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Safari Safi
  • Michi, der
  • Franze Dude

Safari Safi

Auf bird-watching-Tour mit Franziska Les mer
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  • Reisens start
    6. desember 2022
    Safari Safi
    Coconut boysDC-DC and solar chargerNewly welded mounting brackets!New fridge fanCentepede which I find crawling up my back under my t-shirt

    Ab die Post

    15. desember 2022, Tanzania ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    On December 7th I arrive in Dar and spend a full week at Eckhard's place to work on my car. What is on the menu? My most important and challenging mission is to install a supplementary auxiliary battery with charging infrastructure for my fridge, inverter and USB ports. My remote preparations for this task back home in Germany consumed most of my free time during the past weeks. From Germany I brought a DC-DC charger for charging of the battery from the car's alternator during driving. I also brought a solar charger and a foldable 140 Watt solar panel. All necessary cables, connectors and fuses I also had to import because it is quite difficult to find specific parts here in Dar es Salaam. But the biggest challenge of all is to find an adequate battery! I was opting for a small modern Lithium battery (LiFePO4) but after investigating for weeks in advance, not a single shop or supplier in Dar nor in Arusha could offer what I was searching for. In the end, the only battery I can find around here is a conventional 100 Ah VRLA gel solar battery. Now I have to carry around 32 kg instead of my desired 6 kg in the car and it eats a lot of my valuable storage space. They do not have smaller ones on stock anywhere.

    Apart from that I invest in two new high-quality starter batteries, change my engine oil and bleed the brakes. My awning suffered a lot from Namibia's washboard roads back in 2020 and the rivets loosened, some even lost their heads. I replace all rivets, add some more for increased stability and also shorten the mounting brackets. Eckhard's mechanic welds new mounting brackets for my sand recovery tracks and finally I can remount them vertically on my roof rack again! Also my fridge gets a much quieter radiator fan because the original one drove me crazy.    Les mer

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  • Safari Safi
    Fruity Usambara arabica coffee in Asante Café, LushotoDagmara's future sleeping roomNew tree nursery

    Mambo View Point is where I belong

    16. desember 2022, Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    On my way to Kilimanjaro Airport were I will be picking up Franziska in two days I visit my beloved second home at Mambo View Point where I say hello to Dagmara and her staff. What a great feeling to be back here again! Tears start to flow when I walk up to the cottage where I stayed 3.5 months back in 2020. Even more tears when I walk further to the view point overlooking Pare mountains. Speechless!Les mer

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  • Safari Safi

    United at Twiga Lodge!

    18. desember 2022, Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    At around midday Franziska arrives at Kilimanjaro International Airport. What a tiny sweet little airport. And what a tiny sweet little girl! We head off through the dry, ashy and brownish steppe. They have not had rain for more than 6 months here. First drops appeared just a few days ago. Back at Twiga Lodge in Usa River we slide into a slumbery nap on the wide open balcony with great view on Mount Meru. Today we are not camping in my car yet but sleep in one of their luxurious guest rooms. What a wonderful place to grove into our next four weeks of adventure. As we stroll around in the nearby village at dusk, Franziska gets her cultural infusion directly this very evening. Being surrounded by curious Tanzanians a friendly random guy introduces us to his mother and later to his other mother. How many mother might he have? There is loud music and without realising it we are dragged into a local communion celebration where we get offered fancy local food by this mother-abundant guy: spicy pilau with creamy makande, rich ndizi nyama and fresh cole slaw!Les mer

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  • Safari Safi

    Arusha

    19. desember 2022, Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Slowly we start the day. Nothing planned. The nearby German bakery is closed. Why? Because today is Sunday and it also features German opening hours 😛. We hop into allegedly busy Arusha for a small urban adventure and are well impressed by it's calmness and friendliness. Wherever we step we are received in a friendly manner. On a green park square they serve us coal-boiled coffee mixed with spicy ginger tea. On the central market we hold our noses while we are passing the butcher stands but later find fancy oyster nuts and chai masala. We are impressed by all the different varieties and colours of beans here! On the way back, a street tailor shortens my annoyingly long t-shirt while I wait at the street corner, undressed to the amusement of all other Arushans.Les mer

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  • Safari Safi
    German-style bread
    Scholzisch breakfast

    West Kilimanjaro

    20. desember 2022, Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    On our first day on the road we dawdle the morning away. Very late we start and oh, wait! We have to turn back and stock up bread from Tanz-Hands bakery! After lunch and banana shopping a gravel road takes us north around Arusha national park and leads us westerly of Kilimanjaro through wide plains up to juicy-green Simba Farm. Our second camping night. We meet a group of three Kenyan-Brits who arrived here on rugged Kibo motorbikes. After dinner we sip on our red wine next to a ceasing campfire. Our morning starts with bird watching straight from the breakfast table.Les mer

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  • Safari Safi
    Tightening some firewoodWhere is the elephant?There is the elephant!Dinner preparation

