jdavies

Hi,
My large family (11) is going to Tanzania in October. We will be flying mainly from San Francisco. We need to fly into Arusha and then depart from Dar Es Salaam. We would like to stop on the way back in London for a 3 day extension to our trip. We are also traveling with 5 kids, 6,8,10,11,13, I know, a little Crazy!!! But a chance of a lifetime!!!

Does anyone have suggestions on the best flights, websites, etc?

Also, we have been creating an itinerary with Green Footprints. has anyone used them. They have created an itinerary with a variety of activities, not just game drives. They are small, so it's hard to find out a lot of info on them.

Here is our itinerary:
1, arrive arusha, Kigongoni lodge
2, Arusha, game viewing, canoeing, Kigongoni lodge
3, Tarangire, Tarangire treetops, Lake Manyara
4, Bush dinner, night drive, Manyara, serena Manyara lodge
5, visit local village, bike to village (karatu) Plantation lodge
6, game drive, hiking, Ngorongoro Crater, Plantation lodge
7,8, serengeti, Sayari Camp
9,10,11, Zanzibar, Beaches resort



Any suggestions, comments, warnings, would be much appreciated.
thanks,

stakerk

You should shop around on tour operator. Prices vary widely. You might want to check with Roy's based there or African Serendipity based in NY.

Following is a link to a trip report where they used Green FP

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34760129

here is another:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34784464

Others are the experts (I am going for the first time in August), but I would question if Sayari is too far west in the Northern Serengeti to catch the best part of the Migration in October. I understand they tend to me more to the east in October.

Good luck,

Kevin from California (Thousand Oaks)

However, I am just going for the first

kimburu

Do a search on this forum for "Green Footprint" - note no "s" and you'll get a few reports from people who used them - more than enough info to decide if they are right for you.

Patty

In the first link that Kevin provided, Green Footprint was only used for the activities in Arusha. The rest of bat's itinerary was arranged through ATR and the ground operators were MKSC & Nomad (just wanted to clarify).

From what others have said, Tarangire Treetops location isn't ideal for a one night stay, so you may want to consider another property here.

How are you getting from Plantation Lodge to Sayari, flying? Otherwise, I think it's too long of a drive, particularly with children.

Coming from SFO, you'd have a minimum of 2 stops flying into Kilimanjaro (JRO) airport regardless of the carrier(s). The SFO-AMS nonstop on KLM gets into AMS to late to connect with the AMS-JRO morning departure so you'd probably have to fly SFO-some east coast gateway-AMS-JRO.

Your other choice would be to route via Nairobi and there are a number of carriers than fly to NBO from European gateways but since you indicated that you'd like to stopover in London on the way back, I'd look at BA or Kenya Airways flights first as they both fly into NBO from Heathrow. From NBO, you'd catch a short Precision Air (Kenya Airways codeshare) flight to JRO or there are land transfer options to Arusha (takes about 5 hours).

Good luck with your planning!

Patty

Forgot to address returning from DAR. BA flies 3x weekly (Tu/Fr/Su) DAR-LHR nonstop. The flight leaves early in the morning though so you may or may not be able to connect from ZNZ same day. Check Eben's site for carriers that fly ZNZ-DAR and their schedules - http://www.go-safari.com/safari_Tanzania.htm

If you opt for Kenya Airways, you'd transit through NBO again before heading to Heathrow. KLM flies DAR-AMS using the same aircraft that serves JRO. The flight normally routes AMS-JRO-DAR-AMS but they sometimes change the order.

jdavies

Thanks for the input. We will be driving from Kigongoni Lodge to Tarangire Nat. Park, and then be staying at Treetops. Is that a far distance, can you reccomend a better place to stay? From there we will be driving to Manyara Nat. park, and staying at the Manyara serena.. Does this seem to far also?
J

ShayTay

You might consider Tarangire Tented River Camp. It's outside the Park, but is a really nice permanent tented camp. There is also a new camp going up that is on the eastern shore of Lake Manyara, but still fairly close to the Tarangire park gate (only 5 minutes further than the River Camp. It's called Maramboi and is opening this month, I believe.

LyndaS

I just did a search in the word document I have the index on, and Kevin and Patty are right - only Nikao has used Green Footprints as their ground op.
Wow, 5 kids - that is brave - I do hope that you will write a report for all when you get back, I'd love to hear how that went and how the kids enjoyed it!