Tanzania Sample Itinerary

After breakfast we will fly by private charter to Tarangire National Park where we will be met at the airstrip and taken to our private camp.

Tarangire National Park's 1,600 square miles include panoramic vistas of savannah grasslands that are dotted with open acacia woodland and large baobab trees. Considered one of East Africa's most spectacularly scenic parks, Tarangire is one of the best places in Tanzania to elephant watch. Plenty of other big game inhabit the park, as well, most notably lion, leopard, eland, giraffe and ostrich.

The park is one of the few places in Tanzania where oryx roam and, more rarely, gerenuk and lesser kudu. In addition, one can find masses of impala, waterbuck, reedbuck, warthog and Grant's gazelle. The Tarangire River flows through this birder's paradise, which has more resident breeding species than anywhere else in the country.

A private charter will us to Ngorongoro Crater. Weather permitting, our plane will land on the rim of the crater and we will arrive at Ngorongoro Crater Lodge in time for lunch.

The lodge's decor -- with Malian architecture and collectibles from all over Africa -- reflects the taste of a colonial explorer from a bygone era. Each stilted, handcrafted suite is adorned with graceful antiques, grand chandeliers and African treasures. The bedroom, sitting room and en suite bathroom boast floor-to-ceiling glass windows that overlook the magnificent crater below. The management and staff of Crater Lodge will spoil you with luxury, and your personal butler will discreetly tend to your every need. Considered one of the most stunning lodges in Africa, Crater Lodge has been featured in many international architectural and travel publications.

In the afternoon, we will descend into the Crater for some spectacular game viewing. The Crater is an imploded volcano with the largest complete caldera in the world that is not flooded. Its geology may be spectacular, but it is the wildlife paradise that exists in its 100 square miles that makes it one of the world's natural wonders.

Besides having one of the richest wildlife environments on earth, it has the highest density of lions ever recorded; it is the last refuge of black rhino in Tanzania; it has elephants with the largest tusks in East Africa. Above all, it is a photographer's dream where elephant, buffalo, lion and rhino act out their daily lives on the crater's stage.

Today we will spend a full day on the crater floor viewing wildlife and enjoying a picnic lunch. At the end of the day, we will rejoin our private tented camp, which will have been relocated here from Tarangire.

The next day we will be traveling north of Ngorongoro to an area of Empakai Crater that few people visit. From the Crater's rim you can see three mountains from one spot: Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Meru and Oldongy Lengai, a still active volcano whose name means the "House of God" in Maasai. Some of you may choose to rest beneath the shade of a tree with a picnic lunch while others, together with an armed guard, will take a 40-minute hike down through the cool forests to a lake 800 feet below where a cloud of pink flamingoes will greet you on the shore.

Today we will depart by road and descend the northwestern slopes of the Ngorongoro Crater onto the short grassy plains of the Serengeti. This drive will take us past Oldupai Gorge, a world famous site where the anthropologist Louis Leakey and his wife Mary uncovered some of the earliest hominid fossils known to man. After visiting the museum and hearing a short talk by the curator, wewill enter the gorge to see where the fossils were discovered and where many still lie today. From here we will continue to the Ndutu area where we will spend the night at Ndutu Lodge.

The lodge consists of 32 simply furnished stone cottages with en suite bathrooms and verandas that look through the woodlands to Lake Ndutu. The open-air dining and lounge area also look over the lake; the lodge has gained a reputation for excellent cuisine.

We will look for game in the morning, lunch back at Ndutu Lodge and then drive to our private mobile tented camp in the afternoon. There are a number of idyllic places to put a private camp that still have access to the main wildlife activity on the Serengeti's southern plains. Among them are the woods on the northern edge of the plains, the magnificent forested rock islands of Moru Kopjes, the acacia stands around the central area of Seronera or the lakes and woodlands of Ndutu.

The wildlife and the character of the Serengeti's various areas vary dramatically from one season to the next. You will be visiting during what is known as the Green season, which runs from December through March. It is a peaceful time when the animals are fully fed and relaxed and wildflowers and green grass abound. It is the time when the migration spills out onto the great southern plains and the females of the species are calving.

Wildebeest are the Serengeti's driving force; there are some 1.3 million of them. Together with some 300,000 zebra and attendant predators and scavengers, they are a vast ecological powerhouse, roaming beautiful landscapes, setting the boundaries, changing the scenery, altering the vegetation and laying down the limits and the lifestyles of just about everything else that lives here. Along with the Maasai Mara of Kenya, this is the finest wildlife spectacle on earth.

Today we will rendezvous with our Maasai guides for a relaxed and easy expeditionary walk in the Gol Mountains. The scenery is spectacular, the climate cool, the grass short and crisp, and there is no risk from dangerous animals. But above all there is a chance to spend time with the Maasai in places that are seldom visited by outsiders. Donkeys will also accompany you to pack in supplies, and we will always be in radio contact with a vehicle that will be within easy reach. We will normally stop at around midday so camp can be set up, and we will have the rest of the day for further exploring on foot, visiting the Maasai, relaxing, reading, etc. The youngsters in the group have the option of riding a donkey in the care of one of the Maasai handlers.

The Expeditionary Camp is quite comfortable, with full headroom ridge tents, camp furniture and simple two- or three-course meals.

A private charter flight will take us southwest to the forested slopes of the Mahale Mountains that tower above the white sands of Lake Tanganyika. The clear water of Lake Tanganyika is over one mile in depth, the deepest in Africa, and the fresh water fish are brilliantly colored and varied.

Throughout the Mahale Mountain forest lies a network of simple paths established by a team of Japanese scientists, who have been studying chimpanzees here for more than 30 years. The scientists have been careful to avoid manipulating the chimps' behavior in any way, so the primates carry on with their lives scarcely noticing that they are being watched.

On the shores of the lake, an adventure/entrepreneur named Roland Purcell has erected a camp centered on an Ottoman-style tent in the dining/sitting area. It is about a one-hour boat ride to the airstrip where your charter plane landed. Tents are roomy, the beds are comfortable, linen is always fresh and the food is excellent. In addition to guided walks looking for chimpanzee, activities include snorkeling, fishing, canoeing or relaxing at the beautiful water's edge.