kearneyjourney

Since the hotel was so large, they had a special section of the grounds for the tour guides, so Ray was not in the hotel with us, nor was he allowed to have meals with us, which definitely subtracted from our experience. He met us at the hotel entrance at 08:00 for our descent to the crater floor. The Ngorongoro crater is a caldera left over from a massive volcanic mountain that some estimate to have been around 4500 meters high; and some even think it may have been as large as or even larger than Kilimanjaro. The Sopa Lodge is at 2400 meters, so this is the top of the rim that has remained after the crater was formed some two million years ago: Ngorongoro Crater Wiki

Road down into the Ngorongoro Crater

Since the time of year was in between rainy and dry seasons, we had beautiful, sunny weather, but the vegetation in the crater was still green and lush. As we started out, however, the temperatures were quite cool at 2400 meters, only getting warmer as we drove down the road to the floor of the caldera.

Lion after feast of zebra

Ray in front of a yellow-bark acacia tree

Zebra Crossing

For most of our time in Tanzania, we did not feel too overwhelmed by other tourists and had steered clear of the busiest, most traveled routes. But that changed definitively upon our descent into the crater: safari vehicles were everywhere and naturally converged in large numbers on interesting sites where lions or rhinos had been spotted. Moreover, the limited dimensions of the crater (in comparison to the Serengeti) meant that the number of vehicles per square kilometer was simply higher. This was the kind of bumper-to-bumper game-viewing I had read about. There were two times when at least a dozen or more cars lined up to focus on a specific sight: one was a group of four lions (one female, three male – an odd kind of feline polyandry!) fresh from feeding at a zebra kill; and the other was a rhino spotted about 500 meters off the main road. Not an impressive sight, but sufficient for all to tick that animal off their list and claim to have seen the big five. As a side note, all who are obsessed with seeing “The Big Five” while in Africa, the degree of difficulty can be easily ordered as follows: 1) elephants (easiest); 2) buffalo (next easiest); 3) lions (medium); 4) leopards (rather difficult); 5) rhino (most difficult).

Dung beetles with wildebeest dung (before ritual squashing by safari vehicle)

Hyena next to his jacuzzi

Actually, we didn’t really care too much about ticking off the animals on this list and created an alternative “Big Five”, which were even more important to us: 1) Cheetahs; 2) Hyenas; 3) Serval Cats; 4) Kori Bustards and 5) Dung Beetles. We saw all five, but did not get a very good picture of the Serval Cat, which was too quick to retreat into the brush when we spotted it.

Hyena making off with leg of zebra

Katie on Safari

Male Kori Bustard

Regarding the rhino, we got a much better view of it later in the afternoon when the crowds had dispersed. Near the lions, we also saw a hyena carrying off a leg of zebra, which we assumed had been heisted from the lions’ kill. Hyenas were generally a lot more numerous in the crater than in the other parks we had visited. But my favorite sighting was a pair of dung beetles rolling a ball of wildebeest dung down the road. While we were filming it, a Leopard Tours vehicle sped by and smashed the ball of dung, which effectively negated a morning of work for the dung beetles, which both miraculously survived the incident. However, this flat pancake of dung would no longer roll and was essentially immobile for the beetles. We departed and never knew the end of this insect drama.

Rhino in the Ngorongoro Crater

The weather remained great the whole day. At one point, we drove to the top of a hill that is presumed to have been the peak of the mountain before it collapsed. We had our box lunch at a picnic site packed with other safari vehicles. Ray exhorted us to stay in the car and eat, as there were at least ten or more Black Kites swooping over the grounds and dive-bombing careless tourists for their food. I saw one bird attack the hand of an oblivious picnicker holding a piece of chicken. Ray was not so worried that the would-be-thieves might steal something from us, but that their vicious claws might inflict a wound and occasion a quick trip to the hospital. At one point, Ray taught us the so-called “Jambo Song”, which goes like this:

Jambo, Jambo Bwana
Habari gani, Nzuri Sana
Wageni, Mwakaribishwa
Tanzania yetu, Hakuna Matata

After our day in the crater, we returned to the Sopa Lodge and spent some time enjoying the sun and drinks on the west-facing terrace of the lodge. There was a beautiful pool; but the temperatures at that altitude did not really make us want to jump in.

Coffee at the west terrace of the Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge

At dinner, a newly-formed musical group consisting of Lodge personnel came into the dining hall and sang some very nice renditions of African songs. Gertrude tried to get their CD; but since they were so new, they hadn’t recorded anything yet.

