Why you should be in the Serengeti, Ngorongoro parks now

Serengeti. Local tourists are flocking to the Serengeti National Park after Hoteliers and travel agents have drastically lowered prices in the midst of Covid-19 pandemic.

It’s the season for a spectacular event the Great Wildebeest Migration an annual migration of herds of grazers across Northern Tanzania and Kenya.

Tanzanians who would otherwise not afford to visit the Serengeti under normal circumstances, are now able to witness the migration of over two million wildebeest, zebras and gazelles moving in a regular pattern through the Serengeti and Masai Mara ecosystems in search of green pasture.

This comes at a time when the tourism sector in Tanzania is tapping into domestic tourists as countries around the world are still locked up due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Tanzanians who travelled to the Serengeti recently have shared their experience with The Citizen, revealing how they stumbled on irresistible offers to travel to Serengeti during the pandemic.

One of them is Dr Ammar Patwa, a Dar es Salaam-based dentist, who travelled with his family about a week ago.

Until Friday, July 17, he says, several people close to him and some of his relatives were still flocking to the national parks, taking advantage of the opportunity. He shares his story with The Citizen.

How we started

“We all had been homebound due to Covid-19 for nearly four months. Unfortunately, this is the situation in most countries around the world, although in Tanzania, we have been more fortunate now that things have started to open up,” says Dr Patwa.

However, throughout this period, many of us had been mentally stressed out and especially the children. They needed a getaway.

Being travel junkies, we are always looking for places to go but most of the time; it’s trips outside Tanzania. But this time, of course, because of the travel and health restrictions as well as financial constraints, we said let’s find something in Tanzania which will also not pinch the pocket too much.

Serengeti and Ngorongoro have always been on our list of places to visit but generally, travelling to those places means you have to dig deep into your pocket and that has been putting off many Tanzanians.

As we were searching for some places, we stumbled upon a social media ad of five star lodges, the Kubu kubu and Ngorongoro Farm House operated by Tanzania Wilderness Camps.

The prices were really good and it was attractive and something on a full board basis for a full family basis could cost to Sh300, 000. That brightened up our eyes and we said, “Okay this is the place to go now.”

The transportation from Dar es Salaam to Karatu, the trucks, the four by fours, accommodation, food and everything for a family of four, we ended up spending around $1,100 (about Sh2.5 million).

On normal occasions that would be probably the price you pay per person. Yeah we started off. Of course, when you are thinking of going to a place like a safari you usually won’t go calmly. So, from two, we became four, and four became eight and more and more and we ended up going a big group of 26 people.

They were 13 adults and 13 kids. The smallest one was a one-year-old so everyone was on board.

As I said, we thought this was the best opportunity to go because the season was also good, nice weather and we were also getting some very good deals, so that is how we started.

The journey

We got hold off for the Sabasaba holiday, so we could club together for the weekend as well. We started off Dar es Salaam to Karatu via Arusha and stayed at the Ngorongoro Farm Lodge in Karatu.

It was really scenic and a serene place and believe me we could easily compare it to a beautiful European destination.

In spite of Covid-19 restrictions easing out in our country, it was quite good to see most hotels were prepared. They were taking pre-cautions. You could see sanitisers in the hotels, entrances of the parks in Serengeti and Ngorongoro.

Keeping safe

Most of their staff at hotels and parks were wearing masks, including drivers and Tanapa [Tanzania National Parks Authority] officials. Tables were also spread out to maintain social distancing.

The lodge is in the middle of a very large landscape, vegetation and it’s in the middle of a coffee plantation as well, I mean you could go there and stay for three, four days. The next day, of course, we headed over to the Ngorongoro Crater and everyone’s wish list is always to see glimpses of the big five, especially the lions, and we were very fortunate that from day one, we saw lions, lions and a lot of lions.

Ngorongoro is very unique; the drive itself is going down the crater and coming up, it is very very scenery. Next, we went to the plains of Serengeti and it was quite breath-taking you know! You are seeing miles and miles of wildlife. There is a saying that you are somewhere in the middle of nowhere, that has really stuck in my mind and we keep reminding ourselves that we are somewhere in the middle of nowhere because you can just see no human life for mile and miles, maybe a few cars here and there and it just all animals.

The open trucks

We also had dreams of taking one of those big open trucks. It was all of us just got in and the truck could accommodate around thirty people. So, it was really comfortable as we were all in one van.

