Lake Manyara Best View Lodge offers luxury accommodation, complete with breathtaking views and encounters with local communities.
Lake Manyara Best View Lodge offers luxury accommodation, complete with breathtaking views and encounters with local communities.
A trip to Tanzania for an African safari turns from wish-list dream to reality for writer Kate Watson and her family of four
Toto has blessed the rains down in Africa – bounteously. As the Landcruiser ahead lurches perilously to one side on the flooded road, presuppositions of a hot, dry Africa are turned on their head. This is Africa at its wettest, the El Niño summer causing deluges typically associated with the rainy season months of March to May, and we are grateful for the experience of our driver as he navigates what he later informs us are the most challenging conditions he’s ever had to drive in.
An African Safari has long been on our family of four’s wish list, and with our teenage kids now old enough to savour the memories, this January, we finally made it happen. Tanzania Specialist have put together a five-day itinerary that ensures we see the sights while enjoying excellent accommodation along the way.
We’re met at Kilimanjaro International Airport by our personal guide, Charles, one of the original crew that started the company around five years ago with a mere handful of jeeps. Despite Covid challenges, they’ve since expanded to more than 200 guides. We board the modified Toyota Landcruiser that will be our dedicated vehicle for the duration of the safari, and drive to Arusha’s aptly named Under the Shade Safari Lodge, where we conk out, exhausted after our flight.
The weather’s muggy and cooler than I anticipated; not dissimilar to a drizzly New Zealand summer, when we set off to Tarangire, Tanzania’s sixth largest national park on our first full day. The first animals we spot are impala, of which we will see plenty of throughout the safari but of whose gorgeous features we never tire. We also see wildebeest, giraffes, elephants and an adorable pack of mongooses basking on a rock, lined up like sardines. The picnic spot affords incredible views over the Tarangire River, though vigilance is required to keep the cheeky vervet monkeys from leaping on the tables and stealing food from the lunch boxes they’ve become adept at opening. Around 3pm, we leave the park and head to our accommodation for the next two nights, Lake Manyara Best View Lodge.
Serengeti National Park offers diverse wildlife encounters, including lions, cheetahs, and even a rare sighting of leopards.
Access to the lodge is via a 20-minute drive up a bumpy dirt road, worsened by the recent rain. The hotel was bought by Tanzania Specialist a year ago, a business-savvy decision given how incredible the spot is. The open reception area extends through to a restaurant and infinity pool positioned high above Lake Manyara in what is one of the most incredible views we have ever seen. It is also one of the most luxurious places we have ever stayed, with rooms offering super king beds and private balconies overlooking the lake and its surroundings.
Keen to stretch my legs after a day in the van, I take a walk down the dirt road where I am befriended by a local farmer, who, after 20 minutes of conversation asks me to help him invest in land so he can realise his dream of becoming a tour operator. A 12-year-old girl called Lightness and her younger sister, Doris, take me to their humble family home and introduce me to their mother and grandmother. The kids clearly love the company of tourists, and follow me back to the hotel where they venture no further than the gate, the guards a confronting reminder of the disparity in our circumstances.
The lodge offers a rotating three-course dinner menu with a few options on each. Food is typically ordered at least half an hour in advance; sensible given the typically long wait times. After dinner, we are grateful for a hot shower and a good night’s sleep in our giant bed.
Our close proximity to Lake Manyara allows for a quick detour to a local Masai village the next morning. We are given bright cloaks and traditional Enkarewa necklaces for my daughter and me, and are welcomed with a traditional song and dance, the latter part of which we are invited to join. The dance involves rhythmically protruding our collarbones to make the necklaces bounce (women) and jumping as high as possible (men). Afterward, the son of the chief shows us around the village, escorting us inside a traditional Manyatta house, and into the kindergarten classroom where the children recite English numbers on a blackboard for our benefit.
The village diet, we’re told, consists predominantly of milk and two meat meals a day. Polygamy is the norm, though the expense of purchasing multiple wives through cattle dowry means that the chief’s son has opted for monogamy. There’s warmth and humour in our interactions. “How much for this one?” my husband asks, indicating our 17-year-old daughter. “Very beautiful. At least 50 cows,” the chief’s son replies.
Where Tarangirie National Park’s scenery consists predominantly of grasslands, baobab and acacia trees, Lake Manyara is a cornucopia of evergreen forest, marshland and savannah. The thick jungle makes it harder to spot animals but we do see our first buffalo herd, more giraffe, and several species of monkey. We don’t manage to spot any of their famous tree-climbing lionesses, however we venture close enough to an elephant to hear its stomach gurgle as it eats from the roadside trees.
The next morning, we drive to the infamous Serengeti. Though I’m not much of a road tripper - and with admin, toilet, meal and photo stops, this well and truly is - I would do this one again in a heartbeat. Never have I encountered such mind-blowing scenery and diversity of wildlife in one day. After passing through the town of Karatu, where ramshackle huts sporting Pepsi logos harking back to the 70s compete with a “stationary” (sic) shop, dusty bars, goats, and the odd grocery store, we ascend through thick jungle to the peak of the Ngorogoro crater via a sodden, freshly-graded road, the mounds of dirt in the centre necessitating some careful driving on Charles’ part. Our ears pop as we gaze at the thick fog that blankets the forest below. We exit the jeep at the viewing point and gaze over the 2300m rim to the crater below where, even from this distance, herds of buffalo and the odd safari jeep are visible, before continuing our journey through the reserve itself.
