Travel stories

Enjoy with a capital ‘E’

June 5, 2024 Schiphol
Here we go 🤗 on our way to Weesp for a wonderful wellness day to start our holiday and go on safari in a relaxed way.

June 6 Tanzania / Dar es Salaam
This morning we were of course awake before the alarm. After a nice shower we walked downstairs to check out and take the bus to Schiphol. After a smooth passage through the checks, we ate a sandwich and of course visited Visser’s chocolate that is sold at Schiphol.
Arrived in Dar es Salaam on schedule after a stopover in Zanzibar where driver Kasim from Explore Tanzania was already waiting for us. It is still 29 degrees outside so we can get used to the heat straight away. One drive through the city where they are making a new main road was immediately quite exciting 🤣 holes in the road and on a narrower street they are also just turning it into a three-lane road. When we arrived at our hotel (Protea Hotel Courtyard), we had a nice cold beer at the bar before going to sleep after a long day ✈️!

June 7 – 9 Nyerere National Park – Selous Wilderness Camp
We’re having dinner together and we’ve seen so much today that we don’t know where to start! So we’ll just start with breakfast. Good buffet and even coconut juice, which of course I wanted to try. Then we packed our things and our driver Kasim and his daughter arrived to pick us up. We start again through busy Dar es Salaam, but now in daylight the hectic pace is even greater than last night. It took us about an hour to get out of the city. Afterwards it became a bit quieter on the road, but the paved road made way for the unpaved road. The driver funny called it “the free massage of Africa”. After about three hours of driving (bumping) we stopped in a small village where we bought bananas and mandarins at the fruit farmer’s market and were allowed to taste jackfruit. Kasim’s daughter loved it and ate it all. But she also ate a banana and mandarin afterwards. We came across plantations of cassavas, various fruit trees and even a few rice fields. But how people live there is really a completely different world for us, so primitive that I am now ashamed that I occasionally complain about things that are really not important here! They also make the charcoal here themselves to grill their fish. They cut wood into small pieces, put it in a heap and cover it with leaves. They set this on fire and then burn it for a week before the charcoal is ready, then they put it in bags and then they go to town on their motorcycle (preferably as many bags as possible at once 🫣) to sell it there . The further we go, the fewer people, but the Maasai population still lives there with their cattle.
Around two o’clock we arrive in a village where we have lunch with the local people. No menu, just what they buy and what they can buy for cooking. We get our hands washed at the table because people don’t eat with cutlery here but with their hands😮 the fries were still okay. But the meat had more fat and tendon than anything else and we left it very neatly on our plate 🤣 After dinner they come back to the table to wash your hands so that you can leave clean!
After a short drive and a forest path through which the jeep could barely fit, we arrived at the river where we were picked up by Kenneth, our new Ranger. We were neatly helped into the boat over a staircase that had unfortunately collapsed due to the floods, but it worked out fine. On the way he immediately starts talking about the recent flood where 5 meters of wall were washed away. Several lodges have collapsed. Fortunately, the park we are going to is on the other side of the river and they only had wet feet and a lot of luck. We get some explanation and are taken to our tent, which looks nice and is well maintained. The first boat safari starts at half past four and we quickly freshen up to get back on the boat. We immediately see several Hippos 🦛 lying on the side and a crocodile 🐊 a little further. We encounter many beautiful birds and several monkey species 🐒 in the trees. Then we can enjoy a beautiful sunset with a beer and popcorn, we return to the tent where we have a nice and fresh shower 😜 and then we can sit down for dinner again. We end this day at the campfire and go to bed satisfied and satisfied.

June 8
Last night when I returned to the tent I got another surprise and that was a spider 🕷️ after I killed it, a lot of little spiders suddenly came out 🫣 luckily I had the can of insect spray with me and I quickly took it to seventh heaven and left Africa see how we solve this in Europe 🤣. Panic! So no photo 😜 and Danny just laugh!

