Travel stories

The guide knew a lot, I asked a lot

Hi, Marloes, and of course Marjolijn…

Sorry, I waited so long to go into detail about our vacation, how wonderful it was! I would like to share that with you.
Zeph was of course unforgettable! What a hunk, he was our friend from day one. So reliable and sweet, professional, knew everything, I said “Zeph knows everything” in the car, he said no … and later after answering a question I said “Zeph knows almost everything”, haha.
This is typical  for our humor with Zeph, we’ve laughed so much together. We, also the children (27 and 30), like humor and he does too, we understood each other’s humor.
He knew a lot, I asked a lot (I worked at Naturalis as an educational assistant) I also love the birds so he showed the names on the iPad and I did my best to remember the “white headed buffolo weaver” .. haha. “Eva, are you still alive?” he asked when he saw that Eva had dozed off in the car and woke up again. As a joke, we gave points at the end if we had spotted a special animal .. one point for Eva, or half a point for Zeph to tease when the rhino was far away, or 10 points for a leopard etc.
He also felt very well what was good for us in terms of energy and intensity when proposing the next day program.
He often joined us for dinner at the Green Camps when we asked, we were a kind of family. Also because we were alone in the Green Camps, it was amazing beign there without any other guests. Really a luxury private holiday! Just our own holiday residence with staff … The crew was also so sweet and kind, greatly appreciated the compliments and that I asked if I could take a look in the kitchen, I almost sat down with them, but unfortunately time was short. I played a game of checkers with a Tanzanian employee from Rhotia Valley at a hut on the path to the village. It’s impressive to see the huts where the people live, and not to experience this as a tourist trap but with respect for their lives, this has to be I actually explain orally. I hope you understand what I mean.
We loved Green Camps the most, you were right about that. Truly in the middle of nature, beautiful starry skies on the warm, beautiful wooden toilet seat, wonderful to sit at night and enjoy the hyena sounds, among other things.
I was not afraid at all, what I had told you in advance.
There were a lot of tse-tse flies in Tarangire but we could live with that.
During the first night in Tarangire Safari Lodge, 4 very large elephants came by who ate some of the trees along the path in front of the tent and walked down the path again. One of the most beautiful experiences, in the silence only hear shuffling and eating sounds and then see elephants 10 meters from your bed, looking through the mesh of the tent.
As many as 24 lions, many leopards, 1 from very close by, copulating lions and ostriches, a cheetah with 3 large children who grabbed a reed and gave the 3 children to teach them how to hunt and kill, and then feast .. seen a lot !!!
I can still continue but I am tired of typing … haha.
The lodges were beautiful and luxurious, never received a jug in our bed like in Rhotia Valley Tented Lodge! the view, also in Tarangire wow!
The food was very tasty, really fresh, you can taste it!
A strange experience was, we had pasta bolognese a couple of times and 3 x hamburgers with fries, but that was very nicely prepared like everything else. Is that not to disappoint western guests with other food?
1x Tanzanian meal at Green Camp Serengeti, I thought that was great, even though we didn’t like the ugali (Zeph’s favorite dish notabene), but you have to eat it with vegetables and sauce.
Of course, we also got Tanzanian dishes, I remembered that and served my friends a Tanzanian 4-course meal in addition to my stories! They enjoyed it. Instead of ugali millet soufflé, I prepared another millet dish, of which I read online that people eat it when there’s a party.
Truly in contact with nature and learning to think from the experience of the animals was the best. (Zeph really taught us how the animals experience people, e.g.)
But the best thing was to experience this with our adult children, the enjoyment together makes our family band even warmer than it already was.
If I’m not enjoying myself for a moment I think of the beautiful moments of the holiday, it helps! We owe that to the lovely people of Tanzania and our Zeph and of course to you!
Saying goodbye to Zeph was warm and sad, all a big hug from him and he from us, lumps in my throat and I shed tears. However, I’m sure he was glad he could go back to his own family, haha. Marloes, thank you so much for choosing the best tailor-made trip for us, completely successful as you can read! I can become an ambassador haha, I am so enthusiastic. dear greetings from all of us !!
Anneke.