We started and finished our Tanzanian adventure in Arusha at the Arusha Coffee Lodge. It was a long flight from the UK to Doha and then to Kilimanjaro airport, followed by a long ride to Arusha; almost 24 hours of travelling. So we'd given ourselves an extra day in Arusha before heading off even further for the safari. On the road we passed by people going to and from the local markets, and farmers herding their goats to new pastures along the roadside. The view of Mount Meru beckons you, and young men sat on their motorbikes at street corners waiting for passengers. The unemployment rate here is about 50%, so making a living is tough. Unless of course you are educated, and can speak English, for then the tourism industry welcomes you.
The Arusha Coffee Lodge houses a workshop to provide employment for the disabled, so we bought a couple of beaded bracelets. The recycled glassware was interesting but too fragile to take home.
The Arusha Coffee Lodge is in the middle of a functional coffee plantation and produces high quality arabica beans. We took a tour of the plantation and learnt about the effect of roasting times on the end product.
All the internal journeys were made in these small planes. You didn't get printed boarding passes, but colour-coded plastic passes. So all passengers with green passes went on the same plane, and it was a system which worked! The distances one travels are vast, and the roads are poor, so this is why safari trips are expensive!
On our return journey from Seronora airstrip to Arusha airport, we flew over the Ngorongoro Crater which is a volcanic caldera. You can see how the fertile earth was sent in one direction towards Arusha, leaving the arid Serengeti on the other side of the crater.
The other thing you notice from the plane is the presence of man on this landscape, with man producing regular patterns (corrals enclosing living spaces and protecting animals).
Tanzania is famous not only for its national parks but also for Mount Kilimanjaro, the roof of the world. We never saw this from the land as it was always shrouded in cloud. But we had a great view from the plane as we left Kilimanjaro airport and headed for Doha.
