WHAT WE DID ON HOLIDAY
By Caliban age 54 ¾
(0r ‘Africa on a Thousand Dollars a Day’)
Part 1 – Egypt
For our holiday this year we were celebrating my wife’s 50th Birthday. As part of our plan to collect a full-boxed set of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, we had carefully arranged to land in the Middle East at the outbreak of a minor war. Full blown military conflicts are very hard to find these days so we had to settle for an uprising and even that was only in a neighbouring state, but despite the lack of bodies in the street or even any real shooting, we felt it qualified for a full Gold award.
We arrived in Cairo at around 11.00 p.m. on Saturday. Tired a bit stressed but excited. Cairo airport is not Heathrow. It’s not even Gatwick…more Luton, but less sophisticated.
We were met by our own personal courier, which was the pattern for the whole trip. It was great not having to worry about which taxi to get, fretting about buses and trains or finding your way round the different procedures in each strange and rather exotic airport. We had our hands held all the way, and never had a moment's concern about getting lost or not knowing what to do. Perfect organisation. I had my pockets stuffed with low value Egyptian notes for tips as they like a LOT of tipping. Everywhere you go there are lots of willing but acquisitive hands waiting to help.
Nonetheless, things go wrong in the Third world (they go wrong in the First, but somehow it's not so worrying). We arrived at our hotel in Cairo at around 12.00 midnight even more tired and ragged by this time. There seemed to be a bit more kerfuffle than usual as the guide tried to book us in. But as all the conversations were in Arabic I couldn't really tell what was wrong. And, after all, it was Egypt and most Arab transactions seem a bit fraught to a Westerner, lots of hand waving and shouting.
When we finally got to our room I realised why.
I started to get a bit uneasy when we were led down to a sort of sub-ground floor that looked suspiciously like meeting rooms, I should have realised all was not well when we passed a large couch almost blocking the hall. Guess where it had just come from? They had thrown out the furniture (which we passed in the hall) and created another (rather poor) bedroom. It was pretty scruffy - but worse - we did not have a proper bed! They had stuck in a couple of folding jobs! I pointed out how pleased I was to a manager who had surprisingly, accompanied us to the room (another little clue, he was expecting a bit of bother, I suspect). However, as we were leaving at about 5.00 am! to catch a flight to Luxor, I was on a bit of a loser. Every minute I spent complaining was a minute's less sleep, so we cut our losses and turned in. Not an auspicious start though!
We hauled out of bed after a surprisingly comfortable night - (perhaps 'night' is overdoing it a bit, more like 4 hours!) and headed for the airport again. The guide helped us through the formalities and then came back very apologetic and explained that he was very sorry but there was no business class on this flight and we would have to travel 'tourist'.
'Excellent!' - I thought, 'in with the chickens and goats'.
In fact I didn't know we had been booked business class. We travelled at the back of the bus for every other flight (and there were quite a few as you will hear) but once I knew that we could have travelled business class (if there had been one) I was really pissed. I was also thinking ‘3 events: 2 flights and 1 hotel stay - and 2 have gone wrong already, not good'.
My outlook was probably a bit jaundiced by the time we got on the plane, but Egyptair is not 'the world's favourite airline' for pretty good reasons. To be fair, it's not terrible, just a bit down at heel, and the service is a bit (no, a lot) perfunctory. But it got us to Luxor in one piece and nothing really important fell off on the way. All the same, we were feeling a bit jaded by the time we got there. We landed at about 10.00 am on Sunday and we had been travelling since around 3.00 p.m. on Friday with just our rather fraught 4 hour ‘nap break’ in Cairo.
We were whisked off from Luxor airport with the usual efficiency and finally arrived at our cruise boat. Quite simply, it was gorgeous! Lots of dark polished wood, well fitted, clean, 2 shower rooms in our cabin and 2 picture windows overlooking the literally fabulous, Nile. The staff were attentive, warm and welcoming and seemed genuinely pleased to see us. A real delight after all our travelling. We got cleaned up and took a nap. At lunch we found we were seated with a couple of charming American ladies from New York. Their names were Burgitta and Mary Lou; they both worked in Banking and were intelligent, engaging company for our whole voyage. They were our meal companions for the whole trip too and we thought we were very lucky. What made it even better, was that they seemed to think so too. There are charming English people too but it would have seemed a shame to travel half way across the world and sit with a couple from Reading.
