We finally got to Arusha at 5pm, where a driver picked us up and stopped us at a supermarket for some shopping.
Arusha is called “The Geneva of Africa”, and I can easily vouch for that! The alpine landscape all around, the greenery and the majestic Mount Meru towering over the town can easily be mistaken for a Swiss postcard picture… except that there are no pale white people around!
Eventually we got to out hotel, where Chiara was waiting for us…
the Annex by Night
It sounds like something from Anne Frank’s diary, but it is actually a “hotel” of sorts (named “Annex by Night”)… except that it is in shambles. Imagine… at one point we realised that the girls’ room lights were being switched on from a room 4 doors away! And we had paid good money for a far better accomodation. But this being Africa, we just tolerated it for one night and hoped for the best. We met David, our driver, at 8.30pm, who told us that he would be coming at 8am the following morning to take us to Lake Manyara.
The Following Morning…
We waited.. and we waited. And still he didn’t turn up. The one who was supposed to be managing our safari was a certain Allen, who was to turn up with the Driver to set us off. He obviously didn’t turn up. I called him constantly for 45 minutes, swearing and cursing and wishing that for once we would have a good contact in Tanzania. He never answered. We called Kenya, asking Moses there why Allen hadn’t turned up, and questioning if this was all a scam. Of course, we never got a straight answer. In addition, the network was a disaster and my phone kept shoing me a “Network Failed” Message. Just what you need to calm you down.
The driver turned up at 10am, and we all jumped on him whilst he started saying “You shitting me? You shitting me? Allan has shitted me”… Only then we realised and started digesting the horrible truth. This Allan person just took our money, which had been transferred the previous night from Kenya, gave $600 of it to the driver, and apparently went off with the rest, around $900, to “Dar Es Salaam”. Of course, we knew this was just a way of saying “He won’t speak to you”.
We were furious. Another hour of haggling, and Chiara (who hadn’t yet paid) was about to leave back to Nairobi. We of course wanted her to stay with us, but in the current circumstances it was very understandable. It was then that the drive blatantly told us that if she doesn’t pay, none of us would be able to go on safari since he didn’t have enough money on him to give us one. In other words, he blackmailed Chiara, and she had to accept, on the one condition that once we were back in Nairobi she would be partly refunded. And so we set off, cooling down internally as we got farther and farther away from Arusha, which turned out to be a nightmare.
Lake Manyara, and the Campsite
Once you get into the Rift Valley and cross over to the other side, you get to Lake Manyara. A true gem of a park. The driver gladly gave us the reins of his jeep and we drove it in turn for an hour each! I was more than happy to drive a vehicle after 11 months of paying for someone to drive me (we had no car in Kenya). The highlight of this visit was when a huge cow-elephant stumbled in front of us on the road back, and crossed over to the other side into the forest, followed by a baby elephant. It was actually a very dangerous moment- if we had driven between her and the baby, we would have undoubtedly been trampled on by a very aggressive matriarch! But, thankfully, we had stopped driving as we admired these beautiful beasts living their placid, vegetarian lives..
We went to a nearby campsite for the night, where we were entertained by the Black Tiger Acrobatic show group and by a Finnish 16-year old tourist who turned out to be an expert juggler! That evening we set off to the tent. We were only provided with a mattress… no covers, no blankets… nothing. And thus, we froze to death over the night. I was already suffering from a bad stomach upset, and this was just what I needed. Again, terrible accomodation for the price we paid.
Ngorongoro Crater
3 million years ago, a volcano over 5000 m high erupted and collapsed into itself, forming what was to become the amazing and stunning Ngorongoro Crater. As we were driven down into the giant caldera, we were all amazed at the breathtaking scenery and the magic of sunlight reflecting off the central lake. Ngorongoro is one of those places where one can easily say “God felt like showing off”. And He made a good job of it, I can tell you that!
The crater itself gives you the illusion that there are few animals, but only because the topography is more on the flat-side as you go deeper into the crater, and also because most of the animals take on the colour of the soil, which is pale-whitish not deep red as in other parks, and so are harder to spot. We saw amazing cranes, Spoonbill birls and the funnily-named “Corey Bastard” bird. We saw lions, but they are annoyingly lazy creatures who, even when a lone zebra was strutting casually in front of them, decided they weren’t hungry after all and decided to spend the day off looking at a nice piece of zebra chop without a care in the world. And there I was, hoping for some action straight out of National Geographic. Another time, John, another time.
The star of the show was a Hippo who decided to move out of a pool surrounded by pelicans. It was a truly glorious sight, seeing this hideous fascinating behemoth calmly move and mud himself out of a swamp; even defecating all over the place and throwing it around with the flick of a tail. I must say, we were more than amused at how silly it all looked, and yet how natural it really was!
At around 3pm, after a relaxed lunch (at this point my digestive system wasn’t exactly working well) we set off out of the crater and headed back to Arusha. Personally it was a painful journey back… I needed a toilet, urgently, and yet there were none around for most of the way. Not a nice experience, I must say.
We yet again had a little drama that evening when we realised our last stay at “Annex by Night” hadn’t been booked OR paid for, and the driver hadn’t even bothered to tell us beforehand. Yet again, we were angry and furious, but after phoning Moses the situation was solved as he assured us that all will be paid that very instant (via the driver). And so, we got to our second and last stay at the Annex. I quickly familiarised myself with the latrine and jumped into bed for a very uncomfortable night of stomach pains, heat and sadness at the realisation that our holiday was at an end.
Back to Nairobi – 17th December
at 8am we set off to Nairobi via a shuttle bus. The road was a nightmare, and I was still suffering greatly from indigestion. Towards the end of the journey, we got stuck in traffic, a nice “welcome back” from Kenya, no doubt. That day, we were all a bit more quiet than usual. We realised our holiday was at an end. Pauline and I were realising that our time in Kenya was coming to a close…
We had a quick lunch at Java, where Moses came by offering his apologies and partly refunded Chiara as promised. We told him to NEVER again suggest Kassidi or Allan to anyone, Kenyan or foreignor, and he apologised for all the stressful things that happened to us. At least, he kept his word and repaid Chiara from his own money!
Carnivore
That evening we dined at Carnivore with Marlene and Oliver… or, to be accurate, at Simba Saloon. I decided to eat meat, as it was probably the best thing to eat after 2 days of biscuit and toast, and was grateful to taste Ostrich for one last time. We then stayed there until 2am, dancing, partying and having a generally good time. Marlene left at 1am as she had to pick her friend, Sandro, from the airport early that following morning. We then went back home and, speaking for myself, had a bloody good night’s sleep!
