Bucket list stuff… For those of you who have seen the movie “The Bucket List”, you know that it means something that one absolutely HAS to do before you ‘kick’ the proverbial bucket – and a trip to the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater, must surely be one of those things! Join JENMAN East Africa for a trip of a lifetime.
It is also not a trip to be done lightly and with little regard for the finer details – your guide and vehicle can totally make or break your experience, so you need to make sure that you are in good hands. I am thrilled to say we honestly had the best of both 🙂
The entire trip was soon named “Charming Charmy and the Safari Ferrari”…
Charmy Raphael met us with a huge smile and big, friendly wave before escorting us to our ‘Safari Ferrari’ for the next 8 days – I say ‘Ferrari’, because every time we stopped in the different game parks we visited, we had guides from other safari companies and their clients, all admiring our custom-designed Landcruiser. For one thing, the windows are a stunning design, perfectly suited to photography-mad passengers like we were! They open by sliding downwards, giving you the entire window space to maneuver for that perfect shot. The roof opened upwards as a single unit, allowing each passenger the freedom to stand if they chose and offering great shade at the same time.
Upon our arrival at the vehicle, Charmy graciously opened the door (upwards – just like a Lamborghini lol) and folded out the stairs so that we could climb onboard with absolutely no effort at all…. And so we set off – ready to experience all that northern Tanzania has to offer. Our first visit was to Lake Manyara National Park, followed by Tarangire. Here we began to realize what a difference the design of the Jenman Landcruiser made, and also how it attracted interest along the way (even the monkeys and baboons were keen to have a look)!
Charmy was really a super guide and made the whole experience everything it should be – from producing beanbags to rest our cameras on, to regaling us with stories of his guiding experiences and home town near Lake Victoria, we were greatly impressed with the effort he put into making sure we had everything we needed. His knowledge of the parks was also something we appreciated and because of this, had some amazing sightings, especially in the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater which we visited next! From a lioness teaching her cubs to hunt, hundreds of thousands of wildebeest moving South, a mother cheetah and her cubs, elephants, buffalo, even a black rhino and last but not least a leopard standing off with a hyena! This was just the tip – we saw so much more and got the most amazing photos – and I absolutely cannot wait to visit again…
A huge thanks to all the staff in the JENMAN East Africa office for making it such a special and wonderful experience 🙂
