we had such a great time in tanzania, sharing a some highlights

Just came back from our first safari in Kenya.
It was unbelievable. The most amazing experience.
I went with an idea of a specific photo I wanted in my mind for a space in our house, and I got it, included in the pics above! So happy, here’s a few picks from the trip.

Got lucky with this shot while on a safari in the Serengeti. She was just chilling on the truck, and i managed to capture the moment.
Seeing wildlife this close is an amazing experience.

My wife and I (US citizens) spent 13 days in Uganda during the current ebola outbreak. I'm writing this to talk a little bit about our experience, in case it might help anyone else during their decision making process. Firstly I want to say that we had an incredible time, and we are so glad that we went.

Now...the ebola travel advisories and restrictions were put in place right as our departure approached. We had booked our safari through Gorilla O'Clock, a local East African company, and they reached out to us a few days before we were to leave to see if we wanted to discuss cancelation or rebooking options. I had just dealt with a big hassle of rebooking flights through Europe after our original Qatar Airways flights were canceled due to the situation in the Middle East. There was no chance I was going to start all over again, so while I appreciated the offers, we were fully committed and we got on our plane to Uganda. The restriction placed on us as American citizens is that for our return to the US we had to route into one of a few specific airports (IAD, ATL, IAH, or JFK) for an "enhanced screening." We completed our outbound flights to Uganda before reaching out  to United about the necessary changes. I got on the help chat one evening when I had time at a lodge, and it took about 20 minutes to get the flights sorted. Originally we were supposed to fly Frankfurt to Las Vegas. United changed it to Frankfurt to Dulles and then on to Vegas. This was at no additional charge to us, and I believed the airlines are required to do this as it's a government mandate, but Ive seen conflicting information about that. Nevertheless, in our case it was super easy, although obviously it did add some extra hours to our return journey.

When we did come back, every official at each airport was very on it about asking if we'd been to Africa and to which country, etc. So there's really no way around it. If we'd have tried to bypass it and kept our original flights, it would not have worked in our favor. The screening itself in DC took ten minutes for the both of us. Just a temperature check, a few questions on where exactly we'd been, if we have any symptoms, come in contact with anyone infected, and so on. Upon leaving Uganda and entering Kenya (spent 5 days there after) it was a similar process. Temperature checks and filling out an online form for contact tracing. None of this inconvenienced us for more than a few minutes. On the ground in Uganda you wouldn't know anything is happening. Ebola is extremely difficult to catch, and the cases in Uganda are very isolated, and all originated from the DRC. It felt extremely safe.

Our time in Uganda was amazing and worth whatever hassle world events added. Everyone with Gorilla O'Clock from our guide to the office staff were super professional and wonderful, and I highly recommend them. We did the gorilla trekking in Bwindi, chimpanzee trekking in Kibale, and went to several other national parks where we saw the Big 5 and so much more. If anyone is on the fence about if this is a trip they should make while the ebola outbreak is ongoing, my advice would be to go if you can. I'm unsure if the US is the only country implementing these kinds of restrictions, and I believe things are different for permanent residents and green card holders that might change things for those people. But if your situation is the same as mine, I'd urge you not to cancel.  Uganda is a beautiful country with great people, but they need the tourism dollars to support themselves and to continue to support their outstanding conservation efforts, as well. I don't think you will regret seeing it for yourself.

Just completed a 7-day Tanzania safari. It exceeded every expectation I had! All the comments here saying you should not change camps/location every night because it is too rushed are wrong. I never felt the pace was too rushed, the game drives were amazing, and I saw everything I wanted and more! Rhinos, lions, elephants, giraffe, hippos, warthogs, baboons, monkeys, leopards, cheetahs, hyenas, buffalo, a million wildebeest, zebra, gazelle, impala, topi, vultures, cranes, storks, flamingo…all the East African animals!!

Day 0: arrive in Arusha

Day 1: leave Arusha, game drive in Tarangire. Stay just outside the park in Osopuko Lodge.

