Tanzania

Hello,

I just have seen that you done a safari in tanzania about one
year ago with the tour operator shidolya. I am French and I want to make
a safari in June, and I search iformations about this tour operator : is
this one a good tour operator (for prices, services, etc.). Can I rely
on this TO ?

Thanks

nadege



Originally posted by R. Eijk

Hello,

My wife and I were there in october 2002.
Arusha is
not a place to spend much time in my opinion. We arrived on a
sunday
(comping from Dar es Salaam by bus) and stayed in Le Yacaranda, a

hotel 2 or 3 kilometers outside the center of Arusha. (50$ double). Not
to
bad with a good restaurant.
On monday we were picked up and
started a 5 day safari. I found we stayed in
the different parks just
long enough. The hotels were good and the dinners
and lunch boxes that
were provided were excellent. If you want to spend more
time you can
also visit Tarangire Park for a day (famous for the Baobab
trees and
the many elephants).
There are also a lot of other possibilities
(tented camps etc) that are
perhaps more adventurous (or primitive if
you prefer).

I will cut and paste the offer we received from our
tour operator:

-----------------------------
Thank you very
much for your E-mail.

With regards to your enquiry, please find
a 5 days Lodge safari as
follow:

Day 1: Leave Arusha for
Lake Manyara National Park for game viewing
with
picnic lunch,
dinner and overnight at Lake Manyara Hotel.

Day 2: Drive to
Serengeti National Park with picnic lunch, game
drive en-route,
dinner and overnight at Seronera Wildlife Lodge.

Day 3: Full
day in Serengeti tour, dinner and overnight at Seronera
Wildlife
Lodge.

Day 4: Morning game drive in Serengeti until lunch
time, then
proceed to Ngorongoro via Olduvai gorge and Museum
(optional),
dinner and overnight at Ngorongoro Wildlife Lodge.


Day 5: Descend down the Crater floor for game drive with picnic

lunches, Late afternoon drive back to Arusha.

End of
Service:

Net Quote:
The price will be $ 785 per person.

Rates Include.
Transport 4 x 4 Land Rover or Land Cruiser with pop
up roof and radio
communication, All Park fees, Driver guide,
Crater service fees and Full
board accommodation while on safari.


Rates exclude: Airport transfers, Airport tax, Accommodation
and meals
in Arusha town, Tipping, Air fare, Visa fees, and all
other items of
personal nature.

---------------------------------

(We managed to get a 10 percent discount on this offer). We were the
only
passengers in a landrover with a pop-up roof with a very friendly
driver:
Moses.
The name of the tour operator is Shidolya tours
(Arusha), they have a
website I think
They were recommended by
friends that live in Dar es Salaam.
If you want to spend more time you
can also visit Tarangire Park for a day.

(Their mail adress is:

)

(I don't have any connections
with them and there are probably a dozen or
more companies that
provide similar arrangements. Just make sure you don't
end up in a 20
persons lorry as I have seen in the Serengeti)

Rudi
Nijmegen, the
Netherlands



"Edc4" schreef in bericht
news:20030125231202.05068.00000295@mb-
...

Hi, planning our first trip here. Any recs about what we should
and
shouldn't
do, other than the obvious? How much time
should we spend in Arusha? How
much
in the crater? How
much in parks? Any recs about places to lodge? We've
been

to South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia the past two
years so
familiar
with some safari things.

Thanks,
Ed Callen


--
Posted via http://britishexpats.com

On Mon, 12 Jul 2004 16:21:52 +0200, "Berit L"
wrote:

"Hans-Georg Michna" wrote in message
.. .

First of all I think I need to clear up the "safari bit" :-) It may not have
been a good way of expressing myself when communicating with people who do
not know me, because - by all means - the safari is the big thing on this
trip! But to me Zanzibar has always had an exotic ring to it, and it seemed
a good comination, a chance to add some beaches, spices and different
culture to the trip. And since yesterday I've found out that to go to
Namibia from Tanzania we will have to go via South Africa, so I think we'll
leave the desert experience for some other time. That means (provided we
don't try to combine it with something else, like seeing gorillas in
Uganda...) we will have 3 weeks in Tanzania. Then the question is how much
time we spend on safari. I'd love to go on a 2week safari rather than one
week but I simply don't know that I can afford it...

