Excitement. Adventure. Serenity. The Tanzania Northern Circuit in 5 days.

Millions of Zebra and Wildebeests migrating across rivers and borders – one with amazing vision, the other with the gift of scent. What an adventure! No visa hassles, a respectful paparazzi and the mild inconvenience of keeping alive. Featuring the BIG 5, crocodiles and even the Tsetse flies. And once you’re in the jungle, the realization that it’s their home and you’re just visiting – mouth agape, neck strained from looking around, photos clicked a fraction of second late, and goosebumps, coming too often. Nothing can put your life into perspective like a camping safari trip in Africa.

We had 5 days and 5 nights and the high ambition to cover Tarangire, Serengeti, and Ngorongoro on a camping cum road trip. A college buddy and his wife (now also our buddy) were traveling from Saudi Arabia and India respectively to experience with us, the marvel called Tanzania Northern Circuit. Our entire trip was booked airport to airport with a travel agency, something new and scary for Yash and me. A driver and a cook were included in the package – who only added to the adventure and serenity in their own ways.

The first day we drove on snake-like tarmac road from Arusha to Tarangire National Park – made many stops, saw the whole vegetarian fauna and a pride of lionesses and cubs feasting on a wildebeest. Eating in front of strangers? The royal family doesn’t care. Tarangire is home to many majestic Baobab trees. I hugged one and tried to hear the songs of the ancestors! On our way out, we saw a weekly Maasai market and decided to mingle (maybe we should have dressed differently). The beautifully ornamented women and overtly friendly young men were nothing less than the fascinating things on sale. Did we shop? Yes! We bought most souvenirs straight from the craftsmen themselves, exchanged smiles and shook many hands. The day was made.

We generally believe that we are an adventurous couple, but often adventure seeks us even before we begin to ask for it. Let us elaborate: On the second day, we left the campsite last (late riser problem).  Our driver got arrested for drunken driving (!). The new driver came shortly, but the Land Cruiser couldn’t take his F1 driving on the dirt path and the diesel tank came off from one side (!!). It scraped and bumped as we listened to the sounds and we kept halting to fix it. Then it started raining, the mud got slippery but our driver kept going all Mad Max to cover lost time. We skid, almost missed bumping into another SUV coming from the other side and went off-road, almost toppling over. Almost. (!!!) Stoppp!!!! “Are we still alive?” “Were those ostriches racing our SUV?” Well, once we were back to our senses, we decided to die another day and got down to hitch a ride to our campsite. Now, while all the above might seem terrible, we were experiencing Serengeti like no one else – talking to an 8-year old entrepreneur at the beautiful Karatu Police Station; posing for pictures and waving at tourists on the dirt road; and we saw a rainbow when we got off the SUV at Serengeti, a place where you can get shot by the park guard just for setting foot and we did it almost 6 times. So badass! Our campsite was in the middle of the grassland with 3-4 bulbs for the kitchen and dining area, none in the toilets. Our adorable cook arranged for supper and we ate while surveying with thumping hearts the open area which was our bedroom for the night. As we laid down to sleep I learned that a night in the jungle heightens your senses because it’s so damn quiet, and the sky is like a sequined shawl and I felt like a poet and an animal at the same time. Thankfully I slept, but sometime during the night, I remember hearing a pack of hyenas just outside our tents, laughing. We woke up before sunrise, skipped bathing and left for the safari antelopes and zebra roam around like people in malls. We were watching a gazelle harem when they all froze. Our guide said there must be a predator close by. Someone spotted a lioness strutting into the scene, but the gazelles had already fled in a jiffy. We were rooted in our spots watching Her Majesty and she ignored us big time. Funnily it felt good! By afternoon, we had seen a couple of leopards chilling on a tree, herds of elephants huddled under a tree’s shade, a family of Pumbas running with their tails up, smiling hippos lazing in a pool and sporty ostriches racing our SUV. As we drove to Ngorongoro base camp, we got a flat tire and an opportunity to meet some native Maasai men, with whom we exchanged names and Alsaba her bracelet, and watched a ravishing sunset over the endless plains.

Ngorongoro Conservation Area is a striking contrast to Serengeti – cooler weather and more charged up ambiance. By nightfall, we were shivering in our layers of “thick” shirts and thin jackets and chitchatted for some time near the bonfire. The next morning as I zipped open the tent at 5 am, clouds rushed in to give me a morning hug. We descended the crater to find an animal heaven within the caldera, clouds perched on top of the 360-degree crater wall, green trees, golden grass, happy animals, and casual natives, and even we started feeling more alive. I was standing throughout the drive with the rooftop open, breathing in the fresh breeze and breathing out memories of life outside the crater. Suddenly we came across Simba, a lion sitting royally in the center of it all, like the King he is. All hail! We now know why the lion is called the king of the jungle. We finally got down at a lake which seemed like a miniature ecosystem, a multitude of amazing being thrown at us. First, we went speechless, then I started imagining a hobbit house at the ‘Gift of Life’, or El-Nkoronkoro, as the Maasai called it. We could have settled there, but had a long drive back to Arusha, so we left, meandering around the caldera and eventually out of it. No pictures or words or videos can do justice to an experience that made us realize that we’re just a speck on the canvas, but lucky to be watching the marvels painted by God himself. Do yourself a favor, skip everything and experience it. Forget about the itinerary or counting the BIG 5, go find yourself in the wild.