The highlight of this year! We went to Tanzania! It was the first time for me in Africa :) It was long (about a month) but an awesome trip. We started in Amsterdam, spent several days in and around the city and flew to Arusha. I didn't expect anything: I even thought I'd be on a diet during the safari, wow what an idiot idea I had :) I enjoyed all the food before, during, after the safari in Tanzania. We chose Thomson Safaris (well our friends chose and we followed :) All arrangements were perfect. We love Mohammad as our head guide and our driver Mohammad in Zanzibar. All the workers at all the camps were amazing. I loved all the food by all 3 chefs at the camps. I want to say "THANK YOU" to Thomson Safari!
The trip started in Arusha -> Tarangire national park ->Ngorongoro conservation -> Serengeti national park -> dayhike on Mt. Kilimanjaro -> Zanzibar. Today I'd like to share the photos from the Tarangire national park and the camp we stayed.
Tanzania :) Do you know where it is? Now you do!
Our first beer at Rivertree Inn
Local peanuts and Kilimanjaro beer. We tried lots of Tanzanian beer and decided that Kilimanjaro is our favorite.
Breakfast at the inn.
Our friends and their kids. We used to live together in the SF bay area and these two girls were born in the same house we lived. My babies! grew up huge!
During the driving from Arusha to Tarangire, Mohammad told us to be calm when we see all the animals but alas, we started to screaming at a banana tree on the way :P The first creature, Banded Mongoose near the entrance to the Tarangire national park.
Baobab tree. There are many many baobab trees in the park.
I need Mohammad now :) He can tell me all the birds' names...
Impalas.. I think! I'm not good at animal nor bird! :)
Giraffes... babies are so cute!! squeak!
Tarangire park is very famous for... Elephants! I love them. They are magnificant to watch... huge!
Dik-dik So very cute small antelope.
Impala bumbum
Tarangire also has lots of zebras. Apparently each zebra has their own pattern...
Baby zebra! still has the brown fuzzy fur..
Warthog :) Of course I call them Pumba! My husband was the only one havn't watched the Lion King so he had no idea what we were talking about :)
We arrived at the camp which surounded by huge baobab trees.
Nothing like cold beer after dusty safari. Oh by the way, Safari means 'Journey, Travel' in Swahili. Did you know that Simba means lion in Swahili? I learn new thing everyday :)
There is Kilimanjaro beer.. of course, Tanzania must have Serengeti beer!
Beautiful sunset baobab tree with my husband-photobomb. :P
Beautiful Tarangire Sunset
Good morning! both mornings, it was kinda like this while we were staying at the park.
New exciting day!
Start with yummy breakfast!
Let me show you our tent. Yes we did the Glamping :) . So very my kind of camping! If camping is like this, I could do everyday, ha!
No tap water for mouth-washing. Everymorning the camp worker brought hot water for morning cleaning and afternoon for shower.
Yes. We had our own shower and toilet inside the tent...
First thing we saw in the morning. Vultures were all over this area. Mohammad thought that there must be a kill but we didn't see any..
lilac-breasted roller
There are lots of birds in the park. My husband and friend took tons of photos.
It seemed like all the non-predatory animals hanging out together.. well that makes sense.
A herd of elephants after a mud-bath
Baby elephants are always between adult elephants. Super cute!
Tarangire park is THE place for elephants for sure as you can see.
In the safari car, girls stayed backseats and most of the time they even climbed up on the hood except! when there were lions :)
Bird! I don't know the name.
Male ostrich
Tarangire river, you can often see the animals drinking water.
Wildebeest. So very shaggy looking :)
Lioness! It was one of the most memorable moments in the park. I took lots of videos. There were 2 lionesses with a kill and this one called cubs and 3 baby lions were came to the spot for lunch! As you can see this lioness was less than 10 feet from our car. Super cool! In the future, when I have time, I will post the videos.
Our lunch spot. Amazing view.
While drinking beer, this was what I saw.
While friends was swimming, we drank beer and enjoyed the view.
Warthog, they were super cute when they ran: the tail went up!
Baboons
Back to the camp.
Our friends brought the game, Spot It!, and it was a hit. We'd played all the camps we went. If you go to the same camp, play this with anybody :) They left the Spot-It game at each camp.
Dinner setting. I wanted to post some photos from the amazing dinner but it was too dark for good photos. Here is the beautiful setting. They changed the napkins with different animals each night :)
I think this is my favorite photo from the park. I will probably make it as my desktop photo.
Morning bye-bye time.. T.T Time for another adventure! The middle person with blue shirt is the famous Mohammad :)
On the way to Ngorongoro park, we saw lots of animals again. Wildebeests and Elephants
Elephant with one tusk.
Tarangire national park was our first park to stay in Tanzania so it was super impressive to us. My husband said in the end of this whole trip, Tarangire was his favorite. If you are elephants fan, Taragire park, you must visit!
