GROUP JOINING VS PRIVATE SAFARIS IN TANZANIA
What is a private safari?
Our safari vehicle and guide will be reserved exclusively for your party in private safaris. So you will have the entire safari vehicle all to yourself, along with the guide’s undivided attention, which will ensure a more informative and personalized experience. With a private vehicle, we can customize your itinerary, accommodations, and daily safari timings to a reasonable extent according to your party’s needs.
What is a group-joining safari?
In Group joining safaris, you will be sharing the safari vehicle and guide’s services with a maximum of 6 (in case of budget camping) or 7 clients (in case of ensuite accommodations) with window seats for all. Itineraries cannot be customized, and daily timings are fixed throughout the tour.
Accommodations can be customized to a certain extent for some of the nights. Group joining safaris are cheaper than the corresponding private safaris.
At Monkey Adventures, we offer private safaris throughout the year while group joining safaris are available on select dates between June to October and December to February in Tanzania.
Below, we have highlighted the differences between these tours to help you decide which is best for you.
Client Profile:
Group joining safari
Group joining safaris are primarily geared for backpackers, solo travelers, and couples on a tight budget. Most clients on group joining safaris are young adults in their 20s and 30s.
Private safari
Private safaris are best suited for travelers looking for a more comfortable tour, travelers who prefer specific parks/wildlife/accommodations, clients with special requests, and those who are simply looking for a more personalized or relaxed experience.
Itinerary Customisation
Group joining safari
Group joining safaris have fixed itineraries, but they can’t be customized. Currently, we offer group joining safari tours in Tanzania for 2 to 8 days. You can find a full list of our group joining safari tours here.
Private safari
Private safaris can be offered for any duration (from 1 to 30+ days), and we can create a custom itinerary based on your preferences. You can find a list of safari tours in Tanzania here
Tour Availability:
Group joining safari
Group joining safaris are offered on select dates between December to February and June to October. They are not offered in November and between March to May. Since each vehicle can carry a maximum of 7 clients (with window seats for all), group joining safari tours can get fully booked out closer to departure dates.
Private safari
We can start a private tour on any date of the year for any number of clients. However, some accommodations often get fully booked out in advance. In such cases, we will offer alternative accommodations.
Safari Vehicle & guide:
Group joining safari
The vehicle used for Safaris is a 4×4 Toyota Land Cruiser with a pop-up rooftop and a maximum seating capacity of up to 7 clients plus the driver. For smaller groups (1-3 travelers), sometimes a truncated Land Cruiser that can seat up to 5 clients and a driver might be provided.
The guide would be an English speaking professionally trained wildlife guide. We do not arrange for European language guides to join tours in groups.
In Group safaris, your vehicle and guide might change in the middle of the tour, depending on the itinerary.
Private safari
There is no difference in Safari vehicles whether you opt for group joining or private safari. Changing the vehicle/guide in the middle of a tour is usually unnecessary in private safaris. We can arrange a European language-speaking guide at extra cost.
Pick-up on Day 1:
Group joining safari
Pickup will be offered from any location in Arusha between 6:00 and 8:30 AM (depending on the itinerary, and this can NOT be altered). The estimated pickup time is mentioned in the itinerary. The exact pickup time might change based on the plans for day 1 and the Arusha hotel where the client needs to be picked up. We advise customers to arrive a day earlier in Arusha, as this would provide sufficient time for resting.
Pickup from Arusha will be either in a safari Landcruiser or a transport vehicle similar to a regular cab. If pickup from Arusha is arranged in a cab, clients will be shifted into a Landcruiser before entering the national park.
Private safari
Pickup is usually at 8:00 AM from any Arusha hotel, but the timings can be altered. It can take place between 5:00 and 10:00 AM, based on the client’s preference. The clients will be picked up in a safari Landcruiser, which will be used for the entire duration of the safari. The guide is also provided during pickup.
Delays in pickup:
Group joining safari
Since we collect clients from different pickup points, a delay on the part of one client will most likely impact the schedule of every other client in the group joining the tour. So, we request everyone to strictly maintain the timings shared with you by your briefing manager.
Pickup vehicles (Landcruiser or transfer vehicles) can wait for a maximum of 20 minutes. After that, the pickup vehicle might depart based on our operations manager’s call. In such cases, clients might be given an option of paying separate transfer costs, converting their group joining safari into a private safari by paying additional fees or rescheduling their group joining safari to the next available date. Rescheduling fees will apply in such cases.
