Tanzanian Safari

One of the highlights of my dad’s visit was the opportunity to go on safari (which, in Swahili, literally means ‘journey’). By the time my dad arrived in Tanzania I had been at the hostel, which serves as a popular point for travelers to leave from and return to for safaris, for nearly three months, and had probably listened to somewhere close to 20 different individuals / groups return from their safaris and talk about their experiences over dinner. Therefore, despite never having been on an actual safari myself, I considered myself pretty knowledgeable on the subject when it came to choosing the best option.

Ironically enough, after hearing everyone’s different experiences – which included everything from basic three day safaris to extended seven day packages that took you to some of the less popular destinations - I decided the best value for our money was actually the most popular safari package. This package lasted four days and three nights, and included visits to some of the most famous national parks in Tanzania: Lake Manyara, the Serengeti Plains, and Ngorongoro Crater. While Lake Manyara is lesser known to those outside Tanzania, Ngorongoro Crater and especially the Serengeti Plains are world renown.

(Quick sidenote worth mentioning: The Pridelands from the movie ‘The Lion King’ were actually based on the Serengeti Plains. In addition to the geography itself, most, if not all, the animals you see in the movie are also native to the Serengeti. And in addition to using the Serengeti as inspiration for the setting, the movie also borrows a couple of Swahili words for the name of its characters: ‘Simba’ translates to ‘lion’ and ‘Rafiki’ is the Swahili word for ‘friend’. And yes, while we’re on the subject, ‘Hakuna Matata’ does actually mean “No worries’, lit. “There are no worries”)

The coveted goal of all safari-goers in Tanzania is to see the so-called “Big Five”: elephants, lions, leopards, buffalo, and black rhinos. With all the hype around it, you would think this was actually hard to do, but the reality is that about 80% of all the people I talked to were able to accomplish it (as long as you visit the Crater – which is the only place to see the 13 black rhinos remaining in the world). You might also think there was little else worth seeing, but in my opinion, nothing could be further from the truth. While the Big Five were amazing to see (and, happily, we did see all five), almost equally as impressive were the giraffes, zebras, wildebeests, warthogs, antelope, hyenas, jackels, vultures, ostriches, hippos, and crocodiles. And that’s to say nothing of the numerous smaller animals and exotic varieties of birds, which admittedly are not on the same level as the aforementioned animals, but are still nonetheless beautiful to see. The only animal we didn’t get a chance to see was a cheetah, but with so much else to take in, this was hardly a cause for disappointment.

I wish I could describe in more detail all the sights we got to see; what it feels like to see a tower of 100 giraffe (yes, that’s right, according to wikianswers you can call a group of giraffes a tower) grazing all around you in the trees, to be literally surrounded by a herd of 500 buffalo, or to watch an elephant feeding from less than 10 feet away, but I don’t really think these experiences can be aptly translated into words. Therefore, instead I will end this post with a few general tips and observations about safaris that aren’t in any guidebooks, but which I have either learned from talking with travelers or experienced for myself. The first two have to do with arranging safaris, and the last four concern the actual safari itself. Please remember that some of the things I mention, especially those concerning pricing, are specific to Tanzania and the national parks I visited.

1. If at all possible, don’t organize your safari until you arrive

There are numerous ways to arrange a safari, and those inexperienced with Africa may be tempted to pre-arrange one before departing through a travel agency, the hotel they are staying with, or online. My suggestion would be, that if you have any spare time that you could use to arrange a safari after arriving, do it. Sometimes the price difference could literally be 100%. The reason for this is two fold. First, the more people you go through to arrange a safari, the more people are going to want a cut of the profit for helping arrange it. This is especially true when going through a travel agency or hotel. Second, many of the larger safari companies take advantage of travelers’ ignorance when they are going through travel agencies, and use the opportunity to dramatically increase the price. This is not, in fact, isolated to safari companies, but is a practice employed by many different tourism related businesses, and not just in Africa. On the positive side, you are usually getting a quality experience for your money, but again, you may be paying up to double that of the person sitting next to you in the same vehicle. Using the Internet is an option that gives you a better basis for price comparison, but at the cost of being less certain about the quality of the experience.

Your best option is to ask friends or other contacts for recommendations (like the one I make at the end of this point) and then personally contact that company and arrange the safari yourself. However, if you’re unable to do find anyone who can give a recommendation, your next best option is to arrive a day early in a town that serves as a staging point for a lot of safaris, such as Arusha, and shop around for a trip. Asking for recommendations from other travelers is always the best place to start, although you might also ask the hotel concierge or other local business owners (as long as you are reasonable sure they won’t profit from the recommendation they give you).

