This safari will take you to three of Tanzania’s most famous wildlife locations; Lake Manyara, The Ngorongoro Highlands and The Serengeti, just in time to witness the spectacle of more than a million migrating Wildebeest. Our Tanzania safaris are all private departures. Your group will have exclusive use of a safari vehicle with your own dedicated English speaking driver/guide. Each vehicle offers window seats for five people and is fitted with “pop up” roof hatches for better visibility and photography when game viewing.
19 Jun 2010:
Check in at the OR Tambo International Airport Johannesburg at 05h45, at the 1time check in counter. Your flight on 1time Airlines will depart to Zanzibar International Airport at 07h45 and arrive at 12h15. After completing arrival formalities and collecting your luggage please exit the arrivals terminal and proceed to the Regional Air check in desk.(Please note the luggage allowance on the Regional Flight is 15 kgs and should be packed in soft bags -no hard suitcases).
As you have a short wait before your domestic flight we recommend changing some money into Tanzania Shillings at the forex bureau. There is a local restaurant upstairs of the terminal building where you could have a snack and drink before checking in at the Regional Air desk at 14h30.
The Regional Air flight departs to Arusha at 15h00 and arrives at 18h00, on arrival at Arusha Airport, you will be met by a representative from our ground agent Untamed Safaris and transferred to Mount Meru Game Lodge, a journey of 45 minutes.
Mount Meru Game Lodge …The perfect start or finish to any safari. Comfortable accommodation, good food and friendly staff, all conveniently situated mid way between Arusha town and Kilimanjaro International Airport
Spend one night at Mount Meru Game Lodge on a dinner, bed and breakfast basis.
20 Jun 2010:
After breakfast at 08h30, you will be met by your safari driver/guide and your luggage will be safely stowed on board your safari vehicle before the 45 minute drive into the bustling town of Arusha. After a short stop to do any necessary last minute shopping, your safari proper starts with the drive through the Great Rift Valley to Lake Manyara, arriving in time for lunch at the Lake Manyara Hotel. After lunch relax and leave about 14h30 for an afternoon game drive into Lake Manyara National Park, returning to the lodge early evening.
One of the smaller national parks, Manyara contains a large variety of habitats - the rift wall, ground water forest, acacia woodland, open grassland, marshes and the lake’s foreshore. This variety provides optimum conditions for a wide range of wildlife, each of them exploiting separate parts of the area. Added to this, some four hundred species of birds have been recorded in the park.
Built on the western escarpment of the great Rift Valley, the Lake Manyara Hotel overlooks the glassy lake of the Manyara National Park. The hotel has 100 comfortable rooms, a swimming pool & terrace. All the rooms have an outstanding view of the valley below.
Spend one night at Lake Manyara Hotel on a full board basis.
21 Jun 2010:
After an early breakfast, set off to the Naabi Hill Gate into the Serengeti National Park, drive across the vast, open short grass plains of Serengeti to Seronera Wildlife Lodge, arriving in time for lunch.
Built around an enormous rock in the heart of the Serengeti, the Seronera Wildlife Lodge is the ideal place to observe the wildebeest as they migrate. The Lodge features 75 rooms with private bathrooms, a restaurant and a bar overlooking the Seronera plains that are home to countless herds of zebra, Thompson’s gazelle, wildebeest, buffalo, and the other species.
The Masai word “Siringet” meaning endless plains, truly describes the vast, fascinating landscape of the Serengeti National Park. Rivers flowing out of the Ngorongoro Crater into the grasslands on their way to Lake Victoria, sustain such an incredible population of wildlife that can only be believed when seen! The variety of the broad savannah plains, with their dramatic outcrops, surrounded by denser forests to the north and west, are home to millions of animals who graze here. More than a million Wildebeest, accompanied by hundreds of thousands of other herbivores, descend upon the short-grass plains of the south-eastern Serengeti at the start of the rainy season around December. After calving in January and February, they scatter over the southern and central plains. By May the rains ends the grass grounds near the permanent waters of the Serengeti’s northern woodlands and Kenya’s Masai Mara. Reaching these destinations by July or so, they remain until November/December (depending on the short rains) when they head back to the Serengeti to start the cycle once more
Spend three nights at Seronera Wildlife Lodge on a full board basis including two game drives per day.
24 Jun 2010:
Leave after breakfast with a picnic lunch to the Ngorongoro Highlands; descend into the crater itself, a bumpy but exciting experience, to spend the afternoon exploring this fascinating area, arriving at Ngorongoro Wildlife Lodge early evening.
At the eastern edge of the vast Serengeti, the great buttressed slopes of the Ngorongoro Crater rise up through lichen-covered forests to an altitude of seven thousand feet above sea level. Nearly three million years old, the ancient caldera shelters one of the most beautiful wildlife havens left on earth. Some of East Africa's last black rhino are protected within its rim, black maned lions stalk the grasslands, flamingos crowd the soda lakes and giant-tusked elephants wander the forests. Towering euphorbias cling to the crater walls and on the floor; fever and fig tree forests give shade to an awe-inspiring array of creatures.
Perched on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater at 7,500 ft. above sea level, the Ngorongoro Wildlife Lodge affords unsurpassed views over the crater’s great bowl. Its 75 en suite rooms are centrally heated, and the lounge features a fireplace and panoramic windows. .
This volcano and surrounding land is a dedicated World Heritage Site and are part of a vast conservation area where the Masai continue to graze their cattle and live in harmony with the wildlife as they have done since time immemorial.
Spend one night at Ngorongoro Wildlife Lodge on a full board basis including a crater tour.
25 Jun 2010:
After an early breakfast and check out drive down the Rift Valley escarpment stopping at the curio shops en-route to Arusha airport. Depart on Regional Air to Zanzibar at 13h00 and arrive at 14h35, met on arrival and transferred a short distance to Mbweni Ruins. Spend the rest of the afternoon at leisure.
Mbweni Ruins Hotel is built in the spacious grounds of the ruins of the first Anglican Christian missionary settlement in East Africa, from 1871. This was the time of slavery, and of the great explorers Livingstone, Stanley, Burton, Baker, Grant and Speke. Just outside Stone Town the hotel offers easy access to this ancient town whilst being right on a beautiful beach.
The magnificent botanical gardens were conceived in 1991, by a far-sighted conservationist and is famous for its plant diversity with its wide range of indigenous species which attracts an array of small animals and exotic birdlife.
Privacy and comfort enfold you at Mbweni and with only thirteen private suites, the hotel is extremely exclusive. All rooms are air-conditioned with en-suite bathrooms and furnished in the Zanzibari style including magnificent four poster beds. Each has a large, private veranda overlooking the gardens and the sea. The swimming pool set amongst lush grass lawns is right next to the sparkling white beach where mangroves attract rich birdlife and the waves encourage splashing dolphins. Bush - babies and fireflies make their presence known in the long, warm and dusky evenings, while you dine on a variety of fresh local dishes using many of Zanzibar's herbs and spices. A regular shuttle service into the Stone Town and the Spice market allows guests the freedom to explore this magnificent island at leisure.
Spend your last night at Mbweni Ruins on a dinner, bed and breakfast basis.
26 Jun 2010:
Spend the morning at leisure before being transferred to Zanzibar Airport in time for the 1time Airlines flight departing back to Johannesburg at 13h05 and arriving at 15h35.
