Tanzania Safari, Part One: Moshi to Tarangire
by
The safari is Tay’s idea. Her childhood dream of seeing the plains and animals of East Africa was not realized during her two-and-a-half years living and traveling in West Africa and this is her chance. Me, I’ve never considered it, don’t really know what “safari†even is, except a used and abused Swahili word for “journey.†I’ve mostly associated it with dweeby hats and vests, rich people in luxury camps, and some vague, Hemingway-esque romanticism that probably doesn’t even exist. I also dislike safari’s non-strenuous nature; i.e. you are not allowed to leave your vehicle in most National Parks (because of dangerous cats and other animals), and I envision being trapped in a metal box all week, sealed-off from so much Africa around me.
Our short time on the white-powder Zanzibari beach coincidentally coincides with (1) a lucky rare break in the low-season rains and (2) a free Friday night performance by Los Jovenes Clasicos del Son, a Cuban musical group near the end of a 40-day African tour, who is staying and playing at Kendwa Rocks, our home for the weekend. The result is an incredible cultural collusion of salsa, sun, and sand which, on the first night, tastes of roasted crab and curry, washed down with a nostril-tingling bottle of “Stoney Tangawizi†ginger beer.
Seat of the ancient Omani Empire, the islands that make up Zanzibar (Ujunga and Pemba) used to rule the entire Swahili Coast; Arab sultans and Indian princes built their fortunes here, dealing in slaves and spices. Today’s Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous state of mainland Tanzania, whose paradisiacal beaches, rich, historical lure, and post-colonial color (Portuguese and British) are the stuff of any traveler’s dreams.
Actually, the entire first day is spent in the bed (and bathroom) at the Lion Hotel in Sinza, a scruffy, dirt pot-holed neighborhood removed from the city, the airport, and indeed, everything we’ve ever known; we wake up disoriented in the middle of the afternoon: Where are we? What day is it? Where are we?