Well in a quick turn of events we've decided due to our visa problems(reasons can be read in my last post entry), to travel to Uganda and volunteer there with a similar organisation/setup as here in Arusha. We've contacted two orphanages in Kampala, Uganda and will visit them when we arrive. We initially said that we would spend a max of six weeks in the one spot and thats what we've done so far.
Yesterday was our last day in the school and with the friends that we've become very close to over the past few weeks. It was tough saying goodbye to the wee ones. As it was our last day we had arranged a special little party at the last minute. So we went and got some goodies for each child, like pencils, erasers, crayons, juice drinks, candy sticks, biscuits etc...and put them into a little bag for them. They loved the surprise and the smiles on their faces was amazing to see.
We really learned an awful lot from both the teachers and the kids that we had the pleasure of getting to know. The simple things in life that we take for granted on a daily basis, like water for instance, is such a commodity here! If it does'nt rain, alot of people, especially the poorer ones do not get water...its that simple.
We have been lucky to experience what it means to have no water. When I say "lucky", I mean that its made me appreciate how fortunate we are to have an endless supply of water back home. A couple of weeks ago, there was a huge shortage of water in Arusha and at our hostel there was no water(clean or dirty) in which to wash. This meant that we went without a shower for almost a week! Under normal circumstances, this may not have been too bad, but with the contstant heat and unbearable humidity it was excruiciating. One can only imagine how it must be like for people here who have to go through that feeling on a regular basis.
All in all, we had a very enjoyable six weeks in Arusha.
Getting back to the road ahead. We are getting a bus later today from Arusha to Dar es Salaam which is a 11 hour journey away. From there we will get the Central line train to Mwanza(which is on the south of Lake Victoria) and is a rotten 40 hour journey in itself! However, they have sleeper cabins so it may not be too bad.
From Mwanza we then have a 12 hour ferry trip across lake victoria to another small fishing port called Bukoba. From here its another 9 hour bus journey into Kampala!
Thats the plan of action anyways. We have been informed that travel in Africa is'nt like travel anywhere else in the world so we won't get our hopes up that things will go smoothly. Long delays and breakdowns, combined with horrendous roads seem to be the norm.
All I know is that so far the drivers on the roads are crazy, and safety seems to be no concern of theirs. So as long as we get from A to B in one piece then we'll be thankful.
For anyone who's wondering wheather its safe in Uganda and Rwanda, it is at the moment. There is some rebel activity in northern Uganda but we are only going as far as Kampala which the embassy imformed us was very safe and secure for tourists.
Regarding Rwanda, we aim to go to the capital Kigali, as we have a few sound contact details for there. Again there is some militery activity at the Rwandan/Congo border which is'nt safe, but Kigali is very safe.
So my next post will be from the land of Idi Amin(for anyone who saw the "last king of Scotland"!)
We've about a 2000km overland trip to get through until we reach Uganda :(
Ciao
Wednesday, 25 February 2009
Thursday, 19 February 2009
Rwandan genocide, a haircut and more corrupton!
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)is an international court established in November 1994 by the United Nations Security Council in order to judge those people responsible for the Rwandan genocide and other serious violations of the international law performed in the territory of Rwanda, or by Rwandan citizens in nearby states, between 1 January and 31 December 1994....Quote from good old Wikipedia :)
So today we decided that we'd head for the courtreoom after school and witness the tribunal for our own eyes. We were told by loads of people that its well worth going to and is very interesting to see how a murder trial is carried out.
So we went along to the evening session which lasted 3 hours. The defendant was Hormisdas Nsengimana, a catholic priest who was formerly Rector of Christ-Roi College in Nyanza, which is located outside Kigali(capital of Rwanda). Nsengimana is charged with genocide, murder and extermination as crimes against humanity.
Nsengimana is alleged to have been among the organisers of the killing of Tutsis in Nyanza, Butare in 1994. He is accused of playing a leading role in a group of killers called Les Dragons (The Dragons) or Escadrons de la Mort (Death Squad). He is also alleged to have been instrumental in the killing of 3 Tutsi priests from his college.
Indeed the events in the 3 hour period were interesting. The prosecutor was going over some testimony that witness's gave over the past few weeks that seemed to be rock solid against the priest. The defence team then took the stand and basically tried to find "technical" faults with the prosecution witness's testimony...saying that such and such a testimony did'nt meet the specific requirements that was needed in such a court. Basically, from what we gathered was that the priest was beyond guilty and had'nt a hope...only a "technical get out clause" if his defence lawyers could find him one.
