Last year in February, just days before COVID19 closed down the world, I was lucky enough to still go on safari in Tanzania with a group of Travelife Magazine readers and friends. We went for the birthing of the wildebeests, which is the start of the annual Great Migration. This trip took us from Arusha, which is the international airport for arrivals for safaris in the Serengeti and trekking up Kilimanjaro, all the way to the Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti.
A TENT SAFARI IN THE SERENGETI
In the Serengeti, we stayed in this beautiful tent camp which made me think of the old movie “Out of Africa.” This stars Robert Redford and Meryll Streep and it’s the safari experience at its most picturesque.
Everything about the camp was exquisite. In fact, the details of the tents in the camp, and the decor, left me in awe. Unfortunately the food was awful. However, this is quite understandable as the chefs probably didn’t have much experience cooking Western food. Also, we were in the middle of nowhere in Central Serengeti with little access to ingredients. Everything had to be trucked in and stored for weeks in the kitchen tent. There was no edible vegetation anywhere in this area.
HOW TO COOK PASTA IN AFRICA
The pasta was especially bad and understandably so. I can imagine that the Tanzanians who were cooking the pasta had never tasted the real thing before. It was fine on the first day. However, after two days of awful food, I finally put my foot down and opted for a win-win solution.
READ ABOUT THE MOST ROMANTIC NEW HOTEL IN SPAIN
I said to the manager: “Why don’t I cook dinner for everyone tonight? And your cooks can learn how to make real spaghetti pomodoro.”He readily agreed. So I spent the afternoon giving them a few lessons and my friends were all happy with dinner that night. The cooks were happy too, judging from the smiles all around the kitchen tent that day.
Read more stories about the best safaris in Tanzania in Travelife Magazine.
