I will try to break the myth that you have to have a lot of money and be rich to go on safari in Tanzania. What I am going to tell you applies to any other destination or country on the African continent.

Normally when you are looking for a safari from your country of origin it is easy not to go below € 1,500 for about four or five days with everything included at the expense of finding reality once you arrive at your destination. The reality is that you can go in the same car or the car of your neighbors for 1/3 of that price, that way you can allow yourself to make the trip or do more extra activities or simply save € 1,000

The 5 + 1 steps you must follow are the following:

Step 0: Leave the anxiety at home

No te vas a quedar sin safari por el hecho de esperarte al día antes y contratarlo en tu destino. Todo el mundo en los grandes hubs de safari se dedica a ello y te cansarás de que te ofrezcan un safari aunque ya lo tengas contratado. Eso sí, te tirarás de los pelos como lo hayas contratado por agencia desde casa. Así que atento a los siguientes consejos.

Step 1: Exit point near the national park

If you are going to see the Serengeti, do not hire your Safari from Moshi or from Dar Es Salaam, the same applies to wanting to visit the parks near Tanga, do not hire them in Arusha or Moshi. This same rule would apply to Kenya, from Nairobi it takes about 7 hours by car to the gates of the Maasai Mara, so if you do 3D2N you end up paying to do two days without seeing anything.

The reason is simple, you will do the same number of days as the rest, but more hours on the road or you will pay a premium for spending more days on the jeep without seeing more than asphalt heading to the gates of the parks. So in this particular case try to leave from Arusha.

Step 2: Hire once you are in Arusha

The people and companies that are there know each other and collaborate to fill the cars and save costs, in this way they make sure they have the vehicle full and you make sure you have an adequate price. While if you hire it further away, your price may end up becoming more expensive due to this lack of networking.

For example, from Moshi the price they offered me was $ 220 / day while in Arusha it was $ 165 / day. A significant price difference considering that you are going to be there for four days. You just saved $ 220.

Step 3: Decide which national parks you want to see

Not all have the same price and we do not all have the same interests. Serengeti, Tarangire and Ngorongoro have the most expensive park fees, but also the easiest to fill because everyone wants to go.

Unless you are looking for something very specific, I recommend that you go where the vast majority of people go, it is also where you can find more animal fauna.

Step 4: Decide where you want to stay

There are basically three options. Campings, lodges and luxury lodges.

$ 165 / day is the basic price with camping.

What does this price include? Accommodation in a tent for three nights, three meals a day (breakfast, lunch and dinner) all hot, water, transportation and gasoline from and / to and entrance to the parks.

What is not included in this price? Tips ($ 25 for the driver and $ 15 for the cook per day, these costs are per vehicle, not per person), snacks and alcoholic beverages. Most drivers stop before entering the park at a supermarket so you can buy supplies.

From here everything is supplements. If instead of being in a camping you prefer to be in a mid-range lodge, we could be talking about $ 50 to $ 100 more a day depending on whether you go alone as a couple or the lodge is inside or outside the park. If what you are looking for are luxury lodges then sky is the limit and you may not be reading this post anymore;)

To all this we must add that they do not always tell you, but you can do night safaris with a ranger from the park (the guides are not authorized (for about $ 80 per person). Flight in a hot air balloon to see the sunrise in the African savanna When they told me the price I couldn’t believe it and it seemed surreal to me, $ 1,000, which I am not very clear about is if it is per person, couple or trip. But taking into account that in Cappadocia it is $ 200 per person and in Luxor To see the westbank for about $ 60 per person, I thought it was totally exorbitant.

Step 5: Understand the costs of the trip

It is critical to value costs in order to understand prices correctly. Here the approximate daily detail of each game:

• Park fees (excluding Ngorongoro): $ 80, this applies to Serengeti and Tarangire. Only with Park fees we have eaten 50% of the cost.
• Vehicle and gasoline: $ 25 in fuel and vehicle. The price of gasoline is high for being an African country, the price is usually around 1 liter = 1.2 $, not counting the depreciation of the vehicle and its cost. The vehicles are usually Land Rovers and Toyota.
• Accommodation in campsites: approximately $ 15 for staying in the camping areas
• Food: $ 5 a day in raw materials, keep in mind that they give you three hot and abundant dishes in the middle of nowhere and with their own kitchen equipment, as well as water for the entire trip.

Taking a summarized account of the $ 165 we have eaten $ 125, which leaves us in about $ 40 a day that goes to the margin of local companies, workers’ salaries and expenses that it has not been able to calculate correctly. After this little analysis it does not seem that the price is so crazy right?

Additionally, if you book in the country of destination instead of in your country of origin, these 40 $ mentioned above remain in full in the country while if you book in origin it remains as a margin of the incremental international operators to which they are already earned by selling the trip three times more expensive.

For me it was a unique experience and I recommend the agency with which I did it and they treated me great and honestly from the first minute Inno Africa, for more details you can visit their website or write to me to provide you with their phone number.