Best time of year for Kenya / Tanzania
Have been reviewing the Tauck offerings for Africa and think the Kenya / Tanzania trip is what we will take. Just not sure as to the best time of the year to make this trip. Hope British will read this and give us a candid opinion!
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The 'Before You Go' section of the tour page under 'Weather' gives a quick review of what you might want to consider that I researched all over the place before we originally booked our first Africa tour which was indeed the K and T tour. It depends whether you want to be there during the rainy season, long or short one, when it is quieter, during Spring apparently. The temperatures don't vary that much. Then there is the migration that some people put on the top of their list. In the end, I think we were there in August, I think because we had already taken another Tauck tour earlier in the year and we wanted to spread the time out between the two tours and that was a convenient time for us, so nothing very scientific. When we went on the Tanzania/Zanzibar tour, it was again not very scietific, we wanted to be on safari for our 40th wedding anniversary and that was in July. We did not notice any significant difference.
Of course, you will always get more from me than you ask, so I'll carry on.... As you probably know, I particularly like Tanzania, so I am biased. However, if price point and actual number of game drives is important to you, then you can't beat the much cheaper Tanzanian/Zanzibar tour, because when you read the itineraries carefully, you will see that there are more flights and more time at leisure on the K and T tour that means you take comparatively less game drives. Admittedly, when we took the K and T tour, they did not stay at the Four Seasons or the Mount Kenya club, the hotels were lovely and I am sure we did more game drives than is scheduled now. You also know I did not like Nairobi airport.i know you are a Tauck traveller, so if this is your first Africa experience, you may want to take another. The Elegant South Africa is a very different trip, half culture and half safari, but a very very different safari experience. When I get back from my Botswana Zambia SA tour, I am sure to post a review and compare all the four tours I will have taken to Africa. Either way, get that tour booked before it fills up. If you get, Susan Or Rachel as tour directors you will have great directors. Ah, dinner is ready!
Is Rachel back doing Africa? We ran into her in 2013. She decided to take a break from Africa and was doing a ride-a-long with Ron before leading her first E,S,W group. Seth (the legendary Seth?) who was on the team that originally designed the K&T (and one or more of the India tours) is pretty darn good TD too.
Rachel and Ron at the farewell dinner in the Tower of London in 2013.
Seth:
We did K&T in June, just after the end of the "Long Rains." Weather and temps were perfect!! The altitude (5000' - 6000') of the high plains (Serengeti and Maasai Mara) of Tanzania and Kenya really tempers the climate. Morning and evening temps were cool at times but not cold. We only had precipitation once- heavy dew or possibly a short light drizzle sometime during the night at Ngorongoro Crater (the only reason we knew was because balcony chairs were wet in the morning), but that was it.
Check out those blue skies!
Though June is typically not a "Great Migration" time of year and we didn't have huge numbers, we observed a mini-migration of sorts- groups of "late travelers" or as our guide called them, "confused wildebeast and Zebra," snaked their way in broken lines across the plains of the Serengeti. The guides said the late rains that year may have confused them.
Where is the Crossing Guard?
Family time at the watering hole-
Does that wet your appetite??
And for Sandman, if the balloon ride is high priority for you, it is cancelled far more frequently on the K and T tour but hardly ever on just Tanzania because of the wind patterns.... That happened to us, they tried a second day too, but no luck...... I think Sealord missed out on his ride on K and T tour too, he took the K andT tour at exactly the same time we took our Tanzania/Z tour.
Thanks. Tauck Duffels you say? Yup, we got those.
Airport in Arusha, TZ. We just flew in from the Serengeti, and, after stopping at the Tanzanian Cultural Center, we'll be on our way to Amobseli, Kenya.
You must use the duffels twice on the K&T. The duffels are large and you can use them instead of luggage if you want for the entire trip- a number of travelers have done that.
But, if you have regular luggage (we did) you will transfer enough clothes for 3 days and other necessary stuff into your duffle(s) before leaving Ngorongoro Crater. You will only have whatever you packed in your duffles in the Serengeti at the Four Seasons. Your suitcases depart Ngorongoro by truck and are stored temporarily in Arusha. You will be reunited with them at Amboseli in Kenya. You will have your suitcases again through your stay at Amboseli and at the Mount Kenya Safari Club. You'll load the duffel(s) again the night before you leave Mount Kenya and again will only have whatever you pack during your stay at the Fairmount Masai Mara. You will be reunited with your luggage in your day room in the Serena Hotel in Nairobi.
It isn't a big deal, the duffels are large enough that my wife and I shared one duffel.