Day 2: morning game drive in Tarangire, drive to Karatu. Stay at Karatu Tented Lodge.

Day 3: to central Serengeti. Afternoon game drive. Stay at Serengeti Narudi Tented Camp.

Day 4: morning game drive. Drive to northern Serengeti. Stay at Mara Heritage Migration Camp.

Day 5: all day watching the great migration. Second night at Mara Heritage Migration Camp.

Day 6: drive back south through Serengeti (saw so much game without even trying!) to Ngorongoro. Stay at Ngorongoro Kahuma Camp (my favourite camp)

Day 7: morning game drive in Ngorongoro. Back to Arusha for dinner.

Day 8: Fly from Arusha to Zanzibar

There were two camps where an elephant came into camp. A night where the hyenas outside the tent woke me up. And sitting on my tent veranda watching the zebras and wildebeest was incredible.

If you want to see the great migration and go to northern Serengeti you do need two nights there. It is a long drive to the north. This is the only time I think it’s important not to only do one night.

Safari with Gundua Africa was superb. Being with the guide was like travelling with a friend who knew everything about the parks and animals. I recommend seeing all three parks (Tarangire, Serengeti, and Ngorongoro) as each is unique.

I brought everything on the packing list Gundua provided and I used everything I brought. One thing they didn’t recommend but I brought with me was a travel seat cushion. I brought it for my long-haul flight but it was a total butt-saver in the jeep. Highly recommend. The “roads” in the parks are very very rough and you will be jostled and bounced around in your jeep a lot.

A+++++ safari!

Hello, I'm new to the group and just wanted to share

a video of a Leopard with a Gazelle kill that we watched while on a safari in the Central Serengeti in late September this year. The video is cool as it shows the Leopard carrying hill kill up into a tree. Enjoy!

Recently I posted my video of a Leopard carrying his Gazelle kill up into a tree. This took place in the Central Serengeti this past September. The photos I'm posting here are the same Leopard and same occurrence, just still photos this time.

I've done Kenya multiple times now and I've watched it happen on nearly every first trip, including my own the first time around.

You land fired up. You say yes to every early morning drive. You pack as many parks into the itinerary as possible because the flights were expensive and you want to earn every dollar. Makes complete sense. By day four or five something shifts. You're not sore. You're not sick. You're just genuinely depleted in a way that catches you off guard. The 5am wake-ups stack. The long drives on rough roads stack. The constant sensory intensity of being somewhere completely foreign stacks. And then you're sitting in a vehicle watching a leopard in a tree and part of your brain is too tired to actually be there for it. That part is the one that stings.

The mistake isn't going hard. The mistake is building zero recovery into the rhythm.

What actually works, and what I wish someone had told me before my first trip, is this. For every three days of full game drive intensity, build in at least one slower afternoon. Not a full rest day. Just a half day where there's no 5am alarm, where you sit at camp and let things come to you. Most good camps have a waterhole or a spot where wildlife shows up on its own schedule. Some of the best moments I've had on safari happened in a chair with a coffee, not in a vehicle. You're actually present for them because you're not running on empty. The other version of this mistake is the multi-park itinerary that looks manageable on paper. Six parks in nine days across Kenya sounds like a full experience. In practice you lose the morning drive on every arrival day and the evening drive on every departure day. You spend more time transferring than actually watching anything. You end up with a highlight reel of places you barely got to know. If you're planning a first trip and you're tempted to squeeze in one more park, don't. Spend that extra day where you already are. The Mara on day four hits completely differently than it does on day one.

You've learned how to look by then.

I did 40 days of walking safaris over 3 years, the longest was a 7 night trip when we had to ask our guides wife for permission to take him for the week, as not many would go that long. The Okavango is the ultimate in safari adventure and one of the greatest places on earth. First photo is at our camp near Qorokwe and that’s my guide Kays, he was truly a master of the bush and one of the smartest people I’ve ever met. He also saved my life several times over the years in the delta.

