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| DAY 1
- ARUSHA TANZANIA
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Arrive into Kilimanjaro International Airport today. After clearing customs you will be met and transferred to the Arusha Coffee Lodge. This exclusive, boutique hotel lodge has been designed around the coffee farms original plantation homes. The Lodge accommodation consists of 18 bungalows featuring split-level living rooms with private decks. The main building houses the Safari Bar, and dinning area and there is also a lounge and a pool.
Overnight
- Arusha Coffee Lodge (D) |
| DAY 2
- TARANGIRE NATIONAL PARK
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This morning you will be met by your private guide depart for Tarangire National Park, Tanzania’s third largest. Here you’ll find a geologic landscape as diverse as the wildlife, with nine distinct vegetation zones ranging from grassland to woodland, from deep gully vegetation to scattered rocky hilltops. Giant Baobab trees dot the landscape and the Tarangire River meanders through the park. During the dry season the river attracts an abundance of wildlife, including up to 6,000 elephant, plus lion, cheetah, and buffalo and a variety of birds.
You will arrive in time for lunch at the wonderful Tarangire Treetops Lodge. Treetops is a small luxury permanent "camp" consisting of 20 giant tree houses on platforms in a grove of Baobab trees. Each tree house has a private verandah and lounge area with views over the Tarangire Conservation Area which is a private concession next to the park. It also has a swimming pool that overlooks the elephant watering hole. And since its private land they offer night game drives too.
After some time to wash up and relax, depart on a walk, game drive, or visit a local village.
Overnight
- Tarangire Treetops Lodge (all meals & activities) |
| DAY 3
- TARANGIRE NATIONAL PARK
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You a full day of fabulous wildlife viewing in this wonderful park, guided walks, boma visits and night game drives.
Overnight
- Tarangire Treetops Lodge (all meals & activities) |
| DAY 4
- LAKE MANYARA / NGORONGORO CRATER
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This morning, after an early breakfast, you’ll leave Tarangire and drive across the Great Rift Valley to nearby Lake Manyara National Park. Although only 205 sq. miles in size this enchanting park is noted for its lush acacia forest of giant fig and mahogany trees, which are home to troops of baboons and blue monkeys. The area is also home to large numbers of buffalo, giraffe, elephant, and impala. At the “Hippo Pool”, you will almost always find a large pod lounging. Lake Manyara is also well known for its birds life (over 400 species), And is one of the few places you will have a chance to see the Crested Eagle.
After spending a few hours in the park, you’ll continue to the Ngorongoro Crater, the "eighth wonder of the world". You’ll spend two nights at the dramatic Ngorongoro Crater Lodge, perched on the edge of the crater rim. The lodge, is an architectural masterpiece, comprised of three separate “compounds”. The style reflects a bygone era, each cottage is constructed with handcrafted structures and adorned with graceful antiques, grand chandeliers and treasures collected from the continent. And from the bathroom you can “soak in” the view of the crater below. Also, each luxury cottage is tended by a personal butler that will take care of all your needs. From tea in bed, or starting fireplace and laying out snacks - ready for your return from your day on the crater floor.
Relax for the afternoon and take in the view, or go on a guided walk on the crater rim before an amazing gourmet dinner.
Overnight
- Ngorongoro Crater Lodge (all meals & activities) |
| DAY 5
- NGORONGORO CRATER
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This morning, after an early breakfast, you’ll depart with a picnic lunch and descend to the crater floor for a day of wildlife viewing. The floor of this collapsed volcano spreads for 102 sq. miles and the walls are 2,000 feet high, a truly awesome sight. The crater floor is a virtual "Noah's Ark", inhabited by almost every species of wildlife indigenous to East Africa, including the rare black rhino. It contains a river, several swamps, a soda lake - complete with flamingoes, a forest and open plains.
When you’re ready, you’ll ascend the crater and return to your lodge. Enjoy the remainder of the day relaxing in your luxury suite and sip a sherry in front of the fire before dinner.
Overnight
- Ngorongoro Crater Lodge (all meals & activities) |
| DAY 6
- SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK
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This morning after breakfast and a final glimpse of the crater, you’re off to the famous Serengeti National Park, the symbol of Africa's wildlife. The word Serengeti comes from the Maasai language meaning "endless plains". The 6,900 sq. mile (18,000 sq. km) park is inhabited by more than 2 large million animals including more than a million wildebeest, hundreds of thousands of plains zebras, and Thomson’s gazelles. Large predators including lions, cheetahs, and hyenas are drawn to the area by this abundance of prey which migrate throughout the park. Many smaller animals – rock hyrax, bat eared foxes, mongoose, honey badger, jackals, monkeys, baboon and African hare inhabit the area along with nearly 500 species of birds. Off road you’ll find the "Kopjes", massive boulder islands of granite standing in a sea of grass, provide shelter to a great variety of plants and animals, from the elusive leopard to the tiny dik dik.
On the way to the Serengeti you will stop at the famous “Oldupai Gorge”, where Dr. Louis and Mary Leakey made their discovery of early man.
After attending a short lecture describing the archeological digs, continue across the Serengeti plains to Camp Kusini, located among the huge granite boulders of the Mwaki Nyeb Kopjes, in the far southern Serengeti, amid a vast tract of big game country outside the main tourist circuit. Kusini lies in a lion-haunted landscape of flat-topped acacias and short grass plains. The Mwaki Kopjes, huge tree-tufted piles of boulders, rise like islands from the sea of grass, affording panoramic views north towards the Gol Mountains and Ngorongoro Crater.
Viewing wildlife en-route, you will arrive at Kusini Camp in time for lunch. The camp is located in the southern Serengeti, near Hambi ya Mwaki-Nyeb Kopjes and is set in an outcrop of large Kopje boulders. The immediate area encompasses several different types of habitat - short grass plains, rocky outcroppings and acacia woodland. The camp contains 12 double tents scattered around the kopje with the dinning tent and common area as the central feature. Each tent is isolated and concealed by a tree or kopje with views of the Serengeti from the verandahs.
After some time to relax, set out on an afternoon game drive, returning before sunset for drinks around the fire and a gourmet dinner.
Note: Kusini Camp will be used from November through April. and the Grumeti River Camp will be used from May through October - for closer proximity to the “Great Migration.”
Overnight
- Camp Kusini or Grumeti River Camp ( all meals & activities) |
| DAYS 7/8
- SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK
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During your stay in the Serengeti, you can decide with your guide how you would like to spend your days. You will often arise just before the sun and after coffee, depart on an early morning game drive when the angle of the sun is perfect for photography the wildlife starts to become active. After returning to camp for breakfast you can depart on a late morning game drive returning to camp for lunch or you may want to depart with a picnic lunch so that you can spend the whole day wildlife viewing.
After a days activities you return to camp before dark for sundowners around the fire.
Overnight
- Camp Kusini or Grumeti River Camp ( all meals & activities) |
| DAY 9
- SERENGETI / ARUSHA - DEPART
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After breakfast you will enjoy your last game drive on your way to the airstrip. After saying goodbye to your guide you will board the scheduled 11:00am flight to Arusha Airport. From here you will be met and driven to the Arusha Coffee Lodge and will have time for some shopping before you arrive. This evening you will be met and driven to Kilimanjaro International Airport for your departing flight.
Dayroom – Arusha Coffee Lodge (B,L)
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9
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