Out of Africa
 

I haven't written a trip report in years, but figured I owed this community for all the help I received when planning our first safari, and first trip to sub-Saharan Africa, so here goes. Warning, there will be a lot of details, from booking, airline problems and journey, and of course the actual trip. When I used to post trip reports on the Asia forum, no amount of detail was too much. Everyone wanted very detailed reports about every aspect of the trip, so I'm assuming this forum is no different.

I've wanted to go on a safari for decades, but wanted to wait until we could afford to do it in the style I wanted, which was basically 5 star tents. I chose Tanzania because when I was in law school 30 years ago, I used to watch Nature on PBS every Sunday night (our Public Broadcasting Service in the U.S., I assume some non-Americans may be reading this), and was completely enthralled when they had shows on the Serengeti. I knew then that I had to go there one day. DH was on board, but he will basically go anywhere I choose. I'm pretty lucky in that regard.

Last September, I went onto the United Mileage Plus website on a whim one night when I was bored, and booked round-trip business class tickets on Turkish Airlines (saver award tix, 180,000 miles round-trip per person), JFK-Kilimanjaro (via Istanbul), Zanzibar-JFK (also via Istanbul) and informed DH we were going to Tanzania the following August. After booking the airline tickets, I needed a safari outfitter. I'm used to planning everything myself, even planning and booking a three week trip to Burma, Laos and Thailand without help of a travel agent back in 2003, when Burma and Laos had really no tourism infrastructure to speak of. That was also my first experience with Fodor's forums as I joined, went onto the Asia forum and bravely asked whether we should go to Inle Lake or Mandalay (Inle Lake won). I've made life-long friends due to that first post in 2003, but I digress. I knew that planning a safari was out of even my league so I solicited recommendations on this forum for an agent. One of the recommendations I got was for Extraordinary Journeys. I believe Safari_Craig led me to them (where has he been?) I contacted about 6 or 7 different outfitters. Several never responded at all. One was particularly snooty as I suppose our budget did not meet their minimum (I originally stated between $5000 and $7500 per person, excluding international airfare. It ended up costing about $8000 per person, not including airfare, tips, hotel in Dar Es Salaam, and lunches and dinners in Dar, Arusha and Zanzibar). The others that got back to me seemed to want to sell me a safari of their choosing, without listening to what we wanted. It came down to two, Extraordinary Journeys and ATR. Extraordinary Journeys won as Pearl, the consultant that was working with me, really listened and put together the best balance of price and lodgings. Pearl and I spoke on the phone many times, she was always available to answer questions and I never had to wait after emailing or calling for more than a few hours when she wasn't immediately available. She also called me a few days before the trip and spent about 45 minutes on the phone with me, going through everything page by page of the information booklet that was put to together for our trip and express mailed to us.

The original itinerary had us leaving August 2 from JFK and arriving in Kilimanjaro (JRO) August 4 at 1:10 AM, (thus Pearl booked a hotel in Arusha for August 3 so we could sleep for a few hours and shower before setting out on safari the morning of August 4), two nights Tarangire, two nights in Karatu (Ngorongoro Region), one night central Serengeti, 4 nights northern Serengeti, fly to Zanzibar, for three nights. Because of airline schedule changes, twice, I had major headaches and had to scramble to rebook air reservations. This happens when you book so far in advance, but when you want to use award miles for business/first class seats, you frequently have to book 11 months out. The first change occurred in January or February when Turkish changed the IST-JRO flight. I found out by accident when I decided to go on to the Turkish Airlines website one night and look at the flights. Neither Turkish nor United bothered to advise me of the change, which had our flights ending in Istanbul. I gave United holy hell over this and got them to put some miles back into our accounts. Turkish refused to honor our miles on the IST-JRO flight. After hours spent on the United web site, I finally found flights on Ethiopian Airlines in business class, from Newark to Addis Ababa and then to Dar Es Salaam. That ended up being changed too at the end of April, with our flight getting into Addis Ababa 90 minutes after our connecting flight was leaving, but at least United sent an email to me for that one, but it was still another big headache. We ended up leaving July 31 and flying from Newark (EWR) on United to Hamburg, Germany, then on Turkish Airlines from Hamburg to Istanbul, Istanbul to Dar Es Salaam. We had to spend two nights in Dar (one and a half really) and then fly from DAR to JRO. After re-booking, I checked both United and Turkish websites every other day, and as the trip grew closer, I checked every day. I wasn't taking any chances.