While we try our best to stick to schedule, clients on group joining safari should be prepared for some delay in the arrival of our vehicle as often it has to pick up clients from different locations in the town before arriving at yours.
Private safari
Since the Landcruiser is reserved exclusively for clients from the day of the safari, we can wait for a few hours if there is a delay in the client’s arrival. However, extreme delays could also result in customers being unable to do any game drives on Day 1 of the itinerary. (Game drives are only allowed between 6:30 AM to 6:00 PM in all parks/reserves)
Safari/Game Drive Duration:
Group joining safari
Total travel time for group joining safaris will be about 7-9 hours daily. This includes pick-ups, game drives, and dropping back of clients at their hotel(s). This cannot be customized. In some groups joining safaris, clients sharing the same vehicle might stay at more than one accommodation in or around the national parks. But they will all be close by. So, on some group tours, clients will spend an additional 20 minutes driving around in the land cruiser before and after the game drives.
Private safari
Game drive timings for private safaris are flexible and as per the customer’s interest. However, note that game drives are allowed only between 6:00 AM and 6:00 PM in all the parks and reserves. Every evening, your guide will discuss and follow the next day’s plan accordingly.
Accommodations:
Group joining safari
Group joining safaris offer a fixed set of accommodations for the entire tour. We call these default accommodations, and they are usually low-priced (but good standard) accommodations. The names of these accommodations will be mentioned in our quotation.
At some locations, you can choose to pay extra and upgrade to higher-tier accommodation within a 20-minute drive from the default accommodation in group tours. Compared to private safaris, the choice of accommodations is quite limited. Accommodation upgrades need to be planned/confirmed at the booking stage.
When a default accommodation is unavailable for a client, we might book a similar-tier accommodation close to the default one. This is usually communicated before we take the booking.
Private safari
We provide a wide choice of accommodations ranging from budget camping to high-end luxury hotels in private safaris.
Add-on Activities:
Group joining safari
In group joining itineraries, while some activities like Balloon safari and a visit to a Maasai village are possible, some other Add-on activities like hiking may not be feasible as the entire group needs to stick to the same schedule.
Private safari
Customers on private safaris can opt for Add-on activities at an extra cost while visiting locations such as a Maasai village or the Olduvai Gorge. They can go on a hot-air balloon tour, canoe (at Lake Manyara and Arusha National Park), hike, cycle, and much more.
Meeting New people:
Group joining safari
In a group, when you join safaris, you have a great opportunity to make new friends since you share the land cruiser with strangers. You get the chance to socialize with people from diverse backgrounds, learn about each other’s culture, and learn about the African wilderness.
In a group joining a safari, the group’s composition may change over time. This can happen because some clients may choose a shorter tour and leave the group in the middle of the tour, while others from different group tour itineraries might join for overlapping days, leading to a dynamic composition of clients during the trip.
Private safari
You can interact with other travelers at accommodation over a campfire and drink in the evenings. However, the window of opportunity to interact with other guests is limited as compared to a group joining a safari.
Luggage:
Group joining safari
Customers opting for group safaris must bring only one bag or backpack per client. Having more luggage will inconvenience fellow travelers, and if the entire luggage doesn’t fit in the boot, we might have to shift some bags around the seating area, congesting the vehicle.
Private safari
Luggage will only be a problem when bush flights are involved, or the land cruiser is filled with seven clients. Luggage won’t be a problem in private safaris as such.
Safari Decorum:
Group joining safari
Customers in groups joining safaris are requested to maintain group decorum. They are expected to maintain timings, not misbehave or be rude towards fellow travelers or the guide, and not monopolize the guides’ time or attention, depriving other clients of the opportunity to interact with the guide.
While all clients get window seats, they are still expected to rotate between the front and back rows during the safari with mutual understanding. The guide will decide on any and all disputes regarding seating.
Private safari
Issues mentioned under group joining safaris will not exist in a private safari, but our clients are expected to respect the views, opinions, and cultures of the people they encounter on safari and abide by the local laws and regulations.
Bottom-line:
Group joining safaris provides good value for money for those who are on a tight budget, such as solo travelers. It is also good for couples who are trying to save costs, but it might not give them the privacy they might require.
Private safaris are the way to go if you are looking for extra comfort, convenience, and your schedule. For customers traveling with children, family, elderly, or wildlife photographers, we recommend a private safari, as it would give them a greater degree of flexibility.