On safari in northern Tanzania
The opportunity to visit some of the national parks in Tanzania followed from our decision to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. After climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, we decided to extend our African stay and take in a few of the well known parks. The country is full of national parks and game preserves, but with limits on our time and money, my son Mark and I only visited three parks, all in the northern part of the country near the border with Kenya. A note about that border: while we were there, Tanzania was reliving part of its independence from Great Britain, and we learned from the stories how Kenya, undergoing the same independence negotiations, was lobbying to have Mt. Kilimanjaro included inside its new border. The port city of Mombasa was also part of those negotiations, and the African leaders from each soon to be independent country were lobbying for that port. In the end, Tanzania received Mt. Kilimanjaro and Kenya received the city of Mombasa and its port.
A couple of notes about going on safari in Tanznia and other east African countries. Mark made our arrangements with Good Earth Tours and Safari, an agency that has offices in the US and Tanzania. We were given options for lodging, ranging in price from the modest to the expensive. We chose the mid-price option and the places we stayed turned out to be very nice in all respects. Our price to the agency covered our lodging, the driver/guide and vehicle, park entrance fees and all of our meals. Alcohol was at our expense, as were tips and gift items, but otherwise, everything was included in the price we paid the agency. Our vehicles while on safari were a Land Rover or comparable, with 3 rows of seats. A front row for the driver and anyone who wanted to sit in front (I did on a few occasions), then 2 rows for tourists. Since it was just the two of us, we had plenty of room to stretch out or move around if you wanted a different view or another photo. When we reached a park, our driver/guide stopped and raised the roof up so that we could either sit and look out the windows or stand up and look out the top of the vehicle as it drove around. I enjoyed standing while we toured the parks as it gave you the chance to take photos in all 360 degrees. Our group of three left in the morning when Mark and I were ready; not at some pre-set time. Our day ended when we wanted, and the guide stopped when we asked. We thought it was much better experience than many of the other tour vehicles we saw, some with over a dozen tourists in a vehicle.
The second note about a safari in Tanzania is a warning to weight watchers: it is very easy to gain weight on safari. We stayed in mid-priced hotels during our time in Tanzania and they were comparable to a Marriott Courtyard in the US. Each morning, we had an extensive breakfast buffet of good food. Our guide and vehicle was always ready before we finished eating, waiting patiently in the lobby. A box lunch was furnished by the hotel and we stopped somewhere during the day to eat our lunch. That box always contained more food than I normally eat for lunch. After lunch and more game drives in a national park, we then went to the same hotel or a different one for the evening, and it had an extensive dinner buffet of good food as well as an ample bar. During the day, we were on game drives and the places where we could get out of the vehicle were limited. So, there was a lot of sitting, photographing, talking and almost no calorie burning activities, unless you went swimming in the hotel's pool. With all of that good food and little exercise, it is easy to gain weight on safari.
A couple of notes about going on safari in Tanznia and other east African countries. Mark made our arrangements with Good Earth Tours and Safari, an agency that has offices in the US and Tanzania. We were given options for lodging, ranging in price from the modest to the expensive. We chose the mid-price option and the places we stayed turned out to be very nice in all respects. Our price to the agency covered our lodging, the driver/guide and vehicle, park entrance fees and all of our meals. Alcohol was at our expense, as were tips and gift items, but otherwise, everything was included in the price we paid the agency. Our vehicles while on safari were a Land Rover or comparable, with 3 rows of seats. A front row for the driver and anyone who wanted to sit in front (I did on a few occasions), then 2 rows for tourists. Since it was just the two of us, we had plenty of room to stretch out or move around if you wanted a different view or another photo. When we reached a park, our driver/guide stopped and raised the roof up so that we could either sit and look out the windows or stand up and look out the top of the vehicle as it drove around. I enjoyed standing while we toured the parks as it gave you the chance to take photos in all 360 degrees. Our group of three left in the morning when Mark and I were ready; not at some pre-set time. Our day ended when we wanted, and the guide stopped when we asked. We thought it was much better experience than many of the other tour vehicles we saw, some with over a dozen tourists in a vehicle.
The second note about a safari in Tanzania is a warning to weight watchers: it is very easy to gain weight on safari. We stayed in mid-priced hotels during our time in Tanzania and they were comparable to a Marriott Courtyard in the US. Each morning, we had an extensive breakfast buffet of good food. Our guide and vehicle was always ready before we finished eating, waiting patiently in the lobby. A box lunch was furnished by the hotel and we stopped somewhere during the day to eat our lunch. That box always contained more food than I normally eat for lunch. After lunch and more game drives in a national park, we then went to the same hotel or a different one for the evening, and it had an extensive dinner buffet of good food as well as an ample bar. During the day, we were on game drives and the places where we could get out of the vehicle were limited. So, there was a lot of sitting, photographing, talking and almost no calorie burning activities, unless you went swimming in the hotel's pool. With all of that good food and little exercise, it is easy to gain weight on safari.