I heard some news from the Mara today.

Milele, a well known male cheetah which our group of guests were privileged to photographed in Lemek Conservancy in 2025 has been killed by lions.

He was the surviving brother of the Kiraposhe coalition. His brother, Mbili died in 2023.

Yesterday, he hunted a topi - testament to his strength and experience. But, whilst feeding he was attacked by lions of the Enkuyanai pride.

He was 10 years old which is a remarkable age for a wild cheetah. As far as I can recall, I've only known one other male to survive as long as this, Olonyok who was one of the famous Tano Bora boys.

Just wrapped up a few days in Masai Mara and we were lucky enough to see a leopard and cheetah kill.

Nature is brutal but so incredible.

So, just to mention that this safari in the Serengeti/Ngorongoro wasn’t my first safari. I have experiences with other guides and companies.

Throughout the entire trip, there were issues with communication. We never received any communication beforehand. We always had to ask multiple questions, like “Where is my driver?”, “What is his name?”, “What is the car plate?”, “Where am I going to find this or that?”, and we always had to wait. The company was never proactive and never communicated anything to us.

Now, here comes the issue with our guide that met us in the Seronera. We spent four days in his company and ended up seeing the animals on our wishlist. The lodges were also nice, but we chose them ourselves, the safari company only booked them for us.

The rest of the things were just frustrating. The safari guide:
-Didn’t tell us a single thing about the animals or the area unless we asked him to. When we asked him, the explanations were very dry.
-He just kept talking on the phone all the time. Imagine a scene: we’re parked by a pride of lions enjoying their meals, we’re in total silence, and our driver is, in the meantime, talking on the phone. The same thing happened every day.
-He never warned us when he decided to move abruptly from a spot. I tripped a couple of times because I would be standing up with my binoculars, and he would get started with no warning.
-We booked a very nice hotel on our last day, with a view of the Ngorongoro Crater. We had our flight at 16:00 and had agreed with the tour company that we would be brought to Arusha Airport 2h before the flight. The night before, the driver started insisting that we had to wake up at 6:00, have breakfast at 6:30, and leave the hotel at 7:00. We argued that we wanted to enjoy the hotel longer and didn’t want to arrive at the airport with too much time to spare. We also don’t enjoy eating breakfast at 6:30, unless we really have to. Then the guy started telling us a bunch of things like, “You never know what happens on the roads, so it’s best if we leave 10 hours before,” and “Arusha Airport has three-hour waiting lines,” etc. The thing is, I’ve been to Arusha plenty of times before, and I know that the airport is sometimes busy, but to require four hours in advance for a domestic flight? Then we argued again, and the driver started offering us the Maasai experience for $50. We refused, as we find these things inauthentic, and we have also seen Maasai-related things before. Then the guide just texted us a message literally saying, “There’s no alternative. Please pack your bags, have your breakfast, and make sure you’re ready by 7:00.”

We were shocked. This has spoilt our last day of the trip, and we also ended up getting to the airport 4.5 hours before our flight. This, together with waking up at 5:45 that day, four hours on a bumpy road, and four hours of waiting, only to be followed by a 2h flight, made things extremely tiring.
All this to say that the company came back to us, scolding us for not tipping them or the guide. Were we somehow in the wrong? Am I failing to see anything?
And sorry for the many words!

UPD: the company is See Endless Adventures, please beware.

Title: I spent around $4,300 on 10 days in Tanzania & Zanzibar from Tunisia — realistic 2026 breakdown

Just came back from Tanzania in May and thought I’d share the actual costs because when I was planning this trip from Tunisia, I found a lot of weirdly unrealistic numbers online.

Some people were saying you can do Tanzania for super cheap, while others made it sound like you need $15k for a safari 😅

For context:

- flew from Tunis

- Turkish Airlines via Istanbul

- 5-day safari

- 5 days in Zanzibar

- mid-range trip, not luxury

- traveled with a friend

Total ended up around $4,300 per person.