Again, all this is not to say you will, without a doubt, pay a more expensive price if you purchase a pre-arranged safari. I’m just saying you have a better chance of getting a good price if you don’t go through multiple layers of administration and can physically go to a safari office to compare prices.

Lastly, I will take this opportunity to recommend the company my dad and I used, which is African Scenic Safaris (www.africanscenicsafaris.com). Not only did they provide a great safari, but they are also very fairly priced. Additionally, I am friends with the owners and can personally vouch for them being honest and ethical in their business practices (and they also donate a portion of their proceeds to local NFPs, although I’m not sure they advertise that themselves). Contrary to everything I just said, you shouldn’t hesitate to book a safari with them through the Internet before arriving in Africa.

2. Don’t pay less than $150 / day per person

Again, this is specific to the northern safari circuit of Tanzania, but if a company is charging much less than this price, I would question the quality of the experience you will be receiving, if you aren’t getting downright ripped off (i.e., they will insist on you paying extra for things you thought were included). Park fees alone are $50 / day per person, and then when you add employee wages (a guide and a cook), food, gas, and then depreciation on the vehicle and camping / cooking equipment, you can understand why it would be difficult to charge less than this and still make a fair profit for your efforts.

Its also worth noting that this is the minimum you should pay for a full vehicle. Prices should be even more expensive if you want less people (Note: Safari companies will usually do their best to match you and your group with other individuals / groups to ensure a full vehicle unless you explicitly ask them not to)

And just to give a good price point, $200 / day per person is probably a good average cost for a camping safari (lodges will usually be quite a bit more expensive). Anything under would be considered a pretty good deal.

3. Bring something else to do

No one seems to mention how much time is spent driving from one park to another when they mention their safari. The truth is, it’s quite a bit. If you don’t bring something else to do, you will get bored, unless you are the world’s greatest conversationalist. I suggest a few books and an ipod. That kept me sufficiently entertained.

4. It’s not just about the animals

Remember to take in the nature and the geography as well. This is especially true if you travel the route we took. Each of the three parks had some spectacular. The forest of Lake Manyara lead straight into a huge tree covered wall – not 90 degrees, but certainly too steep for animals to climb - measuring several hundred feet in height that is unlike almost anything I have every seen before. Similarly unique, the Serengeti plains are so vast it is almost too difficult to comprehend how far they actually stretch. The crater is also a sight to behold, measuring about 9 miles across and several hundred feet high. Finally, I would remind anyone heading out of safari to remember to take a look up to the sky at night, as the number of visible stars is unparalleled by anything I have ever experienced.

5. Remember to “see”, and not just “look”

This point seems pretty obvious, but I’ve heard a number of people come back and talk about how they wished they would have taken more time just taking in what they were actually seeing, rather than trying to capture the perfect picture. I’m not saying don’t take pictures, or even that you can’t fully appreciate the sites while taking pictures, but just remember not to get ahead of yourself: enjoy the experience itself before attempting to capture it as a lasting memory.

6. Order matters

The only point I’ll stress is this: If you can, make sure you save Ngorongoro Crater for last. The sheer population density of animals makes it an unrivaled destination to view wildlife; so much so that you might actually find yourself bored with the other stops if you visited the Crater first.

I’ll use one example just to illustrate: On the first day in Lake Manyara when we saw a small group of zebras we stop to watch and take pictures for probably ten minutes. It was brand new, it was exciting, and it was interesting. In contrast, on our last day in the Crater, there were times where we literally drove past packs of zebras numbering in the hundreds without stopping. Why? Because we saw those same packs of 100+ zebras all over the Crater. We had already stopped numerous times to observe them, and there are only so many times you can stop to look at zebras.

At a certain point, we as humans become accustomed to all the sights we once found unique and interesting, and they begin to lose their novelty. That may be a sad truth, but it’s human nature. Everyone I’ve talked to about this has had a similar experience. So the best way to fight against this is to try and order your experiences from the least exciting to the most. I didn’t realize this going in, but luckily our tour operators did. We started off in Lake Manyara, where the sight of a few zebras or one elephant was enough to keep us enthralled. We then moved to the Serengeti, where wildlife sightings weren’t necessarily more common, but they tended to be of more exciting animals (e.g., lions, leopards) or of larger groups of animals (hundreds of zebras, as opposed to a handful). Odds are, your tour operator already knows this and will structure your safari accordingly, but it never hurts to check.

On a related note, I also found four days to be the perfect length of time for the safari. I fell like I would have been left wanting if I had tried to squeeze everything into three days, and while I could have done a fifth day, the novelty of the experience would have been begun to wear off.