Tanzania has long been on my list of travel destinations for a very long time and when the chance to take a holiday there presented itself, I immediately grabbed the opportunity that our 4 days off work presented and booked a Safari to Tanzania. I have especially wanted to visit the newly created, largest National Park in Africa, the Nyerere National Park in southern Tanzania which is one of the best, pristine and unspoiled wildlife conservation areas in the world, an animal paradise no less.
So the arrangements were made and flight bookings as well as Safari reservations were finalized rather at the last minute.
We were to fly from JFK New York. It is a long flight from New York to Dar es Salaam airport in Tanzania ( and importantly not Kilimanjaro which would take us to Arusha town), but as we were flying with Etihad Airlines we got to break the journey in Abu Dhabi, where ofcourse the Covid rules are quite strict and meant we had to go through a test once at the airport as well as provide a negative PCR test report taken prior to our flight from NY.
The onward flight departs Abu Dhabi mid afternoon around 15oo hrs and arrives Dar es Salaam past 9 pm. The airport in Abu Dhabi is huge and very modern though as expected rather empty of passengers due to the ongoing situation.
The flight landed in Dar es Salaam at the International Airport well on time and we managed to obtain our Tanzania Visa on arrival for a cost of USD 100 per adult. ( children under 16 years were free of charge at time of entry ). From here on once we exited we had the hotel chauffeur waiting to transfer us to the nearby Sheraton Hotel which is about 20 minutes drive from the airport. By 10:00pm we were already in our room, ready to unpack and looking forward to our Safari adventure the following day.
The next day we excitedly got ready for our 7 am start of Safari. Our driver-guide picked us up from the hotel and started our drive to Nyerere National Park, a 6 to 7 hour journey. We made several short stops on the way enjoying the scenery of the Tanzania and African countryside.
Our safari vehicle was actually quite a sturdy 4x4 Toyota Land Cruiser tour Jeep specialized for safari drives. The vehicle has a pop up roof to allow tourists to stand up in the vehicle and see the animals for a better view. The vehicle can seat up-to 6 passengers and also has air conditioning and UHF radio call which the Driver-Guide will use while on game drives in Nyerere National Park to know the location of the wildlife when they speak with other drivers in different vehicles in the park.
The major part of the road is a tarmac highway, although tarred section of the road is however in average condition in certain places which includes a few stretches with potholes, while the last unpaved portion can be bumpy and dusty, which however for some simply adds to the adventure of getting to the African wilderness. This road takes you through Kibiti as well as Mloka and you will finally be able to access Nyerere National Park the park through Mtemere gate.
We entered the park and proceeded towards the camp, the Selous Serena Camp, one of the many Serena Hotels properties spread around East Africa. The company is based in Kenya and is known for its unique and high quality safari hotels. The camp is named after Selous which was the large game reserve from which Nyerere National Park has been created. Basically the northern part of Selous Game Reserve was hived off to create the Nyerere Park, named after the former founding President of Tanzania, the highly respected late Mwalimu Julius Nyerere.
The camp is quite nice as you can see below and also had a swimming pool and very tasty food, so we were happy with our choice ! The location of the camp is also suitable, being inside the Nyerere National Park. ( some camps are outside so cheaper but don't give the best experience ). One can see the location of the camp on this map of Nyerere National Park
After checking in we went for lunch in the main restaurant. The camp also serves out door meals.
The afternoon at 3 pm we took our first game drive in Nyerere Nat. Park - it was spectacular !
In our 3 hour game drive we managed to see Lions, Elephant, Giraffe, Cheetah and also many Buffalo and Wildebeest. The park has a huge river running through it known as Rufiji, and many of the animals and wildlife can be seen around the river banks where it is greener with thicker vegetation.
By 6 pm our very friendly Driver-Guide returned us to our camp for the overnight stay. We had a shower and then had dinner by 7:30 pm. Dinner was simple but very delicious and filling.
The next morning we went out for a full day game drive in the national park right after breakfast at 9.30am. This is a picnic lunch game drive and means that we actually enjoy a lovely lunch inside the park under a tree with beautiful views 
Like a movie scene !
Today we saw many more animals which we had not managed to see during yesterday's afternoon game drive, such as leopard and african wild dogs as well as Hyena. Our guide told us we were lucky to see the Leopard as it is quite a shy animal.
Actually Nyerere Nat. Park has many different animals and birds as well such as vultures and eagles. Tanzania as a country is rich in wildlife and one can see many animals in Nyerere National Park.
By 5 pm we came back to our camp for the evening.
The next day we enjoyed an early morning game drive followed by breakfast by 9am. It was now time to return to Arusha and we left Nyerere Nat. Park by 10am for the 6 hour drive to Arusha and straight to the airport since we had an evening flight back to Abu Dhabi. Everything well perfectly well and we managed to make the flight on time and arrived back in Abu Dhabi at a fairly good time, approximately 10.30pm.
A wonderful 4 day trip to Tanzania and returning with such great memories and tons of photos. Nice to know we also managed to enjoy the trip just as the global pandemic situation has started to improve in the US allowing us to make this trip which makes us feel all the more fortunate and lucky to be able to experience the joys of taking a vacation, even that a long haul trip in such challenging times. I am already planning my next trip to Kenya in time for the great Wildebbest migration which starts in Masai Mara from mid July onwards ! I have already seen a couple of interesting tour packages in Kenya which cover the best tourism locations in the country, starting and ending in Nairobi. I am also thinking of enjoying a once in a lifetime experience of a Hot Air Balloon Safari while in Maasai Mara reserve even though the prices are quite high at USD 450 per person though this includes a champagne breakfast in the Bush !
Well, this is all for next time and lets hope the whole world is quickly back to normal so we can enjoy these marvelous trips to Africa to see it's amazing landscapes and beautiful wildlife very soon.