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TANZANIA CALVING SEASON SAFARI - THE CIRCLE OF LIFE
February 21 to March 2, 2010
Jeff Pychel of Travel Broker Tours invites you to join him on an exciting 10 day safari adventure and experience the 'Circle of Life' in Africa!
Limited to just 12 participants...
Our Tanzania Calving Season Safari will not only give you the best opportunity to witness the 'Circle of Life' on the African plain, but a real likelihood of sighting the 'Big Five' (Lion, Elephant, Buffalo, Leopard and Rhinoceros) with your own eyes.
Calving season on the African plain generally lasts from late January through mid-March, with the largest number of calves being born within a three week span in February. During this period of the 'Great Migration', upwards of 1.5 million migratory animals (wildebeast, zebra and gazelle) return to the Ngorongoro and Serengeti area to give birth to an estimated 400,000 calves. Sightings of all animals in the area including lions, cheetahs and hyenas are plentiful at this time of year.
We explore destinations such as Arusha, Ngorongoro, Lake Manyara, Tarangire and the iconic Serengeti National Park. The Serengeti and Ngorongoro Conservation Areas are both UNESCO World Heritage Sites and arguably the most impressive wildlife sanctuaries in the world and home to an extraordinary list of animal, reptile and bird life. Experience your own 'Out of Africa' moments while enjoying exceptional safari lodge and tented accommodations, fine cuisine and supurb Tanzanian hospitality.
During transfers and game drives a maximum of 6 passengers will enjoy our deluxe eight-seater 4x4 safari vehicles. Our drivers/guides are both experienced and knowledgeable and will take you off the beaten track on game drives while the brilliant African sun rises over the horizon, and again as the sun sets and plays out in wondrous colours.
What's Included
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Our Program
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Detailed Itinerary
Sat. Feb 20th, DEPART CANADA
Board your overnight transatlantic flight. (As a full service travel agency were happy to assist with flight arrangements to join this safari. We suggest booking early to obtain the best flights and rates available.)
Day 1: Sun. Feb 21st, ARRIVE IN ARUSHA, TANZANIA
Welcome to Africa! Arriving this evening at the airport you will be transfered to our hotel in Arusha. The city is a staging area for safaris in Tanzania. Once there you'll be met and greeted by Jeff, your Safari Escort from Travel Broker Tours. Settle in and unwind from your long flight before retiring for the evening
Deluxe Lodging: Serena Mountain Village Hotel
Serena Mountain Village Hotel is nestled in the heart of a tree-shaded coffee plantation, wreathed in multi-coloured tresses of tumbling bougainvillea and strung like a necklace around the shores of an idyllic wooded Lake Duluti. It offers a haven of calm and serenity just outside the hustle and bustle of Arusha, Tanzania's premier 'Safari Town'. The main building is designed as a country manor with its main lounge and bar area accompanied by two working fire places which makes it feel more like a colonial home rather than hotel. Stone-built rooms with spacious bathrooms are housed in a half-moon of traditional ‘rondavel’ circular dwellings arranged to cluster in a village-style grouping. These charming rooms have individual verandas and curved French windows giving spectacular views onto the tranquil lakeside beauty below. The dining room overlooks the lake’s flower-fringed slopes and features an open-air bar area, a relaxed candlelit atmosphere and serves traditional safari favourites and internationally cuisine.
  
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Day 2: Mon. Feb 22nd, ARUSHA to NGORONGORO CRATER
Following breakfast we will hold a safari briefing before boarding our deluxe 8-seater 4x4 (with pop-up roof for game viewing) to the Ngorongoro Crater. Often described as the 'Garden of Eden', it is the largest intact volcanic caldera in the world. The rich pasture and permanent water source in the crater is a natural sanctuary for over 20,000 animals, including the endangered black rhino. We arrive mid-day just before lunch at our stunning 'stone lodge' built onto the rim of this amazing natural phenomenon. We enjoy a relaxed lunch in the lodges panaramic diningroom before retiring to your rooms private balcony, with breathtaking views overlooking the crater below. Later that evening we'll regroup in the lodges esquisite diningroom for the safari's welcome dinner.
