Safari do-it-yourself

Safaris of the northern circuit, Serengeti, Ngorongoro are spectecular. The 800 kilometre migration of over 2.5 million animals makes Serengeti the number one safari. But the time and place of this migration varies and depends on many factors, one of them is the rain. Since the rainy season doesn’t always end or begin on the predicted date the migration of the animals does not have set times either.

Generally speaking the best months are December to July. And if you want to see the animals cross the spectacular and dangerous Grumeti river June is the best month. But our holiday was in August. And as none of these grand-scale safaris appealed to us, we decided to do it ourselves. We went to Mikumi National Park, Tanzania's fourth largest game reserve, 3230 square kilometres and saw giraffes,hippos, crocodiles,elephants, wildebeest, impalas, lions, one leopard, warthogs, buffaloes, one jackal, roebucks, vultures, bee-eaters, sunbirds, flamingos, and marabou storks.

Quick Tips:

I had found out that most mid-range operators offer their safaris at US – per day per person, and budget safaris sell at US – 120 per person, per day.

Another unpleasant discovery was that a three-day safari meant
Day One transport to the park from Dar es Salaam or Arusha or even as far afield as Zanzibar
Day Two safari
Day Three transport back to Dar es Salaam or Arusha

The smaller the group the more expensive. The minimum on most trips is eight people. We don’t like group travel, and so we decided to do it ourselves.

Best Way To Get Around:

Mikumi National Park is just under 500 kilometres west of Dar es Salaam. It is Tanzania’s fourth largest game reserve, 3230 square kilometres. The Tanzam Highway to Mbeya passes through it, so that bus passengers and drivers enjoy a free safari en route.

We hired a car, driver and guide at Mikumi Genesis Motel in the village of Mikumi.

Mikumi Genesis Motel is one of those hotels where you have to check your bill. We stayed here for two nights, had meals, coffee, tea, bought bottles of water, and ordered lunch boxes. When the bill was presented they had forgotten to charge us for many things we had ordered.

Mikumi is a tiny village, or rather a crossroads with houses. The Mikumi Genesis Motel is 4km north of these crossroads, close to Mikumi National Park, but not within its borders. This is a good things because hotels, motels, lodges within national parks quadruple their prices.

We had a double room at Tsh 15.000 per person (Euro 15 per person). A three-course meal was 7500 (Euro 7.50) The portions were huge. The main building doubles as bar and reception, behind it is the dining area, where breakfast is served: a full English breakfast complete with sausages and bacon, baked beans, mushrooms and grilled tomato.

Our room had a king-size double bed with three pillows. Because the room is charged per person I think the idea is that three people sleep in this bed. There is also a smallish double bed. So the room sleeps five persons. This arrangement guarantees a good income for the hotel owner. With five persons the room would have been overcrowded and in that case not good value for money. The bathroom was large enough but only cold water. The rooms were the cottage type, two joined together under one roof. Business went well as older cottages had been abandoned and newer ones were in process of being built.

Mikumi Genesis Motel is also the place to arrange safaris: transport, driver, guide for a game drive in Mikumi National park. Unfortunately their safari fleet was not as prosperous a the hotel. They have four safari 4x4 jeeps of which one was in working order. This one had already been booked. After some phone calls Kilimanjaro Village Inn, another hotel down the road, could provide us with a car and a driver and guide at $100, for the day, irrespective of the number of people. Entrance to the park is an extra $15 per person. We tipped the driver and guide. This was appreciated as the next we got a free lift to the cross roads to catch our bus to Iringa. This saved us a four-kilometre walk.

"There is a presence of mane and the lifespan of the lion is 15 to 20 years, gestation period is 14 to 15 weeks". Our guide is an incarnation of a scientific essay on the African Lion.

We bump over the uneven track and our driver avoids big stones and fallen branches. He stops and puts them out of the way. Then our guide continues, but now in his own English: "after three year young lion chase away old lion. Young is strong and kill baby lion and child lion". He pauses to heighten the dramatic effect. "He kill because child lion are not important. He become lover of female, you know", and winks meaningfully at my husband.
"And do the females like this?" I ask.
He shrugs his shoulders: "males is stronger".
"Do the females never leave and take their cubs, their babies, with them?"
He shakes his head, "never, females give milk to the baby and the baby of other females . They are all friends". And then he continues with a big grin, "when old lion is still strong he fights young lion. And old and young lion die".
Our guide knows his facts and also knows where to spot the animals.

Mikumi National Park is Tanzania’s fourth largest game reserve, 3230 square kilometres. From 10am to 4pm we toured the park and must have covered 150 to 200 kilometers. We were amply rewarded and saw giraffes, hippos, crocodiles, elephants, wildebeest, impalas, lions, one leopard, warthogs, baboons, buffaloes, one jackal, roebucks, vultures, bee-eaters, sunbirds, flamingos, and marabou storks.

The A7, Tanzam Highway from Dar es Salaam to Mbeya passes through the park, traffic slows down and from the public bus we had a taste of what was in store for the following day.

At Mikumi Genesis Motel we had hired a car and driver. At the entrance of the park we had engaged an official guide. It is also possible to hire a guide from Mikumi village, but the official park guide is more familiar with the whereabouts of the animals. It is quite difficult to spot lions. But with our official park guide we saw two!

A car stopped beside us and a contented, obviously high placed person next to the driver asked us if we had seen lions. Our driver became very subservient. It was then that we realised that this person was ‘important’. Our car turned round and we drove back to the lions, a fifteen-minute ride. Full of awe our driver said: "the Minister of Education".

