Safari and beach honeymoon

Hi,

We've just come back from Safari in Tanzania followed by a beach holiday in Zanzibar. It was absolutely amazing and I cannot recommend it enough! We arrived in mid November and saw the beginning of the migration. Saw lots of lions, cheetah, leopards, elephants, hippo etc

We used a company called Shidolya for the safari. Our guide Crispin had been working for them for over 17 years and was really knowlegeable and friendly.

Here's the link: http://www.shidolya-safaris.com/about.html

Our budget was quite limited but they were very reasonable compared to the other companies and we even got an upgrade in the Serengeti to a very fancy tented lodge (not sure whether they organised that or we were just lucky). We paid £2,000.00 for the safari which was 5 days long (1 night in Tarangire, 2 nights serengeti and one night Ngornogory crater). That price is for a safari for 2 people so there aren't any other people in the vehicle with you. Our accommodation was mainly Serena hotels/lodges and they were great. Food is all included in that price so you dont' really need much cash during the safari. Maybe for tipping and buying some extra water and alcohol.

Zanzibar was quite expensive we thought. Main courses were around $20.00 in the hotel we stayed at (Pongwe Beach hotel). Really nice though! Can recommend the snorkle trip to Mneba (I think that's how it's spelt). We got to see some dolphins...

Hope this helps! You'll have the most amazing time! We'd go back in a heartbeat.

Trailfinders might be worth a look - I haven't used them but I know people that have - they specialise in tailor made holidays so might be worth popping into a branch or giving them a ring. I saw on their website inspiration for a Tanzania / Zanzibar holiday that looked amazing.

This is exactly what we would love to do as a honeymoon but will depend on funds after the wedding as we will be doing it the year after I think. Will be keeping an eye on your thread to see how you get on! xx

Hi we are having our honeymoon on Safari too

It's not til next year so I can't tell you how good it is yet, but alot of people recommend Travelsphere to me so we have booked it through them x

Will be keeping an eye on this thread as this is something oh and I would LOVE to do if we can afford it...we don't want to spend over 4k but when I asked a local travel agent she said she thought it would be around 6k but this was off the top of her head. We then thought maybe we wouldn't be able to afford it but from what halloweeny has said, 2k for the safari part sounds very reasonable. Halloweeny do you mind telling us how much you paid for the zanzibar part? We will be about a month before you Liz210284 as getting married 6th September 14 not long!! xx

Hi!

We fly out to Kenya on 13th Oct 2014 for 2 weeks including a 2night safari! So excited! It came in at under 4k but had to haggle.

Flying with Thomson but booked through Stewart Travel :-) x

The zanzibar hotel was $200 a night. We stayed there for 5 days and then went to Stone Town for a night before flying back... Pongwe Beach was great! Stunning beach and the food was really good.

I didn't enjoy our stay in Stone Town that much. If I did the trip again, I would probably just do a day excursion rather than spending a night there. But maybe I was just a bit 'travelled out'. Hubby said the same...

We got quotes from Trailfinders that were £6,000 so decided to do our own research. There are quite a lot of threads about safari companies and hotels on Zanzibar on the Tripadvisor board for Tanzania, which we found really helpful. Lots of info about what to wear and how much money you need when you get there etc.

There is one thread, which I now can't find, that gives a list of safari companies and we just contacted a few for quotes. Most of the quotes were quite a lot cheaper than going via an agent.

Happy planning! Wish I could do it again!!

Hi all

So we appear to have narrowed our options down to 2.

the first is a 10 day luxury honeymoon 3 nights safari in what I can only describe as gorgeousness!!! And then 7 nights in a lovely spa hotel in Zanzibar.

the other option is a 7night safari with virgin holidays. Travel between 3 or 4 different lodges....mixed reviews and then 7 nights in Zanzibar but not in as much luxury as the first.

really not sure what to do. Swinging more towards the luxury but then what other opportunity will I have to be on a 7 day safari in Africa!

Both are around the same price around £5k. The virgin one is cheaper and just under the £5k.

had loads of quotes over the months and all varied with their level of accommodation.

decisions decisions