Tanzania Introduction

I had avoided this mountain and Tanzania in general for a long time because it is legendary for being the most expensive African country for wildlife-related activities. However, it also contains some of the most interesting regional endemics (technically speaking the most endemic species of any East African country) which proved I could only put it off for so long...

Birds aside, it is arguably the best safari country in the world and has one of the best coral reefs for diving so it made sense that it would be the next major trip for me and Ramata, so I decided in summer 2018 to save up for one year to do Tanzania in 2019.

The saving didn't go so well because I ended up going to Panama and Sri Lanka in the months leading up to it, so I had to borrow about 5k from my dad (which I'm still paying back in monthly instalments). Anyway, it was expensive to an unprecedented degree, especially for a man of my means. But it was epic beyond belief.

I convinced a few people to come along but not for the whole thing:
- Emmy, Ramata and I climbed Kilimanjaro
- Ramata, Chris, Nicole, my dad and I did a safari and birding near Arusha
- Ramata, Chris, Nicole and I visited the Usambara mountains with Per and Martin
- Ramata, Chris, Nicole and I visited Pemba Island
- Birding the Eastern Arc Mountains with Per, Martin and Elia

The trip started with an idea to backpack my way through the country with little formal arrangements, but turned into a highly organized and coordinated effort. I didn't expect to meet a crazy Norwegian who I found on ebird and who took me on some pretty intense adventures in his Landrover.

In the end I had thousands of dollars of debt (most of which I've paid back by now) but more importantly some amazing memories of once-in-a-lifetime wildlife encounters that will stay vivid in my soul for the rest of my life. I hope you enjoy reading about them, and if you do, consider joining me on my next big one!