Arusha, Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro, Central Serengeti & Rwanda
Day 1 –Arrival Kilimanjaro
Upon arrival at Kilimanjaro International Airport (flight details to be advised) met and transfer to Arusha where you have been booked on bed and breakfast basis for one night
Overnight at Lake Duluti Serena Hote / Kibo Place Hotel
Day 2 – Arusha to Lake Manyara Via Tarangire
After breakfast depart Arusha with packed lunch and drive to Tarangire National Park for a full day game viewing drive. Your picnic lunch would be served in the designated picnic sites within the Park
Tarangire National Park is the sixth largest national park in Tanzania, it is located in Manyara Region. The name of the park originates from the Tarangire River that crosses the park. The Tarangire River is the primary source of fresh water for wild animals in the Tarangire Ecosystem during the annual dry season. The Tarangire Ecosystem is defined by the long-distance migration of wildebeest and zebras. During the dry season thousands of animals concentrate in Tarangire National Park from the surrounding wet-season dispersal and calving areas.
It covers an area of approximately 2,850 square kilometers. The park is famous for its high density of elephants and baobab trees. Visitors to the park in the June to November dry season can expect to see large herds of thousands of zebra, wildebeest and Cape buffalo. Other common resident animals include waterbuck, giraffe, dik dik, impala, eland, Grant’s gazelle, vervet monkey, banded mongoose, and olive baboon. Predators in Tarangire include African lion, leopard, cheetah, caracal, honey badger, and African wild dog.
Home to more than 550 bird species, the park is a haven for bird enthusiasts.
1700hrs depart Tarangire and drive to back to Karatu to arrive in time to freshen up for dinner
Dinner and overnight at the Farm House Safari Lodge
Day 3 – Lake Manyara to Ngorongoro
After breakfast depart and drive to Ngorongoro climbing to the altitude of 8,000 feet with a brief stop at the Olduvai Gorge. Olduvai Gorge the ‘Crater of Mankind’ is world famous for the Archaeological discoveries made there by Dr. Louis Leakey and Mary Leakey. The site is located about 10 to 15 minutes off the main road between Serengeti and Ngorongoro. Olduvai Gorge arose interest in the archaeological world as early as 1911, when German Professor Katurinkle whist looking for butterflies in the gorge, found some fossil bones. Dr. Leaky discovered there the skull Australopithecus-Zinjanthropus boisei – the nutcracker man who lived in the lower Pleistocene Age around 1,750,000 BC. You continue to ascend to the exterior of the crater reaching its rim and here your first glimpse of what has often been referred to as the “Eighth wonder of the World.”
Arrive in time for lunch at Ngorongoro Serena / Ngorongoro Sopa Safari Lodge
Day 4 –Ngorongoro Crater
After breakfast, descend to the floor of the crater for game viewing drives. Often described as the ‘Eighth’ wonder of the World, the Ngorongoro crater is so spectacular, a natural sanctuary for over 25,000 animals, including the black rhino. It is also a conservation area inhabited by the Masai tribe. Picnic lunch will be served at one of the designated picnic sites on the crater floor.
As the sun sets on the western side of the crater rim, ascend and drive to the Lodge to arrive in time to refresh for dinner.
All meals and Overnight at Ngorongoro Serena /Ngorongoro Sopa Safari Lodge.
Day 5 – Ngorongoro to Serengeti
After a leisure breakfast, depart Ngorongoro and drive to Central Serengeti, game viewing en route through the plains of Serengeti to arrive in time for lunch at the Lodge, relax by the Lodge Pool after lunch before embark on evening game viewing drive
All meals and Overnight at Serengeti Serena Safari Lodge or Kubu Kubu Tented Camp
Day 6 –Central Serengeti
Full day into Central Serengeti; enjoy morning/afternoon game viewing drives. Apart from the Selous, this is the largest of all the Parks in Tanzania, summed up as ‘one of the most unique areas in the world’. The Serengeti contains the largest remaining concentration of plains game in Africa, on a scale which has no parallel anywhere in the world.
Even during the height of the migration towards the Masai Mara, there is a huge concentration of plains game in the Reserve, mainly concentrated around the watering places, and with good chances also of seeing the predators at work.
All meals and overnight at Serengeti Serena Safari Lodge or Kubu Kubu Tented Camp
Day 7 – Serengeti to Kigali
Breakfast at the Lodge. Thereafter depart the Lodge with packed lunch and drive to Seronera Airstrip for your schedule1425hrs Coastal Air to Kigali
1725hrs met on arrival and transfer to Kigali Serena Hotel where you have been booked on bed and breakfast basis
Kigali Serena Hotel
Ideally located on one of Kigali’s most charming boulevards, the five-star Kigali Serena Hotel is built around a polished granite atrium, which showcases the very best of Rwandese cultural art.
