Everything you are about to read is true! Or is it?
Pictures are broken into 3 groups, Safari, Kilimanjaro, and Zanzibar / Ethiopia (See sections below)
It has been over a year since I was in Africa. Maybe a better statement might be, it has been a year since I was exiled from Botswana. The main purpose of the this trip, to see if I might want to settle in East Africa, specifically Tanzania. Over the last year I visited many places in the United States and even though the United States continues it's decline toward a third world country the cost of living continues to be outside of my reach.
The big question for this trip, do I use my free flight strategy or not?
I decided that the best route for my journey was a 13 hour flight on Ethiopian Airlines from
Washington Dulles to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Once in Ethiopia I would get a 2 hour connecting flight to Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Back to my original question do I use my free ticket strategy?
I decided to pay for this ticket for one big reason, I had no idea what an Ethiopian jail would be like and did not want to find out. Thirteen hours is a long time to sit in economy class, but a business class ticket was an additional $6,000 which was slightly (about $6,000) above my budget.
How can we (Margarite and Big Ed would be joining me on this adventure) fly business class without paying for it. I came up with a solution, based on Ethiopian Airlines seating map, business class was relatively empty in particular seats 3A, 3C, and 4A where open. What I did next was ingenious. I put
the three of us in economy seats 33A,33B, and 43A.
I printed our boarding passes twice, the first time I printed the standard legitimate boarding pass. Clearly on the passes you see our seats were in economy 33A,33B, and 43A. On the second set of boarding passes I made a small modification. Using Photoshop I removed the first digit of our seat numbers. We were now seated in seats 3A, 3C, and 4A instead of seats 33A,33B, and 43A.
We used our real boarding passes until we actually got on the plane. Once on the plane we switched to our doctored passes and were escorted to the business class section which is like going from the 99% to the 1% in just 5 steps.
We were greeted by the business class flight attendant who quickly took our bags and handed us a flute of the best Champaign I have ever had. Shortly after take off we were served lunch which was a feast for a king. Our starter was a thinly sliced Filet Minion cooked to perfection. Our salad was a Caesar Salad hand made at our seats. For our main course, Rack of Lamb cooked medium rare with fresh vegetables and sweet potato purée. There were an assortment of desserts from homemade ice cream to cakes flown in from France.
Lunch lasted an hour and half. Once lunch ended the flight attendants handed out pajamas and slippers, I had never seen this before. In the front of the cabin there were 4 changing rooms with individual lockers. I took off my street clothes put them in my assigned locker and changed into a pair of very comfortable pajamas.
I returned to my seat which turned into a bed and I was fast asleep. We had taken off two hours late, it was just 2:00 PM in 8 hours it would be time to wake up in the time zone I would be living in for the next few weeks. My strategy to adjust to the time change without jet leg is to not sleep the night before the flight. This way I was assured a full nights sleep on the flight and complete time change adjustment.
I awoke at 7:00 AM Addis Ababa time. The flight attendant had just started serving breakfast, first
fresh fruit, then eggs done to order, for dessert French pastries. I think I need to go on a diet just from this flight.
After breakfast I went to change out of my pajamas and was shocked to see the changing rooms had been converted to showers. Each passenger was allotted 15 minutes to shower and change back into their street clothes.
What a great way to travel. We had a scheduled two and a half hour layover in Addis Ababa, with our two hour take off delay, and a strong tail wind our layover was reduced to 45 minutes. This actually turned out to be perfect. The Addis Ababa airport was like most small African airports, organized
chaos. We found our way to our gate with some help from the locals. As we boarded our flight I realized we would be flying a Boeing 787 Dream Liner, in business class. Flying the Dream Liner was like having a great dessert, business class was the cherry on top.
Our flight to Kilimanjaro was two hours and 30 minutes. We arrived a little past noon or about 16 hours after we departed Washington.
We were greeted at the airport by Freddie. Based on Freddie's driving, he was not Fast Freddie just Freddie. Freddie was a great tour guide pointing out all the sites from the airport to our hotel. We drove by the Tanzanite mine. Tanzanite is a precious gem stone only found in Tanzania.
It was a 45 minute drive from the Kilimanjaro airport to our hotel.
We will be staying at the Onsea House which is ten kilometers outside of Arusha. What a great place to hang after a long flight. The house’s unique name “Onsea” is a derivative of the local word for jaguar, one of Tanzania’s most magnificent creatures. The carefully manicured gardens include numerous fruit trees such as banana, lemon, lime, mango, papaya, passion, and more.
We were greeted with a champagne toast. Once checked in we decided a walk to town was in order. We had a 700 meter walk on the local road to get the main drag. We walked by many family run shops selling fresh produced grown in their yards.
Once we arrived at the main drag we quickly came to the conclusion that walking may not be the safest mode of transportation. We opted for Dala Dala or Matatus, this is a mini-bus that is designed to hold 10 people, legally can hold 15, the first one we got in had about 18 people, plus the driver and fare collector adding us brought the total passengers to 23, plus 2 chickens, a goat, a few sacks of potatoes and a partridge in a pear tree.
What a great way to travel, using the Dala Dala you really get to meet some great people. Every few minutes we stopped to let passengers off or pick up new ones. If someone in the back needed to get off everybody in front of them would have to get off the Dala Dala and then get back on before we
continued on our way. The road was two lanes, one for each direction of travel, though at most times there were several vehicles traveling across the road in both directions, plus stray motorcycles, bicycles and pedestrians.
The fare for the ten kilometer ride, 500 Tanzanian Shilling the equivalent of 30 cents U.S.
