Tanzania, Africa

We are off to Tanzania early tomorrow morning. Barbara has been on safari to East Africa many years ago. Some of her 1991 photographs are shown below. The word “safari” means journey and for the next 21 days we will only be visiting a small section of this amazing and wild place (see map). No guns on our safari only cameras. Our visit starts in Arusha, a town at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro. We will then begin our exploration of Northern Tanzania.

Tanzania has set aside 85,000 square miles of wildlife refuges as protected land. This is about a quarter of the land area of the entire country. In fact only twelve U.S. states are bigger than Tanzania’s protected wildlife areas. The highlight of our visit will be the Serengeti National Park. It is one of the largest and oldest protected areas in Africa. It is world-famous for hosting the Great Migration, where millions of wildebeest, zebras, and gazelles move across its grasslands each year in search of water and grazing. Calving season in February brings 8,000+ wildebeest births daily, creating predator frenzy—cheetahs, lions, hyenas, and jackals target vulnerable newborns on open plains.

The last week of our journey will be spent on Zanzibar, an Island in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Tanzania. Plenty of bird watching, kayaking and snorkeling around the coral reefs and the clear blue-green waters. We will try to keep you posted but we expect only limited internet availability on most of our journey.

Love to all,

Barbara and Joe

“Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up, it knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn't matter whether you're the lion or a gazelle - when the sun comes up, you'd better be running.”

—African Proverb

Monday, February 2, 2026

Tuesday, February 3, 2026

We left the house in Tucson at 4:30 am and headed for the airport for our 7 am Delta flight to Atlanta. Arrived in Atlanta around noon (EST). Waited at the business class lounge for our KLM flight to Amsterdam (8 hour flight). Wonderful dinner meal on the flight with plenty of wine. Barbara slept for 5 hours and I slept for 4 hours before landing in Amsterdam at 5:30 am local time, February 4, 2026 (11:30 pm in Atlanta and 10:30 pm in Tucson). We are now having breakfast in the KLM Business lounge. Our next flight is at 10:05 am to the Kilimanjaro Airport. Another 8 hour flight with a late evening arrival of 8:30 pm local time. We then have a 1 hour drive with our tour guide/driver to our hotel near the town of Arusha, Tanzania. Tucson, Arizona is 10 hours behind Arusha. We are staying 3 nights at the Legendary Lodge, Arusha.

Love,

Barbara and Joe

Legendary Lodge

Set in lush tropical gardens on a working coffee farm just outside Arusha, Legendary Lodge features ten beautiful garden cottages and two family cottages, each with its own private veranda. Designed with a unique blend of African arts and crafts, combined with old, colonial-style luxury, the cottages offer king sized beds, a separate lounge with fireplace and ensuite bathrooms with deep tubs and refreshing showers.

Thursday, February 5, 2026

We made it! Arrived late Wednesday night. Over 27 hours of traveling since leaving Tucson. Beautiful hotel located on a coffee plantation just outside of Arusha, Tanzania. Today we have an all day tour of the town and market places.

Love to all,

Barbara and Joe

Friday, February 6, 2026

Jambo to all. This is the simplest and most common way to say “hello” in Tanzania. 3:15 am here in Arusha and with the 10 hour time difference I am jet lagged and now wide awake. On Thursday, after a wonderful breakfast on the terrace of the main house, we spent almost all day visiting Arusha. Cars, motorcycles, push carts, wagons and people jamming the streets and markets. Pure traffic chaos. Good reason to always have a car and driver. Until we fly to Zanzibar, Emanuel will be our guide and driver for the next 14 days. He is also an enthusiastic bird watcher.

Our visit to Arusha centered on the Museum of Natural History, the huge Public Market and Arusha Cultural Center. It was also my first opportunity to buy art. Tinga Tinga paintings are a distinctive East African art style that originated in Tanzania. Arusha is one of the country’s artistic hubs. The paintings are easily recognized for their brilliant colors, naive forms, and playful depictions of animals and local life. I bought 6 incredibly beautiful paintings from 3 artists. The canvases are now safely rolled up in cardboard tubes ready to go back home.

We finished the day with a swim in the hotel’s heated swimming pool and a delicious dinner while watching a fox and two jackals in the garden.

Love to all,

Barbara and Joe

Common Greetings
• Jambo (Hello, casual and tourist-friendly). Reply: “Sijambo” (I’m fine).
• Mambo or Mambo vipi (Hi/What’s up? Informal for peers or youth). Reply: “Poa” (Cool).

