With Covid, the world accessible outside European Union has become limited. We did not want to give up our tradition of visiting a further destination on 2021 and had reserved a trip to Tanzania for February 2021. Tanzania was one of the destinations open for tourism and we had anyway had the idea of an African Safari for a while. Unfortunately Covid had other plans - first our flight tickets got cancelled at the end of January and then France went into stricter lockdown again in February. Meaning that instead of spending the February school holidays in Africa, we had to spend them in France. We still did not want to give up on our plan to go to visit Tanzania and decided to try to postpone everything for October 2021 school holidays instead of cancelling (safari, accommodation). We did have to change the flights several times and finally the best solution was to leave from Barcelona by Qatar Airways. Barcelona is roughly six hours drive from Antibes, so we had to leave a day before flying out and spend the night in a hotel near Barcelona El Prat airport.
In the morning of Saturday, October 23rd we went for our pre-booked PCR tests in Antibes (a negative PCR test valid for 96 hours is needed to enter Tanazania, no matter if vaccinated or not) with our suitcases already in the car and headed for Barcelona straight after the test. We got our negative results while having lunch on the motorway and felt that the holiday could really start now. I had reserved a hotel called B&B Hotel Barcelona Viladecans, situated in a shopping district a couple of kilometers away from Barcelona El Prat Airport.
The next morning we drove our car to ParkVia parking not far from the airport and took a shuttle from the parking lot to the terminal. 65 euros for two weeks parking seemed reasonable. Qatar Airways (like all the other airlines, I imagine) had a thorough check up of all the papers before letting anyone to go to luggage drop desk - PCR tests (date was double checked) and Tanzania health form QR code for us. We had no problems there but saw many people having difficulties, so the line moved very slowly. I definitely recommend arriving at the airport early enough. Once through all the security checks, we had just a bit of time left to have a quick breakfast before boarding. Barcelona airport is nice, they have a lovely outdoor courtyard area with cafes and restaurants.
Qatar Airways is known for their great service and they did not disappoint. The six-hour flight to Doha passed quickly watching movies on the on-board entertainment system, having a glass of wine and a quite nice veggie meal.
Ready to go
We had an eight-hour layover in Qatar and although it was complicated in Covid times, we still decided to leave the airport and take a quick look at the city. First I had to fill out the forms on Qatar gouvernment website while we were still in France and upload there our passport copies, PCR results etc. I received a confirmation e-mail about half an hour later. Then I had to download Etheraz application on my phone. In the airport, once our passports were stamped, photos and fingerprints taken and we had passed customs, we had to purchase a Qatari SIM-card (while still in the airport customs area) in order to activate the Etheraz app on the phone. For the activation we had to use the visa number that was on the passport stamp. Once activated, a green QR code appeared on the Etheraz app and we were finally good to exit the airport - the whole process had taken about an hour and a half. All the simple things like going through passport control have become much more complicated during Covid. Fortunately only adults needed the app, the kids could go without it.
We took a subway from the airport to the center - it was quick, clean and cheap. Unfortunately we were not too impressed about Doha - maybe it was that we arrived to town at 7.30 pm or maybe it was that it looked like a huge building site. The Google Maps app lead us several times to streets that were actually closed for building sites. It all felt very confusing. We did see lots of skyscrapers beautifully lit up, but we had walked around for nearly two and half hours in a 30 degree heat. We finally went to a mall, bought some sushi and Krispy Kreme doughnuts and ate them in a park just outside the mall - our night picnic in Doha. It was 10.30 pm and we all agreed it was time to return to the airport, even though our flight to Kilimanjaro was leaving at 1.40 am.
In the Doha subway
Doha by night
Doha Hamad airport - selected the best in the world on 2021
Mainland Tanzania - Arusha and around and the national parks of Tarangire, Serengeti and Ngorongoro
The flight from Doha to Kilimanjaro airport took around five hours. As it was a night flight, we all slept some part of it. The good thing about travelling to Tanzania is that there is no suffering from a jet lag - the time difference with France was one hour. Africa greeted us with the views of Mount Kilimanjaro in morning sunrise.
