How to book a Serengeti budget safari
In October 2019 I participated in a four day safari in the Serengeti National Park and in the Ngorongoro Crater. Before my trip, I hardly found any articles on the internet that would help me find a budget safari. Therefore, I decided to write my own guide on how to find a budget safari in Tanzania.
For many people a safari is an unfulfilled dream because it is too expensive. And it’s true, a safari can be very expensive. Especially in Tanzania. But this should not keep anyone from this dream, because here is the good news: there are also budget safaris.
However, it might be difficult to find the right safari. After all, the price range for a four-day safari is between 650 and 5,000 dollars (or even more).
How is that possible?
The difference between a budget safari and a high-end safari
The differences are actually quite simple, because there are only three essential ones:
- is it a group safari or a private safari?
- the accommodation.
- the expertise of the guide.
It goes without saying that private safaris are more expensive than group safaris. But don’t worry. A group safari doesn’t mean that you spend the safari with 30 other people. The groups are small and consist of four to six people. In our case, we shared the car with two other people. On the last day, we even had the car for ourselves.
On a budget safari of 650-850 dollars you sleep on camp sites. These nights can be quite uncomfortable, but the price doubles or triples quickly if you want to stay in a lodge. There are not many lodges in the Serengeti or the national parks nearby anyway, so the prices are quite expensive. Obviously, all the budget safari travelers sleep on the same camp sites. That means depending on the camp site you will have 30 to 100 other people around you.
On budget safaris it may also be that the tour guide is more of a driver than a wildlife expert. If you book a more expensive safari, you can assume that the guides have a lot of knowledge about animals. On a budget safari you can be unlucky and the guide doesn’t know much. Our guide had knowledge of the animal world, but I wouldn’t call him an absolute animal expert to be honest. Probably every zoo employee in my country knows more about the animals as our guide does. However, that was no problem for us.
For us it was clear that we were not willing to pay double or triple for the safari. Because the most important thing is: you see EXACTLY the same on the safari, no matter if you choose a budget safari or an expensive one. The animals don’t care if you spend 700 or 5’000 dollars on it.
Of course, there are some other small differences. Budget safaris sometimes have older vehicles (all tours use the same vehicles, though) that can occasionally break down.
At some point, our car couldn’t continue for half an hour, but we didn’t mind. In addition, food can be less exquisite on budget safaris than on more expensive ones. However, we were always satisfied with our meals (except the always same and boring breakfast).
Now to the question:
How to book a budget safari?
Unless you know someone who has just been on a budget safari and can recommend the tour operator to you, it is best to book the safari directly in Tanzania. The two cities from which the safaris start are Arusha and Moshi. We landed in Arusha around noon and had an afternoon to organize the safari. The next day we wanted to start.
I have to admit that we doubted our plan a bit. We didn’t know if it would be easy to find a budget safari with a trustworthy tour operator. Especially in this short time. In the end, we didn’t need more than two hours to find the budget safari we were looking for. And this is how it happened:
In order to be as close as possible to all the safari offices, we booked a hotel in the center of Arusha. The center is where the Clocktower Roundabout is located. We booked the Equator Hotel, which was nothing special but definitely fine for one night.
When we checked into our hotel at about 13.30, we asked if they could recommend a tour operator. Ten minutes later, the owner of a safari agency was standing in the hotel lobby.
There are several national parks in Tanzania that are basically right next to each other. We explained to the gentleman that we have four days and three nights to spend. Our top priority was of course the Serengeti National Park and the Ngorongoro Crater, the two best parks in the country or maybe even in the world. The other parks you can visit are Lake Manyara National Park and Tarangire National Park.
It was also important for us to be back in Arusha by 17.00 on the last day of the safari, as we had our flight from Kilimanjaro Airport (which is one hour away) to Zanzibar at 19.40. We regarded this condition as critical, as the journey from Arusha to the Serengeti already takes four to five hours. However, we would have been willing to cancel a day safari if our tour operator had not been able to fulfill this condition.
But that was no problem according to the guy. He guaranteed us we’d get to the airport on time. Then he put together a program for us that looked like this:
First day: Transfer from Arusha to the Serengeti in the morning, game drive in the park in the afternoon
Second day: Morning game drive in Serengeti, transfer to the Ngorongoro Crater in the afternoon
Third day: Morning game drive in the Ngorongoro Crater, transfer to Lake Manyara National Park in the afternoon
Fourth day: Laka Manyara game drive in the morning, transfer back to Arusha in the early afternoon, where we should arrive at 16.00 o’clock.
One day usually consisted of 4-5h game drive and another 2-3 hours in the car for transfers.
