Tanzania: deeper into the wild
Trip Start
Mar 04, 2010
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23
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Trip End
Mar 10, 2010
Mto wa Mbu, Tanzania
Monday, May 3, 2010
We began the second phase of our safari tour on Monday, when we crossed the border from Kenya to Tanzania. We have a new Soviet-era truck, this one with an official name: Christie. Christie does not always want to start. (After the tour, we hear that Christie died in Malawi. So glad we peeled off the group in Dar.)
Kenyan Jacob moves on with a different group, and we have two new group leaders, Olly and Kim, twenty-something British kids. We have a new group--it is larger now (16 passengers instead of 10) and most people are in their mid-twenties. Immediately our Tanzania experience is different from the Kenya leg because the group is younger, louder. It is a good time--just a different time. We spent more "late" nights in the bar. But late is 10:00 p.m., since we wake up at 5:00 a.m. regularly to cover much ground in the daytime.
We must drive many hours through the middle of nowhere to get to the border of Kenya and Tanzania. Let me just mention that, for a female, going in the bushes by the side of the road is an acquired skill. A quickly acquired skill.
Our first night with the new group we camped near a village called Mto wa Mbu. Somehow Ed and I got last pick of the tents and mats. It rained the last time the group we joined used the tents. Our tent was damp and smelly. Our mats were so wet we could not sleep on them. (For my A+B friends: I'm wondering what our $3,000 is paying for.)
We have some opportunities at a few campsites to "upgrade" to a real room for an additional fee. That first night we tell Olly and Kim to upgrade us at every opportunity.