The food was also excellent, although I did suffer a few ill effects later!
That same afternoon, we went on our first sight seeing trip to the temple at Luxor. It lived up to all our expectations, and perhaps more. The buildings themselves are impressive, 2 huge square towers called pylons with a small entrance between them leading to a courtyard. Beyond that a building full of columns (called a hyperstyle) that represents the ancient primeval forest and finally the 3 temples of the holy of holies. All carved with the Gods and Hero’s of ancient Egypt. There are lots of variations on this theme and lots of monumental statues of the various Pharaonic kings, some representing them in real life (indicated by the left leg striding forward) and oddly, a lot represented in mummy form! It seems somewhat odd to be carved in mummy form before you’ve even died. Ancient Egyptians seemed obsessed by death but it was really just a doorway between this life and the afterlife and they did not seem to have the dismal taboos that are now common.
Later, somebody pointed out that they were not quite so death obsessed as it appeared. They built a lot of their structures out of mud bricks but mud bricks don’t last. The tombs and temples were built from stone and so have survived. There seem to be a hell of a lot of them but of course, the civilisation that created them lasted a hell of a long time. This combination means that the majority of monuments still standing today do rather tend to the funereal. I take the point, but they were still putting an inordinate amount of their time and national wealth into dead folk.
I read somewhere that if the tombs had not been robbed, the whole of ancient Egypt’s wealth would have disappeared into holes in the ground and the economy would have gone bust very quickly. All the same I am very glad the robbers did not get it all…
The tombs in the Valley of the Kings are carved into the side of a rocky valley. Although virtually all of them were robbed many centuries ago, the wall paintings are intact and quite amazing after so many years. A Pharaoh’s tomb was started when he came to the throne and took years to finish. Once a Pharaoh died they only had 70 days (this was how long it took to complete the mummification process) before sealing him in the tomb. So, if a Pharaoh didn’t last very long (as sometimes happened) there was a bit of a rush to get it finished and some were left only partly complete. We saw one were they had bought in students from the local College of Hieroglyphy or whatever, to try and rush the job through. The symbols were written from top to bottom and a trained artisan would have spaced the hieroglyphs out so that they were equispaced from top to bottom nice and neat. But the students were dumbbells and had no idea and just put them all close together so a short sentence finished half way down the wall. Very shabby! But the funniest bit was shown to us by our guide, it read: ‘start this bit at the top of the next column’ - the student (who probably couldn’t read) had copied his instructions onto the wall thinking it was part of the religious text!
We saw many tombs in a similar vein but they never lost their impact. The scale and the mystery of these places is so impressive. If you then consider that they are thousands of years old – it’s quite breathtaking. A civilisation and set of beliefs that were so cultured and so sophisticated so long ago is scarcely credible. The ancient Egyptian religion (it doesn’t appear to have a proper name) lasted for at least 3½ thousand years. It obviously went through a lot of changes in that time but the core beliefs remained – quite fantastic.
We had a great guide for the sight seeing who was very knowledgeable and that made the whole thing much more interesting for us all. Otherwise you don’t know what you are looking at – it’s just a lot of rubble (well not quite, but you know what I mean). He christened our party ‘Magnificent’ which seemed quite appropriate to me!
We got to know some very nice people on the boat as well as our dinner companions. All Americans, but very different people. There were a very nice couple, Ray and Karen, who are retired and live in California. They told us about an organisation called ‘Elder Hostels’ which appears to be a kind of Youth Hostels for us old folk! Hopefully without the backpacks, communal showers and singsongs around the camp fire. I will be investigating further. There were a couple of older chaps, David and Daniel. David is a watercolour artist and actually makes a living at it! He showed us some of his work and it struck me as very good. As I pointed out to him at the time ‘Almost good enough to pay retail’, he did not seem to take the hint! Daniel is (or was) a librarian, and is also a storyteller. They were all sophisticated, intelligent people, fun and interesting to talk to. We have exchanged email addresses and we hope to keep in touch. There is a standing invitation for any of them to visit when (and if) they visit the UK.
