Safari Through Kenya and Tanzania

When picturing an African safari, I saw a lion perched on his throne, a lone acacia on a sprawling savanna, and elephants everywhere. Kenya and Tanzania did not disappoint. 

We flew into Nairobi and were greeted by a driver with more joy than anyone I’ve ever met. We got to our hotel and the receptionist had a similar level of joy. We got to explore the fun, upcoming city of Nairobi the next day, met quite a few locals, and realized that level of joy is standard in Kenya. It is one of the most welcoming, lovely places I’ve visited and is now one of my favorite countries.

Nairobi

Our hotel was within walking distance of downtown so we got to spend time wandering. We found ArtCaffe (Kenya’s much better version of Starbucks) and got a feel for the city. Over the next couple of weeks, we spent a few random days in Nairobi and explored some of the other major highlights – 

• Sheldrick Wildlife Trust – started in 1977, this nonprofit rescues orphaned elephants and rhinos, raises them, and then reorients them and releases them back into the wild. They do amazing work and when we visited, we had the joy of seeing the baby rhino and elephants play for an hour. 

• Giraffe Center – another wonderful organization. They are a breeding center for the Rothschild giraffes, an endangered subspecies of giraffes. They breed, raise them until they are 2, and then orient and release them into the wild. You’re able to feed the giraffes and learn about the 3 subspecies that can be found in Kenya. 

• Talisman – one of the highest-rated restaurants in Nairobi. Unfortunately, they do not serve Kenyan food, but they make the best tofu bao bun I’ve ever had and had a fun mosquito cocktail. It is also in an interesting area of Nairobi. 

Venturing Out for a Safari

I spent ages planning our time in Africa. Safaris are tough to plan if you’ve never been to Africa or experienced any kind of safari. When doing our research, we found the best approach for us to be an Intrepid overland safari. In hindsight, I would have picked a different route through Tanzania, but we still saw all the major places and had an amazing time. 

Most safaris involve camping and you travel with a local guide, driver, and chef. The chef prepares the vast majority of meals, driver gets you where you need to go in your massive overland vehicle, and your local guide shares all their insights on the area and helps lead game drives. Once you’re in the parks, usually you’ll swap to a land rover for your game drive (a better way to see more and be less invasive to the animals). 

Lake Nakuru

Home to the “Big 5” (elephant, lion, rhino, leopard, and water buffalo), lots of flamingos, oodles of baboons, and our first game drive. 

Lake Naivasha

We took a boat safari and saw beautiful birds and more hippos than I thought possible. Hippos are the most dangerous animal in Africa (killing the most people per year) and our boats were a little small to be so close, but it was a great experience. They kept waking me up while we were camping that evening – sounded like some were fighting over the food. Our camp was blocked off, but nothing like picturing a hippo stomping on your tent when their snorting wakes you up at 2am. 

We also got to go on a walking safari while at Lake Naivasha which was an amazing experience. There are very few areas where you can safely be so close to wild giraffes, zebras, gazelles, warthogs, etc. The animals in this park have gotten used to humans being around and went about their business while we enjoyed our stroll.

Hell’s Gate National Park

Another one of the few parks where you’re allowed out on foot, we biked through the park and got to hang out with zebras, giraffes, and water buffalo (to name a few). The park is also a major filming location and home to one of the animator inspirations for Pride Rock. 

Loita Hills

Intrepid partners with a Masai village and we got to spend an evening getting to know more about their culture. The Masai are one of the tribes of Kenya and have a fascinating history. Traditionally, wealth is measured by your number of cows, diets consistent of animal blood, milk, and meat, and colorful beadwork is common. It was great to learn more from members of the tribe and stay in their beautiful village. Within this particular village, a wonderful member of the community is promoting the history and culture of the Masai, while also promoting changes to improve the lives of women in the community. Her mission is working to increase access to education and feminine hygiene products.

Masai Mara

Every minute spent on a plane, train, and automobile and night spent in a tent was worth it for our time spent in the Mara. Our main day was one of the best travel days of our lives.

We woke up around 3:50am to catch our hot air balloon safari. On the way to the takeoff point we saw a bunch of wildebeest booking it and discovered a lionness had just caught one of them. We got to watch her and two male lions enjoy their breakfast for a few minutes before heading on to the hot air balloon. 

