Tanzania Safari Highlights 2016

By popular demand, and to remind ourselves of things to come for our next safari, I have created this résumé of everything we experienced on this safari of a lifetime in 2016!

We started the trip as it was to carry on - in luxury - at the No 1 Executive Lounge at Birmingham Airport.

The flights were a pleasure, with room to spread out.

~~NAIROBI~~

The hotel in Nairobi - especially picked out by Tillya - was amazing.

Some serious snogging going on at the Giraffe Centre

Followed by a very interesting nature trail

The baby elephants being fed at the David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage were beyond cute.

At Utamaduni Craft Centre we had lunch, photographed some beautiful birds and browsed handicrafts.

We saw flip flops being turned into beautiful works of art at Marula Studios

Followed by a guided tour of Karen Blixen's House.

This very exciting first day was finished with a Feast of the Beast at Carnivore Restaurant.

A 'special' mention must go to our new culinary experience: bulls' testicles!

~~TANZANIA~~

Fantastic view of Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Meru from the flight to Kilimanjaro Airport

David's highlight: buying Savanna Cider!

~~MARAMBOI~~

We could have spent all day just watching the animals from our balcony at Maramboi Tented Lodge

But we had sunsets to see and beers to drink - Sundowners by Lake Manyara

Lyn, with a little help from Tillya, arranged for a cake to celebrate our wedding anniversary

The next morning saw our first big cat sightings within yards of the lodge, long before sunrise or hitting the national park.

~~TARANGIRE~~

The large herds of elephants who walked right by our car

The little baby elephant hiding behind his mummy's legs and then triumphantly emerging

The Savannah Monitor - a new species to us

Tillya arranging for us to have lunch at Tarangire River Lodge as a surprise for our wedding anniversary

The angry elephant who blocked our road

And finally the beautiful sunset

Leaving Tarangire behind and heading for Ngorongoro, an honourable mention has to go to Chris' Zebra.

Trying red bananas at Mto Wa Mbu

The breeding site for storks and pelicans

The view back out over Lake Manyara

Another special mention: Malisa's sandals, made from recycled motorbike tyres.

The information Centre at Loduare Gate, the entrance to Ngorongoro Conservation Area

The view from the rim over the Ngorongoro Crater, and more importantly, Chris' reaction when he first saw it!

The beautiful flower-covered hillsides of the Malanja Depression

~~NGORONGORO CRATER~~

The crater floor in the Green Season was stunning with carpets of flowers

Zebra dust bath

The one-tusked elephant and his family

The tree full of baby starlings

The suckling lion cubs who entertained us for the best part of an hour

Malisa finally finding his Rasta Lion

Maasai dancing at Ngorongoro Serena Lodge

The sunrise over Ngorongoro Crater

~~Ngorongoro Conservation Area~~

Walking safari with Yohana

Maasai boys with traditional painted faces following their circumcision

The enormous tower of giraffes, which even beat Malisa's previous record

Visiting Elerai Maasai Boma, and Chris participating in the 'jumping dance'.

The children in the kindergarten

Oldupai Gorge

And the Cradle of Civilisation Museum dedicated to Louis Leakey's anthropological finds

