Tales of our safari and Tanzania explored as described by Dick

Tanzania -- Africa is not for sissies.

The real eye opener of this portion of the trip was the country of Tanzania.
Tanzania is the first all black African country we have been in. Yes, we have been to Africa before but only northern Africa where we saw mostly Arabic influenced daily life but Tanzania was to be very different.  A truly amazing country. "Jambo" and a smile. In Swahili "Jambo" means hello and it is the first thing any Tanzanian says to anyone whether they know them or not. It seems to imply that they would love to know you and they mean it. Rather like the Italians with "Buon giorno" and a smile. Everything here seems to be run by black Africans. The aircrew, including pilot and copilot were black and spoke in Swahili. Verily the happiest country we've been in. Happier than Bali or Italy. Maybe because they have never been enslaved nor had apartheid. They fought a war with Uganda's Idi Amin (The crocodile) but they now mediate and judicate between Hutu and Tutsi tribes and other African international disputes. Much different to the current hate-and-fear-filled USA (Trump, Cruz, Rubio, et al). Still a very poor country but progressing rapidly. It is a developing country. Construction cranes everywhere and new buildings just opening and renting out. All businesses we saw were run by black people - top to bottom. Most were efficient and happy to serve customers. 

Flew into Dar es Salaam which means "Place of peace". We arrived at DAR on a South African Airlines A-320 from Johannesburg. Good airline service and it worked well. Noticed some high wing turboprop airliners belonging to Precision Air which we would fly next day. There was also a DC-3 parked to one side and I bet it's still in service. Dick rode one the length of Taiwan realizing it was older than he but then he was only 23 and now is retired.

On arrival in Dar es Salaam one jetway was finished but we walked down to the tarmac and onto a bus. Immigration was the usual hour or so. Well at least for us this was old hat but there was a young Seminarian from Argentina on our flight whose first mission is to teach in Tanzania and he was not very comfortable with the way the visas were to be issued. His main concern was whether or not he was going to see his passport again. The process goes like this. First they ask you some questions then take some fingerprints and promptly asked for $100 in US dollars then whoosh your passport disappears to an office and then you get to stand in a holding area until the visa is issued. He was one of the first in our group to get his new visa and yet was one of the last to complete the forms at the beginning. Yep, God does work in mysterious ways.

Our airport shuttle van driver, Hassan,  took us through the urban sprawl that is Dar. It was rush hour so 1.5 hrs to go 10-15 mi on what was the main roadway into the city. Our driver liked to listen to soft rock and disco from the 70's and 80's so we got to hum along with the likes of the Bee Gees and Donna Summer. Dar is a bustling city that is growing too fast for the current infrastructure. Present population 2.5 million. Projected 76 million by end of century. Don't see how/what they will feed that many. Hope Tanzania keeps its large national parks and the wild animals that live there. 

We stayed one night in the Tanzanite hotel in Dar before flying on to Arusha to start our safari. We had to change rooms as the wall outlets did not work and we wanted to make tea. Second room had a working microwave and an electric teapot to boot. Good breakfast. Got my usual large healthy breakfast that was influenced by Arab and Indian cuisine. Then we were off to the airport but nearly submerged by the torrential downpour. Water was piling up everywhere and street drainage was deficient in many places. A large truck had run off the roadway and slid into a ditch running parallel to the roadway, mangling the cab. The DAR airport was not so efficient. Had to go through security to get into the domestic terminal and then again to get to our flight. Down a jetway to the tarmac and onto the ATR 42 turboprop. Good 1.5 hour trip on Precision Air.


5 days on Safari


The Serengeti has earned the titles of one of the “Seven Natural Wonders of Africa” and one of the “Ten Natural Travel Wonders of the World” for being the site of the largest terrestrial mammal migration in the world (about 2 million animals!). However, even without the Great Migration, the park sports the densest lion population in the world and is home to all members of the Big Five and almost 500 bird species. 

