Tanzania/Kenya safari tour operator

Hi,

I now have a flight to Nairobi in November and have about 12 days in which to spend some time in the Serengeti, Ngorongoro and Usumbara mountains, and a few days on Zanzibar hopefully.

This may be a question that opens me up for loads of spam - BUT ..... Does anyone have any recommendations on tour operators or travel companies that could take two of us round the area?

I know there is an overland route from Nairobi to Dar es Salaam taking in Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Arusha and Usumbara along the way but I don't know if it's better to do this, or fly to Arusha and do a round trip from there?

Thanks!

Hi
You could tavel via the isibania boarder and then enter Serengeti, it is a lot easier and quicker to either fly from Nairobi to Kilimanjaro airport or the take the shuttle cost circa $30 pp drive time circa 5 hours.
Departure time 08:00 & 14:00 from either, all main hotels in Nairobi town or direct from the airport.
Then do your safari and then Usambara independently, after which a short bus ride to Dar Es Salaam.

hI,

Thanks for the updates, I'll consider getting the safari element seperately from Zanzibar & mountains and see where that takes me!

Cheers

I can seriously recommend Leopard Tours.
They have trips from several days to several weeks, from camping to luxurious. I did a midrange trip with them and was very pleased with them. Good guides (ask for Paul if you can) and they do everything to make your trip one of a lifetime!
Michael

I'm just back from Kenya and here's the good news.... THE PRICE OF A TOURIS VISA HAS JUST GONE DOWN IN PRICE FROM $50 TO $25... US that is.
Every bit helps.
You could try STAR TRAVEL in Nairobi, Standard St. I use them all the time and find them really good and inexpensive. Ask for Roselynne, tell her Brendan from Ireland sent you.

Hi,

Either option will work for you... it is not as hard as it seems up there. If you go the overland route I would recommend Africa Travel Co who run tours from Nairobi to Dar or vice versa which include the places you want to see, or if you want to fly to Arusha I would recommend Predators Safaris - local operator who do scheduled and tailor made packages that you can tune to suit yourself.

Don't forget though that part of the world is very easy to get around on public transport! Can get a bus to Arusha from Nairobi (took us 7 hours and apparently that was a bit slow!) and then organize a Serengeti trip from there. After that get on another bus to Dar (took us 14 hours). It just depends if you can be bothered sitting in a smelly bus for that long.

Some hotels in Nairobi and Arusha can put you in contact with a organized shuttle service (smaller and therefore quicker bus) that operates between Nairobi and Arusha as well. It was going to cost us only $15 more to do that than the local bus but unfortunately was full on the day we wanted.

Good luck!
Tania