Safaris -What Park is Best in Tanzania?

Information for Safaris in Tanzania, by a cruiser, for cruisers…

First, Where to leave your boat when you go on a safari In Tanzania

We left our boat in Dar Es Salaam in care of Haji and Jason at Slipway. I have no experience with the yacht club except that we went there by foot to inquire and the list of requirements to leave your boat on a mooring there overwhelmed us and we did not want to pursue the matter. It included doing extra things with officials…and we don’t like to do anything more than what is required!

Some cruisers left their boat on a mooring and even at anchor in Dar Es Salaam, the biggest city on the coast, while they travelled, with varying results. One had an outboard engine stolen which was locked to their big boat, but felt they could have done more to protect it. We employed a Guard for at night while we gone, since this was the custom even with local boats. We don’t know of any other cruising boats that did this. We paid our guard extra to shine stainless steel and feed and water the cat while we were gone for 5 or 6 days on a safari to Mikumi National Park. All was well when we returned. Lily seems to have shed her fear or prejudice against black people, and loved her substitute dad. The SS shining, cat sitting and guarding costs us 20,000 per night. It would have been 10,000 if we didn’t have him do the extra things. 10,000 is about $4 usd and we did not negotiate for this, feeling it was fair. The guard reportedly took his chores very seriously.

We did this trip in November. The winds were still east in Dar Es Salaam, so the anchorage was protected. We were on a mooring that Patrick deemed strong and in good shape. There is a shuttle service that comes as part of the fee you pay each month to be there, so we didn’t have to loan out our Dinghy. We put absolutely everything loose on deck down below including empty jerry cans, outboard motors and even sheets and blocks. We left snacks in the cockpit and water for both the cat and the guard.

We felt safe here, both while gone and while we there in the city etc. Uber offers exceptionally low rates with plenty of drivers eager to pick you up and provide good service. We were warned by locals, even at the upscale Slipway area to hold tight to our bags since there are driveby purse snatching motorcycles there regularly but we never had any issues anywhere. We rarely went to town at night though. We took tuk tuks and Uber’s everywhere and never had issues.

Come December, Dar starts to be a much more open anchorage and we didn’t want to leave the boat there with the prevailing winds for our next Safari in January. Sailing there, via Zanzibar was easy and pleasant.

For our next Safari, we left the boat 100 miles or so north in Tanga, a sleepier, more boring town on the coast, with less dining options, far cheaper prices, but nothing much for supermarkets, never mind first class supermarkets like in Dar. It is however, is a much better anchorage even when the NE winds come in. We left the boat there at anchor because the mooring we were offered did not pass the muster, though there may be other ones that were already taken. The one we didn’t like later held another heavy boat for a while but it was dubious as to how long it will. The holding is great, and we held very very well in mud. We were encouraged by the commodore to NOT have a Guard on the boat at night when we left. We put away outboards, Jerry cans and other loose things inside to not take any chances. One boat this year did have its outboard motor stolen here as well. It was locked to the transom of the Dingy and the transom was cut off the Dingy to get the outboard which was a real shame. While we were there, there were at least 2 boats left for at least a month and neither had any issues. At least one of them left their outboards chained to their transom, but the other one also put their outboard inside. Nobody had any theft issues. We didn’t have a Guard, as I mentioned…and there is no shuttle or Dingy service so transport back and forth would have involved our dinghy which we were not keen on at all. Nobody cares about your old dinghy like you do yourself. We rowed ashore, pulled our Dingy up with its wheels to the boat storage area, covered it, and all was fine when we returned. Everything on the big boat was fine too. We were gone 11 days for this safari.

So that is the lowdown on boat storage while on safari…

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So now…for what Safari was actually better…?? Don’t read half of this article please. Stop here if you can not read the whole thing. I know it’s long…but for every point I make about each of the parks, there is a reason I will explain at the end…as to why this is all very relative, and specific…

The details on our Mikumi National Park, our first Safari, in November:

PRICING Ludovic Saronga at the Mikumi Tourist Board hooked us up for safari and accomodations and nice safari Vehicle with driver we could not find online anywhere for the prices we had…about $80 per night per room, inside the park, with reasonably priced restaurant for lunches and dinner…and free small breakfast. So prices were much cheaper to go to this park as long as you don’t want something fancy. So if you take the bus roundrip to get there, and do Safaris for 2 full days or 3 half days, we stayed under $700 for 2 people total, with our food quite easily. Mikumi is the cheaper of the areas we went to. This was basically for a 3 day/2 night safari. We didn’t use a tour operator, we only used the Mikumi Tourist Board and they found the operators and it was much less than we found trying to book it online, and found hotels inside the park that were actually affordable, and not advertised anywhere else at all. Even when I know the name of them, the Mikumi Bandas, I could not find them online.
DRIVING DISTANCES IN PARK. It’s a smaller park…the animals at least in November, are very concentrated near manmade lakes, so it’s easy to find animals in large numbers. This is ecspecially for a family with children because there isn’t as much time necessary to drive, and pee breaks are possible much more often!
The CROWDS in Mikumi, at least in November, are nonexistent. If we saw 3 Jeeps all day long, that was a lot. We were by ourselves most of every day. There was at most two other guests staying at the property.

