Solo Travel Horror Stories: What Happens in Karatu, Stays in Karatu!

Last updated on May 13th, 2020; Published on April 12th, 2018

What happens in Karatu stays in Karatu. Until now that is! Unlike the other embarrassing tales I’ve featured previously on this blog, this one did not happen on a solo trip. And unlike Naija Nomad’s paragliding misadventure, no other person was affected.

While on a safari trip in Tanzania, my sister and I got to spend a night in a beautiful cabin lodge in Karatu. The evening of our arrival, we decided to take pictures outside the cabin. I took some pictures on the little stairway, the door, inside the room. It was all going very well but I was like, you know what would be better? Sitting down on the wooden rail and taking a shot where I was looking away.

So I decided to do just that. My sister had the camera ready and I went ahead to place myself on the rail. I could have sworn that I didn’t even touch it but the next thing I heard was a creak in the wood and before I had time to blink, down I came, landing hard on my butt! Guys, I was too stunned to react. The fall was not gracious at all! Luckily, the only witness to this was my little sister, who wouldn’t stop laughing uncontrollably.

Anyway, I put my carpentry skills to good use and tried to fix the broken wood, while we wondered how to tell the lodge’s manager about it. After Karatu, we were heading to Serengeti, spending two days there and coming back to this very same lodge. We couldn’t escape them.

Luckily they were cool about the whole thing. We got away without being reprimanded or asked to pay anything. I also learned a valuable lesson about my ‘asset’ being able to cause massive destruction. So now, I know I have to be careful in its usage as this may eventually be the key to attaining world peace.