This morning we were expected to have breakfast at half past seven and leave for safari around 7 am. First take the boat back to the mainland and then drive a short distance to the entrance of the national park. The entrance also turns out to be the airstrip from where we fly to the next park on Monday. The airport is a piece of sand and a hut 🤣. There were also Pumbas running around on the runway. When entering the park we quickly came across giraffes, which are really big when you get so close to them. And a little further on there is another Pumba with a bird on the back that picks the ticks from the animals. Then several impalas follow, which we also encountered a lot throughout the day. And then suddenly, it can happen to us alone! A flat tire😮. Luckily we were on the main road and the tire was quickly changed and we were back on the road. We saw several giraffes and various beautiful bird species again. The baboons were walking around in a large group with many little ones. Then suddenly we had a visitor on the Jeep, a buffalo spider with horns just like the buffalo. Danny warned our guide Kenneth to throw it away before Cindy screamed! A beautiful water buffalo posed for us, relaxing in the shade.
The well-known Baobob trees, which occur in Tanzania, can reach a size of 35 meters. Really huge and the fruits are tasty snacks for the elephants, which unfortunately we have not seen yet today. Many Hippos were cooling off at a waterhole because the thermometer rose to 35 degrees. Time for lunch at a lake so nice view while eating.
When we drove further we came across wild dogs. These are very dangerous because they start to eat their prey alive. They are also difficult to spot, so this was a gift according to the guide. It’s time again to drive slowly back to the exit. Along the way we encounter several wild animals. We are back at camp around half past six and can freshen up.
Well, as if that spider wasn’t enough, last night while walking back to the tent we came face to face with a Buffalo! It was only a few meters before even the security boy who accompanied us to the tent panicked and shouted RUN but ran away the fastest himself 🤣 luckily the buffalo did not come our way and we arrived safely in the tent and we could sleep well.

June 9

Breakfast today was again at half past seven, so we got up early. After we have crossed the river again and are in the jeep, the second safari day can begin. On to the animals we didn’t see yet yesterday. First we come across a beautiful plant that turns out to be the most poisonous plant (Rose). That is why it is still there and is not eaten by the animals. The poison from the stem is even used for hunting and it can kill us humans. We then pass a Baobob tree and you can even enter it and it is 14 meters in size. Most of them only have a hole at the top and were sometimes used as a prison in the past. As we drive further, our guide smells elephants, so they must be nearby, and sure enough. We see 2 males having a nice meal and walking. What amazing animals and up close! We quietly admire them for a while and follow them a bit, but then they make it clear that they want to be left alone and we quickly leave. And then suddenly the car stalls and it won’t start anymore 🫣 we have that again of course, but since Kenneth the guide is also a car mechanic he knocks a few times somewhere under the hood and then the car starts again🤣. We have lunch at a lake and don’t forget to see several beautiful animals and landscapes. When Kenneth hears from another guide that walking lions have been spotted, we also go looking for them. We searched for a long time but unfortunately saw no lions. There were two beautiful zebras, but they were gone too quickly for me to take a photo. We drive through the village of Mloka because Kenneth had to pick up something and I was able to quickly take some pictures of the village, I can’t believe that people live like this here 😕. When we arrive at the boat, a boy is filling jugs with water from the (dirty) river and takes them tied to his bicycle with a scarf and takes them to the village. When Danny asks our guide what the boy is going to do with this water, it turns out that it is simply used as drinking water, unbelievable!
We enjoy the sunset while sailing back and after a nice cold beer we take a shower before dinner is served. We end the evening with dinner by the campfire. Tomorrow morning we fly to the next safari park Ruaha.