The numbers of animals we saw were wonderful. We have no complaints at all. It was a great first safari, but it left us wanting more! We didn’t see any leopards, and we only saw lions mating, never traveling or doing much more than mating or sleeping! We had to get up early or stay out til nearly dark, to see lions at all.

The details of Serengeti National Park (combined with Manyara Lake National Park, Tarangire National Park and NgoroNgoro Conservation area and Ngorongoro Crater)

PRICING. Luckily we found Face of Africa Adventures. They can do big expensive Safaris, but when I didn’t want to camp…and I wanted to be inside the parks or right outside the gate at worst, they had a GREAT solution for me when other companies did not. The Safari we picked was 6 days/5 nights long with a night the day before and after also included at our start/end location, for a total of 8 days/7 nights, included all of our food, and everything else except alcohol, so twice as long as the Safari in Mikumi, but unfortunately, more than 6 times the price. And unless we camped, this was the absolute cheapest I could find. Granted we ate better, and we had nicer hotels for most nights. It was about $1900+ PER PERSON, sharing the Jeep with other people during the day. So if you need cheap, you better be prepared to camp and share with other people during the day, or just stick with Mikumi which is not a bad choice at all, truly. Face of Adventures does Mikumi too, so you can openly discuss the options with them.
DRIVING DISTANCES were great…we had to drive a lot in this park every day. Pee breaks were far and in between, and you got a little sleepy at times with all the driving involved. With that said, the tour operators are great at finding animals at every turn, and you are never bored! But children may have a harder time in this safari area.

3.The CROWDS. Many more people and Jeeps than in Mikumi. If there were lions, before long there were 25 Jeeps there. Everyone played nicely and everyone had a good view, though I think our driver managed the best view primarily because he was the one that found them for everyone else, so we were there first. But there are a lot of vehicles on this route even when it’s shoulder season…January…dust gets stirred up…people with allergies may have a harder time here.

BUT…with that said…about the CROWDS….there is a good reason it’s more crowded here…it’s virtually guaranteed to see more animals here. (see the link below for why) We had to get up early in Mikumi to MAYBE see Lions. There were times when there were no animals. Sometimes for hours in Mikumi. It’s probably important to go in a dry season so that the animals can be found at the water holes, rather than scattered. Mikumi National Park is a smaller park, but it’s still huge. The Serengeti is REALLY HUGE! We saw but a small slice of it while we there. But there were animals almost all the time…We didn’t have to go out in the mornings to see the lions active. We didn’t have to stay out til dusk to see them. They were there every day, in large numbers, active and doing what lions do. The great migration that you always read about as being about the Gnus…the Wildebeest Crossing the river, is actually a year round event…they are always moving in one big circle between Kenya and souther Serengeti, so you can always see huge huge herds of animals moving, searching for more nutrient rich grams, calving, matin, etc. There is also a much wider variety of animals in the Serengeti as well. In Mikumi we saw maybe 10 different wonderful kinds of animals. In Serengeti it would be more like 25 or more different wonderful kinds of animals. Out of the ordinary..ones our guide in Mikumi said don’t even live in Mikumi ever. Everything seems to live, in abundance in the Serengeti. So I personally would say, if you consider seeing wildlife in great abundance, awake and doing things, in large numbers, and animals really are your thing…go to the Serengeti…but if you absolutely have to be budget minded and can not splurge, go to Mikumi. Both are wonderful for the reasons outlined above, and both provide really excellent experiences.

We are so thankful we were able to do both circuits, north and south. Mikumi will be plenty for many people. We are totally animal people who can watch the same elephant for hours. But still to spend nearly $4000 is a HUGE deal for us…but we have been waiting to get to Africa for probably a lifetime. We HAD to go to both. We just had to. Thank you credit cards!

Now you ask…how about those other parks you mentioned…are those worth it…Here is my take on each! Keeping in mind, seasons…see the link below…

NgoroNgoro Crater. You can’t NOT go here if you go to the Serengeti unless it’s possibly the time of year where it’s the Northern Serengeti you are stationed in…in which case Ngorongoro is really far. But if there in January as we were, it would be incredibly negligent to skip this park. It not only breaks up the trip, but timing wise it allows you more time to stay in the Serengeti since you have to pass through the rather big Ngorongoro Conservation area anyways, as well as pay for it, even if you don’t go in the Crater! It’s on the way and way back from the Serengeti and no trip to the Serengeti would be complete without the Ngorongoro Crater really. Beside the rhinos, it was all the same animals we saw elsewhere, but the setting was absolutely incredible, the animals had less fear of vehicles, and we would not miss it. We would go again if we were there. But I liked the Serengeti better.

