Tanzania *Aug 2011* by ...vale vale...

Before starting..

In case you would like to have a piece of information regarding Tanzania, please have a look at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanzania.


Hello, Hello!!! Here we are, once again!!!
How did we end up to Tanzania?...This is the first thing to inform you about...By using http://www.skyscanner.it/, Dar es Salaam was one among the cheapest destinations...(I personally didn't have a clue about where Dar es Salaam was located on a map...;-) ) and that's the reason why we ended up to Tanzania. More over, my travel mate K., hadn't done a safari so far, so she would have loved to have that kind of experience...and on top of that we could have done some dives too...so here we go!

But...the flight tickets are not everything, if we speak about a trip...and that was the first mistake we made...
I will explain you the reasons why.

1) Tanzania is a very expensive trip (safaris are quite expensive, transportations could be expensives, etc)
2) Flight tickets are quite expensive for tourists; they start from the assumption that if you go there it is because you are rich...and it is not always the case: it wasn't our case!!!
3) Dives are expensive, too and you do not find the same service you can find @ The Red Sea

So that we had bought our tickets and it was the time to organize the 2 week holidays!!!
What a challenge!!!

We started asking offers regarding safaris and related to accommodations in Zanzibar and Mafia.

There was a HUGE QUESTION MARK at that point...what should we visit? The Northern Part+Zanzibar, extremely tourist or The Southern Part+Mafia, wildest than the previous one?
The choice wasn't easy at all, but it wasn't up to us to choose the Northern track, it was due the budget we fixed for this trip.

[If I find the way on how to do it, I will upload our summarized excel files, in order to give you an idea of the needed asked amount
Safari Offer Comparison
Zanzibar Diving Offer comparison;Zanzibar Accomodation Bradt Guide;
Mafia+accomodation;Diving Mafia;Sea Point Walk In;Mafia Island Lodge]

At the end we went for:

21-Aug Dar Es Salaam 11:20 Kilimanjaro 12:40
21-Aug Arusha Golden Rose                                             +255 272507959/2508861/2500684 
22-Aug Lake Manyara    Panorama campsite                                      Tour organizzato da Sunbird 
23-Aug Serengeti NP Seronera campsite                                        Soter C Mutambalike
24-Aug Serengeti NP Seronera campsite                                        General Manager
25-Aug Ngorongoro Simba campsite                                             +255 684 724035
26-Aug Tarangire            Tarangire campsite                                        sunbirdtoursltd@yahoo.com
27-Aug Tarangire            Colubus campsite
28-Aug Arusha                Golden Rose                                                goldenrose@habari.co.tz 

[A change in the programme was made we did Tarangire at first and at the end Lake Manyara]

PLEASE READ THE POST ABOUT SOTER MUTANBALIKE AND SUNBIRDLTD

29-Aug Zanzibar             Panga Chumvi                              +255 (0) 777 862 899 /+255 (0) 772 177 204
  pangachumvi@gmail.com       https://www.facebook.com/PangaChumvi?fref=ts
30-Aug Zanzibar              Panga Chumvi
31-Aug Zanzibar              Panga Chumvi
1-Sep Zanzibar                Panga Chumvi
2-Sep Zanzibar                Panga Chumvi
3-Sep Zanzibar               Panga Chumvi
4-Sep Zanzibar

Panga Chumvi: great experience, great people :D

I leave you some other reviews I wrote on triadvisor:
Sunshine_Hotel_Zanzibar-Matemwe
Seles_Beach_Bar_and_Restaurant-Matemwe_Zanzibar

So at that point we had to choose what to do with the scuba diving...
there were 2 alternatives...One Ocean or Scuba Libre...we went for Scuba Libre, because the owners lived next to our bungalows, the partner was Italian, etc.

Anyway I do not wanna enter into details, BUT, if you are a female, I would highly recommend you, not to be alone underwater...I experienced this bad experience twice....and it seemed it wasn't the first time it happened...I think that scuba diving is a risky sport and certain circumstances should be avoided and that the customer should always be in a safety condition.

What else to say: let's move one with what I would change/do if I had to do this trip once again...

1. Never pay anything upfront (we did it for the Safari, in order not t carry too much cash from home, and you know what happen, even though we had everything in writing)
2. Bring some Tsh with you, I do not know if the bank can buy them, because if you get to the airport as we did late at night/early in the morning, you will find everything closed: no ATMs, no Money Exchange...and the only present bar @ the National Departure does not accept either $ nor Credi cards
3. Buy a cell phone chip card as soon as you can: extremely useful, and damn cheap international rates, too
4. Mandatory: a head lamp... useful in order to get dressed into the camping tents!!! and in the rest rooms...;-) ... we managed everything with a Decathlon on bright torch...but...it was a pain in the...;-)
5. Warm clothes: @Ngorongoro and early in the morning and in the evenings, in August, are needed
6. Scarfs/Bandanas: to cover up your mouth-nose-hair
7. Quick dry clothing
8. High Sun Block protection for the seaside....
9. I would totally skip Lake Manyara (I am speaking about August/September, then I do not know!)
10. Bring with you some energy bats from home...very handful...DO NOT KEEP THEM IN THE TENT WHERE YOU SLEEP

Total trip cost:
2 weeks + international flights + 3 internal flights + safari + Zanzibar (accomodation+meals+diving) [practically 0 souvenirs]

€ ~ 2.450

V.

Picture available on Flickr