03/06/2022
Tanzania Spectacular
βExploring Exotic Wilds in Style
We bow to the fact: Many of us are firmly engaged in a very busy world, a world in which time away from the busyness is precious. And so we offer this safari to three major contributors to the East African mystique: the classic game lands of Tarangire, the Ngorongoro Crater, and the fabled Serengetiβall in a mere but marvellous 10 days. Direct flights from the World π take us to the sudden serenity of the Arusha Coffee Lodge, and then weβre off on a carefully choreographed safari, with two nights in each of the three camps and lodges weβve chosen for their warmth of spirit, their serenity, their location, their refreshing lack of busyness
Highlights
A succinct but comprehensive safari showcasing East Africaβs premier game viewing areas in less than two weeks: the vast Serengeti Plains, the rugged terrains of Tarangire, and the Edenic expanses of the Ngorongoro Crater.
Stylishly unique camps and lodges: treetop tents atop stately old baobab or marula trees; secluded and spacious tents overlooking the Grumeti River, thronged with galumphing hippos.
A host of activities: daily game drives; learning tracking from Maasai warriors, and an afternoon visit to their village; exhilarating night game drives; guided nature walks in the golden Serengeti.
Beginning-to-end services of your π¨ππππ
π»ππππ & πΊπππππ π¨π
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Director and our dedicated Concierge team.
Itinerary
ALL DAYS
Day 1
En route
We dream of safari while we soar through the skies, bound for Africa.
Day 2
A coffee plantation in lovely Arusha
The Arusha Coffee Lodge, an old-fashioned island of quietude tucked away in a plantation, is a great place to unwind after the rigours of long flights.
Arusha is only 3 degrees south of the equator, but its 4,500-foot elevation encourages floral luxuriance and gentle airs. So weβll be more or less surrounded by enthusiastic greenery as we sit on our Plantation Suiteβs verandaβperhaps after a relaxing swimβlooking up at massive Mount Meru, a 14,977-foot volcanic colossus that looms beneficently over this quintessentially African city.
Days 3 & 4
The luxurious treehouses of Tarangire
After a breakfast topped off by some of the freshest and best coffee weβll ever imbibe, weβll be briefed by our Safari Director and set off on a marvelously African drive to Tarangire and our home for the next couple of nights, Tarangire Treetops. Our first experience of luxury life in the bush couldnβt be more spectacular. Treetopsβ main lodge, built around a thousand-year-old baobab, is only the beginning. The lodgeβs 20 famous, lovingly crafted tree houses, elevated for sweeping views of the park, are extraordinarily large, airy, and utterly magical.
And from our tree houseβs balcony, we look out at Tarangireβs wonderfully varied landscapes of rocky outcrops, rolling hills, and golden savannah generously strewn with acacias and baobabs, home to just about the entire cast of wild African charactersβ and some rare stars, like kudu and oryx β in addition to 2,500 or so elephants. Weβll spend a day in the bush discovering the big game and spying dozens of species of birds cavorting in the trees of Tarangire, and, if weβre still keen to see more all-star creatures, we can go out on a night drive, always a revelation.
Days 5 & 6
The Ngorongoro Crater, a lush natural masterpiece
The drive from Tarangire to the world-wondrous Ngorongoro Crater takes us north, past Lake Manyara, into the Crater Highlands and up to the reposeful cabins of Neptune Ngorongoro Luxury Lodge.
Weβll drive to the crater floor for an extraordinarily rewarding game drive, exploring the calderaβs 100 square miles, spotting lions, elephants, black rhinos, just about all of East Africaβs faunal celebrities, and return to the lodge for quiet, view-besotted sundowners on our cabinβs private terraces, followed by a lovely dinner overlooking one of the worldβs most magical places.
Days 7 & 8
Gazelles by the gazillion in the Serengeti
We end this short, but undeniably spectacular, safari in the Serengeti. βThere is a lightening of the spirit,β Cyril Connolly wrote about the vast plain. Weβre invited to a rare, deep-rootedly serene idyll. The sky is huge and blue and as pure as the day the earth was born. (And on the southern horizon, over the Crater HighlandsββThatβs Ngorongoro, just behind that big green mountain,β weβll say knowledgeably, affectionatelyβclouds pile up in grandly crazy towers, looking like computer-generated special effects.) The Serengetiβs kopjes are the creation of a cosmic bonsai master, and on a flat brown rock atop one of them, a lion rolls over and warms its fluffy white belly in the sun.
Weβll spend two idyllic Serengeti nights in Migration Camp, tucked away in kopje-esque rocks just above the Grumeti River. The main lodge has a split-level lounge, a swimming pool, and a dandy restaurant, and each of Migration Campβs 20 tents is encircled by a deck, a private sanctuary from which to gaze out at the natural extravaganza below and beyond. Those of us who canβt quite believe that hippos really existβthatβs how otherworldly they sometimes seemβare delighted that rumbling pods of them disport on the Grumeti, along with many single-minded crocodiles; the great migration funnels into a crossing of this river, and the crocs bide their time like the pleistocenic beasts they are.
Days 9 & 10
Gameviewing, back to Arusha and homeward
After a final game drive, weβll head back to Migration Camp for breakfast. Maybe weβre close to sighting the Little Five, and need just a little luck to complete the list. The identities of these mini-masterpieces: rhinoceros beetle, buffalo weaver, leopard tortoise (not so mini, really; they can weigh as much as three standard bowling balls), ant lion, and the extremely shy elephant shrew, which weighs not much more than an elephantβs tear.
In any case, itβs time to say good-bye to the Serengeti and Tanzaniaβs spectacular bush. We fly back to Arusha, relax in day rooms at the Arusha Coffee Lodge, maybe take a pre-flight swim, and board our homebound planes in the evening, arriving back home on Day 10
