The Travels Of The RJs

Nejo Palace Hotel, Arusha – Roika Lodge, Tarangire National Park Today is our first day of safari and everyone is excited both for the animals but also getting back and doing something on the holiday. Although the rest yesterday was probably welcome there was also a sense of passing time when we could/should be doing something or seeing something on this once of a lifetime trip. Thankfully we already have the memories of the climb and the upcoming safari won’t disappoint. We are told we’re going out in a long wheel base Toyota Land Cruiser many of which we’ve seen thundering up and down the main road. So we’re all surprised when a standard sized one turns up, not least because we can’t physically fit 7 of us plus bags in the car. Turns out someone had put petrol in the diesel engine so a replacement had been sent late. More time is then wasted whilst that new Land Cruiser heads off in to Arusha to find us a suitable vehicle. More Tanzanian timekeeping means John’s “early 08:30” starts ...

Roika Lodge, Tarangire National Park The infamous “early start, 8:30” is almost true but when we arrive back at the park gate we end up waiting an hour and a half. We entertain ourselves in the truck playing Heads Up on the phone (highlight on Daniels turn – she’s fit. Jessica Alba he shouts). But frustration rises over the length of the delay – turns out John card has been declined through lack of funds, something about it being a public holiday yesterday so money hadn’t transferred. We’re all chomping at the bit. When we do get in we have a golden first hour. There are plenty of animals to be seen in the national parks but you can’t help wanting to see the Big Five (so called for being the hardest to hunt on  foot).  So we’re thrilled to see a leopard lounging in a tree and then seemingly round the corner a cheetah perched on a mound 50 metres away surveying the savannah. Literally around the next bend are three lions lounging a few metres from the road digesting a gnu, frag...

Roika Lodge, Tarangire National Park – Ngorongoro Crater – Eileen’s Trees Inn, Karatu Another big day, saying farewell to Tarangire and heading to the Ngorongoro crater. This means breakfast at 06:15 and departure soon after, back on to the main roads for a couple of hours. Whilst some are dozing we crunch to a halt – the reason? A giant bull elephant ambling across the road. Once it reaches the other side it turns and looks at us before rearing its trunk and roaring at us. Approaching in the distance is the crater, another extinct volcano which is a haven for wildlife. As we start driving up the base we pull over to look down on Lake Manyara and its national park which we shall visit tomorrow. At the gate to Ngoro-Ngoro there is of course a wait while John queues in a hectic hot room to buy our pass. Through the gate and wend up the side of the crater and along the ridge. On the outside are Massai villages, equipped with mud huts and then circular compounds fenced with wooden spikes t...

Karatu – Kilimanjaro airport – Nairobi – Dubai – Sydney And like that it’s our last day in Tanzania and Africa. One last national park first though. Of course the early 07:30 departure in reality becomes 08:30 because the back door of the Land Cruiser can’t be shut so David goes off to find another one. Whilst we’re filling up with petrol as we leave Karathu I purchase a Tanzanian football shirt from an opportunistic street seller who happens to be passing by. It’s just an hour down to Lake Manyana though without music as the new vehicle only has a cassette player… At the gate there is another money issue for John which Daniel has resolve but he soon does so and we’re in to much denser forestry type park with elephants on the hillside and baboons and monkeys on the roadside. This then opens on to vast flood plains by the lakes edge where we get our daily dose of hippos and other now familiar animals. By 11:30 we’re already leaving, John is cautious about getting us to the airport on ti...