Our First Safari Adventure – Tanzania

Tanzania is a land of breathtaking beauty and untamed wilderness, home to the iconic Serengeti, the wildlife rich Ngorongoro Crater and National Park and of course the Great Wildebeest Migration.  We could not have picked a better place for our very first African Safari.

We flew to Kilimanjaro Airport, Tanzania from Lisbon, Portugal via Amsterdam.  Not the most direct route but it was the best we could find out of Portugal.  We landed at Kilimanjaro Airport at 8:40 pm and were prepared for a long immigration process because somewhere during the past few months I completely forgot to apply on-line for our tourist visa 🤦‍♀️ We managed to get in the visa-on-arrival line very quickly, had our visas processed, paid USD $50 each, got the stamp in our passports and were out in the baggage area well before all the people who had bought their visas online before arrival.  We were done so quickly it was shocking, but I am not sure that was the case for everyone.  Perhaps if we had been at the back of the visa-on-arrival line we would have been there an hour or more so I can’t say which way is better, but we lucked out being processed so quickly.

Once through immigration we collected our bags and were driven to a nearby hotel for a one night stay.  Airport Planet Lodge was recommended by our safari tour company so we did not have to do a lot of research.  Our safari began the following day when we were picked up at 9:30am and driven 40 minutes to our first lodge, Hamerkop House where we had a huge suite.  Our driver taught us a couple of Swahili words we would find useful and said that we would be getting an “African Massage” along the way.  ie very rough roads, if you can even call some of them that.  We would be getting a lot of African massages over the course of our safari 😲

At the end of the safari we are flying back to Arusha on a small plane so we are only allowed 15kg per person in baggage, so we spent our day at Hamerkop House re-packing and getting everything we would need for the 11 day safari into a couple of backpacks.  The safari company will store our 2 large suitcases and return them to us at the end of our journey.

Safari Day 1 – After breakfast we met Hassan who would be our driver and guide for the next 11 days.  He is a very pleasant and polite young man who has been a safari guide for 9 years.  Leaving Hamerkop House we drove 5 hours to the lodge at Mpingo Ridge in Tarangire National Park.  The last 40 min of our drive was in Tarangire National Park so we had a nice game drive along the way.  We spotted elephants, giraffes, warthogs, baboons, mongoose and many varieties of antelopes.  After getting settled into our suite we grabbed a quick lunch and went out again at 4:30pm for 2 hours driving around the park where we spotted more elephants, giraffes and ostrich.    (click on any photo to enlarge)

Safari Day 2 – I have been unwell since we landed in Tanzania and was too sick to get out of bed today.  The staff at Mpingo Ridge gave me a package of antibiotics in the hopes I would get better before we go deep into the bush with no medical facilities so Blair and Hassan went out for a morning and a late afternoon game drive.  They saw loads of elephants, mongoose, ostrich, baboons, warthogs, monkeys, impalas, cape buffalo, giraffes, and a leopard kill up a tree but did not see the leopard.  Typically a leopard will drag his kill high up into the tree and come back later to eat.  Blair was hoping to see some lions but they are not here this time of year.  I was plied with ginger tea all day, that combined with a day of sleep and I felt a little better.  I had no appetite so Blair had dinner with our friends Sophie & Paul, who we had arranged to meet on this trip.

We spent 2 nights at Mpingo Ridge in a gorgeous luxury tent with expansive views over the valley below, and I totally forgot to take photos!  Our suite was a long way from the main lodge so after dark we had to be escorted by a Masai tribesperson anytime we wanted to leave our suite.  We are not to leave our room or go out on our balcony after dark because who knows what animals might decide to visit 😲

