From June 28th through July 11th, my wife, grandson, two relatives from Korea, and I took a trip to Kenya and Tanzania. Most people harbor a desire, since childhood I think, to see the animals of Africa in their natural setting. That was certainly true for my wife and I. We’re getting to an age where we realize we’re running out of time. If we want to do trips like this, we need to not linger. So off we went.
The Animals
The main reason for going was to see the famous animals of Africa. We were not disappointed. I thought we’d go to the game reserves and national parks and, if we were lucky, see things like lions, elephants and giraffes. As it turns out, these animals are so plentiful that it is almost guaranteed you’ll see most of what you hope to.
For safari-goers, they talk about the Big Five: lions, buffaloes, leopards, rhinos, and elephants. I’d add two more animals if it was up to me: giraffes and cheetahs. We saw all of these except for rhinos. And we saw a lot of other animals as well. In fact, our first afternoon in the Maasai Mara Park, we saw 20 different species.
Lions, perhaps the most iconic of all, are not camera-shy. They ignore the safari vehicles, meaning they will walk right up to them. They are the apex predators and seem to fear nothing. We sat in Land Cruiser (the Land Rovers are long gone, in favor of the more reliable Toyotas), and watched two lions devour a two-week old giraffe. We were close enough to hear the lions grunt as they pulled meat from the bone. Hard to watch the little giraffe get eaten, but life is tough in nature and lions can’t eat grass.
We visited other parks, notably in Tanzania, including the famous Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Crater Game Reserve. In all cases, the wildlife was abundant.
The People
The African people were amazingly welcoming and proud. Almost everyone was happy, happier than Americans I would note, and so accommodating. Kenya and Tanzania were British colonies, so everyone we ran into spoke English.
A subset of people, the Maasai, were particularly impressive. They have maintained their traditional culture despite all the modern influences. They eat a diet of meat, blood, maize (corn) and no vegetables. And they are thin and healthy. They are herdsmen and do not farm. You see them everywhere outside the cities. Their traditional clothing is bright, usually red, and the men are always carrying a stick.
Travel
Flying to Nairobi meant, for us, a 14-hour flight to Doha, Qatar, then another four-and-a half-hour flight from Doha to Nairobi. It is ten time zones. It is grueling.
Once in the country, we often traveled by bus or safari vehicle, but always in the worst third-world traffic I’ve ever seen. It gets tiring.
Speaking of third world, crossing international borders in third world countries is also slow and frustrating. But it is just part of the deal.
Lodging and Food
At the beginning of our trip we stayed in a couple of hotels that were unacceptable. The electricity was spotty, the Wi-Fi non-existent, poor water pressure and no hot water. After that, we complained and got upgraded lodging. Some of it was aging and charming, some of it new and quite nice. We were in tents twice, but these were large private tents on wooden platforms. It was glamping and certainly there was no danger.
The food was generally very good and generous. We had a couple of bad meals but that was all over two weeks. We saw no tourists who drank any water other than bottled water. We used bottled water to brush our teeth and I didn’t eat green salad or fruits washed in water. We had no problems with stomach ailments.
Money
Besides the language not being a barrier, U.S. money is accepted almost everywhere. Kenya and Tanzania remained on schillings when the UK went to a decimal system, but they have two separate schillings that vary greatly in value. You can get by with just dollars, but tipping will be wildly extravagant if you’re using dollars. Better to get some schillings for tipping in the hospitality industry.
For the safari drivers, who are highly trained and make all the difference in your experience, the rule of thumb is $10 per day per person. We had a party of five, so I tipped $100 for our first driver for two days and $200 for our second driver for four days.
Would I Do It Again?
At times during our vacation, I just wanted to go home. It was that arduous. When viewing the animals, I thought it was great. With time, the best parts are remembered, and the worst parts tend to fade. No, I wouldn’t do it again but that’s because I’ve done it.
Should you do it? Maybe, but that’s a personal decision. I’d fly more, spend less time in buses and don’t go ‘budget’ as we did. We spent $15,000 for three of us for two weeks, including everything. I’d plan more like $8,000 to $10,000 per person and upgrade a bit from what we did. That amount should make for a less taxing vacation while preserving the good parts.
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