Trip Report, Tanzania, Sept/Oct 2007, Part 1
 

First, a big thank you to anyone who’s ever posted information here. It was incredibly helpful in planning our trip.

Getting There

We departed San Francisco on September 22, flying NW/KLM, took our Ambien, and woke up for breakfast as we approached Amsterdam. We spent a day and night there to break up the trip, and then it was off to Tanzania. Our flight took us over the Alps, Venice, Italy’s Mediterranean coast, the Sahara (amazingly desolate from 33,000 feet), and the Sudan River.

We arrived at JRO at 8 p.m., to discover the first and only hitch in our trip: the visa fee had been increased from $50 per person to $100 per person. I had carefully divided our money into various tip envelopes, pockets, and other assorted stash spots, so we had to dig around to come up with the extra $100. While I waited in line to pay, my husband, Jerry, went ahead and grabbed our luggage. Even if you didn’t have your visa yet or hadn’t cleared Customs, you could walk over and grab it out of the pile.

With our documentation and luggage in hand, we walked into the arrivals area, where we were delighted and relieved to see someone holding a sign with our name on it. Our guide, Maningo, got us loaded into the Toyota Land Cruiser and delivered us to the Dik Dik Lodge. It was late by then, but the staff kindly fed us a delicious soup and some rolls before showing us to our cottage. The hotel cat, Felo, kept us company while we ate.

The cottage, #3, had a kingsize bed, a sitting area, and a good-size bathroom with a shower and the last blow dryer I would see for several days. Breakfast the next morning was fresh fruit, toast, eggs, bacon, and very good coffee. We walked around the grounds and climbed the viewing tower to see if we could spot Kili (no).

Arusha and Monduli Juu

When Maningo arrived, we loaded up the TLC and set off for Arusha to purchase sodas and bottled water for the week as well as a cheap SIM card. I like visiting grocery stores in other countries, so I went in for a quick look around.

On the streets, we saw lots of beautiful, colorfully dressed women. Probably one of our biggest disappointments was not being able to take spontaneous photos of people. We had taken to heart the warnings that people didn’t like to be photographed without permission and might want to be paid for it. I’m in publishing, so I don’t have issues with paying for images, but we’ve found in the past that when you stop someone and ask if you can take their photo, then they want to pose for you and the photo you actually wanted is lost. So we just didn’t take very many pictures of people.

Before we got to Tarangire, we’d scheduled a visit to a village called Monduli Juu. We picked up our guide, Thomas, and went off-roading to a spot that overlooked the Rift Valley. It gave us a tiny glimpse of Kili. On the way to our next stop, we saw several donkeys hauling loads for women. “Those are Masai cars,” Thomas said. “Pickups,” Maningo corrected. We stopped for a picnic lunch (fried meat and potatoes on a skewer), and then two Masai came and guided us to a single-hut boma. Four children greeted us politely with bowed heads, and we went in and sat and met the family who lived there. It was definitely hot and smoky from the fire, but not so much that it set my eyes to watering—which is pretty easy to do. Basically, we just exchanged greetings and thanked them for showing us their home. We were allowed to take some photos inside, and then we hiked back.

Tarangire

Home to elephants, baobabs, and tree-climbing lions. A lot of people spend only a day or two at this park, but I scheduled three because it was my best—although admittedly unlikely—chance to see African wild dogs. Our first wildlife sighting was of zebra, followed by guinea fowl, dik dik, impala, warthog, giraffe, wildebeest, black-faced vervet, waterbuck, lovebird, and elephant.

“What kind of trees do the lions like to hang out in?” I asked Maningo.

“I didn’t know lions climbed trees,” Jerry said.

At Tarangire they do, but we didn’t see them until the next day. We checked into Tarangire River Camp, where the briskly efficient manager explained the rules to us in a clipped accent and sent us off to Tent 11, where we collapsed and showered before dinner. To summon an escort to dinner after dark, we turned off the lights in the tent and someone came to get us. Dinner was curried lamb with rice. (The next day, the curried lamb made another appearance, in our box lunch, combined with potatoes.)

