Ready, set, safari
I’d like to start at the beginning, and in this case I mean the beginning of this trip, yes, but also the beginning of my childhood (which I arguably feel I am still within, I will note). Also the beginning of this blog, how fitting.
So, the beginning of my childhood, specifically 1994, is when the dream of Africa and all of its wonder first entered my consciousness. I know you know what happened in that year, but just in case you’re momentarily blanking, The Lion King was released. If you’re reading this and you were not earth-side in 1994, that’s fine but please do your best to comprehend the chokehold this movie had on the 90’s kids. I watched it 764 times (ish). With each re-watch, the magic of Africa engulfed me like a handful of fairy dust slowly settling into my skin forever and ever amen. From that moment on, I told everyone who would listen (and even those who wouldn’t) that I would be going there soon. Soon turned out to be 28 years later, but it could have been even later than that so give me a break.
We will now time-jump to 2022, when I had the sudden realization that I had reached a point in my life where I didn’t want to wait for the “once in a lifetime” trip anymore. I had thought about it many times over the years, telling myself it would be a honeymoon or maybe a retirement trip that I would enjoy before I returned home to settle into a seniors community. But then one morning I woke up and realized I truly didn’t know what I was waiting for, or why for that matter. I crowd sourced a few friends who I thought might share my enthusiasm and found one who took the bait! We planned and planned and suddenly we were meeting at the airport with huge backpacks, huge smiles, and huge dents in our bank accounts.
After arriving at the airport and saying a hopeful “see you soon” to our checked luggage, my friend Lindsay and I enjoyed the mandatory pre-holiday beverage at Chillis. I also ordered chicken tenders and fries - some things never change. While waiting to board, we met two older women who were traveling together on a holiday to Budapest. They explained that both of their husbands had passed, and since that time they have been traveling the world together - 85 countries and counting! They were amazing; I hope that I am not only confident enough to continue traveling, but also manage to maintain my strong female friendships when I grow up.
In a hilarious start to the trip, upon boarding I discovered that me and Lindsay had not in fact booked seats together. Oops. Unfortunately for me, I found myself in an aisle seat with THE worst imaginable travel-type seated in the middle seat. I am not an unreasonable person, but I say this with conviction for a few reasons:
he insisted on getting up to walk up and down the aisle once per hour. On a nine hour flight.
on multiple occasions, he tapped my shoulder to engage in conversation with me, despite the fact that my headphones were firmly in my ears, and my eyes were firmly closed.
he initiated the “landing clap.” Until recently when doors started flying off of aircrafts mid-flight (looking at you Boeing), this was widely considered a crime.
I feel ill just remembering it. Had this been a flight home rather than the start of my journey (when the best version of myself was within reach), I would have given him a lesson in courtesy (maybe). However, I was still riding that high of being on my way to Tanzania for three weeks, so I bit my tongue and continued my White Lotus marathon. For nine hours. We had a brief layover in Amsterdam before boarding our second flight. This was a much more pleasant experience - we sat in the same row and were blessed with an empty middle seat!
After another long flight, we finally landed in the dark at Kilimanjaro Airport. This is a smaller airport, in which you disembark right onto the tarmac. Walking down those steps and putting my sneaker on that tarmac was so much more emotional than I had imagined. Just like that, I was in Africa. Well not “just like that” because actually there was several months planning that came first, but you get it. I wish I had more time (and daylight) to sit in that moment. There was no time for emotion however as immediately upon arrival we were hurried into a building for the Visa (on arrival) process. This was an experience. If you’ve not been to Africa yet, I will give you one rule to live by: remove any and all urgency you may have brought along with you. Seriously, leave a lot of time for waiting. You will wait. There was one line for submitting your paperwork and passport, after which you moved to another line to wait for your name to be called to collect your new Visa, followed by another line for payment. This was my first lesson on “Africa time”. There is ZERO urgency. In fact, it’s almost like they actively try to move slower than anyone thought possible. If you’ve seen the DMV sloths in the movie Zootopia, you’ve seen this process in action; I’m actually 87% certain that scene was filmed in the Kilimanjaro Visa on Arrival office. Anyways, for us this was fine because we were two corporate baddies on holiday, desperate to disconnect from the hustle. A few of our fellow passengers did not share that mentality. After awhile, the airport staff began blatantly calling out every person waiting for their documents EXCEPT for the group who had their faces pressed against the glass, yelling out their own names repeatedly. The staff did this with a huge smile on their faces, and I honestly could not have been more pleased. For this reason alone, I give my first Visa on Arrival experience a 10/10. Go off, kings.