Once in the air, we watched a beautiful sunrise and got to see the hundreds of recently migrated wildebeests and zebras, soared over an ostrich and his nest, found hyenas on their final hunts for the night, and got to see the savanna wake up. 

After landing we were treated to an insanely elaborate bush breakfast. You are only allowed out of your game drive vehicle in the Masai Mara in very special circumstances (to use the restroom, quickly picnic and hope your driver knows how to double check for lions, or if you’ve booked something special). Bush breakfast is a special circumstance. They had a whole buffet with an omelet station and bathrooms nicer than most of our campsites set up with about 50 zebra chilling in the background. 

After one of the best breakfasts of our lives, we hopped into our land rover and got to keep exploring the beautiful park. We saw two cheetah, a leopard, a family of elephants, lots of birds, ostriches, zebras, giraffes, water buffalo, and a pride of lions hunt and catch a zebra. The only big 5 member we missed was the rhino. 

On top of all the amazing animals we got to see, I had a blast in the safari land rover. The tops pop up so you have a better view and you’re able to stand on the seat as the driver is wandering. It is an even more fun version of off-roading. 

Lake Victoria

Lake Victoria, the largest lake in Africa, looks more like the ocean than a lake – it is massive. After a week of camping, we were ready to relax and sit by the beach. We had fun observing wildlife. Hyraxes, bats, monkeys, and birds were all over the place! 

Serengeti

I underestimated the size of the Serengeti – it is larger than a lot of US states. We got to camp inside the Serengeti which was an unforgettable experience. As I was going to bed the first night I saw some animal eyes in the distance and realized they were water buffalo (the 2nd deadliest animal in Africa) about 20 feet from our tent. Thankfully they were unbothered by our camping, but I definitely wasn’t leaving the tent that evening. 

The next morning I was enjoying my coffee by the fire pit area and a giraffe gracefully wandered through the campsite. She was a much better surprise. 

During our game drives we had three major highlights – 

• We saw a lionness through the entire hunting process of a Thompson’s gazelle. 

• We stumbled across a small family of elephants with a very young baby. He was so young he wasn’t quite sure what to do with his trunk and kept tossing it up and down to see what would happen – he was absolutely adorable! 

• We saw over 30 lions – I’d never recommend getting out of your car in the Serengeti (unless you’re at a campsite) with the sheer number of lions. They seem to be at every turn.

The Masai Mara and the Serengeti are two of the most iconic places in the world to see wildlife. We enjoyed our time in the Mara more, but so much of it depends on luck and time of year. Since it is currently migration time, a lot of the animals are in the Mara which is a much smaller park. The Serengeti is also beautiful and the parks share a border (the border of Kenya and Tanzania). 

Ngorongoro Crater

The Crater is the result of a volcanic eruption and is now home to millions of animals. All rims of the crater are visible while in the base, but it is still quite a large park. We drove down into the crater in a land rover for a game drive and added to our lion count (over 40 between the Serengeti and the Crater).

Everywhere you turn there is another animal. They even have an ice cream truck that hangs out by the hippo pond which seemed both fitting and out of place. 

Mto wa Mbu 

While this city name translates to “River of Mosquitos” and that did not sound like my jam, I really enjoyed this city. We went on an interesting city tour and learned about the 30 types of bananas grown in the region, art (ebony woodwork and paintings are the main forms of art), and local foods. It was a lovely end our time in Tanzania. 

Some Basic Swahili

Safaris involve a lot of driving and we had a great guide who dealt with all our questions throughout the trip. He even taught us some basic Swahili. Here are a few of the words/phrases he taught us that are useful and/or fun – 

• Pumba – means “stupid” and is the common name for a warthog since they have such short memories 
• Rafiki – friend 
• Jambo – hello 
• Asante – thank you
• Pole pole – slowly
• Twende – Let’s go! (What you say to your game driver when you’re ready to move on)
• Serengeti – endless savanna
• Mara – spotted savanna (so Masai Mara – spotted savanna of the Masai)

After enjoying a final meal with Kenyan chapati (one of the best local foods) and making it through the 3 layers of security at the Nairobi airport, we caught a flight to our next stop.