Arusha to Serengeti NP (almost)

Well, it’s off for another adventure on Friday so I thought I should share my experiences from Tanzania (plus or minus the rest of Rwanda)!  In lieu of a separate entry for each day, I’m going to try and make entries for each of the parks visited plus or minus.

My blog space was getting the better of me so I’ve added Part II.

So, I arrived in Arusha on the evening of August 31 and my safari companion (Paul) wasn’t arriving until the evening of September 2.  Paul and I are friends (and former colleagues) who both recently retired.  We also had the good fortune of doing a self-drive safari with our spouses and another couple in southern Africa in 2017 (Botswana and Namibia). 

I’d like to say I used that time waiting for Paul to arrive to carefully arrange all of the pre-safari logistics (groceries, route planning, etc.).  But I didn’t.  All I managed to do is get an eSIM (through Airlo) and pick up the truck we would be using for the next three weeks.  Both of those were critical for a successful safari experience.  And fortunately, since we are former colleagues, Paul knew better than to expect too much!

The eSIM I picked up was through Airlo and was all done completely online.  The plan was specifically for Tanzania and provided 10GB of data for 30 days for $26.  No calling minutes were included but I used WhatsApp to make calls (when I had 4G).  If you have a phone with a physical SIM card, you can buy one for Tanzania at the airport.  Still really amazed that I could sit in a national park in Tanzania and talk to my girlfriend who was in Cuzco, Peru.

Cell coverage was mixed throughout Tanzania.  Many locations had no service or 3G but it seems like we found 4G at least at some locations within each of the parks. 

The truck was a Toyota Landcruiser and was actually wonderful overall.  We used Toyota Hilux’s in southern Africa and hoped for the same in Tanzania but really found the Landcruiser to be excellent.  The company we used was Safari Master’s based out of Arusha.  They were generally good but the camping kit and setup wasn’t as nice/polished as Bushlore (who we used in southern Africa).

I think the only drawback with our vehicle was that there was no opportunity to stand up/open the roof with the two tents on top.  We met a young French couple who were also doing a self-drive safari and they had a Landcruiser with a hatch that could open above the front seats.  They could stop and stand up and scan for animals.  This was a distinct advantage in the areas of tall grass.

The original plan was for me to pick up the truck midday on September 2 and then pick up Paul at the airport later that evening.  After driving that same stretch of road when I came in two days earlier, I decided to let him take a taxi to the hotel ($50 or 130,000 TS).  Money well spent.

On the morning of September 3, we headed out for Serengeti NP after a quick stop at a grocery store.  A few lessons from the day:

1.        You can’t self-drive to the Serengeti NP without paying a fee to transit through another national park – either Lake Natron NP for the north entrance or Ngorongoro Conservation Area for the south entrance. 

2.        There is no campsite at Kleins Camp at the north entrance.  Perhaps an artifact of early exploration?  Or maybe just to mess with tourists.  And, apropos of nothing, the park won’t let you park just inside or outside of the park overnight. 

3.        The roads heading west from Arusha to Mto Wa Mbu (A104 and B144) are paved and in fantastic condition.  The road north from Mto Wa Mbu to Kleins Camp/northern entrance varies from bad to little more than a track in places.  In fact, my new Garmin didn’t even recognize the road as passable and insisted we go through the south entrance.  The going was so slow that we didn’t arrive at the northern gate until 7 PM and they close at 6 PM (see item #2 above).

4.        We made a couple of stops on the way north.  One at an overlook and another alongside the road in Lake Natron National Park.  We quickly came to the realization that It’s almost impossible to park alongside the road anywhere without children running to the vehicle.  Some can be fun; some can be annoying; so…kids. 

After being turned away from the park gate, we headed to the nearest lodge back the way we had come (maybe half an hour). 

A fun and frustratingly long drive and we did manage to see some interesting animals, birds and vegetation along the way.  This included a couple of new birds for me – Pied Avocet and Hoopoe.