Tanzania – Safari

“A lion chased me up a tree, and I really enjoyed the view from above ” – Confucio

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Documents and vaccinations
• Itinerary in pills (5 days)
• Day 1: Arrival in Tanzania and Arusha
• Day 2: Ngorongoro crater
• Day 3: Serengeti
• Day 4: Serengeti
• Day 5: Manyara and transfer to Zanzibar
• Conclusions

Introduction

Before writing the article you are reading, I thought of several aphorisms to introduce the storytelling of my first adventure in Africa. There would be many that would have suited me, probably because there is so much to say. In the end, however, I decided to rely on the wisdom of Confucius, who is able to summarize excellently in a few words that ability to know how to smile even in difficulties, which in Africa represents one of the most impactful aspects that we perceive when observing the reality of the place. A reality so different from what we are accustomed to in industrialized countries, that it makes us seriously doubt that we are on the same planet on which we normally live, while our eyes see things that our mind associates at best with TV documentaries. From the so-called big 5 to the Masai tribes, from fiery red sunsets to children smiling for no reason, making you realize that perhaps sometimes it is us for no reason who do not. Everything takes place “pole pole” (slowly), because “Hakuna matata” (no problem).

I had the opportunity to visit some of Tanzania’s most famous parks in August 2022, in the company of the person who became my wife a couple of years later (after all, what better way to show mutual love than by traveling together among the lions?), combining the safari with a few days of relaxation on the wonderful beaches of Zanzibar, which I will talk about in other articles. The period chosen is the best season to visit the parks of Tanzania, not only because of the dry and moderately sunny climate, but also because it is the time when the so-called Great Migration takes place between the Serengeti and the Masai Mara, on the border with Kenya.

Documents and vaccinations

In addition to a passport with a residual duration of at least 6 months, to visit Tanzania you need a visa, which you can apply for online at the official website of the Republic of Tanzania, at a cost of about fifty euros, with issuance time of a few days.

There are no mandatory vaccinations, but to be on the safe side we did all those recommended on the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs website:

• Typhoid, to be taken as pills in 3 tranches and lasting 3 years
• Cholera, which is taken as an oral solution in two tranches and lasts 2 years
• Malaria prophylaxis, which is not actually a vaccine, taken in pills for the duration of the trip up to a week after return
• Hepatitis A and B, actually done a few years before the trip for different reasons
• Yellow fever, which is not listed among the recommended vaccinations, but is mandatory for those coming from high-risk areas (I did it mostly in anticipation of other occasions)

Of course, we also took out an insurance policy that would cover us in case of illness and injury, among other eventualities.

Itinerary in pills (5 days)

Our safari lasted a total of 5 days, calculated from the time we landed in Tanzania until our flight to Zanzibar. In order to visit the parks, it is necessary to rely on a local agency, which provides everything necessary, from accommodation to meals, as well as transportation and guide (actually from what our guide told us you can also do something on your own, but if you are not really experienced I would advise against even thinking about it). After comparing several quotes from different agencies, which were asking for roughly the same amount anyway, we decided to rely on Kiboko Safari, who helped us to define the various stops properly, considering our time constraints, as usual stringent. Our selection of parks fell on Ngorongoro, Serengeti and Manyara. We did not include Tarangire, not only for reasons of time and cost, but also because from various sources it seemed to us it adds little to the rest, for what we were interested in (but I am sure it is beautiful). We would also have liked to see Kilimanjaro up close, but we followed the local agency’s suggestion that it would make little sense to plan to visit without considering doing a few days of trekking (among other things, also because the cost would be disproportionate), which would be impractical for us. Below is the summary of the itinerary.

Day	Location	Notes
1	Arusha	Arrival in JRO in the morning. Night in Ngorongoro
2	Ngorongoro	Night in Serengeti
3	Serengeti	Night in Serengeti
4	Serengeti	Night in Serengeti
5	Manyara	Evening Flight JRO-ZNZ

Day 1: Arrival in Tanzania and Arusha

We depart from Fiumicino (FCO) in the evening with Ethiopian Airlines, fly at night and have a stopover of a couple of hours in Addis Ababa. The final destination is Kilimanjaro Airport (JRO), not to be confused with Arusha Airport (ARK). The airport is so named because of its proximity to the mountain of the same name, which in fact can be glimpsed during the flight, amidst a spectacle that already lets us imagine the panorama that will be the backdrop to our days in the parks.

