Tanzanian national parks

It was mandatory to have Yellow Fever shot before entering Tanzania, but I took the advice of a travel doctor and had them all, including Polio, some sort of diarrhea, and maybe there was something else I do not remember; it was actually only one shot with a mix of all of them. And we had pills for malaria to be swallowed during the trip. Still, the danger could not be eliminated completely. There is no shot or pills for sleep disorder that could be inflicted by a tsetse fly bite. I had 3 or 4 bites and my wife 3-4 as well. The probability to have the disease (our guide told us) is 1/(6 million) per bite, since one in 6 million flies are infected. We were lucky, we slept very well all the trip, no disorder.

First National park for us to visit was Tarangire. 
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​It was like at Zoo, lots of animals, but no fences. 

First two nights we had the house in the tree experience, and inside was quite comfortable, having limited running water and a toilet. 

​We were not allowed to leave the house without being accompanied by a local. The lodge paid Maasai to keep an eye on the compound; houses like ours were spread over a large area. If we felt a danger overnight, we could use a whistle provided by the lodge, and eventually a Maasai would come for help.

​The biggest flamingo gathering in the world is lake Natron. It is beautiful, but civilization brought damage more that anything else to this environment. 

​Lake Natron does not have an exit; there is a river feeding the lake, and the evaporation keeps the balance. 

​So, if the river brings garbage in, it will stay forever. Civilization brought pop cans and plastics in the Tanzanian villages, and garbage collection is not a priority in those places… Early in the morning we had a visit at our tent.

Some villagers spotted us, and made an ad-hoc flee market for only the two of us… of course we had to buy something… under the watchful eyes of our guide Ema (Emanuel) 

On our way to Serengeti national park we found ourselves in the midst of the great migration, two million animals marching all the way to Maasai Mara in Kenia.

Serengeti is maybe the best known park in Tanzania.

We had the hot-air balloon flight over Serengeti. It was very, very special. From above we had a completely different feeling how the park looks like.

And after the flight, the whole group from the five hot-air balloons was served lunch on the field.

Back on land, we had a chance to see lions, cheetah, leopards. Actually, when a group of tourists spotted something interesting, their guide announced the other guides in the neighbourhood, and soon the spot was filled-in with tourists.

​Our last stop was Ngorongoro Conservation Area that is in northern Tanzania. It’s home to the vast, volcanic Ngorongoro Crater and “big 5” game (elephant, lion, leopard, buffalo, rhino).