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Tanzania Tour - History, Culture and Wildlife Safari
   
Preliminary Tour Itinerary
Itinerary: Arusha, Loliondo Area, Mara River, Serengeti National Park, Olduvai Gorge, Ngorongoro Crater, Karatu, Lake Eyasi, Arusha
Duration: 11 days
Extensions: The Tanzania Safari Tour program has 2 optional extensions, one pre-tour and one post-tour. The pre-tour extension is a visit to Gombe Stream National Park, the location of Jane Goodall's famous research with chimpanzees and Lake Tanganyika. The post-tour extension is a visit to Zanzibar island, also known as spice island for its rich history in spice farming and trade. You may choose either or both extensions to enhance your Tanzania visit. Please note that the itinerary below dos not include the tour extensions.
Day 1: Welcome to Tanzania
Your IBEX safari begins with your arrival at the Kilimanjaro International Airport near Arusha. Here you are met by one of our representatives who will have your entry visa and escort you to the baggage claim area and through customs. Your safari guides will be waiting just outside the airport entrance ready to transfer you to Mountain Village for the remainder of the night.
* Please note: VIP meet & greet service and a Tanzania entry visa are included with the cost of your safari.
Day 2: Tour Serengeti and Loliondo area
In the morning you transfer to the Arusha Airport and board the scheduled flight to the Klein’s Camp airstrip just north of Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park. Here you are met and transferred to Buffalo Luxury Camp, your accommodations for the next three nights. Activities including unrestricted off-road driving, exciting night drives, in search of some rarely seen nocturnal animals and guided walking safaris. Following an afternoon game drive and dinner you gather for a discussion/lecture regarding the history and culture of the pastoralist Maasai people of this area.
Day 3: Tour Loliondo area with an extended visit the Mara River
Today you depart on an extended game drive, north, to the Mara River, which is famous for its huge Nile Crocodiles and large Hippo populations. The Mara is also one of the major rivers the migratory herds of Wildebeest and Zebra must cross as they travel south from Kenya’s Masai Mara Game Reserve into the Serengeti savannas. In addition to these migratory animals, the grasslands near this permanent source of water, provide a habitat for herds of Grant’s and Thompson’s Gazelle, Topi, Maasai Giraffe, African Buffalo and Warthog and the riparian forests that flank the river are home to Vervet Monkeys, Olive Baboons and numerous birds. Following a full day of wildlife viewing you return to Buffalo Camp for dinner.
Day 4: Tour Loliondo Area with an in-depth visit to a Maasai village
Following breakfast and a morning game drive you visit a local Maasai village for an in-depth introduction to the ancient culture of these pastoralists. Here you will have the opportunity to visit with the people and receive an introduction to their way of life. In this region the Maasai people’s traditional lifestyle has changed very little since the arrival of Europeans in Tanzania more than 100 years ago. Their life still revolves around their herds of cattle, sheep, goats and donkeys and their primary diet consists of milk, meat and blood. Hides provide clothing, containers, mattresses for their bedding and sandals for their feet. Cow dung is used to plaster the walls of their loaf shaped homes and cattle are used to pay fines, establish marriage bonds and as sacrifices to their god Enkai. While in the village you may take a look at their school and medical clinic, see inside their homes and try your hand at milking a cow or doing some traditional bead work.
Day 5: Visit Loliondo Area and Get a Guided Tour of Serengeti National Park
The Serengeti is the largest and most famous of Tanzania's superb national parks with the greatest and most spectacular concentration of large mammals to be found anywhere on Earth. It is the seasonal home of more than two million large mammals and is world renowned for its vast herds of Wildebeest, Common Zebra, and Thomson's and Grant's Gazelles which are on a continuous "migration" around the Serengeti in search of fresh pastures and water. Following breakfast you drive south across the great Serengeti plains, game viewing along the way, to your private luxury camp, perfectly located near the great wildebeest & zebra migration. After moving into your tented accommodation you gather for an afternoon “tea’ and lecture / discussion regarding the Serengeti – Mara ecosystem and the “great migration”. Your dinner and overnight accommodations are at your Private Serengeti Tented Camp.