Saturday, February 7, 2026

We spent all day Friday in Arusha National Park. The park is about a one hour drive from our hotel. It has a rich diversity of landscapes. From lakes, waterfalls and swamps to volcanos, mountains and tropical rainforest – the ideal reserve for all kind of animals. The swamps, rainforest and lakes also attract many beautiful birds, including silvery-cheeked hornbill, varieties of Bee Eaters and thousands of pink-hued flamingos. This park is also the only place in northern Tanzania where you can easily spot the black-and-white colobus monkey.

Mount Meru is located within Arusha National Park. This dormant volcano is Tanzania’s second-highest mountain at a height of 14,990 feet. It last erupted in 1910. Most of the day was spent on a “ Game Drive”. We are viewing the wildlife from our 4 wheel drive Toyota van with roof that pops up to improve the viewing. The Van is huge. It seats 7 plus the driver. Barbara and I are the only 2 guests in the van. Our game drive took us around the Momella Lakes where we saw hundreds of Flamingos and large groups of Giraffes. Barbara had also scheduled a 3 hour “Safari Walk”. An interesting experience where you get close up to the wildlife without the protection of the van. Walking safaris in Arusha National Park requires a mandatory armed ranger escort for safety amid wildlife like buffalo and elephants. Lots of large animals and birds on the walk. There are no lions in the park. The ranger took us within 20 feet of a large group of Giraffes. After returning to the hotel we were treated to back and leg massages at the hotel spa.

Love to all,

Barbara and Joe

“The first time I saw a giraffe, I was speechless. It is unlike any other creature on Earth, a living paradox, a walking contradiction in terms. Its head, with its large, gentle eyes, is perched on a neck so long that it seems to be floating in the air, while its body, with its stilted legs and awkward gait, waddles along beneath like a forgotten toy. And paints the wide heavens with such glorious colors that the heart aches with a strange, sweet pain, and one feels that life would be well spent if one could but gaze forever upon such a scene.”

– William Cotton

Monday, February 9, 2026

First, we want to congratulate our Seattle Seahawk fans for their team’s Super Bowl win.

On Saturday morning, we left Arusha for a 3 hour drive to Lake Manyara National Park in northern Tanzania. The Park is renowned for its spectacular setting in the Great Rift Valley, its diverse wildlife—especially the famous tree-climbing lions—and its rich birdlife. In addition to the Game Drive, we also had an opportunity to experience another “Safari Walk” with a Ranger armed with an AK 47 machine gun because of the lions and Buffaloes. We saw no tree lions but plenty of buffalo on the walk. We spent 1 night at the Lake Manyara Tree Lodge. Lots of elevated “Tree Houses” surrounding the main building. The lodge had a swimming pool but you could only use the pool if accompanied by a staff member because the Elephants also liked to use the pool. We decided not to swim. In addition, we had to call the main lodge to have a staff member walk us from and to our tree house at all times.

On Super Bowl Sunday, we left Lake Manyara for the short drive to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, one of Tanzania’s major UNESCO World Heritage Sites. A truly spectacular and amazing 2 day visit for us. The Ngorongoro Crater is the world’s largest intact and unfilled volcanic caldera, formed about 2 to 3 million years ago when a massive volcano erupted and collapsed. The crater is approximately 12 miles in diameter with Crater walls between 1,300 and 2,000 feet high, and the floor of Crater covers about 156 square miles. Breathtaking! The Crater’s unique enclosed ecosystem supports dense populations of large mammals, including the “Big Five” (lion, elephant, buffalo, leopard, and rhino), as well as huge numbers of Flamingos, birds and smaller animals like zebras. We spent 2 nights at the Ngorongoro Crater’s Edge lodge. No swimming pool but again we had to be escorted from and to our room at all times. Beautiful room at the rim of the Crater with amazing sunset views. Much cooler here since the Lodge is at 7,500 feet in elevation. We had a fireplace in our room.

On Tuesday February 10, we start our 5 day visit to the Serengeti National Park. All of the photos are taken on my IPhone since no opportunity to download photos from my 2 cameras. Lots and lots of photos taken.

Love to all,

Barbara and Joe

Lions have wandered through Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas for millions of years. Unfortunately, their numbers have significantly decreased over the last 50 years. The number of wild lions across Africa has fallen from 200,000 to an estimated 20 to 30,000 today. Listed as "Vulnerable", their numbers have plummeted because of habitat loss, prey decline, and human-wildlife conflict. It would be a great loss for all of us if the only places to view this magnificent animal is in a zoo.