Safari Day 3 – We were packed up and on the road by 6:30 am for a 6 hour drive to our next camp.  We ran into Sophie & Paul on the road and they had gone to the leopard kill tree at 5:30 am and actually saw the leopard in the tree.  They were the only ones there and as more jeeps started to arrive the leopard decided to leave.  I’m sure they got some great photos being the first, and only, ones on the scene.  We carried on driving and what do we see….a leopard up a tree.  He was too far away for photos but we got a good look at him through the binoculars.  The rest of the game drive was pretty uneventful, just a few elephants.  Leaving Tarangire National Park we drove a few hours to Ngorongoro National Park where we will spend one night.  On the way we stopped at a viewpoint with expansive views of the Ngorongoro crater, it’s impressive.  The Ngorongoro Crater is the world’s largest inactive, intact and unfilled volcanic caldera.  The crater formed when a large volcano erupted and collapsed on itself two to three million years ago.  The crater floor covers 260 square km (100 square miles), attracts over 750,000 visitors a year and is filled with a wide variety of animals.  We had no activities planned for the rest of the day so enjoyed a relaxing afternoon and evening at the Ngorongoro Camp.

Safari Day 4 – We were packed and ready when Hassan picked us up at 6:30 am for our descent into the crater.  Once down there it’s amazing to see the variety of animals within the crater, some live there permanently and others migrate in and out.  We saw flamingos, zebra, wildebeest, lions, leopard, rhinoceros (far off in the distance), many types of antelopes and the list goes on.  We drove around the crater until noon then had a box lunch, that Ngorongoro Camp prepared for us, before leaving the crater for a 3 hour drive to our next camp.

After 10 hours bouncing around in the jeep I was exhausted when we reached the camp at Ndutu and grateful we did not have a late afternoon game drive.  Ndutu is a mobile camp that moves twice a year and it was here we experienced our first “talking shower”.  What is that you are wondering?  Well, your shower needs to be pre-arranged so a staff person can bring some hot water, pour it into a high bucket outside the tent then mix it with the running cold water for the shower.  It’s called a talking shower because this person is on the other side of the canvas, lets you know when the shower is ready, asks if the temperature is OK and you let him know when you are done so he can go and get more hot water for the next persons shower.  A little inconvenient, and very short showers, but an interesting experience.  Below is our tent at Ndutu camp, same rules apply after dark because we are out in the bush with no fences, we must be escorted to and from our tent by a Masai tribesperson.

Safari Day 5 – We left camp at 7am for a game drive taking almost an hour to reach Hidden Lake where the wildebeest migration was in full force.  What an incredible sight to see hundreds of thousands of wildebeest trekking across the landscape on their constant migration, we admired this spectacle from a few different angles and it was remarkable.  Leaving the migration we found a lone male lion wandering the plains, not far away was a pride of 5 female lions and at least 9 cubs tucked in the bushes.  On our way back to camp for lunch we saw a cheetah resting in the shade of a bush.  The cheetah prefers the wide open plains so they can see their prey far away and then use their incredible speed to catch their meal.  We had a couple of hours rest before heading out on our late afternoon game drive at 4:30 pm.  We drove to a tree where we heard there was a leopard and there were over 20 jeeps surrounding the tree, all waiting for the leopard to come down, but he never did so we headed back to camp for dinner.  We had dinner with our friends Sophie & Paul who we met many years ago on a dive boat in Indonesia.  It was a wonderful visit covering the 15 years since we last saw each other, good thing we have a few more days together.

Safari Day 6 – When we left camp at 7 am we could see a lot of activity in the open plains below us, when we arrived there were quite a few lions milling about with a couple of young wildebeest that they had killed overnight.  Most of the carcass had been eaten but the lions were still feeding, our guide Hassan said they would take a couple of days to fully consume the carcass.  Lions first eat all the soft internal organs and will then move on to the skin and flesh.  In the last photo you can see 4 of the 5 lions looking off in the distance, there was a lone baby wildebeest running around the plains but fortunately the lions were not hungry so he survived to see another day.

Leaving the plains we drove an hour to Hidden Lake again to observe the wildebeest migration, there were even more wildebeest than yesterday, its such an incredible sight.  We watched for a while and then went searching for the pride of lions we saw yesterday , they had moved and now had 2 male lions with the group.  Making our way back to camp we spotted another cheetah hiding in the brush and stopped to observe him for a while.  Back at camp we had lunch with our friends, rested for a couple of hours.

