safari in tanzania
 

i have been reading foders for such a long time now and i can not believe how much information is on here,we are just begining to plan a safari to tanzania, the northern circiut we came up with a itinerary of sorts and sent it off to a few safari companys that we found on the The Tanzania Association of Tour Operators web site,
we asked for ,
1 night in arusha,1 night at lake manyara,2 nights at ngorongoro and 3 nights at the serengeti staying at the serena lodges.
we have receive four quotes back and it is amazing the range of prices i have had,when we were requesting the same safari.putting that aside,the thing that is puzzling me is one of the companys i e-mailed was Roys Safari,based in Arusha ,however i received an e-mail back from a lady called Nancy who works for Aim4Africa which is based in the north of England,we were wondering if it is normal for a safari operator to pass you and your details on to an agent in your home country in our case the U.K?and if so has anyone ever heard of Aim4Africa?I checked out there website and all looks o.k.
as we are really confused now i would appreciate any suggestions and advise as to wether this is the norm.
thankyou all this forum is great and so full of great infomation

This might help http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34768010

if it is normal for a safari operator to pass you and your details on to an agent in your home country? yes

I've never heard of Aim4Africa.

It is certainly not abnormal.

However, it's a slightly funny thing to do when you have real name recognition, as Roy's seem to do, but don't run your own properties (like Cheli & Peacock in Kenya). Presumably they know what they are doing, but they seem to be looking to put themselves at the mercy of their agents.... or maybe they "own" the agents?

Hi, we used Leopard Tours in July to tour Tanzania and they were great. Have you contacted them?

We had actually booked our Kenya and Tanzania tour using Eastern and Southern Safaris, which are based in Nairobi. However, when we got to Arusha, we were informed that we were going to be touring with Leopard instead.
It worked out great for us!

thankyou for the replys and links that has solved some of the confusion regarding Roys and Aim4Africa.
i am still cofused as now i have had replys it is time to choose one,and work from there. are there any question i should be asking? lots of people here on this forum mention things like unlimited mileage,as this will be a private safari just three of us can i ask for early game drives leaving the lodge at 6am will the animals are still on the move?such as lions.
we went to Tanzania at the begining of this year booked with a british holiday company and it was really great,however the itinerery was fixed and the other couple in our vehicle were late every morning meaning we rarely got away from the lodges before 8-9am,the driver/guide was great and always turn up on time and there we were waiting.
Africatravel,we did receive a quote from Leapord and it was one of the better ones mid ranged price,what sort of vehicles did they use? we did ask for a landcruiser with a pop up roof,i thought we would have more shade than a rolled backed roof.
thanks again for all the help

Even Cheli & Peacock doesn't OWN all the properties on their website. Klein's, Saruni, Richard's, Sabuk, Loisaba are privately owned. C&P is the managing/booking agent for those on their site and many others.

Believe it or not, but the industry in both countries is actually very small and all seem to know what the others are doing and from whom requests are coming. With the exception of some small and relatively new outfitters, the long established companies are sound.

Some of the in-country outfitters, as Roy's, do have a rep or two outside of Tanzania or Kenya who work in conjunction to provide the service and convenience the clients need.

"as this will be a private safari just three of us can i ask for early game drives leaving the lodge at 6am will the animals are still on the move?"

Gleaner, one of the great things about having a private guide is that he will be available to you whenever you want for game drives. Ours was exceptional and responsive about this issue and we were usually out all day - boxed lunches and all - from very early morning until just in time to get cleaned up for dinner if that's what we wanted.