I did the tour through a company called Nomad tours. www.nomadtours.co.za
They are a highly reputable company who are professional and whom I found easy to book through and work with. They allowed me to customize my trip and advise me on finances. The crew that guided us over the 21 days were also excellent. They were professional, friendly, approachable and had their clients best interests at heart. I traveled with a fantastic group of people who came from the likes of Australia, Sweden, Germany and Sri Lanka.
My journey began in Nairobi, Kenya. It was a short journey from the airport to the hotel but it took 2 hours through traffic. The next morning I met the crew from Nomads as well as the other people on the tour. We then set off for the Tanzanian border through the land of the Masai. The Masai are amongst the richest people in the world however not in monetary value as they have huge herds of cattle, sheep and goats. It soon became very clear how very third world Kenya and Tanzania are as there are huge amounts of run down buildings as well as half finished buildings. It was then into Tanzania which was a very slow boarder crossing on the Tanzanian side. After a few hours it was into the madness that is Arusha town at the foot of mount Meru. We stayed at Ndoro lodge where I began my camping tour. Tent up, tent down.
Day 2 began early as we were off to the Serengeti and Ngorogoro Crater. After another long drive (which is a feature of the tour along with difficult roads), we reached Ngorogoro entrance on the plateau of Tanzania.
The Ngorogoro nature reserve boarders the Serengeti and you have to go along the top of the crater and down the western side through the rest of Ngorogoro park to get into the Serengeti. The Ngorogor national park is the only park`in Tanzania in which the Masai people can live and let their live stock graze on the plains with the wild animals of the park. So all the way through the Ngorogoro park you come across Masai homesteads and herds boys with their herds.
We then got to the Serengeti (meaning "endless plains") and endless are the plains. The only way to describe the Serengeti is spectacular! We were very lucky as we drove through kilometer after kilometer of herds of wildebeest, zebra, thompsons gazelle and grants gazelle. All the pictures in the world cannot do the vastness of the herds any justice.
Myself at the entrance to the Serengeti, the herds awaiting.
Thompsons gazelle in front, grants gazelle behind.
We were lucky enough to have a very knowledgeable guide who told us that the herds were actually not in the right place for the migration cycle and that the herds were actually about two months ahead of schedule. The herds follow the rain but due to changes in the weather patterns (we all know why) the herds were further east than what they should have been.
Interestingly enough though, only the zebras and wildebeest migrate and animals such as the thompson's, the grant's, lions, hyena and whatever other animals you can find are permanent residence of the plains.
Vast plains and huge herds.
Zebra's watching us drive by.
Lioness having a lazy afternoon.
Spotted Hyena pondering what will be for dinner.
Amazingly we came across a pack of about 30 hyena as driving through the plains. We were also lucky to see a big male lion on a rocky outcrop. The big boy came down the rocks and had an almighty roar, he then wondered down past the car and down the road.
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We drove into our campsite in Seronera in the dark with our campsite already set up by our Serengeti crew. The campsite had no fences and the animals happily wonder through the camp day and night.
Day 3 saw us going at a far slower pace. Our day started off well and the animal sighting where thick and fast.
Lichenstein Hartebeest and warthog
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Masai Giraffe
Tsessebe
Bat-eared fox (first time I have ever seen one)
It was then thanks to our guide's trusted radio that we saw 3 leopard sightings in one morning, the first of which wasn't a great sighting but the other two were great.
After lunch we were in for our daily lion sighting and once again the trusty radio helped us find 3 little lions onto of a rocky out crop.
Dik dik, the smallest of the antelope
Day 4 continued much as day 3. We started off with a lion sighting in the long grass.
Herd of about 150 buffalo
The only disappointing thing about day 4 was that our guide took us on the exact same loop as the day before, we saw the same leopard, bat-eared fox and hippo.
Plentiful water in Serengeti
Happy hippos
On the way out of the park we went back through the herds encountering lion, hyena and all the herds.
Two zebras horsing around (bhaaaa ha ah)
Our animal sightings for Serengeti included:
Olive baboon, buffalo, elephant, wildebeest, zebra, thompson gazelle, grants gazelle, masai giraffe, ostrich, white backed vulture, spotted hyena, secretary bird, lion, black backed jackal, lichensteins hartebeest, tawny eagle, waterbuck, impala, tessebe, dwarf mongoose, leopard, warthog, bat-eared fox, marabou stalk, yellow billed stalk, vervet monkey, hippo, dik dik, dassie, kori bustard and white chested bustard.
