Day 1: Arrive JRO via KLM. O/n Mount Meru Game Lodge. The lodge was once the home of a Hungarian gentleman-doctor and retains an old world atmosphere. There is an enclosure containing an assortment of birds and animals and monkeys frolic in the grounds.
Day 2: Full day with picnic and drinks in Arusha Park. Arusha Park is a beautiful mountain park and so different from much that you will be seeing for the rest of the safari. Its upper slopes are a “fairy forest” with ancient trees draped with old man’s beard, the forest canopy is pierced by shafts of sunlight and full of a myriad butterflies, unusual birds and the occasional bush buck. All is dominated by Mount Meru, a dormant volcano, over 15000 feet high. Geologists estimate that before Mount Meru blew its top it was a tall, symmetrical volcanic spire higher than Mount Kilimanjaro! Lower down there are hillocks, valleys and small lakes providing habitat for a wide variety of animals including buffalo, elephant, giraffe, hippo, impala and baboon. At the bottom end of the park is another small, but complete, volcanic crater (Ngurdoto Crater) . It is clothed in virgin forest and from the rim one can peer down into this land of swamps and plains and spot the wildlife enjoying its seclusion.
Day 3-5: Fly to Private Camp Tarangire. After a leisurely start, we fly to Tarangire and land right in the middle of the park. After a relaxing drink we head out on our first game drive, wending our way to camp. This special camp is sited in an exclusive game area right by the park so that we have the freedom of walking etc. as well as being able to enjoy game runs in the park. During these months, elephant will be the primary focus of our time in Tarangire but we will also see plenty of other animals during these greener months. It is always good for wildlife and at the height of its season from July to October; it holds the second largest concentration of wildlife per square mile within Africa.
Day 6-7: Game drive out of Tarangire and across the Great Rift Valley and onto Gibbs Farm. After an early breakfast we drive through the park, usually seeing plenty of animals. We will then cross the floor of the Great Rift Valley through land belonging to the Maasai tribe and we will see them herding their cattle and goats, a way of life little changed in the last hundred years.
Gibbs Farm lies amongst the foothills of the Ngorongoro Highlands and nestles adjacent to the natural forests of Ngorongoro. The altitude is about 6,000 feet and so wonderfully cool and a pleasant destination to do a little walking. Gibbs Farm although now a beautiful little lodge is still a mixed farm of coffee, vegetables and a small dairy herd. Various walks and bird watching expeditions can be arranged. Genuine farm food is served and the fresh coffee is hard to equal.
On the following day we rise early and after a breakfast drive to the Ngorongoro Crater winding upwards through deliciously cool virgin forests to the Crater rim. The sudden cresting of this rim is breathtaking as the Crater floor opens out 2000 ft below us. This crater should correctly be called a caldera (a collapsed volcano) and has rightly earned a reputation as one of nature’s wonders. It holds as many as 50,000 animals living in a balanced ecosystem of 150 square kilometers. You can also enjoy an enormous variety of vegetation from the verdant rain forests clothing the 7000-foot high rim to the swamps and plains on the crater floor. Descending we will have a long morning viewing game and after a picnic lunch begin to wend our way back to Gibbs Farm and a log fire.
Days 8-10: Fly to our Northern Serengeti Private Camp sited very close to the Mara River. After breakfast we take a scheduled flight from the Manyara Airstrip up to the northernmost part of the Serengeti, landing by the Mara River. Our vehicles meet us and it’s a short game drive to a lighter-weight camp than that used in Tarangire but nevertheless it still has en suite showers and toilet. This is a genuine mobile camp, which has been specially moved up into this incredible wilderness. It is close to the river and from here we are able to drive in any direction, as long as the four wheel drive can negotiate the route! Here we will see enormous crocodiles, hippo schools, herds of elephant, lion, and leopard and hopefully masses of thronging wildebeest. The migration will be on its way north to Kenya, which is only ten miles away. For the patient traveler a wildebeest-crossing of the Mara River is quite a spectacle and well worth the wait. However they are indecisive animals and you might see these enormous herds on the brink of jumping in one after the other only for some inexplicable reason, except to a wildebeest, give up and wander further along and peer at another ‘more suitable’ spot. Then some fool takes the plunge and like lemmings they all follow ‘the leader of the moment’, unquestioning until once in the water when they suddenly either panic or fortunately swim right across. Once out on the other side they are thrilled with the whole exercise
Day 11: Day Room. Mount Meru Game Lodge. This is your last day as you bid goodbye to the crew and return to the airstrip and the start your flight home. The plane will land in Arusha around mid-day giving you a chance for some shopping and lunch before repairing to Mount Meru Game Lodge for a shower and to freshen up and then onto Kilimanjaro Airport in the early evening.
