Day by Day itinerary 8 Days discovering true Tanzanian culture and Wildlife tour
Day 1: Transfer to Mulala village near Mountain Meru
After a leisurely breakfast, you will be transferred to Mulala village to learn about the Agape women’s group. “Agape” is Greek for “love.” Experience the Mulala women’s affection as soon as you arrive in Mulala hamlet, located 40 minutes above Arusha on the slopes of Mount Meru. Their songs and dances will welcome you, as is customary when visiting a traditional African village.
The inhabitants here engage in economic activities such as handcrafts, honey production and processing, and milk products such as butter, yogurt, and cheeses. Mulala cheese is afterwards marketed in Arusha and Dar es Salam marketplaces. On this day, you will take a scenic stroll through Mulala’s agricultural fields, where maize, coffee, and other crops are grown, while gently ascending its village route to an overlook of Arusha town below and clear views of Mt Kilimanjaro 45 kilometers to the east.
After a delicious hot local lunch, you will participate transform coffee beans grown and harvested in Mulala’s coffee plantations into coffee by cooking the dry coffee beans in their natural state over open fires, then by hand pounding them in wooden vessels and filtering their husks to the beat of African chants sung by Mulala women. Dinner and an overnight stay at the lodge.
Meal plan: All meals are included
Day 2: Transfer to Lake Manyara national park and Mto WA Mbu village for Biking Excursion
After breakfast, go to Lake Manayara National Park and then to Mto WA Mbu village for a bicycling adventure, where you will encounter natives going about their daily routines. Interact with the locals to learn about their cultural programs and the people’s traditional way of life.
After lunch, have a game watching drive in Manyara National Park. Due to its subsurface water sources, this park is green all year. Its vibrant green tint attracts hundreds of stunning migrating and wetland birds soaring overhead. It also attracts large numbers of flamingos because its shallow alkaline-saline (salt) soda lake provides a suitable environment for microorganisms that flamingos feed on. See vast groups of baboons, velvet monkeys, blue monkeys, and tree climbing lions, as well as hippos, giraffes, zebras, buffalos, warthogs, impalas, Thomson-gazelles, and Grant gazelles. This park is also home to leopards, cheetahs, rock/tree hyrax, kudus, elands, bushbucks, waterbucks, and dik-diks. Following that, you return to the lodge for dinner and an overnight stay.
Meal plan: All meals are included
Day 3: Visit to Hadzabe Bushmen and Datoga Tribes
After breakfast, go to Hadzabe Bushmen, one of the worlds most remote and last hunter-gatherer groups. You will engage in a variety of interactive activities with the Hadzabe, such as bushwalking, hunting, honey gathering, foraging for baobab fruits, tribal chanting, dancing, and sitting around their daily campfires. You simply participate in whatever they are up to during the day. Things must remain adaptable because, if animal is nearby, the Hadzabe will run off into the bush in search of it and join them in the hunt chase.
Join the Datoga tribe, another well-preserved traditional tribe near Lake Eyasi, in the late afternoon and participate in whatever they are doing, such as producing yogurt in a calabash, milking cows, creating butter, and participating in their traditional dances. Observe their blacksmith as he designs and fashions metal objects. Drive to the lodge later in the evening for dinner and overnight.
Meal plan: All meals are included
Day 4: Drive to Serengeti national park via Olduvai Gorge
After breakfast, you will depart for the Serengeti grasslands. Stop in the Olduvai Gorge on the way to the Serengeti, where famous scientists Louis and Mary Leakey discovered evidence of the oldest archaic human civilization and a human skull dating back 1.8 million years. A tiny museum now exists to document their efforts. Following that, proceed into the Serengeti plains
After arriving, have a little rest before going on a wildlife drive in the Serengeti until dusk. The name “Serengeti” is derived from the Maasai word siringitu, which means “endless plains,” and you’ll understand why when you witness the “ocean” of grassland savannas reaching to the horizon. The Serengeti ecosystem is one of the world’s oldest and best protected. Climate, vegetation, fauna, and flora have remained largely unchanged over the last million years. Return to our accommodation for dinner and overnight after witnessing the game.
Meal plan: All meals are included
Day 5: Full day game drive
Following breakfast, you will participate in a morning game viewing experience. Then return to your lodge for lunch before going on an afternoon wildlife drive.
Discover the Serengeti’s heart, the breathtaking Seronera River Valley, during game drives. This pristine valley’s gorgeous environment is simply breathtaking. Beyond the horizon, endless savannas extend. Discover the Serengeti’s heart, the breathtaking Seronera River Valley, on wildlife drives. This pristine valley’s gorgeous environment is simply breathtaking. Beyond the horizon, endless savannas extend.
Rivers meander past ponds, seasonal wetlands, and open fields. The dark outlines of umbrella-shaped acacia trees tower over the plains, while huge granite kopjes loom in the distance, creating a timeless vision of Africa. Return to your lodge for dinner and the night after the long game drive.
Meal plan: All meals are included
Day 6: Transfer to Ngorongoro crater area for evening game drive at the bottom of the crater
After breakfast, depart on a 2- to 3-hour drive to Ngorongoro Conservation Area, in which you will explore the world’s largest Caldera and encounter several mammals including Rhinos, Elephants, Lions, Zebras, buffaloes, Leopards, Hyenas, and many more, not to mention an encounter with the local Masai People who live in harmony with the wildlife while grazing their livestock. Upon arrival, you will check into the lodge for lunch before heading into the crater for a game drive before the sun sets. Return to your lodge for dinner and sleeping.
Meal plan: All meals are included
Day 7: Olmoti/Empakai Hiking Adventure and Nainokanoka Masai Cultural Visit
After breakfast, go to the north side of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area to see the Olmoti and Empakai Craters. It is widely regarded as the most picturesque location in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. The active volcanic mountain, Oldonyo Lengai, may be seen in the distance from the two crater rims. When looking down into craters, it is common to see pink flamingos migrating from Lake Natron in the north to Lake Manyara in the south.
Hiking to the floor of one of the craters takes approximately 35-45 minutes to descend and 60+ minutes to rise. Hikers are always escorted by armed security guards. If you don’t want to hike into one of the craters, you may have a delightful walking safari above its rim in the lush Ngorongoro Highlands, where you can see Maasai pasture their livestock.
After lunch, go to Nainokanoka, a Maasai settlement near the craters. Observe the Ngorongoro Crater rim from its eastern side, in which moist warm air from the Indian Ocean meets warm dry air from the Serengeti, resulting in a beautiful cloud formation snaking into the crater.
The highlight of your journey to Nainokanoka is going to be meeting the elder of a four-generation Maasai family’s boma (homestead), meeting his seven wives, his fifty offspring, and seeing their manyatas (igloo-like dwellings). Afterwards you will return to the lodge for dinner and night sleep
Meal plan: All meals are included
Day 8: Transfer back to Arusha
You will wake up and have a leisurely breakfast before driving back to Arusha. Depending on the time of your flight, you will be dropped off at the hotel or the airport, bringing this 8 Days discovering safari to a close.
Meal plan: Breakfast and lunch
