Compare A Taste of Tanzania by Zama Tours & Safaris vs Mountain Gorilla Safari: Kenya, Tanzania & Rwanda 2021 by Tauck

Day 1: Arusha

Meals: Dinner

Accommodation: Arumeru River Lodge

Activity: Transfer to your hotel

On arrival at Kilimanjaro International Airport, you will be met by our office representative and transferred to Arusha for dinner and overnight.

Day 2: Arusha – Lake Manyara National Park

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Accommodation: Oremiti Lodge

Activity: Game drive in Manyara

After breakfast, depart for Lake Manyara National Park with lunch box en-route. Nestling at the base of the Great Rift Valley escarpment, the park is recognized for its incredible beauty. You can see many game animals such as buffalo, elephant, giraffe, impala, hippo and others. Enjoy an afternoon of game viewing in search of the famous but rare tree climbing lion. From a sea of pink flamingos as far as the eye can see to bull elephants at close range, Lake Manyara showcases a superb variety of herd animals and birdlife. Dinner and overnight in a close-by tented lodge.

Day 3: Lake Manyara Area – Ngorongoro Conservation Area

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Accommodation: Pakulala Safari Camp

Activity: Game drive in the Ngorongoro Crater

The road from Manyara leads you through the Crater Forest and over the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater. Short stop at the viewpoint with breathtaking views over the crater, before descent onto the crater floor to emerge into this fishbowl of wildlife. On the grass steppe and in the acacia tree woods, you will find almost all species that are found in the East African savannah; with the exception of topis, Masai giraffes and impalas. Quite often you can observe the “Big Five” (lions, elephants, buffalos, rhinoceros and leopards) within a couple of hours. After an extensive wildlife tour and a picnic for lunch, just before sunset return close to the crater rim or highlands for dinner and overnight in a luxury tented camp.

Day 4: Ngorongoro – Serengeti National Park

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Accommodation: Nyumbani Serengeti Camp

Activity: Game drive in the Serengeti

Coming down from the height of the Ngorongoro, the vast extensions of the Serengeti plains before you will impress you and wanting you to explore this area in deep. In the Seronera Valley you will find wildebeest and zebras and often lions and other big cats such as leopards and cheetahs. The Migration, consisting of around 2 million animals, is on the move all year round. Depending on the season you may see this impressive phenomenon. Naturally it also attracts a mass of predators and you may be able to see a band of lionesses gather for a hunt. You will return to your lodge for a sumptuous lunch to gather strength for the afternoon game drive. Dinner and overnight in a tented camp, luxury tents in the middle of the bush.

Day 5: Serengeti National Park

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Accommodation: Nyumbani Serengeti Camp

Activity: Game drive in the Serengeti

You enjoy further exploration of the endless plains. The habitats are natural and we can game drive with a picnic lunch to explore further afield. It is also a perfect day and location to partake in the breath-taking Serengeti Balloon Safari (optional). Dinner and overnight in the same accommodation.

Day 6: Serengeti National Park

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Accommodation: Nyumbani Serengeti Camp

Activity: Game drive in the Serengeti

A welcome change in your schedule is to take part in an early morning game drive before returning for lunch and resting. In the afternoon, you set off to see the nocturnal animals beginning their night’s work. Dinner, campfire and overnight for your last night in the Serengeti…

Day 7: Serengeti National Park – Olduvai Gorge – Tarangire Area

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Activity: Visit to Olduvai Gorge

Accommodation: Nimali Tented Lodge

A leisurely game drive out of the Serengeti takes you to the Olduvai Gorge. Enjoy a picnic lunch and a view of the archaeological sites (and visit the museum) where early human tools and fossils have been found. Over the Ngorongoro Crater rim, we set off into the direction of Tarangire National Park and arrive at your tented lodge for sunset. Dinner and overnight.

Day 8: Tarangire National Park – Arusha

Activity: Game drive in Tarangire

Meals: Breakfast and Lunch

Last but not least, a visit to the impressive Tarangire National Park, Tanzania’s third largest national park and sanctuary for an unusually large elephant population. Majestic baobab trees are an interesting feature of the park, dwarfing the animals that feed beneath them. Animals concentrate along the Tarangire River, which provides the only permanent water supply in the area. There is a great diversity of wildlife including lion, leopard, cheetah and up to six thousand elephant. Full game drive with lunch box, then continuation to Arusha for your flight home or further destination.

Day 1 Arrive Arusha, Tanzania

Tour begins: Gran Meliá Arusha. A transfer is included from Kilimanjaro International Airport to the Gran Meliá Arusha Hotel in Arusha, a safari gateway city at the foot of Mount Meru.

