Hi,
I am currently in the initial planning stages of a trip to Tanzania next summer. I will be going with my wife and two other friends and we will likely be hitting just the major spots as we only have 2-3 weeks to spend in the country. Safaris are a must, Ngorongo, Serengeti, and we all want to go to Zanzibar. We are not too keen on spending time in cities unless there is a particular reason to be there.
I have a few general questions in regards to the overall quality of experiences, etc. We have not yet decided if camping or using a lodge is the better option so some input on that would also be helpful.
1) What are general conditions like with regards to accomodation? Camping...is it clean? Toilets? Showers?
2) Bugs...admittedly I have a bit of a bug phobia, but will in no way let this slow me down...just wondering however what types of bugs one would generally encounter and what are the best ways to keep them away from you (deet? mosquito net?)
3) Safety is a big concern having experienced an attempted mugging previously. Generally how safe are organized tours in Tanzania? Is there a difference between camping or staying in lodges in terms of safety?
4) What is a good tour length for the safari portion? 4 days? 8 days? How long is a good length to spend in (on) Zanzibar?
5) We want to book this in advance as we have a short time and thus have really no time to spare waiting around to find a tour group, and my wife is also obsessed with planning ahead! Are there any highly recommended tour groups? We were given a brochure for Acacia tours which seems promising however I was wondering if they are good and also if there are any other good options? Price is not a huge issue, we just want to be spending time in a relatively clean, safe atmosphere that obviously offers a good tour as well!
Is there any other comments or pieces of wisdom that may help?
Thanks a lot!
D
1) I guess it depends on where you are camping. Some of the camps are fairly clean, but the toilets won't be fancy. Some of the camps I went didn't even have decent showers.
2) The only place where I found a pretty good amount of mosquitos was in the Western Corridor in the Serengeti. almost every lodge will have a mosquito net on the bed, but I hardly ever used it. Maybe I was lucky, but bugs were not a huge problem when I went (mid-july / mid-august). definitely use mosquito repellent, though, especially because of malaria.
3) tour are pretty safe. you are with your driver/guide all day, and your personal belongings are always under your sight. lodges are very safe. camping can seem more risky, but that was not my experience. I always felt very safe, anywhere I went.
4) it depends on how big the park is and the amount of variety of wildlife inside the park. you could spend weeks in the Serengeti and still miss some areas, while NgoroNgoro is pretty small in comparison.
5) check www.tatotz.org for recommended tour operators. I hired Nature Beauties and was very satisfied with their service. just my experience.
Hope this helps.
Hey St Loomis, you must take Malaria pills while in Tanzania. We took DEET with us a couple weeks ago, but because it was the Dry Season, we had absolutely no mosquitos!! Zanzibar is a totally different story, LOTS of mosquitos there all the time.
Camping vs Lodges? If you don't mind sleeping in tents, and using a headlamp after the sun goes down, then camping's great!
For us, we had camped for six days up Mt Kilimanjaro, so three more nights on the safari was definitely no big deal. And four days were plenty for us. We spent one day at Tarangire, two days at Serengeti, then one day at Ngorongoro Crater. We're not huge animal fans, so that was enough for us.
I found Tanzania to be a very very safe place. Most of the people there are very peaceful & friendly. Having said that, we still used money belts & did not display any signs of wealth.
Our budget Tour Operator was Paul Shayo.
http://www.trekkingtour-kilimanjaro.cjb.net/<BR><BR>Enjoy!!
Hello St Loomis,
They have told you good things but here is some more goods.
For adventurous they always take Camping as they preffer to be closer to nature. I dont mean that you are not adventurous but they normaly don't mind bugs. For sure Bugs is not something expirienced always although there are mosquitos, spiders, scorpion snakes etc. but I have never heard someone face big probleam rather than mosquito. Crest has told you this too.
Lodge accomodation: Depend on your budge. a lodge Safari can range from 200US$ - 700US$ per day. Now days there are several lodge range from budge to classic. If at all you can find a good tour operator who will help you to book your Safari. he will arrange something reasonable for the same price of Camping. I suggest you take the lodge as you need clean toilets and hot shower which you might not get them in camping.
4 nights in Zanzibar will be great if you like sun sand and book. but if you would like to explore Zanzibar at least 7 days will be great. I like cristal Resort in Paje. it is a place I would recommend people to stay.
If you will use flight between the destionation I dont think you will have a night in Town. also a good tour operator don't keep you in town especially when you ask him not to keep you there.
Welcome in the heart of African wilderness
Martial Eagle
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