On an African Safari

A safari adventure and a romantic holiday rolled into one, Africa makes for a must-visit destination. Did you know it also makes for a wonderful honeymoon place? Discover the bounty of Rwanda and Tanzania as you plan your own travels...

Text: Namrata Jaykrishna Parikh

After having a big fat Indian wedding in Montreux and socialising with hundreds of people, I was very excited when my newfound husband told me that we would finally get to spend some time alone and be going on not only one, but two surprise honeymoons; the first one being a luxurious five-day stay at the St Regis in Maldives and the second one being a ten-day adventure packed venture to East Africa, an experience I will never forget.

Although I had spent a lot of time in South Africa, I had never been to the eastern parts of the continent. As I got on the flight to Addis Ababa (which would then go on to connect to Kigali), all I could think of was seeing gorillas for the first time in the wild. As a wildlife enthusiast, I had done all my research and was geared up for the experience of a lifetime.

Soon after we landed at Kigali International Airport, we were told that it would be a two-hour journey to get to Musanze. I was surprised how clean and green the tiny country of Rwanda was. I was even more surprised when the driver told me that once a month, the whole country has a government holiday to clean every corner and nook of the country! Plastic bottles are also banned in the entire country. No wonder they pride themselves and call themselves the Switzerland of Africa!

On the way, we stopped at a roadside market to check out the local fruits and vegetables. The fruits and vegetables were sold in a similar fashion to the lahris in India but were way fresher and juicier than anything I have seen sold on the streets of Mumbai! After talking to some locals, I collected that the most popular fruits there were tree tomato, pineapples, passionfruit and of course the famous Rwandan avocados (more on this later!).

We made it to our hotel, Bishop’s House in good time only to find it was anything but a commercial hotel. Bishop’s House was more like a very comfortable home with nine spacious rooms. As the name suggests, it was a house previously owned by a bishop during the genocide. At our first dinner, we found out that the chef concocts a completely new dinner menu every night. His most famous dish is the ‘Dian’ chicken, named after Dian Fossey, possibly the world’s most famous primatologist and conservationist.

For our morning breakfast (before we met the famous gorillas!), we chose some delicious caramelised coconut pancakes (a first) and fresh fruit from our à la carte breakfast menu. Before our trek, we were taken to a centre where we were served coffee and Rwandan tea – a mix of spices and milk, highly reminiscent of our Indian chai. We were divided into groups of eight; our group was told that the family of gorillas we would be meeting was the ‘Umubano’ family. Umubano literally means ‘live together’ and it could not be more apt for this family of 14. We saw all the members of the family– three Silverbacks, one six-month-old, two teenagers and eight female gorillas– playing and resting together. The most interesting sight was when we spotted the two young teenagers jumping between trees and playing a game of tag. All of the gorillas have unique names except for the 6-month-old baby, who will be named in an exclusive gorilla naming ceremony that takes place every September. The gorillas behaved very much like humans, which is not surprising since we share 97.4% of our DNA!

The trek that we took to reach the gorillas was a gruelling medium-hard level trek and took us over an hour-and-a-half each way. Rangers, gunmen and even porters accompanied us through the trek, making it a little less tiring! They even spoke the language of the gorillas. Despite the stinging nettles and insects, the trek was very enjoyable as we were surrounded by greenery and fresh air, a welcome change from the pollution in Mumbai. The gorillas were hard to track, but once we found them, we realized that they were very docile and seemed strangely acclimated to strangers taking photos of them. This made me suspect some sort of human intervention or tranquilisation of the gorillas. Upon prodding the guide, however, I was told that humans do not intervene unless the gorillas are sick, in which case they provide medical attention.

On the way home, we stopped to see the small but informative free Karisoke Exhibit, which helped enhance our knowledge of gorillas, Dian Fossey and her research.  Our lunch that followed at Bishop’s was delectable, with a particular highlight –the large, fresh and extremely juicy Rwandan avocados. We enjoyed them so much that we ordered a repeat of avocado, lime and tree tomato salad for dinner as well! It was the perfect end to our short stint in Rwanda.

Our next day ensued a two hour drive to Kigali, a flight from Kigali Airport to Kilimanjaro Airport and then another short flight from there to Kogatende Airstrip. Kogatende is the most unique airport I have come across. It is the only airstrip I’ve ever seen where the propeller plane has to circle and wait while elephants cross the airstrip! It was then a short, pleasant drive from the airstrip to our first camp – Asilia’s Olakira camp site.

Olakira is a moving tented camp by Asilia, relocating throughout the year to follow the migration. Our three night stay in Olakira was my first tented camp experience and I loved every minute of it. Each meal had a new menu made with fresh ingredients driven in from the closest city, Arusha. Each of these meals was accompanied by a selection of beverages, with a particularly abundant selection of wines from South Africa. On our first night, we enjoyed a three-course meal including carrot soup, pan fried tilapia and caramel mousse. We then spent the night in an open tent, stargazing and listening to the sounds of lions roaring and hyenas laughing. However, that was not the reason that I did not sleep very well. My excitement for the forthcoming game drives and hope for a potential wildebeest migration sighting were the culprit! In the morning I discovered that early morning wake up calls in the Serengeti are different - they are screams instead of knocks or calls and come with tea or coffee.

Over the next couple of days, I was able to encounter some of the best animal sightings I have ever seen. We were able to spot a few lions lazing around, two lioness stalking prey, a leopard skulking up on a tree, elephant herds, a few jacks scurrying away and many a hippo in the water. Of course, we also spotted scores of zebra, giraffe and deer. The most alarming sight, however, were the hordes of wildebeest splattered around the Serengeti like ants. Everywhere we went, we could see them hurdled together in groups of tens of thousands, and we hoped with every coming day that they would move towards the river and cross over to the Mara. However, we were not lucky enough to see the river crossing while we were staying in Olakira.

