Safari - Lions, elephants and hypo snacks

Happy place! 

Many people ask why we moved here, but for us, the opportunity was a no-brainer. We are wildlife obsessed, and the chance to live here meant safari, and Tanzania is where you want to be for animals. I think I am now the world expert on going on safari with T1D!

Here in Arusha, we are at the gateway to Northern Tanzania. Kilimanjaro is to the East, and the Serengeti to the West.  Forested Arusha National Park is a 1 hour drive from our house, elephant-rich Tarangire National Park 1 and a half hours, beautiful Lake Manyara National Park 2 hours and the famous Ngorongoro Crater 3 hours away. All the cliche African wildlife experiences can be had here on a Friday night weekend getaway...  I still have to pinch myself to believe that we live here. Oh I should have warned earlier, this is a major brag post!

Wildebeest migration. 

Living here we have three options for safari; self-drive, guided or fly. I am incredibly spoiled in that I have been able to tag along with Jarrod on his flights and overnights to the Serengeti. We have stayed in little tents, luxury tents, lodges... The great thing about Tanzania is that none of the camps are fenced, so seeing elephants or hearing lions and hyena outside your tent is all a part of the experience. I will never forget my first African camping trip; I made the mistake of offering to watch our friends baby and kids while the others set up the tents... I felt very vulnerable sitting with a squealing baby and chatty kiddies, knowing lions could be somewhere nearby in the darkness! Shining your torch around... lots of eyes reflect back, hopefully zebra and impala.


Of the challenges I have had to face going on safari, the biggest has to be hypo snacks. Sleeping in a tent, luxury or not, they are strict on the no-food policy, and for good reason. One of my friend's cars was smashed open by a hungry elephant who could smell fruit in the vehicle! This is a tricky one to get around, so my tip is to pack a plastic, seal-able tuppaware type container for any snacks. Keep simple plain snacks in your tent that don't smell too sweet - such as plain crackers and sweets (no fruit or meat). Glucose tabs would probably be a good option here (ugh). Give any additional snacks to the kitchen to store for you to collect at the beginning of each day. Or pack in the car, again, in seal-able containers.

Refrigeration of insulin and glucagon is another challenge. I think it's wise to travel with glucagon - you are in a very remote place. If you are with a safari company, many of their cars have a little fridge. If we are self-driving we have a cooler box with frozen bottles. For longer trips we are looking at investing in a Engel fridge. Jarrod is very keen to get one of these for my insulin... but I think he is mostly excited about a new gadget.

Mama cheetah and cubs. 

Another thing that struck me was be prepared to get stuck. I don't think this happens too often, but you do hear about cars getting stuck in the mud overnight, or even lost for several days (one of our guides rescued a group that had been lost for 2 days!). When I heard this I felt so vulnerable, and realised that I need to be responsible for always having my own food supply in the event that this might happen. Others might last a couple of days without food... I am not sure what would happen to my diabetic body. As such, now I always make sure I have a couple of full packets of decent crackers, dried fruit, nuts, juice boxes and biltong (dried meat).

If you plan on safariing, get used to injecting with the bumpy roads known as the "African massage." Let's just say I have become an expert at pinch, look away and stab. Not cool.

My last tip is to communicate. My husband Jarrod enters some kind of a state of safari frenzy and never notices if I am chowing down on sweets. I need to get better at telling him that I don't give a **** about that baboon riding a zebra right now, because I am busy hypo-ing. All things to learn! Another thing I learnt is that self-driving and having a huge male lion walk past and make eye-contact, about 2 meters away, causes a massive release of sugar into the blood-stream! My electric window was not fast enough.

This is such an amazing place. Sometimes I wonder what we are doing here... am I am crazy depriving myself of easy access to medical care, support and technology? Then I remind myself of the incredible things we have seen and done, and how much more we have to see, and it is so, so worth it.