Tanzania Safari

[Tim_A 996]

Hehe - you should try it. Just head west from Dodoma; you can't miss it. It fully bisects the lake and runs roughly NE-SW. I don't know exactly how far it goes, but it stretches at least to the horizon in both directions. The sides are not as sheer in the default though, due to the lower res mesh.

Oh, the lake isn't present in the default - I guess the water drained out!

[Tim_A 996]

Day 10: Chunya - Mbeya - Sumbawanga

HTCH - HTMB - HTSU

The direct route to Mbeya takes us over some pretty high mountains, even if they don't look it.

We're starting from 5000ft, and our destination is at 5500ft. With the mountains rising to 8000ft, we' take the easy way, and go around them.

Mbeya started off as a gold mining town in the 1920s.

The climate here is generally cool. Average rainfall is 900mm, with most of that between December and March. The abundant rainfall has led to extensive agriculture (but not in FS).

This area has been called the Scotland of Africa, because of the extensive bracken and heather covered hills. This is Lozlea Mountain.

Lake Rukwa is at an elevation of 2500ft. It is off the main rift system, rougly midway between lakes Malawi and Tanganyika. It is shallow, averaging just 3 - 5 metres deep.

This is also the Uwanda game Reserve, home to albino giraffes, strangely striped zebra, and the largest population of crocodiles in Tanzania.

Our destination for the night is Sumbawanga, just over the ridge. This town was referenced in Harry Potter as the home of the Sumbawanga Sunrays Quidditch team.

Postcards:

Mbeya

Some of the hazards associated with a water landing.

[mutley 4,487]

Superb, I am learning something new with every post!

[Tim_A 996]

Day 11: Sumbawanga - Kalemie - Mpanda - Inyonga - Tabora

HTSU - FZRF - HTMP - HTIY - HTTB

A long leg today. We're going to cross Lake Tanganyika for a brief stop at Kalemie in DRC before heading back across into Tanzania.

Taking off from Sumbawanga

A lok back at Lake Rukwa

And our first glimpse of Lake tanganyika.

Lake tanganyika is the largest of the Rift Valley lakes. It's the world's longest freshwater lake, the second largest by volume. At 4,820ft it's the second deepest in the world, after Lake Baikal in Siberia.

Isn't Wikipedia great?

Gratuitous wide shot!

The Mahale Mountains are home to some of the last remaining wild Chimpanzees in Africa

Gratuitous tree shot, since we don't get many!

The first hint of bad weather in the distance.

The weather forms a clear boundary - thunder storms ahead; clear weather behind.

In the 19th Century, Tabora was a major centre for the slave trade.

This is one of the few larger airports, with a paved runway and traffic.

Postcards:

Lake Tanganyika

The Tabora water project

[mutley 4,487]

That is a big lake, very impressive.

I thought that last screenshot was from FSX!

[Tim_A 996]

Day 12: Tabora - urambo - Uvinza - Kigoma - Kasulu

HTTB - HTUR - HTUV - HTKA - HTKU

We're heading back across the plateau to Lake Tanganyika, via a number of small strips.

Departing Tabora, we have to make almost a 180 degree turn from the runway, which means we should have a bit of a tailwind. Which is nice

We still have the thunder storms from yesterday. Unfortunately my screenshots never seem to catch them. Oh well!

The savannah is a bit greener here.

Turning final for another strip.

Approaching the lake. The airfield is at he far side of the town.

"Kigoma is surrounded by rugged mountains and forests that make it a pleasing and beautiful location."

Ahead of us is the Gombe Stream National Park, which streches to the border with the Congo. It was brought to the world's attention by the primatologist Jane Goodall, who studied chimpanzees here for many years. Just imagine those small patches of green are extensive tropical forests...

Heading into the hills for our final stop.

Postcards:

Jane Goodall

The road to kasulu

[Tim_A 996]

Day 13: Kasulu to Bukoba

HTKU - HTBU

Today we reach lake Victoria.

Departing kasulu

Our route takes us close to the borders with Barundi and Rwanda. This is the flood plain of the Malagalasi-Moyowosi wetland area.

Our first glimpse of Lake Victoria.

Victoria is, of course the largest lake by area in Africa, and the second largest in the world (to Lake Superior in North America).

