THE CLASSIC WILDLIFE SAFARI
AND THE SOUTHERN CIRCUIT
12 days


Accommodations: Luxury Tented Camps, Luxury Mobile Camping, occasional top quality lodges
Season: Throughout the year, but better in the colder months and dry season
Fitness Rating: Moderate
Cost: High

Again you start in Northern Tanzania, but for the last few days you fly to Selous Game Reserve and Ruaha National Park, both in Southern Tanzania. Selous is the largest game reserve in Africa, with the Rufiji River running through. Beautiful, hot and wild you will have an opportunity to experience the wildlife on one of the great rivers in Africa, the birdlife is amazing. Ruaha, also very large, is a great dry season experience, and the Ruaha, an upstream tributary of the Rufiji, has its quota of wildlife. The vegetation of both these parks is more thick bush than the open savanna land of Northern Tanzania. So this trip gives you the chance to savor a fully representative African safari: broad savannas, deep bush, rift valley soda lakes, mighty rivers, montane forests and near sea-level palm forests.
Day 1 Arrive at Kilimanjaro International Airport. We'll meet you there and transfer you to your hotel or lodge.
Day 2 After a leisurely breakfast, drive to Tarangire National Park, home to some of the most beautiful bush in the country. Enjoy a picnic lunch, and then make your way through the park watching for impala, giraffes, zebra, warthogs, and Coke's hartebeest. In the afternoon, drive to the park's eastern section, where you'll enjoy warm hospitality, great views and exciting wildlife at the new Oliver's Camp. After a hot shower and drink around the campfire, enjoy a gourmet meal, then fall asleep to the sounds of the bush.
Day 3 Wake up early and, after breakfast, take a morning game drive in the park. With cool morning temperatures, Tarangire's wildlife will be active. If conditions are good, you may see a solitary leopard lounging in a tree branch, or a pride of lions eyeing potential prey as they come to drink from Silale Swamp, close by Oliver's Camp. You could gimpse huge buffalo or elephant herds, the wildebeest moving through, a cheetah or hyaena. Return to camp for a delicious lunch, then spend the hot afternoon hours reading or following the animals' examples and taking a nap. As the temperature cools, take a leisurely nature walk, finishing it off with a drink as the sun sets on the horizon. Dinner and overnight at Oliver's Camp.
Day 4 With a relatively long travel day ahead, wake up early and have breakfast. Leave Tarangire and drive up the Eastern Rift Valley wall. Make your way through the coffee fields of Karatu, up through the Ngorongoro highlands to Ngorongoro Crater Lodge for lunch. In the afternoon descend into Ngorongoro Crater for an afternoon game drive and a first sight of the wildlife bonanza which is enclosed by the crater walls. At the end of the day drive back up to the crater rim and to Ngorongoro Crater Lodge. Enjoy a hot shower or bath and take in the breathtaking crater view. Pamper yourself in the Northern Circuit's most luxurious lodge. Dinner and overnight here.
Day 5 After breakfast, descend into the Ngorongoro Crater, a World Heritage Site and home to nearly 25,000 animals. The crater is home to Cape buffalo, wildebeest, zebra, jackals, hyaena, lions, leopard, and the rare black rhino. Look out for the huge male elephants that go into the crater daily. Watch out also, for exciting wildlife interactions in Ngorongoro Crater. Spend the morning watching the wildlife, then enjoy a picnic lunch at Ngoitokitok Springs as hippos jostle for position in the water. In the afternoon, make your way to Olduvai Gorge, site of Louis and Mary Leakey's famous discoveries of ancient humans and their cousins. As you continue the Serengeti Plains will unfold before you. Perhaps the plains will be full of gazelle, zebra and some of the 1.5 million wildebeest that come here to feed and calve or perhaps they will be arid and shimmer with mirages of water and you will need to penetrate further into the Serengeti eco-system in search of the ever present wildife Make your way to your luxury mobile tented camp. This could be in the far south Lake Ndutu area, in the south-centre of the Serengeti, in the north or west. Your camp will be wherever the wildlife is. Arrive in time for sundowners and a shower, before an excellent dinner. Retire to your bed in a large tent and fall asleep to the sounds of the Serengeti at night.
Day 6 Enjoy a full day in the Serengeti, following the herds and exploring this vast and beautiful eco-system. Lunch at camp or take a picnic lunch. Dinner and overnight at your camp.
Day 7 This is your last full day in the Serengeti, so make the most of it. There is always a new area to investigate, different wildlife to see, the birds, the peace, the excitement of a kill. Come back to camp for your lunch and an afternoon rest, or spend the whole day out. You will be happy to come home in the evening to excellent service, food and accommodation.
Day 8 Drive to Seronera in the center of Serengeti National Park. Here, you'll say goodbye to your guide and board your chartered flight to Arusha to make your connection to Selous Game Reserve. Tonight and tomorrow you will stay at Sand Rivers in this huge and wild game reserve, the largest in Africa. You will be looked after and guided by the top people in the business in Selous and with first class tented accommodation at Sand Rivers permanent camp
Day 9 Enjoy Selous to the full. Walk in the bush with the experts, go for a game drive or take a boat trip. Look out for hippos and crocodiles and the incredible bird life of the river. And whatever you decide to do, come back to Sand Rivers camp for perfect service and care.
Day 10 Make the most of your last hours in Selous before flying on to Ruaha National Park. The size of Tanzania's wildlife sanctuaries is part of what makes the country unique. Tarangire, Serengeti, Selous and now Ruaha. In this park you will have an opportunity to see many of the species of wildlife you missed in the north, Roan and Sable Antelope, and other miombo vegetation animals. And in the dry season this is a refuge of elephants. While in Ruaha you will stay at Ruaha River Lodge, built among the rocks that border the Ruaha River.
Day 11 Spend today in Ruaha. You have the opportunity here for two activities per day, either a game drive or a walking safari. Full board accommodation at the beautifully situated Ruaha River Lodge.
Day 12 After your last wildlife activity this morning, fly back to Dar-es-Salaam in time for your evening flight out and home.

Prices will be quoted based on specific itineraries. The itineraries above are samples only, and some lodges, hotels and camps will change based on your travel times and needs and availability. We also reserve the right to change any itinerary. We want to maximize your enjoyment of your holiday, but we are not always able to predict the climate or the concentrations of game ahead of time. When changes are necessary, we will let you know as soon as possible. The right is also reserved to decline to accept or retain any person as a member of any tour at any time in which event a reasonable refund will be made.

Bookings will be accepted by our Arusha office or by designated travel agents, and will be confirmed upon receipt of a 30% deposit paid 60 days prior to booking date. Final balance payment will be due to our office or bank account 30 days prior to departure.

For cancellations prior to 60 days, deposits will be returned, less any handling fees incurred. Cancellations with notice of between 60 and 14 days, the deposit of 30% is charged, and between 14 and the day of departure, the deposit, plus 20% of the full price is charged.

The company and its agents act only as agents of the passenger in all matters relating to tours. The appropriate law of the country in which the tour takes place dictates the company's liability to passengers. However, the company accepts no responsibility for any personal illness, injury, delays, loss or damage from any causes whatsoever.

Communications are sometimes difficult within Tanzania. We find e-mail to be the most reliable and easy means of communications.
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