Zanzibar – Empakaai Cultural Safari

Trip feedback: Our mentor in Africa

We are very thankful for this positive review to our guests Sara and Alberto, who traveled with us on a private trip in October 2016.

Thank you dear Sara and Alberto, it was a pleasure to travel with you, as you’ve been open, flexible and enjoying every moment!

“Hello everybody!

We wanted to contribute our part to a great company and share our opinion with people who are thinking about making a trip to Kenya and Tanzania.

We returned two weeks ago after spending 19 days in Kenya and Tanzania. Before doing this trip we were going crazy trying to find something that would fit our needs. Now we say – we have not only found it, but we are totally delighted, with the trip, with the experience and above all with people whom we met. Thanks to them we have been able to live this adventure.

It began with Olena as we contacted her before the trip. She explained every detail, responded instantly and began to make this a reality. Titus our driver and guide in Kenya, Stanley and Costa, our guide and cook in Tanzania, each and every one of them made our trip an unforgettable experience. And we will never forget the great Moses, our mentor in Africa. He has been our guide, our teacher. He was not afraid to roll up his sleeves and help us, with border procedures, maintaining our security, or making hundreds of miles to take us to the airport and say goodbye to us. We can only be very grateful.

For people who are thinking of traveling to these countries – first we thought to do the trip by ourselves, but after our experience we know that this was the best way. Empakaai Cultural Safari www.empakaaiculturalsafari.com is a small company. Moses is in charge of getting everything done with the help of people we mentioned. Our trip had a very tight price, which was important for us, and we got it adapted to our needs, itineraries, accommodations, etc.

All in all our trip exceeded our expectations. We learned about the culture, mixed with people and got to know these two great countries.

Sara and Alberto”

The original text is posted on the travel forum Los Viajeros (in Spanish language):

Empakaai cultural safari: Kenia, Tanzania, Zanzíbar

And here is the trip itinerary of Sara and Alberto:

Day 1: Nairobi to Lake Nakuru

Day 2: Lake Nakuru to Maasai Mara

Day 3 and Day 4: Maasai Mara

Day 5: Maasai Mara to Lake Naivasha

Day 6: Lake Naivasha to Amboseli

Day 7: Amboseli

Day 8: Amboseli (Kenya) to Karatu (Tanzania)

Day 9: Karatu to Serengeti

Day 10: Serengeti

Day 11: Serengeti to Ngorongoro

Day 12: Ngorongoro to Mto Wa Mbu

Day 13: Mto Wa Mbu – Arusha – Zanzibar

Day 14 – Day 19: Zanzibar

Want to start planning your own adventure to Africa, but don’t know where to start? Just contact us on empakaai.cultural.safari@gmail.com

And on our Instagram account you will always see fresh photo impressions from our recent trips: animals of Africa, landscapes, places to visit, accommodations, activities and special moments! Our Instagram: empakaai_cultural_safari

Best of Kenya and Tanzania – join us in September!

Are you dreaming about getting (back) in touch with African wildlife and culture? Let the Empakaai Cultural Safari team know, as we are planning a very intensive and exciting trip in Kenya, Tanzania and Zanzibar this September!

We are going to start this journey with three very enthusiastic travelers from Europe, who are very eager to make the best out of their time in East Africa. If you always wanted to hit the African road early and fill yourself with impressions and experiences of world famous highlights of Kenya and Tanzania every single day, you are very welcome to join us in Nairobi on 9th September 2015.

Our itinerary will be as follows:

We will depart from Nairobi early in the morning on 9th of September to reach the scenic Lake Naivasha later in the afternoon, where we have time to do a game walk and start getting close to the amazing wildlife of East Africa. The following morning we will start a drive to the Maasai Mara National Reserve, passing by beautiful and changing landscapes of Kenya.

Maasai Mara National Reserve will be our home for two nights. A full day game drive in this unique place is a wonderful eye opening experience! Chances are very high that we will see all of the Big 5 and impressive groups of zebra and wildebeest on that same day in Maasai Mara. We will also make sure to visit a Maasai village in this area.