On our arrival in Arusha both Margaret I were right at home, after a year away we were finally back in Africa. I could tell the chaos had Big Ed a little out of sorts. Our mission was to find an ATM and buy a SIM card for our phone.
The ATM was easy there was one on every corner. We withdrew 80,000 shillings about $50.00, this should cover us for the next three weeks, I LOVE Africa. Next chore, buy a SIM Card, easier said than done. After asking around we found someone selling them on the street corner, right on the side of the road. I speak most languages though my Swahili is rusty, fortunately the vendor was very helpful, unfortunately my cell phone battery was dead, fortunately the vendor had a spare phone he
used to set my new SIM. Fifteen minutes and 3,000 shillings later I had a SIM card that had 100 minutes loaded. I LOVE Africa! Everything went well, once I charge my phone I should have full service
We walked back to the Dala Dala station and grabbed a bus back to the Onsea House. When we were about a kilometer away from our road we noticed we were the only ones left on the bus. The driver
pulled over and said this was as far as we go unless we pay more money. Even though we knew the original fare should of gotten us back to our original stop, we agreed to pay the additional dollar.
When we arrived at our stop Margarite and Big Ed got out and started walking, they had no idea what would come next. I acted like I was searching for money in my pockets when Margarite and Big Ed were about 100 meters up the road I yelled, "RUN!", as loud as I could. They looked back and saw me running toward them at a full sprint. The knew I must of done a dine and dash, in this case a ride and run, they both started running. Looking back I saw the driver and fare collector just looking dumb founded. After a few hundred meters of running we saw they were not going to give chase. I hate when locals try to take advantage of tourist, little did they know, I do not
consider myself a tourist, as Africa is the place I consider home.
Once back at our hotel we took a power nap and then headed to dinner which was served at 7:00 PM. A very nice meal and a great sunset.
Day 1
We spent our first full day in Arusha. Our hotel is 10 kilometers outside of town. We had two places we wanted to visit
The first was the Shanga House. The Shanga House is a workshop for physically disabled and deaf
citizens who otherwise would be a burden on their families. At the Shanga House they earn a wage, learn a skill, and demonstrate that they are able to be independent. Tanzanian culture has not yet accepted this concept. The crafts were lovely jewelry, glass work, fabrics, etc.... There is also a restaurant attached which is where we had lunch. What a great place to visit and great experience.
The second place was the Heritage Culture Center, which is a huge tourist trap worth going to as long as you know it is a tourist trap. They
have great art in an art shop disguised as a Art Museum, the building is modeled off the Guggenheim in New York City. This art shop has the largest collection of African art anywhere on the continent (or so they say).
Today our transport of choice, the Dala Dala. Before leaving we told the receptionist at the hotel we planned to take a Dala Dala she laughed and said the Dala Dala is for locals, not tourist. We laughed back and said we are locals. She insisted on given us her phone number incase we got in trouble, but no trouble was found.
Day 2
Today we depart for the Serengeti. Kawaga, who will be our guide for the next 4 days picked us up at 8:30 sharp. No African time here (in Africa if a person show up within a few hours of their promised time they consider themselves on time, this is called African
time).
Our first order of business was drop off some items we brought to donate to our porters. Rather than
cart around 10 pair of running shoes, many shirts, two pair of hiking boots, a down coat, and some rain gear, we decided to drop it all off at our guides office before heading off on Safari.
Once our drop off was completed we were off. We had what was advertised as a 6 hour drive to the Tanzanian, Serengeti. We left Arusha on a similar route as the one we took to get to the Shanga House. Two distinct differences: One - we turned south sooner (taking some local roads) so we passed by the Arusha Cock Tower. The clock Tower sits exactly half way between Alexandria Egypt and Cape Town, South Africa. Two, we made much better time
getting through town in a private car, than we did the day before in the Dala Dala.
Our route to the Serengeti took us west through Ngorongoro Conservation Area. The Ngorongoro Carter is the center point of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. The Ngorongoro Crater is the largest volcanic crater in the world, it is 19 kilometers across. The crater is so large it has it's own ecosystem. We stopped at the rim of the crater for a quick break and to snap a few pictures. We could see elephants, zebra, water buffalo, and wildebeest all roaming the crater floor.
The Masai tribe lives in this area, they are nomadic cattle and goat herders. As we continued our drive toward the Serengeti we saw many young boys tending to the family animals. We topped out at 7,500 feet in altitude which was at the craters rim. As we reached the Serengeti plains we were closer to 3,500 feet.
The road from Ngorongoro to the Serengeti was rather rough, a very bumpy dirt road. Once we hit
the plains we turned toward the north west and free wheeled it across the plains. We were sure glad Kawaga knew where he was going, to us ever direction looked the same.
As we crossed the plains we saw lots of wild life, gazelles, wildebeest, zebra, vultures and more. As we got close to camp we saw a pride of lions sunning themselves, a cheetah stalking a gazelle, and some elephants having their lunch.
When doing a safari your guide can make or break you, so far Kagawa was making us. Once we arrived at camp we were met with hot towels to wipe our hands and face and hibiscus juice to refresh ourselves.
We would be spending the next 4 nights at Chaka Camp. Chaka Camp is a moveable wilderness camp, the name for Chaka Camp was inspired by a traditional Swahili word “kichaka” which means “bush.” A high-end mobile tented camp, Chaka Camp is located in Tanzania’s Ndutu, though from May to November it is moved to the central Serengeti thus following the incredible annual spectacle of the blue wildebeest migration.
