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13 day Maasai Safari, Tanzania
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Highlights of this Masaai Tanzania Safari Tour:
Kilimanjaro (non ascent)TarangireLake ManyaraRift ValleyNgorongoroSerengeti
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Specially guided by Tanzanian expert Peter Lindstrom, this grand safari ensures you of fantastic game viewing, ending with three glorious days and nights in a luxury tented camp in the Serengeti. The enormous ecosystem composed of the Serengeti and Ngorongoro is Maasailand, nearly 7000 sq. miles. Although not the largest traditional community in East Africa, the Maasai were dominant over this vast expanse of wilderness. Their traditional life style helped preserve the wilderness and the wildlife that depends upon it. Peter will not only show you the most dramatic game viewing in East Africa, but also introduce you to the Maasai who have preserved it. Enjoy this superb wildlife and cultural destination.
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Day 1: ArushaWhenever you arrive, you'll be personally met and transferred to the family-owned and managed Rivertrees Lodge set in cool shaded wooded grounds with a lively stream lined with fig trees along one boundary. For those arriving early, optional activities can be arranged. |
Days 2 & 3: West KilimanjaroDrive into the beautiful highlands that flank the western edge of Mount Kilimanjaro passing through a patchwork of fields and small villages that typify rural Africa, before descending into semi arid bush country. Here a warm welcome awaits one in the private Maasai conservancy with its award-winning elephant conservation efforts.
Spend 2 nights in a Luxury Tented Camp, the only guests on 60 000 acres. Game view in vehicles and track Elephant on foot. Learn about the local Maasai and experience some of the most awesome scenery in Africa. |
Day 4: West Kilimanjaro - TarangireSpend this morning of your safari in Tanzania visiting sacred Maasai cave paintings with an optional visit to a Maasai boma and chance to buy Maasai beads and artifacts. Then, take a quick charter flight into the great Tarangire National Park. At this time of the year, Tarangire is packed with elephant that have come off the Maasai steppe to dig in the sand rivers for water. There is no other congregation of elephant as dramatic. Two nights accommodations at a luxury tented camp. |
Day 5: TarangireFull day exploring the great families of elephant. Tarangire is a wonderland of Africa, exceptionally diverse in habitat with massive groves of Baobab trees, open plains, swamps and thick wooded areas home of Leopard, Impala and many baboon. The bird-life is exceptional at this time of the year, with many exotic bee-eaters and great birds of prey perched on the giant Baobabs spying out their next meal. |
Day 6: Lake ManyaraFurther game viewing in Tarangire this morning before leisurely making our way north towards the Great Rift Valley. Arrive Kirurumu camp for a late lunch. The camp is set on the edge of the Great rift escarpment with outstanding views of the Lake and plains below. This afternoon join one of Peter's Maasai friends for a guided enthno-biological walk to the edge of the escarpment. |
Day 7: Lake Manyara and The Great RiftDawn game drive in Lake Manyara National Park, perhaps the most beautiful on the circuit. Famous for its lions-in-trees, the park boasts 20 times as many species of trees as in all of North America and outstanding bird life. During the morning game drive you'll understand why this is where Out of Africa was filmed. In the afternoon explore an important elephant corridor and rich native forest in the Maasai community of Silela, with whom Peter has been working closely on a variety of conservation efforts. Meals and overnight at Kirurumu. |
Days 8 & 9: Ngorongoro CraterTwo remarkable days in one of the most phenomenal places in Africa, the 2000-foot deep, 100 sq. mile large Ngorongoro Crater. Between 2 and 3 million years ago a giant volcano collapsed inwards to form what is today Ngorongoro, the home of more than 20 000 large mammals and described by the first Conservator of the area as the eighth wonder of the world. It is an animal paradise.
See some of the world's largest Elephant, large groups of black-maned Lion, big herds of plains animals like Zebra and WThe crater is the last place in Africa where free-ranging black rhino are usually seen by all visitors. One afternoon Peter will introduce you to a local Maasai chief who will escort you on a breath-taking walk through the area's outstanding hills.
The 2 days and nights will be spent at Tanzania's most lavish safari camp, Crater Lodge. Enjoy your own fireplace, stoked by your personal butler who also keeps the sherry glasses full and Stilton close at hand. |
Days 10 - 12: Serengeti PlainsLeave the crater on a spectacular drive that takes you first to famous Olduvai Gorge, then overland into the great Serengeti, the Grande Dame of African wilderness. For 3 days and nights you'll the far reaches of the Serengeti, where most of the game activity is found at this time of the year.
You'll explore some great rivers with their monstrous Crocodiles, as well as the plains that attract so many predators at this time of the year. During these three nights you'll be pampered in a Luxury Camp set in a beautiful location far away from the main tourist lodges. At times, the entire veldt will be yours alone. |
Day 13: Arusha - DepartA quick morning flight returns you to Arusha by noon. You'll be met and enjoy lunch at a popular local restaurant, with time for sightseeing and shopping before returning to Rivertrees Lodge. Private rooms are available for everyone until the evening departures. |
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Wildebeest
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Wildebeest know that there is safety in numbers, so 80-90% of them give birth within a 3 week birth peak. The great wildebeest migration of the Serengeti-sees about a million or more animals continue an endless cycle of life.
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The Serengeti
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The tropics of East Africa have two distinct rainy seasons; the Short Rains in November and December and the Long Rains from March to April.
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