Wow wow wildlife – Tanzania

Ever since Wild at Heart first aired in 2006 I’ve been dying to go on a safari. 18 years later I finally made it, and wow.

I crossed the border from Kenya to Tanzania and after a few days in Zanzibar, took a short flight to the southern national parks which I was told are less crowded than the Serengeti – the lesser known Nyerere (previously Selous), Mikumi and Saadani National Parks.

Landing in “Beho beho air strip” (aka the middle of Nyerere National Park) in a tiny plane was an exhilarating experience in itself, spotting elephants on the way down and skidding along the “landing strip”, relieved to come to a stop.

Straight after landing we embarked on my first game drive on the way to the lodge, and the only word I muttered for the next 4 hours was “wow”.

Before the sun set I had been brought to tears by the sight of a baby elephant being protected by its mother, my life flashed before my eyes as a huge elephant threatened to charge at the jeep, and I was in awe at my first sightings of wild zebras, giraffes, a hyena and a lion.

It’s hard to put into words the feelings you go through when you see these amazing animals in the wild for the first time. A particular memory I will never forget was seeing a two week old elephant surrounded and protected by its matriarchal family as the sun set. It is one of the most beautiful sights I’ll ever see.

Thanks to my incredible safari guides I learnt a lot about different animals, and how they work together and communicate. For example, it’s very common to see zebras and wildebeests travelling together because zebras have great eyesight to spot predators, while wildebeests have great hearing and smell to detect them. Elephants can smell water from up to 12 miles away, and dig up to a meter deep to get to it. Giraffes have really high blood pressure in order to get blood up their long necks to their head, which means lying down for too long makes them dizzy, and lying on their side is dangerous.

Doing a safari on my own is up there with the biggest tests of independence I’ve had. I hadn’t really thought through the fact that I would be staying on my own in the middle of parks that are home to hippos, elephants and lions, until I was led to my “Banda” by an armed guard and told not to leave until the sun rises. Fortunately I’m a firm believer that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and I’m here to tell the tale.

After a short visit back to the UK, I headed to Sri Lanka where I saw more elephants, but mostly a lot of beaches. Will write about that next!