We arrived at Kilimanjaro airport at 7.40 in the morning and it took us more than an hour to actually get out of the airport. First all passangers had to form a line for the health check - the PCR tests were checked thoroughly and our temperature was taken and those from high risk countries (UK, US, China etc.) were sent for additional antigen tests at the airport. Then we needed to fill in visa applications, queue for visa approval, queue again to pay for visa (50 USD per person) and then queue again to get our passports stamped. We were finally good to go and collect our luggage, go through another security check and that was it! I also took a moment to exchange some local currency before leaving the airport - the rate being 2400 Tansanian shillings for one euro. The safari company owners Ene and Emanuel were picking us up at the airport. I did a lot of research before reserving the safari, contacted several companies for quotations and found the company called Siafu being the most trustworthy of all the companies I contacted (maybe it was because of one of the owners being Estonian like me). Ene was promptly answering all my e-mails about the safari and the communication between us was always fluid and friendly. There were also no problems about postponing the safari from February to October.
We had decided to spend our first night in a hostel in the lush countryside about 15 kilometers outside Arusha. Banana Farm Eco Hostel was a wonderful place that we all loved and wished we could have spent more time there. Banana farm is an actual working farm that has seven rooms (they are building a couple of more at the moment) and they are using a lot of their own farm products to feed the guests. We stayed at the family room that was simple with a double bed and a bunk bed and an en suite bathroom (and costed only 30 USD per night, breakfast included). They have a beautiful courtyard with hammocks, tables and benches where the guests can hang out. There were always bananas available for everyone to eat (and the peels had to be taken to cows).
They organize a free farm tour for the guests who wish to see their way of life - it took about two hours and they explain everything about their farm (several types of bananas, coffee plants, avocado trees, vegetable garden, making biogas they use for cooking out of cow dung and organic waste etc) and take you for a tour of the grounds around the farm with beautiful views at Mount Meru.
Papayas
Mount Meru
Coffee plants
They offer an evening meal (vegetarian) to the guests for 5 USD per person that is eaten in the courtyard all together. The food was delicious - a soup and home made bread for starter, rice, beans and vegetables with chapati for main and a pudding for dessert. They also made a campfire in the courtyard and all of us sat around the fire telling stories about our travels. Breakfast was also lovely with freshly baked bread, samosas, pancakes and freshly picked fruit. Their coffee came from their own farm and was delicious.
The next morning Emanuel from Siafu Safaris came to pick us up from Banana Farm to drive us to our accommodation in Arusha. Before droping us off at the hotel, Emanuel gave us a little drive-through tour of Arusha, showing us the main sights. Arusha is an important international diplomatic hub actually, hosting the East African Community and being the cpital of East African Federation. Our accommodation in Hotel Tulia and also the transfers were organized by the Siafu safari company. It was a nice clean hotel with friendly service. We still had another eventful day ahead of us before starting the safari.
When we knew for sure that we were going to Africa, we thought about doing something to the local children there. We did a little searching online and found a small charity called Maria Carpio foundation. They have a school for children of the Maasai widows and they are happy to accept any help possible. We talked to Maria by WhatsApp and she gave us a contact of Mibaku, a local Maasai guy running the charity and the school from Tanzanian side. Our kids talked about it at school with their lovely pastoral teacher Mme Gassi and with her help a little collection of school supplies was organized for the Maasai school. At the end many people wished to participate and we had two extra suitcases (40 kilograms!) of school supplies that we were taking with us to donate to this school.
Collecting the donated items from school in Antibes
Mibaku and the head teacher of the school picked us up from the hotel and we took off towards the Eretore School, that is about an hours drive from Arusha. We did make a stop at the local market to buy some rice for the school lunches of the kids. The school is situated on the Maasai land and the kids often have to walk long distances at young age to get there every day. A nice little welcome ceremony (that we did not expect at all) was organised by the school - the kids came to greet us and sang a welcome song. We got to meet the school staff and visit the classrooms and really felt that the stuff we brought was going to the right place.
Meeting the school staff
During the drive to school and later back to Arusha we had an interesting chat with Mibaku (who is a Maasai himself) about the life of Maasai people, their culture and customs.
