defender – Mackenzie Billington

Standing with my sister in front of our Defender

‘Throwing what I know’ from Africa

The gorgeous Plantation Lodge

A kate buffalo peering at us through the bushes

A jackal standing in an open field at the center of the crater

Thousands and thousands of flamingos

After a week of sleeping in tents, we headed towards the Ngorongoro Crater to our first lodge. As we pulled up to the grounds of the Plantation Lodge, I was completely overwhelmed at how beautiful it was. Everything from the unique decor to the lush gardens was just flawless. It was also nice to have running water again. The next morning, we spent about an hour and drove to the inside of the crater. It was much warmer at the bottom than it was at the Plantation Lodge, which was located at the top of the crater. In the crater we saw several different animals including flamingos, kate buffalo, lions, and even the black rhino (from a far distance). Before heading back to the lodge, we ate a traditional African lunch in the crater and snapped a few photos on top of our trusty Defender. The following morning, we packed up our things to split our separate ways. My dad and sister, Allie, got into another Thomson Safari car to head off to their climb. They will both be spending the next nine days hiking Mt. Kilimanjaro. My mom and I headed off to our fifth place on the trip- the Tarangire National Park!

Thank you so much for checking out my blog! I will be posting about our lovely experience at the Tarangire Treetop Lodge soon (and tons of pictures of the cute baby elephants we saw!). I am very, very sad that we leave Africa today, but I couldn’t be more excited to head to London!

Our ‘Christmas Card Picture’ ft. a Land Rover Defender

Thomson Safaris campsite

Impala horns

Relaxing at the camp before a traditional African dinner

Wearing our matching VV shirts before an afternoon Safari

Shirt: Vineyard Vines (c/o) • Shorts: Patagonia • Sandals: Hari Mari (c/o)

Welcome to Tanzania.

I have spent about eleven days in Tanzania, and it’s been a wild, but amazing ride so far. When you travel to a new country, sometimes you have absolutely no idea what to expect. I’ve been to the continent of Africa before to visit Cairo, but Egypt and Tanzania are not even comparable. Our journey to this incredibly unique place began with a 24 hour day of travel. Running to your terminal to barely catch your next flight and having your luggage lost are just some of the struggles travelers face. When we finally arrived to Arusha, a city not far from our campsite, my mom and I realized our luggage was not at the baggage claim. Our four bags were ‘missing in action’. Never in my many years of travel have I ever experienced the challenge of losing all of my suitcases. It is an unpleasant experience I hope to never go through again. Luckily, my bags were eventually found later during the week. My mom’s suitcases are still not here yet, but that hasn’t prevented us from having an amazing trip.

We spent a night near the airport and then headed off to catch a small prop plane that would take us to the campsite. I am not much of an ‘outdoor girl’ myself, but this camp was quite gorgeous. On the drive from the landing strip to the camp, we saw so many animals. It is such an incredible experience to just see wild zebras, giraffes, elephants, impalas, and wildebeests casually strolling by your car. We decided to use the Thomson Safaris for our trip, and everything they have done so far has been perfect. Thomson has campsites all over the country of Tanzania, and they are each so, so different. We decided to stay at camps for the first two places, and then stay in lodges for the next two. Though I probably prefer the lodges more, it’s definitely been nice to experience the campsite life. Our daily schedule in Tanzania has been pretty routine. We wake up early and pile into the Land Rover Defender that has a safari pop up roof for excellent animal viewing and picture taking moments in search of animals in their natural settings. During the day, we eat a boxed lunch before continuing back to our safari endeavors. Around three. we head back to the campsite to nap. Dinner is usually around seven and typically consists of fresh vegetables, fruits, and meat.

In Tanzania, they speak the language of Swahili. Here are two phrases we have learned:

Hujambo = hello

Asante = thank you

Later this week I will be posting pictures of the Masai people, our hot air balloon adventure, the lodges, and all of our animal pictures! Thank you so much for checking out my blog- hope you all are having a fantastic weekend!

xoxo,

Mackenzie Kendall