Turning final at Bukoba. You really don't want to overshoot the runway here, since it goes right to the shore line.

This is the most northerly point on our safari, ad we are just one degree south of the equator.

Postcards:

Bukoba airfield

[mutley 4,487]

That's an interesting find, you definitely don't want to end up in the briny!

[Tim_A 996]

day 14: Bukoba - Musoma - Nansio - Mwanza

HTBU - HTMU - HTUK - HTMW

We're crossing Lake Victoria today.

taking off from Bukoba

The island that we saw offshore in the photo at the end of last time, does exist in FS, it just doesn't seem to have any elevation data.

There are a couple of mesh holes in the lake!

Approaching Musoma. This is a small fishing village on the eastern shore.

Turning final. The default airport disappears into the lake at its northern end.

Despite being a dirt and grass strip, Dash-8s regularly land here. The road really shouldn't cross the runway (it is actually between the airport and the lake shore), but as it is, you'd better keep a good liik out for traffic crossing!

Heading South to our next stop at Nansio. This small town is a port of entry for water based traffic.

Nansio is on the island of Ukerewe, which is the largest island in Lake Victoria.

Fortunately we have turbine power, and the holes don't bother us overly much!

And so onto Mwanza, our final stop for the day. Mwanza is actually the second largest city in Tanzania, and growing rapidly, thanks to its staples of mining, tourism and fishing. Its airport is International, with scheduled services to Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Entebbe and Kilimanjaro.

Postcards:

The lake shore at Musoma

and the airport

Mwanza

[mutley 4,487]

Good job Tim, you are certainly finding some unusual mesh problems

Enjoying this travelogue :icon_thumbup:

[Tim_A 996]

Day 15: Mwanza - Ibadakuli - Mwadui - Maswa - Seronera

HTMW - HTSY - HTMD - HTMC - HTSN

Welcome to Serengeti National Park!

Departing Mwanza. Mwanza has a total population of around 2 million, with 1.2 million living in the city itself.

The airport is served by Air Tanzania, Auric Air, Precision Air, Jetlink Express and Fly540.

Ibadakuli village is strangely square in FS!

Mwadui was the first diamond mine of any significance outside South Africa. It has been in continuous operation since 1940, and its open cast pit is now over 300ft deep.

Serengeti means 'endless plains' in the Maasai language. It's famous for its massive annual migrations of wildebeeste to and from the Maasai Mara reserve in Kenya. I'm sure everyone has seen the film of wildebeeste crossing the Mara river.

Seronera is in the heart of the Serengeti, at the edge of the Ngorongoro uplands.

Postcards:

This image is available as a wallpaper from www.kewlwallpapers.com (I've left it as a link cos it won't show as a thumbnail. But it's on my desktop! )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwX5-N8PUCM

[Tim_A 996]

Day 16: Seronera - Lake Manyara - Arusha

HTSN - HTLM - HTAR

Our trip across the Serengeti takes us through some of Africa's most famous landscapes, including the Ngogongoro crater, Lake Manyara and Mt Meru.

Departing Seronera.

Ahead of us we can see the Ngorongoro Crater rising from the plains

The Ngorongoro crater is an unbroken, unflooded volcanic caldera. It is some 2000ft deep, and the crater floor covers some 100 square miles.

The crater was formed around 3 million years ago, when its volcano exploded. It's estimated that the original volcano was some 19,000ft high. (roughly the same size as Kilimanjaro).

Lake Magdi is the main source of water within the crater, and is seasonal.

Ngorongoro is particularly famous for its large inbred lions, and herds of grazing wildlife documentary makers. It is well known as home to the "Big 5" - BBC, ITV, Discovery, Hallmark & Nat Geo.

The Eastern wall descends all the way to Lake Manyara.

Hemingway described this as the most beautiful lake in Africa.

The Losiminguri Forest Reserve

Arusha lies at the foot of Mt Meru, which is an active volcano. The city is home to 1.2 million people.

Postcards:

Ngorongoro Crater Panorama

Lake Manyara, from almost the same vantage point as the screenshot

Need traffic? We gots traffic!

[Tim_A 996]

Day 17: Arusha - West Kilimanjaro - Moshi - Kilimanjaro Intl

HTAR - HTWK - HTMS - HTKJ

Mt Kilimanjaro. Need I say more?

