How to plan your safaris and when to go to Tanzania 

There are two ways to plan your safari on the Northern Circuit. You can do it ahead of time, finding a company through guidebooks, recommendations, and the internet, or you can just turn up at Arusha and look around there. Each of these techniques has advantages and drawbacks. Planning ahead makes it more likely that you’ll get bookings at the lodges you want (they fill up during high season), but can be scary, since it involves a certain leap of faith in the company’s honesty and competence.

We had a very limited amount of time for our safari, so we decided to make arrangements before arriving in Arusha. We started by deciding what kind of safari we wanted; we made a list of the parks we wanted to visit; and we decided on staying in lodges rather than tents.

We wanted lodges for two reasons: the more comfortable beds and air conditioning. The beds were fine, but in early August, air conditioning turned out to be both unavailable and unnecessary; from that point of view, camping would have been no problem. Otherwise, the decision rests on your budget and your preference in ambience.

The price difference between the two is about $35 per person per day, $125 in lodges versus $90 camping. The lodges are, for the most part, large, luxury, or semi-luxury hotels, with grand buffet meals in cavernous restaurants and fleets of servants to carry your luggage for you.

The campsites are campsites, with very basic plumbing facilities and no fences around them, so that, in principle, lions can wander into your camp at night. If I had it to do over again and all my travelling companions were up for it, I’d go for camping, which is a much more immersive experience.

Whether you go lodges or camping, food is provided. Vegetarian food is no problem in the lodges (there was once nothing on the buffet, but I asked and they brought me a curry, which was better than anything my carnivorous companions had). Kosher food should be OK too, depending on how strict you are; you can go veggie if you want to be on the safe side, but Tanzania’s a Muslim country, and the Muslim dietary restrictions on meat resemble the Jewish ones. (I’m assuming that the locally available meat is all halal. If anyone knows I’m wrong, please tell me!)

Once we’d decided what we wanted, choosing a safari company turned out to be surprisingly easy. We checked some guide books for listings of companies in the low- to mid-range budget, and checked out their web pages. I emailed the companies with descriptions of what we wanted, and sorted them out based on how they responded. Some never answered or the email bounced, and some offered only set itineraries or tours with larger groups; these we threw out. Some were fully booked (we were doing the planning three weeks before the trip). Only one actually responded to everything I’d asked about in my email and offered complete information on pricing and itineraries. So that was the one for us: MICATZ, which you can contact throughhttp://www.micatz.com we found them to be very professional and reliable on safaris programs and volunteering programs; they answered our e-mails promptly and our questions completely.

Whatever you choose, you’ll absolutely have to have a four-wheel vehicle, and a guide is required to enter Ngorongoro and Serengeti National Parks. Prices may be negotiable, but only up to a point, as there’s a large park entry fee (up to $50 per person per day).

So that’s the practical order of how you choose your safari. But the other thing that matters most, the thing that provides you with the questions to ask your safari company, is the choice of itinerary. There are a number of parks in the area of Arusha, each with a different character. In the course of a five-day safari, we went to Tarangire, Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, and Lake Manyara; this was a pretty intense travel schedule, as the distances between the parks take a while to cover. Most tour companies will suggest that you do something similar, a sort of tasting menu of the parks, but if you want a more leisurely pace, it’s perfectly possible, and I thought it could be really nice to build in a few longer stopovers, which would allow you to spend one morning looking at the vista in a lodge or several hours watching the same group of animals (lions hunting, for example).

Each park has its own specialty. Tarangire is a plains ecosystem around a permanent river, and is supposed to be good for elephants. The Serengeti is a vast, vast plain teeming with pretty much every kind of wildlife. To get there from Tarangire takes most of the day, as the road passes through Ngorongoro Park, so it’s important to spend two nights in Serengeti if you want to make the trip worthwhile. Ngorongoro Crater is spectacularly beautiful and has one of the densest populations of animals; it’s also the only park in which it’s possible to see rhinoceros (we didn’t, but people do). It’s also the touristiest of the parks; if you’re bothered by seeing other jeeps, make your stay there a shorter one.

Lake Manyara is known for its tree-climbing lions (we didn’t see them there, but we did, surprisingly, in Tarangire) and one of the best bird-watching spots I’ve ever seen. There’s also Arusha National Park, which we did not go to; I’m told that it’s less touristy than most (as proven by the fact that we didn’t go?), which sounds appealing.

By John Schneider

Jinsi ya kupanga safari yako na wakati kwenda Tanzania

Kuna njia mbili za mpango wa safari yako juu ya Circuit ya Kaskazini. Unaweza kufanya hivyo kabla ya muda, kutafuta kampuni kwa njia ya guidebooks, mapendekezo, na mtandao, au unaweza tu upande hadi saa Arusha na kuangalia kote huko. Kila moja ya mbinu hizi ina faida na hasara zake. Mipango mbele inafanya uwezekano mkubwa kwamba utapata bookings katika nyumba za kulala wageni unataka (wao kujaza juu ya wakati wa msimu wa juu), lakini inaweza kuwa inatisha, kwa sababu inahusisha leap fulani ya imani katika uaminifu ya kampuni na uwezo.

Tulikuwa na kiasi cha muda mdogo sana kwa ajili ya safari yetu, hivyo tuliamua kufanya mipango kabla ya kuwasili mjini Arusha. Tulianza na kuamua ni aina gani ya safari tulitaka, tukiwa na orodha ya mbuga sisi alitaka kutembelea, na sisi waliamua kukaa katika nyumba za kulala wageni badala ya hema.

