Tanzania

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WELCOME to TANZANIA- a land teeming with wild animals and the sweetest fruit on the planet, traversed by curious, kind and expressive people, and rich in geographic diversity! On this leg of the trip, we experienced a lot. We began with a climb to the top of Mt. Kilmanjaro, followed by a safari through three of Tanzania´s amazing national parks, and rounded it all off with a couple days of lounging on the island of Zanzibar. Here´s how it all came to pass:

Arusha & Mt Kilimanjaro
We spent one night in Arusha to meet up with our two friends that came to Tanzania for this section of our journey, Eric and Kyle Adema. Here we got our gear organized and became acquainted with our guides. We stayed at a lovely place called the Moivaro Coffee Lodge...a serene setting with a view of Mt. Meru from the restaurant and our own bungalows. The vegetation here is so incredibly lush and there are more tropical and exotic flowers per square meter than one can count! This was to be our home before and after Kilimanjaro and after the safari.

The Chaga are a large tribe in Tanzania. Their word Kilemakyaro for Kilimanjaro means "impossible journey." On the other hand, the Masai word Kilimanjeri for Kilimanjaro means "small hill where you can find water." A rather understated term for the mountain commonly known as the roof of Africa. It is the tallest and only freestanding mountain of its kind, a full 19,340 high (5895 meters). Our opinion of this beautiful and rugged place lies somewhere in the middle, as it was a difficult task, but not quite impossible journey.

We began our trip on the Machame route with 6 days of trekking through the jungles, lava fields and multiple lower passes of ever increasing altitude. This part of the trip alone was a challenging hike of over 35 miles. We spent nearly a week playing silly games to pass the time, learning words and phrases in Swahili, flexing our calf muscles up the slope, and eating lots and lots of soup and porridge. Oh, and the tea. Lots of tea to keep us warm with the high altitude's cold air. We had 2 guides, Mmassi and Godfrey, along with 3 porters each and a cook. They all did an excellent job and helped us make it to the top despite a round of head and chest colds we feared would prevent us from summiting!

The final ascent began at 11:45 pm at night...nothing but the stars between our heads and the heavens as we climbed "pole pole" ("slowly" in Swahili) through the night! Orion's belt had never felt closer...it was breathtaking. We reached Stella Point at 6am and Uhuru Peak...the very top...by 7:20am. It was strenuous and exhausting and overwhelming at times but positively worth the experience. Watching sunrise from the top of Kili is better than we could have imagined. We were lucky with the weather as it was clear and not tooooo far below freezing.

It was a special experience, and one Alyssa will not forget as she turned 27 while on the climb. The guides and porters got together and sang some hoppin' Swahili songs in honor of the day...in addition to an ad hoc birthday cake made up of bread slices, sour cream, peanut butter, bread crumbs and jam. What a treat! She was happy to celebrate the occasion with the boys and her new African friends.

We also have to mention that we met a group of four nice folks from San Diego that had the same itinerary as us, so we crossed paths with them all the way up the mountain and on our safari. It's always funny to meet people from your neck of the woods on the other side of the planet! This experience will stay with us always!

Lake Manyara, Ngornogoro Crater & Serengeti National Parks
Holy Wildabeest and Zebra! The four of us hopped in to a Landcruiser fit for 6 passengers and with our wonderful and intelligent guide, Melkiory (Melki), embarked on a safari to the aforementioned national parks in Tanzania!

To begin with, Lake Manyara is a smaller park on the edge of the escarpment (the Great Rift) comprised of a shallow saltwater lake and surrounding jungle and grazing fields. Here we encountered more silly baboons than we could count, families of elephants with many young ones rolling around in the mud to keep the flies away, several types of monkeys (including the interesting blue monkey - see photo), wildabeest, flamingo covering 2/3 of the lake's surface, zebra, giraffe, leopard, et al. Unlike the other two parks we were to visit, Manyara has a more dense vegetation making sightings of big cats much less likely. Fortunately for us, a leopard decided to saunter out in front of our car to cross the road - only to hide in the bush immediately thereafter. No photo, BUT, at least we got a peek of this private, shy and sleek animal. Magnificent. That evening we stayed at the Ngorongoro Farmhouse, a lodge tucked away into the hills far from any main road that happened to give us a vibrant sunset. A good night's rest, a great breakfast and then we were on our way to the Crater...

