Tanzania 2005

Jonathan Hanson

Supporting Sponsor
My wife, Roseann, and I just returned from three weeks in Tanzania, on a journey many members here might find interesting, perhaps even enticing.

This was an exploratory trip: We were reconnoitering a route for future vehicle-dependent trips we intend to lead into the Maasai Steppe country, where very few tourists venture. We plan to combine backcountry forays and mobile camps with lodge stays in several of the best game viewing areas in Africa, for a broad experience not duplicated by standard tour operators.

Twelve friends and acquaintances agreed to come along as Guinea pigs, paying a reduced rate with the knowledge that this was an experimental trip, and likely to be frequented by challenges. It was, in spades, but the experience was also unforgettable.

We traveled with a Maasai guide I had met on a previous Tanzanian trip, who procured three Land Cruisers for our use: an 80 series and two 75 series Troopies, all with diesel engines (even diesel is about $4 per gallon in Tanzania—you do not want a petrol V8 for long-distance work there). The 80 and one 75 were six-cylinders with five-speed transmissions, but the 75 I drove had a four cylinder engine, presumably a 3B or 13B of perhaps 95 horsepower, and a four-speed transmission. It rattled along just fine at safari speeds.

(Incidentally, the 75 and 78 series Troopie is far and away the standard safari vehicle in Tanzania, followed by other Land Cruiser models and a lower percentage of Land Rover Defenders.)

Unfortunately it developed that all three of our vehicles were cast-offs from other safari companies. Mine showed 376,000 kilometers on the odometer (about 230,000 miles). But the speedometer and odometer no longer worked, so it was anyone’s guess how much additional mileage the poor thing had racked up. The windows on the 80 wouldn’t roll up—immensely bad news for some of the roads we covered—and the steering in all three had what I can only describe as generous amounts of play. Brakes seemed to work alternately on each wheel every time the pedal was pressed.

Those of us used to conditions in the U.S. have a difficult time imagining the life of a safari vehicle in Africa. Even paved roads there tend toward awful (potholes in Zambia are so legendary, the standing joke is that you can tell the drunk drivers because they’re the only ones who go straight), and the off-highway tracks can be brutal. The vehicles are constantly overloaded, and sometimes driven straight cross country in pursuit of game, slamming into warthog holes that could swallow a 50-gallon oil drum. It was a tribute to the quality of the Land Cruiser that our three were ambulatory at all.

Our initial explorations took us to several lodges, national parks and wildlife areas, including the awe-inspiring Ngorongoro Crater, a grassy volcanic dish eleven miles across and teeming with game (we watched one pride of 17 lions napping after a meal). Then we headed past Olduvai Gorge, where the Leakeys explored Mankind’s earliest glimmerings, and into the wild. Our path took us virtually off-tracks across several huge valleys on the eastern edge of the Serengeti ecosystem. We saw one other vehicle on this section of six hours of driving. Jackals darted in front of us, and ostriches gazed at us as we blasted by trailing huge clouds of dust. Near Wasso, a small Maasai village, we came upon a herd of 38 giraffes, the largest group I had ever heard of.

We spent four days at a mobile camp put up for us by Destination Africa, owned by Hagai Kissila, who is Maasai. Hagai’s superb setup is what we will use for all the mobile camps on future trips: standing height canvas tents with beds, toilet enclosures, and showers fed by water heated at the cook’s fire. In the center of camp is a huge dining tent covering a long table set with cloth and linen and china. Hagai’s cook is a master at producing fresh bread and five-course meals worth of any lodge. Before dinner we enjoyed cold Tusker beer (so named because the founder of the company was killed by an elephant) or South African wines. There’s even laundry service—ironed if you wish.

From this camp we explored the area on foot and found a hippo pool in the nearby river, identified leopard tracks in the dust of a game trail, and listened to lions and hyenas at night. Occasionally Maasai Morani (warriors) showed up and hiked with us out of curiosity, dressed in their full traditional red shukas and carrying the effective, long-bladed Maasai spears. I brought home a lion’s claw from one young man—he and several friends had killed it when it began preying on their cattle. The Maasai still sometimes use a cooperative strategy to hunt lions: One man with a rawhide shield induces the lion to charge, another rushes in and grabs the lion by its tail while it tries to maul the first, while a third attempts to run it through with his spear while avoiding ventilating his companions. Two men stand by as backups in case one or more of the first team falls hors de combat.

