One more vacation day! (Itinerary Planning)
We had asked each of our tour operators for ideas about what to do if we suddenly had an extra day for the trip. The chances of actually having an extra day were slim, but we also figured that some tour operators might come back with new ideas, which might cause us to change our itinerary completely.
Here are the suggestions we received. Though, ultimately, we didn't end up making any changes.
As you can see, there are a range of activities - from game drives, to active events (hiking), to cultural events. You may want to let the tour operators know:
- what types of activities you prefer - cultural? animals? active?
- the types of animals you are particularly interested in seeing. For example, at Arusha National Park, we were to get out and do a bush walk -- but only because there are no cats - lions, leopards, cheetahs, etc. Different parks are known for different things.
| recommendations for extra day | companies that suggested this | Our thoughts on the recommendation, now that we're back |
|---|---|---|
| Arusha National Park, at start of trip. Do a walking safari and a game drive | Flash Safaris | Any chance to get out of the jeep and walk around is great. We liked Arusha National Park, but we wouldn't do more than a day there. As it turned out, we had almost a half day on our last day in Tanzania. Rather than visit Arusha again, we went on a hike to a nearby waterfall on Mt Meru. It was a nice change of pace! |
| Visit Hadzapi bushmen in the Lake Eyasi Area. Also visit the Datoga tribe. $150/group + $398/double + $180/vehicle | Basecamp Tanzania | |
| stay at Lobo, in the Serengeti (+295/person) | Sunny Safaris | We all agreed that the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater were the most exciting, so we were glad we left these places for last on the itinerary. We saw more cats (leopards, cheetahs, lions) in these places than anywhere else. |
| Tarangire. Large elephant herds are in the area at the end of the dry season | safaris.com | I loved the elephants! I would have been happy to spend an extra day in Tarangire. The others who were traveling with me, though, were getting tired of seeing elephants. |
| Empakai Crater (at Ngorongoro) | Park East Africa | Again, any chance to get out of the jeep and stretch our legs. We were able to take this as a side detour and visit it en route. It's a short 30-45 minute hike to the bottom of the crater (15 minutes for our guide). Then we stopped at the bottom, took lots of photos of the flamingos, and walked back up. |
| Add an extra day at Ngorongoro Crater | Swala Safaris | |
| Ngorongoro or Arusha National Park | Roy Safaris | |
| spend the extra night at Boundary Hill. But also noted that this is too much time in the Serengeti in October. This is the kind of advice we like to get! | East African Safari | |
| Lake Eyasi to see Bushmen | Good Earth Tours | |
| Lobo Serengeti. Or visit Hadzabe bushmen at Lake Eyasi. Or night in a Maasai Boma (they are also selling this package to other tour operators) | Warrior Trails | We did a short, 30-minute visit at a Maasai Boma. All of us agreed we would not have wanted to stay overnight there, though... |
| Migration is usually in North Serengeti in October, so add an extra night there (for min 2 nights). Then add another day in Central Serengeti | Duma |
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Next:
- Is a private safari vacation for you?
- Getting Started - Tour Operators (Part 1)
- Our itinerary (Part 2)
- Safari Price Detail (Part 3)
- More Safari Price Info (Part 4)
- Safari Tour Operator Detail (Part 5)
- More Safari Tour Operator Info (Part 6)
- Final Vacation Cost! (Part 7)
- One more vacation day! (Itinerary Planning)
- Tour Operator Challenges
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