The Serengeti fits well into most people’s dream of an African safari with its abundant wildlife, vast golden plains dotted with thorny umbrella acacia trees, kopjes, and sausage trees, and its crocodile and hippo-filled rivers. We saw more kinds of animals in that time than I've seen in a lifetime. We saw all the big 5 (lion, elephant, cape buffalo, rhino, leopard) and zebras, cheetahs, crocodiles, hippos, giraffes, hyenas, waterbucks, warthogs, jackals, gazelles, topi, secretary bird, baboons, impala, ostrich, dik dik and more. Slept in tents on the Serengeti Plain and were wakened by elephants breaking trees 10 yards away in the moonlight, lions murmured and hyenas laughed through the night. A waterbuck that was bleeding after a hyena attack outside our lodge room on the Ngorongoro Crater rim. Visited Tarangire NP, Serengeti NP and Ngorongoro Crater. Truly amazing and so glad we came this way. Here is a link to some of the photos we took: https://goo.gl/photos/oUXG8tFm3pzcDNYX7

Arusha and the start of our Safari

Wow! When we arrived at Kilimanjaro airport (KIA) near Arusha we were greeted by a huge band with drumming and singing and hipping and hopping. Colorful native dress for both the band and dancers.  We tried to stay near the arrival gate on the tarmac but were after a while ushered inside to collect our luggage. Turned out it was for the President of Tanzania who was proceeding to Arusha for some conference. But it was still a nice greeting even if it wasn't for us.

There is a large project underway to widen (to 4 lanes) the highway from Kilimanjaro airport to Arusha. There appeared to be some Chinese engineers involved in the otherwise all black effort. We were held up some by trucks full of troops and MPs for the president's motorcade which we did not see but the road was lined with locals waiting to catch a glimpse of their President. There was a festive air in each community as we passed. 

After a bit we were up to our Arusha lodge: L'Oasis. A cluster of hardened mud wattle and pole conical roofs. We went over to the high-ceilinged main lodge for a beer and to watch the heavy rain through the open archways to the outside. Before too long we conferred with our Safari manager, Silvia who explained the itinerary for our five day Safari. 

In the morning we enjoyed a nice breakfast buffet we were introduced to our guide/driver Damien and climbed aboard our Safari vehicle: a very old AWD diesel Toyota Land Cruiser. In our whole Safari we saw hundreds of Toyota Land Cruisers of various vintages, but only two Land Rovers and no other kind of Safari vehicles. These cruisers held 6 - 8 passengers. 

We were held up for an hour or more while the president's convoy readied to leave the conference center where he was conferring. The people seem to like him quite a bit.  

Wonder if this will be a trend 

Before we left Arusha our guide/driver Damien needed to stop at the local version of  Walmart to pick up drinking water for our trip. Along the way several people kept yelling at our driver about a problem. He ignored the comments until he finally heard that he was leaking fuel. So he pulled over and some men he didn't even know helped him fix the problem and away we went. We got to the store where it took him a really long time to park the truck and even then it wasn't the best job considering the parking lot was not full.

Tarangire

Along the way to Tarangire we noticed that the fresh grass on the rolling meadows was all chewed up in places, showing the red soil beneath. Then we saw why: A sign proclaimed that the land was an infantry training center and beside the sign was a heavy tank. Not an Abrams and not one of the new Russian tanks. Maybe a British Chieftain. But this was still and used by the Masai to graze their herds of goats, cows, and donkeys. The Masai do not farm as they are nomadic.

