Ok- Now that I’m back, I thought Id share some details about my trip to Tanzania. I hope you enjoy!
Arrival. After a brief overnight in Amsterdam, which was absolutely beautiful, I arrived in Arusha Tanzania. It was evening when my plane landed, so it was dark and difficult to see everything that I’ve been waiting to see for many months- but that’s ok, because I was tired and would see it the next morning after some much needed sleep. On the way to my overnight lodge, I did get to see that Arusha seemed quite green and lush with vegitation. It was well after 9pm, and there were still people walking alongside the road. Not just 1 or 2 people here and there, but many people–all over. Upon arrival at my lodge I found my room, showered and went to bed. I was so exhausted from my trip and the hour difference, so all I wanted to do was sleep.
One thing I really liked was that on my KLM flight to Arusha, they passed out these hot moist hand towels that had this really nice scent on them. They would pass these out shortly after boarding the flight, after a meal and before landing. I’m not sure where they got these little things, but a girl could get used to it! I think they were lemon, or eucalyptus or something. I need to find these for home- they were absolutely wonderful!
Day 2- When I woke up, I went to the window, and peered outside. It was drizzly. Not at all what I pictured Tanzania to be like. I was a little surprised, but I was still very excited to get showered and get outside. Walking to the main lodge I saw that everything was so very green and there was so much lushness. Before, when I thought of Africa and Tanzania I always thought of the Serengeti. Most everything on TV about wildlife and Africa always seems to have the golden grasses of the Serengeti, so I thought all of Africa was Serengeti like. Not true!
After a buffet breakfast, my guide picked me up and we went to visit a few other hotels in and around Arusha. Now, these are places that we would normally have our clients stay on their first night in town, or their last night before heading home. I was surprised at how busy downtown Arusha was. There is absolutely no organization to the driving in town. Everyone was driving every which way- pulling out infront of you, and there would be people just running inbetween the cars trying to get across the street. Arusha was not only much larger than what I imagined, but it was also pretty dirty. I’m sure is was clena compared to other places around the world, but for me, who has never been anywhere but a few places in the US, it was a big eye opener for me.
My day ended with dinner at my lodge, and a quick check of my e-mail. Yes, they do have internet, but it is much slower, and hit and miss, especially is the hotel loses power like mine kept doing. Even out phones went out my second night at my lodge.
Day 3- I was awaken by my personal wake up call.. our phones were still out. Today we were headed to Tarangire National Park. It’s a few hours drive from Arusha, but since there was so much to see along the way , the time seeemed to fly by. The drive reminded me alot of the high desert.. especially when you’re on that stretch from Terrebonne to Madras.. that flat dry area.
After a quick stop at the entrance at Tarangire NP to use the restroom, and pay the park entrance fees, I was on my way. Almost immediately I started seeing the animals. First were the zebra…followed by many elephants and giraffe. At first, I have to say it seemed very Wildlife Safari like, but after a few minutes of getting up close and personal with the elephants, I realized this was nothing like Wildlife Safari. I was amazed at the vast numbers of animals. Just everywhere, there are animals. I even had the opportunity to see a pride of lions down along the river.
After a long day of driving all over the park and visiting other lodges and camps where we would have clients stay, we finally ended up aout over night lodge.. Tarangire River Camp. River Camp is beautiful open lodge with the dining room on one side, and a sitting room/lounge on the other side. Most all accomodations/tents are lifted on a platform about 7 or 8 feet off the ground, so you do have to climb some stairs to get there, but it’s totally worth it. My room had 2 beds and it’s own bathroom with hot shower and electricity. The rooms also have side walls that cam be zipped open to just reveal a screen. I found this out, after I was awaken in the middle of the night to all of this rustling noise. Now remember you’re sleeping in the National Park, so animlas are all over the place so you don’t want to just go outside to investigate. So I inzipped the wall portion of my tent, leaving the screen entact (don’t want bugs inside) and I was amazed to see that all the noise I was hearing was from Giraffe eating from the tree tops right outside my tent. There was a full moon, so getting to see them was totally amazing, and they were so close and beautiful. it was an amazing experience! I went back to my bed and laid there watching them eat, and I eventually fell back to sleep.
The next few days was spent driving through Lake Manyara, and Ngorongoro Crater National Parks. I was still amazed at the lush jungle when you first drive into Lake Manyara. It seemed something out of Jurrasic Park.. I kept wating for the T-Rex to come crashing through the trees… but thankfully it didn’t happen!
Tanzania is so beautiful, and so rich in culture. As you drive through the small villages you would see these small roadside markets where people would sell their vegetable that they would grow in their gardens. The soil is so rich, that almost everyone even with the smallest lot or house have some sort of a garden. And what surprised me is that tanzania grows a TON of corn! Corn is everywhere! It’s like you took a wrong turn and ended up in Kansas or someplace in the mid-west. Corn is the main staple in Tanzania.
The best part of my trip was the Serengeti. It was so warm, and so beautiful there. The grasses were so golden, and you could see for miles in all directions! My days in the serengeti were always sunny and warm.. but it never got too warm. The night skies were so clear and bright. We never needed your flashlight to get to your tent at night. At night the wildlife seemed to come alive.
Our first night in camp in the Serengeti I guess there were lions either in camp, or right outside of camp, and everyone but me heard them roar, and make thier sounds for most of the night. Apparently even 1/2 an Ambien was too much for this first night because I slept through the night and heard asolutely nothing! The next few nights we were visited by hippos, and hyenas. They didn’t bother us or our tents, although the hyenas did try to get into the kitchen tent for food and the camp staff hap to keep a close eye on the tents for a few nights.
I was amazed at the lodges we went to visit while on this trip. They were much more luxurious that I ever imagined a lodge to be in the middle of no where. They sometimes even had internet service, which was a real treat since I needed to check my e-mail while I was in Tanzania.
After my return from the Serengeti to Arusha, I stayed in the Aursha Hotel in downtown Arusha for a few extra days. I have to say that the food I ate in camp in the Serengeti seemed better than the food I got at the hotel. They had a large variety of food to chose from for all meals, but I usually kept to the soups and lunch and dinner and fruit with toast for breakfast.
My last few days in Arusha Themmy, my guide, and I went to visit a couple of secondary schools, Simon Mtuy, and an orphanage. I was amazed at how many young children run away from home at the age of 5 or 6, and live on the rough streets of Moshi and Arusha. The numbers seemed so unbelieveable, if I hadn’t seen all these children at the schools and homes myself. I can’t imagine imagine children being on the streets, to survive on their own at such young ages.
My flight home was good and seemed longer than my flight over. I was anxious to get home- I missed my family.. I missed my animals, and the planes just couldnt go fast enough for me. I tried to sleep and watch some movies as I did on the way over, but it just wasn’t the same. Once I was home Bend seemed so different. It was the same I was sure, but it was like I was seeing it with new eyes. Everything here was just so clean. There were no dirt streets, no piles of garbage on the streets. Although I had experienced so much in my time in Tanzania, and I can’t wait to go back, I was glad to be home.
You can see my video on youtube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmbbPT7f06s
and I’ve put some pictures on www.Choroa.com. If you go to the gallery and look at the Laura/FAM pics from July 2008.
