kearneyjourney

We left the Mapito Tented Camp and drove toward the central Serengeti, where we would have to change cars with the Access2Tanzania team, as our Toyota Land Cruiser had incurred a busted drive shaft, which Ray had taken out the evening before. The damage did not completely cripple the vehicle, but had effectively rendered it a two-wheel-drive car, since the damaged drive shaft was the long part connecting the front wheels with the rear wheels. Accordingly, we could continue driving; but Ray had to remain on easily passable roads and not get us into any difficult spots.

Along the way, we saw the usual cast of savannah beasts – Thomson gazelles, wildebeest, zebra, impala, Grant gazelles, hartebeest, giraffes, warthogs, ostriches; and the highlight was an impressive male lion sitting near a herd of zebra. As usual, this beautiful specimen was doing nothing and was unimpressed as we drove up to its resting spot and peered out of the Land Cruiser to take our obligatory photos.

We swapped cars at the central Serengeti station and spent about thirty minutes touring a very interesting exhibit on the Serengeti, its geological history and the diverse animal life. There was also a tribute at the end to Tanzania’s first President, Julius Nyerere, and the German naturalist, Bernhard Grzimek, both of whom were instrumental in creating the Serengeti National Park as a reserve for Tanzania’s rich wildlife. We then drove to the eastern gate of the Serengeti Park and stopped to get the paperwork done for our exit from the park and our reentry into the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. We were very grateful to have Ray there to take care of all this paperwork. The lines were sometimes long; and I could see that there was a healthy amount of bureaucracy involved. While waiting, Chris, Gertrude and I walked up to the overlook point at the gate and had an impressive view of the Serengeti to the west and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area to the east.

We left the Serengeti Park and entered the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and drove up to the rim of the crater, winding our way around to the Sopa Ngorongoro Lodge. We stopped at one overlook point and were immediately surrounded by Maasai youth hawking necklaces and beads and asking us to pay to take their pictures. I cut that visit short and climbed back into the car. This was one of the more bothersome aspects of traveling in Tanzania: along well-traveled tourist routes, you could count on being hassled and badgered by locals trying to get a dollar or two out of your wallet. And they had little understanding for the words “No, thank you” or “Hapana sihitaji” or “Hapana asante”. I have to consider this truly poor salesmanship, as I will not buy under these circumstances, nor would any other members of my family (except the one time Gertrude caved in at the base of Kilimanjaro). I ended up buying my souvenirs more expensively, but under more hospitable circumstances in normal souvenir shops.

It had been a long day in the car when we finally arrived at the Sopa Ngorongoro Lodge. Upon checking in, we were initially not very happy with the place. It lacked the individuality and personal touch of the other lodges and the tented camps.

This lodge is part of a chain and thus a bit large and impersonal; but we discovered that the personnel were very friendly and helpful and made a big effort to make their guests happy. Above all, the view from the Lodge was unbeatable, pitched right on the rim of the crater with a full western exposure. Also, this lodge has a virtually private road down into the crater, which makes accessing the crater trouble-free. Finally, the rooms are large and comfortable; and the food is pretty decent. We were glad that we hadn’t booked more than two nights in such a large tourist lodge; but I would definitely recommend this place to anybody visiting the crater, since it is unforgettable simply by virtue of its location.

This day was also memorable for the simple fact that, finally, all our children were healthy again. Whatever they had been suffering from had been eradicated. But I still had to go through about an hour of anger, as I could not find my expensive Victorinox Swiss tool and was afraid I had forgotten it back at the Mapito Camp. It eventually resurfaced under a pair of pants, but not before I had dumped everything out of our luggage and fully refreshed my dormant vocabulary of expletives.

Tags: Travel

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 16th, 2011 at 10:39 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.