This seems to be a trip of almost-firsts. On the flight from Zanzibar via Pemba Island to Tanga, I occupy the co-pilot seat, something I haven't done since obtaining my flying license years ago. Great views though.

I stay in Tanga for a night before taking the bus to Arusha, the gateway to the Northern National Parks and Kilimanjaro. A glimpse of that famous mountain is enough for now and I also don't know whether I can afford to visit these parks, especially Serengeti, since the prices I am being quoted are astronomical.

I shop around a while and do find a lot cheaper five-day trip, but it means staying in a tent — another almost-first. I haven't done that since my boy-scout days. There are probably friends of mine who upon reading this and remembering my hitchhiking from three weeks ago, just shake their heads and wonder what happened to me. No clue. I want to see it all and if that's the only way to do it, then so be it.

Animals in motion

This is a good day, no, a great day. After going through the quite impressive Manyara National Park, today it is on to the Ngorongoro Crater and to famous Serengeti National Park, both UNESCO sites.

When asking around I am told that I missed the famous Serengeti migration, but upon driving through that park I see herds and herds of antelopes, hundreds upon hundreds of zebras and literally thousands of wildebeests. An absolutely incredible sight. It was not the famous river crossings, which we know from pictures, but the actual migration over the flats of the park. It defies the imagination seeing these thousands of animals move in front of your eyes.

Because I only saw one lion in Tangala, I am hoping for that species and my prayers are answered. I see at least a dozen and they are absolutely magnificent. One male lion even performed a reproductive act not three feet away from us. When he finished (it was about 15 seconds) he roared, playfully bit the female on the neck and then he growled into her ear.

I also see two Nile crocodiles start devouring the wildebeest they have just killed. They are at least eight-feet long, are thrashing through the water and tearing the wildebeest to pieces. What an incredible sight. Cruel, for sure, but just nature. It seems that we humans are the only “animal” on this earth that kills “for pleasure,” and we are very good at it.

Some of the new animals I encounter in this park are baboons, velvet monkeys, ostriches, jackals, banded mongoose, hyenas and even some imported camels, one of which had just give birth to a new baby. It is still lying on the ground and seems to be dead, but I am assured by the owner that it is very much alive.

Bottom of the crater

This is definitely a trip of highs and lows all in the same place. I have about the worst night of this trip — it is very cold and I freeze in my tent, but the preceding sunset is sublime and this morning's sunrise even better.

So now it is down into the crater, a descent of about 2,000 feet. The wildlife is overwhelming. The new animals I see here are flamingos, servals, foxes and my first black rhino, rare in South Africa but the only species of rhino here.

Now that I have visited six parks in South Africa, Swaziland and Tanzania, I can tell you that they are all different. Kruger Park was a bit barren with the predominant color brown and very dry. Both Tangala and Mkhaya are more wooded, but also dry, probably the season.

Then Lake Manyara National Park in Tanzania is lush and green, as is Ngorongoro, but the latter with the barren crater floor. Then of course Serengeti, which gives the impression of being a desert, but which turns into a mud bath during the wet season. Quite intriguing, because basically the same kinds of species are around everywhere — and they are all magnificent.

Back to the Manyara camping for the last night in a tent and tomorrow it is off to Tarangire National Park, before returning to Arusha and continuing on direction Malawi.