raelond

I was planning a trip to Tanzania in August, 2008, but with the way spring break falls with Easter (I am a teacher), I'm thinking of going the last two weeks of March that year. What can I expect that time of year in terms of game viewing, rain and numbers of people?

Leely

Isn't March calving season? As I understand it (I've only been in June and July), it's a deservedly popular time to visit the Serengeti. I remember our guide from our first safari telling us, "Yes, in March the Americans like to come."

Warm and possibly rainy.

I'll leave it to the experts to elaborate, but if you want Ndutu in March, you might want to think about reserving space soon.

See ADS' migration map for a rough idea of where the herds typically are/have been during different months.

http://www.africadreamsafaris.com/na...migration.html

Bill_H

<b>the last two weeks of March ... What can I expect that time of year in terms of game viewing, rain and numbers of people?</b>

We were there April 1-10, 2006 so pretty close to end of March. Here are my impressions ... for game viewing, the bulk of the migration was still on the southern Serengeti plains and we saw many new bird species compared to January 2006. Also good numbers of cats. No problems finding a lot of game, though the grass was so high near Seronera we had trouble seeing the cats at times.

For rain, well, no one really knows for sure but typically the &quot;long rains&quot; are in April and May and looking at the rainfall totals for Seronera and Ndutu shows that March is often as rainy as April, especially later in the month.

They were at the tail end of a 3 year drought but it broke with a vengeance in mid-March, raining so hard the main paved road between Arusha and Nairobi was shut for a while, never mind the bush roads.

We had rain several nights and a couple of days (intermittent), and the wet roads kept us from a couple of spots, but overall we coped with it OK and didn't get stuck or turned back too often. But of course it's different each year.

As far as &quot;numbers of people&quot; it was blissfully uncrowded in early April. A couple of nights there were only a few tables in use at the fairly large lodges we stayed at and except for around Seronera we saw few other vehicles.

Personally I'd say March will be more &quot;interesting&quot; than August in some ways and I'd advise going for it, realizing that you could run into a bit of rain (or even a lot of rain).

I would rather be in the Serengeti near the wet season than after several months of dry season though, and you'll see more animals on the Serengeti plains in March than you'd see further north in August, I feel.

On our trip we stayed 2 nights at Manyara, then 7 nights near Seronera, then another night at Manyara on the way back. We skipped Ngorongoro crater because of concerns about the roads (can be tough to get around when it's wet down there, as people are finding out right now) and we skipped Tarangire because the game tends to be dispersed there when it's wet.

I think if doing it again I'd check with the outfitter and try to be flexible enough to spend a day or two at Ngorongoro IF and only IF the conditions were dry enough. Manyara can also be impassable with heavy rains. I think it's uncrowded enough that you can keep flexible until a few days before the trip starts, watching the rains to see if it's worth while going to the crater or maybe Ndutu.

As for Ndutu, which I really enjoy in January and February, it might be great but it might be a muddy morass and our outfitter felt often the mass of wildebeests had moved north of Ndutu by April, though in April 2006 they were a lot closer to Ndutu than to where we stayed near Seronera and we wished we had stayed at Ndutu a couple of days.

Again, I'd see if I could wait until just before departure before committing to staying here, depending on the recent rainfall.

Here is a link to some pics from our April trip in 2006, the highlights were a baboon jumping into the jeep with my wife at Manyara's parking lot, the cheetah on the roof at Gol and the two lions attacking the lioness near Seronera, I feel. Certainly worth the price of admission.
http://members.aol.com/bhilton665/ta...2006/index.htm

So my advice is 'go for it' ... lots of game, not many people, but a pretty good chance of some rain.

Bill

raelond

Thanks Bill for the great information. I am really excited to be going in 13 months instead of 18 months. Has anyone been to Tarangire in March?

Travelnat

I'll be in Northern TZ the 2nd &amp; 3rd weeks of March 2007 for my 1st safari. Lots of hours of research and months of lurking on this board have provided tons of invaluable, useful info. That said, I found Eben's web sites (kiliwarriors dot com and go-safari dot com)to be very helpful re the migration, trip planning and great pics of accomodations. Also, Africa Travel Resource and Mama Tembo Safaris have some good info re accomodations and off the beaten path suggestions. No affiliation or bookings w/any of above.

Eben suggests that you hedge your bet by staying both in the Ndutu area and the central Serengeti area in March. LyndaS on this board has organized a marvelous compendium of trip reports (don't know the link). I have read most trip reports for No. TZ safaris from January thru April as far back as possible to get a range of what people encountered over the years due to the imperfect science of weather and wildebeest migration prediction.

The migration is my 1st priority so I booked my safari around availability at Ndutu Lodge. (We were waitlisted for 2 of our 5 nts there for a very long time). You will need to book asap for Ndutu and Seronera areas, depending on the type of accomodations you desire. I opted to go to Lake Manyara rather than Tarangire due to many reports of &quot;just average to poor&quot; animal sitings at Tarangire in March. Tho now I realize that I will miss some wonderful plant and tree species as well as certain species of baboons and monkeys. Interest vs time and money.

Weather should be hot in the day time, rains probable, amount depending on what kind of year it is. At some camps, lodges and hotels you might get shoulder season rates due to your dates, and some mobile camps may be packed up by then. Also, some semi-permanent camps might also be closed for their annual rainy season break and re-do. I presume that there will be fewer visitors at this time of year rather than Dec-Feb and during the summer months. Also hopefully less dust, tho higher grass will make some predator viewing more difficult.

I hope this is of some help to you, I'll be better able to speak from 1st hand experience upon my return in late March.

Natalie

dpdny

I had a fantastic visit to N. Tanzania last March -- including a very nice stay in Tarangire. Here's the trip report: http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34781952

Alas, with this year's weather who knows what 2008 will bring.

Daniel

raelond

Natalie, thanks for all the great information. I look forward to your trip report when you return. I am now going next March and am awaiting a quote on the following itinerary:

Overnight Arusha
1 night Lake Manyara (E-Unoto Retreat)
1 night Lake Eyasi (Kisima Ngeda)
2 nights Crater (Serena)
2 nights Ndutu (Ndutu Lodge)
3 nights Southern Serengeti (Olakira)
3 nights Piaya (Suyan)
Transfer to Seronera airstrip for flight back to Arusha

I hope I don't regret not including Tarangire.

aby

Tarangire is not at its best during March (recommende June-Nov)
- there is a local migration there...
many animals will be out of the park at this time

Unless you are interested in birds especially palaearctic migrants - this is a good time for them