DAY 1: ARRIVAL KILIMANJARO, TANZANIA
Today on arrival in Kilimanjaro, you will be met by your Big Five representative who will transfer you to the Lake Duluti Lodge for the night.
LAKE DULUTI SERENA HOTEL – One Room (D)

DAY 2: ARUSHA / MANYARA RANCH CONSERVANCY
Today, you have a private transfer from your lodge in Arusha to Lake Manyara National Park, with packed lunches. Lake Manyara is encircled by forests alive with monkeys, giraffes and rare tree-climbing lions as well as a variety of migratory animals and birds. The lake teems with birdlife, including pelicans, flamingos, herons, storks and more. You continue on to the Manyara Ranch Conservancy. This is the model for the future of safaris in Tanzania. The Manyara Ranch, a 35,000-acre wildlife conservancy situated in the corridor between Tarangire and Manyara National Parks. Originally established as a cattle ranch during Tanzania’s colonial period, this remains an operating ranch with a relatively small herd of beef cattle and black-headed sheep. During 2000, the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) obtained management and conservation rights to the ranch to protect this vital wildlife corridor. In so doing, they established a working relationship with the Maasai, developing their community conservation projects and rehabilitating the ranch itself. The ranch is held in Trust by the Tanzania Land Conservation Trust (TLCT) for the benefit of the local communities and Tanzania.
MANYARA RANCH CONSERVANCY – One Tent (B,L,D)

DAYS 3/4: MANYARA RANCH CONSERVANCY
Enjoy activities at the ranch on both days. Your experience here will be like none other. The conservancy provides guided game walks, day and night drives, visits to partner villages (in an authentic setting) and activities including horse riding with big game, bush breakfast and dinners and participative research activities to promote on-going conservation projects in collaboration with AWF. There are several large dams on the ranch that attract and retain the wildlife within the conservancy area. There is a significant resident population of wildlife including groups of large bull elephants, breeding herds of giraffe, many lesser kudu, wildebeest, zebra, gazelle, oryx and eland. There are also predators, including lion, cheetah, leopard, hyena, jackal and bat-eared foxes. For many years, wild dogs have denned on the ranch. The wildlife populations are continually  increasing by animals moving through the migratory corridors. There is a large number of species of birds including many raptors on the ranch. Manyara Ranch has a variety of habitats, which include open savannah, acacia woodland, bush and riverine forest. These habitats support a large diversity of wildlife and birdlife.
MANYARA RANCH CONSERVANCY – One Tent (B,L,D)

DAY 5: MANYARA RANCH CONSERVANCY / NGORONGORO CRATER
Indulge your sense of personal discovery as you near Ngorongoro Crater. In 1892, a German explorer was the first European to record seeing the crater. You will approach it in much the same way he did – via Lake Manyara. Certainly one of the world’s most remarkable natural wonders, the crater’s steep unbroken rim drops some 2,000 feet to the basin that encompasses 102 square miles. This may have been one of the world’s tallest mountains until about two million years ago, when a volcano exploded, collapsing it into this massive crater. Today, Maasai pastoralists and their grazing cattle and goats share this stage with 30,000 animals – lions, elephants, rhinos, wildebeest, flocks of flamingos and so much more. Your one-of-a-kind safari lodge sits on the rim of the crater, and its design was inspired by traditional Maasai homesteads. Interiors hint at the days of early settlers. Beneath grass roofs, exquisite beaded chandeliers, antiques, silk curtains and leather chairs blend with African art.
NGORONGORO CRATER LODGE – One Room (B,L,D)

DAY 6: NGORONGORO CRATER
The day’s focus is the crater floor, reached by driving a rocky track down the steep side. Game viewing here is excellent throughout the year. You come startlingly close to some of the crater’s lions. Amid dramatic landscapes dotted with buffalo, zebra, reedbuck and rhinos, you relish every morsel of your picnic lunch. Large numbers of flamingos hang around the crater’s lake.
NGORONGORO CRATER LODGE – One Room (B,L,D)

