For next early Feb, I'm trying to decide between a flying safari to Lake Manyara Tree Tops, either Kusini or CCA Tanzania Under Canvas, and Ngorongoro Serena Lodge....then we'd use the vehicles of the camp, which other than Serena, look like they hold about 5 people. Or, the recommendation by a tour operator is to pick up a private guide/vehicle and Arusha who would stay with us through the safari. We are not likely to want to do an all day game drive, and we're OK getting up at dawn for the scheduled drive, so don't know if we need to do the private. Don't know yet how the costs would differ...I assume we have to pay for lodging and food for the driver as well as his time and vehicle, and whether this would be comparable to the flights...I don't know. Plus, I'm not sure we want to drive great distances between camps...have to save the back for the game drives. Any opinions! Sure would appreciate them!

I don't think you save much time by flying to Manyara and Ngorongoro ... it's only a 2 hour drive on a paved road from Arusha to the entrance at Manyara, and another two hours or so from there to the Ngorongoro Serena.

For both of these locales you'd fly into the Manyara airport and get picked up for the drive into Tree Tops, then have to drive or be driven to the Ngorongoro Serena, so all you really are doing with this leg is replacing a two hour drive on a paved road with a short flight.

On the Serengeti leg they would likely drive you back to Manyara airport from Ngornogoro (2 hours drive back) and then you'd fly to either Seronera or to a strip near your camp and drive to camp. If you have a bad back you'd at least miss a couple of hours of driving.

Personally I'd rather have a private vehicle than have to share with up to 5 in a jeep.

You can probably arrange it so you have a private driver for Manyara and Ngorongoro and then fly into Serengeti and are met by a different crew.

Bill

Thanks Bill,
Sounds like we should go with the private driver and skip the short flights.

If you're ending your trip in the Serengeti and don't relish the longish drive back to Arusha it's probably a good idea to fly back from Seronera.

I second Bill H's recommendation (we seem to have similar tastes) that you fly back to Arusha from the Serengeti. We recently go back from our only trip to East Africa, and we were glad we didn't have to "relish" the prospect of around 7 hours of driving on bumpy roads that we had already driven in the other direction. If you were thinking of stopping at Lake Manyara on the way to the Serengeti and then at Ngorongoro on the way back to break up the drives, you might prefer driving Manyara-Ngorongoro-Serengeti, which would limit any single drive to about 3 hours (the leg from the Crater to Kusini, if Kusini is located where I think it is), and then fly back to Arusha. This way you would also have a private driver and vehicle without having to pay pretty steep prices to reserve your own at each camp. I believe there is an airstrip near Kusini, so you would not have to go all the way to Seronera to catch a flight, but Kusini may not have regular commercial service, you'll have to ask someone more knowledgeable than me about that. As to the total costs, any reputable operator can give you numbers to compare.

thanks again Bill H and hguy47! Our plans are to drive from Lake Manyara to Ngorongoro (now I'm thinking of changing to the Sopa lodge for the ease of getting down and less vehicles...really want the Crater Lodge but have to cut costs somewhere!) and then driving to Serengeti...and flying back from there to Zanzibar...am leaning more toward the mobile tents to make sure we're not game driving long distances from Kusini.

The guides employed by individual camps are experts at that area. When you hire a private guide to take you to all the safari camps, they are not going to be as current on the animals or the roads.

Also it is really fun to hear each guide's expertise. You get a different experience from each and this contributes to the enjoyment.

Definately back up the private vehicle call. In Feb we saw a couple fo Kusini vehicles and they were packed, 7 people. It was definately not a situation I would have liked to be in.
Happy & safe travels.

J