This authentic African bush camp has accommodations reminiscent of colonial tents of previous centuries. Several en-suite sleeping tents feature comfortable furniture as well as décor that was
designed and built by local Tanzanian artisans. All tents have large beds, a desk area, 24-hour electricity (solar-powered and backup generator), running water, flush toilets, and camp chairs on the tent’s “front porch,” allowing for game- viewing by day or night. Our first night a baby elephant walked right through camp, 20 meters from our front porch.
Dinner was served at 7:30 PM and a gourmet dinner it was, then off to bed. We were all beat, our scheduled 6 hour drive to camp was over 9 hours due to many unscheduled, but well enjoyed stops along the way.
Day 3 (Day 1 Safari)
Our first day of Safari in the Serengeti. Our wake call was at 5:45AM, mango juice and tea delivered to our tents. Breakfast of made to order omelets was at 6:15AM and we left for our game drive at 7:30AM. The one difference we immediately saw with the Safari in the Serengeti compared to other safaris we have been on, the crowds. South Africa and Botswana if we saw two or three other jeeps while out on a game drive that would be a lot.
At one sighting of lions we saw 25 other jeeps. This concerned us, as the crowds stress the animals. Kawaga agreed, so we kept our time at animal sightings to a minimum.
After seeing many spectacular animals including a beautiful Jackal, we return to camp at 12:00. Lunch of chicken salad, avocado salad and sweet potatoes was served at 12:30 all the food was
gourmet quality. Our afternoon game drive would depart at 3:30 PM, so we decided on a nap.
The afternoon game drive was as, if not more spectacular than the morning drive. We went out to the plains and found a Cheetah stalking a gazelle, clearly the Cheetah was not that hungry as it was not trying very hard to catch the gazelle. Kawaga handed us his binoculars and told us to look out on the horizon. "What do you see?", he asked with a bit of a laugh. As we took turns looking we all came to the same conclusion ants, thousands of them all marching across the plains.
Kawaga started the jeep and headed toward the horizon, he was laughing even harder at this point. As we got closer to the ants we realized they were actually Wildebeest, hundred of thousands of them, all
slowly moving toward us. Kawaga explained this was the great migration. As the rains come to this area so do the Wildebeest. We spent a good bit of time just watching in awe. This is what North America must of been like before most of the American buffalo were slaughtered.
As we watched the wildebeest, we had not noticed the skies were getting darker and darker, creating
very unique shapes in the skies. All of a sudden the skies opened up and the rain was coming down in buckets. It was getting close to dinner, perfect timing as we headed back to camp.
A well deserved hot shower, a great dinner and off to bed.
Day 4 (Day 2 Safari)
Today we asked if we could view some Pink Flamingos, the area we are at is well know for
both Flamingoes and Pelicans. Kawaga is such a great guide he obliged and took us to the waters edge, which is the border between the Serengeti National Park and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Kawaga granted our wish. Feeding at the banks of the lake were pink flamingoes. Every so often one would stretch out it's wings to dry them in the sun, or a group would fly across the lake, what a great photo opportunity.
After viewing the flamingoes we headed for the plains. What we saw was indescribable, hundreds of thousands of Wildebeest as far as the eye could
see. They were all eating and slowly walking north on their great migration. At one point we saw two Hyenas following the herd. Kawaga explained this is the calving season, when the wildebeest give birth to their calves. While a full grown wildebeest is to large for a Hyena to kill, a new born is not. The Hyena's will follow the herd hoping for the opportunity to catch an unsuspecting new born.
Time flies when you are having fun, before we knew it, it was lunch time so we headed back to camp. Over the last few days it has rained off and on with the first night being a torrential down poor. This morning was the first morning with no rain and lots of sun, which allowed the ground to dry. It
had been a few days since we had run so we decided a 3 mile run was in order. One issue, lions! We were advised running was fine as long as we stayed within 10 feet of the tents. The distant from the furthest tents was 2 tenths of miles for a loop of 4 tenths of a mile, back and fourth we went, 7 and a half times. It felt good to be moving.
A cold refreshing shower and then back on game drive. This afternoon we went looking for cheetahs, we did not have much luck, but did stumble upon a pride of lions that had just taken down a full grown Zebra. What a sight, the lions
were quickly devouring the zebra. Clearly there was a hierarchy to the pecking or should I say feeding order of the pride. The male was not present, so the adult females ate first with the cubs to follow. Once a particular lion was full it would walk away and fall asleep, allowing room for another to step in and start eating. Watching all this eating was making us hungry so we decided to head back to camp for some dinner.
I had been sleeping very deep while on safari, it is very dark and the peaceful sounds of the animals puts me to sleep. I was surprised when I awoke in the middle of the night to what I thought was an earth quake. The entire tent was rumbling as if a freight train was going right through. This lasted for about fifteen minutes. I would learn the next morning that the lions had been hunting buffalo, and the herd of buffalo thought a run through camp might be a good escape plan. It must of worked as we did not see any lions eating fresh buffalo when we went out on our morning game drive.
Day 5 (Day 3 Safari)
Today we will be having breakfast out on the plains. What a beautiful way to enjoy nature. Before our
special breakfast we visited the pride of lions that had been eating the zebra the afternoon before. The males had returned and the entire pride was being lazy by the waters edge enjoying their full bellies. It was now our breakfast time, we found a spot in the middle of the wildebeest migration, set up our table and chairs, and enjoyed a fantastic view of the Serengeti.
Once breakfast was complete we were off to find some wildebeest cows given birth. We found some hyenas which meant we were close. We continued our drive and noticed more and more cows with wildebeest babies.
All of a sudden Margarite noticed a wildebeest cow giving birth, what a sight. Within minutes of the calf being born it was trying to stand, within a half hour it was walking, which quickly turned to running. What a great experience. Two days before we saw lions right after they had killed a wildebeest and today we saw a wildebeest being born. We continued our search for calves being born.
