classic safari with private guide

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1 Gems of Tanzania DAY BY DAY ITINERARY classic safari with private guide OVERVIEW: GEMS OF TANZANIA This classic Land Cruiser safari allows you to get up close and personal with Africa s best game. You ll view wildlife in the best parks of Tanzania s Northern Circuit with one of our skilled naturalists as your own private guide. Begin in Tarangire National Park home of elephants and spectacular bird life before moving to nearby Lake Manyara. Journey across the legendary Serengeti for migration and predator viewing. End in Ngorongoro Crater, where species diversity cannot be beat. Our expertise with the Northern Circuit of Tanzania allows us to select great wildlife viewing locations and team them with classic, affordable accommodations. You ll enjoy the best of Tanzania while watching your budget. Gems of Tanzania offers unbeatable value plus a really fantastic safari. Classic Safaris with Deeper Africa It s all about the wildlife. Embark on the classic safari experience: endless wilderness, great guides, spectacular wildlife, and no civilization. We ll get you to the best locations during the right seasons. Learn animal identification, tracking, and spotting wildlife in the landscape. Accommodations are comfortable and the food is delicious. Come with us and discover the brilliance and serenity of Africa in the company of experts who can give you a closer look, a richer taste, and a deeper understanding of an astonishing landscape.

2 DAY 1 ARUMERU LODGE ARUSHA Arrive at Kilimanjaro Airport outside of Arusha, Tanzania. After clearing customs, look for your Deeper Africa driver. He will be waiting for you, holding a sign with your name on it. Your driver will transport you to Arumeru Lodge on the outskirts of Arusha for an overnight.

3 DAY 2 KICHUGUU CAMP TARANGIRE NATIONAL PARK After breakfast at Karama Lodge, begin the drive northward to Tarangire National Park. You ll arrive at the park in time for a picnic lunch. Your next nine days on safari include in-depth opportunities to learn animal identification, wildlife tracking, and skills for spotting wildlife in the landscape from an expert Deeper Africa naturalist guide. Your Deeper Africa guide will also begin to discuss important conservation issues with you including human-wildlife conflicts, poaching problems, and community involvement in wildlife conservation. For now, you ll have a full afternoon of wildlife viewing ahead of you in Tarangire. Tarangire is famous for elephants. It boasts one of the largest and most conspicuous elephant populations in Africa. Between the Tarangire River and the southern swamps, there is ample water year round to grow food for these huge creatures. Here you re guaranteed to see large herds and gain up-close contacts with matriarchs, babies, teenagers, and bulls. Spend several hours surrounded by the herds, and you cannot help but get a sense for their wisdom and deep emotional bonds.

4 DAY 3 KICHUGUU CAMP TARANGIRE NATIONAL PARK Plan today s activities with your guide consider getting a picnic lunch from camp and spending a full day out in the park. Tarangire has a range of ecosystems waiting for you to explore. From grassland and woodlands in the north, to scrub and wetlands further south. This mix of habitat is incredibly diverse and not found anywhere else in Northern Tanzania. This mix of environments attracts a variety of different species for viewing all year round. As water sources dry up in the park after the end of the rainy season, animals migrate to the only permanent water available the Tarangire River and the Silale Swamp system. Around these areas you ll never go without seeing zebra, wildebeest, waterbuck, warthogs, giraffes, dik diks, Thompson s gazelle, buffalo, hartebeest, baboons, and vervet monkeys. The big cats, particularly lions and leopards, also happen to love the large spaces and hidden places created by the rolling savanna. Tarangire is also famous for its giant baobab trees. They have massive trunks with crooked branches that give them an otherworldly appearance. Local people subscribe mystical qualities to baobabs because they have such a long lifespan: 600-3,000 years. African Bush Camps Foundation

