Travel Report Tanzania and Zanzibar
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10 days phototrip to Tanzania and Zanzibar, our itinerary:
Our Travel Report Tanzania and Zanzibar aims to support you in finding the right lodges in Tanzania and best places on Zanzibar, to combine beach and safari.
1.Day: Munich -> London (Renaissance Hotel London Heathrow)
2.Day: London -> Zurich -> Dar es Salaam (Protea Hotel by Marriott Dar es Salaam)
3.-5.Day: Dar es Salaam -> Seronera (Kubu Kubu Lodge – Serengeti)
6.Day: Ngorongoro National Park (Ngorongoro Serena Lodge – Ngorongoro Kraterrand)
7.Day: Ngorongoro National Park -> Karatu (Kitela Lodge – Karatu)
8.-10.Day: Karatu -> Zanzibar (GOLD Zanzibar Beach House)
Travel was organized via: Karibu Safaris in München
Where is Tanzania? Zanzibar?
What you should think about prior to departure to Tanzania and Zanzibar:
Local Currency: Tanzanian shillings, but USD dollars are accepted everywhere. If possible, take small USD bills for tips, which are expected in USD.
Vaccinations: Coming from Germany are no vaccinations – even yellow fever not – prescribed. However, the standard vaccinations are recommended, see suggestions Foreign Office.
Luggage: When traveling by small african aircraft, you should pay attention to “soft” luggage (i.e. sports bags) and the weight limit. The photo equipment should definitely be taken on board (!)
You need a Visa
Visa: Can be bought at arrival at the airport
Helpful: A small pocket knife and a strong flashlight with spare batteries are often very useful. The cell phone flashlight does it too, but often does not shine far enough.
Clothing: Outdoor clothing (onion principle) for Tanzania and for Zanzibar (similar to our Mauritius Trip) some swimwear and lighter cloths. Additionally a pair of hiking boots and a pair of solid sneakers.
Detailed Travel Report Tanzania and Zanzibar
Day 1: This time we travel via London, where we spent the first night. The night is short, since our connecting flight to Zurich is at 6am.
Not the best start
Day 2: On time on board everything looks perfect, until an African woman remembers that she put her passport in the checked suitcase.
This one must now be picked out. That takes 45min and our connecting flight from Zurich is in danger. Minutes before departure we reach our plane to Dar es Salaam.
Direct is not non-stop
On board we are reminded that a “direct flight” is not “non-stop” and so we get to know Kenya with a stop in Nairobi, at least the airport.
Arriving in Dar es Salaam
On time we land in Dar es Salaam. The immigration costs 50USD, payable in cash, is fast and the employees are friendly. 20min later we have our luggage and visa and discover our driver in the crowd.
Another 30min later we arrive at the hotel and get short 5 hours of sleep. Dar es Salaam is a typical african city with about 5 million inhabitants.
The adventure of domestic flights
Day 3: At 5:30am the same driver takes us back to the domestic airport, where we check in with “Flight Link”. Typical for Africa, everything is very relaxed. You check your bags , baggage tag? Only on demand. Tickets still handwritten.
We have another hour to wait and order Banana cake and water for 5USD. Who said Tanzania would be cheap?
We get reminded, that non-stop is not the same as direct
At 7am our Cessna 208 takes off. Again, non-stop is not direct and so we fly to Zanzibar first, then Arusha and at the end into the Serengeti. On the way to Arusha we see the Kilimanjaro from the plane. Very impressive.
In Arusha we have to leave the plane, which was not planned.
African serenity is required, especially if one is informed that the plane will take off in 3 hours from now.
The flight from Arusha to Seronera, in the Serengeti, takes another 1h and even if the landscape is beautiful, we finally wish to arrive, which happens 8h after leaving Dar es Salaam.
You have one driver for the whole safari trip
At the “terminal” Robert, our guide for the next 4 days, was waiting for us.
We decide to skip lunch and directly start our safari drive. Minutes later we see a Cheetah, which seconds before killed a young Thomson gazelle.
No other vehicle nearby, absolute calmness, except for the cracking of the bones of the poor antelope. But that is mother nature, joy for one, pain for others.
Afterwards we continue and see elephants, wildebeests, zebras and much more. The main difference to our recent Africa travel is the landscape. Endless plains and the typical acacia trees. Short time later we see a sleeping leopard in a tree.
Later it became clear why it was right to cancel lunch and go straight on safari. It starts raining cats and dogs and we have the feeling to drive on a waterway.
Kubu Kubu Lodge
When we arrived at the lodge it was still raining, but short time after, it cleared up and the Kubu Kubu Lodge gloumed in the sunset.
Day 4: At 8am – clearly later than on previous Safaris – we have breakfast and start the game drive. It is a beautiful, sunny morning.
