My first safari!

Hippos are terrifying.

I went on a safari in Tanzania with my girlfriend. It was probably the coolest trip we’ve ever taken. 

Day 1. Arrival.

We arrived in Arusha, Tanzania.

Wen (girlfriend) booked the safari before arriving, and these guys were great- they took care of airport pickup, hotel, safari meals, EVERYTHING. I really can’t recommend them enough. World Tours Safaris.

The hotel lodging was simple, but clean, and convenient. The power went out a few times, but that’s kind of what we expected in Tanzania.

When we arrived, there was a rambunctious church congregation meeting in the dirt-parking lot of the hotel. The preacher wailed and yelled and his congregation just went nuts. There was no physical church- their church was the parking lot. Mainland Tanzania is largely Christian, whereas Zanzibar- a large island, is mostly Muslim.

A wooden statue outside the
cultural heritage museum

 Day 2. Rest day.

Our second day was spent relaxing. We walked to a craft market and bought some cool paintings. We bought a sim card (highly recommended). We also went to the cultural heritage museum. It's free, and there are a lot of beautiful paintings. There's an overpriced gift shop, but the trinkets there are of higher quality than the other shops in the area.

Inside the cultural heritage museum

Day 3. Serengeti.

Our first Safari day!

The first time I saw a zebra running I thought it was one of the most beautiful things I’d ever seen. Nothing like in a zoo. To see this incredible animal, healthy and in its natural habitat, running to catch up with its herd… it really blew my mind.

And this was true for all the animals. “They’re just so healthy looking!” My girlfriend exclaimed. The animals had rich, shiny coats of fur, with muscles that flexed and moved. And their eyes were alive.

Zebras came into our campsite. And some buffalo
came into the campsite at night.

Here are some of the animals we saw in the Serengeti.

A female lion. Notice the blood on her leg.
She had been eating a few minutes earlier.

Zebra with some antelope.

A thomson gazelle. The gazelle are smaller than the antelope- 

easy way to distinguish them.

A giraffe.

Moonrise over the Serengeti. The view from my tent.

The first night, we slept in tents. Normally, I'm fine with camping, but we saw lions about a mile outside our campsite. We could hear the lions and hyenas throughout the night. The hyenas made this very unsettling 'yooo... yooo' sound. The lions made several low rumbles and grunts. The bathroom was about 50 meters from our tent, and our driver warned us not to leave the campsite, because, you know, lions. So even though I had to pee, I just kinda dealt with it all night. Didn't sleep much that first night.

Inside the crater.

Day 4. Ngorogoro Crater.

Ngorogoro crater is an ENORMOUS volcanic crater, technically a caldera. In the Serengeti, the space is massive, and so you may drive for an hour without seeing an animal. But Ngorogoro keeps the animals clustered a little closer together, so you’ll see something worthwhile every 10-15 minutes.

Here are some of the animals we saw in Ngorogoro crater.

A buffalo. Notice the mangled testicle? It had been attacked,
and our driver told us it may have been a honey badger.

More lions.

An elephant. Notice the "fifth leg?"

Giraffes and vultures. And a baby giraffe.

Day 5. Tarangire National Park.

Tarangire National park was my least favorite place on the safari. There were a lot of trees, so the number of animals we could see was limited. Tarangire also didn’t show us any new animals, except for some vultures. We were also just so tired from the two previous days- most of us actually took naps on this day.

Baby monkeys grooming their monkey.

Tarangire is nice- it has herds of elephants, and there are monkeys, and some nice views. But it just can’t compare to Ngorogoro crater.

Our driver posing with our truck.

Go intimate We saw a wide variety of safari vehicles. My girlfriend and I were in a very sturdy jeep, which had 6 seats. The cook and the driver sat up front. Wen and I sat in back, along with two lovely visitors from Hong Kong. We saw other vehicles that held 8, 10, even 25 people. Don’t go for these big vehicles. Go with as small a group as possible- it’s worth it. A bus with 25 people isn't going to stop whenever you want to take a picture. 

