Reply To: Ngorongoro Crater safari

[Colin MacKinnon]

I would say that Tanzania seemed incredibly expensive, the government know how to change with he National Park fees!

We flew Swiss to Dar Es Salaam and then Air Malawi to Jo’burg via Malawi – so I have been on both their aircraft!

We flew Precision Air to and from Dar to Arusha, a popular starting point for safaris. Caution: the runway at Arusha is short and high, so Precision could not take all the passengers and their luggage. They came up with all sorts of ideas: leave the luggage for a later flight, and take the passengers. Take the luggage and bus the passengers to Kilimanjaro airport, and finally – fly over Dar without stopping, and just take the Zanzibar passengers and their luggage!

We chatted to the pilots about flying and once the ground staff saw that we were “friends” with the pilots, they let us collect our bags and then just as the steps were about to be removed, waved us over the aircraft and up the back stairs! It turned out that the aircraft was flying back from Zanzibar to Dar to overnight, so we got back to our hotel!

If you go to Ngorongoro, I would suggest flying into Zanzibar with Qatar. Skip Dar – the only hotel is the Holiday Inn, which is OK, but is a 30-40 min drive into town, and there is nothing to see in town. And then a 40 min journey back. Then get your flights from Zanzibar to Arusha.

Loved Stonetown in Zanzibar. There is a great hotel rooftop bar at The 5th Upendo House, just by the Fordanhi Gardens. You must go there in the evening for the sheer joy and fun of everyone around the various street food stalls.