When July 31 finally rolled around, after almost 11 months of anticipation and a good deal of anxiety, and me dropping my treadmill on my foot the day we were leaving, DH and I made our way to EWR with carry-on bags only for the 15 nights (packing was a whole other headache, especially with a 33 pound limit, including carry-on, due to the flight from the Serengeti to Zanzibar). Since we had only carry-on, we were able to take the LIRR to Penn Station, and get a train to EWR. Once we were checked in with our boarding passes and my sore but unbroken foot, we made our way to the new United Polaris lounge, which just opened at the end of June. The lounge was fabulous, with good champagne and waiter service and a good menu. We hung out there for a couple of hours until it was time for us to board. The flight was very pleasant, with lie-flat seats in Polaris Class and Saks 5th Ave. bedding (really just one large sheet to put over the seat), decent food (the salmon was a bit dry though), but plenty of champagne to keep me happy. By the time we landed in Hamburg for a 3+ hour layover, we were already exhausted and felt like crap. Neither of us slept much on the flight over. I was too excited to get much sleep. The Lufthansa business class lounge in Hamburg sucked, to put it mildly, crowded, not much food and nothing appealing, and the seating was uncomfortable. The flight on Turkish Airlines to Istanbul wasn't much better. It was business class, but it was only marginally better than economy. The seats reclined a fraction more than economy seats, and the food was nothing to get excited about. It was a 4 and a half hour flight and Turkish should be ashamed of themselves for having such a crappy business class on an international flight that long. I had been told that Turkish Airlines had one of the best business class cabins in the sky but I was less than impressed.

After a lengthy 4+ hour layover that we spent in the Turkish Airlines business class lounge, we were finally on our way to Tanzania. A few thoughts first about the lounge in Istanbul. It is huge and crowded and was not at all appealing. Lots of food and drink, but we weren't interested. We did not qualify for one of their "suites" because they said the 6 hour 25 minute flight to Dar was not a long-haul flight. It felt pretty long-haul to us. We passed the time in their theater type room, in broken recliners, watching concert films. One was Leonard Cohen so at least that much was enjoyable. The flight to Dar was a vast improvement over the HAM-IST flight. Although the seats were not lie flat, the rows were several feet apart and the seats reclined pretty far back and the foot rest came up high, so sleeping was possible. The food was also better on this flight.

After about 26 and a half hours of travel, we finally arrived in Dar at about 2:15 AM on August 2. We had to get our visas and go through immigration, both fairly painless. We needed to fill out an immigration form, have our pictures taken, then had to bring the forms and passports to a window and pay the $100.00 each visa fee. Although the window states that they take credit cards, we were told in advance to pay cash, in bills not older than 2009. Then we waited about 15 minutes until our names were called, and we got our passports with the visas in them. The visa takes an entire page so make sure you have the empty page in your passport. We were then met by someone from the hotel I booked for the night of August 1. I booked a cheap airport hotel, the Airport Transit Lodge, $35.00 on Expedia. We just wanted a place to lay our heads down for a few hours, take a shower and leave. It was quite dumpy but clean enough, although we hardly got any sleep. We got there at about 3:40 AM. Sleep was all but impossible for the first hour and a half. The hotel is right next to a loud speaker that the call to prayer comes over. I've been to several Islamic countries on many occasions, and the call to prayer is usually 5 times a day. Here, it was 5 times within an hour. This is no exaggeration. Every time I would start to doze off, the call would start, really, really loud. It finally ended sometime after 5:00 AM and we got a few hours sleep. The hotel included breakfast, which I skipped in order to sleep an extra 30 minutes, but DH said that they actually made him eggs to order. After showers, we left the dump and hired a driver to take us to the Hyatt Regency (The Kilimanjaro) in Dar where we spent the night of August 2. Very nice hotel and we were given a large room with a pool and sea view. I was able to get this hotel using Hyatt points which was a very good thing since when I checked the price of this hotel, it was about $300 for the one night. I really did not want to spend that much for a hotel that we would be at for less than 24 hours. I got an email from Hyatt about 5 weeks before the trip saying I had 12,011 points that would expire at the end of August. It just so happened that the one night at The Kilimanjaro was 12,000 points. Serendipity.

