DAY 2: Wednesday, June 27
7:40 AM (local time) (1:40 AM Boston time)
arrived at Amsterdam International Airport.
10:55 AM (local time) (4:55 AM Boston time)
depart Amsterdam on KLM Airlines for Arusha, Tanazania
7:50 PM (local time) (12:45 PM Boston time)
arrive at Kilimanjaro Airport, south-east of Arusha.
TOTAL: 17 hours 55 minutes (Boston to Arusha)
9:30 PM Arrive by bus at Mountain Village Lodge
spend overnight at this former coffee plantation.
DAY 3 - Thursday June 28.
• Mountain Village Lodge, south-east of Arusha
• Cultural Heritage Center, (tourist shop) outside Arusha.
• Tarangire National Park
JAMBO, JAMBO, ("Hello "in Swahili) the wake-up call
hot towels before eating
homemade soups and breads, fresh fruits.
mention honeymooners from West Newton!!...
7:00 AM Breakfast. Met our Thomson guides, Ojukwu and Mohamed, and other members of the safari we did not met the night before.
Orientation meeting; then packed Land Rovers and left the lodge.
Drove through outskirts of Arusha and stop at Cultural Heritage Center.
Drove to west of Arusha then south - through Maasai Steppe to entrance of Tarangire National Park where we had box lunch and viewed our first wild-life (Zebera)
Spent two overnights at Thomson Tarangire Nyumba and two days viewing wildlife in the 1,005 sq miles park noted for vast amounts of baobab trees, and a wide variety of wild-life - especially elephants and numerous birds.
DAY 4 - Friday, June 29.
• 2nd day of wild-life viewing at Tarangire National Park.
DAY 5 - Saturday, June 30.
• leave Tarangire National Park.
• drive through Mto-wa-Mbu (mosquite creek).
• visit Zebra Handcrapts (curio market)
• arrive at Gibb's Farm.
Left Tarangire Park and drove through the village of Mto Wa Mbu (meaning mosquito creek) halfway between Arusha and the Ngorongoro Crater.
Stopped at Zebra Handicrafts, a curio market, where we purchased East African carvings and various tourist items. I purchased a Maasai Ol-lenywa fan (fly-swatter) and a few other things.
Continued on to Gibb's Farm - a small-scale working coffee plantation with organic gardens and solar heated water.
After lunch toured organic vegetable gardens with guide, Honest, and met artist-in-residence Riziki Kateya.
Spent overnight at the farm in a cozy cottage surrounded by lush herb and flower gardens.
DAY 6 - Sunday, July 1.
• Tour Gibb's Frarm rain forest, waterfall,
and coffee plantation.
• Visit Ganako Secondary School, Karatu
• Enter Ngorongoro Cerservation Area.
• Afternoon of wild-life viewing on floor of Ngorongoro Crater.
Left Gibb's Farm after a buffet breakfast (with Rick Thomson) and guided walk with Honest through the forest to waterfall, and coffee plantings, surrounding the farm.
Stopped briefly to meet Hubert Mmbaga, Assistant Principle at the Ganako Secondary School, near the village of Karatu.
Travelled on to entrance of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (8,300 sq. kilometer area of geological and historical importance) and then on to Thomson Ngorongoro Nyumba set in dense acacia woodland on the Northern rim of the Ngorongoro Crater wall.
Ngorongoro Crater - often referred as "Africa's Garden of Eden'
12 miles wide, 2,000 feet deep, and covering an area of 102 square miles of mountain forests, lush vegetation, and fresh springs surround the rim of the crater's towering walls, which top out at an elevation of 7,500 feet.
The largest intact volcanic crater on earth, it hosts an estimated 30,000 animals on its floor, including large herds of zebra and wildebeest, buffalo, eland, hartebeest, elephant, hippo, lions, flamingoes, and the endangered black rhino.
Spent two chilly overnights at Ngorongoro Nyumba - with hot water bottles to warm our beds.
During the days we desended 2000 feet below our campsite onto the crater floor to view a variety of wildlife.
DAY 7 - Monday, July 2.
