Our trip to Tanzania was one of the most unforgettable trips of our lives. From the initial planning stages, Sharon Lyon helped put together the perfect trip that provided us with the opportunity to experience everything the Tanzania culture has to offer. From the moment we landed, everyone we met treated us like family.
I would like to start with an apology for the length of this review. This experience is so profound that it warrants a full description of all our encounters and the many wonders of a Trip of a Lifetime, so read on if you like.
A heartfelt thanks to ADS for far exceeding our expectations in planning and follow through for our life changing safari adventure! We fell in love with the beautiful country of Tanzania and it’s wonderful and welcoming people.
On our very first date in 1966 my wife and I talked about places that we wanted to see someday and Africa was at the top of the list for both of us. Life got in the way and it took us until 2014 to finally decide to make our dream come true. Fortunately we chose ADS to plan our “Once in a Lifetime trip” but we found that it exceeded our expectations so much that we just had to go back in 2018, and now we have just returned from our third trip to Tanzania with ADS in August 2021.
Our family of seven including two grandparents, two daughters and three grandsons took a trip of a lifetime to Tanzania with Africa Dream Safari. The trip exceeded all expectations! From the excellent communications of pre-trip planning to completion. The only stressful piece about air travel was getting a Covid test 72 hours prior to arriving in Tanzania, which in fact was uneventful. The great part was everyone on our planes going and returning had tested negative for Covid.
We’ve just returned from 12 days in Tanzania with Africa Dream Safaris and it was overall one of the most memorable journeys we have ever taken. From the first day on the ground in the North Serengeti we were amazed at the number of different animals we saw including lion, giraffes, elephants, ostrich’s, and many more. And it only got better after that. We were able to witness a parade of hippos just outside of room as they arose from their afternoon nap and lumbered into the river.
To go or not to go
“In the circle of life…it’s the wheel of fortune…it’s the leap of faith…it’s the band of hope…til we find our place…”
Well, we took a leap of faith and found our place in an unbelievable Serengeti safari experience! Where to begin? I’m sure so many of you fellow travelers are wondering about what traveling is like now, so I will give you an honest and extremely thorough account of our travels and sights during this crazy time. Get ready if you choose to read this, because it’s a very long blog!
Africa. Dream. Safaris. Each word had its own special meaning for this trip of a lifetime. Millions of words have spilled across page after page trying to capture the true essence of the magical and mystical land called Africa. It may be a cliche but there is no better way to express that this experience was truly a dream come true and an epic journey across the vast plains of the Serengeti and down into the breathtaking beauty of the Ngorongoro Crater with so many memories made along the way. This safari provided the ultimate opportunity to explore, investigate and learn about the animals, the geography and the people in the best possible way – up close and firsthand.
We did a once in a lifetime photo safari to the Serengeti back in February 2018. Within a year, the magic of this place started calling our names again. I called Dawn Anderson, with Africa Dream Safaris, to get the planning process initiated for the second time. Since our first trip was during the green season, we thought we’d like to experience a dry season safari, with hopes of witnessing a Mara River crossing. We eventually booked our trip for mid August.
Going on a Safari has always been on our bucket list of ‘want to do’s’. But fears of distance, unknowns and where to go caused hesitation. Then a year ago our friends who had gone on a Tanzanian safari encouraged us. Well this got my husband and I thinking…we should just do it.
She struts across the savannah, attitude on full display. At around four feet tall and ten pounds, she’s not the biggest thing out here, but she has swagger and a killer kick. I watch her chase several immense vultures off a carcass, just because she can. This is the most unique bird of prey in all the world—crane-like long legs, a bare red/orange face, hooked beak, and crazy black feathers on the back of her head. Over the course of ten days, I see about a dozen of these entertaining birds, sashaying across the most wondrous place in all the world—the Serengeti in Tanzania. The secretary bird is one of 201 bird species I record on my Sep 2019 trip with my 29-year-old daughter Daisy.
A little over a year ago, I started to plan a trip to Africa with my husband, brother and sister-in-law. I truly had no idea what to expect, even after talking to others who had gone on safari. However, any expectations I had were blown out of the water by ADS!
We’ve long found 3 questions from Coach Lou Holtz have invaluable life wisdom applied to ourselves and others: Can I trust you? Do you care about me as a person? Are you committed to excellence? For ADS, a resounding YES to all three questions. Their trustworthiness is truly part of the ‘dream’!
When we decided to take my wife’s bucket list trip a year ago, we really had no idea the actual safari experience would far exceed our expectations! We arrived thinking this would be our one and only safari trip. We left Tanzania talking about and planning our return trip. What an amazing journey!
The decision to travel with Africa Dream Safaris this past August 2018 was a very easy one because we had traveled with them in March of 2017, during the Green Season. My husband was keen to photograph the Great Migration in the North Serengeti, on the Mara River. Our guide, Pokea, told him , ‘Then you have to come back at the end of August!’ So we did!
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