4 Things to Know When Booking a Serengeti Safari for Your Clients
byDori Saltzman/除非您定期为客户预订野生动物园或去过Serengeti,否则很难知道一些细微差别会对您的客户的体验产生很大的影响。在与非洲的山丘上度过了Serengeti(中部和北部)在Safari上度过了四天之后,我们选择了一些技巧,可以帮助旅行顾问进行Serengeti Safari计划。
1. A good guide trumps everything.
When it comes down to it, clients go on safari to see the wildlife. While a nice lodge with modern amenities is great, if your client leaves without having seen a lot of animals, they’re going to feel let down. A great guide is the difference maker.
The best guides are excellent wildlife spotters, are educated on everything your clients will see, and are social and interactive. To ensure your clients will have a good guide here are a few things to know.
First, you need to understand there are two types of guides. Camp guides and private tour guides.
The first are employees of the lodge or tented camp at which your clients are staying. They drive open-side jeeps and your clients may go on drives with different guides throughout their stay. Camp guides that have been with the camp for at least a couple of years should know the area of the Serengeti in which their camp is located like the back of their hand, including some of the more off-the-beaten spots that others don’t go to.
For instance, though we had a private guide, he had previously worked in the Central Serengeti as a camp guide. He knew that the Eastern Serengeti, which costs $10 extra per person to visit, is the best place for big cat spotting, and he knew which part of that area specific cats like to hang out in. We saw six cheetahs that day (not to mention seven servals, the hard-to-spot African wildcat, and multiple lions) and were one of perhaps six jeeps the entire time, a rarity on safari!
Private tour guides, like the one we had, are those employed by a safari company or agency and remain with your clients throughout their safari regardless of how many lodges and camps they stay at. In many cases, the best tour guides began their careers as camp guides, sometimes in multiple national parks, and then moved on to private touring.
当您研究要与哪些野生动物园公司合作或要将客户送往哪些旅馆和营地时,请询问有关其指南的问题。而且,如果您知道一家公司有一个特定的指南,并有了过去的客户的出色评论,请查看您是否可以提前保留他。
Do they provide in-house training?Only a handful of companies (all high-end), including Asilia Camps & Lodges, &Beyond, and Nomad Tanzania provide in-house training.
What type of training or schooling have their guides had?所有的导游都必须获得许可,这意味着他们年代hould all have been through at least one guide training program. But there are continuing education workshops as well.
他们的向导赢得了任何奖项吗?Not a make-or-break question as most guides won’t have won any awards, but it’s worth asking. Our guide at Hills of Africa was the fourth-place finalist in the annual Tanzania Best Guide competition in 2020. With the competition being an annual thing, thereareother finalists out there.
他们的指南平均工作时间是多少?Ideally, you want guides that have been around for eight or more years. But, generally speaking, not more than 25 as being able to spot wildlife is highly dependent on a guides’ eyesight.
As an example, our guide spotted a Black Rhino from a lookout point on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater. The rhino was more than 2,000 feet away on the crater floor, and he did it without binoculars! And on our one day in the Eastern Serengeti, he spotted seven serval cats – a record even for him.
If you’re arranging a private tour for your clients, make sure the guide selected has several years on the job. Not only are they better at spotting wildlife and having the answers to your clients’ questions, they know the roads better, including how to race over them when a crossing is happening several miles away.
他们的向导是永久性的还是基于需求雇用的?
随着需求的增加而雇用的营地和旅行社不太喜欢拥有最好的指南。最好的指南总是在员工身上,许多按需员工刚从培训中崭露头角,实际上几乎没有指导的经验。
2. Distance to river is key.
If you’re sending clients to the Serengeti during the Great Migration, a river crossing is an essential piece of the experience. And that means getting to the river early and staying late. The closer your client’s lodge or tented camp is to the river, the easier this is. Of course, the closer to the river, the more expensive the lodge or camp will be
在我们呆在北方rengeti, our camp was located about an hour away. We never got to the river before 9 a.m. and, in fact, missed a morning crossing because of it.
Keep in mind, the closer to the river a lodge or tented campsite is, the earlier it books up… in addition to costing more. We booked our safari about a year out. We don’t know what other options were available to us, but we do know that the sister camp, a permanent camp versus our “mobile” camp, which was a bit closer to the river, had booked up some three to four years earlier.
3. Permanent vs. mobile camps?
Speaking of permanent camps versus mobile camps. A mobile camp moves to follow the migration throughout the year. Meaning, when the wildebeest are in the north, the camp is in the north. When they're in the south, it's in the south. Few migration camps move around within a region. As a result, there is no distinct advantage to being in a mobile camp versus a permanent camp during any particular season.
Keep in mind different parts of the Serengeti will have higher concentrations of mobile camps at different times of the year. In July to October, when the wildebeest are crossing the Mara River, there are lots of mobile camps in the Northern Serengeti. Later, between November and early January, the Southern Serengeti will have the bulk of the mobile camps, as that’s calving season.
4. Large groups aren't always equitable.
Large group safaris are one of the most affordable ways to send clients on a Serengeti safari. However, with large groups, the chances of wildlife sightings can be diminished. For one, the group needs to stay together, limiting any one guide from venturing off the beaten path – which is often how some of the most special sightings take place.
其次,在三到五把吉普车的大篷车中,只有一辆吉普车可能会看到一个吉普车。例如,如果一个吉普车中的向导将狮子在远处走动的狮子被传达给其他吉普车,则狮子可能看不见。即使狮子在岩石上晒太阳,吉普车也必须骑着骑行的位置(以及已经在现场的其他吉普车),这使每个人都更加清晰地看待。
This is not to say that large groups can't have an amazing experience. Not all clients feel the need for long days in a jeep exploring the deep Serengeti. For these clients, a group safari might be exactly the ticket. They’re also good for more gregarious clients for whom making new friends is as important to their vacation enjoyment as the sightseeing.