Wonderful, fun and fully immersed in the Tanzanian national parks
We did a safari with Aardvark expeditions in September 2014 and it was all we expected and more. We chose to do 5 days, just the two of us, and toured the Tarangire, Serengeti and Nogorongoro Crater. The whole safari was organised by Philemon, who took great care of my partner and I on our arrival and departure days in Arusha. He was also very prompt when answering the many questions I had prior to our trip. On our arrival, he made sure we were well catered for at our lodge and even took us to an amazing African restaurant, where we felt immersed in the Tanzanian culture, far away from the many tourists in Arusha.
Godefrey (driver) and Moses (cook) formed a fantastic team and were eager to make our safari a memorable experience. And it was definitely memorable. We saw all the big 5! Yes, there’s a bit of luck involved but on a couple of occasions Godefrey spotted animals from miles away and drove us to them. The most amazing example was when he spotted a Rhino in the Ngorongoro Crater (only 15 left in the entire park!) on our last day. You definitely needed sharp eyes to see it. We also saw plenty of zebras, gazelles, elephants, giraffes, lions, lionesses, cubs etc. and had quite a few sightings of leopards and cheetahs. Moses was a fantastic cook, making much needed warm soup when the weather was getting chilly in the evening and the most delicious one was his cucumber soup. His pancakes were also really delicious. Both Moses and Godefrey chose a great campsite in the Seronera area of the Serengeti. It was very quiet, laid back and there was a burrow of Banded Mongoose nearby, which meant that we had the most incredible sighting of a pack of 20 leaving it together in the morning. It was wonderful to witness wildlife this close-up as soon as waking up. We definitely had great fun during our five days with them, felt safe and even learnt a few words of Swahili.
I hardly recommend Aardvark expeditions, especially if you want to get a true feel for the parks. We chose to do 5 days, including 2.5 in the Serengeti and I highly recommend this circuit too. 5 days is perfect to take the time to see the animals. Doing just 3 parks and staying at least 2 days in the Serengeti is best as we never felt like we were rushing from one park to the next.