Heading out again at 4:30pm we drove around a nearby lake looking at the flamingoes, saw a couple of giraffes and a few lions near the lake, on our way back to camp we heard there was a leopard sighting so we made our way there.  We had a really good view this time, along with about 15 other jeeps, and enjoyed watching him until it was time to head back to camp.  This leopard had dragged his wildebeest kill up the tree and would be eating it over the next couple of days.  Back at camp we had dinner with Sophie & Paul then called it an early night.  Between getting up at 5:30am and bouncing around in a jeep for 8 hours, we are exhausted every day.

Safari Day 7 – We left camp at 6:30am and drove straight to the tree where the leopard was yesterday and he was still there, looking very full from consuming the wildebeest he had dragged up the tree.  There was not much left of the carcass this morning.  Eventually the leopard came down from the tree walked to another tree, climbed up and then looked like he was going to sleep for the day so we left.

We drove an hour to the wildebeest migration to watch this spectacle one more time, its magical to see and probably a once in a lifetime experience for us.  From there we came upon a few lions, 6 females and around 10 cubs in the bushes and nearby we saw two lions mating.  Our guide explained that the dominant male and female lion will mate quite a few times over a couple of days to ensure the female has a full litter of cubs.  We saw them mate twice, each time only taking about 30 seconds.  On the way back to camp we saw a few giraffes and drove by the leopard again, but he was still sleeping in the same tree as earlier.  We had lunch with Sophie & Paul, a few hours rest and were back out again at 4:30pm.  We joined a group of jeeps to watch a cheetah with her cub in the long grass, they were eating a large chunk of meat.  She was too deep in the grass for photos so we enjoyed watching them for a while before heading back to camp for a final dinner with our friends and an early night.

What we learned about the wildebeest migration over the past few days is that they move constantly in an enormous circular route through Tanzania and Kenya following the seasonal rains.  There are 1.5 million wildebeest and a few hundred thousand zebras that make up the migration.  The wildebeest can smell rain a hundred miles away but they have no sense of direction, that is the job of the zebras, to remember the route.  How amazing is that!!  As the wildebeest travel they eat all the grasses along the way, leaving behind a lot of poop, and as they move on the land re-generates ready for next year’s migration.  Roughly 500,000 wildebeest babies are born during the migration and they provide food for lions, leopards, cheetahs etc.  The migration route crosses many rivers filled with Nile crocodiles and they take down many a wildebeest.  The killing of wildebeest, and zebras as well, not only feeds many animals along the migration route, it keeps the number of wildebeest under control.   The wildebeest migration is considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Natural World and we feel incredibly fortunate to have witnessed this event.

Safari Day 8 – We had a later start today because we are moving.  We were on the road at 9am for a game drive along the way to our next camp.  Our first stop was where we saw the cheetah last night, and she was still there.  In fact, she was wandering around looking a bit distressed and for a way past all the jeeps.  Eventually all the jeeps stopped following her and allowed her to make her way past everyone and move on her way.  It was incredible to see her walking around and admire that powerful body that can reach speeds of 120 km, and of course her little cub was adorable.

Leaving the cheetah we carried on to Serengeti National Park, passing a large group of migrating wildebeest with their zebra guides.  It took Hassan 30 min to submit all the necessary paperwork for us to enter Serengeti but once done we were on our way.  We stopped under a shady tree for lunch before continuing into the park.  Shortly before arriving at Ewanjan camp we passed a very smelly hippo pond.  There must have been over 100 hippos in there and we were told this is where they live, sleep, poop and have babies.  They will get out at night to forage around the grass but the majority of their life is spent in this pond, it was pretty disgusting looking.  The Ewanjan camp has running hot water so the first thing we did was jump in the shower….bliss!!!!  We did not have a late afternoon game drive so we enjoyed a few hours of relaxation in our new tent and an early dinner.

Safari Day 9 – We were on our way by 6:30am today to tour the Serengeti, referred to as a ‘sea of grass’, and that’s what it looks like for as far as the eye can see, but our first stop was at the hippo pool for another look at all the hippos.  There are not as many animals here as Ndutu, where we just left, but in addition to the hippos we saw elephants, lions, ostrich and in a stroke of luck a leopard up a tree with his wildebeest kill.  Heading back to camp, we had lunch and a few hours of rest before going out again at 4:30pm.  We did not see much so we went back to camp for dinner and an early night.