• 2nd day of wild-lilfe viewing on Ngorongoro Crater floor.
• Visit traditional Maasai boma (village or homestead)
On the afternoon of our last day we visited a traditional Maasai Boma near the crater's edge. The Masai still build their homes the traditional way using cow dung and mud over a frame of sticks. They are very dark inside (only one small round window) and are sunk into the ground. Beds are made of leather cowhide.
Mention about the ripped $5 bill...
DAY 8 - Tuesday, July 3.
• Leave Ngorongoro campsite - heavy fog
• Stop at Michael Crzimek mounument
• Decent into Malanja Deppression of the Great Rift Valley
• Visit Olduvai Gorge (Leakey site and museum)
• View wild-life on souther serengeti (Kopjies)
Left Ngorongoro campsite, on a cool and very foggy morning, for Serengeti National Park via the southern edge of the crater's circumference.
Stopped briefly at monument to Michael Grzimek (killed in a plane accident in Ngorongoro in 1959) - who with his his father, the German professor, Bernhard Grzime, contributed greatly in promoting the nature of Northern Tanzania.
Descended into the Malanja depression and came out onto the open plains of The Great Rift Valley.
Stopped at Olduvai Gorge, where Louis and Mary Leakey discovered numerous types of the fossil remains of early man.
Drove on to the south-eastern entrance of the Serengeti National Park.
"Serengeti" in the Maasai language means "endless plains."
The 5,700 sq. mile expanse of grasslands and forests
as large as the state of Connecticut
Scattered with kopies, herds of wildebeest, zebra and elephants,
and a great variety of wildlife, including lions and cheetahs.
Famous for the annual migration of wildebeests and zebras.
We spent two overnights at the Thomson Serengeti Nyumba at Robanda
DAY 9 - Wednesday July 4
• Full day of wild-life viewing on southern
and central areas of Serengeti:
• Hippo Pool
• Lunch at Seronera Visitor Center in Central Serengeti.
DAY 10 - Thursday July 5
• Leave Nyumba at Robanda;
• Stop for fuel at filling station in Mugumu
• Travel to north-western gate of Serengeti Park.
• Wild-life viewing in northern Serengeti near Kenya.
• Cross Mara River.
• Thomson Serengeti Nyumba at Kogakuria.
Drove northwest outside Serengeti National Park.
Stopped for fuel at the Panju Marwa Fiilling Station in Mugumu.
Spent two nights at the Thomson Serengeti Nyumba at Kogakuria and two days exploring the northwestern plains of the Serengeti Park.
DAY 11 - Friday, July 6.
• 2nd day of wild-life viewing on northern Serengeti
• cross Mara River
• off-trail wild-life viewing and lunch with lions.
• visit border of Tanzania and Kenya.
DAY 12 - Saturday, July 7.
• Leave Thomson Nyumba at Kogakuria
• Airplane ride to Arusha Airport.
• En route, pick up injured boy and his mother
• Lunch at Cultural Heritage Center in Arusha
• Relax at KIA Lodge at Kilimanjaro Airport, east of Arusha
• Flight to Amsterdam International Airport
After breakfast we packed our bags and headed for the dirt and grass airstrip on the Serengeti for our flight to Arusha in a small 13 seat plane.
We said good-byes and thanks to Ojukwu and Mohamed who were making the journey back in the Land Rovers.
After lunch at the Cultural Heritage Center, and a stop at The Mountain Village lodge outside of Arusha, we rode to KIA Lodge at the Kilimanjaro Airport in Arusha to decompress and eat before our evening flight to Amsterdam - via a brief stopover at Dar Es Salaam (on coast of Tanzania, south of Zanzibar).
DAY 13 - Sunday, July 8
• Arrive at Amsterdam International Airport
• Goodbyes to fellow safari travelers
• 4:30 PM (Boston time)
Arrive at Logan Airport, Boston, MA, USA
38 hourse since leaving norht Serengeti airfield
Arrived at Amsterdam Airport; said goodbye to fellow safari travelers, eat once again!, then made our connecting flights home.
