CUSTOM Tanzania Wildlife Safari

We meet our guides at Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO) and transfer to our hotel. Our hotel, Ilboru Safari Lodge (http://annelie3.wixsite.com/isl2015) is located at the foot of Mt. Meru. Overnight: Ilboru Safari Lodge

After a hearty breakfast, we load our safari trucks, stopping at the Arusha Cultural Heritage Centre to get a sense of the past and present 120-plus tribes of Tanzania. We continue southwest through Masai Steppe to Tarangire National Park. Known for its diverse scenery, including dramatic baobab trees, one of Tanzania's largest populations of elephants, more than 500 species of birds, and impressive numbers and variety of animals. Our overnight tented camp is located inside the park on the edge of Tarangire River, a favorite watering place, so it is common to see animals drinking water and grazing along the river from the lodge. Overnight: Tarangire Tented Safari Lodge. (B, L, D)

You will spend another full day in Tarangire National Park. Your concentration will be game viewing at Esilalei Swamp area and along Tarangire River, a favorite watering place, which attracts impressive numbers and variety of animals. The park hosts an enormous variety of birds, more than 500 species. In the evening you will return to the same tented lodge for dinner. (B, L, D) Overnight: Tarangire Tented Safari Lodge (www.tarangiresafarilodge.com

Today you will leave early in the morning after breakfast and drive to Lake Manyara National Park. Despite the park’s small size, the park’s vegetation is diverse, ranging from savanna to marshes and acacia woodland, enabling it to support a remarkable variety of habitat. In addition to a striking setting and peaceful surroundings, Lake Manyara’s main attractions are its superb birdlife, its tree climbing Lions, and its Hippos, which you can observe at a closer range here than at most other places. To the east of the park is the alkaline Lake Manyara, which at certain times of the year hosts tens of thousands of Flamingos, as well as a diversity of other birdlife. You will leave the park in the evening and drive to your overnight lodge for dinner. (B, L, D) Overnight: Ngorongoro Farm House (www.twctanzania.com)

Today you will leave after leisurely breakfast and drive to Serengeti National Park. You will stop at Oldupai Gorge, site of Louis and Mary Leakey's famous discoveries of man's ancient ancestors, the Zinjanthropus Bosei. You will take tour of the site and the museum. This will be a good time to visit and interact with Masai people that leave around the gorge. This visit will give you an opportunity to learn and explore traditions, culture and survival strategies of the Masai people. They will performing their traditional dances and if interested you can join in the dance to add something to your adventure resume! After the tour, you will take picnic lunch and after lunch you will proceed with your drive to southern Serengeti while game viewing on the way to your next overnight tented camp located in southern Serengeti. (B, L, D) Overnight: Ndutu Kati Kati Tented Camp (www.twctanzania.com)

Today you will leave after breakfast in the morning for sunrise game drive when animals are very active grazing on the grasslands and the predators are busy hunting. You will spend the entire day game viewing and following the great migration of wildebeests and a big number of predators hunting them as they migrate. You will stop for lunch break and enjoy your picnic lunch at a designated picnic site or under an acacia tree. Your concentration today will be tracking the great migration of Wildebeests and Zebras as the graze on the southern plains of Serengeti ecosystem. After lunch you will proceed with your game viewing and return to the same tented camp in the evening. (B, L, D) Overnight: Ndutu Kati Kati Tented Camp (www.twctanzania.com)

If you chose the hot air balloon safari, you will leave at 5am for your balloon, floating above the plains of southern Serengeti. You'll see early morning animal actions like Lions eating their kill from their overnight hunt or Hippos returning to the river at sunrise after grazing all night. You will be congratulated by champagne upon landing and you will be served full English breakfast under an acacia tree in the middle of the savanna. If you choose not to, you will enjoy breakfast at camp. Your group will then spend the rest of the day game viewing as you make your way towards central Serengeti and Seronera River Valley, an area rich with wildlife all year round and a common place to find Leopards and other big cats like Lions and Cheetahs. You will visit Retima Hippo Pool, where you will be able to get out of the vehicle to stretch your legs and walk to the close proximity to see Hippos and Crocodile in the same habitat. In the evening, you will make your way to your next overnight tented camp located in central Serengeti. (B, L, D) Overnight: Serengeti Kati Kati Tented Camp (www.twctanzania.com)

Today you will leave after leisurely breakfast and spend the first half of the day game viewing in the central Serengeti. In the afternoon you will take a short break to enjoy your picnic lunch and after lunch you will proceed with your game viewing while making your way out of the Serengeti. You will enter Ngorongoro Conservation Area where you will be game viewing as you make your way towards your overnight lodge located on the rim of Ngorongoro main crater with spectacular views of the Ngorongoro highlands. (B, L, D) Overnight: Ngorongoro Rhino Lodge (www.ngorongoro.cc)

You will wake up early in the morning and drive down the Ngorongoro crater where you will spend full day exploring Ngorongoro crater which is a World Heritage Site and home to nearly 25,000 animals, giving you a very real chance of spotting the big five: lion, elephant, endangered black rhino, buffalo and leopard plus countless other African mammal species. You will witness the magnificent array of habitats, each with its own unique wildlife and flora. You will take time out to stretch your legs and enjoy a picnic lunch at Ngoitokitok Springs watching the hippos jostle for position in the water. After lunch you will proceed with game viewing and leave the crater floor in the late afternoon to drive to your next overnight lodge in the Karatu area, a region known for its coffee plantations, sugar cane and rice fields. (B, L, D) Overnight: Tloma Lodge (www.twctanzania.com)

After leisurely breakfast, you will drive back to Arusha through small towns of Karatu and Mto wa Mbu. You will take few stops at curio and souvenirs shops which are beautifully decorated and full of high authentic artworks, sculptures, antiques, fabrics and textiles from Tanzania. You will arrive in Arusha for late lunch and in the evening we will transfer you to the airport for your international departure flight back home. (B, L)