Tanzania – Part 3

I don’t even spend that much for a whole trip that includes everything you can imagine, such as costs, plane tickets, insurance etc. We booked a hotel in the town centre that has a rooftop restaurant. In the morning, during breakfast, we were already able to enjoy the beautiful view of the mountain.

When I was still at home, I found some information that there are some hot springs nearby that are more than worth a trip. They weren’t mentioned in Lonely Planet, though. The hotel staff were willing to organise a trip for us, but the prices were ridiculous, so we decided to go to the bus station by ourselves, thinking whatever happens, happens. Well, after walking around for more than half an hour and looking for someone who could speak at least a little bit of English to point us to the right bus or van, we finally managed to arrive to the next village. There we had to do this all over again.

After more than two hours we finally managed to get to the Kikuletwa Hot Springs. You can get there by van, or in our case, by motorcycle with a trailer. And it wasn’t bad at all. On our way to the springs we saw our first Maasai village, the Maasai people, and the baobabs, and we even tried sugar cane. Just when we thought our driver didn’t know where he was taking us, we saw some green trees that reminded us of an oasis.

The hot springs may be better known among the locals rather than the visitors, but I recommend that you pay them a visit and dive into the water. The water is clean and warm. All in all, it’s a real oasis of calm. We were lucky enough that there weren’t many people around because it’s usually crowded on Sundays.

After a few hours of enjoyment, relaxation and recharging the batteries for the trip, it was time to head back to town. We saved a lot of money by getting to the hot springs the way we did, and we also had many new adventures along the way.

In Moshi there wasn’t much to do in the evening, so we left for Arusha the next day. It didn’t take us long to get there and it wasn’t difficult either. However, our first impression upon leaving the bus didn’t change. Arusha is a chaotic city. We already knew we were going to stay there only during the safari which we needed to book on the same day.

Remember when I said that the trekking guide was already organising a safari for us through a friend of his? We never told him when we were going to arrive to Arusha nor if we were even going there. And yet someone called out our names in the middle of a crowded pavement. Of course we turned around and saw two complete strangers. They introduced themselves as our guide’s friends. The only other place where I noticed “intelligence services” of that scale was Cuba. You really need to be careful who you speak with and what you say.

After visiting a few safari offices, we finally picked our safari operator. For a reasonable price we got what we were looking for: a three-day safari in three parks for 450 dollars per person.

The next day we took an old off-road vehicle to the camp where we were going to stay for two nights. We chose to sleep in the tents. To our great surprise, the tents were big and there were beds inside. Of course, the furnishings were basic and old, but at least we didn’t have to sleep on the floor.

The first park we visited was the Ngorongoro Crater National Park. This was once a volcano that collapsed on itself and became inactive. Today it’s a conservation area where only the Maasai people and animals are allowed to live freely. The only thing that grows in the crater are grass and brushwood. Trees are very scarce, so you can easily spot animals. We came across elephants, rhinos, hyenas, prides of lions, zebras, warthogs and birds. In other words, we saw a lot of animals in a relatively small area. At times I felt like I was in The Lion King.

Next in line was the Tarangire National Park. It’s bigger and greener than the Crater National Park. It was named after the river that flows through the park and attracts thousands of animals. It’s also a paradise for birds. We were impressed by the park because we could see hippos, giraffes, buffalos and flamingos, among others.

You can see buffalos in the first photo, and flamingos in the second. The latter could be easily discernible by eye, but the photo didn’t turn out as good as I would have liked. I imagined pink everywhere, just like the image of flamingos that usually comes to mind. Young flamingos, however, are pale pink and grow more vivid colours as they grow older. Here you can see juvenile flamingos.

Another great day among the animals went by and we saw a lot, but we still weren’t lucky enough to spot all the great five. This is something everyone who ventures out on a safari wishes for, even though the chances of it happening are slim. The great five are the elephant, the lion, the buffalo, the rhino, and the leopard. We only saw the first four; the leopard is the hardest one to spot. Even our guide said he had only spotted it three times in all his five years of running safaris.

The third and final park we were going to see was the Lake Manyara National Park. It’s the greenest of all three parks and well-known for its birds, though monkeys, elephants, giraffes, flamingos, lions and impalas live there as well, and with a lot of luck you could also spot a leopard. I really wanted to spot a leopard, since I hadn’t been able to see one on any of my previous journeys.

We had been driving for an hour, two, three... Honestly, I couldn’t remember anymore, when we suddenly stopped close to two other vehicles. We were surrounded by flat terrain, everything was brown, and there were mostly dried up trees. I didn’t know why everyone was staring at something and I couldn’t see anything with the naked eye. Then the guide quietly said that there was a leopard in a hole under the tree. We immediately jumped into action: we searched for binoculars and asked other guides if we could borrow theirs. I finally saw a leopard in the wild, so my wish came true. I got what I came for – all the great five and the biggest smile on my face no words can describe.

I don’t have any photos of the rhino or the leopard because the camera wasn’t good enough and the animals were very good at hiding.

We read a lot and also heard a lot from other travellers about the Serengeti National Park, so if time allows and if you have enough money on your hands, then the Serengeti Park safari is quite an experience. The park is further away, and you need at least five days, but it’s worth it.

We slowly decided to call it a day because we had to leave for Arusha and there was a long road ahead of us.

When we finally arrived at our hotel after three days of dust and heat, all we could think about was shower, and after that, we had to find a flight to Zanzibar. When we were still at home, we came across information that told us there wouldn’t be a problem at all if we booked the flight on the spot. Shortly after we found out that things wouldn’t be so easy. The staff at the hotel suggested that we should go to the airport because you can always find an available flight there.

So, the next morning we took our backpacks and headed straight to the airport. We searched, we politely asked all sorts of people, and in the end, we even begged for a free flight to appear, but to no avail. We found out that it had been long since a busy weekend like this one where all flights were fully booked, even the ones for the next day.

Then, suddenly, a possibility of flying from the Kilimanjaro International Airport on the very same day presented itself, though the tickets were quite expensive. But we got around that and indirectly obtained information on the airline that was flying from there. We were then walking up and down the airport trying to pick up the weak internet signal. Why? The tickets were 100 euros cheaper because we bought them online. But we did it. We quickly went to find a taxi that would take us to the airport 40km away. Luck was on our side; we caught the plane and were in Zanzibar by night-time.

The mainland part of the journey thus came to an end, but the pearl of Zanzibar still awaited us. The island that is known to many due to its beautiful beaches and hotel resorts also offers a rich history that I’ll be writing about in the next article.