While on this search we saw, elephants, giraffes, and even a warthog. We stumbled upon a cheetah and it's cubs hidden in a den.
It had started raining again and it was close to lunch so we headed back to camp.
During our afternoon break we had another torrential down poor. I now know where the saying, "it's raining cats and dogs", comes from. These rain drops were as large as a large cat or small dog. The rain caused a lot of flooding.
By 3:30 PM the skies were still overcast, but the rains had stopped. We decided it was time for
another game drive, this would be our last in the Ngorongoro conservation area.
As we drove out of camp the dirt or should I say mud roads were very slick, the jeep was sliding around like a car on ice. To avoid a washed out area of the road Kawaga went off road and quickly got stuck in a small ditch. The right rear tire was hanging in mid-air and the rear differential was sitting on the ground. We were high, but not so dry.
Kawaga quickly realized we were not going to be moving anytime soon, without some help. Luckily we were only about a quarter mile from camp. Kawaga returned a few minutes later with
another safari vehicle and the camp work truck.
With a little digging and tying all three vehicles together we were able to free our jeep. We created a caravan so to speak. The work truck, the safari jeep and then us. All cabled together all pulling together.
It worked! back on the road again.
We headed down toward the lake, Kawaga was very careful not to get stuck as we navigated the mud roads which were more like small rivers. The wildebeest were crossing the lake at a narrow section, lined up in pairs, thousands of wildebeest
running through the lake. This is a sight no camera or description can do justice.
From the lake we headed up the far bank, we stayed with the jeep that had pulled us out. Safety in pairs (just like the wildebeest), the chances of getting stuck ahead were high.
We came upon a cheetah with 5 cubs. What a sight, the cubs playing with each other being mischievous. There were maybe 8 to 10 other safari jeeps watching the cubs. As the group started disbanding we noticed a common theme, jeeps getting stuck.
As the water from the rain soaked the ground it had become even softer and slicker. We were confident in Kawaga and his driving skills. Our buddy's jeep who had helped rescue us was not as skilled and quickly got stuck. We went to help, he was only about 100 meters away. A few other jeeps came over to help. Big Ed and I were more spectators than helpers. As we watched the rescue we realized we were standing 100 meters from a female cheetah and her cubs. As we continued to watch
the rescue we hoped the cheetahs were not hungry, or if hungry, would notice the guides had a lot more meat on their bones than us.
Once the jeep was free from the mud, we all decided a caravan back to camp would be prudent. We had another fantastic dinner and then went to pack as we would be departing in the morning for the next leg of our trip.
Day 6 (Day 4 Safari)
We departed at 7:30AM not quite retracing the route we took to get to camp. With all the rain Kawaga felt it would be better if we did not cross the plains on our return trip. About half way through our journey we stopped for lunch and had some fantastic African Red Bananas.
We also stop at the Shanga House to buy a few gifts then stopped in the centre of Arusha for some supplies. Big Ed needed an extra set of batteries for his flash light and I needed a cable for my GPS watch. Fortunately my Swahili had improved over the last few days. We found the people of Arusha to be very helpful and quickly found Connie's Electronics. Connie's was like a Radio Shack on steroids. Quickly the owner i.e. Connie, located both the batteries and cable we needed. I think if we asked for parts to build a short wave radio he would of being able to supply us.
From downtown Arusha we headed towards Arusha National Park. Our next stop was to meet our guide that would be guiding us up Mount Kilimanjaro.
We met Msuri (our guide) for our hike briefing, after quick introductions we got down to business.
Msuri explained we will be hiking the Machame Route. Normally this is a 7 day, 6 night route, we will be doing it in 6 days, 5 nights. Msuri had heard Margarite always likes to push herself so he wanted to make the hike more of a challenge for her. I guess Big Ed and I do not get a vote.
After the briefing Kawaga took us for a game drive through Arusha National park. Another fantastic view of nature. We got a glimpse of the Colobos Monkey (Black and White) which is only found in this area. Another fantastic bonus was seeing pink flamingos lining the banks of Big Momella Lake, it was like a blanket of pink surrounding the lake.
What a great end to 4 days of safari where we saw the following animals and birds.
Predators: Lion, Cheetah, Leopard, Laughing Hyena
Animals: Wildebeest, Thompson Gazelle, Grand Gazelle, Mongoose, Slender Mongoose, Common Jackal, Black Jackal, Zebra, African Water Buffalo, Elephant, Giraffe, Bush Buck, Heartbeast Impala, Mice, Eland,Blackface Velvet Monkey, Baboon, Fox, Warthog, Waterbuck, Colobos Monkey (black and white), Hippopotami
Birds: Dark Eagle, Pale Eagle, Fish Eagle, Marshal Eagle, Vulture, Marabou Crane, Starling, Love
Bird, Ostriches, Pink (lazer) Flamingo, Pelican, Redneck Spurfowl, Ginny Hen, Egyptian Goose, Augur Buzzard, Secretary Bird, Kori Bustard, Black Smith Plover, Crown Crane, Bulbul
We were welcomed at the Hatari Lodge like we were royalty, Champaign reception with caviar. Our rooms were spacious and very comfortable.
We were getting spoiled by the treatment and quality of both food and service we have been receiving.
Day 7 (Rest Day)
Today we opted for a 3 hour nature and village hike near Hatari Lodge. Makili our guide was very
knowledgeable and spent a lot of time explaining why different things occurred in nature. A very enjoyable hike.
This afternoon we organized and packed, tomorrow is the big day.