Day 6: Tour Serengeti National Park
Morning and afternoon game drives allow you to explore this vast wildlife sanctuary. In addition to wildlife, the Serengeti is rich in human history and you may visit some of the sacred Maasai sites, including Gong Rock and one or more ancient rock art paintings. In addition you will have an opportunity to visit one of the going Serengeti research facilities for a lecture regarding the ecology of this dynamic ecosystem. Soon after gaining its independence from Great Britain and with the support of the Frankfurt Zoological Society, Tanzania’s government made several landmark decisions regarding their natural heritage. Today, with more than 40% of its total land area protected, Tanzania is among the most conservation oriented countries on earth. Your meals and accommodations are at your private tented camp.
Day 7: Tour Serengeti National Park, Visit Olduvai Gorge and explore the Ngorongoro Crater
In the morning, you will drive across the southern Serengeti towards the world famous Ngorongoro Crater. After departing the national park you stop at Olduvai Gorge, one of the world's most important prehistoric archaeological sites. It was here, in 1959, that Mary Leakey discovered the fossilized bone fragments of one of our earliest hominid ancestors. Several of the fossils, which have been found here, are displayed in a small, but nice museum at the Olduvai Visitors Center. (Although most frequently written as "Olduvai," the more correct spelling for the name of this area is "Oldupai," a Maasai name for a species of wild sisal, which grows abundantly in this area.). Your accommodations for the next two nights, at the Ngorongoro Serena Lodge, on the crater's rim provide a spectacular view of one of the most beautiful wildlife arenas in the world. After checking into your accommodations and lunch, you depart on a game drive to the crater floor. Ngorongoro is the largest unbroken crater on earth, and is a veritable Garden of Eden. The year-round grazing and fresh water available here provides a permanent home for approximately 23,000 large mammals. Herds of Wildebeest, Common Zebra, African Buffalo, and Thomson's Gazelles mingle as they feed in this serene setting. With nearly 100 Lions, masses of Spotted Hyena and numerous Cheetah, Serval, Golden, Silver-backed, and Side-striped Jackals, the crater also has one of the highest concentrations of carnivores any place on earth. In the lakes and marshes you look for Nile Hippo, Common Waterbuck, Black Rhino, and any of the 220 species of birds that have been seen here, including Greater and Lesser Flamingos. In the evening you return to your accommodations at the Ngorongoro Serena Lodge.
Day 8: Tour Ngorongoro Crater
In the morning you depart with a picnic lunch for a second game drive in the Crater. Once the world's highest mountain (perhaps three times as high as Mt. Everest) the great Ngorongoro Volcano blew its stack nearly 3 million years ago and was reduced to a series of seven smaller volcanoes. Of these, only the Lengai Volcano remains active. The others have collapsed to form the topography you see today. Covering an area of 100 sq. miles, 12 miles across and with a 2,000' high rim, the great caldera, known as Ngorongoro, is the largest remnant of these once huge mountains. During your picnic lunch one of your safari guides will discuss the geology of the Crater. There are usually 20,000 animals resident in the crater, including the highest density of predators found in Africa. In the afternoon you return to your accommodation at the Ngorongoro Serena Lodge.
Day 9: Visit the Village of Karatu
 Day 10: Tour Lake Eyasi and visit the Hadzapi and Datoga tribal groups
In the morning you drive down to the semi-arid area that borders Lake Eyasi to visit the Hadzapi and Datoga tribal groups. The Hadzapi are one of the few remaining tribes of “bushman” in Tanzania. There are fewer than 600 individual members and they speak one of Africa’s oldest “click” languages. They are nomadic hunters and gatherers and do not live in villages. Your local guide, who speaks their language, will locate a family group for you to visit. During your visit you’ll learn how the men prepare their bows & arrows and hunt. You’ll also have an opportunity to forage with the women for the seeds, berries, roots and other plants that provide about 80% of the dietary needs of these people. Later in the day you’ll visit with the pastoral Datoga. Although superficially similar to theMaasai, these people speak a different language and are Africa’s traditional smiths, using charcoal ovens and goat skin bellows to smelt iron and steel from the local ore. They keep goats, sheep, donkeys and a few chickens, but cattle are, by far, their most important domestic animal. Late in the afternoon you return to your accommodations at Bougainvillea Lodge.
Day 11: From Karatu to Arusha and departure from Tanzania
In the morning you drive across the floor of the Great Rift Valley to Arusha. Following lunch at the Cultural Heritage Centre you check into day rooms at Mountain Village. The afternoon is unstructured providing time to shop or rest in preparation for your return to the U.S. In the evening you join your Tanzanian hosts for a farewell dinner before departing for the Kilimanjaro Airport to board your international flight.
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