Crossing rivers

Upon your arrival at Kilimanjaro Airport (or Arusha), our staff will welcome you and take you to your lodge in Arusha.
If you have time, desire and energy, you can take a tour of the city and the markets, accompanied by the guide. Alternatively, relax in the hotel.

Dinner and overnight stay at the Planet Lodge (or similar category).

The entire park is full of forms of life. You will come across buffalo herds (the most widespread species in the park), zebras, giraffes, warthogs, water antelopes, dik-dik and reedbucks.
Furthermore, in the area there are other mammals that are difficult to approach such as the aardvark, the potamocerus and the crested porcupine.

Only in this park you can see the black and white colobus, an endangered primate.
During the visit, you will take a naturalistic walk, accompanied by the Park-Guard, a truly fascinating experience.
Departure for the park early in the morning.
Lunch in a picnic area in the park.
Return to the lodge by h. 18:00.
Dinner and overnight stay at the Planet Lodge (or similar category).

After breakfast, you will visit the Tarangire National Park.
Here the sylvan savannah, dotted with majestic baobabs, many of which date back to over 2000 years ago, is home to the largest population of elephants in northern Tanzania.
During the advanced dry season, the park is home to the highest density of wildlife on the continent and the observation of the animals is absolutely amazing.

Departure for the park early in the morning.
Lunch in a picnic area in the park.
Transfer to Karatu in the afternoon and arrival in the lodge by h. 18:00.
(Tarangire – Karatu transfer: about 1 hour and 30 minutes, by road)
Dinner and overnight stay at the Farm of Dreams Lodge (or similar category).

After breakfast, you will visit Lake Eyasi, located to the south-east of the Ngorongoro highlands.
The surrounding region is home to a human group of extreme interest: they are the bushmen Hadzabe, the last heirs of a civilization that does not know agriculture, cattle breeding, pottery and metallurgy, the homines sapientes, which right here, along the Rift Valley, took their first steps around 200,000 years ago. They live by hunting with bow and arrows and from the collection of berries and spontaneous fruits.

Their lifestyle has remained unchanged for millennia, they live in small errant groups of about twenty individuals. Meeting them is a decidedly interesting experience.
It is possible to organize a hunt with them early in the morning and experience an archaic lifestyle for a few hours.
It is a true experience, not a fake one or a staging for tourism purposes.

In the region you can also find the Datoga, polygamous breeders originating from the Horn of Africa, who arrived in this region following the herds in search of pastures.
You will visit the village and the blacksmith’s workshop which produces everyday objects with ancient techniques like jewelry and arrowheads for the neighboring Hadzabe, who repay him with animal skins and wild honey.
A very small part of travelers on safari in Tanzania visit this region, but those who do it come back thrilled.
Departure for the park early in the morning.

Return to the lodge for lunch.
In the afternoon there is a possibility to take a walk to Karatu, accompanied by the guide, or (with supplement) it’s possible to visit the Iraq village near Karatu.
Dinner and overnight stay at the Farm of Dreams Lodge (or similar category).

After breakfast, you will visit the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, one of the most famous safari destinations in the world, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1978 and the International Biosphere Reserve in 1981.
You will enter the Ngorongoro crater, which is located at 2.2000 meters above sea level and is the largest unbroken caldera in the world and one of the natural wonders of Africa with around 30.000 large mammals living there all year round, such as buffaloes, lions, elephants, cheetahs and rhinos, and many varieties of birds, such as flamingos, eagles, buzzards, ostriches and hawks.

The permit for the photo safari inside the Crater has a max validity of 6 hours.
Departure for the park early in the morning. Lunch in the park.
After lunch, continuation of the photo Safari along the road that leads from the NCA to the Serengeti and arrival in the tented camp at about h. 18:00.
(NCA – Serengeti transfer: about 3 hours, on an unpaved route)
Dinner and overnight stay at the Serengeti Thorn Tree Tented Camp (or similar category).

After breakfast, we’ll begin the photo safari heading towards the North area of the Serengeti National Park, to discover the extraordinary biggest migration phenomenon in the world.
Every year, about 2,5 million herbivores, mainly wildebeest and zebras, travel about 800km, searching for water and food.
During the dry season, they head North of the Serengeti, concentrating along the Mara river.
The Serengeti is the extraordinary place where legend meets reality, it represents the oldest and largest park in Tanzania, covering an area of 14,763 square kilometers, so much that the name, of Masai origin, Siringet, means “Plain without borders”.

Departure for the park early in the morning and return to the tented camp by h. 18:00.
Lunch in a picnic area in the park.
Dinner and overnight stay at the Chaka Migration Camp, located near the Mara River (or similar category).

