On tour in Africa: memories from Kenya and Tanzania

After visiting over 45 countries, Club Go Explorer Bob still counts our Kenya Wildlife Safari with the Tanzania extension as one of his favorite travel experiences. Here are some of his top memories from what he describes as “the tour of a lifetime.”

We were within feet of lions, hyenas, leopards, and cheetahs while feeling totally safe in the safari vehicle.

The animals don’t see humans as prey, more as a curiosity—similar to us being on display in the vehicle for the amusement of the animals roaming free. At our lodges, we were escorted from our rooms to the hotel restaurants for dinner and any other time that we wanted to be outside in the evening to ensure our safety.

We got an up-close look at a vervet monkey and her three generations of offspring.

The youngest played peek-a-boo with us right outside our lodge! It was one of those adorable moments that was cute beyond belief.

We watched a pride of lions scaling the trees to rest for their evening hunt.

Five of them were sprawled out in the branches looking very content and comfortable, making one forget how powerful they are. We also watched a female lion stalking three topis in an area of open grassland. As she moved in for the kill, one of the topis became aware of her presence and alerted the others, and the lioness walked away defeated.

My favorite moment was...

watching a huge bull elephant trumpet with its ears flared and a baobab tree in the background. To me, that is the essence of Africa.

We were very pleased with our guides.

Sammy in Kenya would stop and explain all the wildlife as well as plant life. He was humorous and personable, taking the time to make sure we were enjoying every moment of the tour.

John on the Tanzania extension had the experience to know the animals’ territories. He knew where we were likely to find a rare sighting like a leopard in a tree or lion cubs hiding in the grass. We told John what we wanted to see and he knew where to find it! We saw a python slithering in Ngorongoro Crater, several rare black rhinos, and cheetahs still recovering from their chases.

This tour was one of our favorites!

We have traveled to over 45 countries and six continents so it’s hard to compare one tour to another. We liked this tour so much that we are doing the Tanzania Wildlife Safari with the Kenya extension in 2020.

Thanks for sharing your story, Bob! Do you have a travel story? Head to our Facebook page to share it with us.