LODGING : Gran Meliá Arusha

PORTOFCALL : Arusha, Tanzania

Day 2 Birds of Lake Manyara National Park

The vast Serengeti beckons as you begin your safari in Tanzania. Take your first game drive through Lake Manyara National Park, where you might get your first glimpse of giraffes, baboons, hippos, and elephants along with hundreds of species of birds. Arrive in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, populated by an estimated 30,000 large mammals. Your lodge for the next two nights is on the Ngorongoro Crater rim overlooking the caldera below, an excellent spot for our welcome reception and dinner.

MEALS : B, L, D

LODGING : Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge

PORTOFCALL : Arusha, Tanzania

Day 3 A Garden of Eden in Ngorongoro Crater

Thought by some to be Africa’s original "Garden of Eden," Ngorongoro Crater is one of the largest calderas in the world and contains a variety of ecosystems and an astounding concentration of birds and animals. Your four-wheel-drive vehicle, built exclusively for Tauck, provides an excellent mobile viewing platform when encountering massive herds of zebras, wildebeests, and gazelles. This area affords an opportunity to spot the Big Five – elephant, leopard, lion, buffalo, and rhinoceros. Enjoy a picnic lunch in the crater today.

MEALS : B, L, D

LODGING : Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge

Day 4 Flying to Serengeti National Park

Today, you'll hop a morning flight from Lake Manyara to the heart of Serengeti National Park. As you do, you'll fly over Oldupai Gorge, where, over 50 years ago, archaeologists Louis and Mary Leakey discovered the fossilized remains of some of the earliest known human species, an estimated 1.8 million years old. Arrive at your Four Seasons safari lodge in the Serengeti for a three-night stay. Following an afternoon game drive in Serengeti National Park, join us this evening for a special barbecue dinner in your lodge's Boma Grill, enhanced by a Maasai traditional dance performance.

MEALS : B, L, D

LODGING : Four Seasons Safari Lodge Serengeti

Day 5 Endless Plains in Serengeti Nat’l Park

Look for wildlife in the heart of the vast savanna of the Serengeti today on both morning and afternoon game drives. Sightings might include lions, zebras, hyenas, leopards, cheetahs, elephants, hippos, buffaloes, jackals, gazelles, and giraffes. When the sunset paints the sky in the evening, watch the show from the luxury of your lodge in Serengeti National Park, and enjoy dinner tonight at your choice of restaurants at the lodge.

MEALS : B, L, D

LODGING : Four Seasons Safari Lodge Serengeti

Day 6 Kenya’s Amboseli National Park

Spend another glorious day in the spectacular Serengeti as you head out into the grasslands aboard safari vehicles for game drives in the early morning as well as the afternoon. In between, you'll have free time to relax and enjoy the amenities of your Four Seasons safari lodge, where you'll dine at your choice of restaurants tonight. 

MEALS : B, L, D

LODGING : Four Seasons Safari Lodge Serengeti

Day 7 On to Kenya’s Amboseli National Park

Leave the Serengeti behind as you fly to Arusha, Tanzania en route to Kenya. Dominating the skyline, majestic Mt. Kilimanjaro peaks over surrounding landscapes from more than 15,000 feet up. After landing in Arusha, enjoy an early lunch at the Cultural Heritage Center before continuing overland into Kenya to begin a two-night at your safari lodge in Amboseli National Park, where herds of free-ranging elephants and other wildlife like to roam. Enjoy a private lecture on the elephants of Amboseli and anti-poaching efforts in Kenya prior to dinner at your leisure at the lodge this evening.

MEALS : B, L, D

LODGING : Amboseli Serena Safari Lodge

Day 8 Private game drives and more in Amboseli

Tauck's private safari game drives in Amboseli National Park offer ample opportunity to view the elephants, hippos and buffaloes that seek out the park's natural watering holes and the graceful antelopes that graze in the flat grasslands. An early morning visit to a Maasai village precedes a morning game drive, after which you'll return to the lodge for breakfast. Spend some down time at your lodge prior to lunch, then another game drive, and time to spend as you please at the lodge in the afternoon. Dinner is at your leisure at the lodge this evening.

MEALS : B, L, D

LODGING : Amboseli Serena Safari Lodge

Day 9 Fly to the Equator & Sweetwaters

A morning flight brings you to Sweetwaters Serena Camp, set in Ol Pejeta Conservancy on the Equator, your home for the next two nights. Following lunch and an Equatorial demonstration, the remainder of the day is at your leisure to enjoy the amenities and surroundings at this fabulous tented safari camp.

