Classic Tanzania w/Air from $3,999

Travel Team > Africa Vacations > Classic Tanzania w/Air from $3,999

DAY 1 – DEPART USA

Depart Washington, D.C. (Dulles) on your flight to Kilimanjaro via Addis Ababa.

DAY 2 – KILIMANJARO/ARUSHA

Arrive in Addis Ababa and connect on to your flight to Kilimanjaro.

A warm welcome awaits your arrival in Kilimanjaro. Then transfer to Lake Duluti Serena Lodge where you can relax after your long flight. Nestled at the foot of the wooded slopes of Mount Meru, this hotel is set amid coffee plantations on the shores of tranquil Lake Duluti. The lodge offers a range of tastefully presented cottage-styled rooms set amid extensive landscaped grounds. Imposing in stature and spacious in concept, the design of the new building echoes the hotel’s original incarnation as a working coffee farm dating back to colonial times.

Lake Duluti Serena Lodge, Tanzania

ACCOMMODATION: LAKE DULUTI SERENA LODGE – STANDARD ROOM (D)

DAY 3 – ARUSHA/TARANGIRE

Today you will drive to Tarangire National Park, well known for its huge herds of elephant and buffalo, as well as lion, cheetah and leopard.  With its varied habitats and the constant water areas, the park hosts a large diversity of wildlife; 94 species of mammals and over 500 bird species. Your driver/guide is an experienced wildlife expert whose knowledge and ability to spot the animals and birds will astound you.

Built to blend in with the vastness of its surroundings, Tarangire Sopa Lodge lies hidden among the kopjes, ancient baobab and grasses of the Tarangire National Park – home to the greatest concentration of elephants in Africa. Many can be seen around the lodge, allowing visitors a close encounter.

Tarangire Sopa Lodge

ACCOMMODATION:  TARANGIRE SOPA LODGE – STANDARD ROOM (B, L, D)

DAY 4 – TARANGIRE/SERENGETI

Continue to the vast plains of the Serengeti, with a picnic lunch en route. You will probably start spotting game well before you get into the park.  The Serengeti offers arguably the most amazing game-viewing in Africa: great herds of buffalo, smaller groups of elephant and giraffe, and thousands upon thousands of eland, topi, impala and Grant’s gazelle. Lion prides feast on the abundance of plain grazers. Solitary leopards haunt the acacia trees lining the Seronera River, while a high density of cheetahs prowls the south eastern plains.

Serengeti Serena Lodge offers comfortable rooms with awesome views across the sweeping plains. Inspired by a traditional African village, separate “rondavel huts” house the luxury en-suite guest rooms each with a balcony. Set high on the saddle of a tree-clad ridge, commanding panoramic views across the Serengeti, this lodge is the ultimate fusion of traditional African architecture and world-class style and winner of numerous awards from the world travel press.

Serengeti Serena Safari Lodge

ACCOMMODATION: SERENGETI SERENA LODGE – STANDARD ROOM (B, L, D)

DAY 5 – SERENGETI

Explore the grass plains during morning and afternoon game drives when the animals are most active. Early morning watch hippos return to water; giraffes foraging from trees; and lions returning from the evening hunt to relax in the shade of a tree. In the afternoon look out for cheetahs, crocodiles and leopards.

Serengeti Lions

ACCOMMODATION: SERENGETI SERENA LODGE – STANDARD ROOM (B, L, D)

DAY 6 – SERENGETI

During morning and afternoon game viewing activities you are able to observe and photograph the wildlife at your leisure.  As enduring as the game-viewing, you are sure to be in awe of the liberating sense of space that characterizes the Serengeti Plains.

Wildebeest on the Serengeti Plains

ACCOMMODATION: SERENGETI SERENA LODGE – STANDARD ROOM (B, L, D)

DAY 7 – SERENGETI/NGORONGORO CRATER

Enjoy a game drive and picnic lunch en route to the Ngorongoro Crater, a remnant of an ancient volcano with one of the greatest concentrations of wildlife in Africa. Stay at Ngorongoro Serena Lodge, with its blend of luxury and ethnic style, hugging the crater rim, and offering stunning views. Regularly voted one of the best hotels in the world, this unique lodge clings to the rim of the magnificent Ngorongoro Crater, the largest and most perfect volcanic crater on Earth. The lodge is built from local river stone and camouflaged with indigenous vines. Designed to blend completely into the landscape, it is entirely invisible from the floor of the Crater below.

Ngorongoro Serena Lodge

Known as ‘the eighth wonder of the world’ the Ngorongoro Crater is one of Africa’s best-known wildlife arenas. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, it offers a unique biosphere, which has remained virtually unchanged since the dawn of time. Deep within the Crater, enclosed by towering walls, some 25,000 large mammals wander the plains, lakes and forests of ‘the land that time forgot’, dominated by enormous bull elephants, rhinos and lions.

ACCOMMODATION: NGORONGORO SERENA LODGE – STANDARD ROOM (B, L, D)

DAY 8 – NGORONGORO CRATER

After breakfast descend through the early morning mists 2,000 feet into the crater for an awesome wildlife experience.  Savor a picnic lunch at a scenic spot inside the crater, returning to the lodge in the late afternoon.

Maasai at Ngorongoro Crater

ACCOMMODATION: NGORONGORO SERENA LODGE – STANDARD ROOM (B, L, D)

DAY 9 – NGORONGORO/ARUSHA/KILIMANJARO

Depart after breakfast and head to Arusha for lunch followed by a transfer to the airport and your ongoing flight arrangements via Addis Ababa to Washington. (B)

DAY 10 – ARRIVE USA

Arrive in Washington, D.C. (Dulles) filled with memories of the trip of a lifetime!