Serengeti Safari & Zanzibar
12 days, Arusha to Stone Town
Itinerary
Day 1Arusha
Arrive at any time.
There are no planned activities until an evening welcome meeting.
Your Welcome Moment: Welcome Moment - Meet Your CEO and Group
Your opportunity to meet your CEO and fellow travellers, and learn more about your tour. Opt to join the group for a local meal afterwards. Don't forget to see the notice in the lobby (or ask reception) for the official time and place to meet up with the group.
Day 2Arusha/Mto wa Mbu
Experience the Mto wa Mbu village with a guided cultural walk and traditional lunch with a local family. Take a wildlife safari drive in Lake Manyara NP.
Travel to Mto wa Mbu village and take part in a cultural walk to learn about village life in the area. Meet the women who run the village tours and enjoy a delicious home made traditional lunch.
Spend the afternoon viewing wildlife along the main road that winds through a lush cool forests of Lake Manyara National Park, overgrown with ficus trees and covered with bromeliads.
This area is truly stunning, as the western wall of the Rift Valley escarpment provides a gorgeous backdrop. Search for the phenomenal birdlife, tree-climbing lions, elephants, giraffes, and hippos.
7-Seat 4x4 Safari Vehicle
Get a better view and take better snapshots aboard this off-road ride with a pop-up top.
Your G for Good Moment: Mto wa Mbu Community Visit and Lunch
Take part in a cultural walk to learn about life in this East African town. Mto wa Mbu has attracted some 18,000 residents from 120 different tribes. During the two-hour tour, visit the community's local market, go right to the farmer's fields, see how huts are constructed, and meet artisans in their shops.
Afterwards, sit down with our new friends and enjoy a traditional lunch of meat and plantains.
Lake Manyara National Park Afternoon Safari Drive
This western wall of the Rift Valley escarpment is truly stunning. It provides a backdrop for your search for the park's phenomenal bird life (including raptors), tree-climbing lions, elephants, zebras, hippos, baboons, and buffalos. Look up and see some of the more than 400 species of birds, including pink flamingos, pelicans, cormorants, and storks.
Beyond wildlife, Lake Manyara NP is home to giant fig trees, acacia woodlands, mahogany trees, and grassy flood plains. The contrasts of this area are simply breathtaking; the open plains, huge escarpment, central alkaline lake, dense woodlands, and distant volcanic peaks coming together in an area best described by Ernest Hemingway as “the loveliest I have seen in Africa.”
Meals included:
Breakfast | LunchDay 3Mto wa Mbu/Serengeti National Park
Visit an authentic Maasai village and the G Adventures-supported Clean Cookstove Project en route to the Serengeti.
Drive through the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and on to Serengeti National Park. En route marvel at the sheer vastness of this territory, and spot the multitude of animal and birdlife while cruising through this acacia-accented savanna.
7-Seat 4x4 Safari Vehicle
Get a better view and take better snapshots aboard this off-road ride with a pop-up top.
Your G for Good Moment: Clean Cookstove Project Visit
Visit a Maasai village in the Monduli District and witness the benefits of the G Adventures-supported Clean Cookstove Project. In Tanzania, 95% of people rely on cooking with wood and coal. Women and girls spend hours walking to collect wood every day (making them vulnerable to assault and unable to use their time to go to school). Indoor smoke from open-fire stoves causes cancer, emphysema, pneumonia, blindness, and burns. Take a guided tour of these villages and meet the women that have been trained as stove engineers, visit bomas (traditional homes), and observe (or get your hands dirty) by helping the Stove Team build a stove in a home. See the beneficial impact of the clean-burning stoves on the health and daily lives of the Maasai villagers, especially the women.
Meals included:
Breakfast | Lunch | DinnerDay 4Serengeti National Park
Rise early for a morning wildlife safari drive, returning in time for lunch. Continue the search for the "big five" in the afternoon while taking in the vastness of the Serengeti plains.
