I had never given much thought to going on a safari. However, when I decided to go to Tanzania and climb Mount Kilimanjaro, I knew I couldn’t leave without seeing the Serengeti. I had no idea when I would be back in Africa. Once I started doing some research, I realised I would be there for the migration of the Wildebeest and the Zebras. This was an opportunity I could not miss !!!
So I booked a safari to start after my climb and before going to Zanzibar. I arranged with the tour company that we would start in Arusha and end at the Lake Manyara Airstrip. During the email trail, they told me as I was going at a quieter time, that my tour group would be small. Most groups were usually less than 12.
You can read all about me summiting Kilimanjaro in another short story – “Summiting Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania”
On day 1, my guide Joseph met me in his jeep and told me I would be the only person on the tour. Initially I had mixed opinions on this as it is always nice to meet fellow travellers. He confirmed that I would be staying at various camps overnight. He gave me a quick overview of the plans for each day. Joseph said as I was the only traveller, he’d be happy to change the itinerary any day if there was something I would prefer to see and we had sufficient time.
I have outlined how my tour went and added some of the many photographs (all unedited) I took along the way.
Day 1 Ngorongoro Conservation Area to Olduvai Camp
The journey from Arusha to Mayanuni took about 1 hour and 45 minutes. I got my first glimpse of the ever changing landscape. The landscape become rural quickly and we passed coffee plantations. While Tanzania isn’t the largest exporter of coffee in Africa (that honour goes to Uganda), it does export over 80,000 tonnes per annum with a value of $230m in 2022.
In Mayanuni, I got my first look at the Maasai. They really are a striking, distinctive and elegant race. Mayanuni is just a truck stop but is one of the last places to purchase any additional supplies you may want to take with you. Meals were included in my itinerary, so I didn’t need much. On the itinerary, the tour company had suggested purchasing the local gin – Konyagi, here. As I would be spending a lot of time on my own and camping, I decided to stick to water ! A lot of different types of bananas are grown in Tanzania and Joseph bought several different ones. I had never seen bananas like some of them before.
We then drove for about 30 minutes towards Manyara. My tour didn’t include visiting Lake Manyara National Park. I think it would be a good addition to a longer tour though. We passed through a small market town “Mto wa Mbu” (River of Mosquitoes).
We drove for about 90 minutes through farmlands that looked well irrigated and you could see the forests of Ngorongoro in the distance. Next we passed a farming community where all structures had tin roofs called “Karatu”. This is known as the Red Town due to the colour of the sand.
We then arrived at the Ngorongoro Lodge Gate. From then on, we would be travelling in the conservation areas. My guide had some paperwork to compete at the lodge as all visitors details are documented and park entrance fees are paid. My daily fees were included in the tour costs. There were lots of monkeys and baboons around the area and Joseph told me to be very careful not to take out any food, as they would try and take it from me.
A 24 hour permit to the Ngorongoro Conservation area costs approximately $35 per adult currently. The Ngorongoro conservation area, is situated between the Serengeti and the Rift Valley Escarpment. It is a mountainous area with spectacular scenery surrounding the Ngorongoro Crater. It is considered a mixed use conservation area as the Maasai live alongside the wildlife. I understand it is known for hiking so I would love to return to verify that !!
After leaving the lodge we drove for another 30 minutes towards the Crater. You could start to feel the first signs of the change in altitude. I was told that there are elephants in the forest areas but it’s rare that they are visible. I then got my first glimpse of the crater and it really is jaw dropping. We stopped to appreciate the view. You needed binoculars to see the animals in the swamps below. I could see lots of Buffalo and Wildebeest. It was great to be on the tour alone as I could enjoy this in silence and to stay as long as I wanted. Joseph was turning out to be the perfect guide. He gave me a quick overview of what I was seeing but then seemed to appreciate that I am one of those people who like to watch in silence.
We then drove for about an hour towards the camp for the first night. I was staying at “Olduvai Camp”. We travelled along the Western Descent Road and the area was greener than the terrain I had seen earlier in the day.
Olduvai Camp is situated in the South of the Serengeti. The Serengeti is probably one of the most well known areas to go on Safari. It stretches over 30,000 square kilometres from the Maasai Mara of Kenya to the National Park in Tanzania. While it can sometimes get bad press for being too crowded, it is hard to imagine that you can’t find quite areas to watch the animals in such a vast area. I was lucky to be there right at the time of the migration of the Zebras and the Wildebeest and it really is magnificent to see it. I had no concept of the noise and sheer scale of this event and you will see I mention it regularly during the rest of this post. I also had never seen a zebra before and they are really beautiful. They stand with their head resting on the back of another so that they have a 360 view at all times, to look out for predators.
