Arriving in Arusha - 17.sept

Up bright and early, breakfast at 7, spent about an hour writing my blog (read: used our amazing free internet) and packing. Taxi picked us up before 9 and took us to the airport. We had 2 flights - first to Dar Es Salaam and second to Arusha. Saw all sorts of planes on the stretch and I was getting a bit worried of what sort of cubicle we would have to get in, but everything turned out to be quite good. Planes were new, had at least 20 rows with 2+2 seats in each row. First flight was about 20 minutes and second 1h 15 minutes. As luck would have it we had a bit over half an hour between the flights and first flight was late 20 minutes :) Good news was that the second flight was late almost 45 minutes so all worked out nicely, as it usually does.

Tour guides were at the airport to meet us. Next 1.5 hours we spent driving around Arusha, getting to the office to clear out our stay in the national parks, our full agenda, figure out the payments and to get lunch. For today we still had Arusha National Park planned so rushed over there around 3 pm. So the park - it is a lot greener here than in Zimbabwe. Can't imagine elephants walking around in such lush grass and breaking their way through all those green bushes. I must admit it is quite a bit cooler as well. I'm guessing it is about 15 degrees here during the day. Don't know if it is because we are a bit higher up or because of the cloud coverage - either way, I'm surprised of how cool it is here. Zanzibar was warmer, but now we are quite a bit closer to equator.

Ok, but about the park - I saw buffalo!! And monkeys and giraffes, giraffes are smaller here than in Zimbabwe. I don't know a whole lot about giraffes, but there must be many different types in Africa - so that was the smaller type :-P Saw also zebras and some antelope kind and warthog. Got to visit some beautiful viewing platforms, saw tons of flamingos from far away, the whole water was pink :) Parks close here 6, so had to rush out quickly, which was unfortunate, but that is what you get when planes are late :( Our guide promised that this is the last time we need to rush while here in Tanzania :D

Evening went in the name of sorting out the rest of the payments, me calling to my bank few times since there seemed to be some problems with the internet bank. All got sorted out and we finally got to go over to our accommodation. The tour operator that my friend found here have such a deal that they arranged a tailored trip for us and will put also the group together. We pay once and then everything is included like accommodation, food, park entrance fees and guides and cars and everything.

First nights accommodation was a bit freaky though :) First of all we got lost on the way, it was dark and apparently we took a wrong road somewhere. There is no lighting apart from the main streets. Finally we arrived behind tall tall stone fence, once let in it seemed like somebody's mansion. Rooms were quite bare, just white walls and few pieces of furniture. Seemed like it was a residence built with extra rooms to accommodate people as well. View was quite nice though as it was on a hilltop. Dinner was served, tea at the balcony and off to sleep we went.

Our guide and a driver stayed at the same location so we had dinner all together. During the conversation at some point he goes: "so how many tribes do you have in Estonia?" :D Anybody knows the answer?