Tarangire NP On we went to Tarangire NP. After two hours of driving our guide/driver turned off the paved road and onto dirt roads/paths. Spotting game was just a matter of looking. It was every where. We came across giraffes and, before long, a small group of elephants walking along swinging their trunks, grabbing bunches of grass that they stuffed into their mouths as they walked. We drove along winding dirt or mud roads looking for game. Then some baboons and the HF radio crackled up in Swahili. Lions had been found so we were off to the lion sighting. We were the third cruiser there. Looked to be five or six lions. Older female (wearing a radio collar) and some other mature females. All just laying under an acacia tree. One of the females sniffed the air and started walking away from the acacia. The lead female hoisted herself up and followed the sniffing lady cat. By then there were six cruisers lined up with people standing under the hoisted up roofs with cameras clicking or videoing away. There were now about 20 lions including at least two youthful adult males. One of the females stopped to pee and the whole group filed by between our cruisers only a few feet away. After crossing the road they sauntered away across a grassy meadow. Lions seem to like grass because it lets them sneak up on their prey. We reversed our direction and took another road that allowed us to observe from some distance. We waited a bit and our guide saw that one of the lions had taken station above a hole that a warthog had gone down rather like our hunting housecats will lie next to a gopher hole and wait. 

The guides cooperate with each other to find game to please their clientele. A flash of the headlights seemed to mean want to talk with you but often Damien would just stop and the oncoming driver would pull up and they would exchange information in Swahili and probably gossip. 

After our Game Drive we headed out  for our first camp. We were on the asphalt road for a half hour then turned off again. Winding our way through bush to Lake Burunge and the Burunge Lodge.

http://www.tanganyikawildernesscamps.com/camps/lakeburungetentedcamp. We did see three young uninitiated Masi youth, probably waiting to be paid to have their picture taken, along the road to the lodge. We didn't stop and just bumped along the dirt road past small fields of row crops being worked by non-Masai. Once we were checked in a lady loaded our luggage onto a wheelbarrow and led us along a graveled path to a canvas cabin on a raised wood platform with a good view of the lake. We unpacked our overnight essentials and walked round the cabin. There next to a solar heater unit stood a little dik dik (very small deer) who was not afraid. Tried to snap a picture but it was too dark by then. 

Over at the lodge we had a tasty dinner out on their expansive deck overlooking the lake with our guide/driver Damien. After dinner and conversation Sharon recharged her larger laptop and the copying of pictures from the camera to the computer while I returned to the cabin to don my Speedo and return to take advantage of their fairly large swimming pool. Filled with captured rainwater. Seemed to be no chlorine so the water was quite soft. Not used to that so it felt a bit oily but that's just soft water which we also encountered in the shower. Had no effects from swimming without chlorine.

Up early for sunrise over the lake to the east which was preceded by Venus rising and a view of the Southern Cross. Morning in most of Tanzania started with birds singing before the first rays of the sun have crested the horizon and the cacophony just gets louder until the sun clears the horizon then like the opening of any show the songs die off to just becoming background noise. 

Maybe it is.. 

Then it was a long drive back along the paved road past Tarangire and some large share of the way back to Arusha. A turn to the left took us up a steep incline winding above Lake Manyara. with a view over to the entrance gate to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Then a new problem. Damien had lost or misplaced his entrance permit and company credit card. An hour's wait while he arranged something with his office. Maybe a fax. He is a good slick talker and there seemed to be lots of jawboning. These parks and conservation areas are HIGHLY REGULATED just as I would have them be. We want to have these wonders for future generations and that requires GOVERNMENT REGULATION just like in Malheur, OR. 

Ngorongoro Crater rim

Damien pulled into a parking area where we could look out over the crater. The crater floor is 100 square miles. There was a volcano there until 2-3 million years ago when it exploded and threw large rocks around. It was as high as 19,000'. Similar to Mt. Kilimanjaro which we never saw due to cloud cover. There were many of us tourists at the viewing point. I heard italiano being spoken and struck up a halting conversation with a nice italiani couple. We did not drive down into the crater this time but continued for quite a while along the rim past the entrance to the Rhino lodge where we would stay for one night after touring the Serengeti. 

The outer slopes of the crater are Maasai land. They can graze their herds of cattle, goats, asses and sheep in the crater but must exit for the night. The crater floor is 5,000'+ above sea level and the rim is about 2,000' above that so we never saw Maasai on the crater floor when we later came back to it. They had some semi permanent settlements on the outer crater slopes. 

