How Safari Planners Get Ready for Safari: Our Tanzania Prep & Top Tips!

Jambo Rafikis!

This weekend, the two of us, Mefi & Georgie, fly to Tanzania to visit the camps we love, game drives and long-overdue catch-up with friends and ground teams. We spend most of our year getting guests ready for exactly this moment, so this time we're turning the lens on ourselves. We both grew up in Tanzania, so this always feels like going home. It’s extra special that we get to go on Safari together for the first time, to the place where Journey to Africa was born. Tanzania is the place that shaped our love for the wild and wonderful corners of Africa, and its incredible people.

Walking in the Ngorongoro Highlands. I can’t wait to be up there soon!

You can find a Safari Packing Guide on our previous blog. This is the other stuff: like small decisions and random admin that make the difference between arriving frazzled and arriving ready. This is what our own prep has looked like this month as we got ready for our long awaited Tanzania time!

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1. Check your passport before anything else.

From Mefi

My passport expires next May, which put it right in the danger zone for Tanzania. Most East African countries expect at least six months of validity beyond your travel dates, and airlines can refuse boarding if you fall short. I renewed mine here in Houston, and the whole process was super quick.

Our tip: look at your passport the day you book, and check that you have a at least a couple of blank pages too. It's the one thing we can't fix for you from the bush!

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2. Do the visa, but don’t panic if it doesn’t come through!

From Mefi

I applied for my Tanzania e-visa a few weeks ago, and it got … rejected! I think because of my passport expiring, so I had to start again. It hasn’t come through yet but hamna shida - no problem. I will take the printed proof of payment with me, and they should be able to find it on their system. If not, I have spare $100 to get the visa on arrival. This is a good test for us to make sure we experience everything our guests might with visa issues, queues, etc, so we know how to best prepare our guests.

Our tip: Apply at least two weeks ahead. If it doesn’t come through, save a copy of your approval on your phone and print one for your carry-on. And bring $100 as backup.

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3. Switch to WhatsApp!

From Mefi

I learned this one the hard way the other day. I spent twenty minutes on an international call with the Tanzanian insurance helpline, and the phone bill that followed was eye-watering. A WhatsApp call over wi-fi would have cost me nothing. Most of the places we stay have wi-fi, either in the rooms or in the main area, so Whatsapp is best for calling home too or sending us the occasional picture of your travels! Whatsapp for the win!

Our tip: Before you leave, download WhatsApp and save our numbers - we will have formed a group chat. Most camps have wi-fi in the main areas, which is plenty for a quick text/call home.

We love whatsapp on Safari, and keeping in touch with our guests!

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4. Bring the camera (yes, the big lens too).

From Georgie

Mefi nearly left her camera at home to save weight this time. I told her she'd regret it, and I'm happy to report her 70–300mm lens is coming with us. Phones are brilliant for landscapes, camp life and the people you meet. We are extra excited that we have one of our favorite photographers in Tanzania, Fahad Fuad, joining us for a few days to get some moments of us on Safari.

Our tip: pack your camera gear in your carry-on, bring a spare battery and extra memory cards, and practice with your settings at home before you go.

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5. Watch the weather, then relax about it

From Georgie

I am based in Kenya, and we are seeing a lot about the start of the super El-Nino. Tanzania's short rains usually arrive in November, and forecasts are showing showers rolling in a little early this year. I spotted the forecast last week, and the plan is simple: a jacket, quick-dry layers, and shoes that can handle a bit of mud.

Safari vehicles carry ponchos, and when the rain comes you're usually tucked inside the vehicle or relaxing in your tent with a cup of tea. Rain also brings fresh green landscapes, dramatic skies and beautiful light afterward. The smell of the dry plains once they have finally drunk up the rains is something else - petrichor, it’s called. The smell of new life to come!

Our tip: pack layers you can add and peel off through the day. Early mornings on a game drive are chilly, even in Tanzania. You don’t need heavy rain gear - lodges have ponchos, umbrellas etc. Also, if you want the most accurate weather app, get Windy - it’s what all the pilots and remote camps use here.

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7. Remember to enjoy the downtime too!

