Experience exciting wildlife encounters and inspiring landscapes on this private luxury safari. Enjoy top accommodations. Conclude your adventure with a visit to Bethany Primary School where you can interact with the locals one-on-one.
- Start your travel
- Day 1: Arrive at the airport, check into your hotel
- Day 2: Manyara National Park
- Day 3: Serengeti National Park
- Day 4: Serengeti National Park
- Day 5: Serengeti National Park
- Day 6: Ngorongoro Crater
- Day 7: Visit Bethany School/Local points of interest in Arusha
- Day 8: Relax, repack, Local points of interest in Arusha, and leave for home
Detailed Sample Itinerary
Day 1 – Arrive in Tanzania
Activity:
- Arrive Kilimanjaro (JRO) Airport via Ethiopian Airlines in the afternoon or KLM in the evening. Emmanuel will be waiting for you!
- Transit time from JRO to your hotel: ~1 hr 20 min
Lodging:
Day 2 – Tarangire National Park
Activity:
- Tarangire National Park
- Transit time from Arusha to Tarangire: ~2 hr
- Game drive in Tarangire. Tarangire National Park is known for its elephant’s herds of up to 300, migratory wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, impala, gazelle, hartebeest and eland grazing and browsing in the dry river bed. There is Silale swamp that attracts 550 varieties of birds, the most breeding species you’ll see in one habitat anywhere in the world! The park is also home of tree climbing pythons, as well as lions and leopards.
- Transit time from Tarangire National Park to your lodge ~ 1hr, 40 mins
Lodging:
Day 3 – Serengeti National Park
Activity:
- Serengeti National Park via Ngorongoro Conservation Area
- Transit time with stops from Ngorongoro Crater to your tented camp: ~ 7 hr
- Activities along the way:
- Ngorongoro Maasai Boma Cultural Tour (~1 hr drive / 1 hour visit)
- Ngorongoro Crater Overlook (~30 min drive / 15 min stop)
- Olduvai Gorge monument (~1.5 hr drive / 5 min stop)
- Naabi Hill Serengeti Entrance (~1 hr drive / 45 min stop for lunch and walk up the hill)
- Walk up the Naabi Hill to overlook the Serengeti
- When at Naabi Hill, walk the scenic observation trail, which provides a view of the vastness of the plains of the Serengeti. Look for the colorful lizard that bobs his head! The older male is pink and purple.
- Game drive as you head towards your camp (~ 1.5 hr drive)
- Be prepared. The journey into the Serengeti is lovingly called the “African massage”. You will reach your camp at sunset. It is a washboard straight road and “vibrating” over it at about 65-75 mph is best on the vehicle and is totally safe. The next vehicle rides within the park will be much more enjoyable, as you will drive slowly on dirt roads looking for animals.
Lodging:
Day 4 – Serengeti National Park
Activity:
- Serengeti National Park Game Drives
Lodging:
Day 5 – Serengeti National Park
Activity:
- Serengeti National Park Game Drives
Lodging:
Day 6 – Crater
Activity:
- Ngorongoro Crater Drive
- After breakfast, you will depart with your packed lunches to Ngorongoro Crater.
- The crater which is the highlight of this day is a caldera which measures between 10 and 12 miles across and has an area of 102 square miles, making it the largest Caldera in the world. The crater contains all the big five animals (lions, elephants, rhinos, leopard and buffaloes), plus hippos, cheetah, antelopes and spotted hyena, different species of birds and many more animals. The only animal you will not find in the crater is the giraffe. Their legs do not allow for them to traverse the terrain to enter the crater.
- Around 2 pm you will leave the park. It is a 12–14-minute drive out of the crater on a paved switch-back road.
- Travel time from crater to Arusha: ~3 hr 25 min
Lodging:
Day 7 – Bethany School
Activity:
- Half day at Bethany Pre and Primary School accompanied by 7th graders
- Welcomed at school with song and dance
- Serve morning porridge
- Serve lunch (lunch at school)
- Walk up the hill behind the school to overlook Kisongo
Lodging:
Day 8 – Depart for home
Activity:
- Re-pack, relax, take in one more Arusha activity!
- Leave for the airport early to mid afternoon depending on your flight.
Package Includes:
- All airport pick up and drop offs in Tanzania and Zanzibar
- All Park entrance fees, crater fee & taxes (Value Added Tax inclusive)
- All Accommodations, meals and drinks that come with the meals, other than Zanzibar meals and drinks
- Private 4×4 wheel drive vehicle
- Roof hatch and sliding windows for 360-degree view of the wildlife
- First aid kit – fully stocked
- Mini fridge-to cool off waters and any other drinks Unlimited water
- Charging station with adaptor in vehicle for your phone
- 1 pair of binoculars in vehicle (you may wish to bring your own)
- Animal and bird reference guide in vehicle
- Full attention from your guide, Emmanuel Boaz, for the full duration of your safari