Our tent was nicely appointed and had a queen-size bed. The water heater was solar-powered, so if you waited until afternoon to shower, you could usually get hot or at least warm water. I figured out on the second day that the easiest way to thoroughly rinse my hair was to switch the flow from shower to faucet and sit beneath the faucet.

So far so good on the spider front. I’m an arachnophobe of the highest order, and my biggest fear was not that a lion would eat me, not that I’d see a snake, not that I’d get malaria, but that there might be spiders in the tents or showers. I’m happy to report that I didn’t see one the entire trip. If Jerry did, he was smart enough not to mention it.

I’ve decided that I no longer want a bed encased in romantic looking mosquito netting. Too hard to get in and out of. We fell asleep to the lullaby of bird and insect noises.

Great start! Your take on 3 days in Tarangire will be interesting as most people do 2 or even less.

Just a hint for the remaining parts. It is easier if you keep them together so people can follow your trip better.

Thanks, I will. And just quickly, I loved Tarangire for the variety of its landscape and for the great sightings we had there.

We slept well, thanks to Ambien. After a breakfast buffet that included fresh fruit and cereal, plus toast and eggs cooked to order, we set off on our first full day of game driving. Tarangire River Camp is about 20 to 25 minutes outside the park itself. As we left TRC, we saw a troop of baboons raiding the garbage to our left and a couple of minutes later a pack of jackals running off in the distance.

Bathrooms have been a frequent topic of discussion on this forum, so I’ll note here that the bathrooms at Tarangire’s visitor center, the Matete picnic spot, and the Serengeti visitor center were all nice. No pits in the ground, clean, and they always had toilet paper. They didn’t always have paper towels for drying hands, but that was okay. Probably the worst one I remember was at Oldupai. I’m fortunate to have a cast-iron bladder (knock on wood), so I never had to stop to “check the tires.”

I forgot to mention in yesterday’s report that we saw a lioness and a leopard on our first day, in addition to elephants. The leopard was very difficult to spot, so to speak, and Maningo and Jerry had to try several different ways of explaining where he was in the tree before I could make him out. The lioness was easier; she was right on the side of the road.

We aren’t really birders, except in a very casual way, but we were fascinated by the variety we saw. I was particularly fond of the lilac-breasted rollers and the bee-eaters because they were so colorful. Among the birds we saw this day were a bateleur, a white-headed buffalo weaver, some ground hornbills, a red and yellow barbet, von der Decken’s hornbill, and lots of lovebirds.

The funniest thing we saw today was a giraffe gingerly picking his way down a hill. You never really think about how difficult it must be for them to walk downhill. Three elephants—two adults and a baby—were taking a mud bath at a waterhole.

Tarangire has what’s called the little migration during the dry season, with animals trekking to the Tarangire River in search of water. We got a taste of this when a herd of wildebeest and zebra crossed in front of the Land Cruiser on their way to the river.

We had our boxed lunch of curried lamb, potatoes, cole slaw, a plantain, cookies and juice box at Matete picnic spot. Jerry photographed several birds here, plus a shimmering dragonfly. This was a day for birds, Cape buffalo, elephants, elands, reedbuck, waterbuck, wildebeest, zebra and giraffes.

We returned to TRC around 4 o’clock. I’d scheduled a bush walk so we could get a little exercise. Our Masai guides showed us various medicinal plants, including Sodom’s apple, which they said was good for gonorrhea. Our walk lasted an hour or so and was a nice change of pace.

It was Jerry’s birthday today, and it worked out that we had a beautiful full moon as we were escorted to the dining area for dinner. Some months beforehand, I’d asked our agent if I should arrange a birthday cake in advance or if I could do it on site. “It’s all taken care of,” he e-mailed back.

Toward the end of dinner, we heard a commotion downstairs. Jerry looked at me expectantly, having suspected that I had arranged something for his birthday. I shrugged. “All I asked for was a cake,” I said.