Our first week is a run of back-to-back lodge visits, drives, night game drives, walks and all that good stuff! We have to remember to enjoy that cuppa tea in the afternoon, that morning coffee with a view. Those little moments where you can breathe, and just be present for awhile. Wildlife and game drive excitement will always be the driving part of your Safari, but for us - these little peaceful pockets in the day are sacred too. Chai tastes the best in the wild - fact!

Our tip: tell us in advance how you like to travel. We'll share it with your guides so your days feel like yours from the start.

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8. Think about the people

From Mefi & Georgie

Some of our happiest Safari moments have nothing to do with wildlife. I'm having dinner with old friends in Arusha and we're catching up with guides and the ground teams we've known for years and email almost everyday! Safari time is a time to connect, and laugh and learn.

Our tip: share what lights you up, whether that's birds, photography, culture or kids who want to drive the vehicle (with supervision!). It helps us choose the right lodge vibe, guide, and location for you.

Excited to catch up with old friends - our guides, ground partners, lodge teams and everyone in between!

Follow along!

We'll be sharing news from the bush on Instagram stories throughout the trip. Come along for the ride, and if a Tanzania Safari is on your list, we'd love to start planning yours.

Asante sana,
Mefi & Georgie

A Family Safari in Tanzania and Kenya: The Middletons' Story of Seventy Lions, Serval Kittens, and Guides Who Became Family

It's hard to describe the feeling of being on Safari, and even harder to put into words what the experience brings to you and your family. We sat down with Journey to Africa guests, the wonderful Middleton family, fresh off an eleven day, three-generation Safari through Tanzania and Kenya, and they told us all about it. It was incredibly special.

Grandparents, parents, and grandchildren, all in the same vehicles, all watching the same sunrises. If you have ever wondered whether Africa can really deliver a Safari that works for every generation of your family at once, from the grandparents wanting a rare cheetah after fifty years to the six-year-old who just wants to say hello to every bug on the path, this is what that looks like.

As Mike told us afterward, "there aren't words, because it really is a feeling in the heart."

The whole crew, Sundowners in Mara North, Kenya

Why Tanzania and Kenya Are Some of the Best Family Safari Destinations in the World

Tanzania and Kenya remain two of the best Safari destinations for multi-generational families, and it comes down to variety and flexibility. Tanzania's Tarangire and Serengeti offer wide, dramatic landscapes and some of the most reliable wildlife density on the continent, ideal for grandparents who want comfort without sacrificing sightings, and for kids who want to see everything, often before lunch. Kenya's conservancies, like Mara North, add a more private, personal layer: fewer vehicles, closer relationships with guides, and camps built around families rather than around crowds.

Together, the two countries let a family move from big, iconic wildlife country into something more intimate. It's a pairing we design often for exactly this reason, and the Middletons' Safari is a good example of why it works so well across generations.

The Route: Tarangire, the Serengeti, and Mara North

The Middletons' Safari moved through some of East Africa's most iconic wildlife regions, each one chosen to build on the last, and each one offering something different for a different member of the family.

They began in Tarangire National Park, Tanzania, at a camp tucked between baobab trees beside a natural water hole, where three generations spent long afternoons by the pool watching elephants drink just beyond the deck. From there, they travelled into the heart of the Serengeti, where the wildebeest migration was in full motion, before crossing into Kenya to finish in the Mara North Conservancy, bordering the Masai Mara.

Tarangire eases a family in gently and the Middletons loved this start. The Serengeti delivers scale and drama for every age group at once. Mara North closes the trip with the kind of intimate game viewing, and intimate relationships with guides, that tends to matter most to families once the big sightings are checked off the list.

One family member summed up the pacing perfectly: "Every single day I said, well, we've done it all, we might as well go home now. And it just kept being richer and richer and richer."

Seventy Lions and a Fifty-Two-Year Wait for a Cheetah

Wildlife sightings on this trip were, by any measure, extraordinary, and they became a shared language for the whole family, something grandparents and grandchildren experienced side by side and still talk about together.

