Unveiling the Beauty of Tanzania

Tanzania, known as the jewel of East Africa, is a country brimming with natural wonders and captivating wildlife. It boasts an array of national parks and reserves that provide a haven for a vast variety of animals, including the iconic Big Five: lions, elephants, buffalos, leopards, and rhinoceros. The diverse landscapes, from sprawling savannahs to lush forests and towering mountains, create the perfect backdrop for an unforgettable safari experience.

Tour Highlights:

Day 1: A warm SkySafari welcome to Tanzania

Day 2: The safari takes to the air

Day 3: The land, elephants and Maasai

Day 4: From Tarangire to Ngorongoro

Day 5: Ngorongoro Crater – a cauldron of high drama

Day 6: From Ngorongoro to the Serengeti

Day 7: The Serengeti – mingling with the migration

Day 8: End of Dream African Safari

Day 1: A warm SkySafari welcome to Tanzania

Staying at Elewana Arusha Coffee Lodge

On arrival to Kilimanjaro International Airport, a dedicated SkySafari Guest Representative welcomes you to Tanzania. You’ll be given a SkySafari Welcome Bag and then chauffeured to Arusha Coffee Lodge, one hour’s drive from Kilimanjaro itself.

Your stay at Arusha Coffee Lodge will be on an all-inclusive basis. On arrival at the Lodge you’ll receive a warm and friendly greeting and immediately sample a cool and refreshing coffee-infused welcome drink. All SkySafari guests receive an immediate room upgrade to one of the luxurious Plantation Suites that lie surrounded by the ever-present coffee trees of the plantation.

Both dinner and breakfast can be taken in your Plantation Suite or enjoyed in the Plantation Lodge House in the Plantation Restaurant, the Coffee Lodge Garden, or the Bar.

Day 2: The safari takes to the air

Staying at Tarangire Kuro Treetops Lodge

After enjoying a delicious breakfast, you are invited, should they so wish, to take a fascinating ‘Bean-to-Cup’ Walking Tour around the coffee estate to learn how the humble coffee bean is grown, harvested, processed and eventually ends up in your morning cup of coffee.

Following this optional tour you will once again return to enjoy a light lunch at the Lodge, after which you’ll be chauffeured the short one-mile journey to the Arusha airstrip where the Executive SkySafari Cessna Grand Caravan awaits.

Fast-tracked into the airport, you will be greeted by your SkySafari Pilot who will invite you aboard our Executive SkySafari Cessna Grand Caravan and take you on a short but enjoyable 20 minute flight to the Tarangire National Park.

From the air you will be treated to an exceptional and rare view of the shapes and colours of the landscape below and, as the bush draws near, begin to spy the wealth of wildlife that awaits in Tarangire.

On landing at Tarangire airstrip, you’ll be met by the Tarangire Treetops Guide and a ‘special’ SkySafari welcome in the form of a finger buffet, soft drinks and chilled sparkling wine is provided to all.

The transfer to Tarangire Treetops includes a fascinating game-drive through the famed Tarangire National Park, home to the largest concentration of elephants in Tanzania. Tarangire is a dramatically beautiful and diverse eco system, boasting one of the largest concentrations of elephant in East Africa. These mobs of elephant are easily encountered, wet or dry. The swamps, tinged green year round, are the focus for 550 bird varieties, the most breeding species in one habitat anywhere in the world.

Dinner on the first evening is taken within a traditional Maasai boma. This evening will introduce you to not only to traditional African fare prepared by the Executive Chef and his team, but also to the sights and sounds of the Maasai who visit the Boma to entertain all the guests with songs and dances that have been passed down from generation to generation.

Day 3: The land, elephants and Maasai

Staying at Tarangire Kuro Treetops Lodge

For the more adventurous, the option of an early morning Walking Safari before breakfast is a temptation too hard to refuse. For others the desire to laze in bed whilst looking out across the treetops of Tarangire is also too difficult to give up. However after a relaxing and hearty breakfast, you are invited to enjoy a game drive in Tarangire followed by a Bush Luncheon at a specially selected site.

The site for this Bush Luncheon is carefully located to optimize the experience of visiting this beautiful and stunning landscape. It is here where the Tarangire Executive Chef once again demonstrates the hospitality for which the Elewana Collection is renowned.

During the day it is also possible to visit the Maasai Village and sample the genuine warmth of the local indigenous people. With some members of the village working within the Treetops Lodge, a visit from you is indeed a heartwarming and welcoming experience.

On arrival back to the Tarangire Treetops Lodge and after a short rest, you are invited to sample the true drama and beauty of an African sunset. After a short 25-minute drive, our vehicles climb the few hundred feet up a hilly outcrop of granite, quartz and mica, known as Sunset Hill. Here our SkySafari guests will enjoy a Sundowner Cocktail whilst the sun sets over the distant but shimmering Lake Manyara. And as the dying sun creates a rich palette of reds and oranges, thousands of stars begin their nightly efforts to illuminate the darkening landscape.

As night draws in, you’ll then begin a Night Game Drive as part of their journey back to the distant glowing lights of Tarangire Treetops. On the return to Treetops and as preparations are made for dinner, some of the resident animals are also arriving in from the bush to sup their evening beverage from the ever present Treetops waterhole that lies less than 50 metres from the main lodge.

Day 4: From Tarangire to Ngorongoro

Staying at Elewana The Manor at Ngorongoro

After yet another filling breakfast, you’ll be taken on one more morning game-drive through the Tarangire National Park.

