I'd like to do this 5-7 years hence, so please respond immediately!
 

I'd like 5-6 nights in Zanzibar, considering

-I'm not a lay-on-the-beach person.
-I'd like to snorkel but I'd be alone so I'd need a guide or group trip.
-I want to go where the monkeys are, maybe a couple of times.
-I'd like about a 1/2 day of culture (maybe two 1/2 days in different places) but not shopping.
-Dolphins, aren't there some dolphins around there? Nothing captive, though.
-Flying foxes, which are really bats, for maybe two outings.
-Nothing on a boat that would go out far enough so I'd have to worry about pirates.
-Inexpensive but safe accommodations.

Is there an optimal time of year for all of the above or are there tradeoffs?

Thank you and I promise a trip report in 2017!

I am sorry to be the one to tell you that you've waited too long to book this trip.




Kidding. I don't think you need 5-6 nights for this. Maybe 4-5. Curious what are you thinking of combining this with. So. TZ? Saadani?

Do you EVER stop planning trips Lynn? Have you written your obituary yet? No? Get on that! (Hint: It could be done in the form of a life itinerary.)

My heart skipped a beat just reading the itinerary!

These are really funny answers, despite not being too helpful, except for Leely's suggestion to knock off a day or so.

Combining--maybe Selous, maybe N. Tanzania.

Well, you sure have plenty of time to plan and change your mind a thousand times. :) Besides, who knows what will be down that long long long road? The pirates may be dead!

Leely, your first comment made me laugh out loud!

Lynn, have you ever posted your life list of trips (all the places you've ever been, plus all the places you're currently planning) on this board? That would be some entertaining reading... especially since I aspire to be just like you. ;)

Seriously, about Zanzibar... I think Leely is right and you can definitely knock a few days off that plan if you don't want to be hanging out at the beach. For monkeys, we saw lots of them in the Jozani Forest (red colobus and blue monkeys), and we only had a few hours there. A full-day trip with a picnic lunch would be fun, because you'd have more time in both the forest and for walking through the mangrove area. But even with a half day you have a good chance of high-yield sightings, I think. It's nothing at all like getting to the primates in Uganda or Rwanda! I think if you had a full day in Jozani Forest, that would be more than enough and not require multiple visits.

For culture, you might want to look into a walking tour of Stone Town with a guide. We just wandered on our own and had a great time, but I imagine a guide would know lots of interesting places the tourists don't necessarily find. Maybe ask about where you can have dinner with live taraab music, or perhaps visiting a family's home. We also enjoyed the spice tour (much less touristy than I'd expected) and visiting the palace ruins on the way. The only thing I would change is that I wish we had had an extra day and didn't have to do our spice tour and Jozani Forest on the same day. It was a lot of fun, but would have been nicer with a bit more time for each thing.

I haven't been snorkeling or visited the dolphins or bats there, so I don't have any advice about that.

For a place to stay, we loved Pongwe Beach and thought it was a bargain. They had great Swahili food one night -- one of the best dinners I've had in my life. It was a very casual, friendly place and seemed like it would be a nice place to stay if you're traveling solo. It's not the most convenient location for Jozani or the dolphins, though, so the day trips from here aren't the cheapest. I'd recommend doing some of your day trip activities when you transfer to and from Stone Town to wherever else you are staying. And I thought Stone Town was lovely and very interesting, but I would not recommend staying there the entire time.

This sounds like a lovely trip and I knew the mention of those colobus monkeys someone mentioned recently would get you thinking about 'beach time' there! :-)

I disagree with the others though, you will need 5 or 6 days there to do all that!

If you stay at the beach to do the day trips, you may need a guide to come out from Stonetown for some of them, as the resort itself may not offer all of the trips you want. You will certainly be able to book a spice tour, snorkeling & Jozani Forest from the beach, as most do offer those tours. But I'm not sure about the flying foxes & the dolphins, I haven't heard of them, but could ask my friend, our guide Mussa, about them for you - he would know where they are.

To take in all the things you mentioned, you would need all 5 or 6 days. Lets say you did the snorkeling from the beach, (that's a no-brainer, yes? :-) ) as well as a spice tour, and Jozani Forest along with the mangrove swamp. For those three, you will need three days plus the day you get there. You could combine spice with Jozani, but as MDK says, it's rushed - best to do one each day.

Then you will need a transfer day from the beach- it's not far really to Stonetown (a few hours) but it's hot, so lay around in the morning, leave & then check into a hotel in Stonetown in the afternoon & visit their pool or something. Or just walk around the hotel area.

You will need 2 nights in Stonetown, as there is MUCH culture to see - the market, a walking tour of Stonetown & you HAVE to have dinner at 236 Hurumzi - that was the most incredible experience I have had for eating! Great food, and wonderful cultural atmoshphere along with great views & the call to prayer at sundown to top it off. Life just doesn't get any better than that!

Leely, maybe by the time I go, assuming there is space available, YOU could be my snorkel partner. Everybody else is invited too. We may need to band together to fight off the pirates if they have not died out, according to Sandi's prediction.