Arusha National Park
Entrance to Arusha National Park
Arusha National Park is close to Mt. Kilimanjaro and we visited it first. The main road between the town of Arusha and the park is a paved road, where the drivers use more bravery in passing than you see in America. I do not recommend trying to drive on African roads on your first visit. Once we left this paved road, we were on dirt roads. Our guide, when turning onto one for the first time, told us we were about to have "an African massage." There was always a lot of bumping and bouncing as we passed along these dirt roads in northern Tanzania, but our guide was careful to slow down in the rougher spots.
We entered Arusha National Park and were greeted by giraffes. What a nice welcome! After driving through and photographing animals in the park, we stopped for lunch and met a couple from Australia who were living and doing mission work in Tanzania. They had two small children with them, so Mark and I donated the candy bars included in our lunch boxes, offering them to the children. The mother recognized the treat and politely said that she and her husband would be sharing those candy bars that evening. I guess they were a treat for everyone. Later, we stopped at an administration building and learned that a walking tour of the park would be starting in a short while. Mark and I decided to join that walking tour. The park ranger/guide carried a rifle and, early in walk, I casually asked if he had ever used his rifle on one of these walks. He calmly said "yes," so I decided that I would not get too far away from the man with the rifle during this walk. On our walk, we passed by a herd of buffalo, with one lone buffalo lying down some distance away from the rest of the herd. Our guide watched it closely and said it was probably on old male that had been kicked out of the herd, and those were the most unpredictable. We watched it and it watched us while we passed maybe 100 feet away.
Mt. Meru is in Arusha National Park, elevation 15,000+ feet, and many climbers use it as a "warm up" before climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. Being in a national park, there are opportunities to see more animals on a climb up Mt. Meru than you see when climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. Many folks come to Tanzania and climb Mt. Meru and that serves as a combined safari and climbing experience.
We entered Arusha National Park and were greeted by giraffes. What a nice welcome! After driving through and photographing animals in the park, we stopped for lunch and met a couple from Australia who were living and doing mission work in Tanzania. They had two small children with them, so Mark and I donated the candy bars included in our lunch boxes, offering them to the children. The mother recognized the treat and politely said that she and her husband would be sharing those candy bars that evening. I guess they were a treat for everyone. Later, we stopped at an administration building and learned that a walking tour of the park would be starting in a short while. Mark and I decided to join that walking tour. The park ranger/guide carried a rifle and, early in walk, I casually asked if he had ever used his rifle on one of these walks. He calmly said "yes," so I decided that I would not get too far away from the man with the rifle during this walk. On our walk, we passed by a herd of buffalo, with one lone buffalo lying down some distance away from the rest of the herd. Our guide watched it closely and said it was probably on old male that had been kicked out of the herd, and those were the most unpredictable. We watched it and it watched us while we passed maybe 100 feet away.
Mt. Meru is in Arusha National Park, elevation 15,000+ feet, and many climbers use it as a "warm up" before climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. Being in a national park, there are opportunities to see more animals on a climb up Mt. Meru than you see when climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. Many folks come to Tanzania and climb Mt. Meru and that serves as a combined safari and climbing experience.
Tarangire National Park
Mark and Prosper, our guide
We left our first night's lodging, drove most of the morning through the countryside and reached Tarangire National Park around lunch time. We drove through the park that afternoon and spent the night in Kikoti Camp, a private camp just outside of the park. The next morning, we toured the park again. Lots of wonderful photo opportunities on those two drives through the park. After lunch on the second day, we stopped at a shop just outside the park where the local Maasai women were selling hand made jewelry, so we bought a few gift items. The price negotiations between Prosper, who was carrying our messages, and the oldest woman in the group were difficult because none of the women spoke English, our guide did not speak the local dialect very well and the women spoke Swahili very poorly. Add to that the lead negotiator's firm conviction that her announced prices were fixed (which was not true and we knew it) and it was an interesting session.
Kikoti Camp is a tent camp and very intriguing. After a couple of drinks and visiting the other tourists around a campfire, we had another nice buffet dinner. Then Mark and I spent the night in a tent on a raised platform, but the walls were canvas. After dark, you were not allowed to walk on the path from your tent to the main lodge area. Instead, there were guides out and waiting to escort you, each with a light and a spear. How interesting, I thought. Our tent, and all others, came equipped with a whistle and a lantern in case you needed either. About 5 am, Mark woke me up and, with my failing hearing and no hearing aids, I could not understand all of his words, but did pick up the words "lions" and "snoring". I then laid frozen in bed, worried that my snoring might be attracting lions. As I laid there, I did hear lions nearby. No, not nearby, but very, very close. If I could hear them without a hearing aid, they had to be close. It was not the roar of an MGM type lion, but rather the low purr of a large cat. I wondered if they could and would climb the steps into the tent, so I looked for the whistle and waited. Sunrise and breakfast time came without incident. Mark saw elephant dung between our tent and the next tent, less than 10 feet away, that had not been there when we went to bed. Sometime during the evening, elephants walked between these two tents and no one heard them. Another African fact that surprised me.
