Day 25, Wed, Feb 8th
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Hill
View Hotel, Mbeya, Tanzania to Kisolanza Guest House, 282 km
We
have a nice hotel, no surprise, on a hill top, well fenced and secure for our
bikes; we sit down for dinner, 10 of us and it takes 3 hours to get fed and
watered, complete confusion in the kitchen but this is Africa! Five black guys
show up after us and get fed first; at least the food is good when it finally
arrives.
Joe
notices it first; we are in a different realm, busier, more stressful, people
not so friendly, all go- go in comparison to what we have been through in
Zambia and Malawi. Some observations:
-not
as many photo ops on the highway due to too much traffic and not enough places
to safely exit
-few
speak English altho' a mixture of English signage and local language signage
noticed (Swahili)
-not
many birds; more road kill and no birds to peck away
-very
few bugs especially mosquitos (I guess they come later); windshield and face
visor stays pretty clean altho' gets dusty
-lots
of road construction and a few detours but not a problem beyond a few ruts and
potholes
-this
is the roadway to Dar es Salaam and they are in the midst of making it into a
first class highway
-we
travel on a high plain area at elevations up to 6000' ASL
-still
too many lounging young men, seems to be a way of life
-quintessential
Africa: a woman walking down the road always with something on her head, more
than likely a large pale of water; #2: men or women separately or in small
groups going to or from the fields with the proverbial hoe on their shoulders
-plumbing
non existent and electricity to homes is sparse but available for a price
-bananas
are small and good, sweet
-lots
of green foliage
-I
notice quite a bit of lumber processing and lots of small service business,
mostly all a jumble
-many
motorbikes are employed as taxis
-we
travel in balmy 23.5 weather
Some
bike related stuff:
-peeing
on the route; most guys park their bikes and scramble into the bushes; I park
my bike and while slowly removing my helmet and gloves get my business done
right beside my machine, much quicker and more efficient!
-I
need to get better at watching my rear view mirrors as vehicles sometimes sneak
up on me unnoticed
-the
best way to travel is with two fingers on the clutch and two on the front brake
at all times; need to get better at this habit too
-need
to improve my coordination changing gears while standing on the pegs
-I
have finally ordered myself to wear my customized ear plugs when riding to
block out peripheral wind noise and save my hearing; one more good habit to get
used to
-I
like to honk twice when passing trucks for acknowledgment; similarly for
friendliness a two fingered left hand signal when passing small motorbikes is
kind of nice too
-by
the way, we have been left hand driving all the way so far
-my
Garmin 5 works great; you cancel the previous day's route and plug in the next
one, very efficient
-got
stopped for speeding today, 95 in a 50 zone; could easily have been a 160 zone;
cost 30,000 shillings which sounds a lot but was about $20
Pic
-the
faster you go the harder you hit pot holes; some of their speed bumps sneak up
on you too and they can be like climbing a small hill.
We
get to this Shangri La called Kisolanza, quite, quite wonderful. The
proprietor is a woman in her 60's called Nicky so we have something in common
already. Her grandparents came in the 1930's and it is a working 2000 acre farm
with 400 cattle and 400 grazing sheep. They also grow all sorts of interesting
stuff employing 150-200 in the off season and double that when they are
busy.
Nicky
Ghaui also has a famous sculptor and brother called Mike and I want to go and
see his gallery in Arusha if there is time.
The
Farm can accommodate up to 60 guests so they are heavily in to tourism. Steve
and I are staying in this lovely and quite large cabin complete with a living
room and fireplace a short roadway from the main area, very romantic but I have
the wrong partner!
Nicky
really likes my car rental idea but says that the best turn around place is
Arusha; you then fly the short distance to Zanzibar to by pass the traffic
congestion in the big cities before going home.
We
have said our fond good byes to Andy who has been our competent tour assistant
since Cape Town and tonight we dine with our new tour guide Simon K. Simon is a
52 year old Masai tribesman, he has two wives, six kids and I can already tell
is a good story teller.
Day
26, Thur, Feb 9th
Kisolanza
Guest House to New Dodoma Hotel, Dodoma, 314 km
We
sleep in a bit and head east for Irina which has quite a prosperous feel to it
relatively speaking and then left for the hills to Dodoma. We have quite the
exciting ride on a brand new Chinese built road that has lots of sharp twisties
requiring shifting to third and sometimes second gear; lots of fun. We are at
quite high elevation and descend to about 2000' ASL where it gets pretty hot
again.