The Maasai men have long, thin clubs with heavy balls at one end. They are tall and quite thin and live on a diet of blood they get from their herds and milk mixed with some roots but they never till soil. They have elongated earlobe piercings and speak no English and seemingly no Swahili either. The Maasai speak the Ma language and have been in the area for 200+ years as they emigrated from central Africa. The first Europeans did not arrive until 1898. Until the 20th century the Maasai wore animal skins. In the 20th century they began buying cotton yardage which they dye in brilliant colors or black (memories of helping my grannie dye sheets and clothing in a big vat in the yard). They herd goats, cattle, sheep and asses. They are mostly nomadic. They are evidently a threat to lions which they kill in retaliation for lion predation of their flocks and killing a lion was a rite of passage to manhood for Maasai warriors. This is causing a problem with the lions located in this area to the point that conservation is needed. The Maasai have a reputation as very fierce warriors and often manage security companies in Tanzania. They were always friendly toward us, waving as we passed but we had no way to speak to them. 

Serengeti -- not for weak asses. 

Grass is the driving force of the Serengeti. All fauna there either eats grass or tree leaves or eats them that do.

If you have hemorrhoids or suffer from car sickness then you should probably skip the Serengeti and settle for Tarangire + Ngorongoro Crater. Down we went away from the crater out onto the Serengeti plain to enjoy the "Serengeti massage" as the guides like to call it. Washboard dirt and gravel road that badly needed grading. We saw a grader -- well nearly collided -- later on a curve surrounded by bushes. Many thorny acacia trees with very sharp thorns. The Maasai are not in the Serengeti NP but they sometimes make use of thorny acacia to keep animals in or out of enclosures. More washboard road. Collections of zebras. This SE section of the park is well grazed by zebras and we soon saw many impalas and Thompson's gazelles (Tommies). We had passed the entrance monument long before. Only saw an occasional vehicle. All Toyota Land Cruisers. More driving. More wild ungulates grazing. 

It is 45 mi from the entrance monument to the gate where Damien must show his guide permit and pay a fee for the Serengeti. We stopped for that and to eat box lunches packed by the Burunge lodge. There were a number of marabou storks (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marabou_stork) wandering the picnic area. Large, ghoulish looking birds that function as vultures and have the wattled red neck of a vulture. We later encountered them in many places. Sharon and I hiked the granite hill in back of the gateway area. We photographed wildlife including the beautiful bright red and blue Superb Starlings and various trees and bushes. There were many cruisers parked while clients did the same as us. On the washboard road again. Damien was doing 35 - 55 MPH so it really beat our butts but wouldn't be much if any smoother like at lower speeds that we do when stalking game. We saw more game and stopped occasionally to snap photos of impala, gazelles, ostrich and baboon. There were thousands and thousands of wildebeests munching grass and we got pictures of them as well as the cape buffalo (quite a dangerous animal). 

Scattered all across the Serengeti are large to huge granite boulders which create formations called Kopjes. Some might have been extruded from below but others could have been thrown out in the cataclysmic Ngorongoro explosion. An 18,000 - 19,000' mountain being excavated in one huge explosion had to have thrown billions of tons of gravel and boulders and ash into the sky to land somewhere. Well all over. Must have caused a nuclear winter round the world bigger than Krakatoa or Mt. Pinatubo. Kopjes are interesting weathered gigantic rock formations that rise out of the central Serengeti plains like little mountains. Islands in a sea of grass. Trees, vines, and bushes sprout out of many of the formations. These rock formations provide shade, small water pools, and of course a great vantage point for many animals, including lions, leopards, and cheetahs.

We turned off the main NW/SE road and seemed to wander along one road then another, twisting across the grass and bush veldt until we came to the Serengeti Visitor Centre. This is worth a stop for the many self-guided walking paths that provides informative signs and exhibits about the history of the Serengeti, its ecosystem, and its wildlife. We saw (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyrax) rock hyraxes, birds, and brightly colored agama lizards.

