Tanzania, Africa

Safari

I look at this picture and am overwhelmed by such beautiful memories of my trip with my son to Tanzania, Africa. To say it was extraordinary would be doing it little justice. We arrived at a time when the Ebola crisis was in full bloom in the country and because of that, we found ourselves quite literally alone save some locals and our tour guides. Understandably people were scared, so they weren’t coming in the droves that is pretty typical for African safaris. Although I would never take the Ebola crisis mildly, we knew we weren’t in the epicenter of it and so we still went and we had a most fabulous time as a result.

We took puddle-jumper planes everywhere and stayed in resorts – these beautiful, Ralph Lauren-inspired tented hotels – that were virtually empty, as were the jeep excursions into the African desert. It almost felt like the whole continent was reserved just for us.

What I loved most about this trip – besides the mother-son time – is how much time we spent getting to know the locals and the staff at our various hotels and safaris. Because we weren’t surrounded (read:  suffocated!) by tourists, we had an opportunity to connect with the African people in a way that might not have been available to us in another situation.

It was a bucket-list destination with memories that will last my lifetime. I hope to go back, and maybe someday I will.