African Safari Consultants

"The Ultimate Tented Experience"
 (Tanzania) - 13 Days

This safari not only includes all the main wildlife areas of Northern Tanzania, but also includes little visited Lake Eyasi, where you have the opportunity to experience a totally different aspect of a safari.

Although there is some wildlife present, you are also at the home of some of Tanzania's most interesting people, giving you an insight into how they live and the cultures they have nursed whilst the western world strives with the 21st. century. 

Lake Eyasi is not a National Park, and you are thus free to walk and meet the two tribes who are unique to the area, the Mangati and the Hadzape, both traditional enemies of the neighboring and more famous Masai, and who follow a different way of life, which is more akin, in both style and language, to the Bushmen of the Kalahari in Southern Africa.

Day 01   Arusha - Tarangire National Park

Depart Arusha after lunch and drive across the Masai Steppe and to Tarangire National Park. South from Lake Manyara this delightful park covers an area of 2,600 square kilometers. It is the numerous wide-bodied Baobab trees that first attract your eye. The gently rolling countryside is dotted with these majestic trees sometimes dwarfing the wildlife that feeds beneath them.

The park is at its best during the traditional dry seasons of June to October and December to March when many of the migratory animals come to the Tarangire River for water. Wildebeest, oryx, zebra, elephant are amongst the most prolific of the animals. Depending on the game movement we shall probably camp by the side of the Tarangire River.

Day 02  Tarangire National Park 

Early morning, morning and afternoon game drives.

Day 03 Tarangire National Park- Lake Manyara 

Early morning game drive followed by breakfast, after which your crew packs up the tenting equipment and moves on to set up again in the Lake Eyasi area, and you move on to a permanent camp on the rim of the Great Rift Valley. From whichever direction you approach Lake Manyara, you get a spectacular view. Approaching from the east the Great Rift Valley wall forms an impressive backdrop to the Lake. From the west, with a pause at the top of the escarpment, the park lies below, a green strip beside a glistening lake. Lake Manyara National Park covers an area of 330 square kilometers, of which about two thirds is the lake itself, and the rest is forest, acacia woodland and some grasslands by the lake shore. The wildlife can be migratory between Lake Manyara and Tarangire National Park across the lake, but you should see elephant, hippo, Cape buffalo, giraffe, several species of primate and antelope, and prolific birdlife. Dinner and overnight at Kirurumu, a comfortable camp with twenty tents located on top of the escarpment overlooking the park.

Day 04   Lake Manyara National Park - Kirurumu Tented Camp 

In the morning there is a trek with a Masai naturalist guide along the rim of the escarpment where you would anticipate stunning views down to the park below, and across the Masai Steppe. The naturalist will explain to you the geological phenomenon of the Great Rift Valley, as well as indicating rare plants, butterflies, birds etc. After lunch at Kirurumu, you continue with an afternoon game drive in the Park.
  

Day 05   Lake Manyara National Park- Lake Eyasi  

Leave after breakfast and drive to Lake Eyasi, situated south west of the Ngorongoro Conservation area below the Eyasi Rift Escarpment, and reached via Karatu village and then along a bumpy and dusty road. At Lake Eyasi only one campsite is available and this is situated in an acacia forest, with a freshwater spring emerging from the center of the camp.

At Lake Eyasi, despite the fact that there is some wildlife present, the emphasis is on meeting with some of Africa's most interesting people who have been secluded and protected from the " progress " of the twenty first century. There are two tribes who are unique to this area; the Mangati and the Hadzape. 
The Mangati are a tall, brave, nomadic people who are the traditional enemies of the Masai, living in similar huts and following similar traditions and rituals. The Hadzape people are very different to their Mangati neighbors, as they are traditional bushmen and much smaller, and speak the click language associated with the Kalahari bushmen of Southern Africa. Unlike the pastoral Mangati, the Hadzape are hunters with bows and arrows. During your stay at Lake Eyasi your guide will take you walking through the area until you come across one of the temporary settlements, where you will be able to join in the tribes people's activities, either hunting for birds or a warthog, or to the lakeshore to collect poisons. 

If there is a ceremony or party taking place you will probably be asked to take part! Due to the fact that these people have managed to maintain their cultures and beliefs for such a long time we are very careful not to confuse them with unaccustomed gifts etc., and instead we usually bring them food and make a small community donation each time we are privileged to camp in their area.

Day 06   Lake Eyasi 

A full day of activity with the Mangati and Hadzape tribes.

 Hadzabe cooking lunch, fresh kill, Lake Eyasi, Tanzania

Day 07   Lake Eyasi - Ngorongoro Crater 

Late morning leave Lake Eyasi and drive to Ngorongoro Serena Lodge arriving for lunch. " It is impossible to give a fair description of the size and beauty of the Crater, for there is nothing with which one can compare it. It is one of the Wonders of the World." This is how the Crater is described by Bernard Grzimek in his classic "Serengeti Shall Not Die".  The area is given over to Wildlife Conservation and comprises 8300 square kilometers of which the Crater is 260 square kilometers, and consists of grasslands, swamps, forests, rivers, and even an arid area of shifting dunes. The Crater supports a year round resident population of varied wildlife, and as the game is concentrated into a relatively small area you are likely to see lion, elephant, hyena, jackal, cheetah, the very rare Black rhino, primates and many more. The area is also home to the proud and colorful Masai tribe.  Lunch, dinner and overnight at Ngorongoro Serena Lodge.

Day 08  Ngorongoro Crater 

After an early breakfast you descend into the Crater in a 4 x 4 vehicle for a full day of game viewing with a picnic lunch taken on the Crater floor. Late afternoon you leave the Crater drive back to the lodge for dinner and overnight.

Day 09  Ngorongoro Crater - Serengeti National Park 

Leave after breakfast and drive via Ol Duvai Gorge to the Serengeti National Park, arriving for lunch and an afternoon game drive. The Gorge is about 50 kilometers long and in some places 90 meters deep. Commonly heralded as the " Cradle of Mankind" it was made famous by the discovery in 1959 of the remains of early man. Your stop includes a visit to the small museum overlooking the Gorge. The Serengeti National Park. is one of the most popular and spectacular game areas in East Africa, covering an area of 14,765 square kilometers, teaming with game.
A particular feature of the Serengeti is the annual migration of the wildebeest and zebra herds. Each year, after the traditional " short " rains in November the migration starts when the herds amass in their thousands on the plains below the Ngorongoro highlands. During February they move north and west following the rains and the new grasslands and they start to move into the Masai Mara in July. In October they move back to Tanzania. This annual phenomenon involves more than 1.5 million animals, including the lion and other predators who follow the herds for easy pickings. 

The whole process affects the lives of thousands of other species that rely on the passage of the migration for their survival, even the insects, not to mention the trees and plants, which rely on the droppings for their fertilization. Dinner and overnight at your mobile camp.

Day 10   Serengeti National Park  

Morning and afternoon game drives.

Day 11   Serengeti  National Park    

Morning and afternoon game drives

Day 12   Serengeti  National Park  
  
Morning and afternoon game drives.
 
Day 13   Serengeti National Park- Arusha 

Morning scheduled service flight [one hour approximately] from Seronera to Arusha, and transfer for your ongoing or homeward arrangements.

 

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Please contact us for a quote

African Safari Consultants
16475 Indian Ruins Rd.
Prescott, AZ 86305

Tel. (928) 717 - 8275     Fax (928) 717 - 9754

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