We then drove past an unpaved airstrip that had quite a few large single engine turboprop planes landing and taking off each day. We were told that it was only 15/day and that the low passes that some made were the anti-poaching patrol. Stupid Asian superstition is that ground up elephant tusk or rhino tusk will make a man more youthful and virile. There are also many people who will pay big bucks for ivory. Some wardens/keepers have taken to cutting off the rhino horns since the poachers only take horns/tusks and leave the dead animal on the plain. Hence the rhinos are near extinction. 

We drove out to the Ang'ata tented camp Lodge (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MOgbEf7plo). The 'lodge portion' is two large tents in the plains grass and bush. In one were couches and a powerpoint station to recharge cameras and computers and the other is a dining area that can seat maybe 30 at about ten tables with an attached kitchen tent. We relaxed in our tent until dinner after declining the campfire (away from the tents) that other clients did have the next night. Saw powerful lightning way in the distance but never heard it so maybe > 30 mi distant.  We ate a very tasty meal. Our safari agency had told the lodge that we were vegetarian so we had nicely spiced grilled cabbage, bell peppers and rice. 

After dinner we were escorted in the dark to our personal tent by guards.  They zipped the tent's canvas panels up so we could not see out and we easily fell asleep. There was a separate room off the fairly large tent for a toilet and shower and sink with dressing area and lights that ran off batteries charged by PV during the day. Heard some hyenas laughing in the distance when I made an after midnight pilgrimage to the toilet. 

Next day in the predawn morning we walked back to the dining tent which was open to the NE and sat for breakfast. My usual whole grain toast with olive oil and chile tomato sauce, roasted potato, wonderful coffee and some grilled cabbage. Suddenly we heard loud hissing and saw a hot air balloon rising with the dawn through trees a bit distant then another balloon. We were told that it costs about $500/pp. Better than a low flying aircraft that flies by too fast to view much game. Both for rich folks who can't stand the pounding of washboard dirt road travel though they got some since we saw trucks bringing the deflated balloons back on our later wanderings in our Toyota. We also later saw the balloon passengers gathered under an awning and tree having catered breakfast. 

The Ang'ata staff had prepared us box lunches then we were off to find leopards which we had not yet seen. Damien's strategy for finding leopards was to find baboons who were barking. After a while we came upon a tree full of baboons but they weren't barking (alarm that they smell leopard after them). Leopards are quite dangerous for humans as well as baboons. They are very quiet stalkers and can sprint extremely fast. They will stalk and eat humans. After more driving we happened upon two other Toyotas in watching mode (roofs raised up). They had seen leopards. We stopped and began scanning the grass and sparse low bushes for leopards. I saw one fairly distant through the lousy binoculars provided. Way too distant for a photo or even to be positive it was a leopard. Then someone in one of the other Toyotas saw ears above a very close mound of green grass. Then a mama leopard and her cub bounced gracefully and fairly slowly across our field of vision to hide behind some other grass. We got some video though the actual seeing them was far was better than we recorded. 

I had been pestering Damien to find a giant red termite mound close enough to a road to get a good view and maybe be able to get out and touch. I wanted to see the termites in action. The red termite mounds are still active while the gray ones are abandoned and are often invaded by mongooses. We saw a gathering of mongooses later. Damien was still after leopard. Stopped to photo giraffes eating the tops of the acacia thorn trees/bushes. Along one road that we had taken several times we found an umbrella acacia tree with a leopard relaxing up in it with a leg draped down. Damien claimed to see a gazelle kill on another branch of the tree but we were looking into the sun and we weren't all that convinced. Leopards do drag their kills up into trees to prevent the much larger lions from stealing it and killing the leopard. Lions hate and will track and kill leopards which makes leopards scarce and wary and hard to spot.