We also visited a nearby Maasai village, still so unused to outsiders that the children were fascinated by the pale skin of one of the women with us, and initially terrified of my friend Bruce’s beard.

We then drove west to the mesmerizing wildlife sanctuary of Serengeti National Park, where Roseann saw her first cheetah on her birthday (Roseann’s, not the cheetah’s). This extension allowed another relaxing lodge break, albeit with distinctly lower quality cuisine than that in Hagai’s camp.

In Serengeti I got a huge kick out of following Roseann’s vehicle and watching the reactions of other guides driving toward us as they saw her. She was the only female guide or driver we saw the entire trip, and the other guides nearly went off the road gaping at her. At Lobo Lodge we were talking to one of the staff, and mentioned that Roseann was driving. The fellow said, “Oh! So you’re the one everyone’s been radioing about!”

Our return trip toward Karatu along remote back roads became challenging early on when my Land Cruiser stopped starting, despite a battery transplant and thorough connection cleaning. Hamna shida, as thay say in Swahili (no problem): we just push-started it and let it idle the rest of the day. Then Roseann ran over a hidden bit of broken leaf spring, which leaped up into the fan and radiator of her 80 with much noise and spraying of coolant and fan bits. We decided to leave the 80 where it was along with a young man who was accompanying us as scout and mechanic, and put the rest of the group in the other two vehicles. The other 75 went ahead, driven by our guide, to get as many people as possible to the lodge where we had reservations that night, while I piloted my 75 in his tracks.

Night came with us still 30 miles from tarmac, not a light in the world that we could see, and a faint trail to follow. Soon it became clear that at least part of the starting problem lay in the charging system, as my headlights began to dim until nothing but a feeble yellow glow showed on the trail, then not even that. The diesel, free of reliance on ignition, continued to putter happily, but we were driving in pitch dark. Hamna shida: I reached into the field bag and pulled out my Surefire 6P lithium flashlight, and had my passenger aim it in front of us out the window. The light produced was as good as the headlights had been at their best, and we continued in style to the pavement and lodge, dodging the odd zebra and Thompson’s gazelle that ran in front of us.

We had many more experiences than I can retell here. After the rest of the group flew home, Roseann and I spent several days with Hagai, who will be working with us on future trips. It turned out that he has just built a permanent tented camp, called Whistling Thorn, next to Tarangire National Park, a superb location for a base camp, and also owns three impeccably maintained 75-series Land Cruisers which we can contract to use. He gave us one to drive for the rest of our stay, and the contrast with the poor ex-tour-company vehicles was unbelievable.

We are now working on an itinerary that will include a combination of game viewing in the parks and wildlife management areas, with stays in lodges, along with several day’s exploration of the remote Maasai country from the mobile camp near Wasso, and a couple of epic drives to reach and leave the area. Here, unlike inside the parks, where movements and activities are strictly controlled, we can ramble on foot and enjoy night game drives, the best time for spotting leopards, civets, genets, and other nocturnal animals. We’ll also vist the Maasai villages as guests rather than mere gawkers. We might also be able to go hunting with a group of Hadzabe Bushmen near Lake Eyasi.

We are helping Hagai with his initiation of a community conservation program at Whistling Thorn Camp. Community conservation is an idea that has gained much momentum in Africa recently. Essentially the philosophy is to conserve both wildlife and people, not just one or the other. When local tribes benefit from wildlife, poaching is reduced or eliminated, and locals are willing to set aside their own land for conservation. For example, Hagai’s permanent camp is set in a large parcel he leases from the local village, and is bordered by the national park. The village receives a fee for each guest night to offset the loss of grazing land, the national park gains a buffer zone in which animals can wander without harassment, and guests at the camp enjoy game viewing from their tents, or walks with Maasai scouts.

