Trip report: Tanzania 6/26-7/13/06

Old Jul 21st, 2006, 10:33 PM
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Trip report: Tanzania 6/26-7/13/06

How do you begin to tell about your first trip to East Africa? There are many ways to tell it…and innumerable ways to procrastinate. I fear if I don’t tell it soon several species will be extinct before I get around to it. There is another problem in writing for this board: that which will be of interest to first timers will be a yawner to the veterans. Here is my best shot. Warning: it got to be quite long, still not long enough to match my enthusiasm for this experience. A bit later I will give a link to some photos.

For first timers, my best advice is to carefully read a good guidebook. While I don’t usually buy LonelyPlanet (since I view it as intended for the backpacker set, which we are not), it seemed to be the most recent guide for TZ. I found it to be excellent…extremely accurate. I also highly recommend “Watching Wildlife-East Africa” by LP. Lots of good info on the critters.

Our trip begins, really, at Machu Picchu. Last August we were stilling in a state of bliss, in the mists of the Incan ruins, and began fantasizing about the next dream trip. The family’s unanimous vote came quickly: East Africa.

My wife, daughters (15 and 18) and I left San Francisco on British Air on June 26. We celebrated our wedding anniversary, June 27 at Heathrow…hmmm. We had seven hours to kill between plans in London, so we took the Tube into downtown…my daughters had never been there. We crossed the street, and ran smack into our neighbors from across the street in California. Small world indeed.

Every vacation has a nightmare, and ours came in the next segment. We took British Air to Nairobi, arriving at 7:25 AM, after about 30 hrs. of travel, only to find that our tickets for the flight to Arusha were not in order. Yes, we were clearly in the computer, but we lacked a paper copy of the ticket. I never did figure out whose fault it was, but I did quickly figure out that yelling wouldn’t help (a Dutchman who called an airport employee lazy was effectively sent to the end of the line… are careful reading of the LP guidebook would have told him that patience and courtesy are highly valued in Africa). In our first introduction to Africa, we stood in one line for an hour, then another line, then another, and another. Finally, we and our luggage were allowed to board. Hurray! BUT, then we were pulled off the flight and told our tickets were not in order. Summarizing a long and tiring tale, our Arusha-based agent finally got involved, and we got on another flight 8 hours later. But it was miserable. And we had some hassles in Nairobi on our return flight too. Not a nice place…and nary an empty seat in the place.

So, one piece of advice is to try to do what I originally wanted to: KLM has a flight directly from Amsterdam into Kilimanjaro (“JRO” apparently now to be called “KIA”). I was too slow booking that, and instead ended up having to go through Nairobi. There are a lot of reasons to avoid Nairobi. But, on to the tale.

We arranged our trip through Multichoice Safaris, out of Arusha. They have just 12 vehicles, and aren’t as big as many companies mentioned on this board. Before I found this board, last in 2005, I was already well underway with Multichoice, and decided to stick with them. It turned out to be a good decision. Agness, in the office, was super in helping me plan the trip, book internal flights and handle numerous other details. I recommend her highly. Ultimately, it just got too complicated to arrange the trip myself. And, once on the safari, happiness boils down to just two things: a good vehicle and a good guide. We had both. We were extremely happy with our guide, Hubert.

By the time we finalllly arrived at JRO it was evening, and we were beat. Hubert met us at the airport, taking us directly to Moivaro Coffee Lodge, 30 mins. away, at the edge of Arusha. While Moivaro can’t compare to the lodges in more remote areas, we were very happy with it as a first stop in a more developed area.

But the time we finished a relaxing breakfast on the Moivaro patio the next morning, our memories of the Nairobi torture were beginning to fade. Our first stop was a “cultural tour”, as they call it, to the Maasai village at Longido, north of Arusha, close to the Kenyan border. While I can’t especially recommend this particular village, I can certainly recommend a stop at some Maasai boma. On trip like this, we expect to see lions and giraffes, but of course there is so much more. And Longido was our first introduction to indigenous people.

The Maasai children apparently hadn’t seen many white people. They wanted to touch my daughters’ sleeveless arms; the guide translated that they thought they didn’t have skin on their arms, just flesh, since it looked so different than their own. They giggled and said the hair on their arms reminded them of a lion. After we visited the inside of a house (banda), they found a bedbug on my wife’s pants, and diligently pulled it off…then they tried to bush something off my daughter’s arm; was nothing more than a small mole…they had never seen one. We had a lot of laughs about that.

