Specialist Tanzania

Expertise and Specialisation

With over 15 years experience of operating exclusive safaris, beach holidays, walks and treks to Tanzania, our team at Specialist Tanzania meticulously plan and create fully-bonded Tanzania safaris including only the best Tanzania safari lodges, beach hotels and tented camps. All our safaris and holidays are available on either a land only or flight-inclusive basis.

Licences and Associations

With our Sales and Marketing office based in Surrey, England, and our Operations office based locally in Tanzania, Specialist Tanzania is a fully licensed Tanzania tour operator offering expert advice and booking support in the UK, and a dedicated and experienced support team in Tanzania.

 TRAVEL TRUST ASSOCIATION (MEMBER NO. U7736)
The Travel Trust Association is a trade association of Travel Agents, Tour Operators and Travel Organisers. The Travel Trust Association exists in order to protect you, the customer, with 100 percent financial protection. This means that all monies paid to us for your holiday services are protected by the Travel Trust Association.

Payments to a Trust Account

All payments made to Specialist Africa are made payable to a specially designated trust account which is supervised by a qualified independent trustee. Money may only be released from the trust to pay for the services which you have booked.

Travel Trust Guarantee

The Travel Trust Association also provide further protection through a guarantee that if by any reason of fraud or dishonesty, your money is not in the Trust Account under this guarantee, TTA will guarantee the financial obligations of its Members to repay such sum to you up to a maximum for any one passenger of £11,000. When you make a booking, you will be supplied with a guarantee certificate.

Financial Protection for International Customers

With making payment to our Trust Account plus the TTA guarantee, if you are a customer from the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, the Netherlands or anywhere else in the world, you will have exactly the same financial protection as customers booking in the UK.

 

Specialist Tanzania is owned by Specialist Africa Ltd, a fully vetted and accredited member of addictedtotravel.com. Addictedtotravel.com is a member of the African Travel and Tourism Association - ATTA - Advancing Tourism To Africa, a highly respected organisation which represents travel operators on the African continent.

Responsible Travel

Specialist Tanzania works in close partnership with a locally owned and managed company in Tanzania. We feel this approach has a more direct benefit on the local distribution of income from tourism. We support and fully endorse the recruitment and training of local guides, local group tour managers, drivers and representation staff. Rather than avoiding certain National Parks to minimise National Park entrance fees included in holiday prices, we prefer to include them as this revenue goes towards maintaining and improving wildlife conservation and management in Tanzania.

With our guiding principle of employing local people wherever possible our guests see a direct benefit in the improved local knowledge of our local team, whether that be knowledge of flora, fauna, history or just general Tanzanian life. Through this approach we can also maximise the amount of your tourism revenue that is delivered directly into the heart of the local economy, whilst at the same time providing our guests with a holiday which is fully financially protected by our bonding schemes and insurance cover.

Specialist Tanzania is also determined to do what we can to help minimise any negative impacts on the environmental, wildlife and cultural welfare of Tanzania through promoting responsible visitor behaviour; promoting waste reduction; facilitating cultural exchange between guests and local communities; supporting local businesses, goods and services; encouraging guests to eat local foods rather than imported foods; encouraging the conservation of natural resources like electricity and water; and promoting the importance of protecting the local environment and nature.

Tanzania Road Safaris

Season: Year round

Travelling by 4x4 safari vehicle, our popular one and two-week safaris operate in northern and southern Tanzania. Travel between National Parks and other places of interest is by road, allowing safari-seekers to see and experience more of Tanzania's diverse scenery, tribes and wildlife. 

Tanzania Fly-in Safaris

Season: Jan, Feb, Mar, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec

Usually incorporating remote game viewing areas of National Parks our Tanzania fly-in safaris utilise shared or privately chartered light airplanes to minimise travel time and maximise time spent game viewing. Always more expensive than road safaris due to the cost of chartering small planes, our fly-in safaris operate in northern, southern and western Tanzania. 

Tanzania Wildlife Safaris

Season: Year round

Taking in the very best of Tanzania's national parks and game reserves, our range of one and two-week Tanzania wildlife safaris will get you closer to the amazing diversity of Tanzania's wildlife.  From the lions of the Serengeti to the roaming wild dogs of the Selous, we offer Tanzania wildlife safaris in northern, southern or western Tanzania. 

Tanzania Family Safaris

Season: Feb, Apr, May, Jul, Aug, Oct, Dec

Specifically designed with kids in mind our Tanzania family safaris offer a variety of stimulating activities, combined with a few days of watching wildlife and a beach break at the end. Travelling time is kept to an absolute minimum and we include lodges with pools where available. With durations ranging from one to two weeks, our Tanzania family safaris only operate during school holiday periods. To ensure you get the dates you want, book early!

