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Practical tips for Tanzania traveling
After returning from our Tanzania: Serengeti to Zanzibar trip last week, we want to clear up a few misconceptions we read about in these forums prior to our trip and add some other pieces of advice.
Suffice it to say that the trip was breath taking. We'll leave it to you to discover its wonders yourself. As for practical tips, in no particular order:
1. As the tour director promised on the first day, there were no bugs. Really... A few gnats one day, a mosquito or two the next, and one potential tse tse fly bite. That was it. We brought cans of 40% Deet and never used any. Also didn't use mosquito netting provided around the bed at every property. I'm sure this is seasonally dependent though. We did finish our course of malaria medicine since we started it before the trip.
2. We ate all the salad and fresh fruits we wanted, and ice, in the properties that Tauck took us to, again at the Tauck tour director's instruction. No one got sick. (Except me, who got a URI the last four days, but unfortunately that's not unusual for me.) When we went on our own to a local restaurant we never ate fresh vegetables or fruit, or had ice. HOWEVER, we never drank the water from any tap anywhere, including the properties we stayed at, as per our director. Bottled water was always available (and free) in the rooms and safari vehicles and we used that to brush our teeth. But, we did have a typhoid shot prior to the trip.
3. Flying from the western Serengeti to Zanzibar at 13,500 feet was not a problem, and I have asthma and that URI.
4. The pools were very clean at every property, even with animals in the vicinity. We brought our suits but never went in, usually due to a lack of time.
5. We live on Long Island. We have wide choice of wonderful restaurants. The food on the trip was just OK.
6. The balloon ride was amazing. My wife was concerned about heights and motion. Very smooth ride, hardly realized you were in the air.
7. We did hear animals at night, but none came close to any of the buildings our group stayed in.
8. Shampoo, shower gel, and soap was readily available at all hotels, as was laundry service. Most had hair dryers.
9. Internet worked well at all properties.
10. Certain days were very dusty and having a face cover was very helpful. We were lucky that it rained in the evening several times, and that kept the dust down.
So enjoy!! And rely on your Tauck tour director for advice. He was very knowledgeable.
Suffice it to say that the trip was breath taking. We'll leave it to you to discover its wonders yourself. As for practical tips, in no particular order:
1. As the tour director promised on the first day, there were no bugs. Really... A few gnats one day, a mosquito or two the next, and one potential tse tse fly bite. That was it. We brought cans of 40% Deet and never used any. Also didn't use mosquito netting provided around the bed at every property. I'm sure this is seasonally dependent though. We did finish our course of malaria medicine since we started it before the trip.
2. We ate all the salad and fresh fruits we wanted, and ice, in the properties that Tauck took us to, again at the Tauck tour director's instruction. No one got sick. (Except me, who got a URI the last four days, but unfortunately that's not unusual for me.) When we went on our own to a local restaurant we never ate fresh vegetables or fruit, or had ice. HOWEVER, we never drank the water from any tap anywhere, including the properties we stayed at, as per our director. Bottled water was always available (and free) in the rooms and safari vehicles and we used that to brush our teeth. But, we did have a typhoid shot prior to the trip.
3. Flying from the western Serengeti to Zanzibar at 13,500 feet was not a problem, and I have asthma and that URI.
4. The pools were very clean at every property, even with animals in the vicinity. We brought our suits but never went in, usually due to a lack of time.
5. We live on Long Island. We have wide choice of wonderful restaurants. The food on the trip was just OK.
6. The balloon ride was amazing. My wife was concerned about heights and motion. Very smooth ride, hardly realized you were in the air.
7. We did hear animals at night, but none came close to any of the buildings our group stayed in.
8. Shampoo, shower gel, and soap was readily available at all hotels, as was laundry service. Most had hair dryers.
9. Internet worked well at all properties.
10. Certain days were very dusty and having a face cover was very helpful. We were lucky that it rained in the evening several times, and that kept the dust down.
So enjoy!! And rely on your Tauck tour director for advice. He was very knowledgeable.
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Same for us on a June K&T
We had two, I was one of them : (
Concur. I swam at Mount Kenya and the Four Seasons- the water was QUITE cool at both places! I suspect radiation and evaporative cooling at night counteracted the sun's daytime heating.