There are still lots of lions in northern Tanzania. Over the last week we have seen and photographed many of those beautiful lions. Watching them in the wild has been an amazing experience for us. Lions are unique among big cats for their highly social behavior, living in tight-knit family groups known as prides. They rely on cooperation for hunting, raising cubs, and defending territory. Lionesses are the backbone of the pride, combining strength, skill, and strategy to ensure its survival. Standing alone they are beautiful but working together as a group is what creates the magic. The last photograph is a lion we saw sleeping along side the road on Super Bowl Sunday. We stopped the van to enjoy this King of the animal kingdom. Even a King needs an occasional afternoon nap. We were tempted to reach down from the van and give his majesty a good scratch. Tempted only.

Love to all,

Barbara and Joe

Thursday, February 12, 2026

Friday, February 13, 2026

We have spent the last 3 nights in the Ndutu region, which straddles the border between the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and the Serengeti National Park. In late January and February this is where the Wildebeests, part of the Great Migration, come to feed on the green grass and to give birth. It is estimated that 8,000 births occur every day. The Great Migration is the largest mass movement of land mammals on Earth, when more than a million wildebeest—along with hundreds of thousands of zebra and gazelle on the move. Lots of other animals are also here, including elephants, giraffes and lions. February is a prime time for birdwatching in Tanzania. Migratory birds from Europe and Asia arrive in the country, bringing a huge variety of species. Eagles and other raptors were commonly spotted by us around the two small lakes here. Yesterday we saw 4 hippos in the lake and hundreds of flamingos.

In addition to the large number of lions, over the last 3 days we have seen 2 Leopards, a cheetah with 3 new born cubs and rare Civet cat sighting (last 2 photos). We also experienced our first ever hot air balloon ride. We are now at the Olakira Ndutu Migration Camp and after breakfast we drive the short distance to the entrance of the Serengeti National Park where we will spend our last two nights in Northern Tanzania before flying to Zanzibar.

Love to all,

Barbara and Joe

Sunday, February 15, 2026

We have spent our last 2 nights in the Serengeti National Park. A great ending to our safari in Northern Tanzania. The National Park is as large as the State of Connecticut. The name “Serengeti” comes from the Maasai word “Siringet,” which means “the place where the land runs on forever.”

The Serengeti’s vast plains, rolling hills, and scattered woodlands create one of the most breathtaking landscapes on the African continent. It is best known for its huge herds of wildebeests, gazelles, and zebras and it is the only place in Africa where vast land-animal migrations still take place. Estimates put wildebeest at between 1.3 and 1.7 million, zebra at 200,000 and Thomson's and Grant's gazelle at around 500,000. The Serengeti sustains not just the largest herds of migrating animals but also the greatest concentrations of predators in the world. Around 7,500 hyena, up to 4,000 lions, 1,000 leopards and 600 cheetahs. Other large animals that we saw included hippos, elephants and giraffes. The birds we saw were also amazing including the pygmy falcon and the woodland kingfishers. Today we are flying to Zanzibar.

Love to all,

Barbara and Joe

Friday, February 20, 2026

Our room with a view in Zanzibar.

Barbara and Joe

“Africa is not a destination to be reached; it is a journey to be experienced, a pilgrimage to the heart of the earth’s soul where every step reveals a new facet of the traveler’s spirit. If you only visit two continents in your lifetime, visit Africa – twice!”

– Paul Theroux

Sunday, February 22, 2026

Our last days here in Zanzibar were wonderful. Snorkeling, bird watching, exploring 2 bat caves, walking miles of spectacular white sand beaches and feasting on lots of grilled lobsters and seafood. To all of our friends across the USA experiencing an unusually cold and snowy winter, we wish you were here or, alternatively, in Tucson where the unusual high temperatures are forecasted to be 86 degrees.

Love to all,

Barbara and Joe

Monday, February 23, 2026

Our flight from Zanzibar arrived in Arusha at 2:30 pm. Our travel agent, Easy Travel, met us at the airport. We spent a couple of hours for last minute shopping before arriving at our hotel, the Gran Melia, where we had a day room to use before the Van would take us to the airport at 9:30 pm. We had a final dinner in the hotel. Our Air France flight to Paris is scheduled for 1:30 am on Tuesday. Our 8 hour flight will first take us to Paris and a 4 hour wait before our 10 hour flight to Los Angeles. At some point after clearing immigration, we have a final flight to Tucson. It has been a great trip for us but we are looking forward to getting back home.

Love,

Barbara and Joe