Tanzania - Part 2 (Arusha & the the Serengeti Plains)

On Valentines Day, Lisa and I boarded a plane and headed West to Arusha. If you recall the map in an earlier post, you'll see that Arusha is located near the Kenyan border, south of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Arusha is starting point for probably 99.9% of the safari trips that take place in Tanzania. It's near 7 national parks - including the 3 we plan on visiting over the next several days. Lisa and I were not going to be alone on the safari, Ginger and Matt would be joining us. Lisa works with Ginger and she was also in Tanzania working prior to the safari. Matt and I met up in London at Heathrow and flew out together. They had been out on the beaches of Zanzibar prior to flying to Arusha.

A view of Julius Nyerere International Airport on our way to Arusha.
The Arusha airport is located about 10 miles outside of the town. This is a view of Mt. Meru. You'll notice the the welcoming rain cloud. About 30 minutes after this photo was taken we felt it's wrath while waiting for our taxi into town. Because of the clouds and Mt. Meru, our view of Mt. Kilimanjaro was blocked.

Our room at the Meru House Inn guesthouse. You'll notice two things, the concrete floor and the mosquito net. I ended up using the net as a blanket, I had no desire to sleep between the sheets of my bed. Just outside our window was a television set that, when we arrived, was blaring the Tanzanian version of C-Span.
Matt's birthday is on Valentines Day. But because of their late arrival in Arusha, his birthday cake was also his dinner.

A view of the main drag in Arusha from our room.
Lisa and I ate both dinner and breakfast at the Noble Juice Parlour. It was actually really good. I had a veggie pizza for dinner. It's mainly an Indian place - despite the beef burger on the sign. I highly recommend the naan.
This is the Land Cruiser we rode in over the next three days. Unfortunately the snorkel on the front went unused.

The first real animals we saw on our safari, several Elephants on the side of the main highway to the NgoroNgoro Crater.

Some scenes from the small town of Mto Wa Mbu - Swahili for Mosquito River. No joke, pass the bug spray please.

A view into the the NgoroNgoro Crater. You have to pass along the rim to get to the Serengeti. We were going to be heading into the crater the next day.

Now we're talking. The Elephants earlier along the highway were nothing compared to these guys.

A Maasai village just outside of the crater.

The Serengeti is no place for your truck to breakdown . . .

. . . especially when it requires you to replace your rear axle. Benny our driver/guide had a jack and let these guys use it. Yes, you read correctly - they had not been using a jack prior to our arrival to help in the replacement of the axle.
Lisa, Ginger and Matt waiting for safari to continue.

A Thomson's Gazelle among the Wildebeest. The difference between the Thomson's and the Grant's Gazelle is the black stripe on the side and the size - Grant's are bit bigger.
You'll notice the fancy shoulder loops on my safari shirt - especially purchased for this trip. A shirt like this is standard issue in the deepest, darkest parts of Africa.

A Maasai tribe member. Apparently he wasn't to happy with me snapping a photo of him. Matt said he was shaking his spear at us as we passed him.
More Wildebeest. Zebra and Wildebeest are literally in a constant search for greener pastures. From December to March, their migration finds them on the border of the Serengeti and NgoroNgoro Crater National Parks. They estimate over a million Wildebeest and over 200,000 Zebra make the 1,800 mile counter clockwise trip following the rain. It was pretty amazing to see. Every black dot on the horizon is an animal.

A Spotted Hyena near our campsite. Don't worry, there were two guys at the entrance of the campsite with sticks protecting us from the wild animals.
This is the dining hall at the Simba campsite. Every safari group that camps has a cook. Ours was named Wilson. He used to be a lifeguard in Dar Es Salaam. Not only did Wilson cook three large meals a day for us, he set up and took down our tents. Yeah - we were "roughing it." Our first meal from Wilson - potatoes, rice, beef with sauce, and veggies with sauce. Dessert was fried banana fritters. It was all very tasty.