The Perfect 8 Day Safari
Day 1
Flight to Kilimanjaro arriving early in the morning. We were picked up by our driver and driven to Arusha (45 minutes) for a brief meeting with Gosheni Safaris before setting off for the two hour drive to Tarangire National Park. This park is famous for its elephants and it did not disappoint. We saw lots of families of beautiful elephants with a range of youngsters which was glorious to see. In addition to the elephants Tarangire is a wonderful National Park where we saw lions, cheetahs and a leopard as well as many giraffe, birds and herbivores (ie zebras, wildebeest and impalas). Our accommodation was Acacia Tarangire Luxury Camp. This is an eco camp run by solar power and is sympathetically constructed in wood with high quality tents – huge double bed, ensuite toilet and shower. The staff and the food were both excellent. The location is stunning and we woke up to look out on zebras in front of the tent.
Day 2
We spent the first part of the morning in Tarangire then drove to Ngorogonro crater (about 2 hours). This is a spectacular crater – or caldera to be geologically correct. There are majestic views as you drive into the crater. It is filled with many animals but as there are fewer predators the animals are more relaxed and when you drive past the zebras and wildebeest they remain right beside the vehicle which is great. There is also a family of hippos in the lake which is always fun to see. We stayed in Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge for one night. This was a much larger lodge than anywhere else we stayed and was more international. The standard of the accommodation was very high but probably didn’t have the charm of the other lodges.
Day 3
We set off for the Serengeti – very bumpy drive for abut 2 hours before arriving at the South Serengeti gate to view the majestic vast plains of the Serengeti. In September the southern Serengeti is very dry with not many animals and therefore we drove to the Eastern Serengeti in search of lions. The vastness of the plains are awe inspiring and it was a thrill driving across them looking for lions but all the while enjoying all the gazelles, zebras, birds etc that we were seeing. We finally found a magnificent pride of lions which was a great reward for our efforts. We then moved to the central Serengeti which tends to be a bit more crowded (with humans) where we found a couple of magnificent leopards as well as a cheetah. We spent the night at Acacia Seronera Luxury Camp in the central Serengeti. This was a similar format to the camp in Tarangire and was of an equally very high standard in every way – including zebras in the morning!
Day 4
We went on an early morning game drive – cheetahs and three cubs the highlight before setting off for the Northern Serengeti. To do this we left the park as it was quicker and the drive took about an hour. Fascinating drive going past all the Masai settlements. The reason for going to the northern Serengeti was to view the migration of wildebeest and zebras crossing the river Mara. We spent the day looking at huge number of wildebeests gathering around the river edge – playing shall we shan’t we jump! As it turned out none of them wanted to jump that day so we returned to our camp -the Acacia Migration Camp. This is deemed to be a mobile camp set up to view the migration. However, it is still extremely comfortable with a large tent, comfortable double bed, ensuite facilities. The food and staff were excellent again.
Day 5
We woke to a beautiful sunrise with our fingers crossed hoping that today the wildebeest would decide to jump – and they did! What a sight 8-10,000 wildebeest gathered on the bank and then swimming across – quite extraordinary. We spent the rest of the day exploring the northern Serengeti where as well as the vast herds of wildebeest and zebras there were also lots of different antelopes eg gazelles, topi, elands as well as elephants. We stayed again at Acacia Migration Camp.
Day 6
Back to the central Serengeti for more stunning views of the plains and huge variety of animals – lions, cheetah, and giraffes to name a few. Night spent at the lovely Acacia Seronera Luxury Camp again.
Day 7
Morning spent in the eastern Serengeti again We came across two huge prides of lions which were magnificent, before sadly saying goodbye to the Serengeti and embarking on our bumpy road back to Karutu near the Ngorogonro crater (about 2 hours) to stay in our final destination the Acacia Farm Lodge. This was a very smart hotel with a pool and was a lovely place to stay for our last night in Tanzania.
Day 8
Early start and 3 hour drive back to Kilimanjaro airport
The balance of our safari could not have been better. Moving from place to place most days might not be to everyone’s taste but I loved the variety of seeing different areas. Each place had a unique character and seeing them all was a great privilege.
Our itinerary was not the classical 8 day trip that Gosheni safaris do as they usually include a visit to Lake Manyara National park. In the past this has been famous for huge flocks of flamingos but unfortunately the ecosystem has changed and the algae that the flamingos feed on have gone and there are now no flamingos on the lake. Our daughter went there last year and said there was very little to see, we also asked our guide about the park and he confirmed the flamingos were no longer there.
Therefore, we added another day to our Serengeti safari instead of going to Lake Manyari and Gosheni were very helpful in doing this. We were really keen to see the river crossing and as the wildebeest don’t cross the river to order having a spare day in the north was great as they didn’t cross on the first day we were there but did on the second.
There is also Arusha National Park on the northern circuit. I picked our guides brains on this. He said that it didn’t have that much wildlife and would not have added much to our safari.
We felt that if we had wanted to lengthen our safari we could easily have spent more time in Tarangire which we loved.
Cost of holiday
Safaris are not a cheap holiday and unlike other holidays you need to book it through a company as it would be very difficult to organise it independently.
The 8 day safari including all transport in your own private 4X4, accommodation, park fees and all meals for the two of us was $7754
Tipping
The safari is full board so apart from drinks there is very little to spend money on except tips.
These can be paid in local currency but the preferred currency is US dollars. There isn’t a hard and fast rule about tipping and you can give as much or as little as you want. For what it’s worth here is the framework that I worked out for tips
The main cost is a tip for the driver who is both your driver and guide for the whole trip. In our briefing with Gosheni they suggested $10-20 a day per person. I must confess we opted for $10 each but that still came to $160 for the trip
A tip at each camp was also expected. This was made easier as each camp had a tip box at reception. Which meant there was no awkward pauses whenever someone carried your bags for you and you weren’t sure if you were meant to give them a tip or not. We gave $10 a night to each lodge but the amount you gave was confidential as you post it into the box. Which added another $70 during our stay
Therefore the total costs in tips was $230.
Other Costs
Drinks were not included except water. We like a drink but the way the day went it wasn’t really a boozy trip. You are up at about 6am every morning you come back from the game drive at around 6:30pm have a quick shower, supper at 7:30 and you tend to be in bed by 9!
We sometimes had a beer which was $3-4. We had a bottle of wine at the Ngorogonro hotel which was 22000 TZS which is about £7
Near Ngorogonro we also stopped at a large gift shop which had a huge range of items. Obviously you are paying tourist prices but most things were still good value if you wanted to bring gifts home.