Day 6.

We spent this day relaxing. Not much to report.

Zanzibar

Day 7. Stone town.

We took a quick flight from Arusha to Zanzibar- highly recommended, instead of the bus / ferry option.

Stone Town was really cool, and completely different from Mainland Tanzania. For a long time these were two different countries, and only recently became one.

Stone Town is this very old town, and one of the most famous stops on the African slave trade. Not exactly something to be proud of.

Most people are Muslim, and the food is very good.

Forodhani gardens. This is a large, outdoor street-food market. Vendors come here and set up stalls and cook. The food is good BUT BE WARNED! You need to ask the prices of the food before ordering. You need to compare stall prices, and maybe even haggle a little. Once these people smell money on you, they will jack up the prices and rip you off like you wouldn’t believe.

Wen and I ate here, and ordered a bunch of tasty food. The guy charged us 60,000 Tanzania shekels. The following night we went to a very fancy Indian restaurant. The fancy restaurant charged us 45,000 shekels. You would expect the street food to be a lot cheaper than the fancy restaurant- it probably would have been if we’d been smart and haggled a bit.

Day 6. Bwejuu

We took a taxi to Bwejuu, a small town on the east coast of the island. It was a 60-90 minute ride, with a driver that drove way too fast on a road with way too many potholes. 

It rained a lot when we were here, which was fine- we mostly used this as a time to rest and recoup before going back to the real world. 

Bwejuu has a very large tide, so at low tide, the water goes way out. You can see the locals wandering the recently exposed sand looking for crabs and other sea food.

We went snorkling in Bwejuu and we're so glad we did! Bwejuu is near a large cove, which keeps out larger sea creatures (sharks), and keeps the water very calm and stable.

I've snorkled in Thailand and Cambodia, and this was so much better! The water was clear, and the fish were so colorful.

Things to take away from this experience.

Vaccinations
Make sure you get your vaccinations a month before arriving. I got vaccinations for cholera and yellow fever, as well as malaria tablets. When getting off the plane, security checked everyone for proof of yellow fever vaccinations before allowing us into immigration.

Plan ahead.
Book a safari before you arrive. It makes it all SO MUCH easier. 

$$$
Bring American dollars with you. You will need to pay for your visa on arrival, which cost me $100. Hotels will accept both US dollars, and Tanzanian shekels. Also, we paid for our safari tour with US dollars.

Bring extra camera batteries!

Wen with her Pentax.

Our first night was spent in a tent, and there was no way to charge our batteries. The jeep did have an unreliable and SLOW generator that we used to charge our batteries- but it was such a pain in the ass. And there was no guarantee that your jeep will have this. Bring an extra camera battery or even two. And bring a power bank if you feel you'll be using your phone a lot.

Dress for a safari

Things to bring: hat, sunglasses, sun block, bandana (it gets dusty and you'll want something to cover your mouth and nose) long sleeve shirts (the temperature went from cold to hot throughout the day- you'll want to wear layers that you can add or remove. You'll also want to keep your skin covered to protect against the sun.)

Camera

This is why you bring the good camera.

Bring a good camera. Preferably with a zoom lens. I brought my Nikon D7100 with a zoom lens of 70-300. It was a really good lens. Not too heavy, and sharp quality. Also, the Serengeti is SUPER dusty. Bring a dust blower. You're going to get specks of dust on your sensor, and you'll be miserable if all your pictures have little black spots all over the photos.

Enjoy yourself.

Safaris can be tough. And stressful. And exhausting. Don't let it get you down. It's a wonderful experience, and years later you won't even remember how bumpy the truck ride was, or how little you slept, or how many pictures you missed because the animal turned its head at the wrong second. Put your camera away for a few minutes, look at the majesty of it with your own eyes, and enjoy it.