Reset search
Africa Safari School
  • Emily Tierney
  • Emily Tierney

Africa Safari School

An adventurous holiday, off to see the wonders of Africa! Read more
FollowInsightsInsightsCalendarCalendarPhotosPhotosShareShareBucket list
InsightsCalendarPhotos
  • Trip start
    February 1, 2025
    Emily TierneyAfrica Safari SchoolTraveler

    Syd - Nairobi Journey

    February 1, 2025 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    I would say the holiday began with ‘an early start’.. however, I’m not sure an all nighter with no sleep factors into being an early start.
    Packed our bags, left home at 1.15am, airport checkin at 3am, and on our first flight to Dubai before 6am.
    Very empty and spacious Emirates was a key factor to helping me sleep majority of the 14h flight.
    A quick stop over in Dubai for 2 hours, and onto our final flight to Nairobi. Feeling quite surreal to of landed safely in Africa! Has been on the list for quite some time! An hour drive to our first hotel stay - Tamarind Tree Hotel and all feeling very exhausted after an almost 24hrs journey. Dinner, shower and straight into bed ready for our safari’s to begin tomorrow!    Read more

  • Emily TierneyAfrica Safari SchoolTraveler
    1
    11121111111112111

    Amboseli National Park-Elephant Encounte

    February 2, 2025 in Kenya ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    6am morning today, packed our bags and headed down for breakfast. We met our tour guide, Anťhony and loaded up the Land Cruiser ready to hit the road. We had a few car problems prior leaving with one of the chair recliners and stiff windows, but sure enough we began the 5h roadie into Amboseli National Park.
    Along the way, we switched land cruisers with another tour that was heading back to the city, providing a new tour guide as well - Edward.
    Prior arriving at Ol Tukai Lodge around 2pm, we had already seen so many animals in just the entrance of the National park - zebra, giraffe, elephant, gazelles and baboons! Felt like we had already been on a safari in just our drive in!
    A quick lunch and refresh at our lodge before beginning our very first game drive safari, and what a perfect start to the trip it was! Intimate interactions with elephants within meters of touching, gazelles running along side the vehicle, hippopotamus sighting, wilder-beasts and water buffalo’s surrounding us, zebras, monkeys, giraffes…
    Can easily say, seeing all these wild animals in their natural habitat was SPECTACULAR! Only the first day in and already a holiday exceeding expectations. Can confirm my camera roll is thriving, my cup is full and my body is sore. Not only seeing all these animals but also hearing them has been so amazing.
    Dinner and into bed, eager for the morning to come to jump back into the Land Cruiser all over again.    Read more

  • Emily TierneyAfrica Safari SchoolTraveler
    2
    11

    First full Safari Day, Amboseli

    February 3, 2025 in Kenya ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    Today was our first full Safari day! Safari number 2 and 3 and oh did we cover some ground! Dressed, breakfast and on the road by 7am, beginning our full day of animal sighting!
    Elephants, elephants and more elephants was the theme of the day! Definitely didn’t disappoint. We saw two elephant herds crossing the road right in front of us and I’m finding it difficult to put into words the feeling of being so close and intimate with an elephant you can see every single hair and wrinkle! Seeing elephants both up close and also in the distance as a herd is phenomenal - roaming the land, such a steady, strong and enormous animal.
    Along the way, we ran into Zebra’s, baboons, Gazelles, hyenas, wilder beasts, hippopotamus’, birds of all kind and of course water buffalo. All amazing, all unique in their own ways. No matter how common the gazelles, wilder beasts and water buffalo’s get that we are driving past, it still stuns me everytime that we are seeing wild animals, in person, in Africa!
    I mean, life doesn’t really get much better than this.

