8 - Day Private Luxury Safari : Northern Parks & Materuni Waterfalls

When we first decided to start planning an Tanzania safari, we quickly found out what so many have before us: there is a huge number of tour companies to choose from, and countless itineraries to explore within them. While interacting with various tour operators to select one, we found James of African Polecat Safaris to consistently demonstrate a clear understanding of what we were looking for and present lodging and activity options that not only appealed the most to us, but that were the most competitively priced. Do not be turned away due to the smaller digital footprint of this company! From our initial inquiries up through settling on an amazing personalized itinerary and through our final trip preparations, James was there for us to answer all questions we had. We changed our itinerary several times due to changes in our availability and what our priorities were while there, and James patiently guided us through it all. On arrival to JKO airport, we were picked up by Brian who handles a lot of their transportation east of Arusha. Brian was exactly where we expected him to be and provided comfortable transportation from JKO to Arusha. Picking us up from Arusha on the first day of our safari was our guide Manfred. Manfred would be staying with us throughout our whole trip, so I really wanted to hit things off with him. Great guy, we liked him immediately. He introduced us to our vehicle where we’d be spending most of the coming week, helped us pack our things into the car, and off we went to enjoy our first day of wildlife viewing. Accompanying us after this first day was Brighton, who came along to get pictures for the company to use on their website and other various media. Brighton was likewise excellent company, and provided his own insights of the local wildlife (we found out later that he helped train others of African Polecat Safaris staff). It is impossible to credit Manfred enough with how fantastic this whole experience was. We booked a private safari for just us two, and Manfred was so kind to make us feel at home in the vehicle and welcome us with water, other drinks, and anything else we needed for the duration of the trip. On a day where we weren’t feeling well, Manfred was happy to alter our daily itinerary slightly (on our request) to return to the hotel sooner than expected. Each evening when having dinner with Manfred, he would ask us what we hoped to see the next day. The first time we had this conversation was after Tarangire (prior to our first day in the Serengeti). I think we said something about seeing a few of the “big five”. The next day, we saw them all (extremely rare), and from then on it became almost a game that we played. We would come up with some requests that were bordering on crazy (“a yawning hippo and more lions” or “two more Mara River crossings”), and every time without fail Manfred would deliver. I can confidently say that Manfred will do the same for you. There’s a lot of time in a car involved in a safari such as ours, and it’s important to expect that going in. These various locations are not very close together (transit ranges from 1.5 to 5 hours), and most of the roads west of Karatu are rough and bumpy. Further, some patience is required to see the sights that you’re looking for. This is why I think that the relationship between guide and client is very important for a trip to be successful. Similar to how James had an excellent feel for what we were looking for in an itinerary, Manfred was easy to talk to and kind, and understood exactly how to make our safari the best it could be. Last point I’ll make about Manfred is that we appreciated the way he shares the road and his knowledge with other guides. His manner of driving is always courteous to others and he frequently speaks to other guides and offers to help them. He’s always positively contributing to radio discussions about wildlife sighting (where others may not be so willing to share that knowledge). We selected a range of activities representative of the northern Tanzania region, including the following: 1 day at Tarangire National Park 2 days at Central Serengeti National Park 2 days at Northern Serengeti National Park 1 day at Ngorongoro Crater National Park 1 day at Lake Manyara/Mto wa Mbu Each park provided exactly what we hoped to see, including the many elephants and baobab trees of Tarangire, the full spectrum of “big five” (even a stray rhino) and a large pride of lions resting near a fresh kill in Central Serengeti, several Mara River crossings (including one where we witnessed no less than six crocodile attacks) at the Northern Serengeti, breathtaking rhino sightings in the Ngorongoro crater, and the wonderful people of Mto wa Mbu just before we had to leave. Manfred and Brighton both were very impressed with how quickly my wife was able to spot hidden animals, and joked that she should come work for the company. For our hotels, we most enjoyed the tented camps (we stayed at Moyo in Central Serengeti, and Baobab and Angata in Northern Serengeti). These offer both comfort and the natural environment we were hoping for, surrounded by wildlife. The food at these camps (and at each of the accommodations we stayed at) was excellent! We loved trying the different local dishes. Though I think the meal I will remember the most is enjoying a boxed lunch gathered around the hood of the jeep, out in the middle of the Serengeti. We would encourage those looking for a great wildlife viewing experience to allow themselves sufficient time to visit each of these parks separately and enjoy their uniqueness. Come visit this beautiful part of the world. But do yourselves a favor and do so with African Polecat Safaris. From start to finish, this experience was unbelievable in every sense and I’m so grateful to James, Brian, Manfred, Brighton, and the whole team for making our safari something that we will never forget.