The mysterious Shifting Sands

The battle of wits between vultures and a jackal

Kori Bustard

The jumpy Spotted Hyena

Golden Jackal

The Dung Beetles who rolled their treasure across the savannah for us

The majestic Eland

The pregnant hyena who was just about to give birth

Golden Jackal

Ostriches

Zebra

Grant's Gazelle

Tawny Eagle

~~NDUTU~~

The pride of nine lions

Feasting on a zebra carcass

Sunset over Lake Ndutu

Small Spotted Genet in the rafters of Ndutu Lodge

Dik Dik in the grounds of the lodge

Sunrise over Lake Ndutu the following morning

Bat Eared Fox

Verreaux's Eagle Owl

Black Backed Jackal kicking up the dust in the early morning light

Pale Tawny Eagle

Giraffe

Coqui Francolin - a new species for us

Grey Breasted Spurfowl

The cheetah mum with her four cubs who we followed for ages

Lappet Faced Vulture

Black Shouldered Kite

Yellow Throated Sandgrouse

Two male lions down at the flats by the lake

Coke's Hartebeest, one of whom had lost a horn in a fight

Fischer's Lovebirds

Dark Chanting Goshawk

Grey Headed Kingfisher

Picnic Breakfast

David made friends with a hairy caterpillar, which thankfully did not give him a rash as Malisa predicted

Two Banded Plover

Two more male lions

Hooded Vulture

A lazy spotted hyena who briefly got up from the puddle before lying down again

Ostriches

Hidden Valley with hundreds of thousands of zebra and wildebeest

Female lions resting in the shade

Bird Watching back at Ndutu Safari Lodge at lunchtime

Lesser Flamingo at Lake Ndutu

Spotted Thick Knee

More lions

Last night's zebra carcass eaten clean by the lions and later vultures, and now the flies had moved in

Caracal - a very rare sighting, and only Malisa's third!

Giraffe

Lesser Flamingo at lake Masek

African Hoopoe

Speckled Mousebird

Common Stilt

Hippo

Elephants

A crested eagle silhouetted against the orange sky

Sunset at Ndutu

More bird watching at Ndutu Lodge the following morning

Followed by another nice sunrise

Giraffe

Playing host to an Oxpecker

Black Faced Vervet Monkeys frolicking in the trees

Dik Dik

Secretary Bird

Spotted Hyena

A very close lion encounter

Woolly Necked Vultures

Tawny Eagle

A broken wire in the car engine was fixed in no time by our driver-guide Malisa who is also a trained mechanic

~~SHORT GRASS PLAINS~~

Grant's Gazelles

Zebra

Panicked ostriches running around like headless chickens

Lappet Faced Vulture

Giraffe Drinking

~~NAABI HILL~~

Great views over the Serengeti

Here we find a number of lizards

And some great birds

~~SERENGETI~~

Giraffe

Warthogs

Steppe Eagle picking up what we initially thought was a snake, which turned out to be 'just' a stick

Gabar Goshawk

~~THE BEAUTIFUL GOL KOPJES (rocky outcrops)~~

Marabou Stork

The kopjes are home to a number of lions

Thomson's Gazelle

Golden Jackal

Topi

Tawny Eagle

Coke's Hartebeest

More Lions

Gabar Goshawk

Steppe Eagle

Picnic Lunch at Gol Kopjes - are there any lions hiding at this one?

Topi

Migratory White Stork

~~CENTRAL SERENGETI~~

A lost and emancipated baby wildebeest

4WD required on the muddy tracks!

Cape Buffalo

Wildebeest

Bateleur Eagle

White Bellied Bustard

Maasai Kopjes

More Lions

Dik Dik

The rarely seen White Headed Vulture

Hippo in the river

Pin Tailed Swallow

Greater Blue Eared Starling

Defassa Waterbuck

Zebra

Tawny Eagle

Lappet Faced Vulture

Coqui Francolin

Giraffe under stormy clouds

White Rumped Helmetshrike

Klipspringer

Rainbow

Mbuzi Mawe - the very luxurious tented camp which Tillya surprised us with

Cape Buffalo right outside our tent the following morning

~~TOGORO PLAINS~~

Sunrise

The pride of nine lions on Togoro Plains, squabbling over a kill and mock stalking the passing wildebeest

Almost a chase

A Hooded Vulture waiting and hoping for a kill

The jackal who finally managed to grab a piece of meat from the vultures, and was successful in chasing them off

