Arusha & Moshi 21st-24th Oct ’24

Short cut to Arusha thru Serengeti n Ngorongoro

Mon 21st.
Awoke by 04:00. Only 20 minutes to the Loliondo booking office.  I was the first one there before 05:00. Supposed to be 05:15 departure but we left by 05:30…which was fine. Reached a bus stand a few kms out of town and had to switch buses. I made sure I kept my B1 seat by the window. 

What can I say..? My bus ticket cost 50,000 or about £15 to do the 11 hour journey. First we went through Grumati game reserve and that’s when I saw a lion just casually walking a few metres from the road.
We reached Ikoma Gate which was a gate into the Serengeti. I got out to go and pay my Park fee of 70Usd…or 223,433 Tsh. What I hadn’t realised until then is that I would have to pay another 70Usd…191,514 Tsh at the Naabi gate into Ngorongoro game park. I tried to sweet talk my way out of it, but it didn’t work !!
Well, I was in the Parks for 3 or 4 hours and I saw most of the animals in large herds. Zebra, giraffe, buffalo, wildebeest, gazelles. The elephants were a bit far away, and the solitary one quite close to the road was on the wrong side of the bus for me to get a pic. Saw a hippo, 3 lions…a better view of lions than I had in Jan when the grass was too long because of all the rains.

In fact we were on the same road through the middle of the parks that I travelled on in January. We went passed the Olduvai Gorge museum; passed the Masai ladies selling honey on the roadside; caught a quick glimpse of the Ngorongoro Crater. As for the bus, it went quite fast skimming over the corrugations, so it was comfortable enough. Of course it was a normal passenger bus with the aisle crammed with people sitting on boxes/crates. The only times we had to stop was when there were tourist vehicles blocking the road,  but at least that meant there was wildlife to look out for beyond the zoom lenses and binoculars…that’s how I got a good view of a male lion under a big bush. So actually the £120 for the short cut was well worth the money.

We left the Park, passed through Karatu for the 2 hour journey to Arusha. All good until the last 3 kilometers which took an hour to complete because of the traffic jam.
The Loliondo booking office is only 10 minutes walk to the hotel. I decided against Williams Inn as the wifi was down. Next door was Midway with a nicer room with WiFi for about the same price…and it had a balcony.
By this time it was 6pm ; too late to contact Edgar or go too far from the hotel. Nearby was Slope Garden where I’d met up with Terry a couple of times. I had a couple of beers and a chips mayai at a cost of equivalent of £2.50…crazily cheap.
The prostitution is very blatant in that area, easy to spot when when you know what you’re confronted with. In fact I noticed that the middle door on the Slope verandah had been closed off, and asked Mariam what the room was now being used for…she said  ‘jigijigi’…aaah, I see !!
After that I went back to Midway for an early night.

Tues 22nd.
Breakfast was very basic…but the coffee, an egg, some bread served to fill a gap. I went walkabout hoping to see Steve at Msumbis coffees. He wasn’t there,
but I had a nice masala chai at Shoppers .

Then it was just a matter of walking around and absorbing everyday life. I went as far as the Clocktower roundabout and getting money out of DTB. Went back to my
room and sat on the balcony for a bit.  Before 3:30pm I was over at Black and White for a kiti moto…very tasty.  Just after 4pm I was at Cold Pub having a drink and waiting for Edgar. Like last time it was approaching 6pm and still no sign of him. I suggested meeting at McEllys as that was a more quiet place to chat. We met there and enjoyed our peaceful meet up for about an hour..
I then went to Mrinas for a nightcap and then back to my room not far away.  A nice, relaxed couple of days in Arusha.

Wed&Thurs 23rd&24th
I took my time having breakfast,  but was still down at the stage by 09:00.. Soon I was on my way to Moshi.  An hour and a half, so not bad going. One nasty accident on the way between a bus and boda…hope he made it.
I had a coffee at Fresh then checked into Kindoroko at midday. Much confusion at first regarding Paschal; staff saying they didn’t know of him…But, he’s the Manager.  Anyway, it transpired that he had quit. Crazy, because I even talked to him and no indication of that, and he even said he was coming the next day.  All nonsense. Some discussion/argument over the room price, with me getting my way and paying 20,000 instead of the 23,000 they wanted. I was in 304 which faced the main road, but I figured the fan would mask most of the traffic noise.
I settled in then walked over to the Airtel shop. I just needed a small top up of calls/sms but nobody was available so I went to another shop nearby. I also began the process of looking for a new shirt as the one Linda gave me about 4 years ago suddenly got a huge tear at the back. It had been my ‘go to’ shirt when travelling and carrying my rucksack, so it had lasted well.
Off to Aroma Coffee for a masala chai. Bumped into Vasil who worked at White House in Holili (Tz border) when I was stuck there for 3 months in 2020 when Kenya closed the border.
Back to the hotel…washed a shirt…watched it dry on the roof. I got ready for a visit to the Police Mess. I was still checking shops for shirts, but I was only finding ladies’ shops with a small selection of men’s shirts. But then, a shop selling only shirts. I had a long discussion with the young man and I narrowed down my choice to one of 4 or 5 shirts. I said I would definitely call in and buy one the next day. The shirts cost more than I expected but apparently they were mitumbi (second hand from Nairobi).

I met up with Catherine at the Police Mess; had a good chat actually. Then to Kaka’s for my tandoori chicken. First I joined my friends on the upstairs balcony…raucous as usual. I bought them a large bottle of Konyagi, as they always share some of theirs with me. I also had just a couple of puffs of a Joint before going downstairs for my tandoori.
On the way back to Kindoroko I stopped off at Arawa for a nightcap. The room was very comfortable.

Thurs… began with the discovery that the restaurant now has a toaster that works !! Otherwise, the usual cereals and a bit of fruit.
I returned to the Airtel shop, and it was just as well, because I hadn’t read a message saying that the sim card would be cut off on 29th Oct if I didn’t update my visa details. The young lady kindly did the necessary…photo, thumb print, passport details….something that neither the Dar office nor Musoma office managed to do.

From there to Aroma Coffee…and back to the hotel. I bumped into Richard (from Moshi), but my gesticulations also caught the attention of Stanley who I knew through Mark. Back at the hotel I relaxed a bit. My next task was to go to Kibo Palace hotel, on the recommendation from Jennie, to check out the view. I got there about 14:15, but the bar on the top floor didn’t open until 15:00. I was still able to go up there and enjoy the view for half an hour. Well, it would’ve be a totally amazing view had Kili not been covered in cloud..!!

From there I ambled slowly towards the Police Mess, stopping to buy a one of the 4 shirts from the menswear shop. The guy irritated me slightly by trying to charge 28,000, when the day before we had agreed a price of 23,000. I only paid the 23,000 for the checked style.
From there the Police Mess is 5 minutes away. I spent a little time chatting to Catherine before going to Kaka’s to see the guys then to have my tandoori chicken. Followed by a nightcap at Arawa. I learned from Catherine that my pronunciation was wrong when I called it Awara. Apparently I was saying that I’m going to/have been to the prostitute..!!!  Awara means prostitute, so now I’m very careful with getting the name right. Not only that,  Awara is a male prostitute apparently…!!!
Anyway, my last night in Moshi…next stop Taveta.