Safari Pictures
Pictures are broken into 3 groups, Safari, Kilimanjaro, and Zanzibar / Ethiopia (See sections below)
It has been over a year since I was in Africa. Maybe a better statement might be, it has been a year since I was exiled from Botswana. The main purpose of the this trip, to see if I might want to settle in East Africa, specifically Tanzania. Over the last year I visited many places in the United States and even though the United States continues it's decline toward a third world country the cost of living continues to be outside of my reach.
The big question for this trip, do I use my free flight strategy or not?
I decided that the best route for my journey was a 13 hour flight on Ethiopian Airlines from
Washington Dulles to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Once in Ethiopia I would get a 2 hour connecting flight to Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Back to my original question do I use my free ticket strategy?
I decided to pay for this ticket for one big reason, I had no idea what an Ethiopian jail would be like and did not want to find out. Thirteen hours is a long time to sit in economy class, but a business class ticket was an additional $6,000 which was slightly (about $6,000) above my budget.
How can we (Margarite and Big Ed would be joining me on this adventure) fly business class without paying for it. I came up with a solution, based on Ethiopian Airlines seating map, business class was relatively empty in particular seats 3A, 3C, and 4A where open. What I did next was ingenious. I put
the three of us in economy seats 33A,33B, and 43A.
I printed our boarding passes twice, the first time I printed the standard legitimate boarding pass. Clearly on the passes you see our seats were in economy 33A,33B, and 43A. On the second set of boarding passes I made a small modification. Using Photoshop I removed the first digit of our seat numbers. We were now seated in seats 3A, 3C, and 4A instead of seats 33A,33B, and 43A.
We used our real boarding passes until we actually got on the plane. Once on the plane we switched to our doctored passes and were escorted to the business class section which is like going from the 99% to the 1% in just 5 steps.
We were greeted by the business class flight attendant who quickly took our bags and handed us a flute of the best Champaign I have ever had. Shortly after take off we were served lunch which was a feast for a king. Our starter was a thinly sliced Filet Minion cooked to perfection. Our salad was a Caesar Salad hand made at our seats. For our main course, Rack of Lamb cooked medium rare with fresh vegetables and sweet potato purée. There were an assortment of desserts from homemade ice cream to cakes flown in from France.
Lunch lasted an hour and half. Once lunch ended the flight attendants handed out pajamas and slippers, I had never seen this before. In the front of the cabin there were 4 changing rooms with individual lockers. I took off my street clothes put them in my assigned locker and changed into a pair of very comfortable pajamas.
I returned to my seat which turned into a bed and I was fast asleep. We had taken off two hours late, it was just 2:00 PM in 8 hours it would be time to wake up in the time zone I would be living in for the next few weeks. My strategy to adjust to the time change without jet leg is to not sleep the night before the flight. This way I was assured a full nights sleep on the flight and complete time change adjustment.
I awoke at 7:00 AM Addis Ababa time. The flight attendant had just started serving breakfast, first
fresh fruit, then eggs done to order, for dessert French pastries. I think I need to go on a diet just from this flight.
After breakfast I went to change out of my pajamas and was shocked to see the changing rooms had been converted to showers. Each passenger was allotted 15 minutes to shower and change back into their street clothes.
What a great way to travel. We had a scheduled two and a half hour layover in Addis Ababa, with our two hour take off delay, and a strong tail wind our layover was reduced to 45 minutes. This actually turned out to be perfect. The Addis Ababa airport was like most small African airports, organized
chaos. We found our way to our gate with some help from the locals. As we boarded our flight I realized we would be flying a Boeing 787 Dream Liner, in business class. Flying the Dream Liner was like having a great dessert, business class was the cherry on top.
Our flight to Kilimanjaro was two hours and 30 minutes. We arrived a little past noon or about 16 hours after we departed Washington.
We were greeted at the airport by Freddie. Based on Freddie's driving, he was not Fast Freddie just Freddie. Freddie was a great tour guide pointing out all the sites from the airport to our hotel. We drove by the Tanzanite mine. Tanzanite is a precious gem stone only found in Tanzania.
It was a 45 minute drive from the Kilimanjaro airport to our hotel.
We will be staying at the Onsea House which is ten kilometers outside of Arusha. What a great place to hang after a long flight. The house’s unique name “Onsea” is a derivative of the local word for jaguar, one of Tanzania’s most magnificent creatures. The carefully manicured gardens include numerous fruit trees such as banana, lemon, lime, mango, papaya, passion, and more.
We were greeted with a champagne toast. Once checked in we decided a walk to town was in order. We had a 700 meter walk on the local road to get the main drag. We walked by many family run shops selling fresh produced grown in their yards.
Once we arrived at the main drag we quickly came to the conclusion that walking may not be the safest mode of transportation. We opted for Dala Dala or Matatus, this is a mini-bus that is designed to hold 10 people, legally can hold 15, the first one we got in had about 18 people, plus the driver and fare collector adding us brought the total passengers to 23, plus 2 chickens, a goat, a few sacks of potatoes and a partridge in a pear tree.
What a great way to travel, using the Dala Dala you really get to meet some great people. Every few minutes we stopped to let passengers off or pick up new ones. If someone in the back needed to get off everybody in front of them would have to get off the Dala Dala and then get back on before we
continued on our way. The road was two lanes, one for each direction of travel, though at most times there were several vehicles traveling across the road in both directions, plus stray motorcycles, bicycles and pedestrians.
The fare for the ten kilometer ride, 500 Tanzanian Shilling the equivalent of 30 cents U.S.