Deluxe Lodging: Ngorongoro Serena Lodge
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
The Ngorongoro Conservation Area
The Ngorongoro Conservation Area stretches from the Karatu Highlands to the Serengeti and covers an area of around 8300 sq kms and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979. The centerpiece of the area is the Ngorongoro Crater, the largest unflooded and intact volcanic caldera in the world and a natural sanctuary for the thousands of animals that live inside its enclosure. Formed by the same immense geological upheavals as the Great Rift Valley, the crater was once a mountain as high as Kilimanjaro. Over 3 million years ago, it exploded covering the Serengeti in ash and its crater floor sank leaving the rim to form a natural enclosure 2,285 meters high. With over 20,000 animals, the Ngorongoro Crater has been described as the best self-contained safari destination in the world. The open grassland makes it easy to police, so it is also a stronghold for the endangered black rhino.
Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge is a triumph of ecological and architectural fusion, perched on the jagged rim of the crater, wreathed in morning mist, camouflaged in river-stone and cloaked in indigenous creepers. Rooms are strung around the crater rim, each with its own rock-enclosed balcony and feature brass lamps, embossed leather headboards, wildwood mirrors, Maasai carvings and flamboyant prehistoric wall motifs. The rooms and two-tier dining room offer uninterrupted views of the crater below. Enjoy traditional Maasai fare, long-time safari favourites and internationally themed cuisine in the diningroom.
 
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Day 3: Tues. Feb 23rd, NGORONGORO to SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK
After an early morning breakfast we proceed down into the Ngorongoro Crater for a full morning game drive. The Crater is a microcosm of East Africa, enclosing in one place - grasslands, forests, wetlands and slopes providing habitats to over 20,000 animals including wildebeast, zebra and gazelle. By visiting the crater during Calving Season, we are almost guaranteed to see newborns as well as sightings of lions, cheetahs and other animals and birds. We enjoy a picnic lunch in the crater before setting out on our journey to Serengeti National Park. We arrive at our exquisite tented camp, the epitome of tented sophistication which is scenically located in an acacia glade and guarded by monolithic granite towers known as kopjes. Relax and unwind on your tent's own verandah before regrouping for dinner at the camp's classically styled dining tent with panoramic views over the sun-blazed plains.
Deluxe Lodging: Mbuzi Mawe Tented Camp
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Mbuzi Mawe Tented Camp is scenically located in a secluded acaia glade guarded by 3 million year old granite towers with sweeping views over the burning plains. A place of infinite calm surrounded by untamed majesty, this private encampment of luxurious tents blends classical safari rusticity with first-class hospitality and service. The classically styled dining tent has its own natural stoned shaded terrace for optional outdoor dining while the cuisine blends the traditional camp fare of flame-roasted meats with salads, fresh garden produce, piquant fish dishes and luscious desserts.
  
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Day 4: Wed. Feb 24th, SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK
Early this morning before dawn we set out on our morning game drive. The mornings are bright and crisp offering lots of animal activity and great lighting for photography. Unlike any other camp, Mbuzi Mawe Tented Camp lies at the epicenter of the Serengeti within easy reach of prime wildlife areas including Lobo, the Grumeti River and the Seronera Valley. After our morning game drive we return to our camp for a wonderful full breakfast on the camp's natural stone dining terrace. In the heat of the day we relax, enjoy a lovely lunch and some personal time to catch up on reading and journal entering. Mid afternoon we head out on an afternoon game drive where we might be lucky enough to witness crocodiles and hippos in the nearby Grumeti River. Afterwards we regroup for a pre-dinner sundowner on the camps natural stoned terrace overlooking the vast sun-blazed plains. After dinner relax with your travelling companions before retiring for the evening.
Deluxe Lodging: Mbuzi Mawe Tented Camp
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
The Serengeti
Africa's most famous region, 'The Serengeti' is known around the world due to the 'Great Migration', when every year, over 1.5 million animals move clockwise around this 14,763 sq. km ecosystem in search of grazing areas and water. Serengeti comes from the Maasai word ‘Siringlit’, meaning ‘the place where land runs on forever’ and refers to the flat grassy plains which make up about a third of the park. It is these grasslands and savannahs that ensure that the area is jam-packed full of game. There are animals here at any time of year, but from October to May, the area teems with life, including wildebeest, zebra, impala, warthogs, topi, gazelles and hyena. Lions, leopards and cheetahs can be more easily spotted on the Kopjes, granite rock scultures scattered across the landscape.
