Tag: Tanzania
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Twiga Everywhere: How We Met All of the Giraffes in Kenya and Tanzania
*Twiga is Swahili for giraffe. The lovely and long-lashed Sir Harry was not the only giraffe we saw during our 18-day trip to Tanzania and Kenya. Not by a long shot. We saw. So. Many. Giraffes. Usually on safari, we see a couple of giraffes a day, if we’re lucky. They’re not as ubiquitous as…
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Poe’s Packing Panic: Safari Edition
We leave in a few days for Africa. So, you know what that means. Packing panic. It’s a thing. And for me, it’s a repeat thing. It’s not like this is my first African safari. Or even my second. No, this is the third time we are going on safari. You could say, we really,…
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Hotel Crashing: The Underwater Room, Manta Resort, Pemba Island
There is a place where you can belt out The Little Mermaid’s “Under the Sea” without a lick of irony, a smidgen of skill, or any regard for your neighbors’ eardrums. A place where you can “sleep with the fishes.” Where you literally sleep with fishes darting all around you. Except, if you’re like me,…
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Where to Safari? Tanzania or South Africa
It’s the question that everyone asks when they hear about our recent African safari. No, not what I packed for essentially three weeks of travel (although, that would be my first question and the answer is: not that much). It’s not even whether we ever got bored of seeing many of the same animals day…
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The Hottest Spot in the Serengeti
There are no plush velvet banquettes. No artisanal craft cocktails. No happy hour specials or hipster DJ pushing play on an iPod. But the bathroom at the airstrip in Kogatende is hands down the most happening. most popular spot in the entire Serengeti. Now listen: I’m from Texas. Clearly I have no issue with peeing…
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Hotel Crashing, Bushtops Serengeti, Tanzania
Back when I was a nubile young woman–aka: my broke-as-hell-and-unable-to-afford-any-sort-of-vacation period–my friends and I would often retreat for into the verdant hills of Central Texas and go camping for a couple of days. And believe me, I do mean camping. Not glamping. There wasn’t anything glamorous about it. We’d load up our respective cars and…
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Hotel Crashing: Lemala Kuria Hills, Tanzania
Sorry for the lack of posts this week. I was a bit bummed out by the election results. For a variety of reasons, I’m not going to get too far into this topic, but this post from my favorite blogger, The Everywhereist, pretty much sums up EXACTLY how I feel. Go. Read it. It’s really…
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The Wildest Ride: A Wildebeest River Crossing in the Serengeti
“This is not at all like the shows on NatGeo,” my restless mind was thinking. “This is actually sort of….boring.” We’re sitting in a beige, pop-top Toyota Land Cruiser in the midday African heat with four other people. All six pairs of eyes are trained on the nervously shuffling, brownish-gray mass of wildebeest on the…
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What I Learned About Africa the First Time Around (and Why We’re Going Back)
I uttered what I think might go down in history as the most bougie phrase ever known to mankind last week. “Weeeeell, last time we were in Africa, we stayed at…..” I said it not once, but TWICE while catching up with friends, both of whom probably immediately regretted asking me what big exciting trip…