Home  >  Destinations  >  Africa  >  Tanzania  >  Serengeti Wilderness Safari

Serengeti Wilderness Safari

			Read a Trip Review DAYS: 12 GRADE: II define PRICE: $4950 per person (Includes Local Air) HIGHLIGHTS: Tarangire National Park Lake Eyasi Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti National Park ACCOMMODATIONS: Hotels/Lodges Wilderness Camp MEALS: As noted  [B-Breakfast, L-Lunch,   D-Dinner] SEASON: Year-round Prices, Departure Dates and Included Services Send to a Friend Print this Itinerary

Explore the most spectacular game parks of Tanzania on this well-equipped, active safari designed to maximize your experience in the African bush and among native peoples. Spectacular game viewing is combined with hikes in Lake Eyasi and the Ol Moti Crater where you experience authentic cultural encounters amongst the Maasai and nomadic bushmen. Retire each night in comfortable, spacious lodges and mobile tents set in exclusive campsites with mattress beds, linens and en suite facilities including a bucket shower with hot water on request. This safari is supported by a full camp staff and led by professional English-speaking naturalist guides. Retrofitted "stretch" 4 x 4 land rovers are fully equipped with window seats and open hatch for each passenger assuring unencumbered wildlife observation and photography. A flight from Serengeti back to Arusha minimizes driving time and rugged overland travel. Add a spectacular balloon safari in the Serengeti, a tour extension to the spice island of Zanzibar or travel to Kenya for an additional Africa adventure tours. This safari departs with a minimum of 2 people and a maximum of 10 people. 

DAY 1 :  ARRIVE ARUSHA
Upon arrival into the Kilimanjaro airport you will be met and transferred to Olasiti Lodge or similar, your African home away from home. [Meals on own]

Bush walking with Maasai warriors is a highlight of this safari.

DAYS 2-3 :  TARANGIRE NATIONAL PARK
This morning you will drive to Tarangire National Park, about 3-4 hours. Tarangire is the third largest national park in Tanzania noted for its primeval landscape with majestic baobab trees that dwarf the animals feeding beneath them. The habitat supports a great diversity of wildlife including giraffe, buffalo, lesser kudu, eland, and zebra. Lion, leopard and cheetah are also present. Most notably, up to 6,000 elephants inhabit the park during the dry season from July to November and many frequently migrate through our camp. Our permanent tented camp is strategically located just outside the boundary of Tarangire National Park in a 25,000 acre concession area provided by the local Maasai Community and where it?s possible to go on bush walks with native guides. Each large canvas tent is raise on stilts with hard wood floors, ensuite baths, hot and private verandas with stunning views of Rift Valley Escarpment. Overnight at Maramboi Tented Camp. [BLD]

DAY 4 :  MAASAI BOMA AND MTO WA MBU VILLAGE
Visit a Maasai boma to learn about their way of life. The Maasai are known for their elaborate beaded necklaces and you have the chance to try your hand beading under the tutelage of Maasai women from a local beading co-op. Departing Tarangire our next stop is the vibrant market village of Mto Wa Mbu located near the shores of Lake Manyara and featuring a colorful mix of different Tanzanian cultures. Walk with a local guide past village homes, through farms growing various fruits and vegetables and learn about milling rice and zero grazing techniques.  From here we?ll drive further into the bush to where the Hadzabe hunter gatherer tribe can be found arriving at our small permanent tented camp lying amidst a palm and acacia forest on the shores of Lake Eyasi. Across this huge, seasonal soda lake that stretches away in front of camp, the Alipi escarpment wall rises two thousand feet up into the Endulen area of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area providing a stunning view. The seven permanent tents are constructed with local materials and feature hand-carved wooden beds, attached bathrooms with flushing toilet and hot water showers and spacious verandahs with a cozy chaise lounge. Cool off in the pool or enjoy sundowners by the lake-side fire pit. Overnight at Kisima Ngeda Camp. [BLD]

	Primitive bow and arrow hunting is still part of Bushmen survival.

