"Climbing lion trees": Our safari adventure in Tanzania

What a wonderful time my mom and I had on safari in Tanzania. (but who wouldn't?) We traveled with Wild Things Safaris and saw Tarangire National Park, Lake Manyara, Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater. The most beautiful place for me was Tarangire, which has one year-round river flowing through it where all the animals come together. Lake Manyara has tree-climbing lions, or climbing lion trees as our guide said, and the Serengeti is vast and wild.

We had a kind and knowledgable guide, Joseph, who was quick to correct our mislabelings and just as quick to laugh. He referenced the movies "Coming to America" and "Lion King" so he was alright in my book.

I particularly enjoyed seeing another East African country and found myself constantly comparing Tanzania to Rwanda. I found the culture very welcoming, peaceful and non-aggressive. They have STREET FOOD which meant I could buy grilled corn from street vendors and dance around like a child on Christmas. The village life looked very different from Rwanda as it was more tribal and the houses were more traditional. The country has around 121 tribes!! Tanzanians were very curious about my life in Rwanda and openly expressed prejudices they had about Rwandans.

This may not be interesting to you but it sure is to me: we ate so well on safari. Instead of rice, pasta, potatoes, repeat, we had meat, fish, spices and vegetables. The beef we had was the best I will ever have and it came from the most natural, free cattle you can imagine. Happy cows => happy Amanda.

Mom and I had wonderful talks and beautiful silences. One of our most spectacular nights was the night of the sunset above that was followed by dinner and white wine around a campfire. I have never seen the Milky Way so clear. I'd take "bushmen television" over real television any night.