$2,237 to $3,054 pp (USD)
2 travelers on Start dateArrival
Arrival
Day 1
Arrival at Kilimanjaro Airport and Transfer to Your Lodge
Arrival at Kilimanjaro Airport and Transfer to Your Lodge
Our driver meets you at the arrivals exit of Kilimanjaro International Airport and drives you to Olerai Lodge outside central Arusha, about 1.5 hrs away. The lodge was once a private family home and has kept that feeling: just nineteen rooms set on eight acres of garden among small farms, each with a private veranda and wide windows facing the greenery. Spend the rest of the day settling in by the outdoor pool or on the veranda, where Mount Meru rises above the trees on a clear afternoon. Dinner is cooked by local chefs, with vegetables and herbs from the lodge’s own garden. Dinner and overnight at Olerai Lodge.
- Main Destination:
- Arusha (City)
- Activities:
- Accommodation:
- Olerai Lodge
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 2
Tarangire Game Drive and Guided Bush Walk
Tarangire Game Drive and Guided Bush Walk
After breakfast, your private guide collects you for the drive to Tarangire (about 2.5 hours). The day begins on foot, with a 1.5-hour guided bush walk. Walking shifts the focus from big game to everything a car passes by: fresh elephant and buffalo tracks, mongooses, guineafowl and vervet monkeys, and the true scale of a baobab when you stand at its base. Larger animals usually keep their distance, which is part of the experience. Wear closed shoes, long light trousers and a hat. Then continue by Land Cruiser along the Tarangire River, where elephants, zebras, buffaloes and giraffes come down to drink in the dry months. After a picnic lunch in the park, the game drive continues until late afternoon. Dinner and overnight at The Whisper Tarangire.
- Main Destination:
- Tarangire National Park
- Activities:
- Accommodation:
- The Whisper Tarangire Camp
Wildlife in Tarangire NP
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 3
Second Day in Tarangire and Drive to Karatu
Second Day in Tarangire and Drive to Karatu
A second full day in Tarangire lets your guide take you beyond the main river circuit to areas you didn’t reach yesterday, such as the Silale Swamp, which stays green when the rest of the park dries out and draws elephants and buffaloes from far around. Look closely at the old termite mounds: dwarf mongooses often live inside and sit on top keeping watch. On the rocks, watch for hyraxes, small, rabbit-sized animals that are, surprisingly, among the elephant’s closest living relatives. With more than 550 bird species recorded in Tarangire, including the ashy starling and yellow-collared lovebird, found only in this part of East Africa, the binoculars in your Land Cruiser will see plenty of use. In the late afternoon, drive to Rhotia Valley Tented Lodge near Karatu Village (about 2 hours).
- Main Destination:
- Tarangire National Park
- Activities:
- Accommodation:
- Rhotia Valley Tented Lodge
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 4
Ngorongoro Crater and Return to Arusha
Ngorongoro Crater and Return to Arusha
Leave early, around 6:30, to reach the crater floor in the quiet morning hours; the drive to the crater floor from your lodge takes about 1 hour 30 minutes. Ngorongoro is home to lions, buffaloes, zebras and one of Tanzania’s last black rhino populations, and your guide will also take you to Lerai Forest, a grove of yellow-barked acacias in the southwest of the crater. The elephants here are almost all old bulls, many with exceptionally long tusks: they survived the poaching years of the 1980s in the crater’s relative safety, and tuskers like them are now rarely seen elsewhere in Africa. Lunch is a picnic on the crater floor. In the afternoon, climb out of the crater and drive back to Olerai Lodge in Arusha (about 4 hours). Dinner and overnight at Olerai Lodge.
- Main Destination:
- Ngorongoro Crater
- Activities:
- Accommodation:
- Olerai Lodge
Wildlife in Ngorongoro Crater
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 5
Flight from Arusha to Zanzibar
Flight from Arusha to Zanzibar
A slow last morning on the mainland: breakfast on the veranda, a swim in the pool, perhaps a final look at Mount Meru. Around late morning, our driver takes you to Arusha Airport, about 30 minutes away, for the early-afternoon flight to Zanzibar (about 1 hour 15 minutes). On arrival, our driver meets you at Zanzibar Airport for the drive of about 50 km to Alladin Zanzibar, a small adults-only beach hotel in Matemwe on the island’s northeast coast. Dinner and overnight at the hotel.