On the way back to Ang'ata we passed a waterhole section of a stream that was home to a pod of hippopotamus and we videoed them. They were mostly underwater but would use their tails to flip water onto their backs to keep from drying out in the hot equatorial sun. In this NW section of the Serengeti we are around 3 degrees south latitude so sun at noon is very close to directly overhead and hot but it's a humid heat. The hippos come out of the water after dark to munch grass and walk as far as 1 km. 

Back to Ang'ata for another wonderful dinner. This night we asked to have our tent set up with the center flap of canvas rolled up so we could see out. We were still sort of protected by heavy mesh that was still easy to see through. In the middle of the night were were awakened by loud cracking noises outside. It was still nearly a full moon so we could see pretty well. 10 yards from the tent was an elephant breaking an acacia tree. Sometimes they can get water this way or sap I suppose. We saw many acacias broken and bent over at a right angle about 3' above ground. Elephants. Then we heard the laughing hyenas a bit further distant. They too want to eat us. A bit later we heard the low humming of lions communicating at a further distance. 

Next morning after breakfast we arranged for a lunch in camp that day before going out in preference to the box lunch. We were off in a new direction to the NW toward Olduvai gorge where the Leakeys found Lucy's (homo habilis) footprints from two million years ago. At this time the grass in this section was too tall for most of the ungulates since the zebras had not yet mowed it down. Zebras have to mow the grass before the impala and gazelles will come and graze. Lions will kill zebras but the zebras are not so leery of tall grass as the other ungulates. Zebras are large, very strong and aggressive or in other terms they don't take no shit from anyone. Hence why they do not domesticate well like horses. We passed by some substantial hills and along the Serengeti River where the wildebeests and other ungulates cross in the million+ wildebeest, gazelles and impala migration in August as the grass dries up to the SE. We forded the river at a concrete depression crossing and continued along the other side then took another road which ended where the river had a lagoon running up one side. Several large pods of hippos. A few of the hippos were still out of the water eating grass or just standing. 

I walked over to a section of bank along the lagoon. I was leery of being too close to the river as crocs can scurry up river banks in a hurry and pull you back to the water. But still I wanted to see more. There was a sizable gravel island in the middle of the lagoon and a very large croc was sunning itself there. Still early and cool. The early bird gets the crocodile. It saw me and made for the water as I snapped a pic and tried to video it but the old camera does not quickly change to video mode. The hippos seem to ignore crocs. Adult hippos are huge and heavy and I think they keep their young surrounded by adults in the waters of their pools. 

Time to head back for lunch. As we drove back we came upon a parked Toyota. Whatsup? Three cheetahs lying in the sun about 40' from the road. Guinea fowl were dancing around trying to get the cheetahs to move or maybe enticing them to give chase away from the fowls' chicks. The cheetahs ignored the birds and occasionally rolled over to sun the other side. Damien thinks they had a recent kill and are going to spend a day or more digesting. 

Back to Ang'ata for a nice lunch. Ang'ata provided great adventure but we now think we overpaid for two nights we spent there compared to the other tented camp we stayed at. Don't know what the base price camps would have provided. Maybe we would have been dinner for night stalking lions? Now moot as we are not likely to return, having seen more different animals than we had ever thought we could: BTDTNGB. 

Ngorongoro Crater

After lunch we started the long drive back to the entrance gate where Damien turned in his paperwork before we continued driving back toward the entrance monument. But wait. There was a large adult male lion with a very bushy, splendorous mane laying in the grass close to the road. We stopped to watch him roll around in dust sticking his feet straight up. What a sight. Not quite so old as some of the MGM lions since his mane is still blond but he was big and virile and powerful looking. A bit further and Damien pulled to the side of the road and there was a large red termite mound about 3' high. It had no entrance. I walked over to it but it was sealed tight all over. Guess they come and go below ground. There are often few to no trees around these termite nests. The trees that do grow next to the termite mounds do well as the termite provide nutrients for the trees.  

