Africa 2019 Trip

2019’s Africa trip was one for the books. We had our largest group yet with 24 of us on safari and 27 of us in Zanzibar for the diving.

Our trip started for some of us at the magical Giraffe Manor in Nairobi and others enjoyed day trips to the Giraffe Center and Elephant orphanage before flying on to Tanzania for the start of our safari.

The safari began in Arusha, after a nights rest in one  of the city hotels we traveled to Tarangire where we watched countless elephants frolic and play in the rain, taking mud baths and trumpeting their warnings to us seemed to be their favorite things to do. Among the other sightings were the bat eared fox, black backed jackals, impala, rock hyrax, monkeys, giraffes, and zebra. 

After a night in Tarangire we traveled up into the high altitudes of the Ngorongoro crater where we spent two nights looking out over the crater rim. Here we enjoyed a full day game drive within the park. Sightings of zebras playing, hyenas skulking along, warthogs running with their tails in the air and elands standing watch in the distance welcomed us as we drove down into the crater floor. Once we arrived in the crater we happened upon a mating pair of lions which kept the cameras rolling for quite a while. As we left the lions in peace we came across many other wonderful creatures that day including a number of Rhino, and even enjoyed a nice packed lunch next to a hippo pool.

Our last park on safari was the Serengeti where we encountered wildebeests for as far as the eye could see in any and all directions. Scattered within were impala, zebra, topi, gazelle, and many more animals. Here we encountered a few new adventures, bridges washed away from the rains, a few of us (who rode with Paul) were in vehicles that ended up stuck in the mud, and of course a couple flat tires to round out our adventure. There were many lions, a cheetah family with 4 cubs, crocodiles, hippos, secretary birds, eagles, bustards, giraffes, vultures, jackals, mongoose, buffalo, serval cat, and some lucky travelers glimpsed the leopard.

It was a spectacular safari with lots of amazing sights along the way and as we traveled on to Zanzibar we knew we had new and underwater adventures ahead. Known as the spice island and birthplace of Freddie Mercury from the rock band Queen Zanzibar is a surprisingly diverse and enchanting place in Africa. Diving off the East coast of the island was absolutely stunning. We saw dolphins, grouper, Spanish dancers, oriental sweet lips, lion fish (native to the island), wrasse, turtles, rays, a ton of macro life, and a myriad of colorful hard and soft corals. 

We celebrated Paul’s birthday on the island and surprised him with a few unexpected guests along the way to make his birthday that much more memorable. We also enjoyed shopping trips into Stone Town, massages and treatments in the extravagant spa, amazing meals, and walks down the beach. One of our favorite things about Zanzibar is the lack of people and remote feel. It truly is still very much unexplored and untouched without losing the luxury.