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| DAY 1
- ARUSHA TANZANIA
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Arrive into Kilimanjaro International Airport today off your International flight, or from a connecting flight out of Nairobi, Kenya. After clearing customs you will be met and transferred to the KIA Lodge. This lovely lodge is located near the airport and your accommodations will be in one of the 40 charming bungalows set among lush gardens. The open air bar has a magnificent view of Mt. Kilimanjaro, which at 19,340 feet (5,895 m), is the highest mountain in Africa. Relax the remainder of the day by the pool, or soak in the view from your bungalow. A late dinner buffet for those flying in late is provided.
Overnight
- KIA Lodge (B & B basis) |
| DAY 2
- ARUSHA NATIONAL PARK
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After breakfast you will be met by your private safari guide and depart by road to Arusha National Park, one of the most picturesque in East Africa. This often overlooked park is a small gem with lakes, the 14,000 ft. Mt. Meru and the beautiful Ngurdoto Crater. In the Ndurdoto Forest you will have a chance to observe the rare black & white Colobus Monkey.
Enjoy a game drive on the way Hatari Lodge. This newly refurbished lodge has views of Africa's two most gigantic peaks: the legendary Mount Kilimanjaro and the spectacular panorama of Mount Meru. An elevated wooden walkway leads to the Momella Meadow where guests can have an undisturbed and unique experience of watching wildlife close-up. The meadow attracts animals year-round including buffalo, waterbuck, giraffe and occasionally large herds of elephants.
After checking into the lodge, enjoy lunch and some time to relax before departing on an afternoon game drive in the park. Return to the lodge in the early evening and have a sundowner on the terrace, with the sun setting on Mt. Kilimanjaro, before dinner.
Overnight – Hatari Lodge (all meals & activities)
Overnight
- Hatari Lodge (all meals & activities) |
| DAY 3
- ARUSHA NATIONAL PARK
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Enjoying breakfast on the terrace while you watch the nearby wildlife, is a special treat at Hatari Lodge. Be sure to bring your camera so that you can catch Mt Kilimanjaro in the morning light. After breakfast depart on a morning wildlife viewing activity or perhaps take a walk with your guide and an armed ranger to the waterfalls, or if you’re feeling
ambitious, up to and down into the Mt. Meru crater. Return for lunch and spend the remainder of the day relaxing or depart on an afternoon game drive or walk.
Overnight
- Hatari Lodge (all meals & activities) |
| DAY 4
- TARANGIRE NATIONAL PARK
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After breakfast you and your guide will depart for scenic Tarangire National Park, Tanzania’s third largest. Here you’ll find a geologic landscape as diverse as the wildlife, with nine distinct vegetation zones ranging from grassland to woodland, from deep gully vegetation to scattered rocky hilltops. Mysterious Baobab trees dot the landscape and the Tarangire River meanders through the park. During the dry season the river attracts an abundance of wildlife, including up to 6,000 elephant, lion, cheetah, and buffalo and a variety of colorful birds.
You will arrive in time for lunch at the wonderful Tarangire Treetops Lodge. Treetops is a small luxury permanent "camp" consisting of 20 giant tree houses on platforms in a grove of Baobab trees. Each tree house has a private verandah and lounge area with views over the Tarangire Conservation Area which is a private concession next to the park. It also has a swimming pool that overlooks the elephant watering hole. And since its private land they offer night game drives too.
After some time to wash up and relax, depart on a walk, game drive, or visit a local village.
Overnight
- Tarangire Treetops Lodge (all meals & activities) |
| DAY 5
- TARANGIRE NATIONAL PARK
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You have another full day of fabulous wildlife viewing in this wonderful park.
Overnight
- Tarangire Treetops Lodge (all meals & activities) |
| DAY 6
- LAKE MANYARA / NGORONGORO CRATER
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This morning, after an early breakfast, you’ll leave Tarangire and drive across the Great Rift Valley to Lake Manyara National Park. Although only 205 sq. miles in size this enchanting park is noted for its beauty and incredibly lush acacia forest of giant fig and mahogany trees, which are home to troops of baboons and blue monkeys. The park is also home to large numbers of buffalo, giraffe, elephant, hippo, impala and the Hippo Pool, where large numbers usually gather. Well known for its birds (over 400 species), Lake Manyara is one of the few places you will see the comical Ground Hornbill and the Crested Eagle.
This morning, after an early breakfast, you’ll leave Tarangire and drive across the Great Rift Valley to Lake Manyara National Park. Although only 205 sq. miles in size this enchanting park is noted for its beauty and incredibly lush acacia forest of giant fig and mahogany trees, which are home to troops of baboons and blue monkeys. The park is also home to large numbers of buffalo, giraffe, elephant, hippo, impala and the Hippo Pool, where large numbers usually gather. Well known for its birds (over 400 species), Lake Manyara is one of the few places you will see the comical Ground Hornbill and the Crested Eagle.
