Trail Log 1995-1997 - Lamar at Colorado State University

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somewhat better on the return trip, and seen again, best of all, from the plane later, flying from
Nairobi to Johannesburg.
In Tanzania there is a College of African Wildlife Management at Mweka, a village 10 km. north of
Moshi (100 km. east of Arusha) and south of Kilimanjaro National Park. This village is not shown
in my big Freytag and Berndt Kenya-Tanzania-Uganda map, but it is in the Lonely Planet, East
Africa guide, p. 606, p. 611, with mention of the College there. One of the favored trails up Mt.
Kilimanjaro starts from here. Ron Engel's friend, Tom Gilbert, taught there; Gene Decker says it
was once better, is now no good.
Bat-eared fox, killed roadside.
This is still Masai country.
Big ostrich farm.
Logs hanging from trees are beehives.
Augur buzzard.
As you near Arusha you climb and there is more vegetation. Much better watered, now maize and
bananas appear.
Drove though village with market (pix).
We reached Arusha, and drove through Arusha some 10 km. out of town to lunch at the so-called
"Mountain Lodge," though there is no particular mountain nearby, on Lake Duluti. Met Keith James,
from Wales, the general manager of Ranger Safaris. Arusha is very much a third world city. The
Tanzanian shilling (about 550 to $1) is very differently priced from a Kenyan shilling (about 52 to
$1). That is a tenfold difference, and represents something of the difference between the two
countries. Kenya did not nationalize landholdings at the time of independence, although Kenyatta
had said he would he reversed himself. Tanzania did and insisted on a socialist economy, which
has not worked, and lately they have been backing off into capitalism.
After lunch, went to the bank to change money, to the post office, and to a camera store, where,
to my surprise, I found the cable release I could not find in four Nairobi stores.
Ranger Safaris, our tour group, has 100 vehicles, 100 drivers.
Arusha is halfway between Capetown and Cairo, with a roundabout in the center celebrating this.
We left to drive toward Lake Manyara, and the Serengeti. There is a good tarred road for an hour
or so, until you reach a junction at Makuyuni, then a rough dirt thereafter for the rest of the trip.
Sedans disappear and there are only four-wheel drives.
Tawny eagle, you tell it because it is dark brown and by size.
6 ostriches
The country is drying out, but there is still good grass,
few acacias.
Baobab tree, a famous tree. Genus: Adansonia. Odd looking, massive trunks and very contorted.
Pix in Blundell, Wild Flowers of East Africa, pl. 53 and 54. They live 1,000 years, some say 2,000