Dar really did not look like a city we cared to explore or spend time in. We stuck close to the hotel, only going to a museum on the history of Tanzania. While interesting, it reminded me of the Antiquities Museum in Cairo, a lot of history poorly displayed. I suppose that is the result of a lack of funding. We ate lunch and dinner at the hotel and the food wasn't all that good, in fact, it was fairly tasteless. They do make a decent mojito however.

A word about money. I was told by my safari consultant that it is perfectly fine to tip in and use American dollars all over Tanzania as they are accepted everywhere. Someone on this forum however said it was wrong to tip in American money since the people would not always be in a place to exchange the dollars, and they would lose money in the transaction. Before leaving the airport in Dar, I wanted to change the equivalent of about $600 into shillings for tips and incidentals. No ATM in Tanzania however will allow you to pull more than 400,000 shillings out at a time. This is the equivalent of about $175.00, clearly not enough, and if you are leaving on safari that day, you are out of luck and cannot get more. I would not risk multiple transactions at the same ATM or even within a few hours of each other for fear my debit card might get eaten by the ATM. Although I was able to go to ATMs several times over the course of two days, it turns out there was no need. American dollars ARE accepted everywhere and there is no reason for the people you are tipping to even bother to exchange the dollars for shillings. In fact, in many places, prices are listed in dollars only. I wouldn't waste time hunting down ATMs to exchange your dollars. If you have a different currency, that is another story that I cannot speak to.

The following morning, we had a 7:30 flight from DAR to JRO, that I booked using Precision Air, cost of about $150 per person. The flight lasted about an hour and we got a view of Mt. Kilimanjaro from the plane. There was another airline offering the flight for about $30.00 per person, but Pearl said that her agency will not use them for various reasons. I decided I did not want to risk using them either. We were met at the airport by a someone from Cheli & Peacock, the agency in East Africa that Extraordinary Journeys uses, to bring us to our hotel in Arusha. The journey to the hotel, the African Tulip, took about an hour. We were upgraded to a suite with a large terrace which we put to good use for our happy hour. The driver arranged for us to be picked up at 1:00 PM to take us to The Tanzanite Experience, a sort of museum of the history and mining of tanzanite, and of course showroom. I wanted to buy a piece of tanzanite jewelry as a souvenir, and because it is a beautiful precious stone which, unlike diamonds, is truly very rare. It is mined in only one place in the world, near the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro. It was first discovered in the 1960s and is expected to run out in about 20 years, give or take. It is not found anywhere else on Earth. The color is said to be the color of Elizabeth Taylor's eyes, a blue violet. It is. I did buy a pendant there that is set in 18k white gold, with small diamonds around it. It isn't cheap, but it really is beautiful. That was the first of three pieces of jewelry I bought. I later bought a pair of earrings (at our first safari lodge, where there is an outlet of the Tanzanite Experience, minus the museum), and a bracelet in Zanzibar. We ate at the hotel, which was actually a bit better than the food at the Hyatt in Dar, but not terribly memorable. We were visited by a representative of Cheli & Peacock that evening to brief us on what to expect, and to have us sign a waiver. I suppose this is standard. Basically, you are stating that you have insurance, medical insurance and evacuation etc. We were told that our driver, Silas, would be at the hotel at 8:30 AM to begin our safari. Silas was our driver/guide for the 10 days of safari. We had a private safari, with only Silas, DH and I in the Toyota Land Cruiser. I'm glad we booked it this way as I would not have even one other person in the vehicle. Once there is a third person in the back, there will always be one person who will not have an optimal view. The vehicle had a refrigerator in the back and was stocked with plenty of bottled water, and had several outlets and USB connections to charge camera batteries and phones. The vehicle takes a load of abuse and is built like a tank.

Silas came on time and brought us to an ATM and an Airtel kiosk so I could buy a SIM card for my iPhone. I chose Airtel because they are supposed to have good overall coverage, and because they are supposed to be good in the Serengeti, where we would be spending 5 nights of our safari. The plan I bought was for 25 GB of data only, no voice. I wanted to be able to upload photographs at night to Facebook, and text and email photos to family that are not on Facebook. It cost 60,000 shillings, or about $30.00. It turned out that I could have gone with a cheaper plan that had both voice and a lot less data as every lodge and camp we stayed at had fairly reliable WiFi. My carrier, Sprint, allows unlimited data in many countries, including Tanzania, but only at 2G overseas. Too slow to upload large files although Airtel's fastest speed was 3G, not that much better, but it did work pretty well most of the time, but not in the northern Serengeti, where we spent 4 nights.

