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08.29.2005 -- Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar, and Kenya - TANZANIA --
Tanzania: African Safari Ruckus, Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar, and Kenya...
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Maybe you have been chomping at the bit to hear about Maggie's fight. In Tanzania, we booked a safari with a company called Bobby Tours. They touted themselves as a locally or native owned company and had competitive rates when it came to camping Safari's. Safaris by the way can be atrociously expensive. After booking the Safari, we found that some of our money had simply disappeared in the process they required for wiring the deposit (half of the price of the Safari). Mind you, only $15 disappeared, but we were curious what had happened to the money. Our bank assured us that they had sent the correct amount. When we inquired with Bobby Tours, we were met with a surprisingly defensive response from the owner's snot nosed bratty son. "It is not our problem" did not sit well with Maggie. The Ruddy (Tim Ruddy) temper surfaced immediately and it wasn't pretty. While Todd and the owner tried to hash out where the money "disappeared" to (it appears to be a common problem with them), Maggie shouted with the son. Turns out that someone is stealing a marginal amount of money from a great portion of their clients and they haven't a clue where it is going. You would think that this would be a concerning problem for them, but as far as the owner's son is concerned, it isn't. Also, the native ownership turns out to be Indian - although they were most likely born in Tanzania. There are a boatload of Indians owning and running the commercial centers in the cities of Tanzania. Kinda crazy.
That said, the Safari was wonderful. Our guide, Richard, was of Maasai and Chagga heritage (two local tribes). Richard was very attentive. What we liked most was that we said we hadn't seen a hyena and he went to a part of the Serengeti that was more populated with Hyenas. Same with crocodiles. The big five were a given and he wasted no time in finding Leopards, Lions, and the rest. If you want a good guide, please email or call Richard at richardsaimon@yahoo.com or Mobile +255744894070. Iddi, our cook wasn't bad either... Todd's Katumbi (full belly) was pleasantly plump the entire week. We finished the week off with a traditional Tanazanian dish (Richard's idea) called Ugali with roast beef. Ugali is a ball of maize (corn meal) and is sorta like sticky mashed potatoes. You grab a chunk of Ugali and some of the meat and eat it with your fingers. The spices in the roast beast were all you needed for flavor.
Oh, one of the best parts of our time in Tanzania was having dinner with Richard's family after the Safari. Wow! It was a spontaneous invitation which we totally appreciated as the view into local homes has been the most favorite part of our trip overall. We met his grandmother, mother, wife, daughter as well as siblings, cousins, friends and other extended family members. It was a great experience.
Before the Safari, we stopped in the city of Moshi which is the location most people climbing Kili would stay a night or two. We did not climb Kili, but did get to see the mountain from a Chagga village outside of Moshi. We did a day trek offered by a company called Tanzanians and Friends Eco-Tourism. It is a brand new company run by a guy that has been guiding local and Kilimanjaro treks for 8 years. He does a great job and we recommend you give him a call if you have any interest in Chagga village treks and home stays, a Kilimanjaro climb or even a safari. He will give a fair price and shoots straight ... meaning he seemed be an honest and forthright guy. His name is Philip Mwassi Mong'ateko and you can reach him at tafet_2005@yahoo.com or +255-748-204753.
Getting to Moshi was a whole 'nother story. Unlike most destinations so far, we did not have a guide book for Tanzania (e.g. Lonely Planet, Rough Guides, etc.). So we were steering blindly. Winging it in Tanzania is not recommended unless you really like to throw money in the trash can. Upon arriving in Dar es Salaam, we met a gentleman (overstatement) at the airport information desk named David. Steer clear of David and anyone at or near the information desk in Dar - unless of course you like to be ripped off. We were. The bad thing is we knew we were being ripped off, and Maggie told him we knew he was ripping us off, but we simply had no clue how much he was ripping us off. Like the boy scouts, always be prepared (i.e. have a guide book) and/or steer clear of the Dar airport information desk. Call us crazy. How much did we get ripped off? We paid $60 for a taxi ride to the bus station (which should have cost $5 - $10) and 2 bus tickets to Moshi (which - given the bus quality - should have been $10 each). You do the math. Best part is the bus broke down an hour outside of Dar and took over four hours to fix... we got into Moshi at 1:00 am.
All bad things happen for a good reason? Well maybe this is a case that supports that theory. On the bus we met a couple local "kids" that spoke pretty good English. Rose was a 16 year old Chagga girl. Maskihid was from Dar and is studying at a university in Italy - back for summer holiday. We had dinner and a nice conversation with them while the bus was being fixed.
After the Safari, we went to Zanzibar, an island off the coast of Tanzania. The place has some pretty nice white sand beaches. If you go on Safari in Tanzania, we recommend some downtime in Zanzibar afterwards. It seems to be the standard travel itinerary for many, but we found it to be a good call. After a day or two in Stonetown, we went north to Kendwa beach.
So now we are in Namibia and it was no small task getting here. We took a ferry from Zanzibar back to Dar es Salaam and then flew from Dar to Nairobi Kenya. We spent the night in the Kenya airlines transit lounge. Then we took the first flight in the morning to Johannesburg. Then from j-burg, we flew to Windhoek Namibia landing approximately 30 hours after we left Zanzibar. Whew!
We have been here in Windhoek, Namibia for about 30 hours most of which we have slept. So tomorrow night, we take a train to the coast and the sand dunes. We hope to have great stories. We have met a couple Italians (seems like the entire country is in Africa right now) at the guest house and they have had nothing but great things to say about their time here in Namibia. We are looking forward to exploring more and sorta wish now that we had set more time aside. Oh well... can't see it all.
-- Todd & Maggie
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