In the afternoon we went for a little walk around Arusha, visited the local Maasai Market for some souvenir shopping and had dinner in a quite nice Chinese restaurant called Peace. Arusha is the third-largest city of Tanzania with the population of nearly one million. It is also called the Safari capital of Tanzania because of it being the starting and ending point of most Northern Tanzanian safaris.
We had an early start the next morning - our safari guide was picking us up from the hotel at 8 in the morning and we had to have had breakfast before that. We could also leave a suitcase of the things we did not need during the safari in the hotel (we were staying in the same hotel again after our safari). Our guide was called Francis and he seemed like a nice person from the first moment we met him. He was going to be our guide and driver for the next four days.
Our safari car was a comfortable (modified) Toyota Land Cruiser. We saw many cars like this in the parks, so it seems to be the standard. There are six comfortable seats at the back with pockets at the back of the seat with water bottle holders (bottled water was provided by the organizer during the safari). There was also an electric socket for charging the phones. The roof of the car opens - we had it closed while driving long distances and open during game drives in the parks for better view.
Ready to go
Our first destination was Tarangire National Park, about two and half hours drive from Arusha. The park gets its name from the Tarangire river that crosses the park. It is one of the smaller national parks of Tanzania (2850 km²) and it is mostly famous for its large population of elephants and many scenic baobab trees.
We started spotting wildlife just a shot drive after our entrance to the park - in the beginning every zebra, wildebeest, gazelle and impala deserved a stop. We did not realize how many of them we were actually going to see during our safari.
A lion had just finished its meal
In the park there are picnic areas with restrooms for a break. We stopped in one of those with beautiful views to the river and wildlife (lots of elephants) to have our lunch. We just had to watch out for the monkeys - they were very cheeky and tried to steal the food the moment it was left unattended. We were lucky to have kept ours, but saw several people having their food stolen.
At the picnic area
After lunch we continued our game drive by the river and were able to see lots of elephants, some of them very close, as well as other animals that we had already spotted before.
Our accommodation for the evening was at Fanaka Lodge, in a town called Mto Wa Mbtu, close to lake Manyara and roughly half way between Tarangire and Serengeti National parks. It was about two hours drive from Tarangire and we arrived at our accommodation about an hour before dinner time. Fanaka is a fairly large lodge and has both bedrooms and a campground for tents. The rooms were quite basic - the family room we stayed at had three double beds and a shower and toilet. The food in the restaurant was nice with a soup for a starter and a small buffet of rice with veggies, meat and fish (from the lake) curry for main.
Our room in Fanaka Lodge
The next morning, after a hearty breakfast we set off towards Serengeti. On the way we enjoyed the beautiful views on the lake Manyara. We also stopped in a couple of places to buy some local souveniers from Maasai people. When getting close to Serengeti, we saw a lot of Maasai villages from the road and asked our guide Francis if it would be possible to visit one. We turned off from the main road and stopped close to one village, Francis had a chat with one of the people that came out (we later learned it was Paul, the son of the chief) and we were allowed to visit them for a contribution towards buying water and school supplies for kids.
Views of lake Manyara
Maasai people by the road on our way to Serengeti
On our visit to the village, several people lined up outside to show us a local dance and asked us to join as well. We were then taken for a tour of the village by Paul and explained about the Maasai way of life. We also visited the house of Paul - a small hut made of cow dung and mud with the roof of grass gathered from the bush -where he lived with his wife and two kids.
The house of PaulLocal school We had to arrive at the Serengeti gate by 2pm, as our entrance pass of Serengeti lasted for 24 hours - so we could have an afternoon game drive on our first day and a morning game drive the day after. We had lunch at the picnic area of the Serengeti gate and were then ready for our next adventure. The lunch we had was warm food in the thermos bag - no plastic plates or cutlery was used. It was rice or pasta with veggies and chicken or meat with fruit for dessert. Even wine was included with the lunch. There were no bins in the picnic area - the rule was that everyone takes their trash with them.
