There are very few things left on my travel bucket list. One of those things is - was - a safari in Africa.
We decided to go to Tanzania, in the east of Africa, rather than South Africa where a lot more people seem to go for safari. We were there for the animals and nothing else and make no mistake, we were far from the only tourists around!
The flight into Kilimanjaro airport was pretty entertaining, as there were strictly two types of people on the plane: those who were climbing the damn thing - and were super jacked up about that fact - and the calmer set of people headed for safari. How to tell the difference? Matching t-shirts!
Most important things first: Did we see the Big 5? Yes we did! The Big 5 were so designated as the animals that big-game hunters find the hardest to hunt on foot. In modern terms it's the main five animals you want to see on safari.
Here they are, in order of most to least abundant:
Lion
Elephant
Leopard
Rhinoceros
We visited different places in one week of safari escorted by two different guides, Ally from a [private] tour company called Maasai Wanderings and Karim through our lodge Nasikia Camps. We - by which I mean Martin entirely on his own - booked the whole shebang through a British travel agent called Yellow Zebra.
Both our guides were fantastic and absolutely invaluable. They are so incredibly well trained at what they do and know so much! We saw very few self-driving fools but the ones we did see I felt sorry for. Just navigating the labyrinth of corrugated gravel roads with no signage would be enough to put you in an early grave. Do. Not. Attempt!
We went "game driving" in 4 separate national parks/conservation areas. They were each surprisingly unique and brought something different to our safari. I will cover the pros and cons of each:
Tarangire National Park
Pros:
- easy drive from Arusha (Google Maps says 4 hours but I don't remember that much driving)
- tons of animals everywhere
- diverse landscapes
- Massive ground to cover with crappy roads that can be onerous to navigate
- minimal public bathrooms/picnic areas/places to get out and stretch your legs
- dusty
Lake Manyara National Park
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| Flamingos in the distance |
Pros:
- fairly small size so not difficult to navigate
- very leafy so considerably cooler
- lots of monkeys if that's your thing
- comparatively sparse with animals, especially big ones
Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area
- rhinos (if you're lucky)
- contained area so animals are trapped in for ease of viewing
- exceedingly long and hard to get to as you have go up, over and down the crater on bad roads...twice
- not great for up close animal viewing
- lacks greenery and incredibly dusty
- accommodation on the crater ridge is expensive so you'll likely have to travel a ways to day trip
- rhinos still difficult to find
- Great Migration if you go at the right time of year
- lush and green so minimal dust
- public wifi surprisingly available
- diverse landscapes
- waiting for a river crossing takes extreme amounts of patience
- so big you will likely spend 2+ hours each day just getting to/from your accommodation
- far from Arusha so you have two unsavory options:
- an incredibly long, painful drive or
- a flight in this dodgy little thing:
- a big, fat python
- meerkats
- crocodiles feasting on animals crossing the river
Back to the topic of the river crossing, wildebeests are very stupid, indecisive animals so it is far from easy to simply locate a herd and watch them all cross. We sat for 2 hours - in pouring rain, in an open vehicle - to catch our first crossing. I was literally reading a book when they finally decided to move!
You really need time and patience to watch these idiots wander to the edge of the river and back...and to the edge again and back...and to the edge and back...before they take the leap into the river. But when they finally do it is really awesome. We saw four river crossings over two full days, totalling many thousands of wildebeests.
Each of the different places we visited was so wildly different but largely had the same animals. But at the end of the day, my top recommendation, where I think you could see 98% of what you want to see in just a few days is Tarangire National Park. It is positively brimming with animals (no rhinos, though, sadly but that is true for most of the planet because humans are terrible). Just look at this watering hole! It was literally our first stop on our first day:
It was unreal and looked like a movie. There were about ten different types of animals just chilling there, waiting to be seen. If you want to do a Tanzania safari efficiently and affordably I reckon 3 days here would do you.
Interesting thing I noticed about the demographic of safari goers is that I saw barely any kids. Everybody was either young and pre-kids or retirees post-kids. Maybe it's the expense or possibly because safari isn't exactly smooth sailing. Long, uncomfortable drives and sometimes a great deal of patience is required. Not exactly kid friendly touristing.
There is so much we did not do because we were laser focused on seeing animals. We didn't visit a Maasai village to see how the natives live. We didn't do any fine dining or city exploration. We didn't even go to Zanzibar to relax at the beach like [literally] every other person we met. The most extracurricular thing we did was dip in the pool when they were available after a long, dusty day of game driving.
His dad was supposed to come, too, but was having some pain problems that completely immobilized him. On infinite miles of crappy roads, trust me, you need to be able to take a beating. Sad times for the fam, but that just means different adventures in the future!
The final thing we did not do, which I admit is pretty shameful, is see Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa, up close and personal. So it's a good thing we saw it from the air as we were leaving!
Hakuna matata, Africa!