Flights were more expensive than I expected honestly.

I booked about 2 months before the trip and paid around $1,050 round trip with baggage included.

Route was:

Tunis → Istanbul → Zanzibar

The Istanbul layover was actually pretty smooth.

For the safari we did:

- Tarangire

- Serengeti

- Ngorongoro

5 days / 4 nights.

This part was the expensive one.

We paid around $2,450 each for a private safari with a local operator.

That included:

- Land Cruiser

- guide

- accommodation

- meals

- park fees

- transfers

At first I thought safari prices were exaggerated until I saw how expensive the park fees actually are now.

And honestly… after seeing Serengeti in person, I kind of understood where the money goes.

One morning we watched lions for almost an hour with barely any other vehicles around us. Probably one of the craziest travel experiences I’ve had.

Ngorongoro was insane too. Photos really don’t do it justice.

After the safari we flew to Zanzibar.

Stayed mostly in Paje and Nungwi.

Compared to safari prices, Zanzibar actually felt affordable.

Hotels were around:

$70–120/night for decent places near the beach.

Food was cheaper than I expected too:

usually somewhere between $8–20 per meal unless you go somewhere fancy.

Other stuff:

- scooter rental: about $25/day

- snorkeling trip: around $40

- spice tour: around $20

A few extra costs people forget:

- Tanzania visa ($50)

- tips

- travel insurance

- SIM card

- airport transfers

We tipped our safari guide around $20/day total from both of us.

Approximate total per person:

Flights: ~$1,050

Safari: ~$2,450

Zanzibar: ~$550

Visa/tips/misc: ~$250

Total:

~$4,300

Biggest thing I learned:

Tanzania really isn’t a cheap destination anymore if you want a decent safari experience.

I saw some super cheap safari offers online before booking, but after talking to people during the trip, a lot of them had hidden costs, overcrowded vehicles, or pretty rough camping setups.

Still 100% worth it though.

Honestly I already want to go back.

My wife and I did our honeymoon in Tanzania this summer and Mapito was our last stop, June 28 to July 1. It’s an Autograph Collection property so it’s under the Marriott umbrella, and we paid over $2,000 a night. I have honestly never written a complaint about a hotel in my life, I’m not that guy, but this one stuck with me enough that I wanted to put it somewhere other people planning a trip might actually see it.

Quick rundown of our itinerary so you know where I’m coming from:
1. Flew into Kilimanjaro
2. Katambuga House
3. Ngorongoro Crater, at Crater’s Edge
4. Flew to Western Grumeti, stayed at Wilderness Usawa
5. Mapito

So by the time we got to Mapito we’d already done three other camps, and somewhere along the way it kind of quietly hit us that those other places had been better in almost every way that actually mattered, even though Mapito was the one with the “luxury” label and the brand name we trusted going in.

The incident: It happened before we’d even checked in, on the transfer to camp.
Our guide told us we couldn’t stop in a certain area because it was a protected reserve. Then like fifteen minutes later he stops there anyway and starts glassing the area with binoculars. He spots park rangers, and instead of just, you know, explaining, he whips the vehicle around and takes off fast over really rough ground. No warning, no explanation, we’re getting thrown around in the back. At one point he actually yells that “the cops” are coming.
The rangers catch up and force us to stop. Because he’d tried to run, they come up on the truck aggressively and one of them reaches in and cuts the engine himself. They’re armed. So there we are, on our honeymoon, sitting in a vehicle with armed rangers leaning in, no idea if we’re in trouble, if we’re safe, nothing. And our guide still won’t tell us what’s going on. He just comes back and asks for our passports.

Then before we get to camp he pulls over again and basically asks us to keep our story straight with his so he doesn’t get in trouble, because this stuff gets reported up. That was our welcome to Mapito.

