Thoughts on safari itinerary
 

Hi

After having read dozens of worthwhile posts on here I have looked at the following itinerary for a trip in March/April 07 with my wife and two kids.

I would appreciate any comments, including:
Are these the right places for that time of year?
What is the accommodation selected like?
Should I get another day at the Crater and perhaps delete the day at Arusha National Park.

Any input greatly appreciated.

Peter
Arrival: Transferred to Arusha

Day1: Drive to Arusha National Park for the day.
Kigongoni Safari Lodge overnight. BLD

Day 2: Tarangire National Park in the morning. Arrive for
lunch at Tarangire Safari Lodge. Afternoon game drive.
Overnight Tarangire Safari Lodge. BLD

Day 3: A full day to game drive in the park. In the
afternoon drive outside the park to Elewana Tarangire
Tree Tops Lodge. Overnight Tree Tops Lodge. BLD

Day 4: Lake Manyara National Park. Leave the park in
the late afternoon and ascend up the escarpment and on
to Ngorongoro for your overnight at Ngorongoro Serena
Lodge. BLD

Day 5: Ngorongoro. Stop over at Olduvai Gorge on your
way to Ndutu. Overnight Ndutu Safari Lodge. BLD

Day 6: A full day around the Ndutu area Overnight
Ndutu Safari Lodge. BLD

Day 7: Serengeti. Stop by at the Serengeti Visitors Centre in
Seronera on your way to Serengeti Serena Lodge for your
overnight. BLD

Day 8: Serengeti and then make your way north up to the
Lobo area. Overnight Lobo Wildlife Lodge. BLD

Day 9: Leave the Serengeti through the Klein's gate. Drive
to Lake Natron.

Day 10 : Early lunch at Lake Natron Camp and then start your drive back to Arusha via Engaruka and Mto-wa-Mbu. Arrive in
Arusha late in the afternoon.

Hello,

You can see photos of some of your camps (taken by Fodorites) in the Safari Lodge Photo Album on this link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasher/sets

The camps are arranged alphabetically by country and then by park, so Tanzania is near the end.

Cheers,
Julian

Hi Peter,

One other thought -- I'm not sure how old your kids are, but you may want to check what activities your camps offer for children. Some camps have age restrictions for certain activities like bush walks.

Cheers,
Julian

The photos of the various lodges and camps were great.

Is Lake Natron wotth seeing on the journey?

Thanks

Hi

I now have a second itinerary to look at and I would appreciate comments on which of the two would be a better one, and any comments generally on the safari.

Day 1 Kikoti Tented Camp
Day 2 Tarangire Tree Tops Tarangire National Park
Day 3 Ngorongoro Serena Ngorongoro National Park
Day 4 Ngorongoro Serena Ngorongoro National Park
Day 5 Ndutu Safari Lodge Ngorongoro National Park
Day 6 Ndutu Safari Lodge Ngorongoro National Park
Day 7 Serengeti Serena Serengeti National Park
Day 8 Lobo Wildlife Lodge
Day 9 Lake Natron
Day 10 Arusha

I think your itinerary is mostly good but the beginning and end are somewhat strange!

You are going in the (potentially)rainy reason. The road to Natron and back down to civilization is very long and rather bad even during the best of times. I am not sure why the rush to go there? Natron is a good place but it requres a few nights just to recover from the long distances!

Tarangire can be hit or miss. Once the first bit of rains come, the animals will move away from the river and then they are hard to find.

It may be better to focus your safari on the Ngorongoro Highlands, Lake Manyara, Ndutu and the Serengeti - less driving and with plenty of activities thrown in to get the kids out of the car to prevent boredom. How old are they?

<b>Are these the right places for that time of year?
What is the accommodation selected like?
...
Day 2 Tarangire Tree Tops Tarangire National Park</b>

We did a 10 day trip to Manyara and Serengeti Serena in early April 2006 and also were at Tarangire, Ngorongoro and Ndutu in January 2006 ... I agree with Eben that Tarangire is hit or miss (probably miss) for wildlife sightings in March/April, if that's your main goal. However outfitters want to put you close to Arusha the first day for various good reasons so it's often a choice between Manyara and Tarangire (entrance to both is about 2 hrs from Arusha) and it might be hard to get around Manyara if rains are heavy.

<b>Day 3-4 Ngorongoro Serena</b>

Nice lodge and game viewing in the crater is about as close to a sure thing as you'll find in Tanzania.

<b>Day 5-6 Ndutu Safari Lodge</b>

This past March and April had heavy rains and there were hundreds of thousands of wildebeests and zebras between Ndutu and Naabi Hill entrance station so if you get similar conditions you will be amazed at the sights. Ndutu is a more rustic, simple lodge than Serena but most people seem to enjoy that. We are returning next January and will spend a week at Ndutu, more than any other lodge, so we obviously like it.

<b>Day 7 Serengeti Serena Serengeti National Park
Day 8 Lobo Wildlife Lodge</b>

This past April we spent several days at Serena Serengeti and it was a bit north of the massed herds, so we were a bit out of place. Nice lodge though. Lobo is even further north and I personally would not want to go that far north that time of year if looking for big herds ... also the &quot;Wildlife Lodge&quot; chain has a reputation for shabby facilities and poor service so for those two reasons I'd request two days at the Serena instead of a day at Serena and a day at Lobo ... I think Serena is $200 or so higher (rack rate) but it's money well spent.

Can't comment on Lake Natron except to say there could be a lot of rain and if so the roads will be bad.

Bill