Recently when out walking our dogs Rocky and Oscar, my wife Monique asked me what I thought was our most memorable trip together. When you’ve had the great fortune to visit more than 60 countries, this can be tough, but it didn’t take long for me to answer. In fact it was quite easy: our safari in Tanzania.
It was simply the most amazingly, sublime and memorable experience of our lives. And yes, we could easily have used even more hyperbole to describe our time there and still not do it justice.
As my flights and hotel were covered by work and through the judicious use of points, this was a relatively inexpensive trip and so we felt able to splash out on a pretty fancy safari. At least that was the plan, as you will find out later the trip ended up hitting our wallets a little more than we had expected.
We decided to spend 4 nights at Siwandu Camp, a high-end luxury safari camp in the Nyerere National Park (known as the Selous Game Reserve before 2019). It looked amazing online, and it exceeded all our expectations in reality.
Table of Contents
The Journey was a Breath-Taking Experience in Itself
Siwandu is located 154km (96 miles) southwest of the commercial capital of Tanzania, Dar es Salaam. We departed from the tiny domestic air terminal in an even tinier single propeller Cessna aircraft, operated by Coastal Aviation. It was a full flight of just nine passengers (the other seat was for the pilot).
The first 45 mins were fairly unremarkable as we flew at a height of about 6,000 feet. Then we landed and some of the passengers got off, but not us, it wasn’t our stop! I have to admit that we were a little annoyed. We wanted to start our safari like yesterday. Well, if we had, we would have missed a treat.
It turned out that the flight dropped passengers at three camps and Siwandu was the third and final stop. For the short hops between camps, we flew just high enough to clear the trees and giraffes. When we disembarked, I asked the pilot what our height had been. He winked and said 1,000 feet, because he’s not allowed to fly any lower.
All I know is that we got the most stunning birds eye view of the reserve, which included giraffes, hippos and crocodiles. It was vast and absolutely gorgeous.
We landed at the grass strip by our camp and were met by the relief camp manager, a wonderfully eccentric Dutch woman with the energy levels and enthusiasm to power a small city.
She animatedly chatted to us during the short drive, which turned out to be our first safari experience in which we saw our first giraffes, impalas and monkeys. It was already fabulous, and it hadn’t even started.
Siwandu Camp – Heaven on Earth
Within a few minutes we reached Siwandu Camp and we had expected “nice,” but this was mind-blowing. The building at the heart of the camp comprised the administration offices and a shop at the lower level and an elevated dining room and lounge above, which offered panoramic views across Lake Nzerakera, just a few short steps away.
Despite the inherent limitations (all the food had to be flown to the camp). The food was, without exception, amazing. Somehow, they managed to satisfy equally both the adventurous eater (me) and those, like Monique, who tend to be a little more conservative.
I particularly remember a simple desert of sweet watermelon freshly shredded coconut and mint leaves. Somehow, as hard as I have tried, I have never been able to quite recreate it in the same way back in Jamaica. Maybe, it needs the right backdrop that only the African wilderness can provide?
It was a 5-minute walk from the main camp to our tent, and we were always accompanied by at least two of the wonderful Masai guards. After one delicious dinner, our return to our tent was delayed as a leopard had been spotted in the camp. How’s that for an excuse for being late for class!
There’s Glamping and Then There’s This!
When we arrived the camp was full, but it was far from crowded, as there were just 10 tents and 17 other guests. As a former military man, I had fairly fixed ideas on what was meant by the word “tent.” Obviously, I expected that our accommodation would be a step up from a 2-man tent on an army training area, but I wasn’t prepared for this. It took glamping to a whole new, ridiculous level.
What we had was technically a tent, in that the roof was made of canvas, but it was covered in thatch and the floor was raised wood, coated in fabulous rugs and carpets. The bathroom was a permanent structure with a solar heated, open top shower, and in the centre of the tent was a luxuriously comfortable king-size bed.