    Enduimet Wildlife Area, hidden emptiness

    21. desember 2022, Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    Rather unknown and unfrequented but highly interesting. Enduimet Wildlife Area enrolls in front of us as dry volcanic ash desert. Different shades of grey and brown are dominating. Carcasses of dead animals here and there. We are the only visitors to this area. Heat. Spicy ginger chai with Maasai. Sun. Only few animals we spot. One elephant in the distance, seen from a hill. Some ostriches. A 4x4 paradise off the track. Our afternoon at Chui bush campsite we spend watching birds and enjoying the open fire with our two Maasai guards who are enthusiastically scrolling though our birding book. Franziska spends the evening at the big open fire with knitting.Les mer

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  • Safari Safi
    Watch out for sneaky hyenas sipping your morning coffee!
    Bones and cadavers everywhere

    Meerschaum

    22. desember 2022, Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    We wake up early for a game drive to the water pond and for having breakfast there. This main waterhole at the Kenyan border close to Amboseli national park uncloaks itself as former Meerschaum quarry. It is surrounded by hills of white, soft soil. We don't spot any big mammals. Just bones everywhere and ... are these here tracks of hyenas in the sand? Prof. Dr. Jan-Peter D. requested pictures of animal corpses for his university seminar program which we willingly provide. But what about this Meerschaum thing? As return service for our cadaver photos, J.-P. D. provides us with a scientific answer:

    "Meerschaum ist ein seltenes Mineral, das dann entsteht, wenn Meerwasser in einen ganz bestimmten Typ vulkanischen Ozeanbodens eindringt, dort aufgeheizt wird, und dann zurück an die Oberfläche perkoliert (also alles unter Wasser, in der Regel in Tiefen von einigen Kilometern). Das heiße Meerwasser tritt dann mit Mineralen, die in dem vulkanischen Ozeanboden enthalten sind, in Wechselwirkung, was dazu führt, dass sich Minerale verändern – und aus einigen entsteht Meerschaum. Normalerweise ist Meerschaum nur in Spuren enthalten, aber es gibt ein paar massivere Vorkommen – bspw. in der Türkei."

    Digging around in Franziska's family history we learn that her great-grandfather – a seafaring man – owned a precious pipe made with Meerschaum.    Les mer

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  • Safari Safi
    Bush camp before the approaching tunderstorm
    Fake eruption?Rift valley ridge from Lake Natron up to Sale Plain

    Fake eruption 😜?

    23. desember 2022, Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    While driving around Mount Kitumbeine we spot the first free-roaming giraffes and zebras. This ancient volcano with its soft slopes looks very inviting for a hike up the ridge. But also his brother Gelai further north does. Or should we better hike up the holy Maasai mountain Ol Doinyo Lengai? Hmm. Too many options and the air is thick, hazy and lacking my expected wide view over the great rift valley. Instead, while reaching the foot of Lengai, a thunderstorm is approaching and eating up Kitumbeine in the distance with massive black clouds. We decide to hop off the gravel road in order to quickly find a slightly hidden wild camping spot before the rain begins. Franziska is being watched by giraffes while peeing in the thorn bush. Cicadas in the acacia tree above us start their ear-splitting hissing song when we see the first bands of rain approaching. But after just a few minutes they stop again as abruptly as they began. No rain is reaching us. Night breaks in.

    The next morning our departure is blocked by a bus trying to bypass a stuck truck with a broken front axle. We enrich the spectacle of colourfully scattered passengers with our curious presence and some stupid questions 😛.

    Our hungry stomachs stop us in Engare Sero. What a strange town! First of all we have to pay 90 USD for just using the road along Lake Natron. Then, Engare Sero consists literally just of people wanting to sell you Maasai jewellery, of people wanting to guide you around "the area" and of food points. In the lunch place of our choice we are greeted by grinning ladies with dancing, dangling boobs. Just like in the Maasai painting on my wall at home, yay 🤗! A drunken Maasai appears. Everything looks like a house of pleasure here. And our served rice with beans is indeed pleasurous 🍛!    Les mer

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  • Safari Safi
    Mount Gelai overlooking everythingFancy stonesFancy ladies going for an uproarView south: Lengai hiding far behind Mosonik

    Up for a soda?

    23. desember 2022, Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    Lake Natron – a place I wanted to visit for years already. Indeed a beautiful and diverse landscape guarded by Mount Gelai. In the distance we spot some few flamingoes in the water. From the rift valley where the alkaline soda lake acts as water sink we gradually climb up the first ridge onto Sale plain. Soil colour and composition changes multiple times. At one place we stop in a canyon-like, deeply eroded setting with ochre-coloured sedimentary and clayish soil, breadcrumbed with ash and pumice pieces. Here we also find reddish stones with strangely banded, alien outer crust and amorphic white core. Must have truly been a lithological and mineralogical party place here!