On the drive the first and only Tse Tse fly of the tour finds its way in our car and gets killed by the driver quickly. We see many lions and huge herds of zebras, wildebeest and buffaloes.
Also on the second day the Landscape is breathtaking. Grasslands as far as your eyes can see, huge acacia trees and blue sky with cumulus clouds that will transform into a thunderstorm in the night.
First time we get to see lions relaxing in the trees. On top many different bird species, like the secretary bird.
Back in the lodge we get to know the owner – Willy Chambulo.
He invites us to Gin Tonics “Willy Style “and tells us one hell of a story, how he has worked his way up to own a travel empire of over 20 lodges and a safari company (Kubo Safaris), with more than 900 employees.
Thunder in the Serengeti and Lion poo
During dinner a thunderstorm starts and it flashes every 20sec. A real spectacle.
In the middle of the night we woke up from lion roar , which sounded like next to our tent. Next morning we found out “how close they were”, because they left their “marks” right next to our tent .
Leaving Kubu Kubu lodge
Day 5: Departure from Kubu Kubu. The landscape is different and breathtaking again. Green wide surfaces and once again other animal species.
Later we come across a hyena, defending a fresh carcass against at least 50 vultures.
We are heading towards the south entrance/exit of Serengeti where we have lunch and our driver pays the fee.
Sharp at 2pm we have to leave. All permits are timewise restricted.
Now we get closer to the massive Gnu and Zebra herds, which migrate south. Millions are on their way.
Ngorongoro Crater
Slowly we are approaching the Ngorongoro Crater. The Serengeti merges directly into the Ngorongoro protected area, about 20km behind the Serengeti Entrance gate. It has a visible stone border.
This is necessary, because the Massai living in Ngorongoro area have livestock (cattle and more) Out of this reason wildebeest and Zebras start mixing with cattle and donkeys.
In the Crater is a Paradise
Slowly the path rises to the crater rim on a street that clearly needs improvement. You get extremely shaken and have to watch out that everything stays where you put it.
The drive from the Serengeti to the Crater takes a good 2.5 hours without larger stops. At the crater rim a paradise opens up. A spectacular view and one understands why this crater is a world heritage site.
Serena Lodge
We stay in the Ngorongoro Serena Lodge. Different to our expectations it is only 22 years old (looks like from the 60s) and is well maintained. The view from each room justifies the high rate).
We can hardly get enough of this view and enjoy a coffee in the bar area which has a great panoramic window. Definitely one of the best viewpoints, we have seen so far .
Day 6: Today is the 24th December – Merry Xmas! Hectic. 06:30am Breakfast and 07:00am departure including check out is little time. The crater is cloudy, but the first sunbeams cut through.
The descent takes about 30min and we would not call it a street or path. Down in the crater the panorama is breathtaking with many animals on green grasland and clouds hanging low in front of the crater rim.
The landscape changes with every few kilometers and we see many animals from zebras to storcks and elephants.
If you like to name a place “paradise” the Ngorongoro Crater is definitely on the list.
PHOTOTIP:
In the crater, as well as in the Serengeti off road driving is forbidden. Therefore the more tele reach you have, the better. Anything beyond 600mm is wasted though, given the heat “flimmer” that takes away sharpness.
Take 2 camera bodies, with different lenses, if you can
The mix of Nikon D850 / Nikon 200-400mm VR II and the D500 / Tamron 150-600mm was ideal. At any time you had sufficient tele reach and you could swap cameras depending on the situation.
There is enough light, even for slower Tele-Lenses, in the crater
As the safari drives in the serengeti and also the Ngorongoro area start very late (around 8am) compared to South Africa, Botswana etc. it is usually light enough, even for slow aperture lenses.
The same is true for the late afternoon. We never had to dial our ISO higher than 1000.
With a special permit you could go off-road
As far as we could find out, there exists an option to book off road tours in the Serengeti at least, specifically for photographers. To explore this option might be really worth it, as you get much closer to the animals and you will be the only car to do so.
If you book 2 consecutive nights in one lodge, you have more time for the crater
Further you should either book 2 nights in a lodge in the Ngorongoro crater area or 2 nights outside, as the permit is always valid for 24h and the way we did it (1 in, 1 outside) limits your time in the crater to just 6 hours.
I would have liked to have more time from a photographic perspective, but my wife was OK with 6 hours.
Around 1pm we start our ascent to the crater rim, which takes about 60min. On the way to the Exit gate we pass the tombstone of Prof.Grzimek and his son Michael.
“Passing by” is the right description as we would have missed it, if our guide hadn’t pointed it out.
For me this was very sad to see, as in Germany this man is a hero in his fight for the protection of the Serengeti National Park.
At the park exit gate our guide clears the papers for a last time and then we leave this wonderful place on earth.
One hour later we arrive at Kitela Lodge. The lodge is wonderfully located in a coffee plantage, but on the way there you pass very poor areas again.
