African Safari Consultants

"The Great Plains Tented Safari"
Mobile Adventure Camping Safari - (Tanzania) - 10 Days

ball.gif (1653 bytes) Do not confuse a mobile tented camping safari with the "overlander"
style  of travel by truck with crawl-in-tents and sleeping bags!

A "Mobile Tented Camping Safari" offers a taste of Africa in the old tradition You will travel off the beaten track away from the main stream tourist flow, enjoying more privacy and the thrill of open air life in the African bush.

A full crew will accompany your expedition to take care of all the work and details involved in setting up and moving the mobile camps. They will also provide the transport for game drives during the days and catering at nights where appropriate.

Each camp has its own dining tent and a bar is set up every evening for sundowners, and laundry is done on a daily basis. When moving the camp from one location to another, lodge accommodation may be used to give your crew a chance to be ready for you at the new site.

Some would say that this is the only way to see the African Savannah! A good combination of a permanent tented camp in Lake Manyara, a private camp in the Serengeti; a traditional lodge at the Ngorongoro.

Day 01   Arusha  -  Tarangire Private Camp
  
Depart Arusha after lunch, and drive across the Masai Steppe to the Great Rift Valley and on to your de luxe mobile camp, which has been set up in the Tarangire National Park. South from Lake Manyara this delightful park covers an area of 2,600 square kilometers. It is the numerous wide-bodied Baobab trees that first attract your eye. The gently rolling countryside is dotted with these majestic trees sometimes dwarfing the wildlife that feeds beneath them. 

The park is at its best during the traditional dry seasons of June to October and December to March when many of the migratory animals come to the Tarangire River for water. Wildebeest, oryx, zebra, elephant are amongst the most prolific of the animals. Depending on the game movement we shall probably camp by the side of the Tarangire River.

Day 02  Tarangire National Park 

Early morning, morning and afternoon game drives.

Day 03   Tarangire National Park- Lake Manyara 

Early morning game drive followed by breakfast, after which your crew packs up the tenting equipment and moves on to set up again in the Serengeti National Park, and you move on to a permanent camp on the rim of the Great Rift Valley. From whichever direction you approach Lake Manyara, you get a spectacular view. Approaching from the east the Great Rift Valley wall forms an impressive backdrop to the Lake. From the west, with a pause at the top of the escarpment, the park lies below, a green strip beside a glistening lake. Lake Manyara National Park covers an area of 330 square kilometers, of which about two thirds is the lake itself, and the rest is forest, acacia woodland and some grasslands by the lake shore.

The wildlife can be migratory between Lake Manyara and Tarangire National Park across the lake, but you should see elephant, hippo, Cape buffalo, giraffe, several species of primate and antelope, and prolific birdlife. Dinner and overnight at Kirurumu, a comfortable camp with twenty tents located on top of the escarpment overlooking the park.

Day 04   Lake Manyara National Park  - Serengeti National Park 

Leave after breakfast and drive to your private camp, which will now have been set up in the Serengeti in an area, which we shall have identified as being plentiful with game. The Serengeti National Park. is one of the most popular and spectacular game areas in East Africa, covering an area of 14,765 square kilometers, teaming with game. A particular feature of the Serengeti is the annual migration of the wildebeest and zebra herds. Each year, after the traditional " short " rains in November the migration starts when the herds amass in their thousands on the plains below the Ngorongoro highlands. During February they move north and west following the rains and the new grasslands and they start to move into the Masai Mara in July. In October they move back to Tanzania. This annual phenomenon involves more than 1.5 million animals, including the lion and other predators who follow the herds for easy pickings.  The whole process affects the lives of thousands of other species that rely on the passage of the migration for their survival, even the insects, not to mention the trees and plants, which rely on the droppings for their fertilization. Dinner and overnight at your mobile camp.

Day 05   Serengeti National Park  
  
Morning and afternoon game drives.

  
Day 06   Serengeti  National Park   
  
Morning and afternoon game drives.

Day 07  Serengeti National Park - (Ngorongoro Crater) 

Leave after breakfast and drive back across the Serengeti Plains viewing game all the time and arrive at Ol Duvai Gorge. The Gorge is about 50 kilometers long and in some places 90 meters deep. Commonly heralded as the " Cradle of Mankind" it was made famous by the discovery in 1959 of the remains of early man. Your stop includes a visit to the small museum overlooking the Gorge. After a picnic lunch you continue on to your lodge on the Ngorongoro Crater rim for dinner and overnight. " 

It is impossible to give a fair description of the size and beauty of the Crater, for there is nothing with which one can compare it. It is one of the Wonders of the World." This is how the Crater is described by Bernard Grzimek in his classic "Serengeti Shall Not Die". The area is given over to Wildlife Conservation and comprises 8300 square kilometers of which the Crater is 260 square kilometers and consists of grasslands, swamps, forests, rivers, and even an arid area of shifting dunes. 

The Crater supports a year round resident population of varied wildlife, and as the game is concentrated into a relatively small area you are likely to see lion, elephant, hyena, jackal, cheetah, the very rare Black Rhino, primates and many more. The area is also home to the proud and colorful Masai tribe. Dinner and overnight Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge.

 

Day 08  Ngorongoro Crater
 
After an early breakfast you descend into the Crater in a 4 x 4 vehicle for a full day of game viewing with a picnic lunch taken on the Crater floor. Late afternoon you leave the Crater drive back to the lodge for dinner and overnight.

Day 9   Ngorongoro  - Arusha

Leave Ngorongoro after breakfast and drive back to Arusha arriving late morning.
  

 2009 Rates

African Safari Consultants
16475 Indian Ruins Rd.
Prescott, AZ 86305

Tel. (928) 717 - 8275     Fax (928) 717 - 9754

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