My favourite part was the veranda. You weren’t overlooked by any of the other nine tents and the view was a wide, tree-lined opening that stretched to the banks of the lake.
If you sat extremely quietly, the area would fill with giraffes, antelopes, gazelles, monkeys, apes and all kinds of colourful birds. Sometimes, you’d even see hippos basking in the shallows. The ultimate lazy man’s safari.
We weren’t alone entirely. On one occasion Monique was enjoying her morning shower when a inquisitive giraffe stopped by to see what was going on. And our second night was disturbed by the raucous chewing of a young bull elephant who decided to enjoy a late-night snack a few feet from the side of our tent.
Unforgettable Game Drives
It would have been easy to spend our time in the wonderful Siwandu Camp, but our reason for being there was to get out in the wild.
The Nyerere National Park is one of the largest wildlife sanctuaries on the planet at about twice the size of Belgium. It contains over half of Tanzania’s elephants, 40,000 hippos, 4,000 lions and the largest population of rare wild dogs in the world.
We enjoyed 4 amazing game drives, often returning to camp after dark, exhausted, but utterly exhilarated.
Our guide, Holle was fantastic, and he was our guide for all our drives. We built a great relationship with him. This was typical of how the camp was managed. Everything was done to give guests the best possible experience.
We travelled in open-sided 4WD vehicles that had three rows of seats that were banked like stadium benches to ensure that everyone enjoyed unobstructed views.
One of our game drives was an all-day affair and our guide set-up a table for a delicious picnic lunch in the bush. Fantastic!
It’s almost impossible to list the animals we encountered: lions, giraffes, hippos, elephants, antelopes, gazelles, wildebeests, zebras, baboons, crocodiles, buffalos, hyenas, baboons, monkeys, warthogs and an African civet. Not bad heh?
Probably the highlight was finding two lionesses hidden in a bush with a pair of beautiful cubs. We sat quietly for about 30 minutes and eventually the cubs came out to play. They were so cute.
Their mother and the older lioness (their grandmother maybe?) kept a watchful eye, but as they seemed to have recently finished their lunch (a tasty looking antelope) they were pretty relaxed. We realized that this was a zoo in reverse. The animals were free to roam, while we, the humans were effectively kept in a cage, albeit a mobile one.
We had eagerly anticipated seeing the animals, but hadn’t thought much about the birdlife, which was equally stunning. Elegant storks, imposing fish eagles, colourful kingfishers, cheeky chats, lively guineafowl, odd looking spoonbills, distinguished hornbills and so many more.
Our absolute favourite was the gorgeous lilac-breasted rollers who usually sat resplendently at the very top of trees and other conspicuous vantage points.
These are memories engraved in stone that will never fade.
Games Walks – A Great Way to Get Close to Nature
Holle also took us on an afternoon’s game walk. Obviously, we didn’t see the same variety of wildlife as during a game drive, but this was so much more intimate. Again, we saw a great selection of birds as well as antelopes, giraffes, elephants and monkeys.
Initially, we were a little nervous as our leopard delayed bedtime had been just the previous night, but thankfully we didn’t bump into anything that might consider us as lunch or that might trample us to death. We were out for a couple of hours, but after a while we realized that we were taking a loop around the camp and we could have returned for a rest at pretty much any time.
The Most Memorable Part of Our Most Memorable Trip – an African Boat Cruise
On our last full day, we returned from a morning game drive, hungrily looking forward to a delicious lunch. We were surprised to find that nothing was ready. Holle looked at us with a slightly mischievous glint in his eye and asked us to follow him. We walked down to a jetty on Lake Nzerakera to find a pontoon boat set-up for an incredibly glamourous floating lunch.
We cruised across the lake at a leisurely pace with a small group of other guests, who we enjoyed getting to know. It was like something from a glamourous movie set in the 1920s and the meal was probably the best we had during our entire safari. Was it just the food, or did the setting really make everything taste even better?
