Amboseli National Park, Kenya to Arusha, Tanzania - Saturday 23rd Jan

We were in no hurry so had a late pack up and brekkie and headed off about 9am for the couple of hour game drive to exit the park. Given it was early there was lots of baboons, elephants and the odd lion out. There must have been a herd of about 150 elephants feeding in the wet lands as we drove out

As we got to the gate we were surrounded by the trinket posse again trying to flog their wares.

After exiting the park we came across a big male giraffe in the middle of the road checking out some garbage someone had dropped so waited for him to cross and take a photo

Their was lots of local Massai people herding and grazing their animals along the way back to town

Got a little lost once we arrived back into town so got onto the 2way to Jan to sort out our directions and process to meet them at the border crossing between Kenya and Tanzania . We had actually crossed over into Tanzania so had to come back into Kenya and meet them in the parking lot .This is the view into the parking area for Kenya customs

After getting into the right parking area we proceeded to the Kenya customs office to exit the country. This comprised showing our yellow fever card and the process of getting finger prints ,passports stamped and dodging the trinket sellers as usual .

Then it was off to the Tanzania boarder crossing which was about 500meteres away so lined up to get our visas and passport stamps whilst Jan went and sorted out the car crossing visa . We then had to go back and see the car visa people to register my license and pay the taxes for the 4wd's. The whole process probably took about 90 mins with plenty of laughs at the process and useless paperwork for both countries. Had to change out of my thongs into shoes as the police will fine you for driving in thongs( they actually will try and fine you for anything in Tanzania to supplement their monthly income so always handy to have some spare notes available to ensure a safe passage).

We had 110kms to get to Arusha and got pulled up 4 times by the Tanzanian Police checking the vehicles and licenses. Jan had suggested that we drive on first however I thought it would be better us following them so he could take the first questions by the police and then we would then be an after thought when they couldn't fine him for anything- this proved to be a very good strategy.

As it was a Saturday the Massai people were out in force along the way doing their shopping

On the way though we came across various mobile people selling various items, this one was woman's undies and bras

We arrived into the local supermarket in Arusha about 2 pm and had lunch at a burger and beer place. Next we proceeded to the money changer and handed over $400 USD and got a brick of notes back in return( 872,000 Tanzanian shillings)

Their $10,000 note is the biggest domination and is worth approx $6.50 Aussie !!! . Then into the supermarket to stock up on essentials for the camp ground. 

We exited the market and had only travelled about 500 metres when traffic ground to a halt. The local mutatu drivers were going off the road on to a side dirt road so Jan suggested we do the same as he said some officials were probably travelling through town. However once we got onto the side road we ground to a halt and learn that the President was coming through so we alighted to the roofs of the Landrovers to watch the action.

It was about 4pm and bloody hot with all the traffic stopped in any direction for about an hour waiting for the president to drive through. The only traffic going was the motor bikes either on the side roads or trying to sneak through the police presence on the main road. As the event drew closer the police became more annoyed with the motor bike riders and then started to proceed to hit them with them sticks which certainly entertained the crowds.

I had been taking a bit of video of the police hitting the bikers shortly before and one of them came over to a local near me and asked what he was doing with his camera and suggesting he hands it over to him, without answering the young bloke hit the frog and toe whilst the police guy was in hot pursuit only to be caught a kilometre down the road and marched back for later discipline so I decided not to take any further video as we stuck out being the only white people around and standing on our vehicles in clear slight to all the police.

As you can see from the above photo there was a sharp corner turn so as the official convoy started to arrive several police bikes were first and took the corner too fast and slide out and crashed much to the laughter of the crowd.

This capped off an interesting afternoon and about an hour later we arrived into the Snake Park Camp Ground just outside Arusha again to be the only campers in the park.

After setting up camp we enjoyed a light meal for dinner after our late lunch and then retired to bed.