TANZANIA

 

Eight years ago we visited South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana and it truly was the trip of a lifetime. We fell in love with Africa and all it had to offer.  We always wanted to explore more of Africa and finally this year we got the chance to visit Tanzania and Uganda.  It took a lot of planning and research as I was adamant about wanting to hire local companies.  After all, who knows more about their country than the people that live there. We decided to stay in Tanzania for 8 nights and then travel over to Uganda for another week.  Our goals in visiting each country differed.  Tanzania brought us to infamous Serengeti, game drives and other National parks like Tarangire and Ngorongoro Crater.  It was also a lifelong dream to attempt to see the Wildebeest migration.  Uganda on the other hand offered something not many places can, the opportunity to trek Chimpanzees and the endangered mountain gorillas.  This was always a lifelong dream of mine and finally it as coming true!

Our trip started in Tanzania.  After a night in Arusha we embarked on our safari with Wild Roots Safari, a local safari company that was incredible to work with.  Our first stop was Tarangire National
Park, known for the elephant herds.  Amongst the many elephants we also saw lions, mongoose, impalas, warthogs, buffalo, giraffes and much more.  After an all day game drive we stayed at the beautiful Marera Lodge for the evening before heading out to the Serengeti in the morning.

The trip to the Serengeti is not for the light hearted, or the person who gets car sick. lol. The roads are rough, unfinished and dusty. The drive is long and at times you look around and all you see is a vast landscape with no one around, except an occasional Maassi villager or a village itself.  We visited the central serengeti first, which is a harsh environment for the animals to survive in.  It is vast openness, so not a lot of protection.  We went during the dry season, when water is scarce. There is little protection from the sun in the form of shade so animals seize the opportunity to sleep under the trees that are few and far between.  The wildlife in the central Serengeti is plentiful.  Prides of lions sleep in tress or under trees, napping the day away.  Large groups of Thomson Gazelles graze for grass.  Elephants, giraffes, hertabeests, warthogs, baboons, secretary birds are all commonly seen.  We were lucky to see a Leopard twice.  Once napping on a rock and then eating his prey in a tree.  We also saw a cheetah, fresh off of a kill.  The Serengeti is so large that at times while driving through you seem like you are the only people out there.  It truly is a remarkable experience.  We stayed at Thorn Tree tented camp, in which we had a self contained tent  ( this means your toilet and shower are in your tent).  I highly recommend this camp. It is right in the bush and that means you are in the middle of nature.  Around our camp zebras and hertabeests grazed.  In the distance herds of elephants strolled by.  All of this amazing animal viewing from the comfort of your camp.  Drink in hand and enjoying the sounds of nature.  We did have an elephant stroll right into camp, which was very exciting.  The staff eventually coerced him to leave, but low and behold that night I heard something outside of the tent and sure enough he had come back and was standing right beside our tent.  Friends and family have asked if we were scared and the simple answer is NO!!! It was exhilerating and such a privilege to be that close to an animal as majestic and grand as an elephant in the wild. The important thing is to be sensible and respect the animal and just dont do anything silly.  It is something we will talk about for years to come.

We had the privilege of visiting a Maasaai village, which is a local tribe that still upholds their original cultural beliefs to this day.  They live off the land in small villages, their herds of cows are the most important thing to them.  The more cows, the richer they are.  They have beliefs that most westerners find archaic and even wrong at times, such as polygamy and female circumscision.  I had just finished reading a book on this culture so when I got to visit the village it was interesting to see everything I had just read about with my own eyes.  The Maassai are taking strides though to welcome tourism and many members do go off to school and learn English.  It is a difficult life though for those that stay, but they seem like a happy group of people.

We. continued on our journey to the northern Serengeti, near the Mara River.  This is the infamous river that you see the Wildebeest cross during the Great Migration in every National Geographic documentary.  It is simply stunning.  It is not as desolate as the central part.  During the migration you know in your mind there will be a lot of animals……and then you get there and are blown away.  In every direction you look, not hundreds, not thousands, but tens of thousands of Wildebeest occupy the landscape.  It is an overwhelming sight, beautiful and wondrous.  The large groups of animals wait at the banks of the river on the Kenyan side, contemplating if it the right time to cross or not.  After all it is a dangerous undertaking.  Crocodiles and hippos wait for this for their grandest meal all year.  The group gather and wait, sometimes for minutes, hours, days or even weeks.  So the timing to view the actual crossing of the river is pure luck.  Luck was in our favour while we were there.  We were blessed to see a large group of Wildebeest and zebras make the dangerous cross after only waiting for around 30 minutes to see if they dared.  It was like watching that National Geopgraphic documentary in real life.  I feel privileged to have witnessed it .  I know have seen two of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World.  Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe and now The Great Migration.

