tanzania, january 2005
This was my first trip to Tanzania. I went with fellow photography enthusiast Peter Hale, with the plan to take in Lake Manyara, the Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti National Park. The trip was arranged through Safari Consultants.
We flew from London Heathrow via Kenya Airways to Nairobi. Our connection was via Precision Air to Mount Kilimanjaro, and took just under 50 minutes. We were met at the airport by our guide for the week, Lyimo Johnathan from Ranger Safari's, Arusha.
Our first lodge was the Kirurumu Tented Lodge, Lake Manyara. Kirurumu, as it says in it's name, is a tented lodge. It is very comfortable and the tents were spacious and well kept. Although we only stayed at Kirurumu for one night, we made the best of it. We managed to fit in two visits to Lake Manyara National Park, as well as a microlite flight across Lake Manyara itself. In hindsight, perhaps taking to the air in a tent, with only a flymo engine for power perhaps wasn't the most sensible of pass-times, but was exhilarating. I suppose that, had we died, at least we might have got a small mention in the papers!
Lake Manyara was slightly overcast in our time there, but provided plenty of opportunity to view monkeys of all descriptions. The 'famous' elephant were sadly elusive, as were the 'famous' tree climbing lion. Nevertheless, the time at Lake Manyara was very pleasurable and yielded some pleasant monkey images.
From Lake Manyara we went onto the Ngorongoro Serena Lodge in the Ngorongoro Crater. This lodge is very luxurious, and is probably akin to a 4/5 star hotel as found in the UK. Overlooking the crater itself, the views were absolutely stunning and service and catering was to the highest quality. We stayed at the Serena for two nights. Again, the weather wasn't overly favorable, but it did yield some fabulous sights - particularly the flamingos on Lake Makat.
The majority of our time in Tanzania was spent at the Ndutu Safari Lodge, on the outskirts of the Serengeti National Park. Approximately 30km from the park gate, the lodge had a wealth of wildlife within a few minutes drive, with the park itself approximately 40 minutes away.
The lodge comprised a number of charming stone cottages, each with electric lights. The facilities were very comfortable, and the standards were again very high. The wildlife in the Serengeti was considerable, and our trip coincided with the start of the Wildebeest calving.
All to soon our trip came to an end. Our return to Kilimanjaro Airport took pretty much a whole day, with a brief stop at the Manyara Serena for lunch.
My thanks to everyone who looked after us on our trip - particularly our driver Lyimo, and our Ndutu waiter Joseph.
Click here to view some of my photographs from this trip.