First days

The first 2 weeks have already passed. Time for a first travel report.
My journey started with a short trip to Luxembourg. On the 28th of August, Merle and I left my temporary home in the south of Duisburg and headed towards Luxembourg with the excellent DB (we were only one hour late ;-) ). We arrived at our hostel in the early evening. After dropping off our backpacks, we took a short walk in the area to the old city walls. After dinner, we went to bed early. The next day, we visited the small, cozy old town. To be honest, you don't even need a whole day for that ;-) So we went back to the hostel quite early. The last day was all about saying goodbye. After a final walk through the city, we arrived at the train station, where Merle headed back to Germany and I took the bus to the airport. Although we wouldn't see each other for 'only' 6.5 weeks, the temporary goodbye was still difficult for me. With tears in my eyes, I got on the bus to the airport.
The flight was quite relaxing. After 2 stopovers and 18 hours, I landed on Zanzibar at possibly the worst organized international airport I have ever seen 😂 I have never been granted a visa as quickly as here, there was no luggage belt, and the arrival hall looked more like a warehouse. But that suited me just fine because I could start my taxi ride to Stone Town in less than 10 minutes, where I had booked my first accommodation. The ATM at the airport, of course, didn't work, so I had to pay the taxi driver in US dollars. Coincidentally, he couldn't change money, so I probably paid four times as much as you would normally pay. Well, never mind, the main thing is that I finally arrived. In Stone Town, I dropped off my backpack in my room, which I had to share with 15 other travelers. The fun cost me a whopping 30 dollars. More expensive than any hostel in Australia. I hadn't done much research on the prices in Africa before the trip. I had suspected that I would spend more money than in Southeast Asia, but I hadn't expected that there would be a price level that even exceeds home.
After a short city tour, I returned to the hostel completely annoyed. Why annoyed?! Well, you couldn't walk 10 meters without being approached by a local who wanted to sell you something at extremely high prices in an extremely pushy way. So I preferred to go to the beach and try to hide from the countless salespeople. I almost succeeded, only 2-3 times did a salesperson approach me. In the evening, exhausted, I went back to the hostel to recover from the hardships of the journey and the stressful arrival.
The next morning, I went to the bus station early to take a Dala Dala (the local bus) to Nungwi in the north of the island. I had read beforehand that these buses cost a fixed price of 400 shillings (= 37 cents). That seems to be true, but only for locals. Tourists are not allowed on the bus for this price. I have to pay 5,000 shillings and because my backpack is already so big, it has to pay another 5,000 shillings. I can ride for 10,000 shillings (3.50€), ten times as much as all other passengers. I was a bit annoyed at first, but the alternative would have been a taxi, which usually costs 50 dollars (= 44€) here. Even with good negotiation skills, you can only get a taxi ride down to 25 dollars (= 22€) at best. That made me feel better again. Arriving in Nungwi, I walked to my hotel. An overnight stay here cost 22 dollars. I was the only guest in the entire hotel. Here I spent 2 days. There is not much to do in Nungwi, although it is said to be the tourist hotspot of Zanzibar. So I spent most of my time on the beach. Unfortunately, I had a similar experience here as in Stone Town and couldn't relax for 10 minutes without being approached by one of the countless salespeople trying to sell me a tour. They said snorkeling here is fantastic. I decided to go on the Sunset Tour, a boat tour into the sunset with a 'snorkeling spot' on the way back. Well, it turned out that there was neither a reef nor any form of life to admire at this snorkeling spot. Unfortunately, this seems to be normal in Zanzibar. Tourists are promised many fantastic things that turn out not to be so great afterwards. More appearance than reality. The main thing is to pull as much money as possible out of the tourists' pockets. My next stop was Matemwe. Here, too, there was nothing going on. No tourists anywhere. I found out that September is the absolute low season. Strange actually. It's not too hot here right now. Nevertheless, I booked a snorkeling trip here, hoping to finally see some of the allegedly beautiful underwater world. Again, I was disappointed. The reef is almost completely dead, and apart from a few fish, there is not much to see here. There is no sign of the dolphins that were promised earlier. I tried my luck for the last 2 days in Paje in the south of the island. On the dolphin tour, I actually saw dolphins, but the whole scenario was completely different from what was promised. Countless boats surrounded a few dolphins who clearly didn't enjoy all the commotion. That's not how I imagined it.

Well, my conclusion about Zanzibar is rather negative. It is a very beautiful island with some nice beaches, but everything you can do here is too expensive and not as spectacular as you might expect. If you happen to be in the area, you can certainly make a detour here. But I wouldn't fly so far and spend so much money just for Zanzibar. There are hundreds of islands that have much more to offer and are also much cheaper.

