Times in Tanzania: Ngorongoro Farmhouse

Unfortunately we could not enter the beautiful forest that we saw!

This weekend was quite an interesting one as we mixed it up by joining a group from Moshi on a long excursion. The Kilimanjaro Mountain Club is a group of people in Moshi that basically focuses on outdoor activities and ecology. We first knew of them because they hold talks with guest speakers monthly and we've heard talks regarding elephant movement in the area, a climber that had climbed Mt. Everest, and a natural history of the west side of Mt. Kilimanjaro. They go on several trips each year and I've always had my eye on the trips since the members have an extensive network and they access private areas that are located in or around interesting places.

Most of the members are long term expats, though there are a handful of Tanzanians that are in the club. I was hesitant to go on a long trip because we aren't very social when we are out. However, we got an email a few months ago that outlined the upcoming trips, one of which was to a farm adjacent to Ngorongoro Conservation Area, a massive conservation area bordering the Serengeti.

We went to the briefing meeting and we were not surprised at the demographic, but it was still not the usual mix of people we usually see! We were by far the youngest (and probably by all appearances poorest) but we both felt that the group was very welcoming and nice.

The drive to the farm was about five to six hours, so it was quite the trek for a one day trip. We left early on Saturday in a loose caravan and the drive was relatively straightforward. When we arrived we set up camp and got to know all the people there.

The leader of the group also sits on the board of the organization Ana works for so we were happy that we kind of knew someone since it was obvious they all knew each other. We had two Dutch people in their 70s who had been here for 30 years (Ana's connection) and the dude was a retired engineer. There was another 70 year old Danish couple, former teachers that retired in Tanzania for the last 15 years. There was a 70ish year old Syrian guy (by way of Denmark apparently) with a very young partner who did not speak any English, and his three or four year old son. Next up was a middle age couple from Mauritius. The guy worked at the sugar plantation south of Moshi and apparently only gets five Saturdays off a year. There was then a Dutch urologist and his Irish wife, both retired and doing pro-bono work at the biggest hospital here in Moshi. They had been coming and going for the past 10 years spending months long chunks in Moshi. There was a group of younger people that came from Arusha. One was probably 25 and taught French (her native country as wel) at the international school for the past two years. She was with another French woman that was probably 22ish and her Tanzanian boyfriend, also a young guy. Also along for the trip was an American family, the couple probably in their late 40s and two teenage daughters. They worked as missionaries of sorts for an NGO outside of Moshi.There was also an older guy in his 70s from England who was there by himself. I actually flagged him as a character when we first met him at the meeting and he was jesting about someone that was on their way saying, "Oh..they are the people that come here to work for the poor people!" (read "poor" with a strong British accent). He had come 25 years ago to do accounting training and had done a variety of other jobs since. And last was our host, Tanzanian Indians that had owned the plantation for the past 40 years but in the last five years the son (in his 50s?) was trying to take it over and run it more seriously. He was a very gracious friendly guy and was just happy to have so many people out there enjoying themselves.

Now, I thought it was a really good microcosm of the variety that you can get here. Some pretty interesting conversations were had and peoples views on Tanzania and their reasons for being there. What's weird is that a group like that is actually not weird here, you're always guaranteed an interesting make up of people.

What kind of sucks is the trip, nature wise, was a total letdown. The plantation was mono-culture coffee and we hiked right up to the boundary of the reserve and all we could see was an amazing forest that we were not in. We did see elephant and buffalo shit and then at night we were warned not to leave the area we were camping because there was a leopard attack the night before. And actually, we were planning on going on a night walk so luckily someone told us before.

I was happy to have done the trip and I am now open to more trips with them. I think I was worried that the class and generation gap would be too much but everyone was very friendly and we found common ground and interesting discussion. Hopefully next time the nature bit will be more interesting!