It took about 2 and a half hours to reach our first lodge, Maramboi Tented Lodge, about 20 minutes outside of Tarangire National Park. We spent two nights here. On the way, we had our first animal sightings, wildebeest. Maramboi is very nice, with large raised suites, en suite, with a balcony. We had two beds, one king and the other looked to be a queen, plenty of hot water for showers. Everything is included here, including beer and wine. The people working there are extremely friendly and go out of their way to see to your every need. Upon arriving, we were briefed about the lodge, and told that we are not to walk around the grounds or back to our suite after dark without an escort as there are wild animals roaming. We had lunch at the lodge, which consisted of salads and several different hot dishes, some very tasty although I cannot remember now what they were, washed down with a couple of glasses of wine. The lodge also includes 200 MB of free WiFi per 24 hours which proved to be sufficient. While eating lunch, which they set up outside in a covered area but open on sides, zebras, giraffes and wildebeest came by and were within about 20 feet of the pavilion where we were eating. For someone like me who has only seen these animals in a zoo setting, it was very exciting. There were also some very beautiful birds but not being a birder, I can't really say what they were. I wish now that I would have asked.

After lunch, we went on our first game drive, to Tarangire National Park. Tarangire is a protected area, and turned out to be my second favorite destination, after the Serengeti.

I'll continue this later. I can use a break, and anyone reading this probably can too! I'll try and post some photos as well.

I am enjoying your report Laurico, I left part of my heart in Tanzania and it is nice to go back through trip reports!

Thanks You for taking the time to post, I know it can be a bit tedious at times , so I am happy you are taking the time to do so.

I was in Kenya ,Tanzania and Zanzibar when I did my 3 1/2 week Safari,

Looking forward to more and to some pictures also.

Keep it coming, laurieco. I'm on board for a good long read + photos. From what I hear, the light is extraordinary in Tanzania and as a photographer, the thought makes me drool.

Laurico, I've been waiting for this report! Thanks for posting it and for including lots of detail.

I’m along for the ride too! Great start - love all the details. Looking forward to your next installment!

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Our suite at Maramboi
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Animal watching while having lunch at the lodge
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While having a beer at the pool some giraffes walked by

This is timely, as were starting to think about going, and frankly, I’m overwhelmed. The details are really helpful, and the pictures are beautiful!

It took about 20 minutes to get to Tarangire. Silas had to register at the office and buy the passes, which took another 10-15 minutes or so before we could drive into the heart of the park. I don't know how much they cost as they were included in the total price of the safari. I assume that is standard with any safari outfitter. There are rest rooms there which I advise anyone going into the park to use, as it will be your last chance. Once you go beyond the gate, you won't find any facilities. This is not a zoo, animals are not brought in, and there is a very insignificant human footprint. As far as putting up structures, there aren't any. The roads are dirt, not paved, and once in a while you will see a marker that points to a certain area, so drivers know where they are going. There were animals roaming everywhere. Giraffes, elephants, warthogs, mongoose, baboons, impalas, vultures, and zebras and wildebeest who apparently didn't get the memo that they were supposed to be migrating north to the Serengeti and Kenya. I didn't know where to look first. Herds of elephants wandering, playing, mating and just carrying on, doing what elephants do. All the animals appeared to be living peacefully with the other animals around them, drinking from the same water holes together and minding their own business. Grown elephants herding around the babies to protect them. Apparently, once an elephant grows to full size, predators are smart enough to leave them alone, but the young small ones need protection so the adults in the herd surround them. If a baby didn't feel like walking, an adult would gently nudge it with its trunk. It really is sweet to see the care they give the babies. You can see the emotional attachment they have. Silas would stop so we could take pictures, and either ask if we were ready to move on, or wait for us to give him the word. All in all, I took over 1000 photos (in total, not just in Tarangire!) and DH took about 800. Silas also explained about the different animals' behavior and answered any questions we had. He was extremely good at spotting animals from really far away. I don't know how he can distinguish animals from hundreds of feet away, but he would stop, whip out his binoculars, and then drive to where he spotted the animals. It wasn't necessary to look for giraffes, elephants, zebras and wildebeest though, they were everywhere. We spent about 3 and a half hours before going back to the lodge. While we saw a lot of various animals, we did not see any big cats. But we still had 9 more days of safari so we weren't disappointed.

