The Great Migration Route & Zanzibar Island
15-day Private Safari Sample Itinerary
Limited to 12 persons
This safari takes you from the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro into the heart of the Serengeti Plains to experience the spectacle of the Great Migration from two areas. Two nights on exotic Zanzibar Island add a measure of cultural and historical offerings along with the opportunity to dip in the warm turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean. Winging back to the mainland and the wondrous Ngorongoro Crater and the Cradle of Mankind, you’ll be immersed in Africa. Traveling in safari-outfitted Land Cruisers with your guides, you will traverse the Great Rift Valley and Maasai range country. You will stay in comfortable private tented camps, a hotel on the beach and another on the Crater Rim with a view you'll not forget. Tanzania's safe, political climate, friendly peaceful tribes and its wildlife extravaganza is the ideal stage for your safari adventure of a lifetime.
Day 1 Arrive Kilimanjaro International Airport, Tanzania
After clearing Immigration and Customs, you will meet your professional safari guides who will drive you through the foothills of Mt. Meru to the Arusha Hotel. This is your comfortable, safe home for the night.
Day 2 Serengeti National Park
Depart after breakfast for Arusha Airfield where you will board your charter flight to Seronera Airfield in the Serengeti National Park. You will be met by your professional safari guides and vehicles and depart for a short game drive en route to your first private tented camp in a scenic area of the central Serengeti. You will enjoy lunch in camp and an afternoon game drive. You ’ll discuss the next day’s adventure over sundowners around the campfire. Enjoy a late dinner before retiring to be lulled to sleep by the sounds of Africa.
Days 3-5 Serengeti National Park, Private Campsite
You’ll run game drives from camp to see the magnificence of the Moru Kopjes and the Great Migration with millions of large herbivores out on the Serengeti Plains. This is the height of the calving season and you’ll have a front row seat. This is one of the last places on earth where you can witness a huge spectacle of wild animals carrying out this annual circle of life.
Day 6 Zanzibar Island, Serena Hotel
This morning you will depart for Seronera Airfield where your private charter awaits to wing you to Zanzibar, a beautiful island just 22 miles off the coast of Tanzania. This was once the center of the East African slave trade and is known as the “Spice Island.” This exotic location provides a fascinating history, beautiful architecture, diverse cultural offerings, spice plantations, stunning beaches and the warm waters of the Indian Ocean to enjoy. You ’ll have the afternoon to explore Old Stone Town and perhaps tour a spice plantation. Dine on the rooftop terrace of the Serena Hotel before retiring for the evening.
Day 7 Zanzibar Island, Serena Hotel
You’ll take a local dive Dhow out to explore the amazing reefs and picnic on a sandbar. In the early evening tour the old slave market and Stone Town before dinner at the Emerson & Green Rooftop. After dinner you can stroll back through Stone Town and the harbor to the Serena Hotel.
Day 8 Ngorongoro Crater, Ngorongoro Serena Hotel
This morning you bid farewell to Zanzibar and board your private charter to fly to the Ngorongoro Crater. Your safari vehicles will meet you to drive to the Ngorongoro Serena Hotel on the rim of the Crater for lunch and a breathtaking view. Ngorongoro Crater is a caldera 2,000 feet deep that is over 100 square miles and home to thousands of animals. It is hardly a surprise to have it referred to as one of the Natural Wonders of the World. Its vastness and beauty, believed by some to be the proverbial Garden of Eden, lay below the verandah of your hotel room.
In the afternoon your vehicle descends the steep wall onto the Crater floor to see some of the 30,000 animals that live there including elephant, buffalo, hippo, lion and many other species. It is also probably the best opportunity to see black rhino. In the early evening, you ascend switchbacks back up to the rim. Dinner and overnight at the Ngorongoro Serena Hotel.
Day 9 Olduvai Gorge, Serengeti National Park
The sun rises over the eastern rim as you hear whistles from the Maasai herd boys and the clinking of cow bells as they take their cattle to the crater floor for a drink. Depart the hotel for a spectacular drive via Olduvai Gorge, "the cradle of mankind." Travel past Maasai villages with a look at folklore as you head into Serengeti National Park. Your private tented camp has been moved here by the crew of camp stewards and is set in a scenic location in the Acacia woodland. Enjoy sundowners around the campfire and a late dinner before retiring to your now familiar nest under canvas.
Days 10-14 Serengeti National Park, Private Campsite
Each day you’ll chart your course to explore the Serengeti Plains of open, undisturbed wilderness in every direction. It will have you awestruck by its sheer wonderland essence. You’ll revel in this wilderness phenomenon of 5,600 square miles seeking remote places to track lion prides, follow cheetah and sit silently with elephant. Each evening you’ll marvel at the stars of the southern sky. Sitting around the campfire you’ll wonder how each day could possibly be so different and have such an impact on the senses. You feel at home, no longer pinching yourself to see if this is a dream but rather wondering about how to stay longer and planning your next visit.
Day 15 Arusha, Tanzania
Bidding farewell to the majestic Serengeti, you’ll depart Ndutu Airfield in the morning on a private charter flight for Arusha where your dayrooms at the Arusha Hotel await. After lunch you will have time for shopping, swimming at the pool and preparing for your evening departure from Kilimanjaro Airport.
Contact Duffle & Compass for the current cost and availability of this itinerary.
