Getting to Arusha
 

We are planning to do safari departing from Arusha and is having difficulty finding the best way to get there. Our original plan is to arrive in Dar es Salaam then go from there, but I found that arriving in Nairobi may save us some time. With limited budget, we are considering bus as long as it is safe. What should we do? We plan to go to Zanzibar or other beautiful coastal areas in Tanzania afterwards.

I've done it a couple of times. Pretty cramped, and road travel in Africa is not nearly as safe as staying in bed, but don't let that worry or stop you.

Johan

There are many accidents with busses in Tanzania as the drivers tend to race from city to city... did it many times but with my kids I fly.. or rent a driver / car.

Drive to Arusha from Dar es Salaam or Nairobi takes the same time as the road from NBO to Arusha is being worked on... and the border crossing can sometimes take long..

but for safety and budget... NBO will be cheaper to fly to and there is a good save bus connection for approx $35 pp. Also the drive from NBO to arusha is nicer in my opinion.

I normally use:
http://www.riverside-shuttle.com/

Zanzibar is nice and the cheapest of the island to travel to. A hidden gem in Tanzania is Pangani it is approx 5 hours from Arusha by car.



Fly to Zanzibar. Dar es Salaam is not worth the hassle.

Thank you. How about carrying luggage onto the bus with us? How much room we (two people) can expect to have?

Thank you Meneer. We are flying into Dar es Salaam now and catching a Precision flight to Arusha, but will consider taking the bus to Dar es Salaam then ferry to Zanzibar.

I took a Precision (large) prop plane from Arusha to Zanzibar last year - it was a decent flight and gave us amazing views of Kilimanjaro.

Consider flying ZanAir too - I took a flight from Zanzibar to Dar that cost only a little more than the ferry and I have heard others complain about large waves and sea-sickness on the ferry between Zanzibar and Dar.

Did you look into flying into JRO (Kilimanjaro airport) too? I found it to be cheaper (when factoring additional travelling since it is much closer to Arusha) than Dar and Nairobi when I flew over there.

I was able to get a quote from Precision Air to do DAR-JRO-ZNZ-DAR for about $360, so I think that is what we are going to do since this might be cheapest way to go to/from all these different places (although we wouldn't mind a little adventure on the bus or ferry).

I too strongly recommend driving. All the time you will spend at airports on the above itinerary would be better spent on the ground, seeing the sights and interacting with the locals at various villages along the way. It would be an unforgettable experience.

If you do a search on Arusha, you will find a thread here from a year or so ago discussing this.

I'm thinking about those same DAR-JRO-ZNZ-DAR flights on Precision..and that quote seems more than reasonable.

As a word of caution, I was considering taking the ferry to/from DAR to Zanzibar, but I did hear from one travel agent that there was a recent sinking.

It's possible to get transport to Namanga (border) and on to Arusha - and enjoy the scenery, even great views of Mt. Kilimanjaro and Arusha (weather dependent, of course), animals, etc. I'd avoid the matatus, but there are other forms of land transport (bus, vans, etc.) and theycan often be arranged on site by competent agents in a hotel or agency. And I think it's Impala shuttle that does the Nairobi - Arusha trip; figure a half-day.