We are planning a trip to Tanzania in Oct and would like to book our safari in advance. We would like to use a reliable, well-established company based in Tanzania (so our money stays there). Could you help us with names of a couple of operators. Thanks

We used Roy Safaris last summer and were extremely happy. Other forum members will undoubtedly have other favorite outfits.

Booking now is just about right if traveling in October of '05. You have to remember that accommodations are small compared to other destinations. Lodges max out at maybe 90-rooms (75 is average), while tent camps can be as small as only 5, up to 40, and there are very few that large - average would be 10-25 tents/camp.

Agree that Roy Safaris gets very good reviews on here. But you can do a search on this board in the box at top of the board - enter "Tanzania tour operators" or "outfitters" - treads will appear in the left column, and you'll see which other in-country outfitters visitor's have been satisfied with.

I have used Thomson Safaris in the past and love them. The guide meets you at the airport and you are with him until he takes you back to the airport. I always felt very safe (female traveling alone), had great food, excellent guide and driver spotted things I never would have seen. Also, they offer (depending on what you want) open vehicles. They are old English military trucks so they are high off the ground but completely open. Other safari goers we ran into kept commenting on how they wish their range rovers were open. Much better view.

I'm curious about the open vehicles. Did you have open cars on a safari in Kenya/Tanzania or somewhere else? i thought open vehicles were not allowed in National Parks in Tanzania (and maybe Kenya, although not sure about that one). Can someone confirm or deny? thanks

There was a recent post by "climbhighsleeplow" clarifying "open vehicles" in East Africa (Kenya & Tanzania). Do a search under his name to find the post... sorry I don't recall under which thread heading.

If I remember correctly - most camps on private conservation lands, usually have open vehicles. Otherwise, there are some in-country outfitters that have open vehicles, but these cannot be used traveling between park to park. But these vehicles are expensive to maintain, and in order to utilize them they have to have removable doors which have to be put on/taken off depending on where they are traveling on any given itinerary.

Most often you'll find closed mini-vans or range rovers with pop-tops or roll-tops.

I've traveled in both types of vehicles (in East Africa and Southern Africa) and actually prefer the closed vehicles, which hasn't inhibited photo taking; they block the wind that picks up when traveling at high speeds across the land; protects you from the elements.

I'm sure others have their preferences.