I could go on and on about the cultural practices of the Maasai that are different than those in Western European culture. But, I’ll pick just a couple. If a Maasai man has, say, three wives and a friend comes to visit, there is no stigma to spending the night with one of the wives. And we observed in the family we visited that a single family might end up with children that clearly do not all come from the husband…all quite usual among the Maasai.

There are 120 tribes in TZ and dowries vary among tribes. If a Maasai mother is pregnant, a village man may be able to arrange for a future bride. He will give a dowry of four and two goats (this seemed to be the standard rate). If the baby is a girl it will be his future wife (at age 12-13). If it is a boy, the gift-giver will simply be a friend of the family. A cow is worth about $150 in TZ.

Our guide was part of the Hehe tribe, from southern TZ. In that tribe the dowry is a standard rate of five cows, 2 kg sugar and two blankets. Another guide, from the Meru, said the dowry is some tea, sugar and two goats…seems like a relative bargain! Later in this report I will tell about my favorite part of the trip: a visit to the hunter-gatherer Bushmen (Hadzabe). Here the suitor must kill (bow and arrow) the leader of a troop of baboons, and present it to the bride’s family, along with 10 kg honey. That all sounds a lot cheaper and more pragmatic than buying a diamond ring!

Enough for now. More to follow.

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Old Jul 22nd, 2006, 04:07 AM
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great start. keep it going please.

Kevin from California (Ventura County)
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Old Jul 22nd, 2006, 04:12 AM
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Please keep writing!
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Old Jul 22nd, 2006, 10:36 AM
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Trip report…continued

We returned for a second night at Moivaro Coffee Plantation…btw, the coffee at most places on the trip was great. We brought a lot home with us.

Next we headed for Lake Manyara National Park (NP). Before entering the park, we checked into our lodge for the next night: “Wild Africa”, apparently until recently known as Manyara Tented Lodge. This was our favorite lodge of the entire trip. Just ten bandas, and a great setting, with Lake Manyara in the distance. Contact manager Trish Johnson ([email protected]).

Here are few photos from our trip: http://www2.snapfish.com
To sign in to see pictures, use email address [email protected] and password: forboard


In all the lodges we stayed, after dark we had to be escorted to the dining room and escorted back to our room after dinner. We were not allowed to get out of our room after retiring for the evening. The lodges hire Maasai warriors to guard the lodges at night -a most unusual version of the 'night watchman'! After a while we got used to it. It wasn’t just some exaggerated safety measure. Our guide told that just last year a family staying at another park was going to dinner, after dark, to the dining room. The parents walked ahead, with a 5 and an 8-year old lagging behind, playing along the way. A leopard jumped out and drug one child into the bush. Tragically, he died.

Now, I hope I am not scaring any newbies off. On to happier tales or tails. Our first real game drive was in Lake Manyara NP. While Manyara NP may not have the drama of some other parks, it is easy to get to and has most of the animals we saw in other locales. Lots of river baboons, elephants, giraffe, wildebeest, cape buffalo, lesser flamingos, hippos, vervet monkey, blue monkey, dik dik, warthog and more. We were amazed at how close we could get to some of the animals.

Each of us had our own camera, since we all like to take photos…on a strictly amateur level. My wife had a newer Canon PowerShot S80…not an SLR, but it took some great photos. I was fortunate to borrow a friend’s Nikon D70, and SLR. It includes a zoom lens up to 300 mm, and I can definitely see how this length is often recommended for such a trip. It made a big difference on a lot of shots. On the other hand, my camera gear weighed 7.5 lbs. Since you can only have 32 lbs. on internal flights, the camera was a big part of my allowance. By the time I got in my 10x 40 binocs and four books/guides, there wasn’t room for much more. Neither my wife nor I like to travel light, but after a lot of pre-trip fretting, it worked out quite fine on the trip.

Next: the Bushmen (Hadzabe). This was my favorite part of the trip. Animals are great, but people everywhere are always the most interesting animals. We turned off of the main road (B144) near Lake Eyasi and traveled a 50 km dirt road that was by far the worst road I had been on. Don’t take this trip if you have a seriously bad back; otherwise, don’t miss it.

