{"id":589,"date":"2018-06-28T05:49:00","date_gmt":"2018-06-28T12:49:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2021-04-19T10:30:22","modified_gmt":"2021-04-19T17:30:22","slug":"the-land-cruiser-caught-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stuckinlowgear.com\/staging\/1919\/the-land-cruiser-caught-fire\/","title":{"rendered":"The Land Cruiser caught fire, and Henry and Jane go to Arusha"},"content":{"rendered":"

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My alarm sounded off at the appointed time, 0530, to wake me for our day in the Crater.\u00a0 The gate opens at 0600 and we have to check out of the Conservation area by roughly 1400, so to maximize our time we were trying to be there bright and early.<\/p>\n

It was wet, cold and dark.\u00a0 The campsite is at 2400m, on the rim of the crater (actually caldera, but that isn\u2019t what everyone calls it) and is notorious for inclement conditions.\u00a0 This was certainly true this morning.<\/p>\n

Only 3\u00b0 south of the equator, I donned my long underwear, wool hat, and down jacket to get up to break camp in the mist.\u00a0 It was that sort of mist is wet enough to be rain, but floats in the air and permeates everything without the decency to just fall to the ground like actual rain.<\/p>\n

Jenny and I had tried the night before to make preparations for a quick getaway.\u00a0 Normally it\u2019s just coffee, tea and go, but since a herd of buffalo chased us into the tent early last night we had a few more things to sort out.\u00a0 During that time the first safari car coming to pick up some other campers blew by us on the dirt road, throwing a bunch of dust and exhaust our way, or so I thought.\u00a0 It smelled awful, and I cursed him for driving too fast.\u00a0 The smell didn\u2019t clear though.\u00a0 In fact it got worse, and I started to think that someone was trying to start a fire in the wet conditions and the breeze was blowing their smoke to us.\u00a0 The smoke was getting trapped in an eddy of air behind the car and we were coughing and cursing and wondering what was going on.<\/p>\n

After just a minute it dawned on me that, against all odds, that the smell could be coming from us.\u00a0 It was early and I suppose I should have come to this conclusion a minute or two sooner, but I didn\u2019t.\u00a0 Not being able to think of any other source other than us we scanned the car for the source of that acrid electrical fire smell.\u00a0 Fridge – okay.\u00a0 Lights in the canopy – not working.\u00a0 Uh oh.\u00a0 I popped the hood and sure enough, flames.<\/p>\n

Fuck.<\/p>\n

Fortunately exposing the fire to the inclement elements extinguished it for us.\u00a0 We secured everything that draws power and took stock.\u00a0 It was a shorted wire against the second battery bracket.\u00a0 No doubt this was a gift from the cursed Serengeti to Ngorongoro road, the gift that keeps on giving.\u00a0 The plastic chafe guard and insulation were no match for those corrugations and the terrific vibrations had chaffed them through.\u00a0 It appeared to have burnt and melted the wires for the lighting circuit and second battery charging circuit.<\/p>\n

Now what to do?\u00a0 It\u2019s dark, wet, and the clock is ticking on the most expensive day of the entire trip.\u00a0 Uncertain of the full extent of the damage we considered if we\u2019d have to bag it, go to the gate and asking for a refund on our $250 crater decent fee and leaving for Arusha.\u00a0 It was clear from the night before that there was a chink in our armor and we were indeed travel weary.\u00a0 Though we like to think we are hearty travelers there seemed to be a limit.\u00a0 It snuck up on us, the only occasional showering out of a plastic water bottle, the dirty clothes, the bush camping and wildlife encounters, the dust and the dirt and the grit and early mornings were finally catching up to us.<\/p>\n

Tired and frustrated, we were thinking last nights hostage by buffalo situation was the last of our surprises and we were in the clear.\u00a0 And now this.\u00a0 Afterwards we see that it was not as bad as it seemed, but in that moment, before coffee, it was a lot to take in, all the while the clock ticking on our expensive crater visit.<\/p>\n

