There’s a certain magic about Africa and our three and a half week stay on the continent certainly felt magical!
Serengeti sunset
Our first stop in Kenya was Nairobi and we headed to the giraffe sanctuary to see these beautiful animals up close. It was a great way to see the giraffes being cared for to ensure the endangered Masai giraffes can return to their former glory. Feeding them was quite the experience, although Luke didn’t like their table manners, or their slobber!
Feeding time!
Hellllllo
Masai giraffes
After getting to know our tour group over a few too many drinks in Nairobi, we embarked on our first mammoth journey on the overlanding truck. We were so lucky with the people we were sharing the tour with, as we had plenty of fun and card games on the truck, with people from all over the world.
Our first experience of animals in the wild was Amboseli National Park where we saw three of ‘the big five’ on our first day!
Safari Luke!
First up was a pride of lionesses devouring a wildebeest- interesting to note that the lionesses do the majority of the work and the lions come and gorge on the prey when the hunt is done- not the type of gender imbalance I want for my meals! There were even a few cubs playing around their parents, but one got a little too cocky with the wildebeest and scared itself when they started to dart in all directions.
Hyena on the prowl
Seeing elephants in the wild was an amazing experience and during this trip we were so lucky to see so many; in Amboseli, we had a close encounter with one…it began to slap its ears against its body, a mere few metres from us, thankfully our driver quickly retreated.
Buffalos were the third of the big five that we saw, but they looked at us and looked straight back down at their lunch and were knee deep in a bog.
Elephant approaching!
Buffalo bog
The next national park that we experienced was Tarangire, in Tanzania, and one of the best things we witnessed here was a heard of elephants walking in a procession-like fashion in search of water. They are such majestic creatures (although the young ones are less graceful in their movement). The best thing about the safaris was how close we got to the animals in their natural environments, at times it felt a little close for comfort, but it was an experience we’ll never forget.
On one of our days in Urusha, Tanzania, we went on a tree top walk to see birds, bugs and animals in the canopy, however I scared everyone, including the animals, by running quickly over the rickety bridges, shaking it as I went!
The whole walk was meant to take an hour and a half, we whizzed round in 20minutes thanks to my childlike behaviour!! In hindsight, I probably should have proceeded with caution, as Tanzanian health and safety laws are a far cry from ours.
To round off our time in Tarangire and Urusha, we were treated to dinner with locals in the jungle- we tried all sorts of local delicacies, but the banana wine didn’t go down too well!
Treetop walks
Serengeti: The world famous Serengeti didn’t disappoint and it allowed us to get one step closer to completing the ‘big five’.
Not doing things by halves, we embraced our first camping experience of the trip in the national park- there was nothing protecting us from the animals and I felt as though we were taking our lives in our hands. On night one, there were hyenas by the toilet, buffalos grazing in the ‘camp site’ and a pride of lions communicating with each other between the tents!! Thankfully we lived to tell the tale.
Zebras in the camp by day, lions by night!
Camping!
The sunsets in the Serengeti were amazing and just before the sun went down on day one in the park, we experienced a migration of wildebeest which caused the whole ground to shake!
Our lion encounters in the Serengeti felt like something straight out of the Lion King. The lion and lioness were perched upon a rock, much like pride rock, before dismounting and moving freely anoungst the jeeps. We heard a teenage lion roar and it was quite intimidating, given the size. A lioness came right up close to our car and we realised we didn’t have the windows shut! Thankfully she was more interested in the cubs than us!
Straight out of the lion king!
Lioness on the prowl
Thanks to the incredible eyesight of our safari driver, we managed to track down a cheetah and a leopard- we can now even tell the difference in their spots! The cutest thing we managed to see was a cub clambering all over its mum, begging for her to play with it- she, however, was more concerned with catching her rays.
Ngoragora crater: We were spoilt with all the animals and experiences during this trip, but I think this national park was my favourite, as there was just an abundance of animals unfazed by the small number of jeeps. As we drove into the crater, we were welcomed by a pride and some Tagalog hyenas on their morning hunt.
Lioness enjoying her post-lunch nap
The pools in the crater were full of hippos, which Luke found incredibly unhygienic thanks to their toilet etiquette. 😂
Seeing an endangered rhino, in the wild, was an incredible experience- they look so prehistoric. It also enabled us to finally tick off each of the big five! However, of all the animals we saw in Africa, I think the zebra is my favourite, they’re just so graceful and I find their stripes mesmerising.
A zebra crossing…
I could go on and on about the amazing time we had on safari, and inundate this blog with pictures and videos, but we did manage to do some other bits and pieces during our time in Africa, so I’ll move on!
From the national parks, we drove through the mountains to Usambara where we stayed in an old colonial hotel, which had a garden full of chameleons!
During our time here we went on a group hike and got our first taste of the African sun! As we clambered to the vantage point we were all a bright shade of pink…Lack of suncream and regular exercise!
Hiking!
Living on the edge…
Our group certainly made the most of the down-time in the mountains and we ended up partying with locals and learning Tanzanian dances until the early hours- too much sun and booze didn’t help with our coordination!
From the mountains, we headed to the beach and went to Dar Es Salam- we played a spot of volleyball on the beach, before everyone got too competitive and the game was abandoned to enjoy the sunset!
Dar Es Salam
The three hour ferry crossing to Zanzibar wasn’t for the faint-hearted, but all was forgiven when we arrived on the island as it was pure paradise! The sea was almost see through and the sand was so white- to make it even better, the people were incredibly friendly too!
Beautiful beaches in Zanzibar
On our first evening, we toured Stone Town, including Freddy Mercury’s former house, and over indulged in all of the local delicacies at the night food market before watching the locals entertain us with their daredevil acrobatics into the ocean.
The slave museum was a very humbling experience, but it is good to see that such a major part of the island’s history isn’t forgotten.
The north of the island is much quieter than the south and perhaps even more idyllic. We enjoyed our final few days with the group that we were lucky enough to enjoy Africa with, although it was anything but quiet and peaceful!
In what felt like a Brits abroad move, we went on a booze cruise, complete with a local band, and drunk the boat dry!🤦🏻♀️
As we bid farewell to the group, Luke and I moved further around the coast to a beautiful hotel for a few days of detox.
Enjoying a much needed detox!
We really were in paradise and absolutely loved a few days of luxury.
Zanzibar will certainly hold a very special place on our hearts, as we got engaged on the beach on our sixth anniversary.
Luke executed it to perfection- even more impressively that he organised it all while on the road and I had absolutely no idea! It was incredibly romantic and he even got a photographer to capture the moment so that can we can relive it!
As I hope I’ve demonstrated, Africa has been truly magical! It exceeded all of our expectations and we feel incredibly lucky. We will certainly be back!
Our final stop on the continent is South Africa; we’re off to Cape Town for a few days, before moving on to South America.
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