We picked up an additional guide, a member of the Iraqw tribe, who knows the Hadzabe language and serves as a local guide. These hunter-gatherers are only recently out of the Stone Age, and have only been wearing anything other than animal skins for 10-15 years. Even as a tourist, you can see that their lives are changing rapidly, a result of a clash with competing/encroaching tribes. There are just 2,000 left. Among those who accept tourists (and therefore get some revenue to supplement their food) infant mortality is 30%. Among those who do no accept tourists, mortality is 70% (largely due to poor nutrition and birth defects/ inbreeding).

The Hadzabe live in small family units and move every few days, in search of game, hunting with bow and arrow…we got an archery demo and a chance to try our skill (bad!). they marry among themselves and have a lot of birth defects. Also, due to malnutrition and encroachment of other tribes competing for scarce resources. There are just about 2,000 left. For more info: http://www.islamonline.net/English/S...rticle05.shtml



The next stop was Ngorongoro Crater, staying at Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge at a good location on the rim. This isn’t as charming a facility as Wild Africa, but quite adequate for our needs. There really aren’t that many choices of lodgings at the crater.

The crater is about 20 km wide. I had read a lot of criticisms about its popularity. Indeed, there can be 200+ vehicles in a single day. While safari veterans may look for something more remote, we didn’t mind having other cars nearby. There are certainly a lot of animals there –especially during the dry season (now) when animals come there for the water. We did see two black rhinos…one of the few places where they haven’t been poached out of existence.

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Old Jul 22nd, 2006, 10:53 AM
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Great report! Keep it going! I really enjoyed your pictures, particularly the bushmen and lions.
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Old Jul 22nd, 2006, 11:41 AM
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I am really enjoying the details of your report! Can you say more about "There are a lot of reasons to avoid Nairobi." (airport) because we are right now trying to decide whether to fly through there or Dar.

Another Californian
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Old Jul 22nd, 2006, 02:09 PM
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Special Note to Clematis1: as to why I suggest avoiding Nairobi (NBO) if possible, most safaris start from Arusha. Most tourists arrive in N. Tanz through Nairobi, although Dar is also possible. There is another possible option, that seems to me much better, IF it fits your schedule. That is to fly directly into Arusha. I think the only companies that fly into Arusha are KLM and maybe Ethiopian, so there isn’t a lot of competition (therefore perhaps higher price). But, as we all know, the fewer stops you make the less time it takes. KLM flies directly, I think, from Amsterdam to Arusha. Had I been able to fly San Francisco-Amsterdam-Arusha, rather then SFO-London-NBO-Arusha, that would be one less stop. And, as you read in my post, NBO was a huge hassle flying in, and a moderate hassle coming home as well. Airport personnel were pleasant, but not well organized.

If you fly to NBO, then Arusha, you also have one more airfare (I think around $120 or so), but especially more time for the transfer (you MUST allow plenty of time in NBO), when you are very tired. And about the only place to sit at NBO was on the floor. At first I thought I had a good KLM alternative picked out, but I was slow booking it (these trips book up way in advance). By the time I went to book it, the remaining seats were priced WAY higher. British Air London the NBO was then the best. So, you might consider seeing if you can get a good KLM connection and fare. If not, you are probably stuck going thru NBO, along with most others. Others on this forum may have an opinion as well.

Back to the tale…
Chapter 3… still at Ngorongoro

…I always enjoy learning about local languages. Turns out “Ngorongoro” essentially means “ding-dong”…it is the sound made by the bell of the Maasai cattle.

“Arusha” means “different colors”, so named because the Germans (the first European colonists of TZ) started this key trading village with a mixture of peoples, black & white, and several tribes. “Kilimanjaro” means “impossible route”.

The road into the crater from the eastern rim is through some flat acacia trees, that we never tired of seeing; these trees were my image of the African savannah before we went on the trip. When we first got to the crater floor, a spotted hyena ran by with a freshly killed white-tailed mongoose in his maw. The animals we saw at the crater included those I listed previously for Manyara NP, plus lots of cute Thompson’s gazelle, Grant’s gazelle cheetah, ostrich, waterbuck, hartebeest, black-jacketed jackals, common jackal, and more. I won’t try to list all the birds. [But I was tickled by the name “superb starling”…I imagined two early British ornithologists, sitting in overstuffed leather chairs, swirling brandies, “I say, let’s name this pretty one the ‘smashing starling’ “. “No, no, my dear fellow, that sounds much too destructive.”]