My first night in the area was extremely memorable and the details are in my short story “My Maasai Moment in Tanzania”
The camp was extremely luxurious with every creature comfort you needed. I really would love to stay there for several days, as a few hours overnight isn’t enough to appreciate the place. I have included some photos below.
Day 2
It was just so comfortable and quite, I slept really well that night. When I was having breakfast the following morning, the manager asked if I would like to go for a walk with the Maasai and have Joseph meet me along the way.
After the shenanigans of the night before (go read my short story !), I was delighted to walk with my Maasai friends again. At one stage a family of giraffes walked right by me. I just felt so privileged to be experiencing this.
Joseph duly met me after we had walked for about an hour. Part of me was tempted to tell him to cancel the day as I was reluctant to leave but I was also excited about what the day had in store.
We then drove for close to 2 hours to Nabbi Hill. There wasn’t a lot of wildlife to see and this area is known for its paleontological digs. The area is known as “The Birthplace of Mankind” due to the findings of the Leakey family credited with identifying 5 chapters of mankind.
The “Shifting Sands” area are two huge black sand dunes which apparently drift across the flatlands during the years. Nabbi Hill is the entry point of the Serengeti National Park and is a large granite structure. A permit for an adult for 24 hours to the Serengeti National park now costs $70 and $60 in low season.
We then spent about 4 hours driving around. I got to see a real Kopjes structure for the first time. This is the large rock structure where big cats rest. We went to see two which are popular with the big cats the “Simba Kopjes” and the “Maasai Kopjes”. We were luck to see lions resting at both. We also saw lots of cheetahs out on the plains.
I also saw Thompson Gazelles for the first time. I had seen deers before but these are really beautiful animals. There were lots of Topi and giraffe everywhere you looked.
We then arrived at the “Seronera Valley”. This is located to the North of the plains and is a broad sweeping valley containing grasslands, woodland areas and granite hills. This area contains the largest population of lions and cheetah and is considered a good source of water, all year around, for the wildlife. I took one of my favourite photos of some Thompson Gazelles in this area.
I spent my 2nd night at Ronja Bivouac. My guide left and I was alone with two local men Yetro and Mohammed. They quickly pitched our tents and they set up a temporary toilet and shower tent. They also set up a small area with a fly sheet rain cover for the dining and kitchen area. I did feel like a very privileged tourist watching these two men assemble the camp. They wouldn’t let me do a thing to help. I also did have a few minutes wondering how safe I was. No one at home had my detailed itinerary and I was about to spend the night in the middle of nowhere (literally) with two male strangers I had just met. I managed to ignore my nerves and the two men were complete gentlemen. We had a lovely evening talking, eating and sharing stories about our very different lives. They told me it was rare for them to just have one person staying and the maximum was 8 (4 by 2 person tents) at that site.
My single tent comprised of a stretcher style bed. Before I retired Mohammed told me that sometimes lions come around the camp at nighttime. He said not to leave my tent at any stage during the night. He said if I needed anything or got nervous, I was to call out and put my flashlight on and one of them would come to assist me. I really didn’t know if this was true or all part of the “experience” but I assured him I would follow his direction. I did tell him, I liked to read for awhile before going asleep and asked if it was okay to have my kindle light on or if that would attract any wildlife and he said it was fine.
To my surprise I fell asleep really quickly. However, I woke up in the middle of the night and I could hear movement close by. It was a little peculiar lying there wondering what the sounds were and they did appear to come close to my tent. I resisted the urge to put on my flashlight and I tried to stay very still and not move. The sound seemed to go on for a good few minutes and I was relived when it seemed to stop or go away. I went into a deep sleep and didn’t wake until one of the men shouted my name the following morning.
After I dressed and came over to them for breakfast, they asked how I slept and if I heard the noises that night. They showed me paw prints around our campsite and they said they were surprised I hadn’t called out to them during the night. Again I tried not to think that this was all for my benefit !!
Day 3 – Serengeti
My third day was extremely memorable as we just drove around all day long. We stopped when we saw something interesting and Joseph was the perfect knowledgable guide.
We has two encounters with humans on this day. One showed the absolute best of human nature and one the worst. In order to do this justice, I have written a story about the lovely experience on my blog “Out of the Mouths of Babes”.
The other one showed tourists at their worst. We were driving along the road and ahead we saw a huge group of zebras and wildebeest. I was delighted to see a large group again and we pulled over to watch it.