Berit,

Tanzania is a huge, diverse country. I don't think you will miss
the Namibia trip this time, and I would also not recommend to
add a gorilla trip to your first visit, for fear of overloading
the trip (and also because it's expensive).

Interesting that you suggest going to Zanzibar first instead of last. I had
thought of going there last, partly to do the r&r at the end of the
vacation, and to let all the impressions sink in before we go back to a cold
Norwegian winter. But you do have a point. The safari will definitely be the
high point of the trip, and it could be smart to switch things around.

I think it depends on whether you enjoy beaches and the Zanzibar
lifestyle. My personal opinion is that beaches can be had
cheaper at the Mediterranean, and the Zanzibar lifestyle, though
sometimes interesting and nice, can't beat watching elephants
and lions. If you want to get a small taste, check my travel
report of last year at http://www.michna.com/kenya2003/ and
check the Lamu days. Lamu is somewhat similar to Zanzibar.

I will have a look at your website as well, haven't had time yet. We did
originally think of combining Tanzania and Kenya. Is there any particular
reason why you have chosen Kenya?

I used to live and work in Kenya. Kenya is somewhat cheaper and
in some ways more convenient than Tanzania, so it is also not
bad for a first-time visitor to east Africa. And it is still a
very big country and also very diverse. You can find everything
from mountain rainforest to desert in the north. Even the
northern tourist paths in central Kenya touch arid, partly
desert-like areas like around Baringo.

But I'm not saying you should go to Kenya instead. Tanzania is
an absolutely fascinating country. You could switch if your
travel agent made you a special offer you could not refuse.

As to your itinerary, you could also go on a short safari first,
then visit Zanzibar, then add another safari in the end. The
only thing I personally would not like is to go to the coast
after the safari, then go home directly from there. All this
depends on the distribution of your safari destinations as well.
It wouldn't make very much sense to travel from the highlands
500 km to the coast, only to go back the same way again a week
later.

Consider also that the coast is hot and humid, skin always
sweaty, the mosquito net at night feels as if it warms you even
more, and the risk of malaria is several times that out in the
bush. In the highlands the climate is much more pleasant,
depending, of course, on your personal disposition.

It is a question of money though. The wildlife lodges are not
cheap and there are hardly any alternatives. You need a car to
enter the nature reserves. Cheap accommodation nearby usually
does not exist. The only way to shave off some of the costs is
to use low season rates, but this year it is already too late
for that, as far as my knowledge from Kenya goes.

I hope this helps you make good decisions. I also hope that
others will chime in with answers to your other questions that I
cannot answer. I repeat them here so they are not forgotten.


* Accomodation, where to stay in Dar, Arusha, Zanzibar
* Safari companies. Have heard good things about Scan-Tan Tours
*Transport between locations
*How much we ought to organize up front, and how much we can
just take as it comes
* Anything you can think of in the way of good advice,
recommendations, things not to miss, and things to avoid, etc.


I think you don't need to book everything in advance, but then I
don't know today's Tanzania.

Hans-Georg

--
No mail, please.

"Berit L" wrote in message ...
I had thought of going there last, partly to do the r&r at the end of the
vacation, and to let all the impressions sink in before we go back to a cold
Norwegian winter.

Conversely, after 3 days to a week of bouncing around in a Range
Rover, you might want to relax on the beach and give your back a few
days to un-wind before getting on an 8 hour flight back to Europe.

Dave B wrote in message ...
We booked it though Africa Travel Resource who were very good at
arranging everything for us (www.africatravelresource.com), and the
safari was great!

I am glad to hear that, because I have booked through them for a climb
up Kili in January!

Greg

Sun, Jul 11, 2004, 11:40pm (CDT+7)
From: (Berit=A0L)

Hi

We are 2 women going to Tanzania at
the end of September, will be spending
approximately 3 weeks there.

You must be a couple of ugly bitches to have to go to Af'ka to meet men.
Do us good-looking people a favour and just STAY there. Too many of you
uggos already