Day 20 (Thu, 27 July) - Amboseli / Tanzania
Got up early and headed for one of the exit gates of Amboseli, taking our time. Quite cold in the early morning.
Soon left the park and got on the bumpy road towards Namanga, the border town. Reached Namanga about midday where we relaxed for a while in a small cafe whilst Jo bought some small gifts.
With Joshua and Issa we headed over to the Kenyan side of the border and quickly had our passports stamped. We then drove over no mans land until we hit the Tanzania passport office. Bit chaotic here! Probably not helped by a bus load of Spanish tourists pitching up at the exact same time we did.
Sarb was not happy having to pay 50 USD each for the visas as all his research had indicated it would be 30. A sign in the passport office proudly announced that they could change the prices of the visas at any time and by any amount so perhaps 50 USD was not too bad.
We met our new driver, Reuben and the Tanzania tour operator Simon.
We said our goodbyes to Issa and Joshua and settled into our new home, a Toyota Landcruiser. A little different from our previous transport!
Drove on good roads into Arusha. First impressions are of a clean, compact town. We had lunch where Simon cheerfully informed us that it was a good idea to tip our cook and driver 20 USD per day each. So 40 USD per day!! We almost had a fit! We discussed this later and decided that Simon was probably trying it on.
After lunch we said goodbye to Simon and met our cook Roger. We piled into the car and headed off to our camp at Lake Manyara.
Got to camp about 6.30ish. We sat in the comfortable open air dining area whilst the boys got camp ready.
Our tent is ace! It's large enough to stand and move about in and most importantly is kitted out with camp beds. There are also hot water pouches outside the tent. Pure luxury.
We had a fine dinner with Reuben. After dinner some local entertainers performed a little acrobatic, fire eating and music show. Quite entertaining.
When we turned in we both literally fell asleep the moment we hit the camp beds!
Soon left the park and got on the bumpy road towards Namanga, the border town. Reached Namanga about midday where we relaxed for a while in a small cafe whilst Jo bought some small gifts.
With Joshua and Issa we headed over to the Kenyan side of the border and quickly had our passports stamped. We then drove over no mans land until we hit the Tanzania passport office. Bit chaotic here! Probably not helped by a bus load of Spanish tourists pitching up at the exact same time we did.
Sarb was not happy having to pay 50 USD each for the visas as all his research had indicated it would be 30. A sign in the passport office proudly announced that they could change the prices of the visas at any time and by any amount so perhaps 50 USD was not too bad.
We met our new driver, Reuben and the Tanzania tour operator Simon.
We said our goodbyes to Issa and Joshua and settled into our new home, a Toyota Landcruiser. A little different from our previous transport!
Drove on good roads into Arusha. First impressions are of a clean, compact town. We had lunch where Simon cheerfully informed us that it was a good idea to tip our cook and driver 20 USD per day each. So 40 USD per day!! We almost had a fit! We discussed this later and decided that Simon was probably trying it on.
After lunch we said goodbye to Simon and met our cook Roger. We piled into the car and headed off to our camp at Lake Manyara.
Got to camp about 6.30ish. We sat in the comfortable open air dining area whilst the boys got camp ready.
Our tent is ace! It's large enough to stand and move about in and most importantly is kitted out with camp beds. There are also hot water pouches outside the tent. Pure luxury.
We had a fine dinner with Reuben. After dinner some local entertainers performed a little acrobatic, fire eating and music show. Quite entertaining.
When we turned in we both literally fell asleep the moment we hit the camp beds!
posted by Jo and Sarb at
7/27/2006 10:05:00 am
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