Tarangire or Serengeti in October?
 

I touched on this in another thread but thought it would be best to post it as its own question...

I've been in touch recently with several companies about a 2007 trip in late September (Kenya) and early October (northern Tanzania and Zanzibar), just starting to consider various itineraries. We would have about 10 days in Kenya, 7 for the Tanzania parks, and 3 in Zanzibar... and would definitely want to spend 3 or 4 days in the Masai Mara.

For the Tanzania part of the trip, most companies suggested we go to Lake Manyara, the central and/or northern Serengeti, and the Ngorongoro Crater in 7 days. The one dissenting company was Green Footprint Adventures (who we really like because they include a lot of hiking and other active things in the safari). They suggested that we go to Arusha NP and Tarangire instead of the Serengeti in early October, since we will already have been in the Mara (and to save driving distances between parks in a 7-day period).

Green Footprint's itinerary looks really great and they have given us a lot of personal attention so far, but of course we are wondering if we would be missing out by not going to the Serengeti this time. (Of course, there is never enough time to do everything in one trip!) I'd appreciate any thoughts from people who have visited these parks in early October. Thanks!

Hi! Dont skip the Serengeti........it is a huge and spectacular park.

Hari

I see where Green Footprints are coming from, and if you have the point of view that there is more to visiting these countries than only viewing wildlife that is probably a good way to go. I haven't been to Tanzania but I do remember various posters on this board doing interesting things in both the parks you mentioned.

Here's a recent thread discussing a similar thing from a different perspective:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34812182

Please ignore that post except for the link - I just remembered those activities were in Arusha - Tanangire's alternative activites are I think game viewing oriented .... better listen to someone else for specifics.
:-(

I just thought it was nice for an operator to propose something sensibly different than the same old circuits, taking into account the time of year right off the bat and wanted to say "good"!

Thanks for the feedback.

I should have mentioned also that we wanted to do some different things other than just game drives, so we liked that about Green Footprint's itinerary as well -- they have us canoeing in Arusha NP, several different hikes, a visit to a village and lunch in a local home, and also an afternoon visiting kids at an orphanage. I think if we went with the Serengeti we would not have time for all those things (we cannot afford internal flights and would need to drive from park to park, and it seems like a long drive to the Serengeti). We did really like that Green Footprint offered us something different and specific to the time of year we'll be there, but of course there's the worry about missing out on things...

You have much too long until your safari to worry about missing out on things. You are certainly missing out on a lot of things and you will become more and more aware of that! The only solution is another trip or two to East Africa - and then there are all the things you "missed" in Southern Africa. ;-)

You've read the trip report on the East Africa Trip Report Index thread booked through Green Footprints, right? I seem to remember it was a really detailed and well written report with lots of stuff about the activities.

Yes -- that trip report was one of the things (along with LP's recommendations) that got us interested in Green Footprint to begin with. Sounded like a fabulous trip!

I also prefer a mix of activities on my safaris, so I'd be inclined to go with what Green Footprints has proposed. It's inevitable that you'll feel like you might have missed out on something, no matter what you decide.