By Judith Rosink, Asilia Sales Manager, East Africa

Judith Rosink has just returned from a whirlwind tour of some of our Tanzanian camps, and here she shares her impressions of Namiri Plains and Rubondo Island with us.

On the 31^st of July I left Arusha Airport with Coastal Aviation to Seronera Airstrip in Central Serengeti. Upon arrival, Hamza (my very experienced driver/guide) picked me up and my adventure began. After approximately 45 minutes we left the Seronera area and entered the Namiri Plains. Having visited almost every corner of Serengeti in the past couple of years, Namiri Plains is totally different — we saw no other safari vehicles and felt like we were the only 2 people on Earth! All of a sudden we saw three cheetahs close to the dirt road, relaxing after they had consumed their freshly caught prey! We could not really identify what they had killed but it looked like an impala. I was overwhelmed, since I had never encountered 3 cheetah at the same time on any safari I had been on before. It had been high on my wish list, so Hamza could do no wrong after this!

We then proceeded to the camp, which was about another 5 kilometres away. The camp has a unique location and since I prefer the real “Out of Africa” feeling above being in a crowd, I felt absolutely at home. I only went to my tent for a couple of minutes because, for me it is a waste of time to be indoors when there is so much to see outside. So I went to sit at the outside lounge area and simply enjoyed the beautiful view. Not far from where I sat I saw buffalo, giraffe, impala and many different bird species.

Before dinner a nice, so-called “bush television,” was set up for us around a campfire. Two honeymoon couples, a family of four and I exchanged many entertaining stories and I hadn’t laughed as much in years. Both Epimak (camp manager) and Blessed (head guide) told us about the beautiful area we were sitting in and we marvelled at their vast knowledge of the environment and the wildlife.

Afterwards dinner was served at a shared table and, I must say, with each course the chef Emanuelle had our taste buds dancing with delight. In no time at all our plates were empty.

The next morning I woke up early to enjoy the sunrise and then Hamza and I had to leave because I needed to catch a plane and he still wanted to show me around. While driving around the kopjes we spotted a group of seven young male lions lounging about after their breakfast. We continued towards the airstrip and the last surprise we encountered was a big herd of elephants just roaming around and feeling completely comfortable with our presence!

At 14h00 it was time to say goodbye and to take off to my next adventure, Rubondo Island.

Well, what can I say about Rubondo Island? I didn’t know what to expect since the only islands I knew were the cold ones in the Netherlands. The flew over the amazing Lake Victoria and suddenly this little island popped up and on the edge of it there was an airstrip that turned out to be my destination. Once we landed and I had both feet on the ground I truly could not believe my eyes — normally I always know how to speak out loud (part of my job I guess!) but I was completely speechless, struck by the beauty I saw around me. After a very nice welcome at the airstrip by guides Habibu and Elisante, complete with snacks and sparkling wine, (there were two other couples who arrived at the same time) we stepped into the Land Rover for the ten-minute drive to Rubondo Island Camp. We drove through some thick forest and after not even two minutes we spotted our first animal — a sitatunga, a small fluffy antelope that I have never seen before.

Upon arrival, Henk and Janine were waiting for us and we were warmly welcomed. We were brought to our rooms and again, as I do not have anything to do with rooms apart from sleeping in them, I went to explore the area. Vervet monkeys were jumping around all over the place, a lot of birds flew around the forest looming over a beautiful sandy beach. After that we went to have a drink together with the other guests at the fire, which was set up at the beach where we enjoyed refreshing drinks and delicious spicy bites. Dinner was served at a communal table and the food was excellent — I live in Arusha and believe me, there are maybe only one or two restaurants in town that serve the same high standard of food!

Since the weather is totally unpredictable on the island, activities offered can only be arranged on the moment. The next morning I did a guided forest walk together with Habibu and two other guests. Since there are elephants around, we had to be escorted by an armed guide of TANAPA (Tanzania National Parks). First we had to drive approximately 15 minutes until we reached the Mamba Track. The forest was thick, so it was difficult to clearly spot all the birds we heard singing, but on the ground we saw beautiful bushes and trees and the smell of the blossoming wild coffee plants stayed in my nose the rest of the day. After 1.5 hours of walking and exploring every leaf, seed, flower and bug we met on our way, we saw our first chimp nest. You could see it was a couple of days old but there were many of them, and a hundred meters further along there was a fresh (very green) one which must have been built just the day before. Habibu explained to us that it must have been a big male who had built this, as it was not very high up in the tree, and females tend to build at higher altitude to be able to protect their youngsters. The chimps normally used to be further away in the forest, Habibu explained, but in the last couple of weeks they had been in the area where we now were more often, so this is very promising. He thinks that the permanent water in the area is attracting them and that it should not be too difficult to habituate them to humans in due course.

After four hours, we sadly had to return to camp, as the other guests did not want to continue. I could have spent the whole day in the forest! However, later on I would have regretted it if I had stayed, because after lunch we went out fishing! Captain and Elisante took four of us out on the lake in the camp’s well-equipped speedboat and after only 10 minutes we already caught a massive Nile perch! We are not pros, so a 10 kg fish is pretty big! Within half an hour three more were caught and it was very special to hold one for the camera.

We also saw fish eagles, herons and many other aquatic bird species.

Refreshments and snacks were served on board, and it was a fantastic, fun-filled experience for all.

The next day I had to wake up early because there is only one flight per day from the island and it leaves at 07h30. As I said goodbye, I knew in my heart that I would have loved to stay on Rubondo Island longer.