Hubby

Hi everyone,

First I want to thank you all for your posts on this forum; I've already learned a lot just by reading your posts!

My wife and I are planning a honeymoon safari in Tanzania. We will most likely go during the last two weeks of November, but timing is somewhat flexible.

We are looking for something comfortable (flush toilets) and somewhat romantic, but not extravagant. Options like walking safaris, night drives, and canoeing are a plus.

I'm doing much of the planning for this part of the trip, and I could use some feedback. Right now I'm thinking of something like the following:

<font color="blue"><u><b>Day 1</b>: Arusha / buffer day</u>
Possibly canoeing, walking safari.</font>

<u><b>Night 1</b>: Arusha</u>
Best lodging options: Kibo Palace, Other?

<font color="blue"><u><b>Day 2</b>: Tarangire</u>
Drive to Tarangire
Afternoon game drive
Night drive? (Possibly at River Camp?)</font>

<u><b>Night 2</b>: Tarangire</u>
Best lodging options: Oliver's Camp, Tarangire River Camp, Swala, Nomad Tarangire

<font color="blue"><u><b>Day 3</b>: Tarangire</u>
Morning walking safari (Oliver's only?)
Game drive
Night drive? (Possibly at River Camp?)</font>

<u><b>Night 3</b>: Tarangire</u>
Best lodging options: Same as Night 2

<font color="blue"><u><b>Day 4</b>: Manyara</u>
Morning drive through Manyara
Lunch at Gibbs Farm?</font>

<u><b>Night 4</b>: Ngorongoro</u>
Best lodging options: Sopa, Serena, Crater Lodge (for a romantic splurge!)

<font color="blue"><u><b>Day 5</b>: Ngorongoro</u>
Early morning game drive in crater
Afternoon drive to central Serengeti</font>

<u><b>Night 5</b>: Central Serengeti</u>
Best lodging options: Mbuzi Mawe, Other?

<font color="blue"><u><b>Day 6</b>: Central Serengeti</u>
Game drive
Possibly balloon trip (unlikely)</font>

<u><b>Night 6</b>: Central Serengeti</u>
Best lodging options: Same as night 5.

<font color="blue"><u><b>Day 7</b>: Central Serengeti</u>
Game drive
Drive to northern Serengeti</font>

<u><b>Night 7</b>: Northern Serengeti</u>
Best lodging options: Migration Camp

<font color="blue"><u><b>Day 8</b>: Northern Serengeti</u>
Game drive
Little walking safari?</font>

<u><b>Night 8</b>: Northern Serengeti</u>
Best lodging options: Same as Night 7

<font color="blue"><u><b>Day 9</b>: Northern Serengeti</u>
Game drive</font>

<u><b>Night 9</b>: Northern Serengeti</u>
Best lodging options: Same as Night 7

<font color="blue"><u><b>Day 10</b>: Fly out</u>
To Arusha or DAR?</font>

What do you think? I've generally listed what I consider to be the best options for lodging, but I'd be curious to hear your feedback. My knowledge of Arusha lodging is especially thin. I'm also curious about what our chances are of being able to go on a night game drive with this itinerary. Thanks in advance!

pippa13

hi hubby,

you already know that end fo nov the &quot;short rains&quot; are most likely to be in full swing?

anyway:
arusha:
i would stay at HATARI
http://www.hatarilodge.com/

tarangire oliver's is a really good choice but also swala
http://www.sanctuarylodges.com/swala.htm

of course the cca crater lodge is special - but not everybody likes it THAT fancy ;-)
would give their treelodge a try

serengeti:
in the gol mountains i would go to sujan camp (resident wilddogs - 16 dogs!) and in north. serengeti to sayari both
http://www.asilialodges.com/
or kusini
http://www.sanctuarylodges.com/swala.htm

i would definately not travel too much but rather stay in a camp for at least 2 nts.

happy planning!

Hubby

Thanks pippa13. I do know that there will be &quot;short rains&quot; in November, but how bad are these? November trip reports I've read here haven't mentioned them much.

I agree with trying not to travel too much, but I've been told that more than one night at the Crater is probably not necessary. So I moved the extra night to the Serengeti.

pippa13

hi hubby,
one night at crater is sufficient!
how long the &quot;short&quot; ones last - i have NO IDEA! because of global warming anything everything is possible! but any way: i would look forward to any weather! sometime rainy weather is ideal fot watching cheetahs copeing with the miserable weather! calving season moght start early and you see aLL THESE LITTLE ONES CALLING FOR THEIR MOTHERS WHICH HAVE BEEN TAKEN BY LIONS THE NIGHT BEFORE::::
SAFARI IS ALWAYS SO SPECIAL::::
I DONT START PROMOTION BECAUSE I WOULD NEVER STOP:::::
just give it a try and choose the right camp.........
it's difficult i know but the links provoded guarantee a first class experience!
admire you for the trip ahead!

happy planning!

baloubear

Hi Hubby,
Did much the same for my honeymoon last october. Would highly recommend Sayari camp in north serengeti- v special experience, highlight of our safari! Also Plantation lodge which is between crater and lake manyara- bit of driving but v nice lodge and v friendly owners.
Enjoy the planning.
Baloubear

atravelynn

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding.

Here is a weather chart for TZ.

http://www.classicescapes.com/ta-weather.html

Your routing looks good to me. I haven't stayed in a lot of the places you list. I like Sopa at the crater for its access road, even more important when it's rainy, muddy, slippery.

Have a wonderful trip!

