Tanzania: The Roads

(This is the third installment about our self-drive safari to Tanzania. The next post will be about our first stop, Tarangire National Park.)

Before we left for Tanzania, well meaning friends and family warned us of the dangers we might face: Be careful of the animals! Did you get your shots? Do you have a safe place to store your stuff? And the ever present: are you bringing a gun? (I'll address these in other posts, but just let me say now that none of them were a concern.)

No one, however, warned us about the most terrifying thing that Tanzania threw at us: the roads.

My God.

This was our view for most of the trip.  The corrugation was so bad we had to strap everything down for fear it would vibrate right out (or off) of the car.

I will never, ever complain again about the condition of our roads here in the US. Take the worst corrugated gravel road you've ever driven, multiply it by six, throw in random potholes the size of refrigerators, narrow it down to one lane and put two way traffic on it, then heap it up in the middle so the car is at a 25 degree angle when moved to the side. Throw in deep sand, thorny bushes and/or weedy ditches of indeterminate depth on either side and you have a typical Tanzanian road. Oh, and I forgot the random rocky patches peppered with unmarked washed out sections that require delicate four wheel drive maneuvers to cross.

The narrow road around Ngorongoro Crater, with it's high crown, red dust, sandy edges and crazy safari drivers.

The main road between the Serengeti and Lake Natron.

What about pavement you say? We traveled on two paved roads in the two weeks we were gone, both main highways between major cities and parks. They were pretty decent roads, the surfaces smooth and fairly well marked (discounting the large potholes that occasionally cropped up.) You couldn't let your guard down for a minute though, as traffic in the northern part of Tanzania can include not just trucks and cars: motorcycles that for some inexplicable reason always drove in the breakdown lane; hand drawn carts; mini-van type buses that stopped here and there without warning; herds of cattle, sheep and goats (mostly) tended by Maasi; police check points that consisted of a policeman standing in the middle of the road and randomly waving vehicles over; huge semi trucks carting more than three times the amount of stuff they were rated for, the loads teetering frighteningly every time they hit a bump (this was sometimes addressed by having a guy ride on top holding onto the load as best he could, making us not only worry we'd have a pile of lumber falling on us but the poor lumber-holder as well.)

A typical scene on the main highway across northern Tanzania: Maasi driving cattle from one side to the other.

City driving was a whole other ball of wax. Take all the motorcycles, hand carts, cattle, trucks and mini-van buses and multiply those by three, then add in hundreds of pedestrians, dogs, larger city buses, those little three wheeled tuk tuks like you see in India, beggars and newspaper salesmen working the lines at the stoplights.

This is supposed to be a two lane road. Try telling that to the mini-buses that used the center divider as a passing lane.

Did I mention Tanzanian's drive on the left side of the road? That was another challenge for us.

Poor Mark was thrown into this whirlwind of traffic on the very first day, dealing with a new-to-him vehicle with right hand drive, working the unfamiliar gear shift with his left hand. It would have been nice to have a little practice run, but we had arrived a day late due to an airline cancellation, so we had to hit the ground running if we were to make our first stop by nightfall.

Here's a little taste of city driving:

And a small portion of not-so-bad dirt road driving (most of the roads were so rutted the camera wouldn't focus for all the joggling):

                                          

(It's important to note the video of the city driving was taken on our way back to return the car, so Mark had two weeks of experience at this point. We were too jet lagged and petrified to run the camera on the first day through. The dirt road video was taken in Lake Manyara National Park which had the best maintained roads of all the parks we visited. We tried to take some video in the other parks but the GoPro kept falling off it's mount on the windshield.) 

After a few harrowing days we finally got used to the roads but it was never a "let's jump in the car and take a drive" kind of place for us (it was more an "I need a drink after that drive" kind of place.) I think you'd have to be there at least a month before becoming really comfortable with the flow of things.

We are spoiled here in the US with our paved roads and well marked intersections. We met a guy originally from the UK now living in Tanzania who said you could almost fall asleep driving in the US. He's got a point; maybe it's TOO easy to drive here. Perhaps we need to throw in some wandering livestock and random potholes to keep people from doing the stupid things they do behind the wheel like texting, applying makeup and sipping lattes. I never had the nerve to do any of those things while in the car while we were there and I was the passenger.

It did get easier as time went on and any discomfort was balanced out by the scenery and wildlife, which ranged from wonderful to breathtaking to stunning throughout our trip. And I'd like to thank Dr. Forni, my dentist, for the excellent work he's done for me over the years; after two weeks of driving in Tanzania I didn't lose one filling.

Tanzania: The Vehicle

(This is the second post about our self-drive trip to Tanzania. The next post will be about the roads.)