From Maasai Mara we will proceed towards the magnificent Lake Victoria, and will cross the border with Tanzania there. After admiring Lake Victoria and doing a boat trip, we will drive towards the Ndabaka gate of Serengeti, where we will spend the night camping in open air under the starry sky of Tanzania.

The next day will be the Serengeti day. Waking up with sunrise, we will drive through the Serengeti National Park to reach the Ngorongoro crater in the evening.

The next morning the beautiful Ngorongoro crater will open itself in front of our eyes and camera lenses. After enjoying this breathtaking place thoroughly, we will drive to the picturesque village of Mto Wa Mbu. Here we will take an afternoon bicycle ride through the village to learn more about the local culture.

Our destination for the next day is the travel capital of Tanzania, Arusha. But before settling down for the day, we will drive to Moshi, a village famous around the world for its views of the gorgeous Mount Kilimanjaro.

After a relaxing night in Arusha, we will continue our journey. Our next big destination is Zanzibar. Before reaching this paradise on earth, we will make a drive through beautiful Tanzania and stop for the nights in comfortable and picturesque camps in Usambara Mountains and then in Dar Es Salaam.

Once the ferry will take us from the busy city of Dar Es Salaam to the island of Zanzibar, we will do no more long days driving! We will stop over for the night in exotic Stone Town, and then continue straight to the charming beaches of Nungwi in North Zanzibar. Four days of relaxation and processing of impressions from our busy trip will be a perfect ending of our East Africa adventure on 23rd of September!

Take your time to admire a beautiful sunset above the Indian Ocean

Contact us for further information about this trip by email info@empakaaiculturalsafari.com or through DM on Instagram empakaai_cultural_safari

Book your trip to Africa early with 20% discount

Not yet decided where to go and what to see in Africa this year? Here are some of our favorite places to help you out. And if you confirm your trip before May 1st 2015, for any departure date in 2015, we will give you a 20% discount per person on the trip price.

You choose your timing, places you want to see and you let us know what is important for you during your trip. The specialists of Empakaai Cultural Safari team will make a proposed itinerary and a price offer. We will include a 20% discount per person if you confirm your trip with Empakaai Cultural Safari before May 1st 2015.

Now just have a look at some beautiful places in East Africa that truly deserve to be on your must-see list for this year:

Maasai Mara National Park

Why go there: To get as far away from the hectic artificial world as possible. To be overwhelmed by the endless nature around you. To experience your best and closest encounters with the Big Five, and many others.

Lake Baringo

Because only here you can try to learn the names of the many tribes that live on the shores of Lake Baringo. Experience a gamedrive “Lake Baringo style”: you relax on a terrace with a cup of coffee or tea (or a glass of wine or beer), while animals and birds come close to you (beware of crocodiles!). Wake up at night because of a noisy hippo grazing right next to your tent.

Lake Nakuru

We love it here because rhino’s in the National Park are used to safari vehicles being around, so if you are careful, you can come really close to admire them. Because flamingo’s are back. Because some of our favorite lodges are close by (and they are affordable by guests with any level of budget).

Mount Kenya

Why we think you’ll love it here: pleasant cool climate and fresh mountain air, an endless choice of activities, a fascinating wildlife and you are still very close to Nairobi and to Nanyuki.

Samburu National Reserve

This place is an absolute must because local Samburu community runs really good camps next to the Samburu National Reserve, and they do not overcharge you for their perfect catering and simple chalets with all conveniences. Wildlife experience in this area is priceless (read more here and here).

Zanzibar

Why visit (or return to) Zanzibar: Place with an interesting past, excellent levels of service and some of the most loved diving and snorkelling locations in the world. Zanzibar is often offered as a final destination on the trip. And it is absolutely a wonderful place to rest after an exciting safari – read more here, here and here.

And these are just very few of the fascinating places in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Empakaai Cultural Safari will help you to plan your own unique trip – the choice is yours about the places you want to see (on our routes or nearby), how long you want to stay where, when you want to visit.

Contact us on info@empakaaiculturalsafari.com before May 1st 2015 to book your trip with 20% discount. Let the Empakaai Cultural Safari team take you on a well organized and exciting safari this year!