The only slightly naff bit was an Egyptian evening laid on by the boat. We were supposed to dress up in Egyptian gear and do a bit of cavorting. Most of the group we were with, were none too thrilled at the prospect including, I confess, me. The Boat Manager, an otherwise delightful fellow, seemed determined we would enjoy ourselves even if we hated it. Suffice it to say I am now the proud owner off an Arab robe. However, I did draw the line at cavorting, particularly when the first cavort consisted of swinging a potato on a piece of string between your legs - to knock another potato off the small dance floor. Call me a snob if you will, but I thought it a tad undignified.
On Sunday, My wife’s birthday, I told her that in the second week we were on Safari in Tanzania. She was thunderstruck and delighted and obviously did not suspect a thing! I also presented her with a rather pretty gold necklace I had bought for her Birthday gift.
After 3 days on the boat we left for Cairo again to see the pyramids and the Egyptian museum. Another Egyptair flight back to Cairo and 3 nights at the Mena Garden Hotel. This is reputed to be the best hotel in Cairo, so our Guide told us the following day, and it’s pretty good. The public spaces were excellent, all Arabian nights with lots of brass, dark wood and arabesque shapes. (I suppose that’s where the word comes from, never thought about it before). But our room was a little bit tired, not bad but not excellent. However, the room overlooked a very pretty green courtyard garden with palm trees and from some of the public rooms you could see the pyramids looming very large.
But, our first trip was to the Egyptian Museum. Once again the sheer extent of ancient Egyptian history and culture is a bit overwhelming. The place is stuffed with quite beautiful and extraordinarily ancient things. The Tutankhamun collection is fantastic, so much gold! Again I was struck by the spirituality of the place. Their beliefs may seem a little bizarre by our standards, but believe in it they did, and took it very seriously indeed.
The following day we visited the Pyramids. They are such a visual cliché it’s hard to know what to expect, but when you see them they are staggering. There is no point in describing them because they are exactly as you imagine, as big, as impressive but perhaps even older – 5000 years! We could not get inside the 2 largest ones, the numbers allowed in are very severely restricted and we got there too late (a small mistake by our otherwise excellent guide), so we had to settle for the smallest. Not much to see inside and the best view, is the outside view. The Sphinx is wonderful and (I didn’t realise) part of the temple complex that makes up the great pyramid area. For my wife, the Sphinx was the ‘tingle factor’ that I had earlier, the spirituality of the thing is tremendous. It’s similar to the feeling you get in a great ancient cathedral, you may not believe in it, but you can’t deny the power of the belief of those who built it.
There is a funerary temple at the beginning where the body was mummified and a long causeway to the great pyramid itself. The Sphinx was originally a rocky outcrop that was spoiling the view, so they chopped it about and clad it stone to create the Sphinx. The whole site is enormous.
Later on we visited a kind of sub Disney version of ancient Egypt. A good idea but not well done. It was meant to be a recreation of the life that existed at that time and although it’s a valiant effort, it needs a lot more money to be spent on it. The temple is about ¼ size and it all looks a bit naff. A real Disney recreation of Ancient Egypt with a full size temple and pyramid as they were when first built, with actors playing the priests etc would be stunning. After seeing the ruins and what little decoration still remains I would pay almost any price to see a proper full size reconstruction!
Somebody is missing a serious money making opportunity here. I am taking subscriptions for this new venture now, so don’t miss your chance to be in on the ground floor of an amazing new attraction. From the team that bought you the Millennium Dome…
By this time the curse of Tut had caught up with me, and I was starting to feel just a little sorry for myself. I bought some Imodium in Cairo and for the first time in my life it didn’t work! Also we were both starting to feel the onset of a head cold.
We left later that evening to catch our flight to Dar Es Salam and the ‘Lions and tigers and bears’.
Postscript
In our English classes at school we had an exercise called Comprehension. We would be presented with a paragraph of writing and asked questions to test our understanding. I was good at English in general and never had the smallest problem with comprehension.
