Serengeti

It's a place where you can see cats and dogs of the vicious, wildly exotic kind. It's a vast grassland dotted with creatures you can't see anywhere else - from the tiniest, most colorful birds to the biggest, most ferocious beasts on the planet. It's the perfect holiday for everyone: adventurous backpackers, retired couples, honeymooners, animal lovers, and the list goes on.

I left everything behind and cleared my mind in Serengeti. I fell in love with this piece of wildlife paradise.

Serengeti is mainly located in Tanzania, and extends to Kenya. It is VAST. It took us at least four hours to drive from Tarangire to the gate that demarcates Serengeti National Park from the rest of the grasslands in that part of northern Tanzania. And then we drove for hours more before seeing any signs of life. I think the first animals we saw were Thomson's gazelles. We drove around for a few hours more and ended up dropping our jaws every single time we had a rare sighting.

Here are some of the pictures we took. Too bad neither of us is a proper photographer. But let's leave all the nice pictures to the NatGeo crew. Here's some of what we have:

A lazy cheetah

It got up and stretched for a bit, delighting everyone. But it buried itself in the grass again after a few seconds.

That's right, we went glamping. Our tent had three beds, a nice shower and a toilet.

Water was rationed though. We had to call some guys whenever we wanted to use the toilet or the shower.

The sun rise from the endless plains of Serengeti. Breath taking.

The "hotel lobby" and dining area in our camp. It was literally in the middle of nowhere.

A puzzled hyena. It looks very different when it's not chowing on carcasses and laughing evilly.

At one of the educational centers in Serengeti

It's also where the skulls of elephants and buffaloes are kept on display.

A bunch of hippos cooling down. They are the cutest! And deadliest.

A male lion. It actually roared when we tried to get closer. I think we were three meters away from it.

A small pride hanging out.

A few other lions were resting on a kopje, an elevated part of the grassland. Similar to a small hill.

It looks fierce. But it also looks extremely indolent.

Back to back, giving all safari holidaymakers several angles from which to snap away.

LBT's attempt at an art shot. Love it.

We said goodbye to our favorite lion family.

The male one rulez. He just exudes pride and power and potency. A real papi.

Our Great Tanzanian Safari - Still in Tarangire

We spent two days in Tarangire, and I'm glad we did. Day two into our game drive, we already saw some lionesses going after a pack of wildebeests. The lionesses hid in the tall grass and waited patiently as the wildebeests leisurely got their drink on. Without the super-intelligent zebras to warn them, they couldn't escape a hungry pride.

Biding their time, three pretty lionesses prepare to hide in the grass

These guys have no idea what's going to happen next...

The lionesses share their raw wildebeest meal kilometers away from our spot.

A family of elephants crossing the road. They are the cutest!

So we decide to have lunch with them. By lunch I mean we eat, they poop.

Back at our lodging, we see a zebra grazing by our hut!

They are totally oblivious to us. They make good pets.

I find myself in the middle of a Masai dance number.

The chief demonstrates how to use the talking stick.

Entering the Masai home. They're all nice and happy. We find out why moments later. They rip us off. No hard feelings.

Our Great Tanzanian Safari - Tarangire

Our five-day safari in the northern part of Tanzania started in Tarangire. From Dar Es Salaam, we flew all the way to Arusha and were picked up by our guide, Maluta, who did a great job! His eyesight and instincts were amazing. Because of him, we spotted animals that we wouldn't have been able to see if we had another guide.

We arrive in Arusha. The Kilimanjaro International Airport is small, clean and chilled out.

Our driver and guide Maluta is always alert on the road and in the parks.

Masamboi Tendted Lodges offer a piece of paradise in Tarangire. This is our hut.

Excited!

Our first stop: Tarangire National Park.

A family of elephants have a mud bath to cool down.

A pretty ostrich wandering alone on the grassland

Zebras are graceful, smart and simple easy on the eyes.

A small part of Tarangire's grassland

Lunch in the camping area

These girls are on their way home from school. They have recently been circumcised and have to wear these costumes.

Tanzania

Earlier this year, Tanzania was something we read about on the internet, and in our then newly purchased Rough Guide book.
Now, two days after landing in Dubai from one of the most diverse countries in East Africa, we can say that all the interest, research and excitement we devoted to our biggest holiday so far were worth it.

JAMBO! 
Welcome!

We had a a taste of Dar Es Salaam on our first night. In one of the safest cities in East Africa (or so the locals claim), we did a bit of exploring and drinking and admired the under-developed, third-world and happy vibe of Tanzania's capital. That was cool. At one point I believe LBT screamed "I want to live in Tanzania!" as he chugged down his third Kilimanjaro beer.

