I met the Tanzania safari tours company Udare a few years ago in a talk on Responsible Tourism in which Aitor, the reference person in Spain, spoke about how the company works. At that time I had no plans to visit this page or do a safari, but it was already in my head that if we made this trip we would do it with this company.
Why Udare?
The Spanish-speaking guide and the driver are two different people, something that does not usually happen on this type of trip. In this way the driver can focus on the roads and look for animals and the guide can more calmly explain everything we see.
The company is committed to Responsible Tourism and is part of FAADA (Foundation for Advice and Action in Defense of Animals).
It is a Tanzanian tourism agency so our money stays in the country, without intermediaries.
I had read many good opinions from other travelers on the Tanzania safari tours, and when it is such an expensive trip it is important to have a good experience. They allowed us to make changes to the chosen itinerary.
In our case, our guide had a little fluent Spanish and sometimes gave us the feeling that he did not understand our questions about the country, the culture, etc., but he explained in detail each of the animals we saw.
PRIVATE OR GROUP SAFARI
A private Tanzania safari tours was the option that we chose , you go alone with a guide and a driver. For us it was a dream trip that we wanted to enjoy 100% without depending on the tastes / needs of other people. We chose what time to go out, which animals were among our preferences, ... when you share the trip these decisions must be agreed with the group. It is the most expensive option because you cannot divide the common expenses (guide, driver, vehicle, gasoline, ...) among the different travelers.
Another option is to do the Tanzania safari tours with a group of up to 6 people accompanied in addition to the guide and the driver, it is the other option available in Udare. This option is somewhat cheaper because common expenses are shared.
Finally, you can choose to do the safari with a company that goes out in large groups . They move in adapted trucks (instead of the 6-seater Jeeps) and are groups of 18-20 people. This option is the cheapest but slowest, you wait for the group, the truck cannot enter everywhere, dealing with the tastes and personalities of the people in the group, difficulty in enjoying the silence of the safari.
DURATION OF THE SAFARI
The duration of the Tanzania safari tours depends on your budget, the days you have available, the desire you have to see animals ...
A safari is not a route in which on day 1 you see an elephant, on day 2 a lion, on day 3 ... if you do not travel to a place where there are animals and you will be able to see them or not, after 5 days you may not have seen a lion or that on day 1 you have seen 10, you never know.
Our safari lasted 5 full days and for us it was a little short. The days flew by, and although it is true that the last days when you see a zebra or an antelope you no longer live with the same intensity, perhaps we should have enjoyed two more days because even at the end we wanted more.
VACCINES
When traveling to a country like Tanzania safari tours, you must book well in advance, make an appointment at the Foreign Health consultation to be informed of vaccinations and medical recommendations for the destination.
In our case, they recommended that we be vaccinated against Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B, tetanus, typhoid and malaria.
We were already vaccinated against hepatitis B and a first dose of hepatitis A (for our trip to India ) so we got a reminder of Hepatitis A, and the typhoid vaccine, the tetanus vaccine we had from when we were small.
Regarding malaria, there is no vaccine that prevents contracting the disease . You can take Malarone, so that in case an infested mosquito bites you, the treatment is already started.
On our visit to Tanzania safari tours to the Foreign Health doctor, we told him that we preferred not to take this medication in advance, since we had read very negative comments regarding the side effects. The doctor gave us the option of treatment with Malarone in case of having symptoms (mainly high fevers) and our commitment to see the doctor in less than 24 hours, and we chose this option. Although as we have said, the best thing is that you go to your doctor and consult him directly.
On the other hand, we informed the doctor that we usually suffer from traveler's diarrhea and she recommended, in addition to the probiotics that we already take , the cholera vaccine that also serves to reduce this type of ailments. In this case it is a drink vaccine that he prescribed for us and that we had to take a few days before the start of the trip.