DUMA AFRICAN SAFARIS Presents Tanzania Safari 2011 IMPORTANT NOTES FOR FLYING IN TANZANIA: Luggage restrictions for this safari are 33 pounds per person (including photographic equipment). Please pack in soft sided bags. This restriction is rigidly enforced for your safety, and due to space limitations. HARD SIDED AND/OR OVERWEIGHT LUGGAGE CAN NOT BE ACCEPTED ON LIGHT AIRCRAFT. DAY 01 KILIMANJARO / ARUSHA Upon arrival at Kilimanjaro Airport you are met by an African Travel representative and escorted to your lodge accommodations, where you will spend the night under the starstudded African skies. ACCOMMODATIONS: ARUSHA COFFEE LODGE Arusha Coffee Lodge is a five star lodge, situated on the Burka Coffee Estate, a working coffee plantation. The estate has coffee roasters and a fermentation plant where guests can see and taste the coffee blends and purchase freshly roasted beans. The lodge offers individual plantation-style villas. Each spacious room features a fireplace and luxury en suite facilities, including shower, bath and separate toilets. They are built on raised platforms with raised level bedrooms, private lounges and huge private balconies overlooking Mount Meru and the coffee plantation. All the villas have a minibar, hair dryer, coffee and tea maker and a fireplace. Room service is available. The interior of each room is designed around a coffee theme such as Café Latte, Espresso and Cappuccino. The honeymoon suite, the largest on the estate, is located in the Old Stable block, with an en suite bathroom containing a bath of luxurious proportions. Meals are served at the neighbouring Redds African Grillhouse, with a menu that reflects an amazing array of both traditional and Tanzanian cuisine and other African specialties. For the late-risers, a breakfast in bed option is available. Local activities include visiting the coffee factory, horse riding, mountain biking and nature walks on the estate.
DAY 02 ARUSHA / TARANGIRE After breakfast this morning, depart for your first safari destination, Tarangire National Park, the third largest national park in Tanzania. Arrive at the lodge in time for lunch and a guided bush walk in the Tarangire Conservation area. An unusually large population inhabits this sanctuary. Majestic baobab trees are a main feature of the park, dwarfing the animals that feed beneath them. During the dry season from June to November, animals concentrate along the Tarangire River, which provides the only permanent water supply in Maasai land. The area supports a great diversity of wildlife, including giraffe, buffalo, lesser kudu, eland, oryx and zebra. Lion, leopard and cheetah are also present. Up to 6,000 elephants inhabit Tarangire in the dry season. ACCOMMODATIONS: TARANGIRE TREETOPS Tarangire Treetops is situated in the Tarangire Conservation Area, a wildlife management area of 57,000 acres. Treetops is an innovative and stunningly original property consisting of twenty large luxury tree houses built upon platforms amongst a cluster of baobab, mopane and wild fig trees. Each en-suite unit has a private veranda and lounge area, with sweeping views over the private Conservation area. The dining area is located close to the swimming pool and the water hole, where wildlife come to drink. The camp s location just outside the Tarangire National Park allows guests to enjoy such activities as walking that cannot be conducted inside the park. Wildlife viewing drives within the park are on offer in addition to night drives outside the park. (B,L,D) DAY 03 TARANGIRE Enjoy an all day safari with picnic lunch in the National Park. There is a very diverse ecostructure in Tarangire: riverine thickets, bush-filled gullies, grassy acacia woodlands and vistas of ancient baobab trees. ACCOMMODATIONS: TARANGIRE TREETOPS (B,L,D) DAY 04 TARANGIRE / LAKE MANYARA / KARATU After breakfast you ll drive across the floor of the Great Rift Valley to Lake Manyara National Park. The lake, situated along the impressive escarpment of the Rift Valley, takes its name from the Maasai word for euphorbia tirucalli, a bush which is used to make a thorny hedge to protect their cattle. If you are lucky you may see the Manyara lions, well known for their tree climbing habits, lazily resting on the branches of an Acacia tortillas tree.
Elephants, hippos, giraffe, buffalo and other animals are present in Manyara. The birdlife is also very impressive with flamingoes, pelicans, hornbills and plenty of forest species. After a picnic lunch in the Park, transfer to your overnight accommodations in Karatu. ACCOMMODATIONS: THE MANOR AT NGORONGORO Located adjacent to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in the 1500 acre Shangri-La Estate. One of the first German-Dutch settler farm homes in the Ngorongoro highlands has been totally and lovingly rebuilt, and introduced as The Manor at Ngorongoro. The Manor is reminiscent of an elegant, up-country farm home in the Cape Dutch style architecture. Accommodation is in luxurious cottages, each commanding fantastic views of the landscape and surrounded by fragrant flower gardens and age-old trees. The interiors are plush and beautifully appointed with period furniture evoking an old world charm. The Manor offers a dining conservatory serving superior continental and African cuisine, a lounge and bar area with access to outdoor decks and fire pits, intimate, formal and casual dining areas and a wine cellar*, featuring wines from around the world. Fireplaces and comfortable seating areas feature throughout the indoor living areas. Leisure facilities include a snooker room, safari boutique & art gallery, library/study with wi-fi internet access, tennis courts, horse-back riding*, adult and children's bicycle trail, swimming pool, sauna and steam room. Activities include coffee tasting* and guided estate walks*, Crater floor picnics*, Masai cultural visits* and Masai market shopping trail. *Various charges payable locally. 20 guest cottages each featuring private courtyard and deck, en suite bathroom with traditional bathtub and rain shower, indoor & outdoor fireplaces and hairdryer. Two bedroom family cottages (2 adults and 3 children or 4 adults) feature separate entrance to each bedroom, private pool & deck, private dining area, home entertainment centre, private courtyard and large living room area with indoor & outdoor fireplaces. (B,L,D) DAY 05 KARATU / NGORONGORO This morning after an early breakfast, travel to the Ngorongoro Crater rim and descend to the crater floor some 2000 feet below the rim for a half day of exploring in this extinct, collapsed volcano. Within the 100 square miles of the crater is one of the densest concentrations of game to be found in Africa. Acclaimed as one of the wonders of the Natural World, the Crater is a veritable haven for wildlife.
