Day 1: Arrival Tanzania

Touching down in Tanzania, into the shadow of the continent’s highest mountain is quite an arrival: welcome to Africa. We’ll fast- track you through Kilimanjaro Airport to Elewana Arusha Coffee Lodge, voted one of the Top 5 Hotels in Africa by Travel + Leisure, where the stresses of travel will lift as soon as you’re shown your elegant suite, tucked into this leafy and aromatic working plantation.

Here is what previous guests have said about Arusha Coffee Lodge

On the edge of Arusha, in the foothills of Mount Meru, elegant Elewana Arusha Coffee Lodge is the ideal place to shake off the stresses of travel and sink into holiday mode. Its handsome suites are scattered amid a working coffee plantation – a leafy sanctuary of serenity. Here, you can relax in your room’s decadent four-poster, by your real log fire or on your private veranda overlooking the aromatic Arabica bushes.

You can unwind by the pool or in the spa. You can linger over lunch in the garden, dine on fine fusion cuisine or join an open-air Swahili-style feast. Don’t miss the fascinating tree-to-cup tour around the grounds and visit Shanga, a social enterprise based on site that employs people with disabilities to create quality handmade products – you can watch the artisans at work and pick up a souvenir or two.

Day 2: Fly from Arusha to Tarangire Park

After you’ve savoured a brew with breakfast, take a private tree-to-cup tour around the grounds, to find out how they make it so good. As well as producing coffee, the lodge is home to Shanga, a wonderful social enterprise that employs people with disabilities to create quality handmade products – watch the artisans at work, sewing, painting, weaving and glass-blowing, and perhaps pick up a souvenir or two.

There’s time for a lovely lunch on the lawn before we whisk you off on your flight to Tarangire, Tanzania’s unexpected surprise. Often overlooked for the north’s better-known parks, Tarangire bursts with great game – especially in the dry season, when animals flock to its perennial river – but sees few other tourists.

The action starts immediately: you’ll be scouting for game on the drive from airstrip to Elewana Tarangire Treetops. Elephants are a particular speciality – more than 3,000 (one of the largest populations in East Africa) roam here.

The lodge itself is like something from a fairytale: its scatter of suites teeters amongst the branches of the baobab and marula trees; each has a huge balcony, looking either to the sunrise, the sunset or over the camp’s waterhole. Tear yourself away for dinner, though – a candle-lit feast served in a Masai boma, surrounded by acacia trees.

But do no take our word only:
 Read Tarangire Tree Tops Reviews here and come to form own opinion.

Day 3: Day in Tarangire National Park

The lodge has been pivotal in driving the development of community-owned wildlife conservancies, which has seen more wildlife being preserved and more local people benefitting. It also means it can offer the best of both worlds: guests here have easy access to Tarangire’s animal-dense pastures, but being in the conservancy means a greater variety of activities is allowed.

Start the day traditionally, with a glorious game drive in custom-designed jeeps, looking for a whole host of species – from zebra, buffalo, eland and kudu to lion, leopard and hyena. Then, after lunch back at camp, walk out with a Masai guide.

There’s nothing more electrifying than exploring the bush on foot, getting up-close to the flowers, insects and animal tracks you might miss from a vehicle. You can also visit a Masai village to find out more about the custodians of this land.

As the afternoon cools, there’s only one thing to be done: sit on Sunset Hill, Sundowner in hand, the classic way to toast a day on safari. A delicious dinner will follow, though you might want to squeeze in another adventure: night drives (permitted within the conservancy) are a chance to see the after-dark shift, from prickly porcupines to elusive leopards.

Day 4: Fly Tarangire Park  to Serengeti Park

Enjoy your last lavish  breakfast … before we whisk you off for your flight to another African icon: Serengeti National Park.

Simply, it’s huge. An endless-seeming swathe of short-grass plains, braided with life-giving streams, speckled with rocky kopjes, riffled by occasional hills, rich in Masai culture, absolutely teeming with life.

And while you can revel in the bigger picture, it’s also the place to embrace the individual moments: the will-they-won’t-they tension of a lion pack on the hunt; the shock of a crocodile bursting from the river; the white-knuckle charge of an angry bull elephant; the dazzle of the sun subsiding into plains with no end.

We’ll deliver you to your lodge in time for lunch, though the exact lodge depends in part on the season – either Elewana Serengeti Pioneer camp or Elewana Serengeti Migration Camp, depending on availability of accommodation space at the time of your booking.

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Independent Reviews for Serengeti Pioneer Camp

Independent Reviews for Serengeti Migration Camp
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You stay at either of these sophisticated and luxury camps in  Serengeti.  The variety of wildlife in Serengeti is remarkable, the drama intense – especially when the Great Migration passes through: the camp is perfectly placed for watching the herds run the gauntlet of the Mara River.

