Ngorongoro and Serengeti, Tanzania

February 9-11, 2019

Ngorongoro and the Serengeti were  a bit of a disappointment. They were EXTREMELY expensive and totally geared for commercial safari companies of which we saw hundreds both days we were there. The roads were dirt. Dirt roads in horrible condition. The air was thick with dust. Distant views were blocked by thick dust. Having said all that, we are glad we did it, after all it is the Serengeti. How could you go to Africa and not visit the Serengeti? We did not go into the Ngorongoro crater. Our van was not allowed. We drove the crater rim and also camped on the rim. Views into the crater were obscured by all the dust from the hundreds of safari tour trucks driving in the crater. We saw lots of animals in both parks. When we could see, the scenery was fabulous.

Entrance to Ngorongoro Conservation Area

Road up to Ngorongoro Crater rim.

View into Ngorongoro Crater.

Roadside view.

Simba public campsite on Ngorongoro - our spot for the night. It did fill up later in the day.

Entrance to go down into the crater. The only way we could have gone was through a safari company. 

Zebra

Giraffe

Wildebeest - You can see how thick the dust is in the air in the Serengeti.

All the safari vehicles were parked on the other side of the rocks watching about 7 to 10 females sleep in the shade of the rock. We couldn't get near, but were rewarded with this male walking up and laying down on our side of the rock. The safari people had no idea what they missed.

The following 7 photos are of 3 to 4 females on top of the rocks keeping watch. We were watching for about 1 hour. It made our day.

Afternoon view of the Serengeti.

Early morning view of the Serengeti.

Hot air balloon in the early morning.

Marabou storks - They are the ugliest stork I have ever seen.

Lion on the hunt.

The Hippo Pool viewpoint. There were at least a couple hundred hippos lounging in the river.

Just outside of the Serengeti we saw these elephants heading for a waterhole. This view is what we had hoped to see in the park, but did not. We lucked out and did get our view, just not where it was expected.

Tanzania

February 2 - 20, 2019

We entered Tanzania viewing beautiful tea plantations. We exited visiting a beautiful coffee plantation. The rest of the country was not nearly as enjoyable. The roads were either horrible or too many rumble strips accompanied with large humps. There were police stops everywhere. Their usual conversation was - Hello, How are you? I am fine. Where did you come from? (meaning where did you spend the night), Where are you going? - All asked at once with no pauses. After you answer they say - Have a safe trip. Not all were that pleasant of a stop, but most were.

View of tea plantation just across the border near Kasumulu Tanzania.

View from road heading to Mbeya.

Mbeya - This is a typical city scene in Tanzania, lots of 3 wheel taxis.

Colorful lizards are everywhere.

We were lucky to see flowers blooming everywhere.

Road hazards are marked by branches in the road. It could be road repairs as this is or usually a broken down truck (there are a lot of them). They usually are blocking a lane of traffic and many look like they have been there for a couple of weeks. They do the repairs where they stopped. It could be flat tires, a new crank shaft, or anything in between.

One of the hundreds of humps we drove over. Max speed is 5 km or we too would need repairs in the middle of the road.

Frequent sight - people sitting along side the road waiting for a ride.

View of the countryside.

Our campsite view on Lake Victoria near Ndabaka.

Freight hauling bicycle.

More freight hauling bicycles.

Freight hauling motorcycle.

Our campsite on Lake Victoria in Mwanza.

We stayed two nights at Utengula Coffee Lodge near Mbeya.

Our parking spot at Utengula.

Bill and I took a tour of the coffee plantation. It was excellent.

Coffee cherries (beans).

Processed coffee beans. At the end of the tour we had the very best cappuccino ever.

Sum up our time in Tanzania - I am glad we went for the experience. There were good and bad times, but I would not visit there again.Tanzania is the only country we have visited that I would say that about. The main reasons are:

1. It is very expensive!!!

2. The roads - Many are in extremely poor condition. The hundreds of traffic bumps and humps. And the to numerous to count police stops. It took twice as long to travel any distance then it should have.

Travel in Tanzania is geared toward commercial tour groups. The country has made independent travel extremely difficult.