Tanzania, Botswana and Mozambique advice
 

First time to Africa for me and my husband. Feb 5 - Mar 6. Planning to start in Tanzania Feb 5-12. I'm leaning towards private mobile camping if available. Wondering which good agents/operators others have dealt with. I've made inquiries to ccafrica, eyes on africa, e-gnu, thomson and ecoafrica. I'm most interested in quality of the guides and ability to get to the best sites. Also with the limited number of days, which sites should we hit beside crater and serengeti?
We have booked 6 days with Orient Express safaris in Botswana. Wondering if we should spend more time there / visit another lodge.
Planning to end with Mozambique for 5 nights. Experience with Banguerra? I'm interested in flyfishing and seeing turtles hatch. Not diving. Other recommendations?
Thank you!

Sorry, i dont know enough about Mozambique or Orient express camps....

Just saw your mention of e-gnu. They just advertize themselves as someone who has good pricing......they are way over priced....they market themselves with a super website and prompt and fantastic response system!!!

Hari

Thanks Hari. I was suspicious because I got a quote from them which included 3 nights at Ndutu Lodge which I see from previous threads is considered relatively budget priced. And when I asked to change from Gibbs Farm to Ngorogoro Crater Lodge for 1 night, the price difference was $1700! I don't know, just didn't make sense. But you're right, they are the most prompt of all the ones I've contacted. CC Safari is so slow!

So do you recommend any other operators?

Africaanxious: I have been to Benguerra. Below is the link to my trip report which covers it pretty thoroughly. If you do a search here on Benguerra you may find other threads that I have posted about it. Feel free to post questions or email me direct after you read the report.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34548100

My pictures from Mozambique are here:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slidesho...gje8t&Ux=1

Nomad Tanzania does private mobile, I believe. We stayed at one of their semi-permanent camps in the Serengeti this past June. Quality of guiding was excellent! Good food, too.

With your limited time, I'd only go to the Crater and the Serengeti. Perhaps a visit to Lake Manyara might work as well.

Another poster on this board, cynstalker, arranged a very elaborate trip to East Africa, including quite a bit of high end private mobile. See her trip report on the East Africa trip report index:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34860283

I can only speak to the Tanzania part, since I'm combining that with Kenya and Zanzibar.

I've had GREAT responses from CC Africa this week (and last)--almost TOO good, since I'm having trouble making up my mind. I've also had great responses from Go2Africa--their prices seem a little more reasonable for the same lodgings, which I find hard to believe since we priced CC Africa properties with CC Africa itself.

As for the Ngorongoro Crater Lodge--their rate for 2007 is $900 per person per night--that's why your price dropped so much. $1800 per night (even though it is totally inclusive)! It looks amazing, though, and I don't know if I can be satisfied with the Serena instead (my second choice).

Thank you for your advice. I know I'll try to do the high end camping in Tanzania, the issue is how I should book that. Book directly (some like Nomad I can't, so who to book with), or with which agent that others had good experience with? Who would give me the best value with the best guides? For example, if the operator is Nomad, would the price be the same with every agent? I'll check with Roy's that many seem to like, but I would also like to give business to smaller companies who are trying to build their reputations.

I booked Orient Express Botswana on Luxury Link, and I agree with the others that they wouldn't be my first choice, but I couldn't resist at the price I got it for. So my question is if I should book another 2-3 days at a different camp in Botswana or is it just icing on the cake?

Just to give more info, we're active travelers and more interested in animals / scenery than being pampered. However, we do like our creature comforts and would like to stay in small, intimate, unique places.

I will post my itinerary once it's completed for your further comments and I look forward to posting my trip report!

Dear fluffnfold,

Glad to hear that you're getting good service with cc! They're the first ones I contacted (recommended by a SA local) but the first quote they gave me was really high (higher than the rack rates on their website) even though I said I was going to book the whole trip through them. I thought I would get some sort of bulk discount. So I'm not surprised that maybe other companies are quoting you a better rate. And they've been slow getting back to me the second time around, so I'm still waiting... Who is your rep at CC? Are you doing custom? Considering Tanzania under Canvas?

I really don't want to stay at the Serena's either - too hotel-like.

