Summary
Over five year ago while I was visiting Yellowstone National Park withNational Geographicto go behind - the - scene onYellowstone Livethe squad divvy up account of past blase adventures related to other natural history programing and teased estimation for the future . The hypothesis of visit Africa with the greatest natural history documentarians in the cosmos seemed like the stuff of pipe dream .
One pandemic and a historicalacquisition by Disneylater ( Nat Geo was majority - have by 21st Century Fox at the time ) , and I ’m offered the chance to do just that . In December I embarked on the journeying of a lifetime toTanzania , Malaria prophylaxis pill in hand due to my relationship with mosquito .
There were three leg to this journey and National Geographic organize enough time to expend two days in each realm : Arusha , Serengeti , and theNgorongoro Crater . These areas offered a glimpse into the real - world locations seen in Nat Geo TV showsA Real Bug ’s Life , Incredible Animal Journeys , andQueens .
Custom image by Simone Ashmoore
Arusha
The Arusha Coffee Lodge and visiting the Arusha Cultural Heritage Centre
The misstep begin with a lengthy multi - leg journey from Canada to Tanzania where we landed at Kilimanjaro International Airport and took a drive to theArusha Coffee Lodge . Arusha is known as the safari capital of Tanzania and this burnt umber plantation located at the base of Mount Meru is lush with greenery . It ’s very late when we arrived so it ’s unbent to bed in my own Plantation House , hemipteron net and bag of Nat Geo supplies included , and a escargot the size of it of a baseball game on the front step . In the sunrise , I arouse to beautiful , sunny weather condition highlighting the coffee plants but it ’s the hatful of monkeys on top of some other other planetary house that get my attention .
vervet monkey rascal live the area , and are know to sneak into woodlet family if guests are not careful in closing their doors . The same for daring to give solid food on any of the outdoor tables , though I suspect they may get inside the main menage eating area as well given how on my second morning at the Arusha Coffee Lodge , one curious Vervet monkey nearly followed me in . Take a peek at that one looking down at me in the drift above ! Less vulgar are baboon who we ’re told by the faculty can " wreak havoc " on the plantation on rare occasion .
While here for our first full day in Africa we screened an episode ofA Real Bug ’s Life(narrated by Awkwafina ) and interviewed Executive Producers Bill Markham and Martha Holmes over a outback TV call and later in the day watched the " Savanna Queens " episode ofQueens . Queens , of the three shows , is thebig oneand joining us on our journey for the week wereQueensshowrunner and writerChloe SaroshandQueensDirector of PhotographySophie Darlington . They were able-bodied to screen multiple episodes for us during the trip , but more on them later !
A Real Bug’s Life is a Nat Geo original series exploring some of the world’s most unique bugs and how their extraordinary abilities help them survive. A Real Bug’s Life is narrated by Awkwafina and premiered in January 2024.
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A tangible Bug ’s Life is a Nat Geo original series research some of the mankind ’s most unique bugs and how their extraordinary abilities help them survive . A Real Bug ’s liveliness is narrated by Awkwafina and premiered in January 2024 .
In between screenings we also visited theArusha Cultural Heritage Centre , home to one of the world ’s heavy collections of African art including one peculiarly standout slice that stands 19 - feet tall , a family tree cut up from sable Sir Henry Joseph Wood and the only item not for sale .
After recall to the lodge I enjoyed a guided tour of the plantation to see how the local coffee plants are cared for before enter in roasting , labour , and sample the freshest coffee conceivable . We even cross paths with a large and mysterious hole that had just been tunnel through by an anteater .
The next solar day began with an other morn ride to Arusha Airport where Nat Geo had arranged a charter flying to the Seronera Airstrip in Serengeti . It was sentence for some safari risky venture !
Serengeti
Four Seasons Serengeti and Serengeti National Park
Since it ’s December when we search Tanzania it was the shortsighted rains time of year and the Serengeti plains were lush with greenery and wildlife . Even on the drive from the airstrip to the lodge , it was impossible to take minutes without seeing large groupings of wildlife . On that drive in alone we see Tawny bird of Jove , Topi , impalas , gazelles , dik - dik , warthogs , hippos , guineafowl , Giraffa camelopardalis , buffalo , baboon , giraffes , elephants ( in the distance ) , secretarybirds , openbill storks , eland , kongoni , northerly white - crown shrike , and more , alongside many , many large termite hummock .
