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Anyone on the August 25th K&T classic group
Hello.
Anyone going earlier, that would be interested in joining me for a tour visit of the local market ?
I might go in the morning of the 25th. It will be schedule by the hotel with transportation and a guide.
If you're interested, please let me know.
Thanks
Anyone going earlier, that would be interested in joining me for a tour visit of the local market ?
I might go in the morning of the 25th. It will be schedule by the hotel with transportation and a guide.
If you're interested, please let me know.
Thanks
0
Comments
Well, you and I have agreed in many things.. so I will check the other options.... maybe, I should wait till I'm there and set up a tour having more information about each of them... it doesn't say much on the Serena Arusha website. and I contacted them with the same result. I did booked my massage of course.
I'll wait and will check out the other options and the info. I did check the Arusha National park and the company was charging me $300.00... for a jeep + guide if I was going by myself.... I don't think so....:))
Thanks again.
Comments and a story-
I don't know if there is more than one market in Arusha, but there is a decent-sized one bordering the road from the airport and the short approach road that runs a few hundred yards to the entrance to the Lake Duluti Serena Hotel. It is a local market carrying local produce and household essentials, etc.- fruits, veggies, big tins of cooking oil, clothes, firewood, etc. It is for locals, and not a souvenir market or a place you will likely find handcrafts to take home. The stalls running on each side of dirty, muddy, aisles, littered with trash and plastic bags (probably still so since this is Tanzania not Kenya), are really rustic and the whole place was VERY crowded. A few people on our tour went there with a guide and but did not see anything to buy and did not stay long. The market moves, from town to town, so is not always open. I don't know the schedule- it was open when we arrived on a Thursday and the next day but everyone and everything but piles of trash were gone the third day.
Yup, the driver/guide and vehicle are a bit pricey if done as a single- same price if there are 6. The Park entrance fee is extra.
One couple in our group was interested in African art so arranged for a driver/escort to take them to town (not the Tanzanian Cultural Center). Everything went well until a few locals realized they were Americans (or Europeans) as they crossed the street. They didn't necessarily feel they were in danger, but certainly felt very uncomfortable being set upon by a bunch of street vendors (and panhandlers?) and kids who also followed.
If you get, Susan, Rachel, Seth or ? Chris, yikes can't remember his name, I can only describe him as good looking, not a politically correct way to describe anyone these days, married to a local with a cute young baby when we had him two years ago. Anyway, they are all great passionate tour directors.
If you end up doing nothing much before the tour, just chill, even though you get no exercise on the tour it's still tiring with all the early starts and getting over jet lag.
Yes, I thought about waiting till I'm at the hotel and find out if there is an establish group going to the park that I could join or if I can gather 3 or more to make our own.... I'm not going to push it too much.... I was just thinking on how to spend that pre-tour day... , cause I'm also thinking that with the craziness I have here at work... year round,maybe I should just stay at the hotel have my massage and chill out..
I heard of Seth from a fellow traveler that was in our group in Morocco , she said he was super good .... but most of Tauck TD's are always amazing.
Thanks for the info.
Also, if you have Seth, you will receive an email from him a few weeks before departure- the only Tauck TD who has ever done that- and he confirmed in an email just two weeks ago (game meat question) that he still sends a pre-trip email to his groups.
You still have a few months to go and only a very few on your tour may have checked in here so far. So keep checking back regularly, more may show up and maybe someone will be looking for additional people to go to Arusha National Park. Two is intimate, four good, and six (max per vehicle) will be ok if there are no prima donna's or Napoleons. Two wonderful people joined us for our tour of Arusha Park in 2015- they are now good friends and we have now done two additional tours together (Peru & Galapagos and Blue Danube) and are all headed to Botswana in 2019!
Don't be surprised if Seth says, "you won't see anything in Arusha Park, you won't see on tour." True, but it provides something to do and is a good warmup for safari vehicle travel and photography. We rode in a safari vehicle provided by Asilia the outfitter used by Tauck at that time. Our vehicle said "Tauck" on the side and our driver, Julius, was one of our regular Tauck tour driver/guides in Tanzania!
Yeah... I will wait till last minute for any xtra Arusha Activities... I'm not worry, it always works out!
Oh gosh!! NOOOO !! prima donna's , Napoleons or models ....., Please! I deal with them all year round
Thanks
My friend and I arrived two days early, and through the Serena Lake Duluti the next morning, set up a guide that took us to a couple markets and the cultural center. If I remember it was possibly $20 per person for us, and we were gone 3 hours or so.
The Arusha National Park tour was wonderful. We had a very nice box lunch provided by hotel, and our private guide was set up through hotel also. It was a full day tour, and I am thinking the price was somewhere around $100-150 per person, and then the entrance fee paid with credit card at park $45 or so? It was just the two of us, and well worth it.
