Serengeti & Ngorongoro Crater Safari

Once you arrive in Tanzania we’ll meet you at Kilimanjaro International Airport and take you to our accommodation, Chanya Lodge, where we’ll enjoy dinner together and get excited about the days ahead with a detailed trip briefing.
Accommodation: Chanya Lodge, Moshi
Meals: Dinner

Drive to Uru, a small village on the slopes of Kilimanjaro. Once we arrive, weather permitting, we will have a fantastic view of the mountain. Our group will be hosted by the local coffee co-operative and go on a 3-hour guided grassroots coffee walking tour. Find out about how coffee is sown, grown, harvested and roasted. Meet local farmers who produce some of the world's finest coffee on the upper inhabited slopes of Kilimanjaro. Afterwards, we enjoy a delicious wholesome traditional Chagga lunch in the lush scenery, prepared by local women from the community.

After lunch, visit the local Moshi central market to get a feel of a small yet typically busy Tanzanian town. Learn about the local, spices and indigenous foods and products sold there. Depending on what is in season, you may see oyster nuts, air potatoes, passion fruit, zambarau, jackfruit, soursop and custard apple. Find out about the variety of local greens and how the baobab fruit is sold. There is plenty for your eyes to feast upon!
Accommodation: Chanya Lodge, Moshi
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Hiking: 3 hours (easy walking)

After breakfast, we head to the town of Mto Wa Mbu, literally called River of Mosquito, located adjacent to Lake Manyara National Park. Drive to Isoitok Camp Manyara for lunch. This is a tented camp deeply connected with the neighboring Maasai community and offers grassroots cultural immersion opportunities with this community.

After lunch, take an afternoon locally guided Maasai medicine walk. Discover the Maasai’s traditional medicinal practices. Here, you will learn about the different root, barks, flower and plant extracts still being used for their curative powers by the Maasai on a daily basis. After the walk, drive on to the highlands town of Karatu, to the beautiful Acacia Farm House for dinner.
Accommodation: Acacia Farm House, Karatu
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Hiking: 1-2 hours (easy walking)

Following an early breakfast at the lodge, depart for the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which is also considered one of the natural wonders of the world. The conservation area is unique in that it allows well over 80,000 Maasai pastoralists with their cattle goats and sheep to live alongside the abundant wildlife in a natural setting. The conservation area gives you a rare insight into how people lived in harmony with nature and wildlife in ancient times all over the world.

Descend into the Ngorongoro Crater for a 6-hour game drive in the crater, including a picnic lunch on route. Ngorongoro Crater is the world’s largest caldera measuring 1968 feet (600 meters)/ in depth and covering 96.5 miles squared (250 kilometers sqared) in area. It is a spectacular setting and contains an abundance of wildlife with over 20,000 large animals including Tanzania’s remaining critically endangered black rhino. There is a good chance of seeing the Big Five in this vast natural enclosure.

Mid-afternoon, ascend back to the crater rim and take a late afternoon walk along the Ngorongoro Crater rim over 1-2 hours, accompanied by experienced armed rangers. Enjoy the unique flora and fauna of the Ngorongoro Highlands, notably the variety of birdlife in this ecosystem as well as larger animals such as giraffes, zebras, and elephants. This is a great opportunity to spot animal tracks and dung. This walk offers spectacular panoramic views down into the Crater that you can enjoy on your own in peace and calmness. Afterwards we will return to the Acacia Farm House for dinner and a night of relaxation.
Accommodation: Acacia Farm House, Karatu
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Hiking: 1-2 hours (easy walking)

After checking out this morning we will visit the amazing Fame Hospital in Karatu for a tutorial and talk about their inspirational story of creating a world-class medical facility for the region. Following the hospital visit, transit through the Ngorongoro Conservation Area on our way to Serengeti National Park! Before reaching the gates of Serengeti we visit Olduvai Gorge, one of the most important fossil sites in the world, holding the earliest evidence of the existence of human ancestors. Hundreds of fossilized bones and stone tools have been found in the area dating back millions of years, concluding that humans evolved in Africa.

