9 Days Cultural, Hiking & Wildlife Safari

Day 1: Arrival in Arusha

Your Safari driver will meet you in the Kilimanjaro International Airport to welcome you and transfer you to the lodge in Arusha. Rest time and overnight.

Day 2: Arusha to Lake Manyara and on to Mto Wa Mbu / Karatu village

After a leisurely breakfast, we transfer you in your private 4×4 safari vehicle to Lake Manyara. The national park has a lovely environment; a thin green band of forest, flanked on one side by the cliffs of the Rift Valley Wall, on the other by the shores of the ancient soda lake. Wildlife here is very diverse. We’ll see many baboons and if we’re lucky – the famous tree-climbing lion. Lake Manyara is also one of the finest parks for birdlovers. Lunch in a picnic site. In the afternoon we drive to our accommodation in Mto Wa Mbu village or to Karatu area for dinner and overnight.

Possibility for optional activity (quoted separately): Cycling in the lakeshore of Manyara or Cultural visit to Mto Wa Mbu
Accompanied by a local guide, enjoy a cycling ride through banana plantations to the Lakeshore of Manyara, or a guided walk to visit a village, interact with the locals, visit their plantations and have a good view of the rift valley escarpment.

Day 3: Mto Wa Mbu / Karatu to Lake Eyasi

After early breakfast we proceed to Eyasi area where we will meet with our local guide to visit the tribes. Our guide is very experienced and will interpret what we will get to see. We first visit the Datoga tribe. The Datoga are mostly pastoralists and are used to biological food. They move from place to place to find good pastures for their animals. We visit the Datoga Blacksmith. He makes jewelry as well as weapons using a local method to melt iron. We’ll watch him making weapons – the Datoga use arrows, spears and knives.

We will have a break for picnic lunch and rest. In the afternoon along with our local guide we search for the bushmen, these are the Hadjabe tribe. They will show us around where they live – they use caves as a home. We’ll see how they make fire, where they collect honey and teach us how they cure diseases preparing medicines of nature’s gifts.

You will then witness how the Hadjabe get ready for hunting for their dinner and watch them preparing arrows using poison. Then we’ll take off all together for a hunt. After a great day, we drive to our camp for dinner and overnight.
Accommodation options: Public Campsites and Lodge/Tented Camps

Day 4: Lake Eyasi to Serengeti National Park

Today we are on our way to the great Serengeti. In the Maasai language, “serenget” means “endless plain”. The park stretches for over 15,000 square kilometers. Depending on the season we will head to the best places for game viewing – there are so many destinations within Serengeti.

We have lunch in a picnic site. We then continue with sunset game drive enroute to our camp. In the late afternoon we’ll arrive in our accommodation for dinner and overnight.

Day 5: Serengeti National Park

Full day game drive exploring Serengeti in search of the “big five”. The Serengeti eco-system is home to the “big five” (lion, African elephant, cape buffalo, leopard, rhinoceros). The other main species include zebra, wildebeest, various species of gazelles and antelopes, giraffes, cheetahs, hyenas, elephants, hippopotamus, crocodiles and some primate species such as vervet monkeys and olive baboons. It is also an endemic bird area, with a total of 505 species being documented so far. In the evening, we return to the camp for dinner and overnight.

Possibility for optional activity (quoted separately): Balloon Safari over the Serengeti plains
The Balloon Safari adventure starts early morning at about 5h00 am when you depart your lodge. It is still dark and you may be fortunate to see nocturnal animals on the way to the Launching site. When you arrive, you will meet your pilot and witness your balloon being inflated and prepared for launch. After a thorough safety briefing and demonstration of boarding and landing position you board your balloon and lift off! Rising as the sun rises your balloon floats in whatever direction the winds of the day are heading over this wonderful area.

Your pilot will use varying altitudes and layers of air to navigate the balloon over this amazing area spotting the wild animals and enjoying the view around. We aim to fly for about an hour, depending on conditions. After landing, you celebrate in the traditional way with a champagne toast before heading off to a special breakfast in the bush under an acacia tree.

Day 6: Serengeti National Park to Ngorongoro Conservation Area

Sunrise game drive, searching for big Cats while hunting, they actively hunt during early morning. Then we proceed with en route game drive to Ngorongoro. Dinner and overnight at the camp/lodge inside the conservation area.
The crater and surrounding highlands are one of Africa’s most beautiful regions, with volcanic craters forming stunning backdrops to some of the richest grazing grounds in Africa.

With 600 metre high walls and a rich volcanic floor covering 260km2, the crater is the world’s largest inactive, intact, and unfilled volcanic caldera, a crater formed when a large volcano exploded and collapsed on itself two to three million years ago. It is estimated that the height of the original volcano ranged between 4,500 to 5,800 metres high.

Day 7: Ngorongoro Highlands

After breakfast we drive to the highlands of Ngorongoro where we meet with an authorized Ranger from the park. Accompanied by the ranger, you will hike up to the rim of the Olmoti Crater and visit the Munge waterfalls. You will continue to Embulmbul depression following the cattle trails through forests and grasslands. The depression is a level hollow ground, with short grass where animals like buffalos, zebras and gazelles graze.

Then you will board in our vehicle and drive to Empakai Crater. There along with the Ranger you will descend on foot into the crater floor covered with dense equatorial forests, grass and a volcanic lake. Buffaloes, reedbucks and different species of birds can be seen close to the lake. On our way back, optionally we can visit the Maasai Bulati village. In the afternoon we return to the camp/lodge. Leisure time, dinner and overnight.

Day 8: Ngorongoro Crater to Tarangire NP

Today early in the morning, we depart the lodge and drive down to the crater floor for wildlife game. With its abundant water, excellent grazing and natural protection from the densely vegetated crater walls, the crater provides shelter to over 25000 animals, including the endangered Black Rhinoceros.

Lunch will be taken in a picnic site inside the crater. In the afternoon we drive to Tarangire NP. Arrival to the camp, leisure time, dinner and overnight.

Day 9:Tarangire NP to Arusha

Early in the morning, we depart the camp and head out to explore the Tarangire National park. The park is most famous for its elephant migration, birding and quiet authentic safari atmosphere in a unique surrounding of baobab trees.

Lunch will be taken in a picnic site overlooking the Tarangire River. In the late afternoon we drive back to Arusha or to the airport for your (evening) flight to your next destination.