The combination promises to be a good one: Remote driving through a still-wild Africa, incredible wildlife and cultural experiences, dawn views over Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti, and the knowledge that one is contributing to the conservation of all of it just by being there.

You can see some photos at this address:

http://www.jandrhanson.com/tanzania05.html
 

BajaTaco

Swashbuckler
Jonathan Hanson said:
My wife, Roseann, and I just returned from three weeks in Tanzania, on a journey many members here might find interesting, perhaps even enticing.

That's a bit of an understatement!

:Wow1: :lurk:

Incredible report there Jonathan. Great photos too!


Time to start saving pennies folks... :D
 

Scott Brady

Founder
Jonathan... Thank you so much for the excellent distraction from boxing, cleaning and moving.

Africa calls to me more with every year. I will need to append a climb of Kilimanjaro to my trip though :arabia:

And those heavy canvas tents look fantastic too!
 

BajaTaco

Swashbuckler
expeditionswest said:
...Thank you so much for the excellent distraction from boxing, cleaning and moving.

I knew moving was hard on a relationship, but are you saying you had to resort to putting the gloves on and going at it??

:xxrotflma
 

Scott Brady

Founder
sport_box.gif
 

Jonathan Hanson

Supporting Sponsor
Hmm! I've seen some blondes myself in the Luangwa Valley, but they were of the simba persuasion. I spent a little time in both north and south sections (Zambia, for those of you wondering where the heck we're talking about).

Your experience will be most welcome. We plan to keep these trips as small as possible while keeping the price reasonable. No more than 14 people plus three guides in three 75-series Land Cruisers. Plenty of room in a Troopie for six.

Have you seen much of the Loliondo area?
 

DesertRose

Safari Chick & Supporting Sponsor
Robbie,

What a fantastic trip you had - sounds like you covered the best of the backcountry.

We travelled much the same country in northern TZ. Two of our favorite drives were the "roads" from Wasso south off the Great Rift Escarpment, across Lake Natron valley, and around Ol Donyo L'Engai to Karatu; and taking a local "shortcut" across the Eng'ata Kiti Plain (northeastern tip of the Serengeti ecosystem) on our way to Wasso from Olduvai.

Here are a couple of pictures of the adventure that we just got from a friend. Jonathan and I were so busy driving we didn't have much time for pics (I put a selection on our website), and on the drive through Natron area, it turned epic really fast. One photo below shows my Land Cruiser having an issue with a poorly repaired radiator, which later was thoroughly knackered by an exploding fan out by L'Engai but that was AFTER my entire rear tire carrier fell off....The other photo is of Jonathan's Land Cruiser, taken from the vehicle I was driving, as we raced each other across the Eng'ata Kiti.

Ladies, one of the benefits of going on safari with crappy vehicles is that you get frequent views of your guides' best assets . . . just mind that you choose guides that are easy on the eyes as well as being good mechanics. (Yes, that is Jonathan's derriere - he's going to kill me for posting that one here!)

Roseann
 

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Jonathan Hanson

Supporting Sponsor
Roseann, I'm going to kill you.

Robbie: That was indeed a proper trip. I loved the North Luangwa. I brought home a plaster cast of a big male lion's footprint from one camp there--it was left in the mud outside my shower tent one night.

Where do you live?
 

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Jonathan Hanson

Supporting Sponsor
Robbie, if you ever come through Tucson, stop by and see our bush camp. You'll feel right at home.

And Scott, I'd call you a wise-ass but that seems a bit obvious. . .
 

gjackson

FRGS
Jonathan,

So you have a boma in Tuscon? Excellent stuff! Just need some castle and borewors and we can have a braai!

To all those planning trips into the dark continent, I can also offer help. Last year completed a London to Cape Town stint down the West coast hitting all the garden spots like Congo, DRC, Chad, Mauritania etc. Also spent significant time in the South; Namibia, Bots and RSA.

cheers

Graham
 

Scott Brady

Founder
Graham,

Wonderful to have you on the forum. :wavey:

You dont by any chance drive a Camel Trophy prepped Discovery on occassion?
 

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