Lions & Leopards & Cheetahs, oh my! - Itinerary

We just returned from an 8 day Safari to Tanzania, Africa. It was a trip of a lifetime! We gained a lot of experience and discovered a few things that we would do differently.

Since we are living in Europe, we are trying to do some trips that we wouldn't likely do from the US. One such trip was an African safari, and we were inspired by several friends who had recently done a similar trip and posted some amazing pictures. We investigated two companies and the costs associated with each one. One company offered pre-planned stops for a bus full of people. The other let you pick and choose what you wanted to do and transport was private.

We ended up choosing a company (Tanzania Specialist) that our friends used and enjoyed. The two reasons we chose it were: trust and type of tours.  We knew from our friends' experience that the company was trustworthy and the tour they offered was private. We had our own safari vehicle and a dedicated driver/guide the whole time. We were glad not to be on a crowded tour bus but it would have been nice to have more people to visit with at our camp/lodging as we were relaxing in the evenings!

Our itinerary:

Things we liked/dislike about our intinerary:

First, we had asked to go on a late canoe trip on our arrival day so that we could check in to our accommodations and hopefully take a nap. We didn't end up having any nap time. We dropped off luggage, changed clothes, got box lunches and were on our way for a 12:30 pm canoe trip. Since Tanzania was 2 hours ahead of Germany at the time, it wasn't too bad. Our friends from the US took an extra night staying in Doha so they could adjust a little. Qatar airlines was WONDERFUL and one we would definitely choose again.

Typical boxed lunch

Comfy canoe on arrival day!

We chose to go at one of the less expensive times of the year (end of March, beginning of April). Rainy season runs from April - June and then again in November. The pros were that the crowds were light and there were a lot of baby animals. The cons were that there were fewer people to visit with and we didn't get to see the great migration. I think we were very fortunate that the rain mostly happened overnight. We only had light rain the day we hiked around Lake Duluti and then one other day for about 20 minutes in Tarangire NP during a game drive.

The drive from Tarangire National Park to our next location in Serengeti National Park was LONG (4-5 hours), and dusty - my hair felt like I hadn't washed it in a month. Also, our accommodation in Serengeti was a camp that was 1.5-2 hours away from most things we wanted to do. That meant a lot more time in the vehicle and our guide said there were many other accommodation options that could have been booked for us.

Our driver & Land Cruiser

Inside the park while on an animal drive, our guide would pop up the roof 

and we could sit or stand as we pleased. 

A final note about our itinerary. We spoke to our guide about things we wanted to do/see and he helped us plan what time we would have to be ready to leave the next day. Most mornings we departed between 7-8:30 am, except for the day we did our hot air balloon trip which was a 4 am departure.