Tanzania
Bariadi District Council

Discover travel destinations of travelers writing a travel journal on FindPenguins.
Travelers at this place
    • Day 19

      Serengeti

      March 4, 2020 in Tanzania ⋅ 🌧 22 °C

      Pünktlich um viertel vor 6 werden wir abgeholt, somit hatte unser Bauchgefühl mal wieder Recht behalten. Nach 2 Stunden Fahrt treffen wir auf unsere Gruppe für die nächsten drei Tage, unseren Koch (Rogers) und unseren Guide (Fredy).
      Es geht los Richtung Serengeti. Auf dem Weg werfen wir einen Blick in den Ngorongoro Krater, sehen viele Maasai Dörfer und unendlich viele Gnus. Im Februar bekommen die Gnus ihre Kälber in der Serengeti. Zusätzlich sehen wir viele Zebras, Antilopen, Giraffen, Hyänen, und einen sehr schlecht aussehenden Löwen direkt am Straßenrand. Und das alles außerhalb des Parks.
      Sobald wir durch das Tor der Serengeti fahren ändert sich die hohe Dichte an Tieren schlagartig. Hohes Gras und weit und breit kein Tier.
      Dann regnet es aus Eimern, sodass wir diverse Male mit dem Auto stecken bleiben. Einmal fahren wir uns so fest, dass ein zweites Auto schieben muss und 4 Männer mit Baumstämmen, Steinen und Sparten alles tun, dass wieder fester Boden unter die Räder kommt. Nach ca 15 min sind wir dann wieder frei. „Hakuna Matata“.
      Heute Nacht wird zwischen herumlaufenden Hyänen und Löwengebrüll im Zelt geschlafen.
      Read more

    • Day 8

      Ritorno a casa

      February 25 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

      A malincuore ci mettiamo in moto per ripercorrere tutta la strada al contrario, partendo dal Serengeti per arrivare fino ad Arusha. Durante il percorso non mancano gli ultimi incontri con gli animali durante i quali riusciamo ad avvistare anche un gruppo di ippopotami, tra cui due maschi che lottano, e un coccodrillo (Grazie alla vista acuta di Cristina). Durante la strada ci fermiamo a fare le foto con i cartelli dei parchi e dei bambini Maasai ci chiedono dei soldi e del cibo anche provando ad entrare nella nostra jeep. Per la pausa pranzo la scelta ricade su un’area picnic ovviamente immersa nel verde. Ammiriamo tantissime tipologie di uccelli e anche una lucertola viola. La sera, stanchi, torniamo al Gran Melia hotel dove facciamo l’ultima nostra cena buffet e ci prepariamo per il lungo viaggio che ci attende. Partenza 5.30 dall’hotel, volo Kilimanjaro - Doha che dura 11h anziché 6h per un problema a una ruota, altre 3h di sosta in aeroporto per prendere poi il volo Doha-Roma Fiumicino e separarci per tornare i grandi del gruppo a Livorno e i giovani (cioè io) a Milano.
      Torniamo a casa esausti ma arricchiti dall’incredibile esperienza che abbiamo fatto.
      Read more

    • Day 7

      Serengeti Nationalpark

      February 20, 2023 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

      Heute haben wir mit dem Leopard auch den letzten der „Big Five“ gefunden. Aber auch drei der anderen (Löwe, Büffel, Elefant) waren neben vielen Giraffen, Zebras und Nilpferden zu sehen. 🐆 🐘🐃

    • Day 10

      Die heimlichen Wächter der Nationalparks

      February 15 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

      Weder Löwen, Geparden oder Elefanten lassen uns hier ab und an erschrecken. Nur dieses eine kleine Biest… Tse-Tse Fliege 🪰
      Sie schaut ein wenig aus wie eine Bremse, beißt und hinterlässt wohl extrem schmerzhafte und juckende Stellen. Im schlimmsten Fall überträgt sie die Schlafkrankheit, die bis heute nur schwer zu behandeln ist. Wir sind bis jetzt zum Glück verschont geblieben und das bleibt hoffentlich auch soRead more

