All the Tanzania safari tips we wish we knew before we left

We took a three-week Tanzania safari trip for our honeymoon. We did all the research, and perused every safari packing list, and yet we still found ourselves in the middle of the Serengeti wishing we had brought a few things.

So here are all the Tanzania safari tips we either were glad to have known or we wished someone had told us… Continue reading “All the Tanzania safari tips we wish we knew before we left”

3 unbelievable luxury safari lodges in Tanzania

If you’re looking for some amazing places to stay on your luxury safari, we’ve rounded up our favorites from our honeymoon in Tanzania. Some of these luxury safari lodges are places where you’ll definitely splurge, and some were sneaky deals.

Here are our recommendations for mind-blowing luxury safari lodges in Tanzania… Continue reading “3 unbelievable luxury safari lodges in Tanzania”

Pack for a Purpose: How to use your vacation to bring needed supplies to local communities

My favorite part of packing for our honeymoon safari in Tanzania were the toys and school supplies for Pack for a Purpose.

When we were planning our honeymoon safari, Courtney — the fantastic African Travel Resource agent who booked our trip for us — let us know about a charitable program called Pack for a Purpose. It’s a program that encourages travelers to Africa (and so many other destinations!) to bring much-needed school supplies with them.

We were really lucky to be able to do this for several reasons: One of our places to stay was Gibb’s Farm, and they’re one of the places that works with Pack for a Purpose. Plus it was our second stop on our trip. Which meant we wouldn’t be taking many vehicles that would force us to have weight limits on our bags. So unlike (perhaps) most people, we didn’t have skimp on the number of items we could bring based on weight.

Our bag on the way to Gibb’s Farm.

Gibb’s Farm provides a long list of the things that their nearby school needs, but I was getting overwhelmed with choices. So Mike suggested that I email them and ask if they know the top items the school REALLY needed. They got back to me and said, “We spoke with the teacher and they suggested pens and pencils, rubbers, sharpeners and a few netballs if you have space. Whatever you can manage to bring will be most appreciated by the school and the children.” So that’s what they got, plus some other items that our friends donated as well.

5 Easy Steps to using Pack for a Purpose

  1. Select your destination.
  2. Find an accommodation or tour company and a project it supports.
  3. Choose the supplies you wish to take from the specific items requested.
  4. Drop off the supplies at the accommodation or tour company.
  5. They will be delivered to the project; it’s that easy!

So if you’re heading to Africa, the Caribbean, Central or South America, Southeast Asia, or any of these places for your next trip, you should definitely add a little charitable action to your plans, and pack for a purpose!

Eat, Don’t be Prey, Love: Our top 10 favorite safari honeymoon moments

Best honeymoon EVAR!!!

You may have already heard all about the hardest parts of our “Eat, Don’t be Prey, Love” safari honeymoon. But there were far more amazing parts! So we broke them down into this easy-to-digest Top 10 moments (mostly in chronological order): Continue reading “Eat, Don’t be Prey, Love: Our top 10 favorite safari honeymoon moments”

How to stop tstetse flies from biting you

How to avoid tsetse flies - @thedashanddine
How many tstetse fly bites can you spot in this photo?

I just got back from a three-week safari trip in Tanzania. Everything was awesome, except for the dreaded tsetse flies. If you’ve googled how to avoid them and ended up here, you’ve probably already found out that they’re the large biting flies in Africa that hurt and can transmit disease and DEET does nothing to dissuade them. But you probably haven’t found any information on how to avoid them.

After a lot of painful trial and error, I finally found the trick that no one else mentioned on the interwebs… Continue reading “How to stop tstetse flies from biting you”

10 reasons a honeymoon safari isn’t as sexy as you think (and 1 reason it’s the MOST sexy)

10 reasons a honeymoon safari isn't sexy - @thedashanddine
This may look romantic, but really we were just too hot and tired to touch.

One afternoon on our honeymoon safari, while bundled up in the back of an open-aired Jeep, surrounded by biting flies, waiting for a cheetah to murder an impala before it started to rain, I realized: a safari honeymoon is nowhere near as sexy as I thought it would be.

Here are the top 10 reasons why: Continue reading “10 reasons a honeymoon safari isn’t as sexy as you think (and 1 reason it’s the MOST sexy)”