    A short hike up a hill to see an observation desk, a game drive later and it’s already 1pm lunchtime, back to the lodge we go.
    re-energised by a delicious meal and pool swim, we shortly hit the road again at 4pm for another sunset game drive.
    A slower drive this time, really taking in our surroundings. Observing both the animals around us, as well as other tourist vehicles.
    A stunning day to add to the books!
    We had a drink, dinner and straight into bed to prepare for tomorrow.    Read more

  • Emily TierneyAfrica Safari SchoolTraveler
    1
    1

    Tanzania - Tarangire National Park

    February 4, 2025 in Kenya ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    Said goodbye to Amboseli National Park this morning. Another bright start, 6am on the road with a stunning sunrise as we drove to exit the national park. A sad goodbye, however we are leaving with a bucketload full of memories!
    A full day on the road, we arrived at the Tanzania boarder around 9am, a quick sign out of Kenya and sign into Tanzania, adding yet another stamp to the passport!
    We arrived at the entrance of Tarangire National Park around 2pm and began today’s game drive safari. Not so successful in spotting any cats, however we got up close with giraffes, dik-dik’s, monkeys, yellow mongoose, baboons, wart-hogs, wilder beasts, camels, water bucks, hundreds of cows and sheep’s and of course, some more elephants!
    Towards the end of our journey, we ran into a herd of elephants which were not scared or threatened of us at all! They surrounded our Land Cruiser, coming within arms reach! A new mother and her calf came up so close, definitely making this the closest animal experience yet! The calf was only a few days old at max, meaning this encounter was as rare as they come with a mother trusting her baby to come by us! A truly breathtaking moment! In fact, I think everyone was too stunned to speak. We all stood in absolute silence, letting the trunks come around and sniff all the vehicle, really taking in the moment of having reach to be able to place your hand on a wild elephant.
    We departed the national park to head to our next lodge - Maramboi Tented Lodge.
    Tonight we had a beautiful set dinner, too much food to eat and enjoyed some bevs over discussing everything we have seen and done!
    Definitely a day to celebrate!    Read more

  • Emily TierneyAfrica Safari SchoolTraveler
    1

    Animal sights in Tarangire National Park

    February 5, 2025 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    We spent the whole day today in Tarangire National Park, and it definitely exceeded expectations!
    We got to experience a close encounter with giraffes, gazelles and elephants which was absolutely amazing! Absolutely breathtaking to be able to see wild animals in their natural environments, watching their behaviours with eachother and amongst their prey.
    A few other animals we spotted were Torny eagle, mongoose, warthogs, leopard and a pride of lions.

    The lions we saw were all huddled under a bushy tree having a rest in some shade after having something to eat. Their belly’s looked very full and satisfied! I’m not sure how the first person spotted where the lions were, but it was easy for us as it was where all the other jeeps were.

    The leopard was also another amazing find! A very rare find that most of people don’t have the opportunity to see! It was pure luck that the leopard was resting on a tree branch just next to the roadside.

    Instead of leaving the national park today, we each packed our own lunch’s to take in and eat which provided us a lot more animal searching time! A sandwhich or two and some popcorn to snack on!

    Our evening was short and sweet, a swim in the pool, a quick dinner and into bed! Another blessed day in Africa seeing Gods creation! A day, I will never forget.    Read more

  • Emily TierneyAfrica Safari SchoolTraveler
    1

    Ngorangora Crater

    February 6, 2025 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    Today we drove to and visited the Crater! Don’t think any words would be suitable enough to describe the experience we had in the Crater - breathtaking would only be the beginning. Thousands of animals! We saw lions, hippos, Rhino, wilder beast, wart hogs, zebras and so so much more!
    Some info, the Crater is a volcano that collapsed in about 2 million years ago. It’s filled with animals and a big lake in the middle and there in no way in and no way out for the animals - throughout the wet and dry season, the circle of life continues. There are laws about how many cars can be in there at a single time, strict laws on no buildings or roads or anything at all! Around the peak of the crater where no animals can access anyways, there are a few lodges to stay overnight, which we were lucky enough to stay in! A perfect view and sunrise and amazing animal sounds throughout the night!    Read more