- Main Destination:
- Zanzibar Island (Tanzania Beaches)
- Activities:
- Accommodation:
- Alladin Zanzibar
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 6
Zanzibar Day by the Indian Ocean
Zanzibar Day by the Indian Ocean
A day with nothing on the schedule. After four early safari starts, sleep in and take a slow breakfast at the hotel’s Sultan Restaurant. Matemwe is a quiet stretch of white sand beside a traditional fishing village, and the northeast coast has some of the strongest tides on the island: at low tide the sea retreats far across the reef flats, at high tide it comes right back to the beach. Check the tide times to plan your swims, and spend the hours in between by the pool or with a massage at the spa. In the evening, the rooftop Sky Bar looks out over the ocean and the fishermen’s dhows. Breakfast, dinner and overnight at Alladin Zanzibar.
- Main Destination:
- Zanzibar Island (Tanzania Beaches)
- Activities:
- Accommodation:
- Alladin Zanzibar
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 7
Zanzibar Day by the Indian Ocean
Zanzibar Day by the Indian Ocean
A free day by the ocean. Matemwe is the closest beach to Mnemba Atoll, which lies just offshore and is one of Zanzibar’s best places for snorkelling, so if you’d like to see the reef, this is the day we recommend for it. Boat trips to the atoll leave directly from the hotel beach; the water around Mnemba is clear, with coral, turtles and reef fish, and dolphins are sometimes seen on the way, though sightings are never guaranteed. Back on shore, the afternoon is yours for the beach, the pool or the 24-hour gym. Breakfast, dinner and overnight at Alladin Zanzibar.
- Main Destination:
- Zanzibar Island (Tanzania Beaches)
- Activities:
- Accommodation:
- Alladin Zanzibar
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 8
Zanzibar Day by the Indian Ocean
Zanzibar Day by the Indian Ocean
Another free day on the island. If you’d like a change from the beach, we recommend Jozani Forest, part of Jozani-Chwaka Bay, Zanzibar’s only national park, in the south-centre of the island. It is the best place to see the Zanzibar red colobus, a monkey found nowhere else in the world: troops feed in the trees close to the path and are used to quiet visitors. A boardwalk through the mangroves nearby shows a very different side of the coast. Closer to the hotel, low tide is a good time to walk along the shore at Matemwe and watch the village women tending seaweed farms on the reef flats, one of the island’s main livelihoods. Breakfast, dinner and overnight at Alladin Zanzibar.
- Main Destination:
- Zanzibar Island (Tanzania Beaches)
- Activities:
- Accommodation:
- Alladin Zanzibar
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 9
Zanzibar Day by the Indian Ocean
Zanzibar Day by the Indian Ocean
The last full day on the island. If you’d like to see more of Zanzibar, we recommend a day in Stone Town, the island’s old quarter and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, about an hour’s drive away. Its narrow lanes show centuries of Swahili, Arab, Indian and European influence, best seen in the carved wooden doors of the old merchant houses. On the way, a spice farm is worth a stop: Zanzibar has been called the Spice Island since it became one of the world’s main sources of cloves, and you can see nutmeg, cinnamon and black pepper growing and taste them fresh. Or simply spend one more slow day by the sea. Breakfast, dinner and overnight at Alladin Zanzibar.
- Main Destination:
- Zanzibar Island (Tanzania Beaches)
- Activities:
- Accommodation:
- Alladin Zanzibar
- Meals & Drinks:
Day 10
Departure from Zanzibar
Departure from Zanzibar
Breakfast is included on your last morning, so there is time for one more slow meal by the ocean before you leave. Standard check-out is at 10:00. If your flight is later in the day and you would like to keep your room longer, let us know in advance and we will arrange a late check-out with the hotel, subject to availability and at extra cost. Our driver collects you from the hotel and takes you to Zanzibar Airport. The pick-up time depends on your flight: for international departures, plan to leave the hotel about 4 hours before take-off; for domestic flights, about 3 hours before.
- Main Destination:
- No major destination visited
- Activities:
- Accommodation:
- No accommodation (End of tour)
- Meals & Drinks:
