“Nature was at its best”
How lucky are you if, on the first day of your safari, you’re welcomed by a pride of lion? On the first day of our holiday, in Tarangire National Park, we were lucky enough to receive such a greeting – one of the lions even hunted for a zebra right next to our Jeep. Nature was at its best in this park, located in Tanzania’s Manyara Region.
We enjoyed the game drive on our way to the camp – the park is incredible, especially those baobab trees and the acacias – and we were so blessed to have the amazing Shabaani as our guide, who was a wealth of knowledge about animal behaviours, how each place got its name and so much more.
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Beautiful baobab
Memorable moment
We even saw Pumbaa and Zazu, and were charged by an elephant when we turned on our Jeep’s engine while watching a group of them!
[This photo was taken while standing inside the Jeep, so you can image how huge he was.]
Elephant charge
At our first camp, Tarangire Ndovu Camp (Ndovu means “elephant”), we were welcomed with a song that we still sing now that we’re back at home. It was a pleasant stay with an excellent team who were very attentive to all our requests.
A walking safari in Tarangire National Park added even more fun to our trip.
The next day we travelled to Lake Manyara, and along the way met people from the Maasai tribe and learnt more about them and their customs.
The accommodation that night was outstanding: Escarpment Luxury Lodge at Lake Manyara. We needed this break! Although we were disappointed to not see hippos the following morning, the night safari that same day totally compensated for that: we were lucky enough to see hippos as well as the two lions – big brothers – that “own” the territory.
The next day we took a day for ourselves to spend at Escarpment Luxury Lodge and enjoyed massages. They were so fantastic we booked more sessions – it was worth it!
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Visiting a Maasai village
The following morning we started our journey to the Ngorongoro Crater, stopping along the way to learn about the fascinating Iraqw Tribe, see how coffee is made there and taste a fresh brew. And then we arrived at the Ngorongoro Crater – this is a real miracle.
The sight from the rim of the Crater cannot be explained. It needs to be experienced. The view from Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge is beautiful and a treat for nature lovers; especially sunset lovers.
Later that day on another game drive we saw hippos, hyenas and more, but there was another surprise awaiting us: a rhinosaurus.
Our guide found one hidden away and sleeping, but we got lucky yet again and caught a glimpse of it for five minutes while it was awake, before he/she went back to sleep (we heard later that others who came after us waited for a glimpse for almost four hours!).
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Blessed to see a rhino
Early the next morning we had to catch a light aircraft and bid goodbye to our guide which was sad, but we were excited about the next destination.
We’d heard from locals that our aircraft was new and I was lucky to be offered the seat of co-pilot. This trip was just getting better every day! And then we reached Serengeti National Park where we were greeted by Eddy (Edgar) our guide for a few days.
Straight away we went on a game drive to try and find the one animal we hadn’t seen during this trip – a leopard. It wasn’t to be, but luck favoured us one more time because we saw… wildebeest crossing – yes, the Great Migration!
We couldn’t believe our eyes when we saw how many were there – the sheer number of wildebeest was incredible. We were told the Great Migration was really great this year – it certainly looked it to us!
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So many wildebeest!
The team at Nasikia always called camps “home” and us their “family” which made us really comfortable during our stay at KasKaz Mara Camp.
They also managed to surprise us by taking us to the best location near the camp for watching the sunset – where they were danced and organised drinks for us to enjoy while we took in the beautiful view!
This was a dream trip for all of us and Encompass Africa made it memorable by customising every single part so our holiday was exactly what we hoped for.
All thanks to Encompass Africa for making this happen in our life.