Day 5: Thurs. Feb 25th, SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK
After an early morning wakeup call enjoy a hot cup of coffee before heading out on our morning game drive or optional Hot Air Balloon Safari (see below). Upon our return to the lodge enjoy a full breakfast followed by some personal time to relax and unwind. After lunch catch up on some last minute postcard writing before your afternoon game drive. After our game drive we return to our camp where you'll have time to refreshin up before having a relaxed dinner in the camp's classically styled dining tent. After dinner relax with your travelling companions around the camp's fire-pit before retiring for the evening.
Deluxe Lodging: Mbuzi Mawe Tented Camp
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
OPTIONAL: Hot Air Balloon Safari with Champagne Breakfast
For the ultimate thrill seeker a Hot Air Balloon Safari option is an absolute must. Liftoff, and the adventure of a lifetime begins as you slowly open your eyes and see the rising sun's bright orange sphere in the Kenyan sky. You'll be inclined to pinch yourself and stare in disbelief as you see elephants at the watering pool, and the wildebeest, gazelles and zebras scampering away below. A hot bush breakfast with champagne is also included in this optional excursion. Afterwards you'll return to the lodge where you'll have personal time to relax and unwind.
Day 6: Fri. Feb 26th, SERENGETI to LAKE MANYARA NATIONAL PARK
After a relaxed breakfast, we board our 4x4 safari vehicles and proceed to Lake Manyara National Park. Along the way we'll make a stop at the Olduvai Gorge (also known as Oldupai, the Maasai spelling of the name) where early hominid remains were found by Louis and Mary Leakey dating back over 2 million years. We'll stop for lunch and enjoy a tour of the small museum that explains these amazing finds. After lunch we drive through Tanzania's varied landscapes till we arrive at our lodge perched on the edge of the Mto Wa Mbu escarpment with one of the greatest views overlooking the Great Rift Valley and its soda lake. Lake Manyara National Park is a beautiful park renowned for large elephant and buffalo populations, birds of prey, flamingo, hippo and tree climbing lions that inhabit the woodland that nestles between the lake and the Rift Valley. Settle in to your room and unwind before regrouping for dinner in the lodges circular dining room with endless views over the floor of the Great Rift Valley. Later, relax with your travelling companions before retiring for the evening.
Deluxe Lodging: Lake Manyara Serena Safari Lodge
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
The Olduvai Gorge
The Olduvai Gorge is an archaeological site located in the eastern Serengeti Plains. The gorge is a very steep sided ravine roughly 30 miles long and 295 ft. deep. Exposed deposits show rich fossil fauna, many hominid remains and items belonging to the one of the oldest stone tool technologies, called Olduwan. The time span of the objects recovered date from 2,100,000 to 15,000 years ago. In the seventy years since Louis and Mary Leakey first began searching the area for clues to our distant past, more than sixty hominid remains have been found, belonging to four different hominids, showing the gradual increase in brain size and in the complexity of their stone tools. At Laetoli, hominid footprints are preserved in volcanic rock some 3.6 million years old and represent some of the earliest signs of the small brained, upright-walking Australopithecus afarensis, ever to be found.
Lake Manyara Serena Safari Lodge is perched high on the bluff of a dramatic ochre and terracotta streaked cliff above the flamingo-frosted expanse of Lake Manyara’s gleaming alkaline waters. Designed to reflect the brilliance of Lake Manyara's unique birdlife, the lodge draws on an inspirational architectural motif that melds swooping avian curves with the gentle concentric patterns of traditional Maasai 'Boma' (encampment) style of construction. Each circular, closely-thatched room has its own private veranda with breathtaking and panoramic views of the volcano-studded floor below. Enjoy fine cuisine in the lodge's circular dining room with endless views of the Great Rift Valley below as well as one of the most dramatic vanishing egde swimming pools, which has received architectural acclaim and lies on the very edge of the escarpment.
  
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Day 7: Sat. Feb 27th, LAKE MANYARA to TARANGIRE NATIONAL RESERVE
After breakfast we make our way to Tarangire National Park, a thin long park covering a 1360 sq km area along the Tarangire River. It is Tanzania's third largest park with the second largest concentration of game after the Ngorongoro Crater. Majestic baobab trees dot the landscape, seemingly dwarfing the animals that feed beneath them. We arrive just in time for lunch at our lodge, built on top of a high bluff with breathtaking panoramic views of the carved river valley below. After lunch enjoy some personal time exploring your new surroundings, catching up on some postcard or journal writing. Mid afternoon we embark on our first game drive in the park, famous for it's large herds of elephants, zebras, antelope, giraffes, baboons and prodigious numbers of varied birds. Afterwards we return to our lodge for an exquisite dinner served under the vaulted ceiling of the open-aired dining room, providing great views of the river valley below.
