Tanzania Big Game Safari Trip Report December 2023

By bettyr | Date: 10 Jan' 2024

Tanzania Big Game Safari Trip Report

Bluewater Photo Group Trip - December 2023

Words and pictures by Craig Dietrich

After long plane rides and a good night’s sleep at a hotel, our group left Arusha (the safari capital of Tanzania) and made our way to our first destination: Tarangire National Park. Covering 2,850 square kilometers (1,100 miles), the park is the home of the Tarangire River, which is the main source of water for the park’s residents during the dry season. Tarangire’s landscape is dotted with the majestic baobab trees, also known as the “upside down tree”, which can grow as tall as 100 feet tall and have a single trunk (or multiple trunks) measuring up to 10 km (33 feet) in diameter. While in Tarangire, we witnessed multiple elephant families, ostrich, and giraffes.

After two days in Tarangire, we made our way west to the famous Ngorongoro Conservation Area and the Ngorongoro Crater—formed two to three million years ago—it is the world’s largest inactive, intact, and unfilled volcanic caldera. Our guests were all blown away at seeing the massive expanse of the crater and the surrounding area. The wildlife was plentiful--- a group of female lions and cubs, jackals, hundreds of flamingos, wildebeest, and a highlight: the elusive Black Rhino! I had led this trip in August and was blown away at seeing a black rhino then---imagine seeing it again just a few months later?!

From Ngorongoro Conservation Area, we headed to the Serengeti. The Serengeti National Park covers 15,000 square kilometers (approximately 9,400 square miles, larger than the state of New Jersey!) and I was excited for the guests to experience the differences in landscapes and animal life from the southern to the Central Serengeti. The magic began early, with a group of young male elephants putting on a show of dominance by sparring and continued when a small group of lions decided to enjoy the shade offered by the side of our safari vehicle.

As the days in the Serengeti went on, this seemed to be a trip of multiples: one day brought four male lions traveling together, another day brought four leopard (two in trees, two traveling in the grasses), and the following day we had three sightings of cheetah—including one with a cub!

After ten days filled with excitement, wildlife of all kinds, tented camp living, great food, unmatched hospitality by the Tanzanian people we left our last camp and headed to the airstrip to take our little plane back to Arusha and back to real life.