-- 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 girl’s 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 Lord’s 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 gnu’s 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 Serengeti’s 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!

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!