The Ngorongoro Crater. Driving along the rim of this extinct volcano (the largest unbroken caldera in the world!) demands a reverent silence and a sharp, watchful eye. For one, the crater is gigantic and trying to focus on the animals below is a challenge as you take in the beautiful colors and landscape. Lucky for us, our expert guide Melki could spot animals a mile+ out! It takes some time to work your way into the crater because the roads are steep and poorly maintained...but when you get to the bottom, the 4-wheelin' starts and the animals pop into vision left and right. In the crater we saw two male lions (brothers) lounging in the sun, a group of females and a couple of cubs, a wildabeest migration - you couldn't even begin to count them, two adult and one baby rhino in the distance, innumerable zebra, hyena, et al. All of these animals live in peaceful existence with each other (except when the predators get hungry). We learned of many surprising symbiotic relationships amongst them, i.e. the zebras and wildabeest always migrating together because the wildabeest has poor eyesight but a good sense of smell to detect predators and the zebra vice versa. The only downside of a day in the crater is the number of vehicles you see...because of its size (260 square km), the guides can't spread out and do their own exploring!

En route to the Serengeti, the "endless plain," we stayed in a remote tented camp, called Ikoma tented camp, out in the bush. There we stargazed and chatted with the other 6 residents of the camp over a fire and pondered what animals we would see the next day. We were still musing over the fact that that same evening we encountered a lioness resting on an Acacia tree literally right next to the road. She looked at us curiously and then stretched her long body, took a deep breath and crawled down the tree. It was impressive to see her so closely with the sun dipping below the horizon.

The next morning we ate a hot breakfast and then eagerly jumped into the Land Cruiser to see a day and a half of Serengeti Park. Driving across the vast land, one can easily understand why they call it the endless plain - the flat grasslands are as far as the eye can see from every direction! From there we headed towards the Ndutu Area of the Serengeti, where we encountered a plethora of zebra and wildabeest. This area is full of trees and we began to see the various eagles, vultures and other unique birds, both native and migratory to Tanzania. Many animals work their way into this area during the day, particularly after hunting, to get a bit of shade from the beating sun. We slept that night to the sound of lions and zebras in the brush at the edge of the camp. The second day in the Serengeti was spectacular because animals were the only thing in view - we would go hours without seeing another vehicle! The sun was out, but it was a cool day, and we encountered a family of lions that had just had a nice meal with their bellies hanging to the ground. They were so lethargic that they just laid down in front of the car and let the amateur photographers snap away. And then of course there was the 60 kilometer per hour run with dancing ostriches, hungry hyenas, impala, wildabeest and baby zebra! The finale of our Serengeti experience came with finding two cheetahs watching the herd patiently, looking for a young wildabeest snack.
Put a safari on your list of things to do in life!!

Zanzibar
Eric and Kyle left us at this juncture to go back to the states. We took a 10 seater Cessna jumper over to the independent state of Zanzibar. At one time they shared a government with Tanzania, but now their connection is limited to sharing a currency. It makes sense, as their population demands a different set of needs. Comprised of a 95%!M(MISSING)uslim population and a large spice trade, Zanzibar has little in common with Tanzania anymore. While there, we spent a night in the historic Spicetown, the epicenter of the Portuguese slave trade centuries ago. The rest of the time we lived in a beachfront thatched hut in a small beach town called Paje in the southeast corner of the island. Here we slept, played cards, beachcombed and hung out with the local boys selling shells and local handicrafts along the beach. The Italians seem to have made this island their #1 beach travel destination, where the second most used language after Swahili is Italian! It was a relaxing way to end our time in this part of the world!

Granted there are a lot, but make sure to scroll through all of our photos to experience the entire trip with us!

We're off to Egypt next...

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Comments

[Lindsey]

OMG, I know someone who looks just like that zebra when she laughs.