Trip Reports

Highlights of Northern Tanzania - Victoria's trip report summary

Author: Victoria Langmead

All in all I have had the most fantastic couple of weeks, and am delighted to have had the chance to re-visit this wonderful safari area.  It’s really confirmed my opinion that it’s right up there with Kenya and Southern Tanzania. Obviously some areas are quite busy but I believe that you can escape and get off the beaten track if you know which places to choose. We all know that the big names here have such a magnetism and are on people's wish lists – and rightly so. The Crater's sheer size, extraordinary setting and abundance of wildlife make it a natural wonder.  You probably have to accept there’ll be other vehicles and visitors here, but it’s certainly worth it.

The scenery is utterly spectacular and incredibly varied whether it’s  the dry savannah with baobabs in Tarangire, the lush green forest and lake of Manyara, the famous open plains and rocky kopjies of the Serengeti or the rolling hills of the Ngorongoro Highlands. The wildlife is also astounding.  I think I was pretty lucky and saw lots of cats, lion in particular. I wasn’t sure what to expect by travelling in November. We had a little bit of rain on our trip but apart from a mega wind and thunderstorm at Sayari we didn’t have anything that disrupted our days which, combined with seeing few other vehicles means I can wholeheartedly recommend this area in November despite it being traditionally known for the short rains. The one to avoid is the long rains of April and May as access does get harder after prolonged rainfall and so many camps close.

As the game areas of Northern Tanzania are all linked by a pretty good road network it is possible to have a guide and vehicle throughout your trip like I did. You can also fly into each camp using camp guides and vehicles for the game viewing.  There are pros and cons to each style of safari and different costs involved: flying saves time and allows you to maximise time on safari but I really enjoyed building up a rapport with my guide. I like the familiarity of the same car each day and becoming friends and sharing the whole journey. Obviously a guide will make or break a trip like this but Nomad Tanzania who organised my trip have exceptionally good guides who work very, very hard. Ken was a legend. I loved the way that we got to know each other’s humour and he got to know for instance my capabilities at bird identification etc. He was very patient with very constant barrage of questions and when my brain got a bit scrambled. He was a great driver, very conscientious, always on time and a real ambassador for Nomad.

I feel that Northern Tanzania is sometimes neglected in favour of Kenya but it really shouldn’t be as the area definitely has it all:  great game, awesome scenery, fascinating culture, varied activities, a huge variety of accommodation, and the opportunity to get off the beaten track. Such a gem and I am excited about getting home to start promoting all that it has to offer.

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