Itinerary

Days 1 and 2 – Depart U.S. / Arrive Tanzania

Upon arrival at the airport, you will be met and transferred to your lodge, where your Thomson Family Safari begins.

Day 3 – Arusha National Park

The wonders of Arusha National Park often draw comparison to Mount Kilimanjaro and Ngorongoro Crater, its larger counterparts in northern Tanzania. Mount Meru has been called Mount Kilimanjaro’s little cousin, and Ngurdoto Crater, which teems with wildlife, has the nickname “Little Ngorongoro.” Arusha National Park, however, has offerings found nowhere else in the region, including lush mountain forests that are home to the exquisite colobus monkey, and some 575 bird species. The park is truly a hidden gem.

Wildlife safari
Hike to Mount Meru Waterfall
Picnic lunch

Days 4 and 5 – Tarangire National Park

This is Tanzania’s fourth-largest national park. Spend two full days with your family in Tarangire, exploring its rugged landscapes by safari vehicle. This park, often overlooked, astonishes many with its massive herds of elephant and distinctive winding riverine landscapes and swampy floodplains. It is also known for its large numbers of bizarre baobab trees, famous for their enormous trunks and root-like branches.

Wildlife safari
Swimming

Day 6 – Ngorongoro Highlands

As you travel to the Ngorongoro Highlands en route to the Crater, you and your kids will head up a steep, winding road near the edge of the Great Rift Valley. Make sure to keep your cameras ready on the drive – you will be rewarded with expansive vistas of Lake Manyara and the exquisite surrounding plains. At the top of this slope lie the lush Ngorongoro Highlands, where the region's rich volcanic soil makes for some of the most fertile land in Tanzania.

Friends Across Borders meeting (pen pals)
Lunch at Gibb’s Farm

Day 7 – Ngorongoro Crater and Conservation Area

Drive a short distance from the rural highlands to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, a wildlife and cultural preserve that covers 3,200 square miles, of which a mere 102 square miles represent the Ngorongoro Crater itself. Only members of the Maasai tribe are permitted to live within the Conservation Area's boundaries, and they can be seen wearing bright red and royal blue cloths and tending to their herds of goats and cattle; although they can't actually live on the crater floor, they often bring their cattle there to drink the mineral-rich water.

Wildlife safari on the Crater floor

Days 8 and 9 – Serengeti National Park

Protected since 1921, the Serengeti became Tanzania’s first National Park thirty years later. It is almost the size of the US state of Connecticut, and features grassland plains and savanna as well as riverine forest and woodlands. You will see wooded knolls around the official entrance called Naabi Hill Gate, which then drops into the park’s signature wide-open expansive plains. Like no other, this stretch embodies the meaning of the word “Serengeti,” which derives from the Maasai word Siringet, and has been translated as “the land that flows on forever.” Serengeti National Park covers 6,000 square miles of pristine land, and offers not only sprawling landscapes but the largest migration of mammals on earth, including 1.5 million wildebeest. Your family spends time in two different locations of the park, with a total of four nights in the green and comfortable Nyumba camps.

Picnic lunch
Wildlife safari in the Serengeti
Balloon safari
Brief stop at Olduvai Gorge

Days 10 and 11 - Private Nature Reserve in the Eastern Serengeti Ecosystem

You and your family will head from the Serengeti to a Nature Refuge in the eastern part of that ecosystem.  The terrain will get more rugged as you depart the park and head across scrubland covered in candelabra trees and Maasai bomas and villages, finally arriving at the 12,000-acre wildlife preservation area.  This is off-the-beaten path travel at it’s best!

Over the next two days you’ll have opportunities for wildlife viewing by Land Rover, on foot, and on a night drive through the bush.  You’ll also be able to meet members of the local Maasai community who live in this remote region.  There are very few visitors to the area and the connection guests make with local people is extra special as a result.  Whether you’re listening to folk tales from a Maasai grandmother or welcoming the warriors as they return home at night, each visit is unique and will add an unparalleled measure of authenticity to your family’s safari experience.

Wildlife safari
Guided bush walk
Sustainable conservation

Day 12 –  Private Nature Reserve / Arusha / Depart

This area is just one example of how Tanzania has been a magnificent inspiration for the world in terms of wildlife and environmental conservation. There is time for one last game viewing drive before returning to Arusha on a short flight. Rest, repack, and shower before your departing KLM flight.

Day 13 – Depart Amsterdam / Arrive U.S.

More information from Thomson Family Adventures:

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