Arusha, Tanzania

We bracketed our Zanzibar visit with one night stays in Arusha. It seems like Arusha has always been a major center for safaris, game capture, etc. If you’ve seen the John Wayne movie “Hatari,” then you’ve seen Arusha. In fact, the Hatari Lodge (where some of the filming took place back in 1962) still exists. BTW, Hatari means danger in Swahili. Of course, today Arusha has grown up. There are over 1 million residents and their is a lot of sprawl and growing traffic problems. There is a large expat population, many of whom are involved in the voluminous tourist trade. This is a place where genteel safaris can be had — stay in a comfortable and spacious lodge like the Coffee Plantation, go out for a 3-4 hour safari per day and then back for a night on the town. But I think that approach to safari really misses the point, which I guess brings me to my final thoughts.

“Safari” means “to journey out to see things” in Swahili. It is the moral equivalent of “going walkabout” in Australia. In both cases, the magic is the journey, not the destination. The countryside we saw on our journey was nothing short of fantastic (as it had been during our time in the Outback in Australia) with greatly varying landscapes and temperatures and soundscapes. The animals and their behavior in the “wild” setting, as well as how they have adapted to survive the variety of predators and natural challenges they face is inspiring. I said “wild” because animals out in the bush have grown up with the presence of Land Cruisers and largely ignore them (that’s how we were able to slowly drive into the middle of a lion pride and hunt at night and not get munched). But because of that fact, you get to see how nature interacts. It can get very emotional, running the gamut of empathy for the lioness whose cubs were stuck across a crocodile infested River, or a bit of fear was we were charged by an elephant or sat in the dark in the midst of a pride of lions when our spotlight shorted out. But that’s nature, isn’t it — unscripted, raw, and intimidating. As good as some nature programs are in trying to translate this for the viewing audience, you really don’t get it until you experience it in person. Finally, as in much other travel we have done, it’s really all about the people and their culture. We felt almost uniformly welcome in all the places we visited. People were as happy to see and learn about us, as we were to do the same with us. There is so much to take in and learn; so much wisdom to be unearthed. And answering their questions about us, forces us to think about our own actions and how they are perceived in the outside world. As we have on other trips, we have made some new friendships, whether Lenkii and Jonathan, Masai tribesmen who invited us into their village outside of Amboseli National Park to Dustin, Khalfan, Adrian, and Steve at Kilindi in Zanzibar. There is another aspect of people, though, and that is traveling with friends. In addition to sharing the experiences and deepening relationships with them, it is helpful to have people that share your context to talk about the things we experienced.

We were told numerous times, both before and during our trip, that Africa would change us and would not be able to wait until our next trip there. To the former comment, it is absolutely true. I don’t know if it is we are naturally drawn to the “cradle of civilization,” how we react to the rawness of the nature that surrounded us or the various exotic cultures we had the opportunity to learn. But it pulls you in and shakes you up a bit, all in the safety net provided by our hosts who help us sort it out. So many metaphors for life and how it can be incrementally understood. Will we come back? Sure, and in fact, we would like to bring our family. But I think we will wait for a while to truly let the experience fully soak in.

Tomorrow, we head for home. We are ready to get back to family, friends, and the life we know so well — hopefully somewhat smarter for the journey. Until next adventure!