5 DAY 4 MANYARA SERENA LAKE MANYARA This morning you will take a short drive to Lake Manyara National Park. Set against the steep escarpment of the Rift Valley, you ll find Manyara s evergreen groundwater forest. While it may look like a rainforest, there is actually very little rainfall here. Instead, the vegetation is sustained by mineral springs seeping through porous volcanic soil. In additional to the evergreen groundwater forest, the park also contains a variety of ecosystems including acacia woodland, grassy plains, a swampy fan delta, and of course the expansive lake. This diversity attracts a wide variety of mammal, bird, and wildlife species. Bird watching is spectacular at Manyara, with over 380 bird species recorded. Flocks of flamingos are attracted to the large amounts of algae in the lake s soda environment, while the forest areas attract large flocks of pelicans, storks, herons, ibis, and egrets. Manyara is home to rare tree climbing lions. This adaptation is unusual for these big cats. Primate viewing is a must-see as well. Look for the antics of blue monkeys, vervet monkeys, and very active baboon troops. Buffalo, impala, giraffe, bushbuck, waterbuck, hippos, and lots of elephants roam near the lake. There are also sightings of klipspringers on the rocky escarpments on the southern side of the rift wall.

6 DAY 5 KUBU KUBU TENTED CAMP SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK Tanganyika Wilderness Camps Head out after breakfast for the drive to Serengeti National Park. Picnic lunch at Oldupai Gorge while you stop to visit the famous Leakey digs. The Rift Valley was home to the first humans, and the Leakey family has successfully excavated some of the oldest humanoid skeletons ever discovered. Many people believe that Oldupai is the birth place of humanity. You ll visit the on-site museum and hear a short lecture about the gorge from the resident anthropologist. Once you enter the Serengeti, you will begin wildlife viewing as you travel the distance to Kubu Kubu Tented Camp in the Seronera area of the central Serengeti. The word Serengeti is derived from the Maasai language, meaning endless plain. This vast savanna grass land extends from Northern Tanzania and into the Maasai Mara in Kenya for over twelve thousand square miles, forming one of the world s largest wildlife refuges. Alcohol & Beverages The annual migration is what makes the Serengeti famous. The migration includes vast herds of wildebeest, but also zebra and Thomson s gazelle. The herds can be seen on the Tanzanian side of the ecosystem from sometime in November or December through early July, moving to progressive locations with seasonal rainfall.

7 DAY 6 KUBU KUBU TENTED CAMP SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK Set your wildlife viewing schedule for the day as you choose with your guide. Park permits allow you wildlife viewing from 6 am to 6 pm. You ll be wildlife viewing in the central Serengeti around the famous Seronera River. Seronera is actually a network of perennial rivers that merge into the valley, so there is water to be found year round. The river marks the boundary between the sweet grass plains of the southern Serengeti and the wooded hills of the north. That means there are plant, animal, and bird species from both different habitats in this area. Many animals congregate around the permanent water source, living their whole lifetime in this large valley. Seronera is one of the richest ecosystems in the Serengeti with phenomenal wildlife viewing throughout the year. Alcohol & Beverages

8 DAY 7 KUBU KUBU TENTED CAMP SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK Full day of wildlife viewing as scheduled with your guide. Wildlife populations double during the migration season, but outside of the migration season, wildlife populations are still some of the densest on the African continent year round. They include substantial populations of plains game including buffalo, giraffe, and warthog; as well as a wide range of antelope species including dik dik, bushbuck, waterbuck, eland, impala, and topi. With so many prey animals available all year round, predators can manage smaller territories. Big cat viewing is superb in this region of the Serengeti. Cats include lion, leopard, and cheetah. There are actually twelve different lion prides living within driving distance of the river. Not to be forgotten, the smaller cats such as caracals, servals, and African wild cats definitely make their presence known. Seronera or siron means bat-eared fox in the local language, so expect to see these small predators roaming across the valley. Alcohol & Beverages The Serengeti is prime cheetah country, generally accepted as the best place on earth to view these predators. Cheetah do not live in prides, being much more solitary in nature. You usually see cheetah hunting alone, but you can still see brothers hunting together or a mother training cubs how to hunt. There have been many cheetah births within the last few years. A cheetah mother usually has between 3 and 5 cubs, with only 2 to 3 of them reaching maturity. David Forster

9 DAY 8 KITELA LODGE NGORONGORO CONSERVATION AREA Beverly Joubert Today you ll pack up and begin the drive into the Ngorongoro Conservation Area with your wildlife viewing continuing as you leave the Serengeti. Pause for a picnic lunch amidst the rolling savanna lands. As you enter the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, you will begin to see Maasai enkangs ( homesteads ). The Maasai enjoy special land use in the Conservation Area which allows them to live their traditional pastoral lifestyle, coexisting amongst the wildlife. You will often see young herders and their cattle moving around the area in the morning and evening hours. There is substantial wildlife in the Conservation Area, so your cultural views will be mixed with wildlife observation. Note the changes in vegetation as you begin the climb up the slopes of the Ngorongoro Crater. The savannas disappear into lush, tropical-like plants, including sprawling coffee plantations. Ngorongoro National Park begins on the Crater Rim and the vast exploded caldera is at the bottom of the Crater.

