ccipups

I've been perusing the messages on this board for about 2 weeks. What a wealth of information! I've read many of the posts from LyndaS's compilation of trip reports and have come up with the following general plan for a private safari for two:
Day 1 Arrive Arusha
2 Arusha NP
3 Tarangire NP (Tarangire Safari Tented Lodge both nights)
4 Tarangire NP
5 Lake Manyara
6 Crater (some mid-level lodge that will permit us to get into the Crater in the early morning)
7-10 Central and Northern Serengeti (Migration Camp for 2 nights and something similar the other 2 if we can afford it)
11 Fly back to Arusha. Leave that afternoon or evening.

We could probably reverse this too. I was thinking it would be a good idea to fly back to Arusha from the northern Serengeti b/c it looks like it would be a really long drive.
If we encounter a time--or more likely budget crunch, I can let go of Lake Manyara and/or Arusha NP.

We have a budget of about USD $500pppd, exclusive of international airfare. I'll be sending proposals to Good Earth, Green Footprints, Eyes on Africa, as well as Africa Adventure Consultants as I live in the Denver area.
I'd very much appreciate a critique of the plan from some of the Tz veterans.

Regards,
Diane

Patty

I could be wrong, but I think Eyes on Africa only does Southern Africa. At least I don't see mention of East Africa on their website.

Bill_H

Diane, I think you planned well ... it's best to drive to Serengeti in stages and then fly back I feel, rather than fly in and drive back towards Arusha.

Your price is in line with what we paid for Serena and Sopa type lodges in 2007, possibly a bit higher in 2008 but not by much.

Bill

atravelynn

Looks good to me. You could substitute Africa Serendipity for Eyes on Africa because I don't think EoA does Tanzania either.

Bill, when you fly out of the Serengeti, do you lose a morning drive in order to make most flight? I think Good Earth mentioned something like that to me. Was your recommendation to drive to the Serengeti in stages instead of flying there or did you mean IF you are set on driving one way, then it should be driving IN and not out?

Bill_H

<b>Bill, when you fly out of the Serengeti, do you lose a morning drive in order to make most flight?</b>

Personally we never fly out, we do a loop, for example to Manyara (or Tarangire) then to Ndutu (or Ngorongoro) then to central Serengeti, then backtrack to Ngorongoro (dry season) or Manyara (wet season), so we do indeed get a nice full game drive every single morning, including the last day, because the hops are short. We try to schedule the lodges in order so we can do early AM game drives on travel days and transfer in about 4 hours mid-day when the light is typically poor for photography.

One reason we don't fly is because we can't meet the weight limits with all our camera gear, the other is to squeeze in every possible AM game drive, because mornings are typically the best time for photographing.

This would be harder for Diane to do because she's going further north and has fewer days than we typically take.

<b>Was your recommendation to drive to the Serengeti in stages instead of flying there or did you mean IF you are set on driving one way, then it should be driving IN and not out?</b>

In a way it doesn't matter whether you start or end at Serengeti, but many feel it's best to start slow and save the more exciting places for last. Many feel Manyara or Arusha NP would be a let down after Serengeti and the migration, for example, if say Diane did the trip in reverse.

Bill

Otis72

We did Northern Circuit in January 2007, ending in central Serengeti (Serena) and flying back to Arusha via Manyara from Seronera. Flight was mid-day. We took our time driving from Serena Lodge to the airport, and the flight back (over Serengeti plain and Ngorongoro) was a nice ending to our safari. We ended up with more time than we really needed in Arusha prior to our flight out, but the drive out/fly back is a good way to do the northern parks and Ngorongoro. We didn't have any really long forced drives getting from one place to another.

Having the one internal flight in a small (13-14 passenger) plane was also another element of the overall Adventure!

Jim.

ShayTay

You might also send a request to Kibo Guides in Arusha. I've used them several times and have been quite pleased with them. They have some of the best guides in Tanzania and are affiliated with Tanganyika Wilderness Camps. You can contact them at josiah at kiboguides dot com.

Calo

Looks good to me, Diane. Although you could reverse the order of the itinerary, I think it's good planning to be in the Northern Serengeti as late in July as possible. Any earlier and the migration could still be west. This is always a toss-up as I'm sure you know.

5221

Ccipups,

Your itinerary/plan looks great, doing the Arusha National Park is a great thing as most of people don't really get time to do it and they just go straight to Manyara, Serengeti, Ngorongoro and Tarangire, if you look into it they really miss something...

Flying from Serengeti if you have a flight on the same day is also a good idea as you will have long time to sit on plane going back to europe so I would advise flying and not driving on a bumpy roads in a long way. Or else you can start with Serengeti after doing the Lake Manyara and come back to Ngorongoro, this way you can drive straight to the Airport on your last day,

Do not skip anything,Do the AN in the morning with your picnic lunches and after that you drive straight to Tarangire for Overnight and game drive on the next morning for full day.

Cheers!! &amp; wishing you lucky in your plan..

ccipups

Patty and atravelynn, you all are correct; EOA doesn't do East Africa. I had sent out an RFP to several companies sketching out my desires for trips to Tz, Bots, and SA. EOA did reply with a couple of itineraries that looked very interesting.
I also noticed that I didn't post this in the Tz section. (sigh) Oh well...

Thanks for the replies. I'm hoping that we can get some mobile camping in on this trip.