Sept 25th K & T tour, who's going? Day trip on 25th?
Getting really close now 
, we arrive late on the 23rd, figuring on having a down day on the 24th and interested on maybe going to Arusha national park on the 25th. In reading past discussions, if we get a group of 4-6 people it becomes more affordable to go.
My wife and I are travelling from the bay area in California.
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Just a suggestion about Arusha National Park, the wildlife you will see will be seen multiple times during the normal tour. I understand the concept of wanting to jump right in and maximize your wildlife viewing, but in this case simply relaxing at the resort or walking around the lake at the Arusha lodge would be another option that doesn’t cost additional money.
Smiling Sam is right. You will see every animal you want to see during the tour. Try something a little different? Here's a suggestion. We went on this trip in July 2018 and arrived in Arusha a day early and late at night as most people do. The next day was a day to relax. On the way from the airport to our lodging our TD suggested a trip to the Cultural Center and coffee plantation. We and about 12 others took him up on his suggestion. It's a small charge, a short trip away, and it was a half day to just chill. We watched them take beans, grind them (and we participated), cook them and we drank the coffee. The coffee was so good half of us had freshly made coffee beans delivered to the lodge that night. The Cultural Center tour was very good too and we donated $5 so they could plant a tree and had our picture taken with the center folks. They were so happy for that small contribution. It was a fun day to chill and relax after the long flights. Trust me, after a week on the roads you will be happy you took it easy that first day.
On the other hand, going to Arusha park gets you past the initial wow of seeing the animals up close for the first time! It also gives you an opportunity to get accustomed to a safari vehicle, and establish and practice a safari vehicle photographic routine. Not being coffee drinkers we weren't interested in going to a coffee plantation and our itinerary in 2015 included a stop at the Tanzanian Cultural Heritage Center, a private establishment that sells Africa, art, carvings, souvenirs, Jewelry, including raw Tanzanite stones, etc.
The scenery at Arusha National Park is very different than on the tour. You also get a chance to do an excellent walking Safari which we enjoyed. We went to the cultural center when we took the Tauck tour years ago and it included lunch there. I think I have been to at least five different coffee plantations on Tauck tours including one in Africa. I recommend going to one if you haven't been to one before.
There are people who contributed to the forum who say they don’t get jet lag. We do. We usually take it easy by arriving a day early. If we kbow there are things we want to see before the start of a tour, we arrive two days early. Tauck tours are full, jetlaag makes them tiring,
Arusha park is small and most animals you will see during the safari. I can recommend a tour operator that's available around the area they can advice on what you want to see depending on time, budget and interest.
Ross, be cautious answering to Phrocha, it’s their first post on the forum. They could be genuine. If you want to do the park, the hotel will organize it for you, so email or call them direct. We mentioned interest when we arrived and they organized a tour for the next day. It’s not expensive and if you go on your own, you can do what you want, for instance, we loved the walking tour in the park but I think it was about two hours, so if you are Interested in that and others are not, they sure won’t want to be sitting around waiting for you with the driver while you go with the walking guide. The road is one way, so I assume the driver could not go elsewhere with the other passengers. This is the only opportunity to get out and walk on the entire tour by the way.
We enjoyed Arusha National Park. I emailed the hotel in advance to arrange it. This park has Africa's largest population of giraffes. We also saw quite a few colobus monkeys which we didn't see anywhere else except on the grounds of one of the hotels. It's a beautiful park with a variety of landscapes. We didn't do the walking tour because we wanted a shorter trip. You can tell them what you want to see and how long you want to be gone.
Thanks for the feedback, the suggestions are what I basically went through, didn’t think to go at first because of what we will be doing for the next 2 weeks but in reading others experiences I came back to wanting to go to Arusha National Park. We have the luxury to decide the day before. The walking safari is appealing due to the lack of walking during the Tauck tour. Thanks British for that suggestion.