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Tanzania (This just a start lots more to come)
Tanzania: officially the United Republic of Tanzania is a country on the east coast of Africa. It is bordered by Kenya and Uganda on the north, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the west, and Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique on the south. To the east it borders the Indian Ocean.
Tanzania is host to a multiple National wildlife refuges such as: Arusha, Mount Kilimanjaro (Highest Mountain in Africa at 5800 meters, Ngorongoro and of course the most famous the Serengeti . It is also host to over 1/2 million refugees from Burundi and Rwanda due to the instability in that area, as well as the UN tribunal on Genocide. It is a country of ext reams in social and cultural diversity and economic stability.
Although Tanzania is an extremely poor country finding accommodations and amenities for all levels of travel is rather easy. It is recommended that you book through local Safari companies as they tend to know all the in's and out's to make your trip memorable. Additionally, there are many rules and regulations regarding Safari's especially inside the Serengeti. Thus it makes good travel sense to use these local experts to help you plan so that you have a once in a lifetime trip.
As with travel in the third world you need to be aware of the physical and health related aspects of your trip. You will need to get shots for Yellow Fever and Hep A & B as well as take a prophylactic treatment while on Safari for Malaria. Make no mistake that getting septic in the bush is not a good idea and as such you should also plan to take basic medical supplies such a syringes, anti itch, antibacterial ointments, plasters, antiseptic, lots of DEET > 30% for the Tsetse fly and Mosquito's
Our suggestion would be to book 3 nights per camp or lodge and if you are close to the migration you may want an extra day. Many people move from camp to camp on a daily basic, but this just seems way too much as the wildlife is equally spread throughout the Serengeti so you are equally as likely to see a Leopard in one area as much as another. Additionally, by staying still you actually have more time for safari, Vs. moving from one camp to the next.
Jan and I spent the first 4 days at Mbuzi Mawe an executive tented camp north of Seranaro doing Safari and it was great, but the last 4 days we chilled out at Migration camp in the north. It is about as far away from the Migration (daily updates on the Migration) in February as you can get, but we saw Cheetah stalking a Gazelle, lots of local wildlife, Giraffe, including Buffalo, Hippo, Lion, Cheetah, Elephant (Over 100 in a single herd) and crocodile to name just a few. More or less we saw everything on our wildlife tick list except a Rhino, but we decided not to drive down to Ngorongoro
From our experience and people who have taken similar safari's that the way to go is through the tented camps. The all inclusive of using the travel agent lets you concentrate on why you are there, to have fun, not worry about transportation and the small crap.
However, some of the camps do not include wine or alcohol, so be sure to ask. The Serena chain is nice, the staff is quite good, but did not live up to the standards we experienced at Sopa Lodges specifically Migration camp. The attention to detail was absolutely the tops. Thus we thank Peter and Anita for their being such wonderful hosts!!!
Keep in mind these are wild animals and people do get seriously injured. Mostly because they do stupid things and do not listen to their guides. Hippos cause more serious injury's as they may seem slow, but once out of water they move that 6,000 lbs of meat at 25mph. Our closest call was an Elephant charge! We were told that 1 in 3 is a real charge, but we decided not to error on the side of probability and gave this full grown Bull plenty of navigation space. He was 25 meters away when I took the 1st pic and by the time we registered and told the guide to move..now!, he was less than 5 meters and abruptly stopped.
 
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