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Great
Flying Safaris in
Tanzania Christmas dinner
"under the stars" While our most
recent Tanzania Air Safari took place during
Christmas week, it began one week earlier during
dinner at The Slipway, a delightful 'people place'
on Dar es Salaam's rapidly developing waterfront.
Here we had the opportunity to meet owner Nicola
Colangelo, a dynamic entrepreneur who offered us
back to back adventures, with a series of flights
on Coastal Airlines' Cessna aircraft. The first leg
of the journey would be a quick hop to the
company's Mafia Island Marine Park, and later to
two different tented camps - the new Impala Camp at
Selous, operated by the Zanacchi family - and the
Old River Camp in the heart of Ruaha National Park.
After two weeks of dawn to dusk conferences at
Zanzibar Beach Resort and Dar es Salaam's Golden
Tulip Hotel, the idea of a Coastal Air Safari had a
special appeal. Our immediate reaction was - let's
go for the gusto! Mafia Island
Marine Park and Chole We had experienced
the delight of Tanzania's Indian Ocean Archipelago
during our week at the Africa Travel Association's
Ecotourism event in Zanzibar - but our stay at
Coastal's Mafia Island Marine Lodge offered a
totally different perspective. Here's laid back
living at its best in a scuba diver's paradise. A
major renovation program is underway. One special
highlight was an afternoon excursion to nearby
Chole Island, with its native culture, historic
ruins, boat building and a "Tarzan style" treehouse
in a huge Boabab tree, that's setting a trend in
ecological design. Here's what official sources
have to say about Mafia Marine Park: The area has
some of the finest surviving coral reefs off the
Tanzanian coast and the richest reefs in the World.
Established under the Marine Park and
Reserves Act, 1994, it is the first of its kind in
Tanzania. The park covers an area of 822 square km
around the south end of Mafia Island and Chole Bay.
Moreover, the park comprises of the Rufijii Delta
estuarine further west. This estuarine is rich in
Mangrove trees and the Coral Reefs which provide
home for more than 400 species of fishes.
Taking off to
the Selous We soon discovered
how the area's name was derived. Tanzania's largest
game reserve was named after hunter and soldier
Frederick Courtenay Selous, who came to fame in the
1900s during and following the great war, and whose
photo was prominently
displayed inside a small building by the airstrip
where our Coastal Aviation Cessna touched
down. Selous Impala
Camp The Impala Tented
Camp is brand new - and we had the honor of being
its first official guests. Being that parts of the
spacious facility were still under construction, we
could understand how Mr. Gillie Zanacchi's
engineering background was such an asset, and how
he and his team laid out the camp according to a
practical, precise, ecological plan. At the time, a
work crew was constructing a runoff system to
divert water during the coming rainy season. They
actually close down for a while on those occasions.
While the attractive tents exceeded anything I had
ever seen on previous safaris in terms of quality,
the Zanacchis came up with several customized ideas
that made them even more luxurious. Just imagine -
ornate double decorator style wash basins in the
washroom area, full size enclosed showers, king
size beds, and an enormous wooden deck overlooking
the river. There was plenty of room to move around,
store your personal goods, work at the lap top and
entertain guests. Another important facet of the
Imapala Camp at Selous, in my opinion, was the
owners concern for guests security. While wild
animals are common in the camp - including an
elephant named George, a frequent visitor who woke
us up the first morning as he dined on some bushes
nearby - one can feel quite safe. The camp and its
entire perimeter are protected by two serious and
stately Massai in their traditional wardrobes, who
know the ways of wild, keeping the hyenas and other
unwelcome visitors at bay. During several game
drives from the Impala Camp, we encountered more
giraffes than any other time in our safari
experience, and the river near our camp was
abundantly populated by hippos. We were told that
certain endangered species are on their way back,
notable among them are the black rhino and the
African wild dog. Coastal
Aviation, developed by Dar es Salaam-based
Coastal Travel Ltd., pioneered scheduled flying
safaris in Tanzania. Coastal Director Nicola
Colangelo, said that the company has invested 10.5
million $US in new aircraft alone. It is easy to
see why we say Tanzania Tourism is
expanding. Photos (some of
them to come) (1) Sailing on a
dhow near Mafia Island. (2) Ocean view
from Mafia Marine Lodge. (3) On front deck of our
modern, spacious tent at Impala Camp,
Selous. (4) Christmas at
Selous with the Zanucchis (right) and their camp
managers. (5) Undersea life
abounds off Mafia. (6) An attractive
treehouse on Chole Island, a few miles from Mafia
Island. (7) Africa Travel
Magazine's editor about to board the Coastal Cessna
aircraft. (8) Safari vehicle
at Ruaha Old River Camp. (More about our second
outstanding safari experience in next edition.
Contact: Coastal
Travel Ltd Tel: +255-22-2117
959 or 2117 960 Fax: +255-22-2118
647 or 2117 985 E-mail:
mailto:safari@coastal.cc http://www.coastal.cc/
More
links: Observe
Wildlife from a boat http://www.selous.com/ Tanzania
National Parks Web site:
http://www.habari.co.tz/tanapa/
will
guarantee you: •
Low Prices for Safaris in Tanzania •
Highly discounted prices for package
holidays •
Flexible Itineraries A
departure from the ordinary travel services,
welcome to Tanzania's largest Safari portal.
Tanzaniaholidays.com has been designed with
tourists in mind and gives you access to what we
think is the largest selection in Tanzania of air
fares, low prices for accommodation and low prices
for ordinary package, holidays, car rental and
other travel products. John
Bosco Tanzania
Holidays |
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"Our
flying safaris are so successful because they offer
the opportunity for small parties and single
persons to join an adventure which otherwise would
have been an prohibitive cost." Nicola
Colangelo
Being
a busy holiday week, the Dar es Salaam Regional
Airport bristled with excitement and the Coastal
Airlines office was perhaps the busiest of all.
After a short wait, we headed out on the tarmac
where the Cessna and pilot were waiting to greet
us. Flying at a relatively low altitude over the
Selous, heading west from Dar es Salaam, it was
easy to comprehend how large the reserve actually
is. This pristine wilderness area is greater in
size than several European countries. You can touch
down at several airstrips without leaving the park
and a variety of camps serves Tanzania's safari
trade. At around 50,0OO square kilometers, The
Selous, is Africa's largest game reserve, having
three times the land area of the Serengeti in
Northwest Tanzania. The Reserve's unique ecosystem
was recognized internationally in 1982, with the
area being designated a United Nations World
Heritage Site. The park's substantial wildlife
population includes an estimated 30,000 elephant,
80,000 wildebeest and 200,000 buffalo.