The airport

Abdullah, our cabbie

The next day, we flew up north to Arusha to do a five-day safari. It was awesome. The breath-taking scenery and the sight of the animals roaming around freely in their natural habitat are something you don't get to experience every day. Many people never even experience it in their lifetime. So it was a gift, really, to witness wildlife at its wildest. I, a cowboy and a believer of immersion holidays, emptied my bladder just outside Serengeti National Park. That was the ultimate gesture of being one with nature and unspoken camaraderie with my rafiki, whose dung has beautifully decorated the the vast grasslands for years. Maybe even decades. Centuries. Who knows?!

Our tent in Serengeti

A rare cheetah sighting. And it wasn't eating Cheetos.

A big family of elephants that have just crossed the street

Thirsty wildebeests, minutes before a lion started chasing them

I don't remember what kind of deer these are, but aren't they a beautiful sight?

And let's not forget our Masai Mara stopover. We stayed there for a bit and palled around with our Masai brovas, took lots of pictures, and left $150 poorer, and a little happier in an ignorant tourist way.

LBT happy with his talking stick

Five days of  safari left us pooped (pun intended), and a nice evening in Arusha before heading to our next destination was what we needed to recharge. Arusha is a nice sweet place. The main road is lined with overly enthusiastic vendors that sell street food (gotta love my grilled corn) and used clothing. They sometimes get in the way of traffic. But the cars, as reckless as they may appear, don't seem to mind at all. Adding to the madness of Arusha's streets are a few Caucasian and Asian backpackers looking happily lost in the organized, dust-covered chaos that is Arusha.We had a few beers and retired to our lovely lodge to prepare for our next stop.

At Arusha City Park, enjoying a bottle of ice cold Tusker

POLE-POLE...
Slowly...

We said bye bye to Arusha and flew to the island of Zanzibar, a word that originally meant "sea of blacks", a term the Iranians gave the beautiful spice-rich island when they set foot on it. Our first stop: Nungwi, a beach in the northern part of the Zanzi peninsula. It can be a perfect honeymoon destination, or a backpacker's haven, depending on where you stay. We stayed at the very luxurious The Z Hotel. Fine white sand (Boracay's is finer and whiter, but let's not steal the spotlight from Zanzi), seafood and beer all day, lounging by the pool for five hours while buried in a book and letting the sun do its magic on our skin. Not to mention a TV attached to the bed's canopy. That was how we spent time for three straight days.

View from my lounge chair

We got a sea view room. Sweet.

Then we drove off to  Stone Town, the last leg of our great Tanzanian journey. We stayed in a lovely B and B, with a cafe that serves all-day breakfast on the ground floor. Since arrving in Tz, every place we stayed at served eggs and sausages for breakfast. Not this one.I had a nice sweet brekkie of banana crepes and cranberry green tea on the first morning, and spicy avocado on toast with grilled tomatoes and green tea on the second. Both were to die for. On both days, we let ourselves get lost in the alleyways of Stone Town. Souvenir shops, antique houses and lots of intricately designed doors lined every narrow street, with the occasional quaint coffee shop serving premium Rwandan, Ghanian and Tanzanian cuppas surprising us.

New friends!

A nice coffee shop in the middle of nowhere. Stone Town be da best plezz man.

He focused on the door. Thank you.

Mosquito nets are romantic.

One of Stone Town's many alleyways.

 We also went to a reggae concert, but left after one beer. There were nine people in the crowd, and the front act was a middle-aged white man. Very Ras Trent, by the Lonely Island.

"Are you there Ja? It's me, Ras Trent."

ASANTE SANA!
Thank you!
On our last morning, we found ourselves in Dar Es Salaam's airport, penniless (thanks to the $10-a-person airport fee that we didn't know about) and exhausted. But memories of our eleven-day adventure were still fresh, and we still breathed African air, the same air that made it possible for Tanzania's first president Julius Nyerere to utter his intention of uniting all indigenous tribes in Africa.

Our flight back was delayed by an hour, by which time we were getting a bit annoyed. Waiting in the airport - any airport - isn't something I would consider fun. There's only so much you can do. Hold hands, look at people, tell jokes, have a beer, have two cups of tea, have a nap in a very uncomfortable position, take a leak, drink more water so you can kill a few more minutes by taking another leak, and so on and so forth. When we finally boarded the plane, we relaxed. Relaxed as in relaxed. Relaxed. Relaxed. LBT relished the six-hour flight by watching movies and downing mini bottles of red wine. Emirates Airline really is the best in a lot of ways.

Julius Nyerere International Airport

30 Rock and grape. This is the life.

Okay, we're back here in Dubai, working our butts off just hours after landing. Back to reality, oops there goes gravity (a line from Eminem's Lose Yourself, I think). But we're still not over our African high. We're sorting out our souvenirs and washing clothes to kill all the ants and other alien insects we brought back with us. We have yet to frame the big Masai necklace we bought, and decide where to put LBT's tribal talking stick. It's a good way of buying time and denying that our holiday is indeed over.

Oh well. 'Til our next big adventure!