African safaris are on the bucket lists of many people globally. Over recent years, Africa has witnessed an increased tourism rate owing to the beautiful safari experiences. Tanzania is a perfect destination choice for a safari.
Tanzania safari encompasses many different types of wild animals that offer a scenic and beautiful safari experience. Tanzania has some of the largest game reserves and parks combined with unique and diverse landscapes. All these factors merge to show Tanzania as a perfect tourism destination.
Tanzania’s forests, mountain peaks, rock formations, and grasslands create a perfect photography destination. It is critical to plan for your Tanzania safari if you want to have a good time. A safari that is not well-planned causes misery to the travelers. It is therefore vital to ensure you plan your Tanzania safari well.
When planning a safari, there are fundamental tips that one should know. If you are not aware of the fundamental tips to keep in mind when planning a Tanzania safari, this article is for you.
Manage Pricing and Budgeting
Safaris do not come cheap. Due to this, one has to confirm all the prices and budget. With the increase in tourism, the Tanzanian government has increased the entrance charges for their game reserves and national parks.
However, this is not the only pricing concern for safari holidays in Tanzania. The accommodation charges also take a significant portion of the budget. Accommodation changes range from $350 to $1000 per night. For a simple comparison, the pricing for a simple accommodation hotel or lodge in Tanzania can get you accommodation in New York at a 4-star or a 5-star hotel.
The pricing of African safari holidays is always dependent on three vital factors. These factors are:
- Whether it is a group safari or a private safari
- The accommodation is chosen, either hotels or overnight tents
- The length or duration of the safari
When planning, it is essential to answer these questions first. Once you have answers to the questions, you can proceed to come up with a rough budget estimate for your safari. When budgeting, travel expenses, and accommodation expenses will take up most of your budget. This is fine and should be the basis for your budget.
Once you have figured out the travel and accommodation expenses, you can distribute the remaining budget allocation to other services you will want on the safari. Proper budgeting is always a vital factor in all trips to ensure they run smoothly.
Book Tanzania Safari Tour Operators and Packages
Due to the boom in the tourism sector for Tanzania safaris, the number of safari operators is high. Safari operators are people or companies that create and sell safari packages. Their packages generally include travel services in the country, food, and accommodation.
With the high number of available operators, choosing becomes a difficult task. The safari operator you choose impacts your safari substantially, either positively or negatively. There are a few rules to observe when choosing an operator to ensure you get a good safari experience.
Firstly, when choosing a safari operator, check online recommendations and reviews. Online reviews and recommendations give a clear view of how the company operates and its client satisfaction rates. When choosing a safari operator, you should also ask about the kind of vehicles they use.
Safaris happen on off-road paths, thereby navigating with regular cars is difficult. As a rule of thumb, choose safari operators that use 4×4 vehicles to avoid getting stuck in the middle of nowhere. You should also ask the safari operators about the items that they provide.
High-end safari operators provide binoculars and other items one might require while on the safari. Such operators help relieve the stress of buying binoculars that you will never use again once the safari is over.
Another factor to consider is the charges included in their overall pricing. Enquire about any additional charges before choosing a safari operator. Some operators give the total pricing, and then ask you to pay entrance fees and food prices. This can cause an inconvenience, especially if you thought their charges catered for everything on the safari.
Know the Weather Seasons
When traveling to Tanzania for a safari, taking note of the weather seasons is vital. In Africa, there are wet and dry seasons only. During wet seasons, animals graze in specific areas and do not move as much. This reduces the chances of spotting various animals, especially if your safari is for a few days.
In the dry season, animals relocate and move a lot, searching for food or pasture. The animals also gather at watering holes to quench their thirst. This presents a unique opportunity to see many animals together. Generally, it is more advisable to have a Tanzania holiday safari during the dry season. Wonderful sightings such as the great wildebeest migration also happen during the dry season.
During the wet season, some animal parks close down due to impassable, muddy paths. Before settling on the dates for your safari, do some research online to ensure the dates coincide with the dry season.
Be Aware of Your Clothing
When watching documentaries and photos of tourists on African safaris, you will realize that the tourists wear dull or olive-colored clothing. The choice of attire on safaris is a strategic decision and not just by preference.
When packing clothing for your safari holiday, avoid packing brightly colored clothes, dark clothes, and white clothes. Brightly colored clothes attract the attention of animals which can lead to dangerous encounters in some situations.
Dark clothing attracts tsetse flies. This causes a health concern because attacks by tsetse flies cause sleeping sickness. In some cases, sleeping sickness can be lethal, especially when left untreated. It is advisable to avoid dark-colored clothing on safaris for your health and safety. Dark-colored clothing can also cause hydration issues on safaris due to the scorching heat of the sun.
White clothing does not pose any risks to the wearer while on safaris. However, white clothing gets dirty easily, therefore inconveniencing the wearer. For your safaris, choose dull or olive-colored clothes made using linen or cotton.
Conclusion
While on safaris, you have to ensure that you follow the instructions given by the trip advisors. This is because it is easy for encounters with wild animals to turn lethal. For your safety, you should also take up private medical insurance in case there is any health emergency that needs to be addressed promptly.