June 10 -13 Ruaha National Park – Mdonya Old River Camp
Today we say goodbye to the employees of Selous Wilderness Camp. Ranger Kenneth takes us to the airstrip and waves us goodbye. After a 1.5 hour flight with one stopover to pick up a few more people, we arrive in Ruaha where the new rangers are already waiting for us. We start immediately with a safari day. This time it is Jonas who will tell us all about the animals and plants and Godson is our driver for the coming days. Less than 5 minutes further we already see the first elephants at a distance, but Jonas assures us 100% that we will see many more of them. The zebras that we had only seen briefly in Selous, we now also encounter in several groups. We have lunch at a picnic spot by the river where we see a crocodile and hippo in the distance and many different birds. The baobob tree is also many times more common here than in Selous and we do not have to look for it, but we constantly see it around us. The landscape here is also very different, much drier and more versatile. Really wonderful to drive around with these beautiful views. For a change, we are also lucky that the car suddenly won’t start anymore, but with some duck tape from Danny’s suitcase they can fix it and we can continue. You wonder who takes duck tape in their suitcase! Well Danny 🤣! We see jackals and giraffes again and elephants also pass by several times. Even from very close, they suddenly appear on the path in front of us. Around 5 o’clock we arrive at Mdonya Old River Camp where Danny has been before. We are warmly welcomed again and taken to our tent by the massai. Danny had hoped that we would get the furthest tent because it was the most beautiful and luckily we walked to that. We are absolutely not allowed to walk to and from the tent alone. After a lovely (finally) warm shower and unpacking our belongings, we can sit around the campfire before dinner starts. It’s dark here every day at a quarter past 6. We eat together with the 6 other (older😉) guests at a large beautifully set table with candles and torches around us. Just before we start eating, an elephant walks towards the table, but luckily it turns away. Since we don’t have electricity in the tent here, there is a communal charging point for the phones, so I didn’t have it with me to take a photo. The food tastes good and we have a nice chat with the other guests who have all traveled around the world and we are therefore real greenhorns. Since it was another long day, we go to sleep early and enjoy all the animal sounds around us and we are curious about what will happen around our tent tonight. Our bed is preheated with a hot water bottle because it can cool down here at night.

June 11
After a noisy night with a lot of roaring from the lion who, according to the Ranger, was marking his territory and even walked past our tents, today starts at 6 o’clock with coffee and cake by the campfire because even now it is still a bit dark. We will eat breakfast and lunch in the wilderness during the safari. So we leave early again on our way to the animals. There is also a hot water bottle ready for both of us in the jeep because we can’t get cold, we are served like a prince and princess! It must have been around 10 degrees, so it was fine for us at night and now it was also doable in the jeep with a vest and hot water bottle. Around 7 o’clock, just half an hour on the road, we come across lions that, according to Jason, were on their honeymoon and were happily mating. It’s going to happen every 5 minutes. Even with us as spectators, they have no problem with it 🤗. He tells us that this must be the same lion that visited our camp last night because it is in his territory. After breakfast it gets nice and warm and we can take off the vests as we continue. We encounter wild dogs, which is not a given in this national park. Today we see a lot of elephants in several places, nice to see how they stomp on the sand in the dry river to drink water. The giraffes are barely visible today. So what you see varies greatly every day. We regularly see monkeys and they are also easy to photograph. We have not yet seen the leopard, the hyena and the cheetah on our list of things we would like to see, so tomorrow we will try to find them a bit further into the park. Back at the camp we will take a nice hot shower and have a drink by the campfire (with a nice chip 🤗) before we eat. Danny has swept everything in front of the tent so that we can see if any animals have walked around tomorrow morning. When we want to go to sleep, we have unwanted visitors in the toilet and shower area, who then also receive a layer of insect spray from us 🤣. After further inspection in the tent to see if it is spider free, we go to sleep 😴.
Cindy’s top spots and activities

June 12
After a quiet night without elephants and lions in the camp, we start again with coffee before we leave. It is a bit chillier than yesterday and the driver of the other jeep thinks it is freezing and he is wearing such a thick scarf🤣. We see the sun rise beautifully and we spot the first elephants 🐘 again. Apart from a thick trail of safari ants 🐜 (which you don’t want to encounter with your bare feet) and a beautifully colored lizard that is normally green but now beautifully colored to be attractive to a female, it remains quiet until our breakfast for which we stop again at a beautiful location. Large boulders adorn the landscape here, again very different from what we have seen so far. We enjoy breakfast in the bright sun. As we continue we see several animals again, but the elephants are the most popular. Wonderful to watch these animals. For lunch they have a place in mind that requires us to drive through the riverbed, but we get stuck there at a very diagonal angle. We are allowed to get out and Godson the driver gets the car out again after some maneuvering, the lunch spot also turns out to be completely overgrown so that is not going to work. We drive a little further and stop at a picnic spot. It is now half past two, so it is time to eat. We eat and chat with Jonas and Godson and then we start the drive back to the camp, which can take up to 2 hours. We have to be back before dark. We see the sun setting and when we are almost back at the camp, Jonas realizes that a lion has been spotted close to the camp, so we race to the indicated spot, but unfortunately he can no longer be found. Unfortunately, the hyena, leopard and cheetah remain out of the picture today, but we still have a whole day to go tomorrow.

