Part journal, part trip notes… the following are some highlights, observations, and photos from our recent return to Tanzania. Flying internationally during the new-normal of Covid protocols can be a bit stressful; what additional paperwork will be needed, and who will want to see it? It just amounts to a bit more on the logistics front than pre-2020, but it is also so worth it to be out and exploring again!

Back from Tanzania…

March 9: Arrival last night was weirdly magical. We deplaned the KLM 787 Dreamliner by the stairs that were rolled up to it. The poorly illuminated Kilimanjaro Airport terminal is maybe a hundred and fifty yards off - a walk just long enough to notice the cracked tarmac under our feet, the warm equatorial night, and a million stars overhead. It was also enough time to realize how grateful and excited - almost giddy - I am for us to be traveling again.

Easy peasy arrival in general, while also keeping lots of locals employed. First we stop so someone can check our boarding passes to make sure we got off the plane in the right place (rather than continuing on to Dar es Salaam). Next we stop at a desk where they verify we completed the online health attestation. Next stop is to pay for the Covid Antigen test on arrival ($10), then go into a cubicle so they can administer the test. Up until this point we’re essentially all in a single line that is snaking through multiple stops. Our test results are returned in about 10 minutes. Next you either go through immigration, or line up for a visa on arrival if you didn’t do that online ($100). At last it’s baggage claim where the conveyors have all stopped and the luggage is lined up awaiting collection. Pass your bags through an X-ray machine, then out the doors and past guys offering taxis, and there’s Deus waiting for us!

This is a private safari for just the two of us, escorted by Deus (the owner of Beyond Adventures, and our travel partner for Galapagos Travel’s Tanzania programs), with the eagle-eyed Jerry as our driver/guide.

We were invited back during March so we could experience the spectacle of the Great Migration - great traveling herds of wildebeest, zebra and gazelle numbering in the millions - when it pauses for a couple of months in the Southern Serengeti. Seasonal short rains earlier in the year have returned the shortgrass plains to vibrant shades of green, with tender new vegetation providing ample food for the herbivores. As many as half a million wildebeest are likely born in the Ndutu region of the Southern Serengeti between February and March. In turn the carnivores, dependent on the herbivores for food, are abundant; lions, leopards, cheetahs, hyenas... Add to this mix a proliferation of birdlife, including many species arriving from Europe and Asia…

When checking flights on Delta/KLM I found an amazing deal, from California to Kilimanjaro, if we were willing to arrive early and linger three extra days. We booked business class seats for less than economy often costs (a savings of over $5,000 each!). We’d already wanted to arrive early anyway so we’d have a jump on adjusting to the time change (11 hours) and be ready to start our safari fresher.

The Kia Lodge is so close it almost feels like it’s on the airport property. In reality it’s on a small hill next to the airport. Rooms are African-style thatched brick cottages scattered across the property, largely hidden from each other by a brushy native landscape. Lots of space in the rooms, including tons of space to spread out open suitcases. Hot showers and good AC! The ceiling fan however makes more noise than some prop planes I suspect! There’s a pool on the hilltop, complete with a view of Kilimanjaro. A lovely open air, thatched roofed, bar is perfect for relaxing with a beer or enjoying lunch (this is also where the WiFi signal is the strongest). We never went inside the restaurant as the adjacent terrace was a lovely spot to eat and the weather was consistently nice. Our first day was spent at the lodge, roaming no farther than the pool, lounge, restaurant, and gift shop.

By the next day we were all set for Arusha National Park! This was a new park for us, and proved a great place to start. It’s a short drive from the lodge making it an easy day trip, yet the park feels incredibly remote while holding an abundance of wildlife… The park is home to montane forests, lower elevation woodlands and alkaline lakes. And we were very nearly the only jeep in the entire park (we saw just two others the entire day).

One of our primary goals of this trip was to visit the Mkomazi National Park. Deus had only recently visited the park himself, and was eager to share it with us. The park is 2 1/2 hours by paved road east of Arusha and is a mix of savannah and woodland.

The setting is breathtaking, with open plains surrounded by the Pare and Usambara Mountains. Our base here is Babu’s Camp - a delightful tented camp located in the hills overlooking the plains. The views are commanding from the central lodge as well as the six wonderful tents. Individual tents are on raised stone platforms, shaded by a thatched structure, all set well away from each other. Lots of room inside, including a hot shower and electric lights (although battery charging is done in the central lodge building). I love tented lodges like this, where one goes to sleep to the sounds of nature (in addition to the chorus of birds we heard “barking” zebras and lions at night!)

