About Us
A safari company from Arusha
African Polecat Safaris is a small, owner-run operator working out of Arusha, at the foot of Mount Meru and an hour from the gate of the northern circuit. We sell one thing: private safaris through northern Tanzania, and the Zanzibar days that so often follow them.
Travel Deep. Feel More.
Our Story
Built around the drive, not the brochure
Arusha is where a northern-circuit safari begins, and being based here rather than in a sales office somewhere else is most of what makes our itineraries work. We know which gate opens early, which crater descent road is being graded, where the herds were yesterday and which lodge is worth the extra hour of driving to reach. That is local knowledge, and it has a shelf life of about a week.
So the itineraries on this site are written the way we would drive them. Tarangire before the heat. A full day on the crater floor rather than a morning. Two nights in the central Serengeti before you move, because one night in the Serengeti is a transfer with a game drive attached. Where a day is a long one we say so, and where it can be broken differently we will break it differently for you.
None of it is a group departure. Every safari we sell is private — your own guide, your own vehicle, your own pace — which is the only arrangement under which a guide can stop for two hours at a leopard kill because you wanted to stay. It costs more than a seat on a shared minibus, and it is the whole reason people come back to us.
We are members of the Tanzania Association of Tour Operators, listed on SafariBookings, and rated 5 out of 5 on Tripadvisor. Guests tend to name their guide in those reviews, which is the compliment we care about most.
How We Work
What you can hold us to
Three things that are true of every itinerary on this site, and that we would rather lose a booking than bend.
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Private, every time
Nothing on this site is a group departure. Every itinerary we publish is one vehicle, one guide and your party — which is why the days, the lodges and the pace can all move before you travel, and on the morning itself.
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Two places, properly
Northern Tanzania and Zanzibar. We do not sell southern Africa, and we do not resell circuits we have not driven. The parks in our itineraries are the ones our guides work in week after week.
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Our guides, not a roster
Read the reviews and you will find them by name. The guide is the part of a safari that decides whether it was a good one, so it is the part we never subcontract to whoever is free that week.
Beyond The Journey
What a safari can leave behind
Helping young Tanzanians take the next step, and the one after it
A fortnight in Tanzania ought to leave more behind than a set of photographs. The part of this business that has nothing to do with selling safaris goes to children and teenagers here who are growing up with very little room for error.
Schooling, mostly. The encouragement that keeps a young person in it when a year goes badly, and the openings that let them carry on once school is behind them. Most of the difference gets made at the point where someone would otherwise have quietly stopped turning up.
Our guests come for their own reasons and leave with their own memories, and we would not dress that up as charity. But the same journeys are what make the work possible, and we would rather you knew it was going on than found out about it afterwards.
Leave something behind that keeps going.
Guest Reviews
Reflections from our guests
Excellent
Verified reviews on Tripadvisor
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A truly fantastic safari provider
“We were offered a private safari for two and immediately received a quote tailored to our individual needs. Our guide, Francis, was absolutely fantastic and, with his incredible knowledge, gave us wonderful insights into the flora and fauna of Tanzania.”
Rainer
Verified · Tripadvisor
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Great trip and great guide
“A joy to work with for planning our trip — great communication from start to finish. Our guide, Stan, was awesome, found us tons of great wildlife and was a lot of fun to hang out with. Very knowledgeable about everything Serengeti.”
Karen Goulekas
Verified · Tripadvisor
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Ask for Zakayo, great guide
“We aren’t hikers normally and we aren’t in great shape. No problem. Pole pole — slow, slow — and we moved along, stopping frequently to rest. During those times he explained the plants, the animals. Incredibly knowledgeable.”
Paul H
Verified · Tripadvisor
Members And Partners
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Listed Operator
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TATO
Tanzania Association of Tour Operators
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Design Partner
Next Step
Tell us roughly what you have in mind
A rough month and a rough shape is enough to start. You will get a draft itinerary with real lodges and a real price, written by the people who would run it.
Stay In Touch
Letters from the wild places
Camp news, new routes and the occasional photograph worth stopping for. Six times a year, never more.