  • Emily TierneyAfrica Safari SchoolTraveler
    1

    Serengeti National Park

    February 7, 2025 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    We left our beautiful lodge this morning at the Crater and began our journey to the Serengeti. Along the way we saw thousands of wilder beasts, zebras, giraffes, gazelles and even spotted a leopard! We are camping inside the Serengeti for the next 3 days spending everyday on game drives with hope to see as many animals as possible!
    We first drove to our camping ground and put all our suitcases away in our tents. The accommodation is described as camping, however it is far more like glamping! A beautiful location to be glamping as well!
    We set out for our afternoon game drive and we were beyond lucky today!
    First a cheetah spotting with its two cubs! Absolutely perfect timing as well for Amos’ birthday! We were so close to also being able to watch the cheetah catch its lunch - she called her cubs over to her and sent them to hiding laying down in some bush’s as she crouched down low and began creeping forward to a gazelle. She used the cars around her to hide behind so the gazelle wouldn’t see her. After a few minutes the gazelle caught on and quickly ran away, being just out of reach for the cheetah to begin running.
    Our tour guide told us that cheetahs only can run at their full speed for approx 2-3 minutes so they usually try to get within 50m before even trying to run after their food.
    Shortly after this, we found a pride of lions sleeping under a tree in some shade! There seemed to be 3 mums with multiple cubs all huddled together. It was amazing watching the lions be so calm with us so so close to them! The cubs were very curious and constantly would be up and looking around at all of us.
    A few other animals spots along the way such as gazelles, thousands of zebras and wilder beasts again before all of a sudden our tour guide started zooming pretty fast! We quickly realised he had heard something over the walkie talkie and were excited to see what was going on!
    Oh wow did we get a suprise! A pride of 10 lions all up and around a tree! I didn’t even know lions could climb a tree! Such an amazing experience to witness in real life! We stopped to watch the lions for just over an hour! Watch the cubs try to climb the tree, the mums be alert of everything.. perfect spot high in the tree on a cliff over watching all their territory! Absolutely spectacular watching these animals! Could never get bored watching them!
    We ended the day with dinner and cake for Amos’ birthday! Definitely a day to remember, can already imagine Amos and I talking about this day, remembering the beauty of it way into the future!    Read more

  • Emily TierneyAfrica Safari SchoolTraveler
    1
    111111111121121121

    Full day explorimg Serengeti

    February 8, 2025 in Tanzania ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    Today was a very exciting day exploring Serengeti National Park! Our morning started around the lake on the hunt to find a big Mufasa, there must have been a sighting of him around as when we arrived.. we could already see around 4 other cars driving around this area.
    Along the way to find Mufasa, we had a very exciting car trip!
    First we saw some pink flamingo’s, super cute and colourful especially when a lot of them are all gathered together!
    Shortly after this we found a tree full of volture’s, definitely not the prettiest looking bird, but for sure a big boy to spot!
    Then, the excitement started! Our tour guide got some intel over the walkie talkie and we started speeding over to a pair of cheetahs. The two cheetahs were on the hunt for some lunch! We, and many other vehicles followed the cheetah through the bush land, keeping our safe distance and letting nature do its thing. We got to see them creep along the grass and even go for a short run after some zebras’. Luckily, this time the zebras managed to get a head start (we think they got spooked by some vehicles that were getting to close) scaring them away before the cheetahs could get close enough.
    It was a thrill! Almost seeing cheetahs go for a run which they are most known for! After around 30 minutes of following the pair, they eventually settled under some shade and seemed to be having a rest before going for lunch.
    We were excited to see the chase but I definitely wouldn’t have wanted to watch the kill.
    We drove around for a little while longer spotting some giraffes, zebras, many birds and more before heading back to our camp site for some lunch.
    Noting the heat of the day, our group decided to stay at the campsite until later in the evening to avoid the heat for a break. This was a great time for everyone to catchup with some sleep and also have some time on the wifi.
    4pm came around before I knew it, we set out for the evening to find Mufasa. We searched the endless plains over and over, it felt like hours at the time of just sitting, driving straight just seeing flat grass for as long as we could see…
    The sun was close to setting, the team was tired and we were almost going to give up… just when… our tour guide turned around and said “guess what”!!
    Mufasa! x2! A small singe tree, from afar would see as nothing but to our tour guide’s experienced eyes, we spotted 2 male lions laying down around a tree on the grass. It felt like we had waited allll day to see him! Definitely a handsome good looking animal! So scary to think we were within reach of a huge lion!
    The day ended on a high! We went back to camp and shared a dinner together, reminiscing on the wonderful animal creatures we had seen today. Another day, another blessing.    Read more

  • Emily TierneyAfrica Safari SchoolTraveler
    1
    11111111111111113111

    Serengeti Hot air-balloon + cat day!

