Tanzania

Tanzania

Over the years dozens of travelers have started to explore this country full of wildlife, mountains and turquoise blue waters.  It is known for the Serengeti, Mount Kilimanjaro and more recently Zanzibar.

The official language of Tanzania is Swahili, though it is a multilingual nation, with many natives speaking English.

Currency: The official currency of Tanzania is the Tanzanian shilling (TZS). 1 USD is equivalent to 2299 TZS.

Credit Cards & ATMs: Credit cards (mainly Visa) are widely accepted in Tanzania. You’ll be able to use your card at park entrances, upscale hotels, and some tour operators. If you’re looking to book something with a credit card, call in advance to make sure it is accepted. If you need some money, ATMs are widespread in major towns and are open 24-hours a day. If you’re in remote spots, an ATM will be harder to find so be sure to get cash before you head out.

Best time to Visit

Weather is probably the most important thing when planning a trip to Tanzania.  Perhaps it is best to avoid the rainy seasons from March to May and from November to December.  If you want to see the Great Migration of the wildebeest and zebra then you want to visit in June and July. 

DAY 1 –  TO CENTRAL SERENGETI

Arusha is the gateway to the Serengeti.  Take a flight from Arusha to Seronera.  The airport is conveniently located in the middle of the Serengeti national park which makes it easy to drive to the north or the south.  Arrive around 10 AM so you can spend the whole day game viewing.  We spent all day game viewing and we were so lucky that on our first day itself we saw 4 of the big 5.  We were staying at the Four Seasons located in the north of the park so we had to head to the north around 4pm because it took about a couple of hours to reach the hotel.

DAY 2 –  NORTHERN & CENTRAL SERENGETI

We had a reasonably early start but not too early.  Since we were staying at the Four Seasons in Serengeti we wanted to spend some time enjoying the hotel.  We decided to come back for a hot lunch rather than take packed lunch with us.  Staying at the Four Seasons makes it so easy since lunch was offered till 5pm.  We had a great day and saw so many wildlife

DAY 3 –  DRIVE TO NGORONGORO

We had to leave our hotel by 7:30AM since we were driving to Ngorongoro Conservation Area.  Since our hotel was located in the north of the park we had to drive through the park about 2 hours and then a further 2 hours to get to the crater.  Driving in the crater itself is beautiful.  We saw the elusive rhinoceros which we didn’t get to see in the Serengeti.  We saw a bunch of flamingoes in the salt lakes which was incredible.  Towards the end of the day we started our climb out of the crater to go to our hotel The Serena Lodge.  Set along the rim of the crater, has incredible views of the crater. 

 DAY 4 –  DRIVE TO TARANGIRE

We left the hotel again very early in the morning to start our drive to Tarangire.  It takes about 4 hours to get to Tarangire.  The drivers finished the paperwork and stopped at the park entrance so we could have our boxed lunch.  After lunch we started the game drive.  Tarangire is known for its elephants and we did see a lot of them.  It is also known for its baobab trees.  But it was incredibly hot and we were ready to go to our hotel The Sopa Lodge by late afternoon.  The hotel did not have any other guests while we were there so we had the entire place to ourselves.  They arranged a lovely dinner just for our group on the terrace and the food was really delicious. 

DAY 5 –  DRIVE TO AIRPORT

On our last day we just drove back to Arusha to go to the airport to fly back home.