While seeing an elephant from a few metres away or a lion lying in the grass (is that where they got their name from???) is certainly impressive, the overall experience was a bit mixed. It's not black and white like a zebra – I can't say I hated the experience. But I really thought there would be a stop sometimes to step out of the car and enjoy the views. Instead, I think I spent more hours in a car in two days than in all of 2007...
That made it a bit of a drag for me. So for me the wildlife moment that stands out is still Meru, when we saw a giraffe while walking down the hill. Even if it was farther away (maybe 70-80 metres) it was ultimately a much more down-to-earth feeling than an elephant five metres away, observed within a can of steel. Even the canoe tour on Lake Duluti that Sylvie and I did the day before was more relaxing and enjoyable for me, without seeing any of the big five wildlife. The big five is five of those must-see animals during a safari. I don't even know which ones they are – I assume lions, elephants and leopards are among them. It seems a bit of a trophy thing and I guess I just enjoy more the whole experience.
And of course at least in that regard the Ngorongoro crater was cool. It offered stunning views from above and inside. The drive back up was beautiful through the tropical rain forest. On the top we (finally!!!) stopped at a vista point and saw the rain clouds to the right, the little forest in the foreground to the left and the wide open meadows behind. The number of zebras and buffaloes are mind-boggling.
But maybe my highlight was the lunch break at a little pond, stepping out and watching the birds and trees. While the latter were somewhat calm, the birds were very aggressive, stealing the lunches (including Sylvies's) out of the tourists' hands! We all retreated to the car and fortunately I am quick eater and got to spend some more time outside. I was almost mad when they all wanted to continue...
I think another big minus was our tour guide, who talked about five sentences in two days ("Here is a variety of birds," and the obvious "This is the crater," among them). I got more valuable info from Sylvie than from him.
We went with this company b/c the roaming Aussies had told us about it. They warned us about the pitfalls with the company but overall still had a great time, a great cook and very good driver and tour guide, who explained everything very well. So we decided to bank on that. The cook was OK and on the plus side we didn't have any leftovers, but the breakfast and second lunch was hardly enough for me and I was glad I brought some cookies. And the driver drove well, but his second duty, tour guide, left to be desired, to put it politely.
On the bright side it was substantially cheaper than some of the other companies that LP recommended, so it's OK. Shidolya (or however they are spelled) has a lousy office that will just lie about anything – something that I hadn't encountered here in this form. I'll pick one example: If you pay with travellers's checks they make you sign them but then try to pass them on to the Ngorongoro park officials. And then they refuse to cash them, because they are already signed, which makes sense. We knew this from the Aussies. So initially we refused to sign them in the office. Then the guy came back after supposedly talking to his manager and said "No problem, we pay cash at the entrance." Of course when we got to the gate they paid with TC and a 15-minute standoff ensued.
Oh, and this is the traffic jam in the park – another reason why I am not too fond of the experience. There is a lot of dust and pollution created.
Went for a short run this morning, which felt really nice after sitting for two days straight. There is a nice loop close to the Moshi airport. Tons of school kids were already out, walking or running to school. Isn't that a little early? Actually saw a local running, too. I followed him for a while (with a growing gap; I could have held his pace at five in the afternoon but not at 6:30 in the morning!), but then he made a sharp turn. I decided to continue straight, which "landed" me on the runway. Ooops.
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