Stopping at leisure for a picnic lunch on your way to Kuro airstrip, you will then once again meet up with the SkySafari Executive Cessna Grand Caravan to fly the short distance to Manyara airstrip where our Elewana Guide will be eagerly waiting to provide a warm welcome.

Following a short but comfortable transfer to The Manor at Ngorongoro, high tea awaits at this beautiful and magnificent homestyle lodge set in a lush and verdant Arabica coffee plantation.

Warmly greeted by the managers of The Manor, and having enjoyed The Manor’s special ‘High Tea’, you will be invited their very own Manor Cottage to unpack, unwind and relax before being invited back to the Main House for evening dinner.

And for those who wish to explore, the swimming pool, spa, games room and stables await discovery.

Day 5: Ngorongoro Crater – a cauldron of high drama

Staying at Elewana The Manor at Ngorongoro

After an early but delicious breakfast, you will be invited to travel to what undoubtedly is one of the ‘Natural Wonders of the World’ – The Ngorongoro Crater.

Filmed and documented by naturalists from the four corners of the earth, The Ngorongoro Crater, the largest ‘dry’ caldera of its kind, is home to almost all the animals that you would wish to see in East Africa.

Large herds of zebra and wildebeest graze while sleeping lions laze in the sun. At dawn, the endangered black rhino returns to the thick cover of the crater forests after grazing on dew-laden grass in the morning mist. Just outside the crater’s ridge, tall Maasai tribesmen herd their cattle and goats over green pastures through the highland slopes, living alongside the wildlife as they have for centuries.

Luncheon is served in the Crater under an awning of one of the SkySafari vehicles in a campaign-style luncheon. This spectacular setting at times belies belief. Whilst the resident hippos enjoy their daily bathe, and herds of zebra and wildebeest keep a wary eye out for any number of predators, you can sit and watch this ‘live’ show whilst enjoying the very best picnic luncheon that The Manor can offer.

Following this exciting full day in the Ngorongoro Crater, you will then take the one-hour transfer back to The Manor where preparations will already be underway for the evening meal. Private dining options are available at The Manor on request. These include dining under the stars, room service or a private dining room ideal for couples and honeymooners.

Day 6: From Ngorongoro to the Serengeti

Staying at Elewana Serengeti Migration Camp

On the morning of day six you are given the option of either visiting Lake Manyara National Park, located at the steppe of the Rift Valley, or to stay at The Manor to explore the estate and choose from a host of activities.

These activities include horse riding, mountain biking, massage treatments, or simply walking around the beautiful and sensuous gardens whilst contemplating the journey to come.

After luncheon at The Manor, you will be driven to the Manyara airstrip to meet up with the SkySafari Cessna Caravan once more for the onward 45-minute flight to the world-renowned National Park of the Serengeti.

Following this 45-minute scenic flight, a Serengeti Migration Camp Guide will meet and greet you in the now customary fashion.

Once again a ‘special’ welcome, including finger buffet, soft drinks and sparkling wine will be offered, after which a transfer to Serengeti Migration Camp will begin, arriving in time for Sundowners on an elevated wooden terrace overlooking the distant Ndasiata Hills, all by the warming glow of an open fire.

Spending two nights at Serengeti Migration Camp, you will not only enjoy the luxuriant tented accommodation but also the drama and beauty of the Serengeti’s abundant wildlife – and for most of the year the amazing sight of the annual migration.

A million wildebeest… each one driven by the same ancient rhythm, fulfilling its instinctive role in the inescapable cycle of life: a frenzied three-week bout of territorial conquests and mating; survival of the fittest as 40km (25 mile) long columns plunge through crocodile-infested waters on the annual exodus north; replenishing the species in a brief population explosion that produces more than 8,000 calves daily before the 1,000 km (600 mile) pilgrimage begins again.

Day 7: The Serengeti – mingling with the migration

Staying at Elewana Serengeti Migration Camp

Waking up to the sounds of the hippos barking and splashing in the Grumeti River just 100 metres from the Camp, you are once again offered the opportunity of an early morning walking safari with one of our highly experienced guides.

For those a little less intrepid, breakfast is served at the Main Camp Tent on one of the three terrace balconies over looking the Grumeti and the hills beyond.

Post breakfast game drives are then the order of the day and these are either full-day game drives with picnic lunches provided, or half-day game drives with lunch provided back at the Serengeti Migration Camp. The length of the drive depends on the season and the proximity to the Camp of the annual migratory animals.

However the beauty of Serengeti Migration Camp often draws guests to spend at least one afternoon within the Camp, either relaxing on their 360 degree verandah that embraces each private tent, or simply sitting atop one of the three terraces watching the wildlife walk past and often through the Camp.

Day 8: End of Dream African Safari

Following a hearty and healthy breakfast, you will be enticed by the opportunity to venture out on a walking safari along the banks of the Grumeti River with one of the highly knowledgeable guides.

After a leisurely lunch, you’ll once again take to the road for a game drive en-route to the Lobo airstrip for the onward flight to Arusha.

During this 50-minute flight, you will be able to see, from the air, the ever-changing landscape of the bush and the mountainous topography that reminds all who see it of Tanzania’s violent geological past.

On arrival at Arusha airstrip, you will be transferred to Arusha Coffee Lodge and will either be offered a day room to relax and freshen up before leaving for their onward flight or to be checked into a Plantation Suite for one final night* of relaxation before flying out from Kilimanjaro the next day.

*An additional night at Arusha Coffee Lodge is not included in the SkySafari package and will be charged as extra.

We look forward to planning your next Authentic African Safari experience.