Itinerary

1. Day 1: Touchdown in Tanzania

   • Arrive Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO). African safari begins at Kilimanjaro International Airport in Arusha, the safari capital of Tanzania.
   • You will meet with Matukio Adventures representative and transfer to your hotel in Arusha town for an overnight stay.

   Meals: Bed and Breakfast
   Accommodation: Mount Meru Hotel

2. Day 2: Tarangire National Park

   • After early breakfast in the morning, pick up from the Hotel at 7:00 am with a picnic lunch and drive to Tarangire National Park (198km- 4hrs) for a game drive. Common animals found in this park are Elephants, Cheetah, Wildebeests, Elands, Zebras, Lions, Leopards, Giraffes, Tree climbing Pythons and many species of Birds. This park is also heavily dominated by huge baobab trees which are one of the longest living trees in the wilderness.
   • Later in the evening, drive to Manyara at the hotel for dinner and an overnight stay.

   Accommodation: Lake Manyara Serena Lodge

   Meals: Dinner

3. Day 3: Lake Manyara National Park

   • After breakfast, pick up at the hotel for a game viewing at Lake Manyara National Park. This impressive park is one of Tanzania’s most dramatically located wildlife areas, consisting of a massive but shallow soda lake (covering two-thirds of the park) at the foot of the Great Rift Valley’s western escarpment. The park’s varied habitat attracts a wide variety of animals, including one of Africa’s largest concentrations of elephants, Manyara’s famous tree-climbing lions, as well as large flocks of flamingos attracted by the algae in the lake.

   Accommodation: Lake Manyara Serena Lodge

   Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

4. Day 4: Lake Manyara National Park to Lake Natron

   • After breakfast, you are heading to Lake Natron. Just past Mto wa Mbu, you leave the asphalted road along the East African Rift Valley. The drive continues on adventurous slopes.
   • The drive leads past Maasai villages and the holy mountain of the Maasai, the Ol Doinyo Lengai. As soon as the Maasai village Ngare Sero comes into sight, it is not far from the lake.
   • The outlet Lake Natron is the home of a remarkable variety of birds, in particular about 2.5 million dwarf flamingos. The lake serves them as a regular breeding ground. The water is strongly saline and the basis of life for unicellular algae and bacteria, which are responsible for the planar red-brown to purple-violet colouring of the lake. The area around Lake Natron is one of the most beautiful and unspoilt regions in Africa.
   • There, you have an option to make a hike to the lake and/or to visit the nearby waterfalls, a true oasis. You'll stay overnight at a campsite at Lake Natron.

   Accommodation: Lake Natron Safari Lodge

   Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

5. Day 5: Lake Natron to Serengeti National Park

   • After breakfast, travel to central Serengeti Seronera via Lobo North of Serengeti Park, crossing the Cliff of the Rift Valley with game drives and a picnic lunch route.
   • Lobo is where the trails of the Serengeti Wildebeest migration has passed on, they're coming back to Serengeti from Maasai Mara in Kenya.
   • The Serengeti is famed for its incredible wildlife, stunning views and the annual migration of over 1.5 million wildebeest and hundreds of thousands of zebras. In this frenzied bout of territorial conquests and mating, witness an actual survival of the fittest as these animals plunge through crocodile-infested waters. The wildebeest will birth more than 8,000 calves daily before the 1,000 km (600 mile) pilgrimage begins again. Dinner and overnight in Centre Serengeti National Park.

   Accommodation: Shuhudia Adventure Camp (Tented Camp experience) in the Serengeti

   Meals: Breakfast, Picnic Lunch & Dinner

6. Day 6: Hot Air Balloon Safari, Serengeti Game Drive

   • 5:00 am: Serengeti Balloon Safaris will collect you from your Tented Camp and transfer you to the launching site near Masai Kopjes. Here, you will meet your pilot, receive a briefing, and watch the inflation of your balloon. At dawn, we take off, rising as the sun rises and float in whichever direction the winds of the morning take us.
   • Your pilot can precisely control the altitude of your balloon: sometimes flying at treetop height, sometimes lower, offering a unique perspective and great photographic opportunities of the wildlife below.
   • After breakfast, you are taken to the visitors Centre to meet with your driver guide and continue with your full day game drive in the wilderness following the Great Migration trails. Our experienced driver tour guide will provide you with interesting facts about this highly renowned event, which makes Tanzania the top safari destination in Africa.
   • Serengeti, a UNESCO world heritage site, is home to around 200,000 zebras and 300,000 Thomson’s gazelle, which join in the wildebeest’s trek for fresh grazing. Listen to the exotic sounds of over six million hooves pounding the open plains. This is just like you imagined Africa to be!

   Accommodation: Shuhudia Adventure Camp (Tented Camp experience) in the Serengeti

   Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

7. Day 7: Ngorongoro Conservation Area via Masai Village & Olduvai Gorge discoveries

   • After Breakfast head towards the Ngorongoro Conservation Area with a game drive en route and on the way a stopover at Olduvai Gorge, boasting with history dating back to the dawn of time. It was here that the anthropologists Drs. Lois and Mary Leakey discovered the skulls of the famous 'Nutcracker Man" and 'Handy Man', both very significant links in the chain of human evolution.
   • Optional: You also have the possibility of visiting a Masai village.

   Accommodation: Ngorongoro Rhino Lodge

   Meals: Breakfast, Picnic Lunch & Dinner

8. Day 8: Game Drive in Ngorongoro Crater - Kilimanjaro Airport - Zanzibar

   • Early in the morning, after breakfast, driving to Ngorongoro Crater, we descend 600m into this magnificent crater for a game drive.
   • The Ngorongoro Crater is one of the most densely crowded African wildlife areas in the world and is home to an estimated 30,000 animals, including some of Tanzania’s last remaining black rhinos. Supported by a year-round water supply and fodder, the Ngorongoro Crater supports a wide variety of animals, which include herds of wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, eland, warthog, hippo, and giant African elephants.
   • Another big draw card to this picturesque national park is its dense population of predators, which include lions, hyenas, jackals, cheetahs and the ever-exclusive leopard, which sometimes requires a trained eye to spot.
   • We will enjoy a picnic lunch in the crater, and then we drive to Kilimanjaro International Airport for your flight to Zanzibar. Upon arrival, you will be transferred to the heart of Stone Town, where you will spend the night.

   Accommodation: Tembo Hotel at Stone Town in Zanzibar

   Meals: Bed and Breakfast

9. DAY 9 & 10: Explore Stone Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site

   • Stone Town is a World Heritage site and is the most atmospheric and vibrant of all the remaining traditional Swahili settlements. Architecturally, it’s a fusion of African and Arab influences not dissimilar to the medinas of Morocco with its narrow streets, twists and turns. Culturally, modern Stone Town is a lively melting pot that embraces visitors and manages to offer a selection of fine dining and curious attractions without compromising its old-world charm.

   Accommodation: Tembo Hotel at Stone Town in Zanzibar

   Meals: Bed and Breakfast

10. Days 11 to 15: Relax on the Zanzibar Beach

    • In the morning, after breakfast, pick up from your Hotel Stone town and transfer to the beach hotel, where you will spend the next five days at leisure, relaxing on one of Zanzibar's beautiful white sands beach and soaking up the sunshine.

    Accommodation: Villa Juliana Hotel

    Meals: Bed and Breakfast

11. Day 16: Journey Home

    • After Breakfast or lunch, the driver will pick you up at the hotel and transfer you to the International Airport for your flight back home. The tour ends at Zanzibar International Airport.

    Meals: Breakfast/Lunch