Some observations:
-truckers are usually pretty helpful by signaling with a left hand turn signal that it is safe to pass and a right hand one if it is not
-when there is an accident
a bunch of branches are cut down from nearby trees and scattered on the road to
let motorists know there is a problem, pretty efficient system actually
-the many, many 50 kmph
speed limits in small towns need watching carefully and not only for speed
traps; the large sized speed bumps, usually three, could knockyou off your bike
at high speed
-we noticed lots of finely
robed and macheted Masai tribesmen in the mountains herding their livestock;
-there is a huge drought going on in this area, quite serious actually and a
change from where we're were in previous weeks
-there are gigantic sized
hydro towers leading all over the place; we fineally crossed the source, a
hydro electric dam of some size; only problem is, not enough water to run it
properly!
Problem with Steve today; he has been suffering from diarrhea the last day or so and got very dehydrated; he stopped suddenly 40 klics from Dodoma in a paralytic state and collapsed in a ditch after parking his bike. I raced ahead and got Helge and Joe to come back to get his bike, Gary stayed with him and Simon eventually caught up in the chase vehicle to take him to hospital.
He was pretty sick and needed 3.5 litres of IV to partially restore him. Helge was pissed that he allowed himself to get that far gone and still ride so he will get a talking to when he recovers; still need to decide what happens for tomorrow.
That's about it for today.
Day
27, Fri, Feb 10
New
Dodoma Hotel to Ango Hotel, Babati, Tanzania, 400 km
Was
glad to be encircled in mosquito netting as a few critters trying to get at me
last night; they are small, noisy and move quickly; am faithfully taking my
maladrone pill every morning.
Another
day on the road, not too eventful:
-have
seen virtually zero solar panels anywhere on the whole trip and wonder why
-interesting
in this land of infinite young people that I have yet to see a pregnant woman
anywhere, other guys observe the same and wonder why also
-lots
of women on the side of the road waiting for truckers to stop; this is a huge
cause of the unfortunate spread of the aids virus, sad
-there
are lots of Muslims around this area
-a
few schools here and there, few soccer ball opportunities
-the
exchange rate is 2200 shillings per US$ so we are dealing in large amounts all
the time
-the
lack of productivity of the male species likely means that everyone is pretty
relaxed, in a good space and uncaring about tomorrow ie. satisfied with their
lot in life; not sure if this is good or bad
-meet
a nice guy running a grocery store who speaks perfect english with the
following info:
-90% of Tanzanians have Swahili as a mother
tongue
-goods and sales tax is 18%
-Arusha has a popn of 1.5mm while
Dodomo the recently appointed capital from Dar es Salaam is about 800k
-it was honey that I saw being marketed at
many road side stands in one village
-the famous tree with the gargantuan trunk
and small canopy is called the Baobob tree
-the cultivation around here is a lot of
corn, rice and sun flower seeds.
We travel mostly in 22-24 degree balmy weather with countryside that gets increasingly more interesting as we close in on our lovely hotel in Babati, 175 km from Arusha where we down tools and begin our safari experience.
2:18 to 2:24; I am feeling decidedly puckish and pull off to a safe place to hang my head for a cat nap sitting on my bike, quite comfortable actually. I am briefly aware of the sound of a small herd of cows ambling by me eating their cud and shuffling along; 3 bikes go racing by, waking me up. I look around and am surrounded by curious on lookers wondering about the who, what, where, when business so I smile, wave and press on, quite refreshed actually. It is extremely important to recognize the signals of fatigue and take a rest when necessary.
Steve is feeling better, made the easy trip
under Helge's guidance and here we are at our lovely lodgings in the middle of
nowhere.
Day 28, Sat, Feb 11th
Ango Hotel, Babati to The New Arusha Hotel, Tanzania, 175 km
Short trip in on a picture perfect road. Passed untold numbers of safari vehicles crammed with tourists heading for camps for their sanitized view of Africa.
Speaking of sanitized, I am not far removed myself, maybe a
bit ahead of the folks flying over at 35000 feet. Yes, I have seen and learned
a lot but the complexity of these societies as I drive by means that I can only
scratch the surface.
They work in myriad ways. Take the Masai tribesmen I pass
early in the morning in the middle of nowhere minding their herds; no canteen,
no back pack, just a stick, their machete and a colourful robe. Where do they
sleep? What do they eat? Don't know.
Compare that to our stressed out societies at home all
trying to keep up with each other and chase the almighty buck. Many are
unhappy, up to their necks in debt and feeling good about treading water.
These tribes seem at peace with themselves and the
environment around them. They may be poor monetarily and with regard to asset
accumulation but they may be far richer in other ways. Don't know the answer to
that one either.
Witnessed many, many starving livestock driving in to Arusha
as a result of the water drought which has to be affecting the wild ones to
Saw Mt Meru on the way in all 14,000 feet of it and thought
it was Mt. Kilimanjaro so will have to wait for that one!
I was in the lead this morning to head into the Dorobo HQ to
change oil and get ready for our safari beginning tomorrow. Dorobo is one of
approx. 300 touring outfits all fighting for their share of the tourism dollar.
