Tanzania Up Close: Culture, Conservation, and Wildlife

Depart the United States on an overnight flight to Tanzania.

Upon arrival to Kilimanjaro International Airport, a Holbrook representative will meet you outside the airport and take you to the hotel. Check-in starts at 12 pm.

After breakfast and a welcome briefing on your upcoming Tanzania adventure, spend the day exploring Arusha National Park. Upon arrival, receive an introduction to the park, its history, and the variety of animals inhabiting the section known as "Little Serengeti" and its nearby Mt. Meru, one of Africa's highest mountains. Depart from the ranger post for a walk in the foothills of Mt. Meru to a lookout point with views of the park and impressive Mt. Kilimanjaro in the distance. Continue to a waterfall and open grasslands dotted with giraffes, warthogs, antelopes, and a variety of bird species, including flamingos. Enjoy a boxed lunch in the park while exploring and searching for colobus monkeys.

Early this morning, take a walk on the lodge grounds. After breakfast, check out and visit a local market to view a variety of colorful handicrafts and observe daily life in Arusha. Next, visit Shanga Beads, a local project that was established in 2007 and is made up of a group of more than 70 artisans with disabilities who create a variety of products through weaving, glass blowing, beading, paper making, and metal work, using recycled materials wherever possible. Their philosophy is that "kindness is a language blind people see and deaf people hear." Learn about the birth of the project, visit the workshops, and stop by the gift shop to support this vital community initiative. Continue to Osupuko Lodge in Tarangire. The lodge overlooks Tarangire National Park, home to the highest density of elephants in Tanzania. Each of the lodge's cottage-like structures, known as rondavels, has its own veranda with fantastic views. Have some time to relax and enjoy the wildlife. Before dinner, attend a presentation on the park's elephants.

After breakfast, depart the lodge with a boxed lunch for a wildlife viewing drive through Tarangire National Park aboard safari vehicles. The Tarangire River snakes through the park, and because it's the area's only permanent river, many types of wildlife travel long distances to reach it. The 1,096 square miles of protected lands are home to a large variety of game, such as wildebeests, elephants, zebras, gazelles, elands, gerenuks, lions, and leopards. Extensive grasslands, dotted with the occasional acacia or baobab tree, provide the optimum conditions for viewing wild animals. Bird enthusiasts will have the opportunity to see more than 500 avian species, including Yellow-collared Lovebirds, Rufous-tailed Weavers, Ashy Starlings, Common Ostriches, and Kori Bustards. Return to the lodge in the late afternoon in time for sunset.

After breakfast, depart for the local Maasai Village to learn about their day-to-day lives. Next, visit Meali Primary School and experience what a typical school day in Tanzania is like by interacting with teachers and students and sitting in on classes. After visiting the school, head to Lake Eyasi and stop en route at the village of Mto wa Mbu. During a walk through the village, experience the way of life in this community and enjoy lunch prepared by a local family to learn about their diverse culinary delights. After lunch, continue to Southern Serengeti. Arrive late afternoon at the semi-permanent camp you will be staying at for the next two nights.

Early in the morning, embark on the first wildlife viewing drive of the day in Serengeti, Tanzania's first national park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site where over a million wildebeest famously migrate each year. The park's high concentration of wildlife also includes the Big Five (lions, leopards, elephants, black rhinos, and buffalos), as well as cheetahs, zebras, giraffes, gazelles, monkeys, and more than 500 bird species. This safari experience includes breakfast out in the field. Return to the camp late in the morning for lunch and enjoy some free time to rest and relax at the camp before heading out for a mid-afternoon wildlife viewing drive. Before dinner, gather around the campfire and have a discussion with the group leader about the Great Migration.

After breakfast, enjoy one final wildlife viewing drive in the Serengeti to encounter even more extraordinary species before beginning the journey toward Ngorongoro. En route, make a stop at Olduvai Gorge, where archaeologists Louis and Mary Leakey began excavating in the 1930s with the hopes of finding clues to the origins of mankind. Accompanied by the curator, explore the museum and then walk over to the Leakey camp. The Leakeys' discovery of primitive tools and fossilized hominid remains helped lay the foundation for present-day theories on human evolution. Continue to Ngorongoro Serena Lodge in time to relax and enjoy dinner.

After an early breakfast, begin the journey to Ngorongoro Crater. A UNESCO World Heritage Site sometimes called an 8th Natural Wonder of the World, Ngorongoro is a sunken caldera around 10 by 12 miles in diameter. With vast grasslands covering most of the crater floor year-round, this stunning site provides ample grazing for resident zebras, gazelles, wildebeest, elephants, warthogs, hippos, black rhinos, and numerous bird species. Ngorongoro has one of the most unique concentrations of wildlife on earth due to its habitat, which has attracted a dense population of lions. Enjoy a bush lunch at the crater to make the most of the day and return to the lodge in the late afternoon.

Start the day early in the morning with a drive to Lake Eyasi and a visit to a community of Hadzabe. One of the few remaining hunter-gatherer societies in Africa, the Hadzabe are an Indigenous nomadic group from Karatu District in the Arusha region. The Hadza language is one of only three languages in East Africa that employs clicks and is spoken by around 1,000 people, so a local expert will accompany us to interpret for the group to gain insight into the Hadzabe's unique culture and traditions. Return to the lodge for lunch, and then have some free time to enjoy the swimming pool and relax before sharing a farewell dinner with the group.

After a leisurely morning, transfer to Arusha. En route, visit the Cultural Heritage Center of Arusha. For lunch, pay a visit to a local home to enjoy a family-hosted lunch. Then, travel to the hotel to have some time to rest, finish packing, or freshen up in your day-room accommodations. Before leaving for the airport, enjoy a light snack at the hotel. Check-out is at 6 pm. Transfer to Kilimanjaro International Airport and check in for the overnight flight to the U.S.

Arrive home.