Hi All

I would just like to make people aware of recent attacks on tourists in Northern Tanzania.

There have been two within the last month. Both have occured close to Makhuyuni.

For those who do not know, Makhuyuni is the village you drive through to ge to: Serengeti, Lake Manyara, Tarangiri etc. It is unavoidable.

Naturally Tanzania is trying to keep this as quiet as possible but people should be informed - maybe future guests should look into flying rather then driving?

I am looking for a link to a report on these incidents - if anybody else can find one please post it here.

Regards
Kibu

Looks like this may be it:

http://www.travelwirenews.com/cgi-sc...1/011149-p.htm

Scarry stuff!

Are they really Somali bandits? or just an excuse? We won't know until the bandits are found, i suppose ........

Hari, they are Somali bandits b/c the goverment says they are (and in fact, they very well might be). Do you really think they would report otherwise even if they found out the bandits were locals? It makes it more remote if they can attach the bandits to Somalia.

Very unsettling. Taking the tourists into the jungle as hostages adds to the alarming and terrifying nature of the crime. Fortunately no deaths or injuries are mentioned.

I also noted that there were 5 tourists. My first reaction is, I would expect a group of that size to be safer than 1 or 2. My next reaction is that the reward for the risk undertaken is higher with more people and cameras/money in the vehicle.

More than a couple of these attacks and a bad reputation in the minds of visitors is established. Those reps are hard to change too. I believe Tanzania's efforts to beef up security and flush out the criminals are sincere and urgent.

Besides relying on the intensified security, what can upcoming visitors do? Maybe have vehicles travel in convoys?

Thanks for the info, Kibururwa.

The link provided has this rather amusing statement:

<b>&quot;This week’s ugly incident of tourist attack in northern Tanzania is second to be reported, the first one was in 1998 &quot;</b>

So according to this, the first &quot;ugly&quot; incident in 10 years ... this is pure <b>bullsh*t</b>.

We've gone to Tanzania three times since 2006 and are aware of several robberies of tourists. Here are just a few that I remember off-hand.

1) Just before one of our trips bandits pretending to be police set up a roadblock at night on the road between the Kili airport and Arusha and robbed at gunpoint people who stopped, including at least two tourist vehicles.

2) On the rim above Manyara a safari vehicle was robbed at gunpoint (cameras, passports, cash) when driving to their tented camp. The guess was the robbers were trying to rob a vehicle carrying cash receipts from the lodge and the safari jeep just happened to drive by and got robbed too.

3) A bit over a year ago there was a robbery on the back-side of Ngorongoro. Supposedly the safari-goer claimed to have lost a substantial amount of cash (I think over $80,000 US). That one actually sounds *exactly* like the one just reported (I think it was a Czech with Japanese or some such combo and Somalis were blamed), so exact that I think it might be the same robbery report just dragged out a year later as news.

I can recall at least two others but not the details.

Then there are the attempted robberies by the &quot;officials&quot;, like when the NCA rangers near Ndutu tried to extort $1,400 from my wife and me last March ...

Wouldn't stop me from going back, but no one should be surprised that these things happen in such a poor country.

Bill

Bill, I wonder if this report I found IS the one from last year, no where does it have a date on it, or at least not that I can see!

Hello Kiburuwa,

I've just spoken on the phone with 3 guides all of whom are frequently through Makuyuni and none of them have heard anything about any attacks at Makuyuni in recent days or months.

Secondly, the post that someone linked sounds extremely similar to the story that we heard a long time ago. Nothing new in there I believe.

Third, Kiburuwa, could you please elaborate more on what exactly you heard and who you heard it from? I think that would help everyone evaluate the story's validity.

Thank you.

Brian, I think you're right about the post Lynda linked to, it's describing the incident from last year.

Just poking around a bit I found this link about a more recent attack near Mto Wa Mbu, the village at the edge of Lake Manyara NP that you drive thru on the way to Serengeti and Ngorongoro (but not Tarangire).