It is a several generational family concern (34 years in business, second
registered touring company in the area) with 14 vehicles and will be looking
after our group.
Finding the place was a bit of a trick as I was in the lead.
We were supposed to take the first right after this secondary airport. The
second right was some goat path so I went right on by with some guy waving
furiously at me.
In the afternoon Waan and I visited the African Cultural
Center art gallery. There should have been a cover charge, it was that good;
apparently the largest art gallery in Africa.
We oogled Mike Ghaui's beautiful paintings and sculptor
exhibits all for sale. It is so expensive you have to inquire in person; one
small rhino piece I liked was $6200 US; lots of his paintings and sculptors
were over $100k.
Day 29, Sun, Feb 12th
New Arusha Hotel to The Wild Frontiers Lodge, Serengeti
National Park by 4X4
After a 2 hour plus ride departing at 6 am we get to the
Ngorongoro Crater which is an approx 20 km diameter crater with 50,000 animals
living in very rich grasslands. The short and skinny is that we saw 4 of the
big 5- elephants, cape buffalo, rhino (6 of 26 in the area) and lions (7
of approx 60 comprising 5 prides) missing only the leopard.
A few important words about the Ngorongoro Crater (NC) which
is responsible for all of the savanah grasslands in the Masai Mara and the
Serengeti. Many millions of years ago 7 volcanoes created 7 peaks over
different time periods. This one is called a 'caldera' for the reason that it
is the only major non water filled volcano area in the world. It has collapsed
into itself and unlike most others has not filled with water thus creating the
rich diversity of wildlife we are seeing.
In addition, during the eruptions the magma ash, sodium
bicarbonate which is alkali based got spread over a huge area. In time it
became brittle, rock like and encouraged the growth of grasslands and
prohibited large forest growth (hard for roots to grow) so vast plains ensued
allowing the harvest of grazing opportunity for so many species.
The NC is a magnificent flatlands surrounded by massive
hills 2000 and up to 3000 feet high from base elevation; some animals even
migrate into and out of this crater! Why they would ever want to leave given
the richness of the grazing opportunities I do not know. As opposed to being
out in the flatlands, the viewing of the surrounding area with its
topographical elevation variations is simply stunning especially in the later
afternoon with the sun creating shadows everywhere.
For this (non) birdwatching ignoramous it is also a viewers
paradise. Our capable guide Simon identifies at least 100 species in all their
majesty of sizes, shapes and colours.
While there are many dozens of safari vehicles around, we do
not feel crammed in at all because there is lots of space to explore. We are
in the supposedly wet, busy season as follows:
Wet. Dec-May
Dry. June-Nov
Busy. July-Sept (school out), Feb
Quiet. Mar-June; Nov-Dec
Day 30, Mon, Feb 13th
The Wild Frontiers to Flycatcher Camp, 4X4
Our lodgings and viewpoints at Wild Frontiers on the side of
the crater were stunning and so they should be as the rack rate is $680 per
night incl three meals for two and I guess that includes a tour of the crater.
We re-traced our route back through the crater and up the
other side to the steep, steep exit. I actually buckled up with the dangerous
drive and the road was built with paving stones to accommodate the elevation
climb.
We worked our way through hours of dry, dusty grassland
outback towards the Serengeti Planes. We saw lots of Masai tribesmen in the
outback and enjoyed the village life as we proceeded.
While we worked for our sightings, there were
many and sometimes we were just plain lucky. We ran across a small pride of 4
lions relaxing under some Acacia trees and stopped for quite awhile to observe
their antics with what looked liked full stomachs. We also enjoyed watching the
interactions and eating habits of many giraffe.
Speaking of Acacia trees, it is an indigenous tree to
Southern and Central Africa and extremely hardy, also quite lovely to look at
with its large canopy interlocking with other Acacia canopies. The tree is also
very smart. Low down it is thorny as hell and I have inadvertently scratched
myself numerous times on thorns that are far sharper than a sewing needle.
Higher up, past a giraffes reach for instance it no longer needs to protect
itself and dipsenses with the thorny part.
Pic
Speaking of hardy animals, take the Thomson Gazelle and
Giraffe. Both elegant creatures, they can exist for long periods without water
due to their long adaptation to the vagaries of nature. They also find moisture
in the most elusive places.
The giraffe feeds on Acacia leaves which is hard to fathom
due to the thorny nature of the tree. Their long, long tongues snake out, wrap
around the greeny parts and suck it off while eluding the thorns, amazing to
watch.
Though I did not fully understand the significance of the
sighting of a Carakal cat I was soon updated by Simon. It was his best sighting
of this animal ever and he only sees a creature like this 1 in 40 outings. This
animal, about 50 lbs is characterized by the most interesting pointed and large
ears.
