Hear about travel to Tanzania on a luxury safari as the Amateur Traveler talks to Jane Horlings about her recent trip to 3 of Tanzania’s National Parks.
In answer to the question, “why should someone go to Tanzania?” Jane says, “Oh my. It’s the animals. I’m a biology professor, retired now. So for me, vacations are often about the wildlife and the scenery, and this never disappoints. There’s animals big and small that you see all of the day when you’re out on safari.”
Jane and her husband timed their trip to see the Great Migration of wildebeests and zebra in Serengeti National Park but also visited the more remote Ruaha National Park and Nyerere National Park (Selous Game Reserve).
The great migration is the slow migration of large herds of grazing animals, particularly wildebeests and zebra, from north to south and then back again annually. As Jane describes, it is not really a one-way trip so much as a meandering of animals north… until one gets the idea to cross back over the crocodile-infested rivers to the south for a taste at that grazing land, then back again across the same obstacle.
Serengeti National Park is an amazing park but was much more crowded with both safari vehicles and with animals than were the other two parks. To save time and Jane’s back, they flew between these parks instead of making the long drives that would be needed to see all on the same trip.
Jane describes camp life and the safari experience, including a close encounter with lions… and I mean really close. Fortunately, when seated in a safari vehicle, people don’t look like something on the menu.
While the rules in Serengeti National Park are that you need to be in the park at night, they had some nighttime safari experiences in Ruaha National Park, including using infrared cameras so they could see the animals without the spotlight that is traditionally used. They also had the ability to set up camera traps on paths to see what animals passed by when they were elsewhere.
Ruaha National Park is a dry landscape where the animals are not as plentiful, but the tourists were even less plentiful. Nyerere National Park gets day trippers from Zanzibar who fly over to visit. It is a lush green park with a great variety of animals.
Learn what questions to ask when you plan your next or maybe your first safari in Tanzania.
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This episode is sponsored by the About the Journey Podcast. In Season 2, travel journalist Oneika Raymond takes us on a journey around North America to find out. This time around, she’s picked six cities and six entirely unique experiences. From a Black-owned bookstore in Washington, D.C., to the birthplace of the largest queer film festival.
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Show Notes
Tanzania
Africa Travel Resource : The safari experts
Serengeti National Park
Ruaha National Park
Nyerere National Park (Selous Game Reserve)
Arusha
Pratincole
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