    The earth's crust implements a multi-layer concept here near the rift and once reaching the top of Sale plain, we find ourselves next to yet another ridge which would elevate us just another few hundred metres onto Serengeti plain. We pass a Chinese mine which probably is the reason for the good road condition here 😛. The moment we arrive in Sale, hundreds of colourful Maasai women are flooding into town from the north. Later we learn that they came in protest against unfair land distribution. Here we turn south again in direction of Malambo.    Les mer

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  • Safari Safi
    Giant red velvet miteSolar power for the corn mill!Ng'abolo waterfallGPX

    After the rain comes life

    24. desember 2022, Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    Why Malambo? It's in the middle of nowhere! But beautifully surrounded by scenic eye candy. We want to visit the "Help for Maasai" project where Dirk and Sahra work, whom I met on my Tanzanian road trip a year ago. But apparently, instead of being here, they chill out in Arusha over Christmas 😅. Anyway, we spend two nights camping on the project's guest compound where we are hosted by lovely Jakobo who cares for us and everything most passionately. There is a very annoying dog around, just being lonely and deserving love. And a cat, fighting and loving this very dog. Jakobo's fellow walks with us around the primary and secondary schools and is very proud of showing us the connected biogas facilities (!), the solar plant, Tanzania's first (and only?) solar corn mill and the highly modern water refinement installation featuring technology from Augsburg in Germany.

    During a day's hike to Ng'abolo waterfall we are overwhelmed by the variety of different birds in this area. We are unable to catch up identifying all of them even though Franziska spends 80 % of her day switching between binoculars and field guide, squeaking bewildered sounds all the time. Some of these birds simply are not listed in our book! The recent rain lets nature overturn itself in terms of boosting new life. All birds are mating and building nests everywhere, especially these gregarious, loud and lovely weavers 🥰! The once dry soil is speckled with tiny shoots of grass, plants and flowers. It hasn't rained for 6 months here and many of the Maasais' cattle recently died. We see many stinky cadavers which – to our surprise – have been explicitly dumped in the drainage channels and streams around the Maasai bomas. The Maasai say that this will wash the cadavers out of their sight with the next rain. But where do they think these rotting juices will be washed to? Isn't the next village just a few hundred metres downstream where children are playing in the water and even drinking it? Hmmm 🤔. I am wondering that there are no vultures around to take care of the rotting meat and also the Hyenas are not able to cope with the amounts of flesh even though we hear their "whoop whoop" howls at night. Franziska is frightened but ... we have the dog guarding us and the cat guarding the dog. No animal on earth is capable of defeating this one-eyed pirate cat 😁!    Les mer

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  • Safari Safi
    Assessing the obstacle
    1Endangered juvenile Egyptian vulture (took me 1 hour to identify!)

    "The preferred option on rainy days"? 🧐

    25. desember 2022, Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    There are two ways out of Malambo. One northwards in direction to Sale where we came from, which is supposed to be an impenetrable hell of mud after more than 60 mm of precipitation per day. The other one southwards in direction to Ngorongoro conservation area which is supposed to be the preferred option on rainy days. It is dry but we do not want to drive back the same road and thus decide to enter Ngorongoro conservation area. There will be no gate from where we come from and therefore we will be entering the conservation area "illegally".

    Just 12 km out of Malabo we stop at Sanjan river with high, fast water. And this is "... the preferred option on rainy days"?? A totally new experience for me as I never drove through such a wide, dirty and fast-flowing river. There are two potential fords but both look difficult on the first glance. We spend over one hour deciding which of both to choose. Thanks to good mobile network connection I contact Dirk and send him a few pictures. He just responds "You can cross the river without any fear, I do it once a week and never had problems.". After getting out of the car and wading through one ford, I confirm the potential crossability and we do as we are told. Crocodiles seem to have siesta. Puh, what an adventure 😅!    Les mer

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  • Safari Safi
    🤔Here we can cross the riverbed!

    What a drive!

    25. desember 2022, Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    What follows is one of my most wonderful and honest real off-road tracks so far! There is no official road. These are just random tracks through steppe and open grassland which you have to find yourself. And if you don't find them, just drive wherever you decide to drive. It's all yours! The whole endless landscape changes many times towards Ngorongoro. In southern Sale plain we get stopped by Olkarien river. This time it is just a dry riverbed but the tracks we were following are ending abruptly at the steep washed-away river edge. No way to drive down into the riverbed as the step is over a metre deep. How did previous cars or supply trucks cross here? Or has there recently been a small flood? Where else might they have crossed this river? No traced to be found. I get out of the car and walk around to assess the situation and the riverbed. Nothing. In order to continue we have to find a suitable ford ourselves! Back in the car we follow our side of the river in direction to where I expect to find lower terrain for flatter access. After a few hundred metres we indeed find a perfect ford for crossing the dry riverbed, yay! And for sure nobody has used it before. There is just not a single trace of other human beings here. Now, again endless grass steppe in front of us, yay!

    While having a tea break on top of my roof rack we observer the first wildebeest and zebras herds in higher numbers migrating down in direction of Lake Natron. Also Secretary Birds and Kori Bustards with their fluffy necks!