A word about how drivers cooperate with each other. Many of the drivers from the different companies know each other, as they see each other in the various parks all the time. All have CB radios in their vehicles, which are kept on most of the time. If one driver spots an elusive animal, or one of the big 5 (lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and rhinoceros) , they advise the other drivers over the CB. So if there is a lion spotted, all the drivers who are tuned into the band that drivers report over will know it, and know where to go. It can get crowded around the particular area, and if you get there later than the other vehicles, you will have to wait to get a good viewing spot. The drivers are all very considerate and will move around in order to give someone else their spot, so everyone hopefully gets a chance to see what is there. This was almost never a problem, and only on a handful of occasions were there a lot of vehicles to contend with.

Something else to be aware of if you are contemplating a safari. Since the roads are dirt, uneven and have deep pits, they are very, very bumpy. We were thrown around quite a bit and really needed to hang on. I've never been jostled so much in my life! It was like being on a trampoline, but much rougher. You don't want to wear a seat belt while in the parks because you want to be able to stand up and look out the top. Even though the windows are large and open fully, sometimes the best view is from the top. I frequently had to stand on the seat to look out the top of the vehicle. I only did that however when we were stopped. I also took Dramamine every morning before a drive. I get motion sick and did not want to end up wearing my breakfast. Luckily the Dramamine did the trick and I never felt sick.

We got back to the camp around sundown, took showers, and went to the main area for drinks before dinner. Dinner was more formal than lunch and was inside. Waiters served bread, drinks and soup, but the rest was buffet. There was a wide choice of salads to choose from, vegetables, and hot and cold dishes. They also had carving stations set up outside with different meats and poultry. The food was good, but not spectacular, but there was always a good variety to choose from. It is also safe to eat raw vegetables, salads and have ice in drinks, as only filtered water is used for ice and washing veggies. We never got sick from anything we ate or drank. After being escorted back to our suite, we opened a bottle of wine and sat out on the veranda, watching the outlines of animals passing by. We set up a tri-pod and put my camera on it so I could hopefully capture photos of the milky way, which was visible, but I got nothing. I'm going to learn how to use my camera properly, and not just on auto, before embarking on the next safari. We both slept very well that night.

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Giraffe and wildebeest in Tarangire
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Tarangire
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Tarangire
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Tarangire
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Tarangire

Great photos! I love that we can now post photos on Fodors. I’ll be reading your report out loud to DH - we both really want to do this.

Very enjoyable. Looking forward to more. Thanks!

Thanks for this, Laurieco. Loving the word and picture images!
Waaa...I want go back!

Thanks for the kind words. I'm glad people are finding this enjoyable, and hopefully helpful. I'll try and post more tomorrow after work. I'm too tired to continue tonight. But I'll give a sneak preview of what we saw the following morning.https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...66bde79c69.jpg

Oh, this is splendid! DH and I are interested in going on safari, however, your description of the rough, uneven roads might mean that I wouldn't be able to do it. I have heard this before, though. I am thoroughly enjoying this vicariously and look forward to much more from you. Heck of a painterly cheetah shot!!

Laurie: This is a fabulous trip report. Can't wait for more, and I am not even planning a trip to Africa for safari. I did a5 week safari in 1994 to Zimbabwe, Namibia, and South Africa, but you really did your homework on this one, and it really seems to have paid off! well done!

Hmmmmm....did I read the words "next safari"? :lol: #notsurprised

Looking forward to the rest of your trip report - keep it coming!

Laurieco, as an ex-Long Islander and fellow attorney, I am enjoying your report. We have gone on 2 safaris to Kenya in the last 2 years. I had been secretly planning it and once the itinerary was finalized I came home and announced to my husband and teens that we were going on safari! It really gets under your skin and the second was even better! Keep the report coming.

We set out early the following morning for Tarangire for a full day drive. After breakfast, we got our "picnic" lunch to take along. The lodges and camps set up a buffet with different foods to take in a boxed lunch. Typically there was chicken and another meat, salads, vegetables, yogurt, hard boiled eggs, bread, fruit, juice, muffins and/or cookies, and you choose what you want and the staff will wrap it in plastic wrap and add it to your box. This is set up every morning because not everyone will always be coming back for lunch. You either go out for a morning drive, come back for lunch, and then go out for a late afternoon/evening drive, or, you set out in the morning and do not return until evening. I don't know how it is decided if you are with a group, or going out with the drivers supplied by the different camps, but on a private safari such as we had, it is up to the client (me and DH). Silas suggested a full day game drive and we were happy to defer to his expertise.



