Travel stories

An unforgettable experience

About 10 years ago, our son, Julian, was inspired by the giraffe at the zoo and expressed a desire to see wild animals in real life. Our dream was born!
It had to be an experience that would be etched in everyone’s memory, so the waiting for the right moment had begun. 2020 seemed like a good time to celebrate our 15th anniversary, but we didn’t foresee corona either. This year, after consultation with Marjolijn and our own considerations, we decided to make our dream trip.
Does corona have no influence on this dream trip, I hear you ask. The only moment that corona had a noticeable effect was during the flights wearing a mouth cap and the mandatory PCR test in advance and for the children before the return journey. Furthermore, corona has had no impact on our lives for 17 days, noting that we already took into account the desired distance ourselves and that there is sufficient attention to hygiene at all locations. A better world ultimately starts with you!

After a good flight, Bobo was waiting for us to take us to our location in Arusha. This turned out to be a sign for the rest of the trip, because everywhere the necessary transport was arranged perfectly and there was always someone ready to help us. We stayed at Ngare Sero Mountain lodge for 2 days to be able to start the safari in peace after the flight. The food was, like the entire trip, well arranged and during our own walk we were even surprised by the Colobus monkey.
We had arranged our trip in such a way that we would stay 2 nights at each location and this really hit the spot for the safari. It gives so much peace to do the game drives. An ideal starting point for our safari and our safari guide James quickly made that clear when he had picked us up in the morning.
It turned out to be 10 impressive safari days, during which we enjoyed James’ knowledge and skills, but above all his personality. In this way we really experienced the safari with the five of us.

Our dream really became a reality and you really have to experience the intensity of the experience yourself, but we will try to put it into words a bit. We first went from Arusha to Tarangire park. This was a really overwhelming start with the buffalo in great numbers and the elephants so cuddly close. To top it all off, we could see 6 more lions enjoying their wildebeest snack, while lurking on a herd of elephants. And then I forget all the monkeys, the hunting hyena and the cobra crossing just in front of us. Who will pinch me awake in the morning?
It all turned out to be real in the remaining days and no one pinched me awake, but the sounds of the animals did take care of this in the early morning. Not a pigeon on your roof, but a hunting lion. Incidentally, the employees at the first camp were shocked by me this morning, because I jumped high in the air when I saw elephants very close. Half an hour later they even made sure that we couldn’t leave our tent or rather could enjoy the view and the experience.
We will not share all our experiences in this report now, because you really have to experience this for yourself. We can only say that these meetings did not stop there. After this park we went to the Green Camp in Lake Manyara. What a beautiful location and this time extra beautiful for us, because we were the only guests. But Polikap and his men really deserve more guests to spoil so well. We were even able to play soccer at the waterfall with a number of buffalo as a spectator at an appropriate distance.

After 2 days, including a walking safari, the journey continued towards the Ngorongoro crater. It took some time getting used to the fact that it was really cool here, but the surroundings and the animals warm you up automatically. In terms of journey with ascent and descent, it is quite a trip and that made us extra happy that we had another night in Karatu and did not have to travel directly to the Serengeti.
The road to the Serengeti was a real African massage, but in between the bumps there was plenty to see. We have stayed in Central and Northern Serengeti, where the Green Camp Kotagende in the north had a really beautiful view. We were even visited by some curious giraffes. The most impressive thing in the Serengeti was to patiently watch the wildebeest crossing the river for the migration. We were almost as patient as the crocodiles in the water, who were only there to hunt.

After all these experiences we have chosen to enjoy 5 days on Zanzibar. Let all the impressions sink in and relive all the beautiful moments together. What better way to do that than by the sea or the pool?

It has really been an unforgettable experience for us and Explore Tanzania and James really made our dream the perfect one. Thank you!

Marieke, Kyra, Julian and Christian