My epic 6-day safari, made special by our tour guide, Amani
We traveled to Tanzania in Autumn. This is my recollection of our epic safari which was crafted by My Epic Safari and Amani, especially for our group of seven travelers, according to our budget. We thoroughly enjoyed this once-in-a-lifetime experience.
OUR 6 DAY, 4 NIGHT SAFARI
DAY 0
We arrive at Arusha Airport. Our tour guide, Amani, picked us up and took us for our overnight stay at Arusha Planet Lodge, Mt Kilimanjaro, which is a serene hotel in the outskirts of Arusha, with luscious gardens.
DAY 1
After breakfast, Amani picked us up at Arusha Planet Lodge for our drive to Serengeti National Park via Ngorongoro viewpoint. Thanks to Amani’s expertise, we were able to see The Big Five on our first day! The Big Five are African buffalo, elephant, leopard, lion and rhinoceros. Coincidentally, Amani told us The Small Five are antlion, buffalo weaver, elephant shrew, leopard tortoise, rhino beetle.
We drove into the evening, stopping several times to admire the wildlife and hippos. We reached late evening at Serengeti Heritage Luxury Camp, which is right in the middle of the Serengeti, and had a buffet dinner. After dinner, some of us sat watching the evening entertainment while others sat round a campfire under the starry sky. It was calm and blissful.
Under the watchful eyes of the Maasai, we felt safe. After resting, we were escorted by a Maasai guard to our camp for the night. While walking about a 100 yards, he pointed at the silhouettes of elephants and giraffes in the distance. Some of us slept like a log while some were all too aware of the sounds of animals in the vicinity.
DAY 2
We woke up early and after breakfast, collected our lunch boxes for a full day game drive at Serengeti National Park. Amani gave us a choice of either an early morning game drive and another drive in the afternoon or take a lunch box so we can have an all day game drive. We returned back to the camp in the evening with some time to admire the surroundings around the camp. Next to the camps, you can watch the mongoose families residing in the abandoned termite mounds and birds nestling in the low trees.
We had a great buffet dinner and watched some local entertainers once more. The overnight stay was interesting, with sounds of animals heard in the vicinity of the camp in the dead of the night.
DAY 3
Our day started at 5am with some snacks prior to commencing our early morning game drive which lasted until mid-morning. We then drove back to the camp for breakfast. After breakfast, we collected our lunch box for the game drive en-route to Ngorongoro. Upon reaching there, we had dinner and stayed overnight at Ngorongoro Serena Hotel on a romantic moonlit night and a view of a lake inside the crater.
DAY 4
After a hearty early morning breakfast, we collected our lunch box to take with us on our drive, descending into the Ngorongoro crater. Here, we saw some amazing sights unique to the crater. Many of the animals can be seen up close.
We had our lunch down in the crater, then ascended out of the crater for an evening drive to Karatu. We stayed overnight at Karatu Farm of Dreams Lodge with some evening entertainment and sleeping in hut-like rooms.
DAY 5
After an early morning breakfast and collecting our lunch boxes, we left the Farm of Dreams Lodge and drove past Lake Manyara to Tarangire National Park. Here, we saw a different environment to the other parks. There were more bushes here and the environment was sandy. We also saw more birds here.
At lunch, we somehow avoided the monkeys snatching our lunch boxes but we did leave some scraps for them. After the afternoon drive back to Arusha, we spent the evening perusing at the Cultural Heritage Centre, then stayed overnight at the Planet Lodge.
DAY 6
Early next day, Amani drove us from Arusha to Mombasa for the next leg of our holiday. Our route took us via Moshi, Taveta/Taita Hills, Voi, then onto Mombasa. Driving from Southern Kenya to Voi was another unique experience. The terrain was flat with red sandy fields.
Voi to Mombasa is a very busy route with huge lorries thundering past. It is quite populated throughout the route. We had to stop a couple of times for the traffic police to pretend to inspect the vehicle and driver, and demand some bribes.
We reached the outskirts of Mombasa in the evening and got stuck in traffic. Driving through Mombasa wasn’t too bad if you can tolerate tuk-tuks driving atrociously. We had a terrible experience and delays being stuck in the queue at the Likoni ferry crossing, as we were not able to pay the toll charge of KSh5 via Mpesa. A beggar then offered to pay the charge for us on his phone at an extortionate US$30!
So, a lesson learned – make sure you carry a working Kenyan SIM card for your phone.
Upon reaching our hotel in Diani and having dinner was very welcome after a hectic hot day. The driver drove back to Dar es Salaam the next day.
All in all, it was a very memorable holiday indeed that we won’t forget for many years.
If you would like My Epic Safari to curate a customized itinerary for you, please look through some itineraries here or contact them here.