    Near Olduvai Gorge we finally turn onto the "main road". The moment when we want to take a picture of giraffes making love, some annoying and begging Maasai children drive us crazy for the first time on the whole trip. Until now most kids have just been curious and hello-saying but these here have adapted well to us Mzungu tourists. What will be the next on the menu for today?    Les mer

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  • Safari Safi
    Let's have dinner then 💁
    Extream breakfasting for the win

    On top of the crater rim

    25. desember 2022, Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    For a perfect end of the day, at dusk we get stuck in a traffic jam right on top of the crater road. Safari car after safari car with us in the middle. A broken-down bus blocks the road in front of us and a truck got stuck in the mud next to it at the attempt of passing it. While we walk around and talk to the other tourists and their drivers, a huge and heavy yellow road grader is called to rescue but finds himself sliding down the crater slopes on the attempt of driving around both stuck vehicles. No chance for him to get back up on the road on this very evening, haha!

    By 9 p. m. all tourists from the stuck safari cars get evacuated to their camps. Just their drivers are left with us. After cooking on-road pasta we decide to simply sleep in the car between all the other cars and trucks. At 10 p. m. somebody knocks on our window to tell us that we got permission to bypass the traffic jam through the Ngorongoro crater for free! (This alone costs 295 USD and is not allowed in the dark.) But most of the drivers with their safari cars have already left an we would be the only ones driving alone at night through the crater. Uff. We are totally wasted after this full day and fall back into our deep slumber 😴. Better to drive down into the crater in the morning ...

    But what happens at night is truly a wonder. Before the first light dawns, we are woken up by sporadically passing safari cars, coming from the direction of the road block. Some alien force must have pulled away the broken bus in the middle of the night as the stuck truck is gone in the morning! We did not hear nor see anything while we were sleeping. We are surprised to find ourselves in thick morning fog being the last and only remaining car in the middle of the road. And an unblocked road implies that there is no more reason to claim a gratis detour through the crater. Damn! At least the misty clouds dissolve when we arrive at the viewpoint for an extensive breakfast with gorgeous views down into the crater for sunrise. Yeehaaw!    Les mer

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  • Safari Safi
    See the rhino?The only wild animal around!1

    Ngorongoro highlands

    26. desember 2022, Tanzania ⋅ 🌧 17 °C

    So, what's this Ngorongoro about? I always classified it as "one of those touristic things which one might visit but which is not necessary to be visited". Hmm. Failed. Actually, Franziska and I agree that it is indeed a piece of damn wonderful landscape! But, not only the crater itself. It is more the whole crater highland region which fascinates us! After our breakfast, we keep driving on a ridge road with steep slopes to both sides behind dense, moist and juicily dripping ticket. Are there any man-eating animals around? We have to leave the car a few times to assure ourselves 😉.

    The crowded east viewpoint opens a gap for gorgeous views into Ngorongoro crater with the low morning sun. We spend a whole lot of time here, spotting elephants, zebras, buffalo and rhinos far away with our binoculars. Unnoticed, we are being watched by a chameleon from the bush directly in front of us. Many Tanzanians come here with their families. We hand over our binoculars multiple times and enjoy the scenery and the chats.

    The moment we want to continue, a ranger appears and asks for our permit. Remember? We do not have one, haha! Continuing on the ridge to Empakaai crater? Not possible. We are friendlily asked to descend to the gate first. Shit. A bunch of valuable time we loose down there in endless discussions because the Tanzanian Revenue Authority (TRA) latterly decided to charge 150 $ instead of 40 $ per day for my Toyota. The actual cost depends on the tare weight of my car which has never been checked precisely on my other visits to national parks during the previous years. Just until now, where my car suddenly pops up in some kind of national registration database. This is what you call digitalisation. There is no room for discussions. Everybody stays professional and we have to pay. And we have to drop our fire wood from my roof rack as well.

    Holding the day permit in our hands, we continue up again and want to head in direction to Empakaai crater on the lesser frequented but beautiful ridge road. We do not manage to arrive there within our time slot but are inspired also by Olmoti crater and the soft slopes of the depression between Olmoti and Empakaai. It would be really great to return here for some days of hiking!    Les mer

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  • Safari Safi
    Red-headed weaver
    Dirk and Flo, finally getting their coffee

    Meeting Dirk and Sara

    27. desember 2022, Tanzania ⋅ 🌧 22 °C

    We finally meet Dirk and Sara on Migombani Campsite where I met them exactly a year ago for the first time. Having some light rain, we share a veeery lazy banana-pancake breakfast under my awning with their friend Florian from Uganda and one of his kids. A great place to relax and to get some things sorted and ... to watch birds comfortably directly from our camping chairs. An evening hike up the steep ridge opens great views along the rift valley over lake Manyara.Les mer

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  • Safari Safi
    Silver-cheeked hornbill
    Manyara monkey3Verreaux's eagle-owlGround hornbillWaterbuckHot springs at lake shoreToll point

    Ooooh, these sweet little bee-eaters!

