Day 1
Depart U.S. on evening flight to European hub. We recommend
that you book your flight with KLM Royal Dutch Airways, which
arrives the next morning in Amsterdam. KLM now has one flight
daily (seven days per week) from Amsterdam to Kilimanjaro International
Airport.
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Day
2
Upon arriving at Kilimanjaro International Airport you will
be met by your guides and transported to nearby Ngare Sero
Mountain Lodge for a late dinner with our hosts, Gisela and
Mike Leach. Set in lush gardens amid forest and crystal clear
lake waters on the slopes of Mount Meru, the lodge was created
from a farmhouse built at the turn of the last century. It
has just ten guest rooms and provides personal service to
lodge residents only. Thick walls, heavy timber beams and
period décor impart comfort and charm. The gardens
contain a profusion of trees and flowers; two hundred species
of birds have been recorded, and troops of black and white
colobus monkeys inhabit the surrounding forest and grounds.
It's unquestionably the most idyllic setting of any lodge
in the Arusha area.
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Day
3
Start the day with a delicious early or mid-morning breakfast
of your choice. After a briefing from your guide you are free
to rest or wander the expansive and picturesque lodge grounds.
Keen anglers can try their hand at still-water fishing for
specimen trout in the lake and, later, enjoy their fresh catch
prepared to perfection for lunch by a gourmet chef. In the
early afternoon, we depart in our comfortable stretch Land
Rover for Tarangire National Park. Just 2.5 hours from Arusha,
Tarangire is one of the most beautiful of the northern circuit
parks comprised of a patchwork of floodplains, wetlands, rolling
hills, rocky outcrops, bush, and acacia woodlands. Bulbous,
prehistoric-looking baobab trees are a prominent feature of
the park's landscape. Resident animals include lion, leopard,
cheetah, spotted hyena, oryx, greater and lesser kudu, impala,
common waterbuck, giraffe, warthog, and well over 550 species
of birds. Enormous herds of elephant can be seen along the
river and the extensive swamp. After a leisurely game drive
through the park, we arrive at Oliver's Camp in time for a
hot shower, sundowners around a roaring bonfire, a briefing
from your guide and a sumptuous dinner and nightcaps with
our host, Paul Oliver. In your large, comfortable, fully equipped
Hemingway-style tent, you'll be lulled to sleep by the sounds
of the African night. Since the camp is located outside the
park boundaries, you may take an optional night game drive
to view the many nocturnal resident animals rarely seen during
the day.
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Day
4
We eat a hearty early breakfast and leave camp for a morning
game drive and return to camp for lunch. Afterwards, you can
rest in your tent or relax in the fully stocked library tent
containing novels and a huge collection of African-related
photographic and reference books. In the late afternoon, you
have the choice of going on a walking safari with your guides
and an armed escort. We return to camp in time to shower,
enjoy sundowners, and finish up with another delicious bush
dinner. Later we relax around the fire where you will see
the heavens as never before.
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Day
5
After breakfast, we game-drive slowly out of the park toward
the Crater Highlands and the Great Rift Valley. We arrive
at Gibb's Farm, an old, German Colonial Period coffee plantation,
for one of their famous buffet lunches. After relaxing in
the spectacular gardens, we proceed into lush, montane forest
of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. From a breathtaking vantage
point we'll pause to view the Crater, while your guides point
out various landmarks you will be visiting tomorrow in this
remnant of an ancient collapsed volcano (a "caldera").
We arrive at the luxurious Ngorongoro Crater Lodge, whose
stunning views of the crater and décor will astound
you. After drinks in the lavish library, we retire to our
private dinning room for a gourmet dinner prepared by an international
chef. Later, it's back to the lounge for nightcaps, conversation,
and watching wildlife videos. Or, you may have your personal
valet bring drinks for you to enjoy in privacy around the
fireplace in your suite.
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Day
6
An early morning breakfast steels us against the morning chill
during our 2,000 foot descent into the Crater for a full day's
game drive. This 10 mile-wide, bowl-shaped geological wonder
and World Heritage Site contains alkaline and fresh water
lakes, springs, groundwater forest, swamps and open grasslands.
These habitats teem with large carnivores, resident herbivores,
primates and birds. It also boasts the world's highest density
of spotted hyenas and lions and one of the last viable populations
of the nearly extinct black rhino. Elegant spotted serval
cats are often seen around the edges of swamps. It's a modern
day Jurassic Park. We enjoy a picnic lunch at the picturesque
Ngoitokitok Springs inhabited by numerous water birds and
hippo. In late afternoon, we make our ascent from the crater
to our lodge for a sumptuous dinner.