    February 9, 2025 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    5:30am start and on the road, our first activity for today was a sunrise hot air-balloon over Serengeti! We had a delay with getting up in the sky in time for the actual sunrise, due to some wind but never the less, we had a great experience up in the sky! We got to see thousands of animals from up above, we could really see the direction that all animals were moving in which was interesting! It looked as if it was a mini migration! We spotted a lion from up above, a large group of hyenas, of course the thousands and thousands of wilderbeasts and zebras. We spent about an hour up in the sky, enjoying every direction of view!
    Upon landing, we had a glass of champagne together and reminisced on what an amazing, once in a life time experience we shared! Our next stop of the day was a bush breakfast! Champagne, juice, eggs, avo on toast, fruit! You name it, it was there! We had giraffes in the background watching us share our breakfast!
    After finishing breakfast, we met up with our tour guide again and began our game drive. Today we planned to be on the game drive the entire day and packed little box lunches to eat along the way.
    Our first sighting was a big one! We saw about 30 or more cars around something on an open field. We headed straight there and wow! 3 bother cheetahs all feeding on a zebra. We were only minutes late from seeing the whole chase and catch … although maybe that is a good thing!
    We watched for a while seeing how the three brothers interacted and behaved. It was very interesting but definitely not something I’d want to watch very often.
    There was another cheetah nearby having a sun bake which we had a quick look at before hitting the road again.
    A leopard was nearby as well, seemed like we were on theme for a cat day!
    The leopard must have been a bit shy, she kept her face hidden most of time we watched her.
    Around this time, we started to get a bit hungry after our big morning! We pulled up under some shade of a tree and had our lunch boxes for a quick break from the car.
    Our morning theme seemed to be cats, but oh dear did our afternoon double!
    Our tour guide took us to a place called Hiding Valley, this was a grassy rocky area known for lions hiding and laying around. Surely enough, Jordan spotted a little cub in the distance as he sat up around a tree. We headed straight there! 17 lions! 17 lions all laying around the base of this single tree. It looked like 4 mum’s and the remaining were cubs. Our vehicle was the only one around so we really got to share this quiet intimate moment watching as the cubs slept and woke up and moved around. This was a difficult moment to drive on from. I wanted to stay for hours watching them all! We had a geez around a few close by bushes and trees to see if we could find Mufasa but weren’t so lucky this time.
    We began driving in the direction of our camp to slowly head back for the day.
    Before we knew it, another tree with a different 10 lions under it! These cubs were very active playing together and have a clean by their mum, it was a beautiful moment to watch as the lionesses licked and cared for their cubs.
    We headed straight over the walkie talkie that this prides male was also spotted! Mufasa! Having a sun bake in the middle of a dried up lake, listening out for his lionesses and enjoying the attention all the vehicles was giving him.
    A spectacular find especially as we got to see his big mane when he was sitting up ways.
    We quickly checked on the leopard from earlier in the day again to see if she had moved around. Unfortunately she was still quite shy hiding her face.

    We counted up the amount of cats we have seen the past few days - 3 leopards, 11 cheetahs, 59 lions. I did not expect to see that amount coming over!

    Back to the camp, a shower and quick relax before dinner. We packed up our bags, very sadly we are leaving the Serengeti tomorrow morning.    Read more

  • Emily TierneyAfrica Safari SchoolTraveler
    11111111211

    Return to Kenya - Maasai Mara

    February 10, 2025 in Tanzania ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    A sad morning saying goodbye to Serengeti National Park - truely one of the most beautiful places on this planet filled with gods creation. We left with expectations absolutely exceeded!

    Today was a long travel day, we were on the road for 12 hours - leaving Serengeti, Tanzania at 6.30am and arriving at Maasai Mara, Kenya at 6.30pm.
    We hopped out of the car for a few minutes at the boarder to get our passports stamped, otherwise just a day enjoying the car view.