    28. desember 2022, Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Many people I sporadically talked with during my past years of travel have not been super-fascinated by Lake Manyara National Park. But hey, how can you not love this landscape, uh? Take just one look on a topographic map: You will be squeezed between a fancy lake and a steep, several hundred metres high cliff. And this is exactly what you get. Take two elephants and drop them left and right of the road and no light will shine through between lake and cliff. During high water you might not find the road. Planning to do some camping between two rivers with heavy rains? Better pack some extra rations as you might be running out of bridges!

    We are surprised to find ourselves among just a few other tourists. Entering from the north we dive into thick, juicy tropical jungle and open our windows in order to enjoy the hissing sounds of insects and other flying fancinesses. Huge, winged termites are swarming out of their nests and are being picked with astonishing precision directly from their nest by awesomely looking silvery-cheeked hornbills! As if you were sitting on a burger machine which is spitting burgers at 1 Hz. This is a life which also the endemic Manyara monkeys know to appreciate. In a tree directly above us we find two giant Verreaux's eagle-owls chilling in the shade of the leaves and blinking at us with their pink eyelids. Ground hornbills with their distinctive red necks are waiting in the next curve for us. Not far from them a family of baboons is having a lazy morning. What is going on here?

    On an elevated picnic site we start our late breakfast with freshly baked bread which we were able to acquire from Migombani campsite this morning. With baked beans and pan-fried tomatoes it could not be better. Nice views down on the lake. More tourists appear. Feeding Michi is taken to a new level when a German family presents me with fried chicken legs and boiled eggs from their tour operator's lunch pack. Paradise! If just Franzi's stomach wouldn't make any stress ... hmm.

    We continue further south. Some elephants are hiding in the bushes. During the last years the water level has been rising by several metres, as it has been the case in nearly all rift valley lakes. I observed this in Kenya two years ago already. Unfortunately, many trees are dying because of that. But the buffaloes do not care and chill at the waterfront.

    After half distance along the lake, south of Jambi river and Endabash campsite, we meet no tourists anymore. It's our park! As we continue down to the hot springs the landscape changes multiple times. Arriving there, Franziska falls in love with green-yellowish little bee-eaters with their blue eyebrow while I fancy the hot and sulphurous springs barefoot. The water colour looks strange, brownish-red. Doesn't seem to be sedimentary but rather like flaky organic material. Maybe algae? A few kilometres further down the road: "Ist das Dreck da im See, oder lebt da was?" No, it's hippos! The low afternoon sun already starts casting long shadows from the cliffs over the narrow slice of land we a driving on. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to camp at the southern exit gate without extending our entry permit. Off we drive into the night!    Les mer

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  • Safari Safi

    Time to relax

    29. desember 2022, Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Both our stomachs decided to squeeze a small rebellion in between our plans and we relax a whole day at a calm, simple spot without much of infrastructure but with friendly staff. At night, zebras and elephants rustle in the hedges around Wild Palm campsite and bush babies jump from tree to tree. We start to value our surroundings even more in the morning because we can simply stay seated for watching birds throughout the whole day. A hamerkop couple is in the process of building a huge nest in the tree behind our car. Franziska spots a bright-blue kingfisher uttering a distinctive loud call and identifies it as woodland kingfisher with our field guide. In the same moment I use my mobile birding app to record a sound snippet for identification of this specimen, yielding the very same result. Awesome 😄! After powernapping in the hammock we leave for a short drive and try to buy our permit for the next day's excursion into Tarangire national park. Without success. We would have liked to start off very early without any delays. But their stupid system does not allow to predate any tickets. Who implemented that? We return to camp with fresh veggies from the market and end our day with an ordinary camping dinner. Some birds start to go crazy around one of the bushes at dusk and after a while of investigation we indeed find a very tiny spotted owl sitting between branches and trying to tell us: "Hey, can you please turn off those annoying birds behind me?!". It's a pearl-spotted owlet, Tanzania's smallest owl! What a contrast to yesterday's giant Verreaux's eagle-owl, Tanzania's biggest owl!Les mer

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  • Safari Safi
    Grey crowned cranes
    BambiSilale swampTarangire river

    Of cats under bushes ...

    30. desember 2022, Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    We manage to enter Tarangire national park as early as our bodies allow: shortly after gate opening. To our surprise many animals welcome us directly from the beginning. Zappy zebras, elegant elands, itty-bitty impalas and gregarious Grant's gazelles left and right of us. It's not even 9 a. m. when I nearly shit my pants for the first time this day: Bacheloring elephant bulls 🐘, mommies 🐘🐘 and their cubs 🐘🐘🐘 crossing the road in front and behind of us. And we being immobile with having our engine turned off (Michis Arsch auf Grundeis, jetzt schon!).

    Before continuing to the renown Silale swamp we take a small detour through "little Serengeti plain" north of Tarangire river. "Little" but yay! We see beautiful grey crowned cranes for the first time while many trees around us are occupied by brown snake eagles. A whole class of baby ostriches is being escorted by just one female and one male ostrich. Are things going right here? And there, a sweet warthog with an erect tail! Woah, way too many impressions! But let that be just the beginning ...

