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| 16/03/2009 |
Once again we are the only people in the camp. On enquiring about reliable workshops in the vicinity we are informed that there is in fact a workshop right on the premises. Well the chief mechanic/manager is Julius and he is very helpful.
Within a few hours the battery stand is rebuild and this time it look as if it will withstand more torture. The re-heat is sorted out and an irritating noise from the rear leaf springs is sorted out.
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| 15/03/2009 |
Arusha here we come! Arusha is our favourite city in Tanzania. It is maybe not the same size as Dar es Salaam but it has everything you desire. From being outfitted for a climb up Kili to popcorn in a can. If a town has biltong and quality meat it will always rate highly with the Steyn family. Add in good, and a variety of restaurants, workshops, hardware stores and we might even consider moving there. There is even a cinema although we won’t be going there.
As we are not going to Rwanda we will spend a few days in Arusha to have the car repaired, get up to date with the children’s schooling, clean the camper and do our laundry which has been accumulating for the past week.
On the way to Arusha we pass an American guy travelling from Nairobi to Malawi on bicycle. He is from Washington DC and travels about 150km every day. Some people are crazy.
We head back to Masai camp.
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| 14/03/2009 |
By 07h00 we are at the entrance to Ngorogoro and hear the bad news about the prices. $50 per person plus $40 for the car plus, if you want to descent into the crater it is another $200. Talk about expensive and these prices are per day.
We decide against the descent as our budget does not allow this. We complain bitterly to the staff about the prices but there is nothing they can do about it. We just hope that if enough people complain it will reach the right ears because there is already talk of increasing the prices by 50%.
From the gate it is approximately 6km to the rim of the crater and the climb is about 700 meters. From the outlook point the view is spectacular. The crater itself is about 20km by 17km and contains a large number of animals. You need a good pair of binoculars to distinguish the animals and we see a few elephants, buffalo and wildebeest from the top.
From the main viewing point you can drive left or right along the rim of the crater. It is not exactly the rim because you cannot see the crater itself the whole of the way but you do catch glimpses of it. The road to the right is not that good and after 12km I perform a perfect 8-point turn in the narrow path with the crater to my left and the mountain slope to my right.
We then go about 25km the other way where the road is much better and you actually descend down the slope of the crater on the outer side. From a height of 2570m to 1440m where we decided to turn around and head back out.
On the way you pass the road that descends into the crater and here you will find another viewing site that is even better than the first one because it is a big sloping area where you feel right on the edge of the crater.
As it is about lunch time Zelda prepares us one of the beef fillets she purchased the day before and we had fillet pitas for lunch. I wonder how many people who visit Ngorogoro can claim to have had a lunch like this, prepared by themselves, right on the edge of the crater.
On the way back to the exit it suddenly feels as if the gas pedal is stuck as the engine revs higher and higher and taking my foot of the pedal makes no difference. I switch of the engine and investigate. Another bracket on the battery has broken off and the battery fell forward against the fuel lever preventing it from being released.
Well with all the problems we’ve had we have learned to relax about these little setbacks. I manage to tie the battery back into place and, only in Africa, 4km further is the park workshop where my bracket is welded and then refitted. 30 minutes later we are back on the road. It amazes me every day that it sometimes feel as if it is easier to get problems fixed in Africa than back home. There are so many workshops, and the technicians are, in my opinion better than the ones found in the best Toyota workshops, because they deal with the actual problems experienced in the country. If I look at the vehicles here and the modifications done to them, you can see that it is adapted to local conditions.
We are looking for a different place to stay and head off to Kudu Lodge. Price is $10 per person and a meal $19 per person. There is no way we can afford this after the kind of money we already forked out an Ngorogoro so we head back to Ngorogoro Safari Lodge in town.
We spend some time talking to staff and locals at the lodge and learn that the road we intended taking to Rwanda is in bad shape. This is now bad news for us and we have to consider our alternatives. Either we take the road in any case and suffer for 800km with possible breakdown s, drive through the Serengeti and pay the park entrance fees again or abandon our detour to Rwanda and head directly to Kenya.
Although the car is going fine there are a few minor issues that needs to be sorted out before it gets major. The fuel re-heat is not working, the loose battery broke a connection to the battery charging system, the driver door latch is broken and there are strange noises coming from the leaf springs at the right rear.
With this in mind we decide to go back to Arusha and from there go to Kenya.
The day is ended with the other half of the fillet turned into a Beef Stroganoff and by 21h30 I was in bed.
The consensus is that it was a fantastic day. Ngorogoro crater is worth the visit. It is an absolutely spectacular place and if one had an unlimited budget and could stay at one of the $2000 a night lodges, and maybe fly over the crater with a light aircraft, and take the drive into the crater it can be an even bigger assault on the senses.
We can easily measure whether something was worth doing by the feedback we get from the children. As parents you often do things for them or take them places and then they show no appreciation. At the end of the day the children were expressing their gratitude that they could visit the crater and you could clearly see that it made an impression on them.
Although we look at all these places on a map what is sometimes not so clear is how close they are to each other. For instance, Kilimanjaro can be reached from Arusha and Ngorogoro is only 165km from Arusha. Ngorogoro is situated in the Serengeti so you could spend a few more days in the Serengeti as well.
