Africa Safari in Tanzania - June 3 to June 11, 2017

We signed up for the Classic Tanzania Tour offered by Lion World Travel starting on June 3 to June 11, 2017.  Our friends Sue and Matt Roth went to the same tour, same schedule in 2016.  They loved the trip and highly recommended it to us. The itinerary covers the visiting of Tarangire National Park, Serengeti National Park, and Ngorongoro Crater.  It was a solid 5 days of game drives along with some traveling time.  We were able to see the beauty of Tanzania’s national parks, a lot of animals, and the Great Migration activities. It was a life time memorable trip and we appreciated very much for Sue and Matt’s recommendation.

The itinerary was as follows,

June 3, 2017 - traveled from DC’s Dulles Airport to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

June 4, 2017 - transferred from Addis Ababa to Kilimanjaro Airport of Tanzania, then traveled to Arusha for overnight stay at Lake Duluti Serena Lodge

June 5, 2017 - drove thru Arusha to Tarangire National Park, checked into Tarangire Sopa Lodge, and game drive in the afternoon

June 6, 2017 - morning game drive in Tarangire National Park, drove to Serengeti National Park, and checked into Serengeti Serena Lodge

June 7, 2017 - full day game drive in Serengeti National Park

June 8, 2017 - morning and afternoon game drives in Serengeti National Park

June 9, 2017 - morning game drive in Serengeti National Park, drove to Ngorongoro Crater, and checked into Ngorongoro Serena Lodge 

June 10, 2017 - full day game drive in Ngorongoro Crater

June 11, 2017 - drove to Arusha, and then Kilimanjaro Airport for return flights to the US

We learned on the day before we took off that we were the only two on this tour.  It was due to the timing of early season and only 2 of us signed up for this tour.  It served us great, just like a private tour on a 6-passengers safari Land Cruiser.  We had a private tour guide with a lot of freedom of doing whatever we like.  It was nice!

June 3 - 4, 2017 : Travel from US to Tanzania

The tour includes Ethiopian Airlines flight from Dulles Airport to Addis Ababa, then transfer to Kilimanjaro Airport in Tanzania.  Services of Ethiopian Airlines were OK, food and airplane facilities were yet to be desired.  We got to Addis Ababa in the morning, waited for 3 hours and then flew to Kilimanjaro.  When we got to Kilimanjaro, the local tour's (Leopard Tours) representative was on site to help us on Tanzania Immigration paperwork, then transported us from the airport to Lake Duluti Serena Lodge in Arusha.  Augustine Louis is our guide and driver, and has been fantastic for the whole trip.

One of the advices we got from Leopard Tours’ representative was to avoid drinking tap water and avoid brushing teeth with tap water.  This advice made us to decide to eat cooked food only for our whole journey.  With all required immunizations we had to take prior to this trip, we want to be extra careful.  

Duluti Serena Lodge is in the outskirt of Arusha and is a very beautiful resort lodge with beautiful green landscape. It also has a lot of bugs such as misquotes and flies.  The lodge does provide misquote net for us to sleep in at night.  It was a new experience for us.

June 5, 2017 - Drove through Arusha on the way to Tarangire National Park

Arusha is the 4th largest city in Tanzania and is famous for tourism, tanzanite mining and the International Criminal Court. The nearby Kilimanjaro airport is a small international airport, however, it has huge volume of international travelers arriving to/leaving from this tiny airport.  

The first attraction pointed out by our guide Augustine was the Clock Tower in the center of the town. It is popularly supposed to be situated at the midpoint between Cairo and Cape Town.  

When we passed by the International Criminal Court, Tony was going to take a photo to show that we had passed by this landmark, however, Augustine told us that no photo was allowed.

It took about 3 hours to get to Tarangire National Park.  It is a very woody park with a lot of animals. Tarangire is well known for its huge herds of elephant – probably the greatest concentration in Africa - and buffalo, as well as lion, cheetah and leopard. On our way to Tarangire Sopa Lodge, we saw a lot of elephants, baboons, and giraffes.  

It was about 2:30PM when we got to Sopa Lodge and we had a very nice lunch by their pool side with many animals and birds around us. 

After a short break, we went out for the afternoon game drive.  We saw impalas, gazelles, elephants, and giraffes. Our guide, Augustine also told us that elephants and giraffes eat grass and leafs, therefore they don't participate in the great migration. Augustine was trying very hard to spot lion by driving through his favorite spots, unfortunately lions just did not want to show up.  Since the month of June is just after their long raining season, the grass and bushes were pretty high which made the spotting of lions a little more difficult.  

We saw a lot of Baobab trees in Tarangire National Park. It has swollen trunk and thick root-like branches. The structure of the trunk holds a certain amount of water when no surface water is available. Elephants often cause considerable damage in search of moisture as relief from the drought conditions.