Hubby

Thanks everyone. I'll add Sayari as an alternative to Migration. Is it possibly too far northwest for late November?

baloubear: How far is Plantation lodge from the Crater? I'm assuming it doesn't have a crater view?

atravelynn: Thanks for the weather chart. It's the best one I've seen yet!

sandi

For November, I'd pick Migration Camp, besides it's very romantic.

Hatari Lodge is in Arusha National Park. If you plan to spend a day in the park, this would be an excellent option over a hotel in Arusha. If you want romantic in Arusha, there's Arusha Coffee Lodge which is also the closest to the road leading to Tarangire.

At Tarangire, all excellent choices, depending on budget. Oliver's and Swala are both a good 2/hr drive into the park which makes them remote. But, then when leaving towards Manyara you have to take this 2/hr drive time into consideration. So it would probably be a 4.5/hr drive to Gibb's for lunch. River Camp is lovely on a bluff overlooking the river. Another romantic (and expensive) camp is Treetops (sister camp of Migration and also Arusha Coffee Lodge).

Gibb's, Plantation and Farmhouse are all located in Karatu, the town between Manyara and Ngorongoro.

You don't necessarily need more than 2/nts at the Crater, but if your budget can handle it, the Crater Lodge (tres tres expensive even in low-season NOV) is lovely.

While Nov is the short rains and prices at some properties a bit lower, it's still high-season.

Hubby

Thanks Sandi. I'm also considering Kikoti for Tarangire, although I've read it's about 1/2 hour outside the park (and Treetops is 40 minutes). But my understanding is that if we want to do a night drive, and we're not staying at Manyara, our best option in this itinerary would be to stay outside the park at Tarangire.

Does anyone know if Tarangire River Lodge does night drives? Are the night drives at Treetops and Kikoti worth it?

Hubby

Bump. Any feedback on night drives would be greatly appreciated.

I promise I'll post a trip report.

sandi

Personally, I'm not a fan of night game drives. Yes, I've done a few and yes, we've seen game, but it's not high on my list.

But, if this is something you wish to experience, those camps outside park boundaries conduct these for a small additional fee. Your safari planner should be able to advise price for a particular camp.

At Lake Manyara, Green Footprints conduct night drives w/bush dinner at about $150/person; inquire of your outfitter if interested.

Kikoti and Treetops are indeed outside Tarangire, but unlike Oliver's and Swala (deep inside the southern part of the park), at least from Treetops there is a backroad that takes you (30-40/min) to the Manyara road, thus avoiding driving thru the entire park. Even using this back road, you will find game, birds and those baobab trees.

Hubby

Thanks again Sandi.

lifelist

I've stayed at Tarangire River Camp. It's a nice camp, but it is a good 30 minute drive over bumpy roads to reach it from the park entrance. In retrospect, I probably would have gone for a camp/lodge inside the park so that we didn't have to rush to leave by sunset. They weren't doing night drives when I was there a couple of years ago. The camp is located in a rural area near the park border, so I don't know where they would take you at night.

Go-safari.com has good maps showing you where the various camps are:

Ngorogoro:
http://go-safari.com/images/NCA.jpg

Tarangire:
http://go-safari.com/Tarangire/TarangireApr7.jpg

Hubby

Thanks for the feedback everyone. Unfortunately we won't be going to Zanzibar due to time constraints. We'd rather spend the time on safari.

I've posted a separate thread on northern Serengeti camps here:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35122255

I'm still nervous about Sayari at that time of year. Isn't it likely that the migration has passed it by?

bat

Hi Hubby:
Have fun planning what will be a wonderful honeymoon.

In Arusha we really liked Ngare Sero
http://www.ngare-sero-lodge.com/

I have a question--you call day 1 a buffer day--when do you arrive?

--depending on that it's not really a &quot;buffer day&quot; --you may need 2 nights in Arusha for that.

Hubby

Hi bat,

We haven't worked out all of the flights yet, so I'm not sure when we'll arrive. It may be that we end up skipping the first day in Arusha NP and heading straight to our lodging, or spending an extra day in Arusha.

Hubby

Hi Everyone,

I just thought I'd let you know that we're booked with Kiliwarriors! Based on reviews from this forum, I contacted seven different companies. In case anyone is interested, we had the best experience dealing with the following companies (in no particular order):

Kiliwarriors
Naipenda Safaris
Duma Explorer
Green Footprint Adventures

We probably would have been happy with any of these companies, and in the end it came down to very slight differences for our chosen itinerary.

We also had a very good experience with Good Earth Tours, but they were a little hard to pin down on price.

Sunny's had some sort of email problems, and they didn't respond to us until late in the process. But they were very professional.

Roy's never got back to us.

bat

Congrats--what does your final itinerary look like?

Hubby

Hi bat,

The final itinerary is:

Day 1: Arrive Arusha, Rivertrees
Day 2: Arusha NP, canoeing, Rivertrees
Day 3: Tarangire, Oliver's
Day 4: Tarangire, walking safari, Oliver's
Day 5: Tarangire / Manyara, Plantation
Day 6: Ngorongoro, rim hike, Plantation
Day 7: Serengeti, Olakira
Day 8: Serengeti, Olakira
Day 9: Serengeti, Migration
Day 10: Serengeti, Migration
Day 11: Fly out

bat

Hi Hubby:
You did a good job--Looks very nice--great accomodations and mix with Oliver's, Olakira and Migration from what I understand. I have not stayed at Migration but everyone makes it sound lovely--the perfect finish for the honeymoon.

Personally I really liked having the 2nd day in Arusha as a &quot;safety net&quot; for cancelled/delayed flights and a transition to safari.

I am curious--you are doing a crater rim hike but not going down into the crater on a drive? And, were the rim hotels full?