Day 118: Foresight Eco Lodge – Twiga Lodge and Campsite (Arusha)
We continue east, from the Ngorongoro region to Arusha.
On the way, we encounter what feels like hundreds of Land Cruisers transporting tourists back and forth. It's kind of amusing, too.
It's great that Mount Meru (4,566 m) is showing itself in all its glory today. We're really lucky, because the last few days have been cloudy.
In Arusha, we have a lot on our to-do list: refueling (hopefully with a credit card), getting cash (hopefully an ATM works), and filling up drinking water (lately, none of the water connections worked, or the water was too suspect for us).
Refilling the gas bottle: We have to pay at the Manjis Gas shop (22,000 TSH for 4 kg) and then drive about 12 km to the factory to fill up. It should work with a South African adapter, but it'll take some time until all the connections are in place, and it'll remain an adventure, as much as "leakage." In the evening, we discovered that the bottle was overfilled, and we needed to "let off steam" :-(
Glenfarm Shop and the rest on the western edge of town were our culinary salvation. Dairy products like cheese, butter, yogurt. Sourdough bread! With a crust! Homemade cookies. Organic lemons, just-ripe avocados, farm eggs, muesli,... We bought coffee at the lodge, and the rarer red bananas (delicious!) at the roadside. And we picked passion fruit from the tree in Busisi. Our supplies are well-stocked.
Otherwise, we had imagined Arusha (the starting point for Serengeti and Ngorongoro tours, with an airport for Kilimanjaro climbers) to be different, with more touristy shops and restaurants. But the tourists are all driven directly to the lodges, and in Arusha, the staff do their bulk shopping. It's kind of a fun and lively atmosphere.
We got our spot today from Armin and Anja (thanks!) and are staying with Erika and Paul at the Twiga Lodge Campsite. A huge garden, almost free choice, and really nice hosts. We cook, build a small fire, Wolle struggles again and continues to try to find a solution to the server problem. We finally end up having wine with Erika, Paul, and Pierre, a really elderly Frenchman who has been traveling alone in Africa for quite some time. An entertaining evening.
By the way: Paul shows us a spot on his land from which we can catch our first glimpse of Kilimanjaro's summit.
And Paul also tells us that the high prices for visiting the Ngorongoro Crater are a result of UNESCO's requirement to reduce visitor numbers. It didn't help; up to 800 vehicles a day throng the crater during peak season. No fun...