After spending a few hours in the park, you’ll continue to the Ngorongoro Crater, the "eighth wonder of the world". You’ll spend two exciting nights at the dramatic Ngorongoro Crater Lodge, which is perched on the edge of the ancient crater rim. The lodge, which is an architectural masterpiece, is comprised of three separate compounds that reflect a bygone era, adorned the stilted, handcrafted structures with graceful antiques, grand chandeliers and treasures collected from travels through Africa. Each luxury cottage is discreetly tended by a personal butler, who will bring you tea in bed and
stoke the fireplace, ready for your return from your safari on the crater floor. Enjoy a leisurely bath with a view of the crater below. Gourmet meals are served in the elegant
dining room.
Overnight
- Ngorongoro Crater Lodge (all meals & activities) |
| DAY 7
- NGORONGORO CRATER
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This morning, after an early breakfast, you’ll depart with a picnic lunch and descend to the crater floor for a day of wildlife viewing. The floor of this collapsed volcano spreads for 102 sq. miles and the walls are 2,000 feet high, a truly awesome sight. The crater floor is a virtual "Noah's Ark", inhabited by almost every species of wildlife indigenous to East Africa, including the rare black rhino. It contains a river, several swamps, a soda lake - complete with flamingoes, a forest and open plains.
When you’re ready, you’ll ascend the crater and return to your lodge. Enjoy the remainder of the day relaxing in your luxury suite and sip a sherry in front of the fire before dinner.
Overnight
- - Ngorongoro Crater Lodge (all meals & activities) |
| DAY 8
- SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK
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This morning after breakfast and a final glimpse of the crater, you’re off to the famous Serengeti National Park, the symbol of Africa's wildlife. The word Serengeti comes from the Maasai language meaning "endless plains". The 6,900 sq. mile (18,000 sq. km) park is inhabited by more than 2 large million animals including more than a million wildebeest, hundreds of thousands of plains zebras, and Thomson’s gazelles. Large predators including lions, cheetahs, and hyenas are drawn to the area by this abundance of prey which migrate throughout the park. Many smaller animals – rock hyrax, bat eared foxes, mongoose, honey badger, jackals, monkeys, baboon and African hare inhabit the area along with nearly 500 species of birds. Off road you’ll find the "Kopjes", massive boulder islands of granite standing in a sea of grass, provide shelter to a great variety of plants and animals, from the elusive leopard to the tiny dik dik.
On the way to the Serengeti you will stop at the famous “Oldupai Gorge”, where Dr. Louis and Mary Leakey made their discovery of early man. After attending a short lecture describing the archeological digs, continue across the Serengeti plains to Camp Kusini, located among the huge granite boulders of the Mwaki Nyeb Kopjes, in the far southern Serengeti, amid a vast tract of big game country outside the main tourist circuit. Kusini lies in a lion-haunted landscape of flat-topped acacias and short grass plains. The Mwaki Kopjes, huge tree-tufted piles of boulders, rise like islands from the sea of grass, affording panoramic views north towards the Gol Mountains and Ngorongoro Crater.
Viewing wildlife on the way you will arrive at Camp Kusini in time for lunch. Camp Kusini is located in the Hambi ya Mwaki-Nyeb Kopjes in the south central Serengeti and lies carefully couched in an outcrop of large boulders (or Kopjes). The actual site was chosen because of the views, the unusual location and the all-year proximity of wildlife, due to easy access from the camp to several different types of habitat - short grass plains, rocky outcroppings and acacia woodland. The camp contains 12 double tents scattered around the kopje with the mess tent and common area as the central feature. Privacy between tents is guaranteed as they are at a substantial distance from each other and are generally concealed by a tree or kopje. The tents face in different directions giving different views from the other tents although the general direction of the camp is south.
Today after resting up, set out on an afternoon game drive, returning before sunset to drinks around the fire and a delicious gourmet dinner.
Overnight
- Camp Kusini ( all meals & activities) |
| DAYS 9/10
- SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK
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During your stay in the Serengeti, you can decide with your guide how you would like to spend your days. On most mornings you’ll be awakened early and after coffee or tea depart on an early morning game drive in the amazing Serengeti. The early mornings are magical in the Serengeti, when the wildlife is just waking up to greet the days. After returning to camp for a hearty breakfast you can depart on a late morning game drive returning to camp for lunch or you may want to depart with a picnic lunch so that you can spend the whole day wildlife viewing.
After a days activities you return to camp for sundowners around the fire and dinner.
Note: Camp Kusini will be used from December - March, Kirwaira Tented Camp will be used from April through August, and Migration Camp, will be used from September through November for closer proximity to the “Great Migration.”
Overnight
- Camp Kusini ( all meals & activities) |
| DAY 11
- SERENGETI / ARUSHA / DEPART
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After breakfast you will enjoy your last game drive on your way to the central Serengeti. After saying goodbye to your guide you will board the scheduled flight Kilimanjaro International Airport. When you arrive you will be met and transferred to the KIA Lodge, where you will have use of a day room before you are taken to the airport to get your departing or connecting flight.
Dayroom – KIA Lodge (breakfast )
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11
Days
from
US $ 7,880