I could contact an agent now about this trip and then make changes, tweaks, and alterations over the next 6-7 years. If operators do indeed "talk amongst themselves" and check in here, they are probably cringing at that possibility. I tend to be a tweaker. Oh, what I could do in 7 years of tweaking!

MDK, any list of mine will soon be overlapping with yours! You're checking out Mongolia. India (incorporating some of your suggestions) is in the initial stages for me. My trip list is not that long because I keep going back to the same places. I seem to always be in need of Remedial Touring.

One life-travels-list error I made was adding a $$ column to the spreadsheet. The summation of that column is staggering. So to pinch pennies, I plan to order only one drink at 236 Hurumzi.

Thanks for the ideas and suggestions! I'll be saving them for future use.

Lynn - with all that planning time - I say maximize your opportunity and get certified for SCUBA and go during whale shark season. I read when that is awhile back, but can't remember - but definitely have added it to my "bucket list." There are so few places in the world to see the whale sharks - much less dive with them!!!

Now there's a plan Aowens! Thank you.

I did get to snorkel with the whale sharks in Holbox, Mexico a couple of years ago at the end of July. About June-Sept is the whale shark season in Holbox with end of July-start of August usually being peak time. Fantastic! There were dozens and dozens. No diving allowed.

Do you know when whale shark season takes place in Zanzibar?

2017 GTG in Zanzibar it is......

I hope it coincides with the Zanzibar International Film Festival...

http://www.ziff.or.tz/

And I thought I was the only one who planned so far in advance! It drives my husband nuts. We are going to Egypt in March and I am planning a return trip to Tanzania in 2011 and so on and so on. Happy planning Lynn.

<b><green>Raelond</green></b>, don't forget about the 2017 GTG! That should really upset the husband.

I remember your S. TZ trip and am looking at something similar, myself.

Check this out. I posted it in a different thread about S. Tanz.

Found this from a blog, with the link to the full report below.

<i>is year, Ruaha Park received very poor rainfall, as a result the springs in the sand-rivers, and surrounding areas are mostly dry already. Therefore, the animals will face a big problem later on in the season. In fact, over the past few years due to the drying of the river, game viewing has really deteriorated from the end of September through to December. Previously, when the river was in better shape, these dry months were Ruahas' prime game viewing months. "</i>

http://www.adventurecamps.co.tz/suestolbergerpage.htm

I had always thought late in the season, maybe Oct would be when I'd like to shoot for S. TZ. I'm now thinking earlier.

<b>Proposed Southern Tanzania Itinerary. Your thoughts</b>
http://www.fodors.com/community/afri...r-thoughts.cfm

Did you see that? It will make you green with envy!

Zanzibar would actually work well with Southern Tanzania.

Lynn I think LAleslie's itinerary looks great, but I'm not interested in any beach time as it's all about the animals for me. I'm not too sure about Selous, but I know we will go to Ruaha and Kavati. I would love to go to Mahale to see the chimps but its so expensive and my husband's bad knee is an issue. Maybe you can help me decide if we should go to the Mara for a few days before going to S Tanzania or just stick with Tanzania and also include the North, near the Kenya border. I decided to go in August as I teach school, but reading the post about the dryness, maybe it's a better time to go than October.

Raelond,

Have you looked at Flycatcher Safaris?

My one time in N. Serengeti in early Aug produced fair wildlife viewing, but I was not at a tented camp way up north. About a week later in the Mara was outstanding.

N. Serengeti vs. Mara is a good question. Costing the 2 itineraries might nudge you one way or the other too.

Let us know what all you come up with and I'll do the same for S. Tanzania and eventually for Zanzibar.

You wouldn't tack on Zanzibar even for the film festival, Raelond?

I haven't been able to find out much about Flycatcher other than from their website and have just e-mailed them for more info. Someone on the forum said that the tents can get very hot and the vehicle wasn't in the best of shape. If the cost for Zanzibar would get me an extra night on safari then I would pass on Zanzibar.

I believe Flycatchers have improved some of their tents. Don't know about the vehicle, though. Their routing and options was just what I was looking for and as I recall the pricing was ok, but that may be not be current on their website.

I've heard from a couple of sources that the location of Flycatcher's Mahale tents are the best. Not saying the quality tops Zoe/Greystoke, just location.

Communication with Flycatchers via email has not been that effective for me, though we did connect once. Kiliwarriors has a nice S. Tanz itinerary. If you did the whole thing, it would be about 22 days, but I think you could curtail it. I would have to curtail it on account of both time and $$. Natural Habitat in Boulder, CO has a S. Tanz trip at the time you would want and it does not include Mahale. Go2Africa had a nice looking itinerary too. I think ShayTay and some others used Authentic Tanzania for their S. Tanz trip. Predator Biologist (Bill) at the Wild Source has lead a group Mahale trip and sends people to that region.

Keep me posted and I'll do the same. Maybe we'll be in some of the same places together and can tell tall tales from Duba around the campfire.

I was not serious about the flim festival. I know it might be an attraction for Leely, but I'd probably try the event.