The Wifi in Tanzania is Terrible

I sprained my ankle. Day one, in Tarangire National Park. Not exactly the safari story I had imagined. If I was going to be taken down in the Tanzanian wilderness, I had pictured something more dramatic. A lion, ideally. A particularly ambitious cackle of hyenas perhaps. Maybe a crocodile if things really went badly.

Instead, my overly chatty self, debating with a Maasai guide, was taken down by a furrow carved into the sand by the rain on the way to my first tent.

At that moment, I thought: that’s it, the world is against me. I can’t catch a break. I had made it all the way to Tanzania to unwind for a couple of weeks after what had been a particularly busy and hectic year, and just when I thought I had arrived, the gods sent me a message in the shape of an ankle that had swollen to the size of a tennis ball.

At this point, I might as well lie down on that beautiful bed overlooking nature and, oh, why not, open my computer for a few minutes to check my emails. Sure. Old habits die hard. I’m not sure I knew how to relax anymore. The internet was failing. But if a device can reach you, people assume you are reachable.  This time, perhaps divine intervention was finally working in my favour: the device in question wouldn’t work.

Are you here to read about animals? I might have a picture or two for you. Spoiler alert: I saw the Big Five and almost completed the Little Five. I even had a hyena apparently camping behind my tent, giggling every time I went to the bathroom. Was it actually a hyena? Perhaps it was just the hardwood floor. Did the staff at the camp think my life was in danger? I doubt it. They simply told me: ‘Let it be…’, and I’ll spare you the tone. Well, I’m still here to tell the tale!

I even saw two lionesses and their seven cubs. Talk about putting the stresses of modern life into perspective. Have you ever had to take care of seven babies at the same time?

Yes, I did come for the animals, but I have to admit, I stayed for the birds.

Fascinating discovery. I loved the precision and patience it took to catch a shot of one in flight, to get the right picture, to understand the settings of the SLR camera I received for my 18th birthday and that had collected more dust than it had taken pictures.

This took most of my attention during safari days. One might say I traded one device for another, but this one came with a sense of relief (and a little bit of pride, okay). I was leaving my phone in one of the seat pockets of the vehicle every morning, to the point where I forgot it entirely one evening on the way back to camp. And that felt really good.

Being detached from something that had become an extension of my hand for too long was a strange feeling, but a good one. The effect was almost immediate. The more I stopped looking elsewhere, the more I started noticing what was right in front of me.

I’m no Africa planner, and my colleagues who specialise in the continent will be able to tell you much more about wildlife before you travel. I’m not here to compete with documentaries, or become your next wellness retreat guru. But I did come back with one good lesson learned: it felt good to go MIA for a while.

Then I basked on a pristine beach in Zanzibar for a few days. Nothing particularly memorable to report, just sun, drinks and lounge chairs after two weeks of dust, tents and safari vehicles. And unlimited internet… Within a few hours, I was back doomscrolling.

Being unreachable felt great. Staying unreachable might be a little harder.