DAY 5 :  BUSHMEN AND DATOGA TRIBES
Set out early this morning to join a morning walk with Bushmen hunters or spend time participating in the morning routine of the settlement. Your local guide will interpret for you and discuss hunting techniques still used by the tribes.  Bushmen who live in nomadic groups hunting with bow and arrow and gathering roots, tubers and wild fruits inhabit this dry and rugged landscape. Be prepared for an extraordinary cross-cultural experience as you join these nomadic Bushmen in their daily life.  In the afternoon we visit the Datoga, a tribe of semi-nomadic pastoralists who migrated into this area looking for good grazing land many decades ago. They have so far resisted neighbouring tribes' cultural influence.  The women, still wearing locally fat treated goatskin gowns, carve their faces and bodies in order to increase their attractiveness. Overnight at Kisima Ngeda. [BLD]

DAYS 6-7 :  NGORONGORO CRATER
Our next two days bring exploration of the stunning Ngorongoro Crater where resident animals are found throughout the year due to the permanent availability of grass and water. Ngorongoro is one of the most spectacular game haunts in Africa and has been designated a World Heritage site. A nearly 100 square mile caldera basin, it contains an impressive variety of wildlife including black-maned lions, the highly endangered black rhino, herds of gnu, zebra, elephants, hippo and hyena, the most important predator within the crater.  Bird life is also prolific with flocks of flamingoes on the soda lake plus other species of water and plains birds. On the afternoon of Day 7 well have the opportunity to walk in the Empakai Crater, the Olmoti Crater, or the Ngorongoro Highlands, as well as visiting with local Maasai people. Overnight at the Ngorongoro Farmhouse, located in the Ngorongoro Highlands on a 500 acre farm, only 5 kms. from the Ngorongoro Conservation Area entrance gate.  Enjoy fresh roasted coffee from the 15 acre coffee plantation, as well as home grown pigs, free range chickens, ducks, rabbit, lamb and milk cows. These fresh foods are combined with the fish imported from the coast enabling us to serve up abundant, fresh, organic cuisine. Accommodations are in spacious luxury bungalows (80 Sq. meters each) and facilities include a swimming pool and two dining areas. Overnights at Ngorongoro Farmhouse. [BLD]

Witness wildlife drama on the Serengeti plains.

DAYS 8-11 :  SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK
Morning drive to the Serengeti plains, stopping en route at the Olduvai Gorge where Mary Leakey discovered remains of Australopithecus Homo habilis and Homo erectus. Spend the next three days exploring the vast plains of the Serengeti, one of the most productive habitats and impressive wildlife sanctuaries in the world. Upwards of 1.5 million wildebeest and zebra concentrate in vast herds and migrate through the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem. In February-March they concentrate at the Ndutu and Salei plains to the south where the calving season takes place, attracting the attention of predators like lion, cheetah and hyena. In April-July the herds move north towards the Maasai Mara in Kenya. Exploration of the national park is mostly by vehicle but walks are planned in the Ikoma region outside the park from June-November and outside the southern sector of the park from December-May. Spend four nights at the Serengeti Seasonal Camp set in a wilderness area near the migratory herds. [BLD]

DAY 12 :  SERENGETI-ARUSHA-USA OR TRIP EXTENSION
Enjoy a final morning game drive across the Serengeti plains to the Seronera Airstrip for a scheduled flight to Arusha. The flight avoids the long drive back to Arusha and gets you to town in time to share a day room before airport transfers to catch evening flight departures.  Or, consider optional extensions to Sinya Camp at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro, a safari in Kenya, or relax on a tropical island in the Indian Ocean at Zanzibar, Tanzania or Lamu, Kenya. [BL] (Overland option available upon request).

Questions? Ask Our Program Directors.

. C o n t a c t Nick Bay 1(800)345-4453 C o n t a c t Jeff Stivers 1(800)345-4453