The last place we visited in Tanzania was the Ngorongoro Crater.  It is literally a giant crater about 8000 square km and it is such a special place.  In the crater you can see so many different species of animals all right next to each other.  We saw lions, jackals, hyenas, zebras, wildebeest, warthogs, flamingos, buffalo, hippos, ostriches and even got treated to a beautiful view of the serval.  It is truly a stunning landscape and I highly recommend to everyone that they visit the crater!

Safari Company: Wild Roots Safaris http://www.wildrootsafaris.com

Accommodations:

Thorn Tree Bush Camp http://www.thorntreecamp.com

Marera Valley Lodge  http://www.mareravalley.com

Mara Heritage Tented Camp http://heritagecampsandlodges.com

 

 

 

UGANDA

 

After our time in Tanzania was finished we caught a flight over to the beautiful country of Uganda.  It is literally the most beautiful country I have ever visited.  The landscape is made up of rolling mountain, dense forests and amazing crater lakes. We had the please of hiring Uganda Adventure Safaris for our time in Uganda.  Chris, our guide, planned the perfect itinerary for us.  We spent one night in Kampala,. the captiol city and then started our journey across the country to Kibale national forest.  Our main objective in Kibale was to trek the Chimpazees that still inhabit the forest.  Chris had booked us at a gorgeous camped, called Kibale Forest Camp.  It was a tented camp, with a touch of luxury and the grounds of this camp was teeming with black and white colobus monkeys, red colobus monkeys , that would put on a show swinging from the trees, while you sat by the campfire or in the lodge bar sipping a glass of wine!

Our Chimpanzee trek was so fun.  Our guide Florence, was amazing.  She led us into the forest and along the way we ran into a group of baboons.  We reached a large fig tree with a family of chimps up near the tree tops.  While the had their lunch, we observed them from the ground and then they decided to make their way to the ground. They are very comfortable around people and as they came down we broke off into a smaller group to follow a small group along.  They walk for a bit and then sit down and eat, allowing us to observe them and take photos.  Amazing to see these animals in their natural habitats! I highly recommend doing both the chimp and gorilla treks, but they are very far apart from each other and require a travel day in between.  After our gorilla trek we went on another nature walk near the forest and saw all kinds of monkeys and birds, including the Great Blue Toracco, also known as the lipstick bird.  We also visited a local community and experienced how the make coffee, grinding it and roasting it by hand.  Coffee is the biggest cash crop for Uganda.  Also visited a woman’s group that did basket weaving and then the real treat was going to see the Banana Man.  The Banana Man, is equivalent to a local brewery.  He makes banana juice, that is used for banana beer, wine and gin.  It was a very fun experience and not to mention the Banana man is the spitting image of Chris Rock.  Also the banana beer is delicious and the gin will knock your socks off.

Our gorilla trek was a highlight for sure. Waking up early for the briefing with the park rangers and our guide, we began our trek into Bwindi the Inpenetrable Forest.  The hike can be anywhere from 1-8 hours, depending on where the gorillas are moving to.  Luckily for us, after about an hour and a bit, the gorillas were located.  The hike is in the mountains and it is very up and down, and very dense.  Once the gorillas were located , the guides did a great job of getting us in places to see the gorillas up close.  The family were were trekking had ten gorillas, we saw nine of them, including some babies.  The silverback of the group, names Bwenji, at one point wanted to move past our group and actually pushed one of the guys in our group aside and to the ground.  He was perfectly fine but it goes to show you how strong they are.  Sitting in the forest with these majestic creatures is a privilege for sure.  It really was a dream come true.

After our gorilla trek we made our way to Lake Bunyonyi, which is the third deepest lake in the world.  We took a 30 minute boat ride to the lake Bunyonyi Rock Resort, which is a gem of a place located right on the lake. It is a great opportunity to relax in the sun in the afternoon and even go for a swim in the lake ( its safe, no hippos or crocs), I highly recommend visiting the lake after your gorilla trek to relax. It is about a 2 hour drive from Bwindi.

Our trip overall was amazing and I highly recommend the companies we hired for guiding. They were a lot of fun, professional and made the trip, a trip of a lifetime.

Safari Company : Uganda Adventure Safaris https://ugadventure-safaris.com

Accommodations:

Kibale Forest Camp https://naturelodgesuganda.com/kibale-forest-camp/

Agandi Lodge https://www.agandiuganda.com

Lake Bunyonyi Rock Resort: https://www.lakebunyonyirockresort.net