US
35-50 years of age
In addition to Lake Manyara NP, we also spent 2 days in Ngorongoro Crater and 3 days in the Serengeti. The same advice should be followed as with Lake Manyara: find a good guide. The variety and number of animals and birds to be seen is truly astounding. From the cheetah hunt to the hot-air balloon ride, every turn presents a new and unexpected pleasure.
Tanzania offers it all !
Extremely dense wildlife population in many national parks and the Ngorongoro conservation area near Arusha, asbolutely recommended.
Tanzania offers world-class wildlife viewing - plus historic sites such as Zanzibar Stonetown.
Tanzania has very good infrastructure to support tourism. Most folks understand the benefits of the tourist dollar, and work to be sure guests have a positive experience. On my multi-day safari, we saw all the big five, plus many, many other animals. I'm not a birder, but the birders in the group were thrilled with all the species they observed. Weather was generally fine, although unseasonably cold and wet (snow) on the Kilimanjaro climb, oh well. Accomodations were quite adequate, especially if you have traveled in third world countries before and are not expecting western standards. It's just not the same. Not a foodie place, but that's not why you're going to Tanzania. A visit to Tanzania is a life experience - be sure visit Zanzibar, too.
US
20-35 years of age
There are lot's of safari destinations in Tanzania, more than a few the size of a small country and the wildlife viewing is incredible. The landscape is varied and gorgeous and the people of Tanzania are welcoming. I enjoyed birding considerably, though am not a serious birder - my trips to Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda, however, convinced me that birding is an exciting and fun hobby.
The place to visit for wold life safaris.
Simply put it was out of this world.
We travelled with Access2Tanzania who helped us plan the trip, where to go, where to stay, meeting our budget, etc, they were simply delightful to work with and I can not thank them enough for their help and patience as we worked on different agendas and pricing.
When we arrived in Arusha (we flew from Dulles on Ethiopian Airlines directly into Addis Ababa and then onto Arusha to arrive by early afternoon) we were met by our guide, Fulgence, and our personal vehicle. He was an excellent guide I would highly recommend him and A2Z. Instead of stopping for a night in Arusha, as is typical when flights arrive in via Amsterdam, we drove directly down to our first stop near Tarangire National Park. This allowed us to start seeing the animals early on the second day.
I have a web site where you can see where we stayed and which parks we visited (http://www.moorecs.com/Tanzania or my photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/ian_moore/) and that should give you some ideas as to accommodations, places to see and, of course, the main attraction, the animals.
The tented camps are excellent and provide safe, clean and beautiful accommodations. We stayed two of our ten nights in a wilderness camp where you literally stay in a large tent and your hot water for a shower is brought to you in a bag - it is hoisted above the bathroom end of the tent. Toilets are chemical and at night you fall asleep to the sounds of lions in the distance, hyenas surrounding the camp and the night sounds of Africa - truly a great experience.
We would recommend the tented camps over the lodges which tend to be more European in nature, large dining areas and like a normal hotel anywhere in the world.
As for the animals - you will never go back to the zoo with the same excitement again. Our guide was brilliant in finding the animals and would sit as long as we wanted - you are not limited by the wants of others, simply what your group in your vehicle wants to do. We could stay out as late as we wanted and get up at times that suited us - but don't be lazy, the dawn rides out into the Serengeti for breakfast are worth the early rise. Getting up close to a prides of lions when it is only your vehicle anywhere to be seen is tremendous and our guide found remote locations where we sat for hours watching families of lions with their cubs (right beside our vehicle), a lion stalking a warthog, or a Leopard and her cub hauling their dinner, a gazelle, high into a tree - simply spectacular.
We would recommend that you take some time to visit the local villages or Masai boma. They really enjoy your visit and if you plan on doing this you may want to bring some small books or pencils for the children in the school. There are some pictures on my web sites of the children in the Masai school. You will find the Tanzanians to be a very welcoming people and happy to have visitors.
This is one of those bucket list of adventures and Tanzania has it all - wonderful people, great and varied accommodations and of course an unbelievable range and number of animals. Not to be missed.
My wife and I spent 12 days in Tanzania. We flew into Kilimanjaro International Airport and covered Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro, Tarangire and Serengeti. The wildlife viewing is absolutely amazing; especially in the Western Corridor. Our accomodations were first rate and the food was wonderful. It truly was the trip of a lifetime.
US
35-50 years of age
Tanzania was amazing and unforgettable, a trip of a lifetime, if you can only take one!
CA
50-65 years of age
In addition to the natural beauty the Tanzanian people are wonderful
Selous Game Reserve: less crowded= much more natural experience
Plan your safari very early- possibly before you leave but definitely in your first week. The more people in your group, the cheaper the safari (4 day safari in Serengeti/north circuit will run $600-700 plus flights/bus if you have >2 people in your group, whereas it will be >$1200 if you are alone). I tried for 3 weeks to join groups but couldn’t find any companies that had groups to join, so couldn’t go to the northern circuit.
Instead I went on safari to the southern circuit in Selous. This was an awesome experience and we got to see tons of wildlife in the comfort of luxury tents (true 5 star experience with excellent food and service). You are truly immersed in wildlife 24 hours each day with giraffe walking by your showers. I woke to fresh morning tea just to see a herd of elephants walk right by my tent. Each day you're there you have a choice between a boat, walking or truck safari (2 total per day). The stars at night are the most brilliant I have ever seen (zero light pollution). There is a guard that patrols the camp for lions at all times and you are always escorted at night from the dinning tent back to your own tent (big cats will roam the camp site at times). I always felt comfortable and protected, although the animal sounds at night were pretty exciting. If you want to see pictures you can look at my flickr site at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/drweber82/sets/72157625606892476/
Contact for Selous Safari is: Festus Njogoro, 0774735693 or 0222128485, [email protected].
My friends previously went on safari at Serengeti with Sunny’s Safari, and they said they enjoyed that company.
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