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Plans went seriously astray in Tanzania - an intial 2 week sprint tour turned into a 6 week marathon and we wished at times we'd bought an amphibeous landy!
We went straight to safari capital Arusha, overnighting in the Maasai camp, before heading off early on an unmarked track to Lake Natron on the Keynan border. A great drive took us through plains of wildebeest, antelope, ostrich and giraffe - the cratered landscape is dominated by possibly the only live volcano in Africa and with ash spilling over it's sides it was a stunning sight.

Malawi - may 2001

Pam.tom
2005-10-15 19:19:07

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Plans went seriously astray in Tanzania - an intial 2 week sprint tour turned into a 6 week marathon and we wished at times we'd bought an amphibeous landy!
We went straight to safari capital Arusha, overnighting in the Maasai camp, before heading off early on an unmarked track to Lake Natron on the Keynan border. A great drive took us through plains of wildebeest, antelope, ostrich and giraffe - the cratered landscape is dominated by possibly the only live volcano in Africa and with ash spilling over it's sides it was a stunning sight.
Lake Natron was beautifully peaceful and after a bush camp we breakfasted on it's shores watching thousands of flamingos do their stuff. Heading back to Mto wa Mbu the previously good track had been turned into a mud bath by the overnight rains. The Massi, resplendent with spears and draped in their traditional red blankets had a laugh as we struggled through the swamp.
With half on Tanzania plastered liberally on Russell (and ourselves!) we headed for the Ngorongoro crater. We lucked out when we discovered Manera Safari camp, 4km off the road outside Karatu. Not only does it overlook the crater conservation area but they felt so sorry for the mud coated mzungu's they refused to let us sleep in the car and put us up in the luxury tents. We fell in love with the place the next morning when a newly washed and polished Russell greeted us.
The descent down to the crater floor was almost (but not quite) worth the 90$ it set us back to enter the park and with a worried guide (we told him Russell was 40 and he seemed concerned about the brakes for some reason) we entered the 'Garden of Eden'. While we did see everything from antelope to zebra the crater did have a feel of a zoo about it - enjoyable nevertheless. Back to Manera for a bit more pampering and another wash and blow dry for Russell and then onto the coast and the old Arab trading port of Pangani.
We stayed at Argovia tented ...