After breakfast, we head towards the Mara River, following in the trail of the migration. You will be surrounded by an immense expanse of animals, and you will be able to see the spectacular passage along the ford of the Mara, a large river that the animals cross to continue the migration, where the enormous crocodiles that reside here await them.
You will also be able to see numerous families of hippos, other herbivores and predators, lions, cheetahs, hyenas, etc.

Departure for the park early in the morning and return to the tented camp by h. 18:00.
Lunch in a picnic area in the park.
Dinner and overnight stay at the Chaka Migration Camp, located near the Mara River (or similar category).

After breakfast, you will continue your discovery of the extraordinary Serengeti National Park.
The boundless grasslands are occasionally interrupted by bizarre granite formations, the kopjes, where large predators such as lions love to lie down or hide there waiting for the passage of a possible prey.

Along the rivers you can spot crocodiles, hippopotamuses and many other animals while they are drinking, but also leopards that often bask in the branches of the umbrella acacias present here.
Departure for the park early in the morning. Lunch in a picnic area in the park.
After lunch, the photo Safari continues along the road to exit the Serengeti, to then continue the transfer to Lake Natron. Arrival in the lodge towards h. 18:30
(Serengeti – Natron transfer: about 6 hours on unpaved route)
Dinner and overnight stay at the Maasai Giraffe Eco Lodge (or similar category).

Today you will visit Lake Natron, with the nearby Ol Doinyo Lengai volcano, the sacred ‘Mountain of God’ for the Masai, it’s a pristine, rugged and particularly fascinating place, which allows excursions outside the most touristic circuits, which can be visited from late June to early January.
It is an alkaline 60km long lake, located to the north-east of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, characterized by shades ranging from white to pink and brown, based on the periods of the year.

Even its size, like the color, varies a lot during the year and during the dry season its waters recede so much as to uncover large areas of land covered with a thick salt crust.
The excessive salinity of the lake implies the possibility of life for most of the animal species, with the exception of the pink flamingos, which nest here and live in immense flocks.
The visit will take place on foot, starting from the lake.
Afterwards, an excursion to the enchanting waterfalls, going up a stretch of river with fresh and pure waters, with the possibility of taking a pleasant swim under the falls (it is advisable to wear rock climbing shoes and costumes – parts of the route are along the rocks).
Departure for the visit early in the morning.

Lunch at the lodge in the park.
Transfer to Mto Wa Mbu in the afternoon and arrival at the lodge by h. 18:00.
(Natron – Mto Wa Mbu transfer: about 3 hours, on a dirt path)
Dinner and overnight stay at the Manyara Wild Life Safari Camp (or similar category).

After breakfast, you will visit the Lake Manyara National Park, one of the Tanzanian parks with the highest biodiversity, with five different ecosystems.
The park is inhabited by over 380 types of birds and many animal species including elephants, buffaloes, zebras, giraffes, leopards, lions, baboons, hippos, antelopes, warthogs and many others.

Departure for the park early in the morning.
Lunch in an area equipped for lunch in the park.
Following, visit on foot or by bicycle of the village and plantations of Mto wa mbu.
Transfer to Arusha and arrival in the lodge by h. 18:00.
(Manyara – Arusha transfer: 2 hours, by road).

After breakfast, we’ll head to the Kilimanjaro National Park, founded in 1997 and declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1987. It owes its fame, of course, to the spectacular Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa, as well as being one of the highest volcanoes in the world, with the summit covered by a perennial glacier. The main entrance to the park is the Marangu Gate, which is located at an altitude of 1870 m. and it is the lowest part of the plateau, which can be reached by jeep and offers beautiful views of the Great Rift valley with Mount Meru.

You will carry out a trekking of about 3 hours, accompanied by the Park-Guard, visiting the feet of the “Roof of Africa”, and you will be able to reach Mandara Hut at about 2,720m (about 900m in altitude), where there is a lush rainforest dominated by tall trees, which is home to various animals, such as buffaloes, baboons, velvet monkeys and alpine antelopes, and numerous birds, including the starling of abbots, very rare outside this area.

Picnic in the park.
Trekking back to the starting point of about 2 hours, 30 minutes.
Transfer to Moshi in the afternoon. Arrival in the lodge by h. 18:00.
(Kilimanjaro Park- Moshi transfer: about 1 hour and 30 minutes, by road)
Dinner and overnight stay at the Wonder Kilimanjaro Lodge (or similar category).

Even the last day of safari will be organized at its best and, after breakfast, you will head to the Moshi area, where you can visit the Materuni waterfalls and the Chaga Village after a beautiful scenic walk.

Typical local lunch.
View of the Kilimanjaro (if the weather allows us), from a panoramic area.