Since we had been registered with Tarangire the day before, there was no need to do so again, but if memory serves, Silas did go in and tell the office that we were entering again. After driving around and seeing the herds of elephants, zebras, wildebeest and giraffes, as well as other animals, Silas spotted a cheetah, our first big cat! There were no other vehicles near there, we were the first that day to see it, thus we had a prime viewing spot. The cheetah was about 75 feet away. A stunning animal, we were very excited to see this somewhat elusive creature. Of course our cameras were snapping away, but after a few minutes, we put the cameras down and just watched the animal with our eyes. It's important to remember to actually see the animals, not just snap away and come back with no real memory of actually seeing what you are there for. Silas put the word out over the CB and a little while later, other vehicles began showing up. The cheetah stayed visible for a little while longer before fading into the tall grass and could no longer be seen. We waited another 10 minutes or so, but the cheetah was gone. I felt bad for the people who were just showing up and never got to see it. Unfortunately, it was the only cheetah we saw in our 10 days of safari. There are of course, no guarantees that you will see any particular animal at all. The animals are not being paid to entertain us and they will do what they want, on their schedule, and they don't care who is waiting for them to show up.



Within about 20 minutes of leaving the cheetah, we had our second big cat sighting, a lioness. There was one vehicle already there, and we were able to get quite close to her, within about 20 - 25 feet. She was relaxing under a tree, and did not seem at all bothered by our presence. We were very quiet while watching her, not wanting to startle her or cause her to leave. You would think that it would be somewhat disconcerting to be so close to a wild animal that could easily rip you to shreds should it decide to jump up to the vehicle, with its open top and wide open windows, but it really isn't. It's almost as though there is a mutual understanding between you and the beasts: I'll leave you alone if you leave me alone. The animals appear to be used to the vehicles and do not seem to deem them a threat, or a meal. After a few minutes, the lioness was joined by her friend, another lioness. The two sat together under the tree, seemingly content to just spend a lazy morning together. This was turning out to be a banner day for me, a cheetah and now two lions! Big cats are what I wanted to see most, and now I had seen two out of four (leopard and male lions being the other two on my check list).



We stayed with the lions for quite a while before driving off in search of other critters. We saw the usual contingent of elephants, giraffes etc. as well as herds of impalas. Impalas, like gazelles, are beautiful deer-like, elegant animals, who appear to be very peaceful and spend their days grazing. We had our lunch in an area where there are some picnic tables set up quite a bit away from where most of the animals roam, with the exception of small monkeys who will steal your food if you are not vigilant. After lunch, we spent another few hours animal watching. Elephants are delightful and can provide hours of entertainment when they are playing, but after a while, we were tired and decided to head back to the lodge to spend some time relaxing. The heat and bouncing around takes a toll on one's body.



We decided to sit at the pool for awhile and have a couple of beers, watching animals walk by. Several giraffes walked by while we sat there, and there were wildebeest and zebras beyond them. I never missed not having a television at any of the lodgings. We also sat on our veranda and watched wildebeest. Wildebeest seem to never shut up. They sort of moo, but not quite like a cow, and they vocalize all day and all night. We fell asleep to wildebeest lullabies almost every night, and woke up to them every morning. It isn't an annoying sound and I got used to it rather quickly, but then, I've always been partial to wildebeest, at least since my days of watching Nature.



That night was our last at Maramboi as we were going to Lake Manyara, and the Ngorongoro crater region the following day.

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Wonderful trip report and photos!

Following along in my usual quiet manner ;)

Love the pictures , for those of us that have been on a Safari it is a happy trip down memory lane.

Waiting for Lake Manyara and Ngorongoro Crater.

Once again Thank You for doing a trip report.

( When I did my trip report I also called it Out of Africa !!! )

Percy, Not the most original name, I know! But it’s all I could think of at the time.

I'm going to take a break tonight but will continue the report tomorrow evening, if anyone is still interested!

I am still interested and awaiting the next installment.

Laurie: Still VERY interested, and looking forward to more. I must say, I like the way Fodor's is sending me emails when something new or a new chapter of your report is up. Combined with your excellent photos, it makes an exciting morning read!! What camera are you using?