And what made our time in Serengeti , and later in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area , so special was that all our many game drives around Serengeti we were keep company byQueensshowrunner and writerChloe Saroshand Director of PhotographySophie Darlington- the latter of whom spend age hold out in the area and partake the most awful stories and cognition , remark thatQueensis something special :
" I ’ve been filming for 35 age and [ Queens ] is the good thing I ’ve ever act upon on because it ’s not just the cinematography , it ’s so much more . It ’s the legacy . "
Incredible Animal Journeys is a nature documentary narrated by Jeremy Renner. The Nat Geo series premiered on Hulu and Disney Plus in November 2023 and focuses on different animals' journeys as they prove that humans are far from the greatest explorers the world has ever seen. Incredible Animal Journeys document different species as they travel thousands of miles around the world to find food, mates, and safety.
Upon arrival at the Four Seasons Serengeti , where from my elbow room I could see zebras and water buffalo and where guards escort guests to and from their room due to wildlife concerns ( hyenas have find their manner into the compound and a Panthera pardus once explored the hotel third house I was severalise ) , we screen an instalment ofIncredible Animal Journeysand chatted with showrunner Sarah Gibbs about the serial publication and how they worked with Disney to make for in Jeremy Renner as the narrator . Josiah Willard Gibbs explains that"part of the ambition when making a series for Nat Geo or Disney is that they want you to get stuff and nonsense you ’ve never seen before . "
Related : Watch this Exclusive Clip from Queens
During production ofIncredible Animal Journeys , 127 days of footage were fascinate across three years and seven continent , including an stupefying four " world first " moments such as a hunchback whale birth . Another , more engrossing example , is how they note truthful selfless deportment where a whale , out of benignity and empathy , fended off tiger shark and stayed with another heavyweight that was snarl in a net , pilfer her to the surface and staying with her until she passed .
Incredible Animal Journeys is a nature documentary narrated by Jeremy Renner . The Nat Geo serial publication premiere on Hulu and Disney Plus in November 2023 and focus on different animals ' journeying as they test that humans are far from the greatest explorers the earth has ever project . Incredible Animal Journeys document different species as they go thousands of miles around the creation to find food , mates , and safety equipment .
Incredible Animal Journeysused as much local crew as possible to reduce the impingement of the product and for the show to be potential they deploy the latest in tracking technology to detect the migrations of various animal species , even share footage and data point with scientist . take down the years of work invested to share this story and this noesis . This brings us toQueens , a labor that took even longer and involved endow in mentor and acquire local and female filmmaker and storytellers . We screen another episode ofQueenswhile in Serengeti , but over our two days there , we spent most of the hours on multiple biz drives to ensure we could witness wildlife at sunrise , during the mid - day heat , and in the cool evenings as it got dark .
Serengeti Safari Wildlife Photos
Below are select images from our many secret plan drives in Serengeti , with pic provided byDean Bell(The Bachelorette , Bachelor in Paradise ) and myself .
It ’s hard to discover highlights because there were so many breathtaking moments along the journey , from finding a leopard avoiding the heat luxuriously up in a tree diagram and seeing a massive bloat of hippos enjoying the urine , to watching hyaena and Leo play with their unseasoned , and of class , control an elephant matriarch lead her crime syndicate of 20 right up to us and through our safari vehicle , even blockade to splosh clay at us . Somehow , our two solar day in Serengeti top out our experience in Arusha . But it bugger off better .
Ngorongoro Crater
Ngorongoro Conservation Area, the Crater Lodge, and a Maasai Boma
For the net peg of the journeying we returned to Seronera Airstrip for a charter flight to Lake Manyara Airstrip where we were welcomed by a group of vehicles and guide who took us on a drawn-out and breathtaking journey into the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and up to the top of the Ngorongoro Crater . This sorcerous aspect is the world ’s largest inactive volcanic caldera and its unfilled interior is sprawling with wildlife , home to over 25,000 animals include all of the " big five . " The wall are steep , some gain 8000 groundwork above ocean level .
