Samson Hooked A Hottie – Day 11 (Mikumi to Dar Es Salam)

On the day of our safari, we got up and ate later than we hoped, and getting into the game reserve took much longer than expected.  That was bad news for our odds of seeing a simba (lion), since they’re nocturnal and dawn or dusk is your best chance.  And in fact, we did not get to see any wild cats.

Not that I was complaining, I was on a Safari!  I’d never thought I’d have the chance to do that!!  One of the parks guides boarded our bus, and we drove it directly into the park.  Sounds weird, right?  You'd think we would have gotten into range rovers or something.  It was questionable, but these were by far not the worst terrain I’d seen this bus handle.

Our pictures will show you better details of the safari than I can describe, but it was beautiful.  Lots of interesting birds and animals.  Strangely, my favorite part was this incredible giant old Boab tree.  we also saw a crocodile and hippo pool, and plenty of baboons.

The tour lasted few hours, and then we got on the road for Dar Es Salam.  The plan was to head directly to the part of town where other westerners live- embassy employees and so on.  That promised to offer us the most upscale dinner available, which we had planned for and looked forward to all week for our fancy, last-night dinner out.
That was a long but unremarkable ride- another 6 or so hours in the car.  Fortunately traffic in Dar Es Salam was a bit better this time.  Somewhere in the city, Samson pulled over and got out and back that shouted Alan would drive the rest of the way, and that he would catch up with us at the restaurant.  We were confused, but Alan didn't seem to be, so we shrugged and said ok.  (Alan speaks very little English)

We got in just before sunset, and had a quick stretch and looked around.  This place was super-westernized.  We were stoked!  It looked almost like an American mall complex.  This was the very wealthy part of town indeed.  Foreign dignitaries stayed here, so there were many western amenities and restaurants.  

We found our destination:  The Spur.  An American west themed steak and ribs place, with the steak coming from Kenya).  We promptly ordered steaks, our mouths watering for some tender meat.  Really, anything besides tough chicken or goat would have sufficed.

The steak was great, and the boys all washed it down with milk shakes and about 2 cokes each.  We did not order desserts, and hoped to find an ice cream parlor that Brian thought he remembered, but it wasn’t there.  We made do instead with some treats from a very international grocery store we found in the ‘mall’, and I also found a few bags of coffee to bring home with me.

Sometime during dinner Samson reappeared, and afterwards we found out where he went.  He is apparently engaged, and brought his fiancée to meet us!  She was waiting for us back near where we parked the bus.  When we learned this, we hurried back to the bus, all of us really interested to meet her.  When we got there, Samson was practically beaming.  The boys practically fell over themselves to meet her and shake her hand, and tell her some story of our travels with Samson. They all lined up and shook her hand one by one, and Samson They all lined up and shook her hand one by one, and Samson introduced them, remembering each of their names.  She was beautiful and sweet and very shy, and we were all feeling pretty honored that Samson was so interested in having us meet her. That was a fun dinner, and the drivers and Cassian were appalled at the prices of everything, despite them being a solid 30% less than we might have paid for similar services in the US.

In a short half hour ride, we were back at the Dar Es Salam guesthouse we had originally stayed in upon our arrival in Tanzania.  We would stay the night, and then head to the airport the next day to come home. No one was not excited about that, and the dreams of taylor ham and cheese sandwiches and bagels and naps of a cozy couch, and air conditioning and hot showers abounded.

Brian and Cassian had thoughtfully arranged to have cold beers waiting for us when we got back, so once we had a short meeting with the boys, we sent them to their rooms and got together to enjoy a final libation.  In Dar Es Salam which is so much warmer than the rural elevated parts of the country we had been in, the cold beer went down very well.  We had one each of Tusker, Serengetti, and Kilimanjaro beers.  We got some glasses and split them, everyone getting a little of each flavor.  Tusker is a Kenyan beer, and so not surprisingly, Brian’s favorite.

Later, we did some very creative re-packing of our bags to prepare the trip home.  Brian was headed to Kenya to see his family and check on the piece of property he had bought there.  The sale was literally approved and deed received while we were in Tanzania, so he was pretty excited to get out there.  He was going to be there for a few days, and as I understand it, his Kenyan wife Mary had a pretty serious shopping list of items for him to bring home for her.

One last call to The Manno to be sure the bus was prepared for us in JFK, and then bed.  A Looooong day of traveling was coming…