Glamorous Only in Retrospect: 8 March - Change of plans. AGAIN.

8 March

Karogwe – Arusha (Snake Park)

230 Miles

Steph:

Dave sleeps in the front cab of the truck and since we arrived so late, Erik, Ishi and I slept in the back. At 5-something am, Dave decided to head out without waking us up. That is, until he went over a giant pothole that sent all of us flying into the air. Good morning!

The landscape changed a little today. We went fron green mountains and hills to AZ like desert. It was hot too. There were a few parts of the road that were under construction which made us go pretty slow. More like we're used to on the bikes. It was nice. I waved at people and most waved back happily. We drove past a giant mountain range that reached the clouds. It was breathtaking. Kilimanjaro is supposed to be pretty visible from here, but since it's rainy season it's all covered up by clouds:(

We stopped for lunch in Arusha. It's a busy place with horrible traffic. Dave has been talking up this incredible sandwich for about 4 days now and we finally got to try it. Bacon, cream cheese, avocado on amazing bread and some magical ingredients. Pretty awesome.

Ishi asked her friend, Tiday Tidu (to-day to-do) to come talk to us about possibly doing a safari with his tour company. This guy is a very classy masai and incredibly nice. He offered us a really good price. Despite being a really good price, we can't really afford it or really justify it, especially for just 4 days. So Dave offered an alternative. Why don't we join them for the first leg of their overland tour. They go from Nairobi to Uganda, Rwanda and back to Nairobi in 19 days. It's expensive, but only about twice as much as the Safari here in the Serengeti AND we would be able to go hiking with Gorillas. GORILLAS!

After thinking about it for 3 minutes and we said, YES! We have about a month left before our flight home and we had thought of spending most of it on Zanzibar and then making our way to Nairobi, whether on the bikes or by train via Mombasa. BUT NOW!!! Here's the new plan:

We head to Dar es Salaam as soon as possible and spend a little more than a week in Zanzibar. Dave and Ishi take our bikes to Nairobi, we meet up with them there, climb on the truck (with other passangers this time) and they take us to Uganda/Rwanda, we go hiking in the jungle, find a gorilla family, chill with them for a while, then head back to Nairobi just in time for our flight back to Phoenix. Saavy?

Saavy :)

Now we're really broke.

Erik:

Got to Arusha around noon. Interesting town. Decided to book a Gorilla Loop trip with Oasis Overland for ~$2600 (19 days, 2 national parks & gorillas). The safaris are $1400 for 4 days.

Over-expenditure it is!!