Table set for lunch
The name Serengeti comes from the Maasai word "siringit", meaning the endless plain and endless, indeed, it seemed. Serengeti National Park, a UNESCO World heritage Site, is huge, with its nearly 15000 square kilometers (and it extends to Kenya across the border as Masai Mara National Park, forming the Mara-Serengeti ecosystem). The Serengeti is among the most visited wildlife sanctuaries in the
world. Every year more than 150,000 international and 100,000 local
tourists visit the park. The Serengeti ecosystem is one of the largest and oldest in the
world. The climatic patterns, flora, and fauna are among the most
scientifically important on the planet. The habitat is believed to have
remained unchanged over a million years. The success of the ecosystem is
attributed to the Maasai community who have lived side by side with the
animals and the environment. The Serengeti is a haven for wildlife and plants. The park is inhabited
by over 500 species of birds including the secretary bird and ostrich.
There are over 2 million wildebeests, 300,000 gazelles, 200,000 zebras,
and 100,000 buffaloes (source: worldatlas.com)
The landscape of Serengeti was breathtaking - there were the endless plains full of grazing zebras, wildebeest, impalas and gazelles, and also some giraffes and elephants, the lush riversides with several birds and hippos.. We were in the lookout for the big cats and we did find what we were looking for - several prides of lions, a leopard walking across the road in front of our car, two cheetahs going for the kill and catching a young gazelle close to us, an eagle that had caught a baby gazelle... We were also lucky to have a knowledgeable guide, who told us lots of stories about the animals, their habits and their way of life and knew the best places to spot animals.
The endless plain
A leopard
We did not get out of the park for the evening, but spent the night in Osero Tented Camp in the middle of Serengeti. Osero is a fairly small camp - they have 10 tents, 3 family tents and 7 double. We stayed in the family tent - what an amazing experience it was! The tents are large and very comfortable, I would even say luxurious, with comfy beds and with shower and toilet in the tent. Behind every tent was a solar pannel, it was used for the electricity for the tent. There is also a main tent that serves as a restaurant and bar. As the camp was small, the service in the camp was very friendly and personal.
Osero Camp
Our family tent
With the staff of Osero Camp
In the evening we admired the sunset on a little hill just behind the camp, before having a delicious three-course dinner. Later the guys made a campfire outside and we sat around the fire, listened to the stories and exchanged with other people staying in the camp (there was only one couple). In the dark it is only allowed to move around with a security person of the camp as there are lots of animals around - a couple of buffalos were grazing just outside our tent, we also saw a civet cat and heard hyenas and lions. In the morning we woke up early (a bit before 6) for sunrise over Serengeti, had a nice breakfast and were ready to go for our next day of safari.
Dinner time
Little walk to admire sunrise over Serengeti at 6am
We had an early start in the morning, taking the most from our stay at Serengeti, as we had to be at the gate at 2pm when our 24 hour pass would end. It was another day full of fantastic wildlife encounters, statring in the morning with "Hippo pool" - an area at the river where lots hippos gather.
Baboons
It was a long drive on dirt roads from Serengeti gate to Rhino Lodge at the Ngorongoro crater rim. It took over three hours and when we arrived, all we could think of was a shower, because of all the dust that been flying around. Rhino Lodge was lovely, with a nice cozy dining hall and terraces overlooking the jungle. In the evening when we arrived there were waterbucks grazing just outside our bedroom terrace and the next morning there were buffalos. Ngorongoro Crater rim is at 2300 meters height, so it gets pretty cool in the evenings and mornings (13 - 14 degrees C). There was even a small fireplace in the room where someone had made a fire when we were having dinner. Again - the food was delicious both for dinner and breakfast. We had brought several snacks from France with us like cereal bars and biscuits as we were not sure about what we could eat or if the kids would get hungry during the day. The kids ate some of it, but most was left untouched - the food was very good during the whole safari and also, none of us got sick.
