24 December, Friday; Nairobi Airport, Kenya. After our amazing time in the Ngorongoro Crater it was time to start our very long journey home. First, to Arusha and a stop at Good Earth Tours headquarters where we were able to take a shower. I was glad that I didn’t have to board the plane after being in the 4x4 with the top off for hours on dusty roads.
24 December, Friday; Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania. We woke up early to see the sunrise over Ngorongoro Crater. What a great way to start Christmas Eve, though it doesn’t feel like it’s Christmas.
The doors of Zanzibar are legendary. I couldn’t find exactly what started the trend but it dates back to 1700s. On our whistle-stop shopping trip I grabbed as many photos as could, when not being offered Boa boards for ever-decreasing amounts.
23 December, Thursday; Serengeti National Park to Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania. After packing up, we left the lodge for our last game drive in the Serengeti en route to Ngorongoro Crater. Although the wildlife in the Serengeti was amazing, we were definitely ready to leave. We weren’t very pleased with our lodge, the Seronera Wildlife Lodge.
23 December, Thursday; Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. Today we bid farewell to the life-filled plains of the Serengeti. We awoke before 6am this morning for an early morning game drive.
22 December, Wednesday; Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. Ben explained to me before we left about how close we would be able to get to the animals on our game drives. I didn’t really believe him; I thought he was exaggerating a little bit. He was right, though.
We covered over 2,500 miles by road in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania. Along the way there was plenty of interesting, and quite often amusing sites to keep me and my camera entertained. What can you carry on your head? Not pictured here is the woman Lisa saw in Rwanda carrying a 3-seater wicker couch on her head!
21 December, Tuesday; Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. We set our alarm to wake us up this morning in time to get breakfast and meet our guide at 8:30. Little did we know that we would not actually need an alarm. Apparently, the baboons that live around our hotel feel that it’s their duty to wake up all of the guests each morning.
20 December, Monday; Lake Manyara, Tanzania. It was not difficult to leave Zanzibar this morning, for we had already fallen in love with Pemba, not Zanzibar. Plus, we were looking forward to our safari on mainland Tanzania. Ben played dumb with the check in agent and got us out of having to pay for extra weight.
19 December, Sunday; Zanzibar, Tanzania. We sadly said goodbye to Fundu Lagoon and Pemba Island today. When we booked that part of the trip, we were a little hesitant that we might get a bored towards the end of the stay. Quite the contrary, we found.
Sometime in December; Pemba Island, Tanzania. We knew we wanted to do some diving on our honeymoon, especially as it will include Ben’s 100th dive. We spared our divemaster the pain of doing what is apparently a tradition for dive 100 whereby you dive naked. Ben was surely glad to be informed that the water was cold enough that he’d have to wear a wet suit.
19 December, Saturday; Pemba Island, Tanzania. Fundu Lagoon is very coupley. This is not surprising. Nearly everything I’ve read about the place talks about honeymooners and the place was most definitely filled with honeymooners when we visited.
Sometime in December, no clue what DOTW; Pemba Island, Tanzania. When we booked our time at Fundu Lagoon on Pemba Island, we were expecting a break from safari. We knew that the resort was a bit rustic, but we hadn’t given much thought about wildlife that we might encounter on Pemba. In our first 24 hours, we were visited by
13 December, Monday; Fundu Lagoon, Pemba Island, Tanzania. We had twelve hours of travel today and it was worth every second to get here. Picture this – a private boat ride to our resort that currently has ten current guests, three bars, pool, spa, dive shop, open-air restaurant and a seemingly endless stretch of beach looking out onto an azure sea. More importantly – our own private suite to celebrate our honeymoon in style.