    Along the way, we saw a group of hippos in some water as well as 4 lions sleeping by the side of the road! Never gets old here!
    We arrived at our camp accomodation Ashnil Mara Camp inside the Maasai Mara national park and had a delicious dinner before bed.    Read more

  • Emily TierneyAfrica Safari SchoolTraveler
    211

    Exploring Maasai Mara

    February 11, 2025 in Kenya ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    First up this morning we saw a pride of 4 male lions feeding on a buffalo. When we arrived at the sight, we straight away could smell an awful reek from the buffalo as it was already 3 days past its death. We were told the lions killed the buffalo and have been feeding on it the past 3 days back and forth between sleep.
    We watched as the lions one by one went to rest in the shade after filling their big belly’s. When the last lion was full, we saw him go back and forth to the shade and to where the buffalo was as he didn’t want to share any with the vultures.

    We continued on for the whole day out on a game drive. We watched as a pride of 6 lions all strategically creeped up on two buffalo’s that were separated from their herd and how they planned all together on how to fight the buffalo.
    After a very exciting watch for about 30-40 minutes, we watched the chase and the buffalo get away!
    The 6 lions were the most skilled from their pride, we drove just a few meters over to where the remaining lions of their pride were under a tree and got to see the mothers that stayed behind and minded all the cubs! We saw the youngest cub we had yet seen - it seemed to only be a year old!

    Later in the day we had the opportunity of seeing 5 cheetahs all together. They didn’t seem to be overly active like the last few cheetahs we have seen, but instead just resting under some shade.
    We also stumbled across three giraffes fighting - it was interesting to watch. They walk around in a circle over and over again and slowly use their necks to hit eachothers necks. If one giraffe was to hit another too hard, this would cause the giraffe to faint to the ground or in extreme cases, break some of the neck bones cause the giraffe to stop breathing. I’m happy to say we didn’t see any of that but just some harmless neck swings.

    On the drive back to our campsite in the evening, we had two very exhilarating moments. The first being the find of two leopards, a mother leopard with her 4yr old daughter. It was an amazing see especially because leopards are a rare animal to see in such large national parks! There must have been 30 or so tourist jeeps - most of them keeping the respectful distance from the wild animals and out of their line of path, however it was disappointing and sad to see that a few of the cars placed themselves directly in the line of path that the leopards were walking, causing the baby to feel a bit skittish.

    The second amazing moment, we pulled up to a single huge elephant walking past one of the main driving tracks, it was an amazing photo opportunity whilst also keeping a safe distance, however the elephant seemed very interested by the vehicle, it walked straight up to us, being within meters of reach and stared us down. The car was in an unusual silence as we were all a little concerned on what the elephant might do.
    He slowly but surely walked away leaving us all a bit stunned and surprised!

    Back to the campsite at 5pm, an evening in the pool enjoying the cool water in this African heat.
    We had a dinner all together and into bed again!    Read more

  • Emily TierneyAfrica Safari SchoolTraveler
    1

    Last Safari Day

    February 12, 2025 in Kenya ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    Our holiday has been beyond exceptional! Today we headed out for our last day of an African animal safari. Driving out of the hotel driveway we came across a group of mongoose! They are similar to little meerkats! So so cute!
    On our way to the river to check out some hippos and crocs, our car got bogged - made it the whole holiday and on the last safari day, the soft mud caught up to us. Another jeep came over and pulled us out!
    Once we finally made it to the river, we stopped and watched hippos sun baking and moving around in the water. A few meters up stream, we found two crocs sun-baking as well. The crocs usually keep clear of the hippos and they don’t have the same strength to fight.

    After this, we then went to the national park border of Tanzania and Kenya - you cannot cross here but there is a sign showing the line through the national parks to separate the two countries.

    We decided to head back to the resort for a buffet lunch and swim to avoid the heat of the day and instead head out for an evening safari. On the drive back, we had yet another elephant herd cross the road in front of us! Quite a moment to share being the last safari day, and also having an elephant crossing on our first safari day. Yet again, it never gets old having the opportunity to get so close up and personal with this giant creatures.

    Once 4pm hit, we all jumped in the car and headed out for our very last animal safari! A bittersweet moment - both sad to wrap up this once in a life time holiday but also excited to see the family back home and begin our year ahead.
    On our final game drive, we saw some lions from across the river both walking through some grass and laying under a tree. We came across a group of hyenas eating the last of a lion kill, we saw lots of jackals, gazelles and topi.