Deluxe Lodging: Tarangire Safari Lodge
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Tarangire Safari Lodgeis built on top of a high bluff with breathtaking views of the carved Tarangire River valley, a favourite watering place which attracts impressive numbers and variety of game. Luxury tents combine the authentic safari atmosphere of ‘nights under canvas’, with the modern amenities of first-class accommodation and superior hospitality and service. At the heart of the lodge are the impressively high thatched roofs of the lounge and open-aired dining room. The open-sided design allows an uninterrupted view of the landscape and wildlife below, and captures the cooling breeze while you dine on delicious on home-cooked safari cuisine using fresh local ingredients and a hint of African spices.
  
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Day 8: Sun. Feb 28th, TARANGIRE NATIONAL PARK
After an early morning wakeup call we set out on our morning game drive in Tarangire National Park. The park displays a diverse number of wildlife and over 550 bird species. We return to our lodge and enjoy a relaxed full breakfast with time to swap game drive stories with your fellow travelling companions. In the heat of the day we relax, enjoy a lovely lunch, a swim
in the pool or catch up on some reading.
Mid afternoon we'll head back out on our afternoon game drive, where we may be lucky enough to view elephants and their babies taking a late afternoon bath in the river. During the months of November thru February, its not uncommon to see herds as large as 500 elephants in the park, with plenty of succulent green shoots appearing just in time for their breeding season. We return to our lodge where you'll have time to refreshin up before having a relaxed dinner in the lodges dining room.
Deluxe Lodging: Tarangire Safari Lodge
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 9: Mon. MARCH 1st, TARANGIRE to ARUSHA, TANZANIA
Enjoy a relaxed full breakfast before we make our way to Arusha. On the way, we'll stop for lunch and enjoy a tour of a local cultural centre. After lunch we continue our journey to Arusha where we'll stay overnight in the heart of a coffee plantation on the shores of Lake Duluti. Relax and unwind in your ethnically-styled 'Rondavel' village-cluster room before regrouping with your fellow travelling companions on the safari's farewell dinner overlooking the lake's flower-fringed slopes.
Deluxe Lodging: Serena Mountain Village Hotel
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Day 10: Tues. MARCH 2nd, ARUSHA, TANZANIA
After a leisurely breakfast enjoy the rest of your morning on the shores of Lake Duluti. Enjoy a relaxed stroll spotting the many bird species or wander through the coffee plantations around the lodge. After lunch and a relaxed afternoon we'll transfer to the to the airport for your flight home.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Pricing:
$5,365.00 (CAD)
(Airfares not included in tour price but can be arranged)
- Price is LAND ONLY (See Inclusions & Exclusions below)
- Price per person sharing twin/double accommodation
- Non - Refundable deposit required upon booking ($750.00 CAD)
Includes:
- 9 Nights deluxe accommodations in tented camps and lodges
- All meals and non-alcoholic beverages
- All airport & safari transfers
- Deluxe 8 seater 4x4 safari vehicle with pop-up roof for game viewing
- All game drives daily and park entrance fees
- Fully escorted by Jeff Pychel of Travel Broker Tours
- Experienced local English-speaking guides and drivers
- All baggage handling and gratuities (accommodations, meals,
drivers, guides, baggage, transfers) - Membership to medical emergency flying doctor services
- Bottled water on game drives & safari transfers
- Complimentary safari hat and wildlife journal
- Visit to the Cultural Center in Arusha
- Guaranteed shared option
- All Taxes
Excludes:
- International Airfare To/From Arusha, Tanzania
- Mandatory medical insurance ( Medical insurance is mandatory to
compliment our included 'Flying Doctor' service) - Personal Insurances (baggage, cancellation, etc.)
- Immunizations and Visas
- Alcoholic beverages and bar beverages
(soft drinks), laundry & personal hotel charges - All optional excursions or deviations from the itinerary
- Items of personal nature and souvenirs
Travel Broker Tours would be happy to assist you in arranging flights from your home to join us!
For more information or to register for this tour please contact Jeff Pychel at:
Travel Broker Tours
A division of The Travel Broker & Cruise Centre
1758 Bath Road Kingston, ON Canada
Telephone: 613-389-7914 or 1-800-387-7678
Email: jpychel@thetravelbroker.ca
Web: www.thetravelbroker.ca
