Flight to Tanzania (Dar el Salaam) booked 24 December 2010, now time to plan the intinary! I'm in my 30s, going there with a friend for 2.5 weeks, to explore on a budget! Recommendations please?! Where to go? What to do? Where to stay?? Zanzibar? Worth including Kenya? Thank you so much in advance for your best tips!

Can you fly a different day? Fly to Kenya first and then a flight to Dar? Who's helping you book the flights? They must have some recommendations.

Read, read, read on this web site and in all the books from your library to decide "where to go and what to do". Once you've decided what's best for YOU, we can help you decide where to stay.

Kenya is a wonderful place IF you have the budget to do both. There's no place in Africa that isn't wonderful - if you have the budget. How long are you staying? How much can you spend? Do a little more homework and then come back to the board. We'll be delighted to help with a little more info from you. Good luck and enjoy the research -- its half the fun.

As you're coming into DAR, there are southern parks as Selous and Ruaha, where budget camping can be found. Or contact Foxes, who have a number of lovely camps in these areas.

Important to know... you're traveling over Christmas/New Years and most places assess a surcharge.

Also, December is "summer" in East Africa, so expect it to be hot and on the coast it'll be humid... there is no a/c at safari properties, though many on ZNZ do have.

From DAR you can pop over to ZNZ for some R&R after safari, either by short (15/min) flight or ferry.

Kenya is wonderful, but then you incur cost of flight or (long, long) bus ride to/from, each taking up at least 1/full day. Besides another Visa ($25) and Yellow Fever inoculation and proof of same to enter and then return to Tanzania.

Besides some good guidebooks, i.e., Brandt's for Tanzania, the Thorntree forum is good for budget travelers, as well is Trip Advisor.

It will be hot and wet in December in southern Tanzania... Mikumi, Selous and Ruaha. If you're up for that, then you might want to consider "Authentic Tanzania", an outfitter who has private seasonal camps in those locations: http://www.authentictanzania.com/ We traveled with them in September 2009. They may still run mobile camps, as well.

If you'd prefer to see the Northern Circuit (Tarangire, Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti), then you'd need to get to Arusha, either by bus or by flying. The weather may not be as hot or humid in the north as in the south. You'd want to book your safari in advance, so I'd suggest checking out LyndaS's trip index and review the trip reports and what outfitters were used: http://www.fodors.com/community/afri...what-to-do.cfm

Can you be more specific on your budget? You have beach and culture nearby in Zanzibar. I assume you are interested in a safari, but how interested will determine whether it's a couple day excursion or a good week.

Even with the extra flight, you may save some money by doing the safari part in Kenya.

Whateve you decide, you'll never forget how you decided to ring in 2011!

Thanks everyone for your responses!

We have a friend who just moved to Dar, so we decided to go visit, booked the flight to have the dates, and now we are starting to plan the trip, basically.

We have not been to Africa before, so in terms of planning and what kind of budget we need we have little clue. However, we have travelled around other places quite a lot previously.

We really want to do a safari - thank you for the tips! Authentic Tanzania - will check! Northen Circuit - is this the best place? How do the areas differ? We will look them up and read more. But please can you give some indication on how much a budget safari would cost? Say 5 days/a week? Is it that much cheaper in Kenya? How much is the flight? Then worth spending a day or two in Nairobi too? Except for the once in a lifetime safari, I am personally more interested in people and culture than animals maybe, any suggestions what I can do to get really into the culture, if you understand what I mean? Food and local habits, music, art, communities, religion etc etc.

Kilimanjaro?

Then Zanzibar for sure a week. Any good hotel suggestions? Also on a budget. We will probably be there over NYE, any suggestions for good party then?

Thank you very much for all your great ideas and help!