Family safari: Two week trip to Tanzania with Manta Resort

Itinerary in brief:

• 2 nights Amini Maasai Lodge (Kilimanjaro)
• 1 night Bashay Rift (Karatu) for Ngorongoro NP
• 1 night Olduvai Camp (wilderness!)
• 2 nights Togoro Plains (central Serengeti NP)
• 7 nights Manta Resort (Pemba Island)

Day 1: Depart UK

Depart the UK from your chosen airport.

Included: International flights 

Day 2: Arrival at Kilimanjaro Airport

When you land at Kilimanjaro airport, you’ll be met on arrival and transferred to Amini Maasai Lodge. The journey will take around an hour and a half. You’ll stay in a solar-powered earth house with a European toilet and shower. The lodge has a beautiful swimming pool, a sun terrace and a cosy restaurant serving traditional Swahili food.

Included: Transfers, Amini Maasai Lodge, all meals

Day 3: Amini Maasai Lodge

This morning, you’ll wake up to a majestic view of Kilimanjaro. After breakfast, you’ll set off on a family nature walk with a local Maasai guide. As you walk, you’ll learn about the medicinal plants and herbs of the Maasai culture and prepare traditional tea together.

During your stay, you can also take part in a spear-throwing competition, a deeply-rooted ritual in Maasai tradition, or set off on a donkey ride across the African steppe. There are also all kinds of optional activities on offer, from visiting the local women’s workshop and nearby market to spending time in a family Maasai boma. 

Included: Amini Maasai Lodge, all meals, nature walk after breakfast with a local Maasai guide, spear throwing competition, donkey rides.

Day 4: Game drive in Tarangire National Park 

After breakfast, you’ll set off in your safari vehicle with your expert driver guide towards Tarangire National Park. Less famous than Tanzania’s other national parks, Tarangire is something of a hidden gem. Home to gnarly baobab trees, grassland plains, swamps, rivers, and ridges, you’ll find breathtaking landscapes around every bend in the track. In Tarangire, you’re likely to see huge herds of elephants plodding peacefully through the bush. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience that will give you goosebumps.

In the afternoon, you’ll continue towards Karatu, near to the rim of Ngorongoro Crater. As you travel, you’ll notice the landscape becoming far lusher and more fertile, with all kinds of flowering tropical plants. You’ll stay at Bashay Rift Lodge, a welcoming lodge with beautiful rooms, a gorgeous swimming pool and sweeping views over the Tanzanian countryside. Cool off with a dip in the pool, enjoy a delicious dinner and look forward to exploring the crater tomorrow. 

Included: Safari vehicle with expert driver-guide, all meals, Bashay Rift Lodge, game drives

Day 5: Ngorongoro Crater

This morning, you’ll make an early start to explore the world-famous Ngorongoro Crater National Park. As you descend the forested slopes of the world’s largest inactive volcanic caldera, you’ll enter a natural paradise packed with incredible wildlife. The grassland of the crater floor, which covers an area of 100 square miles, is home to a whopping 25,000 animals. There really is nowhere quite like it. 

After a morning game drive filled with flocks of pink flamingos, prides of lions on the prowl, and every kind of antelope under the sun, you’ll stop for a picnic lunch in a shady grove on the shore of a lake. Then, in the afternoon, you’ll set off on the spectacular journey to Olduvai Gorge.

Sitting between the Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti, Olduvai Camp is a completely unique and very special place. Built around a large rocky outcrop in the middle of a moon-like landscape, the camp is run in partnership with the local Maasai people. When you arrive at Olduvai, you’ll take a sunset walk with the Maasai villagers to a stunning viewpoint for sundowners before dinner. After dinner, you’ll settle into your thatched canvas tent for the night.

Included: Safari vehicle with expert driver-guide, all meals, Olduvai Camp, game drives

Day 6: Serengeti National Park

After breakfast with an unforgettable view this morning, you’ll drive into the Serengeti National Park. The journey becomes a spectacular game drive along the way. Home to vast savannah grasslands and swampy riverine forests, the Serengeti is one of the best places to spot wildlife on the planet. See hippos floating in their mud pools, watch lion cubs play on the plains, see giraffes nibbling at the treetops and hyenas scrambling in the bush.

You’ll arrive at camp for lunch at the wonderful new Togoro Plains Camp in the heart of the Serengeti, before continuing your game drive into the afternoon should you wish.  Alternatively, just soak up your surroundings and enjoy a relaxing afternoon at camp by the refreshing swimming pool overlooking the plains. Togoro Plains is ideally located in the heart of the vast Serengeti; there's a high concentration of lions in this region and the area is renowned for year round wildlife.

Included: Safari vehicle with expert driver-guide, all meals, Togoro Plains, game drives  

Day 7: Togoro Plains

Enjoy your morning in the central Serengeti NP, before weaving your way further north to the beautiful Mara River. Animals are more active at sunrise and sundown, so your safari will be concentrated around dawn and dusk. It also gives you a high chance of seeing hunting, as the predators are still out looking for dinner. Watch lilac rollers flit through the air, look for leopards lazing in the shade after a night of hunting and spot saddle-billed storks wading in the creeks. Traditionally, from July to October the great migration herds pass through this region.

Included: Safari vehicle with expert driver-guide, all meals, Mara River Post, game drives  

Optional extra:  In the Serengeti you can enjoy a spectacular hot air balloon ride with our trusted local partners.  This is an enchanting experience, with uninterrupted views across the breathtaking scenery and wildlife the Serengeti NP is so famous for.  We can include this here near Togoro, or a subsequent morning while staying at Mara River Post (just be aware it's an early start required for sunrise!)

Day 8: Fly to Pemba Island 

Leaving the vast plains behind, this morning you'll be driven to the Seronera Airstrip to fly to your Pemba paradise (via Zanzibar).  You'll be met on arrival at Pemba and transferred to your home for the next week at the Manta Resort. 

Included: Breakfast, transfers, internal flights, Manta Resort

Day 9 - 14: Manta Resort in Pemba Island

Switch off from your usual environment and enter a completely different one. Manta Resort is a treasured, remote island hideaway where you can feel the simplicity of a naturally evolved traditional Swahili island culture – and timeless peace and quiet. All-inclusive at Manta is truly all-inclusive. Everyone can even enjoy a free daily spa or massage treatment of your choice, with trained therapists in Manta's rustic Kipepo Spa. After your epic Kilimanjaro adventure this is just perfect. Relax with just the sound of rustling palms or gentle breaking waves to help unwind each day.

Breathe in, breathe out and embrace a new pace. Feel part of Manta's Pemba family.  With local staff trained from scratch, this is a group of good people who proudly endeavour to make Manta the special place it is. The resort lies in the Kwanini marine conservation area, so the snorkelling is exceptional. All stays actively contribute to the Kwanini foundation, this is an inspiring initiative created by Manta Resort to make a positive contribution to the future of Pemba Island. They achieve this by working alongside local communities to help everyone understand and conserve the natural world on which they depend. Manta Resort is an incredibly special place.

Included: All-inclusive, Manta Resort

 Day 15: Fly Tanzania to UK

After breakfast, you'll wave goodbye to the perfect sands of Pemba and embark on your journey home. This is a family holiday you'll be talking about for years!

Included: Breakfast, transfers, internal flights, international flights