    We stay north-easterly of Tarangire river and follow it upstream where it turns in from the south. Where the easterly side arm (from Mbweha campsite) crosses our road, tourists from another safari car point our gazes into the direction of three lions crouched in the shade of a bush. Awww, we would have never spotted them alone! In the hard shade of the bright sunlight they are perfectly camouflaged with their pale, greyish-yellow fur.

    Our curiosity and our instinct for the more adventurous routes let us continue east onto a track which is not frequented by commercial safari cars at all. This is what I like. We are heading directly to Silale swamp now. The sandy track meanders smoothly through the now denser bushland when **BAM!** suddenly a leopard lady with her cub jumps up from under a shrub and darts off into the void, not being seen ever again. Yeeehaaaaw! Filled with joy and adrenaline, we are unable to grasp what just happened. Remember that prominent saying? "Don't search for leopards. Leopards just happen.". So true! So beautiful! These must probably have been the two most exciting seconds of our trip. On a viewpoint near Balloon Camp we have to digest the first half of this crazy day. From here, the terrain descends into the Silale basin.

    African fish eagles! Non-pink flamingoes! The swamp is full with birds and we only see the backs of grazing elephants overlooking the high grass. We got recommendations to drive as far as to Oliver's camp but this would be rushing today. Instead, we decide to find a picnic place near the t-junction and ... get to a stop. A safari car is blocking the road coming from the right and in front of us, where we are heading, one single, adolescent elephant. Can you imagine what happens next? Yes, Michi's heartbeat reaches a critical value for the second time this day when this very elephant decides to sway slowly into the direction of our car, which, again, has the engine turned off for "more authentic wilderness experience". Shit 🙈. The guys in the other car must have been praying excessively for the elephant to take our direction. But, reaching our car, luckily it turns away towards a small tree in order to scrub its trunk and tusks in a very fulfilling manner, underlined with an even more fulfilling scrubbing sound 🐘. We enjoy this pleasant pause and shortly afterwards also find our own peace with a satisfying power nap, coffee and tea on the pretty Hondo Hondo special campsite, being watched by waterbucks and warthogs.    Les mer

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  • Safari Safi
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    Woodland kingfishers. Beautiful, eh?About time to build camp"Look, our guests for dinner finally arrived!"

    ... and about gnus under cats.

    30. desember 2022, Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    Now it's Franziska's turn in off-road driving and no longer me who's supposed to curve around the puddles. Unfortunately, as we have to reach the public campsite for our wilderness overnighting before dusk, I get a bit stressed. The perfect situation to drift into first-hand communication problems 😬! Before every more challenging pond of mud we hold for a short briefing. By indicating our possibilities of which track to choose and which not in front of the car, I feel pretty confident that I communicate my idea of how to avoid getting stuck profoundly. But after the first round, I realise that our interpretations of "that puddle there" and "that other puddle there" seem to differ to an extent that does result in the exact opposite of what I intended to explain as "the drivable path". Still, we don't gets stuck. In front of the next muddy pothole, we again weigh our odds for getting through successfully. "With the left wheel you try to take this edge and with the right wheel try to stay on that side. Better avoid that big puddle on the left there." And off we go straight into "that big puddle on the left there". What has happened? Apparently there must have been two different "big puddles on the left" and each of us must have meant "the other left one" 😂. But, we don't get stuck. Wonderful! Yet again I learn that life offers multiple valid paths to success. And, that simply switching places with the one next to you might indeed change the perspective you take on things ahead of you.

    We follow the wide riverbed of Tarangire back northwards and enjoy the now lower sun. Great colours!
    "Where should we go next?"
    "I don't know, maybe back to the lions?"
    "Yeah, it's 4 in the afternoon and still hot. They most probably haven't moved their asses yet."
    When we arrive at the dry riverbed of the sidearm, the three lions are still under one of the bushes. We stop the engine and watch them from the opposite bank with our binoculars. No other tourists far and wide. This is our private moment. After just a few minutes a wildebeest appears down there, crossing the riverbed in a lazy trot from our side to the lions' bank. Once the wildebeest is less than hundred metres away from the bush, one of the lions rises and observes it curiously from behind the shrubbery. This wildebeest is so very determined in holding its course that it directly walks towards where the lions are snoozing in the shade. Unbelievable! I take out my cam with the telephoto lens. Fifty metres. I switch to video mode. Twenty metres. Is this really going to happen? **BAM!** All three lions jump up and pounce on the beest! A moment of just a few seconds. Cats are quick. Even dozing ones. Wahoooo, what an excitement! We watch for a looong time how they play around with their prey like kittens playing around with tiny mice. Interestingly, this whole hunting and killing process doesn't look cruel at all. No furious slaughtering. No squealing. As if this was the most natural thing on earth just happening. One lion even affectionately licks on the wildebeest while the others concentrate on suffocating it. As if to calm it down. After a while they drag the gnu to where they have been chilling out and finally start to tear it into pieces. Yum! 🦁