Safari Day 10 – We left camp today by 7am heading south to an area less traveled and some different scenery.  First off we saw 3 male lions just a wandering down the dirt road so we stayed close and watched them for a while to see if they would hunt but nothing was close by so they carried on walking.  We drove a long way south passing elephants, giraffe, thousands of zebras and then hundreds of thousands of wildebeest.  We seem to have stumbled upon the lead part of the migration as they are headed this way.  We stopped at Gong Rock and after Hassan checked for lions, we were allowed out of the jeep to climb the rocks.  This gave us an even better view of the migration but I must admit I was a little nervous being out of the jeep with over 14,000 lions in the Serengeti.  Gong Rock is an ancient Masai location where there is a large rock that when pounded upon makes metallic sounds.  The sounds vary depending on where the rock is hit and indentations can be seen where it was hit repeatedly.  Leaving Gong Rock we stopped at a lake to enjoy a huge picnic lunch the camp had prepared for us and watch the wildebeest across the other side of the lake.  After lunch we had a long drive back to camp and along the way we saw thousands of zebras, more wildebeest, elephants and giraffes.  It was an amazing day to finish up our safari experience.  Unfortunately I have been really sick the entire safari and could not attend dinner on our final night.  It turns out the cook had baked a cake for Blair and I to celebrate our safari, but they presented it to us the next morning so we could ceremoniously cut the cake and give it to the staff to enjoy 😊

Safari Day 11 – After breakfast and our cake cutting ceremony we left camp at 8:30am for Seronara airport and our flight back to Arusha.  It was interesting flying over the landscape we had just spent 10 days touring.  Maximillian, our safari organizer met us at the Arusha airport with our big suitcases and transferred us to Airport Planet Lodge where we tried to rest until 1am before getting on our flight to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia then onwards to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.  It was a ridiculously long travel day and disappointing that Kenya Airways cancelled our original flight leaving us no option than to fly 3 hours north to Ethiopia then 6 hours south to Zimbabwe.

 

Well, that’s a wrap on our Tanzanian safari.  What an adventure it has been and truly a once in a lifetime experience.  In speaking to other people I think we had a very successful safari seeing a lot of animals, and the wildebeest migration, so we probably don’t need to do this again.  Bouncing around in a jeep for 8 to 10 hours a day for 10 days is not something I think either of us cares to repeat.  That being said, I don’t think most people go for 10 days like we did so I think a shorter duration would be more fun and we would consider that in our future.

We booked our safari with Lemala Camps and Lodges on the recommendation of our friends Sophie & Paul.  We were here at the same time as them but only overlapped 4 nights at two different camps because we had different itineraries, they were here last year and had already been to some of the camps we were staying at and wanted to try some of the others.  They spoke so highly of Lemala and their previous experience that it was an easy decision for us to book our safari with the same company, plus it gave us the opportunity to catch up in person after all these years.  We had a great time together!

I have tried not to let the fact that I was sick colour my opinion of our safari experience so I asked Sophie what her opinion was and here’s what she had to say:

“I think 8 hours a day in a jeep is tough, particularly when it’s hard to rest in between the morning and the afternoon ride when it’s so warm.  There were some days when I had really had enough and would quite happily have given the pm trip a miss…..and then we saw something as it was getting cooler that made it all worthwhile.  Last time we went, we did less safari and balanced it with some beach time in Zanzibar.  This time – 9 days on the trot – was a lot and I don’t think it would be everyone’s cup of tea.  We did get to see a LOT though – but for that you have to really be prepared to put in the effort….really early starts and long days….so, for most people, it doesn’t really class as a holiday – more of an experience.  I think you need to be on top form to bounce around in a dusty jeep for 8 hours a day and actually enjoy it.”

Africa was never on my travel wish list so I said to Blair that if he wanted to go to Africa I was not roughing it 😂 and that’s how we ended up on a luxury safari.  We took the money we saved last winter in SE Asia and put it towards this safari.  Costing USD $19,000 I think this might be a one time adventure, however we made the most of it and overall we had a fabulous experience.  Despite me being sick with what was later diagnosed as a lung infection and Blair being sick for a few days as well.

Next up, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe…..