Saturday, July 4, 2015

Tanzania Trip Observations

I thought I would make some general comments about my trip. Here are just some topics I thought I would cover. 

Lodges
We have stayed at a diverse list of lodging. I have to say that they were all unique and interesting to stay at. Some were in permanent buildings and some were in tents. I have to say I like tents the best. You can really hear the animal sounds at night as well as the birds at 6am. All of these places had good beds to sleep in. I just wish all of them had nets. I really was bitten up really bad on this trip by mosquitoes. Thankfully I only was bit by one tsetse fly.  Also each room came with a shower, flush toilet and sinks.  Now I'll admit that the showers went from a western style shower to solar showers to a bucket shower.  For the bucket shower, our tent steward heated our water first and let us know when it was ready.   So all were good enough in my opinion. So your basic needs could be met. 

All of these lodges greet you with towels and a fruit drink.  So great hospitality by each place was welcoming. 

All of these places had common areas to relax and hang out after a long game drive. It was always nice to relax with my group while having a glass of wine to talk about all we saw that day.  Even a few places put on Masai shows before dinner. 

Wake up calls
I love wake up calls!   Where they were available, you can have French press coffee delivered to your room.  A great way to enjoy the sunrise. Plus the coffee is great here.  You don't have a bitter finish so the coffee which is grown here is smooth to drink. 

Food
I actually think the food was good. I had some Indian inspired dishes as well as dishes that would appeal to everyone.  Breakfasts were typical. Although the eggs are strange in that there is no yellow yoke.  So eggs are kind of white looking. Also when you ask for pancakes, what you get is crepes.  They are really good.  The only difficulty is in finding maple syrup. It's just not a concept that a lot of places think to provide. 

Most of our lunches were box lunches provided by our lodgings.  Usually you got a few proteins with fruit and a sweet. Whatever we didn't eat was usually collected. When we ate near some Masai herders, we donated our food to them. We only didn't give them apples or chocolate but everything else was eaten. 

Dinners were hit and miss. Some were good and some were just okay. It's hard to please everyone. But wine and other kinds of drinks were all available with dinner.  One drink we learned from Steve was the dresser.  It's a drink you have while getting ready for dinner.  We've had a few of those. 

Roads
The roads come in all qualities. An all-wheel drive vehicle is a necessity here.  Near Arusha and to Tarangire they have paved roads but everywhere else the roads are dirt and rocks. There are a lot of wash board roads here.  As we drove more north in the Serengeti, the roads seem to deteriorate.  A lot more bumps and ruts.  You can't really drive very fast. And you would not want to be here in the rainy season. 

People
Most of all the people are very friendly. Our guide and driver are very accommodating. We walked through several markets and people are curious but they are all friendly. What was sad is how tourism is down here. I just hope it recovers soon. A lot of people depend on tourism and Tanzania has picked up from Kenya's losses but only our lodge in the crater and Sayari was filled with guests. 

Bush toilets
I had to comment on this since you learn to pee behind your vehicle. Once you do it once, it's not so difficult.  In some remote areas there just isn't a toilet available or it's not clean and so it's just better to go behind the vehicle. 

Laundry
Laundry is pretty much available in every place. In some cases it is included. However in a lot of places they won't wash underwear. Because of the availability of laundry services, you don't need to bring a lot of clothes. In my case I packed 3 pants, 1 long sleeve shirt and 4 t-shirts.  So believe it or not, you don't need to bring as many clothes as you think. So if you don't wash your clothes in the sink, you can get your pants or shirts washed for $1 which makes it easier to have someone do it. 

Bugs
Both Rhonda and I brought a lot of deet to help the fight against tsetse flies.  I wish I could say we were successful. We wore it in the beginning but we weren't bit as much. But as we went more north, I got more confident and didn't use it.   The Tsetse were probably the worse in the north part of the Serengeti for us. Even when we were using deet, it didn't help. Even Steve said this wouldn't work but we were hopeful. At least by Wednesday I hope many of the bites will start to fade. 

One interesting comment is that local people can't take malarone or some other malaria drug. Only the use of nets can prevent malaria from taking hold.  So they have to hope that they don't contract this here which is the biggest killer in Africa. 

Security 
You can't walk back to your tent or lodge on your own.  Almost every place we stayed at, we were escorted by either Masai or people from the camp. I think the Masai warriors were the coolest with their spears and colorful blankets. You never knew if a lion might approach the camp. 

Of course the most important observation I can make is to come with an open mind that allows you to experience everything that Tanzania can be.  It's all about having an adventure. 

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