Description

Africa is an outdoor adventurer’s perfect playground! This exciting multi-sport safari gives you the ultimate African outdoor experience, combining mountain-biking, with hiking, canoeing and game driving. You’ll also get to hone your outdoor skills in the introductory ranger course, which trains you on the ways of the wild and how to adapt in the environment so that you can make the most of your African adventure. The safari takes you mountain biking across the lower slopes of Mt Kilimanjaro and Mt Meru, before proceeding south to enjoy canoeing and hiking in the beautiful region of Lake Manyara ,Lengai, Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti.

Highlights

• Outdoor skills ranger training course
• Mountain biking through prime wildlife areas of East Africa
• Ngorongoro Crater game viewing
• Canoe safari on Lake Manyara
• Climbing Oldoinyo Lengai
• Donkey trekking through the migration
• Beautiful scenery, unique fauna & flora and spectacular game viewing

Sample Itinerary

Day 1
Arrive in Tanzania at Kilimanjaro International Airport and transfer to Ndarakwai Ranch in West Kilimanjaro. For the next three days the guests will receive a “Ranger training course” to orientate them to their surroundings. This course will be conducted by some of the best guide trainers in Africa. All are FEGASA level 3 and SKS instructors. The idea of these three days is to have fun in the bush, learn more and be able to appreciate the upcoming safari more by knowing more. We will do things like: walking in to dangerous game and bush walking skills, off road driving, theory on mammals, birds, insects, reptiles and geology.

Day 2 & 3
Ranger training in Ndarakwai ranch. During the training and through out the course we will be staying in a small but stylish mobile camp. We pride our self in our classic canvas, wood and leather camps that symbolize the Africa of old in so many ways. Tents are 7” by 7” by 7” thus large enough for guests to move around in with ease. Beds are comfortable camp cots with a 6” mattress. Every tent will have its own toilet and shower. In most camps guests will be able to enjoy a shower every night but on some more “off the beaten track” camps only a face wash will have to do. All meals will be sit down hot meals served in a mess tent.

Day 4
Mountain bike from Ndarakwai Ranch to Arusha National Park. This will be a full day (min 8-hours) bike ride and we will cross the valley between Kilimanjaro and Mt. Meru. This is stunning country with lots of wildlife. Our aim will be to spend the night in a special campsite inside Arusha National Park.

Day 5
Morning hiking and afternoon canoe safari with a canoeing camp out. In the morning we will enjoy a hike in the montane forests of Mt. Meru. We will hike a little up the mountain and enjoy some awesome views over the valley we recently biked over. Lunch will be back in camp followed by an afternoon canoeing safari. We will load a scaled down camp on to the canoes and set up camp on the far side of Momella Lakes.

Day 6
Lake Manyara, afternoon hiking, mountain biking and evening night game drive: After canoeing back to the main road we depart for Lake Manyara where we will spend the evening in Kirurumu Tented Lodge. Once in Manyara guests will have the option of a forest hike, local village walk or a mountain bike ride or a combo of the three. In the evening we will go on a night game drive inside Lake Manyara National Park.

Day 7
Oldoinyo Lengai and Lengai summit. We depart from Manyara early in the morning for a very dusty drive to Lake Natron. This drive will take approximately 6 hours and will get us to Lake Natron Camp at the foot of Oldoinyo Lengai Volcano in the late afternoon. This evening around 23:00 everyone will receive a wake up call and start climbing the volcano around midnight. The summit climb will take six hours up and four down. It is very hard but will be a highlight in every guest’s life. It is very special on Lengai.

Day 8
Decent from Lengai and relax. We will be back in Lake Natron Camp around 11h00. I am sure no one will feel like doing much and every one can laze around the pool and rest for the entire day. If anyone would like to do something we can drive to the shores of Lake Natron or hike up one of the rivers to the waterfalls.

January to May

Day 9
Gol Mountains donkey trekking. We will depart from Lake Natron camp very early in the morning, driving into the Serengeti eco-system. Our camp for the night will be at Nasera rock, a 150 feet high granite rock in the middle of a grass plain. Here we will meet the donkeys who will be carrying our gear for the next few days.

Day 10 & 11
Donkey trekking in the Gol Mountains. For the next few days we will hike at will. During Dec – March the main wildebeest migration will be in the area and we will more than likely be hiking in between thousands of wildebeest. Every morning our camp will be packed up, loaded on donkey back and carried with us where ever we hike to. A very nice part of hiking in this area is the “real” interaction with the Masaai tribe. We have a very good relationship with Masaai from this area and guests always feel like there’s no “acting” happening when you deal with the Masaai of the Gol.

Day 12 & 13
Ngorongoro Crater. After a few days of roughing it, most guests are ready for a bit of luxury. From the Gol Mountains we drive to Ngorongoro Crater where we will stay at the Serena lodge for the next two nights. During this time we will visit the crater floor a number of times and hike in the crater highlands with some of the local Masaai tribe.

Day 14
Depart back to Arusha.

June to December

During the June to December safari we will not be going to the Gol Mountains but rather to Loliondo. The Gol area will be to dry and all the animals would have moved out. Loliondo will be starting to fill up towards June and this is the place we would like to focus our attention.

Day 9
Loliondo donkey trekking. We depart early in the morning for Loliondo. The drive will take approximately 6 hours.

Day 10 & 11
Donkey trekking in Loliondo

Day 12
Serengeti Serena Safari Lodge. We will drive down the Northern Serengeti in to Central Serengeti where we will stay at the Serena.

Day 13
Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge. Early drive to Ngorongoro Crater, afternoon game drive on the crater floor and to the lodge for dinner.

Day 14
Depart for Arusha