This firsthand account details a budget safari adventure in Tanzania, highlighting the unexpected challenges and ultimate reward of witnessing the breathtaking Ngorongoro Crater.
I cannot see anything out there. From inside the 4WD there is jungle and beyond that my sight is swallowed by thick fog. This, I think, is a bust.An African safari usually tends towards expense and sometimes extravagance, but this is a safari on a shoestring. Going cheap is easier if you have unlimited time but with only a post-work-conference weekend to spare, this is an experiment in tightening the shoestring until it might snap.
Two co-workers and I book Travel Africa Safari’s two-day budget package, with return flights from the Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam. From here things begin to unravel. Our Precision Air flight is delayed which triggers a cascade of complications: our original destination can’t facilitate night landings and with our new arrival time being after nightfall, we are rerouted.At the foot of the mighty, cloud shrouded mountain, in Kilimanjaro International Airport, the luggage carousel starts and after three bags, stops. The crowd stands around expectantly and slowly it sinks in that our evening is a bit of a mess. We eventually arrive at our hotel at a later hour than intended, but with luggage, and wake early. As we set off in the morning rain, I feel chastised by my assumption that I reside at the apex of an oiled, well-resourced machine turning for my benefit. Here the rules are different. The road levels out and our 4WD passes a lookout into foggy nothingness. The descent begins and the road changes from red mud to concrete. Gradually the fog thins and then lifts altogether.Into view comes a steep mountainside and below a wide savannah. Soon the sun punches through clouds, to glisten on the lake and print silhouettes of the tiered acacias on the yellow grasses below. The trials of last night are suddenly justified. Our sleep-deprived tour group is now wide awake and reverently silent. This is Ngorongoro Crater, a geological marve
Adventure SAFARI BUDGET TRAVEL TANZANIA NGORONGORO CRATER ADVENTURE
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