    In orange-yellowish rays of sunlight, herds of elephants are escorting us the last mile to our campsite. Friendly staff shows us a free spot next to a big tree from where we can overlook the soft hills. Such a beautiful landscape around Tarangire river here! While setting up our camp, more elephants walk by closely, throwing curious looks at us intruders. Franziska is beaming with joy 😃. But just until night falls in when we huddle together by the fire for our dinner cooking. Blinded by the flames we are unable to see anything around us when at the same time we hear branches breaking and elephant bulls grumbling with their deep voices not more than 20 metres away! It's the third time this day that elephants make me almost shit my pants. Later that night Franziska is woken up by howling hyenas but is too intimidated to also wake me up.

    Before sunrise we wake up by crackling branches again. Cuddling, we watch a baby elephant passing right next to us from inside of the car. What an exciting dawning of the day! Unfortunately, we have to hurry because our permit is about to expire. There was a miscommunication at the gate and we got issued just one instead of two days. How stupid! I am really pissed and deeply disappointed about that. All the romance of a lazy wilderness camp breakfast stolen by stupid bureaucracy. But anyway, 150 USD per day for just my foreign-registered car is way too much and we are not willing to support this system. We've seen and experienced more than enough during our short visit here and take it as it is. A sweet jackal leads us the way back to the gate and we spot a pair of honey badgers ending their night shift before the rising sun turns Tarangire river into a glistering golden beauty again. Good morning life!    Les mer

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  • Safari Safi

    No bang, nor any boom

    31. desember 2022, Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    Spending another wilderness night over the year's turn in Tarangire national park would have been a nice opportunity. But instead, we use these days for relaxed mileage eating in order to relocate our asses to the southern end of the Eastern Arc Mountains. Our next destination Iringa lays two driving days ahead and will require a stop-over in Tanzania's political capital Dodoma. On my previous excursions I never gave Dodoma a real chance and only rushed through. Somehow my impression was very disillusioning but this time we will be taught a better one. It's vibrant but friendly around the market areas and not far from our hotel we find ourselves strolling along a traffic-free pedestrian zone with shops and stuff to the left and right. Wow, this must be the only "zone" one in whole Tanzania! And, finally, we find a kiosk serving freshly squeezed juices. Until now we found fresh fruits en mass everywhere along the road but nobody ever thought about turning them into juice. What a market gap – finally filled. We fall asleep long before "the event" and wake up in 2023 without any noticeable bang or boom.Les mer

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  • Safari Safi

    Fresh air, sun and juice

    1. januar 2023, Tanzania ⋅ 🌙 18 °C

    We step into a calm hostel with wide views where we are welcomed by talkative Italians who are volunteering in Zambia. There is also a young guy who took 9 months off from German boredomness in order to ride his bicycle from Nairobi though Uganda, Ruanda and Tanzania also to Zambia.

    Fresh air with mild sun awaits us up here! And no people on the streets due to public holiday. Unfortunately, this also means that most of the common food places are closed. Still, we manage to satisfy our desire adequately and again find fresh juices on the market place. This time they are served in really fancy (and reusable!) glass jars by very friendly ladies who move around with their juice buckets and stop at different corners. Our outstanding favourite juice is hibiscus mixed with mango. Woah, this is pure blissfulness! (Da legst di nieder). At Neema Handcraft Café we are flabbergasted by most probably the fastest, the most efficient and the most precise and professional waiter ever. We could spend the whole day just watching him. Later on, down in the shop, Franziska looses her heart to all the fancy hand-crafted lamps and cosy armchairs. How could we just get such a piece of art back home 😜?    Les mer

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  • Safari Safi
    Coffee grinding workout

    Crocs coming for us!

    2. januar 2023, Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    We are romanticised by the idea of entering Udzungwa Mountains national park from the north-west at Msosa campsite. But our attempts to access the village by car are not successful because of our road turning out to be washed away after a few kilometres. Only motorbikes are able to continue here! As night is approaching we do not have much time left to improvise or search for a detour and thus we come back to our backup plan of checking in on the nearby Crocodile Camp right between the main road and Great Ruaha river. This option turns out to be not too bad even with the road's noise in the background. We are welcomed by friendly staff with a bonfire under a Baobab tree with direct view of the river from our car parking spot. We relax and have a glass of wine while I pan-bake pita bread on the fire for dinner and breakfast.

