5am in Moshi, Tanzania, and Will wakes up. Somewhere around January 11th. I suppose I’ll just say a few things about the safari, and then keep this thing mostly to pictures.
The safari lasted for 4 days and 3 nights. It’s predominantly a middle-aged activity, I believe, as it is admittedly expensive; my car included a couple from Australia, aged 26 and 31, a man from South Korea, aged 41 (though he truly looked no older than 18), and a woman from London, aged 65+. Our car was a green Land Cruiser—a true beast. The green Land Cruiser took a serious beating throughout. Our driver was named Robert, and our cook was named Phillip.
Every morning we woke up around 5:30am to watch the sun rise. We slept in tents. On the first day, we spent time in Lake Manyara National Park; on the second day, we went to Serengeti National Park; on the third day, we also drove Serengeti National Park; on the last day, we were in the Ngorongoro Crater National Park. We saw many animals, including the famed Big Five: a lion, an elephant, a leopard, a black rhino, and a buffalo. In addition, we saw gazelles, zebras, giraffes, hyenas, wildabeasts, ostriches, and flamingos. I’ve never thought of myself as an “animal person,” but seeing these creatures in their natural habitat—instead of behind a railing in a zoo—is truly, truly spectacular. Elephants are SO big.
A safari is something I would highly recommend to all. I am very glad I did it, and it is not something I will soon forget. Leaning out of the roof of a car, with a camera to my face and a Nigel Thornberry hat on my head is something I quite enjoy, as you might imagine. I think the pictures came out nicely.
Lake Manyara National Park:
Serengeti National Park:
Ngorongoro Crater National Park:
This was brief, as I’m rather exhausted, but please let me know if you have any more questions—I’ll be happy to answer them.
Cheers to all,
Will
Do you think these animals will avoid extinction? They are so spectacular!
Beautiful photos! I am loving Latin America, but this makes me super excited about Africa!
Hi Will, I stumbled upon your blog somehow… great stuff! We are going to Kenya and Tanzania in June. Which company did you use for the safari – did you just find one when you got to Moshi, or did you plan ahead?
Tiff and Mike,
I used Adventure Alternative for the safari. Highly recommend them. Most companies seemed to offer relatively similar service, however, and only varied in the price. AA was pretty reasonable from what I gathered.
If you just got to Moshi, you’d have 0 problems finding a good company. I’d probably set aside 2 days for this, but you could certainly sort it in 1. That being said, I don’t think there’s a ton of harm in sorting beforehand if you choose. If you wish to send me an email (williamabrwolf@gmail.com), I can forward it to those at AA.
Best,
Will
O, and I sorted it there. AA was the company with which I climbed Kili, though; they gave me a discount for doing both with them.