The big five and more...

Although we had done a few game drives previously, this really felt like our first 'real' safari. We had booked a 5 day/4 night trip to Lake Manyara, Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater. There were 5 of us on the trip, an Italian (Paulo) who was traveling for one week whilst his wife and child stayed at home and an engaged couple from the Netherlands who were here on a three week holiday (spending as much in 3 weeks, as we have in 3 months).

The food on the trip was amazing! We had our own cook, Isaac, who kept even Jason full (although it only took the group one day to start teasing Jason about how much he eats!!) We ate better on this trip, than we have at any other point in Africa.

The parks were all very different. The scenery in Lake Manyara was beautiful and we saw large numbers of animals all together. Beautiful and green, lush forests with lots of little creeks running through it. Serengeti was amazingly empty, which surprised us. The sheer expanse of grassy plains as far as the eye can see, broken by the occasional acacia tree. The highlight of the serengeti was definitely the leopard that walked so close to the car that we could touch it (don't worry, we didn't). It was amazingly graceful and beautiful... the photos just don't do it justice. We also saw a three cheetahs, the first we saw was a mother with 4 cubs, who were playing, jumping and leaping. At one point they decided to have a little run, and boy do they turn into blurs!! Lastly we went to Ngorongoro crater, where we completed the big 5 by seeing a rhino. We also came across a pride of lions (2 females and 5 cubs) sitting in the middle of the road. Unfortunately the driver was not happy to sit and wait with them (which we wanted to do), as when we came back 30 minutes later they had killed a warthog and were happily munching away. Well, the cubs were eating anyway, with much snarling and growling as they fought over the best bits.

We enjoyed the safari so much, we are now debating whether to go to the Masai Mara as well in the hope of seeing the migration. Ah, decisions, decisions.

To the land of touts

We had had many warnings about Arusha and the persistent touts trying to sell you safaris. We were thus prepared with our response of "Already booked and paid with Shidolya Tours". As we disembarked the bus we were immediately approached with offers of tours and accommodation, so we quickly adjusted our response to include already booked and paid for accommodation too. Walking quickly we found our hotel and decided to give it a go for the night. It was however rather overpriced at 20,000tsh for a dodgy foam mattress, shared squat toilet that was rather smelly by the next morning and a shared shower, so we decided to check out a few others and moved two doors down to a room with proper mattress, private western bathroom and tv for 25,000tsh.... the main difference being the first place was in the guidebook, the second place isn't, so prices are more reasonable.

Surprisingly on our day looking for safaris in Arusha we were not approached by a single tout. Very strange!! Maybe word had got around that we were taken. Booking was very easy, as we had been recommended a tour company by a couple of other travellers and knew the right price and what that included. So we were all organised by 10am and proceeded to head to the Rwanda tribunal.

We were both very interested to go to the tribunal as we will be heading to Rwanda in a few weeks. This is the United Nations tribunal for the 1994 Rwandan genocide which was established in 1995 and you are able to go and watch proceedings. Witnesses are naturally protected, so you can't see them but it was still interesting to see how the hearing works. Very slowly is one way to put it (not surprising as it's been going for 13 years!! There was 15 minutes discussion on when to take a 15 minute break at one point. It took awhile for us to figure out what was going on - we were listening to the defense interrogate a witness. We hope to go back once we've done our safari and hear some more.

Getting back on the horse again.

Or in reality, the bus. After our hellish experience in Ethiopia we were both dreading the bus trip from Dar Es Salaam to Arusha... so much so we did actually vaguely consider flying. But, at some point we would have to return to buses so we thought sooner was better than later. So, we both drugged up on travel sickness tablets and prepared for another 9 hours of hell....

Fortunately, Tanzanian buses are a world away from Ethiopian buses. There were only four seats across.. .and they were actual seats rather than a bench. Plus, there was enough leg room that our knees were still attached at the end of the journey. Then the road, ah the marvelous tarmac road!!! So, we enjoyed the view, actually ate something at the lunch stop (we never managed to eat on Ethiopian buses), and used the toilets at all the stops without gagging. In Ethiopia there was one stop a day and the toilets were vastly inferior to squatting in the bush as people tended to use the floor whilst they were waiting and none of them flushed. In contrast we had 3 stops on the 9 hour journey and all toilets worked, had toilet paper and soap to wash your hands!!!! We were also incredibly lucky to have a perfectly clear view of Mt Kilimanjaro on the way past (usually being so high it is obscured by clouds), which was quite stunning and reinforced the fact that we have no desire to climb it.

Paradise in Africa

We had an absolutely amazing relaxing time on Zanzibar, and ended up spending nearly twice as long as planned. We spent a week at the beach where the most strenuous thing we did was an all day snorkeling trip. The snorkeling was fabulous, with some very interesting fish. Then we sailed back on the dhow to our beach resort, ah...heaven.

After a week we decided to head back to Stonetown to explore a little bit. The main thing here was a spice tour. The spice farms were not at all what we expected, seeming more like how you would grow plants in your backyard. The vanilla (which is a vine)was grown using acacia trees, or whatever else was around. Cardamon grew in the shade of clove trees. We tried all sorts of fresh herbs: ginger, clove, pepper, cinnamon, cardamon etc. Also fruits, where my favourite was undeniably the cocoa!!! The flesh is white and surrounds the beans, you don't chew only suck (this was said very firmly) and the taste was very like mangosteens. We now have lots of photos of us eating cocoa fruit.

On a more serious note we were taken to the slave cave where hundreds and thousands of slaves were held after slavery became illegal. They were dumped down into the cave to await a boat, when it arrived they were taken through a tunnel to the beach for boarding to be shipped around the world.

The great escape

Now, let me say first off that I loved Ethiopia. It is the most fascinating country I have been to, with an incredibly distinct culture and history. But it was a tiring country. After surviving the 2 day bus journey I came down with a second lot of travellers diarrhea and this one continued for days. So rather than going to the south of the country as planned, we decided we had to get out. Jason spent a couple of days doing the walk to the Hilton (for the airline office) whilst I lay around feeling sorry for myself. Meanwhile we also visited the hospital in an attempt to find out what was wrong, and get some antibiotics.... this proved a useless exercise with the high point being when the doctor asked in stilted English "Do you have a fever?" - I don't know! Maybe you could check???! With only two more days to wait until the flight, we decided I would live and hopefully Tanzanian medical care would be more helpful. So on Monday 23rd we set off from 18 degree weather in Addis in the middle of summer, landing in 30degree weather in winter in Tanzania. Ah, how good it was!

Feeling bouyed by escaping Ethiopia we quickly purchased a ticket to Zanzibar and were soon on a tropical island paradise! We heard lots of warnings about the touts in Zanzibar from other travellers, but after Ethiopia where spending 60seconds without being hassled was cause for celebration we hardly noticed there were any here. Also, antibiotics are available over the counter. Luckily my ill stomach seems to have remained in Ethiopia and we are now firmly ensconced on a beautiful white sandy beach beside azure waters, with nothing more to do than complain about the hideous prices. (Bit of a shock from eating for $2 a meal, going to $10 each!!) I think we'll be here awhile...