An Earthly Paradise – Part One

Our safari lasted 9 days. We bought the Milan Malpensa/Nairobi flight because it costs much less than the flight to Kilimanjaro; then with the shuttle bus you reach Arusha for a few more dollars. I organised everything with a very dear Tanzanian friend of mine who has an agency, at a decidedly good price; there were 7 of us with a 9-seat jeep. Total cost €1,900. USEFUL INFORMATION LUGGAGE: a camera! A soft bag, not branded, because it will fill up with very fine red dust! The caps of BIC pens, they are needed to push our plugs into their power sockets! Neutral-coloured clothes. A torch must not be missing, because at night there is rarely electricity. This is essential, the rest is up to you! VACCINATIONS: yellow fever is mandatory.

EXCHANGE: 1,950 Tanzanian shillings are worth 1 euro, while 1,450 Tanzanian shillings are worth 1 dollar; the dollar is preferable also because in certain cases they give both the same value! MEALS: Tanzanian dishes are good; rice, chicken and potatoes prevail, but also other vegetables, and fruit certainly isn't lacking: bananas, mango, papaya and special pineapple! The lunch-box you eat at midday is a surprise! CLIMATE: hot and dry by day, but we are close to the equator, so the sun is strong; the temperature range at night is considerable, even more than 10 degrees lower, so your luggage must not lack a hat and sunglasses, nor a fleece or a jacket for the cold! COMMUNICATION: the phone network is good, though not always in the parks; calling from Tanzania with mobile phones is very expensive, and it is possible to get a local sim with very convenient rates.

INFO: every time I bring pencils, pens, clothes and toys for the children, but I also give away part of my luggage to the adults: clothes, medicines, etc… everything that can be useful to people more in need than me! Milan/Arusha Departure from Milan Malpensa at 14:30 with Egyptair. Stopover in Cairo; after top-level checks, at 22:30 we board. Night flight arriving at 3:20 in Nairobi. We wait for the "shuttle bus"; it's cold, and only around 8:30 do we set off to face another 5 hours on the road, mostly asphalted but with the occasional artificial hump and the inevitable jolts. The greatest "pastime" of the journey is the repeated filling in of the visa request to leave Kenya and enter Tanzania, but considering that it saves us a good chunk of the travel ticket, we face it with dignity.

We arrive in Arusha at the Kundayo Apartments, which is a nice residence, with fridge, stove and everything that might be needed; a pity that the electricity is only on for a few hours, but this is Tanzania. After all this travelling seated, we need to stretch our legs, and here we are on the main road of Arusha, lined with small plant nurseries and stalls where some women in their colourful costumes sell fruit and grill white maize. What strikes me in this coming and going is the people on foot and some very shiny motorbikes, but most of all the minibuses, called "dalla dalla", which, crammed full, carry travellers who need to cover somewhat longer distances and, depending on the route, are marked by stripes of a different colour. From what you can see on this dusty road, this population has a real veneration for cars.

There are in fact many pseudo workshops, and what also stands out is the almost maniacal care taken in washing their vehicles. Certainly understandable, since it is very probably one of their main sources of income. The climate is pleasant and breezy, and it doesn't feel like being in Africa; for the rest, though, it does!! At last a Tanzanian dinner of "soupe with ciapati", a soup that, instead of croutons, is eaten with a sort of crèpes broken into pieces: excellent! Lake Manyara After breakfast, we make a first stop to stock up on water for our whole safari, and then head towards Lake Manyara, which takes its name from the candelabra Euphorbia, an enormous plant widespread in this part of the world. They use this plant to build the roofs of their houses, the "bomas". The lake has been a national reserve since 1960 and was declared a biosphere reserve in 1981.

We meet Masai grazing their thin, humped cows for the water reserve. We cross the village of Mtowambu and begin to get used to their lovely greeting: "jambo", "nzuri sana" (all good), "hakuna matata" (no problem). We leave our luggage at the Jambo Lodge, a nice complex in the greenery with many birds and a big marabou nest right above a tree in front of the reception.

We enter the park, and here are the first families of baboons grooming each other, but a little further on we are greeted by giraffes, warthogs, monkeys, dik-diks, elephants, mongooses… Towards two in the afternoon we stop to eat our lunch-box which, as we would come to see, never varies by much: a hard-boiled egg, roast chicken, two slices of bread with a cheese spread, a wafer, a fruit juice and the inevitable banana, but we eat "in the company" of marvellous brightly coloured little birds, and "in front of us" along the shore of the lake numerous zebras play at chasing each other, and the giraffes move about in that very funny way of theirs; the poor things have this very long neck that complicates their lives, it's one of those moments that after the safari often comes back to mind! We head to the Hippo Pool, welcomed by many zebras and by hippos bathing; unfortunately it's late and w

e have to leave. A hearty dinner with soup, chicken and banana. They serve us with deference, addressing the ladies as "mama" and the men as "papa". In the evening, a show of dance and sound; outside the lodge fence, however, pitch darkness! We stay inside the lodge area to browse the many local objects and take on their likeable way of bargaining, which for them is really a game: they start from very high figures and then come down to very low ones, so it takes longer and is more fun; in truth, for those not used to it like us, it is a bit tiring. To be continued....