This blog post is by AWR collaborator Sarah Martens. Sarah and her husband Ted are currently traveling around the world in search of adventure and, along the way, sampling some of AWR’s great trips and looking for new destinations.
My husband and I were quite excited to be going on safari in Tanzania and though we knew big animals help to define the safari experience, we were still curious about what to expect.
Imagine our amazement upon entering Tarangire National Park and realizing that we could see an elephant in every direction we looked; there were dozens of elephants surrounding us. Elephants drinking in the river. Elephants in large groups under a tree. Elephants mud-wallowing to cool off. Momma elephants and their babies. Elephants along the side of the road looking at us looking at them. It was an incredible day filled with dozens of other fun sightings as well from warthogs and giraffe to lions and baboons!
Two days later, after sleeping in a mobile camp on the edge of the Seregeti National Park and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, our guide got us up early for a morning game drive. Within 20 minutes of setting off from our unfenced camp, we came upon a female lion in the tall grass with three baby cubs. The cubs were hilarious to watch as they wrestled with each other and lovingly pawed at their mother as she cleaned herself up after a kill. They were so much fun to look at that we could barely tear ourselves away. When they were done showing off for our cameras, they effortlessly disappeared back into the grasses from which they came.
On another day in the Serengeti we had the opportunity to eat our lunch while overlooking a herd of thousands of wildebeest and zebras. We were fortunate to be visiting during their migration through the Serengeti and nothing can prepare you for seeing, hearing, smelling and feeling the movement of so many animals in such a small area.
We were continuously blown away by the animal encounters in these parks, not to mention the African landscapes, our well-informed guide and the unique and varied safari lodges where we got spoiled each night. Though we didn’t know what to expect as we set off on safari we quickly learned that the country’s unfenced National Parks and Conservation Areas are packed full of millions of animals who are living relatively undisturbed in the same environments that they have inhabited for thousands of years.
Tanzania has a good thing going. If you want a safari experience that will showcase Africa at its best, this is it.