Tanzania
Tanzania 2012
2012 would be a big year for us, it was our 25th wedding anniversary... 25 amazing years.
We had to do something special this year, and then it was there, right in front of me, my horoscope!
Grab every chance to travel, study and explore more of the world.
You want adventure, thrills and inspirational new knowledge...
Do something out of the ordinary.
Oh, did you think it was the horoscope? No, it was the picture of the Lion.
We have always wanted to go on an African safari, and what better excuse than a very special year.
In our travels we have met many people and talked about travel, recently we met a couple who asked friends of theirs from Dar es Salaam
"If you were to do a safari anywhere, where would you go?", their immediate response was Selous and Ruaha National Parks in Tanzania.
Two parks in the south instead of the north, where all the tourists go, a more private safari... sounds perfect!
(click to enlarge)
As part of my research I ended up contacting Tanzania Odyssey, an amazing resource for planning and booking the many possible destinations we could explore. They became instrumental in figuring out where we could go and creating an itinerary. Apparently their company is African Odyssey and they have specialists in different countries of Africa... good to know.
Since we really wanted to make this trip something special we decided to explore more of Tanzania, I mean how often will we be able to get back here again? So we would start at Kilimanjaro, look at the mountain and go the other way. Check out the Serengeti and Northern parks of Tanzania before flying south to Selous and Ruaha, finally wrapping up our trip with some relaxing beach time in Zanzibar.
Then we just had to wait for August to arrive... tick, tock, tick, tock.
There's a few things you have to plan for with such a big trip, you need to get a VISA from Tanzania, send your passports to the Tanzania High Commission in Ottawa, but don't send them too early like I did. You need to go to a travel clinic and get Yellow Fever shots and Malaria pills, or other shots if you haven't had them already. You need to consider the type, size and weight of your baggage as small planes and jeeps don't agree with regular suitcases. Then you need to consider your clothing, pack light, wash as you go, and avoid Black and Blue colours as they attract Tsetse flies... who knew? Looks like I may have to get one of those Tilly hats the old folks wear (sorry dad).
The day finally arrived and it was time to leave, 9 hours from Vancouver to Amsterdam. We played tourist in Amsterdam and stayed overnight, then the next morning we boarded our flight and took the 9 hour flight to Africa.
