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Arusha National Park, Lake Manyara National Park, Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro Crater & Tarangire National Park

Northern Tanzania

Tony Clemens
2005-08-31 21:43:52

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Why Tanzania? Actually that was a relatively easy decision, trying to keep the cost down was the hard part. Several eastern and southern African countries offer good wildlife safaris but we decided on Tanzania because not only does it have the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater but Zanzibar sounded like a good place to relax after a safari. Also Tanzania is not too developed for tourism unlike South Africa and Kenya but its more developed than Zambia and Botswana. Zimbabwe was a close second but Zanzibar ended up being the deciding factor.

There are plenty of high cost operators like Abercrombie and Kent and United Touring that will offer you an excellent trip and plenty of inexpensive (notice I did not say cheap) camping safaris you can book locally once you arrive. We were looking for something in between. Using the web we found a Tanzania company, Takims, and booked a safari via e-mail. The cost was the same as a locally booked safari.

There is no such thing as a cheap safari. The cheapest I've heard was $US55 per day and when you consider that park fees are $US25 per day and camping fees are $US20 that does not leave much margin for profit. These prices might be even higher now. Anything less and you are being ripped off. This is a once in a lifetime trip, spend a bit more, even up to $US70 per day and get better tents, better food, a working vehicle and a guide who can tell the difference between a leopard and a cheetah. If you book locally a lodge safari can cost about $US140 to US$160 per day while a safari with one of the big American or European companies can set you back about $US300 per day. We had a private safari for three with a four-wheel drive Landrover, stayed at luxury lodges, all parks fees, meals, government taxes, and the services of a driver/guide for US$145 per day each. A camping safari would have being cheaper but neither of my travelling companions wanted ...