We stayed at the Ngorongoro Crater Lodge on the rim of the crater , known to some as the " secret plan inn at the top of the humankind " and it has the most amazing view . Due to altitude , there are thankfully no mosquitoes and we could sleep without a hemipterous insect net . The huts we stay in are large , definitive , something from a fantasy bolstered by a view now into the crater . There ’s evan a leather - bound aggregation of National Geographic magazines from the ' eighty in the way . The principal house has a scope to look directly into the crater . We can see flamingos and rhinoceros in the distance .
What are Africa’s Big Five?
coinage
Locations
African Lion
Serengeti National Park , Ngorongoro Crater , Lake Manyara National Park and Ruaha National Park .
African Leopard
Serengeti National Park , Ngorongoro Crater , and Ruaha National Park
African Elephant
Serengeti National Park , Ngorongoro Crater , Tarangire National Park , Ruaha National Park
Cape Buffalo
Serengeti National Park , Ngorongoro Crater
Rhinoceros
Like in Serengeti , there are escorts ( here , the local Maasai warriors ) to and from our rooms which is required after glum as even up here in the cloud , pee buffalo , elephant , and other bombastic animals can pasture past our hovel and foot fruit off the nearby Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree . In our final days in Tanzania , we meet many extremity of the Maasai kin who are incredibly welcoming , even performing ceremonial dances for us . We visited a Maasai Boma , a local settlement , to see how the mobile mass can quick establish a residence , hunt , trade art , and set about firing .
Wasting no time at all , we motor into the volcanic crater itself and get a first - mitt flavour at some of what episode 2 ( " African Queens " ) of National Geographic’sQueensshowcases so well .
National Geographic ’s Queens is a nature docudrama series discharge in 2024 . Narrated by Angela Bassett , Queens explores the unvalued heroines who have begun to open up major advances in technology , the work , and beyond , with each episode dive into a new topic lead by an all - distaff production crew .
Since Ngorongro is a conservation area , the local Maasai are able-bodied to endure around the crater brim but no longer within it on the crater story . Serengeti by compare , is a National Park so no one may survive there . The only micro settlements we observe were inquiry stations and on safari private road , no one could leave the denominate paths ( Nat Geo acquires permits to do so for filming ) .
Inside the volcanic crater there ’s more action than I ’d reckon . There ’s no muckle line that does n’t feature a herd ofsomething , and there ’s also a surprising amount of tourist activity . Safari fomite , which the wildlife is accustomed to so long as Edgar Guest keep abreast the rule and stay inside , fill the path and quickly gather up around interesting wildlife natural process , whether a Leo is finding shadiness beside a fomite or on the hunt . We ourselves witness a rare serval sighting . We also saw a lioness successfully nab a young warthog in the distance , not too far from a beautiful black rhinoceros . The zebra and gnu react and watching is what pointed us to this breakthrough .
In simple day pass in Tanzania we saw and experience so much yet this is just scratching the surface of the natural history being documented in National Geographic ’s scheduling in these very same arena we tour . For the best feel ever inside of the Ngorongoro Crater and in Serengeti checker outQueensonNational Geographic . LikeIncredible Animal Journeys , the teams behindQueensshowcase world - class cinematography , from a team of diverse and up - and - amount distaff filmmakers to tell stories that need to be seen to be believe , and they do so with style and ability . We date it and felt it here .
Note : While we watch over and run into an exceptional amount of wildlife , on the face of it thickly populated along every safari cause , I may have been the only person not to see a Cheetah on this journeying and it was the run joke of the trip .
National Geographicorganized this amazing trip to Tanzania withandBeyond . Incredible Animal JourneysandQueenscan be watched on National Geographic , also stream on Disney+ and Hulu . A Real Bug ’s Lifeis available on Disney+
National Geographic’s Queens is a nature documentary series released in 2024. Narrated by Angela Bassett, Queens explores the unsung heroines who have begun to pioneer major advances in technology, the workplace, and beyond, with each episode diving into a new topic led by an all-female production crew.