The priest sat there behind his defence with a smug smirk on his face...I wish I could have'nt taken a photo but we were unable to bring anything photo or electronic equipment into the court for obvious reasons.
There was no jury, only a presiding judge and other other judges...I don't know the jargon for all the different positions.
What I would like to know is this; do the defence team actually believe that their client is innocent in all this?? I know the whole "innocent until proven guilty" scenario comes into play, but the evidence against the priest from what we heard and were informed both before and after the session, that its only a matter of legal formality until he's convicted. So far over 80 criminals from the genocide have been found guilty by the court with a few getting away as a result of evidence been tampered with by the defence!!
Anyways, enough about that!
Other news of interest: Went a got head shaved again yesterday. The barber shop is like a butcher shop gone bad with the only devices there to cut hair been an electric razor. It figures as much since everyone has the same skint head look...including me :)!
I'm sure anyone out here could be a barber...all thats required is shaving heads! Nothing else...just shaving heads! He proceeds to shave mine with what I thought was a machette. This fellow was about 25 years old and could speak fluent swahili,english,italian,french and arabic!! But yet he could'nt take it easy on my sunburnt head with the razor. After the operation was finished he then starts shaving my face with the same razor...and before I know it I've only my two eyebrow's left....not a thing else. I thought at once stage that he was going to try and pluck some nose hair.
Just before he finishes, he dabs some talc powder around my burning neck and face before splashing BOILING water all over my head,face and butchered neck. I had to restrain myself from hopping up and giving him the peoples elbow from the top rope!
But it was an experience and one that I'll find hard to want to partake in again without a dose of ponston at the ready :)
We have to go up to the immergraton office either tomorrow or Monday to find out about our Visa problem. The hostel we are staying at arranged out visa's for us before we left Ireland, but the date of issue was Oct 28th - Jan 28th! Which meant that when we arrived in Tanzania we had only one week left on our visa which was meant to be a 3 month visa. The owner of the hostel made a mistake an got the office to issue our visa's back in Oct...instead of leaving it until Jan! So we then had to go and get another visa sorted(we did'nt have to pay the hostel for the first one obviously)....$100 each plus $20 compulsory bride! So we get our new visa's a few days later but find that instead of the dates been jan 30th - April 30th, its stamped Jan 30th - March 30th! Another problem and mistake, since we don't leave until middle April!
What this means is that we will be unable to get a "third" visa permit unless we leave and re-enter the country. This is a trick that we found out has happened quiet alot in these parts of the world where corruption is rampant!
When we went back to complain to the office we were gently informed that the matter can be "resolved" easily....this was said by a brute of a lady sitting behind her desk in her office, while discretely making the money sign with her index and thump fingers!! The "corruption free zone" sign on the wall above her head was another thing that I would have loved to have taken a photo of!
$200 a piece and we could have a new visa sorted for us she informed us. With that we both walked out of the office with steam coming from our red ears.
What a joke of a system they've got going down here. Needless to say we have no intentions of paying the bribe. We will just have to re-enter the country.
Anways, we'll try our arm again either tomorrow or monday and I'll see what the story is then.
I'm off for some corn on the cob, cooked over a bbq by local women, and about 5 bottles of sprite.
Ciao!
So today we decided that we'd head for the courtreoom after school and witness the tribunal for our own eyes. We were told by loads of people that its well worth going to and is very interesting to see how a murder trial is carried out.
So we went along to the evening session which lasted 3 hours. The defendant was Hormisdas Nsengimana, a catholic priest who was formerly Rector of Christ-Roi College in Nyanza, which is located outside Kigali(capital of Rwanda). Nsengimana is charged with genocide, murder and extermination as crimes against humanity.
Nsengimana is alleged to have been among the organisers of the killing of Tutsis in Nyanza, Butare in 1994. He is accused of playing a leading role in a group of killers called Les Dragons (The Dragons) or Escadrons de la Mort (Death Squad). He is also alleged to have been instrumental in the killing of 3 Tutsi priests from his college.
Indeed the events in the 3 hour period were interesting. The prosecutor was going over some testimony that witness's gave over the past few weeks that seemed to be rock solid against the priest. The defence team then took the stand and basically tried to find "technical" faults with the prosecution witness's testimony...saying that such and such a testimony did'nt meet the specific requirements that was needed in such a court. Basically, from what we gathered was that the priest was beyond guilty and had'nt a hope...only a "technical get out clause" if his defence lawyers could find him one.