Then one day, when I was about 15, the teacher read a paragraph from a book, and I could not understand it at all:
“I have walked by stalls in the market-place where books, dog-eared and faded from their purple, have burst with a white hosanna. I have seen people crowned with a double crown, holding in either hand the crook and the flail, the power and the glory. I have understood how the scar becomes a star, I have felt the flake of fire fall, miraculous and Pentecostal. My yesterdays walk with me. They keep step, they are grey faces that peer over my shoulder. I live on Paradise Hill, thirty seconds from the shops and the local. Yet I am a burning amateur, torn by the irrational and incoherent, violently searching and self condemned.”
I know now it was the opening paragraph from a book called Free Fall by William Golding. I was deeply moved by those words then, and I still am now. After all these years I still remember the shock of finding something that meant so much, but that I couldn’t understand. I still don’t understand it all and it still means a lot to me.
At more or less the beginning of Egyptian written history, the land was divided into upper and lower Egypt. These kingdoms were based on the upper and lower reaches of the Nile. Eventually the separate countries were united by a single King. He also combined the two crowns of these two Kingdoms into one. The Double Crown symbolised the two united kingdoms.
When the Kings were mummified, their hands were crossed in front of them and in their hands they held the sacred crook and flail.
So, 40 years later, I too have seen people crowned with a double crown, holding in either hand the crook and the flail, the power and the glory. They are the mummified kings of ancient Egypt.
And I understand a little more.
Part 2 – Tanzania
Just before we left Cairo, I watched the News on CNN. We were delighted to find that there had been an outbreak of Ebola in Uganda. Admittedly, the plane was only touching down in Entebbe for a couple of hours. But passengers would be boarding there and Ebola is notoriously contagious.
We felt perfectly justified in claiming our second Horseman of the Apocalypse – Disease. Only a silver award and some might say, lucky to avoid the bronze, but we were happy enough.
Actually Africa is famous for it’s exotic diseases; enough to tempt even the most experienced traveller. Some will kill you in a matter of hours while others will leave you debilitated for decades. But be warned, even a fairly minor infection will put a severe strain on your $1,000 dollar a day budget.
Unfortunately, on our brief visit, we had to settle for a nasty head cold and for me at least, the continuing curse of the mummy’s tomb.
Before we left, Egyptair really excelled itself. In the chaos that passes for an Egyptian departure lounge we almost missed the plane (2 planes boarding through the same gate at the same time, surely not?) Then, as a piéce de resistance they drove a truck into our aircraft. So, after much delay, we all had to climb off again, then back to the terminal for what seemed like about a fortnight, but was actually only a couple of hours, while they got a new aircraft ready.
We finally got back on, and after the usual perfunctory safety stuff, we finally got going at about 3.00 am.
The stopover at Entebbe was very brief (I suppose because we were so late) and we got to Dar es Salaam at about 8.00 in the morning. Africa gets a bad press in the West and I think I really expected a basket case. But Dar es Salaam was OK. It’s a biggish, third world city, but I’ve seen a lot worse. We were met as usual, and taken to the Sheraton.
By this time the head cold had got to us both pretty badly and we were both feeling a bit rough. (Particularly me, as I had taken the optional stomach upset – extra virulent grade). Fortunately, we were not shipping out until lunchtime the following day, so we took to our bed for 24 hours and emerged feeling quite a lot better. I think all the travelling does not help if you are feeling poorly and a good long rest was just what we needed.
The hotel was simply excellent; definitely up to western 5 star standards I was only sorry we did not have more time to enjoy it. We left for the airport, yet again, this time for a flight to Arusha. The aeroplane was not actually made from wood and canvas with a pilot in a leather helmet, but it was small, propeller driven and, of course – late. The flight took around 2 hours and that included a touchdown in Zanzibar. Arusha airport is small. Very small. Hut, is the word that springs to mind.
Then, suddenly, we were in real Africa.
We were met by a representative of the safari company and he introduced us to Lawrence who was our guide and driver for the rest of the week. We climbed into a Land Rover Defender and set off for the Ngorongoro crater.
Black Africa (or Sub Saharan Africa to be more politically correct) is not like anywhere else I have been. It’s dusty and dry and big. Very, very big. It has a wide, expansive feel that I have not experienced before, anywhere. We drove a long way along a narrow tarmac road passing through open countryside, with rolling straw coloured hills that seemed to stretch forever. We passed the odd tiny farm, and there were hardly any trees, just occasional thickets of low scrub that were actually thorn bushes.
