Tanzania Wildlife Safari & Tranquil Zanzibar

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Day 1 – Arrival – Arusha, Tanzania
Karibu Tanzania! Nestled at the foot of Mount Meru, Arusha is a bustling, attractive city and the starting point for the northern safari routes of Tanzania as well as a starting point for climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. Tourism is important in Arusha but the primary industry of the region is large-scale and subsistence agriculture because of the extremely fertile soil. Much of the large vegetable producers in the area export their high-quality produce as well as coffee to Europe.

Originally founded by the Germans in 1900, Arusha is named after the local Wa-Arusha tribe that has inhabited the area for centuries. In 1916, shortly after the Germans had settled in Arusha, the British occupied the area and expelled the German settlers, reallocating their estates to British settlers. Official documents ceding independence to Tanganyika were signed by the United Kingdom in 1961 in Arusha and the Arusha Declarations for Self Reliance in Tanzania was signed here six years later. Since 1994, Arusha has been centre of international attention as it hosts the International Criminal Tribunal for the Rwandan genocide where trials are ongoing.

As today is an arrival day, there are no activities planned. You will be picked up at the Arusha Airport and taken to your hotel to check-in and have dinner.

Overnight: Olasiti Lodge (or similar)
Meals: Dinner

Days 2-4 – Tarangire National Park
This morning after breakfast, you will depart for Tarangire National Park, located in the Manyara Region, and is the sixth largest national park in Tanzania. Located slightly off the main safari route, Tarangire National Park is a lovely, quiet park in Northern Tanzania, most famous for its elephant migration, and a gem hidden away from the masses visiting Tanzania.

Arrive at your tented camp and enjoy lunch. Daily game drives will be included in your stay, along with all meals.

Overnight: Burunge Tented Camp (or similar) (3 nights)
Meals: Daily Breakfasts, Lunches & Dinners

Days 5-6 – Karatu
Today you say goodbye to Tarangire and drive to the Karatu region, where you will spend two nights. One of the days, you’ll visit the uniquely beautiful Lake Eyasi where there is a large mix of water-birds (viewing is especially good during the breeding season of June to November) including huge populations of flamingos and pelicans. At Lake Eyasi, you’ll also experience the traditional lifestyles of the Hadzabe tribe, who are distinguished by being the only population in east Africa that continues to rely extensively on hunting and gathering for sustenance, and the Datoga tribe, who are known for being skilled farmers and craftsmen whose dress and culture is quite similar to the Maasai.

Overnight: Kitela Lodge (or similar) (2 nights)
Meals: Daily Breakfasts, Lunches & Dinners

Days 7-8 – Serengeti National Park
This morning after breakfast you’ll depart for the Serengeti National Park. The name “Serengeti” is derived from a Maasai word meaning “Endless Plains”. En-route to the tented camp, we will keep our eyes peeled for big game such as blue wildebeests, gazelles, zebras, cape buffaloes, and lions. The Serengeti is simply captivating.

While you are in the Serengeti, you’ll have game drives searching for the “Big 5” – lion, rhino, elephant, cape buffalo, and the elusive leopard. The vast plains of the Serengeti host the greatest mammal migration in the world; a spectacle with approximately 750 000 zebra, 1.3 million wildebeest and the hundreds of thousands of other plains game. The Serengeti is an ecosystem with great biodiversity and is home to approximately 70 larger mammal and some 500 bird species.

The Serengeti National Park is to Tanzania what the Masai Mara Game Reserve is to Kenya, though it is actually over 7 times larger with an area of 14 763 km² (9173 mi²)! The Serengeti National Park is the jewel of Tanzania’s protected areas, and together with the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and Kenya’s Maasai Mara, it protects the most varied and greatest collection of wildlife on earth.

Overnight: Serengeti Kati Kati Tented Camp (or similar) (2 nights)
Meals: Daily Breakfasts, Lunches & Dinners

Days 9-10 – Ikoma Tented Camp (Northwest Serengeti)
After hopefully spotting the Big 5 around the Seronera Valley in central Serengeti, you’ll travel northwest to Ikoma Tented camp. Set in the midst of an incredible scenery of savannah and skies, you’ll find the Ikoma Tented Camp, sheltered in a grove of acacia trees. Here there are high chances to spot the wildebeest migration in June and July.

Overnight: Ikoma Tented Camp (or similar) (2 nights)
Meals: Daily Breakfasts, Lunches & Dinners

Days 11-12 – Ngorongoro Crater
The Ngorongoro Conservation Area is an incredible potpourri of people, wildlife, scenery, and archaeology that is unsurpassed anywhere in Africa. Home to the Maasai that graze their animals in the fertile volcanic grasslands, Ngorongoro Conservation Area is unparalleled in beauty. The Ngorongoro Crater is the gem of the conservation area as it is one of the world’s largest intact volcanic calderas and an extraordinary natural sanctuary for some of Africa’s densest populations of large mammals. The crater was formed when a giant volcano exploded and collapsed on itself some two to three million years ago, creating a sort of natural enclosure for a very wide variety of wildlife.

The Ngorongoro Conservation Area was originally part of the Serengeti National Park proclaimed in 1951, but was made a separate conservation area in 1956 so that the Maasai could continue to graze their cattle. The Ngorongoro Crater became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978.
During your time here, you’ll go on a full-day game drive in the Ngorongoro Crater with hopes of seeing lions and cheetahs, hyenas as well as many herbivores like wildebeest, gazelle, zebra and hippopotamus, and thousands of flamingos.

Overnight: Ngorongoro Serena Lodge (or similar) (2 nights)
Meals: Daily Breakfasts, Lunches & Dinners

Days 13-17 – Zanzibar
After all of the excitement of safaris and wildlife, you’ll head east to Zanzibar for some rest and relaxation. This morning you’ll transfer to the airport and fly to Zanzibar. You have free time there to explore the several activities including water sports, which can all be arranged directly at the resort.

Zanzibar boasts some of Africa’s best off-white powder coral beaches and deep turquoise seas, and offers the quintessential Indian Ocean experience. Sitting at its centre is Stone Town with its quasi-medieval medina, balconied merchant houses and grand House of Wonders.

Overnight: Bluebay Beach Resort (or similar) (5 nights)
Meals: Daily Breakfasts & Dinners

Day 18 – Departure
After breakfast you transfer to the Zanzibar airport for your international flight back home.

Thanks for travelling with Finisterra!

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Arusha: Olasiti Lodge
Tarangire: Burunge Tented Camp
Karatu: Kitela Lodge
Ngorongoro: Serena Lodge
Serengeti: Kati Kati Tented Camp
Zanzibar: Bluebay Beach Resort

*Please note that these are sample hotels and are subject to change and availability. If you would like to change the category of accommodation, prices will reflect this change.
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Tour Inclusions:

Tour Exclusions:

International airfare to Tanzania (fly into Arusha and out of Zanzibar)
Tips to driver/guides, waiters, porters and hotel staff
Beverages in the hotels
Tanzania Visa
Items of a personal nature
Mandatory travel medical insurance (can be arranged through us – nicola@finisterra.ca)

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