The priest sat there behind his defence with a smug smirk on his face...I wish I could have'nt taken a photo but we were unable to bring anything photo or electronic equipment into the court for obvious reasons.
There was no jury, only a presiding judge and other other judges...I don't know the jargon for all the different positions.
What I would like to know is this; do the defence team actually believe that their client is innocent in all this?? I know the whole "innocent until proven guilty" scenario comes into play, but the evidence against the priest from what we heard and were informed both before and after the session, that its only a matter of legal formality until he's convicted. So far over 80 criminals from the genocide have been found guilty by the court with a few getting away as a result of evidence been tampered with by the defence!!
Anyways, enough about that!
Other news of interest: Went a got head shaved again yesterday. The barber shop is like a butcher shop gone bad with the only devices there to cut hair been an electric razor. It figures as much since everyone has the same skint head look...including me :)!
I'm sure anyone out here could be a barber...all thats required is shaving heads! Nothing else...just shaving heads! He proceeds to shave mine with what I thought was a machette. This fellow was about 25 years old and could speak fluent swahili,english,italian,french and arabic!! But yet he could'nt take it easy on my sunburnt head with the razor. After the operation was finished he then starts shaving my face with the same razor...and before I know it I've only my two eyebrow's left....not a thing else. I thought at once stage that he was going to try and pluck some nose hair.
Just before he finishes, he dabs some talc powder around my burning neck and face before splashing BOILING water all over my head,face and butchered neck. I had to restrain myself from hopping up and giving him the peoples elbow from the top rope!
But it was an experience and one that I'll find hard to want to partake in again without a dose of ponston at the ready :)
We have to go up to the immergraton office either tomorrow or Monday to find out about our Visa problem. The hostel we are staying at arranged out visa's for us before we left Ireland, but the date of issue was Oct 28th - Jan 28th! Which meant that when we arrived in Tanzania we had only one week left on our visa which was meant to be a 3 month visa. The owner of the hostel made a mistake an got the office to issue our visa's back in Oct...instead of leaving it until Jan! So we then had to go and get another visa sorted(we did'nt have to pay the hostel for the first one obviously)....$100 each plus $20 compulsory bride! So we get our new visa's a few days later but find that instead of the dates been jan 30th - April 30th, its stamped Jan 30th - March 30th! Another problem and mistake, since we don't leave until middle April!
What this means is that we will be unable to get a "third" visa permit unless we leave and re-enter the country. This is a trick that we found out has happened quiet alot in these parts of the world where corruption is rampant!
When we went back to complain to the office we were gently informed that the matter can be "resolved" easily....this was said by a brute of a lady sitting behind her desk in her office, while discretely making the money sign with her index and thump fingers!! The "corruption free zone" sign on the wall above her head was another thing that I would have loved to have taken a photo of!
$200 a piece and we could have a new visa sorted for us she informed us. With that we both walked out of the office with steam coming from our red ears.
What a joke of a system they've got going down here. Needless to say we have no intentions of paying the bribe. We will just have to re-enter the country.
Anways, we'll try our arm again either tomorrow or monday and I'll see what the story is then.
I'm off for some corn on the cob, cooked over a bbq by local women, and about 5 bottles of sprite.
Ciao!
Wednesday, 11 February 2009
Corruption, extortion, discrimination and the MZUNGU!
Mzungu - Slang for "white person/man". Its what the locals here call us white people. To put it mildly, its the African equivalent of the term "Nigger" in western society.
So we've been living for a month exactly in Tanzania and over that period of time we've come accustomed to the various cultural differences and nuances that has come our way. We've adjusted well and we both love it here.
However we've made some observations over the past few weeks relating to the way the local people view Mzungu's! The main one been their blatant use of the word Mzungu at any given chance around you and when they see you coming. Could you imagine what would happen if we went around calling black people the "N" word when you meet them on the street? There would be a revolt. Well its the equivalent here...but without the prospect of a revolt. Its viewed as no big deal and its the only way to describe a white person apparently!