A long beach walk in North Zanzibar

The Zanzibar’s most beautiful gift to its guests is located in the northern part of the island. Beaches of North Zanzibar are truly beautiful and are home to many hotels and lodges for all budgets and expectations.

North Zanzibar is one of the most famous tropical beach destinations in the world, and yes, you will notice that this location is popular. But I never got a feeling of being in a mass tourism spot, not for one second. I felt free and I felt that my privacy was always respected.

The beach line is long and uninterrupted, and the space alongside the ocean is shared: you will see no walls, no fences, no separated spaces. It is easy to see and to be seen here. It is very easy to find what you want to do and actually do it.

The nature here is so much more important than the infrastructure. As a rule, hotel rooms are a bit further from the beach line and are hidden behind palm trees and tropical gardens.

View from a room in Sunset Bungalows, Kendwa Beach, just 3 km away from Nungwi

A restaurant with a terrace and a bar would take a front spot on the beach: a perfect place to admire the ocean. After you’ve taken a seat and got a drink, you can start observing what is going on around here and decide on your next thing to do (if you feel like doing anything at all). Take a boat trip, go snorkeling or diving, play a game of beach volleyball? Most often I went for the “do nothing” option, and just stayed on a terrace with a drink.

Which was a choice well made, especially when it was the sunset time and a fascinating play of pink, orange and blue lights was about to begin.

There were a couple of practical things I enjoyed a lot in North Zanzibar:

I was pleasantly surprised that personnel in bars and restaurants of North Zanzibar is well trained and very professional. Especially when you just did a trip through the mainland Africa, you would be so delighted to be served by these young, energetic and efficient ladies and gentlemen, working hard to make sure everyone can enjoy Swahili food and African beers. I’m actually keeping my fingers crossed right now in a sincere wish for this superb level of service to stay the same.

I loved that there were renovation works going on almost in every location along the beach line. Mostly on a small scale, one or two guys were doing their job quietly but with determination. No disturbance at all caused to a normal rhythm on the beach. Sun bathing, long breakfasts, snorkelling, beer drinking, beach walking, swimming, haggling with vendors, sunset cruises – all that continued, while bars, terraces and beach huts were getting their facelifts.

I also have a word of praise to local beach vendors. These friendly guys will be around and will want to sell you fruit, drink, a sarong or a boat trip (or marry you). I’m not sure if this has to do with restrictions and tourist protection rules, but beach vendors are friendly and flirtatious around here. They are entertainers, rather than people on business. They actually seem to know what the word “no” means. I have not come across any really sticky ones, they accept a “no” answer easily, and would never nag, push or beg.

Everybody finds own delight here and I would not be able to give this place a label. I cannot say: go visit North Zanzibar only if you are a water sports addict, or only if you are a sun worshipper, or if the ultimate thing on your vacation is a relaxed terrace with an impressive choice of foods, beers and cocktails. North Zanzibar will give you all that, all those pleasures with a slice of a spicy Zanzibar character and a dressing of a free African spirit.

And most importantly, you will be privileged to share a fantastic beauty of this place.

I remember my last twenty four hours there as if it was yesterday.

A warm wind was helping to gather rain clouds above the beach. Raindrops were not yet substantial, and beach assistants were hesitant to start collecting towels and mattresses and hiding them under a roof.

An intense dark grey was a new color slowly taking over a bright blue sky. I can tell you, it is near to impossible to surprise a person from Holland with a rain cloud. We do not want to see them when we are on holidays. We have them in all shapes, shades and degrees of boredom at home, all year round.

But – never in combination with translucent turquoise ocean waters, carrying triangular veils of dhows.

We never see rain clouds above palm trees growing on white sands.

It all felt like a perfect harmony, like everything else sooner or later falls together and starts making sense in Africa.

The beautiful beach line of North Zanzibar is ideal for a long and relaxed walk.

This was the last day on the trip. I knew that this afternoon there would be a ferry back to Dar Es Salaam. Then, a long drive to the airport (with a stressful Dar Es Salaam traffic jam) followed by a long flight home.

So I welcomed every raindrop, while still in North Zanzibar.

Would you like to get your own first hand experience of North Zanzibar? Contact us at info@empakaaiculturalsafari.com. We are happy to answer all your questions, discuss your preferences and help you to book your trip.

