Top Attractions in Tanzania

The lion king

First visit: April 2014
My Country #43

Originally posted: May 2014

In April 2014, I was able to visit and explore my forty-third country, Tanzania 😉 Singelresor, where I work part time as a flight reservations agent, has started sending Swedish groups to this country a few years back through the help of it's partner, RA Safaris. Although our only contact with them was through email, all Singelresor groups have come back satisfied from their safari trips. So when Mike decided to celebrate his birthday in South Africa, we thought we could spend a few days in Tanzania before flying to Johannesburg, and thus meeting the people behind RA Safaris.

Julius Nyerere International Airport

Arriving late evening at Dar Es Salaam International Airport, we didn't have much to do than just take a taxi to our hotel where we stayed for a night.

A public bus in Dar Es Salaam

The following day, we headed back to the airport for our domestic flight to Kilimanjaro.

Vodacom ad at Dar Es Salaam Airport 🐒

Our flight to Kilimanjaro on Fastjet was a little delayed but I guess there's not much we could do.

From my seat, I caught sight of Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa 👍

Kilimanjaro International Airport

After a little more than an hour of flying, we arrived at the Kilimanjaro International Airport where we were met by Gideon and Zeph, the co owners of RA Safaris.

We had a local lunch (consisting of rice, banana, vegetables and chicken) on the way to Arusha before meeting the rest of the RA Safaris team in their office ...

Bougainvillea Safari Lodge

... and then continued to Karatu Town where we stayed one night at the beautiful Bougainvillea Safari Lodge.

Ngorongoro Conservation Area

The following morning, after having a wonderful breakfast in the lodge, we proceeded to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area for game viewing. The Ngorongoro crater is a true remaining natural wonder and the most unique ecosystem on earth being home to over 20,000 large grazing animals. This is definitely a must visit in Tanzania.

This is the view of the Ngorongoro crater from the viewing point.

On the way to the crater, we saw the Maasai folk having some sort of ceremony.

A close encounter with the Maasai folk 😍

Our private safari vehicle with Zeph and Gideon of RA Safaris.

Inside the Ngorongoro crater, we saw lots of animals starting with ...

 ... the guinea fowls

The Lion King 😉

The lioness

She's so cute 😍

Thomson's gazelle, the smallest gazelle.

Ostrich, considered as the third fastest animal in the world.

Some hyenas

A jackal

Hippopotamus

Gnu or wildebeest

Buffalo 🐃

Elephants 🐘

Zebras

Two rhinoceros who wouldn't come close to us 😉

Warthogs

Another kind of gazelle

While having our lunch, we saw a small group of students about to have their lunch too. How they managed to fit inside this vehicle is unbelievable 👍

It had been a very exciting and fruitful day for us at the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and in late afternoon, we headed to the Ngorongoro Farm House where we stayed for a night. What is special about this lodge is that they do grow their own fruits and vegetables. Well, most of it.

They also have their own coffee. Cool 😍

The following day, we visited a family from Iraqw Tribe and received a lot of information about their day to day lives.

This is a very nice wedding dress worn by the brides of Iraqw tribe.

The last stop was the Lake Manyara National Park. Again we saw lots of animals including ...

The Black faced monkey 🐵

Gray headed Kingfisher

This warthog was one of two males who were chasing a female.

Impalas

Giraffe

The beautiful red and yellow Barbet 😍

And lots of elephants 🐘🐘

After seeing all these animals at the Lake Manyara National Park, it was then time for us to head back to the airport for our evening flight back to Dar Es Salaam. I really wish we had more time in Tanzania but I guess we just have to come back to this extraordinary land. It was a pity we had limited time that we couldn't visit the Serengeti National Park. Next time, I really hope to witness the Serengeti Migration: the great annual migration of wildebeest and zebra, also known as the greatest animal show on earth 😍 Overall, I was really glad to see lots of animals. To Gideon and Zeph of RA Safaris, thanks for being with us and showing us the beauty of your country and most specially for giving us the adventure of a lifetime 😍

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