Classic Tanzania Safari and Rwanda Gorilla Trekking

On arrival into Kilimanjaro International Airport and after clearing Customs & Immigration you will be met and transferred to the Hamerkop House by Lemala where you will stay for 1 night.

This private house is located on a wildlife and golf estate, Kiligolf, situated halfway between Kilimanjaro International Airport and Arusha, and offers a great place to start or finish your safari. It is perfect for couples, families or small groups travelling together. Each bedroom is en suite with a private verandah and lounge. 

After breakfast you will meet with your private safari guide  for your safari briefing before continuing to Tarangire National Park and onward to Lemala Mpringo Ridge Camp where you will stay 2 nights. You will arrive in time for lunch, followed by an afternoon game drive. Return to the lodge for dinner and overnight. 

Lemala Mpingo Ridge sits on top of an escarpment with sweeping views across the perennial Tarangire River and valley below, and will match the same outstanding standards of comfort and service as the other properties in  Lemala’s collection. 

Being the sixth largest national park in Tanzania, Tarangire remains slightly off the main safari circuit but is a terrifically scenic park featuring classic African savannah, green hills, woodlands and rivers and is especially famous for its large herds of elephants, superb birdlife and giant baobab trees. Guests at Lemala Mpingo Ridge will enjoy a real sense of wilderness and excellent game viewing, and it’s both a relaxing standalone destination and a great place to start a safari that also combines Lemala properties in the Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti.

Morning and afternoon game drives in Tarangire National Park, returning to the lodge early evening. 

Tarangire is one of Tanzania’s lesser-known national parks, but is a particularly scenic wilderness and a little quieter than other parks in the Northern Circuit. Located only about a 100-km easy drive southwest of Arusha, it’s usually included on multi-day itineraries going to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and Serengeti National Park. Covering 2850-sq-km, the varied landscape includes African savannah grasslands, vast swamps that dry into verdant plains during the dry season, mixed thorny woodlands and some lovely ribbons of riverine forest. The predominant feature is the permanent Tarangire River, which is set against a backdrop of majestic baobab and twisted acacia trees. During the dry seasons, animals move to the river in search of water when it’s a prime spot for game-viewing.

With the exception of rhino, Tarangire is home to all of the other Big Five—elephant, lion, leopard and buffalo—and is especially well-known for elephant herds that can be 200-strong. Most of the plains game seen in the other Northern Circuit parks is resident, and uniquely its home to a few specials too like greater kudu, fringe-eared oryx and gerenuk—usually only seen in East Africa’s arid northern parks. Birdwatchers will be in their element as Tarangire has some of the best year-round birding in Tanzania, and an astonishingly long list of 550 species including many raptors and vultures, and numerous waterfowl in the river and swamps. Tarangire offers visitors the quietest game viewing of all the parks in the region, and the diverse landscape dotted with giant baobabs and sheltered by granite ridges makes a great contrasting addition to a traditional Northern Circuit safari.

This evening you will be taken on a night game drive to seek out some of the nocturnal animals that you dont often see during the day.

After breakfast, depart for the Lake Manyara National Park where you will enjoy a  morning game drive. Famous for its flamingos, pods of hippos, and tree climbing lions, this is a relatively small but beautiful national park to spend a couple of hours viewing. 

You wil then be taken on a walk around the village of Mto Wa Mbu before continuing to Gibbs Farm for a fresh farm lunch harvested from the local surroundings. Time permitting you will also take a nature walk up into the Ngorongoro Highlands to visit the elephants caves.

Continue by vehicle through to Lemala Ngorongoro Tented Camp where you will stay for 2 nights. Arrive in time for dinner.

Lemala Ngorongoro is intimately set in a delightful ancient acacia forest close to the rim of the magnificent Ngorongoro Crater. As it is located next to the quiet Lemala crater access road on the eastern side, a key advantage of staying at Lemala Ngorongoro is the quick and easy drive down on to the crater floor in the morning; Lemala guests usually have an hour's head start over others descending via the far busier Seneto crater access road on the western rim. Game drives from camp may start as early as 6.15am and guests can be down among Ngorongoro’s abundant 

A highlight awaits you this morning as you depart to explore what is commonly referred to as the World’s largest wildlife zoo. After breakfast, you descend with a picnic lunch through the early morning mists and 2, 000 feet into the crater. Ngorongoro Crater is the World’s largest intact volcanic caldera. Due to its size and diversity, the crater floor is comprised of several distinct areas, ranging from forest, swamps, lakes and springs, to open grassland and some sandy dunes. It’s an awesome wildlife experience. A picnic hot lunch is served overlooking a small lake populated with hippos. You return to the lodge early evening.

