Day 23 Moshi - Karatu

January 1, 2016

This morning we opened our eyes and were impatient to get out of our tent and see Kilimanjaro. And here it was - The Highest Mountain in Africa!

We had our breakfast and coffee and slowly packed up. We were so close to Serengeti and Ngorongoro, so we thought to spend some time there. We were on our way to Arusha. That is the closest city for those who go to Kilimanjaro, also Serengeti and crater. On our way we saw another mountain - Mount Meru in distance. It is second largest mountain in Tanzania after Kilimanjaro, and is called it's "little sister":

In Arusha we did some shopping - bought some water and Tanzanian coffee. There are lots of tourists in Arusha, many safari cars full of foreigners from all over the world. Here in the city centre elephant statue, it looked so real! :)

Many Masai people in Arusha:

After that we went to the park that is called Snake Park. (http://www.meseranisnakepark.com/index.html) We red that there is a garage, because we had to do oil change. There we met very nice owners that were half american, we were offered some coffee, charged up our laptops and phones, and we were invited to see the snake and reptile farm as well!

Guys changing the oil:

That was nice time in snake park with lots of interesting conversations and nice people, then we headed towards Ngorongoro Crater to find out about visiting prices, as all information on internet is hmmm... not acurate at all. The nature around here was getting more dry - smaller trees and more bush:

Roads still are perfect!

 We passed the airstrip and lots of man in army clothes doing some training:

More and more Masai as we driving closer to Serengeti:

Quite a lot of muslims here:

On the way we passes beautiful lake Manyara, the view from the top:

Soon, clouds gathered and storm was just around the corner!

The air was getting more and more dense and humid. The soil was very muddy, thank God we were in Tanzania and roads were good here :)

And here it was, another quick tropical storm:

Just few kilometres from Ngorongoro entrance there was a broken tree in the middle of the road and all the cars had to drive around through the bush, and tried not to get stuck...

The first Entrance gate at Ngorongoro crater:

Ngorongoro gate. There we went to find out about prices and if there are any places available at campsites. So the entrance fees was as following:
Ngorongoro crater: 50$ entry fee per person person + 200$ for entrance in the crater + 200$ for the car. And for Serengeti: 60$ entry per person + 60$ for 2 spots in public campsite + 100$ for the car...

After that we drove back to town to our campsite, we camped in one of the many lodges. And went out for some local Wali Kuku - Chicken & Rice. Here is the bird at the place where we stayed:

Typical Tanzanian dish: Wali Kuku:

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