June 26-27On Friday, June 26 we left the comfortable Arusha Hotel with our driver, Emmanuel, for Arusha National Park and the Momella Wildlife Lodge. The plan was to go on a two-day safari in the Park. Basically we drove around looking for wildlife in a specially equipped Toyota Land Cruiser, spending Friday night at the Momella Wildlife Lodge.
Within five minutes of entering
the Park we saw several giraffe which were almost too close for the telephoto lens. Seeing animals so soon was a pleasant surprise.We checked into our lodge. Our Africa-based coordinator had described the lodge as "luxurious". This was the most inaccurate description of this enitre exhibition. We were the only guests. We were outnumbered by the staff roughly 15-5 (four of us and our driver). The power was by generator and only on from 6:30 pm – 10 pm and for a few hours in the morning. The separate lodges were scary. This was the place where the Duke, John Wayne, stayed during filming of the movie ‘Hatari’. In fact, supposedly the entire ‘resort’ was built for the movie. To be generous, the sleeping accommodations were comical.
At dinner we asked the two waiters if the lodge was ever busy. They said the busy season started in June -- they paused and then said it started getting busy in 'late' June. It was June 26th. I am not sure when 'late' June starts in Africa.
We continued our Safari the following morning (Saturday) and them went directly back to the Arusha Hotel.
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