Tanzania (1). Safari at Ngorongoro. Kilimanjaro

May 9, 2018

Tanzania was the country that surprised me. In a very positive way.

We arrived by bus from Nairobi (Kenya ) and headed towards Ngorongoro. It was just a long Easter weekend in Tanzania but summing up the experiences of Ngorongoro, Kilimanjaro, and Zanzibar, it felt like a long time.

Ngorongoro Crater National Park

There are thousands of zebras, elephants, lions and other animals hidden in this photo.

Ngorongoro National Park is a volcanic crater that has become a paradise for wild African animals. Green grass to eat and water to drink is available all year long. Animals are safely surrounded by the mountains – the edges of the crater. Even humans protect this area (from themselves mainly) – a very limited number of tourists can get there. The only danger in this comprehensively protected valley is lions and leopards causing local tragedies in peaceful vegan communities.

If you want to see Ngorongoro, you have to book it in advance. As with all safari tours, you cannot just rent a car and go alone. Even if they let you, you must consider your options with all the lions around in case your car breaks down or you get lost.

PROS of visiting Ngorongoro

Beautiful nature and you are guaranteed to see many wild animals including many or even all of the Big Five (elephant, lion, leopard, buffalo, rhino) in just one day. There is a small risk that you might be unlucky and not find animals in huge parks like Serengeti; in Ngorongoro, unless you are blind, there is no way that you could miss them.

CONS of visiting Ngorongoro

Definitely the cost (300-600 EUR per person depending on agency) and the fact that safari cars are not allowed to go off the roads. So if lions decide to rest on the road you are lucky, but if they stay 100 meters away, this is the closest you will get – still cool, but for example on safari in Kenya, cars were advancing until they touched the tip of the tail of a sleeping lion, ignoring the roads (or there simply were no roads).

Tanzania, in general, looked more civilized and respectful to nature. Maybe they do not go off the roads in the huge Serengeti park either; this I cannot tell. But, if regular safaris are similar in Kenya and Tanzania (in the end it is the same park across two countries), then on regular safari you get much closer to animals and Ngorongoro is the exception, because it is so very protected.

To sum it up, the high price of the Ngorongoro entrance fee is absolutely worth it if you have just one day for safari – maybe also for families with impatient kids, or if the cost is not a problem anyway. In all other cases, I would recommend saving your money for several slower days on regular safari, which in the end gives you the same amount of animals, even the opportunity to see them closer, and a longer experience. I personally enjoyed that “hunting” adrenaline, not knowing what is next and giving the brain more time to embrace those magical moments.

And if you really want to do something magical (whatever the cost), go for a hot air balloon tour above the awakening savannah in the early morning. We did not go for it this time, but someday we will fly.

Our Ngorongoro tour agency choice

We booked a Ngorongoro tour from the local Agama agency. It was the best price offer at that time. This agency was very flexible allowing us to collect a full carload (5-8 people) from various towns and hotels, so we did not have to cover the whole cost of car rent and driver. It was nice to know that this agency also supported one Tanzanian orphanage.

Attacked by a bird during the picnic

There is a place at Ngorongoro where everyone meets for a bathroom break and picnic. The driver told us that it is the only safe area for us to get out of the car. Organizers guaranteed no lion visitors, but, they said, better to eat inside the car because of the birds. After several days of watching big hunting cats, would we be scared of some birds? Of course not.

We ignored the message and went outside to where we already saw more people peacefully enjoying a picnic. Then we lay in the sun, took out our sandwiches out, and… it was on the second bite when a huge black something appeared out of nowhere. It was so fast, just a sudden big black flag covering the sky. I heard the girl next to me screaming and the next moment we were running towards the car.

Nobody was injured. But those birds have a smart tactic – hide carefully, then frighten people to death just by their size and speed, and so all the food gets thrown in the air for their joy.

Karatu town next to Ngorongoro

Before and after our Ngorongoro tour we stayed in Jambo Rooms hotel. It belongs to the same agency as Agama at Karatu town. It is a cosy little African village with kind people and even friendlier dogs. We had maybe four of them following us through the town. Locals are used to many tourists passing by and try to sell various souvenirs. The hotel was a basic simple room with excellent food service. The chef in the hotel was cooking privately for us, whatever we ordered. It was delicious food.

Kilimanjaro mountain (which does not exist)

Travellers, especially ones organizing everything by themselves, should know that everything doesn’t always go as you planned. Our original plan was to come early to Kilimanjaro, have a one-day hike/safari around and in the evening take a short internal flight to Zanzibar. There is an airport just in front of Mount Kilimanjaro.

In the evening before our departure from Karatu village, we found out that the time of our flight had been changed from evening to morning. First of all, we had difficulty finding somebody to take us very early to the airport. In Tanzania, there is a rule that taxis and all public transport vehicles cannot carry foreigners during the dark period. Drivers can get penalties and even lose their license if they do. It is all for tourists’ security, but we still wanted to see the highest mountain in Africa and get to our changed flight on time.

In the end, we found a driver to help us, left very early to get there in time, and when we approached Kilimanjaro it was just not there. Did it go to have a beer with its friends? I don’t know where it went, but you would not believe it – we were standing in front of an almost 6000-meter mountain, and because of a little morning fog, there was nothing, no sign of any mountain.

Therefore the photo below is from the internet, and based on my experience, could have been painted or Photoshopped. I cannot confirm if Kilimanjaro truly exists.