Mkomazi NP - New Year's 2012

Mkomazi NP

The decision to check out Mkomazi was made on the way back from Selous where we spent Christmas. We had to be back at work for two days before the new years eve long weekend offered another opportunity to get away. With 3 nights on the cards, the first option was to check out Tsavo West in Kenya. However, the crossing of the border presented a potential issue with Cheryl’s passport only having a few free pages.

Selous GR - Christmas 2012

View of Selous River

After 2 years of being in Tanzania, we finally made the decision to go to the Selous Game Reserve over the Christmas period.  While the northern parks have always been our number 1 choice, this time around we didn’t weren’t taking leave between Christmas and New Year’s so could only take advantage of the long weekend just before Christmas – a total of 5 days off.  Looking at the Tanzania map, the choice was obvious – Selous game reserve – a place we’d never been but wanted to see.

Buffalo vs Lion

Mikumi NP is the closest national park in terms of distance from Dar es Salaam, which makes it an attractive option as a weekend away for residents.  Having said that, we've only been there twice, but our second trip gave us one of our best action sequences in the bush... lion vs buffalo.

Bakery on wheels

I'm always amazed what I see being transported around Tanzania on motorbikes, or boda-boda's as they're called.  Anything from people to bread to hammerhead sharks (yes, seen this too!).  A cheap if pretty dangerous way to get around in the traffic in Dar es Salaam - it's not for the fainthearted! 

This was photographed on the main highway out of Dar es Salaam early one morning, no doubt delivering to the shops in the small villages en route out of the city.

Serengeti NP, Tanzania - Day 6

Serengeti sunset

Our final morning in the Serengeti, and we decided to head out via Moru Koppies – a road less travelled and therefore not as corrugated ;) We did get a quick glimpse of a leopard near Lake Magadi, but otherwise the drive was uneventful and we got to Simba Koppies in no time, which gave us some time to look around there before heading out. 

Serengeti NP, Tanzania - Day 5

The chase is on!

Our plan was to search for cheetahs today, seeing as how we’d spotted a couple the night before. We took a wrong turn in searching for them and were just debating whether we should turn around, when we came across a safari vehicle, with the driver out of the car and the bonnet up. 

Serengeti NP, Tanzania - Day 4

Very close...

We headed to the eastern side of the park today, where we’d seen the wildebeest migration the previous February.  The wildebeest had long passed through and had just crossed into Kenya, so the guides didn’t reckon it was worth it. 

Serengeti NP, Tanzania - Day 3

Heading towards us...

A quick check on the leopard with the kill in the morning (he still hadn’t moved) before seeing what else was around. 

Serengeti NP, Tanzania - Day 2



Coke's hartebeest, or Kongoni in Swahili



We’d got a bit of intel from one of the guides the previous night about a leopard with a kill and a cheetah with cubs, but even after precise directions (“go right at the big odd shaped rock”)  it took us over an hour before we found the leopard. 

Serengeti NP, Tanzania - Day 1

Our car Kilimanjaro - Kili for short - at the Ngorongoro Crater

After a surprisingly cold night in Arusha, we set off early to try and hit the Serengeti gate by midday.  The tar road from Arusha to the Ngorongoro gate is no problem, but from the gate it’s a bone-crunching corrugated bastard of a road and the car takes a hammering…

Serengeti NP, Tanzania - Getting there



Maasai walking in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area



We hadn’t been to the Serengeti in almost a year, and were itching to get out into the bush on our own.  The last time we’d done a long trip as self-drivers it had been when we’d driven to Tanzania from Botswana.  Since then, Kruger – our Mitsubishi Pajero – had been sold, and after a year of searching, we’d finally got ourselves an old (1996!) Toyota Landcruiser and transferred our rooftop tent onto it. 

After servicing and a test trip to Mikumi NP, Kilimanjaro our car – or Kili as we call it – was finally ready for a trip to the Serengeti. 

Mikumi NP: Easter 2012

Elephants in Mikumi NP

Mikumi is the easiest national park to access from Dar es Salaam, and we when drove to Tanzania from Botswana, we’d actually driven past it and decided to leave it for when we were settled in Dar.  Little did we know it would take us a year and a half and 2 abandoned trips (thanks to a dying car) before we actually got to go!