10 DAY 9 KITELA LODGE NGORONGORO CONSERVATION AREA Alan Schoolcraft African Bush Camps Spend a full day exploring the wildlife in Ngorongoro Crater. Climb the steep crater slopes reaching the crater rim at an elevation of 7,500 feet and take in the view of a lifetime. Below you will stretch the crater floor, which contains five different ecosystems including grasslands, pools, marshes, a soda lake, and a forest. This is what makes the Crater such a special place for wildlife lovers, as there is tremendous species diversity. Many of these animals live their whole life at the bottom of this intact caldera. Visibility is excellent, as much of the Crater is made up of grasslands. Zebra, wildebeest, and gazelle mingle together, while herds of buffalo graze the long grass areas. Bull elephants and rhino are often seen feeding in green marshes, and there are plenty of hyenas. Hippos lounge in the water holes and it is not uncommon to see lions. Flamingos settle on the soda lake at certain times of the day. The Crater is one of the few places in Tanzania that is home to rhino. Rhinos are the African continent s most endangered animal.

11 DAY 10 INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL INTERNATIONAL FLIGHT Begin your journey back to Arusha after breakfast. You ll stop for lunch at Arusha Coffee Lodge. While there, visit the Shanga Project, a cooperative that makes high quality crafts using recycled materials. All of the artists are disabled Tanzanians who are able to contribute economically to their families. You ll have the rest of afternoon to do some shopping or sightseeing in Arusha. Check in for a day room at Kia Lodge by mid-afternoon. Here you can repack, shower, and relax. Enjoy an early dinner at Kia Lodge before transferring to Kilimanjaro Airport for your international flight. Flight #1 Departs: Kilimanjaro, Tanzania Arrives: TBD DAY 11 INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL INTERNATIONAL FLIGHT Flight #2 Depart: TBD Arrives: TBD

12 ADDITIONAL SAFARI INFORMATION IN YOUR SAFARI Full board accommodations in all lodges and tented camps All meals as specified in itinerary All park and entrance fees Private 4x4 Land Cruiser, unlimited safari wildlife viewing 2018 pricing $5,899 - $7,399 Private safari guide Natural Learning Program All in-country transportation Enrollment with Flying Doctors Evacuation Service Alcohol & beverages at some camps and lodges Bottled water available at all times Extensive pre-departure briefing and materials including health information, reading list, and map EXCLUDED FROM YOUR SAFARI Gratuities Alcohol & beverages at some camps and lodges Laundry We plan your wildlife adventures in areas where wildlife habitats are known to exist for the season and time you are traveling. Still, animals in the areas you are viewing are not in a zoo. They run freely, and we cannot always anticipate their movements CUSTOM DEPARTURE PRICING January 6 - February 28, July 1 - October 31, December guests: $6,299 USD per person 4 guests: $6,499 USD per person 2 guests: $7,399 USD per person Single supplement: $1,099 - $1,399 USD March & June 6 guests: $6,499 USD per person 4 guests: $6,499 USD per person 2 guests: $7,299 USD per person Single supplement: $999 - $1,099 USD November 1 - December 15 6 guests: $5,899 USD per person 4 guests: $5,899 USD per person 2 guests: $6,799 USD per person Single supplement: $769 USD Also, Deeper Africa uses best efforts to provide the lodging set out in this itinerary, but occasionally there are circumstances that occur in Africa that require lodging substitutions. We reserve the right to make comparable lodging substitutions whenever necessary. All pricing is in US dollars. Arrivals and Departures are from Kilimanjaro Airport. Prices do not include international airfare. All itineraries and prices are subject to change. Deeper Africa 5353 Manhattan Circle, Suite 202 Boulder, Colorado fx classic safaris