At the end of day 4 we had our camp set up at the top of the Ngorogoro crater, another un-fenced camp, which we found out to be a real thing. In the evening an elephant pay the camp a visit as well as a midnight wake up by a herd of buffalo walking past the tents. The can only be describe as a heavy grass hoover, barely stopping to chew the grass.
Day 5 we were up early for the descent into the crater and what a descent it was.
The Ngorogoro crater is incredible! The bottom of the crater is flat with short grass and animals are very easy to see as well due to there being huge amounts of animals.
Thompson's,grant's and eland
flat plain of Ngorogoro
Hyena
Crowned crane
About 1.5 hours into our drive our radio found a pride of lion 9 strong who were wondering across the grassy plains, each one getting up and wondering and getting up again. The pride ended up walking past the cars and one young male gave us a good looking up and down. The pride began hunting amongst 3 big herds of wildebeest and zebra with little success and not much effort from one half of the pride.
Along the road we spotted both elephant and black rhino but both were too far away to photograph. After consulting with guide, it was interesting to find out that the park is taking good measures to protect their rhino's.
Cooling off in a muddy pool
The crater wall that creates a natural barrier for the animals
Hippo pool for lunch
Hippo's enjoying the wet season
The rain comes down as we ascend the crater wall
Interestingly, the outer wall of the crater and the top of the crater is actually a rainforest.
After a phenomenal 3 days we headed back to Arusha and the organised chaos that is. Our sighting in Ngorogoro crater included:
Grant's gazelle, eland, buffalo, wildebeest, thompson's gazelle, zebra, warthog, hyena, golden jackal, spoon-billed stalk, saddle-bill stalk, pelican, hippo, crowned crane, lion, elephant, lichenstein's hartebeest and black rhino.
Day 6 was a long drive traveling from Arusha to Bagamoyo. Unfortunately the main road going from Arusha to Dar es Salaam is full of speed bumps, corrigated road and speed cops. So a 580km trip took close to 12 hours from Arusha to Bagamoyo.
Due to the long drive we didn't see too much of the resort but on day 7 we walked through the town of Bagamoyo to take a look at the ruined buildings that were a part of the East Africa slave trade.
Fish market at Bagamoyo... some interesting smells
We then had a short drive that took a long time into Dar es Salaam. It was then onto the ferry and over to Zanzibar and Stone town. Stone town is a very interesting place, very crowded and 98% Muslim however the town has been built on a close relationship between Christians and Muslims with the Mosque and chapel being built next door to one another. We then went on a slave tour which wasn't particularly good as our guide wasn't particularly good however walking around the little town was fascinating.
A small taste of the fish and food market... smells interesting
Narrow streets and lots of traffic
Lots of narrow back streets kept very clean. The flags you see are the colours of the favoured political party on Zanzibar which is fighting to become independent from Tanzania.
The old fort built by the Portuguese
Day 8 saw us travel north and west on the island to Ocean View hotel. Beautiful sand beaches and clear blue seas.
Day 9 we went snorkeling out on the reefs around two of Zanzibar's smaller and uninhabited islands. The coral reefs are beautiful but not as good as Fiji or the Great Barrier reef in my opinion.
The only real problem with Zanzibar is that you always get locals coming up to you trying to be friendly and then offering to take you snorkeling or on a sunset cruise and you actually have to be rude and ignore them or strongly tell them that you are not interested.
Day 10 saw the group reluctantly leaving Zanzibar and taking a challenging journey back to Dar es Salaam, across to the peninsular and to our accommodation. Whilst the ferry trip from Zanzibar to Dar es Salaam was fine the ferry trip across to the peninsular was a bit of a challenge as the ferry was packed with people and no one believes in lines or courtesy. We eventually made it to our accommodation which had a particularly dirty beach.
We were all up early on day 11 to fight through Dar es Salaam traffic on our way to Mikumi game reserve. It was a long trip but we were rewarded with a drive through the park as the main road crosses through the middle of the park.
We began day 12 with a game drive through Mikumi game reserve. The drivers cost $30 and another $30 to be paid with a credit card to get into the park. Unfortunately, Mikumi game reserve did not give value for money. The park is beautiful however the driver was not good at all. Our driver wasn't particularly knowledgeable and repeated facts, his navigation of the park wasn't particularly good and he was on his phone and chatting to locals as we went along driving through the parks camping area's.
However, we did have some excellent sightings of lion and a male lion close up.