Day 5 & 6: Safari Activities in Serengeti Park

Two  full days to explore the vast Serengeti plains on game drives, going in search of the staggering variety of wildlife found here. The Serengeti is one of Africa’s most famous game parks, boasting prime open savannahs, teeming with wild animals.

This epic wildlife migration sees a wildebeest population of over a million stampeding through grasslands and river. The incredible wildlife migration also includes several other hoofed animals, such as zebra, Thomson’s gazelle, impala, topi, Grants gazelle, Kongoni, Eland, Kirk’s dik-dik, oryx, oribi, waterbuck, buffalo, giraffe and more! This awe-inspiring herd of grazers, in turn, attracts the predators of Serengeti, from lion, leopard, and cheetah, to hyena, and jackals.

The bird watching in Serengeti Park is also impressive, with common sightings including ostrich and kori bustard, as well as larks, finches, raptors and the distinctive lilac breasted roller.

You never quite know how the drama might play out. Most dramatic of all is to witness the pinnacle of the Great Migration, when more than a million animals cross the northern rivers.

To maximise your wild time, we’ll dish up a delicious lunch on the go, while, come nightfall, dinner will be served out under the stars, to a backing track of the sounds of the bush.

Day 7: Fly to Manyara Airstrip. Drive to Ngorongoro

Enjoy your last breakfast in the Serengeti plains. We transfer to the airstrip for the flight out of Serengeti.

It’s a scenic flight to Lake Manyara airstrip, and a lovely drive through the highlands to reach the epitome of elegance that is The Manor. Quite possibly the most enviable address on the safari circuit, this handful of Cape Dutch-styled cottages sits within the lush gardens of a working coffee farm, near the edge of the Ngorongoro Crater.

You’ll arrive in time for high tea, taken with views over the rippling forest, while your butler sorts the luggage. Then soak in your Victorian bathtub, cosy up by your suite’s open fire, enjoy a delicious dinner.

Here are testimonials from previous guests to The Manor At Ngorongoro

Day 8: Luxury Safaris in Lake Manyara

It’s certainly varied, attracting an astounding mix of life, from bush-buck and blue monkeys in the forests to tree-climbing lions in the acacia woods; from cheetah stalking antelopes on the grasslands to hippos wallowing in the mud.

Most dazzling, though, is the flamboyance of flamingos – hundreds of the blushing birds flock here, along with more than 400 other avian species. Join a game drive after breakfast and stay until lunch, so you can picnic by the water’s edge.

Back at The Manor, the afternoon is all yours. Take a dip in the pool, book a treatment in the spa or join a guided walk around the coffee estate. Or you could head out on horseback, to get a different perspective on these verdant highlands, finishing with a Sun-downer, of course. Top the day off with dinner in the elegant dining room, always a culinary delight.

Day 9: Ngorongoro Crater Luxury Tour

Your alarm will ring at the crack of dawn today – but you won’t mind a bit.

Have breakfast and after drive into the crater which has one of the biggest caldera filled with rich and diverse wildlife species. It has got the Acacia forest and the grass steppes were you will find every type of animal from the east African savannah. The Ngorongoro Crater is simply marvelous.

Dense with wildlife and magical with sweeping vistas of Savannah, crowned by towering volcano rims and dotted with still lakes. The Ngorongoro Conservation Area offers even more.

It’s well worth the early breakfast when you’re about to head into the ‘eighth wonder of the world’. Measuring over 20km wide and 600m deep, Ngorongoro Crater is a natural volcanic amphi-theatre, a geological marvel, a festival of wildlife. Its acacia thickets, riverine forest and glittering lakes throng with around 30,000 animals: one of the highest densities of wildlife in Africa.

Spend a full day in Ngorongoro Crater – our expert guides will introduce you to its vast cast of characters: lions, elephants and buffalo, cheetah and serval cats, hyena, jackal and black rhino. Plus The Manor has special permission to host beautiful bush lunches in a private part of the crater, away from the crowds. You can picnic in exclusive style without missing a wildlife-packed minute.

Sun-downers and dinner back at The Manor will be abuzz, as you exchange stories with your fellow travelers about what you’ve seen on this once-in-a-lifetime day.

Day 10: Fly to Arusha – Depart

Your drive to the airstrip gives you a final chance to soak up the sights, smells, sounds and sensations of the Serengeti. Just one more elegant giraffe, one more elephant charge. Once airborne, keep your eyes out the window, to see the Serengeti slide out of view and, perhaps, Kilimanjaro peeping through the clouds.