On our arrival in Arusha both Margaret I were right at home, after a year away we were finally back in Africa. I could tell the chaos had Big Ed a little out of sorts. Our mission was to find an ATM and buy a SIM card for our phone.
The ATM was easy there was one on every corner. We withdrew 80,000 shillings about $50.00, this should cover us for the next three weeks, I LOVE Africa. Next chore, buy a SIM Card, easier said than done. After asking around we found someone selling them on the street corner, right on the side of the road. I speak most languages though my Swahili is rusty, fortunately the vendor was very helpful, unfortunately my cell phone battery was dead, fortunately the vendor had a spare phone he
used to set my new SIM. Fifteen minutes and 3,000 shillings later I had a SIM card that had 100 minutes loaded. I LOVE Africa! Everything went well, once I charge my phone I should have full service
We walked back to the Dala Dala station and grabbed a bus back to the Onsea House. When we were about a kilometer away from our road we noticed we were the only ones left on the bus. The driver
pulled over and said this was as far as we go unless we pay more money. Even though we knew the original fare should of gotten us back to our original stop, we agreed to pay the additional dollar.
When we arrived at our stop Margarite and Big Ed got out and started walking, they had no idea what would come next. I acted like I was searching for money in my pockets when Margarite and Big Ed were about 100 meters up the road I yelled, "RUN!", as loud as I could. They looked back and saw me running toward them at a full sprint. The knew I must of done a dine and dash, in this case a ride and run, they both started running. Looking back I saw the driver and fare collector just looking dumb founded. After a few hundred meters of running we saw they were not going to give chase. I hate when locals try to take advantage of tourist, little did they know, I do not
consider myself a tourist, as Africa is the place I consider home.
Once back at our hotel we took a power nap and then headed to dinner which was served at 7:00 PM. A very nice meal and a great sunset.
Day 1
We spent our first full day in Arusha. Our hotel is 10 kilometers outside of town. We had two places we wanted to visit
The first was the Shanga House. The Shanga House is a workshop for physically disabled and deaf
citizens who otherwise would be a burden on their families. At the Shanga House they earn a wage, learn a skill, and demonstrate that they are able to be independent. Tanzanian culture has not yet accepted this concept. The crafts were lovely jewelry, glass work, fabrics, etc.... There is also a restaurant attached which is where we had lunch. What a great place to visit and great experience.
The second place was the Heritage Culture Center, which is a huge tourist trap worth going to as long as you know it is a tourist trap. They
have great art in an art shop disguised as a Art Museum, the building is modeled off the Guggenheim in New York City. This art shop has the largest collection of African art anywhere on the continent (or so they say).
Today our transport of choice, the Dala Dala. Before leaving we told the receptionist at the hotel we planned to take a Dala Dala she laughed and said the Dala Dala is for locals, not tourist. We laughed back and said we are locals. She insisted on given us her phone number incase we got in trouble, but no trouble was found.
Day 2
Today we depart for the Serengeti. Kawaga, who will be our guide for the next 4 days picked us up at 8:30 sharp. No African time here (in Africa if a person show up within a few hours of their promised time they consider themselves on time, this is called African
time).
Our first order of business was drop off some items we brought to donate to our porters. Rather than
cart around 10 pair of running shoes, many shirts, two pair of hiking boots, a down coat, and some rain gear, we decided to drop it all off at our guides office before heading off on Safari.
Once our drop off was completed we were off. We had what was advertised as a 6 hour drive to the Tanzanian, Serengeti. We left Arusha on a similar route as the one we took to get to the Shanga House. Two distinct differences: One - we turned south sooner (taking some local roads) so we passed by the Arusha Cock Tower. The clock Tower sits exactly half way between Alexandria Egypt and Cape Town, South Africa. Two, we made much better time
getting through town in a private car, than we did the day before in the Dala Dala.
Our route to the Serengeti took us west through Ngorongoro Conservation Area. The Ngorongoro Carter is the center point of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. The Ngorongoro Crater is the largest volcanic crater in the world, it is 19 kilometers across. The crater is so large it has it's own ecosystem. We stopped at the rim of the crater for a quick break and to snap a few pictures. We could see elephants, zebra, water buffalo, and wildebeest all roaming the crater floor.
The Masai tribe lives in this area, they are nomadic cattle and goat herders. As we continued our drive toward the Serengeti we saw many young boys tending to the family animals. We topped out at 7,500 feet in altitude which was at the craters rim. As we reached the Serengeti plains we were closer to 3,500 feet.
The road from Ngorongoro to the Serengeti was rather rough, a very bumpy dirt road. Once we hit
the plains we turned toward the north west and free wheeled it across the plains. We were sure glad Kawaga knew where he was going, to us ever direction looked the same.
As we crossed the plains we saw lots of wild life, gazelles, wildebeest, zebra, vultures and more. As we got close to camp we saw a pride of lions sunning themselves, a cheetah stalking a gazelle, and some elephants having their lunch.
When doing a safari your guide can make or break you, so far Kagawa was making us. Once we arrived at camp we were met with hot towels to wipe our hands and face and hibiscus juice to refresh ourselves.
We would be spending the next 4 nights at Chaka Camp. Chaka Camp is a moveable wilderness camp, the name for Chaka Camp was inspired by a traditional Swahili word “kichaka” which means “bush.” A high-end mobile tented camp, Chaka Camp is located in Tanzania’s Ndutu, though from May to November it is moved to the central Serengeti thus following the incredible annual spectacle of the blue wildebeest migration.