Once we made it outside, our driver (and about 30 other drivers) was waiting for us. When booking our Arusha accommodation, we didn’t look for anything fancy - we knew we would be arriving late and leaving early, so we went with the recommendation of our tour company. Our driver helped load our bags (they all made it, yay!) and drove us the hour to Arusha where we were booked for a one night stay at the New Safari Hotel before being picked up in the morning to head into the bush. When we were finally settled into our room, we were desperately exhausted from a long day (more than 24 hours actually) of travel, but couldn’t quite seem to calm down/stop giggling because we were so excited. It felt like a girlhood slumber party when you’re up way too late but your heart is full, and I can’t think of a better feeling!
As wonderful as it was, that feeling was fleeting. We woke up early. Well, no that isn’t quite accurate. We didn’t sleep at all. This was due to a mixture of jet-lag, excitement, and the hardest bed I have ever placed my body on in my entire life. I think I napped for perhaps 20 minutes throughout the night. My morning shower offered something of a “cold plunge” experience; it seems this is included at no extra charge in our room fee. Lindsay had been to Africa (Uganda) before, so knew what to expect. I on the other hand was (cold)plunged into a crash course in African travel in that first 24 hours.
That morning we had about 40 minutes before our safari guide was to pick us up, so we took a walk. I was relieved that we decided to stay only the one night in Arusha. Maybe it was the area we were in, but after our brief morning walk it was apparent that there was nothing really to “do.” We went back to the hotel (approached by many people trying to either sell us t-shirts or ask us about our husbands) where we were first introduced to Azaria (pronounced A-zah-ria). Unfortunately, we accidentally called him A-sare-ia until nearly our last day together. When we asked him why he didn’t correct us, he said he thought it was just our accent.
Azaria helped us load our bags into the rover, and then gave us a tour of the vehicle we would be spending 12+ hours a day in for the next eight days. It seated six people in the back, plus Azaria and our cooler up front. Lindsay and I had opted for a private booking, so the two of us had so much space for activities in the back (activities meaning standing on whatever seat offered the best view at any given time). Before departure, we met briefly with a woman who reviewed our itinerary - a massive relief because we had completely forgotten where we were going and what we were doing. She seemed apprehensive when she told us that Azaria “loved to talk,” but honestly I could not have been more thrilled/relieved because I LOVE to ask questions. A match made in heaven. We hopped into our rover and with an “okay girls?” (the first of many), we drove off. The first bit of the drive was uneventful overall, although driving out of Arusha was really fascinating. The traffic alone was chaotic; I love to see the bustle of unfamiliar lives in unfamiliar cities.
Our first stop was Tarangire National Park. We parked at the gates and while Azaria dealt with our entry permits, Lindsay and I wandered around the little shop perusing the available snacks. Our choice of treats will give you some insight into where we were at mentally - we both bought a cappuccino (exhausted adults) and ice cream (excited children). A few moments later we would see that Lindsay’s cappuccino was so hot that it completely melted the styrofoam cup it was served in. At the same time, we were realizing that we were officially IN the park and the safari had begun - wildlife everywhere! So there we were, frantically trying to clean up coffee while simultaneously using binoculars and taking photos. Looking back at this moment is hilarious because we were absolutely THRILLED to see eight wildebeest that were grazing under the shade of a tree at least 100 yards away. We had no idea that it would get so much better - later in the trip, they would be two yards away. We saw impala, giraffe, and a family of elephants (with a baby!) very early in the day. Azaria brought us to a large baobab tree that had been hollowed out. My questions were in full swing after my cappuccino and ice cream and so I learned that this happens because elephants eat the water rich bark, and over time this hollows the tree trunk out! Animals like lions use these hollowed out trees as shelter, but historically they have also been used by poachers. They used it to hang meat and keep hidden away from rangers.
We continued down the road a bit more, turned a corner and suddenly there was a lion running across the road! When we found them a few second later, they were merely feet from the vehicle. They were all still young (spotting on their legs) but there were four of them; a male and female next to us, and two more females up in a tree 20 feet ahead. We pulled up closer to the tree just in time for a family of elephants to accidentally come across the lions. They had a young calf, so it became very loud and very tense very quickly. Even Azaria was excited at the scenario we had stumbled across.
