Myself, a professional wildlife photographer, and my husband, guide book writer for the Bradt guide to Tanzania went on safari in Northern Tanzania with Africa Dream Safaris for the third time in March 2016. In total we have visited Tanzania more than a dozen times, but our safaris with A.D.S. never disappoint. This time was no exception.

As before, the vehicle was really comfortable and reliable. There is an onboard fridge with a good supply of water and soft drinks as well as some sweets to keep you going between meals. Binoculars are provided as well. Our driver guide, Michael was good company and was ever patient with our demanding photographer’s ways of keeping on trying to get the best angle and lots of waiting with good sightings.

This time we did a two-week safari in the Serengeti. It is a real privilege to spend a good chunk of time in one of Africa’s best National Parks and we enjoy getting in the rhythm of spending time in the bush. This time, we covered the whole of the Serengeti starting in the Ndutu area in the South. We then made our way north through Central Serengeti, the Western Corridor and the far North Serengeti.

We travelled in March and wildlife is fantastic at this time around the Southern parts, but moving away from that area had it own advantages as we often had the whole lodge and game drive area to ourselves.

As usual, every day in the Serengeti offers something special: a special sighting, a special experience or something unusual…some of these sightings offer a good photo opportunity, some don’t. Here are a few images of our special encounters on this trip:

As we drove into the Serengeti, we came across a jackal feeding on a newly born wildebeest. In March most of the female wildebeests have calves and these are easy pickings for predators.

After dropping their babies in the South of the park in February the wildebeest were now migrating north.

The Serengeti must be THE place for watching lions. Lion kills, lions with cubs suckling or playing, lions in trees and of course the sleeping lions which you can just ignore after two days in the Serengeti as by then they really aren’t even worth stopping for anymore.

We had many great cheetah sightings. Cheetahs hunting and on kills. This time, we didn’t get very lucky with the leopard sightings, but then a few days before our departure we found two big leopard cubs left behind by the mum while she was presumably out hunting. They were a bit shy at first, but as we spend more time with them they became bolder and curious. What a treat photographing this brother and sister pair.

The rocky outcrops in the North (called koppies) are great for photographing klipspringers. We focused a few game drives on them and I’m pleased with the pictures.

A balloon safari is always a highlight. As two balloons went up we had the opportunity of photographing the other balloon itself at sunrise.

The birds are always a treat and I can say that Michael, our guide had a good birding knowledge. We managed to get some good shots of some of the more colourful species like the Bateleur and Fisher’s lovebird.

Lastly, a beautiful giraffe image with the Ngorongoro Crater Highlands in the background and one of the Serengeti’s big tusker elephants.

We’ll be back again and we can highly recommend Africa Dream Safaris to any visitors to Tanzania, whether you are first time visitors to Africa or bush fundies like ourselves.

Thanks again for a great safari – it really was fantastic.

Sincerely,
Philip Briggs and Ariadne Van Zandbergen
Safari Dates: March 11, 2016 to March 25, 2016

Philip Briggs is the author of Bradt Guides to Tanzania, Northern Tanzania Safaris, and East African Wildlife, as well as a dozen other books about Africa. Please visit bradtguides.com for more information. Ariadne Van Zandbergen is a travel and wildlife photographer specializing in Africa with work published in hundreds of books and magazines and has her own photo library. Please visit africaimagelibrary.com for more information.

Philip’s published works include Bradt Guides to Tanzania, Northern Tanzania Safaris, and East African Wildlife, as well as many several other books about Africa. Many loyal fans follow Philip’s travel advice and recommendations very closely when planning their own dream safari vacations. And rightfully so…Philip has traveled extensively in Tanzania for many years and offers an unparalleled perspective from which to judge any African Safari company. So, needless to say we were thrilled when he came back with a glowing review for Africa Dream Safaris!