On SE past the entrance monument and then climbed the Ngorongoro Crater wall and along the rim with verdant jungle trees and bushes to either side until we came to the entrance to the Rhino Lodge (http://www.ngorongoro.cc/). We check in and meet the proprietors. Alesandro and V something (forget her name but it started with a V as in Verona). They are italiani.  The proprietors are advocates for the Maasai in addition to finding them useful as guards to protect clients from dangerous animals.  Nice room. A nice shower. There were some waterbucks on the narrow lawn outside our room to the outside of the lodge compound. Shortly, lightning and a heavy downpour told us why we are surrounded by jungle. After that we walked down to the huge lodge building with high slanted ceilings around a large two hearth rustic stone fireplace to use the internet-a very slow internet albeit. 

Luckily dinner is buffet style. An easy way to deal with varying diet needs of a diverse international clientele. Lots of delicious food made it hard to stick with my calorie restriction program. Small portions of tasty food will have to suffice. Next morning we walked down to the big lodge building but we were there before 6AM and the doors were still locked so we continued around the wood porch walkway circling the building and back toward the reception building. As we started up the concrete stairs to get to reception there was a waterbuck blocking our way. It was bleeding and had all the hide on one haunch stripped off, exposing flesh, presumably by an hyena. The Maasai guards urged us to come up the stair past the wounded waterbuck. We were somewhat leery of a kick from the wounded beast but it was probably not in a mood for any aggression so we walked past the poor thing which is likely dead now. Hyena bites are not very sanitary. After we passed the reception building I saw the Southern Cross and Venus rising just before dawn then we walked back down to the main lodge which was now open for a very tasty breakfast buffet. Being an italiani run establishment, olive oil was present for me at breakfast without my needing to ask. Highly recommend the Rhino Lodge. Wonderful food even for carnivores and nice clean but rustic rooms. 

After breakfast we drove back up to the rim road and, at the crater overlook we took the road up to the left instead of the road to the right that we had come up several days before. We did not return this way as there is another road up out of the crater. This crater rim road has jungle on both sides. Through occasional breaks in the trees we could see the crater to the left and Lake Manyara on the right. After what must have been 20 mi along the circumference of the crater it began to descend and after a few miles there was an entrance gate where Damien showed his papers and paid fees before continuing down to the crater floor. We have only one real sighting objective: black rhino, the only Big Five we have not seen as they are nearly extinct. We wandered back and forth across the crater floor. There are two large alkali lakes with small rivers running into them. Water has no way out of the crater so the alkali salts build up and precipitate out but never get out of the crater. We criss-crossed the crater plain. Saw some rhinos in far distance but no road that would get close and maybe the guides are discouraged from driving off road and that would be extremely slow to not get stuck or break an axle on a boulder. We pulled into a picnic area beside a part of the larger alkali lake. Many hippos. While parked there some beautiful bright yellow and red weaver birds flew into our Land Cruiser and helped themselves to some crackers that we had not eaten. After relaxing we were back on the jeep roads. Here, as in the Serengeti and Tarangire we often ford water-filled potholes or, in Serengeti, drive right along a fast flowing stream with gravel bed. At last we came upon a rhino cow and calf grazing within watching and photo distance and we watched and photographed. They are huge and hefty and can move fast. No wonder they are one of the most dangerous. We took an ascent road on nearly the opposite side of the crater from our descent and this road was much steeper but cobbled in purpose made cobbles. After cresting the crater rim the road descended to the same Ngorongoro Conservation gate where Damien had had problems with his misplaced permit papers. Damien is 67 and becoming forgetful but has encyclopedic knowledge of fauna in Tanzania including birds which is of great value to us for later curation of our bird photos. We continued descending on paved road until Damien pulled into a large gift shop where we purchased some items and consumed our box lunches under the watchful eyes of the local housecat crew.

