Grading:
Wildlife watching safaris with limited / gentle walking around lodges.

Focus:
Birds and wildlife.

Introduction.
This is a lodge and luxury tented camps based safari, covering all aspects of general wildlife including watching both mammals and birds but with more emphasis on wildlife.

We will visit totally different areas from Arusha National Park with it’s unique wildlife and bird life as well to Tarangire National Park with great game viewing area, surrounded by yellow barked acacia’s and the red clad Masai’s people dotted across the plains. Vast herds of antelopes, zebra and prides of lions share their home with hundreds of birds species including the famous pink wash of flamingos across Lake Manyara.

Itinerary.

Day 1:
Nairobi.
Upon arrival in Nairobi you will be meet by our airport representative Ms. Lucy Wanjiku and be transferred to Fairview hotel at the outskirts of the city.
Fairview Hotel has lovely garden full of trees and bougainvillea flowers which are full of sunbirds. Expect to see your first birds here.
Overnight at Fairview Hotel, bed and breakfast.

After breakfast we set off to explore the nearby arusha national park. Aldous Huxley proclaimed as the jewel of African national parks – it is easy to see why. Set between the towering peaks of Mount Meru (4,570 meters) and snow-capped Kilimanjaro (5,895 meters), the park has three district zones, the lush swamps and forests of the Ngurdoro Craters, the tranquil beauty of the Momella Lakes and the rocky alpine heights of Mount Meru. Indeed, there are few national parks with such variety. This afternoon we will drive through the park in search of our first African mammals and other wildlife. The Momella Lakes are particularly rewarding. In additional to the pink flush of Lesser and Greater Flamingos that carpet the shoreline, the lakes are home to a host of other water birds including Hammerkop, Hadada Ibis, African spoonbill, southern Pochard, Maccoa Duck and a rich variety of waders. An occasional Hippo will belch rudely as it breaks the water’s surface from its sub-surface daytime retreat, and waterbuck and Kirk’ Dik-dik loiter beside their drinking pools. Rom watch-points on the forest rim of the Ngurdoto crater, Warthogs, giraffes, African buffaloes and other mammals may be observed as they feed in the peaceful grasslands of the crater floor, whilst in the forest hide Bushbuck, and vervet and eastern black and white Columbus monkeys, together with an exciting and elusive avifauna. The latter may include such species as bronze-napped and olive pigeons, Hartlaub’s Turaco, white-eared, Spotted-Flanked and Brown- breasted Barbets, Black Roughwing Swallow, White-winged Widowbird, and a variety of colorful sunbirds and weavers.

We return to Mountain Village for a second night.

Day 4:
Tarangire national Park.
A morning’s drive will take us to Tarangire National Park. Tarangire covers 2,600 square kilometers of grassland, marshes and acacia scrub along the Tarangire River and is located around 75 milers southwest of Arusha. The park holds a year-round population of fringe-eared Oryx, Eland, Giraffe, Impala, buffalo, Gerenuk, lesser Kudu and greater herds of Elephant up to 300 strong. Indeed during the dry seasons when the animals crowd the shrink king waterholes Tangangire holds the greatest concentration of wildlife outside the Serengeti! With such a plethora of prey to choose from it is not surprising that the park is also one of the best areas in Northern Tanzania for predators including Lions, Leopards, the Elusive Wild Dogs and our first opportunity to look for the graceful cheetah. In much of Africa trees are the domain of the Leopard, but Tarangire and Manyara national Parks are one of the very few places where the lions are also fond of lazing on shaded bough, so keep your eyes up as well as down when looking for the king of cats

the abundant and rather tame birdlife around our tented camp which may include pied wheatear, Slate-coloured Boubou, and Ashy Wattled and Superb Starlings.

We will spend the second night at Maramboi Tented Camp.

Day 6:
Ngorongoro Crater.
We depart early this morning on our long drive across open Masai plains to the Ngorongoro crate. Passing by the northern end of Lake Manyara we ascend into the highlands to reach Ngorongoro stopping at view point across the rift valley.

We will stop at Gibb’s farm for lunch, a beautiful eco-friendly guest house situated between Lake Manyara and the Ngorongoro Crater, five kilometer from karatu the junction town of the crater highlands. This area is surrounded by extinct volcanoes and is an important farming area for the people. After lunch we will take a walk to a nearby waterfalls and visit the farm it self before continuing on into the Ngorongoro conservation area. The approaching the crater itself we climb up through liana covered hillsides and deep jungle-like vegetation. On reaching the top we will find one of the world’s most amazing sights before us as we peer down at the crater floor dotted with animals, trees and lakes. We settle into the Ngorongoro Wildlife lodge which is to our base for the next three nights while we explore the crate in details. The lodge is ideally situated on the crater rim but at over 2,000 metres above the sea level, can be a bit chilly at night.