How much did we pay?
After he created our program, his first offer was $1,200 per person and we rejected it. We were clearly looking for a budget safari and for us 800 dollars per person was the absolute maximum. I read about people who did a Serengeti Safari for 650 dollars. That’s why we knew it would be possible for under $800.
The tour operator then immediately went down to $800, so it was clear that we would have got a cheaper price with a little better negotiating skills.
We informed him that we would give it some thought. The main reason for our hesitation was of course that we wanted to get some other offers. Basically, the gentleman made a trustworthy impression and we were not averse to booking the tour.
In the next step we searched for reviews of this company. On TripAdvisor the company had an average rating of five stars. Unfortunately, only seven people had given their reviews. In addition, most of the people who rated the tour had only written one review in total on TripAdvisor. But better seven reviews than zero.
After that, we went to a safari office called Easy Travel right next to our hotel. I read on TripAdvisor that they are specialized in budget safaris. However, when we asked for the same tour, they gave us a price of 1’800 dollars per person. So that was done for us right away.
When we left the office, we were approached by a tout on the street who wanted to sell us a budget safari. Basically, you don’t even have to actively search for a safari in Arusha, the safari will you find. The tout led us to another safari office, in which we were offered the tour for 720 dollars.
The man in the office said he would give us another discount of 20 dollars and drive us to the Kilimanjaro airport for free after the safari. So it was the much better offer than the first one.
While we had lunch, we checked the reviews about his company on TripAdvisor. Most of them were also very good. In contrast to the first company, more than 100 people have already given their rating. However, some of the reviews were also very negative about the tour operator.
Our gut instinct decided in the end and we booked the tour with the first operator. Somehow, we liked him more than the gentleman with the cheapest offer and he also tried harder to meet our requirements. As a thank-you, he also offered us a free ride to Kilimanjaro Airport after the safari. Of course we accepted that gratefully.
In summary, budget safaris are absolutely possible and $800 for four days and three nights is more than fair in my opinion. The couple who shared the vehicle with us even paid only $700 per person for the same tour. Plus you have to consider that the safari is all inclusive. You don’t have additional costs for accommodation, food etc.
The only additional costs are the tip for the guide and the cook. There are different opinions about the amount of the tip. We gave $50 per person at the end of the safari and split the money so that the guide got $35 and the cook $15.
How many days should I go?
Most regular safaris last three to five days. I also met people who visited the Ngorongoro Crater in one day from Arusha and people whose safari lasted 10 days.
There is no definitive answer to this question and it depends on your interests. If you enjoy watching animals for ten days, then go for it. If that would be too boring for you (like it would be for me), then choose a three or four day tour.
It also depends on which parks you want to visit. Because of the long journey, the Serengeti already takes two days and the Ngorongoro Crater another day. These two parks are a MUST and don’t dare leave out one of them.
The other two parks in this region are Lake Manyara National Park and Tarangire National Park. Both are also beautiful parks, but do not reach the majesty of the Serengeti and the Crater. If you go for four or five days, then insist that you visit Lake Manyara National Park and Tarangire National Park on the first two days. Seeing these parks after the Serengeti and Crater can be a bit underwhelming.
Our safari lasted four days and three nights. In hindsight, I would consider going only three days and two nights. After that time I basically saw enough. But the fourth and last day was also okay and it is not that I got bored.
Just remember that one day less doesn’t reduce costs proportionally. That means, if you paid 700 for four days, three days will not cost 525 but 600-650. As I already wrote, the park fees (especially for the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater) are a big cost driver. These fees also apply to shorter safaris.
Is it possible to do a safari independently?
Theoretically you don’t need a guide for the safari. You only need a 4×4 vehicle and can drive the Serengeti or the Ngorongoro Crater on your own.
The advantage of a self-drive safari is that you don’t have to share the animals with other tourists. The guides of the guided safaris are in radio contact with each other. This means that if one of them sees a lion, it usually takes less than five minutes and ten other cars position themselves in a semicircle around the animal, as you can see in the picture below.
The disadvantage is that you have to find the animals first. You may see a lot of animals in the Serengeti or Crater, but since you are not connected to the radio of the safari drivers, you will inevitably miss the one lion or leopard.
How was the safari?
It was awesome!
Seriously, the safari in the Serengeti was one of the best things I have ever done. In retrospect, I am more than happy that we booked a budget safari and didn’t spend a fortune on it.
But it was also not always easy and a real adventure. Want to read more details? Then read my Tanzania travel report.
Do you have any more questions about budget Safaris in Tanzania? Then leave a comment. 🙂