This authentic African bush camp has accommodations reminiscent of colonial tents of previous centuries. Several en-suite sleeping tents feature comfortable furniture as well as décor that was
designed and built by local Tanzanian artisans. All tents have large beds, a desk area, 24-hour electricity (solar-powered and backup generator), running water, flush toilets, and camp chairs on the tent’s “front porch,” allowing for game- viewing by day or night. Our first night a baby elephant walked right through camp, 20 meters from our front porch.
Dinner was served at 7:30 PM and a gourmet dinner it was, then off to bed. We were all beat, our scheduled 6 hour drive to camp was over 9 hours due to many unscheduled, but well enjoyed stops along the way.
Day 3 (Day 1 Safari)
Our first day of Safari in the Serengeti. Our wake call was at 5:45AM, mango juice and tea delivered to our tents. Breakfast of made to order omelets was at 6:15AM and we left for our game drive at 7:30AM. The one difference we immediately saw with the Safari in the Serengeti compared to other safaris we have been on, the crowds. South Africa and Botswana if we saw two or three other jeeps while out on a game drive that would be a lot.
At one sighting of lions we saw 25 other jeeps. This concerned us, as the crowds stress the animals. Kawaga agreed, so we kept our time at animal sightings to a minimum.
After seeing many spectacular animals including a beautiful Jackal, we return to camp at 12:00. Lunch of chicken salad, avocado salad and sweet potatoes was served at 12:30 all the food was
gourmet quality. Our afternoon game drive would depart at 3:30 PM, so we decided on a nap.
The afternoon game drive was as, if not more spectacular than the morning drive. We went out to the plains and found a Cheetah stalking a gazelle, clearly the Cheetah was not that hungry as it was not trying very hard to catch the gazelle. Kawaga handed us his binoculars and told us to look out on the horizon. "What do you see?", he asked with a bit of a laugh. As we took turns looking we all came to the same conclusion ants, thousands of them all marching across the plains.
Kawaga started the jeep and headed toward the horizon, he was laughing even harder at this point. As we got closer to the ants we realized they were actually Wildebeest, hundred of thousands of them, all
slowly moving toward us. Kawaga explained this was the great migration. As the rains come to this area so do the Wildebeest. We spent a good bit of time just watching in awe. This is what North America must of been like before most of the American buffalo were slaughtered.
As we watched the wildebeest, we had not noticed the skies were getting darker and darker, creating
very unique shapes in the skies. All of a sudden the skies opened up and the rain was coming down in buckets. It was getting close to dinner, perfect timing as we headed back to camp.
A well deserved hot shower, a great dinner and off to bed.
Day 4 (Day 2 Safari)
Today we asked if we could view some Pink Flamingos, the area we are at is well know for
both Flamingoes and Pelicans. Kawaga is such a great guide he obliged and took us to the waters edge, which is the border between the Serengeti National Park and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Kawaga granted our wish. Feeding at the banks of the lake were pink flamingoes. Every so often one would stretch out it's wings to dry them in the sun, or a group would fly across the lake, what a great photo opportunity.
After viewing the flamingoes we headed for the plains. What we saw was indescribable, hundreds of thousands of Wildebeest as far as the eye could
see. They were all eating and slowly walking north on their great migration. At one point we saw two Hyenas following the herd. Kawaga explained this is the calving season, when the wildebeest give birth to their calves. While a full grown wildebeest is to large for a Hyena to kill, a new born is not. The Hyena's will follow the herd hoping for the opportunity to catch an unsuspecting new born.
Time flies when you are having fun, before we knew it, it was lunch time so we headed back to camp. Over the last few days it has rained off and on with the first night being a torrential down poor. This morning was the first morning with no rain and lots of sun, which allowed the ground to dry. It
had been a few days since we had run so we decided a 3 mile run was in order. One issue, lions! We were advised running was fine as long as we stayed within 10 feet of the tents. The distant from the furthest tents was 2 tenths of miles for a loop of 4 tenths of a mile, back and fourth we went, 7 and a half times. It felt good to be moving.
A cold refreshing shower and then back on game drive. This afternoon we went looking for cheetahs, we did not have much luck, but did stumble upon a pride of lions that had just taken down a full grown Zebra. What a sight, the lions
were quickly devouring the zebra. Clearly there was a hierarchy to the pecking or should I say feeding order of the pride. The male was not present, so the adult females ate first with the cubs to follow. Once a particular lion was full it would walk away and fall asleep, allowing room for another to step in and start eating. Watching all this eating was making us hungry so we decided to head back to camp for some dinner.
I had been sleeping very deep while on safari, it is very dark and the peaceful sounds of the animals puts me to sleep. I was surprised when I awoke in the middle of the night to what I thought was an earth quake. The entire tent was rumbling as if a freight train was going right through. This lasted for about fifteen minutes. I would learn the next morning that the lions had been hunting buffalo, and the herd of buffalo thought a run through camp might be a good escape plan. It must of worked as we did not see any lions eating fresh buffalo when we went out on our morning game drive.
Day 5 (Day 3 Safari)
Today we will be having breakfast out on the plains. What a beautiful way to enjoy nature. Before our
special breakfast we visited the pride of lions that had been eating the zebra the afternoon before. The males had returned and the entire pride was being lazy by the waters edge enjoying their full bellies. It was now our breakfast time, we found a spot in the middle of the wildebeest migration, set up our table and chairs, and enjoyed a fantastic view of the Serengeti.
Once breakfast was complete we were off to find some wildebeest cows given birth. We found some hyenas which meant we were close. We continued our drive and noticed more and more cows with wildebeest babies.
All of a sudden Margarite noticed a wildebeest cow giving birth, what a sight. Within minutes of the calf being born it was trying to stand, within a half hour it was walking, which quickly turned to running. What a great experience. Two days before we saw lions right after they had killed a wildebeest and today we saw a wildebeest being born. We continued our search for calves being born.
