african safaris

When you embark on a safari holiday, you usually expect to spend most of your time patrolling vast swathes of land looking for some of the world's most exotic creatures.

However, this is not the case when you head to Tanzania. Of course, you can spend all of your time searching for the "big five" wild animals if you wish, but there are so many other fantastic things to see and do.

Ellie Goldsmith and Ben Pinington recently got engaged on our Rift Valley Safari trip with Zanzibar extension. With love in the air we decied to find out more about their trip and the wonderful proposal. 

We wanted to know more from Ellie and Ben about their fabulous group holiday to Tanzania and Zanzibar and  find out why they loved safari.

1. Why did you choose Tanzania and Zanzibar?

Although I had been on an African safari holiday before, the feeling of excitement and anticipation ahead of my trip to Tanzania was almost too much to bear. I knew that this would be the best wildlife viewing tour of my life and I could hardly contain myself. Goodness knows how the kids must have felt.

Using my daypack as a pillow and the thick, mown lawn as a mat, I lie down in the warm sun to while away fifteen minutes and reflect on the past eighteen days. I hear the gentle lapping of waves up against the harbour wall, and the low hum of friends talking on the grass nearby, with an occasional interlude of laughter. I look up, and see four groups of uniformed work colleagues, laughing and joking with each other on their lunch breaks. To their right, the water in the harbour gently rolls and shimmers as it reflects the bright sunshine.

There are quite a number of places in Africa that offer amazing safari trips by all accounts. I found it a real head scratcher having to deliberate over which country would best suit the needs of my family and I. While Tanzania, Namibia, South Africa and Kenya were all perfectly viable options, I had heard that in order to experience the very rarest breeds of animal and bird, you had to go to Botswana.

I hadn't really considered Morocco as a viable destination when I was looking to embark on a trekking trip. Like many people, my first ports of call when I scoured the internet for exciting mountaineering holiday ideas were Tanzania and Nepal. Both are famous for their monstrous peaks - Kilimanjaro and Everest - but once I chanced upon a review of Morocco's Atlas mountains, my decision was made.

21 September, 2011: Saadani has really come alive the last few months and we are really enjoying being based there.  We collared 3 more elephants and are seeing them pretty much each time we go out.  We have started to recognise each ele and have named them which makes it far more exciting when we are out in the field - the guests absolutely love the interraction with the Saadani elephants and I am absolutely certain that these huge herds

Having scaled the likes of Ben Nevis and Snowdon, budding mountaineers from the UK are left with little else to achieve within the shores of Great Britain. I think that once these have been mastered, any serious climber worth his or her salt must seriously consider the next natural step to satisfy their need for a challenge.

I've just returned from the South Africa, Botswana, Zambia trip and would not have missed it for the world.

You get the opportunity to see the most amazing animals, landscapes and certainly the most stunning sunsets.

The guides from Sunway Safaris were knowledgeable and hilarious company.

If you are going in July, Aug Sept, then be prepared for really cold mornings and nights. Take warm clothing for the evenings and maorning game drives and you must have a season 3/4 sleepingbag.

If anyone else is like me, they will know at least one couple that spends endless amounts of time uploading reams and reams of their holiday snaps on to Facebook.While some may find it nice to see said duo lovingly share a cocktail on the beach or riding a tandem bicycle through the mountains, for those who have not met their perfect match yet - or worse still, have recently broken up with their partner - such photos are probably the last thing you want to see.