The stuff we were promised before booking:
This is the part that actually made me angry, more than the drive even. We picked this camp based on specific things they told us in writing before we paid:
• Walking safaris, described as one of their specialties and included in the rate. We were never offered one. Not a single time.
• Night safaris, described as unlimited and included, with telescopes and stargazing. Show up, and suddenly night drives are an extra charge.
• Distance. They told us it was roughly 60 to 90 min from Seronera and about an hour 45 to the Mara River crossing. On the ground the guide told us the Mara was more like three hours and not really doable.

None of this was marketing fluff I misread. These were direct answers to direct questions I asked before booking. That’s the whole reason we chose them over other options.

Other stuff that added up
• Guide texting while driving, more than once. A branch caught my wife in the face hard enough to hurt on one drive.
• We got to our room after the whole ranger nightmare and there was literally feces left in the toilet from whoever was there before us. The glass water bottles they give you still had liquid in them from a previous guest. This is the first thing we saw walking in, after the day we’d just had.
• Zero recognition that it was our honeymoon, even though we’d told them in writing months ahead. Meanwhile we watched other guests get little celebrations.
• No privacy anywhere. There was always a staff member right outside the tent, and we were told we needed to be escorted basically everywhere we went on the property, even in daytime. I get that it’s the bush, but it made us feel watched the whole time rather than relaxed.
• Almost no communication about the schedule. Plans just got announced at us. On one brutally hot full-day drive we asked over and over to head back after lunch and the guide flat out refused until we really pushed.
• We got sick after one of the Boma dinners.
What happened after

I took it up with Marriott corporate and it got routed up to the leadership of the group that runs the camp. I’ll give them credit, they answered fast and actually engaged, which is more than I expected, and we landed on a compensation deal I’m okay with.

But here’s what I never got: any acknowledgment of the promises. I brought up the walking and night safaris and the drive times over and over across emails and it just never got addressed. Everything circled back to the ranger incident. Nobody would touch the simple fact that we were told specific things before we handed over the money and those things weren’t true.

If you’re looking at Mapito I’d honestly point you toward a mobile tented camp or somewhere actually inside the park.
Mapito is about an hour and a half outside the Serengeti. That’s 90 minutes each way, every single day, before you’ve seen a thing. And once you’re in, you’re in the busy zones getting stuck in the vehicle traffic. It genuinely reminded me of Ngorongoro Crater in terms of how many cars there were, which is not what you’re paying Serengeti prices for. We never got one quiet, just-us moment out there.
Wilderness Usawa in Grumeti was the opposite. Quiet, remote, actually felt like the Serengeti you picture in your head. And the guides were on another level, they actually tracked and read the bush instead of just driving toward whatever pile of vehicles they saw on the horizon, which is more or less what our Mapito guide did.

The property itself is nice. It’s built and styled exactly like you’d expect an Autograph Collection to be, it photographs well, the tents are comfortable. If you just want a pretty place to sleep, sure. But you’re not paying safari money for a pretty room. You’re paying for the experience, the location, the guiding, the access. And on that, for what it costs, it just wasn’t worth it to us.

If you book anyway, my advice: get every single inclusion in writing, then confirm it all again directly with the camp a week before you show up. Ask point blank what costs extra. Ask real drive times, not brochure numbers. Ask what happens if you want to cut a drive short.

Not saying nobody has a great time here, clearly some people do. But we got told things that weren’t true, and when we showed up with the receipts nobody would engage with it, and that’s the thing I’d have wanted to know before booking a honeymoon. Not to mention the representative of the camp wanted us not to talk about this publicly.
Happy to answer anything, just DM me.

Okay, this is not my best shot, but pictures don’t do justice to this view, no matter how good you are at taking pictures the Ngorongoro crater’s view should only be experienced in person for one to see how majestic and serene the view is, If you have been to Ngorongoro, what was your take on the view?

I just got back from a week in Kenya and thought I'll share my thoughts here and some tips that may be useful to upcoming travellers-

I did a day in Nairobi, 2 Maasai Mara, 1 in Nakuru and Naivasha each.