We decided against the Serengeti as we will be going to Masai Mara which forms the northern border of the Serengeti on the Kenya side. Apparently most of the game are now in Masai Mara until the migration back to Serengeti in August.
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| 13/03/2009 |
Chris gave an idea for a good breakfast. Fried potato slices with bacon, onion and mushrooms and lastly a few eggs mixed in as well. It goes down well but by the time it is finished it is close to 11h00 and we need to get moving.
We now decide to have the gas refilled and return to Manji’s BP Service station. In Tanzania you get Oryx gas in their bottles only so we cannot swop our Cadac bottles. Rawan from Manji’s is kind enough to arrange for us to take our bottles directly to the factory where they are refilled. Our 2 bottles lasted us nearly 3-months so we should be sorted out till we get to Europe.
Zelda returns to Meat King because the meat was so good. They stock a variety of cheeses, cold meats, fish and red meats. The fillet is 8500 Tsh per Kg. They also import fillet so be careful to select the local fillet as the imported fillet sells for $160 per k/g!
Arusha has a snake park about 24km out of town towards Moshi so we go all the way back to see the snakes. The trip was worth it just to see the chameleon’s that they have in captivity and especially the Arusha Two Horned Chameleon which should rather have been named a Jumping Jack Flash because it is a little vicious creature that puffs and hisses and jumps at you. Good fun to watch, from a distance.
Ivan enjoys the snakes the most and Zante seems to like the pancake tortoise. In any case at 15000 Tsh for the 4 of us it was good entertainment. The best was when we left and a taxi with school children and their 2 teachers arrived. I counted 26 heads getting out of the taxi.
Now we really have to get going. We decided to visit Ngorogoro tomorrow and want to sleep close to the park so that we can get in early, as you have to pay per day. The traffic back through Arusha is terrible, probably because it is Friday but also because of the speed humps.
The road to Ngorogoro is good and along the way we stop to get some more beer. The price is now 3000 Tsh for the same beer for which we paid 1500 Tsh in Dar es Salaam. The bar owner informs me that this is a VIP road and that’s why the prices are higher. I told him to wait for the VIP’s because he’s not getting my business.
The road winds through some steep hills and the scenery make up for the slow progress. We reach Karatu by night fall and stay over at Ngorogoro Safari Lodge. Price $7 per person but after feigning shock and disgust at this we settle on $15 for the 4 of us. Still too much but we don’t feel like driving to look for other accommodation. It is right in the centre of town but it is safe and clean with how showers and there are even a restaurant although we did not it there.
Tonight will be an early night because we want to be at the gate at 06h00.
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| 12/03/2009 |
We don’t want to overstay our welcome and leave relatively early to Moshi which is a big town with everything that you could possibly need – except gas, right now. If we leave the gas bottle and return tomorrow it can be filled but we have already missed a day’s driving so we decide to push on. Hopefully we can refill gas in Kigale.
For supplies there is the Highway Supermarket which has all the groceries you might need as well as camping equipment and much more.
We notice Café Chez and move in for coffee. Well they have a comprehensive menu covering Indian, Chinese, Japanese including susi. It’s too early for lunch but at the price of 4500Tsh for a curry compared to the 12000 Tsh for the same dishes in Zanzibar we cannot let it pass. We order take-away so tonight it is curry again.
Kilimanjaro is mostly hidden by clouds so we cannot get a clear view. Apparently the view from Kenia is much better and we are coming back this way once we get through Rwanda and Uganda so we are not too concerned.
We reach Arusha by lunchtime and as this is apparently the half-way mark between Cape Town and Kairo we decide to stop and celebrate.
It is a busy town, even more so than Moshi. A good place to eat is Mc Moody ‘s Fast Foods which is much more than a fast food joint. Delicious Indian cuisine and locally baked breads and pastries are available.
Meat King is a shop selling biltong and fresh meat and Zelda stock up on ham, stewing meat, fillet and biltong. I am beginning to think we will never finish all our food in one year. We will have to start planning another trip…
We just cannot get out of Arusha. It is a lively town and we decide to spend the night as I have some work to do. Masai Camp is close by and off we go. There are about 20 tents already pitched up in the camping area and it is filled by a group doing Cairo to Cape Town on bicycle. Crazy people. 100 km on a bicycle every day and now and then they take a 3-day break. I think however that they see less of Africa than we do because during the day it is just cycle, cycle cycle.
Before I continue I must divert a little to December 2007 when we were camping in Mozambique. We met this German couple that have been travelling for 10 years. They have been all over the world and have started 2007 travelling through Africa and spend the first 11 months in South Africa. They were an inspiration to us because they are just living their dream. We were always prevented from travelling because we ‘had too little money, too much work, the kids were at school’, etc. etc.
In any case, back to the present, who do we meet at the camping site. Chris. The same guy from 2007. He has taken 15 months to get here and crossed through Namibia, Angola, DRC, Congo and a few more normal countries to get here. He has lost his travelling companion along the way. Well, not lost her, but she got tired of the nomadic life and left him. Now he is travelling on his own which I think is even tougher.
In the mean time the camp site has gotten even fuller. There are about 100 tents pitched up and it looks and sounds festive.
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