Arusha
30 April - 4 May
post by scott
nb. photos on this page are from google as we forgot to take any!
Arusha is the undisputed “safari capital” of Tanzania, being the departure point for Africa’s most famous national parks (including Serengeti, Ngorongoro and Tarangire) as well as Mt Kilimanjaro. Everyone who goes on safari in Tanzania inevitably passes through Arusha at some point and the touts who prowl the central streets have the reputation as being the worst in Africa. The other major industry around here is Tanzanite, a valuable blue stone which is only found here and has the rare attribute of polychromism (I think that was the word) – having the appearance of different colours when viewed from different angles (blue, violet, salmon). The population in Arusha has exploded with the booming of both these industries. The town itself is dusty, dirty and busy – not the kind of place you would want to hang around too long.
In typical fashion we arrived without any plans. Due to the extra time spent in Rwanda it had also just clicked over into June - peak season, but we were nevertheless confident. We had chosen a guest house quite a long way out of town, past the bitumen road and the point where the local dala-dalas (buses) turn around, but it turned out to be an absolute gem. The manager Amani was possibly the friendliest human being on the planet, with a huge smile permanently fixed on his dial. He had a well stocked bar and we got to try all the exotically named beers – “Safari”, “Serengeti”, “Kilimanjaro”, “Tusker”, etc while planning our safari. We met Wayne, a South African twitcher who gave us the lowdown on the Tanzanian bird situation, and a young British doctor who was unimpressed by the local public hospital she was working at. The remote location turned out to be no problem because after a short walk to the road we could get a dala-dala into town every two minutes for only 30cents - Brisbane city council could learn a thing or two from this awesome public transport!
In typical fashion we arrived without any plans. Due to the extra time spent in Rwanda it had also just clicked over into June - peak season, but we were nevertheless confident. We had chosen a guest house quite a long way out of town, past the bitumen road and the point where the local dala-dalas (buses) turn around, but it turned out to be an absolute gem. The manager Amani was possibly the friendliest human being on the planet, with a huge smile permanently fixed on his dial. He had a well stocked bar and we got to try all the exotically named beers – “Safari”, “Serengeti”, “Kilimanjaro”, “Tusker”, etc while planning our safari. We met Wayne, a South African twitcher who gave us the lowdown on the Tanzanian bird situation, and a young British doctor who was unimpressed by the local public hospital she was working at. The remote location turned out to be no problem because after a short walk to the road we could get a dala-dala into town every two minutes for only 30cents - Brisbane city council could learn a thing or two from this awesome public transport!
The goat
One afternoon we were feeling particularly lazy and unfit so we decided to go for a run down the dirt road heading further out of town. The road was so badly potholed that we ended up jogging up alongside crawling vehicles, exchanging greetings through the window before overtaking them! It was getting dark and we were about to turn around when we saw two young boys no more than 8 years old up ahead coaxing their hugely pregnant goat with a stick to the rump. Nothing unusual there but the goat did not move. As we got closer we could see they were unsuccessfully trying to pick it up together, but the animal was bigger than they were! When the two Mzungus jogged up they stopped in their tracks and stared at us, and we stared back, wondering what the hell they were doing. The way this poor goat was holding one leg it was obvious that something was broken and it couldn’t walk. I asked them “Do you need help to carry it?” – met with stares. I acted out my best carrying motions – continued stares. There was no other choice really but to pick up the goat and see what happens. The trick with carrying a goat is to get one arm under the back legs to support the pelvis (particularly when the goat in question is pregnant) – once you get a good hold here it’s plain sailing. The boys pointed down the road and so we started walking, now with the sun down and darkness setting in. Thankfully their house was not too far away so I carried the goat up to their bewildered mother and laid it at her feet. The boys were tight lipped so as an attempted explanation we pointed at its leg and jogged off hoping that she didn’t think we had caused the damage.
touts
Personally, I hate being hassled by touts. Hence I hated Arushas “clocktower” area – the place where tourist information and safari operators are located. It also happens to be the exact middle of Africa, if you were to draw a line between Cairo and Cape Town. The moment we stepped outside they were onto our new faces like flies to shit. At one point we were surrounded by about 15-20 men shouting the name of their safari company and shoving business cards into our faces. It was intense. After a bit of looking around with our personal entourage we turned around and told them forcefully – “Leave us alone now we’re going for lunch”. This stopped them dead and seemed to work for about 30 seconds until I heard a voice trailing us “Ok my friend I told them to leave you alone, now you can come talk to my company?” There was no getting away from these guys, known as “flycatchers”. Despite the hassle we nevertheless managed to book a trip leaving the following day, from a company which actually had an office - apparently this is a good indicator of reliability around here. The great annual migration of wildebeest was at that time in the western ‘corridor’ of Serengeti so we tinkered with the itinerary, skipping Lake Manyara and adding an extra night in western Serengeti – this turned out to be an absolute blessing!!! (read on to find out why..)