Game drive organized by lodges or safari companies?

Hi,

We are planning to visit Tanzania in september and doing a 4 day
safari. We don't want to drive all day during safari and Iam wondering
if staying in a nice lodge with morning and evening safari trips is a
good alternative for the 4 day safari trips organized by the safari
companies. Anyone can give me some advice in terms of quality and costs
when comparing these two? How about transportation to the lodges for
example?

Thanks in advance!
David

In message . com
"David" wrote:

Hi,

We are planning to visit Tanzania in september and doing a 4 day
safari. We don't want to drive all day during safari and Iam wondering
if staying in a nice lodge with morning and evening safari trips is a
good alternative for the 4 day safari trips organized by the safari
companies. Anyone can give me some advice in terms of quality and costs
when comparing these two? How about transportation to the lodges for
example?

Although all day out in the field with a packed lunch is relatively
common with 'brochure' safaris in Tz compared to Kenya, you'll find
that many companies still only offer the 'standard' early morning/late
afternoon game drives.
Swings and roundabouts: if you go on an organised safari, you'll be
with the same group all the time so your driver knows what you've seen
and what you still want to see. With the lodge drives, you may be with
different people every day, who want to see what you saw yesterday.

I don't know how it's done in Tz since it's a while since I was there,
but I know in Kenya, e.g. the Serena group of lodges organise
everything for you, including transfers to/from Nairobi and internal
flights between the lodges: maybe the Serena group in Tz does the
same?
If you're only able to have a four-night safari, don't even think of
visiting more than two places or you'll be travelling all the time.
Maybe even consider only one place: at other times of year 4 nights in
Serengeti would be great, but of course, all/most of the migration
will be in the Mara then.

Best bet would be to try to arrange a private safari, where just you
and your friend/partner/spouse/family travel together with one guide.

Safari njema

Liz


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David writes ...

We are planning to visit Tanzania in september and doing a 4 day
safari. We don't want to drive all day during safari and Iam wondering
if staying in a nice lodge with morning and evening safari trips is a
good alternative for the 4 day safari trips organized by the safari
companies

You can organize a private safari with your own driver and do it the
way you describe ... we always go out at 6 AM, come back for lunch and
rest, then go back out around 3 PM since we are mainly photographing
and the light is usually poor mid-day. You can arrange this with your
driver/guide on a private safari, but probably not on a canned package
tour where you are sharing the vehicle with other people.

Anyone can give me some advice in terms of quality and costs
when comparing these two?

Just contact a couple of companies like Leopard Tours or Roy Safaris or
similar and ask for their prices for a custom trip and then compare I
guess ...

How about transportation to the lodges for example?

You didn't say where you were going ... from Arusha it's pretty quick
to drive to Tarangire or Lake Manyara, just a couple hours, and maybe
another 90 minutes to Ngorongoro Crater so it would make sense to start
early from Arusha and you still have time to do a game drive that
afternoon. But Serengeti is a much longer trip and in Sept you
probably want to go to the northern part anyway, which could take all
of one day, the last several hours over bumpy dusty roads. In that
case you might be better off flying into Seronera or even further north
.... I think Precision Airlines has daily flights from Arusha each
morning, for example ... if doing this and staying at one nice lodge
you could easily arrange to be met at the airstrip and then use the
lodge's jeep, then fly back at the end of your trip, but it will be a
hassle if you want to switch lodges or parks. Alternatively the
companies I mentioned will also send a driver out from Arusha to meet
you, but this might cost more.

Probably you need to decide which game areas you wish to see
(Tarangire, Lake Manyara and Ngorongoro are fairly close to each other
and to Arusha, but Serengeti is about half a day further), then decide
if you want to drive or fly, then decide if it makes more sense to do a
custom trip or use the lodge's vehicles (which I would think makes most
sense if you are flying into one lodge in the Serengeti since it's
otherwise hard to move between lodges).

Bill

Thank you Liz and Bill, this defenitity helps me with choosing!

David wrote:

We are planning to visit Tanzania in september and doing a 4 day
safari.

How many of you are there? If there are several, the more cost-effective
choice would be to use a driver and vehicle from one of the operators
in Arusha and have him as your private Guide.

We don't want to drive all day during safari and Iam wondering
if staying in a nice lodge with morning and evening safari trips is a
good alternative for the 4 day safari trips organized by the safari
companies.

It is not exactly an alternative. With a safari organized by one of the
safari companies, you stay in the same lodges and have the same
game drive schedules. But - as pointed out by others in this
newsgroup - you control the timing of the game drives and need
not be concerned about anyone else's interests.

Anyone can give me some advice in terms of quality and costs
when comparing these two?

The packages offered by the lodges will probably be more
expensive because you must fly to them. And it doesn't
necessarily save time. I would not go to the Serengeti in
October, but suggest a short 'loop' that would be 2 nights
at the Ngorongoro Crater, and 2 nights at a lodge in the
Lake Manyara Park or the Tarangire Park.

I suggest contacting this operator for a quotation:
http://www.bushbuckltd.com/tanzania.htm
we have used them for many years.

They need to know EXACTLY where and when you will
enter Tanzania, and whether you will be staying somewhere
else in Tanzania before commencing your safari, so they
can create a reasonable itinerary for such a short safari.

Why? Because travel time to get to the safari areas
will also be important in determining how you use your time.

In message . com
"Bill" wrote:

You can organize a private safari with your own driver and do it the
way you describe ... we always go out at 6 AM, come back for lunch and
rest, then go back out around 3 PM since we are mainly photographing
and the light is usually poor mid-day. You can arrange this with your
driver/guide on a private safari, but probably not on a canned package
tour where you are sharing the vehicle with other people.

These are the standard game-drive times of most 'brochure' safaris,
although normally you come back for breakfast around 9 or 9.30 a.m. As
you suggest, you can often make arrangements to take out a packed
breakfast.

If you're going out all day with a packed lunch, you have breakfast
around 5.45 - 6 a.m. (according to the lodge/camp) and go out as soon
as you finish, or if you're moving on that day, you usually have a
later breakfast and 'game drive' out, unless it's just a short
distance, under two hours or so.

Slainte

Liz

I suggest you go ahead with your plans and organize your trip with Time
Warner Safari. Get in touch with them on .
checkout their website http://www.timewarnersafaris.com

Filgga wrote:

I suggest you go ahead with your plans and organize your trip with Time
Warner Safari. Get in touch with them on .
checkout their website http://www.timewarnersafaris.com

And especially scroll down to the bottom of their home page
where they have a link to information about the lions, elephants,
and TIGERS in Tanzania!
If their game drives do indeed include the chance to see tigers,
then they know more about Tanzania wildlife than I do.

Dave Patterson writes ...

And especially scroll down to the bottom of their home page
where they have a link to information about the lions,
elephants, and TIGERS in Tanzania!

You're not insinuating these people are clueless spammers, are you
Dave? On a internet Newsgroup? Naaah.

If their game drives do indeed include the chance to see tigers,
then they know more about Tanzania wildlife than I do.

We've seen seven species of cats in Tz so far but we also missed the
tigers ... if I see one I'll blame it on the Larium.

Bill

In message
Dave Patterson wrote:

Filgga wrote:

I suggest you go ahead with your plans and organize your trip with Time
Warner Safari. Get in touch with them on .
checkout their website http://www.timewarnersafaris.com

And especially scroll down to the bottom of their home page
where they have a link to information about the lions, elephants,
and TIGERS in Tanzania!

Oh, Dave, have a heart.
I was drinking tea when I read that!

Slainte

Liz

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