Tarangire Park Safari On A Budget

We have all heard about the Serengeti and how it inspired so many Hollywood movies, along with the Lion King. While it has gained in popularity there are other parks just as inspiring, full of beautiful animals and won't break the budget or bank. Tarangire Park Safari on a Budget is the perfect balance, especially for Solo travelers. Honestly sometimes I feel travel companies punish solo travelers by charging double just because we travel alone, but luckily I found a company that doesn't do that. I'll give you all my tips on booking, what to wear, safety tips, and how to take banger safari photos so make sure to read it all below. I'll also compare the other nearby parks I visited as well and which one was my favorite. 

Booking Your Budget Safari And What To Expect

I was visiting Zanzibar on a week long Scuba Diving trip, and wanted to do a Safari for my big 40th Birthday to fulfill a bucket list trip, since I travelled all that way. I booked through Greg's Adventures, which is through a team associated with a German couple who settled in Tanzania and hire locals to help you get to the parks without breaking the bank. 

The best part about booking with them is that they both pick you up from the airport, as well as do not charge an arm and a leg for a single supplement like most of the other Safari companies do. The drawback is that I didn't stay within the park (which is a lot more expensive) and some of the meals for lunch were a bit lacking. However, if I'm not being picky - then this is the way to do a Tarangire Park Safari at your own pace, catered to the number of days you have available (from 1 day to 5 days) and they can mix and match to different operators to help you visit the parks you want to on your budget. 

Animals You Can Expect To See In Tarangire National Park

You can see a lot of Elephants in this park some up to 300 per herd, along with Lions, wildebeests, gazelles, zebras and hartebeest, buffaloes and various predators that may roam the area depending on the time of year. You can see Hyenas, cheetahs, and the rare wild dogs. 

There are also impalas, elands, buffaloes, giraffes, Bohor reedbuck, Coke’s hartebeest, Thompson’s gazelle, the greater and lesser kudu and on rare occasions, the unusual gerenuk and fringe –eared Oryx are also seen.

Once you have seen the Big Five on the Safari's, I encourage you to also look out for the exquisitely colored and diverse birds that are in this park. You can see over 545 species of birds alone in Tarangire National Park, and if you are a wildlife photographer, you know how difficult it can be to capture birds in photos from a moving vehicle in a group tour. 

On rare occasions the black rhino is still seen in some Safari's, but they care elusive and shy from the line of cars that are driving the Safari circuit. 

Instagram vs Real Life - Managing Expectations

You need to understand that if you book a Safari, especially on a budget, there will be about 40 other vehicles driving the same route, trying to get their customers the same view. Some of the drivers can be quite aggressive to get these views, and drive right in front of your view. 

While it was intensely frustrating for me at times, as you can't exit the vehicle, we also had a very patient driver (Abraham) who never allowed us to miss a view. Because he is kind, patient and fair, he also seemed to be one of the first to be notified by other drivers to the rarer sightings like a Leopard and a distant Black Rhino. 

On the converse side, you only have limited time in the park, so you need to be on time in the mornings to get into the park before there are vehicle cut offs. You also need to not argue with your driver on how long to stay in a spot, or when to move to another spot. This is what they do every day, all day, they know the animals, the land, the other drivers, and genuinely want you to be able to see as much as possible. So manage your expectations, and TRUST YOUR DRIVER KNOWS BEST. 

If you want to see and do more, you need to spend the money to do so - if I was to do this again, and had the money to do so I would definitely spend the money to stay in the parks themselves. Email me and I can introduce you to the company I would recommend, they are friends of mine and really give a luxury experience at an affordable price - culturetrekking196 (at) gmail. com

Camping vs Lodges Outside The Park vs Inside The Park

I opted for the more expensive option of staying inside a lodge for my Safari, while the rest of those in my group opted for camping in tents nearby. While their lunches were incredibly delicious, their sleeping and showering situations really depended on the camping site available. 

Some of the campers said that prior guests left the tent flaps open, and were bombarded by mosquitos the entire night that felt more like harpoons biting than normal mosquitos. Other campers said they slept well, but the showers were not draining well and they didn't trust stepping in the dirty waters. While I didn't stay in these camps, it really was a 'roughing' it situation and requires some grit to stay in these camps. It didn't look too awful when I toured the showers quickly, and everything seemed relatively clean - but to those not used to camping situations, I can see it could leave a lot to be desired. 

The staff at the camping sites were very accomodating, the camping sites were protected by fences, and staff available 24/7 so there is no danger of a predator coming to get you in the night. 

