Arrive anytime at Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO), Tanzania. You will meet the Outstanding Tanzania Safari guide at the airport and pick up with a private transfer to Arusha Safari Lodge. We will gather in the evening for a pre-safari briefing and an equipment check. We will also confirm you have the appropriate mandatory medical coverage and travel insurance.

Dinner and overnight at Arusha Safari Lodge: Half board.

Half board. ht.

Today we drive to Tarangire National Park, for excellent game viewing. Tarangire is a small park that offers some excellent sights. Generally, in the dry seasons, Tarangire comes alive as wildlife and birdlife congregate on the Tarangire River, which is a permanent source of water. We spend the night in our lodge beautifully set inside the park with stunning views and a unique atmosphere. In the late afternoon, we make a short journey from the park to our special lodge.
Dinner and overnight at Eileen’s Tree Lodge: Full board.

We head towards the Serengeti National Park. En route, there is an opportunity to visit Olduvai Gorge. It is within this steep-sided ravine that Louis and Mary Leakey made some of the world’s most important archaeological discoveries in the 1950s. Here is a small museum, we are able to see evidence of our ancestors that have been dated back 2.5 million years. After lunch, we drive into the Serengeti itself and the rest of the afternoon is spent game viewing in the vast plains that are broken only by stands of acacia trees and the occasional kopje. In December, January and February we will normally meet the migration with large herds of wildebeest, zebra, and gazelle. There are always plenty of resident animals, such as giraffes, buffalo, and elephants, and many large predators such as lions, cheetahs, and leopards. We return to our special tented camp for the night.
Dinner and overnight at Serengeti Wild Tented Lodge: Full board.

We have another full day in this wonderful park, rising early to make the most of our time. Our guides will choose the best spotting locations for the time of year; we can spend time at the Hippo pool watching these majestic animals laze about in the cool water happily living alongside the crocodiles, watch a big pride of lions, be in the middle of the migration, sometimes surrounded by wildebeest, sometimes by zebras, which travel with the wildebeest. We journey from the wide-open plains to the kopjes: these volcanic rocky outcrops provide protection and shelter for a wide variety of animals and from the top, we can look out across the vast grasslands of the Serengeti. This diverse and interesting landscape will provide us with the ultimate in game viewing, we will hopefully see all of the plain games; elephants, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, lions and if you are lucky the elusive leopard and cheetah, as well as huge amounts of the interesting birdlife, from the elegant secretary birds to the flightless ostrich. We return to our special tented camp for the night.
Dinner and overnight at Serengeti Wild Tented Lodge: Full board.

We start the day with an early morning game drive before heading to Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Ngorongoro is a special place in that it is a Conservation Area, not a National Park; this means that the whole area is managed for both the animals and the local Masai people who graze their cattle alongside the indigenous wildlife. During the drive-in Ngorongoro, we have a chance to glimpse something of the Masai way of life. After stopping at the entrance gate, where there is a chance to learn more about this fascinating volcanic landscape, we will drive around the rim of the Crater itself, and from here we can look down and see the herd of wildebeest or buffaloes. Finally, we descend into the crater. The crater walls provide a natural sanctuary for the animals, which means there is plenty to see: lions, elephants, buffalo, rhino, and leopards (if you are lucky). The only animal you won’t see in here is a giraffe, whose long legs are unable to cope with the steep sides of the crater. In the late afternoon, we travel back to our special lodge set outside the Crater.
Dinner and overnight at Eileen’s Tree Lodge: Full board.

We depart from your lodge in Karatu and proceed to Lake Manyara National Park. Although small in size, this park is one of the most diverse reserves in the country. Lake Manyara covers two-thirds of the park. In the backdrop is the wall of the Great Rift Valley, before which lies the groundwater, forest, areas of open grassland near the lake foreshore, and Soda Lake. We enjoy a picnic lunch in this area, which consists of open grassy areas, hot springs, dense woodlands, and steep mountainsides. Lake Manyara National Park is a birding paradise that has more than 350 species of birds. The park is also famed for its unique and elusive tree-climbing lions.
Arrive at Zanzibar Airport anytime you will meet us at the airport and pick us up with a private transfer to Stone Town for dinner and an overnight stay.
Dinner and overnight at Emerson Spice Hotel: Half board.

In the morning you drive along the coast. Passing the fishing villages of Bwejuu and Paje you reach Jambiani, a fishermen’s village on the East coast of Zanzibar. We offer a cultural village tour to visit villagers working in different professions. Our guide tells about the history of the village, you will visit a traditional herbalist, who will show you the local medicines, herbs, and their uses, and a visit to a local, organically plantation on coral stone, where farmers cultivate under difficult circumstances, and seaweed farms run by a woman. A good chance to learn about the unique culture and the diverse environment of Zanzibar’s villages and to meet the friendly Swahili people. We will show you real life, not images designed for tourists.
Dinner and overnight at Emerson Spice Hotel: Half board.

One day you go for an excursion to Kizimkazi. Situated on the southern point of the island, Kizimkazi fishing village is home to several schools of bottle-nosed dolphins and Humpback dolphins, which can often be sighted following a short boat trip from the village. If you are lucky, you may be able to swim quite close to the dolphins, which can be a very rewarding experience. We are doing this trip in the afternoon to avoid the crowds of tourists in the morning, which in big numbers disturb the dolphins.
Dinner and overnight at Emerson Spice Hotel: Half board.

This is where our program ends.

Depending on your flight schedule and departure point, you will be transferred to the Zanzibar Airport to take a flight back home. If you are flying out of Dar Es Salaam or Nairobi, we will arrange a connecting flight for you to catch your flight back home.

This is where our program ends.