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Please critique final itinerary and hot air baloon question
December 29, 2007 – arrive Nairobi
Nairobi Serena (Is this worth it for one night) December 30, 2007 – fly to Tsavo West National Park Finch Hattons December 31, 2007 – Tsavo West National Park Full day Tsavo West National Park Finch Hattons January 01, 2008 – drive to Karatu After breakfast you’ll drive to the Kenya/Tanzania border at Taveta. Stop for lunch at Arusha Coffee Lodge. Continue to Bougainvillea Lodge in Karatu. January 02, 2008 – drive to Ngorongoro Conservation Area Ngorongoro Sopa January 03, 2008 – drive to Serengeti National Park via Olduvai Gorge to Serengeti National Park Serengeti Serena Lodge (BLD) January 4, 2008 – Serengeti National Park Full day Serengeti National Park Serengeti Serena Lodge (BLD) January 5, 2008 – Serengeti National Park Full day Serengeti National Park Serengeti Serena Lodge (BLD) January 6, 2008 – drive to Masai Mara National Reserve Kichwa Tembo January 7, 2008 MAsai Mara Kichwa Tembo January 8, 2008 – Masai Mara National Reserve Kichwa Tembo January 9, 2008 – fly to Nairobi for your evening departure Nairobi Serena (BD) (dayroom) Is it worth doing the hot air baloon over masai mara? I feel like I'll be missing stuff on the ground! Thoughts??? Thank you! |
Hi shothyme,
I will leave the itinerary critique to the experts on the forum but on your question re the Serena and the Baloon Flight I will make some comments; Nairobi Serena - we stayed here for just one night last July at the end of our trip. It is a very nice hotel although quite expensive. We got it for about $100 less than the 'normal' rate and for what we paid, I would stay there again. They have a REALLY nice big breakfast buffet and we had THE best meal in our entire trip in the restaurant upstairs for just less than $50 (and that included a couple of cocktails!). The service is good and rooms are spotless .... worth it, it depends ... can you afford it, how much time will you be there, etc. If I were doing my trip again, yes, I would stay in the Nairobi Serena but not at the sacrafice of something else. The Baloon Trip - I hummed and hawed as to whether to do this last year too. In the end I decided to book it as a surprise for hubby for our anniversary. I really liked it while hubby LOVED it. I am glad we did it as I think it is something we had to do at least once in our lives. Did it take away from gameviewing? No! - We actually spotted a pride of lions from the air and after our champagne breakfast in the middle of nowhere (a surreal experience in itself!) we went back in the vehicle to find them so in effect we had our own little game drive on the way back. Also, because we 'missed' our morning game drive, our lodge gave us the option of going on an 11am game drive to make up for it. I did this and although it was quite hot and some animals were 'hiding' we had an amazing gamedrive witnessing two buffalo in a serious fight AND seeing Honey plus her then 5 cubs ... definately the best of both worlds! Imelda |
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On the itinerary, I liked some of the others ones you've posted more than this.
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I'm with Lynn about liking another one you posted a bit better as an overall itinerary. However, if this is the one you've decided on, just be prepared for a couple of very long drives, Tsavo to Karatu and Serengeti to Mara. Has your operator indicated how long the former will take? I'm curious. Do you have one crater drive on Jan 2? You can do a balloon ride over the Serengeti too.
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Thanks so much for the feedback. I liked some of the other ones better too, but we cut down on the length of the trip due to costs. Do you have suggestions on improving this amount of time? I think the long drives are through parks though - so I thought I could think of them as long game drives...
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On the Tsavo to Karatu drive, I think you'll drive south through the park for the first couple of hours. The rest of the way will be outside. Same thing with the Serengeti to Mara drive. You'll be heading west through the Serengeti for the first few hours, but the majority of the drive will take place outside of park/reserve lands. I've never done either drive but think it could still be very interesting.
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(I thought I had added this to your thread, but then it wasn’t there. Maybe it got tacked onto something else where it will make no sense. If this eventually appears twice, sorry.)
