Tanzania Trip

We have been out of town for the past 2 weeks on holiday in northern Tanzania.  We, as a family have been planning this trip for over a year.  It was a wonderful holiday and despite both children getting sick we had a great time. 

We stayed in several different locations while we traveled around northern Tanzania.  In addition to viewing the wild animals we went to a school, hospital, visited with a local Datoga family and went on a hunt with the last known African bushmen.  Over the next couple of posts I will retell all of our adventures.

First stop was a quick overnight stay in Arusha which is the 3rd largest city in Tanzania.  We arrived at 7 pm at night so we headed straight to our hotel room but in the morning we were able to see our surroundings.

having our first dinner in Tanzania

Our first night sleeping with netting

Exploring the garden grounds of the hotel the next morning

Our bungalow

 We met up with our Safari driver this morning and headed out to Lake Manyara for our first game drive.

Our first view of the town of Arusha thru the car window

Heading into Lake Manyara National Park

We were so excited to see our first wild animal--baboons!

  

Next we saw a single giraffe just a few feet away from the road

Evidence of a recent kill

A herd of elephants, we even saw a nursing baby

at one point our car was surrounded by elephants

We visited a hippo pool but found all the hippos laying on the ground

We were able to get out of the car at some viewing points to get a closer look at some animals further away

Zebras

gazelles and wart hogs.

African Buffalo skull

Maribou Stork and a nest full of babies 

We had a great first day on our safari!  After the visit to Lake Manyara, we checked into a luxury tented camp, which was wonderful.  My kids were so excited to see what a luxury tent looked like!