We shook hand with the minister, his wife and children and together watched the lions. Then we said goodbye but didn’t ask him if it was normal practice to use the official car and driver for a family outing on a Saturday , and if tax payers money was well spent this way.

Entrance to the park is $15 per person, the guide set us back $10 plus tip. We hired the car and the driver for $100 and tip. All in all very reasonable especially when we compared this to Serengeti and other north of Tanzania where prices start at $150 per person.

In the northern parks it is possible to see large herds, thousands of animals. But you have to plan your visit carefully as it is only at certain times of the year that they migrate. We were quite happy with the smaller congregation of animals and hardly any tourists in the park.

I treasure the many business cards - some were simply handed out, others gracefully presented or downright thrust into my hand. They all have this in common: attractive lettering and pictures of lions and luring me into buying a safari. I treasure them because I did not fall into the tourist traps they represent.

‘A flycatcher’ was my first thought, when he approached me. In my Tanzania guidebook I had read about them. How they would approach me, unwary tourist, and would ask with big smiles if Dar es Salaam was to my liking, if I needed a taxi or to change money. "I’m here to help you", they would assure me. But their real aim is to palm off a safari. If I had jumped on all proposals I would have gone on numerous safaris to various game reserves. I would have been whisked off to Arusha, 600km from Dar, Ruaha 500km or Serengeti 800km or perhaps Selous a mere 300km, privately or in a group, whatever I wished. My Dar es Salaam flycatcher recommends his safaris with tenacity. I would see the big five: lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant, and rhino.

I had been reading about safaris and this is what it boils down to:
Budget starts at $100 per person per day, accommodation is in tents, the safari company provides mats and sleeping bags.
Mid-range starts at $150 per person per day accommodation is in lodges or permanent tented camps, there are real (camp) beds.
Upmarket starts at $200 per person per day accommodation in lodges, the more comfort the higher the price.

There is a catch though. Some companies are unreliable and there is a blacklist of malafide companies. Safaris are presented three-day safaris but prices don’t include the transfer from Dar to the park, which means that a three-day safari from Dar means:
Day 1: transfer to the park
Day 2: safari
Day 3: transfer back to Dar

But I am allergic to pre-arranged tours and decided to go to Mikumi National Park by public transport. It is 300km from Dar es Salaam to Mikumi. The last 50km pass through Mikumi National Park. Traffic slows down and from the public bus I had a foretaste: giraffes, zebras, baboons and impalas were watching the passing cars and its passengers.

On arrival at the Mikumi Lodge Motel we booked a car, driver and guide and a driver at $100 for the next day. Entrance fee of $15 p/p and tips were not included in this price. The next day we were picked up at 7:30am, toured the park all day long and left at 5pm. We covered about 200km. The tracks are bumpy and most of them are sign-posted. When our guide spotted animals we stopped got out of the car to have a better look.

I realise that this kind of safari is on a much smaller scale than the ones near Arusha and Serengeti in the north. But if you are an independent traveller I can highly recommend Mikumi National Park.

Scandinavian Express is by far the best bus company. They have nothing to do with Scandanavia. All their buses are Scania buses, hence the name. They have a reliable fleet, some of their buses are very new and modern. They ply the more frequently travelled routes: to Dodoma, Tanzania’s capital, Arusha and Moshi.

We travelled the stretch Iringa – Dar es Salaam in just under eight hours. On the way there is one sanitary stop, ladies to the right, gentlemen in the bushes, and a fifteen-minute lunch break. The price was Tsh 8000 (euro 8), which included a bottle of soda and water, a small sized packet of biscuits and three boiled sweets. Baggage is labelled and stored in the hold. Hand luggage and small cases can be taken on board.

The driver does not take unnecessary risks as many other buses had done before us. A Hood bus, a notorious cy with regards to safety, had passed us at great speed. A half-size bus was changing a wheel, the tyre had been ripped into two. Some old rusty wrecks of which only the carcass remained must have been beside the road for quite some time. A big truck had jack-knifed and collided with another truck transporting potatoes, squashed and scattered all over the road. The cabin had been ripped open and there was nothing left of it.

A little further yesterday’s truck was skilfully being dismantled by petty thieves, probably not all that petty. There were neat piles of tyres, screws, bolts and all sorts of things that keep trucks together.

On other stretches of the road repair work was going on. The single line traffic meant long waits.

The stretch Morogoro – Dar es Salaam has been resurfaced and is now in perfect condition, which in a way is a disadvantage as some drivers think it is a race track.

From Iringa to Mikumi the scenery is beautiful, the road leads over the mountains: wide views, wooded hills, mountain streams, African looking villages, mud huts with straw roofs, but also house built of brick.

Cyclists on the road must resort to the soft verges whenever a vehicle passes them. Loud hooting warns them when to leave the surfaced road.

The best stretch is just after Mikumi as the road passes for the next 50km through Mikumi national Park. When we passed giraffes were gazing at the traffic, an elephant and a troupe of impalas crossed the road, baboons were sitting on the wayside, zebras galloping further afield.

The Scandinavian Express stops in Morogoro and then in Bunga, Dar es Salaam main bus station, 14km from the centre. It then goes on to its own terminus in the centre. It is a quiet place, no pushy touts or taxi drivers. There is a large waiting room where we sat down for some time to adjust ourselves after this eight-hour almost non-stop journey.