30 Aug 2020
Communication before safari:
Travelling during covid-19 spread crisis is quite adventurous and risky. But if you find a reliable tour operator the risk minimizes.
Before choosing the safari I received a lot of quotes from different companies, but Mansoor from African Pangolin Safaris was the person who took into consideration all my requests and proposed great itineraries adapted to our budget.
The communication with him was always prompt and reliable, something very important when your flights were canceled and rebooked several times.
The safari:
We had fantastic guide – Yunus. He took care of us during the whole travel, he drove with masterpiece this huge 4x4 vehicle, he knew the parks and the animals.
Selous boat safari was very pleasant - a lot of hippos, crocodiles, beautiful birds and fantastic sunset.
The game drive in Selous was amazing. It is a very beautiful park with different landscapes and a lot of lakes. We saw giraffes, kudus, impalas, gnus, elephants, crocodiles, hippos, monkeys, different birds, lizzards, pumbas, etc.
The drive between Selous and Mikumi was exhausting as the road was mainly offroad and 350 km took us almost 9 hours, but it was also rewarding. we passed through different villages with local people, we crossed the mountain and enjoyed the different landscapes.
The Mikumi park was not so beautiful as Selous but there we were lucky to spot leopard!
We also saw elephant herds with very small baby elephants.
The thing I didn`t like in both parks are the huge trucks that pass by. In Selous they started build a hydroplant and a lot of trucks entered the park every day.
Through Mikumi passes an international road with a busy truck traffic.
If there were no such noise I assume we would seen much more animals, including lions.
Some tips:
- have a good repellent against mosquitos and other insects;
- bring good binoculars – without it you will miss more than 50% of the animals you may see;
- bring good camera, phone photos are not comparable to a good camera photo;
- exchange money, some of the shops accept only Tanzanian shillings. You can do this at the airport. Have some small notes for tips.
- bring toiletries, there is soap in the camps, but no shampoo, etc.
Thank you, Yunus and Mansoor for these great 5 days!