Ngorongoro Crater's vastness and biodiversity amaze visitors, featuring diverse bird species and rare sightings of rhinoceros.
Words aren’t sufficient to describe the sheer scale of the Ngorongoro Conservation Reserve. Here is vastness on a scale I have never seen, the seemingly endless plains brimming with herds of wildebeest as far as the eye can see, zebra grazing in numbers too big to count, gazelle, impala, antelope, giraffes, elephants, it is all going on around us. And when you consider that this is the only public road through what is an 809,440ha reserve, how much more must be going on in the interior? As a New Zealander, to encounter space of this scale is something I will never forget, and it’s here, face wet with tears, that I feel Africa get under my skin. We are charmed by zebra standing in pairs, heads resting on each other’s back. “They’re cuddling!” my son cries, delightedly. In fact, the top-and-tail position is a strategic means of ensuring each has an eye out for predators.
On entry to Serengeti National Park, we spot our first lions and even a family of cheetah – a huge thrill. It is almost dinner time when we take the muddy turnoff to the Baobab Serengeti tented camp that will be our accommodation for the next two nights. The skies open and for the first time on the Safari, our spirits take a nosedive as we arrive, shivering to a welcome drink of thick, funky baobab juice from the manager, Costa Rica. In our tent, I unpack and don the puffer jacket I didn’t think I’d be needing in Africa. After a welcome dinner of hot soup followed by a generous buffet including pork chops, beef and dhal, we are escorted to back our tents by staff who shine torches left and right across the adjacent grasslands. It’s rare for lions to enter the camp (though we’re informed the following morning that one was spotted later that night by the staff tents), but we are in the middle of the Serengeti, and one can’t help but consider what may be lurking in the darkness. In fact, all I see on the way to our tent is a very cute dik-dik.
Our tents are well equipped with private toilets and surprisingly hot solar showers, after which we are well and truly warmed up. The night brings unfamiliar noises: barking hyenas and the whistles of strange birds making sleep initially challenging.
Baobab tented camps offer immersive experiences in the African wilderness, blending luxury with the rustic charm of safari living. Photo / Supplied
Just getting the Landcruiser out of camp the next day is a challenge in itself, the rain having turned the track into undulating mounds of slush. It’s ironic that it is here, in the circa 15,000sq km Serengeti that we encounter our first traffic jam - stuck behind several Landcruisers all stopped to view some sleeping lions. The uncharacteristically poor etiquette on the part of a couple of the drivers obliges us to wait for around 40 minutes before we can continue.
Despite its size, there is only one main road into the Serengeti and the largest bridge is flooded. Those planning to leave by bus or truck must wait until the water subsides. Thankfully we’re able to pass over one of the smaller bridges, but it’s today that we experience our hairiest moments to date: crossing a flooded ford and a u-turn that has the Landcruiser hydroplaning in deep mud that only Charles’ expertise saves us from beaching in. The long grass makes it harder to spot animals but we are thrilled to see our first leopard, as well as a pack of hyenas and jackals feasting on a carcass.
That evening we chat with Costa Rica as he attempts to make a campfire using sodden logs. He tells us about the polygamous tribe he was born into. A friend he recently visited has more than 40 wives – far too noisy, he says. He has chosen monogamy, though his wife and children live in a village two days’ drive away. Costa Rica must work at camp for three months straight before he is able to return – for 10 days only.
The final day takes us back the way we came. Toto’s Africa serenades me befittingly through its namesake, helping to drown out the noise of the rattling windows. This time we descend into the Ngorongoro crater. The road, Charles tells us, was funded by the Japanese after their Prime Minister’s vehicle got stuck on the way down, leaving him unable to visit it, and is a solid, albeit steep feat of engineering. Inside is a smorgasbord of different creatures. The flamboyance of flamingos that feed in the crater lake are one of about 600 species of birds living there. Storks roam the marsh, a kori bustard wanders in the grass, plumage displayed, hoping to attract a mate, a pair of crown crane wander the grassland. Herds of buffalo graze and it is today that we tick off the last of the “big five”: a pair of rhinoceros - some way off - but a fortuitous sighting given there are only 17 currently living in the crater. We lunch at a picnic area where hippo snouts can just be glimpsed above the water and a Marabou stork with an alarmingly large beak lurks a tad too close for comfort, ready to devour any leftovers.
It is our longest day yet and we are knackered when we return to the lodge for dinner. But what an adventure it’s been. To paraphrase Toto, we feel immensely blessed to have taken the time to do the things we never had.
Practicalities
Food
Lunchboxes are provided and eaten at designated picnic spots within the reserves. Eating times vary depending on what you stop to see.
Be prepared to spend many hours driving and for a level of discomfort on unsealed, bumpy roads. There is no aircon but the Landcruiser roofs open up and let in the breeze.
Toilets
Available at the picnic spots. Long stretches of road without facilities may necessitate going behind the vehicle to ‘check the tyre pressure’.
Checklist
TANZANIA
GETTING THERE
Fly from Auckland to Kilimanjaro International Airport with one stopover with Qatar Airways. Alternatively, fly to Julius Nyerere International Airport with one stopover with Emirates.
