Tarangire Day Tour

A big thank you to Soul of Tanzania fir the amazing experience and a huge appreciation to our outstanding guide Calvin. Four amazing days between Serengeti, ngonongoro and tarangire parks. A big thank you for your personalised care to us and our 7 years old son Manel that already misses you ❤️

Great experience, we have done 4 days safari, Tarangire NP, Serengeti and finishing with Ngorongoro Crater. The wildlife is superb and we had amazing time. Soul of Tanzania has been very helpful, Sandy with the tour operator, she helped us arranging the tour, she was good communicator and flexible and accommodating to our requests. Our Guide in Tanzania was Oni, Such a wonderful guide, very well educated about Animals, wildlife and Tanzanian culture, he always make sure we have seen most of the animals in those short period of time, we saw the big five. With no doubts, I will definitely recommend Soul of Tanzania and will highly recommend the driver Oni. One more thing, I did one day in Serengeti, I believe you will need at least 2 days in Serengeti to get the best wildlife experience in Serengeti.

We decided to take the trip of a lifetime. We wanted to go on an African Safari to see birds, animals and the land. Where to go and who to trust. We turned to web sites like this one to see who provided the best services and delivered a great product. We narrowed it down to 5 service providers. We sent out requests to these 5 for safari recommendations and costs. Options and costs were all over the board. The deciding factor for us was the response from the provider. All gave us a price, some faster than others, and options. We asked questions. That was the deciding factor. Hugo at Unlimited Expeditions - The Soul of Tanzania always responded promptly with clear answers and solutions that gave us the feeling that his company had their act together. The others, not so much. We booked with him and then promptly started making adjustments. Hugo continued to be responsive and helped us make additions to our itinerary. We arrived late on a Sunday evening in Arusha (Kilimanjaro Intl Airport) and stayed at the Mount Meru Hotel. A nice place, too bad we were only in it for a short time. Bright and early the next morning we met Habibu, our guide for the Safari. He turned out to be a polite and attentive young man. He always has a big smile and has a great sense of humor. We kidded with him a lot and he gave as good as he took. He also was very knowledgeable about the safari, its sights and its wildlife. He answered many questions and shared with us his land, his people and his love for what he does. He is also intuitive as he quickly learned that we were looking for more than the big 5. I would shout “Stop Stop, Backup Backup ''. Him “What, Where”. Me “What’s that on the left?”. Him “Oh that’s a guineafowl, they are common here…”. From then on he pointed out many colorful and interesting birds. Habibu also uses the Guide Net very well. Every time we met another guide he would interact with them to gain knowledge as to where specific animals were last seen. He also used the 2 way radio. More than once he was on the radio with another guide and then made an abrupt direction change which resulted in us finding a hidden lion or leopard. He also taught us a lot about the areas we travelled through. He talked freely of his people. He showed us the open markets and how they worked. He showed us Masi villages and explained why they were allowed in the parks. Monday we travelled from Arusha to Tarangire. A Game drive in the park and a picnic. Lots of wildlife here and a great kick off to our trip. We overnighted at Maramboi Tented Lodge on the shore of Lake Manyara. We actually saw wildlife on our way into the Lodge because it is on parkland. Our Tented Lodge had a great view of some grassland, the lake and the mountains across the lake. Food was good and the people were great. We awoke on Tuesday morning to a wildebeest standing in front of our deck. Tuesday we travelled to Lake Manyara National Park for a full day game drive and picnic. Also lots of wildlife here with a bit of lake wildlife as well. Shorebirds and hippos in the distance. We overnighted at Kilimamoja Lodge. This lodge is located on the roughest road we encountered during our entire safari. Something about a dispute with the local government. But well worth the drive, (and we are in a 4 wheel drive Land Cruiser) as the view from the Lodge is spectacular. Great food, great people and a great view of the valley to the east. Great sunrise photos. Wednesday we travelled towards and past the Ngorongoro region. Because of cloud cover, all the way to the ground, we could not see into the crater. We would have to wait until the return trip. We pushed further west into the Serengeti. We spent the afternoon and into the evening on a spectacular game drive that started slow and finished with a bang. We spent 2 nights at the Lahia Tented Lodge. It is a bit off to the west of the main safari area for this time of year as the migration is happening near the Seronera area. The facilities and the people are super. We especially enjoyed chatting with the Masai guys we met there. Our lodge faced south with a super view of the valley below and the various animals out there. Thursday we spent the day wandering the serengeti with many, many animal sightings. There were no picnic sites so we picnicked in the vehicle watching the sights. Friday we headed out early in the morning, back towards the east, and encountered the migration. It was incredible. Wildebeests in every direction all headed north west. We probably drove 10 kms, at a walking pace, as the animals flowed around us. There were some Zebras but mostly Wildebeests. They were walking, running, bleating, sparring, it was incredible. Oh Yes all under the watchful eye of the multitude of vultures. We continued east back to the Ngorongoro Crater. The visibility had cleared up greatly from Wednesday. We did a game drive into the crater and along the lake. We found a Rhino resting in the grass so had our picnic in the vehicle while we waited for it to stand up. Got some great pictures when it did. We continued east and overnighted at the Kitela Lodge. Again a nice place with nice people. It is located in a bit of forest and is a farm and coffee bean plantation. Saturday we slept in, worked our way east through the markets and towns and caught a flight from Arusha to Zanzibar. Habibu’s help was appreciated at the airport. When we arrived there he could have dropped us off and departed but he walked us in. When we tried to check in, the clerks couldn’t find us in their system. His assistance got us on the flight. We stayed at the Serena Hotel on the waterfront in Stonetown. A nice hotel with a restaurant overlooking the water. Sunday morning we were met by Mohammed and he gave us a walking tour through Stonetown. He was very informative and answered all our questions. We enjoyed the guided tour as we would probably have missed things without the guide. At noon we transferred to Gold Zanzibar for a 4 day beach stay. The resort is right on the beach facing the straight between the island and the mainland and is north of Stonetown. Monday morning we hopped on a tourist boat to the other side of the island and did some snorkeling on a reef and then swam with some dolphins. There are lots of fish to see at the reef. Here is where I add my only really negative comment. The boats, and there are a lot of them, toss their anchors down into the coral to secure their boat. These anchors are tearing up the coral and damaging the reef. You can see the damage. There has to be a better way of doing this. The rest of the week we sunbathed and walked the beaches. Awesome. Shout-out to Samwell. Favorite waiter. We departed Saturday evening out of Zanzibar Airport.