We arrived early afternoon in Arusha, a great base in the north of Tanzania that provides access to famous national parks and spectacular mountains, after a long journey from Istanbul. We had travelled by plane to Cairo, then on to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where we caught a small prop plane for the final leg. The arrival in Dar was not without its excitement as local customs officials made an effort to shake us down as we did not have air tickets booked to exit Tanzania.
Thankfully we had arranged an airport transfer with a local company for the short flight to Arusha and their representative quickly became our supporting agent for entry! We narrowly avoided a meeting in the back office with the big boss as another group of travelers became the new target for our enterprising border official. Thankfully this introduction to Tanzanian hospitality in no way represented the welcome we felt throughout our trip. People here are very sweet and refreshingly genuine. We got onto the small 10-seater plane to Arusha with a sigh of relief, and Ben was invited to sit in the co-pilot seat for a bird's eye view of Tanzania.
Upon arrival at L’Oasis Lodge on the outskirts of Arusha we were exhausted. Fortunately, this only served to heighten our delight at being upgraded from the backpackers bunker we had booked to a beautiful private banda (round bungalow)! Oh yeah.
The L’Oasis was such a great place to base ourselves for our northern Tanzania adventures. It was a gated complex with bandas, bungalows and tree houses. The big airy lounge with its comfy couches and friendly staff was our recuperation zone and our opportunity to meet other travelers, including Maggie and Frank from Holland with whom we had a great dinner while chatting about Safari experiences. One long term guest, Jeff, became our constant conversation companion for all subjects, including local gossip and the intrigues of trying to do business in Tanzania. Persistence, time and thick skin required!
Our schedule called for a 6 day / 5 night camping safari with a company called Nature Beauties, followed by 4 days spent climbing Mount Meru. As we always seem to do, we decided to make Mount Meru maximum adventure (and exertion) by organizing our own equipment rental, transport to and from the mountain, carrying our own gear and cooking our own meals. Over the course of our stay we made the 20 minute walk into Arusha several times and always enjoyed seeing a slice of life on the streets of an African city.
The constant flow of honking minibuses, ladies carrying bundles on their heads, street side food vendors of peanuts and bananas and constant banter in Swahili provided a real atmosphere. We really enjoyed our lunches at a local restaurant where we’d get a giant plate of rice, beans, beef stew and veggies all for about 3 dollars.
It was through this great little restaurant that we met Godfrey, our Mount Meru magician. He ran a camping supply store off of a back alley that we would never have found without our waitress. It turned out that Godfrey did a little bit of everything and his business card rattled off a long list of completely unrelated occupations. But he was a really good man. He even went shopping for warm gloves for Patricia and he himself drove us to and from the mountain. We can’t thank him enough and can’t recommend him highly enough to anyone wanting to arrange equipment, transport or local help in Arusha (Contact details: Godfrey Elias, PO Box 10666, India Street, Vohora Building, Arusha, Tanzania. Cell=255-754-374-227 / 255-782-374-227; email: godymari@yahoo.com).
Our home away from home even came complete with a resident crane named Henry, who would patrol the grounds in search of new guests to surprise, always providing great entertainment. He was full of personality. We miss him and the L’Oasis already!
Upon arrival at L’Oasis Lodge on the outskirts of Arusha we were exhausted. Fortunately, this only served to heighten our delight at being upgraded from the backpackers bunker we had booked to a beautiful private banda (round bungalow)! Oh yeah.
Our schedule called for a 6 day / 5 night camping safari with a company called Nature Beauties, followed by 4 days spent climbing Mount Meru. As we always seem to do, we decided to make Mount Meru maximum adventure (and exertion) by organizing our own equipment rental, transport to and from the mountain, carrying our own gear and cooking our own meals. Over the course of our stay we made the 20 minute walk into Arusha several times and always enjoyed seeing a slice of life on the streets of an African city.
The constant flow of honking minibuses, ladies carrying bundles on their heads, street side food vendors of peanuts and bananas and constant banter in Swahili provided a real atmosphere. We really enjoyed our lunches at a local restaurant where we’d get a giant plate of rice, beans, beef stew and veggies all for about 3 dollars.
It was through this great little restaurant that we met Godfrey, our Mount Meru magician. He ran a camping supply store off of a back alley that we would never have found without our waitress. It turned out that Godfrey did a little bit of everything and his business card rattled off a long list of completely unrelated occupations. But he was a really good man. He even went shopping for warm gloves for Patricia and he himself drove us to and from the mountain. We can’t thank him enough and can’t recommend him highly enough to anyone wanting to arrange equipment, transport or local help in Arusha (Contact details: Godfrey Elias, PO Box 10666, India Street, Vohora Building, Arusha, Tanzania. Cell=255-754-374-227 / 255-782-374-227; email: godymari@yahoo.com).
Our home away from home even came complete with a resident crane named Henry, who would patrol the grounds in search of new guests to surprise, always providing great entertainment. He was full of personality. We miss him and the L’Oasis already!
Love Henry's hairdo! Your pictures of Arusha remind me of when I was in Zaria, Nigeria many years ago... Good flying, Ben!
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