Touching down in the shadow of the continent’s highest mountain is quite the arrival: welcome to Africa. We’ll fast-track you through Kilimanjaro Airport to Elewana Arusha Coffee Lodge, where the stresses of travel will lift as soon as you’re shown your elegant suite, tucked into this leafy and aromatic working plantation.
After you’ve savoured a brew with breakfast, take a private tree-to-cup tour around the grounds, to find out how they make it so well.
There’s time for a lovely lunch on the lawn before you are whisked off on your SkySafari flight to Tarangire, Tanzania’s. Often overlooked for the north’s better-known parks, Tarangire bursts with great game – especially in the dry season, when animals flock to its perennial river – but sees few other tourists. That means safaris crammed full of wildlife, but blissfully crowd free.
The action starts immediately: you’ll be scouting for game on the drive from airstrip to Elewana Tarangire Treetops. Elephants are a particular speciality – more than 3,000 (one of the largest populations in East Africa) roam here.
Start the day traditionally, with a glorious game drive in custom-designed jeeps, looking for a whole host of species – from zebra, buffalo, eland and kudu to lion, leopard and hyena. Then, after lunch back at camp, walk out with a Masai guide. There’s nothing more electrifying than exploring the bush on foot, getting up-close to the flowers, insects and animal tracks you might miss from a vehicle. You can also visit a Masai village to find out more about the custodians of this land.
As the afternoon cools, there’s only one thing to be done: sit on Sunset Hill, Sundowner in hand, the classic way to toast a day on safari. A delicious dinner will follow, though you might want to squeeze in another adventure: night drives (permitted within the conservancy) are a chance to see the after-dark shift, from prickly porcupines to elusive leopards.
Game drive transfer back to Kuro airstrip. It’s a scenic flight to Manyara airstrip, and a lovely drive through the highlands to reach the epitome of elegance that is The Manor. Quite possibly the most enviable address on the safari circuit, this handful of Cape Dutch-styled cottages sits within the lush gardens of a working coffee farm, near the edge of the Ngorongoro Crater. You’ll arrive in time for high tea, taken with views over the rippling forest, while your butler sorts the luggage. Then soak in your Victorian bathtub, cosy up by your suite’s open fire, enjoy a delicious dinner, maybe have a game of billiards and retire for the night.
Spend a full day in Ngorongoro – our expert guides will introduce you to its vast cast of characters: lions, elephants and buffalo, cheetah and serval cats, hyena, jackal and black rhino. Plus The Manor has special permission to host beautiful bush lunches in a private part of the crater, away from the crowds. You can picnic in exclusive style without missing a wildlife-packed minute.
Sundowners and dinner back at The Manor will be abuzz, as you exchange stories with your fellow travellers about what you’ve seen on this once-in-a-lifetime day.
You'll be whisked off on your flight to the Serengeti and delivered to your lodge in time for lunch, though the exact lodge depends in part on the season. We might introduce you the bygone-luxe tents of Elewana Serengeti Pioneer Camp, perched on a kopje in the south of the park. As well as being renowned for its immense wildebeest herds, the area is rich in prehistoric paintings while nearby Lake Magadi is popular with flamingos.
Alternatively, we’ll take you to the sophisticated stilted tents of Elewana Serengeti Migration Camp, further north. This peaceful part of the park sees few other visitors; you’ll feel you’ve arrived in your own private wilderness. The variety of wildlife here is remarkable, the drama intense – especially when the Great Migration passes through: the camp is perfectly placed for watching the herds run the gauntlet of the Mara River.
Either way, your first afternoon’s game drive will be a wildlife revelation
Exploring from Elewana Serengeti Pioneer might mean witnessing the replenishing of the Serengeti’s mighty herds: each year, 400,000 wildebeest calves are born in the park’s south, a staggering number, which draws many predators…
Indeed, big cats are a particular pleasure around the Pioneer camp. Lions love to sun-bask on the rocks of Moru Kopje (where Masai paintings can also be seen). Also, the camp supports the Serengeti Cheetah Project, and talks by experts will introduce you to the local cats, and help you identify them when you’re scanning the plains.
After a full, fabulous day, it’s time to raise a final Sundowner to the Serengeti, as the light softens, the earth cools, the horizon glows. Enjoy dinner back at camp, then sit out and listen one last time: to the eerie call of the nightjar and the whoop of a hyena, to the hippos’ belly guffaw and the lion’s nerve-trembling roar…
Your drive to the airstrip gives you a final chance to soak up the sights, smells, sounds and sensations of the Serengeti. Just one more elegant giraffe, one more elephant charge. Once airborne, keep your eyes out the window, to see the Serengeti slide out of view and, perhaps, Kilimanjaro peeping through the clouds.
There’s no need to hang around at the airport – we’ll deliver you back to Arusha Coffee Lodge’s oasis of calm so you can relax in a day room amid the birds and the beans before we take you back for your flight home, head, heart and soul full of African magic.
