8 DAYS TANZANIA CLASSIC TOUR 3 STAR

Day 1 Arrive at Kilimanjaro Airport; meet and greet your guide and transfer to your hotel. Accommodation: Mount Meru Hotel Activity: Airport arrival, meeting and greeting your safari guide. Your host will be on hand when you arrive at the airport and will take you to Mount Meru Hotel. Situated at the foothills of Mount Meru in Arusha, the Hotel lies on 9 acres of lush landscape, surrounded by some of Africa’s most breath-taking vistas, rich with a diverse array of wildlife, etched against the fertile slopes of this beautiful mountain. Enjoy a fresh brew of Tanzania tea or coffee upon arrival if you wish, whilst you relax and unwind after your flight. If you’re ready for sleep, you’ll immediately relax in your comfortable room, with its fine linens. In the morning you’ll be refreshed and ready to go. Who says a safari has to be rustic? Day 2 Drive from Arusha to Tarangire National Park. Accommodation: Tarangire Sopa Lodge Meal Plan: Full Board – Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner Activity: Transfer to Tarangire. Enjoy afternoon game drives. In the morning, your private driver-guide will pick you up for the drive to Tarangire with game viewing en route, arriving in time for lunch. Think of your guide as your own regional expert, knowledgeable in the local flora and fauna, and especially, the local roads. The Tarangire National Park is a dry-season refuge for a variety of game. Migratory animals like elephants, wildebeests, zebras, gazelles and buffalo gather at the Tarangire River in impressive numbers and as always, the predators follow. Also, the variety of species makes the park a bird-watchers paradise. Day 3 Transfer by road from Tarangire National Park to Ngorongoro Crater. Accommodation: Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge Meal Plan: Full Board – Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner Activity: Transfer to Ngorongoro Crater Optional: Visit to Olduvai Gorge After breakfast you proceed for a game drive through the Tarangire National Park. With an area of 525 sq. miles, Tarangire provides endless opportunities to observe its abundance of wildlife including buffalos, elephants, lions and a vast number of antelopes. After lunch, you will transfer by road to the Ngorongoro Crater Conservancy Area. The Ngorongoro Crater was formed millions of years ago by the collapse of a long extinct volcano. The resulting 100 square mile depression, surrounded by a 2000-foot volcanic rim, contains water and forage necessary to support most of the familiar African wildlife. Don’t be surprised to see Maasai herders and their livestock, especially on the crater rim; the Conservation Area protects both wildlife and Maasai. Day 4 Full day crater tour and game viewing at Ngorongoro. Accommodation: Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge Meal Plan: Full Board – Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner Activity: Travel inside the Ngorongoro Crater/ Picnic Lunch Today we spend the day on the crater floor viewing game as many as 30,000 animals populate the crater. Lions, cheetahs, and jackals prey upon large herds of zebra, wildebeest, and antelope. The lake on the floor of the crater supports wading hippos and a myriad of birdlife. Elephants are rare within the crater, though lone, non-breeding bulls roam the region, their great tusks reaching out before them. Arrange to visit a local Maasai village and see how this proud, resourceful people live in harmony with the animals. Day 5 Transfer by road from Ngorongoro Crater to Serengeti. Accommodation: Serengeti Sopa Lodge Meal Plan: Full Board – Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner Activity: Transfer to Serengeti with game drives enroute; optional stop at Olduvai Gorge. After breakfast head for the seemingly endless plains of the Serengeti that open up across the horizon. These grasslands draw all manner of African game to graze– zebras, migrating wildebeests, antelope – and these animals in turn attract all manner of predators – lions, cheetahs, hyenas – that follow the great herds as they roam in search of water. We are pulled here as well, to witnesses the entire spectacle; the interconnection of land and wildlife, of predator and prey, to experience the circle of life, staged on the wide horizon. Day 6 Full day game viewing at Serengeti. Accommodation: Serengeti Sopa Lodge Meal Plan: Full Board – Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner Activity: Morning and afternoon game drives. Optional: Hot air balloon ride, visit to Tribal Village & Walking Safari Except for a late summer and fall visit to the Maasai Mara Game Reserve in Kenya, the migrating wildebeest spend most of the year traversing the Serengeti. Depending on the time of year, the hundreds of thousands of wildebeests accompanied by zebras and gazelles, follow the rain in search of fresh forage. A second day at Serengeti National Park puts most visitors on the track of the herd. Begin your day with an optional early morning balloon safari to see this wild world from a whole new perspective, followed by a sumptuous champagne bush breakfast (Optional - At cost). Or take an early morning game drive before a breakfast feast at the lodge. Day 7 Drive from Serengeti to Lake Manyara Accommodation: Kirurumu Tented Lodge Meal Plan: Full Board – Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner Activity: Morning and Afternoon Game Drives Today we travel to Lake Manyara, an amazing wildlife sanctuary famous for its tree climbing lions and dramatic views. It is located in a depressed valley where the red and brown cliffs of the western wall of Great Rift Valley seem to rise up out of the lake itself. Springs rising from the base of the escarpment provide a welcome water supply. While the lions may be shy (visitors who spot them are lucky indeed), Manyara includes a variety of habitats, home to a variety of big game and a rich assortment of birdlife. Day 8 Transfer from Lake Manyara to Arusha Meal Plan: Breakfast Activity: Transfer to Arusha All good things must come to an end. And this week will have ended all too soon. Reluctantly we peel away from Lake Manyara and begin the mental and emotion transition back to reality: Getting back to business, back to work, back home, reacquainting yourself with that other world that now seems so far away . . . but not just yet. After breakfast take the opportunity to say 'kwaheri' to Tanzania as you drive to the airport for the trip home.