Last Updated on January 28, 2024 by PowersToTravel
Through my study of the tourism infrastructure in Tanzania, I realized there were three important choices in planning our wildlife safari: private vehicle and driver versus tour group, tents versus lodges and drive versus fly.
Private vs Group
We quickly discarded the tour group. While many people look forward to meeting others on travel, we couldn’t quite face spending almost every waking hour in a small vehicle with people we did not know. We viewed YouTube videos of parties of people in Land Rovers, their heads popped out of the top, cameras swiveling, some standing on the backs of seats. Looking more like groundhogs than tourists, they strained their bodies for the best shots, competing with people they would rather avoid.
In our small family, I am the photographer. Greg recently purchased a waterproof camera to go where I am afraid to venture: in the hot tubs, in the Blue Lagoon and under the waterfalls. However outside of the water, I am in charge. Greg graciously points out good perspectives, but leans back to let me pounce in peace upon the picture. I did not relish the physical competition.
I also considered the personalities. People we did not enjoy could make or break this trip of a lifetime. These people would not be the natives of the land, full of local knowledge and custom, but rather tourists like ourselves, or perhaps not like ourselves.
Having mentally dubbed this trip “a trip of a lifetime” meant that suddenly the cost became a secondary concern. Having established that we could afford it, we tended not to make economic decisions, if they seemed to carry a risk of diluting our pleasure.
So out with the group, and in with the dedicated guide. We read scores of reviews of individual guides on the Internet. Almost all the writers seemed to have made friends with their guides and extolled their virtues. It seemed that Tanzanian guides were of high quality, and well worth the money we would spend. Of course the skeptic in me kept whispering that we would be the one couple with a grumpy guide, but I decided to think positively.
Even the choice of vehicle is important. Some vehicles ride more comfortably, and to our understanding, the roads would not be smooth. Land Cruisers ride more smoothly. However, Land Rovers are more durable and are more easily able to navigate the mud.
Since we were not planning on a trip in the rainy season, and since I have a tendency for motion sickness, we chose Land Cruisers. Africa Travel Resources planned to pair us with Tanganyika Expeditions, the local agency. Their web included excellent pictures and diagrams of the vehicles, so that we could be completely confident in our choice. It wasn’t until we did not get to rescue the President of Tanzania that we wished our choice had been otherwise. Other guests at one of the camps extolled their story of having rescued the President of Tanzania who had gotten stuck in the mud in his Land Cruiser. Their vehicle, a Land Rover, came across the stranded entourage and was able to come to the rescue.
Sadly, we didn’t have their serendipitous timing, nor their Land Rover. I think this is a small regret.
Tents vs Lodges
I think this choice hardly needs explaining. Of course tents is best, if you can afford it. That is, if you aren’t going for a dip in a pool. Who wants a pool on an African safari?
It is only in a tent that you can experience a lion padding around the camp, roaring, for seemingly for an hour, seemingly right at your head. Note: be sure to close your tent zippers fully, not venture out after dark and you’ll be all right. You may not feel you will be all right. You may feel more terrified than you ever thought possible, but you will be fine!
Drive vs Fly
The last decision concerned our return from the Serengeti to Arusha. We had time in our itinerary to drive from Arusha, out to the Serengeti via the Ngorongoro Crater, spend several days at a camp on the Serengeti, and drive back, stopping at a camp in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. The Ngorongoro Conservation Area is different from the national park in that people live there, farms, Masai villages, and even a billboard or two for birth control (really!) dot the landscape. We saw fewer lions and wild animals on that trip back, although at the camp, Ubuntu Ndutu, there was plenty to see. We were not sorry at all to have taken the driving choice.
It probably wasn’t less expensive to drive because we had to pay for the vehicle and driver for more days, and the camp as well for longer, versus the quick airplane flight but we got more experience for our money. It’s all a trade-off. It was a decision well made, but could also have been as well made with the other option.
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Music “Whimsey Groove” by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
(I am not compensated in any way for my reference)