Departing Arusha, in the shadow of Mt Meru.

Although it is onlt the 10th highest peak in Tanzania, this volcano still outclimbs us!

Mt meru is a stratovolcano. It blew out its eastern side in much the same way as Mt St. Helens in the US.

At west Kilimanjaro, we find a mast. This is one of the few objects in the Objects pack.

Unfortunately, the OpenVFR landclass has removed all traces of snow from the summit. Now, the snow cap on the summit is largely seasonal - it grows and shrinks, although it never completely disappears. This shrinkage is through wind erosion and sublimation; it has nothing to do with 'global warming', since temperatures never get above freezing, so the ice never melts. The snow is replenished from rain during the wet season.

It took us a lot of effort to get here! We're going to attempt a landing at 19,000ft...

Ok, that wasn't pretty. There's not enough room on the summit to take off again, so we just kinda fall off the edge!

Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to glide from the top of the volcano, and land on the runway at Moshi. *Without using any power*

I did it. Can you?

Postcard:

[mutley 4,487]

I'll have a go Tim, can I use a glider?!

Love that flight plan, that's a shame about the shortage of objects.

Cheers

Joe

[Tim_A 996]

No gliders - that would be too easy!

From Arusha I could have flown straight to the summit (another benefit of a turbine!), but that would have missed out on the mast...

[Tim_A 996]

Day 18: Kilimanjaro - Same - Mombo - Tanga

HTKJ - HTSE - HTMO - HTTG

Leaving Kilimanjaro

Water drains off the slopes of Kilimanjaro into the Nyumba ya Mungu Reservoir. A hydroelectric scheme provides power for the region.

The Usambaras mountain ranges follow the Tanzania-Kenya border pretty much all the way to the coast

You can still make out Kilimanjaro in the distance behind us. Of course, we're following the road, but we also have the Tanga Line railway for company. This line currently goes to Arusha, but there are pland to extend it all the way into Uganda, and beyond.

The East Usambaras are covered in tropical rainforest.

The cultivated plains heading into Tanga.

Tanga is a small city on the Indian Ocean coast. It is very close to the border with Kenya.

This city gave its name to Tanganyika, the territory that joined with Zanzibar to become Tanzania.

Postcard:

Usambara

[Tim_A 996]

Day 19: Tanga - Chake Chake - Kisauni - Dar es Salaam

HTTG-HTPE-HTZA-HTDA

For our final leg in this safari, we are going to tour through the spice islands of Zanzibar.

Leaving Tanga

Heading out into the Indian Ocean

Pemba is the first of the Spice Islands, and well known for its plantations of cloves. In fact, over 70% of the world's cloves come from here, as well as cinnamon, nutmeg and pepper.

The Zanzibar archipelago comprises two main islands, pemba and Unguja, plus many

smaller islands.

Chake Chake is the island's principal town.

Unguja Island (also known as Zanzibar) is the biggest island in the archipelago.

In 1890, Britain traded Germany Heligoland in exchange for Zanzibar and other territories. This was to have dire consequences in the later war years, as Heligoland was key to controlling the German Bight. Zanzibar joined with Tanganyika in the 1960s to become Tanzania.

Final for Zanzibar's airport.

The channel between Zanzibar and the mainland just 22.5 miles across at its narrowest.

We're heading to Dar es Salaam, the cultural centre of Tanzania.

The Msasani Peninsula is where all the diplomats and embassy staff live, in walled compounds.

The airport is named after Julius Nyerere, the country's first president.

And so we land, with the last rays of the sun. there's just time to hand the keys back before heading off to the bar.

We've had a long trip, just over 3500 nautical miles, and some 32 hours flight time. I hope you've enjoyed it and discovered a few interesting things along the way. Until next time, here are a couple of final postcards:

Postcards

Chake Chake bay

Zanzibar

[mutley 4,487]

Bravo Tim

A stunning sunset on what was a great adventure.

I certainly learnt a few things about the region.

Thanks for sticking with it and think of all those air miles you could have won!

Cheers,

Joe

[gunk 5]

Hi All

Always interested in a good flight ...

Flew you Flight Plan #17 Arusha to Kilimanjaro and return to HTKJ.

I only had default FSX scenery but that might be good for a comparison.

