Arusha, Tanzania

Our flight from Kigali arrived in Nairobi without any problems. We got our luggage, and cashed a bunch of travellers cheques to USD (losing about 10% in the process). (We needed $200 per person for the local payment for the safari tour (used for park fees etc), plus money for extras along the way). Went to a different hotel in Nairobi, to the hotel where the tour was starting the next morning.

Was up at 6am to be ready for the briefing at 7am in the hotel. It was rather dragging, an they had two different groups in the same meeting, so there was no sense in remembering names. There were 6 on our tour, and we joined up with 6 who had done the Kenyan safari first, and were now doing the Tanzanian safari. After much waiting and organizing, we were on our way by 9:30am. In our van were Carey (US), Jennifer (US), Emmeline & Paul (UK), and Marissa and I; in the other van were Yvonne & Vegar (Norway), Tom & Jean (US), Gary (UK) and Mariam (Australian).

It took us 2 1/2 hours to reach the border, and we went through the Kenyan exit and Tanzanian entry without much fanfare. I was disappointed with the lack of stamping by the Tanzanian official (just a single stamp over the visa), seeing as they requested three blank pages just to get the visa. We also transferred to our safari vehicles (Land Rovers), and met our guides/drivers (Revocatus) and cook (Alfa). Two hours to Arusha, then errand hopping (ATM, money exchange, grocery store -- bought 15L of water for myself). We were told we wouldn't have access to electricity (no recharging of camera batteries), no showers and no stores for six days! (This turned out to be incorrect).

Got to our campsite (Snake Park) on the outskirts of Arusha by 4pm, sorted out tents. I was feeling sick still, and a couple Tylenol fixed that (I'm whipping through my bottle...) Our group is mostly older, 30s - 40s. We went to a Snake Zoo, the irony of going all the way to Africa on safari and then going to a zoo was not lost on us.

There were five other large groups at the campsite in huge overlanders -- they looked like the big snow landers in the Empire Strikes Back. It made the campsite pretty crowded.

Dinner was at 7pm, beef and macaroni, and peppery soup. I still didn't have much of an appetite from being sick. After went to the bar so Marissa could charge her camera battery. Five Kili beers later, (500ml, 5%, 1500Tsh) called it a night.