On arrival, your friendly guide will welcome you and take you to your accommodation, and help you get settled in.  He or she will make sure you are all set for supper and will go over your planned itinerary with you to answer any questions you have.  He or she will also want to hear about any special dreams you may not yet have mentioned, as all our guides want your entire experience to be superb.  Once you are settled and comfortable, your guide will leave you to enjoy the evening and the sounds and smells of the Tanzanian night.

Enjoy a full day of game drives in Tarangire.  Watch elephants thundering down the hillside towards you, or Zebra kicking up the river water with their hooves.  Watch giraffe running through the acacia, and see if you can spot a lion, just waiting for someone to come near.  See how many different varieties of birds you can spot, as your guide is quick to point them out if you are interested.  Watch for leopards if you’re lucky.  Because you have a full day available to you, you might even choose to drive down to the Silale Swamp where you can watch elephants and hippos eating their fill in the reeds, and see more birdlife than you have probably even imagined.  Egrets, Egyptian Geese, storks, eagles, ducks, lilac-breasted rollers and many, many more birds hang out near the swamp and enjoy the lush greenery and the plentiful water.  Stop for your packed lunch whenever the mood suits, and let your guide show you all the natural wonders to be found in Tarangire.  Maybe spot the banded mongoose stretched out over termite mounds enjoying their afternoon naps.  Many guests have said that Tarangire is really their favorite of all the national parks they visit; you might just find yourself among them!

This day will be spectacular.  After breakfast, descend into the Ngorongoro Crater for a full day game drive and see the large numbers of animals living in this (relatively) small space, a World Heritage Site.  The Ngorongoro Crater is the world’s largest inactive, intact volcanic caldera formed when the Ngorongoro volcano exploded some 2 million years ago.  Some 25,000 animals live in the Crater, including Cape buffalo, hippopotamus, wildebeest, zebra, eland and many other species.  You may even have a chance to see the endangered black rhinoceros.  Visit the yellow fever tree groves, and ask your guide about them.  Watch for flamingos on the lake in the middle of the Crater, and keep your eyes peeled for all sorts of animals – large and small.  Then return to your accommodation on the Crater rim to download pictures, dream about your day, and eat a wonderful evening meal.

After breakfast, you will start your journey up towards the Mara area of the Northern Serengeti.  As you leave camp, depending on what time it is, you may well be able to spot lions or cheetah – as well as all animals that are now becoming old friends; impala, elephant, giraffe, and zebra.  Maybe even a few wildebeest stragglers.  And you’ll start to recognize a few birds now, too.  The Serengeti is well on its way to feeling like home – although excitement still lurks around every corner.  Enjoy the Seronera area, which is always rich in game at this time of year.  Today the journey itself will be a large part of your adventure.  Your guide will drive you towards the Ikoma gate, where you will temporarily leave the Serengeti and drive through the Ikorongo Game reserve.  This road is bumpy and dusty but quite the adventure as you travel back towards the Tabora B Gate where you renter the Serengeti, now in the Northern Mara Area.  You’ll start seeing larger and larger groups of wildebeest as you move into this area.  You will likely pass the very small Kogatenda airstrip (watch for wildlife on the runway!) as you approach the Mara river and your accommodation for the next few nights.  Depending on how much stopping you did along the way, you may even have time for a late afternoon game drive.

Enjoy another morning game drive in the Mara area.  You may want to seek out one more crossing, or you may be more interested in exploring along the river (hippos, crocodiles and river birds galore), or you may drive up towards the kopjes and enjoy the views out over the river and maybe find a klipspringer or some hyrax in the rocks.  Either way, enjoy your final morning with the great herds of wildebeest, and then take the trip back down into the central Serengeti region.  Along the way, stop at the Retina Hippo Pool for an experience you won’t find anywhere else.  There can be multiple hundreds of hippos in this relatively small pool, and happily there is a parking area above with an outlook so you can get out, stretch your legs, and enjoy the experience for as long as you like.  Watch baby hippos bobbing, hippos getting in and out of the water, sloshing each other and sometimes play fighting or asserting their dominance.  The stench can be outrageous, but you’ll hardly notice with all there is to see.  Elephants and dik-diks often hang out around this pool as well, as do a variety of birds and – of course – monkeys, so keep your camera ready and any food in the vehicle!  As dusk draws in, you will arrive at your evening accommodation, ready for bush T.V. and drinks and a good meal.

In the morning, transfer by airplane to Zanzibar.  Your guide (who now feels like an old friend) will pick you up in the morning and take you to the airport for a small plane flight.  Watch for Kilimanjaro through the airplane windows as you fly right by it – on a clear day you can have amazing views.  Then watch through the windows as the plane descends over the Zanzibar archipelago; you’ll see changing water and brilliant greens and blues below you, with many smaller and larger islands, and you’ll know that you are truly arriving in an island paradise.  You’ll be met at the airport and taken to your accommodation in or near Stone Town.  In the afternoon, take a walking tour of Stone Town where you can admire the unique antique carved doors and the markets and artisans offering their wares.  Maybe you’ll stop at the Old Fort, or the Hamamni Persian Baths, or simply find a terrace overlooking the ocean and sit awhile and enjoy drinks or a meal.

Enjoy one last morning relaxing on the beach – or taking photographs of the brilliant colours and the busy local life around you.  Watch fishermen going out for the day’s catch, or listen to the birds singing nearby.  Later on, we will take you back to the airport for your departure flight.  You may be sad to leave, but you’ll have safari stories to tell for years to come!