Arusha National Park

What a way to end a mini vacation up north - on safari in Arusha National Park! Spent the day yesterday enjoying the sites of Arusha

National Park. The park is one of the smaller parks among the Game Parks in the Northern Tanzanian Circuit but it was more enjoyable than the last safari I went on in Mikumi National Park. Arusha NP is supposedly the only park where you can get out and walk/hike around, which we did for a couple of hours and were able to get much closer to the animals than we had been in the car. You won't be able to see all of the "Big 5" (Lion, Rhino, Elephant, Giraffe, and Leopard) here but you will be able to see a bunch of giraffes and baboons and if you are lucky a few elephants. Also impressive were flamingos and eagles above the lakes.

My tour guide Guardan led me and two other "mountaineers" :) throughout the park carrying a loaded gun. The buffalo is the only predator in the park that would potentially attack people. Guardan has been working as a tour guide in Arusha NP for 5 years and he has only had to fire the gun once! We were glad we did not make it number two.

Arusha NP is more 'hilly' and 'woody' than Mikumi National park and is much smaller, but has beautiful sites - its known for the Ngurdoto Crater and the lakes - we saw a couple of hippos sunbathing out of the lake but from quite a distance. Also caught glimpse of a group of flamingos and eagles soaring but was difficult to photo despite my advanced training in photography:)

above: Kilimanjaro peak (~5900 meters/19,000 feet)

below: Twiga = kiswahili for Giraffe

above: family of giraffes. The male giraffe has two horns on the head, the females can be recognized by the hair standing up along their backs.

below: the waterfalls - source of water from Mt. Meru. That is Emily in the picture - she was on safari with her boyfriend James from the UK. Nice couple.

above: a herd of buffalo - the only animal that would potentially attack us. Apparently we didn't look very appetizing or the buffalo were not hungry during our safari

More Twigas

above: pair of twigas (male and female)

below: couple of hippos sunbathing out of the lake

above: Ngurdoto crater - a "mini Ngorongoro crater" the base is mostly swamp land. We saw a herd of buffalo way out in the distance, too far away to photo.

below: twiga on break

The baboons. While we drove past a large group of baboons up in the trees we caught a brief shower of baboon droppings through the opening in the roof of our car, making baboons a dangerous animal for a different reason.

above: pundamilia is Kiswahili for zebra

I'm back in Dar Es Salaam now. Will meet with my manager tomorrow and then fly South to Mtwara on Tuesday.

Looking forward to finally getting settled in a house and starting my new post in Lindi.

Arusha

Arusha is a beautiful.... Situated at the foot of Mt. Meru (about 4500 meters), the city has the beauty of the mountains along the skyline and the hustle of city life in the city center. Arusha is only about 60 km from the Kenya border and much closer to the equator than my house in Ndanda, but the higher altitude makes the climate much different with temerperatures this time of year on the cold side! It was actually cold, rainy and windy this morning. Reminded me of fall in Chicago!

Arrived in Arusha a couple of days ago on a one hour flight from Mwanza to Kilamanjaro International Airport. Luckily for me I chose the correct side of the plane to sit on so I could see Mt. Kilamanjaro as we began the descent. The first glimpse of the mountain towering above the clouds was awesome. I took a bunch of pictures from the plane, but the flash into the window made the pictures blurry and you don't get the mountain's full effect.


From the airport I took a 45 minute shuttle bus into Arusha.

I'm staying at the New Meru Inn Hotel - rates are affordable and its close to the city center. The hotel is nice but has a hostel feel to it because there are a ton of college kids from Europe and UK staying in the 'hotel' who are backpacking around. There are also 50 or so students from UCLA here working for an organization to develop an orphanage.

Arusha is definitely the Safari Capital of Tanzania! In the city centre there are by far the most 'wazungu's' (white European's) that I've seen in Tanzania. The first day while walking around, I made the mistake of carrying a guide book, map and camera. The camera and guide book made it easy for the locals to spot me and strike up a conversation that always leads to an offer to do business or to sign up for a safari. I was frustrated by the never-ending greetings i get on the street like 'mambo rafiki' (how are you my friend) and the offers for safaris that I just started speaking in Kiswahili. I get a little bit more respect by speaking in Kiswahili, but this doesn't stop the next guy down the block from doing the same.

Yesterday I spent the day walking around the city center and along the perimeter of the city taking in the views and getting a feel for the people in the city. There are beautiful views of Mt. Meru but yesterday we had overcast skies, not great for pictures.

Received good news from my manager in Dar who yesterday confirmed that I will be starting my new post in Lindi Region next week! I'll be traveling to Mtwara on September 2nd and begin my new assignment at Sokoine Hospital as early as next Wednesday. In Mtwara, I'm scheduled to meet the doctor-in-charge of Sokoine and together we will drive to Lindi. I will temporarily be staying in the guest house in Lindi for two weeks until final arrangements on my house are made.

Ndolage

The 'bugonzi?' = waterfalls in Kiswahili



Views from the cliff of the mountain looking out to lake Victoria

Bukoba pictures

Sad story - the two brothers lost their mother to HIV/AIDS and father is very sick with AIDS. Older brother with rabbit is caretaker of father and his younger brother. Children are receiving aid from local NGO.

The largest supply of bananas I've ever seen. I think most get shipped out of Bukoba to other regions in Tanzania.