Tanzania Trip Report October 2025
Words and Images by Trip Leader: Smeeta Rishi
We are back from a spectacular Bluewater Travel group trip to Tanzania. Africa is a gift that keeps giving. This was my fourth group trip to Tanzania, and each one has been thrilling, different, and memorable.
We gathered on the first day at Kahawa House in Arusha. Arusha is the third largest city in Tanzania and a little over an hour’s drive from Kilimanjaro International Airport. The guests met each other and celebrated a milestone birthday for one of our guests. We also met our guides for the trip.
The next morning, we left for Tarangire National Park, approximately a two-hour drive from Arusha. This Park has the highest concentration of elephants of all Tanzania safari parks. It also has the majestic baobab trees. They are everywhere in this Park! We stayed at the Tarangire Safari Lodge for two nights. This Lodge overlooks the Tarangire River that runs through the Park and provides life-giving water to the animals, particularly in the dry season. We watched vast herds of buffalo, a pride of lions, giraffe, wildebeest, zebra, and other animals in the valley the Lodge overlooks. The Lodge has resident dikdiks and hornbills. This was our guests’ first experience in sleeping in tents surrounded by sounds of lions, hyenas, baboons, zebra, and other animals.
Want to learn more, read about last year's trip report.
On the third day, we drove towards the Ngorongoro Crater. Along the way, we stopped at a local orphanage where we met and dropped off crayons, toothbrushes, socks, balls, toy cars, and other gifts for 30 young children. The children were thrilled. This was an emotional experience for our guests. We also stopped at a large souvenir shopping center for retail therapy and lunch!
After shopping, we drove on to the Farm House, our home for the evening. The Farm House has extensive gardens. Their restaurant serves coffee, vegetables, and fruit grown on their farms! All our guests loved the ambiance and food.
The next day, we left early for the Crater. This is a UNESCO World Heritage Site surrounded by numerous Masai villages. The crater of a dormant volcano, surrounded by its walls, forms a stunning background for abundant wildlife. We saw many flamingos in the Crater – one of the more unique sights.
From the Crater, we drove on to the Serengeti. The Serengeti National Park is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is vast – approximately 5,700 square miles for the Park itself and almost 15,000 square miles for the Serengeti ecosystem, which includes surrounding game reserves. The Serengeti is divided into Southern, Central, and Northern parts, each of which is topographically different from the others. The Serengeti is also home to annual migrations of millions of wildebeest and zebra. Migrations are based on rain, with wildebeest and zebra chasing green grass over the course of the year.
During our stay, the animals were mostly in the Central and Northern Serengeti. We spent two nights at the Kati Kati Camp. Central Serengeti is characterized by vast plains and is relatively flat – cheetah country. While we saw lions in all the parks we visited, cheetahs were the highlight in this two-day period. We also saw a serval – this relatively small cat lives in tall grass and is a rare treat to find. And we had lovely sightings of several large elephant herds led by matriarchs. The herds are multigenerational, complete with brand new babies.
We spent the last four nights in Northern Serengeti at the Kati Kati Mara Migration Camp. A large herd of elephants greeted us at the camp when we arrived. The Mara River runs through the Northern Serengeti just a few miles from the border with Kenya. This is the site of the Great Migration, during which millions of wildebeest and zebra cross into the Serengeti from Kenya. We visited the Kenya/Tanzania border. The border is characterized by rolling hills dotted with elephants, wildebeest, and zebra. And this is where we experienced the thrill of a crossing in which over a thousand wildebeest sprinted across the Mara River, trying to avoid the large crocodiles hoping to capture a meal. My heart was in my throat as I watched the wildebeest sprint towards the opposite shore of the river.
All too soon, our trip came to an end, and we flew back from the airstrip in Northern Serengeti to Arusha and on home. Can’t wait to come back!
Interested in the safari, learn more about our Tanzania Safari Packages.