Then, we came to a small village (or maybe a town) made up of mud brick houses. They seemed to be scattered at random, without any organisation at all. It was here that we turned onto a dirt track that led into the heart of the bush. The roads were very rough. Just small broken rocks strewn on the dirt track and every time a car or lorry passed, huge clouds of red dust were thrown up. It was about 30 degrees C, too hot to keep the windows closed, so despite frantic efforts to wind them up when another car approached we always ended the day red with dust.
I think Lawrence found it a bit chilly! We were very close to the equator, but this was their winter. We were also at quite a high altitude a lot of the time, and so, relatively cool. I don’t think we would enjoy it in high summer.
We saw a few gazelle and zebra on that first day. For some reason I was really surprised to see ostriches wandering about. I had got it into my head that they were quite rare, but in fact there are loads of them. But we didn’t see all that much wild life the first day, although it took four hours of bouncing and crashing along in the Land Rover before we finally arrived at the lodge in the late afternoon.
The Serena Lodge is astounding. It is perched on the rim of the Ngorongoro crater at, I would guess at least 2000 feet. The crater is a vast, steep sided bowl, 11 miles across. From outside it rises like a huge mountain, but once over the rim, the land falls away dramatically, exposing the vast plateau inside, complete with its own lake! Our lodge was built of wood and boulders (presumably local) cemented together. The complex is only 2 storeys high and each room has its own balcony, so we had an unbroken view of the crater before us. We could just see the opposite wall of the crater as a distant mountain range. Quite breathtaking. Very large, covered wooden walkways connect the rooms with the public areas i.e. restaurant etc.
We were sitting at dinner, and I remember thinking ‘the food is perhaps not quite up to 5 star standards’. Then it struck me: this place is in the middle of Nowhere, Africa. And that’s nowhere writ large. It must have been a hundred miles from the nearest town, and the nearest town did not have mains water or electricity. This place had it all – electricity, water, sanitation, and great, western style, food! When you think about it, it’s a fantastic achievement.
The next day we left for a drive into the Ngorongoro crater. Scattered across the area are the Masai tribesmen. We saw them all the time. They live now, much as they must have lived 1000 years ago. They herd cattle and live exclusively on meat and milk. How on earth they stay healthy I can’t imagine. Lawrence told us that they make a drink from tree bark that helps. They live in wattle and daub huts with a thorn bush stockade to keep out marauding wild life.
I have seen poor people in Istanbul, Cairo and other places, and although they are, of course, much poorer than we are, they do live in the same world. We live on the same spectrum, they are at one end, we are at the other, and there are many points in between. The Masai inhabit a world that has no point of contact with us. They live on a different spectrum. They have their cattle, spears, red cloaks and a few other bits, but they are essentially nomadic and if the grazing is poor they move elsewhere. They all seem tall and thin, and don’t appear to have very much in common with most other Africans. Lawrence was a Zulu and seemed to think the Masai were a bit of a strange lot.
There is one road leading into the Ngorogoro crater, and another one leading out. And that’s it. It’s a long and precipitous drive down. As soon as we were inside we saw a small troop of buffalo, they are big hulking brutes who walk slowly along with a distinct “f**k you” look about them. Not the kind of animal you would want to annoy. Lawrence told us they are actually one of the most dangerous animals in the whole continent, because they always attack, regardless. I believed him. We also saw a troop of hippos lounging in the mud on the shore of the lake. I think they must rely on the smell to keep predators away! There were lots and lots of wildebeest, zebras and assorted gazelle all wandering about. I had to keep reminding myself that nobody was looking after them…they just live there. The warthogs put on a good show, they shuffle around on their front knees while they are feeding and look pretty comical, and the little warthogettes also look very cute. But, the most spectacular animal we saw in the crater was a rhino sauntering down for a drink at a waterhole. It was the only time we got a really close look at one, and he was splendid (in a rhinocerosy sort of way).
