Today is the day! We get to start our actual Safari. What is it going to be like? What will we see? Will there be animals? Aaahhh! We are so excited. Jet-lagged – but excited. Paul is waiting for us as we finish our breakfast and check out of the hotel. Bye bye Arusha!

It is a 2.5 hour drive to Tarangire National Park – lots of time to catch up on that missing sleep, right? Ha. Nope. There is so much to see and everything is new to us. The Massai, men and children alike, draped in their colourful cloth, carrying their stereotypical stick herding sheep and/or cows. Some of them have donkeys or dogs to assist. They are far off in the distant fields or they are right in front of you on the road. Somehow, both seemed appropriate.

Passing by a coffee plantation, Paul informs us that coffee is largely grown and sold to ‘others’. It is sold here in Tanzania to mainly tourists and is mostly exported. Here, they prefer to drink tea, a remnant of being under British rule.

The scenery is amazing. When we think of the African countryside, I often think beige, dusty, open plains, sparsely treed. It is that, and so much more. In the short time we were driving, we passed through jungle areas, plains, trees, rocky cliffs, red soil patches, lush green areas and more. Stunning.

We were really enjoying our drive and then we turned of the main highway. Whoa. Were we in for a treat. An African massage. The road, er, path, er, dirt lane (?) was something else. Teeth were rattling, heads were bobbing, blurry pictures were being taken. Wow. An hour of this and then we pulled up to the actual destination.

Tarangire National Park! This part of the day warrants its very own post. It was amazing, it was educational, it was awe-inspiring, it was one of the best experiences we have ever had. And that is saying a lot.

Leaving the park is sad, but we are off on a new adventure so we are good with the decision. It is a 2 hour drive to our hotel – maybe we can get a quick nap in?? Apparently, yes, because before I know it, we are on a very rural…road (?)…and there are tons of Massai children running after us and waving. It is low season so us tourists are few and far between. We stand out.

Also, they didn’t have to run, we aren’t driving faster than 8km/hour. The road is that bad.

No matter. Our hotel, The Ngorongoro Marera Mountain View Lodge, is just around the next bend. And what a hotel it is. Being low season, we are the only ones here for the night. That is both awesome and sad. The staff was lined up ready to greet us as we pulled into the lobby area. Warm cloths, freshly squeezed juice and homemade cookies were offered as soon as we got out of the vehicle. How spoiled can you get?

Our room is enormous and the bathroom is incredible. We are hot, sticky, sweaty and just the right amount of tired. The pool we walked past is calling our names. Into our bathing suits and off to go swimming within a matter of minutes. We were going to catch the last few rays of sunshine no matter what.

Cocktails came to us as well – we are really being taken care of. Being alone has its advantages! Feeling refreshed and rejuvenated, we are ready to face staying awake for a few more hours to enjoy the dinner they are preparing for us.

Luckily, dinner is great – huge! – and tasty. Not wanting to make the staff look after us for a moment longer than necessary we take the rest of our wine to our room as soon as we are finished eating and retire early. It was probably for the best. We got a lot of ‘work’ done and were still able to get to bed at a decent hour to hopefully (fingers crossed extra tightly!) get a full nights sleep.