Tanzania
-
Zanzibar
Day 8 of the trip – we are headed to the fabled land of Zanzibar! Tanzania turns out to be the name of the mainland, Tanganyika, combined with the islands of Zanzibar, and initials of Independent Association tacked on the end. They seem to operate separately – to get in to Zanzibar we had to show our passports and yellow fever certificates. We had to take a crowded very early morning ferry across a channel, trying to get out of the way of vehicles also on board, then a van to a big modern ferry. I sat outside at the front watching another ferry unload with people carrying off random…
-
The Road to Zanzibar
We went for a tour of the village the next morning where they do woodworking and painting, and visited a kindergarten which was really cute, they all wanted to high five and show their drawings to us. Back on the truck, the lady who had washed our clothes last night had hung them all over the seats and overhead shelves in the truck, so we all got to know each others’ knickers. We drove up into highlands at the base of snow-topped Mount Kilimanjaro, largest free-standing mountain in the world – it’s not part of a range. Along the way we passed the village of a Maasai man who has…
-
Serengeti and Ngorongoro
We set off for the Serengeti , stopping in Arusha, the safari capital of Tanzania, for supplies, then on to a small town named Mto Wa Mbu which means Mosquito River, where we set up camp. Its hot and humid here, and to no surprise malaria is an issue, so we have to cover up. The next morning we went in 4 x 4s (with a roof that lifts off so you can stand up for game viewing) through the Ngorongoro conservation area to reach the Serengeti National Park. In this conservation area the Maasai are seen everywhere in their striking red and purple blankets, which were adopted from the…