Belgium’s Jasmine finds authentic African experience in Tanzania

By Anganile Mwakyanjala

Dar es Salaam. “I don’t think I have ever seen my husband this happy and smiling before, like he was happy when he was in Tanzania,” said Ms Jasmine Jacobs, a Belgian tourist who recently visited Tanzania.

Ms Jasmine had always yearned to have an authentic African experience but was adamant about using the normal safari and tour companies that would give her the usual tourist experience in Africa.

She had her mind set on visiting Tanzania and she took it upon herself to search around the internet for a small, locally owned tour company that she knew would offer a different experience.
“I started looking at TripAdvisor and Facebook, and I bumped into a local tour company that we chose,” she said.

Ms Jasmine travelled with her husband and a group of friends; they were keen on seeing the big five animals, being in nature, and seeing how the local people in Tanzania live.

“We did not want the tourist stuff; we wanted the local experience,” she said.
She visited three villages, including the Maasai village. “To me, the Maasai village felt like it was set up for tourists, and they wanted to sell us stuff,” she said while laughing.

Ms Jasmine was truly seeking an authentic experience of the way some Tanzanian communities living close to national parks lived.

She was joyous when she got to accompany a group of local hunters in the wilderness. “It was quite an experience; it was fun; we only got a small animal; other hunters were better,” she said.
One of her highlights of the trip was when she visited the coffee farm in Arusha.

Coffee farm tourism has been on the rise in Tanzania and is hugely popular in other African countries like Ethiopia.
Tanzanian tour operators have recently added that to their packages and tourists have been more than pleased to take part.

The tour involves tourists harvesting the coffee beans, grinding them, and going through the whole process of making a cup of coffee for themselves.

Most of the European tourists who have been avid coffee drinkers in their countries admit that they never even knew how coffee was made, despite drinking it for years.

“It was one of the best moments I had in Tanzania; I got to cook my coffee,” she remembers.

Ms Jasmine went to Arusha National Park and hiked to the waterfalls there.

“The waterfalls for me and my husband were one of the best moments because we walked next to the while animals, the buffaloes, antelopes and giraffes,” she said.

Ms Jasmine was amazed as she was hiking to the waterfalls, accompanied by a guard. They crossed paths with the wild animals while they were on foot, and just being around the natural environment was exhilarating.

“The guard was nice; he took our mobile phones and got pictures of us for the memories; we even got souvenirs to take back home,” she added.
Ms Jasmine was wowed by the kindness of every Tanzanian she met and she holds that as one of her fondest memories of Tanzania.
The walk was for close to two hours in the wilderness. As they were walking, looking to get to the waterfalls, Jasmine felt like she was in one of her favourite television series, “LOST” in which a group of people gets stranded in the wilderness, which added more excitement to the adventure they were having.

Luckily for Jasmine and her group, they did get to the waterfall and even saw Mount Meru from where they were standing.
“It was wonderful; it was a great experience,” she remembers.

Ms Jasmine, her family, and friends had an eight-day stay in Tanzania. During that time, they were treated to hot, fresh food cooked in the wilderness, and they dined and wined in the savannah while watching the animals graze and run around.

“As other tourists were eating pre-packed foods in containers, our guides cooked for us on location, so we got to enjoy really hot meals,” she smiled.

“Our guide, Daniel, and his team spoiled us,” she laughed.
The extra step her guide took seems to have made an impact on Ms Jasmine; she wouldn’t stop complimenting the team that served her, and she only had good things to say about her time in Tanzania.

She couldn’t decide which moment was her best in Tanzania; the whole experience was memorable; the people at the hotels were nice to her; and even the people at the local restaurant where they went treated her with kindness too. “It is so difficult to mention one highlight,” she said.

Her visit to Tanzania was life-changing to Jasmine, who mentioned that life in Europe can sometimes be stressful and very busy, and rarely does one get time to sit back and relax at the level that she was relaxed at when she was in Tanzania.

Her visit to Tanzania was an eye-opener; she realised she could become one with nature and be happy without all the hectic things that go on in Europe. She had never seen her husband so relaxed and happy as he was when he was in Tanzania.

Ms Jasmine had visited South Africa a few years ago, and though her visit there was really nice, she admittedly said that in Tanzania, she felt one with nature.

“We visited Serengeti, Ngorongoro; everything we saw was an eye-opener, and it taught me we need to enjoy nature and the time in life,” she concluded.