In the last post, we highlighted the new packages and tours we added. Now we ramping up on adding other partners on our site with their 2011 prices.We are getting into the groove of delivering the promise of making travel as transparent and painless as possible in Tanzania and it is great to finally see this happen all in one place.
New accommodation whilst on Safari in the Northern Circuit: We added some Safari Lodges from Lemala Camp Group, great collection of mid to upper range accomodation with camps in Ngorongoro, Serengeti, Lake Manyara and Tarangire Parks. These are now showing up in our search:
Zanzibar Beach Paradise spots: We then added some great places to relax in Zanzibar on both the South East: Paje, Bwejuu and Jambiani as well as the popular northern beaches of Nungwi and Kendwa. Our stonetown hotel of the week- Seyyidda, one of the newer and affordable high quality accommodation options.
Other of the beaten path options: What about other things beside the usual safari and Zanzibar? We are adding those too. Check out listings we have on Dodoma, Pangani and Arusha.
Or how about Hondo Hondo at the Udzungwa Forest near Morogoro- easily accessible with half a day’s drive from Dar es Salaam.
New flights to new destinations: If that’s not enough- we have also expanded flights listed on our search to include fly540 within Tanzania and between Dar es Salaam and Nairobi and expanded options with precisionair- these add more affordable and shorter flights (between $270-400 return) from Dar es Salaam to Mtwara, Mwanza and Shinyanga.
Over the last month we have been working with some partners to add the first packages on our newly launched platform. The team is now solely focused on this and signing up more and more hotels, tour companies across Tanzania. I wanted to highlight some of our exciting packages available. These 3 packages represent some of the best of what Tanzania has to offer in about 2-3 weeks back-to-back trip typical of tourist visit stay. Fly into Dar es Salaam or Kilimanjaro airport and then use our booking flight search module to find a connection.
Kilimanjaro is a much sought after challenge for the most adventurous of travelers- we currently have listed 2 complete hiking packages that are inclusive except for tip and personal equipment (which can further be hired). The Machame route (7 days with a minimum group of 5 people is at $1,800 per person) or if you are worried about altitude sickness and want more time to aclimitize, we added a 9 day option via the Lemosho Route for only $300 more per person at $2,100. Both packages are are challenging and offer stunning scenery- best times to climb Kilimanjaro are between July-October, Dec-February- we will write more on our blog about Kilimanjaro tips and preparations soon.
The only way to end an adventure is to finish at the beach- That’s when this ideal Zanzibar package comes in for those who want to combine diving and relaxing at one of the best beaches in Tanzania. Amaan Bungalows for 3 nights and get 4 dives from Sensation Divers from $406 per person, if you are more experienced diver and want more peace and quiet (Nungwi is very popular), you may want to check out the Pemba diving near Misali Island package for the same duration (3 nights, 4 dives staying at the scenic Misali Beach in Pemba, Zanzibar’s sister island) at $506 per person.
We will be adding many more packages that show the best, most popular as well as hidden gems of Tanzania. Sign up for our newsletter and like or Facebook Page to keep updated. We allow you to book and pay directly on our site for each package as well the flights, ferry transfers.
East Africa’s biggest music festival and one of Zanzibar’s main attractions is next week! Sauti Za Busara is in it’s 8th year and it takes place in Stone Town’s Old Fort over five nights featuring some of the best African artists.
The festival not only features great music with hundreds of musicians, but also has street parade, markets,drum and dance, fashion shows, dhow races and after parties.
Here are some great sources for planning a trip there.
In addition, check out Yellow Masai hotel listings for places to stay in Zanzibar from stone town to the beach resort areas. As well as our packages listings- we will be adding an exciting package over the 5 days in the next couple of days to celebrate our launch!
Here’ a video of highlights from the 2009 festival:
Just wanted to provide an update to our plans here at YellowMasai. We are (still) nearing launch and have been working around the clock to get content ready on various destinations and get some of our partner packages ready for launch- we had planned on being ready in November, but the difficulties is setting up the ecommerce infrastructure to take credit cards has delayed us somewhat. Meanwhile we have continued to sign up great partners including some hotels in Zanzibar where we were also having difficulty. Whilst delayed, we wanted to reassure you all that we are getting closer to Launch with now over 200 partners.
Wanted to wish all of our partners and supporters a Happy Christmas whilst we could not help you with your travel plans across Tanzania and East Africa this time- we wish you safe travels and in the new year we hope to see your research and bookings begin here from next year
We wanted to take the time to plug one of our partners in Zanzibar who would appreciate our x-mas image below. Congrats to the team at MamboMagazine, a site dedicated to Zanzibar, for launching their site last month- which looks fantastic.
Cruise Business reports that the Tanzania ferry operator Azam will be implementing mobile payments in the coming weeks, the system will be implemented by a developer Carus. This is an exciting development as it validates the approach that many travel service operators in East Africa going online and streamlining their booking operation- our charter airline partner, Coastal Aviation already accepts mobile banking payment via M-Pesa, although it is reluctant to promote it so much since they will be favoring the one cell carrier Vodacom. More importantly, this news show that mobile banking has become mainstream enough in Tanzania, which is lagging Kenya where some half of all adults use mobile banking and 25% of the country’s GDP now flows though mobile banking services such as M-Pesa.
Yellow Masai soon after our launch will implement mobile payments across the entire East Africa region as a checkout solution on the booking website to cover all types of service providers inc. ferries, flights, tours- we believe having a central place where travelers can compare the options to travel across ferry, flight services will allow us to reach many more customers that would not otherwise book on Azam’s website- we have also being paying great attention to the user experience of our website to make it as seamless as possible.
A few weeks ago I posted a page about Zanzibar, one of the main attractions of Tanzania- personally I think it is a great way to end a Kilimanjaro and/or Safari- there is a saying that goes “Spend in the bush, Save on the Beach“- it is meant to reflect the travel wisdom that you should always pay higher to get a good Safari experience and then if ou are going to save money, Zanzibar is the place to do so since you can can just be idle on the beach. However if one wants an active trip in Zanzibar- there are plenty of things one can do from scuba diving, deep sea fishing to the famous spice tours. Last weekend I got to experience one of my favorite activities, day trip lunch snorkelling off Mnemba island, whilst showing round Paul Bragiel, a partner at I/O ventures following meetings with President Kikwete about setting up ICT tech incubator. For $20 a person including lunch and group of 7 of us, we had a simply amazing day snorkelling and enjoying the crystal blue waters and powder like beach sand. You can indeed save on the beach. This coming week I will be meeting the Director of the Zanzibar Association of Tourism Investors (ZATI)- to discuss how we can market our platform to Zanzibar hotel and tour providers. ZATI is similar to the Tanzania Association of Tour Operators (TATO), which we are now members of, however ZATI focuses exclusively on Zanzibar and we look forward to working with them to bring e-commerce booking and online marketing across this amazing Island. I will also be staying with at a rustic place in the south of Zanzibar in Bwejuu near Paje- Mustapha’s Place , Rachel Hamada is starting an online magazine, Mambo Magazine and I am excited to be working with her and checking out her place at the same time.
Here are some photos from the Kendwa, Nungwi weekend inc. the amazing snorkelling day trip to Mnemba Island
Sunset at Cholo Bar, Nungwi
Cholo Bar, Nungwi from the Dhow
7 of us fit into a Dhow @ $20 for the day
Our Vuvuzela boat
Mnemba Island in the distance
Snorkeling right of Mnemba island
Yummy fish lunch included!
2 other dhow groups with us- otherwise untouched beaches!
