Day 17

The last 2 days we spent at a camping place called Happy Days just outside a little town called Karatu. A very busy place as it is only 17km before the Gorongoza Crater/Serengeti entrance. It was a beautiful place, friendly and efficient staff that looked after us incredably well. The owners, ex South Africans, although we never met the wife, the husband, Andre, was there and to say the least we were all embarrased to say we were white South Africans and especially me, being afrikaans, was embarrased by his bad language, his drinking and disgusting behavour to put the icing on the cake, he was a Bull supporter and when he realized that the bulls were loosing he switched the TV off. When we asked him why he replied, 'because I can'. He actually threw a cake at one of our group members, he got so out of hand. The staff was so embarrassed, they chased him from the premises and banned him while we were there. What an experience. Sadly we cannot recommend the place because of him, . Tanzanian staff however was fantastic and very professional.

Today we all headed in different directions. The backup vehicle with Ian, Cheryl, Jo-Anne and Jenny are driving trough the Serengeti on route to Lake Victoria. Roger and Doug decided to ride around the Serengeti which is a long, 800km stretch. Rudi and I decided to head back to Moshi to once again try to see Kilimanjaro. As I am writing this post the sky is busy clearing and I can vaguely see the outline of the mountain. So keep fingers cross for a little peep later. Tomorrow we are heading for Kenya and will meet up with the rest 2 days from now in Nairobi. Tanzania is an absolutely beautiful country with even more beautiful friendly people. All we hear all day is, 'Jumbo Rafiki', which means 'hello my friend'. They cannot thank you enough for visiting their country and welcome you extensively. The police stop you all over, not to hassle you but to wish you goodluck on your journey through the country, unlike Malawi which was, in general, a very unfriendly tourist destination. The cops were out to nail you round every corner.

As you have seen we visited the Ngorongoza Crater yesterday, it is a must and it is one of the seven natural wonders of the world!. It is 21km long and 17km wide and 600m deep. Ecologically totally self sustainable. So put this destination on your 'must see list'!

More crater photo's