Giraffes before the storm hits Mikumi National Park in central Tanzania

We welcomed our first New Year in Africa at midnight and five hours later we were driving through the Tanzanian dawn dark on our way to Mikumi National Park, about 100 kilometers from Morogoro.  It was our first African safari, even though it was only a day trip.  We were determined not to be the only people in Tanzania who have never seen a zebra.

On the way, we didn’t pass through many settlements, just 4 or 5 small red clay villages.  The last one was situated right on the park borders and almost as soon as we crossed the invisible line into the park, we started to see animals.  Andrea yelled “There is a herd of elephants!”  Just like a vision, suddenly there were huge beasts walking delicately among the baobab trees.  Then an impala ran by and suddenly we felt like we had arrived in Africa. [Read more →]

What could be better than driving your own car through some of the wildest places on Earth.  National Parks in Tanzania are perfect for do-it-yourself safaris.  We recently drove to Mikumi National Park in central Tanzania for a quick holiday.  Once in the park, we drove everywhere ourselves, choosing when and where to go, how long to stay there and when to leave.  It’s the most freedom you can have if you travel to Africa to go on a wildlife safari.

Whether or not a do-it-yourself safari is for you depends on what type of person you are to start with.  If you prefer to let someone else make all the decisions and just go along for the ride, then a do-it-yourself safari may not be for you.  However, if you like adventure and want to be in charge, it’s relatively easy, if not much cheaper, to do it on your own. [Read more →]

A lot of people ask why we choose to pursue development work and live in developing countries.  There are many reasons, but one big reason is that this lifestyle gives us the opportunity to travel frequently and pursue many adventures.  For example, in the last year and a half we’ve lived in Tibet, mountain biked in Nepal, trekked in Tibet, mountain biked in Tibet, ridden horses in Mongolia, trophy fished in Mongolia, spent time at Lake Baikal in Siberia and much much more.

To accomplish so much in this regard, takes a lot of planning (and money), but we always start it all off by making an adventure travel hit list for each country or region we live in.  Here is the initial hit list we came up with for Tanzania and I’m sure we’ll add to it as we go.  Let me know what you think.

• Visit Island of Zanzibar - go diving, attend East Africa music festival
• Visit Island of Pemba - go diving, see whale sharks
• Visit Island of Mafia - go diving, deep sea fishing, see whale sharks
• Visit Lake Victoria and Lake Tanganyika
• Climb Meru Peak and Climb Mount Kilimanjaro
• Visit All the National Parks in Tanzania
• Research and Visit the Best Wildlife Management Areas in Tanzania
• Trek the Uluguru Mountains
• Trek the Udzungwa Mountains
• Identify 100 new Bird Species
• Participate in Community/Cultural Based Tourism

We’re sure the list will go on once we get to know the place better.  Then we’ve also started a list for Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Madagascar…  Life is definitely too short.

This weekend, a wild young band from Dar es Salaam descended on Morogoro.  The locals were ready.

Unable to sit still any longer, one man jumped from his plastic chair and stepped lightly across the dance floor, his moves an emotional collage of hand gestures, hip shaking, fancy footwork and flickering facial expressions.  Despite his nimble and passionate dancing, he couldn’t inspire the crowd to get to their feet.  Meanwhile, the big weekend entertainment, a band named FM Academia from Dar es Salaam, wailed away with a strange sound in Swahili.  Was it reggae?  Congolese?  Tanzanian?  We really couldn’t tell, but my shirt vibrated from the sound coming out of the giant stack of speakers 15 feet away.

Just when we thought there would be little to entertain us at night here in Morogoro, one of Andrea’s colleagues invited us to the show and we jumped at the chance.  The concert was in a military compound and guarded by men in camo carrying big wooden sticks.  I had no doubt they could keep the crowd in control.  Our friend told us “Sometimes the hooligans come to other shows, but not this one.  If they cause trouble with the military, things would not be good for them.”  I think that is probably an understatement. [Read more →]

View of big wild nature from the plane window enroute to Kilimanjaro Airport outside Arusha, Tanzania

The two most visited places in Tanzania are the de facto capital, Dar es Salaam, and Arusha, gateway to the Serengeti National Park and Mount Kilimanjaro.  There are two ways to get there - the first is a death-defying drive along the narrow, but paved, highway that heads west from Dar to the village of Chalindze where the road heads straight north again. Along the way, one passes through the village of Malindze, a village where the name roughly translates to “place where man eats a banana”. [Read more →]