Really though there wasn\u2019t much we could do now about the wiring anyway, so we decided to make the effort for damage control and to get to the crater and enjoy it.\u00a0 It took us about an hour to unhook the charging system for the spare battery, taking our time to make sure all the wires were secure and we weren\u2019t going to drain the starting battery but accidentally leaving something hooked up.\u00a0 By this time we had begun to appreciate a little bit of the humor of all our twists and turns these last few days, with our fingers crossed that there were no more surprises in store for us, we pronounced ourselves ready and got underway for the Crater.<\/p>\n

During all this a guy came by and asked if we were the ones who had arranged to meet a guide at 0600 at the gate.\u00a0 Yes, we were, but we explained that obviously we were having some car trouble, but we would be there.\u00a0 He understood, no problem, and gave us instructions on where the guide would be on the side of the road.\u00a0 Sure enough, our guide popped out of the mist half way along the road to the gate, ready to go.<\/p>\n

Our guide, Bahati (luck in Swahili), was great.\u00a0 A degree in tourism with numerous guide certifications for walking safaris, Ngorongoro specifically and other impressive qualifications.\u00a0 Technically a guide is \u201cfree\u201d, but you\u2019re expected to tip him at the end of the day what you think his services are worth.\u00a0 An arrangement I dislike, but Bahati turned out be great and it was good we had him with us.<\/p>\n

We made it to the gate a bit after 7 o\u2019clock, not bad considering the rough start.\u00a0 There was a host of vehicles at the gate and we thought we were in for a wait, but they checked our paperwork right away and we were off, no problems.<\/p>\n

The Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA)<\/a> lies adjacent to the Serengeti National Park, but is administered by the Masai community based organization, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA).\u00a0 The conservation area is huge, 8,292 square kilometers, but the star attraction, the Crater, is a small fraction of that.\u00a0 Park entry fees are steep, detailed in the logistics section at the bottom.\u00a0 It is an incredible place, and one of the few areas where traditional communities, the Masai, coexist with such dense amounts of wildlife.\u00a0 Masai are caring for their livestock in proximity to predators as well as huge amounts of wild grazers, such as wildebeest and zebra, that also compete for grass and water resources.<\/p>\n

The Crater is the world\u2019s largest inactive, intact and unfilled volcanic caldera (technically a crater is formed by a meteor impact, a caldera from a volcano, but regardless the NCAA and all literature refers to this as the Ngorongoro Crater).\u00a0 The crater floor is something like 260 square kilometers.\u00a0 Inside the crater is an incredibly dense population of wildlife which is non migratory and supported by the crater ecosystem year round.\u00a0 These animals are not trapped, there is no fence, but the surrounding landscape is not as hospitable as the crater floor, and that combined with the steep ascent required to leave the crater encourages the majority of animals to never leave, generation after generation.<\/p>\n

There are only three roads into or out of the crater, and interestingly Bahati told us that these are in fact old elephant paths that have been turned into roads.\u00a0 Elephants are not particularly good climbers, so they are deft at finding an easy grade for such ascents or descents, and thus it also makes a good route for vehicles.\u00a0 We have also read that many roads in Africa are in fact old elephant \u201chighways\u201d, or routes favored by them that have since been turned into roads.<\/p>\n

The Serengeti and the NCA are awash not only in animals, but also politics.\u00a0 To give you just a small taste, many Masai communities were forcibly relocated from the Serengeti to the Ngorongoro area in 1959 for the formation of the Serengeti National Park.\u00a0 Now again in 2009 there are new restrictions on the Masai settlement and use of the crater, to make way for greater conservation and, of course, more luxury tourism.<\/p>\n

