If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
A future plan to Tanzania : Mahale, Katavi, Ruaha, Mikumi and Selous
Dear all,
after our last year honeymoon trip dedicated to Masai Mara, my wife and i are planning our next safari. Our idea is the following : "south" Tanzania with the following parks and reserves : Mahale, Katavi, Ruaha, Mikumi and Selous. Have u ever been there ? What do u think of these places ? What can be seen there (mammals, bird, ...) Which season is the best ? What about accomodations ? Thanls for all your information Best regards http://marahoneymoon.blogspot.com |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
A future plan to Tanzania : Mahale, Katavi, Ruaha, Mikumi andSelous
Fred wrote:
Dear all, after our last year honeymoon trip dedicated to Masai Mara, my wife and i are planning our next safari. Our idea is the following : "south" Tanzania with the following parks and reserves : Mahale, Katavi, Ruaha, Mikumi and Selous. Have u ever been there ? Did Mikumi, Katavi & Ruaha in June 2006 (first Safari ever). What do u think of these places ? We had been turned off of going the Northern route due to reports of very "tourist-crowded" regions. Particularly liked Katavi as there's only 4 Jeeps (2 for each 12-customer camp) in the entire park. In general, we found that each location had its merits and slight variations in wildlife...wouldn't mind doing these three again. What can be seen there (mammals, bird, ...) See photo album (PDF, 3.2MB) at URL: http://www.huntzinger.com/photo/2006/Tanzania_album-2006s.pdf They're also more-or-less repeated here, in a different format: http://www.photo-hh.com/Photos-I/Pages/Southern_Tanzania.html From either of the above, you might notice the absence of Rhino, Leopard, Cheetah and oddly enough, Heania. We weren't expecting Rhino (region) and were aware that Leopard or Cheetah can be hit-or-miss and that it wasn't really a region known for 'common' sightings. Note that because we were all in Parks (not any Reserves), we had zero night game drives. In general, we were pleasantly surprised by the bird life, which we had not really anticipated, being that it was our first trip. Camera gear was also a bit limiting, as I had a maximum effective telephoto lens of "ONLY" 450mm, which any truely dedicated birder will tell you is nowhere near long enough. I made due. Which season is the best ? How much dust are you willing to tolerate? Our trip was in June, which was "early" in the dry season. As such, water was still fairly plentiful in some areas, so there wasn't the dramatic concentration of wildlife at watering holes, or life/death conflict from predators. However, the good news was that the roads were frequently quite managable in that we didn't really eat much dust at all, and my digital SLR didn't get its sensor gunked up at all. Next time, I'd consider going slightly later in the dry season, but this can be hard to gage, as local weather/climate pattern variation can cause a month or two worth of effective "shift", depending on if rains came late, or if they didn't come at all, etc. In our case, Katavi's rains had come late (so they were still 'wet') and Ruaha was effectively in drought. What about accomodations ? We stayed at the Foxes accomodations at each, and also used them to fly between these camps. Found them to be uniformly good, both for staff and for accomodations. Their website is: http://www.tanzaniasafaris.info/index.htm We are still occasionally in communications with a couple of the staffmembers that we met in 2006 who have occasional email access. We would use this company again. BTW, do be aware that you do need to take along a windproof jacket. The mornings are cool (around 62F or 16C) which isn't necessarily a problem at breakfast, as the air is still. However, when you board the camp's jeep for the morning game drive, its lake of windows, doors, and a folded down windshield means that you're exposed to the "wind" of your vehicle's forward motion, which effectively acts as a windchill, so at 20mph velocity, 65F feels like 45F (or colder). Consequently, we wore a windproof jacket every morning and we usually would not take this layer completely off until the jeep stopped for the mid-morning (10:30AM-11:00AM) rest break. -hh |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
We Know The Future..... | Joey Jolley | USA & Canada | 14 | November 19th, 2004 08:04 PM |
Southern Tanzania Safari Stops--Saadani, Mikumi, Selous?? | MK Carson | Africa | 1 | April 23rd, 2004 09:06 PM |
TANZANIA - CAMPING SAFARI IN SELOUS GAME RESERVE WALKING SAFARIES | kaushik patel | Africa | 1 | February 10th, 2004 10:58 AM |
We Know The Future II | Dustin Lambert | USA & Canada | 114 | December 23rd, 2003 04:06 PM |
Budget safaris in Selous? Help please! | Whitedog | Africa | 0 | September 23rd, 2003 07:45 AM |