TANZANIA/ZANZIBAR  

Trip Report 

By now, everyone knows AFRICA is on the top of my destination list, and TANZANIA is my most favorite country.  On this trip that was proven over and over again, no matter where I went, just how special this place is. 

To make this report brief, though I don't think that is possible, I will try to highlight where I was and the many special places I visited.  It won't mean much to you as far as the area, but you might want to check out the properties on the internet, so I will try to summarize the trip and not go on and on.

Our trip really began in Amsterdam where I spent two nights and stayed at the Sheridan Schiphol Airport Hotel.  I met up with  Francisca's cousin.  Fran is a good friend of mine, who lives close to me and her cousin lives in Holland.  Inge showed me and my girlfriend Kathy, around town and we had a wonderful visit.

Onward to Tanzania where we met up with the other two agents who would be on this trip, who flew in at different times.  Our stay was at Arusha Coffee Lodge, a working coffee farm.  Site inspections to other properties also allowed me to make informed decisions about other properties to consider for future bookings.  We also met up with and spent the day with Fabian ,part of my African family with whom I have gone on safari for many years, most recently 2010.  and Adam, who I met last year. 

Our first stop, Lake Manyara Tree Lodge, where Malley, our ranger gave us some very up close and personal moments with some of the animals in this area.  Lake Manyara Tree Lodge is built above the grounds and is an expansive and luxurious room in the bush, with an outdoor shower.  On one day, we had a herd of elephants just under our deck which made us late for our safari drive, but provided us our own individual up close and personal show, which, of course, we promptly grabbed the camera for our splendid Kodak moments. 

Then after a stop at Shifting Sands, which our ranger Paul introduced us to, and a real treat it was; it was on to Serengeti Under Canvas Mobile Tented Camp, a camp I've booked for the past few years, and where the guys  who run and staff the camp have all become regular friends who I maintain regular contact with.   They keep me informed of what is going on in the Serengeti or their particular location.  This is an & Beyond property.  Once again Paul was our ranger and did a superb job.  You can see that by some of the photos.  We were in the Ndutu area for this part of our journey.    

 My annointment as an official Maasai (Enganashe) with

the guys at Serengeti Under Canvas

Uniquely rare moments, included spotted hyenas mating, vultures taking advantage of the the moment to mate, while waiting for their turn at a kill, the not so rare lions mating, fantastic birds, lion kills, leopard kills, all serving as proof of 'survival of the fittest and proving that only the strong survive'.  The Serengeti plays out these 'laws' of nature  day after day, pitting the strong against the weak, the injured and the aged; the more seasoned against those just beginning life.  It is all too often a picture framed with tragic results, of life and death on the African savannah.   

There just isn't any way to describe what 2,000,000 wildebeest and hundreds of thousands of zebra looks like, as far as the eye can see.  Seeing this is believing this.  Of course animals are never predictable, nor is the migration, but going at this time of the year will provide a glimpse of what this great migration looks like.  You must first set your sights and venture out for a new and exciting experience. 

Our trip continued to Asilia Camps and properties, and other company's accommodations as well. Our ranger was Jackson, aka Babu (grandfather in Swahili).  We spent the next seven days with him and our accommodations were Olakira, Dunia, both Mobile Tented Camps, and Swala, an A&K property and Plantation House. Babu spent that time transporting us and staying with us for those seven days.  After our stay at Plantation House, we had a flight to Sayari, the most luxurious permanent accommodations, a small spread out camp with just 8-10 accommodations in the Northern Corridor.   It was here that I discovered for the first time, the Northern Corridor, where the wildebeest and zebra cross the Mara River in their unending search for food and water.  It is this area that houses the yearly Mara River Crossing to Kenya in their annual migration.

