Arriving Early - Walking Safari in Arusha Nat'l Park on 5/21

ssincline

I'm on the 5/22 Serengeti to Zanzibar safari and arriving at the hotel a couple of days early, and I wanted to get out and explore so I booked a day safari to the National Park on 5/21. Below are the details and as you can see the pp price is reduced for 2, 3 or 4 participants. If you'd like to join, let me know and I can have the company contact you. I'm not including their info here so as not to be advertising, but they are very reputable Arusha-based and you can research them and make your own decision if interested .

One Day Safari to Arusha National Park. It is very close to the lodges in the Lake Duluti Area!!

ARUSHA - ARUSHA NATIONAL PARK The price for 1 person is: $362.00 USD includes walking safari!
I added the pricing for 2 and 4 people as well. If you can find someone to join you to save some $’s splitting the car and driver charges it would save you a good bit! Maybe contact the other safari company and ask if any others are arriving early and could you get contact info!
2pp $249.00 USD per person includes walking safari!
4pp $193.00 USD per person includes walking safari!

After breakfast, you'll depart from your Arusha or Moshi accommodations and drive to the park.
Your visit to Arusha National Park is a flexible one, as you'll have three choices as to how you'd like to experience the park.
Game Drive: You can embark on a half-day or full-day game drive through the park. Your drive will pass you past park landmarks such as the Momella Lakes and Ngurdoto Crater - sometimes known as 'Little Ngorongoro'.
Canoe Safari: Available at extra cost, @$60pp>> you'll trade the car for a canoe as you take a guided canoe safari out on the Momella Lakes to see bushbuck, giraffes, hippos, and buffalo.
Walking Safari: Stretch your legs with a guided walking safari through the park. While on your walking safari, you can expect to see endless acres of forest, home to black and white colobus monkeys, zebras, buffalos, and a variety of antelopes. You will also have a chance to observe more than 400 bird species including the Crowned Eagle, Lanner Falcon, and Levaillants Cuckoo.
You'll return to Arusha in the late afternoon with a head full of memories and a camera full of unforgettable photos.

AlanS

If anyone wants more details about Arusha National Park from Tauck travelers, do a search here (search 'all forums' on posts containing 'Arusha Park'). You'll get 6 pages of results including a few posts with photos like the one below I took in the park before our K&T Safari in June 2015. You won't see anything you don't see later on tour, but it is a great way to spend the day, experience traveling in safari vehicles (possibly meet one of your Tauck drivers), and to get a head start transitioning to "safari mode." You control the pace so if you want to watch the giraffe for 2 min. or 20 min., it's up to you.
they didn't have the canoe option when we went and we didn't do the walking safari, though there are a few posts about it in the forums (search results.)

Just two giraffe of a larger herd:

British

Ssincline, I don't know where you booked your tour, it seems pricey. I went in July 2014 and I put info about it on the forum in quite a long review. You usually pay per vehicle, not per person. You can book the tour the night before you want to go, or even on the day at a pinch. The hotel concierge will find a driver and vehicle somehow.
Bare in mind, that there is usually a late afternoon logistics meeting on the afternoon before the Tauck tour begins that you do not find the details about until you arrive at the hotel, it's best you don't miss that. I would think you will only have time for a canoe tour or walking safari, not both, in the timeframe you are talking about. Our walking safari took over two hours. We enjoyed the tour.

AlanS

I knew I forgot something and may have mis-understood your pricing, but to support what British posted, here are the prices quoted to me by the Serena Hotel in 2015 (blue text). All this info was in posts from 2014 and 2015 which can be found with a simple search ("Arusha Park"). I don't think it was ever fully resolved, but you'll need to pay an additional $20 PP at a minimum, though it may be $40 PP for a guide and armed park guard(?) for the walking portion of the park tour. That is likely arranged at the park. By the way, plan on an early start because filling out necessary paperwork and paying at the park can take quite a bit of time, especially if there is only one person working- it probably took the four of us over 30 min. and there were only two other people ahead of us in line!

Thanks for your email to Serena.

Please see the below as per your request and also attached is the list of other activities offered.

Nature walk around Lake Duluti price is $ 12.00 PP

Arusha National Park – Car $ 200.00 (Paid in cash USD to the hotel for car and driver/guide. Note this is for a car (safari vehicle) with 4 people not a PP (per person) charge. You'll also want to be ready with a tip for the driver/guide.)

Park fees $ 45.00 PP to be paid by VISA card (Paid to the park at the entrance. Have cash in USD ready in case their card reader isn't working.)