Another day in the crater and another night at the lodge then we were off again. This time to the Serengeti. On the way we saw some young Masai boys, and they looked really weird. At about 14 years of age Masai boys are circumcised - which must be great! To make it up to them, they get a year off. So for a year they wear a black cloak, make their faces up in a sort of white deaths-head pattern, wear white feathers in their hair and do nothing at all. At the end of the year they are fully-fledged warriors. They look rather scary in this black and white outfit, maybe it’s to frighten away evil spirits. We wanted to take photos but our guide said it was discouraged. The boys are not all that keen on school and would rather hang around on the road hoping for a handout from the tourists.
On the way we stopped and visited the Olduvai Gorge. This is an ancient valley that has eroded in a way that exposes many millions of years of rock strata. It has been a happy hunting ground for anthropologists for a long time, most famously the Leaky family. Some of the earliest hominids have been found there and fossil bones are on show in the little museum, but by far the most fascinating thing on display was a track-way.
This was a mud riverbed where various animals had walked. Soon after, their footprints were filled in with volcanic ash and this created a cast. Among the animals was a group of three hominids, large, medium and small. (Mum, Dad and offspring?) By studying their footprints it is obvious that these are true hominids. By studying a skull also found there, scientists have been able to reconstruct a face, which although not quite human, is definitely not ape. They were quite short, around 1.2 metres, but from the artist’s impression on show, they looked very like us. The really staggering point is this…they lived 3.7 million years ago. A full million years before the earliest stone tools!
It took us quite a long time to get to the Serengeti and Lawrence started to get a bit concerned that we might not make it before they closed up for the evening. We were pounding along the dirt roads at quite a pace. Motorway cruising, it is definitely not. But when we finally arrived at the lodge, battered, shaken, red and dusty, it was, once again, quite spectacular. This time the rooms were in the style of Masai huts, but a lot bigger and with a few more mod cons. (Beds, chairs, that kind of stuff). It also had rather a splendid double bed draped with mosquito netting that gave it a rather luxurious four poster feel. They must have found the only piece of high ground in the whole Serengeti to build it on, and again it had beautiful views over the plains.
Serengeti means “Land of endless space” in Masai, and that’s about right. It’s seriously large. Around 6,000 square miles (yes, that’s 6,000 of your English miles!). Flat, gently rolling, straw coloured plains, as far as the eye can see, with virtually no trees. It’s a bit overwhelming. There are occasional rocky outcrops called Copjes (pronounced copies) that poke up through the plain, about the size of a large house. This is the oldest rock on earth apparently. There are no people (the Masai are not allowed in) but lots of animals.
The rains failed last season and things have been a bit tough for the animals. (I thought about claiming our third Horseman – Famine. But I’m not sure that animals count, and I suspect we will be lucky to get a small bronze for this one).
We saw Elephants, quite a lot of ‘em. We drove close to one family group; close enough to annoy the matriarch who decided it was time for us to leave. She faced us up, flared her ears and made threatening noises – it certainly convinced me! We made an excuse and left, very rapidly.
We also saw lions. First were a family group, mum and dad with the kids romping about. Quite fantastic to see for real, the mother seemed a bit uneasy, then we noticed she had a zebra kill tucked into a hollow by the river, so I think she was concerned that we might steal it. In fact, we had only just finished breakfast, so she needn’t have worried. We also saw a mating pair. Apparently they copulate a couple of hundred times when they are in the mood! These were evidently in the mood, but we only saw them at it dozen or so times! Showing off I call it. I bet he doesn’t bother when there are no tourists about, it’s one quick one, and fast asleep in 30 seconds.
We saw lots more lions and were always impressed (and not only by their sexual prowess)
We had difficulties in finding leopards, and only saw one – up a tree, stretching and luxuriating in the sun just like the cat at home. Although, rubbing his tummy and scratching him behind the ears did not seem like a good idea.
I think the star of the show was probably the cheetah. We saw one lounging on a termite mound and drove across for a closer look. They look good on TV but it doesn’t do them justice. They really are the most beautiful animals I have ever seen. The old cliché ‘poetry in motion’ comes to mind. He really was quite perfect. And…we could have reached out and touched him!
