We flew from Zanzibar to Arusha to begin our safari adventure. This time our small flight was just for us!! We were the only passengers on a 12 seater plane! Our pilot told us we were also very lucky as we got a really good view of Mount Kilimanjaro which is usually covered in clouds.
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| Don't worry, there was a pilot, he was in front of Nik! |
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| Mount Kilimanjaro |
Our guide was called Shokat and was our guide for the full 6 days travelling from park to park and we had him and the car all to ourselves which was great! He was very good at stopping for us to see things, finding "The Big Five" for us and he always turned the engine off so I had the most stable base for taking photos without the vibrations.
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| Me with our 4x4 Toyota Landcruiser |
The first National Park on our 5 day Safari was Tarangire National Park. Our guide told us it was the best place to see elephants as there are around 40,000 within the park!
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| The Rules! |
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| Sticking out the top of the 4x4 |
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| A VERY Excited Bex! |
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| Tarangire National Park |
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| Impala |
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| My first Zebras! |
This was my first safari although Nik has done about 11 before in Kenya since he has family there. I was SUPER excited as soon as we entered the park and I we started seeing so many animals straight away! I was told we would see plenty of Zebra and Impalas but I was thrilled to see them and I have to say, even after we did see the 'bigger' things, I still loved the Zebras!
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Zebra
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My first Giraffe - we drove past but I spotted him and shrieked 'Giraffe!!' so our guide stopped and reversed for us while laughing and saying we were being so lucky seeing everything due to my passion :)
(Nik shouted at me cos I might scare the animals off with my excited shrieks! Hehe!) |
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| We spent ages watching these from up on a ridge - it was amazing to see so many of them running up and down the river bed and drinking what little water they could find in the drought. |
We made our way to our first lodge out the other side of the park-
Kikoti, owned by Safari Legacy, the company we booked the whole trip with. On the way we saw plenty of elephants, one big beast being particularly close up with his single tusk...
We also saw loads of amazing birds while having lunch and had to closely guard our packed lunches from the monkeys at the park gate!
Our
lodge was amazing - it was a luxury tented camp but the tents are like log cabins up on stilts at the base with canvas above so you feel very safe. They also have flushing toilets and even hot running water in the middle of the bush.
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| Sign to Kikoti |
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| Our room taken from the deck. |
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| Sunset at Kikoti |
Likewise, the food was amazing and we enjoyed a hot chocolate by the camp fire after dinner and an Amarula liqueur/beer in the bar area when it got too cold.
We were given a torch and an emergency whistle as there are no phones in the tents and were escorted to and from our room after dark by one of their armed Massai security (Askari) to protect us from any wildlife as the camp isn't fenced in and animals can just wander through. We returned to find a hot water bottle in our bed after dinner as it can get very cold out in the bush at night which was a lovely touch. We had a great night's sleep and did find it very chilly having to get out of bed. Luckily I was prepared with a fleece after having been warned of the chilly early mornings! The best bit was when they woke us at our desired time the next morning with a tray of Hot Chocolate in bed (well Nik had to get out of bed to fetch it from the decking but I was still cosy under the blankets)!
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| Twin sinks in tent - all cosy in my fleece. |
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| Nik all cosy in his jumper. |
Lots more wildlife photos next time!! :-D
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