------------------------------------ Now for the critique of the itinerary. I just noticed your other where you stated your desire to see elephants. Therefore--keeping in mind I’ve never been to Tsavo--I’d alter the early part of your itinerary as shown below for these reasons: 1. It is less driving. 2. Manyara is noted for elephants in January, more than Tsavo. My closest ele picture ever was in Manyara in Aug. Your other itinerary did not specifically mention you’d spend time in Manyara. Maybe you were going to make a stop, but it didn’t say. 3. Manyara is at its peak in Jan, while Tsavo is not. See this link. http://www.africa-adventure.com/dsp_besttime.html 4. It includes another park, Arusha, with terrain and species different from what you’ll encounter elsewhere. You can do village visits, walks, canoeing in lakes, some without hippos. Green Footprint has more info. on those activities. But I think Finch Hattens is noted for exquisite hospitality that could not be duplicated with my suggestions for the same price. My bias is always toward wildlife and not accommodations. December 29, 2007 – arrive Nairobi or Kilimanjaro You can see if you would rather arrive in NBO or JRO. Check schedules and ticket prices on kayak dot com. Nairobi Serena (Question: Is this worth it for one night?) Answer: From my quick searches, Boulevard is half the price or less. I stay at Boulevard, which is safe, nice, good restaurant, a block from the Norfolk, and walking there was fine though I was told not to walk anywhere else. December 30, 2007 – Fly to Kilimanjaro or wake up in Arusha, depending on your international flight. Then spend the day in Arusha National Park and/or village visits, walks, canoe, etc. Overnight somewhere in Arusha—there are a variety of accommodations. December 31, 2007 – Perhaps spend the morning doing one of the activities you did not get to the day before—village, canoe, walk, etc. and drive about 3 hours in the afternoon to Lake Manyara. There are night drives offered here at an extra cost where nocturnal species can be viewed. You can stay at a variety of places. Lake Manyara Tree Lodge is the lovely CCAfrica property. I mention that as an alternative to Finch Hattens (but I have not been to either). Tree Lodge is more expensive, though. Overnight Tree Lodge, Manyara Hotel (where I’ve stayed, just fine but not particularly special and festive for New Years Eve), or elsewhere Jan 1 Lake Manyara again. Because it is a small park, many itineraries spend only 1 day here. But Jan is a good time and if you are on an ele mission, another day would give you time to track them down and hang out with them. Overnight in Manyara continue with your itinerary as listed January 02, 2008 – drive to Ngorongoro Conservation Area |
Lynn,
The #1 reason why I enjoyed my Finch Hattons stay so much and why I plan to return next year was the hippo and other wildlife viewing from my tent. All other reasons are secondary to that and I'd go back even if they fed me PBJ's all 3 meals ;) |
Patty - I appreciate your enthusiasm about Finch Hatton's. What month were you there? It's a good thing that not too many people have been there because it seems like it will be more remote, but harder to find out about it because there's so few of you who have expereinced it! how did you decide to go there?
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I was there in February on our first trip to Kenya. I'd posted here asking for suggestions for a short safari and one combination that was recommended to me was Tsavo + Amboseli. Tsavo isn't high on the list for first time visitors and I remember having as many posters telling me <i>not</i> to go to Tsavo as I did posters encouraging me to go. In the end, I'm so glad we went. It's remote and scenically beautiful. The viewing isn't as "easy" as in some other parks due to the terrain and amount of vegetation, but we found having to work slightly harder for our sightings very rewarding and when we did spot something, we had it all to ourselves. The only places where we encountered others were at Mzima Springs and the rhino sanctuary.
Here's my original planning thread from 2004 http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34533185 If anything, it's good for a laugh for the endless, clueless questions I asked ;) |
Patty, Going back is a very solid endorsement. What time of year are you returning?
I'm sure Tsavo will have fewer people than Manyara. |
I have no idea yet! As soon as I save up enough miles for another set of tickets, I'll start checking award availability. That'll be one of the determining factors. We're pretty flexible.
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As I recall your accountant plays a vital role as well. What an appropriate comment this April 17.
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Tsavo might not be high on the list for the first-time "serious" safari traveller, but it is very favourite among all those beach tourists on the South Coast, who want to highlight their holidays with a "real" 2-3 day safari. The triangle Kilaguni/Severin/Ngulia can be quite crowded. Other favourites are Voi and Taita Hills. Camps like FH and Voyager are more remote.
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what do you mean by that? is tsavo not a real safari? can you explain? thanks!
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shothyme77, I used the word "real" more in a ironic context, regarding the beach tourists and their kind of safaris; I didn't mean Tsavo. In Europe you can book a 14-day journey to a 4-star beach resort in Kenya for less than 1000 US$, all inclusive. Ten thousands of people are doing this each year. Many of these people are making 1-day minibus tours to Shimba Hills, or 1-night trips to Tsavo/Taita Hills, or even a 3-day roundtrip Tsavo/Amboseli. For them it's a big thing, and they're telling their friends and colleagues that they were "on safari in Africa". Many of these people even can't imagine that there are other travellers who don't use the "Mombasa bombers", who use regular flights to Nairobi instead to go on a 2-3 week safari, maybe even without visiting the beaches. It's quite a different world than in this forum.
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Check out the Tripadvisor Kenya forum and you'll see what nyama means.
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