After spending some time watching the lions, we continued on to eventually check in to our first safari camp, Simba Lodge. This camp is located outside of the park (we would be staying inside the park for our second night). They have 24 canvas safari tents, with wooden floors, large bathrooms (with flushing toilets - my one non-negotiable for this trip) and an outdoor shower. To say we were exhausted would be an understatement. We dropped our bags in our adorable tent and went to sit by the pool to wait for dinner. I felt very tired, but also was infuriatingly aware that I had strep throat - classic. I made the risky decision to use the antibiotics I’d been given for possible travellers diarrhea to treat my strep infection. I felt really awful, and for dinner I barely made it through a bowl of soup. The pool was in view of the eating area, and mid-soup slurp three massive elephants came to drink from it! They were so close, I was just waiting for us all to be ushered indoors. Instead, a staff member ushered me CLOSER. I sat on a pool chair not 30 feet away; I really hadn’t fully understood the true size of them until that moment. I filmed them for a little while before they disappeared into the dark, and I asked to be escorted to bed. That is another regular occurrence there - at most of our accommodations, we were required an escort to and from our tent at dawn/after dusk just in case a hyena or lion or buffalo is loitering around. That night was the first night in nearly three days that I actually slept. The beds were still slabs of stone, but I was so tired and the sound of the bush was so calming, I fell asleep immediately.
We woke up feeling human for the first time in days. Thank god. We would not be returning to Simba Lodge that night, so we made sure our bags were properly packed before heading to breakfast. The eating area overlooked a watering hole (not the pool) that had zebra, impala and water bucks all visiting that morning. Azaria called it “bush tv - one channel only.” After breakfast we loaded up and made the slow (bumpy) drive back to Tarangire.
Earlier in the trip I had made an offhand comment about Azaria letting us know if he ever needs one of us to drive. On our morning driving away from Simba Lodge, he needed us to step in. I’ve never felt more disappointed about my inability to drive standard than I did in that moment. Lindsay said yes obviously, and although Azaria’s voice reached an octave I hadn’t heard before, she did well! She drove us through the bush for a good 20 minutes, at one point passing another safari vehicle where the tourists inside were shocked to see our adjusted seating plan.
Once we got back into the park and Azaria was back behind the wheel, it wasn’t long before we came across an elephant snacking right on the side of the road. We observed him from a few feet away, until he flared out his ears and gave us a little mock charge. Azaria had to rev the engine a bit to get him to back off. He was so close, I felt I could nearly reach out to touch him. Much to Azaria’s dismay, this would become a common theme throughout our time together.
We continued driving and it was so wild how much the landscape changed. When we first entered, it was rolling hills of red dirt, baobab trees and spiky bushes. By the time we reached our picnic lunch spot, we were entering vast grasslands. The picnic area was under a massive tree filled with weaver nests. They are like little balls of grass with a tiny hole to enter through. The view of the plains was so pretty. While we ate our packed (hot) lunch, we could see herds of zebra and families of elephants in the distance.
We had a lovely day filled with many elephants throughout Tarangire, before heading to the south-eastern part of the park to our accommodation for our second night. We arrived at Oliver’s Camp and I immediately wished we had splurged for more than a one night stay. This is a 10-tent camp that really makes you feel like you’re living the OG safari experience. The main lodge offers an absolutely gorgeous view of the sunset over the bush, and the campfire below is an amazing spot to enjoy a sundowner and look up at the stars. Our tent was the furthest away from the main lodge, but had a fantastic outdoor shower (which I’ve come to learn I absolutely REQUIRE everywhere I stay). After a quick outfit change, we headed up to the main lodge to sit by the fire and meet our fellow guests. That became one of my favourite parts - sharing a drink with other safari goers as the sun went down, everyone sharing their most epic sightings of the day, some of which you hope the safari gods bestow upon you the following day.
When the other guests went to bed, Lindsay and I stayed up with the staff around the fire. We drank a lot. Like a lot, a lot. We stayed around that fire laughing and talking until nearly 3am when Lindsay and I finally admitted we should get a nap in before we got up for a full day of game viewing. We were driven back to our tent (remember, it’s far-ish), while we drunkenly waved flashlights into the bush hoping for a “night safari” sighting of something (literally anything). We saw nothing. We did make it to bed, but were awoken shortly after by something big outside our tent. I’m not sure if it was the adrenaline, the gin, or a blend of the two, but I grabbed my phone and our flashlight and went OUT OF THE TENT ONTO THE DECK to “see” what it could be. I didn’t see anything, and I only realized the risk I’d taken once I was back in my bed (not as hard as previous slabs) slipping back into unconsciousness.
The next morning we had a delicious breakfast before checking out and heading back into the park. This was the first and last morning we allowed ourselves to be hungover on safari. It was enough to nearly bring me to tears - the road was so jarring and it was hot. The first half of the day was spent alternating between the high of adrenaline from an animal sighting, followed quickly by wanting to curl up and pass away.
Later that afternoon, we bumped our way out of Tarangire National Park and began the long drive (on proper roads!) to our next park. This one would very quickly become my favourite.