Africa: Tanzania Safari
Day 1:
After making it back from climbing Mt Kilimanjaro, My buddy Tyler and I had two days left in our trip to go on a safari. I would have loved to spend much more time on safari but we decided to not miss out on the opportunity and see what we could see in a short amount of time.
I didn’t get much sleep before the safari as I was trying to rebook flights home from Tanzania as they were canceled due to the current events in the world. We woke up packed our gear again, and grabbed breakfast before meeting our guide Vincent and the chef Rodgers. Rodgers was our chef on Kilimanjaro so it was a pleasant surprise to have him along as we knew the food was going to be great for our last few days.
It was a 2.5 hour ride to Tangangire National Park. We saw a lot of animals through the day as you will see from my photos. The most notable encounter of the day was a pair of cheetas chasing a baby warthog. Not only did we see the cheetas, we saw the chase as they reached high speeds in pursuit. The tables quickly turned once the Mama warthog defended its baby and started to chase the cheeta off. Even from a distance seeing something like this in person was something Nat Geo or Attenborough himself couldn’t describe. After a day in the park we moved on to Ngorongoro Crater were we camped at the top of the rim. Rodgers prepared a nice dinner as we listened to the echos of animals in the crater through the rain.
Camp: Simba Camp - Ngorongoro Crater
Day 2:
We started early so we could get down in the crater while some of the animals were still active. Driving down into the crater was like entering a different world. The crater was huge, full of roads and water ways and of course plenty of wildlife but it also seemed small being able to follow the rim around made everything seem close even though we took most of the day to drive around it and see all the different animals. We were quickly rewarded before breakfast our guide heard something interesting over the radio and quickly started to make his way over. When we were approaching it was easy to see what the fuss was about. A pack of hyenas had killed a waterbuck and was eating it right on the road. As they tore and splashed in the muddy road, they whined and cackled. There was only one other jeep in the area this early and both parties stay silently listening to the action. It was so quiet you could hear the bones cracking as the hyenas made short work of the waterbuck. We had only spent one day with our guide Vincent but one thing he shared with us was his favorite animal, the hyena. It was nice to see the guide as excited as we were and we spent plenty of time getting photos and enjoying the pack.
“can I pet that dog?”
After the hyenas we went to have breakfast at a picnic area. Then we hit the road again to see what else the crater had inshore for us.
We stopped for lunch and then had a long drive back to the hotel for our last night in Tanzania. We ate and reflected on the trip and already started discussing possible adventures for the future.
Day 3: A quiet morning of packing followed by coffee. We checked out of our room and sat in the dining area until I was picked up for my Airport transfer. After a satisfying climb to to top of Kilimanjaro and an animal packed safari I was a bit glad to head home and get some rest.
