Essence of Tanzania

It is difficult to describe the feeling when you first get inside your safari vehicle and hit the open road under endless skies. Fresh air blows through your hair and you relax completely. It is amazing how quickly balance comes back into life when we hit the open safari dirt tracks. Tarangire National Park is situated in a vast valley offering wonderful views over the savannah best known for its elephants and iconic baobabs that dot the rolling hills. Tarangire boasts Tanzania’s largest herds of elephants. The park is one of the most beautiful in Tanzania and is second only to Ngorongoro in its density of Tanzanian wildlife. Relaxation and romance dance together in a beautiful setting—soak up all of the wide-open breathing space that is often lost in our usual day-to-day existence back home.

There are animals including lions, leopards, giraffes, impalas, gazelles, waterbucks, buffaloes, and zebras, which can often be seen in abundance. The name of the park originates from the Tarangire River that crosses through the park and is the lifeline for wild animals during dry seasons. Tarangire National Park is the sixth-largest national park in Tanzania and it is located in the Manyara Region. Thousands of animals migrate to Tarangire from Manyara National Park during the dry season (June through October), although visiting Tarangire during the rest of the year is a great experience. There are over 500 bird varieties—the most in one habitat in the world.

Ernest Hemingway said it best, “I never knew of a morning in Africa when I woke up that I was not happy.” Enjoy a cup of the particularly flavorful Tanzanian coffee and breakfast before jumping in your safari vehicle bound for Ngorongoro. As you wind up to the crater rim lush green foliage is dusted with brick-red earth and contrasts with the white mist of the clouds that shroud the volcano. Maasai tend their herds. Villagers carry firewood or water on their heads, instinctively keeping an eye out for an elephant or other animals that could come out of the bush at any moment. Arriving at the crater rim you get out of the vehicle and look out over the expanse of the crater below. This is the largest collapsed caldera in the world. Spirits are lifted by the beauty and grandeur of this place. A moment frozen in time just before the exciting wildlife encounters that await you. The animals are only specks for now, nearly 2,000 feet below. The perspective is foreign and gives us a sense of timelessness.

Drive down the 1900-foot crater wall from the rim of this spectacular extinct volcano. Here you will find Africa’s largest permanent concentration of wildlife. Ngorongoro has been referred to as the “Eighth Wonder of the World.” Ngorongoro towers above the Northern Serengeti Plain and it is celebrated as containing some of the most magnificent scenery in the world. Ngorongoro’s 105-square-mile crater is the largest unbroken crater on Earth and is packed with just about every species of wildlife found in East Africa. It is possible that we will see the Big Five—all of them—in one day. Large plains game permanently inhabit the area and the scenery is sensational. Some 30,000 animals live in the crater and, because the grasses are short, game is easily spotted and can often be approached quite closely. It is also one of the few parks in Africa where rhinos are relatively easy to locate. 

En route to Ngorongoro, stop at Lake Manyara National Park for a short safari and visit Mto Wa Mbu, a thriving village that lies at the entrance to beautiful Lake Manyara National Park. The deep rusty brick-red colored earth seems to dust everything. It lightly covers the brightly colored storefronts and the whistling thorn and acacia trees, making everything seem from a different time. Cultures from across Tanzania are represented here and it is fascinating to walk through the village and shop for local crafts. You will need to hone your bargaining skills in Mto Wa Mbu. Lake Manyara National Park is a lovely scenic park famed for its tree-climbing lions, bountiful birdlife, and large numbers of hippos and baboons. Elephants are easily seen and its varied landscape supports other game, including zebras, giraffes, warthogs, impalas, dik-diks, waterbucks, and flamingos, which come to the park intermittently. The park is a combination of mahogany forest, marsh, and grasslands. Manyara is two-thirds water, one-third dry land and home to a spectacular concentration of game. The park is a flash of green amid an otherwise parched landscape. Over 350 species of birds populate the park.

The morning light is brilliant as you cross the expanse of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area bound for the Serengeti, home to magnificent creatures and arguably the greatest wildlife theater on earth. Stop at Olduvai Gorge en route (an optional activity) and walk to the bottom where Mary Leaky discovered the remains of Australopithecus Homo Habilis and Homo Erectus. Contemplating the breath of time of mankind’s evolution is humbling, if not incomprehensible. As you walk down to the gorge floor, every step makes you feel like you are walking backward into primordial time. It is hard for us to appreciate time beyond two or three generations, much less the millions of years like we are witnessing being unraveled before us as we walk down to the excavated bottom of Olduvai Gorge. 

On the Serengeti Plain lives an estimated 2,500 lions and there are more cheetahs here than anywhere else in Africa. Hyenas, wildebeests, zebras, gazelles, ostriches, hippos, and other animals can be seen in abundance. Covering more than 5,700 square miles, the Serengeti is breathtaking terrain composed of acacia savannah, grass plains, and dense woodland grouped around kopje rock formations standing in a sea of grass. The kopjes provide shelter to a great variety of plants and animals, from the elusive leopard to the tiny dik-dik. It is estimated that one million animals live in the area with more than one-third of them being wildebeests. Serengeti is perhaps the most impressive wildlife sanctuary in the world. The park has more large animals than any other protected area on earth.

The morning birds sing and the golden light permeates everything, including your spirit—as it has done throughout this expedition. Say your reluctant farewells to your guides and lodge staff before flying back to Arusha. As you depart Tanzania this evening, you reflect on the essence of this incredible journey of unrestrained adventure and romance. What is it about Africa that has gotten under your skin as happens to so many of us? Certainly, it’s the gentleness and infectious joy of the people. It is also the vastness and sheer beauty of the land that seems to extend forever. You came to Africa for adventure, to live your dreams, to lead your family and friends to new experiences. In the end, you leave Africa but it is not able to leave you. It gets inside your heart, mind, and soul. This safari adventure has been a reflection of your imagination and we are immensely happy to have been your guide.

Not an easy answer. For some, the main reason is whether the migratory animals—the hundreds of thousands of zebras and wildebeests that cross between Tanzania and Kenya every year—have a better chance of being in Kenya (July through October) or Tanzania (the rest of the year, with some overlap) during the time of year you are planning on coming. That being said, ultimately it doesn’t matter. You will see thousands of animals moving about freely in their natural environment as they have done for eons. The migration never stops. What matters is that you have made the decision to come to Africa and live your dreams. If you are also bringing friends and family, you will have paved the way for others to come who would not otherwise have imagined traveling to Africa.

Some quality from each place we travel to comes with us to the next destination. You came to Africa for adventure, to live your dreams, perhaps to also lead your family and friends to new experiences. In the end, you leave Africa but it is not able to leave you. It gets inside your heart, mind, and soul. Ask anyone who has been there. Perhaps it satisfies a deep desire to be completely free. Perhaps it’s the animals or the hospitality of the people of Africa. Whatever it is, it brings us to a place between what was and what will be, where we find a more enlightened state that we all crave.

Ultimately, life is too short for a few extra days to make a difference in the big scheme of things. The main thing is that you live your dreams. Only in that way, will you look back without regret.

Waking up every day happy and carrying Africa with you for the rest of your life. Many people say that it is a peak experience of life.