This Safari will take you to three of Tanzania’s most famous wildlife locations; Lake Manyara, The Ngorongoro Highlands and The Serengeti, just in time to witness the spectacle of more than a million migrating Wildebeest. Our Tanzania safaris are all private departures. Your group will have exclusive use of a safari vehicle with your own dedicated English speaking driver/guide. Each vehicle offers window seats for five or seven people and is fitted with “pop up” roof hatches for better visibility and photogrThis Safari will take you to three of Tanzania’s most famous wildlife locations; Lake Manyara, The Ngorongoro Highlands and The Serengeti, just in time to witness the spectacle of more than a million migrating Wildebeest. Our Tanzania safaris are all private departures. Your group will have exclusive use of a safari vehicle with your own dedicated English speaking driver/guide. Each vehicle offers window seats for five or seven people and is fitted with “pop up” roof hatches for better visibility and photography when game viewing.
18 May 2010:
Check in at the OR Tambo International Airport Johannesburg at 05h45, at the 1time check in counter. Your flight on 1time Airlines will depart to Zanzibar International Airport at 07h45 and arrive at 12h15. After completing arrival formalities and collecting your luggage please exit the arrivals terminal and proceed to the Regional Air check in desk. (Please note the luggage allowance on the Regional Flight is 15 kgs and should be packed in soft bags -no hard suitcases).
As you have a short wait before your domestic flight we recommend changing some Dollars into Tanzania Shillings at the forex bureau. There is a local restaurant upstairs of the terminal building where you could have a snack and drink before checking in at 14h30 at the Regional Air desk.
Regional Air flight departs to Arusha at 15h00 and arrives at 18h00.On arrival at Arusha Airport, you will be met by a representative from our ground agent Untamed Safaris and transferred to Mount Meru Game Lodge, a journey of 45 minutes.Constructed in the late fifties by Dr. Andreas Von Nagy, first as a private home and then as accommodation for his up-market safari clientele, Mount Meru Game Lodge is located eighteen kilometres from Arusha, within the grounds of a private game sanctuary. Nestling in the foothills of Mount Meru on the edge of Arusha National Park, the lodge is set in mature, carefully tended gardens surrounded by coffee farms, banana plantations and brilliant flame trees.
The lodge has seventeen-cottage style double and twin rooms, each with a private bathroom. In addition to the fine dining room, there is a large, comfortable sitting room with an open log fire and a quiet secluded patio overlooking the small game sanctuary with Kilimanjaro as a backdrop.
Spend one night at Mount Meru Game Lodge on a dinner, bed and breakfast basis.
19 May 2010:
After breakfast at 08h30, you will be met by your safari driver/guide and your luggage will be safely stowed on board your safari vehicle before the 45 minute drive into the bustling town of Arusha. After a short stop to do any necessary last minute shopping, your safari proper starts with the drive through the Great Rift Valley to the Ngorongoro Highlands arriving in time for an early lunch at Ngorongoro Serena Lodge.
After lunch, descend into the crater itself, a bumpy but exciting experience, to spend the afternoon exploring this fascinating area, returning to the lodge at sun set.
One of the unexplained mysteries of this wildlife paradise is that only male elephant live there and there are no impala or giraffe at all on the floor of this vast caldera.
At the eastern edge of the vast Serengeti, the great buttressed slopes of the Ngorongoro Crater rise up through lichen-covered forests to an altitude of seven thousand feet above sea level.
Nearly three million years old, the ancient caldera shelters one of the most beautiful wildlife havens left on earth. Some of East Africa's last black rhino are protected within its rim, black maned lions stalk the grasslands, flamingos crowd the soda lakes and giant-tusked elephants wander the forests. Towering euphorbias cling to the crater walls and on the floor; fever and fig tree forests give shade to an awe-inspiring array of creatures.
Situated on the rim of this incredible dormant volcano, Ngorongoro Serena Lodge is the ideal place from which to view one of the seven natural wonders of the world. Built of native stone and covered with ivy, the lodge blends in masterfully with its surrounds.
Most of the luxury en-suite bedrooms have private terraces with views of the crater floor that teems with game. This volcano and surrounding land is a dedicated World Heritage Site and are part of a vast conservation area where the Maasai continue to graze their cattle and live in harmony with the wildlife as they have done since time immemorial.
Spend one night at Ngorongoro Serena Lodge on a full board basis including a crater tour.
20 May 2010:
After an early breakfast, set off for the short drive today to the Naabi Hill Gate into the Serengeti National Park, then continue across the vast, open short grass plains of Serengeti to the Serena Serengeti Lodge, arriving in time for lunch.
