flight from Arusha to Serengeti National Park, Tanzania (full length) [brown noise]

internal flight from Arusha to Serengeti - heading to safari at Serengeti NP, Tanzania

Tips from my trip: What your travel agent probably won't tell you is that you can stay at a cheaper JRO hotel and take an internal flight from JRO the next morning to the various safari parks. Most agents will book you in a 'partner' Arusha lodge (1+hr drive from JRO) only to fly back to JRO (1hr) the next morning, then to the parks. This isn't horrible if you have time to enjoy the Arusha lodge/area, but if you get in late it's a complete waste of time and money when all you want to do is get to bed after a long international flight. Me and another couple were scratching our heads at the complete rip off -- since we were never told of the various options. It foreshadowed a horrible experience with the Asilia Africa lodge company (avoid them!!).

For all internal flights, be ready for an extra 1-2 hrs flight over what you are told since there are a lot of stops (mine: told 2hrs - actually 3hrs, 5 stops total from Arusha to Seronera airstrip-central Serengeti) and because of all the moving parts of picking up and dropping off, people being 1hr late. Bring snacks, water, noise cancelling headsets (cause it's loud), go to the bathroom during stops if there's time because you might not get another chance (bring TP), and during Africa's winter/fall bring a hat, jacket, full length pants and closed shoes because it can get cold up there; during the summer dress light because it'll get hot and the vents don't always work. I travel with a rechargeable fan.

Also, once you land, you will do a safari drive on the way to the camp (unless you don't want to) - usually with a light picnic before/during depending on the distance. So have all your gear handy and ready to go once you land.

Tips from my trip: DO NOT book with Asilia Africa! More like Ashitia - crap service from start to finish. After camp management repeatedly failed to address what should have been simple fixes, I asked to leave; yes-that bad & only got worse. They don't have a monopoly on the locations, so while the areas I filmed in were good, the camps were not. Book with anyone else but Asilia. Parting gift: COVID!! This is a 'short list' of what I experienced:

their travel agents:
- Don't book directly through them!! I booked a month & a half out, directly through Asilia & pointedly asked their agent about the current timing of the wildebeest calving (a mass birthing of wildebeest babies)-which I told them was the sole reason I wanted to come to the Serengeti at that time of year. Agent either lied/didn't bother checking-because I found out after I arrived that the calving season had already started BEFORE I contacted Asilia for a quote. By time I booked & paid, calving process was in full force, over by next week- 1mo before I arrived.

the food:
- hit or miss quality of meals; the meat/eggs almost always overcooked
- worst packed lunches I've ever had on safari
- Got food poisoning from meal sat in warm picnic box for over 5hrs. They pack field meals in warm box because they 'don't want to serve you cold food'-hello salmonella breeding ground.
- They requested preferences, then refused to accommodate minor dietary requests for health issues. Repeatedly served me the 2 ingredients I asked them not to which would aggravate my reflux on bumpy safari jeep/eating dinner right before going to sleep. Managers knowingly gave me a drink-said 'it only had a little of the ingredient it in it, they 'felt that was okay for me' - even though I had explained the symptoms they caused (stomach acid shooting up into throat). Imagine if you had a peanut allergy & they served you something with 'only a little bit of peanuts in it because 'they' felt it was a small enough amount to serve to you. Hello anaphylactic shock!!
- asked for cocoa they packed coffee/tea

the jeeps:
- their open jeeps look cool, but animals can see you as individual humans-vs jeeps with doors that wildlife sees as one big box-they are afraid when they see you move & run off.
- jeeps have plastic sheeting on the sides - it rained a lot, my stuff and I got very wet
- the plastic sheeting vs doors with windows (that other camps use) prevents you from being able to film/take pictures in the rain; consider your safari over if it rains
- jeep never had fully working charging stations-had to ration my batteries. Had to limit video recording to have enough power to last the entire day-missed out on recording a lot of things.
- jeeps are HORRIBLE-poorly outfitted & accessorized (compared to other companies' jeeps); photography jeep is the worst-& costs more!