Safari in Tanzania involves a lot driving and early wake up calls, but they are absolutely worth it. We left Arumeru Lodge in Arusha and begun our long drive to the park. Meet our home for the next few days. "The White Elephant" (Veronika Sieben)
They call it the white elephant. The 4x4 had a pop-top roof that allowed us to easily and quickly stand up for prime animal viewing. While the bumpy roads can make you sore and the long drives can get tiring, you forget about that the second you see something new. On our first day we visited Tarangire National Park. Tarangire is known for its large herds of elephants, Baobab trees and tree climbing lions. We didn’t start off with these, but we did see a few antelope, giraffes and zebras. But even with these sightings, we stopped and got in a few hundred shots with our cameras. Zebras in Tarangire National Park (Veronika Sieben) Giraffe in the Serengeti (Veronika Sieben)
Then, we saw the elephants. There were so many we couldn’t count them all. In particular, we had fantastic sightings around the watering holes. Elephants in Tarangire (Veronika Sieben)Elephant herd drinking water from the dry river bed (Veronika Sieben) Water hole in Tarangire (Veronika Sieben)
The animals all seemed so serene. Despite being overwhelmed with animals, we couldn’t ignore the beauty of the plant life. Baobab tree in Tarangire (Veronika Sieben)
We learned from our guide, Amani, that the magnificent Baobab trees were largely used by poachers hunting ivory. The large spaces in the trunks allowed for coverage from the herds of elephants so the poachers could surprise them.
It was nearing the end of our time in Tarangire and we were about to start making our way out of the park when our guide spotted lions. Lionesses in Tarangire (Veronika Sieben)
That’s right, I said lions! It was our first day on safari and we had already seen both elephants and lions.
Excellent travel advice and service
This is my second experience working with Adventure Life. I’m sold. Jess Heuermann is an experienced traveler and provides a lot of useful information when planning a trip. These are the questions I like to ask at the outset - What’s it like to go here, there, what would you suggest, what do people report, can we add any additional side trips? Jess took the time to answer my questions and seek additional information to share with me. Petchie Colina is outstanding in helping with travel logistics and final preparations. Adventure Life has excellent guides and offers private guides and small group adventures. We enjoyed the opportunity to talk with the guides and drivers to learn more about their countries, cultures and histories. A highlight was having the guides pick local restaurants where we could share meals together. Highly recommend.
Claire Cordon
4 days ago
Our six-day tour in Iceland went smoothly with one exception. We had asked for two rooms each night. Somehow we were booked with one room with three beds. It could not be fixed at the first hotel in Reykjavik because the hotel was fully booked. Once informed of the problem, however, Adventure Life rebooked for two rooms for the remainder of the trip. As an 85-year-old traveler, I appreciated that one could participate at different physical levels at many of the stops. Iceland is a great place to visit but on the expensive side.
Mary Warren
5 days ago
Jess was very easy going and answered all our questions. It’s not easy dealing with 6 people at once but she did an outstanding job!
Diane Foster
1 week ago
Kassandra and the Adventure Life team have been incredible! Kassandra was very knowledgeable and attentive to our asks while making sure we kept within our budget. This was our first experience with a travel agent and we were blown away by the booking/initial exploration service. We will use Adventure Life again.