Lunch, dinner and overnight at Ngorongoro Serena Lodge.

Day 7:
Ngorongoro crater.

Lunch, dinner and overnight at Ngorongoro Serena Lodge.

Days 8 – 12:
Serengeti National Park.
Perhaps the greater wildlife spectacle in the world, the Serengeti belongs to the animals and no one else. Limitless grassy plains, scattered with rocky outcrops, acacia bush land and riverine forest, cover 14,673 square kilometers. The park contains nearly 40 species of large mammals, which in February, includes nearly two million white-bearded wildebeest, 200,000 Burchell’s Zebra, 300,000 Thompson’s gazelles and an amazing 2,000 lions. Amongst a wealth of other species we hope to see are Impala, Grant’s gazelle, Eland, giraffe, and warthog, Kirk’s Dik-dik, Waterbuck, Topi and Hartebeest. This abundance of prey is pursued by many predator including Cheetahs, leopard, Serval Cats, Golden and Black-backed Jackals, spotted hyena and Bat-eared Foxes.

We will undoubtedly see more of them, but exactly which ones will depend on our luck! In February, however, mammal viewing is at its best. This is the time of year that the vast herds of wildebeest move into the Serengeti from the Masai Mara to the north, in order to drop their calves and feed on the lush grass watered by the short rains of November and December. With the herds come the predators. There is of course, no guarantee that they will all be on your doorstep, but we will endeavor to follow them as far as possible – for sheer mammalian spectacle, there is simply no better coincidence of time and place!

Inevitably this feast of wildlife will eclipse the parks’ birdlife, but the latter cannot be ignored. Huge Ground Hornbills and elegant Secretary Birds stride across the grasslands along with Kori Bustards, grey Crowned Crane and smaller species such as Temminck’s Coursers, Wattled Lapwing, Rosy-breasted Long claw, yellow-Shouldered widowbird and capped Wheatear. Lone bushes or dead trees provide lookout perches for a variety of bee-eaters and rollers, including the beautiful carmine bee-eater, whilst above them soar Martial Eagles, lappet-faced, African White-backed, hooded and Ruppell’s Vultures, the latter four always on the look out for a recent kill. In the lodge grounds and acacia woodlands we should find a plethora of barbets, finches, weavers, Turacos, go-away-birds, glossy starlings and kingfishers.

We will enjoy five nights in the Serengeti, the first two at Kirawira Tented Camp in the eastern corner of the park and the remaining three nights at Mbuzi Mawe Tented Camp in the heart of the reserve.

Day 13:
Lake Manyara.
Making an early start, we will drive, via the Olduvai Gorge, back towards the crater highlands. The Olduvai Gorge “Cradle of Mankind” was  brought to the attention of the world by Dr. Leakey. Here he discovered the 2-million-year-old remains of the “nutcracker man”, as

decorate the shoreline. As mentioned earlier, Manyara is also famous for its unique tree-climbing lions. These can be hard to see, but other game is plentiful in the form of African Elephant, White-bearded Wildebeest, Burchell’s Zebra, Thompson’s Gazelle, Impala, olive Baboon, Blue and Vervet Monkeys, Kirk’s Dik-dik, warthog, Hippopotamus, Giraffe, waterbuck and Black-backed Jackal.

After lunch, we must return to Arusha in time for an overnight at Serena Mountain Village Lodge.

Day 15:
After breakfast you will drive back to Nairobi. On our eventful arrival back at Nairobi, we will refresh up at the Fairview Hotel in Nairobi and have a last meal together at the famous Carnivore restaurant, before making our way to the airport for our outbound flight back home.  

Grading.
This tour is a lodge-based Tanzania safari. Please remember that, in the game parks of east Africa, it is generally not permitted for visitors to leave the safety of their vehicles, apart from in our lodge grounds, meaning that we’ll spend quite a lot of time in the minibuses! It is, though, the only way to see Tanzania’s unrivalled wildlife and every participant will enjoy a window seat.

Weather.
During our tour we can expect most days to be dry and fairly sunny, temperatures ranging from 20- 30 C, depending on altitude. Overcast weather, particularly in the afternoons, may not be infrequent, but rain is unlikely except on high ground such as