Tanzania Itinerary : PLEASE Help!
Hello
I'm very happy to have found this site because I'm feeling very naive and overwhelmed about the safari planning process, and you all seem to have a wealth of very helpful knowledge. Thank you! My boyfriend and I are planning a safari in sept 2007. Any advice you have or help with our itinerary would be greatly appreciated! We have about ten days we would like a few days of Serengeti game drives we would like to go to Ngorongoro Crater maybe Lake Manyara or Tangire, a village/market visit/maybe a school, and then a few days on the beach in Zanzibar. We found one trip from go2africa.com which seems like it covers alot of our itinerary and is affordable. ( USD 2430) Does anyone know anything about them? I haven't seen them mentioned on this list-serve. here is the itinerary: day 1 : Lake Manyara Manyara Serena Lodge days 2-3 : Serengeti Serengeti Sopa Lodge days 4-5 : Ngorongoro Crater Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge day 6 : Stonetown Tembo House Hotel days 7 -10 : Zanzibar Mapenzi Beach Club What do you think?? Thanks very much. |
Tarangire is better for wildlife in Sept than Manyara and it is customary to spend 2 nights in Tarangire.
In Sept. a better Serengeti location would be in the northern part where the migration will likely be. Sopa is fairly centrally located but Seronera would be more central. The Central Serengeti is good year round due to available water. With only 2 nights, getting to Lobo in the north would be too much driving. Crater should be wonderful and I liked Sopa Lodge there. No comment on Zanzibar. The price looks very good. |
atravelynn: Thanks so much for your advice. This process is a bit overwhelming, Thank you for taking the time to help.
Your advice on Tarangire in sept. is great, so we are looking at another tour through tropical trails. Has anyone had experience with them? Here is the purposed itinerary, the we will go on to zanzibar. Does it look okay? Thanks so much!!! Day 0 On arrival in Arusha.Overnight Karama Safari Day 1 Drive from Arusha to Tarangire National Park.overnight at Maramboi tented camp www.africawilderness.com Day 2 Drive to the Serengeti National Park visiting Olduvai Gorge enroute. Stay overnight at Mbuzi mawe tented camp in the Serengeti. www.serenahotels.com Day 3 Full day in the Serengeti. Stay overnight at Mbuzi mawe tented camp in the Serengeti. Day 4 Morning game drive in the Serengeti. Stay overnight at Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge overlooking the Crater. www.sopalodges.com Day 5 Descend into the Ngorongoro Crater for six hours crater tour.Stay overnight at Ngorongoro Farm House. Day 6 drive back to Arusha via the craft markets of Mto Wa Mbu. Stay at Karama Lodge 2 person Classic Lodge Safari = 1519 US$ per person |
Maramboi--That's a reputable company that runs this camp. I just saw where Overseas Adventure Travel uses it and they would seek good properties. Two nights would be better than one.
Mbuzi mawe-2 nights here would be great in Sept. Sopa-same as other. You'll have a half day rather than a full day in the crater. I've heard Mto Wa Mbu is interesting. I don't know anything about the company Tropical Trails. I'd ask about the vehicle you'll be traveling in and if everyone gets a window. Also if you are able to drive throughout all the parks and are not limited to certain areas. |
tropical trails has been mentioned on these
http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34940932 This thread has some good questions to ask them. http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34687022 Jan 19-Feb9 of this report was with Tropical Trails http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34765002 |
If this is a standard group trip, then you can disregard the following. However, if you can customize your safari in some ways, then the primary suggestion I have is to at least inquire of your operator how much it would add to the cost to go Tarangire/Ngorongoro/Serengeti, and then fly back from the Serengeti all the way to Zanzibar. I assume you are already flying from Arusha to Zanzibar. This will not only break up the long drive to Tarangire to the Serengeti but also save time. We flew back, and were very glad to not only save the time of driving but also to avoid retracing the very bumpy roads between the Serengeti to beyond the Crater. If the incremental cost of flying back isn't worth saving the time and the driving, don't do it, but it can't hurt to ask.
The only other question I have is why stay in Stonetown for only one night? You can always do a day tour there and get an extra night at Mapenzi. But these are just "convenience" suggestions, your basic itinerary looks fine. Of course this all assumes you can customize your safari. |
Hi there,
Having done a similar trip in Sept 2005, I was keen to cut down on the time in Arusha and maximize safari time, so on arrival in Arusha around midday on the first day, we left straight away to Lake Manyara. The itinerary was one night Manyara, one night central Serengeti, two nights north Serengeti, one night crater, two nights Tarangire. On the last day, we were driven from Tarangire to the airport to catch our flight to Zanzibar which left in the early afternoon. This was all very doable as distances Manyara - Arusha - Tarangire are really not too far. However, I agree with hguy47, that a good alternative would be to fly directly from the Serengeti to Zanzibar. As for Zanzibar, we stayed for two nights in Stone Town (the Serena Inn which we loved) and three nights at the beach (Ocean Paradise which I wouldn't recommend). If I had to do it all again, I would in fact have stayed all five nights in Stone Town and have gone on day trips from there, but I think I'm probably in the minority on this one! You do need to check on whether you can customize the trip or not, and how many people will be in the vehicle as suggested by the other posters. Have a great trip! |
We are also going in September 2007. We started our planning in early March and found a number of our first choice lodges/camps were already booked for September. So you want to have the tour company start to check availability quickly. The tour companies posted itineraries do not mean their is availabilty.
We booked through Good Earth Tours based on reviews here and elsewhere. They charge $150 pp extra (total - not per day) for a private vehicle safari. When we were planning our safari many recommended we skip the Serengeti for the Masai Mara as the migration should be there in September. We are not going to the beach so we decided to include both the Serengeti and Masai Mara. In our research Mbuzi Mawe Tented Camp has good reviews. Our final itinerary is: Day 1 7-Sep Arrive Arusha - Serena Mountain Village Lodge Day 2 8-Sep Tarangire - Tarangire Sopa Lodge Day 3 9-Sep Tarangire - Tarangire Sopa Lodge Day 4 10-Sep Ngorongoro Crater - Ngorongoro Serena Lodge Day 5 11-Sep Ngorongoro Crater - Ngorongoro Serena Lodge Day 6 12-Sep Serengeti - Mbuzi Mawe Tented Camp Day 7 13-Sep Serengeti - Migration Camp Day 8 14-Sep Serengeti - Migration Camp Day 9 15-Sep Fly from Serengeti to Nairobi - Nairobi Serena Day 10 16-Sep Fly Nairobi to Masai Mara - Mara Simba Day 11 17-Sep Masai Mara - Mara Simba Day 12 18-Sep Hot Air Balloon Ride-Mara Simba Lodge Day 13 19-Sep Masai Mara - Mara Simba Day 14 20-Sep AM Game Drive-Fly to Nairobi-Use of Dayroom-Depart |
Wow! I can't thank all of you enough!
There are so many factors, I feel like me head is going to explode. I sent many of the questions you mentioned regarding two nights in Tarangire and Tarangire/Ngorongoro/Serengeti then flying directly to Zans, I haven't heard anything back from Tropical trails yet, I'm getting a little nervous as it sounds like accommodations are booking up fast for september. Again thank you all so much for your help!!! I'll let you know what the final verdict is. |
Rivs,
Your response makes me think this is a custom trip and not a group departure. |
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