Topi

Wildebeest Rutting - fighting over a female

Picnic breakfast on Togoro Plains

Klipspringer

Red Duiker

Cape Buffalo

Impala

Giraffe

Black Faced Vervet Monkeys

~~CENTRAL SERENGETI~~

Hippos in the Orangi River

Olive Baboons

African Fish Eagle

Warthogs

Nile Crocodile

Bare Faced Go Away Bird

Helmeted Guineafowl

Magpie Shrike

Tree Python

Black Chested Snake Eagle

Little Bee Eater

Black Headed Heron

Serval

Elephants - lots of them

Lunch at Mawe Mupe Picnic Site

Birds at Mawe Meupe Picnic Site

Giraffe

A leopard mum and son in a tree

Olive Baboons

Elephants

Giraffe

A yawning hippo on land - it's unusual to see them out of the water

Brown Snake Eagle

Retima Hippo Pool

'White' Giraffe with Leucism

Sunset over Kimasi Kopje

Wildebeest Migration

Balloon over Serengeti - we just watched from the ground

Grey Headed Kingfisher

Lappet Faced Vulture

Zebra

Cheetah

Olive Baboon

Giraffe

~~SERENGETI VISITORS CENTRE~~

Banded Mongoose

Tree Hyrax

Grey Capped Social Weaver

Team Photo

Guided tour of the centre

Rock Hyrax

~~HEADING SOUTH~~

Black Faced Vervet Monkeys

Hippos

Black Headed Heron

Wire Tailed Swallow

Spotted Flycatcher

Giraffes

A large herd of 31 elephants walked right by our car

White Browed Coucal

Impala

Lions in a tree

Rueppel's Long Tailed Starling

Grey Backed Shrike

Lake Magadi

White Winged Black and Whiskered Terns

Banded Mongoose

Cape Buffalo

~~MORU KOPJES~~

Masai Ostrich

Gong Rock

Ancient Maasai Rock Art

Rhino Project Information Centre

Dark Chanting Goshawk

Nile Crocodile

Hamerkop Nest

~~HEADING NORTH AGAIN~~

Giraffe

Black Backed Jackal

Rain

Lions in the rain

Rainbow

I wanted a giraffe as a foreground for the rainbow, but all Malisa could manage was this elephant

Spotted Hyena

Stunning Sunset

Bush Baby in a tree at Serengeti Serena Lodge

Brown Snake Eagle

Spotted Hyenas

Sunrise

Topi

Wildebeest waiting to cross Seronera River

Vultures waiting for the crocodiles to attack the wildebeest crossing Seronera River

Martial Eagle

Grey Heron

Goliath Heron

Hot Air Balloon

Hippo

White Browed Coucal

Olive Baboons

Lions - she was on heat, he wasn't interested

Tawny Eagle

Elephants

Lion at the appropriately named Simba Kopjes

Zebra

Rock Martin at Naabi Hill

~~LEAVING THE SERENGETI FOR THE NGORONGORO CONSERVATION AREA~~

Kori Bustard

White Stork

Vultures feasting on a zebra

~~BACK IN ARUSHA~~

Lake Duluti Lodge - another one of Tillya's luxury surprises

Cultural Heritage Centre Art Exhibition

And shopping opportunities

An informative demonstration of the Tanzanite gems unique to Tanzania

More shopping opportunities at Mount Meru Market

A guided tour of Shanga Shangaa workshop for disabled people

Followed by a traditional African buffet lunch

Accompanied by African music

We took a tour of the coffee estate with a very informative guide

And were able to taste the produce

~~THE END~~

That marked the end of our African Adventure, as arranged by Calabash African Adventures, a small, locally owned and run company based in Arusha. They come highly recommended for their professionalism, calibre of their driver-guides, reliability, trustworthiness, passion for the environment and last but not least, their very competitive pricing. This was the fourth time we used their services for arranging our Tanzania safaris, and as soon as we returned to the UK we booked the next one for the following year. And I can guarantee that won't be the last!

For those of you who are interested in a similar trip, below is a copy of our itinerary.

Thank you for reading and have a nice day!