Classic vs. Serengeti to Zanzibar
We are having a hard time deciding between the Classic and the Serengeti-Zanzibar. The classic may be too long - what was your experience. The Serengeti looks to have long drive between stops? Has anyone done both? Has anyone thought the classic was tooo long?
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British has done both so she may share an opinion. We have not done Serengeti to Zanzibar cuz I have no interest in going to Zanzibar. But we have done K&T three times and are going to do a fourth. We don’t think it is too long, and they got rid of the one really long road trip and replaced it with a flight. I think K&T is the best trip we have ever don. That’s why we keep doing it. Antarctica is a great trip also, but we don’t feel any need to repeat what was a perfect experience.
We are doing Serengeti to Zanzibar next September2024 because we want to experience the wildness and also to go to Zanzibar. I have a friend who used to live there. My husband is an old backwoods hunter from Maine , so bumping around looking for game animals is right up his alley. The only difference is in Africa we are the prey. We were scheduled to do the Elegant Adventure in 2020 but Covid arrived . In 2021 my husband had prostate cancer, so we never did that trip.
Yes, we have taken both. K and T twice. I don’t need to see Zanzibar again but it was interesting. The scenery driving between the camps on that trip was gorgeous and wildlife all the way and the wonderful baobab trees. if hotels are an important factor, I know the hotel in Zanzibar is now much less basic than when we went.
I never think an AFRICA trip is too long.
The best bang for your buck is Tanzania Zanzibar and you get to see the less traveled Western Serengeti with lovely landscape and lots of elephants and famous maneless male lions. Kenya is popular because it has always done a better job advertising but Tanzania has the Serengeti!
If you go on a tour, you have to expect lots of travel, that’s why it is called a tour. If that is a problem, choose a spot and stay there for a week, lots of companies do that
I had totally decided on the K&T Classic but read British's comment about the landscape and animals possibly being better in Serengeti which is what we are going for; could care less about Zanzibar. So British do you think the Tanzania trip is more jungle and you see more animals or the the K &T Classic. Thanks for all you input.
Sealord, thanks for the Antarctica comment as that is another place that is on our list. Did you include Patagonia in it? Did you use Tauck?
thanks in advance for any guidance
If it's important to you, when we did the Classic K&T Safari we only saw rhinos in Kenya, none in Tanzania. Plus the hot air balloon ride in the Masa Mara - Kenya was spectacular.
I did K&T last October and then flew to Zanzibar independently. I stayed 3 nights in Stone Town at the Park Hyatt and then at a resort on the eastern side of the island for 4 nights. I wouldn't recommend the east side of the island for swimming.
Rcs, you are not going to jungle, you are going to open savannah.
There is a balloon ride on the Tanzania tour. The K and T tour is more likely to have the balloon ride canceled due to wind conditions and that happened our first time there, we tried two mornings running and it did not happen. The pilot told me that conditions are better for ballooning in the Tanzania location.
We saw rhinos in the Ngorongoro in Tanzania.
We are taking the Bridges tour in Tanzania this coming July.
You never know how many animal you are going to see, it is different every trip, every time you go out.
I’ve been to Patagonia, love it. About to book another trip there.
Thanks so much for your input. It appears that you have lots of experience. That being said it listed 10 vs 9 game drives between the two destinations in a comparison chart that Tauck sent me. We are leaning towards the classic over the Serengeti-Zanzibar as it appears you may see more animals even with the balloon ride is canceled. Which one would you have chosen for the first time you went?
It's called Classic for a reason.
Here is a good article that compares the Masai Mara (Kenya) and the Serengeti (Tanzania). It seems that the time of the year you travel could be an important variable.
https://masaimara.travel/difference-comparison-masai-mara-vs-serengeti.php
Safest call is to take a tour that visits both places.
We did the K and T first. Then Elegant Adventure then Tanzania Zanzibar, then three more, one more next month and one more next year.
For us. it’s just not about the animals anyway. Also, it’s quality site seeing the animals.
The K and T trip is more expensive because it uses more internal flights.
We just booked two back-to-back trips for 2025. One is Namibia and the other is South Africa:An Elegant Adventure. This will be our fourth trip to Southern Africa and our first to Namibia. We love Africa. It is my favorite place so far in the world. There is a saying "you will leave Africa but Africa will never leave you". In two weeks we will go to Egypt and then on to Morocco.
Noreen, we will meet you in Morocco!
Debi, we are looking to meeting you!