The Serengeti Serena is set high on a hill overlooking the Seronera plains that are home to countless herds of zebra, Thompson’s gazelle, wildebeest, buffalo, and the other species. The lodge design is elegant but unobtrusive and inspired by a traditional African village. Each comfortable, en suite room is situated in a beehive thatch cottage, reached by a wooden walk way.
The main areas are set under huge domes of thatch with stunning views from the open verandas over the Serengeti. A crystal clear horizon pool offers a cooling break between game drives.
The Maasai word “Siringet” meaning endless plains, truly describes the vast, fascinating landscape of the Serengeti National Park. Rivers flowing out of the Ngorongoro Crater into the grasslands on their way to Lake Victoria, sustain such an incredible population of wildlife that can only be believed when seen! The variety of the broad savannah plains, with their dramatic outcrops, surrounded by denser forests to the north and west, are home to millions of animals who graze here. More than a million Wildebeest, accompanied by hundreds of thousands of other herbivores, descend upon the short-grass plains of the south-eastern Serengeti at the start of the rainy season around December. After calving in January and February, they scatter over the southern and central plains. By May the rains end and the remaining grazing is near the permanent waters of the Serengeti’s northern woodlands and Kenya’s Masai Mara. Reaching these destinations by July or so, they remain until November/December (depending on the short rains) when they head back to the Serengeti to start the cycle once more.
Spend three nights at Serengeti Serena Lodge on a full board basis including two game drives per day.
23 May 2010:
After an early breakfast depart via the Ngorongoro Highlands to the Great Rift Valley arriving at Manyara Serena Lodge in time for a late lunch. After a siesta leave at 15h30 for an afternoon game drive in Manyara Park, returning to the lodge at sun set.
One of the smaller national parks, Manyara contains a large variety of habitats - the rift wall, ground water forest, acacia woodland, open grassland, marshes and the lake’s foreshore. This variety provides optimum conditions for a wide range of wildlife, each of them exploiting separate parts of the area. Added to this, some four hundred species of birds have been recorded in the park.
Lake Manyara Serena is situated on the Mto Wa Mbu escarpment, overlooking the Great Rift Valley and a stunning soda lake. Lake Manyara’s flamingoes and great birds of prey are world-renowned and provided inspiration for the lodge design where swooping curves are complemented by soft, geometric patterns. The seventy rooms are located in chalets overlooking the Rift Valley and lake. They are airily decorated with en-suite bathrooms and air conditioning. The sapphire blue horizon pool, main lounge and restaurant offer stunning views whilst you laze on a sun bed, sipping a cocktail.
Spend one night at Lake Manyara Serena Lodge on a full board basis.
24 May 2010:
After an early breakfast and check out drive down the Rift Valley escarpment stopping at the curio shops en-route to Arusha airport. Depart on Regional Air to Zanzibar at 13h00 and arrive at 14h35, where you will be met and transferred the short distance to Mbweni Ruins Hotel. Spend the rest of the afternoon at leisure.
Mbweni Ruins Hotel is built in the spacious grounds of the ruins of the first Anglican Christian missionary settlement in East Africa, from 1871. This was the time of slavery, and of the great explorers Livingstone, Stanley, Burton, Baker, Grant and Speke. Just outside Stone Town the hotel offers easy access to this ancient town whilst being right on a beautiful beach.
Privacy and comfort enfold you at Mbweni and with only thirteen private suites, the hotel is extremely exclusive. All rooms are air-conditioned with en-suite bathrooms and furnished in the Zanzibari style including magnificent four poster beds. Each has a large, private veranda overlooking the gardens and the sea.
The swimming pool set amongst lush grass lawns is right next to the sparkling white beach where mangroves attract rich birdlife and the waves encourage splashing dolphins. Bush - babies and fireflies make their presence known in the long, warm and dusky evenings, while you dine on a variety of fresh local dishes using many of Zanzibar's herbs and spices. A regular shuttle service into Stone Town allows guests the freedom to explore this historic World Heritage site at leisure.
Spend your last night at Mbweni Ruins on a dinner, bed and breakfast basis.
25 May 2010:
Spend the morning at leisure before being transferred to Zanzibar Airport in time for the One Time Airlines flight departing back to Johannesburg at 13h05 and arriving at 15h35.
18 > 25 May – Serena Lodges R 18 955.00
Prices are per adult sharing & include return Airfare ex Johannesburg with all pre-payable taxes and surcharges, return airport transfers, 6 days safari by 4WD vehicle with knowledgeable English speaking driver guide, accommodation and meals as Itinerary and all National Park entrance fees , E&OE ROE 7.75