June 6, 2017 - Game drive in the morning and drove to Serengeti National Park in the afternoon

After a nice breakfast, we went on another game drive in the Tarangire National Park.  We saw more elephants, gazelles and a large group of baboons. Augustine tried to drive along the river to spot lions, however, we did not have any luck.

On our way to the Serengeti National Park in the afternoon, we drove through the Ngorongoro Conservation Area which is a protected area and a World Heritage Site located 180 km (110 mi) west of Arusha in the Crater Highlands area of Tanzania. The area is named after Ngorongoro Crater, a large volcanic crater within the area. 

The road to the Senergeti National Park is unpaved just like all roads in Tanzania’s national parks. It was a bumpy ride on narrow and dusty road. However, we did witness the coexistence of human, livestock and wildlife in this area. 

After we got to Serengeti National Park, Augustine told us that “Serengeti” means “an endless plain” in Maasai language. At the entrance of the park, we can see why it is called Serengeti National Park.

We spotted elephants, giraffes, and a lot of gazelles on the road side.  We even spotted a lion just laid along the road side with a jackal checking out on her nearby. This was the first lion we saw, therefore we stayed for quite a while and took a lot of pictures. We also spotted a cheetah in distance.  

Augustine told us on how to tell differences among impala, Grant’s gazelle and Thomson’s gazelle.  They are commonly seen in this area of Tanzania.  

Impalas have long neck with a smooth short coat of reddish-brown, white underparts. The males carry magnificent, wide-set, u-shaped horn that curve backwards, sideways then upwards. The female is smaller than males and lacks horn. Impalas eat grass and leafs, therefore they don't participate the great migration.

Grants’ gazelles are large gazelles stand 65 inches high and can weight up to 147 pounds, with pale brown coats and a white patch above their tails. Both males and females have horns. They participate in the great migration.

Thomson’s gazelles are most seen in Serengeti with light brown coats, dark stripes on their sides, and white patches just above the tail. They stand up to 26 inches high at the shoulder and can weigh up to 55 pounds. Male Thomson's gazelles have horns, while females have much smaller horns. Their diet consists of grass and seeds, and they are hunted by a variety of predators, including cheetahs, leopards, lions, and hyenas. Gazelles eat grass only, so they do participate in the great migration.

We also saw a lot of zebras on our way to Serengeti Serena Lodge. When we got to our lodge, it was in the late afternoon. We just went to our lodge, took a shower and ready for dinner.

June 7, 2017 - Full day of game drive in Serengeti National Park

We started our game drive at 8AM and immediately spotted lots of impalas, gazelles, zebras, giraffes, and elephants.  

Serengeti National Park covers 14,750 square kilometers (5,700 sq mi) of grassland plains, savannas, forest by the river bend, and woodlands. Savannas are comprised mostly of grasses and a few scattered trees, and exist in areas where there is a 6-8 month wet season and a 4-6 month dry season. In Serengeti National Park, we saw a lot of flat-top acacia tree in an umbrella shape with branches and leaves high off the ground. 

Serengeti National Park lies in northwestern Tanzania, bordered to the north by Kenyan, where it is continuous with the Maasai Mara National Reserve. To the southeast of the park is the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, to the southwest lies Maswa Game Reserve, to the west are the Ikorongo and Grumeti Game Reserves, and to the northeast and east lies the Loliondo Game Control Area. Together, these areas form the larger Serengeti ecosystem.  It is an UNESCO World Heritage Site and it is famous for its annual great migration of over 1.5 million white-bearded wildebeest and 250,000 zebra. 

Since there is no foot traffic allowed in Tanzania’s national parks, we just enjoyed the park and its animals in a luxury Land Cruiser.  Only 2 of us on a 6-passengers car with the top popped up, it is a true enjoyment.  

Augustine communicated with other guides via CB radio.  Pretty soon, he got messages on whereabouts of a leopard. The leopard was just minding his own business resting and looking around on a tree branch.  We stayed very close and made many close-up shots. Then he(or she) decided to just climbing down the tree and walked away to another tree further in distance.    

Later, we learned that there were lions gathering nearby.  When we got there, we parked at a pretty good spot to see 3 lions (mom and 2 cubs) at a very close distance.  To our surprise, more lions moved in and stayed at the same spot just minding their own business.  To the end, the herd was 5 lion moms with more than 10 cubs gathering at the same spot for sun bathing and moving around.  Thanks to Augustine, we got the best seat in the house for taking close shots.

Then, Augustine got more info in regard to lions resting on a sausage tree.  When we got there, we saw 2 female lions on the tree resting.  Nearby, there was a group of elephants, large and small. After these elephants drank water in a nearby pond, they moved toward this sausage tree to rub their skin against the tree trunk. At the same time, these 2 lions were still on the tree watching elephants' activities underneath.  At one point, a large elephant got too close to one of the lions and she had to reach her arm to touch the elephant trying to get the elephant away.  It was an amazing scene.

Throughout the day we also spotted warthogs, hyaenas, black-face monkeys, waterbucks, and vultures.