Initially, when we found out what this word that everyone was calling us meant we felt really offended and shocked that even grown adults shout it from across the road and start laughing among themselves. It did cause a few incidents of increased blood pressure but I had to bite the tongue more times than I care to remember. The one thing we did realize from the off is that getting aggressive towards locals could spark alot of trouble. Gangs are prevalent in these parts of the world more than I ever thought....hell even the dogs walk around in gangs!! Speaking of dogs...I'm convinced that they're racist as well as they always seem to want to attack us when we walk by :)
So after getting used to the label Mzungu, we were faced with another harsh reality! The reality that there is one price for African's and another price for "non-residents" aka Mzungu's!! Now we know that tourist's are the main income for most people here...but then why try and rip us off?! A simple example would be the taxi fares. A short taxi ride costs TSH 2000(which is about 1euro) and a longer one costs TSH 4000(2euro). But thats the African price! The Mzungu price can start from anywhere from TSH 5000 for short rides and TSH 10000 for the longer ones. It's beyond a joke though what they think they can get away with. As soon and you walk away from their initial quote and refuse to listen to them...you'll get the proper price. So if we are getting a taxi we just say we don't want the Mzungu price. Extortion is'nt the word though.
Another example of the rampant discrimination that goes on in this country is bus fares. Ok so we want to go to Moshi for a day trip. The sign reads "residents - TSH 5000, non-residents $10"!! Thats the polite way of saying "African's TSH 5000 and Mzungu's $10! I can assure you that if a Nigerian person walked into the bus station and asked for a ticket he would'nt have to produce his passport to verify that he was Tanzanian. It's a case of the colour of your skin and that's it...end of story.
Its a sad fact though as there's so much in the media about racism in western society towards black people, but to be honest its equally as bad here towards white people.Its the only country I've been to where I've felt racially intimidated. I can just imagine how it must feel like to those who are subjected to worse conditions and situations of it.
Anyways, I just wanted to make an entry on this subject as it strikes us as both funny and intimidating. For some reason they think that because we are white we are very naive and easily fooled. But I can guarantee you that they misjudged the wrong two people :)
Apart from that we have no news. We're having trouble with our visa's....very long story and not our fault! That will get its own blog entry later on!
We've been making great progress with our project in the school and I'm proud to say that I taught my class how to multiply by using the visual aid of dots! A simple technique that I was shown, but a very effective one when there's the language barrier to overcome as well!
We've been basically just going to and from school, eating and then hitting the sack around 9pm every night. The heat makes us so tired and with a 6:30am start every morning you definitely need the rest.
Ciao!
So we've been living for a month exactly in Tanzania and over that period of time we've come accustomed to the various cultural differences and nuances that has come our way. We've adjusted well and we both love it here.
However we've made some observations over the past few weeks relating to the way the local people view Mzungu's! The main one been their blatant use of the word Mzungu at any given chance around you and when they see you coming. Could you imagine what would happen if we went around calling black people the "N" word when you meet them on the street? There would be a revolt. Well its the equivalent here...but without the prospect of a revolt. Its viewed as no big deal and its the only way to describe a white person apparently!
Initially, when we found out what this word that everyone was calling us meant we felt really offended and shocked that even grown adults shout it from across the road and start laughing among themselves. It did cause a few incidents of increased blood pressure but I had to bite the tongue more times than I care to remember. The one thing we did realize from the off is that getting aggressive towards locals could spark alot of trouble. Gangs are prevalent in these parts of the world more than I ever thought....hell even the dogs walk around in gangs!! Speaking of dogs...I'm convinced that they're racist as well as they always seem to want to attack us when we walk by :)
So after getting used to the label Mzungu, we were faced with another harsh reality! The reality that there is one price for African's and another price for "non-residents" aka Mzungu's!! Now we know that tourist's are the main income for most people here...but then why try and rip us off?! A simple example would be the taxi fares. A short taxi ride costs TSH 2000(which is about 1euro) and a longer one costs TSH 4000(2euro). But thats the African price! The Mzungu price can start from anywhere from TSH 5000 for short rides and TSH 10000 for the longer ones. It's beyond a joke though what they think they can get away with. As soon and you walk away from their initial quote and refuse to listen to them...you'll get the proper price. So if we are getting a taxi we just say we don't want the Mzungu price. Extortion is'nt the word though.
Another example of the rampant discrimination that goes on in this country is bus fares. Ok so we want to go to Moshi for a day trip. The sign reads "residents - TSH 5000, non-residents $10"!! Thats the polite way of saying "African's TSH 5000 and Mzungu's $10! I can assure you that if a Nigerian person walked into the bus station and asked for a ticket he would'nt have to produce his passport to verify that he was Tanzanian. It's a case of the colour of your skin and that's it...end of story.
