On the road again

This time tomorrow I will probably be in a Land Rover stuck in the mud somewhere between Kigoma and Mpanda. Some friends and I are taking a road trip to Katavi National Park, one of the most biodiversity-rich regions in East Africa (or so I'm told). Think of the Serengeti, but without all the people. Katavi gets about 80 visitors per year, so my seven friends and I will represent about ten percent of the annual visitors to the Park. As my very Swiss friend who is organizing the trip said, "the Chief Park Warden is expecting us."

But to enjoy the splendor of the park, we have to get there first. The other 72 people who visited the park this year probably got there by plane, on a trip organized by one of the luxury safari companies that caters to the superriche. It's not the type of place one typically gets to by car. It is 350 kilometers south (i.e., away from everything) of Kigoma, and this time of year, most of the roads are probably mud. Picture driving from Salem, Oregon to Seattle - or DC to New York - through lakes of mud or, when the road is dry, over potholes that resemble the surface of the moon, without seeing another car on the road the whole way. That is what I am told our road trip will be like tomorrow, with few signs of humanity (hamlets, schools or mosques) until we reach Mpanda, which is near our destination. And instead of the three or four hours my friends and I budgeted for our trips from DC to NY, we are budgeting 12 hours for a similar distance tomorrow, and part of me wonders if this estimate isn't a little foolhardy.

One friend has joked that if we get a flat, we will draw straws on who replaces the tire and who gets to watch for lions from the safety of the vehicle. We joke, but at this point, I'd rather get a flat out there than on Interstate 95. We'll see if I'm still saying that next week...