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I arrived into Tanzania on Thursday the 13th of March after being told 2 days before by my boss that I was required to go, I was currently working in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa at the time, so I quickly booked my flights and jumped on the plane. I was most pleased to get given the opportunity to go to work in Tanzania as I do love South Africa but it is time to get back to the real Africa again.
The reason why I came to Tanzania was to deal with some volunteers and make sure the new projects are running smoothly as Tanzania is our newest destination. Whilst working I have not been getting involved in any sports this time around as we do not have any sports projects in Tanzania. Instead I have been making sure everything is in place and ready for our volunteers and finding new orphanages for our volunteers to work at. I had to find new orphanages that our volunteers can work at and I found 2 which are extremely poor. The 2 orphanages have very little facilities and equipment a blackboard is the extent of it and the children just sit around doing nothing as they can not afford the school fees.
It was nice to get back working in proper Africa again as things are nice and relaxed here and totally different from the western world. Working in Tanzania can sometimes be frustrating but you learn to adapt to everything and work at there pace.
Arusha itself is a town set up for tourism and there are lots of white people or "Muzingo's" as they are called around here. It is funny in Africa people shout white man when they see you and they are being friendly and it is more of a greeting but try doing that in a western country and you would get linched.
As there are lots of tourists in Arusha they tend to be funny as they don't really have much of a clue, they dress all in there safari gear which they think everyone wears when on safari which really they don't. They are also constantly haggled by the touts and people trying to sell newpapers, local crafts or anything else such as puppys. I am so use to seeing this that I don't even talk to people trying to sell me anything I just walk straight past them and hold my hand up to say no. My thoughts on it are if your not going to buy anything why even waste there and your time, if I stopped to give some one money every time I was asked for money or asked to buy something I would not have any money myself. The local transport is also interesting.
I have worked all over Africa so getting minibuses was a normal thing to do. Here in Tanzania they are called Dala-Dala's. I have to get one to go into town to check my emails everyday and this can often be a squash, I am lucky to get a seat and normally I hang our of the side or stand up squashed against everyone which is not to nice as most people don't tend to have a shower that they can use so some of them can smell quite funky. The Dala-Dala's although they might not seem safe get your from A to B very quickly and without major problems. The largest number of people I have had in my Dala-Dala would be 23 when it is suppose to seat 15.
Whilst working in Arusha I took a few days holiday to go to the Serengeti and Ncogorogro crater. I had to work on the Friday so I could not leave until Friday night to join up with the tour group who had already left and were doing lake Manyara. I was picked up at 3 from my lodge where I was staying and taken to the Arusha bus station and was put on the bus to Manyara which was suppose to leave at 3:30 but of course did not leave until 5 because we had to wait for it to load up with people before it left. Eventually when we got going it was a relief as it was getting hut and humid in the bus and I just wanted to get there. After working in Africa for a year and a half I was completely relaxed and there is no point getting stressed in Africa because it really doesn't help.
When I arrived into Manyara I was collected by Andrew our driver and I meet the other 4 people on my safari all from the states who were lovely people.During the night it had absolutely pored down as it was the wet season in Tanzania and all of the campsite was flooded apart from our tents which were starting to get water around them as the morning went on. We packed up our tents and drove on through to Ncogorogo crater passing through Manyara we saw people standing in waist deep in water and there house totally flooded, but of course they just got on with it and adapted, that is the beauty of the African people, any where in the west and all hell would break lose. We stopped briefly at the crater to take some photos and it was a overcast day so we didn't stay to long. As we moved through the crater park we saw a number of animals and as we got closer to the Serengeti we started to see the migration of animals which was amazing 2 million wildebeests and 200,000 zebras as far as the eye can see like black dots on the horizon. After passing by numerous animals we ended up in our camp which was quite interesting as there was no fencing to protect us from the lions or other animals.
When we arrived a group of Brits told how that in the morning a group of lions had run through the campsite after fighting with another pride. I was not really worried about this as my attitude is if it happens it happens and there is not much you can do to stop it! During the night hyenas were in our campsite trying to scavange for food and I could hear foot steps outside but could not tell what kind of animal it was.
The next day we woke up to some breakfast and headed off in the vehicle. I have been on numerous safaris and seen many animals before but we saw the normal zebras, hippos, warthogs and other animals. The highlight of the day was seeing a kill or the aftermath of a kill. 3 female lions were eating on a wildebeest they had just caught. The dominate female eat first and then when she was full the other 2 tucked into there lunch. It was quite amazing to watch how fast they eat and you could hear the bones crunching and meat tearing, until you see a lion up close you can not appreciate there strength and power. Another highlight of the day was seeing the vultures feeding on a kill. It is like you see on the tv, the swoop down out of the sky down on to the food that is left and then scrap for the bits.
On day 3 we rose at 6am to catch up the sunrise with the acacia tree in the background, it was quite spectacular and is just like on the postcards. Afterwards we were lucky enough to see a leopard in the tree just lying there resting, Leopards are such beautiful animals. After doing a morning of safari we packed up our tents and headed to the crater.
The next morning we woke up again to see the sunrise, not as impressive as the day before but still good. We then headed down into the crater which is amazing. We were lucky to see a cheeter although in the long grass and the beautiful flamingos on the lake. The highlight of the crater was seeing a pride of lions stalking and chasing a group of zebras. We spent about an hour all in total with the pride and it was interesting watching there movements and observations of the other animals in the distance. The pride had 4 cubs as well as 2 males with them. The highlight was watching the females stalk a group of 5 zebras and surround them on 3 sides, one of the zebras saw a lion and went back to the other zebras and then before you knew it the lions were after the zebras chasing them. All the females were chasing one zebra and the male was so close to it that it swiped its paw and caught its backside but did not stop it, I was very close to seeing a kill, but the lucky zebra got away.
All in all the Serengeti and Ncogorogoro crater was the best safari I had ever been on by far, we had managed to see a chase by a pride of lions, a kill, a leopard in a tree as well as everything else you hope to see on safari.
I am generally very impressed with Tanzania and what it has to offer. The people seem to be open and friendly and of course a lot of them will try and charge you 5 times the price because you are white for lots of things but you get use to it and you start to learn what prices are acceptable for what after being here for a while, but overall people are nice and friendly. Tourism is set up here and there is a lot of attractions to see and do and compared to other African countries it is very safe. In terms of Africa I would have to rate Tanzania as in the top 4 out of 12 countries I have seen in Africa.
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