Tulitaka nyumba za kulala wageni kwa sababu mbili: vitanda vizuri zaidi na hali ya hewa. vitanda walikuwa safi, lakini mapema Agosti, hali ya hewa aligeuka kuwa wote hazipatikani na unnecessary, kutokana na kwamba hatua ya maoni, kambi ingekuwa hakuna tatizo. Vinginevyo, uamuzi anakaa juu ya bajeti yako na upendeleo wako katika ambience.

tofauti ya bei kati ya mbili ni juu ya $ 35 kwa mtu kwa siku, $ 125 katika nyumba za kulala wageni dhidi ya $ 90 kambi. nyumba za kulala wageni ni, kwa sehemu kubwa, kubwa, anasa, au hoteli ya nusu ya anasa, na vyakula Buffet grand katika migahawa cavernous na flottor ya watumishi wa kubeba mizigo yenu.

kambi ni kambi, pamoja na vifaa vya msingi sana mabomba na ua hakuna karibu nao, ili kwamba, kimsingi, simba wanaweza tanga katika kambi yako usiku. Kama alikuwa ni kufanya tena na wenzangu wote walikuwa kusafiri kwa ajili yake, ningependa kwenda kwa ajili ya kambi, ambayo ni uzoefu zaidi immersive.

Kama wewe kwenda kulala wageni au kambi, chakula ni zinazotolewa. Mboga ni chakula hakuna tatizo katika nyumba za kulala wageni (kulikuwa na kitu mara moja juu ya makofi, lakini mimi aliuliza na wao akanileta curry, ambayo ilikuwa bora kuliko kitu chochote wenzangu carnivorous alikuwa). Kosher chakula lazima OK pia, kulingana na jinsi kali wewe, unaweza kwenda Veggie kama unataka kuwa upande wa usalama, lakini Tanzania ni nchi ya Kiislamu, na Waislamu vikwazo malazi juu ya nyama hufanana wale Wayahudi. (Mimi kuchukua kwamba nyama zilizopo ni wote halali kama mtu anajua mimi nina makosa, tafadhali niambie.!)

Mara tunatarajia kuamua nini tulitaka, kuchagua kampuni ya safari aligeuka kuwa kushangaza rahisi. Sisi checked baadhi ya vitabu kwa ajili ya kuongoza orodha ya makampuni katika bajeti ya chini hadi katikati mbalimbali, na checked nje mtandao kurasa zao. Mimi Emailed makampuni na maelezo ya kile sisi alitaka, na namna yao nje kutokana na jinsi alijibu. Baadhi kamwe akajibu au barua pepe bounced, na baadhi inapatikana tu itineraries kuweka au ziara na makundi makubwa, hawa sisi akatupa nje. Baadhi walikuwa kikamilifu KADI (tunafanya mipango ya wiki tatu kabla ya safari). Mmoja tu kwa kweli alijibu kwa kila kitu ningependa alipoulizwa kuhusu katika barua pepe yangu na kutoa taarifa kamili juu ya bei na itineraries. Ili kwamba ilikuwa moja kwa ajili yetu MICATZ, ambayo unaweza kuwasiliana kwa njia ya http://www.micatz.com sisi akawakuta kuwa mtaalamu sana na safari za kuaminika juu ya mipango na programu za kujitolea, wao akajibu wetu barua pepe mara moja na maswali yetu kabisa.

Chochote kuchagua, utasikia kabisa kuwa na gari nne gurudumu, na kuongoza ni required kuingia Ngorongoro na Serengeti National Parks. Bei inaweza kuwa na mjadala, lakini tu hadi kufikia hatua, kama kuna mbuga kubwa kuingia ada (hadi dola 50 kwa mtu kwa siku).

Hivyo kwamba ili vitendo ya jinsi ya kuchagua safari yako. Lakini kitu ambacho mambo zaidi, kitu ambacho hutoa kwa maswali ya kuuliza yako safari ya kampuni hiyo, ni uchaguzi wa ratiba. Kuna idadi ya hifadhi katika eneo la Arusha, kila mmoja na tabia tofauti. Katika hali ya safari ya siku tano, tulikwenda Tarangire, Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater na Ziwa Manyara; hii ilikuwa pretty makali kusafiri ratiba, kama umbali kati ya mbuga za kuchukua muda cover. Wengi ziara ya makampuni zinaonyesha kwamba kufanya kitu kama hiyo, aina ya menu tasting wa mbuga, lakini kama unataka leisurely kasi zaidi, ni kikamilifu iwezekanavyo, na nilifikiri inaweza kuwa kweli nice kujenga katika stopovers chache tena, ambayo bila kuruhusu kutumia moja asubuhi kuangalia Vista katika nyumba ya kulala wageni au saa kadhaa kuangalia kundi moja ya wanyama (simba uwindaji, kwa mfano).

Hifadhi ya kila maalum yake. Tarangire ni mazingira ya tambarare kando ya mto wa kudumu, na inapaswa kuwa nzuri kwa ajili ya tembo. Serengeti ni kubwa, kubwa wazi amejiunga na pretty much kila aina ya wanyamapori. Ya kufika huko kutoka Tarangire inachukua zaidi ya siku, kama barabara inapitia...