Bahati\u2019s father, who was born in the crater, had an interesting observation.\u00a0 Before all of the conservationists arrived there were hundreds of black rhino living on the crater floor.\u00a0 After the Masai were relocated from the crater floor and the conservationists have a greater presence and authority there are now less rhino than ever before.\u00a0 Of course correlation is not causation, but given that this is the perspective of some of the community you can easily see that the land use and conservation issues are complex.<\/p>\n

\"DSC01846\"<\/p>\n

If case you\u2019re feeling bad that the Masai were displaced so that rich white people can look at lions, don\u2019t forget that the Masai are not from the region, depending on how you look at it.\u00a0 They migrated from the north in the 17th and 18th century and in the process forcibly displaced the previous residents.\u00a0 If you are interested complex politics and moral conundrums you need look no further than Africa.\u00a0 No doubt my very brief summary has left out a host of important nuances and details, but I hope it serves to illustrate some of the complexities.<\/p>\n

The decent road into the crater is steep and unpaved.\u00a0 There was a parade of safari vehicles slowly creeping down the road.\u00a0 I put the cruiser in low range and let the engine do the work and tried to settle down from our exciting morning.\u00a0 The crater was shrouded in mist and clouds, so the view was not nearly as good as the day before, but it seemed likely that it would burn off later in the morning.\u00a0 Even part way down the crater decent road were were treated to wonderful views of herds of buffalo and wildebeest, with gazelle and zebra mixed in.\u00a0 Further down and you can pick out jackals and a few of the 600 or so spotted hyena that live in the crater.<\/p>\n

Once we got to the bottom the safari vehicles start to disperse on the various tracks.\u00a0 The crater floor is primarily short grass plains, in contrast to the long grasses of most of the Serengeti.\u00a0 This means that spotting wildlife is easy, as most of the grass is no more than 12 inches high.\u00a0 Apparently the short grass plains are volcanic in nature and the soil is either too dense or too shallow for the roots of the longer grasses to take hold.<\/p>\n

The crater floor is almost flat, but also has a salt lake, a smaller fresh water lake, springs, swamps, and forest lands.\u00a0 The forest lands are primarily fever trees, also known as the yellow barked acacia, but also numerous kinds of fig and other smaller trees.<\/p>\n

We made our way around the crater stopping for various sightings.\u00a0 Of course seeing something really special is possible, predators hunting and with so many animals in close proximity interesting interactions between groups.\u00a0 However really what is unique about the crater is the setting itself, a sort of wildlife Shangri-La of Africa.\u00a0 Coming from the volcanic plains and the crater rim descending down to the crater floor has an almost magical feeling.\u00a0 The wind eases, it gets warmer and wildlife abounds in every direction you see.<\/p>\n

As the weather started to burn off we were treated to sun dappled views of the plains, alternate highlights and shadows of the sun and clouds picking out elephant and buffalo and others in the bright spotlight of the sun and it\u2019s all sort of surreal.\u00a0 We saw numerous lions, some with cubs.\u00a0 Big tusker elephants, large herds of buffalo, wildebeest, a smattering of impala and grant\u2019s and thompson\u2019s gazelle, black backed jackals, but sadly no rhino sightings.<\/p>\n

Our time nearly up we drove our way to the ascent road.\u00a0 Of the three roads into the crater one is dirt, descent only, one is paved, ascent only and the last is two way, but seasonal and at your own risk.\u00a0 We gather it\u2019s a bit rough and elected for the paved ascent.\u00a0 We dropped Bahati off at the ranger post and headed to the gate, hoping we\u2019d be able to make it before 1357, when we would incur a second day of park fees.<\/p>\n

I drove a bit quicker than I\u2019d prefer, but no doubt slower than the professional safari guides drive, and we made it to the gate with only five minutes to spare.\u00a0 The woman who checked us out didn\u2019t seem to care at all that we\u2019d used our one hour grace period, so we were actually in the park for almost 25 hrs, instead of 24.\u00a0 Relieved and really starting to relax a bit we had a quick lunch in the parking lot at the gate.<\/p>\n

