Arusha

One of the things Arun and I enjoy in our travels is visiting a small town... something a bit more off-the-beaten-path. So for our Safari-trip, we chose Arusha. It's often used as a 'base camp' for climbing Kilimanjaro or Mount Meru; it's also a launching spot for a lot of safaris... but it's often overlooked as a town to visit. We decided to spend two days here.

Well... it wound up being a recovery spot for both Arun and myself. And I'm glad that it was such a serene, quiet, comfortable lodge- because we both needed it!

Lesson #1- Don't order vegetarian food at a restaurant called "Carnivore."

I got a cocunut curried vegetable dish- and I REALLY paid for it. My first day in Arusha was rather painful.

Lesson #2- Arun needs to stop being tempted by road-side restaurants. Arun saw an Indian restaurant and just HAD to stop and eat lunch there. Well, he paid for that mutton curry DEARLY and spent our second day in Arusha going through what I had JUST gone through. Not good. (See picture of infamous restaurant)

The bouts of food poisoning didn't keep us down though.

We visited a Snake Park that featured all of Tanzania's famous reptiles.

The deadliest- the fastest- the most elusive snakes in the world are apparently from this region. There are over 144 types! (Arun's not holding one of the deadly ones! ;) Don't wory!)

We also took in some local culture. Here's Arun and I drumming and dancing away!

We also discovered that Tanzania has a significant Muslim population. We saw plenty of mosques and were woken by sounds of the ajjan calling people to prayer. One of the more interesting moments occured when we stopped by a local pharmacy and the shopkeepers kept asking us why we weren't speaking in Swahili. You see, there is an enormous Indian population in East Africa- mostly Gujrati. So a lot of people thought we were locals! It was pretty funny when the shopkeeper said "Kem Cho!" to us! Who would have thought we would be hearing Gujrati in Tanzania?? The Indians in East Africa are primarily business-people. It was an interesting aspect to learn!

We enjoyed interacting with locals and hanging about town. It's so easy, on these safari trips, to retreat into the amazing resorts and not get out and about... but I think we made an effort to enjoy a bit of both.

We rounded out our stay in Arusha by visiting a coffee plantation. But mostly- we enjoyed the amazingly serene Karama Lodge and the local environs.

Fully recovered- we were now ready to head out for our safari! Here we come!! (Oh, and we DID get our luggage in the nick of time before leaving Kenya, btw!)