We returned from our Africa dream safari two weeks ago in May 2012 and we are still smiling from ear to ear and have goose bumps to prove it! The life changing experience we had from the time we landed in Kilimanjaro, to the day we took off can never be equaled. The whole trip took us a year to plan and execute thanks to the professionalism and depth of knowledge shown by our tour operator Lynn.

After a wonderful evening of wining and dining at the lovely Mount Meru Hotel, the next morning we were flown into the Serengeti in an exciting one hour flight over vast tracts of open plains and game which makes Serengeti so enticing. As soon as we landed we were greeted by our very pleasant guide Claude Shitengle who escorted us to our range rover and off we went tracking and spotting all kinds of game during the day.

One must remember that in Serengeti the game doesn’t necessarily come to you, but you go in search of the Big 5. And that’s where the ability of your guide to spot wildlife comes in very handy. Claude was the best spotter if we ever saw one and could spot a leopard in a tree almost 1000 feet away. If that wasn’t enough he had tremendous patience and took endless uncharted tracks and detours to find us game we couldn’t have seen otherwise. Our next few days we were able to see all the Big 5 in huge numbers. Thank you Cluade! The hot air balloon was great too, though expensive!

We know that ADS has little control over Picnic lunches. Sadly the quality was not the greatest and a lot of food goes to waste. Folks at various picnic sites would either throw their half-eaten lunches or give them away. People are not looking for anything fancy for an afternoon lunch, but please no jaw breaking chicken! We would suggest that the caterer be advised to keep picnic lunches simple . For example, Tuna mayo or an egg salad sandwiches with some fruit would do just fine to cater to the American palates!

A piece of advice. Everyone wanting to travel to Africa, must travel light and carry a “carry on” bag, otherwise your checked baggage has a good chance of being lost, as ours was. Oversized duffle bags won’t do and won’t be allowed, as ours was not. On the other hand, oversized bags which fitted into KLM volume checker were allowed! Makes no sense!

In the end we took over a 1000 pics. So all said and done a great trip thanks mainly to our Trip advisor Lynn who was with us right from planning the trip over a year ago and countless hours she spent with us. One great advice Lynn gave us was to carry lots of one dollar denominations, which came in so handy for tips, even though we ran out of dollar bills towards the end. Thank you Lynn from the bottom of our hearts!

The hospitality of ADS ground staff throughout our stay was top notch right to the end. A special thank you also goes to our guide Claude, with whom we made a special bond. Thank you Claude and hope to see you again some day.

Last but not the least, though animals are a big part of why tourists visit Serengeti, in the end it is the kind and friendly people of Tanzania who make the difference. So a big Asante Sana to the people of Tanzania.

Dr. Dawn Sadry, MD, CCFP
Addy Sadry
Toronto, Canada
May 2012