However, then to my horror two tourist jeeps approached us very quickly. They didn’t stop and appeared to accelerate. They drove straight through the animals. I was shocked and shouted “what the hell are they doing”. Joseph was shaking with frustration and told me that some tourists will ask them to do this, so they can stop them crossing the road to see how the animals would react. It really was one of the most heartbreaking things I have seen and the noise was unbelievable. The roars of the animals turned into screams and you could see some scattering on the road. Some of the ones who had crossed the road stopped and seemed to be looking back at the ones on the other side of the road. Those that hadn’t crossed also ground to a halt. After a few minutes they retreated down a few meters and then ran across the road again. They didn’t run towards the animals that had crossed and appeared to race parallel to them. I asked Joseph if they would meet up again and he said it was possible. He said it was a very dangerous thing to do as some animals could be injured and the young could be separated from their families.
We waited until they had passed and then Joseph took off like a man possessed. He approached the two jeeps which were still parked where they have driven into the animals. I was relieved not to see any dead ones or signs of bloods. An aggressive exchange then took place between Joseph and the two drivers. The tourists were all white and well dressed in safari gear and had expensive cameras. They were silent and then it appeared that their guides told them what was being said. Some of them actually laughed. I was horrified and I just said over to them ”You don’t deserve to be here, you should be ashamed of yourselves. That was a disgusting thing to do” and they just laughed at me. I asked Joseph if we could just leave and we did. He had taken both registration numbers of the jeeps and he told me he would report them to his management and also at the park office. He said he doesn’t see that happening as much now as people do get fired for disrupting the animals but he said some guides will do this just for additional tips. It did put a bit of a dampener on my day and we were both silent for awhile.
I saw so many different types of wildlife after that including Impalas, CrownCrane, Hyenas, Cheetahs, Lions, Warthogs, Grant Gazelles to name but a few.
We also spent some time at a river where I saw lots of Hippopotamuses. They really are huge, even the baby ones I took photographs of.
My 3rd night was spent at another campsite with Yetro and Mohammed. Again I slept well and we didn’t appear to have any night visitors to the camp.
Day 4
Our day started by driving back towards Nabbi hill across the Seronera for about an hour. I was very happy to revisit some of the Kopjes again and we were lucky to see some lions resting on one. We also saw two lions on the prowl and eventually attack an antelope. I know this is just nature and they all have to survive but it was sad seeing it in person. We also approached a place that clearly had been a kill site earlier as the buzzards were all hovering.
Two lions walked right by our jeep, one on either side of the road. Joseph told me some stories about tourists who will ask to get out of the jeep when an animal is approaching, to get the ultimate picture. Sometimes it is stunning the stupidity of people !!!
This was one of the days I was glad we were alone as Joseph had lots of options for me including a 3 hour round trip to Lake Magadi. I did ask if he was okay driving so far and he said he was happy to as usually they don’t have time to go there with larger tours. Magadi means salt in Swahili.
The lake was beautiful. It’s a shallow lake and is covered 80% in salt and is inhabited by lots of wading birds and flamingos. It really was a spectacular sight and I was delighted we had time to go. Joseph also told me it was one of his favourite places to visit. Unfortunately, none of my photographs captured this place well.
My last night was spent back at the luxurious Olduvai Camp. I was delighted to see my Maasai friends again but I was too late to go on a walk with them. There were two Australian tourists staying also and they shouted my name as I was walking to my tent. I presumed the manager had told them about other guests. They told me there was much excitement about my arrival among the Maasai men and they knew all about me climbing Kilimanjaro and about my evening on my first night. It did make me feel special !!!
Last day
We had to leave the camp at 7am the following morning so again I didn’t get to walk with the Maasai. I was starting to feel sad about leaving but also very privileged to have seen and experienced so much. And to think this part of my trip was the “add on” as the objective was to climb Kilimanjaro and then to visit Zanzibar.
We drove for almost 4 hours. I was delighted to see the Ngorongoro crater again. We stopped at the Ngorongoro gate and Joseph again had some administration to complete.
We arrived promptly at the Manyara Airstrip for me to take 2 flights to Zanzibar. The 2nd of which features in my 5 most memorable flights
I really hope you enjoyed reading this and seeing my unedited photos. If you haven’t gone on a safari, I hope this will inspire you to do so. Due to the cost, I think most people will only go on safari once, so I do suggest you do lots of research to select the perfect one for you.
I am not sure I will go on one again as I don’t think anything will match this experience. I would however, like to go to other parts of the World to see animals in their natural habitats. This trip really confirmed how much I love wildlife and the natural World.