If you have pre-booked a Serengeti Balloon Safari, your flight will be in the morning. You will miss the morning wildlife safari drive with the group, but you will have spectacular views from above. If you have not yet pre-booked, add it to your checkout page, or ask your GCO or travel agent for assistance.
Serengeti National Park Safari
This is the reason you came to Africa. Charge your camera, grab your binoculars, and set out on safari. Your eagle-eyed driver will keep an eye out for wildlife – buffaloes, elephants, lions, wildebeests, zebras, and more. Tanzania’s Serengeti tends to be less crowded than some of Kenya’s reserves, so enjoy the scenery, the vast expanse of the grasslands, the play of light and shadow, and the up-close look at wild Africa.
Optional Activities - Day 4 HideShow
Serengeti Balloon Safari
Spirited aloft in a hot-air balloon, view the wildlife and terrain of the Serengeti that only the birds see. Enjoy a champagne breakfast and keep that shutter-finger good and limber—you’ll be using it plenty over the course of your hour in the air.
Meals included:
Breakfast | Lunch | DinnerDay 5Serengeti National Park/Ngorongoro
Take a morning wildlife safari drive in the Serengeti before getting a spectacular view of the Ngorongoro Crater from its rim.
Enjoy one last morning wildlife safari drive to see the animal kingdom come to life in this incredible expanse of grassland savanna.
After, journey to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, famous for Africa's best wildlife viewing. The vistas from the Ngorongoro Crater rim are stunning, and there is an ever-present abundance of animals, due to the permanent water supply on the crater floor.
Arrive at the campsite on the crater rim in the evening.
Please note that due to the high-altitude location of our camp, temperatures can drop at night. We recommend bringing extra layers to wear during the evening and following morning.
Serengeti National Park Safari
This is the reason you came to Africa. Charge your camera, grab your binoculars, and set out on safari. Your eagle-eyed driver will keep an eye out for wildlife – buffaloes, elephants, lions, wildebeests, zebras, and more. Tanzania’s Serengeti tends to be less crowded than some of Kenya’s reserves, so enjoy the scenery, the vast expanse of the grasslands, the play of light and shadow, and the up-close look at wild Africa.
7-Seat 4x4 Safari Vehicle
Get a better view and take better snapshots aboard this off-road ride with a pop-up top.
Meals included:
Breakfast | Lunch | DinnerDay 6Ngorongoro/Arusha
Head out early for a wildlife safari drive in the Ngorongoro Crater, then return to Arusha for the night.
Embark on a early morning crater drive. The rich pasture and permanent water of the Crater floor supports a resident population of more than 20,000 to 25,000 large mammals.
7-Seat 4x4 Safari Vehicle
Get a better view and take better snapshots aboard this off-road ride with a pop-up top.
Ngorongoro Crater Wildlife Safari Drive
Set the alarm and prepare for an early start to see the wonders of the Ngorongoro Crater. Here you’ll see Maasai herdsmen in the morning mist. Your driver/guide will take you down into the crater and to all the best spots to view wildlife. Spot zebra, gazelles, buffaloes, and warthogs. The swamp and forest are home to hippos, rhinos, elephants, baboons, and monkeys. Keep your eyes peeled and camera ready to capture a pride of lions or a lone leopard walking along the crater floor.
Meals included:
Breakfast | LunchDay 7Arusha
A free day to explore Arusha, or relax at the lodge.
Meals included:
BreakfastDay 8Arusha/Stone Town
Fly to the beautiful island of Zanzibar and transfer to the hotel. Enjoy an orientation walk with your CEO in historic Stone Town, and opt to continue on for a longer walking tour, or explore on your own.
Transfer to the airport for a short, but scenic flight to this island paradise. Arrive in Stone Town in time for lunch and an orientation walk. If you opt to continue on for a longer tour of Stone Town, you will be visiting the Old Slave Market and Palace Museum; entrance to these sites are optional and are to be purchased on site.