The service at Ngorongoro Sopa was commendable. The food was decent. The rooms are huge. But it doesn’t have the quiet ambiance of the “Wild Africa” lodge. Months ago I read a post by Julian on this forum about trying to stay at some smaller lodges to “…get away from the crowds and from the Sopa and Serena hotel experience.” Now I know what he meant. I don’t think that anyone who stays at Sopa or Serena will feel they had a bad day, just that there are some other good choices. Kinda like staying at the Marriott Hotel in the US, instead of a Mom & Pop. But some travelers like the consistent standard of a Marriott.

On to the Serengeti

After two nights at Ngorongoro Sopa we headed for the Serengeti (“endless plain” in Maasai). The asphalt road ends at the east gate to Ngorongoro Conservation Area, so that was the last we saw of paving until we got to Dar at the end of the trip. While the road to Serengeti certainly was far better than the one to the Hadzabe tribe, it still was a lot of bumpy, dusty driving.

We stopped at Oldovai Gorge (a misspelling of the plant “oldopai”, used by the Maasai to make rope) to visit the site of many discoveries of early man. Then on to Serengeti Sopa Lodge, in the central part of the park.

Initially I was disappointed to find out that we were way to late for the famous wildebeest migration (which ended in May). I didn’t read my LP guidebook carefully enough. Had I done so, I would have learned that the dry season (about July-October) is when there are the fewest animals in the Serengeti NP. Wildlife concentrations are the greatest between about December and May. But it turned out to be no big deal, as most of the species are still present, although in smaller numbers. Even the wildebeest include some herds that do not migrate at all. During the great migration, they mingle with others of their ilk, but stay home when the others wander off.

I asked our guide and others about the best time to visit TZ. Consistently, I got the answer that it depends on which park you are visiting. While the wet season may see more animals in the Serengeti, in some parks it is too wet for things like tender pachyderm feet, and the move out of those locations.

As to the Serengeti Sopa, the LP book has an apt description: “ponderous and architecturally unappealing”. We found it adequate, and the rooms are large, but one of the least impressive of the lodgings we used.

Some highlights of our two-day stay in the Serengeti include getting chased by an elephant…turned out to not be a close call, but it sure got our attention. They can run 50 mph. Watching a leopard stalk Thompson gazelle. Three magnificent cheetahs scanning for game from a kopje (rocky hill)…see photos. Watching a lion on the hunt. Also, a “sausage tree” with six lazy lions dozing languidly, limp limbs hanging.

We also experienced our first tsetse flies. Nasty buggers, and almost impossible to kill by swatting; next trip I’ll bring my bazooka ;-) . I found out why neutral colors are so much recommended, as they were noticeably more attracted to black and deep blues. However, in general we found TZ to be much less buggy than anticipated. The four of us only got a total of about 8 mosquito bites in 2 ½ weeks. We would have gotten many more at home. Of course, we were there in the dry season.

The balance of our trip was to be in “the south”, so we headed back toward Arusha. Our first stop on the way back was an overnight at Plantation Lodge, just east of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. A very nice, genteel place. One of our favorites. Charming dining rooms and top service. If you go be sure to have your own private tea on one of the tables on the lawn. A great way to unwind after miles of dusty road, bouncing along in a four-wheel drive vehicle.


Mto wa Mbu (“River of Mosquitos”) and Ng’iresi

We stopped at this village for a “cultural tour”. Well, one person’s culture is another’s squalid, depressing place. My wife hated the place, especially the very persistent peddlers.

Mto wa Mbu includes a number of tribes, all living in the same village. We visited a family of Makonde (known for their woodcarving…this tribe is from the south, and N. Mozambique). My 18-year old daughter was approached by one of the carvers to be his pen pal! The highlight of the village visit was the local school, a one-room place. The students, ages 7-13, sang several songs for us –one in English. As with children around the world, they were quite cute and charming.

Next stop was back in Arusha, staying one night at the Impala Hotel. We didn’t like the place that much…too much like a two or three star hotel of the sort we have at home. We would have preferred to be back at the Moivaro Coffee Lodge, which is a scant 5 km out of town.

