on safari - part three

We started the day off with a walking safari led by an odd little man from the village, who gave an introduction into the local fauna and flora and led us through a tour of the nearby bushes for 2 hours or so. After that we packed up and go back on the road to Dar es Salaam. About a third of the way into the journey, we encountered a snag. The little gravel road we were travelling on seemed to be somewhat under construction and there were little pits dug along the one side of it, which meant it became a one lane road. A truck had somehow tipped to an angle while trying to avoid the pits on the one side, and had blocked the only side of the road that was supposed to be functional. A group of men (presumably who had an interest in freeing the truck) were digging furiously and sweating profusely under the 38 degree temperatures of direct midday sun. Our driver got out to investigate…then help…and soon so did all the other male passengers in our party.

They did not manage to free the truck, but did make a clearing for the cars to pass around the truck. Yippee!! Everyone got back in the car, and not a second after we attempted to drive off, did we realise we had a flat tire. Great. Everyone go out again for a tyre change. After that, everything went relatively smoothly, until we stopped for lunch at the same dodgy little restaurant we stopped at on our way to Selous. Same menu. Same pit toilets.

We eventually made it to Dar in the evening, having dropped off a few people along the way, and my party checked into our overnight hotel. It happened to be my birthday too, so the hotel restaurant made a little chocolate mousse and the waitresses sang to me J. Beautiful way to celebrate 25 years of life.

The odd little man (allegedly a hunter) who led our walking safari

The truck stuck on the only operational side of the gravel road

Then our flat tyre needed to be changed

My birthday chocolate mousse at the hotel in Dar

The village(s) we drove through

The shady kitchen that catered for our stop over lunches both ways to and from Selous

on safari - part two

Our full day of game-driving began at 7:00am. We saw quite a few animals. The heat was relentless. Especially in our air-conditionless mean mobile. A full 7 hours of sitting in a car spotting game was quite exhausting and for some reason my feet started swelling.

Dinner was lovely, yet again. Watching the sunset, champagne in hand, a bon fire going and decent company, made it a beautiful evening. An octopus starter was rather unwelcome (at least to me), but the tuna and vege main was pretty decent. After dinner, more wine was served and we all sat around the bon fire chatting for end of time. Then we sailed back to the campsite and one of the boys in the group produced a bottle of native vodka. More needn't be said.

Entrance to the Selous game reserve

Hippos

A heard of elephant

Lanky girraffes

The dinner venue

Octopus. Next time, I'll pass on this one

Tanzania: In short

On Safai - Part One

I spent two weeks of December on vacation in Tanzania. The itinerary was simple: the first 3 days were to be spent on safari, transit overnight in Dar es Salaam, and the rest of the time on the island of Zanzibar. My flight landed in Dar at 1:30am and my first step off the aircraft was met by a gush of thick, hot, stale-ish air. It was 28 degrees celsius with 60% humidity, wind speed of about 5km/h. AT 1:30 IN THE MORNING!  If I say nothing more about the December weather in Tanzania, remember that.

The day began at 7:00am (read: I had about 5 hours available for sleep after landing in Dar, an hour of which was spent getting out of the airport to the hotel, another hour of chatting and “settling in” then a good hour in the morning to shower, eat, etc ..meaning I must have slept about 2 hours).  We were met at the hotel by a driver and chef from a company named Afriroots, together with other travellers who were to join us on Safari. The 8 hour drive to Selous (pronounced “say-loo”) was incredibly difficult. The car was not air-conditioned and the heat was scorching. About 70 percent of the journey compromised of driving through rural villages (literally kilometres and kilometres of mud huts that line the road) and the roads were not only gravel, but in terrible condition too, which made it impossible to catch up on any sleep. We had two stops along the way: one for lunch and another to refuel the mean mobile. The lunch time restaurant fed us on a budget and most of my party had a kind of French-fry omelette, while I settled for grilled green banana. Neither of the two meals were anything to rage about, but they did manage to ward of hunger until we got to our destination. The toilets at both stops were pit toilets. The less said about that the better.

Our base camp for the safari was called Hippo Camp. It is a little camp site located right next to the river where you can watch the Hippos whilst having breakfast. Beautiful. We offloaded our goods from the mean mobile into our tents and got on a boat for a sunset cruise, following which, dinner was served. Much to my surprise the dinner was delicious and a bit elaborate considering we were on a budget camping safari. The starter was soup and bread roll. Chinese-style rice and prawn curry made the main and a banana flambé was the dessert.

The mean mobile being loaded up

Petrol station on the way to Selous

The french-fry omelette that became our first lunch

Wonderful little place

Our tents were right next to the river

The breakfast table

Spot the Hippos behind me