The Ngorongoro Crater is one of Africa’s most famous sites and is said to have the highest density of wildlife in Africa.  Sometimes described as an ‘eighth wonder of the world’, the Crater has achieved world renown, attracting an ever-increasing number of visitors each year.  You are unlikely to escape other vehicles here, but you are guaranteed great wildlife viewing in a genuinely mind-blowing environment.  There is nowhere else in Africa quite like Ngorongoro!

The Ngorongoro Crater is the world’s largest intact volcanic caldera.  Forming a spectacular bowl of about 265 square kilometers, with sides up to 600 meters deep; it is home to approximately 30, 000 animals at any one time.  The Crater rim is over 2, 200 meters high and experiences its own climate.  From this high vantage point it is possible to make out the tiny shapes of animals making their way around the crater floor far below.  Swathes of cloud hang around the rocky rim most days of the year and it’s one of the few places in Tanzania where it can get chilly at night. 

The crater floor consists of a number of different habitats that include grassland, swamps, forests and Lake Makat (Maasai for ‘salt’) - a central soda lake filled by the Munge River.  All these various environments attract wildlife to drink, wallow, graze, hide or climb.  Although animals are free to move in and out of this contained environment, the rich volcanic soil, lush forests and spring source lakes on the crater floor (combined with fairly steep crater sides) tend to incline both grazers and predators to remain throughout the year.

Following breakfast, depart for Olduvai Gorge with picnic lunch and enjoy a short walk through the museum. Enter Serengeti National Park and game drive enroute to Lemala Ewanjan Tented Camp where you will stay for 3 nights, arriving in time for an afternoon game drive and then dinner. 

Lemala Ewanjan is an authentic intimate luxury tented camp set in a secluded part of the game-rich Seronera Valley in Central Serengeti. The Seronera region is an important wildlife transition zone between the southern grasslands and the northern woodlands and is renowned for its year-round game viewing due to its abundance of water in the many rivers, as well as for its large populations of resident big cats. Additionally, between April and June, and again between November and January, this area is crossed by the annual wildebeest migration, which provides always thrilling wildlife drama.​

Enjoy two full days exploring the central Serengeti with your private guide. You can decide to either take both morning and afternoon game drives, or alternatively you can pack a cooler and picnic lunch and enjoy a full day in the park. 

As May and June arrive the wildebeest (with all their youngsters) are beginning to move north, migrating to fresh new grazing and water. The columns of animals all begin trekking upwards through the Grumeti corridor or just slightly west of Seronera (also central and slightly east Serengeti to a lesser extent.) The mass of animals is a mixture of wildebeest, Zebra, and slightly interspersed with Thomson’s gazelle as they are all followed by very attendant predators.

The Grumeti River sometimes acts as a lesser choke point for the wildebeest as they are directed through a couple of gaps in the river which contributes to a building of quite high densities of Wildebeest. Although there are crocodiles who take advantage of the concentration of animals the Mara River still takes precedence and is slightly more spectacular in terms of crossings.

Enjoy your last day on safari in the Serengeti.

This morning bid farewell to your guide who will drop you off at the Seronera Airstrip this morning after breakfast where you connect with your scheduled charter flight to Kigali, Rwanda (stopping off along the way to clear customs and immigration.) On arrival into Kigali Airport (approximately late morning) you have a covid test **at the Kigali Airport and then you will be met by your private guide and vehicle and transfer to the Kigali Serena Hotel where you will remain in quarantine for the rest of the day until your results arrive. 

** Test is $120 per person which will also includes a 2nd test on your 2nd last day in Rwanda to exit.

This morning after breakfast you guide will take you on a Kigali City Tour and and lengthy visit to the Genocide Museum, before coninuing to Musanza where you will stop for a visit at the Diane Fossey HQ. You will then continue to the The Bishops House Rwanda where you will stay for 2 nights.  Along the way you will stop to visit the Diane Fossey HQ which is a self walk through tour.

This morning you will continue to the national park headquarters (1st gorilla trek)_with your driver/guide where you will be allocated a gorilla family to trek and meet your national parks guide. You will all then go through and extensive briefing of the do's and dont's of gorilla trekking, after which you will then drive to the trailhead and begin the group trek with the guides and porters. Enjoy a full hour with the gorillas before beginning your trek back to the trailhead to meet with your guide/driver.

Return to your lodge this afternoon and enjoy at leisure.

This morning after breakfast you will return to the Park HQ for your 2nd gorilla trek. Afterwards continue back to your lodge for lunch and a shower. You will then drive back to Kigali, where you will connect with your international flight this evening (cannot depart earlier than 9pm.)