GUIDE FOR FAMILY SAFARIS IN TANZANIA WITH AFRICANMECCA

A family safari to Africa binds you together in shared gratitude and wonder. No matter how old you are, these delightful memories will last a lifetime but also bond families together for generations to come by retelling stories from positive experiences and also those from challenging times. Children love Africa, and Africa loves them. Parents and grandparents sharing a Tanzanian wildlife and cultural vacation with their generational children is an enriching experience. You will borrow their clear vision and enthusiasm for new wonders. They will learn and grow in firsthand contact with the fabulous creatures, places and people they have only seen in pictures.

Of course, there are concerns to overcome which AfricanMecca can help you unravel. The first consideration is health. With preliminary shots guidance, improved insect repellents recommendation, mosquito netting accommodation and malaria prophylactics, there is no need to worry other than common sense aptitude. Warm clothes for early morning and evening at altitude are also a consideration. You need to be sure of convenient and comfortable transport for older and younger family members, and for suitable accommodation. Depending on your budget bracket, this may be at large, popular tourist spots or more secluded locations. A few family camps and lodges now offer family tents or suites, and fully staffed private villas and bush houses are also available.

It is essential to choose somewhere where food can be tailored to the needs of your family, and AfricanMecca’s recommendation will be specially based on your custom safari preference and interest at all times. Some venues serve special children’s menus before adult dining times. Some lodgings provide child-minding facilities and others have special activities for like-minded children. Careful choice of guides with varied activities makes all the difference.

A knowledgeable guide who loves his subject will enthuse children who already have an instinctive yearning towards the natural world, a desire to learn and delight in its sights, sounds, smells, and textures. Watching a proud Maasai warrior guide teaching a youngster to make a bow and arrow or even crack how to set alight fire, or his gap-toothed wife threading beads with a little girl, or dancing and singing with exuberant joy, joining in a game of Bao, or having a lesson in Swahili or Maa, your face will ache with smiling.



Timing is paramount for vacationing families on tour in Africa. Taking into account school holiday periods and climate factors, it is likely you will be traveling at peak times, Easter, Summer or Christmas. The summer holidays fit in well with the Great Migration in northern Serengeti and the better visibility of fauna concentrated during the dry season at shrinking water sources. At Christmas, flights are often heavily booked from Europe to Africa to escape the winter cold, so early arrangements are advised for those flying across the Atlantic. Possible destinations would be to combine your safari with a sun-kissed beach island vacation on the Indian Ocean, or even more offbeat on Lake Tanganyika or at Rubondo Island by Lake Victoria.

In helping to plan your household trip to Tanzania, AfricanMecca will take all these things into account and many more you may have overlooked. There is no problem with older children on adventure travels in Africa. For safety reasons, children less than 10 years old may not trek Kilimanjaro though 7-year olds and 80 plus years old have summited to Uhuru peak. Tanzania chimpanzee safaris to Gombe and Mahale are off-limits to children under 15 and 12 years respectively.

In general, children under 12 years should always be accompanied by a responsible guardian adult at all times and no one, child or adult, should wander without a guide, accommodation guard or park ranger, especially when moving around campgrounds. Children over three years are very welcome at Tarangire Treetops, a boutique tree lodge in a baobab grove on a private Maasai concession just outside Tarangire, Tanzania’s fourth largest national park. The lodge supports local community projects and also orphanages around Tanzania. Special children’s programs and activities can be customized, and everyone, guests and hosts alike have a thoroughly enjoyable time.



In western Tanzania’s remote Katavi wilderness, Palahala Luxury Camp welcomes children but preferably over 6 years of age for maximal convenience. But it is a long flight to access and presents a contrast between primitive amenities and self-indulgence in a dramatically changeable environment, lush and beautiful early in the year, vicious and raw in the dry when hippo and crocodile fight for a place in the mud.

Compared to the southern park accommodations in Tanzania, generally, children less than six years are not allowed, or to walk or boat under 12 years old. However, there are exceptions. Lupita Island Resort & Spa is a dream come true for families on relaxing lake tours in Africa, with two family villas on a remote private island floating in the clear turquoise waters of Lake Tanganyika. There are no large wild animals in this ultimate luxury setting, reached only by air and boat.

Ngorongoro Crater Lodge is a large, fantastic, boutique Tanzanian safari base with stunning crater views. There are no specific family suites, but children are welcome with the available private guided activities with AfricanMecca. Triple tented suites are available for families at prestigious Sayari Camp in northern Serengeti, ideally placed for the dramatic Mara River crossings from July to October of millions of gnu during the Great Migration, but also known for fabulous game viewing from December to March during the connoisseur season when the rest of the crowd are further south to witness the calving season of over half a million wildebeest over a three week era.

Azura Selous is another extravagant tour accommodation in southern Tanzania in the secluded expanse of the Selous wilderness which welcomes children over six, providing educational activities from them and demonstrating their own outstanding record of eco-friendly practice. Selous Impala also offers two family tents. Mbuzi Mawe is another family deluxe camp offering adjacent tents with cots and extra beds, babysitting, children’s dining, adventure and entertainment for children of all ages.



The list goes on with Singita in western Serengeti’s Grumeti Reserve, Escarpment Luxury Lodge by Lake Manyara, all Serena Lodges, and many more, including Ndutu Safari Lodge in the conservation area of Ngorongoro which has one family room for two adults and two children. AfricanMecca travel planner will happily help you to sort through the options and find the right time, place and price for you to book your unforgettable family safari holiday to Tanzania.

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