We saw so many animals and the colobus monkeys which you will not see anywhere else on tour. Also, the scenery is completely different from the rest of tour. I highly recommend it. When I speak of scenery, I am talking Tanzania/Zanzibar, not the K&T..
This is just an amazing trip and there really are not words to describe all the animal life you will see and the amazing vistas of the African landscape. I , too , thought that one trip to Africa would do it, but I am trying to figure out when I can return and which trip to do/or whether to repeat the K&T trip.
Sealord, on the Botswana trip, can you tell me if you felt it was as much a "safari" experience as K%T....I am concerned with the amount of animals and safari time, how were they different in that regard? I am holding space on the Botswana 2019 but starting to second guess my decision, I did the Tanzania/Serengeti in 2017, and did not care for Zanzibar at end of trip. Wondering if I should do K%T, since I am feeling possibly I might want to safari the whole time and not go onto Cape Town on end of Botswana tour. Such a hard decision, as I feel my second trip back will be the last.
I can appreciate your dilemma. We had the same problem. We love both trips, but our focus is on the animals. If the ‘South Africa’ trip did two weeks in Botswana, we would do that. We knew Zanzibar was not an option for us. I spent two years in Saudi Arabia ... done with that. No, the SA trip is not “as much a “safari” experience as K&T. B,Z, and SA is a one week (more or less) safari, K&T is a two week safari. If you want to do a really cool one week safari, and go to Cape Town, and the Cape of Good Hope, and have a really nice dinner in a local home ... go to B,Z, and SA. If you want to go on a “SAFARI” ... go to K&T.
Pause: Edit:
I just reviewed the ‘Zanzibar’ trip to see what you have done as compared to what I understand you want to do. We are possibly doing our last safari also ... we are doing ‘K&T, the Classic Safari’ for a second time. South Africa is interesting, but it is not a safari. Other than the Cape of Good Hope, and a nice city, the rest of South Africa is a lot like Iowa. But, we also found this to be a difficult decision. The animals won.
Well if you are arriving a day earlier , must likely we'll be in the same plane. KLM -AMS-JRO.
I, for now do have a reservation for the market ( haven't cancel anything yet) & also an afternoon spa treatment. I did not know the Arusha Park would take the entire day.. So, if you are interested on the Park visit, we can either wait till we are there (and give others a chance to join us - jeeps hold max. 6 people ) or I can get info. about it and let you know.
Thanks.
Thanks for your reply and cheerful info. Yes, I do like the markets as well.. it is a great way to see the locals in their daily routine and also a chance to see the products and spices they used.. to create their own unique flavors.
I guess The Arusha market will be something that I would have to decided if it was worth it or not on my own... Different people have different expectations.. I have seen some videos in Youtube , it looks colorful and the locals seem very friendly. Also, everyone keeps talking about the wonderful Arusha Park... so that is something to think about.
I will let things flow.... & the right choice will come up.
Thanks
I WOULD REMOVE YOUR PHONE NUMBER FROM THIS SITE IMMEDIATELY. Spammers and other people who don’t even post look here. I was once able to indentify someone here because she inadvertently put her address here. It may be easy to find you just from your phone number, who knows!
I forgot about them......Gosh! there's no life with the spammers.
Thanks!
By the way - I completed my own Kenya eVisa application and submitted it via the Kenya eCitizen website on June 15. It was approved and issued on June 18, so I've checked that box. Will admit that I planned this trip for last year and used VisaCentral to get both visas (K&T), didn't get to go due to Hurricane Irma, so used the information to guide me through the process this time. It really isn't hard and the Tauck staff can provide any information you think you're missing.
It sounds like a plan.... sure we can do it on our own..:)
Yes, the AMS-JRO is the most popular one, I'm also arriving on the 24th I will be seated on isle 24 .. cannot give you the letter , you know... spammers Lololol!! .
and if you cannot find me, we'll be in the same transfer bus... I did sent my visa to travel central last 6/02/18 , they have rcvd. them but apparently they are running slow . So I'm still waiting.
Not sure if you are into Spas but if you do, book them now, specially the FS Serengeti, it gets booked easily, more so that we have only one possible day to do it.
Keep in touch.
Jambo!
Hi Mileg -
My wife Nancy and I will be on the August 25th trip as well. We arrive late on the 23rd and will be around all day on the 24th. We are likely to do some exploring on the 24th, but we look forward to meeting you and the others at the hotel.
Bill
I just saw your post... I arrive on the 24th , the flight from Amsterdam to Kilimanjaro, arriving at 7:00 pm .
I contacted the hotel after seeing their website and under experiences you can see the tours and activities they offer.
I have already book a massage in the afternoon on the 25th but the morning still open, there is another gal, Vicky that is also interested on doing something.
Hey 38 days!!!, it is starting to be real!
Have a great weekend.
Yes! we are almost there ... 36 days
Have a good day and share any info.
Mileg.