Our bedroom - a double bed and a bunk bed
The bedroom terrace
Waterbucks outside our room
Pre dinner drink at the dining hall by the huge fireplace - it was too cold to sit outside
Early morning in Rhino Lodge, observing buffalos grazing
Pancakes for breakfast
We had an early start again in the morning and started the descent to Ngorongoro Crater just after breakfast. The crater is among the seven natural wonders of Africa and was formed due to collapse of active volcano over 2 million years ago. The Ngorongoro Crater is also the world's largest inactive caldera. The crater floor covers about 260 square km and it is about 600 m deep. Ngorongoro Crater has a wonderfully large range of habitats able to support a vast array of wildlife: the steep and forested crater wall, the alkaline and seasonal salt Lake Magadi, swamps, Lerai forest and extensive grasslands. With its around 300 spieces of animals and 500 spieces of birds, it is a true paradise for wildlife spotting, including the Big Five. We had already seen four animals of the Big Five, only missing the rhino. We had the chance to see two of them in Ngorongoro, unfortunately not close enough for a good photo, but we were able to observe them quite well with binoculas.
At the crater rim viewpoint
Wildebeest
A lion decided to look for a shade almost under our car
Flamingoes
Traffic jam in Ngorongoro
Picnic area by the lake
We arrived back at Arusha around 5.30pm, after three hour drive and stayed at the same hotel - Tulia - as we had done before the safari. At the hotel we met our safari organiser Ene and had a nice long chat about our safari. We were obviously very happy about everything, because the whole safari had been an amazing experience.
Villages on the way between Ngorongoro and Arusha
The next morning we had an early start, because our flight to Zanzibar was taking off at 9.30 from Kilimanjaro airport. It was an hours drive from Arusha to the airport and Emanuel from Siafu safari company was giving us a lift. We all felt sad for leaving the beautiful nature and people of Northern Tanzania behind, but also excited to discover Zanzibar and spend some time relaxing by the pool or on the beach. Kilimanjaro is a small airport and we were well on time. We were flying with Kenyan company Precision Air and Zanzibar was the first stop on this flight. After some passangers (including us) got off in Zanzibar, the plane carried on to take the rest of the people to Dar es Salaam. The flight time to Zanzibar was a little under an hour.
Going to take the flight
Tanzanian coastline
Approaching Zanzibar archipelago
Zanzibar
It is a common misconception that Zanzibar is just one island. In fact,
it is an archipelago of islands located in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of East Africa. There are
several smaller islands and two larger ones; these are Unguja
(mostly referred to as Zanzibar), and Pemba Island. The total
population of Zanzibar is around 1.3 million people.
Our stay at Zanzibar was mostly meant to be a relaxing holiday, so I had reserved a local guide
Wadiame already from France, so he could take care of all our transfers and trips we wished to take during our stay. He was recommended by several people in one of the travel forums I read before our trip and I texted him our plans by WhatsApp. I would definitely use him again - he was a nice young guy starting his own tour agency and his price was very reasonable. He was waiting for us just as we exited from the airport and all the trips we did with him were in a comfortable six seater air conditioned car.
As most of our time in Zanzibar was meant for chilling out, I had reserved us a beach resort for the next four nights at the northeastern part of the island, right on the beach, in a small village of Kiwengwa. The resort was called
Kiwengwa Beach Resort and we had opted for a half-board package to avoid having to get out of the hotel and finding a place to eat every evening. The resort was about half or a little less than half full, meaning that it never felt crowded. There were three swimming pools, a crab-shaped saltwater pool just outside of our bedrooms and often we were the only ones swimming there. The main pool was a freshwater pool that had entertainment and games going on the whole day. The restaurant was for breakfast and dinner buffet - style and the theme of the dinner changed every evening - African feast, barbeque, Italian... We also tried the spa of the hotel and had a Turkish bath treatment and a massage on our first day to relax after all the days spent sitting in the safari car. The massage was very good and Johnny went back to have another one during our stay.
The main pool of Kiwengwa Beach Resort
The hotel beach
Saltwater pool near our room
The lush grounds of Kiwengwa Beach Resort
Although the hotel was great and the beach was amazing, we are not the kind of travellers who could spend several days lounging by the pool doing nothing. As Zanzibar is also known as a Spice Island we went to visit a spice plantation the next morning. Wadi came to pick us up from the hotel and it took about 45 minutes to get there. There was a guide waiting for us at the spice plantation and he took us around the huge grounds explaining about the plants growing there and what they were used for. Some of the plants we already knew, having seen them during our previous travels, but some we saw first time - like cardamom and clover. There was also a local women's cooperative at the plantation making soaps from local essential oils and coconut fat and we bought some soaps from them to take home.
