bobbye7

I am looking forward to a tented safari in Tanzania next summer. I am traveling solo and requested single occupancy. Now I'm having second thoughts and wondering if it might be better to have some "company" when sleeping in a tent. Friends of mine, couples, who went said they weren't scared at night, despite hearing lions, leopards, etc. because they were assured animals saw the tent as something like a solid building. I'm not really worried about safety but thinking more about just having company when a leopard is grunting outside my tent! Any thoughts? Experiences?

amyb

Hi Bobby, I've gone solo twice and actually love it. The tents are really very solid and you won't think you're exposed at all. I've only had a "really" close encounter once, when hippos were eating right outside the tent and zebras ran through camp in the middle of the night. Most of the other noise has been outside of camp. The camp staff patrols the camp during the night to keep predators away usually, so there's that to put you at ease. I actually love lying awake or being woken by the sound of lions in the distance. I think you'll be fine! I'd much rather that than risk being paired with someone I don't know or won't gel well with.

bobbye7

Good point, amyb. And good to know staff patrols the gounds. I generally like to go solo. Had an unpleasant experience once with a roommate who poured out her marriage problems to me then hinted that she really might be attracted to women. TMI!Oh, and she also tried to stiff me for cash.

Bokhara2

I guess you have your answer . Stay solo!

travelingtish

Bobbye7--I went to Kenya a number of years ago with a friend. We had been to Egypt 16 months before that and pretty much got along fine. But on the Kenya trip she really grated on my nerves. 3 years later I went to several southern African countries and she didn't want to go that time, so I had a little house or up-scale tent all to myself (there were 14 others in the group I went with, so I wasn't strictly traveling alone). How I loved it! I could get up early and no one was pushing me to hurry up and get ready. There was no tension. In Zimbabwe, in my little canvas house (more than just a tent), I would go to sleep at night hearing the elephants greeting each other and arguing up at the nearby watering hole. In Namibia I heard hippos ripping grass from the ground very close to my house. It was a thrill a minute. Don't be afraid to go alone. I had a much better and more relaxing time that time.I always felt safe. Every night I left the canvas flap open, so there was just the screen over the door or window so I could watch daylight coming each morning. A true trip of a lifetime. Go for it! I don't think you'll regret it.
I'm trying to get together a trip to Tanzania right now, for the Great Migration. Good luck on your trip!