The Mkomazi National Park is part of the Greater Tsavo Ecosystem, which includes the Tsavo National Park in Kenya. This combined park is relatively dry, so even traveling during the rainy season there was little chance we would be impacted by any weather.

Mkomazi is best known for a Black Rhino sanctuary and breeding center here. In actuality there are two rhino breeding facilities; Mbula is 12 square kilometers and has 6 rhinos (3 of the females are currently pregnant), and Kisima is 55 square kilometers and has over 60 rhinos! Visits inside the centers are with local rangers in open-sided Jeeps. In addition one of the park directors joined us for our 3 days in the park! These huge enclosures are maintained in a natural state so the rhinos forage for food just as they would in the wild, although water pools have been created for them. One really only sees the perimeter fences when passing through the entrance/exit gates. Over the years some native wildlife has snuck in so it was not uncommon to see lesser kudu, impala, warthogs… There have also been the occasional predator, although they try and keep them out! Of course lots and lots of birdlife too! The stars of the show are of course the black rhinos. I really didn’t know what to expect, but our encounters were certainly more up-close that I anticipated - the first rhino we encountered was less than 20 feet from our Jeep at times, and essentially oblivious to us as he grazed! A few of the other rhinos proved more skittish, including a huge male who as soon as he scented us took off into the bush at a mad dash.

The park has plans to expand the road network, creating additional game drives. For now the options are somewhat limited, although the wildlife felt limitless! Our first day we easily ticked off 3 of the “big 5”; rhino, elephant and cape buffalo! Birdlife was extraordinary at this time of year too.

Babu’s camp is one of the few accommodations in the park, but I also can’t image a better place to stay. The ever-changing views of the valley command your attention, whether elephants and giraffe passing though, or clouds playing across the grasslands. Here on the hillside we’re surrounded by birdlife, large and small.

All too soon it was time to say goodbye to the wonderful staff at Babu’s and return westward. We lunched in Arusha before continuing on to the Karatu Highlands, arriving in the late afternoon. Our night would be at the plush Ngorongoro Farmhouse Valley Lodge, set amid a 500 acre coffee plantation on the outer flanks of the crater. While the pool was tempting we instead opted for the free sundowner drinks and nibbles by the bonfire as we watched the sky gradually color with the setting sun. Once again we were nearly the only guests. Dinner was on the terrace, watching a lightning storm in the distance over the crater rim. Tomorrow will be an early morning, aiming to enter the Ngorongoro Conservation Area bright and early.

Ngorongoro (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) might possibly be the best known wildlife spectacle in Africa. The immense caldera floor is almost oasis-like, with an incredible abundance of wildlife. Because of the possible crowds of visitors here the experience is more controlled than other parks (although in March there were few other jeeps to be seen!). In the one morning here we saw 13 lions, silver-back jackal, golden wolf, hippo, Cape buffalo, elephant, impala, gazelle… and so very much birdlife. As we were driving out of the caldera we got our first rain shower of the trip, lasting just 10 minutes.

Outside the caldera we are still in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, which extends all the way to the Southern Serengeti. These outer flanks were “crowded” with giraffe, many eating foliage of their favorite trees - the whistling thorn acacia (despite ants which live the tree tops and spray an acid at the giraffes to try and fend them off).

Several years ago, in November, we had driven this same route, from the Karatu Highlands, through Ngorngoro, to the Southern Serengeti. While familiar this time it was also like night and day. What was brown in November was lush green now. Dry lake beds we routinely drove across in November were wetlands now.

Our next three nights would be at my favorite of the Tanzania tent camps; the Lake Masek Tented Lodge in the Southern Serengeti. These elegant and spacious tents are on raised wood platforms with en-suite facilities; two sinks, a clawfoot tub, and gorgeous outside shower. Each tent has a private screened terrace to relax and take in the surrounding views.

The central lodge has ample areas to relax, and tables to dine outside or under the roof. A beautiful infinity-edge pool is idea for cooling off on hot days, and a bonfire can warm you on cool evenings.

As much as I love the Lake Masek Lodge the best thing about it is its location. The Southern Serengeti would be hard to top when it comes to experiencing wildlife. This is one of the few places among Tanzania’s national parks and reserves where one is allowed to drive off-road, enabling visitors far greater freedoms to get close to the wildlife. It’s magical!

