No there are no shade canopies. The vehicles have 3 separate removable 'hatches' each. The only time they remain closed are on travel days when game viewing is not a possibility on the way to somewhere else. Just wear hats, pants that cover your knees and sunscreen. I never caught any color from sun at all. When I went to Kenya and Tanzania with Tauck a few years ago, the vehicles were different, they had sun canopies, but the uprights for them got in the way of everyone's cameras and there was only one hatch so you felt more squashed together, the vehicles used in Tanzania this past trip were much better. Perhaps someone who has been on the K and T tour more recently can comment on what vehicles they use now.
I did this tour in March and the vehicles all had canopies. They just unhook the latches at the corners and it raises up, giving you shade, if you want it. None of the vehicles had tops that Came off completely. Hope this answers your question.
I don't think you can predict with any certainty. Vehicles have to be rotated for service. I have never found it to be a problem one way or the other.
Frankly, I much prefer the totally open sided safaris vehicles but I have never seen - or heard of - Tauck using them. I seem to remember someone telling me the open sided vehicles are not allowed in Kenyan National Parks. We used the open vehicles in Kenya but only on tribal lands....Leo M
Susan, did you do the Tanzania tour? I did it less than two months ago and it was as I described, no canopies, I asked about them and was told they no longer used that type
I just did the Serengeti to Zanzibar tour in June 2015 and our safari vehicles had roofs that raised up and gave us shade when we were out viewing. As I recall, all the other safari vehicles we saw were the same. The vehicles had seating for a maximum of 7 people plus the driver. On our tour we had 22 people divided among 4 Land Cruisers, so there were from 4 to 7 tour participants in a vehicle at a time, depending on how the tour director divided us up. Yes, we did the typical Tauck rotation from day to day so we traveled with different people each day.
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Frankly, I much prefer the totally open sided safaris vehicles but I have never seen - or heard of - Tauck using them. I seem to remember someone telling me the open sided vehicles are not allowed in Kenyan National Parks. We used the open vehicles in Kenya but only on tribal lands....Leo M