Its a sad fact though as there's so much in the media about racism in western society towards black people, but to be honest its equally as bad here towards white people.Its the only country I've been to where I've felt racially intimidated. I can just imagine how it must feel like to those who are subjected to worse conditions and situations of it.
Anyways, I just wanted to make an entry on this subject as it strikes us as both funny and intimidating. For some reason they think that because we are white we are very naive and easily fooled. But I can guarantee you that they misjudged the wrong two people :)
Apart from that we have no news. We're having trouble with our visa's....very long story and not our fault! That will get its own blog entry later on!
We've been making great progress with our project in the school and I'm proud to say that I taught my class how to multiply by using the visual aid of dots! A simple technique that I was shown, but a very effective one when there's the language barrier to overcome as well!
We've been basically just going to and from school, eating and then hitting the sack around 9pm every night. The heat makes us so tired and with a 6:30am start every morning you definitely need the rest.
Ciao!
Tuesday, 10 February 2009
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Friday, 6 February 2009
Thursday, 5 February 2009
Serengeti report!
The Serengeti is Africa’s most famous game reserve, renowned for its dense predator population and annual wildebeest migration. The Serengeti is so vast and barren that it covers an area of over 15,000km2.…which is the approx size of Northern Ireland! To put it mildly, its huge!!
Ok so we set off at 8am Saturday morning for our four day safari. In the end there were only three of us on the trip, along with our driver/guide and our cook. The other person was another volunteer who is also staying in the same hostel as us. There were meant to be four of us going but the safari company couldn’t find us a fourth member to join us….happy days! More food for us J
Our first night was spent in a camp site at a lake called Manyara. Its also a national park and we had our first game drive here. We saw loads of blue monkeys(they star in the film “outbrake”), elephants, lions, giraffes, rhinos, hippos and all the rest of the classic gang.
The monkeys were really interesting to sit and watch. Their behaviour and mannerisms are hilarious. I took at least 150 photo’s of just monkeys there.
We had our dinner at 7pm that evening at our camp, before retiring to bed at 9pm. We had a very early start the next morning…with a 7 hour trek on dirt roads into the heart of the Serengeti. This drive was combined with a game drive when we entered the Serengeti. Seeing the vast amount of animals on entering the Serengeti is hard to describe. Wildebeests and zebra’s dot the scenery for miles and miles, with Thompson and grant Gazelles running about like rabbits. To be honest, I’m not big into the wild life scene and only really had eyes for the “big game 5”, but after seeing the different species that the Serengeti had to offer really made me appreciate wild life a little bit more.
We got up close and personal with three female lions who must have just have eaten their dinner as they had blood stains around there mouths! The three of them came right up to the jeep and sat down panting on the edge of the grass….literally 4 feet away from us. Got some very cool photo’s. Even the guide was quite anxious for the lions not to come any closer as they could easily have torn the jeep to bits if they felt like it. Luckily I had my “bear grylls” knife on stand by….just in case. That would’ve been to slice my own neck rather than get mauled to bits!
Anyways we returned to our campsite which we had set up on arrival in the Serengeti and had a beautifully prepared western style dinner in the middle of the biggest craziest thunder and lightening storm I’ve ever witnessed. It rained constantly for an hour while the fork lightening lit up the evening sky.
Before we hit the sack we were gently informed by our guide, that due to the camp been unguarded and its location that we should expect some company around the camp during the night! So that night about 10pm we were suddenly awakened by some animal sniffing my head through the tent canvas. It was pitch black inside the tent and we were both terrified due to been suddenly awakened and also because there was some wild animal roaming around our tent making growling noises that can only be described as something you’d hear off a horror movie. Luckily enough I managed to get some audio of it wit my camcorder.
So anyways, we didn’t know what the animal was at the time and we probably didn’t want to know. Needless to say we didn’t sleep a wink for the rest of the night. And we had to be up at 5.30am for our game drive!
We found out in the morning that the noises were those of a herd of Buffaloes that had come into the camp to inspect what was going on. Also hyena’s were heard around our guides tent and a Lion’s roar was heard around the camp as well….which we def heard but again didn’t know what it was. Good job as well to be honest!!
So our game drive in the Serengeti last a good few hours both in the morning and the evening time. We saw almost all there was to see except for leopards or cheetahs.
We spent the third night in the Ngorongoro crater which is a huge flat plain that has every animal imaginable in it. The views from the top of this crater were savage and it was definitely a great end to the safari.