<b>&quot;The last incident involving the attack on tourists took place on June 3, 2008 at Mto wa Mbu. The visitors were robbed of money and other valuables.&quot;
...
&quot;In July last year, heavily armed bandits raided a lodge near Mto wa Mbu and robbed tourists from overseas who were resident there &quot;</b>

Here's the link, which quotes the &quot;Arusha Times&quot; from Aug 2 as the source. The title of the article is <b>&quot;Tanzania: Locals Carrying Military Arms Now Cause of Concern&quot;</b>
http://allafrica.com/stories/200808040881.html

Bill

It's so easy to blame everything on the Somalis, isn't it? I see the same thing happening among the refugee community in the United States.

Come on--AK-47's are everywhere in Africa. I've seen police, military, and security forces with them. I'm willing to bet that the Somalis don't have a monopoly on the small-arms market.

atravelynn--I notice the relative large size of the group that was robbed, too. I've also seen other stories where even larger groups have been robbed in countries that are perceived to be even safer than Tanzania. I had the same question as you do--if safety in numbers isn't the answer, what is?

The numbers part of &quot;safety in numbers&quot; may turn out to be number of vehicles traveling together as opposed to number of people in a single vehicle.

Hi Brian

I do agree with checking to see that claims are correct.

I believe that storey link above may be from a year ago and that is why I have not found anything on the subject to post. As Bill has stated as well that a lot is hidden and anything that cannot be 'hidden' is blamed on Somalis - which is often not the case.

The incident I refer to happened a few days ago. I would love to give more details (i.e. name of safari company and how many people etc.) but I cannot. Many people do not agree with me that information like this should be out in the open but I believe people have the right to know. It was also a larger group of people.

There are a number of incidents that never get reported. I work for a fairly small company and in the last year even I know of four incidents. I also know of one another that did not include tourists luckily but there was a large fire fight very close to one of the popular places on the Northern Cicuit.

At least in trying to 'hide' things awareness is there and I am sure in the backround the police are doing all they can to keep up the good name for the Northern circuit so maybe this will be a huge wake up call to them and they will have extra measures up from this point on.

Regards
Kibu

Kibu,
Given that you are aware of a number of incidents, do you have any particular tips for avoiding these situations/ protecting ones selves should they occur?

Bill,
I remember reading your reports of officials trying to exort money out of you because you were carrying &quot;pro&quot; camera equipment. Do you have any tips for us on how to handle this, should it arise? We have mostly consumer gear with the exception of one rather obvious white lens (400m f4 L).

Thanks

Kibu,
What details can you give us? Certainly you can tell us how you learned of these things? Like I said, I have spoken yesterday with 3 very busy guides who are all over the Northern Circuit and they did not hear anything about these things. Perhaps you are just hearing rumors - if these can't even be documented in the papers.

You certainly can tell us how you heard of these things. Are you in Arusha or where are you based?

Thanks!
Brian

Hi Kavey

I definitly have a few tips.

1.It is better to fly - not just because of crime but the roads are terrible.

2. If possible travel in convoy with other vehicles.

3. (Most Important!)DO NOT stop at Makuyuni. Places closer to Crator etc. are fine to stop at but Makuyuni is an easy target with the intersection. Most drivers will not stop here and continue on but some may. Just say to a driver that you want to drive through and not stop at this place.

Brian

I will not say where or who I am and you have just proven my point. You are obviously one of those who want to hide things like I explained in my last post. I will not argue with you. You say you spoke to three drivers, well I know most of the drivers who do the Northern Circuit and in the last couple of days out of decency I have told each one to be careful when driving through there. The most common response I get from them (at least four so far out of approx. 10) is that they know it is a bad place and they never stop there. I think the drivers you speak to are fictitious. I think you should just look at some responses here Brian and if these experiences are from people who do not even live here......

Regards
Kibu

I have nothing to hide and I'm not trying to hide anything - not at all. I just want to know what's really going on.

I am happy to tell exactly who I am and which company I part-own if anyone would like to know.

The guides I spoke to are not fictitious. I can give their names and phone numbers if anyone is interested. They have heard nothing about an attack at Makuyuni. A couple years ago there was a threat made to the US Embassy threatening tourists on Zanzibar. The US Embassy put out a warning, but I went there with my wife just after the warning. The place was extremely peaceful and when we asked locals about the warning, they mused that perhaps the Kenyans were just trying to scare the tourists back up to Kenya. You get where I'm going with this? I'm not suggesting that you are making up stories, but I am suggesting that just perhaps the stories you've heard are not true.