Our Serengeti days were full, with early morning game drives, including breakfast in the bush. We would return to the lodge for lunch and a short rest, before going out for an afternoon game drive. Topping a day off with a Kilimanjaro beer on the deck, followed by a multi-course dinner, is a hard combo to beat.

I can’t begin to recount our wildlife encounters… we saw big cats, repeatedly - lions, leopards and cheetahs! There was even a glimpse of a honey badger! There were bat-eared foxes, banded mongoose, jackals and baby hyenas. Elephants in rainwater pools, and young giraffe sparring with each other for dominance. Reptiles included terrapin, leopard tortoise, monitor lizard, agama lizard, and a hapless snake soon swallowed by a heron. And then there were the birds! Black-headed weavers were in a frenzy of nest building, while wattled starlings danced like mad in the brush. There were sunbirds like the scarlet tufted malachite sunbird, who’s name is bigger than the bird. The big birds included Ruppell’s griffon, secretary bird, white-backed vultures, African hoopoe, tawny eagle, black-headed heron, yellow-billed stork, white stork…

I always love when some unexpected moment even catches the guides by surprise. A first for Jerry this trip was a leopard sitting on the very tippy top of an umbrella acacia tree, in a vulture’s nest. Looking at the tree from below it was hard to fathom how the small branches were holding the weight of the leopard! Another first was a lone cheetah we were watching when a sudden deluge struck. Typically wildlife has no option of finding shelter from rain so they just ignore it, but this soaked cheetah would move from one spindly bush to the next, seeing if by chance it provided any shelter.

The prospect of rain is what keeps most people away from Tanzania in March. Deus had assured us going into the trip that even if it rains it is seldom for long. He was absolutely correct. We experienced one 10 minute rain shower, and a 40 minute crazy storm (which left part of the Serengeti flooded even a day later). It also rained one night for a couple of hours. Rather than an inconvienience the rains enhanced our experience; everything was lush and green. The greening grasslands provided food for grasshoppers and other insects, which were in turn food for the plentiful birdlife.

Our safari was originally scheduled to conclude with our return drive to Arusha, arriving in time to catch the night flight to Amsterdam. However because of our flight deal we now had three additional nights in Tanzania.

With the rainy season building into late March this is low season for tourism, with many lodges, camps and bush flights all taking some time off. We looked at several areas and lodges and settled on the Saadani National Park, on the shores of the Indian Ocean. Neither Deus or Jerry had been to this park so we’re heading off into the unknown! Deus joined us so he too could experience a new park.

Saadani National Park is a mix of savannah and woodland, plus mangrove wetlands, and beaches - it is promoted as the only national park where the bush meets the beach. The park is home to a large population of giraffe, but also includes most of the usual bush cast of wildlife. We encountered large groups of waterbucks, Cape buffalo, and forest elephants. A boat safari on the mangrove-lined Wami River revealed hippo, crocodile and many many birds… African jacana, striated heron, spoonbill, sacred ibis, pied kingfisher, woodland kingfisher, mangrove kingfisher…

Our home base in Saadani is the lovely all-inclusive Saadani Safari Lodge. A dozen cottages are scattered along the beach here. At high tide our cabin is maybe 30 feet from the gently lapping waves of the Indian Ocean, while at low tide that distance increases to more like 300 meters. An oceanfront pool and gorgeous restaurant/lounge also enjoy the beautiful views and refreshing breezes. The restaurant specializes in local produce and wonderful fresh seafood - easily some of the best meals of the trip! Our early morning wake up call was a waiter delivering a pot of hot cocoa and biscuits to our covered front deck! At low tide one can watch the local Swahili fishermen cast their nets.

From Saadani National Park our travels home started with a 15 minute bush flight to Stonetown, Zanzibar. One of Deus’ guides met our flight and orchestrated the required Covid antigen tests for our return to the U.S. From there it was a quick drive into town where we were dropped off at the Park Hyatt Hotel for lunch on the terrace overlooking the ocean (the chocolate fondant alone was worth the trip). Before we knew it it was time to return to the airport and start the journey home, via Dar es Salaam, Arusha, Amsterdam, LAX and finally OAK!

Our thanks to Deus and his entire Beyond Adventures team for a spectacular return to Tanzania! Are you ready to have us plan a similar trip of a lifetime for you now?

travel journal text and photography by Mark Grantham