Mto Wa Mbo & Arusha, the “gap filler days”

After those amazing encounters our time with wildlife was over for that tour. Everyone was happy, having seen what they saw. Now it was time for the cultural experience. From Ngorongoro we went to a town called Mto Wa Mbo, which translates to “Mosquito River”. The rest of the day was free for us and we enjoyed having a pool and time to read or simply relax. The night here was very different and a harsh contrast to the wildlife camps the nights before. There was a lot of street and bar noise until late and mosque chants starting at 5 a.m.. I really wanted to go back into the wild during the two nights we stayed here. 😐 The next morning was also free time for us as we didn’t take the optional tour through the village. We took our time, I went for a run, we did some exercise, had late and big breakfast and then went out to explore the village ourselves. We were trying to find the local market which was around 15 minutes from our camp. On the way there we were already offered shirts, necklaces and other things. We also went to a wood carving store that gave us some additional information about their family tribe, their work and the wood they use. The souvenirs here seem quite affordable. At the market we got asked to visit every single shop. But people were nice, friendly and not as pushy as we’ve seen it in so many other places. We felt comfortable and welcome. Just behind the souvenirs market, there was a fruit and vegetables market. That is more our kind of visit. 😁 We bought some red bananas and asked for the local banana beer and wine. A guy heard what we were looking for and let us into the “local pub”. It was a little shed with a big pot on a fire with bananas boiling inside… So this is how they produce the banana drinks. We ordered our wine for take away, which actually came in a beer bottle and had a proper label on it, and waited for the beer that we had to drink straight away. It was an interesting looking liquid with grains still in there. It was sour and didn’t taste like banana. 😕 We went back to camp where we had lunch and from where our next activity was starting. We got to see a real Maasai village! Our tuk tuks picked us up and brought us there. One of the warriors welcomed us and lead us through the village. It didn’t take long and the kids came out, happy and cheerful they started surrounding us, touching our tattooed skin and wanted to play around. As like the last village walk, the kids just help breaking the ice. After that the Maasai showed us their dances and how they live in their huts. Especially as I’m currently reading “The White Maasai” this cultural experience was very interesting. It’s shocking but also amazing how they still live their lives the way they did for generations. That night we went for an African buffet which rounded up the cultural experience. For us, there were plenty of options as all but one dish was actually vegan. Dessert were local bananas. The next day we headed out of town. We left at 8 a.m. and made it to our camp near Arusha by about 10 a.m.. Another short drive, which is very different to our first tour. We set up camp for the last time for this trip and started exploring the area. The cool thing about this camp is that it is a Snake bite clinic. Locals can come here and get treated for free. As people also bring snakes here, there is a Snake park right at the camp. They take care of them and educate people about the dangers. Boomslangs, Green Mambas, sand snakes, spitting snakes, cobras, black mambas and huge pythons. All on display. The rest of the cages is full with birds, crocodiles and tortoises. As part of the tour we still got to visit Arusha, Tanzania’s capital. On the plan was lunch at a mall first. The first time own expense and as we were covered we walked around, browsed through book and outdoor shops before we sat down at a Mexican restaurant. The name “strawberry margarita” called us. Luckily for us they even had a tortilla / guacamole plate on offer and so we enjoyed that Mexican moment in the middle of Africa. The place felt weird as there were so many white people around, before that we were mostly the only tourists around. And then the sad reality brought us back. The tour is almost over and the first two already left us. Sebastian, Paul, if you read this, we send regards! Thanks for your big interest into our adventures and for supporting us that much. 😁 From lunch we went over to “a place that sells all the tourist stuff and insanely expensive paintings”. That’s how our guide put it and advertised for it. Obviously, our expectations weren’t that high and in fact the curio shop wasn’t that good, especially way too expensive (and fixed price…what?😳). But the “insanely expensive paintings” was actually a really cool art museum with some great pieces. So , this was our last “activity”, a brief visit of Arusha without any special highlight. Back in the camp we enjoyed our last group dinner together with the banana wine we bought in Mto Wa Mbo (wasn’t good, didn’t taste like banana 😕). After that we played cards until late. Gotta take advantage of the last minutes together, right?