Wilderness Wandering

Day 1 Serengeti National Park

We took a flight from Arusha to the Serengeti early this morning. Our Climbkili safari guide, Vincent met us at the Serengeti airport and we were off on safari!

OMG! We saw amazing things within the first 10 minutes within the park!

The very first thing we saw was a leopard in a tree. Next we saw baboons on the ground. Then a large pride of lions lazing in the shade! One incredible sight after another! 

We saw beautiful birds like the Lilac Breasted Roller, Guinea Fowl, Ashy Starling, Egyptian Geese, Marabou, Ostriches, Grey Crowned Crane and more!

The roads are very rough. Our guide told us this was  an African massage. LOL!

The Serengeti is very beautiful. We saw 28 different creatures in about 4 hours. There are some picnic stops scattered throughout the park. We stopped at one for lunch and to use the restroom because you can’t get out of your vehicle just anywhere or you might become lunch!

About 5 PM we arrived at Kilima Valley Safari Lodge. We were greeted with hot towels, juice and singing.  The Safari Lodge is made up of very nice canvas tents with comfortable beds with mosquito netting, a rocker, a desk and a bathroom with shower. All very modern and clean.  

For dinner we had delicious tilapia, vegetable curry and vegetable pizza. We had a wonderful conversation with Vincent learning more about his Maasai heritage. Vincent’s grandfather had nine wives and 71 children!

 We had heavy rain through the night, but we had a good night’s sleep.

Day 2 Serengeti National Park

Today we didn’t see as much variety, but we saw more large groups of animals. And we were able to get closer to them!

We didn’t go to the picnic area. We just found a safe spot and ate on the ground in the Serengeti. 

Today we saw hippos, zebras cheetahs, wildebeest and ostriches as well as more lions and elephants!

Tonight as we went to sleep in our tent, we could hear lions roaring in the distance. 

Day 3 Ngorogoro Crater Conservation Area

We got up and had breakfast at 6 and got on the road to Ngorogoro. On our way out of the Serengeti, we stopped at a river and saw a pod of hippos. Very cool! Then we saw several prides of lions and several sets of cheetahs along the road. It was quite simply phenomenal!

We made a stop at Olduvai Gorge, known as the cradle of mankind.  It’s a UNESCO world heritage  site where Mary and Louis Leakey revealed the first well dated fossils of human ancestors. 

Ngorogoro is known a as the 8th wonder of the world and it was stunning. It’s a 2-1/2 million year old collapsed volcano. We drove down a steep road to the floor of the caldera. It’s like eden! It is a conservation area and not a national park. The Maasai people still live on the land here. We stopped at a Maasai village and learned so much about their culture. The Maasai are a nomadic people. The days they generally move twice per year. Their main occupation is tending their cattle herds. Polygamy is still practiced.

We entered the crater and all these different animals were grazing together and getting along. The scenery was breath taking! We saw our fifth animal of the big five today- a black rhino, which is extremely endangered. It’s estimated there are only 2600 left in the world and about 600 are in Tanzania.

We are spent the night at the Octagon Lodge. We had a cute cottage with a huge, great shower. The restaurant was the nicest we have been to. They served us a lot of great dishes. Then I posted our Kilimanjaro blog and we went to bed.

Day 4 Tarangire National Park

We woke to a dove crying. It was constant and rather annoying! I walked around gorgeous grounds. We had a great breakfast with pancakes, omelets, and wonderful fresh fruit. At breakfast we meet a woman on safari after doing Kilimanjaro on her own.

On the way to our next park, we stopped at another cultural center. They had an exhibit on tanzanite mining. We looked at some stones, but didn’t buy anything. Tim did get a cool Kilimanjaro t-shirt. 

Vincent drove us to Tarangire National Park. It is known for its elephants and baobab trees. We saw many wonderful baobabs.

Not too many elephants and no cats. So that was a little disappointing. We did add a few animals to our count – a very cool owl, a mongoose and a water buck. We were very entertained by a family of baboons with a tiny baby.

We had lunch at the picnic area and headed back to Arusha to relax for a day and then head home.

It was an incredible experience to see all of these amazing animals in their own habitat, as well as see how the Maasai tribe is retaining their traditions and also embracing more education for their children for them to have more options for their future.

We had a fantastic time in Tanzania! We highly recommend going on a safari to see these amazing animals yourself!!