Feb 5, Sunday = CAMPING SAFARI TIME !

Feb 5, Sunday

Camping safari in Africa….  I must be out of my mind!  This is MOI; I don’t do camping! 

Departure from the Outpost Lodge was early and we had a 3 hour drive to reach  Mto wa Mbu village, where we would be camping for the first night.  The drive was interesting since it was really my first look at the countryside.   Nicely paved roads and our driver Elias joked about our reaction to the multiple speed bumps along the way….  “Enjoy them !   Later on you will get a Tanzanian massage”   and Deo explained that the Serengeti park roads were quite bumpy and that was going to be our massage.

 Masi walking beside the road 

 Masi family waiting for ? ? beside the road

 Masi village along the way.  Woman carrying a basket on her head 

 Masi man at a store along the road.  He is wearing traditional dress....  and talking on a cell phone !

 Little children tending the herd

 Stores along the road, selling cloth and paintings to tourists

I noticed a young teenager standing beside the road, dressed in a black robe with his face painted elaborately in white.  Deo noticed another one further down the road and explained that this was the season when young Masi boys, 14 to 16 years old, would go through their circumcision ceremony and then have to survive on their own for 3 months in the countryside living off the land.  The elders from their village go out and visit them on a regular basis and pass down the wisdom of their knowledge.  When they return to their villages they are considered to be men.   Traditionally, each one was expected to try to kill a lion and bring back the skin, which would bring great honour to the young man.   Now, since it is against the law to kill lions, this part of the ceremony does not occur.   Lloyd, a real joker with a very quick wit, chimed in that it was “circum-season”.   (He kept cracking these one liners throughout the trip and I should have written them down !)

The campsite turned out to be quite good really, since it was located in Mto wa Mbu village and it was walled-in for security purposes. They even had a pool, although it was in need of cleaning. Our tents were already set up so we simply off loaded our backpacks and went off for our walking tour of the village.

 Irrigation system used to water the rice fields

 Little boy who followed us around for a while... all by himself.... not one watching out for him.

 Rice paddies near the village

 Part of the control for the irrigation ditches

 Walking along the tipsy side of the rice paddies

 Young girl carrying a load of sticks to be used for firewood

 Walking down one of the village streets

The village sprawls out along the highway and then goes deep behind the opposite side from the rice paddies.  We saw a lot of very poor houses.  The nicer ones will take the owner about 6 years to build: they first make the mud bricks, or buy them if they can afford it.  Then the walls go up.  When they have enough money they may plaster the walls, buy or make some doors; most don’t have windows, but may have security grills.  Then when they have enough money saved, they would do the plumbing (outside water source if they are lucky) and possibly electricity (hanging within the rooms, not in the walls).  Then they will buy or make the furniture (very sparse !)  and finally move in.  We are SO spoiled !  We take all our creature comforts for granted.  They don’t.

All the little kids would come out and yell out “Allo !”  and we were expected to respond and wave back to them.   They would keep yelling out “Allo !”  and we would keep responding “Allo !”  until they broke down in giggles.  So cute !

We stopped at a hut where men were carving wood to make souvenirs for tourists.  There are about 125 tribes represented in the village.  It is a meeting point for the artists.  We got a demonstration of intricate carving and could even try our hand at it if we wanted.  Bobby was the only one who gave it a whirl and she did quite well at the few strokes required to cut into the ebony wood.  No protective clothing or gear.  When the artists are cutting into the wood, the chips are flying everywhere and could easily fly into their eyes.  Some of the wood knives are quite sharp and small;  they are sitting on the ground holding the piece of wood between their legs ! ! !   Beautiful work however

 Lovely wood carvings:  masks, bowls, cutlery, statues.  Made out of all sorts of different wood and polished with..... shoe polish !

  Bobby trying her hand out at wood carving

We kept on walking through the village

 Corn cobs drying in the sun.  Once it is dry enough it will be flaked off into kernels and dried again.

 Crossing a banana plantation.   This tree has a flower and a ripening bunch of bananas.  Notice the bananas are starting to point up?

 Another banana tree with flower and a bunch of bananas that is just starting to grow.  They are pointing down.

 The banana tree is a rizone !  I did not know that.  And one tree will only produce one bunch of bananas.  That's it.  It's only good for one year.   When the bunch of bananas has been cut, the entire tree is cut at about a four foot height, and the new shoots coming from the bottom are alowed to grow for the next crop.    Isn't that surprising ?   You would think that bananas would be much more expensive !