The highlight of the day involved a sighting by Waan late in
the afternoon. At the 11th hour there was a low shriek from the front left
hand seat. Leopard sighting so we got the last of the big 5. It was a special
momemt and privilege to be able to see this sleek animal in its habitate. Simon
told us later that leopards are in fact far more numerous than lions but just
much more elusive, so we were all surprised to hear that.
4+4
Day 31, Tue, Feb 14th
Flycatcher Camp to Sopa Lodge, Serengeti National Park, 4X4
We found our camp in the Nick of time before dark last
night! Somehow the communication breakdown (this is Africa after all) did not
acknowledge that the damn camp had moved. Many back and forths, stopping at
other camps, heated discussion in Swahili and we all wondered whether we might
be over nighting in the truck.
After breakfast we proceed through an expensive ranger check
point into the Serengeti (actually called Serenget which means plain without
trees). It is dusty and rather uncomfortable due to the drought and lack of
rainfall for a long period.
The Serengeti is 15,000 square kilometres as comapred to the
NC being 8,000 which also includes a large area outside the crater.
The big deal was the Cheetah sighting, a mother and two
offspring one male and the other female. To make it even more special they are
on an extended walk, watching us closely and quite unafraid. We are transfixed.
Later in the morning we see a solo cheetah under a shaded tree but this is a
poor second to the first experience.
The only other occurrence was a quick pee stop at a new
airport strip in the middle of the Serengeti. One of the locals is playing
checkers with aluminum bottle caps on one side and plastic water bottle ones
on the other. I ask him for a game. He cleans me out four straight in short
order. Enough said!
While the second part of the day was a bit anti climatic, it
is judged a success by those far more
experienced than me. We see a total of 31 lions in 9 visitations; most were
lying lazily about with full stomachs and none reached the drama of the leopard
or cheetah sightings. Also, we were not able to see a full maned lion in any of
the prides
We reach this stunning 6* hotel called Sopa Lodges later in
the afternoon all pretty dusty and ready for a swim, shower and good hair
shampoo. It is on the side of a sloping hill looking down over the Serengeti
plains. There are signs all over warning of wild animals and we are in a true
Shangrai La.
(one funny aside: while I am picture taking on arrival I see
a safari vehicle with the door open; inside are 3 baboons making themselves at
home; I sneak up for a few pics and then shoo them away;
Day 32, Wed, Feb 15th
Sopa Lodge to The New Arusha Hotel, 4X4 and charter flight
My favourite animal to look at is the Impala, pure beauty
and symmetry, the colours along his flank imply speed and agility; the horns
have an interesting shape and usefulness; the big chief, the alpha male
is stronger and obviously more muscular than the rest.
This morning we watched an amazing exercise. The dominant
Impala, maybe the most majestic animal for me in all of Africa was herding his
females maybe two dozen into an area getting ready for one of them to come in to
heat; at the same time he was chasing down and separating the horny younger and
smaller ones, working quite hard actually for his conquest.
Random thoughts and observations
-Bird life both large and small very numerous, colorful,
nice to observe, impossible for this observer to name many species
-Many, many trees knocked down by elephants to eat the
foliage, quite destructive; they can eat up to 300 kg per day of green stuff;
-the gnarly water the
hippos rest and crap in sure leaves a foul smell especially with the low water
drought conditions
-Hyenas love to chew from back to front, exhibit
innocence until they open their mouths
-I am surprised about the few number of carnivore animlas
compared to the herbivore ones
-The common Zebra about
the ugliest, least interesting of all the African animals
-Wildebeast same; both
have to drink every day
-Cape Buffalo, sheer power and intimidating fear even from
inside the vehicle
-Lions, not very interesting for 23/24 hours a day, mostly
sleeping with a high rate of breath while they digest their over night kill
-First thing in the morning is the best time to be out,
cooler, better lighting and lots of movement
-The food chain is alive and well, did not see any starving
wildlife despite the severe drought; nothing, nada gets wasted
-when another vehicle speeds by or comes the other way, hold
your breath, close your eyes for 20 or so seconds until the dust clears
-We start to see our first palm trees
-We did this tour exactly
the right way; 7 of us per vehicle, lots of driving and some dust, great
scenery and countryside; repartee on board the best!
We have about a 3 hour
ride through lots of wetland areas resulting in many animal sightings to finish
off a splendid time with Simon K (Siburro in Swahili); we say fond and sad
goodbyes and leave a good tip.
Simon makes the 8 hour
drive home in his trusty Toyota Landcruiser which has taken a beating; we jump
on a 55 minute Cessna Caravan back to Arusha.
Tomorrow we get back on
our motorcycles!
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