Once we finally arrived in Tanzania, Mark and I were excited to see what the African counterpart of our truck and camper would look like.

Based just outside of Arusha in northern Tanzania, Paul and Erika Sweet of Shaw Safaris outfit Land Rovers with everything you need to camp and travel through the country. They offered us an itinerary of the multitude of parks there, and even made reservations for us to stay in "special" campsites out in the bush. We would still be driving and camping on our own, but we had their guidance to keep us from wandering aimlessly around Tanzania wondering where all the animals were.

Here's a look at the vehicle and it's contents:

In the back compartment there was a cooler and boxes containing food, pots, pans, plates/cups/bowls/flatware, utensils, cleaning supplies, water for washing, tools for basic road repairs and even a hand pump shower for cleaning up after long dusty days on the road.

Here's the rig fully unloaded for dinner. The table tucked up in the rack over the back door between the car and the tent.

The roof top tent unfolded into a nice penthouse suite.

I think Mark liked this job.

The tent doubled for shade on the sunny days.

The "picnic box" with all the plates, mugs, cups etc.

Our one burner stove, complete with tea kettle.

Each vehicle is equipped with a cell phone with a dual sim card (to double the chances of having service.) One of the biggest surprises for us was the cell phone coverage in Tanzania; with few exceptions, we had coverage in most of the areas we traveled. If we ran into trouble or had a question, there were pre-programmed numbers loaded into the phone that we could call night or day.

The interior was stripped down to the essentials. There was a radio but it was unnecessary; you couldn't have heard it anyway between the diesel engine and the pounding on the corrugated roads. The seats were surprisingly comfortable, which was a good thing having spent at least 7 hours a day sitting on them. Note the orange thing on the seat: a highly important item, it was a waterproof toilet paper holder we took to calling Lou Rawls (after the English phrase for toilet paper, loo rolls)

There was also a GPS mounted on the dash that helped guide us. This proved to be a saving grace, as the printed maps we had were not always up to date. We found roads there tend to get re-routed, added or sometimes disappear altogether after the rainy season. The roads themselves are sometimes only tracks across the savannah which might be the main route, or they could be a safari driver's off road exploration that peters out to nothing after a few kilometers. It was an education to say the least.

For security, there were two locking compartments hidden in the vehicle. We stored our passports, extra cash and other important papers in these for safe keeping.

The lone self-drive vehicle in a picnic area parking lot full of tour group vehicles, Tarangire National Park.

Since we were to be traveling through some remote places, the car was equipped with a high-lift jack, regular jack, tire repair kit and air compressor in case of a flat (or two—it also came with two spare tires.) The roads are rough, to say the least, and we saw multiple safari tour vehicles at the side of the road changing flat tires, their clients fanning themselves impatiently inside. We also had an accessory battery that ran the fridge, and served as a backup to the main. We had a box full of extra fluids (brake, steering, oil) and even a spare generator and air filter, along with a very complete set of tools to work on the vehicle. We also had along some recovery items to help pull ourselves out of mud/sand/ditches or anything else we may have gotten ourselves into.

All these things were extra insurance in a country where you might be able to make a phone call, but help would be perhaps a day or more away. We were fortunate not to have any major problems thanks to brand new tires and cautious driving.

Shaw supplied us with a starter food box, which was really helpful. It contained enough food for a couple days of meals plus basics that we probably would have forgotten to buy: salt, pepper, coffee, tea, milk, sugar, oil and spices. They also supplied a 10L bottle of drinking water to start us off. Drinking water was very important as the local water would have made us sick and, although we were there during the southern hemisphere's winter, it was still pretty warm during the day. There was a 52 liter refrigerator in the back as well, which plugged into the car's electrical. It was nice to have a cold drink at the end of a long day on the dusty road.

Last but not least, Shaw supplies coverage with Flying Doctors for emergency evacuation in case of serious injury. This was the most important factor in getting our mother's permission to go on this trip. (We would have gone anyway, but I think it made them feel better about it.)

Back after two weeks, the car (and us) dirtier but no worse for wear.

Mark got so fond of the car he named it "Plucky" as in, "this plucky little car can drive over/through/around anything!" It powered through some incredibly rough roads that would have torn our US truck/camper rig to pieces. Mark actually teared up when we had to leave it to go home; given time, I think he would have tried to arrange a shipping container and haul it back with us (much to the chagrin of Paul, the owner/outfitter/chief mechanic.)


It was the perfect vehicle for Tanzania's rough roads and varied terrain. Although Mark might be in mourning now, it was best to leave Plucky there. We just might need it again when we go back to explore more of the stunning parks in Tanzania.