 Corn field, partially harvested.  They let it dry on the stalk.

 Making their own mud bricks to build their own houses

 Masi men in traditional dress walking down one of the streets

 A house made of sticks, mud & cow dung.  They will probably add a finishing coat on top...   you think ?

 The "bar / discotheque" in town.

 We stopped at a small hut to taste some homemade banana beer. It’s not made with actual bananas, but with a grain from the flower that is dried and ground up, then mixed with ground millet. They let the mush ferment and you drink the liquid, with floating foaming bits on top.

  Banana beer !   Yes, it tasted as gross as it looked.  More of a millet taste than banana.  

I did take a small sip to be polite and must say that no one from our group seemed to enjoy it, except for the local guides who were accompanying us.

From there we moved onto the paint artists.   Both artist areas are used to train young people who wish to learn.  

 Different styles of painting.  These with brushes 

 These with knives

 This was a housing compound we passed along the way.  Two things to notice:  First the huge satellite dish.  Second the water marks on the building, which are about 5 feet high.  That's the high water mark from the last flood in Dec 2011.   Can you imagine the entire village being under water !    Unthinkable, and yet to live through this every rainy season.

We kept on walking through banana plantations, fields of corn, family compounds and village streets and made our way to an area where one of the Mamas would serve us a feast of local dishes.   Each safari group uses a different Mama so that the tourist wealth is distributed throughout the community.   I was not so sure about eating anything since my stomach had not recovered from yesterday’s latte.   I skipped the meat dishes and stayed with the rice and vegetables, which were delicious.  There was also plenty of fruit and bottled soft drinks.

 Remnants of our meal, a real feast, prepared by one of the mamas

We kept on walking through the village, seeing people in open churches singing (Christian and very well attended).      
We returned to our campsite and got into our safari vehicle for our first afternoon game drive.

 Entrance to Lake Manyara National Park.  Large Baobab with its roots badly uncovered, beside the entrance gate.

 I loved this sign and its meaning.

Lake Manyara National Park is only 330 sq km and the lake takes up most of this space, stretching out about 50 km along the Rift Valley.  The lake itself is salt-based and very shallow, hence the presence of flamingos.  It does expand during the rainy seasons to 200 sq km and is fed by fresh water streams, so the animals can drink from parts of it. 

It’s a compact circuit, criss-crossed with dirt roads and only required a few hours to tour.  Saw lots of baboons and monkeys, some elephants, zebras, wildebeest and even a few lions. 

 In the wooded highlands there are lots of lush forests and waterways.

 Some kind of strange looking monkey checking us out

 A baboon crossing the road behind our vehicle

 Baby baboon on a small branch

   With mama close by
  Baby venturing across the road to follow mama

  Sights along the way

 

 Zebras and wildebeests sharing some space.   A sight we would see over and over again during this safari.

 Wildebeests in a circle, keeping an eye out in every direction, for predators

  Can you see the lions under those trees ?   

Neither could I !    

  Can you see the silhouettes now, with the zoom on ?

Just to the right of the tree stump, in the middle of the photo.   Talk about needing hawk eyes to spot the wild game.

 Frank and Pete taking pictures

 Traffic Jam as vehicles find out about animal sightings

  That’s what we look like in our vehicle, except that there are 7 of us vying for space

 Lake Manyara with its pink flamingos in the shallow waters

 Masi Giraffes = different pattern from African giraffes

  Velvet monkey with their blue balls ! Check it out, that’s not photo-shopped

  Impala (rings on their horns = age)

 BIG elephant.  Check out the length of the tusks

  “It’s a real scorcher today !” 

  "And he’s off and running"

  Look at the size of those ears !

  Check out that spine !

  These blue birds were everywhere, but this picture does not do it justice.  In flight the iridescent wing and tail colours were spectacular.

  Waiting to ford the river

  Someone’s holding up traffic      

  This one just came charging out of the forest and came to a dead stop

  Ground Horn-bill…. Just like in Kruger

 Making our way back out of Lake Manyara National Park

  Karibu !   You're welcome to come back !

  Road side store selling Masi tribal material and other material

 Two little boys walking home

  The roadside near our campsite

 Our campsite at the Mto wa Mbu village.  My tent has the red bag in front of it.

