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Serengeti Wilderness and Walking Safari

			Read a Trip Review DAYS: 12 GRADE: II define PRICE: $4350 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. Optional balloon safaris in the Serengeti and extensions to the spice island of Zanzibar or additional safari in Kenya are available. This safari departs with a minimum of 2 people and a maximum of 10 people. 

DAY 1 :  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.

DAY 2 :  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 private tented camp is strategically located just outside the boundary of Tarangire National Park where native guides take guests on bush walks and we can visit local villages and a women's craft center. Overnight at a private mobile camp overlooking the Tarangire River. [BLD]

DAY 3 :  TARANGIRE NATIONAL PARK
Game drive in the park this morning before an afternoon hike with Datoga warriors. They will share their knowledge of medicinal plants and you can talk to them about their culture. The Datoga are a tribe of semi-nomadic pastoralists who migrated into this area looking for good grazing land many decades ago. Overnight at a Private mobile camp overlooking the Tarangire River. [BLD]

DAY 4 :  LAKE MANYARA AND KARATU
Early morning walk from Tarangire to Lake Manyara, across the floor of the Great Rift Valley. After lunch you will depart for Karatu, on the outer slopes of the Ngorongoro Crater. Then, mingle with villagers at local markets such Mto Wa Mbu. Shopping and bargaining for bolts of cloth, crafts, and local produce immerses you in a daily ritual of African life. You will also participate in the local Culture Program run by the Tanzanian Government, which includes a visit to a banana plantation and a local school. After the program, continue on to your lodge. Located in the Ngorongoro Highlands, only 5 km from the Ngorongoro National Park entrance gate, the Ngorongoro Farmhouse is on a 500 acre working farm. 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. Overnight at the Ngorongoro Farmhouse. [BLD]

DAY 5 :  FARMHOUSE AND LAKE EYASI
After break we will take a walk round the coffee "shamba" and organic garden in the farm and visit one of the schools in the neighborhood. After lunch on the farm, depart to Lake Eyasi to spend the afternoon visit to the Datoga community, who have so far resisted neighboring tribes' cultural infiltrations. The women, still wearing locally fat treated goatskin gowns, carve their faces and bodies to look prettier, are usually seen. Overnight at Private mobile camp. [BLD]

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

DAY 6 :  LAKE EYASI
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. After lunch you return to Ngorongoro Farmhouse for overnight. [BLD]

DAY 7 :  NGORONGORO CRATER
Descend into 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. This afternoon drive to a stunning escarpment in Ngorongoro highlands. Scenery in this area is stunning, and although the hiking is not strenuous, do expect sloping terrain and at times muddy paths. In the afternoon we'll visit with the local Maasai people. Overnight at Private mobile camp on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater. Please bring warm clothing as you are camping at 7000 feet. [BLD]

DAY 8 :  NGORONGORO HIGHLANDS AND SERENGETI
After breakfast, join the Maasai community in their morning routines, learning the ways that their culture has remained intact for thousands of years. A Maasai warrior will escort your hike through the Highlands, before you set off towards the Serengeti. En route you will have the opportunity to see the remarkable archeological site at Laetoli; a trail of hominid footprints approximately 3.6 million years old. Overnight in the Serengeti at Private mobile camp. [BLD]

Witness wildlife drama on the Serengeti plains.

DAYS 9-11 :  SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK
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 private mobile 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. (Overland option available upon request). 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]

Questions? Ask Our Program Directors.

. C o n t a c t Julia Nesbitt 1(800)345-4453