You can only spend so many days bouncing along on the safari scene, so I had also arranged to visit one of the villages outside Arusha that have organized “cultural tours”. We visited Ng’iresi, on the slopes of Mt. Meru (my wife skipped it, fearing a repeat of the Mto wa Mbu experience). A visit to some Maasai houses, a school and Meru agricultural projects. A small waterfall. Ng’iresi was nice, but not awesome.

Well, this is indeed a long tale…and this is the short version. This was the end of our time on the Northern Circuit. If anyone is still reading, I’ll be back in a couple of days and will tell a bit about our time at Rufiji NP and Ruaha NP. Also, my shopping tips.

…more to follow
-Norm
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Old Jul 22nd, 2006, 03:44 PM
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Thanks for your report and photos. Looking forward to hearing about Selous and Ruaha.
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Old Jul 22nd, 2006, 04:02 PM
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Still reading and enjoying. Please tell your wife I agree with her assessment of Mto wa Mbu. I was very uncomfortable with the persistence of the men selling their souvenirs.
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Old Jul 22nd, 2006, 05:35 PM
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Enjoying your report, thanks for writing, looking forward to more!
Teri
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Old Jul 23rd, 2006, 12:47 PM
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Many thanks for the flight info, nhulberg. I've got a frequent flyer flight from Washington (we'll visit friends there) to JNB so I have to enter there. Then it looks like we can fly to Dar the next day and get to Arusha (the plan is in the last posts of the thread called "Are we Crazy - $10,000) where we'll overnight at the Arusha Coffee Lodge (which I gather is different from Molvaro Coffee Lodge).
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Old Jul 24th, 2006, 09:03 AM
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"And, once on the safari, happiness boils down to just two things: a good vehicle and a good guide."

Great attitude, great report. Sorry you had problems at NBO; I've never had any troubles there but must agree that it's not always the most organized airport.

Can't wait to hear about Ruaha. Now I'm off to view your photos.
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Old Jul 24th, 2006, 11:05 AM
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I just looked through your photos again. A couple of corrections to your captions (I hope you don't mind) -

#44 I believe is a topi
#93 is a jackal, silver back I think
#101 are crowned cranes

Let's see what others think.

One question, Wild Africa is located outside of Manyara NP, right? How long is the drive from Wild Africa to Manyara NP gate? Thanks.
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Old Jul 24th, 2006, 11:24 AM
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The agama lizard was just about the most colorful I have seen!! Looking forward to reading report from trip to southern Tanzania.
Patty, right on with id's.
Dick
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Old Jul 25th, 2006, 10:24 PM
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Patty & Dick: thanks for the corrections on three of the animal names.

Chapter 4: the South

I had lot of decisions to make in planning this trip, but based on a lot of reading on this forum, I decided to spend the first nine days on the “Northern Circuit”, which I have just described, then 7 days in the south –Rufiji and Ruaha NPs. In hindsight, I think it was a good decision. After so many days of being cooped up in a 4WD, bumping over dirt roads, we were ready to be cooped up in a 4WD in a new location. Certainly, the standard trip to TZ is the Northern Circuit. For those who think it is two crowded (not us), my sense is that there are many less-traveled parks in TZ.

Our trip in the north was quite excellent. There are only two things I might consider doing differently. As I noted earlier, it might be possible to skip Nairobi airport, by flying KLM from Amsterdam to Arusha. But, there are fewer flights to Arusha choose from.

The second possible improvement is to fly from Arusha to Serengeti, and then start the safari. That would save about a day of covering the same area twice. The region west of Ngorongoro Conservation Area and well into Serengeti NP was relatively desolate, with few animals. This wasn’t a huge issue, but might be a slight improvement on the trip. There are several airstrips in the Serengeti; airfare on Coastal Aviation is about $145, one way. Otherwise, we really enjoyed it. As noted earlier, some of the lodgings were much more enjoyable (as with “Wild Africa”) then other (such as “Impala” in Arusha).

Before launching into my tales of the south, let me put in a plug for the book I read on my trip, “Dark Star; Cairo to Cape Town” by Paul Theroux. The author travels, by local bus, the length of the continent. Theroux was a teacher in the Peace Corps in Malawi in the early 1960s, later a professor in Uganda. He returns to areas where he taught and lived to report on whether there had been any improvement in 35+ years, after millions in Western aid. A bit of a cynical travelogue, but very well written…and thought provoking.

