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-- Log 6 --
Tanzania continued
Masaai Camp Arusha GPS S03.23.084 E036.43.185 4429 ft AMSL - TS3
000 pppn 27/04/02
It never ceases to amaze us where we meet up with fellow South Africans.
We met Ian, and two girl friends in Arusha. They really made an odd
sight one guy, two girls sharing a very small tent! Ian explains, that
whilst camping in Botswana, they went hiking and returned to their camp
to find that a cow had eaten the girls tent! Apparently there was very
little left to recover from the tent! A likely story, but they are
sticking to it! Dennis was able to help Ian to fix their fridge before
they left for Ngorogoro.
Henri and Jenny arrived at Arusha Maasai Camp, they had taken a few days
R & R at Moshi, as Henri had the flu. Good to see you guys again! We
decided that we would travel through Ngorogoro Crater and Serengeti
together, as we are not sure of the road conditions.
Disaster has stuck again! The HP 215 photo smart digital camera is not
working it has an error message RS232 test failed does anyone have
any idea what this means and how we can get if repaired? Hopefully we
will be able to sort something out in Nairobi!
Ngorogoro Safari Resort - Karatu GPS S03.20.266 E035.40.064 TS3 000
pppn 29/04/02
Arrived at Ngorogoro Safari Lodge late afternoon had a rather heated
debate about the camping rate a 67% increase! Eventually the Manager
stepped in and gave us the advertised rate. Thank you sir.
As it turns out the gent thought that we were writing an article on the
campsite, Dennis was given a tour of the facilities, and to be honest
this site was well organized and the facilities were very good. They
have DSTV, a bar, a good restaurant (with table clothes on the tables),
Grocery shop, curio shop, and good ablution blocks. We definitely would
recommend the Ngorogoro Safari Lodge as a stopover for the crater.
The costs to enter and stay at the Crater and Serengeti are exorbitant!
All charges are in US $ making it a very expensive trip. Although we had
very little time to spend in the parks it was worth the expense.

Descent to Ngorogoro Crater |

Elephant in Ngorogoro Crater |
We left at 6.30 am for the crater, which was a half an hour drive. We
left in the rain and drove all the way in pouring rain had we made a
mistake in leaving today?
As we climbed it got more and more wet! Having paid our dues, we headed
along the crater rim in the cloud. Access to the crater is via two roads
- a descent road, and an ascent road. As we descended into the crater
the weather cleared and we were able to see the beauty and vastness of
the crater. Within 10 minutes of going down the decent road we had seen
4 of the Big Five! The crater is filled with all sorts of wild life, and
bird life! Really brilliant stuff! All in all, the crater met our
expectations, and it is awesome to see the variety and beauty of the
Lords creation. The size of the crater itself leaves one speechless. As
we were on a tight schedule we had to leave early and head out for
Serengeti. The climb out of the crater was much steeper than the
descent, but MR W performed very well!
As we travelled towards Serengeti we saw masses of herds of grey bearded
gnus collecting for the migration. It is amazing that so many animals
can be seen at one time, for miles and miles there were masses of Gnus,
Zebras and Thompson Gazelles.

Giraffe Serengeti Plains
Dik Dik Camp Serengeti GPS S02.25.254 E034.51.001 4984ft AMSL -
$20 pppn 01/05/02
We arrived at Serengetis Naabi Gate at 16.00, and decided to wait until
17.00 before entering, so as to give us a full day the next day. We had
an early supper in the car park and headed for our campsite Dik Dik,
which was approximately 50 kms into the reserve. With the sun setting
and evening drawing close, we rushed to get to the campsite. Just before
the site, we went around a corner and there was a hippo crossing the
road they are large creatures!
The camp was basic, longdrop toilets, showers and outside basins. No
water though! When the rangers arrive to check on our documentation we
asked for water and about an hour later they had got the problem sorted
out. They have a quaint lapa which is fenced in to keep the people
safe at night! We had some fun and decided they animals would be much
safer with us locked up!
Serengeti was spectacular. The scenery alone is stunning, and then
adding the array of animals to the scene makes it a very special place.
Although the campsite was very basic, it was magnificent. We heard
lions, and hyena calls through the night and woke to some very big paw
prints around the vehicle. The local ranger thought that we had ground
tents and warned us that because of the cold the lions like to snuggle
up to the person in the tent to keep warm are we glad that we have a
rooftop tent!
Serengeti has had a lot of rain recently and most of the floodplain is
under water, which includes quite a few of the roads. We did many river
and water crossings, all quite successfully. Mr W is filthy we can now
say we have been on safari!
Having left Serengeti we headed for Speke Bay Camp in order to spend the
night before departing for Nairobi. Speke Bay had been recommended to
Henri by a fellow traveller. The Lodge is geared up for overseas
visitors and campers are not on their priority list. Although the
ablution facility was the best we have seen by far, the campsite was
merely a small car park amongst very long grass. The charge was $5 per
person per night, which we felt was too expensive. We left and tried
another place called Serengeti Safari Lodge. Their facilities were not
good and they also wanted $5 per person per night, finally we decided to
go back to Speke Bay.
Speke Bay Camp Lake Victoria S02.16.381 E033.47.924 3742 ft AMSL -
$5 pppn 02/05/02
By this time it was late afternoon and a typical summer storm was
brewing. Boy, did it rain it pelted down! By this time we were all
soaked to the bone! Our bedding was wet; we had a very miserable night!
By now, not only was Henri sick, so was Jenny and Dennis woke feeling
very ill.

We are in the cage, giving the animals a bit of a break!
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Speke Bay campsite a very sick Dennis |
Time to leave Tanzania maybe there will be less rain in Kenya.
Photos courtesy Henri and Jenny Botha Africanadventure Thank you!
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