 Our second vehicle for supplies

We returned to our campsite in late afternoon, before the sun went down and had time for a shower, a drink and a rest before dinner was served.   The seven of us are in one vehicle with the driver Elias and our guide/CEO “Chief Experience Organizer” Deo (Deogracias.    When it was time for dinner we met the two camp helpers who are in the other vehicle with all the supplies:  Severin & Festos.   They set up and take down the tents each day, prepare our breakfast & dinner, as well as our box lunches.   We are responsible for our own backpacks and sleeping bags.

Since we have a very early departure and a very long drive to get to the Serengeti tomorrow, it was an “early to bed” night.   I was quite comfortable in my tent since I was alone and did not have to share.  My “sleeping bag” arrangement worked fine.  If it had not been for my continued lower digestive problems it would have been fine.

February 3, Friday & February 4, Saturday

February 3, Friday

I walked back to the ATM today since I can only get 200,000 shillings at a time from the machine ($1 = 1,600 shillings).  This time, I did not take my purse; I just left with my cards in my pocket.  No camera either;  I don’t feel safe walking around these streets taking pictures.  I took the time to walk around many of the  other streets though, looking like I knew where I was going, and this time did not get accosted by any “helpful” young men.

 Streets around my hotel and the market area

  I had to walk on this street each time I went to the ATM machine.   That's a drainage ditch between the road and the sidewalk.  Only rickety boards to cross over.  Garbage everywhere. 

I saw Betty and Trevor again just before they left on their safari this morning. I spent the rest of the day sorting through everything in my suitcase and organizing what I would need to take on the 7-day safari. It is advertised as 7 days, but the first and last day are at the lodge, so technically it is only a 5 day safari.      

February 4, Saturday

Last trip to the ATM machine before I checked out of the hotel and moved to the Outpost Lodge.

 I did discover the nicer side to Arusha on the drive over to the Outpost Lodge.  It's only a 10 minute walk away from my hotel.   Will check it out when I get back from my safari.

 Traffic circle with elephant and rhino statue

 A band playing as they are riding in the back of a truck

 It was only a short 10 minute drive to the Outpost Lodge.  Spent part of the afternoon in their café enjoying a nice Iced Latte !   YUM    Spent some time in my room and got settled in.  

At 6 pm I was meeting our guide and the group of people I would be travelling with:  Bobby & Lloyd (Victoria BC), Frank (Calgary), Peter (Sydney, Australia), Stine & Birgitte (Norway) and our guide Deo (Deogracias Mafemu).   Deo was giving us some documents and details about our trip and I felt more and more queasy.  45 minutes into the meeting I had to excuse myself to find a bathroom.  Ended up running back to my room for privacy and ended up violently throwing up the latte.

I was able to rejoin the group and finish the meeting.  Everyone was planning to eat together !  I had to excuse myself and explain about the latte.  My stomach was not in the mood for any food.   I promptly went back to my room where I was again sick,  this time from both ends.  Everything was coming back out !

After cleaning myself up I went to the bar within the restaurant in the Lodge and was able to purchase a couple of bottles of ginger ale.  Just what the doctor ordered.

We had an early morning wake-up call so I turned in early hoping to get some sleep.   That didn't quite work out according to plan.  My bowels had not finished emptying themselves out !

What a way to start my camping safari ! ! !                          

February 2, Thursday

February 2, Thursday

I can hear the Muslim call to prayers. I can deal with most of these, even if they blare out on loudspeakers into the street, but REALLY, the one at 5 am I could do without !

I met a nice Canadian couple this morning, Trevor & Betty who live near Colona BC. They leave tomorrow on a 2-week safari.

 Cultural Heritage Centre in Arusha, Tanzania

 The traffic and smog along the main road into town 

 Street scenes on the drive into town last night

 Potatoes anyone ?

 The view from my window.  Mount Meru in the distance

 The view on the other side of the football stadium 

 The view from my other window

 Arusha in a downpour mid-afternoon ! 

I asked at the reception desk at the hotel where I could find an ATM, as well as purchase sheets and a blanket. I’m almost certain that I will not be able to find a sleeping bag here and I need something to sleep in while camping. She indicated that she would send one of the men who work at the hotel with me to assist, so at 10 am, off I went with a man in blue coveralls who spoke no English. But he took me straight to the ATM machine about 6 blocks away and pointed out a shop that sold sheets and blankets along the way. It took less than 20 minutes and we were heading back to the hotel with my purchased supplies when I spotted some ladies with their sewing machines set up in front of their homes. So I stopped and got one of the sheets sewn up like a bag. Mission accomplished. The sheets however are made out of course material that could be used for curtains, and the blanket does not say what it is made of ! ! ! There is probably a bit of wool (I’m allergic and it’s a bit itchy) and I probably don’t want to know what the other fibres are. PIC but it did turn out OK and I’m set for camping.