Then it was back onto tarmac for the first time in a while.\u00a0 The road is excellent quality all the way to Arusha and we savored the magic carpet feeling of sailing along smooth pavement.\u00a0 We had been told it\u2019s a 3 hr drive to Arusha, so we assumed it\u2019d be 4 hrs for us, but for once we kept up and made it to town in 3 hrs easily without pushing at all.<\/p>\n

After all my whining I will confirm what you have already suspected, that we are not in fact Africa Bad Asses, but in fact Africa Wimps.\u00a0 A couple weeks of camping in the bush, some corrugated roads and a bit of car trouble and we\u2019re ready to tap out (not really).\u00a0 I suppose maybe we\u2019re not quite as robust as we thought, but we\u2019re okay with wimp status, and feel great to be making the trip and to have seen all the amazing things that Africa has offered up to us so far.\u00a0 With that in mind, even though there are a few places to camp near town, this time we pulled the ripcord and made our way to a hotel.\u00a0 The cruiser was due for it\u2019s 10,000km service and we were exhausted.\u00a0 It was time for a hot shower, not cooking and sleeping in.<\/p>\n

Now allow me to introduce you to Jane and Henry.\u00a0 It\u2019s us, Jenny and Andrew.\u00a0 We have found a peculiarity of native Swahili language speakers is that unless we make a specific effort to annunciate our names very clearly often they hear Jenny and Andrew as Jane and Henry.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is your name?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHello, my name is Andrew\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPleased to meet you Henry!\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve had this interaction many times now, and Jenny and I find it funny every time.\u00a0 A similar thing happens when Jenny introduces herself, and really we must get better at making an effort at annunciating clearly.\u00a0 Regardless, it\u2019s puts a smile on our faces when it happens, so make sure if you are imagining our interactions across Tanzania and Kenya to keep in mind that often we are Henry and Jane.<\/p>\n

This was the same when I worked in Kenya years ago, and one of our driver\u2019s explained it to me like this:<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, to us it sounds the same, Andrew and Henry, just like to you Muhammad and Mohammad sound similar but are actually quite different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, he had me there, I did struggle with all the variations of Mohammad, but fortunately they were tolerant of me blundering through Mohammad, Muhammad, Mahmoud, Mohammed, Muhammed, and so on.\u00a0 You should have seen the org chart for our Somali project, a staff of 200 and half of them named some variant of Mohammed, the head of HR in Nairobi worked miracles to keep them all straight.<\/p>\n

In Arusha we settled on the Karama Lodge just out of town, right near one of the camping options, Masai Camp.\u00a0 Karama is perched on a hillside with views of Mount Meru and in the distance on a clear day the snow capped peak of Kilimanjaro.\u00a0 We could just make out some snowy slopes in the clouds when we arrived.<\/p>\n

Even then our frustrations of travel were not done, for there was a mix up with the bill and the supposed hot shower failed to materialize.\u00a0 These are regular trivial trials when traveling, but we were trying to check out of the routine small challenges of African travel by getting a decent hotel, that night we went to bed tired and weary and hoping to start the next day on a new note.<\/p>\n

And so we did.\u00a0 First stop was Toyota.\u00a0 I\u2019m normally not a big fan of dealers, often overpriced, but in an unfamiliar city with no local knowledge of the good mechanic and not wanting to be delayed we figured it was best.\u00a0 We asked for a 10,000km service and gave them a laundry list of questions, a rattle here, a problem there, and of course the cooked wiring.\u00a0 They spent the morning inspecting the Cruiser and came up with an estimate.<\/p>\n

I had to sit down, it was a lot.\u00a0 We knew that it was going to be a lot, but wow Tanzania was turning out to be expensive country on our tour.\u00a0 Of course it\u2019s a Land Cruiser, it\u2019s not a vehicle you just drive to church on Sundays, it\u2019s been used and abused, and let\u2019s face it, as a former rental it probably wasn\u2019t babied.<\/p>\n