Elephants amble along well-worn tracks while large prides of lion jealously guard their territorial domain. Gazelle quietly gaze, surrounded by zebra and wildebeest, whilst the endangered rhino, ever vigilant, feeds not far from the lake. Lake Magadi, the permanent water source with Ngorongoro Crater, often seems to be tinged pink when the throngs of flamingo congregate for food. Ngorongoro bird-life matches the animal population for variety and species. ACCOMMODATIONS: THE MANOR AT NGORONGORO (B,L,D) DAY 06 NGORONGORO / SERENGETI After breakfast, transfer to the Lake Manyara Airstrip for your flight to the Serengeti National Park. Serengeti - the very name fires the imagination and is derived from the Masai Language meaning "endless plains". The Serengeti offers the greatest concentration of plains animals in Africa. More than two million wildebeest, half a million Thompson's gazelle and a quarter million zebra gather for annual migrations, attracting a great deal of predator attention from lion, leopard, cheetah and hyena. Your days are filled with game viewing activities, morning and afternoon, when the animals are most active. ACCOMMODATIONS: MIGRATION CAMP The site is considered to be the best in the Serengeti. The camp is built within the rocks of a kopje in the picturesque Ndassiata Hills, near Lobo, overlooking the Grumeti River. Resident game including lion, leopard, elephant and buffalo are always present due to permanent water. The Serengeti Migration masses around the site for several months on its way to the southern plains. Birdlife along the river is extremely abundant and varied. All guest facilities include 16 individual sleeping tents with balconies, insect proof with scaled ground sheets, tiled bathrooms, toilets, showers, hot & cold water, electricity, and are oriented westward towards the spectacular northern Serengeti sunsets. Elevations, bridges and cantilevered timber desks have been used to capture the views from the Restaurant, Bar and Library which are all under canvas and al fresco to give a bush and under the stars feel through out. There is also a swimming pool to cool-off in after getting back to base. Apart from traditional game drives through the Serengeti. Migration Camp can offer walking safaris over a river rope bridge and past Poacher s Hill. It is the ideal base to savor the vastness and variety of the famous Serengeti whilst enjoying quality and individual service. (B,L,D)
DAY 07 SERENGETI Depart into the early morning splendor of an African sunrise at the start of your first game drive of the day. Negotiating roads and tracks, your guide slowly transports you to a world of primordial savagery combined with unrivaled scenic splendor, revealing sights and sounds of astonishing realism. A lion relaxing, temporarily satiated after its morning hunt, contented elephant carefully guarding their young as they traverse the bush, a startled warthog running with tail erect, the ungainly and seemingly endless herds of wildebeest quietly munching grass in company with the zebra - these are some the images you will collect and preserve on film. As the day progresses, your guide continues to use his obvious experience by leading you to locations of outstanding natural beauty where you are able to observe the wildlife quietly and at your leisure. Game drives end just before dusk when you are returned to the familiar surroundings of your lodge. Pleasantly tired but brimming with excitement about your experiences during the day, it is luxury to enjoy a hot shower before dinner. Relax with after dinner drinks watching the many species of game grazing in close proximity to the camp. The atmosphere is amazingly peaceful. The night enfolds you, leaving you with thoughts of this diverse and wonderful country. ACCOMMODATIONS: MIGRATION CAMP (B,L,D) DAY 08 SERENGETI / ARUSHA This morning you will be transferred to the airstrip for your flight to Arusha. Enjoy a dayroom until your evening departure transfer. (B) W E L C O M E H O M E IMPORTANT NOTES FOR TRAVELLING IN TANZANIA: With immediate effect all passengers travelling to Tanzania will be required to produce a valid yellow fever certificate upon arrival in any entry point in Tanzania. The vaccination needs to be administered at least 10 days before travel to Tanzania. It is suggested that you refrain from changing money at the border. Local escorts will assist you with any necessary money changes you may need to make upon arrival at your first night hotel. While credit cards (Visa & MasterCard) are becoming readily accepted in Tanzania, you will not be able to draw cash against your credit card. It is suggested that you carry low denomination US cash for tipping ($1.00-$20.00) and either cash or travelers cheques ($10.00 or $20.00) for settling hotel bills. Many lodges and hotels are not able to accept larger denominations ($50.00 or $100.00).