 Lady who sewed one of my sheets into a bag

 Voila !  My sleeping bag is ready.

 The street outside Arusha Crown Hotel

 Arusha Crown Hotel

When I walked back into the hotel, the Canadian couple were there and we had another good chat. They were setting out to walk around so I decided to go with them and explore. We retraced my steps toward the Bank and ATM, which was on a much better street and walked along the shops there. We were immediately accosted by one young man who wanted to show us around. He was soon joined by others and before we knew it there were 4 of them following us wanting to be our personal guides. I kept saying that we were just walking around and did not need guides, but they would not leave. I spotted a shop that sold school supplies and went in to purchase some items for the village school we would be visiting during the safari. The gentlemen in the shop were very interesting and we chatted for awhile. Unfortunately when we came back out of the shop the 4 “helpful” young men were still there. It did not matter how adamant we were about not needing their help, they would not go away. It became very aggravating; if I had been alone I might have caused a scene to get rid of them. We ducked into a pharmacy to purchase some items but when we came back out again the “helpful” young men were still there. Trevor wanted to see the market place, so we were led to it. I became very claustrophobic in the narrow spaces between all the sellers, and it was worse once we got into an area that was roofed. The young men would not shut up, regardless of what we said or did, so we ended up heading quickly back to the hotel to escape them. I’ve been in many places before where venders want to sell you their wares, and although they can be insistent, it was nothing like these four guys. I felt harassed. As we neared the hotel of course they insisted on being paid for their time. I was adamant that I WOULD NOT PAY FOR SOMETHING I MADE CLEAR over and over again, that I DID NOT WANT or NEED. Betty and I quickly made it into the hotel and poor Trevor was left to deal with the young guys. It was a very unpleasant experience and that is very unfortunate because left on our own we would have stayed out longer and possibly purchased some items. It took me a while to calm down.  

I had planned on going to visit the Cultural Heritage Centre which I had seen on the drive in from the airport, but I really needed a shower so I went up to my room to shower and rest.  I decided that I needed to rinse out the clothes I’d been wearing that day and while I was at it, I rinsed the sheets I had purchased as well.  

I never did make it to the Cultural Heritage Centre.  Maybe when I get back from the safari.

Feb 1, Wednesday

Feb 1, Wednesday

Checked out of Sea Cliff but since my flight isn’t until later this afternoon, I spent a few hours in the shade of the bar seating area.  Got a taxi to take me back to the airport, where I was flying out on a very small plane with Air Excel, flying out to Arusha, Tanzania (mainland).   The nice thing about it being a small plane was that we were landing at a small airstrip just outside Arusha, instead of landing at Mount Kilimanjaro Airport.   The plane was a 12 seater, 4 rows of 3 seats across, and room for luggage at the back.  It was a 1 ½ hour flight and I ended up sharing a taxi with one of the other passengers to go into Arusha.  

I was able to take a few pictures as we arrived on the outskirts of Arusha, but by the time we reached the hotel there was total darkness.   This should be interesting !  

My room at the Arusha Crown Hotel is quite nice, very large in fact;  I have a corner room with windows on both sides, so I have cross ventilation.  Went down to have dinner:  fried rice with veggies for only $7,000 shillings (less than $10).

January 28, Saturday - January 31, Tuesday

January 28, Saturday -  January 31, Tuesday

Pool side !   Love it !   Four days of nothing but relaxation around the pool, nice drinks and way too much food.   Stayed under the shade of a parasol but still managed to burn.   Scab finally came off my left knee; looking good; scar shouldn’t be too bad.

Figured why I keep waking up during the night:  the power goes out on a regular basis, for less than a minute each time, but when it starts up again it restarts the air conditioning and that’s the noise that wakes me up !   Mystery solved.

My favourite drink here has become the Blue Lagoon, nice tall, cool, tart and not sweet.  Though I must say that I’ve been quite conservative in that department, drinking more bottled water than anything else.  You would be proud of me Lee Anne for all the water I’m downing.

Glad I decided against taking a boat to get to Dar Es Salaam;  just found out that a boat capsized last fall and 230 people drowned on route to Pemba Island.