The butcher\u2019s bill is as follows:<\/p>\n

-10,000km service, essentially oil change, fuel filter, oil filter, inspection.<\/p>\n

-Front brake pads, resurface front brake rotors.<\/p>\n

-New front wheel bearings.\u00a0 One was going but we had them do both.<\/p>\n

-New rear shocks.\u00a0 We had suspected the left rear shock for some time, and the right one was leaking after the Serengeti-Ngorongoro road.<\/p>\n

-Radius\/stabilizer arm bushes.\u00a0 Totally gone.\u00a0 Another casualty of the road?\u00a0 I\u2019m sure they were finished after our recent torture, but I\u2019m not sure they\u2019ve ever been replaced, so this is not shocking.\u00a0 Toyota says to expect approximately 80,000km out of a set.<\/p>\n

-New steering tie rod ends and bushes.<\/p>\n

-New bushes means alignment needed to be done.<\/p>\n

-New air con evaporator and refrigerant gas charge\u00a0– Aaaahhh!\u2026so expensive.\u00a0 I wonder if a smaller shop would have tried to repair instead of replaces this?\u00a0 It was cracked where the piping comes out of the housing.\u00a0 No air con in Africa has it\u2019s limits.\u00a0 It actually hasn\u2019t been too hot, but keeping the windows down has exposed us to the ravages of tsetse flies and everything is covered in a fine dust that gets in your hair, on your clothes, and you can feel in your teeth.\u00a0 I\u2019d say yuck, but I think this is a standard day for Land Rover owners?\u00a0 Ha!<\/p>\n

-Second battery electrical repair.<\/p>\n

-Exhaust mounting brackets were cracked and needed replacing.<\/p>\n

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\"It's<\/p>\n

The total bill came to almost $2500 USD.\u00a0 Gulp.\u00a0 I suppose if we were on an extended trip we might have approached it differently, maybe dong the wiring ourselves and try to look for a cheaper shop, but we didn\u2019t have the luxury of time on this trip.\u00a0 There is also of course the worry of counterfeit Toyota parts, common around here, though I\u2019m not sure how much, if you go to another shop.\u00a0 I think some of this, particularly the bushes, was probably already due and we should have done before the trip, but still it was sickening to do all at once.<\/p>\n

Just as finally going to the doctor about a nagging issue brings a certain psychological relief, it felt good to get the Cruiser looked at by professionals and have a real once over.\u00a0 We will be confident that she will continue to serve us well for some time to come.<\/p>\n

Jenny worries about me because I constantly worry about the cruiser.\u00a0 My regular job is working on a ship and I spend a lot of my time worrying about the weather, the condition of the vessel and so on, and now here we are on vacation and I have traded my ship worries for Cruiser worries.<\/p>\n

Karama Lodge ended up not being so bad, but not exactly being the break we hoped so we traded into a hotel in town.\u00a0 The cruiser took a couple days, so for the first time in a long time we find ourselves with a bit of time to catch up on emails, to read properly, to be bored.\u00a0 It was magnificent.<\/p>\n

One develops a close relationship with your vehicle when traveling overland.\u00a0 It is our home in camp, our refuge at times, our transport across part of a continent.\u00a0 We put all our faith in this vehicle to carry us half way across a continent and back, and each tiny detail about the car becomes familiar.\u00a0 The sticky door handle, the rattling latch on the canopy, the streaks the wiper blades leave on the windscreen.\u00a0 Did it take an extra second to start this morning?\u00a0 Did the clutch slip a bit in first gear?\u00a0 Was that rattle there before?\u00a0 Every small noise and change of tone becomes significant.\u00a0 Partially because we have found ourselves with a great fondness for this capable machine that carries anywhere we want to go, but also because the next new noise could be the foreshadowing of what strands us in the bush or by the side of the road.\u00a0 With that in mind we are fine with spending some time to make sure all is right.\u00a0 We put our faith and trust in her so she will take care of us, a bit of time and money to ensure this is not unexpected.<\/p>\n