Oops...crash

We had told Damien that we needed an ATM, a computer mouse, and some food for our flight back to South Africa. In Arusha he started making a right turn against traffic when a motorbike smacked into his bow (front-end for you landlubbers). Clearly Damien's fault (this being a drive on left country like every place we've been since we left South America). At first we did not know what type of injuries to the bike rider were done but soon he was helped up by someone and did not appear to be too hurt. The motorbike was now missing most of its front fender and was a bit scratched up. An instant and angry crowd formed around our truck as we were blocking the main access road in and out of Arusha. Damien told us to close our windows and lock doors which we were already doing. Damien wisely paid the victim off with TZ schillings and US dollars as he said he did not want to go to court.

When we emerged from the store Silvia from the safari company was already in the Toyota. Damien must have called her on his often active cell phone. She gave us a critique form to fill out. We drove on through Arusha which was easier now that the president had returned to Dar es Salaam and they deposited us several hours early at a filling station/convenience food store beside the Kilimanjaro airport. We wanted a beer but it was a Muslim establishment so had a bottle of water and a can of orange soda so we could camp at the table and use their restroom for two hours. We waited until an hour before our scheduled departure before rolling our suitcases over to the airport.  Our flight was to be delayed 45 mins then it was delayed another hour and we were already early so we sat outside the security check and downed several bottles of our favorite local brew: Safari beer (5.3%) before going through security so we could wait at the gate. Things do not run on time in Africa. 

While we were at the Kilimanjaro airport we had noticed a large KLM airliner (A-330) pull in non-stop from Amsterdam. Would recommend bypassing Dar es Salaam if you're planning a safari. Check other airlines too for direct to Kilimanjaro (KIA) then maybe a turboprop to Arusha airport which is past all the Arusha traffic. Go to Dar only if you plan to take the ferry to Zanzibar but again you can fly there from many other places directly. Also it was interesting to listen to all those who had climbed to the top of Kilimanjaro. For most it was close to a religious experience.

When conferring with Silvia back in Arusha, we requested that she notify Hassan, our diver on our first visit to Dar es Salaam and despite our late arrival, we arrived at Dar airport at around midnight, he was there for us. Back in the Tanzanite hotel we slept in a bit then had a big breakfast then walked across downtown to the port area. Streets in Dar were mostly trash free but had considerable construction dust and small to large generators everywhere since the government-run mains power often fails. Hawkers at the port trying to sell us tickets on the ferry to Zanzibar. Tanzania is a mashup of British Tanganyika and Zanzibar. We might consider a trip to Zanzibar some day when the northern hemisphere winter gets too cold for old bones. Our walk back to the Tanzanite took us past several Indian, Lebanese and Indian restaurants. 

Next afternoon Hassan picked us up at the Tanzanite and dropped us at the Dar airport. He said that Sylvia had already paid him for our transfers. I tipped him well. Good drivers are worth quite a lot. Told him that if it turned out she didn't pay him then contact us through her. An uneventful flight on an A-319 with our usual Hindu meal to Johannesburg. 

Next up is South Africa.

Some related URLs: http://www.tanzaniaparks.com/manyara.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildlife_of_Tanzania https://www.google.com/maps/place/Serengeti+National+Park/@-3.8931186,35.8325143,13.75z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x1832cdd680dac6d1:0x2ea157f39deb3945 https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Seronera/B144,+Tanzania/@-2.6650127,35.1433621,10z/data=!4m13!4m12!1m5!1m1!1s0x1832dd1cd83c9109:0x6e40471fe6eebfe6!2m2!1d34.8224001!2d-2.4358285!1m5!1m1!1s0x1833776aa14440c3:0x642b5ef5b38abff7!2m2!1d35.1462638!2d-2.9131348 http://www.pbs.org/edens/ngorongoro/fiery.html http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/of-ants-elephants-and-acacias/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC72-AFB9oA http://leesonphoto.photoshelter.com/image/I00002j.ZcNzM3MA https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serengeti https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ngorongoro_Conservation_Area http://www.tanganyikawildernesscamps.com/camps/lakeburungetentedcamp/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MOgbEf7plo http://www.babelsdawn.com/babels_dawn/2007/03/the_toba_supere.html http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/07/1/l_071_03.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_habilis