From the Northern Corridor, we headed to Zanzibar, where my friend and another part of my African family, Ali met up with us to spend our next and final eight days of the trip.  You can see Ali with his new Lakers shirts that one of my previous traveler's gave to me to take to him.  Of course, don't you know that everyone there was admiring it and asking him where he got it, as he beamed, from my friend in America, from his brother from another mother!  In Zanzibar, we stayed at five different properties, all of them fabulous.  We started out with an Asilia property, Matemwe, a small intimate property with a beautiful secluded beach property which had many options, the Retreat or the Beach House or the Deluxe Villas.    

The two girls to the right are friends from Asilia who traveled with us part way

From there on to Breezes, Baraza and Palms, represented by my friends at Travel Marketing Worldwide, Sarah Fazendin and Mallory Corbett, both with whom I have traveled on several fams.  These properties are definite considerations for future trips.  Breezes was wonderful, quite large, Palms was VERY intimate with only six bungalows each complete with their own chef and butler, and Baraza with it's Arabic influence  you definitely feel like you are in a palace, with it's lush grounds and extravagant accommodations, also with splendid food. You can see some of this in the photos.

Summary:  I learned a lot, saw and experienced many new accommodations, explored new areas, met new friends and renewed old acquaintances.  I felt at home, and many times forgot I was even in Africa.  We were spoiled, in every sense of the word.   

WILL YOU BE ONE OF THE SIX JOINING ME ON SAFARI IN TANZANIA??   

MARCH 2012. 

Sorry to have to say that Spain/Portugal trip originally scheduled for September 2011 has been canceled, due to insufficient participation! It is quite difficult to do a group with a small amount of people when marketing Europe. Most of the tours to Europe are bus trips, so the more people, the more we can work towards having our own bus,  

I definitely do want to travel to this area myself, so I will reschedule but with more notice.  At this time, I am unsure when, as it may depend on the situation in Egypt, Jordan and the Middle East, around which I also want to plan a group, so have to consider both areas for travel planning.   Several travelers had indicated an interest in the Egypt trip, Stay tuned!  

THE MIGRATION of the Wildebeest, the Greatest Show on Earth

  INTERNET SPECIAL 

BEACHFRONT PROPERTY, SEA VIEW

Who needs a Travel Agent when they see This? 

This may sound like a joke but it's for real.  I spoke to two different couples at a property where we stayed.  In talking to them, I determined that both couples had ended up at our property, not because IT was the property they saw on the internet, but because the property on the internet was the property they told us was just down the beach.  On a walk the next morning we saw it.  Think I'm kidding.  You should have heard their story.  They booked it for eleven nights, up front, no deposits, the total amount, based on the internet description.  It described the owners as English and there were some commonalities with the person reading the description, so they figured how could they go wrong.  After all THIS was their HONEYMOON and they were looking for a nice intimate, quiet beachfront property.  They believe they'd found it. Upon arrival, they found a dilapidated shell of a beachfront property (that part was right), with a sea view (and even that part was right), but the English owner wasn't there, no staff was there, no one met them at the airport, and they had to go out back to see who actually was there.  As it turns out, there was someone there, but not the person they had expected.  Needless to say, they immediately did some checking and booked the property we were at for their eleven HONEYMOON nights.

In another instance, a couple found a wonderful property in an area with a beautiful lake, or so they thought.  The lake was nice, the property a dump, dirty, congested, run down.  They arrived late so they had no choice but to stay the night.  It was too far to another town.  The next morning, they beat feet to get out of there, and six hours later by road, they found themselves at the property we were at, from a zero star to a five star in one night and six hours later. 

Think it can't happen to you if you were to book over the internet to a 'third world' country.  Think again.  Both of these couples were very well traveled and they did a lot of 'research' to find the properties, spent a lot of money, because both paid IN ADVANCE, eleven nights in one case and four nights in another.  Do you think they saved money.  Both admitted they were out hundreds of dollars.   

I COULD GIVE YOU TEN REASONS WHY YOU NEED A TRAVEL AGENT,  BUT IN A SITUATION LIKE THIS, YOU ONLY NEED ONE!

WITH OUT A TRAVEL AGENT YOU ARE REALLY ON YOUR OWN!