Oh yeah, and Toyota only accepts cash, so there\u2019s that.\u00a0 ATMs in Tanzania, if you\u2019re lucky, will disperse 400,000 shillings, $180 USD.\u00a0 Sometimes only half that.\u00a0 This is in 10,000 shilling notes, the equivalent of about $4 US dollars.\u00a0 So what ensued is a ridiculous parade of us going all over town pulling out huge stacks of shillings to pay our huge Toyota bill it what is essentially $4 dollar bills. I can\u2019t believe they don\u2019t take a credit card, but that is the way it is, and I suppose at least there were ATMs, I\u2019m sure in some places or not so long ago that would not be possible.\u00a0 This also meant that we were wandering around Arusha with quite a lot of cash in our pockets, even though we did do this is stages, it was a little uncomfortable to be carrying that much cash around.<\/p>\n

Eventually we stockpiled the cash and Toyota finished with the Cruiser.\u00a0 After the bill was totaled you take the final invoice to a cashier cage and an old lady meticulously hand counted our big stack of bills, as tall as a pint glass.\u00a0 With her approval of our payment they gave us the keys and we were off.<\/p>\n

\"Most,<\/p>\n

Driving away from the workshop the Honey Badger felt great.\u00a0 The alignment was done and the wheel was straight for the first time (I know, we should have done it before), the steering felt sharp, or sharp for a land cruiser anyway, and the brakes snappy.\u00a0 We took her off road a few days later and the suspension was also improved with the new shocks, so we were feeling new confidence in the already capable car.<\/p>\n

Setting forth from Arusha we will be starting on a new portion of the trip.\u00a0 Headed south, most, but not all, of the bush time is behind us.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be focusing on getting back to where Jenny and I are most comfortable, the water.\u00a0 Lake Malawi, the coast of Mozambique, and still a few visits to some parks along the way.<\/p>\n

Our original plan had been to head to the coast of Tanzania and work south, to the little visited parts of south east Tanzania.\u00a0 I was keen on seeing Kilwa, an out of the way UNESCO site and old trading port.\u00a0 The traditional fishing and trading vessels are also interesting to me and we like being on the coast.\u00a0 From there we planned to take the Ruvuma ferry across into Northern Mozambique, to go to Quirimbas National Park, to Pemba and Ille de Mozambique.<\/p>\n

Mozambique had different plans for us.\u00a0 The Sate department has issued a no go warning for US citizens in the northern province due to security issues.\u00a0 Some group attacking local citizens, beheadings and burning some villages, displaced people.\u00a0 We had the luck of running into the British Vice Counsel for Tanzania in the Serengeti and we briefly discussed our plans with her.\u00a0 She reasonably advised not going, pointing out that even though it\u2019s unlikely that tourists would be targeted, the inevitable police and military road blocks this sort of situation creates and the potential for curfews and other restrictions on movement could be a pain, at the very least.\u00a0 Good point.<\/p>\n

It is off to Malawi instead.\u00a0 We have spent more time up here in the northern part of our trip than originally planned, and in order to avoid a constant brisk pace for the whole return trip we decided to make some big jumps south so we could relax a bit when we were closer to South Africa.\u00a0 With that in mind the plan is to spend a couple days in Tarangire National Park and then beeline it for Malawi.<\/p>\n

After our four night stay we had our fill of hot showers and lounging in Arusha, we were feeling refreshed and ready to get back on the road.\u00a0 The Land Cruiser is it\u2019s own kind of refuge for us, the hum of the tires on the road and the grumble of the diesel engine have become comforting.\u00a0 It reminds me of being on watch at sea, where even at sedate speeds the hours and days add up, and in time one can cross an ocean.\u00a0 It\u2019s time to point the Cruiser south, watch Africa pass by and make our way across countries.<\/p>\n