Four or five Masai with spears, pounding them on the floor, came up the stairs and ceremoniously made their way around the dining room two or three times. Then the staff announced that it was Jerry’s birthday, sang Happy Birthday, and presented the cake to a bemused French couple at another table. Once the confusion was cleared up, Jerry cut 27 pieces for the entire dining room, and Maningo joined us at the table for the celebration.

Jerry said it was his best birthday ever.

Our last day in Tarangire, we drove out to Silale Swamp. Jerry had been looking forward to seeing hippos and this is where he got his wish. Not just hippos, but hippos with egrets on their backs. It was from a distance, so we didn’t learn until later just how stinky a hippo pool can be. The swamp itself was a vivid green. Other birds in the area included hadada ibis, an African crowned eagle, a spur-winged goose and an African jacana.

On the way back, I finally saw my tree-climbing lions. We started with four lionesses, each in a different tree. Then we started seeing cubs, playing and peeking out from behind the tree. Two, four, six, eight? One lioness came down from her tree, crossed the road in front of us, and climbed into the tree. A couple of cubs followed. Then the third lioness joined her friends, with the fourth one remaining in her own tree. I know we saw lots of other animals, including a black-backed jackal, but these were the standouts.

We returned to TRC by about 2 p.m. for a late lunch and then collapsed in our tent for a couple of hours. Then it was time for sundowners at the lounge area—rum and coke for me, gin and tonic or a Tusker for Jerry. We sat on the deck and watched the lovebirds as the sun went down.

I had good intentions of recording what we ate, but for the most part it didn’t happen. All I remember is that wherever we went, I always loved the soups. I would have been happy just eating soup the whole trip. After dinner, we had a nice conversation in broken French and English with a woman from Paris. Her husband was climbing Kilimanjaro, so she had come on safari and was meeting him in a couple of days.

It would be difficult to choose a favorite park, because they all had something special to recommend them, but Tarangire was way up there.

Nice report! Tarangire is also one of my favorite parks, although I never saw any tree-climbing lions there (did in the Serengeti.) Keep it coming!

You forgot to mention you saw a leopard (and lion) on your first day! You can go a whole trip without a leopard. Your lions in the trees sighting was just outstanding! With a sighting like that no wonder it was Jerry's best birthday.

WHAT a happy birthday. Great start, Kmania. I'm enjoying it very much. Can't wait to hear more.

I loved Tarrangire also. Waiting for the rest of your trip report, nice start keep going.

Here is a link to some selected photos from our Safari. The pictures are shown in the order they were taken so there's no special grouping of animals, and they're best viewed as a slide show. Please post corrections to identifications in each photo's comments. We hope you enjoy viewing these as much as we enjoyed
taking them!
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/w...p;linkid=link3
Jerry and Kim

Into the Crater

We departed Tarangire for the Crater. When we started up the paved road from Karatu to the Ngorongoro gate, which had a lot of great switchbacks, I volunteered to drive.

“She likes to drive curvy mountain roads,” Jerry told Maningo. “I told you she was crazy.”

At the entrance, we walked around for a few minutes while Maningo took care of the paperwork. I climbed back into the Land Cruiser to make some notes in my journal before we started driving again. The next thing I knew, a baboon was trying to get through the partially open window.

“Hey, get out of here,” I yelled, swatting toward him with my hat. He took off, but then another one tried to come in. By this time, Jerry and Maningo had coming running over and finally shooed them away.

Once in the Crater, we began seeing new animals: spotted hyenas, Grant’s and Thompson’s gazelles, two male lions sleeping beneath separate trees, a golden jackal near Lake Magadi, a brown snake eagle on the ground, Coke’s hartebeest. From far away, Maningo spied two cheetahs (at rest, like most of the cats we saw), and not far from them two or three jackals cruising around. Here we saw our first and only rhino, also at a great distance. More close-up were huge bull elephants and more hippos. A warthog knelt on his knees, so close we could hear him munching. Jerry and Maningo claim to have seen secretary birds, but since I couldn’t make them out, I didn’t write them down.