We enter Serengeti National Park via Naabi Hill Gate, where you’ll stop for a picnic lunch before heading to central part of the national park. This is not a transfer, it is a game drive in its own right and seeing the plains of the Serengeti for the first time is an unforgettable moment. Serengeti, or Seringit in Maa, meaning ‘endless plains’, is one of the oldest ecosystems on earth. The essential features have changed little in a million years; Serengeti’s famous plains are interspersed with wooded hills, towering termite mounds, rocky kopjes and rivers lined with acacia trees.
Accommodation: Tamba Tented Camp
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Discover Serengeti National Park over a full day of game viewing, taking a picnic lunch on route. The Serengeti National Park was established in 1952, however, the Serengeti ecosystem is far older and greater than the park. The ecosystem reaches over 30,000sq km/12,000sq mi and was previously inhabited by the Maasai. This is home to the famous annual migration of more than a million wildebeest, hundreds of thousands of zebras, and all kinds of antelopes, following the rains undertaking their long journey to new grazing grounds. Also be on the lookout for lions, cheetahs, leopards, and hyenas.

**Depending on which month you are traveling due to the migration, your camp for tonight will vary to maximize the wildlife viewing. Please see the FAQ section for more information.
Accommodation: Tamba, Ndutu Heritage or Mara Heritage Camp 
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Discover Serengeti National Park over a full day of game viewing, taking a picnic lunch on route. The Serengeti National Park was established in 1952, however, the Serengeti ecosystem is far older and greater than the park. The ecosystem reaches over 30,000sq km/12,000sq mi and was previously inhabited by the Maasai. This is home to the famous annual migration of more than a million wildebeest, hundreds of thousands of zebras, and all kinds of antelopes, following the rains undertaking their long journey to new grazing grounds. Also be on the lookout for lions, cheetahs, leopards, and hyenas.

**Depending on which month you are traveling due to the migration, your camp for tonight will vary to maximize the wildlife viewing. Please see the FAQ section for more information.
Accommodation: Tamba, Ndutu Heritage or Mara Heritage Camp
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Optional Hot Air Balloon Ride (extra fee applies): As dawn breaks, the spectacular hot-air balloon adventure starts. This is a once-in-a-lifetime magical experience of viewing the animals and the vast landscape of the Serengeti plains from a different perspective. Each journey is different and will be dictated by the direction of the wind. Once you return safely to the ground, enjoy a well-deserved glass of bubbly, then drive to a special breakfast spot for an exceptional bush breakfast.

After breakfast, we enjoy a final game drive before driving to the Ngorongoro Crater rim where we will stop for a picnic lunch. We continue our journey past Karatu and onwards back to Mto Wa Mbu. Dinner and overnight stay is at Manyara Escarpment Luxury Lodge, neatly perched on the Rift Valley Escarpment in a forest, overlooking Lake Manyara National Park.
Accommodation: Manyara Escarpment Luxury Lodge, Lake Manyara
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

After breakfast, check out of the lodge and transfer to the town of Mto Wa Mbu for a cultural immersion opportunity. Mto Wa Mbu, which is home to some of the different people of Tanzania, notably the Mbugwe, Iraqw, Gorowa, Irangi, Chagga and Maasai, and here you will see many of the different peoples of Tanzania living alongside each other. Local guides from the Mto Wa Mbu Cultural Tourism Program will walk the travelers through the backstreets of the town. Each day is different, and they will get an understanding of the daily lives of people living around this area. There will also be opportunities to see local art and handicrafts being made and to buy directly from the artisans. The morning ends with a delicious hearty and wholesome Tanzanian meal prepared by a local women's group using traditional methods, made with local and indigenous vegetables and spices.

Next, head to Tarangire National Park, where upon entering the park, a short game drive transfer will take you to the strategically located Tarangire Safari Lodge, overlooking the Tarangire river bed and giving great sightings of the park and its resident wildlife. Tarangire is famous for its huge herds of elephants and the density of its massive baobab trees and dotting of termite mounds. Also home to more than 550 bird species, Tarangire National Park will excite any bird enthusiast. After an early dinner at the lodge, take a night game in the park, accompanied by armed rangers, specialist guides, and trackers in an open vehicle. Though the sun may have set, Tarangire is still not asleep. This is a thrilling and adventurous sensory experience where you discover the nocturnal wildlife of the national park. Tune in to night sounds and movements of the park, whilst you enjoy stargazing.
Accommodation: Tarangire Safari Lodge, Tarangire National Park
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Check out of the lodge and enjoy game driving in the park till mid-morning. Then we will make our way to Kilimanjaro International Airport in time for your evening flight.
Accommodation: Not applicable
Meals: Breakfast