Here are some pics for easy viewing.

For Information only: The flight plan loaded fine in Plan G and was okay in FSX the first few waypoints then it took off to who knows where. Will check it to see if I can find the problem...

Thanks Tim A. for the Flight Plans and look for future routes in the soon.

Sim Buddy,

Gunk/Wayne

[allardjd 1,853]

Tim and gunk,

 

You guys have inspired me to make airport diagrams for all the airports in the Tanzania Safari. I got a good start tonight and have created and posted the first three in support of this adventure. These are uploaded to the Download Centre (that always sounds wrong)...

 

• HTKJ Kilimanjaro Intl - Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
• HTAR Arusha - Arusha, Tanzania
• HTTG Tanga - Tanga, Tanzania

 

I have quite a long list of the rest and will be working through them at whatever pace I can manage. Most will be relatively non-complex and I'm hoping to bang them out fairly quickly. Mutley's Hangar may end up with the best set of Tanzanian airport charts this side of Arusha.

 

I finally got around to looking at the review tonight after seeing gunk's posting and I have to say, that's a very well crafted piece of work, with the best explanation of meshes, landclasses, objects, etc that I've ever seen in print. Not too shabby. I passed it by originally because neither FSX nor Tanzania cause me to hyperventilate, but happy I went back for a look.

 

John

[allardjd 1,853]

It took a while but I have created and uploaded airport diagrams for all FIFTY-ONE :icon_yikes: of the airports that are listed in Tim's flight plans for the Tanzanian Safari. Many are just waypoints but they are diagrammed and available for your download anyway if you choose to use them. Check out the Africa section of Airport Diagrams in the MH Downoad Centre.

 

This is obviously the land of primitive airports. Fuel pumps, NDBs and paved runways are few and far between, as are control towers, taxiways, paved ramps or airport buildings of any kind. I think there was only one ILS in the bunch. Many had no published radio frequencies. I used FSX as a source for all but one, but they should be more than adequate for use in FS9 as well. I suspect that there is little difference in the details.

 

Anyway, the supporting charts are there if you choose to fly Tim's adventure, with or without the software he reviewed. It gave me an excuse to add some numbers to the Africa section of the Download Centre, which was pretty sparse before this. I'll be happy to get back to doing some civilized airports, however. There's a rally coming up in Colombia, so maybe that will be the next project. See you there...

 

John

[UKJim 502]

Gota say that was an impressive flight - good work mate! Nice pictures and commentary full of information which I liked; lots of effort.

Very impressed dude, good job done!

[dodgy-alan 1,587]

I love the concept of this. Tanzania is a country I know pretty well as spent quite a bit of time there. In Dar es Sallm there is a great seamans mission with a rooftop dining area and a dance floor underneath! Its a big city and has a very impressive harbour.I also met a couple of very obliging girls when I was there and spent several days at their village a few miles inland! (enough said about that but use your own imagination! My excuse was I,d been at sea for 4 months!)

Mtwara though is interesting, The harbour itself is quite small and our 27,000 ton tanker took up two of the 4 jetty spaces. there is not much to see on the quayside but the road leads into the town a mile or so inland, this road in the summmer is lined with bushes and undergrowth and inhabited by Dragonflies the size of 747s ! the town looked like a frontier town from an old western movie. The bar still had hitching rails out the front, though these days it was old ex army trucks parked outside rather than horses. BP had a small refinery just behind the town hence the reason for our visit. the harbour itself is quite deep anmd has some lovely corals on the botttom. We went scuba diving whilst there and recovered some for the ships bar. It was whilst doing this that I nearly drowned! I was up by the jetty wall having a breather, I,d stuck my hand into a cleft in the concrete to hang on and taken my mask off. From the cleft an enormous spider emerged (about the size of a dinner plate!) and ranovermy hand and arm before scuttling up the jetty wall ! I was so shocked i fell into the water without my mask on! It took two crewmen to pull me out! We also "rescued" the propellor from a tanzanian navy Gunboat that came into the harbour. the crew all went ashore and we wanted a trophy for the ships bar! Another hazard to watch out for are the Fish Eagls that go after the waste bins on the ships stern. They are big beggars and quite a sight. All in all Mtwara was an enchanting place though and one I,d love to visit again.