Hi everyone--I had an itinerary all set (in my mind) for late Jan.'06 but life happens and now it might be OCT.'06 before we can go,specificaly late Oct. So, I'm thinking about Arusha to Tarangire, the Crater and then what? Central Serengeti, Migration Camp and/or the Mara? It would only be an 8-day safari,beginning in Arusha and ending in Nairobi.Of course,I could always wait until Jan.'07 but it seems soooo far away. Any suggestions appreciated.

With 8-days you can't do all that much. So I'd stick with Tanzania.

You mention flying out of NBO, but are you flying into Kilimanjaro (JRO) Tanzania? If not, instead into NBO, you probably loose a day depending on when you arrive NBO and when you connect to JRO (unless you're transferring by road)!

I'd do Tarangire, the Crater and the Serengeti - (Central/Northeastern) for October:

Tarangire - 2-nts
Ngorongoro - 1-nt
Serengeti - 4-nts

Leaving a day to get back to NBO, unless you need it on the front end.

Hi Sandi, yes, the idea is to fly into Arusha from the US (Chicago), leave Arusha next morning for Tarangire, 2 nights and the Crater, 1 night then on to either central and/or NE Serengeti, fly back to Arusha then Nairobi o/n. At this point I guess the question is Mbuzi Mawe Camp or Migration Camp or a combination of? Thanks for listening.

Is there a specific reason you need to fly out of Nairobi? KLM is the carrier that serves Kilimanjaro (JRO) airport in northern Tanzania (about 45 min from Arusha).

For October, Migration Camp is probably better and probably a step above Mbuzi Mawe. As to the animals, the herds can be anywhere between the NE to Central area, so a day-trip south if staying at Migration, or a day north if staying at Mbuzi is often done. You can even do two days to find the herds. It'll be the prices that will determine your decision - can't base it on the animals, as it's never guaranteed.

As Patty mentions, if doing a Tanzania only safari, you should try for departure at conclusion of your safari to depart from Kilimanjaro (JRO).

Hi Patty, the reason we'll probably fly out of Nairobi is that ,at my husbands request, we will be going on to Egypt. From what I can find (I'm no expert by any means), the flights are better to Cairo from NBO. See, I want safari, he wants the Pyramids and we just don't get to travel much (our last adventure was 5 years ago) so combining them is more complicated but at least we'll each get a taste of what we want!! Would an itinerary like this sound OK--Tarangire 2 nights, the Crater 1 night, someplace Central (to break up the drive) and finish up at NE then fly back?? Thanks again.

Hi Dreamseeker!
My husband and I did a safari in October last year and did a similar itinerary. We've posted our advice and photos on our website. Hope it helps!

The low-down: http://www.thirteenmonths.com/tz05_lowdown.htm

photos:
http://www.thirteenmonths.com/tzA_safari.htm

Good luck with planning!
Susan

Susan13, Oh my God, If I could just please, please, please have your exact safari experience!! I know that's not possible but I can dream . The itinerary I'm thinking is almost exactly yours except I plan on skipping Manyara and flying from NE Serengeti to Arusha. Thank you so much. Wish me luck.

I just read a post by climbhigh that stated a new camp, Sayari which is close to the Kenya border, might that be a good location for a last week of Oct. stay?