We spent 2 days bouncing around the Serengeti, then left for the Lake Manyara National Park. Trouble was, that by the time we got there (another bone crunching journey of around 4 hours) we had had enough.
On the way we stopped at a fairly typical Tanzanian town to see if we could buy something for the people in Wanderlust Magazine, where my wife worked at that time. Being pretty experienced travellers they are not that impressed by the usual tourist stuff, so she wanted to get something authentic. Local foodstuffs, e.g. spices, seemed a good idea. The problem was that these Africans do not seem to buy much food in shops. I suppose they grow it themselves or get it in the local markets. We could have bought some English cornflakes or Argentinian corned beef, but not much in the way of local produce! Eventually we settled on some Tanzanian coffee, which is grown locally. It seemed a bit pricey to me. Either, they spotted we were tourists (not actually that hard due to our somewhat pale complexions) or, the locals don’t drink a lot of coffee at these prices.
The Lodge at Manyara is probably the oldest we stayed at and not quite as spectacular as the other two. But it was still very nice and, being on high ground again, had wonderful views over the Lake. By this time we were Land Rovered out, and much to Lawrence’s chagrin decided to take a day’s break. So we simply lazed around the hotel for the next day, eating too much and generally relaxing. By way of compensation for the slightly dowdy rooms, the food was the best yet, truly excellent. As we were leaving our room for lunch, we heard a commotion outside. I looked out of the window and saw a troop of marauding baboons running around the lodge outside our window! I suspect they recognise a soft touch when it comes their way.
In the early evening we took a Wildlife Walk around the grounds of the lodge. No baboons this time, which was probably just as well, but lots of interesting birds and plants. I also picked up a quite amazing collection of insect bites. Which have now, sadly, faded, but which I was especially proud of at the time. I even toyed with that Fourth Horseman – Pestilence, but after some consideration had to abandon it as just a little too trivial.
We asked Lawrence to join us for dinner that evening and he told us his personal story. His father died when he was quite young and he had to leave home because there was simply not enough money to support all his brothers and sisters. He worked as a houseboy for a policeman whose wife was very harsh to him. He ran away with some money he had saved by fiddling the grocery bills and arrived at Arusha. There he was effectively adopted by a man who he clearly thought the world of. A sort of substitute father, I think. He worked in a garage doing car repairs and then, by studying English and the local wildlife, finally got a job as a safari guide. He was a charming man who had worked hard to better himself in the tough, harsh world of Africa and we sincerely wished him well, (although he nearly spoiled it by almost beating me at pool).
It’s heartbreaking to think of the dangers from disease (particularly aids) and war that is threatening decent, ordinary, hard working people all over Africa. There seems so little prospect of things getting better and so many risks of it getting a lot worse.
The following day we left for Arusha and the flight to Dar es Salaam. On the way we stopped at a local craft shop and bought some carved wooden fruit bowls. After some hard bargaining I got them down to half the original asking price and probably no more than twice what they were actually worth.
We had a fine Indian lunch in a good Hotel in Arusha, and left for the airport. The plane was, of course, late
The Africans tend to measure time in days, so the odd hour or two does not matter very much. However, on this occasion we had a plane to catch in Dar es Salaam, so it mattered rather a lot to us. What’s more, we only had an hour or so to spare at the other end. So as the time dragged by, it became more and more apparent that we were going to miss our connection! We spoke to the staff at Arusha airport and, to be fair, they both seemed quite concerned. They called the airport at Dar and when we finally landed, after a very un-relaxing flight, and about 5 minutes before the plane to London was due to leave, a small delegation was waiting to rush us through. It turned out there were around ten of us who had to make the connection, so the aircraft had waited for us.
Getting onto a BA flight after 2 weeks of African airlines, African vehicles and African organisation was quite simply – heaven, home at last. To be honest, the organisation of our trip was impeccable, the hotels were lovely and the food was excellent. But Africa is still Africa, and there is still no place like home. And BA was very like home. Then, just to underline the point about Africa, we spent over 2 hours on the tarmac at Dar es Salaam waiting for permission to take-off. But we eventually took off, and eventually got home.
An incredible journey, some wonderful and abiding memories and an entirely appropriate birthday tribute to my wonderful wife, with whom I hope to adventure many more times.