Juni 13
We are woken up at 5 am by a lion roaring, so we are hopeful that we will spot him today close to the camp. After about an hour we find 2 males and 2 females relaxing in the grass. If we follow them when they have moved, one of the females comes right up to our jeep on my side 🫣 just sit still and enjoy the moment 😊 this sounds easier than it is 🤣. We continue looking for the leopard but do not find him before breakfast. We stop at an old suspension bridge and this turns out to be the only bridge to get to the camp where we are staying. A jeep picked up the people at the airstrip to the bridge and another jeep picked them up on the other side of the bridge to take them on to the camp. All luggage also had to cross the bridge, but in the rainy season the water reaches the wood, so that was quite a challenge and exciting for the tourists who came. Now this is no longer necessary and several bridges have been created. We come across a beautiful yellow/green colored chameleon that has a very special way of walking 🤣. We again encounter a diversity of animals and today we also see ostriches that we have not encountered before. 

We have lunch along the river under a beautiful umbrella tree with a giraffe in the back watching us while urinating 🫣. As we drive further we see a dancing (frightened) elephant that is pregnant and tries to keep us at a distance with its trumpet. We start driving back towards camp, there is a beautiful mountain to view the sunset to end the safari nicely. While we enjoyed the sunset, lions were spotted near our camp. We will of course take a look at it again, in the photo of the lion you can see the tent in the background, they are so close to the camp. When we enter the camp there is even an elephant standing near a tent a little away from us. The Masai keep a close eye on him because they automatically walk past the camp. After we have showered and come out of the tent, Danny sees 4 eyes looking at him with his flashlight, these are also two lions walking past our tent. Even though we still haven’t seen the leopard, this was the icing on our safari cake😉. We all have a nice meal together again and then go to sleep for the travel day we have ahead of us tomorrow.

June 14 – 17 Jambiani – Zanzibar – Mwezi Boutique Resort
After a night with lots of lions roaring, we get up early to pack our suitcases. At 7 o’clock we have breakfast in the camp. Now it is the first time that we see the camp in daylight because the other days we left in the dark and came back in the dark. We say goodbye to the Staff and take a photo with Maasai Ilyas. We sometimes feel a bit uncomfortable with how sweetly they treat us, but that is natural for them. Everyone waves us goodbye and Jason and Godson take us to the airstrip. We are going to take a look at the lions because they are still close to the camp. They give us a short show because their honeymoon is not over yet 🤣 We continue our way to the airport, of course, continuing to look for the Leopard. We encounter impalas, baboons, zebras and elephants, but unfortunately no Leopard upon arrival at the airstrip. Our plane is a bit late, but fortunately it arrives an hour late😉. With several stops to pick people up again, we have to change buses again in Dar es Salaam. First we take our suitcases out of the plane through security, then we walk outside and into the next room and we can check in again 🤣 and everything through security again. We wouldn’t know what the point of this is. Upon arrival in Zanzibar, the driver is waiting for us and takes us in about an hour to Jambiani where our hotel is located. He only has 3 songs in his playlist so we can quickly sing along to them 🤣 The hotel looks beautiful but we have to get used to the noise and all the people. It’s Friday evening and there’s a pool party going on in front of us. After a short walk on the beach we take a shower and eat.

June 15
Today we don’t wake up to the roar of a lion but to a cackling rooster 🐓 🤣. Let’s just say it’s still an animal sound. We see the sun rise from our bed so it’s time to get up 🤗. Have an early breakfast and take a walk along the beach, what a beautiful blue sea! But the other side is poverty, all women with children looking for shells that they eat, according to Danny. Some children look at us beggingly to see if we have anything for them 😕. After the free Africa massage in the jeep, now a nice full body relaxation massage on the beach with the sound of the sea in the background. We don’t do much else today, just have delicious cocktails 🍸, eat and hang out by the pool, which we also dive into every now and then to cool off. It is around 35 degrees so warm enough. The local youth still provide entertainment on the beach, but unfortunately they are turned away by security. Suddenly monkeys are playing in a tree around us and a little later they are gone again. After another cocktail 🍹 and when the sun has set, we take a nice shower and eat something delicious again. After dinner we flee inside because we are being bitten by the mosquitoes here 🦟 😬!