Soursop tree
Nutmeg
At
the end of the visit, we got to small hut where we could taste the
local fruit (they asked for a little contribution) and a counter where
to buy the spices. I found the prices of the spices very reasonable, and
bought several to take home. The fruit tasting was interesting - there were the usual, like mangoes and bananas, but we had never tried fresh jackfruit before.
Driving around Zanzibar really brings out the huge difference between the luxury resorts and the simple life the local people of the island live. Zanzibar was joined with Tanzania on 1964, before that it was under Portugese rule (1503 - 1698), then under Oman Empire (1698 - 1890) and finally under British rule. Unlike the mainland Tanzania, that is mostly Christian, Zanzibar is 98% Muslim.
Local life in Zanzibar
No
visit to Zanzibar is complete without snorkelling in one of the coral
reefs near the island and discovering the wonderful underwater world surrounding the island.
Probably the most well known of them is the Mnemba Island Conservation
area. Wadi was picking us up early the next morning for two reasons - it
was low tide this morning and we could visit the tiny sand isle in the
middle of the sea normally underwater when the tide rises and in the
morning we could probably see the dolphins and maybe even swim close to
them. We arrived at the mainland beach close to the Mnemba island and had to walk a couple of hundred meters on the bottom of the sea to get to the boat as the tide was very low.
Our first stop was the little islet close to the Mnemba island, that would be swallowed up by the sea in less than an hour when the tide starts to rise. It was amazing - the sand was soft and white and the sea was the bluest of the blue and we were on this tiny strip of land in the middle of the sea.
Our boat
We could see Mnemba island quite close, but it can only be visited if staying in the five star resort that takes up the whole island.
Next we took the boat to deeper water hoping to see some dolphins. There were some other boats hoping to do the same - luckily not too many - but we heard from the guides that during peak season it could get quite crowded. We did see the dolphins, but in order to "swim with them" it is necessary to be a good swimmer. Ricardo and Johnny did it a bit and also saw the dolphins pass under them (Ricardo even has a video of it), but basically it was just being in the water when the dolphins are around, hoping that they will pass not too far from you.
We then proceeded to the coral reef edge, where the water was shallower and we could snorkel. It was amazing - the colourful fish, corals, sea urchins, starfish... The snorkelling gear was supplied by the boat and when we had finished, Wadi prepared for us a big tray of fruit for a snack. When we got back to the beach the water had risen a lot already and the walk back to the car was pretty short.
It had been a full day so we decided to take it easy the next day - we did not plan any activities for that day, but Johnny and I woke up very early and went to see the sunrise on the beach just outside the hotel. It was about 6 in the morning, the beach was almost empty and it was amazing. After we got some coffe from the hotel breakfast buffet and enjoyed it in the still empty lobby bar. The tide was also very shallow that day so after breakfast we walked on the bottom of the sea looking for starfish.
A short taxi ride away from the hotel was an area of Kiwengwa beach where, as I had found out while doing my research, was a great little seafood restaurant. We found the restaurant and had some delicious food, but also discovered yet another beautiful white sand beach.
To end our tour in Stone Town, we went for a meal in Lukmaan restaurant. It is a simple and very popular eatery in Stone Town, both among locals and tourists. They offer great varety of Zanzibari food and delicious fresh fruit smoothies.
Our journay home started from Zanzibar airport. Our first flight took us to Doha, where we had a bit over an hour until our next flight.. The flight from Doha to Barcelona was fortunately not too full, so we could all have more than one seat and stretch out a bit more and sleep more comfortably. The early morning in Barcelona greeted us with 8 degrees - it felt harsh after the lovely warm mornings of Zanzibar. It was a pretty tiring six-hour car ride from Barcelona to Antibes and finally we had arrived home.
Tanzania is an amazing country that has lots to offer - wonderful nature and wildlife, beautiful beaches of Zanzibar, friendly people, lots to see and do. Safari is definitely an once in a lifetime experience, seeing all the animals so close, sleeping in a tent the middle of Serengeti... I hope that one day we could return to Tanzania, if not for a safari, then at least for the idyllic beaches of Zanzibar.
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