Nostalgic Tanzania Family Safari

This time, I was going back to celebrate my father’s 80th! The family and I organized a safari for Dad. Where I’d had the experience to visit many of Tanzania’s National Parks, Dad hadn’t, as his travels were mainly abroad.

I am lucky to get companion fares, this enables me to travel business class, it is always a fantastic experience, especially the on board cuisine!.

I arrived in Dar Es salaam feeling relaxed and refreshed. As I was flying Swiss Air, I had to go via Zurich, which is a short connection. The total number of flying hours takes about 9/10 max.

Mikumi National park is a mere 5-6 hour drive from Dar es salaam (the Capital city), the roads are brilliant, and tarmacked, so it’s a pleasant trip as you pass through little villages on the way there, I’d recommend departing early, make sure you en route to stretch and experience village life. Tanzanian’s are incredibly generous people and content with the little that they have.

About half an hour before we reached our hotel, we came across a pride of lions, two females and three youngsters. I hadn’t been on safari for a while, and was in awe as they just strolled across the road, and settled right in the middle of the road, without a care in the world! Nature at its best.

The next day we left camp early, the best time for game viewing is early in the morning. Try and get there as soon as the gate opens as you’re guaranteed to see lots of game, as we did.

A couple of minutes into the game drive, we came across giraffe, buffalo, and lots of elephants. The park was heaving with game, it was absolutely wonderful.

We all had such an amazing time, especially my Dad, he was really touched by the whole experience.

If you are in Dar, have a few nights to spare, want to do a safari, and you don’t want to cover too many miles, be sure to think about visiting Mikumi. It’s perfect for a short safari!