Monitor lizard
Impala, giraffe and zebra having a good role in the dust
Big male lion... we were about 7m away
So our Mikumi morning game drive was just under 3 hours with a reluctant driver. After the game drive we packed up our camp and headed for Iringa via the Baobab valley.
Baobab valley
Found this guy at the base of a boabab tree
On day 13 we crossed the boarder into Malawi with a boarder crossing that took about 1.5 hours. We then ascended the great rift valley and then descended down to lake Malawi.
Day 14 was Christmas day. We traveled to Ngala beach, stopping on the way for Christmas lunch after a quick super market shop where I met some interesting locals. We then had an even better Christmas dinner with some festive games.
View from Ngala beach bar
Full moon on Christmas night
Ngala beach
Day 15 began with a walk through the local town with the children of the town and the guide, however it soon became clear that the children's friendliness and warmth was only due to the prospect of being given something from a tourist as they asked for watches, hats, sunglasses, water bottles and whatever else took their fancy.
I spent the afternoon relaxing and doing some much needed washing.
Day 16 we reluctantly left Ngala beach and headed to Malawi's capitol city of Lilongwe which has a lot more money than the rest of the country.
Day 17 was an eventful day as we excitedly left for South Luangwa National park. About 100km from South Luangwa we had a puncture on the inside tire of the truck, it took about 3 hours to fix as the ground wasn't particularly stable and it was a mission to get the nuts off the wheel. However our crew got the job done with the help of some locals. We arrived at the South Luangwa camp and were welcomed by a beautiful sunset and a cool pool.
South Luangwa campsite
African sunset over South Luangwa river
Day 18 began early with the truck heading to Chipatta and the group heading out to South Luangwa National Park with our guides. The guides are excellent and know their business, despite getting us stuck in the mud and having to push the car out (turned out to be pretty fun), the guide was knowledgeable and friendly and stayed in the park a little longer due to our stuck in the mud game.
Crossing the South Luangwa river to get into the park
Giant eagle owl
Lots of elephant in the park
Then the trust bush communication helped us out and off we went to find a pack of wild dogs and then a pride lions.
The pride of lions that we went to see is one of 2 prides in the park. This one was 9 lions strong where as the other is 13 strong. One lion in each pride has a tracking collar which is used to check up on the lions once a month.
After a great morning in the park we came back to camp for a relaxing day in the pool and catching up on some much needed rest. around 16:00 we set out for an afternoon drive, sun downers and a night drive.
Our afternoon started off well with a close sighting of a herd of elephants. Whilst we were watching the elephants we heard a herd of impala making alarm calls along with a whistling pukus. Our guy reckoned there should be a predator in the area so we drove about 150m to where the impalas were and out came a leopard taking an evening stroll. I rated this as the top sighting of my trip.
Our South Luangwa sightings included:
Hippo, crocodile, crowned cranes, thorny craft giraffe, elephant, impala, bushbuck, open-billed stalk, mopane squirrel, giant eagle owl, puku, zebra, monitor lizard,warthog, wild dogs, lion, baboon, hammer kop, leopard, waterbuck, buffalo, spotted genit, slander mongoose, banded mongoose, white tipped mongoose and bushtail mongoose.
On day 19 we reluctantly left South Luangwa and headed back to Chipatta in our repaired truck for a quick grocery stop. It was then onto Petuake as a halfway stop before Lusaka.
Day 20 saw us reach Lusaka which is a lot like home as South African shops have infiltrated Lusaka's market. It was in Lusaka, after a long and tiring day, that we saw in the new year.
Our last day of the tour, day 21, saw us up at 3.30 in the morning to get to the Zimbabwean border. It would be the first time since 2005 that I had been to Zim. We entered Zimbabwe at Victoria Falls and drove over the bridge and into the last of our 5 countries. There was a decent amount of water going over the falls despite the lack of rain in southern Africa. The Sri Lankans and I tried to do a bungee but it was over a 1.5 hour wait so we decided to do the walk along the top of the falls and then onto the last supper as a group and sad goodbyes.
My last day of holiday I went white water rafting with the Aussies and the Sri Lankans, which was great fun and even though it was particularly expensive, it was awesome fun.
If you enjoy wildlife and a tropical holiday combined with a truly African flair, this trip is for you. Whilst you are going to have to put up with toilets that aren't great, bush toilets, long periods of time on the road, people trying to sell their goods to you, children rudely asking for money, food and toys and people cutting into a line; this is truly a trip of a lifetime. You will have to drink your morning cup of cement but East Africa is phenomenal!
Don't think, just book it and go!
