Day 1: Arrival at Kilimanjaro Airport-Transfer to Arusha Town
You will meet the bikes in the evening for personal adjustment and trial. In the evening, we will take you to Arusha’s famous street for a dinner BBQ (vegetarian meals also available). This evening we will give a briefing for the next day’s activities.
After dinner, we will take you around for a drink if you are interested, but if you are very tired, we will return you to the lodge for the rest of the night.
Arusha to Lake Chala on Day 2
Lake Chala is a crater lake in a caldera on the border of Tanzania and Kenya, East Africa. Lake Chala is on the eastern edge of Mount Kilimanjaro, 8km north of Taveta and 55km from the town of Moshi. Depending on the time of year, Lake Chala ranges in color from deep blue to turquoise and green. The lake is fed by ground water flows, which come from Mount Kilimanjaro. It is fed and drained underground at a rate of about 10 million m3/year. It is surrounded by a 100-meter high crater rim. The lake is home to the endemic Lake Chala Tilapia (Oreochromis hunter), which is now considered critically endangered on the IUCN red list of threatened species.
The stunning volcanic area is rapidly growing in tourism, and it is now possible to stay at Lake Chala. The lake is safe for swimming, but as everywhere in Africa, it pays to be careful. Dinner and overnight will be at Lake Chala Safari Lodge.
Day 3: From Lake Chala to Same (via the Eastern Arch Mountain trail).
The Elephant Motel is ideally situated along the Moshi-Dar es Salaam Road, only half a kilometer from Same Town. The motel offers spectacular views of the South Pare Mountains, and because of its location, it is the ideal gateway to Mkomazi National Park, the South Pare Mountains, and Shengena Forest. Dinner and overnight at the Same Elephant Motel.
Day 4: Return to the Lushoto Highlands.
Mambo Village, on the far northwestern rim of the Usumbara, is perched on a cliff overlooking the Masai plains and Mkomazi National Park. Authentic, easy-going, and a place to experience rural African life as it comes and goes. Rustic Mambo View Point Eco Lodge is in the middle of things, and is also the home base for some unique community projects. The beautiful cottages, built in an authentic style, are comfortable and have a beautiful sunset view from your own terrace. Dinner and overnight at Mambo View Point Eco Lodge.
Day 5: Spend the entire day in the lushoto highland village of Mombo.
This full-day stay at Mambo View Point will allow you to relax your muscles and take a cultural walk tour around the village, providing you with a unique perspective on daily life in a small Usambara agricultural village. You can experience the daily problems and challenges that the local community has to cope with and talk with local people. Dinner and overnight at Mambo View Point Eco Lodge.
Lushoto to Masai Steppe on Day 6
The Maasai Steppe Conservancy is located between the Tarangire National Park and the Simanjiro Plains, within the Northern Safari Circuit. Safaris in the Maasai Steppe provide a wonderfully varied experience for people wanting a combination of wildlife viewing, walking, and authentic, “nu-canned” cultural experiences with the Maasai.
The Maasai Steppe is a vibrant and important ecological stronghold for the wildlife and people of northern Tanzania. Nearly 92% of this critical ecosystem is designated Maasai village lands, where livestock husbandry represents the primary livelihood. Maintaining healthy rangelands is critical to both the Maasai people and the wildlife dependent on this arid environment. Dinner and overnight at the Masai village campsite.
Day 7: From the Masai steppes to the Tarangire – Manyara ecosystem
This is a unique opportunity to experience and explore the Tarangire and Manyara ecosystems. Maramboi Tented Camp offers permanent camp facilities and endless vistas of rolling golden grasslands and palm-lined desert between Tarangire and Manyara Lake. A visit to the area is essential for anyone interested in evolution and the origins of mankind, and for an explanation of the Rift Valley and Africa’s big picture. It is a complete semi-desert experience, focusing on game drives. Dinner and overnight at Maramboi Tented Lodge.
Day 8: Tarangire Manyara National Park to Lake Eyasi
After breakfast, we are going to leave this awesome lodge, riding on the rift valley escarpment towards the Hadza community. We are going to hunt with the Hadza, who are hunters and gatherers in eastern and southern Africa, on their grounds in their traditional way. Dinner and overnight at Lake Eyasi Safari Lodge.
Day 9: A full day at Lake Eyasi
On this day, our local guide, who is born and raised in this region, connected to the tribes and fluently speaks the local language, will be leading us.
We will visit one of the Hadzabe groups of families and learn about their lifestyle, sharing stories with the bushmen people, joining men in hunting small animals around the camp, learning their traditional medicines, making bows and arrows, going gathering with ladies, practicing and targeting with bows and arrows, and traditional dance.
We will also have a cultural walk to onion farms, the local market, and interact with the locals.
In the evening, we will visit Lake Eyasi (a shallow seasonal lake) and enjoy the sunset view. Dinner and overnight at Lake Eyasi Safari Lodge.
