14 Days Sansevierias Plants Safari

Overview

Tour Summary

Start: Arusha, Tanzania
End: Arusha, Tanzania
Destinations: Tarangire and Ngorongoro
Theme: Wildlife Safari
Physical level: Easy
Max group size: Any size

Itinerary

Day 1: Arrival

Arrival at (JRO) Kilimanjaro International Airport. You will be met at the airport for transfer to Mt. Meru Hotel in Arusha, the finest hotel in the region. Dinner is at the hotel.

Accommodation Mount Meru Hotel

Day 2: Arusha National Park

Breakfast at hotel. Depart for Arusha National Park at 8:00 AM for a tour of the entire park. You will see many famous African animals including giraffe, buffalo, zebra, impala, baboons and many more in an unusual wet climate setting. A box lunch will be provided to be enjoyed at the picnic site in the park. After returning to the Mt. Meru Hotel in the afternoon, you have the option of a city market tour, or you may relax at the hotel. Dinner at the hotel.

Accommodation: Mount Meru Hotel

Day 3: Arusha to Mafinga

Early departure for Mafinga in the southern highlands region. It is a long drive, but we will break the driving by stopping to investigate the many beautiful natural sights and wildflowers that we will see along the way. In the town of Mafinga, we will stay at the Merin Hotel, where we will have dinner.

Accommodation: Merin Hotel

Day 4: Mafinga to Chogela

After breakfast at the hotel, we leave Mafinga for a leisurely drive through the African countryside. Along the way we will pick up local guides who will accompany us as we hike to see strange termite mound plant communities near Ikungwe, including the newly named and dramatically beautiful Sansevieriabhitalae. We will also hike through the forest at Makombe to see other very different plant communities. We end the day at Chogela, with dinner at Chogela Lodge, where we will stay the night.

Accommodation: Chogela Lodge

Day 5: Chogela

We will have a morning hike from the lodge to see the newly described Sansevieriatrifasciata ssp. sikawae and other plants in the forest. After lunch at the lodge, we will take an afternoon drive to see more of the very rich flora of the region. Elements of the South African fynbos extend into the mountains here; the plants seen in this example of fire ecology are very different from the plants in nearby forests.

Accommodation: Chogela Lodge

Day 6: Chogela to Ruaha National Park

Early morning breakfast and departure from Chogela Lodge to Ruaha National Park, a remote and seldom-visited park teaming with animals and 542 species of birds. This is the largest park in Tanzania, larger than Denmark, and one of the largest parks in Africa. There is no better place to see wildlife. The Ruaha River that flows through the park provides an opportunity to see animals and birds that live in or near the water, such as crocodiles and hippos. We will spend the whole day driving the park where we will see a great variety of birds and animals, plus interesting plant life. We will have a box lunch at a picnic site inside the park. We will have dinner and stay overnight at cottages within the park.

Day 7: Ruaha to Singida

We get up early to be able to see the many animals that are more active at that time of day, leaving Ruaha National Park for an interesting drive north through a region with beautiful scenery, via the small town of Itigi, continuing on to the town of Singida. This is a remote area rich in plants and flowers in what is normally dry bush, although much of it will be green in April. We can stop as we wish to have a closer look at interesting sights along the way. Box lunch on the road. We will stay at the Regency Hotel in Singida, where we will have dinner.

Accommodation: Regency Hotel

Day 8: Singida to Shinyanga

Early departure from Singida, to Shinyanga, where you can see magnificent rock outcroppings called kopjes or inselbergs, with their distinctive communities of plants and animals. This region has many interesting populations of Sansevieria. We can stop to have a closer look at some of these unique sights. We will have a box lunch along the way. At Shinyanga we will stay at the Vigmark Hotel, where we have dinner.

Accommodation: Vigmark Hotel

Day 9: Shinyanga to Bunda

Drive from Shinyanga to Bunda, another scenic drive with opportunities to stop and examine the flora along the way. Box lunch on the road. In Bunda, we stay at the Landmaster Hotel. This is the western gateway to the great Serengeti National Park, a World Heritage Site that is probably the most impressive park in the world to see savannah wildlife.

Accommodation: Landmaster Hotel

Day 10: Bunda to Mto wa Mbu via Serengeti National Park

After breakfast at the hotel, we will enter the Serengeti National Park in early morning, driving through the park, seeing all sorts of savannah wildlife along the way. All five of the famous African predators are represented here: lion, leopard, cheetah, hyena, and wild dog, as well as countless herbivores such as impala and wildebeest. We will have a box lunch inside the park, after which we drive through the rest of the park to Ngorongoro Crater, one of the largest active calderas in the world. We will descend to the bottom of the crater where a thriving population of rhinoceros is living. If we are lucky we might be able to catch a glimpse of these very shy and elusive beasts. We end our day at Lake Manyara, at the Twiga Lodge, where we will have dinner.

Accommodation: Twiga Lodge

Day 11: Mto wa mbu to Lake Natron

We drive along the Rift Valley Wall to Lake Natron, the home of a famous enormous population of flamingoes. We will also see the active volcano called the “mountain of God” (OlDonyo-Lengai) by the Maasai people. Our local Maasai guide will take us on a tour of the lake where unusual and unique plants such as Adenium (desert rose) can be seen. We will have dinner and sleep at the Lengai Hotel within the park.

Accommodation: Lengai Hotel

Day 12: Lake Natron to Tarangire

In the morning we will hike to the waterfall and then depart the park after our box lunch around noon, for our drive to Tarangire. At the end of the day we retire to Usupuko Lodge, a quiet sanctuary with a great view of the bush.

Accommodation: Osupuko Lodge

Day 13: Tarangire to Arusha

After breakfast at the hotel, we go to Tarangire National Park for a different view of African fauna in a savannah environment with iconic acacia and baobab trees. You will see many unusual and beautiful plants and a full range of African wildlife up close and personally. Box lunch is in the park at the picnic site. At the end of the day we return to Arusha and Mt Meru Hotel.

Accommodation: Mount Meru Hotel

Day 14: Departue

If your flight is leaving late in the day, you can join a city tour to see some of the sights and markets, and buy some souvenirs. Lunch is at the hotel. Then we will arrange your transfer to the airport for your flight.

Inclusions