the shared cab to our supposed hotel, we befriended a couple from Slovenia who was "shopping for a hotel". That's right, they had no reservations and the shared cab was making stops along the hotels along the beach on the east coast of the island. Since we're a bright bunch, we caught on quickly, and in no time were shopping around too. After looking at six hotels, we ignored our reservation at Shehe Bungalows (which was a little scuzzy looking) and took up residence at Red Monkey Hotel - highly recommended by Lonely Planet. For US$45 we had a private bungalow with shower, breakfast and lunch. Did we mention it was only 25 feet from the Indian
Ocean? The interesting thing about Jambiani is that it's quite private and less touristy, probably due to a widely varying tide. At high tide, the water basically covers the beach but at low tide it's about 2/3 of a mile away and can barely be seen from shore. We thought it was awesome since we could walk back and forth on what , only hours before, had been the ocean floor and then when we got tired, all we had to do was wait for the water to come back so we can hear it crashing against our bungalow. The water regardless of the position was a most clear, aquablue and clean -- right out of a magazine cover. The sand was like talcum powder -- beautifully white and incredibly soft. We took out snorkelling gear and found some amazing sea creatures including sea horses, star fish and sea urchins. At low tide, we could see local women tending "seaweed gardens" which they cultivate and harvest to sell to companies making chinese medicines.
We had no intentions of sightseeing in Zanzibar and spent two and a half days luxuriating on beach chairs reading, swimming and watching the water. "Pole-pole"
Oldupai Gorge
The cradle of civilization means "slowly-slowly" in Kiswahili and this word really describes the entire Tanzanian lifestyle and the laid-back island vibe in Zanzibar. We quickly adapted and after all it was "Hakuna Matata" ("No worries"). People actually use this expression, best known from the movie "The Lion King". The staff at the hotel were super-friendly, always making sure that we're doing well, and even packed us a to-go breakfast on our last day at 6:30 in the morning.
After a very smooth day of flying yesterday (all three flights were on time), we arrived in Cape Town, South Africa. We had the fortune of having Dr. John Bartlett, a business colleague of my cousin Bob Marino, help us find accomodation. John lives in Johannesburg, South Africa, and Bob put us in touch with him via e-mail before the trip. We gave him a call between flights, and he made some calls to find us a great hotel. By the time we arrived in Cape Town, he had a reservation for us at the apartments of the Daddy Long Legs Boutique Hotel. AND he got us a 20% discount! We have an amazing one bedroom apartment overlooking a big nightlife section (Long Street)
Stuck in the Sand
Fabian and the Maasai figuring this out. It seemed like they were helpful, but Fabian told us later that they were asking for money before they would help us. So much for noble. of Cape Town with (and this is the clincher for us) its own laundry machine. It has a kitchen, utensils, pots and pans, TV, balcony overlooking Long Street. All for only about US$75 per night. Thanks John, you really came through for us!
Cosmina is a little under the weather with a cold since last night, so we have been relaxing today, doing laundry (not handwashing in a hotel sink for once), and shopping at the local supermarket ... and catching up on the blog. Hope everybody is doing well, and we'll be updating in a few days.
There is more than one page of pictures this time, so make sure to scroll through the other two pages.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM NOLAN -- Aug 7!
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Leslee
non-member comment
thanks for the detail!
I've just printed the blog and will read it tonight. You guys are amazing--keep it up!! BTW, Cosi, I did get the job for the commercial and I filmed it two weeks ago. Not half as interesting as y'alls journeys but fun nonetheless. Hugs to both of you--Leslee