Safari around Arusha area??

Hi all,

A friend and I are looking to see one or all of: Ngorongoro, Lake Manyara, and Serengeti. I say one or all as we are on a budget and will do only that which we can afford. We are looking to go on about 4 September. So this leads to two questions:
1) Does anyone have any ideas about reasonably priced companies?
2) If you had to pick one over another which would you recommend?
3) Is anyone else in the area and looking to do a similar trip (many need a minimum of 4pax, and the more people the cheaper)?

Cheers

Hey there,

I would recommend an overland company if you are on a budget. Group travel, camping trips and geared towards the backpacker market. This might give you a better idea of who your fellow travelers could be. I am probably a bit biased as I have worked in Overlanding for quite a few years now - as crew and now as a booking agent, but it really is a fantastic way to cover a lot of ground in a short space of time, on a cheap budget, with minimal hassle.

I could recommend Africa Travel Co or Nomad Tours as good overland tour operators running shorter tours in the area, or locally I would recommend Fun Safaris or Predators Safaris, both Arusha based safari operators.

Hope that helps!

Cheers, Tania

[ Edit: Removing link. ]

Bit surprised that a post by Overlandin is Spam.
The question is about tour operators, so any name would be spam I guess.

Check Leopard tours. I was very satisfied with them, they have camping, budget and luxury trips with great guides and good 4wd toyota cars.

Should I spam my own post

Cheers!

[ Edit: Edited on Aug 27, 2008, at 3:09 AM by Utrecht ]

Classic linking-keyword spammer tactic in that post by Overlandin: "This might give you a better idea of who your fellow ([url=page on own website)travelers(/url) could be."
Might've not flagged it based on history, but there was a link to the same website in the other post by her, too.

When a moderator/admin sees it, I suspect the link will be edited out rather than the entire post deleted.

[ Edit: Edited on Aug 27, 2008, at 3:27 AM by Sander ]

1) Does anyone have any ideas about reasonably priced companies?

I would check out the Tanzania Association of Tour Operators for a list of reputable, local tour companies. You can try contacting them before you arrive, or just booking once you get there if you have a few days to spare. Personally, I used a company called Comfort Safaris and had a great experience, but I have heard good things about a number of different operators as well.

2) If you had to pick one over another which would you recommend?

If you are talking about picking between Ngorongoro, Lake Manyara, and Serengeti, I wouldn't pick any over the other. I would do a 5 day safari of all of them. I did 1 day in Manyara, 3 days in Serengeti and 1 day in Ngorongoro. I think 5 days is perfect. Less than that, and you might not get a chance to see as much of the animals as you can, more than that, and your ass will be sore from bumpy roads and bad shocks.

The safari is, in retrospect, one of the greatest travel experiences I have EVER had, so I would always suggest to people to spend money to do the safari and if you have to, cut other stuff out of your budget.

Greg