I would always recommend 3 more nights in Botswana if you are able to. With 3 nights you can qualify for the 5 Rivers Special which offers a number of camps which should be obtainable for under $300 pppn, possibly as low as $225 depending on agent mark up.

I am assuming you are staying 2 nights at each of the Orient Express camps, if so you have pretty good geographic coverage so I would recommend visiting the Deception Valley Lodge on the border of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. This would expose you to a totally new ecosystem and compliment the rest of your trip. With a 3 night stay you can make an entire day trip into the Central Kalahari and you will also be able to walk with the bushmen which is a tremendous experience.

Another great choice would be to simply extend your game viewing in N. Botswana since after 6 nights I'm sure you would enjoy another 3 nights. With the special rate I don't think Kwando Lebala could be beat for a wildlife viewing area and would be a great fit for your self described travel interests.

I'm working with Kirsten at CC and Maureen at Go2. Prices are high for both--the CC properties are a minimum of $1500 per night (for 2 adults), with Ngoro being $1800 a night (and that's their "discount" for staying a certain number of nights at a certain number of properties!). Sometimes I think that I should bash myself in the head for even considering spending that kind of money on a hotel. But this is my dream trip, and if not now, when? We recently paid off our house, have no car or student loans, no credit card debt, and healthy retirement savings--and 30+ years of working still to go. But my health isn't great, and I don't know how much longer I'll be able to take a trip like this (just chronic problems that worsen as I age). Plus, we took my husband's dream trip to Machu Picchu last year, so now it's my choice!

We are doing something custom. I just don't care for all the extra locations in the planned trip itineraries that I've seen. Not that I wouldn't like to see Amboseli and Tarangine, but there just isn't the money (or to a lesser extent, the time)!

I don't think the "Under Canvas" thing is for me. I'm really squeamish about bugs and spiders. The bigger creatures don't bother me--I'm not sure why. Maybe it's the fact that I have the ability to squash a large beetle or huge spider (can't even speak the hairy "t" name) but just wouldn't be able to do it without freaking out. I really want to see Africa, though, so I'm trying my best to be brave. I fully realize that I'll be sacrificing real game-spotting for my "creature" comforts, but that's just the way it is. (I'm just glad that "luxury" is available, but at what price???)

Mozambique intrigues me--I'll have to look into it. We wanted to end with a few beach days. The Seychelles and Mauritus was our original thought, but both CC and Go2 are really pushing Zanzibar (and The Palms looks awesome!).

Dear fluffnfold,

The way I see it, Mozambique is the next Zanzibar. Pictures I've seen are amazing. I'm just trying to decide between north and south (I prefer south because I'll be flying out of Joburg).

Okay, your quotes from cc safari are similar to mine. I concur, it's mind-blowing to spend that much on accommodations, especially after spending practically nothing for 5 star in Asia last year... If you ever go to Vietnam, I've the best tour company to recommend and it's all custom. You'll be laughing at the prices!

Dear Predator Biologist,

Thank you for your help. What is the "5 Rivers Special"?

I'll look into Kwando as per your recommendation.

5 Rivers Special is basically a group of 5 smaller lodge owners/operators have joined together to offer a special rate during the 'green' season.

Deception Valley Lodge, the Kwando Camps (Lebala, Lagoon, and Kwara) and Xaxanaka in the Moremi are the lodges included in Botswana. There are also a few lodges in Namibia but they are close to Botswana in the Caprivi area.

This link is to Islands in Africa which markets a many of the lodges and details the special. It is a great value.
http://www.islandsinafrica.com/5_rivers_safari.htm

If you are interested make sure your agent uses this special as it makes a huge difference, i.e. if you book a Kwando Camp the rack rate at that time of year is $415 pppn but using the 5 Rivers special the same rate is $225.

africaanxious,

Now you've gone and done it, got me intrigued with Asia. Please give us the name of the tour company you used, and maybe some more info (or perhaps a reference to the Asia board?) so we can think about yet another trip.