DAY 7: NGORONGORO CRATER / SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK
Today your private transfer takes you to the Manyara airport for your 8:40 AM regional flight to Seronera in the Serengeti, Africa’s most famous park is without equal in its primitive natural beauty, its liberating open space and its fantastic abundance of plains game. During migration, vast numbers of animals stretch to the horizon in long slender columns. They face fierce obstacles from voracious predators to treacherous river crossings. As the great migration makes its way across the expansive Serengeti plains, Hundreds of thousands of mostly wildebeest and zebra move in columns snaking to the horizon. And, predators are always nearby. Your camp rests at the heart of prime wildlife theaters on the Serengeti, where game viewing is good year-round. Game drives and ranger-led bush walks combine with safari luncheons, lantern-lit bush suppers and unforgettable conversations.
NAMIRI PLAINS – One Tent (B,L,D)

DAYS 8-10: SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK
Few things equal the thrill of sharing these wide, open spaces with antelope, giraffe, wildebeest, cheetah, elephant, leopard, buffalo, zebra, warthog, hippo and crocodile. Watch the extraordinary interplay between species, such as hyenas hovering just out of reach of lions. Bird watching enthusiasts can scout for some of the 500 species here. Namiri Plains camp was created for safari enthusiasts seeking comfort and exclusivity in secluded surroundings, excellent guiding and a deeper, more intense wildlife experience. To minimize the impact on the environment the camp comprises of only eight tents. Pitched in the shade of giant acacias, this small and exclusive tented haven offers 360° views of wildlife crossing the surrounding plains, the river area with its perennial vegetation and dense green reed beds that attract birds and smaller wildlife species. The migration passes through Namiri Plains from October to May and unleashes spectacular predator sightings during December and January as the resident big cats feast on the passing herds of wildebeest and zebra. Explore the Namiri Plains on daily game drives; enjoy sunrise breakfast picnics on top of Soit Le Motonyi Rock or sundowners on top of a kopje. With your nearest neighbour more than 45 minutes away, you may be excused for thinking that the Namiri Plains belong to you.
NAMIRI PLAINS – One Tent (B,L,D)

DAY 11: SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK / MAHALE MOUNTAINS
Today you are transferred to the airstrip in the Serengeti for your flight to Mahale. On arrival, you are met by your guide and driven to the camp. For 20 years, Greystoke Mahale has rested on a pristine, white sandy beach overlooking the turquoise water of Lake Tanganyika, with the forested slopes of the 8,000-foot Mahale Mountains rising behind. The main mess is the only structure on the beach and it is the focal point of camp. You can look out over the lake to the mountains of the Congo in the haze beyond. Here, chimpanzees are the focus of your visit. Each day, drink your morning coffee and enjoy the sunrise coming up over the mountains. The rangers will advise you of the whereabouts of the chimp groups, and possibility of seeing them. In addition to tracking chimps, you can also hike forest paths looking for birds and butterflies, as well as the other shy mammals who quietly live there; take a swim in ice-cold pools up in the mountain waterfalls; and kayak at dawn in the lake. Evenings end with sundowners on the rocks of the headland, where drinks are served around the lamp-lit bar. Greystoke Mahale has just six wood and thatch bandas set on the edge of the forest line at the base of the mountains. Each one has an en suite bathroom – accessible by a short boardwalk – with hot and cold running water, strong showers and flush toilets, dressing room and upstairs chill-out deck.
GREYSTOKE MAHALE – One Banda (B,L,D)

DAYS 12/13: MAHALE MOUNTAINS
After tracking the chimps for an hour or two, maybe more, you are  aware of the sounds they are making just ahead of you. Then, you find them, and suddenly they are everywhere. You sit quietly on the forest floor and take a deep breath, this is what it’s all about. After you encounter with the world of chimpanzees, you  can enjoy the “chill-out” deck upstairs, accessible by a rather clever canoe-ladder around the side of the banda. This is the place to while away a long afternoon with a glass of wine and a good book. Or, simply relax on the warm sands of the beach.
GREYSTOKE MAHALE – One Banda (B,L,D)

DAY 14: MAHALE MOUNTAINS / ARUSHA / DEPART
Depart with picnic box this morning for your boat transfer to Mahale airstrip for your flight to Arusha, where you are met by your guide and transferred to Kilimanjaro airport for your flight home. (B)

Land price, per person, double occupancy: From $1200 per person per day