You get a real good view due to the advantage of height over there. It was also something that we always wanted to do and it was something that we ended up doing in Tanzania. We ended up staying at this place KubuKubu lodge as I mentioned earlier.

You know we always wished that we could stay in a tent in the jungle and experience that kind of an environment but I never expected tents to be so, so luxurious. With so many facilities inside, it’s unique and commendable, you know people can actually think of having such amazing facilities in the middle of the jungle.

Sound of silence

 It’s basically how I would put as experiencing the sound of silence. It is really silent but at the same time you will hear animals, birds and it’s a very completely different feeling all together. In fact, we were always told that if you want to leave the tents we should make sure we have the Maasai guards.

One in front of us and another one will move the torch around to see that there are no animals close by.

A lot of times we had a lot of deers, a lot of gazelles ride around our tents and on a couple of occasions we could see hyenas and wild buffalos quite close to the facilities. So, you could really imagine that you are living in animal’s paradise and animals’ territory so that is the experience itself I can think very few countries in the world can offer.

This is something that money cannot buy you know, making big buildings and parks but this is Tanzania we are very very blessed to have something like this. We ended up spending another day in Serengeti and we did see lions on trees, we saw leopards on trees and whole load of other animals which we always hear and think about.

All this was an amazing experience. We were fortunate that it was our son’s birthday and hotel staffs were really nice, they sang, danced and they came with a cake and I think that is the memory my son is going to have in his life for a long time. You know, there are these small small moments that will make your trip memorable.

A couple of suggestions, I think one more thing they call a balloon safari was something we wished we could do but it was just too pricey, I think it was something like $480 (about Sh1.1 million) and that is something these guys could make more affordable for everyone. I am sure it will be a unique experience for everyone to enjoy.

Generally, most tourists and this is most of the Tanzania we enter through Arusha, the Karatu gate. But Mwanza on the northern part is much more easily accessible to Serengeti; I think it’s like two to two-and-a-half hours drive. So, the Tourism ministry and the tourism board should look on more avenues of opening the national park and promoting it more from that side.

Tanzania, blessed country

Tanzania is one place that we have Mount Kilimanjaro, we have Serengeti, Ngorongoro and so many national parks and we have Zanzibar which is an island, so it is just one country with so much different diverse natural tourist spots. I think if that is tapped, Tanzania can be one of the leading tourist destinations in the world.

Our trip was amazing and it also shows that when we, as locals, start spending, it opens up economic revenues for everyone. From the small fruit and vegetable sellers to the tourist guides, the potters, tour companies, car drivers, the big hotel businesses, and the smaller hotels and lodges.

Another Dar es Salaam resident, Ms Natasha Virji, narrates to The Citizen how she ended up in the parks.

Tip from a friend

She says, “One of our friends had been to the Serengeti National Park and said it was an opportunity we shouldn’t miss because of Cov-id-19.”

There were no tourists and the prices were really low. We called a tour agent who said a night which could cost $400 now cost only $50. We took the offer because it was unbelievable and too good to be true, and so we booked.

Together with my husband, myself and my daughter the three of us for three nights and a night and four days, we paid only Sh4 million, including flights, cars, and hotels and one night in Mwanza.

Best time to go is now

Natasha insists, “This is the best time to go because of the migration and game was amazing because our tour guide Mr George, was exceptionally knowledgeable. We didn’t even have to hunt for lions because there were many of them and mostly of so many animals.”

We saw cheetahs, lions, elephants, giraffes and so.Two most favourite things were cubs. About 25 cubs were hiding away from us but were so cute, that is one thing I can remember. Another thing is that we were mesmerised to see wildebeest coming in groups to cross the river.

What other tourists said

At our hotel, we met with other tourists who were all Tanzanians and all they could say, and what we discussed, was how Covid-19 came with an exciting opportunity for domestic tourism because otherwise we would not have the chance to visit Serengeti from the tourist prospective.

We know the world has been hurt by Covid-19 and so many challenges have come with the pandemic but in Tanzania, we have found a way of taking advantage, at least to relieve the pain caused by travel restrictions.

People have asked me how much it costs, or how can we go, is it afford-able or not? Things like that. You can’t know until you have gone but I hope many Tanzanians could take advantage of the national parks right now.