Due to the somewhat disappointing first week, I was very excited about the mainland. My flight went to Arusha in northern Tanzania. The flight was the first highlight of my trip. The plane was super small and had only 12 seats plus the two seats of the pilots. But since 13 people had booked this flight, one passenger was quickly seated next to the pilot. Lucky me :) From the front, I had a beautiful 180° view of all the small islands between Zanzibar and the mainland and later of the many beautiful mountains in the Arusha region.
The next morning, the 5-day safari started, which I had already booked from Zanzibar. We had a 2-hour drive until Trisha from the USA and I joined the rest of our safari group in Arusha, who had already started a day before us. After a small breakfast, we continued for another 4 hours towards the Serengeti National Park. In the afternoon, we went on the first game drive (a drive with a jeep in search of animals with an open roof). Already here, we could admire countless lions, elephants, buffaloes, zebras, and many more animals in their natural habitat. Shortly before it got dark, we reached the camp for the night. After dinner, we went to bed very early because the next morning we had to start the next game drive very early. Towards the end of the drive, we saw a leopard, which apparently doesn't happen very often because leopards are nocturnal. At noon, we went to the next national park, the Ngorongoro Park. This park is a huge crater that surrounds the animals inside. It looked like a different planet. A real lunar landscape. Everything was completely dry, and there were only a few smaller green areas. Nevertheless, there is a great diversity of species here. The so-called Big 5 can be spotted here with a bit of luck. Unfortunately, our group didn't have much luck, and we didn't have the chance to admire one of the few (there are allegedly only 13) rhinos. But the other four 'big ones' didn't keep us waiting long. We encountered many lions, elephants, and buffaloes, and we even saw a leopard - admittedly from a distance and only through binoculars. The highlight of the Ngorongoro National Park, however, were 2 playing hippos. The normally inactive animals spend almost the entire day in the water. Only a part of their heads is visible. It was all the more beautiful to see 2 of the animals running through the water.
On the fourth day of the safari, we went to Lake Manyara National Park. This park is very different from the others. It is much greener here, and many more smaller animals live here, but fewer big ones. We came to a water hole where besides a few hippos, there were countless different bird species flying around. Including some flamingos. Besides a few lions, we could also observe large herds of zebras, wildebeests, and giraffes.
The last day of the safari took me to Tarangire National Park. Completely dried out areas alternated with beautiful green oases and water holes. The great thing about Tarangire National Park was that the different animal species were not separated but often mixed together to admire a water hole. The highlight was especially a group of elephants that we watched during their daily cleaning. Some were in the water, others were already outside and rubbed their massive bodies against the rocks to remove parasites. Others sucked up dust with their trunks and threw it on their backs. Apparently, this serves as a kind of sun protection. The spectacle went on for a while and was beautiful to watch. In the afternoon, unfortunately, it was time to go back to Arusha.
I am super happy that I could have such great experiences. It is a completely different thing to see these majestic animals in their natural habitat when you yourself are just a guest in the animal kingdom. Even though these 5 days cost me 750€, every single euro was well invested.
Because of the following three main reasons
- a safari
- Mount Kilimanjaro
- Victoria Falls
I came to Africa, so the next day I continued without much rest. I took the bus to Moshi, the next city at the foot of Kilimanjaro. From here, a tour started that allowed me to hike at the edge of the Kili for a day. Originally, my plan was to do a 7-day tour to the top of the 5,895-meter-high mountain. I quickly learned that such a tour costs at least 1,200€. But then you sleep in a tent and only get the bare minimum and nothing more. Since altitude sickness can lead to an early termination of the trip from 3,000 meters, the whole thing was too expensive for me. Instead, I hiked for about 75€ for one day at an altitude of 1,800 meters and was able to stand at the edge of the Nambwe Waterfall. Unfortunately, I was not able to see the top of the mountain because it was too cloudy. I have heard that you can hardly see Kilimanjaro at this time of year anyway, as it almost always rains in this region. Since yesterday, I have been back in Moshi, where I set up my tent for 4€ per night in a cozy hostel garden. Here I am now recovering from the hardships and events of the past 2 weeks. The only goal for these 3 days here was to be able to see Kilimanjaro from a distance at least once. Fate was apparently kind to me, and I was able to admire it directly on my first evening here. The other people here who have been here for more than 2 weeks have told me with envy that it was only the second time for them to see the highest mountain in Africa.
I find the mainland so far much more beautiful than Zanzibar. The people are much friendlier, and there is much more spectacular to see here.
On Monday, a series of bus and train rides will begin, taking me from Moshi all the way to my third major destination, Victoria Falls. I will be on the road for a whole 5 days. Why do I undertake such a journey? Well, because flying in Africa is ridiculously expensive. From Moshi to Victoria Falls, it would cost about 450€. With the bus and the train, the costs amount to about 80€ in the end. I have also heard that the train ride from Dar es Salaam to Zambia is supposed to be beautiful.

So far my first travel report. I will get in touch again next time when I have admired Victoria Falls and jumped into the devilish Devil's Pool, which is located at the edge of the falls. Until then, I hope everything goes as usual at home.

Hakuna Matata!
Fabian :-)