8-DAY TANZANIA CULTURAL SAFARI
Lake Manyara / Lake Eyasi / Serengeti Plains / Ngorongoro Crater / Tarangire / Cultural villages

DAY 1
At around 0830 we leave Arusha town and drive for two hours to Lake Manyara National Park.
During our full day game drive lunch will be taken en route. We will aim to find some of the tree climbing lions that are unique to the lakeside as well as enjoying the abundant wildlife that flourishes from the underground waterways that originate a short distance uphill in the Ngorongoro Highlands.
In the late afternoon we’ll drive out of the park for dinner and overnight at Lake Manyara Hotel.

DAY 2
After breakfast and collecting our packed lunches we will drive to the shores of Lake Eyasi where you will be introduced to the extraordinary people who belong to an indigenous tribe known as the ‘Hadzabe’. The wa’Hadzabe are one of the last remaining hunter-gatherer tribes in East Africa and live fascinating and impressive lives in the bush, not requiring any huts or physical infrastructure, living a subsistence lifestyle that relies on their skills in hunting and foraging. Our Hadzabe friends will be very pleased to teach you to shoot their traditional weapons which they make from materials which occur naturally in their immediate environment.

In the evening you will share dinner with the tribesmen and as the day draws to a close will have the rare privilege of sharing in their threatened social world, while they sing traditional songs and perform tribal dances around an bonfire. The evening is a magical one and full of atmosphere. Tonight you will stay in tents in order to be close to the bushmen for a very early rise tomorrow morning.

DAY 3
We will be woken early in the morning to go hunting with the bushmen. This is no mere performance. The bushmen rely on these techniques to survive and you’ll need to be very attentive and at times quiet while they demonstrate their use of locally made poisons in incapacitating the poor creatures that keep our friends alive.

At around 0930 after the hunt we’ll return to our camping site to take breakfast. From here we’ll proceed with lunch boxes to Lake Eyasi where we aim to see the unrivalled spectacle of countless colourful flamingo on the lake’s shores. In the afternoon we’ll transfer to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and will take dinner and spend overnight at the Ngorongoro Wildlife Lodge.

DAY 4
After breakfast at the lodge we will drive through the northern Ngorongoro Conservation Area, pausing at times to view game as we move towards the endless plains of Serengeti National Park. En route to the Serengeti we’ll stop at Olduvai Gorge, where Richard and Mary Leakey discovered palaeontological fragments which some evolutionists still believe represent the remains of ‘Early Man’ - ‘Zijatropus’. After a game drive in the Southern Serengeti we’ll retire for dinner and overnight at the Serengeti Sopa Lodge.

DAY 5
For the best sunrise game viewing opportunities we need to be woken very early this morning. We’ll do a morning game drive until around 0930 on which we hope to be able to disturb some lions as they sunbathe on the kopjes or take their morning draughts along the waterways we’ll follow. Then it will be time to head south again to our lodge where we’ll have
breakfast. Further game driving will return us to the Ngorongoro Crater lip where we’ll have dinner and overnight at the Sopa Lodge.

DAY 6
This morning, after breakfast, for the very best encounters we should aim to be amongst the first parties to descend into the Ngorongoro Crater after the gate opens at 0630, so we should do our best to rise early. Home to one of the densest concentrations of wildlife on the planet the Ngorongoro Crater is known widely as the eighth wonder of the world and hosts the endangered black rhino species which we may chance to see. We’ll view game here until late afternoon before ascending to the lip again from where we’ll transfer for dinner and overnight at Tarangire Sopa Lodge.

DAY 7
After breakfast at the lodge we’ll collect our lunch boxes and enjoy a game drive in Tarangire National Park on which we can typically expect to see many roaming elephant, rare Baobab Trees and possibly even the tree-climbing python. Early in the evening we’ll drive to L’Oasis Lodge in Arusha for dinner and overnight.

DAY 8
By this morning we’ll need to have a made a decision:

Option A: MAASAI VILLAGE.
After breakfast at the lodge we’ll drive to Lengijave to visit some Maasai families. Visitors always relish this experience hugely. You’ll be invited into the hut of the senior wife who is present and have the opportunity to discuss many aspects of her life in the Maasai tribe: what it is like being one of several wives; how the men train to become warriors; some fascinating rules about hospitality and travelling, and many more things about why the world respects and values this unique tribe. We’ll have a traditional lunch with the family and afterwards enjoy a walk in their environs on which we’ll have the chance to discuss many issues that affect the tribe, projects that are underway to improve their standard of living without threatening their way of life and anything else that will interest you about traditional village life. In the evening we’ll return to L’Oasis Lodge for dinner and overnight.

or

Option B: COFFEE TOUR & LAKE DULUTI.
After breakfast at the lodge we’ll drive to Tengeru Village located on the slopes of Mt Meru. From here we’ll enjoy a coffee plantation tour. We’ll visit the locally owned and run farm and later participate in processing the coffee from the roasting of the beans to the testing of the very cup of coffee that you yourself have made. For lunch we’ll join some Meru tribes people for traditional food and afterwards take a walk to the legendary caldera lake, Duluti. This is a volcanic water feature of unknown depth where it is possible to hire canoes and paddle freely across its width or along its shores. There are also excellent opportunities for bird viewing, and tree identification. Later we’ll drive back to L’Oasis Lodge for dinner and overnight.

DEPARTURE DATES
The departure dates for all our safaris, tours and treks are totally flexible according to your own personal needs (subject to availability). Please contact us for further and more detailed info, as well as information on photographic travel packages, safaris, tours and treks into Tanzania.