4:30 PM (Boston time) arrived at Logan Airport, Boston exhausted.
it had been 38 hours since we left the airfield in northern Serengeti
but extremely happy with our safari experience in Tanzania.
Tutaonana (We'll see each other again)
Days 6-7: Sunday/Monday, July 1-2.
• Left Gibb's Farm after a buffet breakfast (with Rick Thomson) and guided walk through the forest to waterfall, and coffee plantings, surrounding the farm.
• Stopped briefly to meet Hubert Mmbaga, Assistant Principle at the Ganako Secondary School, near the village of Karatu.
• Travelled on to entrance of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (8,300 sq. kilometer area of geological and historical importance) and then on to the Thomson Ngorongoro Nyumba (nyumba staff) set in dense acacia woodland on the Northern rim of the Ngorongoro Crater wall.
• Ngorongoro Crater - often referred as "Africa's Garden of Eden' - is 12 miles wide, 2,000 feet deep, and covering an area of 102 square miles - mountain forests, lush vegetation, and fresh springs surround the rim of the crater's towering walls, which top out at an elevation of 7,500 feet. The largest intact volcanic crater on earth, it hosts an estimated 30,000 animals on its floor, including large herds of zebra and wildebeest, buffalo, eland, hartebeest, elephant, hippo, lions, flamingoes, and the endangered black rhino.
• Spent two chilly overnights at Ngorongoro Nyumba - with hot water bottles to warm our beds.
• During the days we desended 2000 feet below our campsite onto the crater floor to view a variety of wildlife.
• On the afternoon of our last day we visited a traditional Maasai Boma (2) near the crater's edge. The Masai still build their homes the traditional way using cow dung and mud over a frame of sticks. They are very dark inside (only one small round window) and are sunk into the ground. Beds are made of leather cowhide.
Days 8-9: Tuesday/Wednesday, July 3-4.
• Left Ngorongoro campsite, on a cool and very foggy morning, for Serengeti National Park via the southern edge of the crater's circumference.
• Stopped briefly at monument to Michael Grzimek (killed in a plane accident in Ngorongoro in 1959) - who with his his father, the German professor, Bernhard Grzime, contributed greatly in promoting the nature of Northern Tanzania.
• Descended into the Malanja depression and came out onto the open plains of he Riff Valley.
• Stopped at Olduvai Gorge, where Louis and Mary Leakey discovered numerous types of the fossil remains of early man.
• Drove on to the eastern entrance of the Serengeti National Park.
• Serengeti in the Maasai language means "endless plains." The 4,763 sq. kilometer expanse of grasslands and forests - nearly as large as the state of Connecticut - was scattered with kopies, herds of wildebeest, zebra and elephants, and a great variety of wildlife, including lions and cheetahs.
• We spent two overnights at the Thomson Serengeti Nyumba at Robanda [view from air | nyumba staff]
Days 10-11: Thursday/Friday, July 5-6.
• Drove northwest outside Serengeti National Park.
• Stopped for fuel at the Panju Marwa Fiilling Station in Mugumu (map).
• Spent two nights at the Thomson Serengeti Nyuumba at Kogakuria (nyumba staff) and two days exploring the northwestern plains of the Serengeti Park near Kenya.
Day 12: Saturday, July 7.
• After breakfast we packed our bags and headed for the dirt and grass airstrip on the Serengeti for our flight to Arusha in a small 13 seat plane.
• We said good-byes and thanks to Ojukwu and Mohamed who were making the journey back in the Landrovers.
• After lunch at the Cultural Heritage Center, and a stop at The Mountain Village lodge outside of Arusha, we rode to KIA Lodge at the Kilimanjaro Airport in Arusha to decompress and eat before our evening flight to Amsterdam - via a brief stopover at Dar Es Salaam (on coast of Tanzania, south of Zanzibar).
Day 13: Sunday, July 8.
• Arrived at Amsterdam Airport; said goodbye to fellow safari travelers, eat once again!, then made our connecting flights home.
• 4:30 PM (local time) arrived at Logan Airport, Boston exhausted - it had been 38 hours since we left the airfield in northern Serengit - but extremely happy with our safari in Tanzania.