I recently visited Tanzania on holiday with my family, spending a week on safari and a week at a hotel on Zanzibar. It is an amazing country and one which I think more people should consider visiting.

On our safari we saw an incredible number of big animals. Lions, cheetahs, giraffes, hippos, crocodiles, zebra, elephants, wildebeest, buffalo, warthogs, ostriches, flamingos, hyenas, jackals, gazelles, baboons, monkeys and much more. Here are a few of the photos I took (from over a thousand!):

In the national parks the animals are quite used to safari trucks and don’t pay them much attention. We got within a few meters of lions and elephants. We spent an hour parked right next to a pride of lions, including some very young lions. The one other truck left, so we had a whole pride of lions to ourselves. We were so close I thought our driver was going to run over a lion’s tail at one point, as he repositioned the truck. We also saw a leopard and a couple of rhino, but only from a distance.

There were a few instances where there were 10 or 20 trucks crowded together trying to view something. But this was mercifully rare. Perhaps it is more of an issue in peak season in some of the more famous locations, such as the Ngorongoro crater.

There were some wild monkeys living in the grounds of the hotel we stayed at on Zanzibar. They seemed as curious about us as we were about them.

We didn’t see a lot of insects or spiders, apart from lots of ants. I am interested in bugs, so that was a bit disappointing for me (other family members felt differently). The army ants were fascinating to watch, but also surprisingly fast at climbing up your trouser leg to bite you on the arse. We saw lots of lizards, but no snakes.

The accommodation we stayed at were smart lodges and camps. One of the camps we stayed at was in the Serengeti. The accommodation was in tents, but they were quite grand tents. They even had voice operated showers – you asked the man for a shower at 6pm and he turned up at exactly 6pm and filled up the gravity fed shower tank with hot water! Wild animals regularly wander through the camp at night. It is quite an experience to get escorted from the dinner tent to your bedroom tent by a Maasai with a spear.

On safari you will almost certainly travel in a modified Toyota Landcruiser. These generally seat 7 plus a guide/driver. They are pretty comfortable and the pop-top is excellent for viewing animals and taking photos.

The night sky in Tanzania is amazing. But it can be a struggle to find somewhere dark enough to fully appreciate it. When you are out in the bush it is properly dark, but you can’t wander off without risking becoming a lion or hyena snack. It would be great if lodges and hotels turned off all their lights for 15 minutes every night.

Tanzanians seem fairly laid back. Apparently there are 120 ethnic groups, but they seem to get along pretty well. You will hear ‘Hakuna Matata’ a lot, which is Swahili for ‘no problem’ (it wasn’t invented by Disney). I didn’t get any sense that mzungu (white people) were resented. We did get people trying to sell us stuff, but it was never aggressive. Our driver/guide (Lazaro) was brilliant and spoke good English. The staff at all the camps and lodges were very obliging, even if things did sometimes get lost in translation.

It is amazing to see all the children walking to and from school. Some of them very young and unaccompanied. Apparently it isn’t unusual for them to walk 5 to 10 km each way, every school day! I felt it was good for my 18 year old son to see first hand what life is like in a developing country, and not take our western lifestyle for granted.

Tanzanian health and safety is definitely not up to European levels. One of our group lent on a substantial-looking metal fence in the Ngorongoro crater. It immediately gave way and he fell, hurting his ribs and shoulder quite badly. He only just missed hitting his head on a big rock, which could have easily been fatal. On closer inspection, most of the bolts were missing from the fence. I also got a shock off a light switch in a hotel. So do bear that in mind and definitely have medical insurance.

While the main draw of Tanzania is the animals, the scenery is also pretty spectacular. We were within sight of Kilimanjaro for a few days, but the top was obscured in cloud throughout.

I would recommend Tanzania to anyone who wants to visit Africa to see animals. We had a great time. Just be careful about what fences you lean on!

Notes

• You will probably need to arrange a visa online before you go. This was relatively straightforward and granted within a few days.
• The currency is Tanzanian shillings (about 3000 to 1 GBP). You can’t take Tanzanian shillings out of the country, which means are unlikely to be able to get them until you land. US dollars are also widely accepted, as long as the notes aren’t too old or damaged.
• You can get a Tanzanian e-sim for your phone from companies like Airalo. But don’t expect much reception outside cities. Most of the camps and lodges we stayed at had reasonable wi-fi at least some of time. Good enough for work email, anyway.
• Prices in shops are (mostly) negotiable. Expect to haggle for souvenirs.
• A lot of Tanzania is quite high in altitude and the temperatures were quite pleasant when we visited in June/July.
• English is reasonably widely spoken, especially by people working in guiding, hotels, shops etc. Some of the guides also speak other European languages.
• Tanzania is quite a conservative country with a large Muslim minority, especially on Zanzibar. So bear that in mind when choosing your wardrobe (ladies especially).
• Food was good at the various lodges and camps we stayed at. It was generally a big breakfast, a choice or packed lunch and a three course dinner. My being vegetarian wasn’t a problem.
• Lodges and camps have a tip box and it is customary to put a tip in the box as you leave, rather than tipping individual staff.
• Malaria is an issue. So it is a good idea to cover up and use DEET. Especially at dawn and dusk. Light coloured clothing is generally recommended. I was a vision in beige. All the rooms had mosquito nets. None of us got bitten more than a handful of times.
• We all took malaria medication. But I reacted violently to this after a week, exploding at both ends (not quite simultaneously, thankfully). Our guide said that this reaction was relatively common. I stopped taking the medication and was nearly back to normal after 24 hours. No one else in our group had a reaction. I am a special snowflake.