We left Kenya early to join a pre-Christmas safari with my brother who came from Switzerland to Tanzania. Overall we spent a bit more than a month in Tanzania exploring not only the vast savannas of the north but also the awesome beaches and the island life of Zanzibar.
NO CORONA IN TANZANIA?
A mini-bus runs daily between Nairobi to Arusha, a city close to Mount Kilimanjaro and a good starting point for safaris to the Serengeti. After some back and forth on WhatsApp with the bus shuttle company they confirmed that the PCR test result from Egypt would still be valid as it wasn’t older than 14 days. Don’t ask us why they need one in the first place as Tanzania doesn’t require any test….
We read that Tanzania isn’t big on any measurements against COVID-19 and in fact, does not deliver any numbers to WHO. Back in May the government just declared that they don’t have the virus and that’s it. However, we were still surprised when the locals on our bus ride collectively took down their masks after the border crossing. One explained to us that they would get harassed when wearing a mask in Tanzania.
In the meantime, the cases seem to be rising quickly due to the South African mutation, but at that time back in December, it seemed that there were surprisingly few cases given the non-existent precautions. During our travels, we understood that there is a mix of people, some really believe that there is no corona in Tanzania and some just accept that the country hasn’t any financial wiggle room to set up any measures.
EXPLORING THE NORTHERN SAFARI CIRCUIT
With a day to spare before the safari tour, we ventured into Arusha. Admittedly, there isn’t much to see. We stopped for a coffee and then went to the museum housed in a former German fort. In the fort, there was an informative exhibition on the colonial times but overall it could do with a bit of a revamp.
We booked a five-day budget safari tour to include the parks around Serengeti – which we can recommend. On our trip, we visited the National Parks Tarangire, Serengeti, Lake Manyara and the Ngorongoro Crater. In the Serengeti, we even saw part of the wildebeest migration. Another highlight were the tree climbing lions in Lake Manyara National Park.
Overall, the safari was more expensive and offered simpler accommodations and an older vehicle than in Kenya. The animals and scenery are similar to Masai Mara in Kenya so our tip is to do the safari there. Nonetheless, we enjoyed the tour very much as you will see in the pictures below.
TARANGIRE NATIONAL PARK
SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK
NGORONGORO CRATER
LAKE MANYARA NATIONAL PARK
AFTER SAFARI RELAXATION
After these days in a rumbling old jeep and sleeping in wet tents, we agreed that a bit more luxury would be appropriate. We headed to Moshi, a small town on the foot of the Kilimanjaro. The evening before, Christmas Day, we found out by chance that the booked hotel was closed over the holidays. After a long and unsatisfactory chat with the hotels.com hotline, we booked another hotel without compensation. So we ended up with even more luxury than planned and spent our time at the pool and in the A/C cooled rooms.
The region is also known for the coffee that is farmed on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro. We took a tour around a social coffee farm and brewed our own, almost drinkable, coffee. Niculin flew back home and we flew to Zanzibar at the end of December.
CONCLUSION
We started off with the classic Tanzania-Travel-Package and even got to include some lazy days before heading to the coast. The country feels different for travelling. For one, they still have tourists. But we also first had to overcome the fact that masks are just not worn and social distancing is not heard of.