Maningo taught us a new word in Swahili today: twende, which means “let’s go.” I think we used it a lot with zebras.

At the end of the day, we arrived at the Ngorongoro Serena, dusty but happy. This was the only lodge we stayed in (with the exception of the Dik Dik and our accommodations in Zanzibar). Tarangire River Camp was perfectly comfortable and I’m pretty low maintenance anyway, but I have to admit to being thrilled to have a room with a great shower and a blow dryer. The moon was still full, hanging over the Crater, as we walked back to our room after dinner.

I’d scheduled the Circle Hike for the next morning (I was afraid we’d put on 15 pounds if we didn’t get any exercise for two and a half weeks). It didn’t start until 10, so we slept late and indulged in an in-room massage, which was soothing after four days of jouncing around in the Land Cruiser.

The hike was fun. More explanations about medicinal plants, but mainly we just chatted with our guide. We saw lots of Masai boys herding cattle, most of whom offered to pose for photos. By this time we were running low on small bills, so regretfully we turned them down. Being a dog writer, I was interested that the Masai didn’t appear to have any type of herding dog.

The drive out of the Crater was fabulous. It starts off gradually and goes through a pretty wooded area. Then the fun begins. The one-way washboard road is very narrow, with a sheer drop to the right. Switchbacks galore. Southern California mountain bikers who are familiar with Whiting Ranch will understand when I describe it as “Mustard on steroids.”

“Some people think this is scary,” I said to Jerry.

“That’s because they’ve never ridden a mule down Bright Angel Trail at the Grand Canyon,” he said, referring to a trip we took with my parents some years ago. “This is nothing.”

We rode standing up the whole way. This was the one time I needed the thin leather gloves I’d brought, because I was gripping so hard to hang on. I sat down briefly to put them on. I now see the appeal of off-roading.

Too bad it didn’t last. The road to the Serengeti was awful. Maningo stopped and put the roof on, we rolled up the windows, and bumped our way to the endless plains.

Kim and Jerry: great report so far and some wonderful photos, including lots of great bird shots! In particular the lilac-breasted roller in flight captures the beauty at a great angle and I absolutely love the tiny baby elephant with its muddy legs and the added bonus of the zebra reflection -- that is a very special photo.

Great report and photos. You have totally whetted my appetite for what we may be seeing in a few days! Thanks.

I thoroughly enjoyed your report and photos. I agree with PB that the baby elephant photo is very special. I agree with the statement re: leopards. We spent days looking for one without success in 2006.
Regards,
Eric

You DROVE? Really? Or you just volunteered?

The leather gloves for hanging on have not been mentioned before. Good idea.

Lovely photos! I, too, am impressed by the roller in flight. I've never been able to get that shot!

In the photo of the Regional Air plane, I can see the box they place at the bottom of the stairs. That's what turned over when I stepped on it and caused my fall in July...ah, memories!

Thank you for the report and the pictures. The picture of the baby elephant is priceless! I am learning a lot from all of you fodorites and photographers!

Hi Lynn,

Oh no, I just volunteered to drive, and only on the road from Karatu to the Ngorongoro Gate. Even I didn't want to drive the road out. I was happy to be a passenger then.

Kmania:

Nice write up and pix of Tarangire. We will be there two days in August next year: What was your experience with tsetse's in Tarangire in September?

(We had plenty in Tarangire in January this year, but it was first day on safari and we were too excited to care much!)

Jim

Your photos are beautiful! Enjoying your report too. Thanks for sharing.

I didn't really have any problems with tsetse flies. We saw lots of the black and blue plastic bait flags everywhere but Jerry was bitten only once or twice. Also, neither one of us got any mosquito bites, maybe because it was the dry season. We were fairly diligent about using insect repellent, though, just to be on the safe side.