    On our drive back into the resort, we had a final giraffe greeting us back in for the night. A final goodbye from Africa national parks!    Read more

  • Emily TierneyAfrica Safari SchoolTraveler
    11

    Return to Nairobi

    February 13, 2025 in Kenya ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Another driving day for today.
    We departed Maasai Mara National Park and our beautiful accomodation pretty early in the morning and headed to Nairobi. It was a 7 hour car drive with multiple stops along the way at markets and souvenirs shops.
    Driving out of the national park, we saw the last few animals for our holiday which was a very sentimental moment.
    The traffic and the drive was horrendous. I was so happy to finally arrive at our hotel in Nairobi around 2pm.
    Everyone was very overdue for some quiet down time, so we all headed to our bedrooms and had the afternoon to ourselves to refresh and dial down after a long drive.
    Later in the evening, we all met up in the hotel bar and had some celebratory bev’s all together reflecting on the holiday we have all just shared.
    A delightful evening followed by a late dinner.
    Into bed we go for the last sleep of our first Africa trip! A big one to remember!    Read more

  • Emily TierneyAfrica Safari SchoolTraveler
    1

    Elephant and Giraffe Sanctuary!

    February 14, 2025 in Kenya ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    Waking up on our very last day of this Africa trip, packing our bags suitable for the long journey home and checking out of our final accomodation.
    We had an early start to check off some last little bits before heading to the airport.
    First up, we visited a Giraffe rehabilitation centre! This was really cool! It was a board walk that we could go along and feed the giraffes and learn about each of them and how they got into the sanctuary.
    After seeing this animals in the wild, it was so cool to be so close and personal in the giraffes face being able to feed them and pat their heads.
    We then departed to head to our second stop which was an Elephant orphanage! 0h wow was this a great time! The elephant orphanage is only opened for 1 hour each day so it was a little packed at first, but once the gates opened up, we hurried inside to get a spot around the ropes where the baby elephants would be coming in.
    We got to see 17 baby elephants, split up into two groups, one at a time. We watched as they got fed their milk bottle, rolled around in the dirt piles, drank and sprayed water and ate some leave branches. The elephants weren’t shy, they were more than happy for us to come close and pat them feeling their very thick and leather like skin. As we watched all the elephants enjoy themselves, we had the host telling us over the microphone about each individual elephant. All had been rescued from various situations, treated at the orphanage to become healthy and happy again and soon each of them will be re-introduced to the wild.
    This elephant orphanage was a really great and special visit, one of my favourite parts of this holiday I must say!
    After getting a souvenir, we then headed to our third and final destination before the airport - the entrance of Nairobi National park where they had a rehabilitation like zoo. We only had a quick 30 minutes here so Nicole, josh, Jordan, Amos and I quickly zoomed around the main circuit seeing the last few African animals and of course, our aim, seeing up close a Rhino.
    Officially our holiday has come to an end now! Very ready to return home but sad to be leaving such a beautiful country filled with Gods creatures.
    We headed to the airport, arriving at 2pm, we said our goodbyes to Josh and Nicole, and checked into our flights.
    Our first flight was Nairobi to Dubai - this was the easy part, a quick 5 hours and we were there!    Read more

  • Emily TierneyAfrica Safari SchoolTraveler

    Journey Home

    February 15, 2025 in Australia ⋅ 🌙 21 °C

    Arrived at Dubai airport at roughly 10pm, amos and I went for quick showers to refresh and change our clothes - unfortunately we had someone spill chicken sauce over us in the first flight.. which was not pleasant at all!
    To kill some time, we then ate at Five Guys an American food chain with Jordan. It felt so weird to be eating a meal after midnight, and also to see the airport to busy and buzzing at this time.
    We jumped onto our last flight, Dubai to Sydney at 2am.
    This flight dragged on a little, especially because it was a full flight with many crying babies! Not my fav that’s for sure!
    Landing in Sydney just after 10:30pm, getting our transfer home and into bed we hop!

    A holiday I will never forget, completed!    Read more

    Trip end
    February 15, 2025
  • 2026© FindPenguins
  • Home
  • About us
  • Group Tracking
  • Press
  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy & Cookies
  • Help Center
  • Legal notice