I have absolutely no idea why I chose Tanzania as our second safari destination but I’m glad I did. It exceeded all our expectations. This trip was booked pre Covid and, finally, we were off. From London we travelled via Doha to Dar es Salaam and booked an overnight stay before our flight in a small single engine plane to Ruaha, where our camp was located. Ruaha, 31,000 square kilometers of wildlife park.
Ikuka Safari camp is a camp with 8 “tents’, a main dining area with a swimming pool and bar. It is perched on a hill (elevation of about a 1000 meters) with wonderful views of the valley and park. It’s run by its owners (British) and the overall execution and attention to detail is of a very high standard. The tents are set near the main reception areas, with the usual escorted trips for dinner and drinks because of wildlife.
The days consisted on an early start, 6 am (you need a fleece, it’s quite cold), a game drive (complete with a stop with a packed breakfast beautifully served) drive until lunch at 1pm, followed by another game drive from 4-5:30, sundowners (cocktails plus a few nibbles) till sunset before 7, then dinner at 8. We enjoyed the food and wine.
These game drives are pretty impressive, you see so many animals who can’t see you inside on open door vehicle. They can only see the vehicle even in close proximity. Of course, it helps to be in safari colours (to blend in with the terrain) if you need to jump out for a toilet break. Also colour attracts the tse tse fly which bites like an aggressive horsefly,so we were spraying ourselves with repellant constantly. The guides are knowledgeable , pleasant and organised.
We saw 20 lions, 4 leopards, kudu, giraffes, elephants, zebras,buffalo, amazing baobab trees, impala, etc
Finally, I have never seen such red sunsets and sunrises, truly dramatic.
After our most enjoyable stay in the Ruaha, we took another small plane to Selous
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