Is there any place in the world as pure and wild as Tanzania? I don’t think so. In my mind, Tanzania is on a little perfect bubble of its own, waiting for me to breach the gap and get on that plane.
In my mind, Tanzania is always sunny, the horizon is always far, with no trace of human construction to disrupt the skyline.
In my mind, Tanzania means adventure. It means hiding in a bush to catch a glimpse of an exotic bird. It means safaris on the endless planes. It means coming face to face with a deathly lion.
When someone comes back from Tanzania, here’s what they say to me “It was … It was …”. They can’t say how different or how beautiful it was, they can’t say how much they’ve learned or how much they’ve perceived. All they can say is “I want to go back”.
When I finally reach Tanzania, when my feet touch this land I’ve dreamed about for so long, I don’t know that I’ll ever leave. I’ll tour the country, from the Ruaha National Park to the views on Mount Kilimanjaro, I’ll swoon over each animal, I’ll be amazed by each landscape, by each sunrise. I’ll travel until I drop and I won’t stop till I understand this thing, this intangible thing that makes Tanzania so special and unreachable.
This thing that makes travelers say to me “It’s the place where I feel most at home”.
I can see myself already in full safari tour mode, with my hat and my camera, holding on to the side of the jeep, with a bit of dirt stinging my eyes, but refusing to close them, just in case I miss something.
And the wonder of a pack of zebras! And the awesomeness of a jumping leopard! And the peace of the sunset on the baobabs!
So why is Tanzania on a french girl’s bucket list ? Because clearly a french girl didn’t see many toothy lions or trees big as elephants growing up. Because Tanzania is completely unique, and dreamy, and so far away, so mysterious, that we imagine that it could be anything.
All the landscapes of paradise, all the sounds and the smells that we don’t know, all the real knowledge that we crave to gather.
There’s not just one french girl dreaming of Tanzania, you can be sure of that.
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Written by Cora for trfari. Rights to all content with trfari. If you want to follow Cora’s adventures, head over to her personal blog The Path She Took at http://www.thepathshetook.com