African Safari and Zanzibar Beach Holiday?

My wife and I, celebrating our 80th birthdays and Golden Wedding Anniversary this year, wondered how we could  include all nine of our family that is son, daughter in law, daughter, son in law and grandchildren ages 21, 18 and 15 in a trip that would please the varied age groups and leave lifelong memories.

Having gone through varied options from Disney in the States to a cruise, a trip up the Amazon, Africa or the Far East, and based on our own experiences we opted for a safari and, to wind down at the end, a few days on the beach in Zanzibar. When we suggested it to the family their reaction was unanimous 'Can we go tomorrow!!'

With the invaluable help of Aim4Africa we set about planning this trip, timing it as far as possible to coincide with the Great Migration and school holidays by traveling in February.

An excited family group met up at Heathrow to start our journey to Nairobi and onto Kilimanjaro Airport, where we met our guides and drivers. We were given a colourful welcome by a group of Maasai dancers and were invited to join in, which we did but could not match their effortless bounding in the air.
                             
After a briefing and hearty welcome at the offices of Roy Safaris in Arusha we moved off for our ten day safari in our own transport, two, four wheel drive vehicles with pop up roofs for sightseeing. We covered a great deal of ground with daily game drives starting in Lake Manyara National Park, then on to Ngorongoro, the Serengeti and Kilimanjaro. Great excitement for all ages when we first began to see all of those wonderful animals in their natural habitat. During the following days as we  saw elephant, rhino, hippo, buffalo, cheetah,  wildebeest, hyena, jackal, zebra, giraffe, ostrich, gazelle, antelope, dikdik, monkey, baboon and many, many more. The wildebeest were in their countless thousands as part of the Great Migration. Other animals we spotted included; some with their young, others making or beside their kill, vultures and hyenas waiting their turn for a share of the spoils - in short, as they naturally live and die in Africa. Our driver/guides were great having an uncanny ability to spot animals that we would have missed, finding their way over the virtually trackless National Parks, a rough ride as there are no roads as such in any of the parks.

Neither must we forget the Tanzanian people. There are many indigenous tribes, but mainly Maasai in the area that we traveled, living peacefully together and all very friendly towards us. Undoubtedly a very poor country, with many areas still without clean, piped water. We saw women carrying containers of water on their heads back to their very basic accommodation. Despite such handicaps, children in a school that we visited were very clean and tidy and anxious to learn from a teacher with only a chalk and blackboard in a classroom and no books for the children to read from, or write in.

Such are realities of life in Tanzania, and not untypical of other areas in Africa and throughout the world. They made us realise how lucky we are to live in a country where basic necessities such as water, are taken for granted.

Our accommodation, which we chose ourselves, varied from luxury lodges to tented Camps, delighted us all. The tents all had comfortable beds with toilet and washing facilities, in the dining rooms with thatched roofs and open sides we enjoyed excellent meals prepared with only the basic facilities ending the evenings off with a last drink while sitting round a camp fire. Pure bliss!!

Moving on to Zanzibar to round off the holiday we spent two nights in Stone Town, a fascinating old Arab town with a maze of narrow, twisting streets and bazaar type shops. We managed to practice our bargaining skills for souvenirs, in particular the bright, colourful paintings that tempted many of us.

Then on to 'Breezes' a super beach resort on the N.E. coast of the island, the ideal place to relax at the end of the tour. Perfect in every way, accommodation, food, service, an unbelievably beautiful beach with the sound of the surf breaking on the reef about 400 yards from the shore. What could be more relaxing!!
 
What were the highlights - difficult to say, easier to say what were the lowlights and the answer is NONE.  All of the National Parks are memorable, perhaps Ngorongoro both from the rim and in the crater itself  exceptionally so, the experience of seeing so much and so varied wildlife in their own surroundings, the warmth and friendliness with which we were greeted everywhere that we stayed and finally relaxation on the beach of the Indian Ocean in Zanzibar. Last but by no means least the wonder and pleasure with lifelong memories that the trip has given to us all.

For anyone planning a similar celebratory trip I can only say ' Follow in our footsteps'. It really is the solution to what may appear to be an insoluble problem.

Need to know:

Bryan and Iris Renshaw, Ian and Marcia Renshaw, Nick and Jocelyn Walton travelled and their three children Hannah, Joe and Thomas travelled with:

Aim4Africa
www.aim4africa.com
Tel: 0845 408 4541

18 June 2008