The A-Z of Cape to Cairo: Safari & Spice

Arriving into Dar Es Salaam just after Friday prayers meant we had plenty of time to people watch from the truck - the 'people' looking very different to their neighbours in Malawi. Women in colorful headscarves, men in Muslim garb and the sound of muezzin calls represented how only one day of driving could completely change the landscape and demography. We had only a few hours in Dar in which to meet our local fixer, Michael, who helped us organise our 5 night trip to Zanzibar.

After a quick 90 minute ride on one of the fast ferries (Andy was thrilled to inform everyone that the ferry was made in Brisbane) we arrived in Stone Town, the main town of the Spice Island. After a quick shower/power scrub (it had been 3 days) we headed to an al fresco fish market in a square overlooking the water. We practically skipped around the stalls, so happy and excited about the culinary opportunities before us. We paced ourselves to ensure maximum variety in consumption, taking in lobster tikka kebabs, Zanzibar fish pizza, crab with mango chilli, naan, barracuda, calamari and squid. We washed it down with freshly squeezed cane sugar juice and a fresh mango for dessert. We worked out it cost £10 for both of us to feast and wondered how long we could survive before our life savings ran out.

Fresh sugar cane juice

So much choice!

From the fish market we headed to 'Mercurys', a beach side bar dedicated to Freddie Mercury who was born on the island. We drank overpriced cocktails and beers to the Queen soundtrack and had a thoroughly nice time.

Up bright and early the next day, 6 of us headed to Bwejuu on the east coast for some R&R at the Sun and Seaview Beach Bungalows. Having ummed and ahhed for several weeks on where to stay we were ecstatic with our final choice. Frederico and Susan, our hosts, made us very welcome and we passed 5 days enjoying the staggeringly beautiful beaches, turquoise ocean and fresh fish dinners.

I found time in amongst my busy schedule of lying down and working my way through the cocktail menu to establish a new sport, the purpose of which is to try and get as much suncream on a sunscreen-adverse Australian as possible whilst distracting him with promises of beer and, well, beer.... Apparently, "the sun in Africa is different to the sun in Australia". I might not be great at astronomy but I'm pretty sure that's bollox and I excel at the sport: )

Andy did 4 dives with a diving school in the nearby town of Paje, which he really enjoyed. He saw over 50 sting ray, lion fish, trigger fish, large crocodile fish, moray eels, barracuda and scorpion fish. Andy thanked them with a good tip and I thanked them for their professionalism by being very VERY "ill" in their shower…toilet…whatever. As much as we loved Zanzibar, it was the first place that plenty of us suffered socially awkward stomach troubles.

Andy heads out for a dive

On our last day in Zanzibar we wrenched ourselves away from the beach to do a tour of Stone Town, the old slave markets and one of the islands spice plantations.

Slave market memorial in Stone Town

Bustling market in Stone Town

How they make lipstick!

Cloves

Kids earn their keep embarrassing Andy

Back on the mainland, we had one night at a camp in Dar. The camp was very nice but was in a completely dodgy area. The security were club-wielding Masaai in full traditional clothing. We were told that they were forced to use the clubs on a daily basis. It was one of the longest yet and the first time I've been bored in months. The next day we had a long drive day up towards Arusha. We bushcamped, fed with another "Team Local" dinner of Kuku Paka - a coconut chicken curry and fresh baked chapati. Andy's cook group is becoming a truck favourite.

Danger at Mikadi Beach campsite, Dar Es Salaam

Message received!

Dawn at Mikadi Beach

By late morning the following day we'd made it to Arusha - the gateway town to Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti. We camped that night at the Arusha Snake Park - an overlanders camp run by Ma and BJ and inhabited by a large number of alarmingly sized snakes. I wasn't pleased to note that most of them are native to Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and Sudan (all countries we'll be bushcamping in over the next 2 months!).

Standard reception at a truck stop

Andy, Heather and I visited a nearby Masaai village that afternoon. We were taken to the home of a Masaai man with 9 wives and 63 children...and were accosted by about 40 of the cutest, but filthiest children I've ever seen! They chucked themselves at us and we spent our time throwing them in the air and teaching them songs... before eventually managing to run away from them. Fortunately, we got to see many traditional Masaai villages driving to the parks over the following days. In Masai culture the young boys look after whole herds of cows out on the plains before they become warriors at 18. It's a tough life, especially in the current drought when they walk for days between grazing lands with little food or water.

Cute, but dirty, Masaai child

Packed comfortably into 4 big land cruisers we set off; these are a very cool way to travel in Africa. Manyara National Park was our first stop on our three day safari. In the park we saw massive troops of baboon, about 40 hippos basking in the sun, giraffe, elephant, gazelle, wildebeest, buffalo, antelope, zebra & warthogs.

Andy tried to ban this picture (haha!)

Next stop was Ngorogoro Crater, which we learnt means "sound of the cowbells" in Masaai as a cowbell is shaped like an upside down crater. The crater is beautiful - bounded by crater walls, over which the clouds roll to create an impressive cauldron effect. Even before we descended into the crater we got to spend 20 minutes watching 5 lions we'd literally bumped in to on the road in. In the crater, we saw large herds of zebra and wildebeest, antelope, hyena, a serval cat, buffalo and another dozen or so lions.

Mandy & Lee taunting us by wearing our hats we'd left in their truck

Clouds rolling over the Crater wall

Ten of us opted to go on into the Serengeti for an afternoon and morning game drive. I wanted to know whether the Serengeti's landscape was as beautiful and "African" as I'd imagined. The park takes its name from the Masaai words for "endless plain" and you can see why...it really does feel endless with huge horizons and acacia trees as far as the eye can see. On our first afternoon we bumped into 12 lions lazing in the late day sun, another pride with a cub, a majestic bull elephant, a cheetah stalking prey, hartebeest, eland and 3 leopards, a mother and two adolescent cubs, enjoying their kill up an acacia tree at sundown. We were told that this is very rare so we were very lucky.

Inquisitive & incredibly ugly Maribu Stork

Lion cub!

Spot the leopard!

Hyena skulking at the base of the leopards' tree

An unexpected highlight of the Serenegeti visit for me was the bush camp that night - sleeping to the sound of hyenas, jackal and baboon scavenging around the tents. We'd both gone easy on the fluids so there were no unnecessary visits to the bush in the middle of the night!

The following morning we were up bright and early for our final game drive. Our driver, Victor, was awesome and we added to our tally, some mating lions, mating hippo, a cheetah mother with two very playful cubs and another leopard in a tree devouring the first of 2 gazelle kills it had pulled up into the branches. Hyenas and vultures circled the tree while we watched.