Cairo to Cape 2010 Blog
Blog 8 – Tanzania
We had a couple of long driving days ahead of us to the next major highlight – the Serengeti NP. Our drive took us through the tea plantations of Western Kenya before crossing the border into Tanzania. We spent a night camping on the shores of Lake Victoria before entering the World famous Serengeti NP.
We had been warned that the roads in the Serengeti were not unlike the ones in Northern Kenya. But no one seemed too fazed about this ….. after all we were entering the most documented and famous wildlife game park in the World; no one cared the roads might be bad! As we entered the park there were herds of antelope to our left ……. This is the Serengeti!
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The roads were in much better condition than we had expected, or maybe we are now used to African roads. We drove along the road stopping for animals to cross and watching them watch us from a distance. Our 2 nights in the Park seemed to fly by very fast, with great game viewing with some vehicles seeing all three major cats (cheetah, lion and leopard) everyone was on a high. A couple of vehicles had to retreat when a bull elephant gave them some mixed signals, another vehicle had a cheetah step out in front of their vehicle, and one vehicle had some elephants a little too curious brushing up against their vehicle. The evenings were alive with tales and stories of wildlife encounters (of course all from the safety of inside ones vehicle!).
Some of the group took advantage of our time in the Serengeti to treat themselves to an early morning balloon flight over the Serengeti plains.
We slowly made our way out of the park, satisfied we had seen the best the park had to offer. Not far from the Serengeti we were treated to another game park, Lake Manyara. A very different park alive with various types of primates and birds. The Park is well known for its tree climbing lions however I don’t think anyone saw these.
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Tanzania and Kenya were truly living up to their reputation as being the number 1 safari region in Africa.
It was time to bid farewell to the safari country for a while and take in some other sights East Africa has to offer.
We spent a couple of nights in Meserani Snake Park and Campsite, run by a cheerful couple Ma and BJ. With an onsite clinic famous for treating snake bites a number of the group were keen to see some snake bites and learn about the treatment the clinic offered. Unfortunately the clinic had just discharged the last snake bite incident however chatting to the nursing staff and seeing photos of previous cases certainly opened our eyes to the issues facing these rural communities and the great work that is being done locally.
A morning was spent in the village with our local Masai guide learning about life and history of the Masai people in this part of Tanzania. It was a nice change to learn about local tribes from the people themselves rather than reading it in a guide book.
Everyone was really taken by the work Meserani Snake Park does in the community and hope we will have the opportunity to experience similar projects throughout the rest of the expedition.
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Quite a few of the group made their way into the service town of Arusha to catch up on emails and a spot of shopping. Most of this group are Aussies and over the past few days we had been hearing about the floods in Queensland and NSW, we are now hearing about Victoria. A chance to catch up on news from home was welcomed.
We made our way toward Dar es Salaam over 2 driving days. As we made our way toward Dar es Salaam and the Swahili coast we could feel the humidity and heat rising. Dar es Salaam is a port city and a base for a night before boarding the ferry across to Zanzibar. From our base in Dar es Salaam Harry suggested we take Tuk-Tuks to the Zanzibar ferry port as they have priority and are faster through traffic. It was something everyone embraced and loved the experience.
We boarded the (new) ferry to Zanzibar and were delighted to find out it was built in Hobart, Tasmania!!!
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Zanzibar – what a place to relax for a couple of days! We arrived in Stonetown and were met by Africa Expedition Support local representative who had a bus waiting for us to transport us to our hotel for the next 3 nights. Mtoni Marine is a hotel nestled amongst tropical gardens, with a private beach, swimming pool, 2 restaurants and a beauty spa and only a few kilometres from Stonetown. The rooms were spacious, with air conditioning and decorated in true Zanzibar décor.
We spent half a day in the plantations with our local guide Babu who passionately took us on a tour and explained the various spices and herbs that made Zanzibar famous as the “Spice Island”. As a qualified chef he gave us lots of hints and ideas of what each and every spice could be used for in cooking to give it that extra little kick and Zanzibar influence.
A visit to Stonetown for some souvenir shopping was a must however the heat and humidity meant visits to town were short …. After all with a pool and private beach awaiting us who could resist Mtoni Marine!!!!
By the time this blog goes live we will be well and truly into Malawi.
Photos from Anna, Phoebe and Tracey
Click here for more information
Click here for dates and prices
Click here to book this safari
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