    At night, the river dries out and loudly roaring crocodiles come up the river bank to search for us! Luckily, we manage to survive when Franziska wakes up from yet another of her crazy dreams. We enjoy a veeeery lazy morning with sun on our noses, watching green bee-eaters bathing in the fast-flowing river water and drying their feathers on the trees above us. Also, different weavers and greyish-brown, noisy parrots are around. While we are distorted by a morning workout session, vervet monkeys approach our camp unnoticedly and steal my tasty pan-baked pitas from the breakfast table! All of them 😠! To our relief, the camp owner sells us freshly baked bread rolls as compensation shortly after. Was she the one setting these monkeys on us?? 😛    Les mer

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  • Safari Safi
    Stressful squeezing
    Hondo Hondo shaded campGoddess of the holy coffee 😁

    "Hondo Hondo" means hornbill in Swahili

    3. januar 2023, Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    What follows is an exhausting downhill drive through steep canyons to Mikumi village. "Exhausting" in terms of traffic apocalyptness! This main connection road between Zambia and the Indian Ocean has just one lane per direction and meanders with sharp curves through the Eastern Arc Mountains. But, this does not at all prevent those crazy truck drivers from overtaking each other up and downhill simultaneously. Additionally, every 500 m we have to cautiously pass broken-down trucks. And those trucks still rolling in front of us show stinky smoke emerging from their trailer brakes ... when, at a broader part of the road, we get to a stop, literally getting squeezed in between overloaded trucks which are trying to surpass the blockade. Obviously, this situation won't improve when all of them are pushing from all sides at the same time. Stupid!

    Down in Mikumi we have to compensate the unexpected heat with freshly cut pineapple slices and finally arrive at Hondo Hondo campsite east of Udzungwa Mountains national park in the early afternoon. Time to relax and to stroll around through the monkey-filled forest! A beautiful scenery they have here and yet another attentive and sweetly accommodating restaurant attendant.    Les mer

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  • Safari Safi
    See the shape of Africa?
    GPX

    Sanje Falls

    4. januar 2023, Tanzania ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    After being victims to the unorganised registration process at the national park gate we start a 4 km hike up to Sanje Falls with a young apprentice guide. National park fees are to be paid separately from the "guides association fees". But, our guide tells us that he will not be seeing any cent from these fees! At the end we will have to tip him for his service. While they are in training, apprentice guides are considered to be "voluntary guides" but nobody informed us about that in advance. What a strange, non-transparent and unfair system.

    The hike takes us from 300 m up to around 800 m and the falls fall around 170 m down a bare sedimentary rock formation which can be nicely pictured from the lower bathing ponds. From the top of this rock we get wonderful easterly views over the swampy plains of huge sugarcane plantations. We continue higher up and reach yet another bathing pool at a smaller waterfall. Some locals are chilling out here. After a lunch snack and a bunch of show-off push-ups our foreheads also turn into waterfalls and we decide to descend back into the lower pool for a refreshing swim.

    Interestingly, we do not see many birds in the pristine forest except for giant hornbills. But, what lacks of bird variety is compensated by different kinds of colourful butterflies, dancing on the paths in front of us and copulating. In the distance we hear the call of a Livingstone's turaco. Red colobus monkeys keep their distance but observe our actions curiously and – from time to time – throw chewed fruit peels down at us. There are no chameleons around today but, instead, a brown scorpion is hiding under the leaf of a bush. Very scaring because we could have easily touched it with our shoulders when passing by unknowingly!

    Our hike ends with a thought-provoking situation: Shortly before, while sill within the boundaries of the national park, our guide picked up a plastic bottle in an exemplary manner while quoting one of the sign boards "Trash in, trash out". Here, back in the village, just a few steps outside of the park boundary, he opens his backpack and throws all of his neatly collected trash back into the bush. Our bewildered looks he counters with "Somebody will pick this up and burn it later, for sure".    Les mer

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  • Safari Safi
    Blog-posting at Simbamwenni camp

    Mordor?

    5. januar 2023, Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    Still at Hondo Hondo campsite, after a wonderful and astonishingly cheap three-course dinner and a calm night in the open car, we start lazily into the day. Our half day's ride takes us zig-zagging around herds of broken-down trucks through Mikumi national park to Morogoro.

    On my former visits I avoided Morogoro and expected it to be the most evil town in the world, just like Mordor in Lord of the Rings. But now is the first time I dare to take a step into the inner centre with Franziska guarding me and fighting away my fears of being eaten alive by beasts. What a surprise to encounter a rather calm surrounding with a heart-opening mountain scenery! Young students on racing bicycles. The first time in Tanzania I see this happen! Smiling pedestrians. Young students playing football. Young students jogging in sweatshirts along the road at 35 °C outside temperature. A big tobacco company at the entrance to town. First traffic lights after three weeks.

    Unfortunately, we do not find any camping-suitable spot in town, but, once arriving in the outskirts at Simbamwenni campsite, a true portal to nature opens in front of us with beautiful palm-tree-speckled pitch sites. We end the day with an adequately chilled Anlegerbeer on the elevated bird watching platform next to the overgrown river, from where we watch African Golden Weavers fluttering around noisily in the reed. Unknowingly, we are being observed by a giant Verreaux's Eagle-Owl from the palm tree right next to our car when the first rain since Malambo lets us rush under my awning for dinner preparation. Our next morning is looong, relaxed and again full of birds.    Les mer

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