Hello and Happy Holidays,
As I mentioned last time, we had a great time on our trip, but there are a few things we got right out of sheer luck, and a few things we would do differently next time. In case you are planning on heading on safari sometime soon, here are some things to keep in mind:
- We went during the dry season, but we still encountered a few days of significant rain. Plan for it and your trip will be much better. We had some issues getting to camp one day due to a flash flood, but overall the rain was nothing more than an inconvenience. If we hadn’t had appropriate layers and quick drying clothes, it could have been a long couple of days.
- We spent more time at Lake Manyara and in the Northern Serengeti than we needed to. Lake Manyara is relatively small, and should be visited, however a single day would be plenty. The claim that this is the only place where you can see tree-climbing lions is not true. We saw lions in trees in many locations, but not there. While there were plenty of grazers (zebra, wildbeest. topi, etc.) in the northern part of the Serengeti, we didn’t see many of the more exciting animals (cats). While the north may be worth visiting during the migration to watch the river crossings, during the dry season we would prefer to spend additional time in the south.
- Definitely pack for the worst. We brought an extensive first aid kit, which we fortunately didn’t use much, but simply having it around was reassuring. (More details later.)
Though we were well taken care of at camp, we were fed traditional American food. Apparently, had we specifically requested it when we booked our trip, we could have obtained African food at mealtimes. This was our major disappointment, as we would have preferred to eat more of the local cuisine. Unfortunately, we were unaware of this issue in advance. - Bring lots of hand sanitizer and bug spray. While the tsetse flies seem to be attracted to deet, the rest of the insects appear to be deterred.
- Because you are not going to be able to head off-road in Tanzania, it is important to bring a couple of very good lenses to get shots from a distance. A good pair of binoculars doesn’t hurt, either.
- In the southern Serengeti, our camp was pretty far from the major animal viewing areas, so we spent an hour or so each way just going to and from the park. This is one of the areas where it may make more sense to stay in a lodge, since they are much closer to the prime viewing area. This is especially true if you include a hot-air balloon ride, as the take-off site is only minutes from a major lodge.
- Because we wanted to focus on photography, we were on a private safari. Much to our surprise, the additional cost was minimal, and the flexibility provided was definitely worth it. We were able to customize the time spent in each camp, and since it was just us in the car, we were able to spend as much or as little time as we wanted viewing various animals. This is definitely worth exploring, and not nearly as expensive as you would think.
- If you shoot digital, bring a way to store images from memory cards. We took over 7,000 pictures, and while we had a lot of cards, we needed a huge amount of space to hold everything. We used a Hyperdrive Colorspace, and were very happy with the unit. We will be writing up a product review on it later.
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