All in all, four days was enough for us. Unless you’re really big into the wildlife then a few weeks would be the only job. For me the highlight was seeing the migration of wildebeests and Zebra’s just as we were heading out of the Serengeti. As far as the eye could see it was just saturated with animals. Really amazing sight, and worth the trip alone just to witness it.
I would do another safari but next time I’d have a better lens for my SLR as some of the animals were that bit too far away to get really great photo’s. Plus the weather was very overcast so a lot of colour was mission from the photo’s.
But I would definitely recommend a safari into the Serengeti. If you came all the way to Tanzania and didn’t go on one then it would be a shame in my opinion.
Ciao
Ok so we set off at 8am Saturday morning for our four day safari. In the end there were only three of us on the trip, along with our driver/guide and our cook. The other person was another volunteer who is also staying in the same hostel as us. There were meant to be four of us going but the safari company couldn’t find us a fourth member to join us….happy days! More food for us J
Our first night was spent in a camp site at a lake called Manyara. Its also a national park and we had our first game drive here. We saw loads of blue monkeys(they star in the film “outbrake”), elephants, lions, giraffes, rhinos, hippos and all the rest of the classic gang.
The monkeys were really interesting to sit and watch. Their behaviour and mannerisms are hilarious. I took at least 150 photo’s of just monkeys there.
We had our dinner at 7pm that evening at our camp, before retiring to bed at 9pm. We had a very early start the next morning…with a 7 hour trek on dirt roads into the heart of the Serengeti. This drive was combined with a game drive when we entered the Serengeti. Seeing the vast amount of animals on entering the Serengeti is hard to describe. Wildebeests and zebra’s dot the scenery for miles and miles, with Thompson and grant Gazelles running about like rabbits. To be honest, I’m not big into the wild life scene and only really had eyes for the “big game 5”, but after seeing the different species that the Serengeti had to offer really made me appreciate wild life a little bit more.
We got up close and personal with three female lions who must have just have eaten their dinner as they had blood stains around there mouths! The three of them came right up to the jeep and sat down panting on the edge of the grass….literally 4 feet away from us. Got some very cool photo’s. Even the guide was quite anxious for the lions not to come any closer as they could easily have torn the jeep to bits if they felt like it. Luckily I had my “bear grylls” knife on stand by….just in case. That would’ve been to slice my own neck rather than get mauled to bits!
Anyways we returned to our campsite which we had set up on arrival in the Serengeti and had a beautifully prepared western style dinner in the middle of the biggest craziest thunder and lightening storm I’ve ever witnessed. It rained constantly for an hour while the fork lightening lit up the evening sky.
Before we hit the sack we were gently informed by our guide, that due to the camp been unguarded and its location that we should expect some company around the camp during the night! So that night about 10pm we were suddenly awakened by some animal sniffing my head through the tent canvas. It was pitch black inside the tent and we were both terrified due to been suddenly awakened and also because there was some wild animal roaming around our tent making growling noises that can only be described as something you’d hear off a horror movie. Luckily enough I managed to get some audio of it wit my camcorder.
So anyways, we didn’t know what the animal was at the time and we probably didn’t want to know. Needless to say we didn’t sleep a wink for the rest of the night. And we had to be up at 5.30am for our game drive!
We found out in the morning that the noises were those of a herd of Buffaloes that had come into the camp to inspect what was going on. Also hyena’s were heard around our guides tent and a Lion’s roar was heard around the camp as well….which we def heard but again didn’t know what it was. Good job as well to be honest!!
So our game drive in the Serengeti last a good few hours both in the morning and the evening time. We saw almost all there was to see except for leopards or cheetahs.
We spent the third night in the Ngorongoro crater which is a huge flat plain that has every animal imaginable in it. The views from the top of this crater were savage and it was definitely a great end to the safari.
All in all, four days was enough for us. Unless you’re really big into the wildlife then a few weeks would be the only job. For me the highlight was seeing the migration of wildebeests and Zebra’s just as we were heading out of the Serengeti. As far as the eye could see it was just saturated with animals. Really amazing sight, and worth the trip alone just to witness it.
I would do another safari but next time I’d have a better lens for my SLR as some of the animals were that bit too far away to get really great photo’s. Plus the weather was very overcast so a lot of colour was mission from the photo’s.
But I would definitely recommend a safari into the Serengeti. If you came all the way to Tanzania and didn’t go on one then it would be a shame in my opinion.
Ciao
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