    • Day 6–8

      Serengeti

      February 23 in Tanzania ⋅ 🌬 25 °C

      Gli ultimi due giorni di safari li trascorriamo nel Serengeti, una porzione di territorio di quasi 15kmq. Essendo l’area molto vasta e l’erba molto alta, fatichiamo a vedere i primi animali. Una volta arrivati però a una pozza d’acqua rimaniamo stupiti dalla concentrazione di zebre e gnu. Nei pressi sono presenti anche gruppi di leoni e leonesse che si godono le prede appena cacciate o salgono su un albero a riposarsi, seguiti da sciacalli i cerca di avanzi del loro cibo, leopardi che camminano nell’erba alta e iene che si riconoscono soprattutto dal loro modo particolare di camminare. Facciamo quante più foto e video possiamo, lottiamo all’interno della jeep per avere la migliore visuale, respiriamo kg di terra viaggiando sulle strade sabbiose del Serengeti. Sembra di essere in un altro modo. Concludiamo i nostri giri della natura conoscendo qualcosa di nuovo sul mondo.
      Fun fact: tra i leoni solo il dominante si accoppia con la femmina. Ai due viene lasciata privacy per 4/5 giorni durante i quali non mangiano ma bevono soltanto e si accoppiano una volta ogni 20min.
      Read more

    • Day 254

      Serengeti, Tanzania

      August 31, 2023 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

      After spending a night in Arusha, we were picked up early to begin our safari in Tanzania and Kenya. The first stop was the Serengeti. We were travelling in a large Land Cruiser and had three other people in our group - two Italians and one French guy. It took all day to get to the Serengeti, but we arrived just in time to have an afternoon game drive.
      As soon as we entered the park, we saw a beautiful cheetah, herds of elephants and a large family of lions. We drove for around three hour before returning to camp for dinner. The camp site was very basic and didn’t have any hot water. We were warned about wild animals in the night (including lions and hyenas) at the campsite and we had a buffalo sleeping near our tents. Throughout night you could hear lions roaring and also wild dogs.

      After an early breakfast the next morning, we headed out at sunrise for a morning game drive. Our first sighting was of a hunting lion. We watched him stalk through the long grass and across the river. Suddenly, he leapt on a Thomson’s Gazelle, which we didn’t even know was there. It was so fast and the animal died instantly. That day we saw a mother cheetah with a group of cubs. She seemed to be also looking to hunt, but unfortunately we didn’t see her at full speed. It was so cute to see the cubs annoy and play with each other. We saw many of the common game including a river with hundreds of hippos, lots of giraffes, elephants, zebras and birds. We spent some time watching a huge leopard who was relaxing between rock cliffs. I was surprised at how big the leopard was compared to the cheetah. Before we left the park, we found a male and female lion lying right beside the road. We pulled up right beside them and the lion was staring right at us. They are such beautiful and grand animals.

      After our game drive, we visited a Maasai village. We learnt about their culture and how they lived. Maasai people keep a lot of livestock, which they use to eat and trade with (including for marriage). They don’t eat vegetables or drink much water. Instead, they get their required nutrients from the milk and blood of cows. Some of the people in the village have never been to the city. They use their own medicine and even have their babies at home. They bring their animals into their village every evening to protect them from the wild predators. We also got to see their school and were told that when a child is eight, they will do an exam to see whether or not they will continue their education at a local school. The Massai people performed a dance with us and also showed us their jumping. We all joined in the dancing.

      Unfortunately, many Maasai people are being forced off their lands due to the government selling it to foreign investors. The land which they are forced to move to is incompatible with agriculture and is causing big problems for the Maasai people.

      In the evening we headed to a new camp site near Ngorongoro Crater. This s campsite was nicer and we had lots of zebras near our tents. We woke up the following morning to a huge elephant walking through our tents!
      Read more

    • Day 12

      Serengeti Nationalpark

      August 10, 2023 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

      Übernachtet haben wir in der Nähe des Lake Manyara und danach ging es erstmal sechs Stunden durch unterschiedliche Landschaften in Richtung Serengeti Nationalpark. Wir saßen sehr lange im Auto, aber die Zeit ging trotzdem ziemlich schnell vorbei. Ich habe dabei auch gelernt, dass Serengenti bei den Masai „Land ohne Ende“ bedeutet und es ist wirklich so. Wohin man schaut, ist es flaches, unendliches Land.
      Bevor wir allerdings durch das Eingangstor gefahren sind, gab es noch ganz klassisch ein Picknick auf der Motorhaube 😃.
      Zu den Tieren kann ich nichts anderes sagen, außer, dass es fantastisch war. Sowohl die Löwenfamilie, als auch die Elefanten war sehr, sehr nah an dran.
      Read more

    • Day 109

      Entering Serengeti National Park

      August 23, 2023 in Tanzania ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

      We had a toilet stop not far from Olduvai Gorge, one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world, often called the ‘Cradle of Humankind’. We spent a few minutes reading the information boards.