On to the south. Arusha has two airports: the international one (“Kilimanjaro”) and the much smaller regional airport. We headed for the smaller one and boarded a 12-passenger Cessna, bound for Ruaha NP. They weighed our baggage and I held my breath until I was sure we were under 15kg per person. They didn’t weigh all out small carryon bags, so we were then far under the limit (my camera bag was 7.5 lbs). There were only two other passengers aboard: a woman and her son. We dropped them off at a stop in Dodoma, the capital. Then on to Ruaha. About a 3½ hr flight total.

My wife chatted it up with the American-born pilot. He was originally supposed to have moved to Macao to pilot a jet. But then 9/11 happened and travel declined; he ended up in Tanzania with a 12-passenger single-engine prop. A reminder of how 9/11 impacted the entire world.

We landed on the little dirt strip…I could well imagine that a times they must have to shoo wildlife off the strip in order to land. The staff from Ruaha River Camp met us with a Korean-made 4WD. The vehicles we encountered in the south were much more open on the sides and top than those we saw in the north. I’m not sure why. My wife has occasional back trouble, and found the bench seats to be much less comfortable than our Landcruiser in the north.

Ruaha and the adjacent areas have TZ’s largest elephant population, and indeed we saw many. Unlike the Serengeti, where the dry season supports fewer animals, at Ruaha and Rufiji wildlife tends to concentrate along these major rivers during the winter. We budgeted just two days in each place; a bit tight, but okay.

Ruaha River Lodge is run by the Fox family, which seems to have quite a good reputation. I think it was Dick Snyder on this board who recommended it so highly…perhaps others as well. The family does have a lot of local experience. The camp manager is Jennifer, originally from Zimbabwe. She keeps a vigilant eye on things, and never seems fully relaxed…not a bad trait for a manger. At the time we were there she had a new assistant manager, Jeannine, an effervescent transplant from So. Africa.

There are just 28 stone bandas at Ruaha River Lodge, and they are quite large and well separated. The stone showers are huge. A few lizards usually share the bandas with guests. A great place to relax after days of bumpy game drives. From the veranda overlooking the river one can relax with a book, entertained by the bellowing of a dominant male impala (will he ever finally shut up!), grazing elephants and wallowing hippos. You can see a lot of game without leaving your veranda.

For first time visitors, something I haven’t mentioned before is that almost all of these lodgings are on generators. Power usually only for about two hours in the morning and maybe three hours at night. Likewise hot water. Since I had some jet lag on the trip, I was thankful I had brought my first ever backpacker-style headlamp. I thought it might be a bit absurd to bring on the trip, but since there was no power at night it was great to be able to read a book when insomnia struck.

One of the most charming aspects of Ruaha River Lodge is that dinners were set on individual tables on the sandy riverbank, just outside the dining room. Lanterns and a bazillion stars light our dinners while Maasai stood quietly at the perimeter. The only drawback to this camp was the rather mediocre food. But, then, it wasn’t very good anywhere in TZ. Go for the animals, not for fine dining.

As to game viewing, our first trip out was an evening drive. We were a bit disappointed in that we didn’t see a lot. We took a chance on the next morning drive and were quite rewarded. Highlights included a pack of wild dogs (they are relatively rare) and two lions enjoying warthog lunch, with six impatient black-backed jackals circling, awaiting a turn.

Before we left Ruaha Jennifer gave us a tour of the nearly-completed new dining room and bar. Unlike the existing one by the river, the new one is perched atop a rocky hillside, with the design incorporating the rocks. Quite nice. The old dining room will continue to be used…we felt we might prefer the old one, since it is so close to the river. One will be used more for families and the other for groups without small children.

Overall, Ruaha was one of our favorite stops. Since the airstrip was only 10 minutes away, it wasn’t a bit hassle to make the trip our next stop.

Next chapter: Selous NP and Rufiji River Camp.

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Old Jul 26th, 2006, 10:58 PM
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My last chapter:

Chapter 5: Rufiji River Camp/Selous NP

Our next stop was Tanzania’s largest park, and indeed the largest on the entire continent: Selous. One guide told us it was the second largest park in the world, but he didn’t know which was largest (I don’t know either: maybe in Alaska/ Yukon???). The Selous is 5% of the entire country (27% of TZ is in parks). Flying in to Rufiji, in the northern Selous, not a single village can be seen. Our flight from Ruaha was only about 45 minutes (Coastal Air). Again, a dirt landing strip, just 1 km from the camp.

