avelog

I’ve tried to write a few things down here, but due to a combination of slow internet and power failures, it has been a bit of a mishap.

The important thing is that I am safe and healthy. I’m currently in Moshi, Tanzania, near to Mount Kilimanjaro. I’ve had pretty crazy few days! Having had to vacate my first night’s room, I headed blindly south, with only the name ‘Kipepeo Beach’ to guide me and randomly met three different guys that I thought at first were trying to scam me, and each eventually ended up helping me quite a bit. I stayed one night at the beach accomodation, and was introduced (by one of the above-mentioned guys) to a fellow named Mwasi, a self-employed tour consultant who ran four jeeps on safaris. Despite the fact that I hadn’t planned to do any safaris yet, if at all, I ended up agreeing to a three-day trip to the Mikumi National Park and Udzungwa Mountain National Park (one of the biodiversity hotspots of Africa, in the Eastern Arc Mountains). I joined three German girls and a guide in a Land Rover and we cruised around Mikumi for one and a half days looking at animals, and then I did a four hour hike with a local guide in the mountain park, looking at monkeys and a huge variety of plants. It had been pouring down rain all night and only eased a little in the morning, so the girls didn’t end up coming on the trek. I got to climb up to three waterfalls and took some nice photos that I’ll post eventually.

The night I got back to Dar es Salaam, the same tour consultant SMSed me saying that there was a group doing the Serengeti/Ngorongoro Crater/Lake Manyara safari followed by a climb of Kilimanjaro, and did I want to go. The catch was that I’d have to leave for Moshi early the next morning and it was already 9pm. I delayed insisting that I speak first with a friend of a friend who was to meet me for a beer, but after some thought and conversation, I decided to spend the money and get it over with (I’ll have little left, so wandering aimlessly once I’m done these too things had better be fairly cheap!). This morning, Mwasi put me on a bus to Moshi, and I’ve only just arrived, greeted by his cousin Phillip (another tour operator) who is running these two tours.

Although Phillip’s story and Mwasi’s story don’t perfectly align (there are now 12 in the group for the safari, in three jeeps, and nobody yet for Kilimanjaro), it looks like it still might work out. Mwasi told me that I’d be with two Germans and an American for both the safari and the climb, but I might very well be completely alone for the climb (except of course for porters, cook, and guide?!). Apparently it’s much easier to find people for Kili, so Phillip thought it would be a good idea to stick me on the safari while there’s a group going. It’s low season (rainy), so I’m told that it’s often tough to find groups at this time of year.

And of course, I’ll write all about it when I’m done! There are so many details that I wish I could write about, but that I’m sure would sound very very boring in print.

Still safe and happy!