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Day 7
With picnic lunches on board, we leave the Crater rim early
in the morning and begin our trek past Lemagrut volcano, downward
over the edge of the escarpment of the Great Rift Valley onto
the vast expanse of the Serengeti Plain. It's a prehistoric
landscape of enormous beauty and proportions. We arrive at
the internationally famous World Heritage Site of Olduvai
Gorge. Here you receive a special lecture from your guide
and a personal tour of their new museum containing interpretive
exhibits and actual artifacts and fossils, including casts
of the 3.2 million year-old Laetoli hominid footprints. From
there, we take an exciting and informative trek into the Gorge
itself to visit sites under excavation. After our picnic lunch,
we head out across the plains for dinner and overnight at
the Ndutu Safari Lodge. A former hunting lodge located near
Lake Masek, Ndutu Lodge is known for its charm, hospitality,
and excellent cuisine. In the evenings, one can usually hear
the roars of lions. Long-tailed, spotted genets are frequent
welcome visitors to the dining room.
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Day
8
After breakfast, we set out for Serena Serengeti Lodge in
the Seronera Valley. The Serengeti is world famous for its
seasonal concentrations of nearly two million migratory wildebeest,
zebra, and gazelles that congregate annually in their ancestral
calving grounds on the short grass plains. The grasslands,
open acacia woodlands and rivers lined with yellow-barked
fever trees are populated by large prides of lion, cryptic
leopard, endangered cheetah, elephant, buffalo and a wide
variety of antelope species. There is a wealth of bird life
consisting of over 400 species including Eurasian migrants.
We will patrol the numerous kopjes (pronounced "copies"),
giant, egg-shaped islands of granite boulders. These picturesque
outcrops are home to a wide variety of animals, both large
and small, and are frequently used as dens and overlooks by
lion, leopard and cheetah. We arrive in time for a hearty
lunch after which you have the option of relaxing, swimming
in the lodge's pool for the rest of the afternoon, or taking
an afternoon game drive. In the evening, we partake of the
lodge's popular and entertaining bush dinner in a nearby outdoor
site.
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Day
9
After a late breakfast, we head out with picnic lunches for
a game drive around Moru Kopjes. These spectacular rock outcrops
and adjacent open woodlands support a variety of wildlife.
After viewing the famous Maasai paintings on the walls of
a large rock shelter, we take our lunch and proceed on a game
drive back to the lodge for a rest, cooling swim, and dinner.
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Day
10
After an early breakfast, we travel through open plains and
woodlands toward our luxury tented camp at Kirawira Serena
Lodge on the Grumeti River. The Grumeti is renowned for its
concentrations of enormous Nile crocodiles (some up to eighteen
feet in length) and large pods of hippos. The lush vegetation
bordering the river also abounds with black and white colobus
monkey and bird life. The grasslands are populated by herds
of buffalo, wildebeest, zebra, gazelle, giraffe and large
predators. Kirawira Serena is a five-star luxury tented camp
that offers fine cuisine and unique personal service. After
lunch, you have the option of remaining in camp and relaxing
around the pool, or accompanying your guides on a late afternoon
game drive and returning in time for sundowners and dinner.
In the entertainment tent, there is a well-stocked bar and
library, a full complement of games and plenty of comfortable
overstuffed chairs. Your large and stylish personal tent contains
a wood and marble in-suite bathroom and a comfortable four-poster
bed.
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Day
11
On our last full day in the bush we take both morning and
afternoon game drives, including visits to the croc and hippo
pools. But, as usual, you have the option of relaxing in camp.
In the evening we gather for our final dinner in the bush.
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Day
12
After breakfast we drive to the Kirawira airstrip for our
short charter flight back to Arusha Airport. From there, we
return to Ngare Sero Lodge for lunch, an afternoon of leisure,
bird watching, or fishing, and a fantastic farewell dinner
with our hosts, Gisela and Mike Leach and your guides.
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Day
13
On your final day in Tanzania, we drive into Arusha after
breakfast for a morning of shopping in the town's numerous
curio shops and take lunch at the popular Mambo Italiano Restaurant.
Later, we return to Ngare Sero for the remainder of the day.
You are served a light dinner and, in the early evening, your
guides will drive you to Kilimanjaro International Airport
for your return flight home. Asante sana, karibu tena, na
safari njema (Thank you very much, come again, and have a
safe journey).
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Day
14
You
arrive back in the United States.
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