The Plan
As I said in the last blog, our plan was to reach Mahale, which is a park in the western part of Tanzania where you can track chimpanzees. The park lies on lake Tanganyka, near the small town of Kigoma, and can only be reached by a steamboat ferry that runs once a week in every direction. The only other way is by a private boat or private plane... There are no buses into Kigoma, but there is a train from Dar Es Salaam, however it runs once a week and we will be a day late. There is only one flight into Kigoma and it goes from Mwanza, which is a town on the shore of lake Victoria. So, we will take a (12 hours) bus to Mwanza and from there catch the flight. We could only get a flight the same day as the ferry, but we should still have enough time. On our way back we will simply take the train to Dar.
Getting to Kigoma
We got to the bus station in Arusha, to lay eyes on the shabbiest bus we have ever seen. It also made funny noises jumping on the poor dirt road. And indeed, after about 2 hours, boiling water started springing off the dashboard (!!) and we were stuck. After and hour or so at the side of the road, other passengers started deserting, finding other measures of transportation. A bus stopped next to us, and in a moment's decision we got on it. We squeezed our way in, to find there are no seats available... They made a guy give his seat to me, I'm a lady after all. But Amit had to sit on the floor. half pressing against my legs, half against the dozen or so other men sitting on the floor, and hitting the hard floor with every bump in the awful road. It was the worst ride imaginable.
We reached Mwanza and took a really nice hotel, with an amazing view of the lake and a really good restaurant, determined to never again put ourselves in such a situation. The next day we took the flight and got to the ferry offices in Kigoma. "Sorry" said the nice man at the counter, "the ferry does not leave today. It only runs twice a month now. Only next week will there be a ferry". We were shocked. How about the train to Dar? "The train runs as scheduled, but there is only third class on it". Third class means a hard wooden bench with enough space to sit on for 3 days. I had tears in my eyes.
We went to an expensive hotel that arranges trips to Mahale, as well as the smaller and closer park - Gombe. It turns out it will cost us about 3,000$ to get their boat to take us to Mahale, and "only" 1,000$ to get to Gombe. We were about to give up when we learned there is a group going to Gombe for two nights and one day in a couple of hours, and we can join the boat for 400$. We weighed our options - going back now - declaring this to be nothing but a loss of time, money and a some hairs on our heads - or... So we went to Gombe for one day, instead of Mahale for three days.
Gombe
We reached a small building in the forest, next to an amazingly clear watered beach. There was only one tourist there besides us (the rest of the people went to the rich camp - 475$ per person per night). The next day we went into the forest and found a family of chimps, resting and playing. They were amazingly like us - the old grandma was taking care of the 5 days baby, the two 2 year old twins were playing and making a mess. demanding attention until one of the elders pulled them down from the vines as if saying - I have told you a thousand time, stop making a mess!! They went back to playing immediately, taking no notice of the elder angry pulls. After an hour or so, they decided to move to a different place, and walked right next to us. One of the two year olds hanging from grandmas back and staring at us with wide eyes. Then one of the adolescent chimps, stopped next to me and started licking my bag (probably due to salt), pulling the string, rubbing it's finger against the net. I had to resist the temptation to reach out my hand and touch him. The guide pulled us away, and as I took my bag the chimp was taken aback, stared at me for a few seconds, then moved on. It was amazing. We finished the day with a nice long dip in the lake and the next morning got back to Kigoma, from which we took a flight (through Mwanza) to Dar.
The future
We are now in Mtwara, which is in south Tanzania on the coast near the river forming the border between Tanzania and Mozambique. We still need to figure out how to cross the border, something about a ride to the river then canoe to the other side then another ride on the other side? All this and more in the next post of... Lost In Africa :)
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