Day 1 - Arrive in Kilimanjaro & transfer to Arusha

Arrive at Kilimanjaro International Airport where you will clear immigration and collect your bags before being met by our Guardian Angel and assisted with your transfer to your hotel, approximately 1-hour drive from the airport.

Just 10 minutes from Arusha town lies the scenic Crater Lake named 'Duluti' and on its shores is Lake Duluti Lodge. The lodge is made up of 18 contemporary African styled chalets ideally positioned in a thirty acre active coffee farm. All chalets are positioned to face the coffee farm and each has a private deck.

Canoeing trips on Lake Duluti, hiking in the Great Duluti Forest, Bird watching and Coffee tours are different ways to explore the area or if you prefer to relax in your beautiful surroundings enjoy a sundowner on the lake shore.

Overnight: Lake Duluti Lodge

Meal Plan: L,D

Day 2 - Tour of Shanga and Ilboru Primary School

After breakfast, visit Shanga, a social enterprise that employs people with disabilities to produce beautiful jewellery and other creative works using recycled products.

A visit to Shanga can comprise your choice of workshop tours, activities, information sessions and shopping. 

When you are visiting Shanga, you can tailor your own experience with our flexible tour and activity options. Speak to your guide on arrival, or plan ahead for a unique experience that fits your availability and preferences using the activity time guide below:

10 min Quick workshop view and shop
30 min Guided workshop tour with 'try' activities including glass blowing
15 min Activity: Make your own necklace
45 min Activity: Maasai beading workshop & make your own necklace
30 min Sign language lesson
15 min Q & A discussion on disabilities and recycling in Tanzania
20 min Shanga shopping

After the visit, enjoy the lunch at Jikoni then proceed to visit Ilboru School for children with special needs.

AK Philanthropy Experience:

Ilboru Primary School is among the first schools in Tanzania to focus on education for children with special needs. Since 2007,  Ilboru School has been enhancing quality of life and education for children with hearing, as well as intellectual impairment through various programs introduced by AKP such as the e-reader literacy campaign, vocational education etc.

This school is located within proximity to AK’s preferred partner properties in Arusha, also close to historical and geographical landmarks such as “The Clock Tower”, which is the center point from Cape Town to Cairo.

The visit will take between 40 – 60 minutes.

Hours of access/Restrictions:
School operating days. School is open Monday – Friday.
School holidays are: March/Easter - 2 weeks, (Grade 4 and 7 still present at school, revising for checkpoint exams) June - 1 month, (Grade 4 and 7 still present at school, revising for checkpoint exams) September - 2 weeks December - 1 month

Guest Experience:
1. Upon arrival, guests are briefed on the project – to understand AKP’s involvement in the project.
2. Guests will then be taken on a tour of the school/ AKP building, where they can meet teachers and enthusiastic students.
3. Understand the importance of the project, how stigma towards disabilities is eradicated, how the qualified teachers help students realize their potential, the overall challenges, solution and success of the project.
4. Depending on the day of the week, guests may see e-reader lessons in action.
5. A unique activity; when the students from the hearing-impaired unit give “markings” to guests. Marking is a distinctive physical feature of the guest that our students use to remember the guest with, through sign language. A small step into building a relationship between the guest and student.
6. Visit the girl’s dormitory, understanding the need and advantage of having a girl’s dormitory on campus

Return to Lake Duluti Lodge for overnight

Overnight: Lake Duluti Lodge

Meal Plan: B,L,D

Day 3 - Drive to Tarangire National Park

After breakfast at the lodge, you will be picked and driven to Tarangire National Park with a picnic lunch approximately 2 hours away.

Tarangire National Park is one of the finest parks in Tanzania. Centered on the Tarangire River, this park has expansive views with wide panoramas of wooded savannah stretching in every direction. The most outstanding feature is the Tarangire River, which is permanent, and the only reliable dry-season source of water available to wildlife in a vast stretch of Tanzania's Rift Valley, attracting tremendous concentrations of animals.

Amongst acacia trees and ancient baobabs, Sanctuary Swala offers fantastic safari accommodation in a secluded location in Tarangire National Park. As one of the less visited park in Tanzania, as well as home to the only permanent water source in the area, the lodge offers unmatched views. Look across the infinity pool to a waterhole that enjoys frequent visits from Tarangire's famously large elephant herds as well as hundreds of impalas, for which the camp is named.

The spacious accommodation - each room with its own private balcony - has recently been completely reconstructed to minimize Swala's carbon footprint. Situated off the beaten track, the sense of staying in your own secluded kingdom is emphasized when you are introduced to your personal butler.

