Photos from Tanzania

It’s been a couple of weeks since we left Tanzania, and we’ve finally got our pictures in order.

As we planned our trip to Africa, we were looking at a number of different countries as options – South Africa, Botswana and Tanzania. Though we haven’t visited the other countries on that list, we’re really happy with our choice. The great plains of Tanzania were just as spectacular as we ever could have imagined. We also decided to visit in mid-March, which many travel blogs/tour companies will have you believe is a bad time to visit due to it being the start of the rainy season. Maybe we got lucky, but after experiencing the country in the rainy season I would definitely recommend that others see it at this time. There was minimal rain, it was almost all sun all the time with only a couple of showers during our visit. Most of the tourists had left the country, so we were the only guests at many of the hotels we visited. As you’ll see below, despite claims that it’s hard to spot animals in rainy season, they were everywhere, and easily visible. We also got to experience a green savannah rather than the normal dusty brown.

We visited three parks during our Safari. The trip began in Tarangire park, where we saw a ton of elephants – they are not shy and walk right up to the vehicle. Next we went to Ngorongoro crater, followed by Ndutu in Nogorongoro park, and finally made our way to the Serengeti. The ability to go off-road in Ngorongoro park and get up close with all of the animals, and the fact that the wildebeest migration was taking place in Ndutu at this time made it the most enjoyable portion. When I pictured a safari in my mind before experiencing it, I thought you would have to drive for 10 minutes before spotting an animal in the distance. In reality, in Ndutu, we saw animals up close at every turn and even caught a cheetah hunting a young wildebeest.

We need to give a big shout out to the tour company we booked our trip with – Amani Afrika. They are a small local tour company run by a husband and wife team, and their personal touch and professionalism could be felt throughout the trip. We also need to thank and recognize our tour guide George. George was an absolute professional; hearing him speak about the animals was like watching a planet earth documentary and his ability to spot animals in the distance was unbelievable. If you’re thinking about booking a safari, a great guide is what will make or break your trip, so make sure you get a good one.