lbodem

I can *finally* say that we leave for our first East Africa safari in 4 weeks. We leave July 11 and return July 26. We have been planning this for about a year. We are going with Good Earth Tours. Narry has been great to work with. The Fodorites have been extremely helpful. First timers have sooo many questions.

I suspect we have crammed too much into this trip but there is so much we wanted to see and do. We have all our shots and meds. The packing list is complete. I just purchased the soft sided duffles. I have been practicing with my new Nikon D300 and 80-400mm lens. I watch a lot of Animal Planet. Also, Dr Danger had an interesting Kenya visit.

Boston to Nairobi via London, 1 night
Norfolk hotel, 2 nights (to get over jet lag)
Flight to Samburu, Larsens Luxury Camp, 2 nights
Drive to Mount Kenya, Sweetwaters Tented Camp, 1 night
Flight to Masai Mara, Governors Main Camp, 2 nights
Flight to Nairobi, onto Kilimanjaro airport. Proceed to Lake Manyara Tree Lodge, 1 night
Drive to Ngorongoro Crater Lodge, 1 night
Drive to Serengeti, Mbuzi Mawe Tented Camp, 1 night
Drive to northern Serengeti, Migration Camp, 3 nights
Fly to Kilimanjaro; connect to Nairobi (Day Room)
Nairobi to Boston via London

Patty

Safari njema!

atravelynn

July 11 will be here in no time. On to the packing!

lbodem

Asante Sana. We are so excited. I guess July 11 will be here soon but time seeems to be moving quite slowly.

Nyamera

Safiri salama!

Dana_M

You've been planning for a year and only one month to go. Think of it this way: over 92% of your "wait time" has passed. July 11th is right around the corner. Have a wonderful time, and please post when you return.

lbodem

Dana: I like that attitude. Another day has already passed. I think one of the issues is that we have been planning for so long and now that phase is basically over. There really isn't anything else to do but wait (and pack).

Calo

I am doing a countdown until our departure on July 5...time <i>is</i> ticking slowly, isn't it?

We'll be at Mbuzi Mawe on July 18...I guess we'll just miss each other. Have a wonderful trip.

Leely2

Safari njema!

going_2_africa

Have a great trip. Larsen's, in Samburu, is very much a highlight of our trip. You will love it. Say &quot;Jambo&quot; to the elees across the river for me, please. ;-)

Happy and safe travels!!!

Shane

dgenep

Have a great time. My son and I are leaving and returning on the same dates as you with different itinerary. Maybe we'll meet along the way.
We have 2 nights in Arusha then depart on 14th for Tarangire. We spend 2 nights at Oliver's Camp and then head to Lake Manyara for 2 nights at Plantation Lodge. Will do Crater tour and short visit to Olduvai Gorge. We go to Serengeti for 2 nights at Olakira mobile camp. Then fly to Sayari Camp for 2 nights. On the 22nd we fly to Zanzibar and stay 1 night at Zanzibar Serena Inn. Then we go for 3 nights at Matemwe Bungalows.
Our safari is private and was arranged thru Go2Africa and Sokwe Ltd will be our tour operator.
Piggybacking on your thread, we are now trying to figure out how to do this with a 15kg baggage limit. I would love to see a 15kg packing list if anyone has one. Any other thoughts and tips would be appreciated. Thanks, Gene

lbodem

It's really great to experience all the enthusiasm on this site.

Calo: Looks like we'll miss you by three days. We are at Mbuzi Mawe on July 21. Safari njema.

Shane: I have heard great things about Larsens in Samburu. We're really looking forward to it. I'll definitely say Jambo to elees for you.

dgenep: I copied a few packing lists from this site and the 15kg limit does not seem to be a problem at all - although if you include my camera stuff, it may be a little tight. Check this out: http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34802443

Safari njema.

giblum

We are leaving just as you are arriving in Tanzania - I agree, Narry at Good Earth has been great to work with. We will be on their Migration Safari. We leave Miami on June 28 to Amsterdam and will spend the night in the Sheraton Hotel at the Airport and fly to Kilimanjaro on June 30. We fly back home on July 10. We spend two nights near Arusha, two in Tanquire, two in Lake Manyana, then 4 in the Seregeti - with a night in a migration camp in the Western Corridor. This is followed by one night in Ngorogoro Crater and back home. We elected to take a private safari by jeep, with no internal flights so we do not have the luggage restrictions of the smaller planes.
Somehow, we need to manage our photography equipment - a 600mm, 400mm, 300mm, as well as some smaller lenses. We have 4 cameras between the two of us 2 Minolta SLR and 2 Sony alpha 700. Adding the proper mounts for the jeep roofs is quite a bit of equipment. Our camera bags weigh far more than the duffels for our clothes. We will check our duffels, but hope they do not weigh the camera carry on bags.

lbodem

giblum: Your trip looks great. That is a lot of gear to haul around. I can see why you opted for private safari. Our Tanzania portion is a private safari but Kenya is flying between sites. I can't wait to see your photos. Who knows we may even have the same guide.

going_2_africa

Ibodem, I forgot to mention before...if you're interested, the elees seem to hang out on the riverbank opposite the lower numbered tents. That does also happen to be the end of the camp where the pool is. I can't comment on how any noise from the pool area might travel as the camp was near empty when we were there. Only 1 other tent occupied one night and we were it on the second night. That being said, we were in tent named Weaver (they are all named after birds). It was not THAT close to the pool and the elees were right across the river every afternoon and evening. Plus, there was a &quot;beachy&quot; kind of area that they seemed to enjoy a bit farther down toward that end of the camp. Just an FYI, in case you want to make a &quot;tent request&quot;

jeremy_cruise

Have a great safari Ibodem.

Dont forget to bring home a baby Lion as a Sorvenior

lbodem

Thanks for the advice about tents. I'll look into whether I can make any tent requests. Of course, I'll just be glad to be there.

I won't be bringing any lion cubs home as I am packing light and don't have anyplace to put them. I will try to get a picture of me hugging a lion cub thereby showing to the mama lion that I am no threat.

lbodem

OK. Well it's now 3 weeks to go. It's funny in some ways time is passing slowly (just waiting for the day to arrive) but in other ways it is moving quickly (taking care of all the final things like packing and making sure there isn't something we're forgetting).

Leely2

20 more sleeps?

Dana_M

Three weeks is only two weekends. One to pack, one to unpack what you dont' need, and then you are on your way!