Blogs from North, Tanzania, Africa - page 7

Before arriving in Tanzania, I completed an involved personality test. There were 28 characteristics that, after escaping from a vortex of multiple choice, were ranked in order from “most prevalent” to “least prevalent.” Among my top 5 were traits in leadership, discipline, vigilance, curiosity, zest and a category that struck me as interesting: fairness and equity. I was classified, among other things, as a “make-righter.” In other words, I want things to be equally divided and put into reciprocating boxes to make sure everyone gets what’s theirs. Knowing that debts are left unpaid, gifts have gone ungiven, or “I love yous” have not been returned leaves me with ethical anxiety. We don’t steal, we don’t lie, we don’t cheat, and we sure as sh*t pay each other back for the fifty cents I found in your ... read more

This blog entry covers our days in both the Serengeti National Park and the Ngorongoro Crater conservation area. We have 2 full days in the Serengeti and a morning game drive in Ngorongoro. It’s unfair to try to compare the two different parks as both are excellent and quite different from each other, so really it's the combination of the 3 areas (these 2 plus Tarangire) that makes a very good short safari. As with any wildlife activity there is a huge amount of luck as to what you actually see on any given day, but a good guide certainly helps and Pablo our guide and driver is a wise old bird who knows the country well and seems to be able to find almost anything on demand. The Serengeti is a huge area of grassland ... read more

The Tengeru Cultural Tourism Programme is an organisation for tourists to experience local communities of the locals and culture of the Meru people of Tanzania, this is where we spent most of today. 65% of their profit goes into local schools, orphanages, women's projects and tree planting projects, so it is all good. Glyn found this place when researching coffee tours, as it also does this plus a village tour. The guys at Hekima House had no idea where it was situated, but sorted us out a lift there and as always, it was down a very long and bumpy dirt track including such a steep part that I didn't think the car could make it back up! The building itself was home to Mama Gladness, who owns the business and it was very beautiful with ... read more

Tanzania day 8 Serengeti morning safari, invading elephants and a view of Ngorongoro from our tent. Up at 5:15, yay! Still dark and there are still sounds of zebra and hyena. When we went to the toilets just before sleep last night my head torch refelected in a pair of eyes that were at about the right height of a hyena. When we vacate the hut we eat in we have to shut the door to keep the hyenas out. We haven’t seen hyena in the Serengeti. Edyta really wants to see hyenas. First none-catfood thing we see as dawn breaks across the Serengeti, yep hyena. Two of them bounding around. Great start. We got up early as this is when the predators may still be hunting but Bori headed off to a place where there ... read more