The flight from Arusha/Kilimanjaro Airport to Zanzibar is unaccompanied, and you will be met by your local Zanzibar CEO on arrival. Your CEO/driver will give you all the relevant flight information.
Private Vehicle
Settle in and scan the scenery from the convenience of a private vehicle.
Plane
Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's... yup, it is a plane, actually.
The airport transfers and flight are included but will be unaccompanied by a CEO.
Stone Town Orientation Walk
This orientation walk is just a brief introduction. If you'd like to learn more in depth information about Stone Town, we recommended going on a guided city tour.
Optional Activities - Day 8 HideShow
Stone Town Walking Tour
15USD per personEnjoy a walking tour along the bustling narrow streets of Stone Town and admire the historical old buildings and homes that are part of a preservation program funded by UNESCO and the Aga Khan Foundation. Also, visit the historical site of the slave market and learn about this dark aspect of history. Continue to the local fruits and vegetable market, fish market, Tip tipu house, and National Museum.
Christ Church Cathedral & Old Slave Market
5USD per personTour the site of what was once one of East Africa's most notorious slave markets, and the Anglican cathedral that was constructed in its place.
Sultan's Palace Museum
3USD per personTour this opulent palace built by the second sultan of Zanzibar in 1883 as an extravagant Arab mansion.
Meals included:
BreakfastDay 9Beach day in Zanzibar
Visit a local spice plantation for a guided tour. Continue to the white-sand beaches and turquoise waters of Zanzibar's beautiful coast.
Private Vehicle
Settle in and scan the scenery from the convenience of a private vehicle.
Spice Plantation Guided Tour
Delight your senses with a guided tour and learn about an assortment of spices, such as cloves, black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, breadfruit, jackfruit, vanilla, and lemongrass, and their various uses. It was the spice plantations that brought the beginnings of Zanzibar’s infamous slave trade dating back to the 1840s.
Free Time
Settle into island life and explore during some free time.
Optional Activities - Day 9 HideShow
Swimming
Grab your bathing suit and go for a refreshing swim.
Meals included:
BreakfastDays 10–11Beach day in Zanzibar
Enjoy free time to lounge on the beach, snorkel, or tour the island.
Free Time
Do as much or as little as you'd like on this island slice of paradise.
Optional Activities - Days 10–11 HideShow
Swahili Cultural Tour
70-200USD per personTake a couple of hours to get to know the life of a Zanzibarian by being immersed in the local culture. Follow a guide through a rural village to see elements of day to day life, sit with men of the village to see how they weave palm fronds to make the thatch roofs for their huts, opt to play a game of Bao (Zanzibar favorite game past time), and enjoy a traditional dance performance.
Swimming
Grab your bathing suit and go for a refreshing swim.
Jozani Forest Tour
36-160USD per personKnown for the red colobus monkeys, a visit Jozani forest is a highlight when in Zanzibar. Explore the nature trails while following in the footsteps of a guide who will inform about the impressive flora and fauna surrounding you.
Scuba Diving
130USD per personTake a boat to Mnemba, a small island surrounded by a circular reef boasting an an abundance of colourful coral and marine life. Suit up and enjoy the excellent visibility allowed by the turquoise waters of this region. If you are lucky, you just might be able to spot the bottlenose dolphins that are known to visit this area.
Snorkelling
40USD per personEnjoy a day of snorkelling in the safety of an experienced snorkel guide in the area of one of Zanzibar's most well-known reefs surrounding Mnemba island. Lifejackets, short wetsuits and buoyancy aids available. Price is dependent on pick-up location.
Meals included:
BreakfastDay 12Stone Town
Morning group transfer from the beach. Depart Stone Town upon arrival in the late morning.
Onward travel should be booked no earlier than 2:30pm.
Private Vehicle
Settle in and scan the scenery from the convenience of a private vehicle.
Departure Day
Not ready to leave? Your CEO can help with any onward travel arrangements you require.