MEALS : B, L, D

LODGING : Sweetwaters Serena Camp

Day 10 Rhinos & chimpanzees, village crafts & more

An exciting day begins at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy, home to the largest resident black rhino population in East Africa and other members of the Big Five. It is also home to the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary, founded by Jane Goodall, which gives lifelong homes to orphaned and abused chimpanzees, and which you'll visit this morning. While at Ol Pejeta, enjoy Tauck's special access to visit a compound where endangered black rhino are bred. After lunch at your hotel, take a look at local life on a private visit to a nearby village, where villagers spin colorful tales into their handmade wool rugs, sweaters and shawls right before your eyes. Return to your celebrity resort late afternoon. Tonight, attend our private barbecue dinner held under the stars at Sweetwaters Serena Camp.

 

MEALS : B, L, D

LODGING : Sweetwaters Serena Camp

Day 11 The Masai Mara & an evening game drive

Pack your Tauck duffle bag and fly to the Masai Mara National Reserve in southern Kenya, where you'll be welcomed by Maasai warriors. Have lunch upon your arrival at the luxurious Fairmont Mara Safari Club, where an elegant tented camp is your home for the next two nights. Spend the afternoon relaxing, swimming, taking in the views and otherwise becoming acquainted with the Safari Club and your luxury tented camp accommodations, evoking the classic safaris of yesteryear. Embark on a late afternoon game drive across the plains of "the Mara" in search of animals that make their homes here; perhaps you’ll see lions, antelopes, elephants and zebras in their daily rituals. Return to camp for a briefing on tomorrow's hot air balloon flight, followed by dinner.

MEALS : B, L, D

LODGING : Fairmont Mara Safari Club

Day 12 Ballooning over the plains of the Masai Mara

Today will be one that you’ll always remember, as you arise before dawn to board a hot air balloon* and float over the Masai Mara's awakening plains below as the sun rises. When you land, a special champagne breakfast will be awaiting you right there in the bush! Spectacular isn’t quite strong enough a word to describe such an experience, a Tauck Exclusive on your Kenya safari! Back on the ground, look for lions, impalas, cheetahs, giraffes, and the other animals you’ve come to love as you return overland to the camp for lunch and an afternoon at leisure – and later on an evening game drive in the bush. After returning to your tented camp, join us for dinner in the boma of the Fairmont Mara Safari Club.

MEALS : B, L, D

LODGING : Fairmont Mara Safari Club

Day 13 Fly to Kigali, Rwanda

Fly this morning to Kigali airport in Rwanda, home to Volcanoes National Park and the forested habitat of endangered mountain gorillas and golden monkeys. A late afternoon arrival at your Serena Hotel is followed by dinner at leisure.

MEALS : B, L, D

LODGING : Kigali Serena Hotel

PORTOFCALL : Kigali, Rwanda

Day 14 Kigali coffee & Dian Fossey's gorilla legacy

Embark this morning on a drive through the countryside to the city of Ruhengeri at the base of Volcanoes National Park, where eight ancient volcanoes watch over the wildlife that thrives here. Check into your grass-thatched traditional Rwandan lodge, nestled under the eucalyptus trees at the foothills of the Virunga Volcano range, and have lunch before visiting the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund Museum. Learn insights and observations about gorilla behavior in preparation for tomorrow’s trek, as well as hear the fascinating story of Dian Fossey’s unforgettable quest to save the mountain gorilla.

MEALS : B, L, D

LODGING : One&Only Gorilla's Nest

Day 15 Gorilla Trek in Volcanoes National Park

Rise early for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity you’ll not soon forget. Drive to the headquarters of Volcanoes National Park where a briefing by your expert mountain guides answers any questions you may have about your trek into the wilderness and a dance performance as you eat your boxed breakfast whets your appetite for today’s gorilla adventure. Climb aboard a safari vehicle as you make your way to the trailhead where your gorilla trek begins. You will be assigned a porter who will help carry your provisions and cameras and lead you to the gorilla family you are here to meet. Once the gorillas are located, you will have the rare opportunity to watch them interact with each other, and you if they choose! When your hour-long visit is up, head back to the lodge for lunch and an afternoon at leisure. A local expert presents an informative lecture this afternoon about the endangered mountain gorillas you were privileged to see. Join us tonight for a farewell reception and dinner at the lodge.

MEALS : B, L, D

LODGING : One&Only Gorilla's Nest

Day 16 Journey Home

Tour ends: Kigali. Depart your hotel after breakfast for your journey back to Kigali, stopping en route to visit the Genocide Memorial Museum. Pay tribute to the 800,000 Rwandans who lost their lives during the atrocities of 1994 and discover how Rwanda was able to come together, heal and move forward into the future with hope and resilience. Continue to the Kigali Serena Hotel where Tauck has reserved day rooms for you until your flight home this evening. Airport transfers are included from Kigali Serena Hotel to Kigali International Airport. Allow a minimum of three hours for flight check in at the airport.

MEALS : B, L

PORTOFCALL : Kigali, Rwanda