For me, I'm a bit of a worry wort, and don't sleep when I hear strange noises. I also took way to many medical classes, parasitology, and tropical medicine courses to be able to convince myself that staying in a tent would't end in death (albeit likely more in my head than in real life to be fair). I opted to stay in a newly built hotel, with cold drinks, prepared food in clean kitchens, and access to electricity - the only downside to this - is the hotel is about an hour drive from any park, and it does take away from your time to be able to visit the park. On hot days, it can be very grueling to be in a vehicle that doesn't have working A/C (which most Safari vehicles do not). 

Food to Expect When Booking A Budget Safari

When you are booking a budget Safari it is also important to remember that along with the budget accommodation comes more of a budget food menu. However, my lodge had great food with clean kitchen for dinner and were so gracious with providing food with my weird allergy to bell peppers.

There were plenty of options for both adult beverages and regular beverages, some standard plates of meat (usually in sauce or BBQ) with a carb (rice, potatoes) and veggie (beans, carrots, or other root veggie), and then followed up with a dessert. You can also opt for a appetizer, and the dining area is up on the second floor of the main home with beautiful views of the surrounding farms and Lake Manyara in the distance.

Lunch options are a bit limited, with some BBQ chicken, a veggie/meat samosa, fruit, muffin, juice box, ketchup, potato wedge and pickle from the lodge. To be honest, the whole meal was pretty dry, and wasn't that great - but then saw how our guides would snarf it down - I was a bit humbled by my internal complaining & my spoiled palate. The camping lunch folks it was a full on meal in dishes that kept the meal hot (even though it was already warm outside) and was catered to the vegetarian option. So it really comes down to which comforts are most important to you. To me, as a solo traveler, I will take a safe, mosquito free place to sleep anyday. 

For myself, I don't usually eat a lunch, so it didn't matter to me much that the lunch from the lodge wasn't quite as yummy as the camping - but it also was catered to my allergies. 

Tips On Taking Safari Photos

If you don't have a fancy camera aka a DSLR or similar, with a telephoto lens up to 600 then I would either invest in one or rent one. I would also bring binoculars with you, some really good ones that have an excellent focus tailored to your particular vision. I didn't bring mine, and I absolutely regretted it as I was left sharing binoculars with 6 other people in the car. 

Having a telephoto lens made it possible to forgo the binoculars most of the time, and capture the moments I wanted to. The car space is too small for any kind of monopod or tripod, however bringing a sock and filling it with sand on arrival or bringing a bean bag to help steady your lens is what I have seen other photographers in the neighboring vehicles use. 

Make sure you have a UV and/or ND filter on your lens to protect if from the sand that gets stirred up from the other vehicles. I was cleaning my lens after every stop which equated to about 15 different times. You can't just use a cloth to clean the lens as it can scratch the filters, so bring a silicone hand air blower to get the majority of the dirt off, then gently clean with a cloth or hand held brush. 

For settings, this depends on the speed, I would opt for time value of 600 or above, and an f stop as high as you can get it without making the photo too dark as it will give you more room to not be exactly on the animal and still have it in focus as you bounce around in the vehicle. If you can't shoot in manual then try for fast shutter speeds or the fast setting, and just take as many pictures as you can. You can also take video and then with editing software pull frames from the video, or screen shot it from your iphone. 

The problem with only using your phone, the more you zoom in, the more pixelated the video and photos become. Most of the time, the animals are about 4-5 blocks away from the vehicle, rarely are they coming up right next to the car - so this is why I highly suggest in investing in a camera that allows you to shoot animals far away. 

What To Wear For A Safari

When the guides suggest wearing neutral colors, you wear neutral colors like beige, white, brown, and khaki. You don't want to wear anything with color basically, as this attracts the bastard flies that bite like frenzied zombies at a brain surgeon convention. I tested this out by wearing the colors they said not to for the initial drive, and deeply regretted it by the first bathroom stop, even sitting in the vehicle. Luckily I brought a change of clothes and quickly was relieved of any bites, simply by wearing the correct clothing. 

Don't come to a Safari expecting to be fashionable, wear linen pants in tan or Khaki, and a white or beige shirt that is breathable that comes to the elbow or wrist. Then a hat the covers the forehead and is wide brimmed along with sunscreen that doesn't smell (to avoid attracting bugs). 

My arms and neck got burned quite bad sitting inside the vehicle, as the top pops up, and the windows are usually open you can get quite burned as the position of the sun changes. If you are taking anti-malarial medication, you also have the real possibility of having severe diarrhea as a known side effect (personal experience). So since you can't get out of the vehicle expect for at designated areas, I would HIGHLY suggest bringing lots of electrolytes to mix in with your bottled water, as well as Immodium (an anti-diarrheal) that will save you from embarrassing emergencies. 

Would be a really bad day to be taking a poop and have a lioness take interest in how you smell, or a worthog....

