From the Serengeti to Zanzibar

The Sunrise

Our last day in the Serengeti was on July 4th. Even after a week of game drives we still wanted more. As a send-off and to help satisfy our desire for more we decided to get up at the crack of dawn and see what we could see. Sadly, we were delayed as the lodged messed up preparing our packed lunch.

After getting our lunches we departed into the darkness. On our way, we were able to grab a few pictures of zebra, impala, and topi. Our lessons from our previous morning drive came in handy. Katherine shared a tip from her father about reducing the shutter speed to prevent blurry photos. as the automatic mode will use a slower shutter speed but will come out blurry because we are shooting handheld.

As the sun started to rise over the horizon we stopped to watch are were able to get spectacular photos. The gradient of colors was beautiful and seemed more vibrant in the Serengeti than elsewhere in the world. As we watched our guide noticed a vulture land in a dead Acacia tree and convinced us to move up and get the photo. He saw the animal and had a picture in mind. He moved the car to just the right location and directed us to where to position the sun. It was perfect!

After the sunrise, we drove a little further and found a few hippos walking back to their water hole for the day. We had learned earlier in the week that hippos spend most of the day in the water/mud. And then at night, they will walk the same path to and from their favorite grazing area every day. The day is too warm for them so they need the water to stay cool.

The Lions

Then our guide noticed one of the hot air balloons coming down closer to the ground. They do this when they have spotted animals. Usually, they are lions as there are many in the park and they are still active at this early hour. We quickly drove to intercept their path and low and behold there was a pride of lions hiding in the bushes along the river.

The balloon operator descended and lit their fire right above the lions. This ended up spoking the lions out of the river area. While we have mixed feelings about this action given that it seemed intentional. We were amazed at the events that unfolded afterward. In fear and confusion, two of the lion cubs ran across the road separating them from their mother and the rest of the pride. Watching them we could tell they were terrified.

Our attention was split, on one side were the cubs and on the other, the mother looked at them with worry written all over her face. She watched what they would do but was too scared to go get them. Thankfully after a few minutes, the kids gained up the courage to run back and reunite with their mother. We watched the relief wash over her face.

Before a long, a second ballon came overhead and again spooked the lions. This time they headed up river. We followed them for a few meters catching glimpses of their movements in the long grass until they were completely out of site.

Breakfast

At this point, all of our stomachs were grumbling. We drove up the road a few minutes and ran into a herd of buffalo. We watched them grave as they watched us eat our lunch. This is where we got to see our first buffalo cafe. It was adorable.

A few minutes into lunch Katherine started not feeling well. Since we were relatively close to the visitors center our guide booked it. For our entire trip, our guide was respectful of all the animals, the land, and the rules of the park. This was the first time we had seen him drive a little faster and pass cars. Adventure! We ended up passing an elephant no more than 20 feet from the road and gave him a good spook. In turn, he gave us a good spook with a tremendous roar.

To the Airport

After Katie felt better we set out again to cram in as much as possible. We drove around the area near the airport seeing each animal with an extra sense of admiration and longing. As we knew this would be the last time we would see them in the wild for a long time.

We saw a male impala and his harem. We admired him for his horns and reflected on how much the female impalas aligned with the classical western view of female beauty. We then saw some wildebeests, our first meek cats in the wild (we watched many at the visitor center but that felt different), a flock of guineafowl, hippos, baboons, and a hyena. With each, we were sure to take many photos as a way to help us stay in these moments for years to come

The Flight

At the airport, we said our goodbyes to Honest. We had grown fond of him over the time on our safari. Appreciating his sensibility, jokes, and eye for leopards. We had tough us so much. He enabled us to have amazing experiences that we will be carrying with us for the rest of our life. And for that, we will be forever grateful.

He then led us into the airport and helped us navigate the “system” for checking in. This is where we realized that the weight limit on our baggage was unenforced. Thankfully we didn’t need to throw anything out. And we were both able to laugh about our previous stress and fights about said weight limit.

We said our final goodbyes to Honest and head through security. On the other side, we walked out of the airport and waited on the walkway leading up to the dirt runway. While sitting there we noticed a family with American flags on their clothes. Katie went over to chat with them and came back with the husband’s business card. Apparently, he works for the US government international. Foreign service in 2023 here we come?!?

Flying out of the Seronera Airport was a unique airport experience for us. We walked to the plain across the runways alongside a cart with our checked bags. Our plane was one of the largest flying out of the airport. Seating a whopping 30 people. Being one of the first on the plain we were able to snag a window seat on the side of the plane that would give us a view of mnt Kilimanjaro.

The takeoff was surprisingly smooth. Once in the air, we got a spectacular view of the park. From here we were able to see all of the roads and the migration trails the animals take. We have fun looking for groups of cars, following the trails, and trying to find the lodges we stayed at

Once we got to Kilimanjaro Katherine had fun trying to capture it with the telephoto lens and ended up taking close to 100 photos. We enjoyed looking at the mountain from this perspective after having summited.

Touch down Zanzibar

Arriving at Zanzibar we were greeted with a giant billboard on the clothing etiquette in town vs at the beech. As my first time in a prominently Muslim region, I was taken aback. As we drove across the island to our hotel Katherine gave context for some of our observations. On one hand, the area was more liberal as the woman were outside participating in commerce, both selling and buying goods, and while they were fully covered much of the fabric was beautiful vibrant colors. On the other hand, there were also girls as young as 5 completely covered.

After settling into our hotel we walked the few blocks to the beech. The beech was a strip of beautiful white sands but was far more energetic than we were expecting. Every building abutting the beech was a walled resort. As we walked we were approached by a salesperson every 10 steps trying to sell us baskets, clothes, wooden giraffes, and more goods. At one point folks on boats in the water would yell to us asking if we wanted boat tours, snorkeling, or jet ski rentals.

After our walk up and down the beach, we got dinner at one of the resorts. Feet in the sand we ate and watched the sunset. The table cloth on our table was a print reminiscent of the blanket we purchased at lake natron.

We are happy to be in Zanzibar and start to relax. Our safari was amazing but also exhausting. We were ready to kick back and relax. We have been joking that Zanzibar will be our vacation from our vacation.