I've been meaning to write up our 2 month Asian trip Oct/Nov 2006, so maybe discovering this board will give me incentive. To give you an idea, we started in Singapore, then Hanoi, Halong Bay, Hue, Hoi An, HCM, Siem Reap, Luang Prabang, Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, Bangkok, Koh Samui, Hongkong, Beijing and Shanghai before flying home to Vancouver. I can definitely give advice on the Vietnam/Laos/Cambodia section since I did tons of research beforehand and one of the Vietnam tour company owners is now a good friend. I'm from Hongkong originally so I'm pretty useless for advice there since I'm there to visit friends and eat.

Let me know what countries you're interested in and I'll write more and maybe I'll go over to the Asia board which I haven't done yet since I'm focusing on my Africa trip now!

You'd be surprised how comfy the tents can be and you're as likely to find creepy crawlies at a self-contained "room" as in a tent. Or none at all. I sure haven't seen anything scary enough (and hate bugs) in 12/years.

But what I question, is doing Botswana, then Tanzania and back to Mozambique. If you're already in Tanzania, the Seychelles can be reached via Nairobi. Or off the Tanzania coast consider Mnemba Island which is exclusive, and expensive. The Palms is lovely, but there have been both positive and negative reviews... small, shared resources with their "parent" hotel Breezes. Though their rooms are very large and air conditioned, which Mnemba isnt and February is hot and humid - it's summer in East Africa.

If available, Tree Lodge at Manyara, Crater Lodge at Ngorongoro and CCA Under Canvas in the Serengeti. With all three CCA props, there should be some discount.

My itinerary is constricted because:
- using points for fly so I was lucky to get the dates I did - hard to change
- meeting friends in Cape Town on Feb 12 - I am trying to get to Tanzania (via Dar) a day or two earlier to get a bit more time, but again, restricted by availability

Feb 5 - arrive in Dar evening
Feb 6 - 12 - Tanzania safari
Feb 12 - 16 - meet friends in Cape Town
Feb 16 - 21 - undecided, more around Cape Town or SA safari? or go to Botwana earlier?
Feb 21 - 27 - Botswana (from Joburg to Maun) with Orient Express (2 nights each at their 3 camps)
Feb 27 - Mar 6 - Mozambique
Mar 6 evening - fly home from Joburg

I thought ccafrica would be discounted if I book multiple nights but their overall quote doesn't seem to reflect that. I've asked for break-down of their quote but haven't heard back. Is it usual for agents/operators to provide a breakdown? With my trip in Asia, I was able to save lots by doing a lot of the legwork myself and only using the company when they can provide better rates.

Hi! I just saw your itinerary....if i were you, i would head out to Maun after Feb 16th and extend the Botswana safari. Personally, two nights at a camp isnt ideal for great game viewing....Be it, Orient express, Kwando or any other company of your choice.....

Hari

africaanxious,

I think it would be unwise to leave Tanzania in high season February after only a few nights to rush off to low season Botswana. If you are committed to a February safari, I would suggest to make the most of it by sticking with the northern circuit of Tanzania.

Also, I would say that you are arriving in Tanzania a couple weeks too early. You should start in Cape Town, then fly off to Mozambique and finish up with your Tanzania safari, but only if you are locked into those dates.

Otherwise, push back Tanzania by 2 - 3 weeks, then go to Mozambique and finish up in Cape Town. Cape Town will still be very nice in March.

I just had my first safari to Tanzania and I had a very nice itinerary but if I could do it over again, I would do something like the following:

Arusha Coffee Lodge (1)

Tarangire - Nomad Tarangire or Swala or Olivers Camp (2) (I spent two nights at Tarangire Treetops and while it was a BEAUTIFUL camp with very luxurious rooms, it was too far from the park).

Lake Manyara Tree Lodge (2) (I had such a fantastic experience here that I would not consider any other property).

Ngorongoro Crater Lodge (2) (Again, such a great property that I would not stay anywhere else)

Serengeti - Nomad Tanzania Serengeti Mobile Camp or Tanzania Under Canvas or similar in Ndutu region of Serengeti (4)

Serengeti - Migration Camp (3) (this will be away from the Migration in February, but it is said to be a beautiful camp with plenty of resident wildlife...I stayed 2 nights at Mbuzi Mawe and most of the drives were 2/3 of the way to Migration Camp so I would have been better off staying there).