June 16
This morning we left early for an excursion. We start at a Spice Farm. Our guide Ibrahim tells you all about the fruits and vegetables they grow on the farm and what you can use them for. He is still very young but knows how to tell us everything. Danny is completely in his element and knows how to recognize many herbalists. I can decorate my face with a piece of carom and of course the commercial piece should not be missed either. They create the most beautiful things from leaves, from handbags to corsages and crowns in a very short time. They also show us how to climb a tree to get a coconut out, which we are then served straight away. Tastes very different from the coconuts we buy at home. Finally, we receive all the freshly cut fruit so we can taste everything. That was immediately lunch, that’s how much it was 🤣. We drive towards Stone Town where we see the entire residential boulevard passing by along the way, but slightly different 😉. Everything is for sale in small shops along the main road from sofas to refrigerators and even televisions to watch the European Championships. And of course you take it with you on the back of the motorcycle! Even the city buses are packed with too many people, but everything they buy goes on top of the bus, so we also see cupboards or mattresses and many piles of eggs passing by. We are amazed, what a different world this is😕. When we arrive at the Stone Town we first go to Prison Island where the oldest land turtles live. The island used to be used for slavery and Ibrahim can teach us a lot. The turtles are huge and some of them have shown how old they are.
When sailing back to the mainland we encounter some local fishing boats. The small boat is so far from shore that it must have very strong arms to row back. Once we arrive in Stonetown we take a city walk with an explanation about the old city. It is very busy and scooters are flying around our ears through the narrow alleys, the local market is also teeming with people and the smell is unbearable. There are buildings propped up with tree stumps because they are about to collapse! Very impressive, but now we want to go back to the hotel where it is a lot quieter.

June 17

Today I start with a nice sweet breakfast 🧇, occasionally that’s allowed 🤪. Then we took a long walk on the beach of about 10 kilometers, so we’ve already burned off those calories, especially in this heat. We come across all kinds of things on and along the beach. Even a washed up goat head and a little further away the skin is floating around in the sea🤢! The Muslims celebrated their sacrificial feast yesterday, so this goat will have been sacrificed there on the beach. It always feels less pleasant to swim in that sea. We have one cooling drink at a nice beach bar and when we look further at a stall on the beach to buy some souvenirs, a little girl wants to dance with Danny, so cute. When we return to the hotel, we immediately jump into the pool to cool off and have lunch by the pool. We also dive into the sea (luckily at a far distance from that goat!). While I’m lying down and reading, we suddenly get scared by the monkeys that pass by above us in the trees. When the sun has disappeared behind the trees, we take a quiet shower and relax a bit. Danny wants to watch football and we eat our last dinner in Zanzibar in front of the television 🤗.

June 18
This morning we woke up to cloudy skies, packed our bags after breakfast and suddenly the wind started blowing. The staff starts running around the pool to dry everything out and it soon starts to rain. So a nice day for us to go home. There is no nice weather forecast in Zanzibar in the coming days so we were lucky. After another nice massage, we are ready to go after a good lunch. We have to wait another hour and hang out on the lounge sofas. The taxi arrives a little earlier so we are lucky. We arrived at Zanzibar airport on time and we flew there fifteen minutes earlier than planned. Now we are watching football with chips and coke and we have to wait until 11:15 PM before the KLM flight to the Netherlands departs.

Tanzania 🇹🇿 you were so beautiful, impressive, breathtaking, occasionally exciting🕷️ 🦁 🤣 and it certainly opened our eyes once again how good we have it. The people are satisfied, they laugh all day long, are friendly and helpful and the mutual enjoyment radiates from it. They do everything Pole Pole! We enjoyed it with a capital E! Jambo Tanzania 🇹🇿 we felt like Karibu.

June 19 Amsterdam
And then we stood with our feet on Dutch soil again. Just on the asphalt and not in the dust or sand 🤗. Now enjoy 🇹🇿