African Safari?

[Safariplease]

DH and I are planning a last minute trip for a safari. It would be October half term (2 weeks!!) for 7 nights.

We are unsure of the plan and wondered if anyone can advise?

Would Serengeti or Maasai Mara be best? DH would like to do both but I’m not sure how we could easily between - the bush planes look very scary?

My plan so far is:

• overnight Nairobi day 1
• day 2 fly to Maasai Mara - stay in a camp
• day 4 go to another camp (the luxury one)
• fly back to Nairobi day 7
• fly back to London

Will a week in the same national park be boring? We wanted to also do Giraffe Hotel but it’s booked up.

We move every 2 days but at that time river crossings should be in full flow and you may want to be in the one place. I’d speak to an expert company and go with what they suggest. We’ve used Steppes and Audley for safari holidays. I think Steppes have the edge as their advisers have worked and lived in the area.

Thanks for the feedback!

I would but it is so much cheaper to just book things yourself directly (as in 50% of the cost!) so I am not sure what to do!!

Aardvark are an excellent company for safaris. I really think you need to speak to someone with expertise, given that you could easily spend £10,000+ for a week's trip.

If you have time, two nights in Nairobi is worth it to visit Sheldrick Elephant foundation. If you adopt an elephant you can visit them at 5pm but you'd next to check as it's a few years since I've visited. The Karen Blixen museum is really interesting. The Bomas is really fun we sat with a group of school children away from the tourist area. Finally, Hells Park is an easy day trip from Nairobi. We stopped off at the Born Free Foundation on the way there.

We did a week Maasia Mara and a week on the beach . I would have been bored with a whole week on safari tbh .

@Safariplease Your flights will surely be expensive at this stage. October is the rainy season for both.

I would speak to Wildlife Worldwide. They are very knowledgeable. Look at their range of camps. Expert Africa is a good resource too. For one week I would do one country and two camps. The Mara and the Rift Valley lakes might work well. Tanzania: standard Serengeti/NgoroNgoro Crater. The safari flights are fine but not in bad weather! You need transportation snd we’ve never organised our own safaris. How were you proposing to get to the lodges?

We are thinking of a safari next year. Definitely in the early planning stage so following with interest. We will be going to Tanzania rather than Kenya I think Serengeti Ngorongoro crater Tarangire but unsure best way to book

Is it with kids or just adults?

I found that the activities at the start of our safari were more teen focused and that made a difference to them-

Village Biking trip, a forest canopy walk, Mto Wa Umbo Village visit, a game reserve walk, a Lake Manyara canoe trip, Manyara park night drive and unlimited private daytime game drives.

I wanted variety. We moved every 2 or 3 nights. Also museum stops out of the crater and we went wild camping in the north.

We went to south africa a few years ago, I booked all the bits separately myself and saved a fortune. We spent 6 nights on the safari bit and I would have enjoyed longer.
We used trailfinders and travelbutlers to book the two safari camps, travelbutlers arranged the transfer between them. Travelbutlers were very helpful and they do all of Africa. Trailfinders were fine but I used them as they had a particularly good price for one safari camp I liked the look of.

If you have a day in nairobi, you can just go to the visitors part of the giraffe hotel and see the giraffes. You get to feed them

So Trailfinders booked it through an agent. You didn’t do it all. SA is easy. Many dedicated wildlife travel companies have a huge portfolio of camps and lodges at different price points. In SA you just hire a car and drive yourself between lodges. Kenya, Zambia, and Tanzania. Most people don’t.

Serengeti and Mara are part of the same ecosystem, so there is not much benefit to moving between the two. Plus, you would need a Yellow Fever vaccination certificate to enter Tanzania from Kenya (though, I’m not sure that this would be the case were you to do it the other way around). You could combine MM with another reserve in Kenya such as Laikipia or Samburu; they are different landscapes with different kinds of wildlife, plus you can do activities such as walking safaris, horse riding, or visit conservation projects that they run, that you can’t do at MM.

If you just have a week, Kenya is easier as it has direct flights to Nairobi from the U.K.; Tanzania you will have to take connecting flights and possibly lose a day.

This is so helpful and the info I needed thank you!!

flights aren’t expensive at the moment and it is not rainy season!! Really confused by that comment further up. It’s dry season and the end of the migration. Current temp in Maasai is 28 because of global warming, should be lower.

Regarding travel, we can get the transport between with the hotel. It’s the top rated one so we just planned to pay for them to pick us up from the airstrip. Still £10k difference to book it ourselves:

• nairobi hotel
• nairobi plane to maasai return
• 7 nights at the best rated camp
• game drives
• hot air balloon

we honestly just want to relax. That’s our main priority.

Late Oct and Nov is the short rains season. However don’t take my word for it. Look it up. El Niño is expected in October 2023. Might not have started when you go or might not . Short rains season was typically Nov but the world is changing.

Rain isn’t forecast yet - it appears delayed. Might change but it is meant to be one of the best times to go as it’s dry cold season. It’s still warm though, obviously.

I have mentally decided I’m going so now it’s a case of where and how. We’ve settled on Maasai Mara not Serengeti mainly because of hotel availability.

Maasai Mara and Serengeti is effectively the same place with a different name in each country

The huge herds migrate between the two. We’ve never stayed in hotels in the Mara. The better camps are in the reserve.

Can you give me some names? We were looking to stay in Aitong

Sorry forgot to quote with my above question!

which hotel?

We have stayed at Mara Explora, Governors and Little Governors. Just choose a camp in the park. That area should be fine.

The Serengeti is much bigger. The herd animals move around to get fresh grass. So you need to stay where the animals are for the time of year. Decent wildlife experts have great info and maps on likely animal movements.

Between July/Oct the herds are in the Mara. The Mara River/Talek River crossings happen at this time. Expect huge numbers of vehicles and high prices.

Big cats are resident everywhere but most active around the herds of grazing animals. The Serengeti works with NgoroNgoro in a week. The Mara works with Samburu or the Rift Valley in a week.