Lodge & Budget Adventure Camping Safari A combination of a permanent tented camp at Lake Manyara; a Budget Camp in the Serengeti; and a traditional lodge at the Ngorongoro Crater. The beauty of budget camping is that we can provide high levels of comfort and get you to areas of game activity at the same time. | Camping at a special camp site provides you with a certain amount of luxury, and privacy, as the sites will be booked exclusively for your group, so whether you travel as a couple, or as a small group, you have large areas to yourselves. Most camps will be away from the regular tourist routes, with an ambience of peace and tranquility and usually without other tourist vehicles nearby. Camping is a way of providing you with your private lodge in the middle of the African bush, with everything set up for you by the crew who goes on in advance. | | | |
| Tents are made of heavy-duty canvas and are 2.3 meters wide, 3 meters long and about 2.3 meters at the highest point. All have large screened windows for ventilation and are protected against insects. Each tent has full size wooden frame beds, with safari chairs and storage space, and an en suite w.c. and shower tent. Toilets are latrine style with a conventional seat in a frame placed on a hole in the ground. Showers comprise of a bucket of warm water with conventional taps and shower rose. Each tent also has a verandah. |
Food is taken in a separate mess tent. And you get good food, and linen and silver service, with dinner being particularly exciting by a roaring fire and with the background noise of an African night. Itinerary at a glance:- | Day | Destination | Accommodation | Board | Activity | | 1 | Lake Manyara National Park | Kirurumu Tented Camp | DBB | | | 2 | Lake Manyara National Park | Kirurumu Tented Camp | LDBB | A, P | | 3 | Serengeti National Park | Budget Camp | LDBB | P | | 4 | Serengeti National Park | Budget Camp | LDBB | A, P | | 5 | Serengeti National Park | Budget Camp | LDBB | A, P | | 6 | Ngorongoro Crater | Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge | LDBB | Ol Duvai | | 7 | Ngorongoro Crater | Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge | L-DBB | FD Crater | | 8 | Depart | | | |
Codes: |
Safari Features Include: | | | | TRSF = Transfer in town
BB = Bed and English Breakfast
LDBB = Lunch, Dinner, Bed and English Breakfast
DBB = Dinner, Bed and English Breakfast
D- = Dinner en route
L- = Lunch en route
E = Early morning game drive
A = Morning game drive
P = Afternoon game drive
N = Night game drive
HDS = Half day sightseeing
CSS = City sightseeing
| 7 Nights accommodation
20 Meals; 7 Breakfasts, 6 Lunches, 7 Dinners
Wildlife viewing in 4x4 vehicles with an English speaking ranger / naturalist driver
Escorted trek along the Rift Valley Rim
Visit with lecture to the archaeological museum of Ol Duvai Gorge
Hotel service charges and taxes
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Day 01 Arusha - Lake Manyara, Kirurumu Tented Camp Depart Arusha after lunch and drive across the Masai Steppe to Lake Manyara and your permanent camp on the rim of the Great Rift Valley. From whichever direction you approach Lake Manyara, you get a spectacular view. Approaching from the east the Great Rift Valley wall forms an impressive backdrop to the Lake. From the west, with a pause at the top of the escarpment, the park lies below, a green strip beside a glistening lake.
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| Lake Manyara National Park covers an area of 330 square kilometers of which about two thirds is the lake itself, and the rest is forest, acacia woodland and some grasslands by the lake shore. The wildlife can be migratory between Lake Manyara and Tarangire National Park across the lake, but you should see elephant, hippo, Cape buffalo, giraffe, several species of primate and antelope, and prolific birdlife. Dinner and overnight at Kirurumu, a comfortable camp with twenty tents located on top of the escarpment overlooking the park. | | Day 02 Lake Manyara National Park - Kirurumu Tented Camp |
In the morning there is a trek with a Masai naturalist guide along the rim of the escarpment where you would anticipate stunning views down to the park below, and across the Masai Steppe. The naturalist will explain to you the geological phenomenon of the Great Rift Valley, as well as indicating rare plants, butterflies, birds etc. After lunch at Kirurumu, you continue with an afternoon game drive in the Park.
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Day 03 Lake Manyara National Park- Serengeti National Park. Leave Lake Manyara after breakfast, and drive up through the Ngorongoro Conservation area on to your de luxe budget camp in the Serengeti, viewing game much of the way. The Serengeti National Park. is one of the most popular and spectacular game areas in East Africa, covering an area of 14,765 square kilometers, teaming with game.
| | | | A particular feature of the Serengeti is the annual migration of the wildebeest and zebra herds. Each year, after the traditional " short " rains in November the migration starts when the herds amass in their thousands on the plains below the Ngorongoro highlands. During February they move north and west following the rains and the new grasslands, and they start to move into the Masai Mara in July. In October they move back to Tanzania. This annual phenomenon involves more than 1.5 million animals, including the lion and other predators who follow the herds for easy pickings. |
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| The whole process affects the lives of thousands of other species that rely on the passage of the migration for their survival, even the insects, not to mention the trees and plants, which rely on the droppings for their fertilization. Lunch, dinner and overnight at your budget camp. | | | Day 04 Serengeti National Park Morning and afternoon game drives.Lunch, dinner and overnight at your budget camp. Day 05 Serengeti National Park Another day viewing game on drives from your mobile tented camp. Lunch, dinner and overnight at your budget camp. |
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Day 06 Serengeti National Park- Ngorongoro Crater Leave after breakfast and drive back across the Serengeti Plains viewing game all the time and arrive at Ol Duvai Gorge. The Gorge is about 50 kilometers long and in some places 90 meters deep. Commonly heralded as the " Cradle of Mankind" it was made famous by the discovery in 1959 of the remains of early man. Your stop includes a visit to the small museum overlooking the Gorge.
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| After a picnic lunch you continue on to your lodge on the Ngorongoro Crater rim for dinner and overnight. " It is impossible to give a fair description of the size and beauty of the Crater, for there is nothing with which one can compare it. It is one of the Wonders of the World." This is how the Crater is described by Bernard Grzimek in his classic "Serengeti Shall Not Die". The area is given over to Wildlife Conservation and comprises 8300 square kilometers of which the Crater is 260 square kilometers, and consists of grasslands, swamps, forests, rivers, and even an arid area of shifting dunes. |
| The Crater supports a year round resident population of varied wildlife, and as the game is concentrated into a relatively small area you are likely to see lion, elephant, hyena, jackal cheetah, the very rare Black rhino, primates and many more. The area is also home to the proud and colorful Masai tribe. Lunch, dinner and overnight at Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge. |
| Day 07 Ngorongoro Crater After an early breakfast you descend into the Crater in a 4 x 4 vehicle for a full day of game viewing with a picnic lunch taken on the Crater floor. Late afternoon you leave the Crater drive back to the lodge for dinner and overnight at Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge. |
| | Day 08 Ngorongoro - Arusha Leave Ngorongoro after breakfast and drive back to Arusha arriving late morning. |
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