angel025

Hi,

I am planning on going in late July, early August to see the wildebeest migration. One of the travel agents is recommending staying in North Serengeti (the agent is Tanzania based) and not to go to Masai Mara as the animals are there more in September.

This is the itinerary they have put together: Thought? Would you still recommend going to Masai Mara as well?
Day 1: Arusha
Day 2: Arush - Tarangire National Park
Day 3 - Tarangire – Lake Manyara National Park 75kms/1.30hrs
DAY 4:
Manyara – Serengeti National Park 205kms /4.50hrs
DAY 5:
Serengeti National Park Central – North 155kms/5hrs
DAY 6:
Serengeti National Park North
DAY 7:
Serengeti National Park North – Central 155kms/5hrs
DAY 8:
Serengeti National Park - Ngorongoro Conservation Area – Karatu Village 170kms/4.10hrs
DAY 9:
Karatu - Ngorongoro Crater Tour – Kilimanjaro International Airport 245kms/4.20hrs then fly to Zanzibar Archipelago
DAY 10 - 14
Zanzibar North - Nungwi

Safari_Craig

Hi Angel,

I just got back from 24 days in Tanzania this afternoon. It was my 39th trip to sub-Saharan Africa. The itinerary above is absolutely brutal with much of your valuable vacation spent on crowded, bumpy and dusty roads. There are multiple daily scheduled flights connecting all these places you mentioned that would allow you to spend much more time with the animals and much less time sitting in a land cruiser bouncing down the roads swatting flies.

Tarangire, Manyara, Central Serengeti (Seronera) and Northern Serengeti (Kogatenda) all have their own air strips and many daily flights in peak season. For a sample of routes, check out Coastal Aviation. They are one of the several schedule light air companies.

It seems to me like this agent is trying to sell you a package with a driver guide accompanying you throughout the trip and not using any flights. The agent may have a business affiliation with this driver guide so you should ask or do a little research to reveal any hidden bias.

Most of the upscale camps have safari programs designed around the many daily scheduled flights between the locations you listed. So, you don't need a guide to go with you. Instead, you fly from camp to camp and you game drive in camp-owned vehicles with camp employed guides instead of a driver guide from Arusha. The camp employed guides know the local areas really well since they drive there every day. The camp guides collect and drop you off at the air strips. This difference in "who guides you" is why camps in Tanzania often have two rates. One rate is called "game drive" for guests that fly in. The other is "full board" for guests that show-up by road with a guide of their own.

BTW, the road from the northern Serengeti to central Serengeti is really bad. That drive alone takes about 7 hours. So, the drive time listed on day 8 should be about 10 hours not 4.1 hours.

Also, your trip also has a lot of unnecessary back tracking. On Day 4, the quickest way to get from Lake Manyara to the central Serengeti by road will take you along the SW rim of the Crater! You will drive right past it! There is no point in returning on day 9 to see the Crater again. Especially when there are many non-stop flights each day from Kogatenda (Northern Serengeti) directly to Kilimanjaro Airport. You can end in the north and fly back to where you started.

Your agent may live in Tanzania but he/she does not seem to understand the logistics of planning safaris there. I would find another one if I was you. Sorry for being blunt.

Also, there is no way to predict the location of the migrations in later July. Since this agent is trying to sell you a driver guide program he/she has an incentive to tell you not to go to Kenya because the guide probably can't cross the border! If the migrations are your chief objective, I would consider doing a safari that combines the Masai Mara in Kenya (consider the private conservancies) with the northern Serengeti camps in the Kogatenda area. This way you have access to the Mara Triangle, Lamai Wedge, Mara conservancies and the northern Serengeti.

There are a few companies that operate safari lodges in both spots. I have been to every permanent Asilia Camp and they have Rekero, Naboisho and Encounter Mara in Kenya and Sayari in northern Serengeti plus a mobile camp. I was at Sayari two weeks ago. You could also consider the Serian camps using their permanent camp in Kenya's Mara North Conservancy and their mobile camp in the northern Serengeti. I have been to all of them as well. You could also easily combine two unrelated properties in the Mara and northern Serengeti

I am not sure of your budget since you did not list a safari lodge on your plan above. If you want to type out the names of the safari lodges I may be able to be more helpful. Or, simply provide a preliminary budget on a per person basis.

FYI - Tarangire is fantastic and worth a 3 day stay in July. I recommend staying inside the park near the south or central part to avoid the crowds around the NW main gate. Your current plan has you arriving at the main gate in the morning with all the crowds.

You may also want to consider skipping the Crater as it will indeed be VERY crowded and it looks like you will be staying in Karatu which means you will not be arriving on the Crater floor until 745am at the earliest. Many other tourist will have a big-time head start on you and they will be arriving as early as 630am. Especially ones that stay at Lemala or Sanctuary or the Sopa lodge by the eastern decent road.

Sorry if this comes off a little negative. I am trying to be helpful but this itinerary really is not a fun one.

Craig Beal - owner - Travel Beyond

CaliNurse

Hi Angel, sorry for being late to reply. Thoughts on reading the travel agent's words that the wildebeest migration is in September in the Mara, and based solely on my experience...he/she is incorrect.
When I visited in early August 2012, the wildebeest migration was in "full swing" in the Keekorok area "migration corridor." Two years later, based in one of the conservancies, but doing a day visit into the Masai Mara reserve itself, we saw one of the river crossings, toward late June. Both were spectacular sights.