Sunset over the Ngorongoro Crater

View of the crater on our final day at the Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge

We left the crater rim on a beautiful, clear day and wound our way down to Karatu and back toward Arusha and the Arumeru Lodge. We stopped at the look-out point near Lake Manyara and were immediately ambushed by a trio of trinket-sellers waving chintzy necklaces in our faces. The price elasticity during our brief three minutes there was impressive: the first offer was $10 per necklace, which quickly became two for $10. By the time we were leaving for the car, we heard the bargain-basement price of three for $5. Out of curiosity, I should have waited for 10 for $1, to see the initial offer fully inversed. But I did not have the nerve nor the patience to endure this harrying.

Baobab Tree near Lake Manyara

This, however, was just foreplay; for we stopped at a Maasai market somewhere between Mto Wa Mbu and Arusha; and the moment we exited the car, a stream of souvenir-hawkers enveloped us. One of them offered me a T-shirt for a pen. He pointed at the silver pen in my shirt pocket and hoped I would trade it for him, but I quickly disabused him of that notion. I did have some pens in the car that I had brought for just such an occasion, but the car was locked; and I didn’t know where Ray was. I went back to the car with a half-dozen Maasai in tow and waited for Ray to return with the keys. I said to the guy with the T-shirts that I would give him a pen for one of the shirts; however, when Ray opened up the car, I quickly learned that the price had gone up to one pen and $10. This was the reverse of the process with the salesmen at the look-out point: as soon as he saw I might be interested, he upped the price. Naturally, I withdrew my offer and left him with a pile of T-shirts and no revenue. They all walked away empty-handed; and I was left with the question: do they ever succeed? I was happy to get out of there.

Ray knew a place that offered safari vehicles passing through a quiet spot for lunch. It was a souvenir shop; but there was nobody hassling us as we sat at the typical round picnic tables with grass roofs. But again, this passive sales approach bore fruit: we ended up buying some musical instruments from the shop and somehow compensated them for providing quiet and clean tables for us to eat our box lunches at. They also had reasonable lavatory facilities, so again the non-confrontational sales approach had prevailed.

While traveling back, we spotted a turtle on the road; and Ray slowed down and veered to the right to avoid hitting it. Gertrude suggested we back up and remove it from the road so that it wouldn’t get killed. But we discovered, upon stopping, that the turtle had been placed there by some Maasai children trying to get tourists to stop and give them a hand-out. Ray reprimanded them for their behavior and told them not to endanger themselves and the turtle with such foolish acts. Of course, we will never know whether they heeded Ray’s admonition. It was clearly an effective way of getting a safari vehicle to slow down and even stop; and along that stretch of road, it might have been their only hope of getting somebody to notice them and maybe even give them something.

Once at the Arumeru Lodge, we spent the afternoon relaxing around the pool. In the early evening, we caught a glimpse of a nearly cloudless Kilimanjaro poking above the trees at the northwest corner of the grounds. I was hoping for a better view the following day, but it did not materialize.

View of Kilimanjaro from the Arumeru River Lodge

On our last day in Tanzania, we agreed to meet Ray at 09:00 and drive into Arusha for some sightseeing. Arusha is a town of about 1.3M inhabitants, but does not appear that large upon first sight (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arusha).

Ray in front of his new house (in progress)

The center is not imposing or impressive and consists primarily of hotels, restaurants, a few government buildings and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. On a clear day, you can see Mt. Meru from the center, but there were too many clouds to the north when we arrived.

Ray decided to park the car at the Arusha Hotel and led us on foot through the city. Arusha has a pleasant year-round climate, because the 1400 meter elevation keeps temperatures at a bearable level and ensures that there is not too much humidity. Moshi, 90 km to the east, is already quite a bit more hot and humid. Ray first took us to a bookstore, but it was so crowded that all of us waited outside while Gertrude browsed the tight aisles. Next to the bookstore, I spotted a business center and went in to see what kind of printers they were using. The good news: HP printers with original HP supplies.

From there, we walked up to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and went to the gate for a short visit; but we learned that most of the personnel were still on holiday, and thus no visitors could enter. Ray then took us to his church, the main Catholic Church in Arusha.

Catholic Church in Arusha

We walked there through a picturesque gully lined with flowering bougainvillea.

Bougainvillea in Arusha

At the site, he told us that the congregation was overflowing the capacity of the church and that a new, larger church was being constructed, incorporating the existing structure. Indeed, faith is very much alive in Tanzania; and there are many churches and mosques across the country. I was also struck with some contrasts: a nativity scene in the church depicted a black (i.e., African) holy family; but the pictures of Jesus in the Stations of the Cross depictions surrounding the church walls were all of a white and Arian quality. This has sometimes been seen as a tough psychological barrier for Africans, as their faith often issues from their former colonial overlords and does not really have African culture and images at its heart.

