Novotel Mount Meru

Preparing for the long-awaited safaris!!!

by Durfun

"Arriving from Nairobi"

In the morning at 0700 hours we left Nairobi for Arusha, which is situated at the foothills of the mountains.

The tour operator had already been informed of our arrival, so he was there to receive us at the coach station.

"Booking the tours..."

There are so many options & reserves to choose from.

I was keen on climbing Kilimanjaro, but my cuz wasn't.. so we settled for just doing the safaris through 4 major parks. We chose Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro Crater, Maasai Mara & Serengeti.

We decided on Serena group resorts (owned by Aga Khan) for each park, ending up at Mount Meru hotel in Arusha for 1 night. The plan was to then see Mt Kili on our way to the airport.

"Loading our supplies in the 4x4.."

For a while we chilled out at a restaurant to have Ugaali & Suku ma weeki, staples of the locals. This stuff certainly is filling!!

We tanked up on our packed lunches & snacks, lots of water, drinks, etc before heading off to Lake Manyara.