Picnic lunch from hotel $ 15.00 PP (Paid to the hotel. Can be added to your bill and paid at check-out.)

With Regards,

Doreen.

In summary, the cost per person for a party of 4 for safari vehicle, driver/guide, park entrance, picnic lunch, (no walking tour), would be: $50+$12+$45+$15 = $122.00 Again, this was for June 2015, but I doubt things have gone up that much.

You'll need to do a quick search of the forum for the additional cost of the walking tour- it is booked at the park and requires an armed park guide (your driver/guide chills out at the vehicle while you walk with the other guide.)

ssincline

Thanks British and AlanS for the additional info. I'm not really price shopping as I know and trust the company I booked with (Arusha-based, but the US reps live in my community). If others find this cost-prohibitive and would rather book through the hotel that's completely understandable -- I'm fine with going solo and am excited about the experience they've lined up for me. Good tip on the pre-safari briefing as I haven't heard when that's happening, but I'll make sure I'm back in time for that

AlanS

ssincline wrote:

Thanks British and AlanS for the additional info. I'm not really price shopping as I know and trust the company I booked with (Arusha-based, but the US reps live in my community). If others find this cost-prohibitive and would rather book through the hotel that's completely understandable -- I'm fine with going solo and am excited about the experience they've lined up for me. Good tip on the pre-safari briefing as I haven't heard when that's happening, but I'll make sure I'm back in time for that

Don't forget to stop back here and let us know how everything turned out!

TLady

I will be arriving in Arusha on 7/2/17. I was looking for a full day tour of Arusha. I found this trip on TripAdvisor which I am considering after reading the posts above.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/AttractionProductDetail?product=9544P11&d=472305&aidSuffix=tvrm&partner=Viator.
https://www.tripadvisor.com/AttractionProductDetail?product=15254P22&d=472305&aidSuffix=xsell&partner=Viator

Does anyone have any experience with this tours?

British

Do you mean a tour of the town of Arusha or a Safari in the Park? You could probably get a taxi to Arusha and walk around in less than an hour or just get the driver to point things of interest out to you on a drive by. The hotel can easily arrange a tour of the Narional Park, you can do that as late as the day you arrive, there really is no need to pay the expense of Viator.

cb2labs

As British mentioned, the hotel can arrange a guided tour of Arusha National Park when you arrive. Last time I corresponded with them, they were using Wayo Guides of Africa.

If you email the hotel, they should be able to provide you with some detailed information....

TLady

The post from Explorer above quoted the prices below for a tour of Arusha National Park.

Arusha National Park – Car $ 200.00 (Paid in cash USD to the hotel for car and driver/guide. Note this is for a car (safari vehicle) with 4 people not a PP (per person) charge. You'll also want to be ready with a tip for the driver/guide.)

Park fees $ 45.00 PP to be paid by VISA card (Paid to the park at the entrance. Have cash in USD ready in case their card reader isn't working.)

Picnic lunch from hotel $ 15.00 PP (Paid to the hotel. Can be added to your bill and paid at check-out.)


I'm traveling alone, so I don't need a private guide. The other tour is all inclusive price, and the price is comparative.

AlanS

TLady wrote:

The post from Explorer above quoted the prices below for a tour of Arusha National Park.

Arusha National Park – Car $ 200.00 (Paid in cash USD to the hotel for car and driver/guide. Note this is for a car (safari vehicle) with 4 people not a PP (per person) charge. You'll also want to be ready with a tip for the driver/guide.)

Park fees $ 45.00 PP to be paid by VISA card (Paid to the park at the entrance. Have cash in USD ready in case their card reader isn't working.)

Picnic lunch from hotel $ 15.00 PP (Paid to the hotel. Can be added to your bill and paid at check-out.)


I'm traveling alone, so I don't need a private guide. The other tour is all inclusive price, and the price is comparative.

?? for a vehicle of four people it would cost $110 per person.

$200/4 = $50
$50 + $45 + $15 = $110

with only two people the cost would be $160 per person.

I don't have the additional cost for the walking guide handy, but I think it was only about $20 per person more.

So again, I still think the Viator price is excessive.

The Viator ad is also misleading: "Get off the beaten track in a 4x4" They can't do that! By law, drivers MUST stay on the "beaten track" in the Park. Same goes for the Serengeti (any Tanzanian national park?). On this tour you will only leave the "beaten track" in the Masaii Mara in Kenya.

TLady

Thank you.