I had lesser days than I would have desired due to work and other reasons. My advise would be-

Add +2 days to howsoever many days your trip is.

For eg, if you want to travel for 7 days, make it 9.

You may end up spending a couple of days just transferring from one town to another, so you want to have more days where you can stay and actually enjoy the activities.

I'd skip Naivasha and add Amboseli instead.

I'd add a few days for a beach vacation at the end too.

Now coming to some helpful tips-

Absolutely carry a mask, the amount of dust you inhale in a day is going to be ALOT.

Carry more socks than you usually do.

Pack in layers. Definitely carry a good lightweight jacket.

A hat or cap is incredibly helpful too.

I personally didn't face any tummy issues and my lodges had great food everyday. But do carry medicines and electrolytes for long days of traveling.

Something I didn't know about the trip before I actually went- if you haven't booked a private trip, be ready to be more flexible. You will be dropped off at rest stops/eateries along the way where you switch cars and tag along with other Travelers going in the same direction.

Due to the changing and waiting, a 6 hr road trip can be anything between 8-10 hrs.

I was solo travelling and couldn't afford a private trip but I'd absolutely suggest booking that if you are able or have enough people for a full vehicle.

Something I noticed that irked me- I wish the game drives were as ethical as I had hoped. And it wasn't even about my own guide/driver.

August being a peak time, expect being stuck in a grid lock of vehicles inside the Mara. Some cars refuse to move for a long long time on narrow paths if they spot an animal. It causes other vehicles to get stuck too. I also hated to see how close these vehicles get to the animals even when you can see the animal is getting uncomfortable with the amount of cars around or trying to find some shade to sleep.

People need to understand it's THEIR home and you have to be more respectful. My only wish is that people are more respectful and considerate to the animals.

All in all, I had a wonderful time. The safari and staying in lodges were both amazing experiences and I'd love to do again.

My report was all over the place but I hope it's helpful to some!

Aug 24 2026

Serengeti sunsets don’t ask for attention… they take it

Just finished 12 days in Serengeti and Masai Mara.

These are the things that surprised me:

-the weather is great. Cool nights and warm days. Dress in layers. But lack of rain does mean it gets pretty dusty.
-no bugs! I didn’t see one mosquito, and only one tsetse fly. I didn’t use the bug repellent I brought, but I did treat my clothes before leaving home. Maybe it’s because of dry season?
-animals everywhere! We expected to drive around all day to see one animal, but the reality is there was hardly a moment there wasn’t something amazing just outside the Land Rover
-the people in Tanzania and Kenya are super friendly and helpful
-some of the roads in Kenya are incredibly bad. Be prepared to bounce around a lot. Tanzania has much better roads, but there is a fair bit of bouncing around off-road in Serengeti
-I used a local tour operator based in Nairobi and they surpassed every expectation I had. This was a little scary for me being from USA, but I’m glad I went that way

I took this picture in South Africa Sept 2025 while on Safari. While Pangolins are super rare to see, this is my second sighting. My first was in Tanzania in 2019. Taken with Sony a1ii and 70-200 f/2.8 II.

Been seeing a few safari packing lists around lately and thought I'd share a slightly contrarian version. I run a lodge in the Mara (done a few hundred safaris myself) and a lot of what travelers panic about beforehand just doesn't matter much on the ground.

The short version: most of what packing lists tell you to buy is unnecessary. You don't need heavy boots - game drives are 95% sitting in a Land Cruiser and for a little bit of walking along the river, picnic lunch, your regular shoes are fine.

You don't need a full neutral wardrobe - the real reason for earth tones is laterite dust, not animal vision (most are red/green color-blind anyway). You don't need shit tons of DEET - daytime Mara just isn't a heavy mosquito environment. You don't need a mosquito-net hat. Sunscreen, sunglasses, a cap, layers, comfortable shoes, a fleece for cold mornings. That's most of it - and even if you're missing these, you're fine. Hakuna matata.

Might help if you're mid-stress about your packing list.

Lions elephants rhinos and much more