Culture Quest Safari

• Starting Point:  Springlands Hotel
• Park to Visit:  Lake Manyara National Park
• Driving Time to Park:  2 - 4 hours
• Ending Point:  Highview Hotel*
• Day Pack Essentials:  Water, Camera, Sunscreen, Snacks, Hat

* or similar

Wake up and eat a delicious, hot breakfast at Springlands hotel. Your guide will meet you at the hotel, load your bags into your vehicle, and you are on your way! Today, you will be heading to Lake Manyara for some exciting game viewing and beautiful scenery. The drive from the hotel to Lake Manyara National Park takes about 4 hours. You will have an opportunity to visit a large, and plentiful gift shop on the drive to the park. Feel free to walk around, shop and browse all the beautiful figurines, masks, paintings, hand-made jewelry and novel trinkets.

Upon your arrival at Lake Manyara, you will enjoy a picnic lunch before you start a late afternoon game drive, which is the best time to view animals in the park. When you approach the lake from the east, the Rift Valley escarpment looms on the horizon forming an impressive backdrop to the lake. In the tall trees of the groundwater forest, monkeys leap from branch to branch, and on the escarpment, elephants stand in the shade. Other animals frequently seen are zebras, impalas, monkeys, giraffes, buffalos, hippos, and so much more.

After an exciting first day, you’re itching for more! However, you will first retire for the evening in one of our impressive hotels nearby, and get ready for an exciting day ahead of you tomorrow! At the hotel, you will be served a filling dinner, and have an option to purchase drinks at your leisure.

• Starting Point:  Highview Hotel*
• Parks to Visit:  Ngorongoro Crater
• Driving Time to Park:  2 - 3 hours
• Ending Point:  Highview Hotel*
• Day Pack Essentials:  Water, Camera, Sunscreen, Snacks, Hat

* or similar

Enjoy your hot breakfast in the decorative hotel lobby. When done, pack your bags and drive to Ngorongoro Crater for a game drive inside the crater. This is one of the only places in the world with a chance to see black rhino as well as prides of lion that include the magnificent black-manned males. There are lots of colorful flamingos seen on the center salt lake and a variety of other water birds. Other game that you can see includes leopard, cheetah, hyena, other members of the antelope family, and small mammals. You will enjoy a packed lunch beside the peaceful Lake Magadi. Be sure to watch for big, bulbous hippos in the lake! In the evening, you will drive to the Highview Hotel, rest over dinner, and retire for the evening.

• Starting Point:  Highview Hotel*
• Park to Visit:  Ngorongoro Crater & Iraqw Culture Center
• Driving Time to Park:  0, enjoy the full day in the park and nearby culture center!
• Ending Point:  Highview Hotel*
• Day Pack Essentials:  Water, Camera, Sunscreen, Snacks, Hat

* or similar

Take a break from the safari truck today and enjoy your day immersing yourself both in nature as well as a new culture. Once done with breakfast, head off to the Southern Ngorongoro Conservation Area to enjoy a leisurely two hour walk to the Elephant Caves and the Endoro Waterfalls. On your guided walk through the luscious rainforest, you will encounter a plethora of bird species and discover animal footprints along the way. Be sure to ask your guide about anything that catches your eye! Our guides are trained professionals who have an abundance of nature and wildlife knowledge. Soon, you will enter the Elephant Caves. The Elephant Caves are a majestic place where these massive animals come to rub their tusks against the calcium rich tree bark. As they scratch the bark, they consume the calcium to help their tusks stay healthy and strong. Over time, the scratching resulted in massive holes, which led to the name, “Elephant Caves”. Right off in the distance is the Endoro river. The Endoro River is truly an incredible place known for being a sanctuary where elderly elephants have gone to spend their final moments and at last pass on in the circle of life.

When your hike is done and you have finished enjoying the wildlife, you will go to visit the Iraqw tribe cultural center in Karatu. Here, you will immerse yourself in a cultural experience and learn the intricacies of the tribe’s way of life. Visiting the cultural center will surely be humbling, eye-opening and beyond rewarding.

After a fulfilling day, drive back to the Highview Hotel, rest over dinner, and retire for the evening once again.

• Starting Point:  Highview Hotel*
• Park to Visit:  Tarangire National Park
• Driving Time to Park:  2 - 4 hours
• Ending Point:  Springlands Hotel
• Day Pack Essentials:  Water, Camera, Sunscreen, Snacks, Hat

* or similar

After breakfast, you will drive from the Highview Hotel to Tarangire National Park, which takes approximately two hours. This park is spectacular in the dry season when many of the migratory wildlife species come back to the permanent waters of the Tarangire River. Huge herds of wildebeest, zebras, elephants, elands, and Oryx gather to stay in Tarangire until the onset of the rains when they migrate again to good grazing areas. In the late afternoon, you will drive back to the Springlands Hotel in Moshi. Along the way, feel free to stop again at any gift shop or stall on the street that catches your interest! Once back at Springlands, you can enjoy a meal while scrolling through your impressive photo reel! Sit back, relax, and let the whole week’s adventure settle in.