Two days later, we were transferred to Bushtops, a one-hour drive from the airstrip. Our drive to the hotel ended up being a game drive where we spotted a herd of nine elephants, including the matriarch and two babies. It was one of the cutest sights I have ever seen! Once we reached, we realised that the hotel was quite a sight in itself! The hotel came with an infinity pool, personal butler and a personal hot tub with a view of the Serengeti. We enjoyed all our nights at the hotel playing chess, having drinks by the fire and enjoying lavish dinners in the middle of the Serengeti.

I have no complaints when it comes to the food that we were served in Bushtops. My husband, who is a vegetarian and generally has trouble finding food options in Africa got a bevy of choices over there, thanks to the separate vegetarian menu. A lot of the dishes that we were served were similar to Indian curries, especially the spices and flavors. One of the funniest moments we had was when we were presented with a ‘traditional Tanzanian dish’ called sambusa, which is essentially a vegetable samosa. I believe that these similarities are largely due to the large Indian settlement in Dar-es-Salaam and Zanzibar. Some other meal items that stood out were poached pear with goat’s cheese and wine, dry ginger prawns and spicy vegetable curry.

Our stay at Bushtops was also filled with new experiences. I am a huge fan of the Lion King and was elated when I got to know that I would be having a romantic sundowner on Simba Rock. Simba Rock is a rock in the Serengeti which looks alarmingly similar to the fictional Pride Rock in Lion King. We enjoyed champagne and sambusa while looking at the sun setting over the plains.

The very next morning, we had another very exciting and early experience. We woke up at 4 am in the morning to drive to the hot air balloon site where I would have my first ever hot air balloon experience! The hot air balloon had six other passengers and provided us with a glorious bird’s eye view of the grasslands. As we descended slightly, we could see herds of hippos, deer and even a few crocodiles lazing around on the riverbank. After the hot air balloon ride, we were treated to a full English breakfast spread in the middle of the plains with fresh Tanzanian pork and beef, which we topped off with mimosas.

Even with all these fun experiences, we were bummed out that we had not seen the wildebeests’ river crossing, the most famous migration sighting. After five days of no luck, we drove by the river to take one chance, and that’s when we saw the sighting of a lifetime. For over two hours, we saw what seemed like a million wildebeest galloping across the river and crossing over the Mara. The way they followed each other and ran in a straight line was mesmerizing to say the least. The ground shook as their hooves trampled on it while entering the river. We saw numerous ravenous crocodiles lurking in the water hoping to catch a weak wildebeest and have it for dinner. Not only did we see a wildebeest being caught, suffocated and later eaten, but we also saw a wildebeest that fought against the crocodile that had captured it and managed to escape unscathed! I guess Charles Darwin had it right; there is a reason why they call it the survival of the fittest.

Seeing the wildebeest migration was the cherry-on-top of our visit to the Serengeti. To help us relax after all the excitement, Bushtops had arranged a romantic hot tub, champagne and snacks for us followed by a private lodge dinner. My husband was craving Indian food, and boy, did they deliver! We had Indian spicy curry and chapatti as our main course. Although the chapatti was like tortilla, we fully enjoyed having a taste of India after a week.

The next morning, we were driven back to Kogatende airstrip, from where we would take a short flight to Ruaha, our last and final destination. Embarrassing as it is, I have to admit that I was very wary of these single propeller flights and I got jitters every time the planes took off. However, these feelings of fear soon disappeared as we spotted eleven elephants running next to our flight as we were landing! Ruaha is by far the largest national park in Tanzania but is still an undiscovered gem. With very few hotels and tourists, Ruaha was relatively untouched and a new experience for both of us. We stayed in Jabali Ridge, another Asilia property. Jabali Ridge was a sizeable, wooden lodge-style property made on top of large rocks on top of a hill.

Although it is a beautiful property, no hotels in the plains are airconditioned and this hit us pretty hard in Ruaha. Our visit was struck by a heat wave and the weather was much dryer than that in the Serengeti. Although this made afternoons less than bearable, the mornings and evenings were pleasant. There were a lot of small animals moving around our room and dining spaces at Jabali Ridge; this included a lot of Hyrax running about, Mwanza flat-headed rock Agama and the Spotted Bush Snake. It was not our finest moment when we were heading to the room and a snake crawled past our feet!

Though the quantities of animals like wildebeest and zebra we saw in the Ruaha were much lesser than what we saw in the Serengeti, we had a lot of new highlights to see ranging from a mating lion and lioness and an angry herd of elephants running (scary!). There were barely any tourist cars in Ruaha and it felt like we were alone in the wilderness for the first time. Our post safari meals were delightful and artistically presented, accompanied by some reverent cocktails. The hotel had a skilled bartender, who served up French 79s, gimlets and margaritas daily.

We ended our trip with a romantic private dinner by the infinity pool. We had some more of the famous Tanzanian sambusa, African curry and my favourite, Gulf-style chicken. Although I am yet to discover why this particular style of chicken is so popular in East Africa, I had no objections as I lapped up two servings. The fantastical staff sang to us to commemorate our visit. The staff in all the hotels had been exceedingly friendly and had gone out of their way to make our trip exciting and fun. As we bid Africa adieu and headed to a three-flight long journey home, Jambo Bwana was repeatedly playing in my mind.