      Soon after, we crossed the ‘border’ between the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and Serengeti National Park. The landscape changed immediately! There were no trees! We proceeded at speed along stony, bumpy tracks through wide open spaces. The 50 kilometre per hour speed limits in the park don’t seem to be enforced!

      Established in 1940, the Serengeti (meaning ‘endless plains’ in Swahili) National Park stretches over 14,763 square kilometres. It contains over 1,500,000 hectares of virgin savanna. The Serengeti is well known for the largest annual animal migration in the world. Over 1.5 million blue wildebeest and 250,000 zebra, along with smaller herds of Thomson's gazelle and eland, migrate northwards. Unfortunately, we were about two weeks late to witness the spectacle! Perhaps we’ll catch the tail end of it in the Masai Mara next week.
      The national park is also home to the largest lion population in Africa. Sadly, it is under threat from deforestation, population growth, and ranching.

      Once we were in the heart of the Serengeti, we started spotting more wildlife. We saw:

      • Ostriches
      • Oryx
      • Impalas
      • Gazelles
      • A superb starling that we photographed in a car park. We had stopped ostensibly to use the toilets, but we had to wait while the two members of our group who are doing the balloon ride tomorrow had their safety briefing.
      • Some topi – this is a common African antelope, also known as a tsessebe or sassaby, with a glossy reddish-brown coat and purplish-black and yellow markings. It was another new species for us!
      • Elephants
      Read more

    • Day 19

      Getting to the Serengeti

      June 22, 2023 in Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

      We are on our way to the Serengeti today. It’s going to be a long day driving. Google maps say it only 120 klms but will take four and a half hours. We have to drive past Ngorongoro Crater again so up through the clouds and over the Ngorongoro Mountains. When the Serengeti was declared a National Park in the Fifties they moved all the Massai people out of the park and we passed so many little villages on the way.

      Made a stop about mid morning at Olduvia Gorge. It’s a famous archaeological site called the “Cradle of Mankind” . It yielded the very first known fossil remains of two contemporary bipedal hominid species. There was a really fascinating museum there with an overview of the history of the region, and all the fossils found there. Then the gorge itself was pretty spectacular as well.

      From there we kept going towards The Serengeti over the most horrendous road I’ve ever been on. God I thought we had some shockers in Australia but nothing compared to this. It is the only road into the Serengeti and it’s a nightmare. Seemed to go on forever but we did eventually arrive.

      Time to put the top up and look for a animals. Thank goodness we got off the main road and while they are still bumpy at least they don’t have a million corrugations.
      It saw lots of things this afternoon but it was a really a giraffe day. So many of them all in groups of six or more.

      We spent so much time game driving we got to the camp in the dark and the rain. There was a little confusion about our room when we got here and for a brief moment we though we’d be sharing a room. We were okay with it but Pam and Alan were ready to call a taxi. 😂 Turns out we are sharing a family tent but with two bedrooms and a sitting room between them.
      Read more

    • Day 22

      Last day in the Serengeti

      June 25, 2023 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

      Today is our last game drive, and last day in the Serengeti, and we are off to hopefully find a Rhino. There is a section of the park where only two female Rhinos where left after the horrendous poaching that happened here. One more male Rhino migrated from the crater and they have slowly been building up the numbers. The rangers monitor all the Rhinos and they don’t release the numbers to anyone but our guide estimated about fifty or sixty live in this section of the park now.

      I think we found four of the big five today but sadly no Rhino. Buffalo, Elephants, an amazing group of Lions lazing about on a beach, I think there were 16 in total. Plus a Leopard on the prowl for some dinner and a Cheetah looking for a shady tree to rest in. And of course the usual assortment of Giraffes, Zebras, Impalas and Wildebeest.

      We had a few sightseeing stops today as well at Gong Rock where you could play music on different sections of the rock and another cave with some Massai Rock Art.

      There were lots of cat prints at Gong Rock and plenty of cat poop and Hyena poo lying around everywhere. Someone said to David, do you see many cats here “ oh yeah all the time” Yikes!

      Had lunch at a nice shady little picnic area near the Rhino Centre with the resident Hyrax bouncing around on the rocks.

      Back at the camp early today to pack up and get organised for the flight home tomorrow. The staff had planned a lovely private dinner for us beside the fire. It was a perfect last night in the bush for us, cocktails, lovely sunset, great food, good company and a send off song and dance from the staff.
      Read more

    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Bariadi, Bariadi District Council

    Join us:

    FindPenguins for iOSFindPenguins for Android