"Plucky" waits for us near Ol Doinyo Lengai, an active volcano near Lake Natron in northern Tanzania.

(If you are interested in doing this yourself and want more information about what Shaw has to offer, feel free to email them at: info@shawsafaris.com)

Tanzania: The Itinerary

(This is the first installment in a series about our self-drive safari in Tanzania. The next post details the vehicle.)

We considered a lot of options when planning our trip to Africa. We wanted to drive ourselves and camp along the way, but never having been before we weren't sure where to begin. We looked at Botswana, South Africa, Kenya and Tanzania, checking into different outfitters in each country. We compared rates, parks, political upheaval, and the US Department of State travel alerts (don't believe everything you read there by the way—they tend to overly exaggerate situations.)

After months of indecision, we finally realized we were hesitating because there were just too many unknowns for us. We've done extensive traveling around the US and Canada, but experience here doesn't always translate to the third world. We needed help planning our route from someone who lived in the country and had driven the roads, camped in the parks, knew the customs and bureaucracy of the place. In the end, we went to the company we trusted the most, people we had met personally and talked with at the Overland Expo several years in a row: Shaw Safaris Ltd.

Shaw helped us come up with an itinerary for the trip. We relied on them to suggest a route that would show us the most diverse areas we could visit in the two weeks we had to spend there. With their help we came up with a Northern Circuit plan that would take us in a big loop, visiting everything from great plains to huge lakes to desert climates. Here's a look at our general route:

After flying into Mt. Kilimanjaro International Airport and spending a night in the Twiga Lodge (Shaw Safari headquarters near Arusha) we were to stop first at Arusha National Park, three minutes from their front gate. There we intended to get used to the vehicle, the animals and the general "being in Africa" feeling while recovering from our jet lag. If we had any questions or ran into any problems with the vehicle, we would be able to call or even drive back and talk it over. (This was not to be, as it turned out, courtesy of a cancelled flight out of SFO.)

After that we would continue on to Tarangire National Park, the Ngorongoro Crater, Serengeti, Lake Natron,  and Lake Manyara before returning to the lodge for a night before heading home.

Twiga Lodge, Shaw Safari headquarters.

Paul and Erika Sweet of Shaw not only came up with the itinerary, but gave us general driving times and a description of the road conditions, along with information about the parks. One of the major obstacles of a self-drive safari is having to navigate the parks' myriad of gate entry fees and regulations without the benefit of a hired guide. Each park has very particular rules about how, when and for how long you are allowed to be within its borders. As you can imagine, thousands of people pass through the parks every week and the vast majority of them are traveling with large safari companies that take care of all the paperwork for them. We would be functioning as our own "guide" so would be dealing directly with the somewhat bureaucratic systems ourselves.

(One thing we learned early on was that, while it takes a literal act of Congress to get the rules changed at the National Parks here in the United States, third world countries are governed more by individual gatekeepers. And those gatekeepers can decide to change the rules however and whenever they want. It was nice to have Shaw a phone call away when the bureaucracy got the best of us. More on that later.)

The cars await, Twiga Lodge.

Another important item Shaw helped us plan was budgeting. Tanzania is progressive in many ways in terms of an African nation, but most of the country still runs on a cash basis. A few of the larger parks took credit cards, but almost everything else had to be paid for in either US dollars or Tanzania shillings (TSh). Strange as it may seem, Tanzania accepts—and sometimes insists on— US currency (in fact, the US bills had to be new—2006 or newer—to combat counterfeiting.) There were ATMs in the larger cities that dispensed the local currency, but since we weren't going to be near many cities we had to carefully plot out how much each stop would cost us; fuel, park fees, food and water, even gifts for our worried relatives back home had to be calculated into the equation. We couldn't get any more US currency once we got there (without taking out a cash advance on a credit card at a major bank) and we had to ensure we had enough TSh to cover all the fuel stops (the fuel stations only accepted TSh.)

We ended up making a spreadsheet with columns for both currencies listing park fees, visas, gifts and estimated food and fuel costs, then throwing a few hundred dollars in on top of it all as extra insurance. The known expenses (like particular park fees) were tucked into separate envelopes and labeled clearly so we didn't spend it somewhere and come up short later. The spreadsheet turned out to be very helpful to have along; Tanzania time is 10 hours ahead of California, and after 24 hours of traveling we were addlebrained.

This all seems very complicated, and it did take some careful planning, but it wasn't really all that hard. I can't imagine doing it all on our own on our first international trip; having Shaw give us an outline of the park and trip expenses saved us hours and hours of picking through websites and researching the area.