Four days in Zanzibar: First time in Stone Town

To begin with, I must admit that I spent regrettably little time in Stone Town during my first visit.

For me, like for most tourists crossing the waters to the island of Zanzibar, Stone Town was scheduled to be a stopover for a couple of days, an in-between place on the way from the “mainland” Tanzania to gorgeous tropical beaches of Zanzibar.

But at the moment I came out of the ferry terminal I became intrigued. Stone Town is a charming door to Zanzibar, and it fully deserves to be a main destination of one’s journey.

Temptations
The first temptation was to go and discover how a labyrinth of narrow streets is put together in the older part of Stone Town.

The next temptation was to make a nice photo collection of carved wooden doors and colourful window frames that lavishly decorate Stone Town houses – I already imagined my nice new photo album featuring those beauties.

Then there were terraces and restaurants that smelled so good, looked relaxed, well organised and welcoming. And then I still had to decide about a place to watch the sunset that night (an everyday luxury challenge of a traveller in Africa!), and I had to plan my Stone Town must-do’s: a Spice Tour, a boat trip to Prison Island, a snorkelling trip and a visit to Freddy Mercury’s house on Kenyatta Road.

Anyway, I got out of the hotel and started walking – and then I could not stop admiring. Stone Town is a real treat for a photographer: because of its colours and lights, but mainly thanks to its contrasts.

Contrasts between old and new, renovated and worn out, plain and glamorous, Africa and Middle East, nice crafts and made-in-China souvenirs. Contrast between yesterday’s chaos in Dar Es Salaam and today’s calm coziness in Stone Town, dominated by prayer calls during the day hours, and by local and Western music tunes during the night hours.

To see and to be seen
The business at the night market was going well that evening.

The density of crowd was high, it looked like all available tourists and at least half of Stone Town residents were there.

The food was abundant and fresh, but the most spectacular thing was – the dress code of the Stone Town ladies.

The dress code: a long flowing gown a la opera diva, the brightest colour fabric you can get, maximum paillettes, maximum Swarovski, hair accessories and shoes in matching colours, shiny bag and a smartphone. Even baby girls were dressed in line with the dress code (smartphone and bag excluded)! And the most amazing thing : it did not look cheap and vulgar at all, it would fall out of context in any other place, but felt so appropriate here in Stone Town, a place already full of contrasts. It felt like all ladies that night were bride’s maids at a huge wedding party.

It was definitely a grandiose show off: the family with their many children would make an entrance to the night market, but would not mix with the crowd. They would first organise a place to sit down on the ground (have you ever seen an opera diva in her concert gown sitting on the ground in a crowded place?), make sure children are comfortable, and then arrange getting some food.

Kenyatta Road under a morning rain
Sooner or later everyone discovering Stone Town ends up on Kenyatta Road. All roads in Stone Town seem to lead to Kenyatta Road. Your guide or your hotel receptionist will show you the street on the map, and most probably say something like: this is the central street of Stone Town, “don’t buy souvenirs here, you can get them cheaper around the corner”.

If you walk around for a couple of hours visiting shops and cafés, you will start bumping into the same people and start noticing same young couples walking back and forth, popping out of narrow streets, first looking a bit disorientated and then getting a happy look of recognition on their faces. I got a cozy déjà vu feeling of a small relaxed holiday town that suddenly reminded me of Provence and of Tuscany.

Be comfortable about staying here for the evening: on Kenyatta Road you are close to the night market and to many good restaurants. Here you can get a bit of a vibe from the night market, have a perfect romantic candlelight dinner, or drink some local beers with your group. Or just stay enjoying a glass of wine admiring the starry African sky (this is Africa, remember?)

Kenyatta Road can get filled up and busy every now and then. But when in the morning on my second day a short rain broke out, the street became empty for a few beautiful moments. And when the sun came out, I was overwhelmed by a pure sense of happiness and appreciation, by a certainty of being in the right place at the right time.

…and by the way, I still need to do a Spice Tour when I come back.

Do you want to get your own first hand Stone Town experience? Contact us at info@empakaaiculturalsafari.com. We are happy to answer all your questions, discuss your preferences and help you to book your trip.