Day ten: From Lake Eyasi to Lake Natron
The trip will take you east along winding dirt trails away from the lush area surrounding the mountain and out into the Savannah scenery of the Masai plains. You will ride towards the wall of the Great Rift Valley, at the base of which stands the mighty volcano Ol Donyo Lengai. The Ol Donyo Lengai is an active volcano which last erupted in the 1970’s. It is revered by the Maasai as the home of “Ngai”, their god. Its almost perfect cone looms over an area of astonishing barren beauty. At the foot of the mountain, there is an area of rocky desert. Here we find the cones of a small extinct volcano and Lake Natron, a huge soda lake that stretches up to the Kenyan border. Flamingos come here to breed, and in the late afternoon sun, the colorful flamingo colonies make a spectacular sight, adding a dash of color against the shimmering water. Dinner and overnight at Maasai Giraffe Eco Lodge.
Day 11: Lake Natron Full Day
After a night under the incomparable star-filled African sky, you will wake up refreshed. First we enjoyed a hearty breakfast, and then we set off to explore the gorge that houses our campsite. A trail leads over boulders and through narrow chasms. In some places, we cross the torrent, and scramble up rocky walls. In some spots, we find strange cactuses clinging to the hot rock; in others, we see lush ferns and palms in the damp, shady gorge bottom. We duck under waterfalls and pass bubbling Jacuzzi-like pools and chutes where the brave can ride the natural water slide. Eventually, we arrive at the head of the valley, a huge natural amphitheater cut into the imposing cliff. Here we find the source of the waters where many springs gush from the cliff walls and form pools and streams. We can swim in the pools, take showers under the waterfalls, and eat our packed lunch.
We can also have the chance to ride to the hot springs, foot prints, and around the lake shores for a closer view of the flamingos. We return to camp for an early BBQ and then off to bed. Dinner and overnight at Masai Giraffe Eco Lodge.
Day 12: Serengeti National Park to Lake Natron
After breakfast, we depart for Serengeti National Park, arriving at our lodge in time for dinner. We find ourselves deep in the heart of this famous migration corridor. With its wide-open spaces, bright blue skies, and creature-filled landscape, over the next two days we will discover why the fabled Serengeti typifies the dream of “Old Africa.” Large prides of lions laze in the long grasses; plentiful families of elephants feed on acacia bark and trumpet to each other across the plains, while giraffes, gazelles, monkeys, eland, and the whole range of African wildlife present themselves in awe-inspiring numbers. Dinner and overnight at Serengeti Tortilis Tented Camp.
DAY 13: Full-day Serengeti game drive
Another full day of Serengeti game viewing. After breakfast this morning, enjoy a game drive. The great diversity of Serengeti wildlife is also evident here—look for buffalo, hippopotamus, elephant, giraffe, antelope, Thompson’s and Grant’s gazelle, lions, and, in season, the spectacular migration of the wildebeest. In the late afternoon, we venture out for another game drive. Everywhere there are animals, monkeys, and, yes, birds, but look closely and you will thrill to the big cats—lions, leopards, and cheetahs—just watching the world go by. And go by, it does. Rhino, gazelle, antelope, and massive elephants by the hundreds. Animals on the wing, camouflaged in the bush, in rivers and in streams. Dinner and overnight at Serengeti Tortilis Tented Camp.
Day 14: Serengeti National Park to Ngorongoro Crater.
A lovely drive takes us to the Ngorongoro Crater, where our lodge sits dramatically on the rim of the crater, revealing an awesome panorama of the world’s largest, unflooded, and unbroken caldera. Be prepared for some remarkable views down into the crater. The caldera of Ngorongoro marks the ancient walls of a collapsed volcano, which was probably once the size of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Today, the completely enclosed circular crater is some twelve miles across, with steep walls of over 2,000 feet. We are at an altitude of approximately 7,500 feet above sea level, the highest point on our trip. After our time on the lower plains, the cooler air here is refreshing. En route, you can visit Olduvai Gorge and Dr. Leakey’s Museum, or just go onward to stay at the lodge and admire the view. We drive down to the crater floor to explore this natural zoological park and observe an extraordinary variety of wildlife: elephants, rhinoceros, lions, hyenas, zebras, wildebeest, Thomson’s gazelle, reed buck, and buffalo. The lovely crested crane (similar to a peacock) can be found in great profusion here, and maybe you’ll spot a bat-eared fox. The balance of predator and prey in this extraordinary ecosystem is so precise that animals seldom leave. Over 30,000 animals live here: prides of lion, elephant, leopard, cheetah, giraffe, gazelle by the thousands, and multitudes of wildebeest. Please note: only half-day tours may be allowed while in the crater. Dinner and overnight at Ngorongoro Tloma Lodge.
Day 15: Ngorongoro Crater to Arusha (Transfer to the Airport-Departure)
Departure will depend on your flight time vs airport. If in Nairobi, you will leave very early with a good breakfast at the lodge or with a breakfast box. From other airports, we will link up with the timings. Transfers will be on time to catch your flights.