From the plane we also get a pretty good view of Mount Meru, among the highest peaks in Africa, towering over the city of Arusha.

We are picked up by our guide, Gift, a rather young boy endowed with a disarming calm, who will accompany us throughout the Safari. The first day is essentially spent transferring to the gates of Ngorongoro, the first park we will visit. On the way, we begin to see the rampant poverty in the markets on the road, the shacks people live in and the clothes they wear, while Gift explains that it is fine there because there is water and no war. We avoid photographing anything, even under Gift’s advice, out of respect for the dignity of the people. We arrive at our beautiful lodge on the outskirts of Ngorongoro in the evening.

Day 2: Ngorongoro crater

We begin our adventure in Tanzania’s parks with the one that has the greatest concentration of wildlife in the entire country, and which offers the most picturesque view, among those we visited. Ngorongoro is one of the largest craters in the world, with a diameter of 19 km, inside which lives a huge variety of animal species, including all the so-called big 5 (lion, leopard, rhino, buffalo, elephant).

We will not get to see the big cats, but in return tons of buffalo, wildebeest, zebra, giraffe, elephants, baboons, flamingos and hippos. The animals mostly tend to cluster around the huge lake in the middle of the crater, which gives a unique landscape.

One of the aspects that pleasantly surprised us, confirmed throughout the Safari, is the level of cleanliness of the parks and their facilities. For example, there is always someone in the public restrooms who cleans up after each access, and all the guides take great care to avoid leaving trash around. My memories of bathrooms in the parks of western United States is fortunately long gone.

Ah, speaking of toilets, you might wonder what happens in the case of a pressing need when you are, however, far from the facilities (which is usual). The answer is “bush toilet,” meaning out in the wilderness. The natural consequence of the answer, however, is to ask yourself a second question: are we sure it is not dangerous? Here the answer is “in theory no,” since the guide knows, or should know, where to stop. But in theory even communism works, Homer Simpson would say, so comes the third question: what if there is a snag? In this case, the answer is that maybe you will understand why, according to an African proverb, those who have seen a lion roar do not run the same way as those who have only heard it.

There is also a Maasai village in Ngorongoro Park, so we ask Gift if it is possible to visit it, being promptly accommodated. We spend a few hours in that village, which will be the most beautiful of the trip in many ways. The Maasai are one of the many tribes in Africa that live in a practically primitive state. In order to visit the village, a fee of 50€ is charged, which is used to help the children study. We are immediately greeted with a typical dance from them, after which we are led into the middle of the village by a young man in his early 20s, who explains in fairly good English how they live there. The “houses” are very small huts that consist of a cluster of brushwood held together by mud and animal dung, in which even families of 10 people sleep, all crammed into an extremely small space. People live essentially by hunting, and toilets do not exist. Needless to say, electricity is not covered. There is also a kindergarten in the village, a small hut without chairs or tables of any kind, which we visit at a time when we also find a teacher with the children. We ask permission to take some photos, which we are granted without any problem, while the children dedicate a little song to us.

At the end of the visit, we head to the gates of the Serengeti, where we spend the night in a tented camp. A dining tent is present, next to ours. Everything seems extremely safe, however they recommend that we arrive at the tent (really 10 meters from ours) by having a Maasai escort us, whom we call back with a flashlight, because you never know. Since this is a place completely surrounded by nature, and since the tent is elevated above the ground without being enclosed from underneath, I ask the guide if there is a possibility of encountering snakes. The guide, after informing me that there are all the most dangerous species in that area, including mambas, reassures me that they do not come up to there. I confess that, before going to sleep, a look under the bed did not seem inappropriate anyway.

Day 3: Serengeti

We wake up after a night where we hear snoring all the time, believing it to be harassing tent neighbors, but discovering that it was actually just a pride of lions lurking not too far from us. It is daylight, so we do not need the Maasai’s escort to walk the few meters to the tent where we have breakfast, consisting of fresh fruit (mango and papaya, which I love), and pancakes. We leave early in the morning to visit the park, where we will stay for two days. Because of the short time available and the enormous distances, we are unable to go as far as the Kenyan border to see the great migration, but we are still more than satisfied with the nature we are able to admire.