In addition to classic African game drives, night safaris and walking tours, guests can witness how Sanctuary Swala gets involved with the local community. Visit Mwika village to see the local school and learn how about the beekeeping project, all operated with the camp's support.

Overnight: Sanctuary Swala Camp

Meal Plan: B,L,D

Day 4 - Duuma Wajane Bike Shop & Mwika Beekeeping Project

After breakfast at the camp, drive to Mwinkantsi Village for a bike tour followed by a visit to the bee keeping project

In rural Africa, those with bikes are empowered with mobility: health care workers can see more patients, students can make the journey to school, middle to low income workers can get to work in an affordable manner, and families can carry more goods to and from home. To provide access to this life-changing resource, AKP has opened a bike shop on the western border of Tarangire National Park, in the village of Mwikantsi.

AK Philanthropy Experience:

Duuma Wajane Bike Shop

Duuma Wajane Bike Shop is located in Mwikantsi Village which is in the Mamire Ward of abati District. The closest and thrilling landmark near these schools is the Tarangire National Park. The visit will take 45-60 minutes.

Driving from the Tarangire National Park, guests can reach the bike shop within 30mins. This project is open to visits throughout the year.

Guest Experience:
1. Guests arrive at the bike shop, learn about the importance of the bike shop, meet the women (widows) running the bike shop and get a look into their lives and background.
2. Experience what a typical day looks like at the bike shop. Further insight as to challenges, impacts and success of bike shop is shared
3. Guests have the option to rent a bike and go on a village tour, whereby they can closely experience life and the beautiful landscapes in the villages of either Mwikantsi or Gijedabung. Guest safety is high priority and all efforts are made to ensure a safe, comfortable and insightful village tour

AK Philanthropy Experience:

Mwika Beekeeping Project

On the western border of Tarangire National Park, AKP is working with the villagers on a grassroots beekeeping project, emphasizing the preservation of the environment to bring rewards to the community. The project was envisioned due to its potential to benefit the community as a whole. Honey is a staple in their diet and has great nutritional value.

Driving from the Tarangire National Park, guests can reach the project site within 15mins. This project is open to visits throughout the year.

Guest Experience:
1. Guests are driven to one of our beekeeper’s house, where they are briefed on the project and they can view the economic impact the beekeeping project has on lives.
2. A short talk is given on the history and current status of the project along with explanation on the life cycle and organizational structure of bees.
3. Guests then get to see the beehives (from a distance) and understand further the processes involved in beekeeping and how honey is extracted.
4. Guests also have the opportunity to taste the raw, natural honey. Hygiene is a mandatory step for successful beekeeping and is ensured throughout.

Return to the camp for lunch then afternoon nature walk and night game drive in Tarangire National Park.

Overnight: Sanctuary Swala Camp

Meal Plan: B,L,D

Day 5 - Mto wa Mbu village tour

Enjoy breakfast at the lodge, with a picnic lunch leave your lodge and drive to Mto wa Mbu for Tuk tuk Tour.

Today you will explore the village of Mto wa Mbu by Tuk Tuk - these three wheeled vehicles are generally found in Asia but have become a common sight in the villages of Tanzania. Exploring the village by Tuk Tuk is a brilliant way of getting off the main road and receiving a proper introduction to village life.

You will first stop to visit the rice paddies before winding down the small tracks between the banana plantations. Every so often your guide will stop and explain the variety of uses they have for the banana plant - from roofing their homes to brewing the local beer (which you are invited to try during the trip). You will also visit a home belonging to a member of the Iraqw tribe and see how they build their houses out of nothing but sticks and clay.

See local daily life in the small workshops, churches, schools (depending on the time of year) and meet members from some the different tribes found here. Finally nestling in the centre of a banana plantation and beside a local fish farm, you will have the chance to sample some of the delicious local cuisine, a blend of the different cultures and the variety of tastes is truly astounding. Finally weave through the vibrant market to end your programme.

Next visit the house of an Iraqw elder. On arriving at the house of Mzee Daniel Tewa you will feel immediately at ease. He lives in a simple house on the edge of the Ngorongoro Highlands, an area in which he told us, his people were the first to inhabit over 2000 years ago before even the Maasai came along. 'Mzee' is a respectful Kiswahili term meaning an elder and Daniel Tewa is a member of the Iraqw (pronounced Irow) tribe. Almost straight away you will warm up to him; his manner is kind and his smile welcoming.