Tanzania Beach Holidays

Season: Jan, Feb, Mar, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec

With an Indian Ocean coastline of over 1,400 km and the archipelago's of Mafia, Pemba and Zanzibar, Tanzania is blessed with numerous options for tropical beach holidays. Powder-white sand beaches, coconut palms and warm inviting waters are a given. There is a growing choice of beautiful beach lodges and chic hotel retreats, particularly on Zanzibar. But don't ignore the lesser-known places - there are plenty of hidden gems that we've discovered over the years.

Food and Beverages

On mainland Tanzania and its smaller islands, due to the remoteness of wildlife lodges, tented camps and island retreats, the majority of our Tanzania safari holidays are based on full board, including breakfast, lunch and dinner. Lunches may often be picnic-style (or packed lunches), depending on the day-to-day itinerary and planned game viewing circuits. Dinners are usually 3-course, often with a soup or salad for starter, a main plate and dessert. A buffet selection may be offered in some of the larger lodges.

Our approach to the inclusion of meals on our Zanzibar holidays varies from one itinerary to the next. Breakfast is always included. Lunch is rarely included as most hotels offer light lunch options. Dinners are often included in the more isolated beach hotels. In popular Zanzibar places such as Nungwi or Stone Town, we normally just include bed and breakfast to allow freedom to dine out at a growing range of excellent local restaurants.

You may find that at some of the lodges we include in our safaris, soft drinks, beers, wine and spirits are included in the price - providing more of an all-inclusive safari experience.

Accommodation

On our Tanzania safaris we include a hand-picked range of exclusive Tanzania wildlife lodges, wilderness retreats and luxury tented camps. On Zanzibar, Mafia, Pemba and along the Swahili Coast we incorporate breathtaking island lodges and stylish beach hotels into our holidays - each chosen for its ambience, style, uniqueness, location, facilities and service.

On more adventurous and pioneering road safaris, which tend to get off-the-beaten-track in places such as the Usambara mountains, we stay in the best available small character/colonial-style hotels. On Kilimanjaro, depending on the trek route chosen, we either camp (sleeping in quality tents suitable for mountain conditions) or stay in dorm-style mountain huts.

Transport

On our Zanzibar holidays we supply either luxurious people-carrier style vehicles, spacious saloon cars or minibuses. All vehicles come equipped with all necessary safety features including seat-belts, fire extinguisher and a medical kit.

For Tanzania road safaris we use specially modified 4x4 safari vehicles which are well-suited to Tanzania'a variable road conditions, particularly dirt/sand tracks, forest trails and along rough minor mountain roads. Specialist Tanzania only operates with robust 4x4 vehicles such as Toyota Land Cruisers or Land Rovers. Although 4x4 vehicles typically seat 6-7 passengers in Tanzania (plus driver), we base all our safaris on a maximum of 4 guests, to ensure greater comfort and a guaranteed window seat.

All drivers carry mobile phones (network coverage is increasing in Tanzania). Major mountain ranges and a growing percentage of Tanzania’s most accessible National Parks have some coverage. Each safari vehicle is supplied with an ice-box and fitted with a pop-up roof hatch for optimum game viewing, sliding windows and radio contact. Air-conditioning is available for travel during the hotter summer months. Luggage is usually packed behind the rear seats.

Local Guides

Each of our Tanzania road-based safaris includes an English-speaking local Tanzanian safari guide/driver. Many of our local safari guides have been working with us for several years. Our driver/guides have a deep appreciation for and understanding of Tanzania's amazing wildlife and wilderness, whilst also displaying a love for their country and its people.

Since the day we started we have focused time and effort on the training and development of local Tanzanian safari guides. We have concentrated on this aspect because we realise that one of the most important contributing factors to a successful Tanzania wildlife safari is the ability, personality and knowledge of the professional local safari guide. As a result of this, on a safari with us, our guests are enriched with local knowledge and gain a wonderful insight into Tanzania's natural world.

On our Zanzibar holidays, a Specialist Tanzania representative is available throughout each holiday for support and advice on local activities. On our Kilimanjaro climbs we include an experienced local mountain guide who is supported by assistant guides and porters.

Age Restrictions

Tanzania is an exciting safari destination for families with older children. Zanzibar offers families with children of all ages a stimulating and exotic alternative tropical beach holiday destination. Each holiday we offer details whether the trip is suitable for children or not, due to differing child policies of lodges and tented camps, driving distances and terrain encountered.  Look out for our specially designed holidays for families -Tanzania family adventure holidays.

We do not have an upper age limit on our holidays although a reasonable degree of health and fitness is required.

What to Bring

A detailed recommended packing, clothing and equipment list will be forwarded after confirmation of booking. What to bring very much depends on the time of year of visit, type of trip and local destinations.