While this is normal in africa it always gives a strange feeling, as the lodges are “first world” and everything around is clearly third world.
A long drive to Arusha
Day 7: The drive to Arusha takes a good 4hours. We conclude it might have been better to stay one night in another safari lodge (like Camp Maramboi in Tarangiere National Park) instead of Kitela.
Next time, this would be our choice, as you would have more time with the animals and the 4h drive would be split in half.
The flight from Arusha to Zanzibar takes another 1,5h and the arrival is an adventure again.
Arriving on Zanzibar, another adventure
The luggage is delivered “by hand”, which is hard work for the guys, given an outside temperature of around 29 degree and high humidity.
The drive to our hotel (The GOLD) takes another 1,5h and the streets are not worth to call them streets at all. Big potholes and many other obstacles making it tough to drive, beside the traffic in Stone town.
Concerns that there really is a hotel coming up
The last 2 kilometers of the way raise the question where the hell a hotel should be. You get the feeling to cut through jungle and that the “road” was just cut free.
We were afraid that the car would dissappear in some of the potholes, until we finally arived at the hotel gate. Again a very unreal situation with 3rd world in front of the hotel gate and a heaven behind.
Day 8: The breakfast buffet is at least equal to the fantastic dinner buffet. Absolute top quality of food and a variety you will have to look for elsewhere.
Most surprising was, that despite many guest you never had to queue anywhere. The beach is magnificient and the white powder sand is right in front of the hotel.
We are happy that we bought our swim shoes, as during low tide some sharp edge mussels and sea urchins pop up, although not many.
The blue turqouise color of the water is priceless. The temperature is around 30 degree and you finally feel happy to have your cool salt water pool to cool down.
At sunset I take a couple of pictures.
PHOTOTIP:
Normally the light at sunset is nicer as every photographer knows. But personally I prefered the harsh lunchtime light on Zanzibar, as I liked the strong contrast and the colors better.
The white sand and the blue water with the blue sky was a magical combination.
Day 9: Another hot day in paradise with temperatures beyond 30 degree and clear blue sky.
We enjoy the day and stay around the pool where geckos throw palm tree blossoms at us.
In the evening, Roberto, the GM of the hotel, invites us to an unforgettable beach dinner. A dream. Barefoot in the sand, candles, call it romantic. The dinner menue, fantastic, crowned by a big lobster.
PHOTOTIP:
Right down the beach from the hotel after about 150m a beach bar with bean bag seats right on the sea. At sunset a magical place with good music. Ideal for sundowner and photographically you can capture great sunsets.
Day 10: Departure day. Luckily we can keep our room until pick up time and so we enjoy the day and the white sandy beaches for a last time.
At 4pm we get picked up and 1,5h later we arrive again at Zanzibar airport, where we check in with “Precision Air”. The flight from Zanzibar to Dar es Salaam takes just 15min.
PHOTOTIP:
As long as your photographic equipment fits under the seat in front of you, you are fine. Not a single time we had to put it on a scale. They were only interested in the dimensions.
The Lowe Pro Runner 450 fits well, but not in the bins of the small planes, just below the front row seat.
Strange procedures at Dar es Salaam Airport
In Dar es Salaam we had to pick up our luggage again and check it in for international flights. Surprisingly we did not have to pay the announced 30USD per person for leaving the country, but we had to fill in an “exit formular”.
As nobody has told us so, we queued twice, as many others, which was annoying. But this is africa…. keep your patience.
Dar es Salaam Airport even has a lounge
We are lucky to be able to sit in the lounge, which makes waiting a bit more relaxing, given cold drinks and comfortable sofas.
On the way back you fly direct
The flight back to Zurich was direct and took 8:45h. Next we flew to London and on to Munich. The long routing was due to an extremely cheap SWISS partner tariff.
Conclusion
A dream vacation trip with stunning photographic motives in Tanzania and on Zanzibar.
In total I wish we had had 2 more days of Safari, which I recommend to everyone if money and time do not matter.
The Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater are must sees once in your life. Zanzibar seduces with white powder sand beaches and clear blue water. If you pick the right hotel, like the GOLD in Kendwa, you will spend unforgetable days on the island.
Final Tips
We booked our trip via “karibu-safaris.de” owned by the Sears family in Munich. They are experts, specifically for Tanzania and Kenia and know almost everything -> Better ask the experts!
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Which Photoequipment for Tanzania and Zanzibar?
The photographic equipment that we brought to Africa can be found below. In addition, you have the opportunity to order the photographic equipment directly through our photo shop and to request further technical details. There are also a lot of extras.
Cameras:
Lenses:
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- 150-600mm (G1) (Tamron)
- 200-400mm f/4 VRII (Nikon)
- 20mm f/1,8 (Nikon)
- 24-85mm (Nikon)
Tripod:
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- Bean Bag