African Safari and Maasai, Tanzania.

Tanzania is a country of incredible natural beauty and offers some of the greatest game viewing opportunities in Africa!

Let me tell you about my experience in the most unique wildlife trip I ever had! During this safari tour in Northern Tanzania, I enhanced my knowledge about life in this fascinating African country and my eyes glowed from the beauty of scenery and wildlife! During my trip, I visited some of the tribes of Tanzania, saw how they live and I had an extensive interaction with them. It was an exhilarated experience!

I crossed the border from neighbouring Kenya, I headed to the "safari capital" Arusha where I met my guide "Sita". My driver and guide at the same time, Sita, was exceptionally friendly and welcoming, with the most remarkable knowledge and spotting skills. Arusha is the starting place for all the safaris in northern Tanzania as you can drive from here to Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tarangire National Park, Manyara National Park, Arusha National Park, and to Serengeti National Park.

Arusha is served by Kilimanjaro International Airport (60Km/45min from city center) with frequent flights from Dar es Salaam, Nairobi, Addis Ababa, and Zanzibar. Besides, Arusha Municipal Airport is close to the city but only runs domestic flights from Dar es Salaam, and Zanzibar. On the other hand, Arusha can be also reached by express coach from Dar es Salaam/Tanzania (12h), Nairobi/Kenya (6h), and Kampala/Uganda (17h).

With Mount Meru at my back, I started traveling across the Tanzanian countryside for 8 days long safari to the Northern Circuit National Parks of this African country. We left our lodge in Arusha to visit the Tarangire National Park subsequently for a game drive, early in the morning. During the dry season from June to October the river beds just teem with animals such as elephants, tree lions, jackals, zebras, wildebeests, and buffaloes. I believe that Tarangire N.P. is one of those places you see on documentaries but figured you would never get the chance to see in person. You should be prepared to swat tsetse flies here, at certain times of the year they can get really annoying. We had an overnight stay at a very comfortable eco-lodge in the African savannah. I was impatient as the next day we would drive for 5 hours to get to the Serengeti National Park to join a  4 days drive game around the park.

The Serengeti National Park, a Unesco World Heritage Site, is home to a myriad of wildlife habitats and ecosystems and probably the most known African Game Reserve. The grasslands make the Park excellent for spotting lion kills since the whole place can be seen spectacle clearly. The annual migration of two millions of zebra and wildebeest starts here, and as it is much bigger than the Masai Mara Nationa Park in Kenya, the park is less densely populated with jeeps fuel of visitors. As we entered the park and Sita was driving slowly through, I realized that the beasts were countless and my camera could not do justice to the vastness of the plains and grasslands, broken only occasionally by a couple of trees.

My guide Sita had incredible sharp eyes to find lots of mammals so I could observe the big five and much more than I had expected for as animals move freely and nothing is guaranteed. I was fortunate to see cheetahs as they catching a zebra and spot lions, elephants, hippos, and giraffes, by the dozens. The national parks are not exactly a piece of cake as you have to get up early in the morning and you are seated in an open roof jeep for long hours (often 7-8 hrs every day) driving/bouncing on dusty paths inhaling dust all day long. However, it's totally worth it!

There are all kinds of accommodation options within the Serengeti National Park, starting from basic camping to luxury mobile-tented safaris. We spent the nights in a tented camp in the Serengeti where we were greeted in the middle of the night by hyenas and lions at our campsite. There is no stronger sound compared to the bark of a hyena in the middle of the night having a feast while you're inside your nylon tent. Besides, watching the sunrise among all the beasts is an incredible experience!

After our last day in Serengeti National park, we departed to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Ngorongoro Crater has a diameter of 16-19km and is the largest unbroken caldera in the world. It also has a population of about 25,000 large mammals living in the crater, which made game driving a true highlight for me! I really loved the game drive in the caldera.

Also Maasai still live within the conservation area. Maasai are an indigenous African ethnic group of semi-nomadic people located close to the game parks of East Africa. It is a really amazing insight into how these people survive in a conservation area with the wild animals.

Visiting a Massai village was certainly a highlight of my East Africa trip. I will never forget these gentle people who have to be so very disciplined to live their lifestyle. I have great respect for them!

Above all, it was a wonderful game drive, an experience like none other!

Tips

• The best time to visit Northern Circuit is generally said to be between June to October and January to March, although prices are higher as it’s peak season. Besides, February to March is a good period of time for a safari when the wildebeest and zebra have their young and the predators are at the highest number too.

• The flight tickets and safari lodges are usually expensive during the peak season that's why it is better to plan a trip well in advance.

• Find out information on all the companies. You can find information about the companies and prices for a safari online either on their website or from customer reviews and ratings. Once you have all of this information in hand, you can then plan out your budgets, travel dates and days.

• If you are travelling solo, you can either book your own private safari or the cheapest way to do this type of safari is to find a group to join. The more people, the cheaper the safari tends to be. You can email several companies to see if they can pair you up with other travelers.

• Think about travel insurance. This is Africa, so make sure you have a complete travel insurance that will cover you for all of the activities you want to do.

• Visas-on-arrival are available at Kilimanjaro International Airport for USD50, or USD100 for some nationalities.