We arrived at Rufiji River Camp just in time for lunch. We were in bandas #4 and 5…the only advice I can offer is to get one a bit further from the office, as there is a bit of noise from arriving/departing traffic, plus the generator. The 20 bandas are a tented design; not nearly so charming as at Wild Africa (near Manyara). Before I went on this trip I had that idea that tented=good and masonry=bad. But the stone bandas at Ruaha were quite superior to the smaller tented ones at Rufiji….a tad spartan, though still acceptable to us. Rufiji River Camp is owned by Italians (pardon me, but some prejudices of mine will show here) and the food was quite superior to what we experience elsewhere. We did have a guide we were not at all fond of, but that could happen anywhere.

On our first day, a river trip was suggested. It was just my family, the guide and the boatman. After so many days in 4WD vehicles, the boat was welcome change. Soooo many hippos. Sooooo many Nile crocodiles. The birdlife was prolific; white-fronted bee-eater birds had bored holes in the sandy riverbank. On our first boat trip we were treated to an awesome sunset. Great photo op.

Our game drive was perhaps not as successful as in other locales. On the one hand, there seemed to be a lot more standing water and vegetation in the area. But, while that was attractive, it also made it harder to spot the critters. There were a lot of cute and curios giraffes.

That night, at 2 AM, I heard “munch, munch, munch” right outside out banda. With my flashlight, I peered out: a hippo was mowing the lawn, just 30 feet from our banda. From the river, the bellows of dozens of them continued all night.

On our last day, instead of going on the morning game drive we decided to sit on our behinds and read books. At that point, I felt our 2½-week safari was about the right length. Spending another week in a vehicle didn’t hold a lot of appeal.


Dar es Salaam : the last stop

July 11 was my younger daughter’s 16th birthday. We left Rufiji in the afternoon and were met by a guide at the airport at Dar just 25 minutes later. Our guide whisked us to the Holiday Inn and central Dar. We were very pleased with the lodging. Although it bore the name and logo of the rather generic American Holiday Inn chain, nothing else seemed like a Holiday from home. Nice. It is really impossible to compare this Holiday Inn with what we encountered in the parks. Apples and oranges. But in Dar, I can surely recommend the Holiday.

We really had just a short stay in Dar…into the next afternoon. Due to the reputation for crime, I had tried to avoid it altogether. But, to get to Nairobi from Rufiji, it was necessary to connect through Dar.

I can’t say in our less than a full day in Dar we gained a fair impression of it…but I found it to be much more agreeable than I expected. While Tanzanians consider it to be crowded with traffic, it is much less so than most capital cities around the world. Out of a nation of about 40 million, around 4 mil live in Dar. Compare that to Bangkok, Mexico City, Rome or many other capitals. The traffic was waaaay less than I expected…the drivers more courteous.

It is Nairobbery and not Dar that has the nasty reputation for robberies, especially after dark. I am quite sure there are some bad parts of town in Dar. By the time we got checked in and had dinner (slow service) (our agent, Multichoice Safaris had arranged surprise cake for my daughter’s 16th birthday) it was too late to go out into town anyway.

The next morning, my wife said there was no way she was going out into this supposedly dangerous city. So, my daughters and I went, mainly on a quick shopping excursion, escorted by our driver/guide. While it isn’t a fair survey of the city, we had absolutely zero problems, and the street vendors were way less aggressive than many we encountered elsewhere in TZ.

We were mainly on a mission to score some crafts; I was a man on a shopping mission. I correctly figured out that we now had all the weight allowance (25 kg each) for our upcoming international flight that we had lacked on the internal flights (15 kg each).

We headed first to “Basket House” on Ohio Street, near the Zambian embassy. This shop was recommended on this forum. As those who have been to TZ know, the tribe that is well known for carving is the Makonde, from So. TZ and N. Mozambique. Even in the north, Makonde carvers have simply been imported by employers. So, the carved masks we saw in the lodges really were any more “local” than those offered at shops in Dar.

Prices, quality and selection at the Basket House seemed excellent. We bought two large intricately carved gourds for $25. It was pretty much the first place I encountered that didn’t accept American money…I had to go change some money to shillings.