We got close (sometimes it seemed too close) to hippos and crocodiles. At one point we were surprised just how quickly the pontoon boat could move. We had to rapidly flee from an angry bull hippo who took exception to us coming close to his bloat. By the way, this is not a misspelling of boat, it’s the correct term for a group of hippos, although pod is a commonly used term too.
We followed a huge bull elephant as he majestically strolled along the banks of the lake. We had seen herds of elephants comprising adult females and their young already, which we had thought were huge, but we were surprised by the sheer size of this gigantically imposing solo elephant.
Late in the afternoon our boat approached an island that was covered in crocodiles, although admittedly relatively small ones. After the crew cleared the island, we disembarked for sundowners.
It was absolutely amazing, watching the sunset over the lake with a cold drink in hand. That said, and despite being assured that we were perfectly safe, my Action Man eagle eyes were on the move permanently and we kept well away from the water’s edge. We didn’t fancy being jumped by a hungry croc, for all we knew there were some fully grown adults lurking and we didn’t fancy taking the chance.
A Bumpy Ride Home
Last days of any vacation usually come around too quickly, but for us none, before or after, was so bittersweet as the last day at Siwandu Camp. Sweet because we had had the time of our lives and bitter, of course, because we didn’t want to leave.
As our flight was late morning and check-in time meant arriving at about the same time as the aircraft, we managed to sneak in a cheeky last game drive, during which we saw a huge herd of elephants, which included a warning charge by the dominant male.
Sadly, before we knew it, we were back on the little aircraft heading back to Dar es Salaam armed with memories of an experience that would stay with us forever.
Unfortunately, as I mentioned earlier, the trip ended up costing us quite a bit more than we planned, as we reached Dar es Salaam too late for Monique to make her flight home to Jamaica.
I wish that this was as a result of a delayed flight from Siwandu, but sadly, Coastal Aviation reached Julius Nyerere International Airport bang on time. It was a screw-up by me! I booked Monique’s flight for the wrong day. And I can tell you that buying a next day, one-way flight from Tanzania to Jamaica is not cheap!
I do try to be a glass half full sort of chap and I often comment on how maturely we handled this expensive setback. No yelling or blaming, simply acceptance and focus on booking a new ticket. Sometimes, we can be annoyingly smug about how fantastically we behaved. Of course, it had nothing to do with how amazing we felt after our time on safari at Siwandu Camp!
It did at least mean that Monique and I could travel together the next day, but only from our hotel to the airport. Monique boarded first and I followed a few minutes later using a different gate. I can’t tell you how awful I felt as I looked out of the window of my Kenya Airways flight, destination Nairobi, at the much larger Etihad Airways on which sat on the tarmac with my beautiful Monique inside, about to depart for Abu Dhabi.
It would be several long weeks later before we were able to sit together, look through our photos and reminisce about our utterly memorable four nights on our African safari. If you ever have the chance to go on an African safari, take our advice. Grab it with both hands.
What did you think of this article on our Safari experience in Tanzania? Did I miss anything you needed to know? Let me know below in the comments. Check out some of some related posts below.
Author
Nick Abbott
Hi, I’m Nick. Visiting foreign countries has been an important part of my life since my parents moved to Kano in Nigeria in 1977. Since then, as both a military officer and in later jobs I have enjoyed the huge privilege of being exposed to many different countries and cultures.
I am delighted to be able to support my wife Monique and Yes2Yolo primarily by contributing travel articles, providing editing and proof-reading services and being a general sounding board.
Nick this is an awesome recap of your safari! I have always wanted to go but now more than ever, based on your article. As for the pictures…wow!
Thank you Elizabeth! I really do hope you get to go there one day. You will love it so much…it is literally heaven on earth!
Just WOW!!..very vivid article.I actually went there in my mind, though I know it doesn’t compare to being to there.Thank Nick.
Thank you Mich! Glad we painted a good enough picture of our time there! I’m sure you will be heading there soon…you will absolutely love it!