After this, we stopped at a small restaurant for something to drink. I never drink very much Coke; but in Tanzania, I often resorted to this drink as a relatively safe and predictable thirst-quencher. Prices in local restaurants were very reasonable; and the total for six drinks was less than $5. We walked from there to the main market, but did not stay long. Gertrude tried to take a picture and was immediately remonstrated by a boy who waved at her and said something in Swahili about how she was not allowed to take pictures. Ray quickly picked this up and shot back at the boy, explaining that he had no business objecting to what Gertrude was doing. This did not make for a very nice opening to our visit, so we skirted the main part of the market and headed up a side road to the main roundabout in the city. Along the way, we attracted a beggar who followed us every step of the way until Ray gave him 200 Tanzanian Schillings to leave us alone. Finally, we went to the tourist market in another part of Arusha.

Souvenier Market in Arusha

Not a fan of such places, I waited outside with Kate and Nick, while Gertrude and Chris explored the inner reaches. Chris was actually looking for souvenirs and entered into some haggling with the sales people; and although he felt successful after his haul of three bracelets and four wooden animals, he later discovered that he could have bought the same items for much less at the airport in Dar es Salaam.

We concluded the outing with a very pleasant lunch on the terrace of the Arusha Hotel: $20 per person for a nice buffet with drinks and coffee.

Gertrude & Nick eating lunch at the Arusha Hotel

Here, we also met Stella from Access2Tanzania and thanked her for having planned such an excellent trip for us. We invited both Ray and Stella to join us for lunch, but Ray said he needed to drive Stella back to their office in Arusha; and he did not return until we were finished with our lunch. Somehow, I think he just didn’t want us to pay for his lunch.

We returned to the Arumeru Lodge for some final swimming and relaxation before our long trip back to Austria. The highlight of this afternoon was the birth of a baby Dikdik on the lodge grounds: you almost never see these babies in the wild, because they are so well-hidden by their parents. But this one was born right in the middle of the grounds and lay there for all to see. Within twenty minutes, it was up and running about and took refuge behind a sisal plant. We got some good pictures of it as it lay in the grass struggling to get up on its feet.

Ray met us at 17:00 and drove us to the airport. We all said goodbye and gave Ray a well-deserved farewell hug. The flight to Dar es Salaam went smoothly and punctually; and once there, we had to retrieve our luggage and check-in for the long-haul to Amsterdam and on to Vienna. Dar es Salaam is on the coast of the Indian Ocean and is accordingly much warmer and more humid than Arusha; and the air-conditioning in parts of the airport was not working. I started sweating profusely as we dragged the luggage to the international check-in area and did not stop until we had finally accessed an area where the air-conditioning was working again. We had a long layover in Dar es Salaam and discovered that there was only one restaurant in the whole international concourse. We parked ourselves at a large table and stayed there until they opened the gate for our flight to Amsterdam.

While waiting, I went to the bookstore and purchased Wangari Maathai’s book entitled “The Challenge for Africa”, which has been an excellent introduction into the major issues facing sub-Saharan Africa. After our time in Tanzania, I was left wondering what it would take to transform the country into a prosperous society while simultaneously retaining its rich natural resources, traditions and culture. The weather is excellent, there are no recurring natural disasters impacting the country, the people are peaceful and friendly and clever, the country is fertile, at least in places, and there are significant natural resources (gas, minerals, coal, tanzanite). I was left very optimistic about the future of the country, even though it currently ranks only 148th on the UN’s Human Development Index. Investments in infrastructure, health and education will be the key to unlocking the potential of the country. Also, a visionary government will have to fight corruption and move investments where they are needed and do the greatest good. Wangari Maathai’s book should be read by every member of government in Tanzania; indeed, Tanzania actually gets pretty good press in the Nobel Laureate’s work. Most importantly, the citizens of Tanzania are not fighting amongst themselves, despite the 120 micro-nations in the country. Julius Nyerere’s tenure as President may not have been economically successful, but it did manage to stitch the social fabric together and create a country in which all the separate peoples are “Proudly Tanzanian”, as the sticker proclaimed on the back of our second safari vehicle.

Katie and I having a last drink at Kilimanjaro International Airport

Sunset at Kilimanjaro International Airport

Unfortunately, we had a night flight to Amsterdam, departing at 00:40; and since we were in economy seats, there wasn’t much hope of any restful sleep. Surprisingly, however, we all slept reasonably well and arrived in an almost snowless Amsterdam on time at 08:20 local time. And even though there was a flight departing to Vienna at 09:45, we were booked on a much later flight (13:30) and had to hang out in the food court for five hours. When we finally arrived, it felt good to be home; but we missed Tanzania and Ray and the warm temperatures and the great times of the past ten days. A wonderful trip full of great memories. And we have all vowed to return someday.