My Safari Adventures

I have always wanted to go on a safari but it seemed to be something so remote and impossible, I never thought I would have the opportunity to do it. But living in Tanzania has some fantastic perks – having some of the world’s most beautiful parks filled with animals in their natural habitat, is definitely one major advantage! It’s perfect for a safari.

The word safari is Swahili, meaning journey or trip. People will often say “Safari Njema” meaning “have a good trip”.

I didn’t actually know what to expect. I’ve been Westernised to the point that I nearly expected some glass windows with tragic looking animals peering out. Either that or some wild expedition where we would be lucky to come away with all limbs intact.

To go on a safari is actually neither of these scenarios. Basically, it involves being driven around by a tour guide/ driver through national parks and other areas, to observe animals in their natural habitat. The cars are usually nice sturdy 4WDs with roofs which slide open, so you can stand on your seat and pop your head out of the roof to get a better view.

Usually a group of four go on a safari so everyone can have a window. And then seated up the front is the driver/ tour guide plus a cook! Yes, there's a cook whose job is solely to, well, cook! We started off in Arusha (which is where we live – handy). This is the central point for safaris, and trips to Kilimanjaro for that matter. We decided to go for four days on a camping safari, which meant we would sleep in tents in campsites, rather than in lodges (it’s around US$100 cheaper a night to do it this way). So we chose three central points to focus on: the Serengeti, Ngoro Ngoro Crater and Lake Manyara. This is a pretty standard route because features everything that a safari should.

And so we began four days of driving/ safari-ing. The first day involved around 6 hours of driving to get to the furthest point (the Serengeti) and then we worked our way back toward Arusha via the various national parks.

It’s hard to describe what it’s like to drive through parks, and see animals like giraffes, zebras, gazelle or wildebeest just grazing peacefully only a few metres from the road/ dirt track. And it really is a peaceful place. I had a vision of the parks being a hub of violent animals, thrashing around, fighting and eating each other. And certainly, they do eat each other. That's just the way it is in the circle of life. But, like humans, these animals do things other than eat.

And while we saw some chases and the result of kills, my overall impression was that these places are often peaceful and so incredibly natural. It’s amazing how so many of these animals live in harmony together. In fact, only a few real predators around there like leopards and lions.

One of the most amazing things to witness was a lion whose wife had just killed a baby buffalo. We watched him carry the dead, limp buffalo away from other animals so he could sit under a shady tree and eat it in peace. As we stopped to watch this from a distance, he walked less than 5 metres behind the back of our 4WD. We were the least of his concern. He was more worried about the jackal following him, hoping to share a bit of the action. We were witnessing a real slice of the animal kingdom in action.

It was a fantastic experience to get up really early and be in the parks as the animals were going through their morning rituals. Many of them are only visible early in the morning and evening. So to experience the joy of safari life, all we had to do was get up early, eat the amazing food that was put in front of us, sit in a 4WD drive as we were chauffered around, look at amazing scenery and wildlife and listen to information about where we where and what we were looking at. Then we would come back to the campsite in the evening, eat our dinner and retire to bed, to do it all again the following day. It was my kind of holiday but all too short alas.

By the end of the trip, we had seen many animals from very close quarters; lions, hyena, leopards, zebra, giraffes, various species of monkeys (my favourite), gazelle, buffalo, wildebeest, hippos, flamingo, and so many more that I’ve forgotten.

Our foursome wrapped in Masai blankets, in a campsite overlooking Ngoro Ngoro crater