After many requests from agents / clients to combine tours with Zambia and Tanzania, Jackie Peel and I decided to take ourselves off to visit Tanzania and to inspect numerous camps and some farms.
With one quarter of the land dedicated to conservation areas, Tanzania is the game-lover’s dream. The country is famous for its National Parks and the vast plains of the Serengeti National Park is probably one of the most famous game reserves in the world, renowned for its annual wildebeest migration . The Ngorongoro Crater , a World Heritage site and the world’s largest intact Volcanic caldera. Lake Manyara, Tarangire National Park, The Selou are all fabulous National Parks and Tanzania can offer some of the highest mountains in Africa including Kilmanjaro. Not forgetting one can go and visit the spice Islands of Zanzibar and Pemba . We were impressed by the beauty of the country and great diversity of eco systems.
For many years the Tanzania was run as a socialist country where farms, business were all nationalized. Then with a recent change of Governments and economic policies there has been an push to encourage overseas investors and the country has slowly reopened to privatization and has started investing in agriculture. Our trip started with visiting farms around Arusha and most the farms in the area comprise of coffee estates, wheat / arable, avocardo’s and flowers for export. Arusha is the not only the hub of where all safaris start and finish but Mt Meru over looks this busy little town and in the distances near moshi one can see Kilmanjaro on a clear day.
Coffee farms
We were then off to visit the great open plains of the Serengeti. Upon arrival we were told that the migration was in the western corridor of the park and had probably headed off into Kenya. But as luck had it they had unseasonal rain and the migration turned around and came back into the park so were able to get right into the middle of it. Although I have been fortunate enough to see the migration in Kenya, I still found it extremely awesome to see over 2 million wildebeeste spread across the plains of the Serengeti. All continuously giving a call a mournful sounding “gnu –gnu”. Followed closely behind or amongst them are tens of thousands of Zebra braying, snorting and the odd stallion fighting to protect his hareem. The migration move depending on the rain and amount of grazing available. No operator will guarantee seeing the migration but you can generally guarantee seeing them in Feb/ March in the Southern part of the park. During Feb some 34 thousand calves will be born during a 2 week period. The herds then head up to the central part of the park and head west in June, finally crossing the grumeti river into Kenya end of July / August. There are various lodges available in the park from the more budget to the very exclusive and expensive lodges which offer ultimate luxury. In general we were impressed with the high standard of accommoation available.
In addition to the migration the large open plains are teeming with other species of game. Thomsons and Grant Gazelles; Topis (not found in Central and Southern Africa), giraffe are regular sightings. We spotted lion, leopard, hyena and cheetah on a regular basis, plus herds of elephant & buffalo. Hosting more than 490 species of birds Jackie and I were in our element as we saw new species not found in Central and Southern Africa
Enroute to the Ngorongoro Crater you can stop over and visit Olduvai Gorge famous for its remains and footprints of earliest man.
The First sighting of Ngorongoro Crater is definitely one that takes your breathe away as you wind down through tropical rain forest into the crater. Teaming with game and the sodium lake is home to thousands of flamingo’s and is an incredible sight. There are many of species of game to be seen in the crater including all the cats and rhino. Unfortunately the park also has far too many vehicles, and looking at a lion with 10 other game viewing vehicles is not our sort of safari. However, saying that I do feel it’s a place that one has to visit.
Mount Lengani (left) and Masaai cattle herders (right)
Our trip took us to lake Manyara, another beautiful park which has some of the most beautiful trees. The lake was a spectacular sight with pink flamingoes everywhere. We then headed off the beaten track to visit two other sodium Lakes – Lake Eyashi and Lake Natron. The trip to Lake Natron was fascinating and the scenery very similar to parts of the Namib Desert in Namibia, with the exception of the sightings of Masai herdsmen and their cattle. We passed Mount Lengani a live volcano . Lake Natron is one of the breeding grounds for some 2.5 million flamingoes.
Tarangire was a great National Park and totally different to the Serengeti. The bush is thicker with more trees and its an area renowned for its excellent sightings of elephant. We stayed at two camps there – Swala a tented camp and Tarangirie Tree Tops. Both offereing excellent accommodation.. Our flight took us back to Dar Es Salaam and then on to Lusaka but KLM flys daily to Arusha and you can catch connecting flights from Nairobi.
Jennie Camm & Jackie Peel
We would definitely recommend combining a trip with Tanzania and Zambia, both countries are completely different and each offering something unique. Zamag will be offering both agricultural tours & Safaris into Tanzania and our clients will be in the capable hands of Jennie Camm.
Take care
Ian & Daphne Lindsay
Postnet 726, P. Bag E891, Lusaka