The nightly rain showers made driving around difficult and at times I thought the jeep would topple over or get stuck. But of course a safari here wouldn't be one without getting stuck in the mud and our driver obliged although I am sure it wasn't on purpose. As we where going nowhere and with no rocks or sticks in sight, myself and Annukka's dad got out and helped push the car away from the mud, it worked and we set off on our sightseeing again. Thankfully though the jeep didn't topple at any stage.
We left behind the serengeti having seen a lot of different and new animals. We moved onto the Ngrongoro crater stopping beforehand in a Maasai village. While there they sang for us a welcoming song, took us into their homes to see the insides, told us about their culture (the women make the houses while the men direct the cattle), we saw a school where the children are learning swahili and english but are not taught maasai language. After taking some pictures of the local people and the women buying so locally made items we made our way to the crater campsite (Simba A).
We set up the tents just in time before the rain. It was noticeably colder here than anywhere else I have been in Tanzania... almost like Ireland... cold and raining! We set out early the following morning for our descent into the crater. The drive down we could just make out the pinkish colour of flamingoes but there didn't appear from far off to be much of anything down there. However I was proved wrong and we can again a host of animals and the final animal to complete the “Big 5” the Rhino. We also saw a herd of lions really close with cubs which was class. The weather wasn't great, mainly overcast but the scenery was fantastically green however all the rain makes driving difficult so again the roads where not in great condition driving around the crater. After some hours here it was time to finish the safari and get back to Arusha. The drive back up the crater was a bit more daunting than coming down it, in the distance we could see other cars driving up on gravel roads with a 100 metre drop to their right, hoping it wasn't going to be our road it was... however all is well and we made it to the top in one peace. We had our final lunch inside the tent which was kind of nice for the cook to organise it like that and then made our way to Arusha, stopping off briefly in shops to buy some last minute souvenirs at ridiculous prices.
We spent the night in the Impala hotel which was a surprise courtesy of our safari host, an early Christmas present. We immediately took a hot shower which felt great after sleeping rough for so many nights. A bit to eat late and early to bed as we had a flight to Mtwara the following morning. Our safari driving greeted us in the morning and lead us to the Kilimanjaro airport we made our way to the check in desk only to be told they could not find mine or annukka's name but they could find her parents. We where then told we would have to wait until checking in finishes and see if there were any seats for us then. When check in had finished we were informed that only 1 seat was free but they are going to ask the pilot whether I can go in the jump seat in the cockpit at there are no other seats. I was a bit excited at the idea of sitting in the jump sit so temporarily lost my frustrating, it quickly came back again as there was no jump-sit on the plane. They issued Annukka the one remaining ticket and she went to join her parents in the departure lounge. They then had to decide what they were going to do with me. I told them that I needed to be on this flight going to Mtwara. They came up with some suggestions one which was to fly me with AirTanzania to DAR. However, again I told them I am going to Mtwara so is there going to be an airplane waiting for me in Dar to fly me to Mtwara? Of course it would be much easier for the Kilimanjaro airport staff to get me out of Arusha and let the people in Dar think what to do with me. After some time and asking more questions they said that they are asking someone from the plane to come off to let me on. At first people where reluctant to come off but in the end someone did. I was quickly issued a handwriting boarding card, lacking all the necessary security details and made my way to the plane where we eventually took off – 50 minutes later than scheduled.
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