Next we headed to Maasanai peninsula, just 20 minutes away…the Slipway Craft Market and Sea Cliff market. Both are nearly Western-style shops. I bought a mask for $42 that seemed to me much better than the $90 one I was eyeing at the Serengeti Sopa. There didn’t seem to be a lot of bargaining in either place, on the other hand, I wasn’t trying to wring the last dollars out of the deal.

Overall, I found (based on my limited study) that pretty much everything I considered buying elsewhere was readily available in Dar…good quality at good prices. TZ isn’t really much of a consumer society…there isn’t a lot to buy other then woodcarvings, Maasai blankets, some jewelry and coffee. At our home, the memory of the trip lingers on even now, in our morning coffee.

By 2:00PM it was off to the airport and the trip home. Again, a hassle at Nairobi…not as bad as on the flight in, but a really inefficient place. It was such a relief to get the Heathrow.


Summary

How can I sum up a trip like this? If anyone is still reading, the audience is surely diverse: those know more than I will ever know about east Africa, and lurking first-time dreamers, as I was just 10 months ago.

A wonderful trip, we all agreed. No illness, no insurmountable problems. The pain of Nairobi is pretty much forgotten amid so many other great memories. There is surely a reason why every African traveler we met in America reported it to be a great vacation: people who opt for this sort of trip are adventurous types, and trifling inconveniences don’t get in the way other overall experience.

My daughters (16 and 18) loved the trip; it was a great family experience. I was glad I picked TZ for our trip, as opposed to other countries, though I am sure there are many other fine safari destinations.

Some other thoughts that didn’t seem to fit anywhere else in my tale:

-I sure ended up envying people who had those zip off pants

-re traveling with limited clothing, it really wasn’t hard to get laundry done at the lodges, or quickly wash a couple of things

-we were advised by the tour company to tip our guide a total for our family of $10-20/day. It was not compulsory.

-as reported previously, I was very happy with Multichoice Safaris.

-if you like wine as much as I do, there is lots of great South African wine at reasonable prices…some tasty varieties I have never heard of in America, such as “pinotage”.

-a safari is much more expensive than I expected. The price the tour operator quotes includes a lot of things, such as park fees (up to $100/days, as in Ngorongoro). If you add in all the vaccinations, the binoculars you feel you now gotta have…on and on…it comes to quite a bit. Not a budget vacation. Thankfully, I never added it up. I think our ground package (for a family of four) was about $16,000. That included most meals. It is possible to spend a lot more (some lodges are as much as $1,000 per person per day) or a lot less.

-I didn’t try to comparison shop between tour companies. It just became too complicated to compare apples and apples. I worked closed with the tour company, and then bit on the quote they gave me.

-If you aren’t booking 4-6+ months ahead you may have trouble getting in at some of the most popular locations.

-there were a lot less bugs than I expected

-my wife would demand that I report one of the trip’s biggest drawbacks: numerous disgusting toilets. Bring a roll of tp and a plastic bag for the waste; where it is safe, your guide will help you find a suitable bush.

-a camera with a 300mm lens is a real asset on a trip like this.


I am very appreciative of all the advice I gained from this forum, first as a lurker and then after making a number of posts. There is a lot of great experience being generously shared. A country such as Tanzania is so vast it is nearly impossible to make decisions from afar on where to go and how to get there. This was my first experience with a message board, and I wouldn’t consider another trip anywhere without checking in again.

Well, that is surely enough typing for me, and enough reading for you. If anyone else has questions, I will try to respond. Also, I know there are a lot of experienced travelers out there in Fodorland who can share their opinions.

nhulberg is offline  
Old Jul 27th, 2006, 12:06 AM
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Thanks for the read! Vaccation time for me, haven't been in here for a while. This surely was a nice return to Fodor.

siro
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Old Jul 27th, 2006, 12:47 AM
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I really appreciated that this trip report told it all - the good, the bad and the ugly. You did a nice job.
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Old Jul 27th, 2006, 04:51 AM
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Thanks for the report. We're still gathering info for our trip in September! Might have to buy some zip off pants...
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Old Jul 27th, 2006, 07:25 AM
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Nhulberg,
Thanks for your report and photos, especially the “Maasai man posing”, the warthog and the topi.
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