Our Long Journey in Tanzania March 2013

New York To Arusha, Tanzania
Our trip to Tanzania took 24 hours to get from Newark NJ to Dar Es Salaam and this included an eight hour layover at London Heathrow(we got a small room at the Terminal 4 Yotel). Once in Dar Es Salaam we were met by representatives of Coastal Airlines even before we passed immigration and once we passed immigration, we were transferred to the other side of the airport, the regional section and awaited our bush plane to Arusha. It had been a good idea to get our visas prior to arrival, as the lines to get visas were getting long. Our 12 seat plane unknown to us was scheduled to make 4 stops before finally arriving at Arusha. We first landed in Zanzibar on a nice smooth airstrip, then 2 dirt strips on the mainland coast north of Zanzibar and then to a rough paved air strip in Moshi and finally we landed in Arusha. The lodge was not far from the local airstrip and we got to see some of the city, the fourth largest in Tanzania.

Departure from Dar Es Salaam via 12 seater and 4 hops

Asusha
In Arusha we stayed at Moivaro Coffee lodge and visited the Shanga Project on our second day.

Once arriving in Arusha we travel overland, on the first day of our Safari we left the lodge at 9:00 and arrived at Tarangire NP at 12:45.  We had stopped at the Cultural Heritage Center in Arusha on our way to Tarangire, if we had stopped here last, I think we would have purchased a lot more crafts. They had very nice quality items at good prices. An hour out of Arusha we ran into a diversion or what we call a "detour". The road was being regraded and repaved, but they were starting in the middle as opposed to starting in Arusha or one of the other large settlement on the route. The diversion was very rough, otherwise the road to Tarangire NP was very scenic and pleasant.

Our route from Arusha to the Serengeti

Views on the road towards Tarangire NP

Some settlements on the way to Tarangire NP

Tarangire NP
Once in the park we saw Impala, warthogs, giraffe, zebra, lions and elephants all within an hour. The terrain in this park was what I had expected all of Tanzania to be like, not very educated, but there you go. The 2 days we visited Tarangire NP we stayed nearby at the Maramboi Tented Camp.

Tarangire NP

View from picnic area famous for Monkey Attacks

Additional Tarangire views

Crossing Tarangire River in the NP

Tarangire River

Our Great Adventure to Lake Manyara National Park
Our guide had learned from another driver with whom he worked that it was now permissible to enter Lake Manyara NP via the south gate. This would allow us to visit the park without backtracking. He asked us if we minded a bit of an adventure and we were all in. He said he had an idea of the route to get us there, but not to worry if he inquired from time to time along the way. 

Fording a river

We left Maramboi at 8:30 AM and along the route we saw rice patties(something else I didn't expect), an abandoned building from either German or English Colonial times, bricks in different phases of manufacture and some charcoal being made. We also saw and heard lots of little kids that would come running out of their homes yelling "Bye", they were so excited to see us. Ammy our driver said "bye" was the most english that their teacher had taught them. We arrived at the Lake Manyare NP South Gate at 10:15 AM.

Bricks ready for Firing, as seen on the way to Lake Manyara NP South Gate

Cliffs of the Rift Valley Escarpment at the South end of the Lake Manyara NP

Lake Manyara NP
We were only here for the day(10:15 AM to 2:30 PM) and that was plenty, especially since Tarangire had already fulfilled most of our wildlife viewing expectations. We hadn't seen any leopards yet and were hoping to see some in the trees of Lake Manyara NP as well as some lions. We ended up not seeing any leopards, but did see hippos, more giraffes, elephants, lions(not in trees), antelopes and some blue monkeys.

Cliffs closer up

We left the park at 2:30 PM and arrived at the Ngorongoro Gate at 3:55 PM. Along the way we stopped and purchased some souvenirs at better prices than the lodge gift shops at the Shirt Shack (right hand side while driving towards Karatu). We briefly stopped at the Karatu market at 3:40 PM, it was crowded, but looked as if there was a lot more room for vendors.

On the top of the Rift Escarpment just after leaving Lake Manyara NP, we stopped for diesel, pumped by a lady which Ammy said was not uncommon

Market in Karatu midway between Lake Manyara NP and the Ngorongoro Lodoare Gate

Ngorongoro Gate, the road now changes from paved to dirt.

From the gate it was about an hour to the Ngorongoro Serena Lodge on rough dirt roads and some were very twisty with steep drop offs. When we stopped at the overlook of the crater, our guide told us to close our eyes and then told us when to look and the view was amazing. I had never seen such a huge hole in the ground. We spent one day on the floor of the crater, our lodge was the closest to the descent gate and it was only 10 minutes to the gate and then 15 minutes to the floor. We spent the day from 8 AM to 2:15 PM in the crater. New animals we saw in the crater were black rhinos, kori bustards and an eland. Normally the ascent road is open, but it was being repaired and we had to take a longer route back to our lodge.

The descent road to Ngorongoro crater bottom with morning mists obscuring the view

Ngorongoro Conservation Area
After the crater we spent 2 days in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA) and we stayed at Olakira Mobile tented camp. We left for Olakira camp at 8 AM and we stopped at the Oldupai gorge museum for an hour, it took about an hour from the Ngorongoro Serena Lodge and the visit was worth the trip. I would have liked to visit the shifting sands and also seen more of the gorge. We spend the rest of the day game viewing and arrived at Olakira camp around 3 PM. On our second day we split the day going out early in the morning, 6:15AM taking our breakfast and again later in the afternoon at 4 PM. The vistas in the conservation area seemed to go on forever. Sometimes there were wildebeest and zebra as far as the eye could see and sometimes you were all alone.

Vast vistas in the NCA

Serengeti 
We left Olakira Camp for the Serengeti at 8 AM and did some game viewing along the way, the highlight being giraffe and zebra on vacation at Lake Ndutu. We arrived at the Serengeti Naabi Hill gate at 11:50 AM. After having a box lunch at Naabi Hill we started our drive through the Serengeti. We arrived at the Mbuzi Mawe tented camp at 4 PM. On our second day in the Serengeti we went out twice, once at 7:30 AM and again at 4 PM. New animals we saw in the Serengeti were the Topi, Defassa Waterbuck, dwarf mongoose and finally some Leopard.

Gate at Naabi Hill

We had arrived at this gate 2 days prior, but then drove south to the Lake Ndutu area of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area

Simba Kopjes(granite outcrops) about 25 minutes north of the Naabi Hill Gate

Kopjes seen from our tented camp north of Seronera area

Different terrain seen in the Central and Northern Serengeti

Whistling Acacias

Some Kopjes we saw at the furthest point north we went in the Serengeti, maybe the Lobo Kopjes

On our last day, we left the camp at 9AM and arrived at the Seronera airstrip at 10 AM for a 10:30 AM flight. Our plane was a bit late and after awhile we were off flying over the Serengeti, the highlight was flying over the Ngorongoro Crater. We landed at Kilimanjaro Airport(after a short stop at Lake Manyara dirtstrip) and transferred to another plane for the flight to Wilson Regional airstrip in Nairobi, Kenya arriving at 3:15 PM. We transferred to Ole Serena Hotel and left later at 8:30 PM for our 11:30 PM flight to LHR.