Imran's Kifli.net

We were in Tanzania from 1st July to 10th July 2011. We had 1 free day before our Kilimanjaro climb began on 3rd July 2011. So, on 2nd July, we went for Safari (‘safari’ in Swahili means journey).

To read about our Kilimanjaro climb, click here: http://imran.kifli.net/2011/08/tanzania-mount-kilimanjaro/

We went for safari with our mountain operator, Team Kilimanjaro (website here), as they offered us a discount since we were climbing with them. We choose Tarangire National Park and it was USD169 per person (for a group of 4).

Initially we thought of going to the nearby Arusha National Park, but a Malaysian friend working in Arusha said that Arusha National Park doesn’t have that much animals, and he recommended either Lake Manyara or Tarangire. I did some additional research and 1 day before we left I emailed our safari operator to inform them that I would like to go to Tarangire instead.

Tarangire map from Arusha

Arusha National Park is a mere 45 mins away from Arusha town, compared to Tarangire which is  a 2 hour drive. But since it offers more wildlife, we didn’t mind the travelling. On the way to Tarangire we saw a number of Masai villages. Check out the video below that shows our key photos and videos from our safari:

We saw the following animals at Tarangire:

1. Warthog (“pumba” from Lion King)
2. Zebras
3. Wildebeests
4. Impalas
5. Waterbucks
6. Elephants
7. Ostricth
8. Lion
9. Giraffe
10. Baboons

All in all I was very pleased with my safari experience. The number of wildlife I saw at Tarangire exceeded my expectations and I am very impressed with the hospitality and friendliness of the Tanzanian people.

I plan to return to Tanzania in the future for a pure safari trip, to visit the Serengeti. They had a 4 days 3 night safari which includes the Serengeti but the price was around USD 1300 and that was too expensive for us as our priority was Kilimanjaro.

Hakuna matata (no worries), I’ll visit this wonderful country again in the future!

To view all our safari photos, check out my Flickr page here.