At last everything is in place for a trip of a lifetime for my (18 & 21 year old) kids and me to be on safari the June
and July! Our planning would not have gone as well as it has with out all the fabulous help I’ve had from the postingson this terrific forum. In an attempt to give back, I’m happy to share the following:

June 25-fly Victoria BC (Canada) to London
June 26, 27, 28-London
June 29-fly London to Nairobi, shuttle bus to Arusha
June 29-overnight Impala
June 30-Tarangire River Camp
July 1-Tarangire River Camp
July 2-Ngorongoro Serena
July 3-Ngorongoro Serena
July 4-Kirawira
July 5-Kirawira
July 6-Lobo
July 7-Lobo
July 8-Serengeti Serena
July 9-Kirurumu
July 10-leave Arusha late evening flight to Nairobi, overnight Fairview.
July 11-Giraffe Centre, Sheldrick, Kazuri Beads, Carnivore, shopping.
July 11-late night flight to London and home.

We realize there’s lots of driving, but we’re up to it! We wantto experience it all. We’ve included an Astral Tours Bones andStones day trip while in London, and a few cultural experiences in Tanzania. Our booking has been through Roy Safaris which
I must say has gone seamlessly. We used a local consolidator to book our flights, and the countdown is on!!

Great itinerary! You are in for a fantastic trip, and, like you, I also said last June that it was our once-in-a-lifetime trip, I lied! My son and I are going back in June! Yea!!!

Hi Calo,
You'll have a great time. Me and my wife just came back from a Serengeti safari with Roy, and it was very good! Posted a report a few minutes ago. It's a bit funny, but we were also on a tour with Astral a few years back, visiting Stonehenge and a few other places. Also a well-arranged trip, albeit slightly less adventurous and exotic.

I flew from Jomo Kenyatta (Nairobi) to Kilimanjaro Int, but some of the people on my tour used the shuttle bus to Arusha without problems: they said that it was an experience in itself!

"July 10-leave Arusha late evening flight to Nairobi" I wonder at what time that will be? I don't know if that flight will leave from Arusha Aerodrome or Kilimanjaro Int (If it is Precision Air probably the latter) but you may well get a sunset flypast of Kilimanjaro . That is some sight I can assure you!

Safari will be great: the travelling alone before you reach your destinations will be amazing.

Enjoy yourselves. You cannot fail to!

Matt

Great itinerary, but may I ask why did you choose the bus to Arusha? Cost or or schedules?

Sandi,
We wanted to experience a bit of Kenya and just couldn't sqeeze more into the itinerary given our time frame, so we opted for the bus. It will also save us a few $$ which we can use for shopping

The bus will definitely give you a feel for East Africa. I know Leely did the bus (at least one way) and enjoyed. And, I'm sure so have others. I did the bus one-way and found it to be quite an adventure. Round-trip, though, would have been punishment. Enjoy.

You have the makings of a great trip. I did the bus (roundtrip) and even with a breakdown it was enjoyable. You should get a distant view of Kilimanjaro from the bus.

Hi Calo - when did you put down a deposit for your trip? I am planning a trip for around the same time and staying at mostly the same camps as you. I've being told that availabilities are very limited. I find it hard to make a deposit without knowing which lodges we may end up at, b/c of lack of availability in our original choices. I would like to learn more about your booking process and experience. Thanks.

Hi travelholic,
We started investigating safari possibilities last July...but actually made the deposit in September of 2005. I understand that 2006 is a bumper year for tourism in East Africa, so I question the availablility of some of the camps and lodges by now.
In terms of our booking process, I researched on this forum for 3 reliable safari companies and contacted them with the itinerary I had come up with. After getting quotes and other info from each company, I settled on one and went from there. The camp and lodge bookings were all done through their North American contact which worked really well for us.
I'd be happy to answer more specifically if you need more detail. Or, if you'd like to email me my addy is [email protected]
Hope that helps...have fun planning!

As Sandi said, I'm personally a fan of the shuttle bus. One-way, anyhow. You and your kids will get a lot of African flavor on that ride.

Great itinerary.

p.s. I don't know if you or your kids are interested, but a little Swahili goes a loooong way towards making friends. Butchering a langauge always makes everyone laugh so much.

Thank you Leely,
I bought the Lonely Planet Swahili Phrasebook and I expect that butchering is exactly what I'm doing with the language. Fun non-the-less!

Calo, if you don't mind me asking, how much did you get quoted for this trip ?

janischa28,
Our quote from Roys for the Tanzania part was US$3260.
Extras are:
US$20 for the shuttle from Nairobi to Arusha
US$120 for overnight at the Fairview and day tripping around Nairobi.
Air fare is not included, of course.

hi, thanks Calo, I've just decided to book with Sunny Safaris, it's for the same number of nights, more or less the same places, but accomodation one notch down.. sopa instead of serena etc.. price is 2400, so seems a quite reasonable price for such an upgrade actually (especially kirawira en kirurumu !!)