Magical Tanzania with Award-Winning Photographer Jackie Kramer

Begin your adventure from your home departure city for your overnight flight to Arusha, Tanzania.

Upon arrival to Kilimanjaro International Airport, you will be met and transferred to your hotel for overnight.

Following breakfast there will be a program orientation session. Then drive to Arusha National Park for your first wildlife-viewing drive, giving you an opportunity to see flamingos, blue monkeys, giraffes, zebras, buffalos, antelopes, and with luck, black-and-white colobus monkeys. After lunch, an armed park ranger will accompany you for a nature walk in the foothills of Mt. Meru. Explorations will take you through open grasslands where you may see warthogs, buffalos, giraffes, antelopes, and a variety of avian species. In the wooded areas of the park, be on the lookout for blue monkeys as well as the black-and-white colobus monkeys. Your walk will end at the beautiful waterfalls in the area. Return to Arusha for dinner.

Rise before the sun comes up to have early morning photo opportunities around the lodge grounds. After breakfast and check-out, visit a local market and see locals shopping and going about their daily routine. After market, visit Shanga Beads. Founded in 2007, this local project is made up of a group of more than 70 people with a wide range of disabilities who create a variety of products using techniques including weaving, glass-blowing, beading, paper-making, and metal work, using recycled materials wherever possible. Their philosophy is that kindness is a language that blind people see and deaf people hear. Learn about the birth of the project and visit the workshops, as well as the gift shop, to witness the amazing artistry of this heartwarming project. Have lunch in town before traveling to Tarangire National Park with afternoon wildlife-viewing drives en route.

Begin your morning with a wildlife drive in Tarangire National Park. Tarangire is known in particular for its large population of elephants as well as its iconic baobab trees. The park's 1,096 square miles of protected lands are also home to wildlife such as wildebeests, zebras, gazelles, elands, gerenuks, lions, and leopards, which travel long distances to arrive at the area's only permanent river, the Tarangire River, which snakes through the park. Extensive grasslands, dusted with the occasional acacia or baobab tree, provide the optimum conditions for viewing and photographing flora and fauna. Bird lovers 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. After lunch and time to relax, you will go back out for an afternoon wildlife drive.

After breakfast, check out and depart for Ngorongoro Serena Lodge. En route, enjoy a wildlife drive and stop for lunch at African Galleria Restaurant. After check-in, take a late afternoon nature walk on the rim of the crater accompanied by a park ranger. Enjoy dinner this evening with amazing views of the crater below.

This morning, descend into Ngorongoro Crater, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that's often called the 8th Wonder of the World, for a wildlife drive among one of the most unique concentrations of animals on earth. Vast grasslands cover most of the crater floor and provide ample grazing for resident zebras, gazelles, wildebeest, elephants, warthogs, and rhinos. With a large number of prey species contained within the crater, it is not surprising that Ngorongoro is also home to a dense population of lions. During your drive, you will be treated to a picnic lunch in the crater. In the late afternoon, drive back out of the crater and return to the lodge in time to take in an unforgettable sunset.

After a peaceful breakfast overlooking the crater, depart for Serengeti National Park, home to the greatest concentration of large mammals on Earth. The migratory herds of wildebeest, zebra, and gazelle roam widely in search of green grass and water, with historical pathways that are bred into the animals' DNA. En route to the Serengeti visit the famous Olduvai Gorge to learn about archaeologists Louis and Mary Leakey, who began their first excavations of this area in the 1930s as they searched for clues to the origin of mankind. The Leakey team's discovery of primitive tools and, later, fossilized hominid remains (Australopithecus boisei and Homo habilis) at this site helped lay the foundation for present-day theories on human evolution. Once passing through the entrance gate of the park, your afternoon wildlife-viewing drive begins. A boxed lunch will be offered today. Arrive at your camp in time to relax, enjoy refreshments, and take in the sights and sounds of the magical Serengeti.

Spend the next two days exploring the central Serengeti, where the Seronera River provides an important water source and therefore attracts a great deal of wildlife. This area offers great opportunities to observe hippos, as well as migratory animals such as wildebeest and zebras. These species attract most of the area's carnivores such as lions, cheetahs, hyenas, and Nile crocodiles.

Continue exploring the central Serengeti.

Begin making your way out of Serengeti National Park this morning, taking in the wildlife en route to Karatu. Upon arrival at your lodge, if you wish, take a short exploratory walk around the lodge's farm/coffee plantation.

Depart for a Maasai village for a special visit this morning. Afterwards, visit the Lucas Mhina Primary School, where you will get a chance to interact with the children. Have lunch at Mto wa Mbu village, then drive to African Galleria for the chance to purchase souvenirs if desired. In the late afternoon, return to the lodge for time at leisure, then gather for a celebratory farewell dinner.

After a leisurely morning, travel to Arusha for a special lunch at a private home, followed by the use of a day room at Under The Shades Safari Lodge to prepare for your transfer to the Kilimanjaro International Airport for your flight(s) home.

Welcome home!