点评:We did a 9-day safari with Gosheni for our honeymoon and were unbelievably lucky to have Shabani as our guide. From the very first time we saw him until he dropped us off at the airport, he was always smiling, cheerful, and somehow full of energy. But it’s not just his spirit that is impressive, his knowledge of animals, trees, birds, and everything about the Serengeti/Ngorongoro Crater/Tarangire and the culture in Tanzania, especially the Masai, is astounding. He never didn’t have an answer for any question we had and always had something interesting to teach us. We learned so much about everything around us. We spend a lot of hours together in the car and it says a lot that we don’t get tired of each other. It also speaks to his character that so many other drivers he passes or guides he runs into at camps or at lunch, everyone is always coming to say hi to him and exchange a joke or two. He is loved by not only his guests but also his peers. We will no doubt recommend him and Gosheni to our friends and family, should they ever come to Tanzania. We gifted him our Sony RX10-iv camera at the end of our trip to show our appreciation for all his hard work.
All the camps we stayed at from Gosheni were very luxurious and far exceeded our expectations. We had been warned by so many people to beware of tsetse flies and that you’d have mosquito nets over your bed but we didn’t have any issues with them at all when we were at the camps or in our cabins. Every reservation gets a cabin all to themselves and they were all very large, with your own washroom and showers, and were very private. We could hear and see wildlife from our cabins too!
The food at the camps and that Shabani would bring for our picnic lunches were also very delicious. We did full-board so we always had buffet at dinner and lunch brought with us. The picnic lunches exceeded our expectations as well. We thought we would be getting like sandwiches and an apple or something but every lunch had hot rice, noodles, a freshly cooked meat or chicken, hot vegetables, and fruit. Shabani would lay out the utensils/dishes and everything in front of us, atop a lovely picnic blanket over the table. Our most memorable lunch was when we found a private spot in Northern Serengeti under a tree out in the savana, Shabani set up the table, and we overlooked elephants and wildlife in the distance. The cooler is also packed with beer and wine so we liked to enjoy a beverage at lunch as well.
Our safari route was 2 nights in Northern Serengeti, 3 nights in Central Serengeti, 1 night at the Ngorongoro crater, and 1 night in Tarangire for 8 days all together. We were very lucky with the safari experience from the beginning. Pretty much within one hour of leaving the airport in Northern Serengeti, we saw our first river crossing of 3000 wildebeest!! From then, we went all over the Northern Serengeti and saw zebra, impala, topi, elephants, giraffes, hippo, leopard (it had its kill in the tree), cheetah, striped mongoose, hyena, vulture, warthog, thompson gazelle, baboon, ostrich and a bunch of birds like the lilac-breasted roller. The next day we saw lions and from that day on, we saw lions every single day - at least once!
A few other highlights: on our first night in Central Serengeti, we saw an incredible hunt by 4 lions that went after a baby buffalo that was with its herd. We followed the lions from the beginning of the hunt, as they attacked and fought off the buffalo, and eventually emerged victorious with their kill. We saw our biggest river crossing of 5000 wildebeest and others where we saw a croc get a kill in 2 smaller crossings. We saw the extremely rare serval cat. We saw a herd of 40 or so elephants. A lion chased a Thompson gazelle right beside our car. We saw so many baby animals including a 5-day old lion cub nursing from its mother, hidden in a fallen over acacia tree bush. And just an unbelievable amount of animals every single day.
翻译:我们在蜜月期间跟随Gosheni旅行社进行了一次为期9天的游猎之旅,能由Shabani担任我们的向导,真是无比幸运。从我们第一次见到他,直到他把我们送到机场,他始终面带微笑、性格开朗,而且精力充沛。不过令人钦佩的不仅仅是他的精神状态,他对塞伦盖蒂、恩戈罗恩戈罗火山口、塔兰吉雷地区的各类动物、树木、鸟类的了解,以及他对坦桑尼亚文化,尤其是马赛文化的了解也极为丰富,实在令人惊叹。他总能准确回答我们提出的任何问题,还总能给我们传授一些有趣的知识。我们也因此对身边的一切有了更多了解。我们一起在车里度过了无数时光,而我们彼此从不觉得厌烦,这一点就很能说明问题。还有一点也能体现他的品格:他在训练营或午餐时间遇到的其他车手们,总是主动过来跟他打招呼、开开玩笑。他不仅深受学员们的喜爱,在同行中也是口碑极佳。毫无疑问,如果我们的朋友或家人将来前往坦桑尼亚,我们一定会向他们推荐他和戈舍尼。为了感谢他的辛勤付出,我们在行程结束时将他赠予我们的索尼RX10-IV相机送给了他。
我们通过戈舍尼安排的所有营地都极为奢华,远远超出了我们的预期。很多人都告诫我们要提防采采蝇,还说床上要挂蚊帐,但我们在营地或小木屋里时根本没遇到任何问题。每个预订者都能独享一间小木屋,这些木屋都非常宽敞,配有独立的卫生间和淋浴设施,私密性也很好。我们甚至能从木屋里听到野生动物的声音、看到它们的身影!
营地提供的食物,以及Shabani为我们准备的野餐午餐,也都十分美味。我们选择了全包服务,所以晚餐时总能享用自助餐,午餐也有食物打包带给我们。那些野餐式午餐也远远超出了我们的预期。我们原以为只会得到三明治和一个苹果之类的食物,但实际上每顿午餐都有热米饭、面条、新鲜烹制的肉类或鸡肉、热蔬菜以及水果。Shabani会把餐具和盘子都摆好,放在铺在桌子上的漂亮野餐毯上。最让我们难忘的一顿午餐,是在塞伦盖蒂北部的草原上找到了一处僻静之地。沙巴尼在那里摆好餐桌,我们则一边享用美食,一边欣赏远处的大象和其他野生动物。冰桶里还装满了啤酒和葡萄酒,所以我们也喜欢在午餐时小酌几杯。
我们的游猎行程总共8天:在塞伦盖蒂北部停留2晚,中部3晚,之后在恩戈罗恩戈罗火山口住1晚,最后在塔朗吉雷国家公园住1晚。从一开始,我们的游猎体验就非常顺利。离开塞伦盖蒂北部的机场后不到一小时,我们就看到了第一批正在过河的3000只角马!!此后,我们走遍了塞伦盖蒂北部,看到了斑马、黑斑羚、狷羚、大象、长颈鹿、河马、豹子(它当时正在树上享用猎物)、猎豹、条纹獴、鬣狗、秃鹫、疣猪、汤普森瞪羚、狒狒、鸵鸟,还有许多鸟类,比如紫胸佛法僧。第二天我们看到了狮子,从那天起,我们每天都能看到狮子——至少一次!
其他一些精彩瞬间:在塞伦盖蒂中部的第一个夜晚,我们目睹了四头狮子联手捕猎一只离群的小水牛的壮观场面。我们从狩猎开始便一直跟踪着这些狮子,看着它们发起攻击并击退水牛,最终成功捕获猎物。我们目睹了规模最为庞大的动物迁徙场面:有5000只角马横渡河流;在另外两次规模较小的渡河过程中,我们还看到鳄鱼捕到了猎物。我们还见到了极为罕见的非洲金猫。有一群大约40头的大象也从我们面前经过。一只狮子在我们车旁追逐着一只汤氏瞪羚。我们还看到了许多幼崽,其中包括一只才出生5天、正躲在倒伏的金合欢树丛中吸吮母狮乳汁的幼狮。每天都能见到数量惊人的各种动物。