Elephants are wandering a vital corridor in Tanzania again, making for a thrilling safari | Canada Voices

An elephant marched through a field of morning glories, approaching our Land Cruiser like a police officer pulling us over for a traffic stop.

“Don’t worry,” whispered our safari guide Salum Mpapa. “Be calm.”

The massive pachyderm hoisted his wrinkled trunk, gingerly waving his nostrils within a half metre of our faces. Using his unparalleled olfactory senses, he sussed us out, one by one, as he made his way around the open-air truck.

We passed the smell test. He flapped his giant ears, sauntered back to the nearby herd and resumed chowing down on the tall grass.

It was an unforgettable moment. And one that was unthinkable not long ago. That’s because elephants, along with many other animals, had abandoned the Kwakuchinja Wildlife Corridor in northern Tanzania. Years of poaching, human encroachment and over-grazing forced them out of this strip of savanna connecting Lake Manyara and Tarangire national parks. The repercussions – a weakened gene pool from inbreeding, being cut off from resources like water – can be dire for already endangered species.

“A park that becomes an island will die,” said Nicolas Negre, co-founder of Chem Chem Safari.

Negre and his partner, Fabia Bausch, operate a pair of tented safari camps and a lodge within the Kwakuchinja corridor’s 20,000 hectares of unfenced wilderness. Since 2008, the couple has been working with the Tanzanian government and local villagers to restore this key migration route linking Lake Manyara and Tarangire.

Those efforts are finally paying off. After nearly half a century, the so-called “big tuskers” of Tarangire – bull elephants prized by trophy hunters and poachers because of their huge ivory incisors – were seen bathing in Lake Manyara in 2021. Chem Chem Association (the non-profit arm of the safari company) reports that giraffes, whose numbers have plummeted by nearly 40 per cent across Africa in recent decades, are making a comeback. Same for zebras and wildebeests.

“This was like a desert 15 years ago,” said Chem Chem Association’s executive manager Clever Zulu. “Now the corridor is bustling with activity.”

I got a front-row seat to that activity on a June trip with Chem Chem and another conservation-minded safari operator, Legendary Expeditions. The two companies have a collection of lodges and camps peppered across Tanzania’s famed northern safari circuit. (They offer a “connected adventure” that includes a discount when you stay at both.)

Their accommodations have electricity, plumbing and all the mod cons and are tricked out with stylish safari decor. Meals are a multicourse affair, featuring everything from beef tenderloin and fancy French pastries to veggie samosas, fresh-as-it-gets avocado salad and baobab ice cream.

Despite all the creature comforts, the wildlife never feels far away. You might be nursing a frothy cappuccino in bed and spy a herd of impala through the mosquito netting. Take a dip in the pool while giraffes munch on the leaves of an acacia tree. Fall asleep at night to the low growls of leopards and lions. Wake to the sound of barking zebras.

While taking a shower at the rustically elegant Chem Chem Lodge near the shores of Lake Manyara, I wiped the soap from my eyes to see a vervet monkey looking at me from the other side of the glass wall. The charcoal-faced primate was rubbing its arms and legs in an adorable case of monkey see, monkey do.

Chem Chem’s Bausch, a former Swiss banker, went on her first safari in the late 1990s. She loved the concept but found the structure too rigid. Wake up early. Go on a game drive. Listen to a guide lecture you about wildlife while you sit captive in the jeep.

“It was all so serious,” said Bausch, who espouses a “slow safari” philosophy. “It’s about immersing yourself in nature and your surroundings, whether that means staying in camp and enjoying a coffee, going on a bush walk or taking a drive to see what you want, when you want.”

Both Chem Chem and Legendary Expeditions adhere to that laid-back, choose-your-own-adventure ethos. Guests go on game drives in private vehicles instead of sharing with strangers. And adventures aren’t limited to the Land Cruiser. At Chem Chem, you can (and I did) go for a jog with a Maasai warrior. At Legendary’s Mwiba Lodge near the south end of Serengeti National Park, I stretched my legs on a walking safari before treating them to a massage at the spa.

Because Chem Chem is the only safari operator allowed in the Kwakuchinja corridor, you feel like you have the place to yourself. Well, you and the wildlife. Thanks in part to stepped up anti-poaching efforts (14 of the corridor’s 36-member anti-poaching team are Chem Chem employees), much of this wildlife has grown comfortable around human visitors. A lion feasting on a fresh zebra carcass could barely be bothered to look up at our vehicle, parked a few metres from his hungry cubs waiting for their turn to dig in. With a full belly, Dad eventually staggered off for a nap while the kids polished off the leftovers.

“When I came here 10 years ago for orientation, I saw only one elephant,” said our safari guide, Mpapa, from his seat behind the wheel. “Now, there are more lions. More giraffe. More everything.”

Over half of Chem Chem’s 215 staff come from the corridor’s 10 surrounding villages, giving these employees and their families an economic reason to root for the company’s success. The association is also paying for a new control room with monitoring equipment that will not only curb illegal poaching but alert rangers when elephants and other animals are getting too close to farms and villages. The aim is to reduce the risk of human-wildlife conflict – a problem in many parts of fast-growing Africa.

“It’s difficult to make everybody happy,” Negre said. “Protecting wildlife, in a way, it’s easy. It’s people who are complicated. But if you don’t protect the land, it will be gone forever.

“You have to look at the big picture,” he added. “And the big picture is a beautiful picture.”

If you go

Fly to Kilimanjaro International Airport and spend the night at Legendary Lodge in Arusha, the gateway to Tanzania’s northern safari circuit. From Arusha, drive or take a small plane (air travel is preferable, given the distances) to one or more of Chem Chem’s trio of properties in the Kwakuchinja corridor and Legendary Expeditions’ Mwiba Lodge and three safari camps in and around the Serengeti. For example, an eight-night “connected adventure” with an overnight at Legendary Lodge and all-inclusive stays at two luxury tented camps run by Chem Chem and Legendary, along with internal flights, starts at US$9,615 a person. (chemchemsafari.com and legendaryexpeditions.co.tz)

The writer travelled as a guest of Chem Chem Safari and Legendary Expeditions. They did not review or approve the story before publication.