Here we manage to see plenty of lions, and we almost witness a lioness chasing a group of impalas, who run away realizing their approach. Before the stampede, the guide points out to us how some impalas are positioned as lookouts so as to alert the rest of the group to any approaching danger. It was also very nice to see two lionesses sleeping under a tree theoretically designed as a picnic site (for the lions, evidently).

We continue on seeing more hippos (especially feeling them, given the terrible smell when they are in close proximity), elephants, giraffes and a few crocodiles. We have lunch in the company of a lion mauling its newly conquered prey (photos not shown because not suitable for the faint of heart), a moment I enjoy fascinated.

We also manage to catch a glimpse of a leopard, lurking dormant on a tree branch.

We end the day by returning to a second tented camp, where we stay for the night, accompanied by a spectacular fiery red sunset. I remind you that, as always, the photos are unfiltered.

Day 4: Serengeti

The second day in the Serengeti begins quite early again. After an hour or so of off-road driving, it all seems a bit repetitive to what we have already seen, however as we are about to head toward the park exit, we come across a group of cheetahs, which we patiently wait for to approach, following the guide’s suggestion. While waiting, we ask them if any of the animals can get into our car, which has a half-open roof, receiving as an answer that the cheetah itself may succeed, but that we can rest assured because it is a friendly animal. In fact, the cheetahs approach, and start playing in the middle of the cars, as if they like to be watched.

We finally head in the late afternoon to the gateway of Lake Manyara, which will be the last destination of our safari, spending the night in a beautiful lodge.

Day 5: Manyara and transfer to Zanzibar

We wake up early in the morning because we have several kilometers of road ahead of us between visiting Lake Manyara and arriving at the airport. The park that includes Lake Manyara is visited within a couple of hours. There are only two trails that are passable by car, so it is done fairly quickly. This is something to take into consideration when planning the itinerary, as we were projected to take twice as long to visit. In hindsight, it cannot be ruled out that it would have been more convenient to do the tour in reverse (thus starting at Lake Manyara and ending at Ngorongoro), allowing us to save a night (and the associated cost, which is by no means negligible). In the end it still went very well, in fact we enjoyed everything at our leisure, but perhaps time could have been better managed.

Despite its small size, Lake Manyara is one of the very few places in the world that is home to blue monkeys, as well as lions that are able to climb trees (as opposed to the usual), an ability they seem to have developed to protect themselves from insects. The landscape is much different from Ngorongoro and Serengeti, less picturesque but still very impressive.

After our visit to the lake, we head to the airport for our flight to Zanzibar, where we arrive in the evening.

Conclusions

I have visited at least one country on every continent, and each has left me with something that I treasure among my memories. I have seen so many wonderful places (and so many more I have yet to see), and Tanzania is probably not the most scenically beautiful, although it is of very notable workmanship. Yet, if I had to choose the so-called trips of a lifetime, among those I have taken, I would not hesitate to put this one at least on the podium. I don’t know if Africa sickness really exists, but the gap between the reality we are used to and the one I experienced there is hard to explain to those who have not (yet) had the same good fortune as me to go on such a trip. But I will not bore you with my philosophical speculations; instead, I will simply try to give you some more useful information. I start with my ever-present ranking of the most relevant moments:

1. Maasai village, definitely the most stunning and exciting part, especially for the contact with the people and the fascination of a culture extremely distant from the Western one
2. Nogorongoro Crater, the most picturesque park, with beautiful landscapes and an incredible wildlife concentration
3. Lunch in the Serengeti, enjoyed while a few meters away from us a lion mauled its prey

I continue with the critical part, which is money. Surely you have heard that safaris cost a lot of money. Unfortunately, I am afraid I have to confirm this rumor, which is particularly true for Tanzania. You can certainly save something by splitting the costs with a larger group than we did, who were only two, or by opting for camping accommodations, but still not that much. We chose to stay in medium lodges (which were beautiful) and tented camps, spending around €1900 per person, all inclusive. Unfortunately, the amount is really high if you are not traveling with a large group.

I leave you with one last quote, which I borrow from the re-adaptation of an African proverb for Italian comedy, to remind you that, “every day, in Africa, a gazelle … dies.”