Overnight at the Kigali Serena Hotel
Day 8 – City tour of Kigali & drive to Lake Kivu Serena
Pick up from the hotel at 0900hours City tour of Kigali including visit to the Gisozi genocide memorial sites, the Richard Kandt museum, Inema art center and local markets.
After lunch drive to Gisenyi arriving late afternoon and enjoy the African sunset over the lake.
Lake Kivu Serena Hotel
Serenely sited on the white sandy shores of Lake Kivu, the sixth largest lake in Africa, and surrounded by extensive tropical gardens, the tastefully open-plan Lake Kivu Serena Hotel offers the ideal holiday escape destination!
Within three hours’ drive from the Rwandan capital, Kigali and an hour’s drive from the glorious Volcanoes National Park, home of the world famous mountain gorillas, the hotel overlooks its own private beach and offers a variety of accommodation and hotel facilities.
Dinner and overnight at Lake Kivu Serena Hotel
Day 9 – Lake Kivu to Volcanoes National Park – Mountain Gorillas encounter
0500hrs transfer to Kinigi at the foot hills of the Virungas for your Gorilla Tracking expedition! Carry with you our carefully sorted and packed breakfast box complete with sufficient energy giving food to sustain you throughout the tracking trip.
0700hrs briefing and allocation to a Gorilla Tracking Group. Then drive to the base of the trekking together with other guests allocated in the same gorilla family. Once you have spotted the gorillas you are allowed only one hour and there after the return to the base, where you drive guide will be waiting. Depending on the time you come back you may opt to have lunch at either Mountain Gorilla View Lodge or Five Volcanoes Hotel for a hot lunch OR drive back to Kivu Serena.
IMPORTANT – Hikers must be prepared to walk for up to 6 hours a day. • Hikers must bring along their own personal hiking gear.
Volcanoes National Park
The park was first gazetted in 1925, as a small area bounded by Karisimbi, Visoke and Mikeno, intended to protect the gorillas from poachers. It was the very first National Park to be created in Africa. The park later became the base for the American naturalist Dian Fossey to carry out her research into the gorillas. She arrived in 1967 and set up the Karisoke Research Centre between Karisimbi and Visoke. From then on she spent most of her time in the park, and is widely credited with saving the gorillas from extinction by bringing their plight to the attention of the international community. She was murdered by unknown assailants at her home in 1985, a crime often attributed to the poachers she had spent her life fighting against. She is buried in the park in a grave close to the research center, and amongst the gorillas which became her life.
Fossey’s life was later portrayed on the big screen in the film “Gorillas in the Mist”, named after her autobiography.
The park is best known for the Mountain Gorilla. Other mammals include: Golden monkey, Black-fronted Duiker, Buffalo, Spotted Hyena and Bushbuck. There are also reported to be some elephants in the park, though these are now very rare. There are 178 recorded bird species, with at least 13 species and 16 subspecies endemic to the Virunga and Ruwenzori Mountains.
Dinner and overnight at Lake Kivu Serena Hotel
Day 10 – Drive to Kigali visting IBY iwacu cultural centre & Depart
Depart the hotel at 0700hours, en-route you will have a stopover at the Iby Iwacu cultural center for first hand encounter of Rwandan culture and heritage.
Iby’ Iwacu cultural center – http://cbtrwanda.org/
Offering an adventurous stay in a traditional rural, Rwandan village that has existed for centuries living with and next to mountain gorillas in Parc National des Volcans. Iby’Iwacu Cultural Village gives you a rare chance to meet local people, in their environment, with a taste of our culture and traditions. The community you visit will genuinely welcome you as a special guest while they proudly present to you aspects of their traditions and beliefs. This will truly be an experience of a lifetime as you home stay with the community and become part of their family
Later depart to Kigali arriving in the afternoon and transfer to the airport for your flight back home.
End of your Safari Experience with us:
Net Package Cost Offer:
USD 8,200.00 per person sharing in a double room/Twin room x 2
Package cost offer includes the following services:
01 night on bed and breakfast basis at the Hotel in Arusha
05 nights on full board basis at Karatu, Ngorongoro and Serengeti Serena Lodges
03 nights on full board basis at Kigali and Lake Kivu Serena Hotels
Exclusive Safari transport in custom made Safari 4x4WD Land Cruiser
Services of English speaking driver guides
Park & Conservancy entrance fees & Gorilla permit
Airport transfers per itinerary & Airfares Serengeti – Kigali
Package cost excludes the following services
International and Visa entry charges to Tanzania/Rwanda
All items of personal use i.e. drinks, laundry, telephone calls, gratuities, personal travel insurances- etc.