While on this search we saw, elephants, giraffes, and even a warthog. We stumbled upon a cheetah and it's cubs hidden in a den.
It had started raining again and it was close to lunch so we headed back to camp.
During our afternoon break we had another torrential down poor. I now know where the saying, "it's raining cats and dogs", comes from. These rain drops were as large as a large cat or small dog. The rain caused a lot of flooding.
By 3:30 PM the skies were still overcast, but the rains had stopped. We decided it was time for
another game drive, this would be our last in the Ngorongoro conservation area.
As we drove out of camp the dirt or should I say mud roads were very slick, the jeep was sliding around like a car on ice. To avoid a washed out area of the road Kawaga went off road and quickly got stuck in a small ditch. The right rear tire was hanging in mid-air and the rear differential was sitting on the ground. We were high, but not so dry.
Kawaga quickly realized we were not going to be moving anytime soon, without some help. Luckily we were only about a quarter mile from camp. Kawaga returned a few minutes later with
another safari vehicle and the camp work truck.
With a little digging and tying all three vehicles together we were able to free our jeep. We created a caravan so to speak. The work truck, the safari jeep and then us. All cabled together all pulling together.
It worked! back on the road again.
We headed down toward the lake, Kawaga was very careful not to get stuck as we navigated the mud roads which were more like small rivers. The wildebeest were crossing the lake at a narrow section, lined up in pairs, thousands of wildebeest
running through the lake. This is a sight no camera or description can do justice.
From the lake we headed up the far bank, we stayed with the jeep that had pulled us out. Safety in pairs (just like the wildebeest), the chances of getting stuck ahead were high.
We came upon a cheetah with 5 cubs. What a sight, the cubs playing with each other being mischievous. There were maybe 8 to 10 other safari jeeps watching the cubs. As the group started disbanding we noticed a common theme, jeeps getting stuck.
As the water from the rain soaked the ground it had become even softer and slicker. We were confident in Kawaga and his driving skills. Our buddy's jeep who had helped rescue us was not as skilled and quickly got stuck. We went to help, he was only about 100 meters away. A few other jeeps came over to help. Big Ed and I were more spectators than helpers. As we watched the rescue we realized we were standing 100 meters from a female cheetah and her cubs. As we continued to watch
the rescue we hoped the cheetahs were not hungry, or if hungry, would notice the guides had a lot more meat on their bones than us.
Once the jeep was free from the mud, we all decided a caravan back to camp would be prudent. We had another fantastic dinner and then went to pack as we would be departing in the morning for the next leg of our trip.
Day 6 (Day 4 Safari)
We departed at 7:30AM not quite retracing the route we took to get to camp. With all the rain Kawaga felt it would be better if we did not cross the plains on our return trip. About half way through our journey we stopped for lunch and had some fantastic African Red Bananas.
We also stop at the Shanga House to buy a few gifts then stopped in the centre of Arusha for some supplies. Big Ed needed an extra set of batteries for his flash light and I needed a cable for my GPS watch. Fortunately my Swahili had improved over the last few days. We found the people of Arusha to be very helpful and quickly found Connie's Electronics. Connie's was like a Radio Shack on steroids. Quickly the owner i.e. Connie, located both the batteries and cable we needed. I think if we asked for parts to build a short wave radio he would of being able to supply us.
From downtown Arusha we headed towards Arusha National Park. Our next stop was to meet our guide that would be guiding us up Mount Kilimanjaro.
We met Msuri (our guide) for our hike briefing, after quick introductions we got down to business.
Msuri explained we will be hiking the Machame Route. Normally this is a 7 day, 6 night route, we will be doing it in 6 days, 5 nights. Msuri had heard Margarite always likes to push herself so he wanted to make the hike more of a challenge for her. I guess Big Ed and I do not get a vote.
After the briefing Kawaga took us for a game drive through Arusha National park. Another fantastic view of nature. We got a glimpse of the Colobos Monkey (Black and White) which is only found in this area. Another fantastic bonus was seeing pink flamingos lining the banks of Big Momella Lake, it was like a blanket of pink surrounding the lake.
What a great end to 4 days of safari where we saw the following animals and birds.
Predators: Lion, Cheetah, Leopard, Laughing Hyena
Animals: Wildebeest, Thompson Gazelle, Grand Gazelle, Mongoose, Slender Mongoose, Common Jackal, Black Jackal, Zebra, African Water Buffalo, Elephant, Giraffe, Bush Buck, Heartbeast Impala, Mice, Eland,Blackface Velvet Monkey, Baboon, Fox, Warthog, Waterbuck, Colobos Monkey (black and white), Hippopotami
Birds: Dark Eagle, Pale Eagle, Fish Eagle, Marshal Eagle, Vulture, Marabou Crane, Starling, Love
Bird, Ostriches, Pink (lazer) Flamingo, Pelican, Redneck Spurfowl, Ginny Hen, Egyptian Goose, Augur Buzzard, Secretary Bird, Kori Bustard, Black Smith Plover, Crown Crane, Bulbul
We were welcomed at the Hatari Lodge like we were royalty, Champaign reception with caviar. Our rooms were spacious and very comfortable.
We were getting spoiled by the treatment and quality of both food and service we have been receiving.
Day 7 (Rest Day)
Today we opted for a 3 hour nature and village hike near Hatari Lodge. Makili our guide was very
knowledgeable and spent a lot of time explaining why different things occurred in nature. A very enjoyable hike.
This afternoon we organized and packed, tomorrow is the big day.
Safari Pictures