SAFARI FAQ – FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Below we try to answer all the questions concerning safaris that we receive on a regular basis, to hopefully give you the best possible idea of what you can expect on safari. We’ll focus purely on the actual safari part, so those days that you’ll be exploring Tanzania’s national parks and other wildlife destinations in a safari jeep, with a dedicated safari guide.

ARE THERE TIME LIMITS IN THE NATIONAL PARKS AND OTHER DESTINATIONS?

Yes, the safari parks and most other places that you might visit during your safari (such as WMA areas, Ngorongoro Conservation Area, etc.) have opening hours. You can do game drives in most locations between 6:00 AM and 6:00 PM and these times need to be followed strictly. Otherwise, your guide could get a fine and even lose their license. Specific locations might have other requirements, and we follow these strictly as well.

Entrance fees to most parks are single entry and paid per 12 hours (or 24 hours if you spend the night inside the park). This means that if you enter a park at 11 AM and have booked 24 hours, you have to leave again the next day before 11 AM. Overstaying means that you’ll have to pay for another 12 hours in the park before you’ll be allowed to leave (only if the overstaying is caused by you, of course). We therefore also follow the available time in the parks very strictly.

Certain choices that you’ve made during the booking process or things that we’ve suggested might have an impact on the available time in each park, so please check this carefully in your offer. We usually don’t suggest to pay a full extra day if it only adds 2-3 hours unless you ask, but there’s itineraries for which we could add a bit more time inside some of the parks if e.g. you don’t mind getting up very early. You can also see if this is the case in your personalized offer.

WHAT DOES A TYPICAL SAFARI DAY LOOK LIKE?

All our safaris are private, so in general, you can determine what your day will look like together with your guide. We’ll only give you a suggested starting time for the first day of your safari, but you’re welcome to make changes. There are however a few things to keep in mind, which we’ll describe below.

First of all there’s the time limits explained above.

Another thing to keep in mind are meal times in the accommodations. E.g. most accommodations in Arusha offer breakfast from 6 or 7 AM, so if you want to enjoy breakfast, you have to leave afterwards, meaning you can’t reach your first park by the time it opens. Check-in and check-out times are also something to consider, although these are not an issue in most safaris.

Last but not least, we also find it very important to keep in mind the comfort and wellbeing of your guide/driver and the safety of everybody in the jeep, and therefore we don’t ask our guide/drivers to work for more than 12 hours in a row. This has an impact on how many of the available hours you can actually use. If you’re e.g. spending 2 consecutive nights inside the Serengeti, you can absolutely plan game drives between 6 AM and 6 PM on the day in between. However, if you need to drive from e.g. Arusha to Tarangire first and end your day with a drive from Tarangire to Karatu, it’s not possible to leave at 4 AM in order to arrive at Tarangire at 6 AM, stay inside Tarangire until 6 PM and then drive to Karatu if you use just 1 guide. If this is important to you, we can definitely provide 2 guides, so please let us know before you book.

If you don’t have any specific wishes, we’ll optimize your safari so that you get as much time as possible inside the parks while respecting the things to consider mentioned above.

WHAT KIND OF ACCOMMODATION CAN WE PICK FOR OUR SAFARI?

We have a full guide to safari accommodation on our website. Check it out here.

WHAT SHOULD WE PACK FOR OUR SAFARI?

We have a full safari packing list on our website. Check it out here.

WILL WE BE ABLE TO CHARGE OUR DEVICES?

Your safari car will have an electric socket and there’s sockets in the accommodations as well. However, not all accommodations offer a 24-hour power supply and it might sometimes be necessary to charge your devices in the common areas. If you absolutely need 24-hour power and/or if you absolutely need power in your tent or room, please let us know before you book so that we can pick appropriate accommodations and inform you about any potential supplements.

WHAT KIND OF SAFARI VEHICLES DO YOU USE?

We use Toyota Landcruisers with pop-up roof. They are maintained to a very high standard and are checked by professionals before every safari.

HOW ABOUT SPECIAL MEDICAL NEEDS?

Please inform us of all your needs when requesting your offer and we will take the necessary steps to create your trip keeping them in mind. We can e.g. suggest wheelchair friendly accommodations, make arrangements with certain accommodations to provide 24-hour electricity for your medical devices, provide access to a fridge to store certain medicine, etc.

WHAT HAPPENS IF THE SAFARI CAR BREAKS DOWN DURING THE SAFARI?

All our safari cars get a check-up by trained and experienced car mechanics before every safari. This allows them to see if there’s any potential damage from the previous safari or if certain parts of the car are simply due to be replaced. We take this precaution in order to limit the risk of serious car trouble during your safari to the absolute minimum.

All our guides are trained in car mechanics. They do a routine check of the car every evening and can fix a whole list of common car problems. Of course the roads in the parks are very bumpy so small issues such as broken tires do occur, but our guides will do their very best to make sure your safari can continue in a safe way as soon as possible.

Should there be a serious problem that can’t be fixed by your guide during the safari, we will suggest the fastest / best solution depending on the situation. This can include sending replacement parts, a car mechanic or a replacement vehicle. We hope it reassures your to know that this has never been necessary since the start of Mawenzi Adventures in June 2019 and that should it ever be necessary, Chim and I, the owners of the company, will deal with the situation personally.

CAN WE JOIN A GROUP SAFARI?

All our safaris are private and we don’t organize group safaris. This helps us to maintain the highest quality standards and also allows us to create fully personalized itineraries for each group. You pick the parks, the accommodations, the starting time… We want to create YOUR dream trip!

WHAT KIND OF FOOD CAN WE EXPECT ON A SAFARI?

This depends on the type of accom

CAN WE DO NIGHT GAME DRIVES?

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CAN WE DO A WALKING OR A CANOE SAFARI?

We organize walking safaris in Arusha National Park and Tarangire National Park. In Ngorongoro Conservation Area, it’s possible to do a Crater Rim Walk.

We organize canoe safaris are possible in Arusha National Park.

Certain private game reserves also offer the opportunity to do walking safaris and other types of special activities. We will inform you of the options upon your request for a stay in such a game reserve.

IT'S OUR HONEYMOON. WHICH ROMANTIC EXTRAS CAN WE ADD TO OUR SAFARI?

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CAN WE DO A HOT AIR BALLOON FLIGHT?

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WILL THERE BE ACCESS TO WI-FI? WILL A LOCAL SIM CARD GIVE A BETTER CONNECTION?

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IS IT BETTER TO STAY INSIDE OR OUTSIDE THE NATIONAL PARKS & OTHER WILDLIFE DESTINATIONS?

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CAN WE VISIT A MAASAI VILLAGE?

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WHICH TEMPERATURES CAN WE EXPECT DURING A SAFARI?

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IS THERE A FENCE AROUND THE ACCOMMODATIONS?

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DO WE NEED TO PAY A TIP?

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DO WE NEED TO BRING BINOCULARS?

Mawenzi Adventures provides 1 pair of binoculars in the car. These have to be shared between your group and the guide and often suffer a lot from the dusty environments that they are constantly in. We therefore recommend you to bring your own binoculars.