10 Days - 9 Nights Best Of Zanzibar’s Beach Holiday Adventure

Itinerary:

Day 1:Arrival-Nairobi-Arusha-Serengeti National Park;
On arrival at the Jommo Kenyatta International Airport you will be met by our tour manager who will brief you on your safari and thereafter you will depart for Arusha town by shuttle bus via Namanga border town for immigration formalities and arrive in time for lunch.After Lunch, you depart for Serengeti National Park via stopping en route at Olduvai Gorge. After a visit of Olduvai Gorge continue driving north game viewing en route to your campsite situated in the Nyarboro Hills in the south west of the Serengeti National Park,arriving in the late evening.

The Olduvai Gorge is the site of Dr. and Mrs. Leakey’s discovery of Zinjanthropus bosei. The Gorge was discovered accidentally by a German butterfly collector, Professor Kattwinkle, in 1911, but it was not until 1959 that Dr. Mary Leakey unearthed the Zinjanthropus skull believed to be 1.8 million years old.

Dinner and overnight stay at Seronera Wildlife Lodge or a tented Camp.

Day 2: Serengeti National Park;
After breakfast enjoy the magnificent views across the Serengeti plains and explore the area in your vehicle while driving south, arrive in time for lunch at Ndutu lodge.

The Serengeti National Park is a continuation of the Maasai Mara game reserve in Kenya. It is one of Tanzanian’s largest and most famous national parks covering an area of 14,763sq.km the greatest spectacle of annual wildlife migration in the world happens in the two adjoining parks as about a million Wildebeest cross north and south looking for greener pasture. The Serengeti also boasts of its lions and Cheetahs whereas zebras number about 200,000 other animals include giraffes grant and Thomson’s gazelle Impalas, elands, warthogs and klipspringers. It is also rich with bird life.

Dinner and overnight at Seronera Wildlife Lodge or a tented Camp.

Day 3:Serengeti National Park- Ndutu Area;
After breakfast have a full day game viewing in Ndutu Area.

The Ndutu area is in southern Serengeti is the best place to be for the annual wildebeest migration. For up to seven months of the year the huge herds remain in and around this area. A striking characteristic of this area is the stunning acacia woodland, which is immediately surrounded by the short grass plains. Within this wooded area is Lake Ndutu – one of the Rift Valley’s soda lakes. At the height of the wildebeest migration, and when heavy rains have fallen, often lines of wildebeest can be seen crossing the lake. Accompanying the wildebeest are large numbers of zebra and Thomson gazelles. Other animals that you are likely to see in this area are Elephants, lion, cheetah, leopard, buck, hyena, bat eared fox, African wildcat etc., are here all year round. The woodland provides a wonderful habitat for lots of different bird species.

All meals and overnight stay at Seronera Wildlife Lodge or a tented Camp.

Day 4: Ndutu Area - Ngorongoro Conservation Area;
After breakfast, you will drive to Ngorongoro Conservation Area arriving in time for lunch at your lodge or campsite located on the crater rim. After lunch visit an authentic Maasai village (the enkang) in Ngorongoro area.

The Maasai are well known widely for maintaining their culture. They believe that all cattle in the world belong to them, even though some may have temporarily found themselves in the possession of others. Thus, the Maasai are always justified in raiding their non-Maasai neighbors in order to "return" the cattle to the rightful owners. The Maasai have very elaborate rites of passage traditions. Boys are circumcised in their early teens in a ceremony attended by the entire village. The boy who flinches during this procedure brands himself as a coward and disgraces his family. Once circumcised, the young man becomes a member of the warrior class – a Moran – and must live apart from the village (the Manyatta) with the other warriors. Eventually, at some point in his late teens or early twenties, a Moran is chosen to become a junior elder, earns the right to marry and returns to live in the village. For centuries the Maasai have hunted the lions on both as a test of manhood and to protect their cattle. The lions have learned to recognize the red robes and instinctively keep their distance. This explains why the Maasai love the red. Starting from the head where they cover it with red ochre up to dressing themselves with red stunning attire.

Dinner & overnight stay at Ngorongoro Wildlife Lodge or a tented Camp.

Day 5: Ngorongoro Crater:
After breakfast, descend into the crater for a full day of game viewing. A picnic lunch will be taken on the crater floor.

Ngorongoro crater supports up to 25,000 large mammals. Grazers dominate, for example, the zebras, wildebeest (accounting for almost half the animals), gazelles, buffaloes, elands, hartebeests and wart hogs. There are examples of some grazers and browsers that they find this environment not suitable such as Giraffes, for example, they stay away because there is insufficient food at tree level; topi because they compete directly with wildebeest. Another interesting characteristic of this conservancy is that almost all of the populations of crater elephants are bulls. Breeding herds – comprising large numbers of females and their young with a few attendant older males – are probably unable to find sufficient quality food in the crater. Ngorongoro has carnivores in quantity, drawn by the large herds of prey. It has probably the densest population of large predators, mainly lions about 100 and more and 400 spotted hyenas, living in eight clans of up to eighty individuals. Both lions and hyenas will scavenge from each other, depending on weight of numbers and lack of enough food

Dinner and overnight stay at Ngorongoro Wildlife Lodge or a tented Camp.

Day 6: Ngorongoro- Stone Town, Zanzibar:
This morning you will depart from the Ngorongoro and be transferred to Arusha, where you will enjoy lunch before catching a regional flight to Zanzibar.

Lunch, Dinner and overnight stay at Stone Town hotel.

Day 7: Zanzibar Beach:
After breakfast you will be transferred to Mapenzi Beach Club, where you will stay for the next 3 nights. This is the perfect end to a safari as you relax and laze away the days on the white beaches or in the turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean.

Lunch, Dinner and overnight stay at Mapenzi Beach Club.

Day 8: Zanzibar Beach:
After breakfast you have the option of lying on the beach or making use of the facilities offered at Mapenzi, such as playing tennis, snorkelling or relaxing in the Jacuzzi.

Lunch, Dinner and overnight stay at Mapenzi Beach Club.

Day 9: Zanzibar Beach:
Have breakfast and prepare yourself for an optional morning or afternoon scuba dive. Just off the shores of Zanzibar lie many different coral reefs, home to many colourful tropical fish. One can spend hours exploring the underwater world and its inhabitants. Relax for the rest of the day.

Lunch, Dinner and overnight stay at Mapenzi Beach Club.

Day 10:Zanzibar Beach-Departure:
After breakfast you will be transferred to Zanzibar Airport for your flight to your next destination.