Manyara Lake National Park. There was not an inordinate number of animals here. It actually reminded me of Mikumi National park. No crowds. Smaller numbers of animals. More variation though. Very beautiful. Don’t get me wrong, there were plenty of animals, just in smaller groups and variety. There are times of the year that there may be greater numbers when the Great Migration comes through. And the birds…well, if you are a birder, this place will amaze you, at least in January. But when you are paying so much for a safari…and you usually go birding as a FREE hobby, I wasn’t as keen to see birds as I normally would be. But the birds really were amazing. Every kind is here, from lovebirds, to funny hunting black herons, to birds who you would think would be called birds of paradise but aren’t. Big birds we have never seen anywhere with funny courting postures, to, well, everything. The birds were astounding really. I don’t regret going to this park for sure…and if I was in the area again and could drive myself in and not have to pay so much, I would go again. The tree climbing lions are a bit of fable according to the guide. Not that many people get to see them, nor did we. We did see some lions from far away, but not climbing trees.

Tarangire National Park. This is another one that sort of reminded me of Mikumi. The animals were in great number here, and a pretty good variety, but still not as big of numbers as in the Serengeti. But elephants…there were MANY more elephants than anywhere else, even more than in Serengeti I think. Huge herds, and many herds. Many birds…many other animals and a good variety. We were surprised how much we liked this park, though again…no lions, no leopards, no cats of any kind. Maybe not the season. (See link below for possible explanation) Serengeti just had much more lions..much more active, much closer, much bigger prides, much more action, every single day we were there. Serengeti really is, if you are gonna go to just one park…THE one to go to. But if you are going the southern route in…both Tarangire, and ecspecially Manyara, are RIGHT on the way, and break up the ride nicely. And they are less expensive and you can stay just outside the park and save a lot of money. So we have no regrets going to them. Serengeti is so big that you would spend all day getting to where animals can be found in highest concentration, and then no time to spend with them since you would be driving back out to get out by 6 pm when the park shuts down for exiting and entering. Serengeti you MUST stay inside the park. This drives up the cost hugely with government taxes and conservation fees and other fees that double the price of the already outrageously expensive hotel rooms. With that said…our tented camp Kisura Serengeti Tented Camp(luxury!) and the lodge we stayed in inside the park (Rhino lodge), were our best accommodations and meals. I don’t quite know how we paid as little as we did considering this tented camp is $1000 or more per night, and the Rhino Lodge is easy $350 per night or more. That’s $2400 of our $3800 safari. That leaves $1400. Four more hotel nights, all the entrance fees for the two of us…at least $700, the Jeep for 6 days though of course we shared this , and all that gas, and extra attention before and after the Safari, and all of our food when not st those expensive hotels in Serengeti/Ngorongoro…that can’t leave much profit, that’s for sure, unless maybe he is getting some REALLY good rates with these lodges! I don’t know. We were very pleased with the value we got, and felt in no way overcharged. And if you know me… I always feel overcharged 🙂

Without a doubt…Serengeti was my most favorite park of the 7 we went to here in Tanzania. But it was leaps and bounds more expensive too….so if I just couldn’t afford to go to Serengeti, I’d probably opt for Mikumi and maybe add on Ruaha or Selous…with the caveat of finding out from Face of Africa Adventures, the best times to go to these other parks. It could be a real bust if you go at the wrong time.

There is a very good reason that Serengeti was my favorite. There is a link below from Face of Africa Adventures. It explain month by month, Park by park, where you should go, when, to have the best experience, and see the most animals. We went to the Serengeti at the exact right time, hence many animals, and a great experience. We went to Mikumi at not the ideal time…not the worst, but not the best. Perhaps why there were no crowds, perhaps why there were less animals.

I have a file from Face of Africa Adventures, which I am attaching below. It talks about each park they do, and which months are best for each. They are the experts…they know these parks in excruciating detail since they have been in operation for something like 17 years. They are definitely worth getting a quote from , and having a conversation with before you book your Tanzania safari! They are based in Arusha, in a real brick and mortar, air conditioned, modern office unlike so many operators there, and are Trip Advisor winners nearly every year. They are nice honest people on top of that. We met with and worked with each one and there is not a bad apple in the bunch!

Here is the file from Face of Africa Adventures. It sums it all up so concisely. Their contact information is on there for further questions. Remember as you read it that English is perhaps their 4th or 5th language. They are better at speaking English, but they have written this up on short notice especially for me to post. So cut them some slack on the English. They are way better with English than I am at Swahili!!

Also, in fairness, I need to tell you that I was given a small discount to include this companies name on my blog post and in the videos below. It wasn’t big, and we would have gone with them anyways…but I wanted to tell you to be sure you know.

Face of Africa Adventures – What Park is best for a safari this month? Next Month?

a 15% Discount