Taconictraveler, I used an Olympus E-PL5, a micro four thirds. A sort of hybrid DSLR. I also used my iPhone X but the above photos were taken with the Olympus.

I’ll continue the report tonight when I get home from work. Thanks for the kind words!

Yes Sir , I am very interested and following along.

The following morning, after breakfast and getting our boxed lunch to take along, we set out for the approximately one hour drive to Lake Manyara. and Lake Manyara National Park, which is home to tree climbing lions. I don't know if lions anywhere else climb trees but we did not see them anywhere else. The area also hosts a wide variety of animals such as elephants, zebras, wildebeests, baboons, giraffes and other animals, and of course lions. We spent maybe 2 to 3 hours here. The highlight was seeing lions in trees. When we first came to the park, a herd of elephants were crossing so we stopped and watched them for about 20 minutes. The walked right in front of the vehicle and it was almost as though you could reach out and touch them. Even though we had seen dozens, possibly hundreds of elephants by this point, it was still a spectacle. We made our way to the lake area, passing packs of baboons. The lake gave us our first up-close view of hippos. They are even bigger than I imagined. The area next to the lake where we had our lunch was one of the few places where we were allowed to walk around. There was a walkway leading out over the water and we walked to the end of it and back, stretching our legs. It took about 30 minutes to do the round trip. We then had our lunch at one of the picnic tables set up. I found it amusing that whenever we had a picnic lunch, Silas would put a tablecloth over the table to dress it up. It was a nice touch. The picnic lunches were nothing to write home about, but they were enough to keep us satisfied.



After lunch, we drove away from the shore of the lake back into the heart of the park in search of lions. We were not disappointed. We saw several lions lazing on tree branches. They looked very content in the trees. I wish we could have seen a lion actually climbing a tree, but we did not. Lake Manyara was my least favorite game drive destination. That is not to say I did not enjoy it, I did, and I especially loved seeing the lions in trees, but the other destinations had a lot more, maybe because they are larger and have more animals. I would recommend going to Lake Manyara for a few hours when going to or in the Ngorongoro region. The lions alone make it worth the trip.



After having our fill of lions, we left the park and made our way to our lodge for the next two nights, the Kitela Lodge in Karatu, in the Ngorongoro Crater region. The Kitela Lodge is the only place we stayed that did not have wild animals roaming around as it overlooked a coffee plantation. That said, it was also the nicest place we stayed as far as accommodations are concerned. As soon as we arrived, we were greeted with cold towels and a nice South African sparkling wine. After getting checked in, we were shown to our cottage, which was beautiful, with a fireplace, large bathroom and veranda. We decided to put on our bathing suits and go to the pool, where we were served more drinks. I think I had another sparkling wine. We were told that this place did not include alcoholic drinks so we bought a couple of bottles of wine in Karatu before getting there, but they did include it and the choice was even better than at Maramboi (anyone who knows me also knows that I love champagne and good sparkling wines so this was a treat to have it included). After showers, we sat on our veranda and had a glass of wine before going to the happy hour, which is called a sundowner in Africa. Happy hour was spent on the terrace of the restaurant. Hors d'oeuvres were set up on tables and the bar was just inside but a waiter would bring drinks if you felt like waiting. We didn't, and drank sparkling wine of course. Dinner, which was served outside on the terrace, was pretty good but I really cannot remember what we ate. Some of the food was buffet, but waiters also served soup and the main dishes. After dinner, we went back to the room where we called for someone to light the fire in the fireplace, and opened one of the bottles of wine and sat by the fire. The following day we were going into Ngorongoro Crater, which is on most peoples' list of places to see in Northern Tanzania due to the diversity of wildlife in the crater. That will be the next chapter.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...c0a3151bd5.jpg

Baboons
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...b4c4f49cea.jpg

Tree climbing lions
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...033cae3c62.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...294f66be76.jpg

Our gorgeous bathroom
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...c6c9310f1e.jpg

Lake Manyara

Thanks laurieco for the Lake Manyara segment.

I saw a lion climb the tree.
They do it the same way as a cheetah or leopard but they do not ( maybe cannot ) climb as high as the other two.

You mentioned baboons:

We had a private tour guide and when we pulled up to a gate there were lots of baboons around.

We had bananas and my friend stuck his hand out with a peeled banana and the baboon quickly grabbed it.