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Logistical Notes:<\/p>\n

NCAA fees – Entry is for a 24 hour period from whenever you sign in. \u00a0In USD we paid just under 600 dollars including taxes and an extra 1.5% for using a Visa card. \u00a0I think the breakdown for this was 50\/pp park entry, 40 vehicle entry fee, 30\/pp camping (public campsite), 250 crater decent fee, 18% VAT + 1.5% credit card surcharge. \u00a0As stated above, that gets you 24 hours, if you over stay or want to stay longer you’d have to pay everything, except the crater decent fee, again. \u00a0Also the 40 dollars for vehicle entry was again for under 2000kgs, he just didn’t ask when I said we were self driving. \u00a0You get one hour grace period on your 24 hrs. \u00a0We paid by Visa at the Naabi Hill Gate, very easy.<\/p>\n

NCAA Guide Requirement – Per NCAA rules a guide\u00a0is<\/span>\u00a0required to enter the crater. \u00a0However it did seem there was some wiggle room on this and it’s not clear if they would refuse you at the gate. \u00a0One exception to this is if you don’t have seating, they said they wouldn’t turn someone away for that. \u00a0The ranger we talked to said they’d had problems with self drivers breaking the rules and thus the requirement for a guide, but who knows if this is the whole story. \u00a0That said, I would hope that any self drivers that do make it to the crater without a guide be on their best behavior, to reflect positively on future self drivers.<\/p>\n

Drive time from Lodware gate to Arusha is just a bit under 3 hrs, depending on traffic.<\/p>\n

Toyota Arusha did very generously accommodate our schedule with no appointment and we felt gave us great service. \u00a0The branch manager also gave us a discount on most of the parts and labor, except of course the most expensive part. \u00a0I suspect this is because he didn’t have it in stock and had to buy it from someone else in town. \u00a0He also asked if we had fueled in Seronera, as he said the fuel quality there is poor. \u00a0We did, and he said it’s a good thing we have a 4.2 and not a 200 Land Cruiser or a Pajero, as then “you\u00a0would have trouble.” \u00a0Whatever that means. \u00a0Anyway, perhaps if you do plan of fueling in Seronera make sure you have a spare fuel filter handy, just in case.<\/p>\n

We managed to get our CADAC gas bottles filled at Manji’s gas, right on the Main Street near the clock tower, adjacent to the Puma station. \u00a0You have to pay full price for whatever size bottle it is, regardless of whether it’s partially full or not, and wait till the following morning. \u00a0 According to a comment on iOverlander you can get it the same day if you first go to the retail location that I mention and then drive the bottles yourself to the depot out of town. \u00a0Cost for two 3kg bottles was 35,000 shillings. \u00a0Not cheap, but cheaper than buying new bottles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My alarm sounded off at the appointed time, 0530, to wake me for our day in the Crater.\u00a0 The gate opens at 0600 and we have to check out of the Conservation area by roughly 1400, so to maximize our time we were trying to be there bright and early. It was wet, cold and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[97,55],"tags":[26,11,27,15,23,22],"class_list":["post-589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tanzania","category-travelogues","tag-arusha","tag-land-cuiser","tag-ngorogoro","tag-overland-d45","tag-safari","tag-tanzania"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/stuckinlowgear.com\/staging\/1919\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Ngorongoro-1-of-8-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbRTYJ-9v","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuckinlowgear.com\/staging\/1919\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuckinlowgear.com\/staging\/1919\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuckinlowgear.com\/staging\/1919\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuckinlowgear.com\/staging\/1919\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuckinlowgear.com\/staging\/1919\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=589"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/stuckinlowgear.com\/staging\/1919\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1586,"href":"https:\/\/stuckinlowgear.com\/staging\/1919\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589\/revisions\/1586"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuckinlowgear.com\/staging\/1919\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuckinlowgear.com\/staging\/1919\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuckinlowgear.com\/staging\/1919\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuckinlowgear.com\/staging\/1919\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}