As for Makuyuni and how dangerous it is, I passed by there in November with my wife and our 1.5 yr old. We even stopped for lunch. It was as peaceful as the rest of Tanzania. Maybe things have changed, but I'd just like to make sure.

Best regards,
Brian

<b>Bill,
I remember reading your reports of officials trying to exort money out of you because you were carrying &quot;pro&quot; camera equipment. Do you have any tips for us on how to handle this, should it arise?</b>

Hi Kavey, hopefully they have stopped doing this. I think it was a short-term reaction to the switch over to smart-cards (debit cards) instead of cash payments for permits, reducing their skimming opportunities.

Tips ...

1) Try to make it a problem between the Rangers and your safari company, not between the Rangers and you. Tell the Rangers you paid ALL the fees to the safari company so they should contact them and not you. Tell them to have the company pay them and you'll straighten it out back in Arusha (they won't charge the company though). Good idea to have a cell phone and a contact # with the company in Arusha.

2) Tell them this is not your first rodeo (even if you have to stretch it a bit), tell them you have been there before and know the rules and there is no requirement for a special permit for your lens.

3) If they haul you to the Ranger station and ask for your passport or lens then it gets dicey. That's when I'd try calling my Congressman back home and having the State Department get involved. We were lucky in that George Bush had just been to Arusha handing out gifts (around $700 million) one day before we arrived so the diplomatic channels were warm and I think when we threatened to call in the State Dept our thieves thought they would be better off picking on someone else.

4) Make sure your lodge manager knows of this extortion. They have to work with the local Rangers but will complain to higher ups eventually.

5) Switch to Nikon. The Rangers only go after the white lenses, not the black ones

Just remember they are bullies trying to shake people up and extort something with a minimum of hassle and the more difficult you make it for them (contacting Arusha, etc) the more likely they'll let you go with a 'warning'.

Bill

We heeded BillH's warnings and were worried about the ranger's trying to extort money from us - we had quite expensive camera equipment with us and I asked our guide about it, first thing. He said the only problems he had were with professional photographers, who had special filming permits which allowed some off road driving. They had to pay extra for the use of each camera and not everybody had done that. Actually, he said the professionals had paid, but a couple brought along spouses or friends with cameras and had not paid for them.

we travelled taz and my husband has got several bodies as well as big lenses. we never ever encountered any problem nor did anybody ask in view to equipment - and we drove quite a portion of our itinerary.

just let it flow and don't worry.

regarding the robbery:
i assume these are isolated incidents - like all over the world.
if you are in the wrong spot at the wrong time - kismet.

would not pay too much attention to that (as long as there aren't many incidents in a row!) and won't let it have any impact on our travels.

dic

Many thanks indeed for your tips Kibu and Bill.

Kibu, our itinerary is as follows:

Transfer to airstrip for Scheduled Air Kenya 11am flight to Wilson; connect to Scheduled Air Kenya 12:40pm flight to Kilimanjaro (JRO), Tanzania; met and transfer - o/n Arusha Coffee Lodge

Drive to Tarangire; game drive to - 3 nts Oliver's Camp

Drive to Lake Manyara; afternoon game drive - o/n E-Unoto Retreat

Lk. Manyara; early game drive; drive to Ngorongoro; afternoon crater tour - o/n Sopa Lodge

Ngorongoro; morning crater tour; afternoon option: Crater Rim Walk - o/n Gibbs Farm

Transfer to Lk. Manyara airstrip for morning flight to Kogatende; you'll be met for transfer to camp - 3 nts Sayari Camp

Transfer to airstrip for flight to Arusha; connect to flights to NBO; met and transfer to day-room Serena Hotel; evening transfer to JKIA for homebound flight

My geography isn't up to working out whether Makuyuni is on our route and I can't find a decent map to check. I'm sure our local operator will be aware of any problem situations but it's good to know for myself too so that I can also have input if necessary.

Bill,
We were Nikon, we switched to Canon! Many, many thanks for the tips, much appreciated!