Tarangire Vs Other Safari Parks

My particular tour was over three days, and each day we visited a new park. Taragire was definitely a favorite for me, but Ngorongoro was by far the most diverse and you could barely keep up with how many animals were popping up on each side. 

It also depends on the time of year that you visit, if you visit in the wet season (aka winter for the southern hemisphere March to November) then you aren't going to see such a large concentration of animals and the trees are in full bloom so you get a lot of vegetation coverage. 

If you visit during the dry season, you can see a lot more animals all congregating around the water sources. This is also when mating season is happening for a lot of the animals, especially the lions. 

I loved that Tarangire was so flat, there were hardly any vegetation coverage, and it required me to look for the animals a bit more. It was very dry and very warm in the vehicle in the afternoon, but it was also the first time I saw a herd of elephants protecting the baby elephants, so it will always be a very special place for me personally. 

Compared to the other parks, this was the best park to observe the elephants, their mannerisms and get the up close shots of their noses, cut bums, and see their ears flapping. We also saw a female and male lion courting each other in a mating ritual, saw a lot of impalas, giraffes and wort hogs as well. 

In Ngorongoro the elephants were more in the vegetation, and there are no giraffes, but you do see the hippos, wildebeests, warthogs, impalas, Zebras, and many many other herd animals in the valley. The Lions prowling and sleeping by the streams and water sources waiting for their next meal. 

Lake Manyara National Park we saw a lot of birds, monkeys, and it was much more difficult to see animals - you really had to keep your eyes peeled for the animals which made it feel a bit more like an explorer. It was also a park that is not as visited, so you get more time to ask questions, enjoy the views, and really connect with other people on your safari. The land here looked quite scorched but it was because of the salinity of the waters of the lake that gives it a eerie look that is completely different from the other parks. 

The Serengeti is going to be further away and the most expensive park with the most vehicles that are opting for the prime viewing spot. If you want to see he Serengeti, I would plan to visit this one alone, and do it on a higher budget, maybe opt for an extra day at Ngorongoro Crater as it is comparable to the Serengeti, but just doesn't have the wildebeest runs and the epic vast flat landscapes with the National Geographic like settings etc... 

No matter what park you pick, you are guaranteed to see animals of every variety and unique landscapes at each that you cannot see anywhere else on this planet. 

Costs of A Safari To Tarangire National Park

Park entrance costs alone are $45 per person, per day, then depending on your level of accomodation you are looking for can cost anywhere from:

• Budget camping safaris – $150-200 per person per day
• Mid-range lodge/camping – $300-400 per person per day
• Luxury lodge stay – $500-800+ per person per day

Just keep in mind, how many times you plan on going on a safari and then decide on if it worth investing in a higher range stay or not. Hint: I would invest in the higher range stays, inside the park if I was to do this over again.

Getting Back To The Airport - With Different Schedules

What was really nice about booking this solo traveler budget friendly safari with Greg's Adventures (no this isn't sponsored) - is that they can tap into the other drivers around and shuffle people when needed. 

They were able to shuffle us into another vehicle with a super chill driver that had loads of stories, when half of our original crew had to go back to the airport. There was even a bit of time before picking up the new folks where he took me to see a local museum - although it was mainly to sell the local gems and jewelry - I still found it interesting.

It was nice to play car shuffle too because you meet so many more people, the mother and daughter that joined our car were going to climb Mt Kilimanjaro together (um...wow). She was a bit older too, and I was so impressed and her strength, grit, and her job as an NGO negotiator (of sorts) - she still inspires me to finish that last set of squats a bit heavier at the gym to this day. 

My Takeaway of Tarangire National Park Budget Safari

Of three parks I was able to see on this three day safari in Tanzania, I think Ngorongoro Crater was my favorite for the variety and number of animals in a cooler setting. However Tarangire National Park was my favorite for the Elephants, Giraffes, and mating lions I was able to see here. I could skip Lake Manyara and opt for another day at Tarangire or Ngorongoro, but am grateful I was able to see the varied landscapes and such different environments that each unique animal thrives in. 

You can really feel how wild this place is, and how every animal and human are on their guard at all times. It truly is a feeling of constantly being on your guard to not be eaten, it is the survival of the fittest. 

This is a trip I will remember for the rest of my life, and got some amazing shots, and was able to see the big 5 (albeit the Rhino from far away - I'm still counting it, lol). 

I hope you have an amazing time on your Safari, and you can book one that fulfills your dreams but doesn't break the bank. Travel is possible for every budget, if you research and choose carefully - luckily this one is tried and tested for you and I do recommend it to my friends/family. 

Leave any questions you have in the comment section below. 

As always, thanks for your support, and never stop exploring. 

Guided Tours of Tarangire National Park Safari

Where to stay Near Tarangire National Park

Like it? Pin it for later! Sharing is caring ;)

Latest Articles On Culture Trekking