The main reason you will want to meet with him though is his story telling ability. He will take you through over 2000 years of his people's history and culture, acting it out with you all taking roles of hunter, warrior, bride, family member and villager. He will tell you uses for his indigenous plants teach you how to protect yourselves from visiting wildlife and show you how to power gas lighting and a cooker with a cow. In 2 hours you will learn a wealth of knowledge and be gripped for the entire meeting. They are a lesser known tribe, but once you have met Mzee Tewa you will always remember the Iraqw.

Sanctuary Ngorongoro Crater Camp, in Tanzania's Ngorongoro Conservation Area, is poised for great views from its position on the crater rim. The camp, ten glorious tents that would have satisfied safari-goers from the grand old days of Teddy Roosevelt and his ilk, manages to be sumptuously comfortable and simply elegant all at the same time. As in safari days of yesteryear, a tent attendant fills your bucket shower at precisely the right time with water precisely the right temperature.

At sundown you can sit around a camp fire, nicknamed "bush television" by guides here, and indulge in recounting the adventures of the day over a drink.

Overnight: Sanctuary Ngorongoro Crater Camp

Meal Plan: B,L,D

Day 6 - Ngorongoro Crater Tour

Your game drive today will be like no other as you visit one of the most dramatic safari destinations in Africa, the Ngorongoro Crater. Descend to the crater floor in search of the Big 5 with the back drop of the forest covered crater walls surrounding you, creating stunning back drops for all of your wildlife photographs. Travel through the Lerai Forest looking for leopard and onto the plains where the wildebeest and zebra graze whilst cheetah and lion lay and watch. Old elephants pass your vehicle whilst further afield rhino wander and hippos hide in the pools. A picnic lunch is provided so you can maximize your day in the crater.

Ngorongoro Crater is a deep, volcanic crater and the largest unbroken caldera in the world. About 20 kilometers (12 miles) across, 600 meters (1,969 feet) deep and 300 square kilometers (186 square miles) in area, the Ngorongoro Crater is a breathtaking natural wonder. Within the crater rim large herds of zebra and wildebeest graze nearby while sleeping lions laze in the sun. At dawn, the endangered black rhino returns to the thick cover of the crater forests after grazing on dew-laden grass in the morning mist. Just outside the crater's ridge, tall Maasai herd their cattle and goats over green pastures living alongside the wildlife as they have for centuries.

Overnight: Sanctuary Ngorongoro Crater Camp

Meal Plan: B,L,D

Day 7 - Drive to Serengeti National Park

Enjoy breakfast at the Camp, leave your lodge and drive along the crater rim before descending the outer slopes of the Ngorongoro crater and onto the vast plains of the Serengeti. Arrive at your lodge for dinner approx. 4-5 hours later.

The Serengeti is not only famous for the great Wildebeest Migration that moves around the park from October – July every year but also for the vast number of species that reside in the park year-round. The concentration of predators in the Serengeti is high with large prides of lion, numerous hyena clans, and regular sightings of both cheetah and Leopard. Elephant, buffalo, giraffe, and antelope can be found feeding on the rich plains as well as some of the lesser known species such as aardwolf, mongoose, caracal, servals and hyrax.

Sanctuary Kichakani Serengeti Camp is a mobile tented camp, which, depending on where the migration is, and in effort to make sure it lives up to its name, relocates three times a year every year within the Serengeti National Park - in a bid to keep up with the great wildebeest migration, the most spectacular movement of mammals on the planet.

The camp, ten huge tents, sumptuously comfortable and simply elegant, is reminiscent of the bygone era of safari, with sturdy hardwood furniture and generous swathes of mosquito net over huge beds. As in safari days of old, your tent attendant is on hand to cater to your needs, from the perfect timing of your shower to the perfect pre-dinner drink. The nomadic nature of the camp, though, means it blends into its bush environments with sensitive seamlessness whilst granting its guests excellent, up-to-the-minute, game viewing.

Overnight: Sanctuary Kichakani Serengeti Camp

Meal Plan: B,L,D

Day 8 - Serengeti National Park

Spend your day exploring the extensive plains of the Serengeti in search of the Big 5. If you would like to maximize your time game viewing you can take a picnic lunch out into the park and enjoy a meal out in the vast savannah before returning to your lodge later in the day.

Overnight: Sanctuary Kichakani Serengeti Camp

Meal Plan: B,L,D

Day 9 - Depart

Breakfast at the camp and thereafter, you will be transferred to the airstrip for your flight to Arusha where a day-room has been reserved for you until your departure flight. 

Overnight:

Meal Plan: