Learning the Rhythm in Arusha – Before the Safari Begins

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Today our flight paths crossed; Greg and I met up in the Addis Ababa, Ethiopia airport to take the remaining segment together. Well, kind of together. Greg continued his fancy business class flight while I continued in economy… but at least we were on the same plane.

Although we landed at Kilimanjaro airport, we didn’t get to see the tallest mountain in Africa. At ~20,000 feet, Mount Kilimanjaro likes to be shy and hide in the clouds.

As our massive Boeing 777 lands at a tiny airport that’s barely bigger than a small building, we quickly step into our surroundings. We’re given hand sanitizer, our temperature is taken, we learn our first word of Swahili—karibu (welcome!)—and we show our visas.

Then our driver, Fabian, whisks us away—on the opposite side of the road from what we’re used to—toward the safari hub of Arusha. Immediately I spot an elephant and comment, “Wow, an elephant already!” Fabian laughed at my joke about the life-like statue. We actually do see a lot of animals grazing along the drive, but it’s all livestock—goats and cows—since we’re still in a populated, semi‑urban area.

The drive into Arusha is just as much of an experience as anything else we’ll see on this trip. It’s fascinating.

One minute we’re behind a tractor hauling what looks like an impossible mound of hay—stacked so high it doesn’t seem like it should even move—sharing the road with trucks, cars, jeeps, and everything in between, all somehow making it work.

Between endless fields of corn, roadside stands with bright umbrellas line the edges of the street. Even though it feels like we are in the middle of nowhere, there are always people—walking along the road or sitting and waiting, not in any sort of rush—all part of the rhythm here.

Every few minutes, something completely different again. We get pulled over twice. Fabian explains it’s a random check. They peek in, take his license, look at us, and say “ok.”

I love experiences like this when everything is so different than what I’m used to.

At the hotel, while Greg caught up on jet lag, I took the opportunity to do something I won’t be able to do for the next week: I went running at the hotel gym. Out here, running isn’t just a hobby. If you’re running, there’s a reason—and you’re probably about to become part of the circle of life.

There’s only one other goal for the day: to eat dinner.

We’re staying in a nice hotel. It has security, an inviting pool, and a restaurant. It’s a safe bubble—everything controlled, no chaos. There’s absolutely no reason to leave. But if we don’t leave, then we don’t experience Arusha.

Herein lies the problem.

The hotel is on one of Arusha’s busiest streets, and it’s rush hour. It’s busy, loud, and fast‑moving in a way that’s hard to anticipate. There are no sidewalks or traffic lights. The road is only two lanes, so motorcycles drive along the sides where we need to walk.

It reminds me of when we landed in Ho Chi Minh City and couldn’t figure out how to cross the street without being trampled by the buzzing herd of motorcycles.

We watch and start to see the rhythm. We just need to step out and trust the flow.

So we do it—cheating a bit. We time it with a local.

We manage to survive the 0.3 miles of bedlam only to arrive and find the restaurant is closed.

We didn’t catch every word the nearby security guard said (in English), but we understood enough: the restaurant is closed on Mondays.

We laugh when we realize we’re both thinking the same thing: today is Monday?

So we return to our safe harbor and have a safe and delicious dinner. Tomorrow at 8:00 am, our safari begins!

 

Our Itinerary: What we think the next 13 days will look like…

Tomorrow, we head out on safari—starting in Tarangire National Park, where we’ll spend a couple of days easing into this whole “looking for animals” thing, surrounded by massive baobab trees and likely a lot of elephants.

Then it’s on to Lake Manyara National Park, which sounds completely different—more forest, more variety, and possibly even lions that hang out in trees.

After that, we make our way to the Serengeti National Park for a few days—the part of the trip that probably looks the most like what you picture when you think “African safari.” Wide open space, endless landscapes, and a good chance of seeing… well, a lot.

We’ll then visit the Ngorongoro Crater, which, from everything we’ve read, is its own little world filled with wildlife all in one place.

And to finish, we leave the safari behind and head to Materuni Waterfalls near Mount Kilimanjaro—for a hike and a coffee tour – followed by an internal flight to Zanzibar, for (hopefully) a beautiful beach scene and completely different pace before heading home.

That’s the plan.

But from years of travel experience, we’ve learned that travel doesn’t really work like a plan. The second you start getting complacent and making assumptions—that’s when problems start.

So we’ll see what actually happens—and share it as we go.

 

Logistics:

-          Before we left, we applied online for our visas. However, visa on arrival might have been quicker. We waited 30 minutes in line while the on-arrival folks seemed to pass right by us. It might have been quicker if they had a sign explaining the process: you need to give them your flight number (even though you’re the only plane that just landed), your hotel name, and the purpose of your visit.