CLASSIC TANZANIA SAFARI

Day 1
Depart London.

Day 2
Arrive Kilimanjaro, transfer to Arusha. There is a free afternoon to relax after your flight, lie by the pool or explore the town. It may also be possible to arrange a visit to Arusha National Park. This is a small and interesting park at the foothills of Mount Meru were there is the largest concentration of giraffe compared to any other park in East Africa. This must be pre-booked and paid before departure, see extra expenses section below.

Day 3
In the morning we have a short drive from Arusha to Tarangire National Park, this is the first experience of some excellent game viewing. Although Tarangire is small by comparison to Serengeti it offers some excellent sights. Generally in the dry seasons Tarangire comes alive as wildlife and birdlife congregate on the Tarangire River, which is a permanent source of water. You should see herds of giraffe, zebra, buffalo and elephant, and there are regularly good spotting of both lions and leopards. Tonight we spend the first night under the African stars, and we will start getting used to all the sounds of the bush in the night time. We spend two nights at a private camp in Tarangire Park.

Day 4
Today is another full day in Tarangire: this park covers 2600 square kilometres so there is plenty to explore; the landscape is dotted with the mighty baobab trees which provides food and shelter for the animals that live nearby. We will have two game drives today, rising early to see the wildlife as they start their day; we return to our camp for lunch and then enjoy another game drive in the afternoon, so there is plenty of time to appreciate one of Tanzania least visited parks at different times of the day.

Day 5
We drive to Manyara National Park for a full day of game drives, this is another of Tanzania's smaller parks but still offers a rewarding and diverse safari experience. The lakeshore at Manyara teems with birdlife, and while you are looking for the birds, you might spot one of the elusive tree-climbing lions. There is a surprising number of other large mammals and the striking cliffs of the Rift escarpment form a dramatic backdrop. From here we drive to our campsite at Migunga

Day 6
Today we drive to Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Ngorongoro is a special place in that it is a Conservation Area, not a National Park; which means that the whole area is managed for both the animals and the local Masai people who graze their cattle alongside the indigenous wildlife. During the drive in Ngorongoro we have a chance to glimpse something of the Masai's lifestyle, which is so different to ours. After stopping at the entrance gate, where there is a chance to learn more about this fascinating volcanic landscape, we will drive around the rim of the Crater itself, from where we can look down and see the herds of wildebeest or elephants. Finally we descend into the crater. We might have our lunch just before descending to the crater, or chose to wait and take it down in the crater. The crater walls provide a natural sanctuary for the animals, which means there is plenty to see: lions, elephants, buffalo, rhino and leopard (if you are lucky enough). The only animal you won't see in here is a giraffe, whose long legs are unable to cope with the steeps sides of the crater. Tonight the private camp is near the edge of the crater

Day 7
We head towards the Serengeti National Park: en route there is an opportunity to visit Olduvai Gorge. It is within this steep sided ravine that Louis and Mary Leakey made some of the world's most important archaeological discoveries in the 1950s. Here in a small museum we are able to see evidence of our ancestors that have been dated back to 2.5 million years ago. After lunch we drive into the Serengeti itself and the rest of the afternoon is spent game viewing in the vast plains that are broken only by stands of acacia trees and the occasional kopje. In December, January and February we will normally meet the migration with large herds of wildebeest, zebra, and gazelle. There are always plenty of resident animals, such as giraffe, buffalo, and elephant, and many large predators such as lion, cheetah, and leopard. We camp tonight within the park. During the Dec, Jan, Feb period we will stay either at the short grass plains or at Seronera to be close to the migration, and during July and August we will go to the Western Corridor, where there are the famous river crossings and the giant crocodiles. At other times we will be staying in the Seronera area, which has the biggest resident animal concentration.

Day 8
We have another full day here in this wonderful park, rising early to make the most of our time. Our guides will choose the best spotting locations for the time of year; we can spend time at the Hippo pool watching these majestic animals laze about in the cool water happily living alongside the crocodiles, watch a big pride of lions, be in the middle of the migration, sometimes surrounded by wildebeest, sometimes by zebras, which travel with the wildebeest. We journey from the wide open plains to the kopjes: these volcanic rocky outcrops provide protection and shelter for a wide variety of animals and from the top we can look out across the vast grasslands of the Serengeti. This diverse and interesting landscape will provide us with the ultimate in game viewing, we will hopefully see all of the plain games; elephants, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, lions and it you are lucky the elusive leopard and cheetah, as well as huge amounts of interesting bird life, from the elegant secretary birds to the flightless ostrich.

Day 9
Our final day in the Serengeti, again we will rise to early for a game drive on the way to Seronera Airstrip for our morning flight back to Arusha. The rest of the afternoon is for some last minute souvenir shopping, before heading to the airport.

Day 10
Arrive London.