The family lost count of the lions somewhere past seventy, watching everything from two young males in Tarangire to a full pride hunt in the Serengeti, where a lioness lured a wildebeest steadily closer to the rest of her pride before the final chase. They witnessed a mother nursing her cub, three tiny cubs at a den, and a pride driving off a young male who had returned looking for food.

Then came the sighting almost nobody gets: a mother serval hunting in broad daylight, catching a mouse, and disappearing under a bush with three kittens in tow. Even guides with decades of experience called it rare. We have certainly never seen Cerval kittens despite a lifetime of Safaris!

And for Mike, the trip's most personal moment came watching three cheetah brothers move across the open plains. He hadn't seen a cheetah in the wild since 1974, fifty-two years earlier. On this Safari, surrounded by his own children and grandchildren, he saw four. Goosebumps.

"I saw a cheetah in Nairobi National Park. I hadn't seen a cheetah since," he told us, still sounding a little in disbelief. "So it's literally fifty-two years ago."

Watching the Great Migration Up Close

No Tanzania Safari itinerary through the Serengeti in this season is complete without the wildebeest migration, and the Middletons saw it in full force, twice, an experience that left an impression on every generation in the vehicle.

Massive herds crossed in front of them, dust rising, the noise and chaos of thousands of animals moving as one. During one crossing, a crocodile grabbed a wildebeest by the tail, only for the animal to twist free at the last second, to a wave of relief and cheers from the whole family.

"The photos don't do justice to the experience," Mike reflected. "You can show a photo, that's a nice photo, but it's just not the same as standing there and how beautiful it all is."

A Huge Highlight - Safari Soccer

Wildlife wasn't the only highlight. When the staff at Serian The Original found out one of the kids loved soccer, they were delighted. Before long, they had organized a full match, around 30 staff members strong, kids, parents, and guides and lodge team together, with chorus of hippos cheering from the riverbank.

It's a perfect example of what happens when lodges see guests, of every generation, not as visitors passing through, but as people worth showing up for. It's exactly the kind of memory that makes a family Safari to the places we stay so special.

Mzia put it simply:
"The hearts of everyone. I mean, we cried. We were crying every time we said goodbye, all the time, for so many reasons."

Safari soccer game in the wild!

Guides Who Become Family

Long after the wildlife sightings fade from memory, it's the people who stay, and for the Middletons, the relationships formed with their guides became the heart of the whole trip.

Their guides, Zea, Richard, and Tuma in Tanzania, and Steve and George in Kenya, became part of the family, in the truest sense. Zea, Richard, and Tuma held the youngest Middleton at the airport on departure day, reluctant to let her go. Every evening, staff walked the family from dinner back to their tents, stopping patiently for every single bug one of the kids wanted to inspect along the way.

On the last day at Serians ‘The Original’, guide Steve let the children each take a turn behind the wheel, one at a time, safely seated in his lap. Junior guides in training, if only for a lap around camp.

Mike and Mzia, Grandparents, became affectionately known as "Babu" and "Bibi" by everyone they met at the lodges.

Mzia made our day too when we chatted… "The work that you do is not unseen and unfelt by us. I'm telling people, who helped you design this trip? I'm talking about the two of you all the time."

Sundowners, Send-Offs, and Bush Chocolate

The small rituals of Safari life left just as strong an impression as the big sightings, and became some of the most heartwarming memories of the whole trip. Birthdays and an anniversary were celebrated along the way, and the entire staff threw a farewell sundowner on the family's last night, drinks, dancing, and more than a few tears.

Mornings started with hot chocolate in the bush and breakfast set up in the middle of the plains, a detail the youngest Middletons may never quite let their parents live down back home!

Planning Your Own Multi-Generational Family Safari?

If you are dreaming of a Safari that brings grandparents, parents, and grandchildren together around the fire, sightings and stories for years to come, Tanzania and Kenya remain two of the best family Safari destinations in the world for exactly that reason. We would love to help you build one shaped around your own family.

Mike and Mzia, or Bibi and Babu, asante for trusting us with this Safari for your whole family. We will remember your curiousity, open-minds and hearts for a very very long time, as will the people you met in our favorite places.