Our guide was outside at the gate and when he saw that a banana was being fed to the baboon........ he yelled out and came running and said

"Don't you that again, your're lucky you didn't loose your arm ".

He said a tourist from England last year got his arm mangled by a baboon for rolling down the window and feeding the baboon.

Just thought I would mention that, for those planning a Safari

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and now back to laurieco's Ngorongoro segment and pictures.

Thanks again laurieco , I am enjoying all this

Thanks Percy.

It it is strictly forbidden to feed the animals anywhere. Why would your friend blatantly go against the rules? The animals are in their natural environment and must feed themselves. Your guide was right to yell, but more important than your friend possibly getting his arm mangled, he was interfering with nature. That is inexcusable. Sorry to sound so harsh but what he did was so wrong on so many levels.

Really great trip report!

Your right laurieco, No Feeding of Animals.

He just got caught up in the moment and did something stupid on an impulse as the baboons came right up to the window, so your

holding bananas and thought he would feed them.

You know the old saying: When your holding a hammer ,the whole world looks like a nail !! ;)

He was lucky.
Not as lucky as the British guy last year !!

Thank you Laurieco for the work you're putting into this report. Your evocative words and photos take me back IN to --not "out of" -- Africa. (-:

Yep am back there too!!

Just reviewed my pictures from the Ngorongoro Crater.

It is very nice to get other people's perspectives, so I am truly enjoying this report

Following along as this is my next big trip. Pics are fantastic

This is a great report, Laurieco. Love the detaills.

We just returned from Kenya and Tanzania in mid-August so you're bringing back lots of memories. So glad that we can now post pictures, too, as they reallyy add to a trip report.

Thank you for taking the time to write this and helping so many of us relive a great time In Africa!

I’m pretty busy this weekend but will pick up on Monday. Glad people are enjoying it!

Okay laurieco

Since this is Labour intensive report and it is Labour Day Long Weekend, we will cut you some slack ;)

After a nice weekend, I am ready to continue my report for those of you still following along.

The following morning, after breakfast and getting our boxed lunch to take along, we drove to the Ngorongoro Crater. The drive took between 30-45 minutes but when we got to the area to register the vehicle and pay for and get our passes (all taken care of by Silas) there were loads of vehicles already there, lined up waiting to do the same. There must have been 25-30 Land Cruisers. We had to wait about 20 minutes, give or take a few, and then we were allowed to begin our descent into the crater.

The crater, which formed about 2.5 million years ago when a volcano collapsed, covers about 100 square miles and is about 2000 feet deep. It is home to an enormous amount of wildlife, many of which stay there year round, rather than make the trip up and down. Like many of the protected areas in Tanzania, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The floor of the crater is mostly grasslands and is open and not forested, thus affording vast views of the area. But prey still manages to hide from predators, and predators from prey. Not long after making the descent to the bottom, which took maybe 25 minutes (my memory is a bit hazy on some things) we got our first look of a male lion, albeit from a distance that required binoculars to properly see it, and telephoto lenses to capture it. Other animals we saw in the crater were hyenas zebras, water buffalo, hippopotamus, jackals, crown cranes, ostrich, impala, gazelle, wildebeest, elephants, flamingos as well as others that I am sure I forgot. We also "saw" another cheetah, and a rhino, but the cheetah was pretty far away, and the rhino was so far away, even looking at it through binoculars, it was merely a spot. You could have told me it was a vampire and I would have no way to challenge it (other than not believing in vampires). I honestly don't know how Silas could tell it was in fact a rhino but I have no reason to doubt it as he really knows his stuff. We spent quite a long time in the crater. It is definitely a must see.



https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...e07e23651e.jpg

Male lion
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...a16b2a3413.jpg

Another male
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...8eae1360c3.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...c7311bd453.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...f347ba65b5.jpg

View of the crater
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...3c13816890.jpg

View of the crater
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...6960274ac5.jpg

View of the crater
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...0d63e319e8.jpg

Male impala
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...65629f5eef.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...9a207e1356.jpg

Crown cranes
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...1561464523.jpg

Zebra
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...a99a247d6d.jpg

Zebra
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...6b07c7efa5.jpg

Zebra
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...3ef6ae00e5.jpg

Ostrich
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...dae89e43e3.jpg

Hippo
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...852fa9c284.jpg

Water buffalo