So I only had a few days left in Moshi, i figured i should go on one safari trip at least. The safari parks are only a few hours away, it would be pretty foolish not to go, especially since i probably won’t be seeing myself back in Africa in the near future. After several inquiries, I found a couple I could join to split the cost. They were going to the Ngoro Ngoro Crater over the weekend, and I had my last weekend free so I though it was perfect. I still had to shell out $600 USD, but what the heck. This could be a once in a lifetime opportunity. And besides it was pretty cheap. 600 bucks might seem like a lot, but it’s actually one of the cheapest ones I found (from this point on any price I would quote is in US dollars). Most budget safaris to the Ngoro Ngoro Crater cost so much more. The usual price i was quoted was at least a thousand bucks for one person. There’s really not much you can do to lower the cost if you are traveling solo. The entrance to the park costs 50 bucks per person. Then you have to pay 200 bucks for the vehicle. You have to pay for lodging as well, and the price would depend on how luxurious your accommodations are. Then there’s a whole lot of other fees, like photography fees, service fees, fees to allow you to bring meals etc. Then you have to take account the cost of gas for your vehicle since you’ll be driving around a lot looking for animals. Once you add all that up, the profit the tour operators get is actually not that much. The only way you can really bring down the cost is to find a group you can join so you can split the cost of the vehicle and gasoline. Most companies can include a maximum of six people in a group. If we found three more people i would have paid only around 400 to 500 bucks.

But even the best laid plans can go awry. At the last minute I found out that one of the tribes was requesting me to visit them. I found this out on my last Thursday in Moshi, and it was too late to get everything ready by Friday so we could only visit them on Saturday at the earliest. Great. But I did go to Moshi to volunteer primarily, so it wasn’t that difficult to decide. I had to let go of my weekend plans. The couple I was supposed to join understood my situation so there were no hard feelings. I still had my Sunday free though. I asked the tour operator if there was a day trip available.

The only Safari park that i could realistically go on a day trip from Moshi would be the Arusha National Park. I searched for pictures on the internet, and i kinda liked it. It may not be as vast as the Serengeti or the Ngoro Ngoro Crater, but it would do. I won’t be able to see lions and leopards and cheetahs, but i will still be able to see some wildlife. It’s too late to find a group i could join, so i asked how much i had to pay if I’ll be going alone. 300 bucks— on a day trip? That held me back a bit. But then I found out that the entrance to the park already costs 75 bucks. And I had to pay for the jeep on my own as well as the gas… plus lunch… so what the heck. I gave my money and agreed. The driver would pick me up at the hostel at 6:30AM on Sunday.

It took only 2 hours to reach the park. From the get go, i already saw a lot of animals— mainly monkeys, warthogs, deer, and zebras. The driver/ tour guide was very knowledgeable, and he loved to talk a lot so I learned a lot of stuff regarding the flora and fauna in the park. After a bit of driving around, i got out of the jeep to do a walking Safari with a park ranger. I asked why he was carrying a shotgun since there were no carnivores in the park. He said that buffaloes are known to attack sometimes when they get agitated, so he needed the shotgun for precaution. We walked around for about two hours, I saw a lot of buffaloes, warthogs, and giraffes— I actually came close to touching one but I was afraid it would run off. The view was amazing from the top of the hill and I wanted to just sit down for a few hours to take everything in. But it was almost noon and it was starting to get really hot. We went back to the vehicle and proceeded to the lunch site beside the lake.

After lunch we just drove around the park searching for more animals, specifically elephants. There were a number of elephants in the park but apparently all of them were incredibly shy that day. All I saw were lots of elephant dung on the road. LOL. It was getting late so we eventually gave up. I just had to make do with this elephant statue by the entrance.

Overall it was a great day. The park was relatively small but there’s enough variety in the terrain to please most people. It would have been better if I did a tour at the bigger parks in Tanzania, but I’ve seen so much natural beauty, it was enough to satisfy my Safari cravings temporarily. It was great to see the natural beauty of Tanzania before i left. Knowing that the other national parks are so much better gives me a good reason to go back. Maybe in a few more years I’ll have enough money to go on a real Safari. 🙂