Family Safari... What do you think?
 

Hi,
We are using a travel specialist,Nina Wennersten, Hipposafaris to plan our trip to Tanzania in October. We have 5 children, 4 adults. What do you think of this itinerary? I want to make sure that there is enough to do to make the kids happy, but not too much.

day 1: Ngare Sero Mountain Lodge
2: drive to Kilimanjaro, spend the day at Kambi ya Tembo at the Masai's tented camp
3> Lake Manyara, Lake Manyara Serena Lodge, the great rift valley
4,5: Ngorongoro Crater, stay at the lodge
6,7: Olduvai Gorge, Serengeti, Serengeti Serena lodge
8,9: Zanibar

Does anyone have suggestions, comments.
I'd really appreciate it. We will be traveling the first two weeks of October.

You should shop your trip around to other tour operators. When we planned our trip to Kenya for August Hipposafaris was substantially higher for the same exact itinerary. You might want to take a look at LyndaS's East Africa trip report or other threads for names of good tour operators for Tanzania to get a competitive quote. I believe you can do much better on the price without even knowing what you have been quoted.

Good luck,

Kevin from California

The following is the link to the index:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34725679

jdavies knowing how old the kids are may help get some answers for you. Kenya has some really good "children" type activities with close animal encounters, etc. Might also be a thought.

jdavies,

I am exhausted just reading your itinerary...do you think your children will enjoy travelling for hours on end on 6 out of the 9 days of the safari, this in addition to all of the game drives already??? You only have three days where you are not jumping from one location to the next.

Also, please tell me that you will be in two vehicles, rather than 10 people in a single vehicle.

Two nights in the Serengeti seems woefully short, especially limiting your time to the Seronera area.

Just as a disclaimer, I am neither a proponent of the large, impersonal safari lodges, nor a proponent of budget safaris. With the proper planning and the proper operator, it is possible to have a much more exclusive safari (even for a family of 9) in areas and camps that are superior to the ones mentioned.

Somebody correct me if I am wrong, but it seems that Southern African lodges tend to give more thought to children's safaris than do East African lodges/camps.

Having recently experienced Tanzania with Nomad (www.nomad-tanzania.com) and CCAfrica (www.ccafrica.com) it is very difficult for me to believe that the itinerary mentioned, no matter how good the price, would be very nice compared to what is possible.

Hello,

I'd strongly recommend either lengthening the trip to closer to two weeks, or dropping some of the parks - you'll be spending more time on the road than you are on safari with the current itinerary.

If you want to stay with the shorter trip, I'd recommed something along the following lines:

Arusha x1
Lake Manyara or Tarangire x2
Serengeti x4
Ngorongoro x2

Personally, for such a short trip I'd drop Zanzibar -- beach time can be had at home, whereas safari can't.

You will have plenty of time for interaction with the Maasai during your trip, which will take you through villages - you don't need to spend a night at Kambi ya Tembo for this, and for a short trip I would drop this night.

If you could lengthen the trip to closer to two weeks, you could do something along these lines:

Arusha x1
Lake Manyara x3
Ngorongoro x2
Serengeti x5
Zanzibar x2

Cheers,
Julian

jdavies,
While I think it's great that you're trying to go somewhere off the beaten path with Kambi, I agree that with such a short safari you may want to consider dropping it and adding a night elsewhere on your itinerary.

There are some cultural activities near the Lake Manyara area that the kids might enjoy and also some more active adventures (don't know what age the kids are). Check www.greenfootprint.co.tz

Rocco,
Not everyone can afford Nomad and CCAfrica, particularly if traveling as a family.

Thanks for the advice. has anyone used go2africa. They seemed to have a nice 8 day trip that was really geared toward the kids.

jdavies

Yes. Your itinerary has a lot of driving
but i know,personally, hundreds of people who have enjoyed such a tempo...
If this is your time & budget limit, and if u are aware of the trade-off
- Go ahead !!
Have fun !!
aby

jdavies

I'd recommend you shop the ititinerary around to at least a couple different operators - other posters have recommended Roy's Safaris, Good Earth Tours, etc (you can search for recommendations). Many of these are budget concious and easy to work with.

I'd agree with previous posts on dropping one of the locations and spending a night somewhere else. If you're driving (I'm assuming here) there are some very long days of driving that the kids would probably get quite bored.