One of the manager's of this private camp was from Hungary. He came to Africa after college in Europe to work on a coffee plantation. When that job ended, he realized that he had fallen in love with Africa. He found a job at Kikoti Camp and was happy to be able to remain.
Prosper our driver/guide for this part of our safari was excited that he spotted and we saw a cheetah and a leopard in Tarangire National Park. The cheetah was lying in the brown grass with logs nearby and I could not distinguish it from the surroundings until it moved, raising its head and moving its tail.
Kikoti Camp is a tent camp and very intriguing. After a couple of drinks and visiting the other tourists around a campfire, we had another nice buffet dinner. Then Mark and I spent the night in a tent on a raised platform, but the walls were canvas. After dark, you were not allowed to walk on the path from your tent to the main lodge area. Instead, there were guides out and waiting to escort you, each with a light and a spear. How interesting, I thought. Our tent, and all others, came equipped with a whistle and a lantern in case you needed either. About 5 am, Mark woke me up and, with my failing hearing and no hearing aids, I could not understand all of his words, but did pick up the words "lions" and "snoring". I then laid frozen in bed, worried that my snoring might be attracting lions. As I laid there, I did hear lions nearby. No, not nearby, but very, very close. If I could hear them without a hearing aid, they had to be close. It was not the roar of an MGM type lion, but rather the low purr of a large cat. I wondered if they could and would climb the steps into the tent, so I looked for the whistle and waited. Sunrise and breakfast time came without incident. Mark saw elephant dung between our tent and the next tent, less than 10 feet away, that had not been there when we went to bed. Sometime during the evening, elephants walked between these two tents and no one heard them. Another African fact that surprised me.
One of the manager's of this private camp was from Hungary. He came to Africa after college in Europe to work on a coffee plantation. When that job ended, he realized that he had fallen in love with Africa. He found a job at Kikoti Camp and was happy to be able to remain.
Prosper our driver/guide for this part of our safari was excited that he spotted and we saw a cheetah and a leopard in Tarangire National Park. The cheetah was lying in the brown grass with logs nearby and I could not distinguish it from the surroundings until it moved, raising its head and moving its tail.
Ngorongoro Crater
Ngorongoro Crater from the air
We left Tarangire National Park after lunch and the visit to the shop of the local Maasai women, drove through the countryside all afternoon, then climbed up the side of the mountain and spent the night in a lodge on the east side of Ngorongoro Crater rim, at an elevation over 8,000 feet. We got there shortly before dinner. After another fine buffet dinner in the very large main dining room (where a very accommodating waiter changed the music from American pop to African traditional), we walked outside and were met by a ranger who was closely watching a couple of buffalo grazing on the hotel lawn. You don't see that every day, I thought.
Our room tonight was the largest we had. In all other rooms, we had two single beds, a desk and enough space for our bags, but not much more. This night, we had a huge room with two king size beds and lots of space to walk around. The next morning, Prosper was ready after our buffet breakfast (our driver/guide handled all of our check in and check out procedures at each hotel, and it was always efficient). We left the hotel and drove to the entrance to the park. The entrance is on the rim of the crater, and the park is down in the crater, so you have a steep downhill drive at the start of the day and a steep uphill drive at the end of the day. Around the crater rim, there are several nice lodging options, which provide a lot of tour vehicles in the crater, although we did not see many until after a lion laid down near us, then lots of tour vehicles magically appeared from no-where to photograph this lion, then just as quickly left to some other part of the crater where we could not see them.
After our game drive in the crater and lunch, we drove back to our starting point, the lodge in Arusha, where we spent the night before flying to Rwanda the next morning.
Our room tonight was the largest we had. In all other rooms, we had two single beds, a desk and enough space for our bags, but not much more. This night, we had a huge room with two king size beds and lots of space to walk around. The next morning, Prosper was ready after our buffet breakfast (our driver/guide handled all of our check in and check out procedures at each hotel, and it was always efficient). We left the hotel and drove to the entrance to the park. The entrance is on the rim of the crater, and the park is down in the crater, so you have a steep downhill drive at the start of the day and a steep uphill drive at the end of the day. Around the crater rim, there are several nice lodging options, which provide a lot of tour vehicles in the crater, although we did not see many until after a lion laid down near us, then lots of tour vehicles magically appeared from no-where to photograph this lion, then just as quickly left to some other part of the crater where we could not see them.
After our game drive in the crater and lunch, we drove back to our starting point, the lodge in Arusha, where we spent the night before flying to Rwanda the next morning.